whenever a man tries to control the will of the people by corrupting their servants with office and place; whenever a man threatens the people that he will use their army and navy against them; whenever a man seeks to revolutionize this Government by maligning a Congress of their choice, and by stigmatizing their purest patriots, whom they honour, as traitors, while he fondles the first rebels in his bosom-that man shall surely find that the people of the United States and the Congress of the United States can easily devise a remedy for every wrong done the country, and protection against every usurpation of power. He will further find that the people of this country know how to deal with a usurping President, a King, or a Dictator."

At a public dinner in New York at the end of August, the President said:

"This question (of secession) having been settled by the armies and navies of the United States and one of the departments of the Government, another department of your Government has practically declared, assumed, and carried out the doctrine, up to the present time, that the Government is dissolved. We contended for the opposite doctrine years ago, that no State had a right, even peaceably, to secede. One of the means of peaceable secession was that a State could withdraw its representatives from the Congress of the United States, and that that would be an admission of their right to do so. We, on the other hand, denied they had a right to do that; and now, when the doctrine is established that they cannot withdraw, and the rebellion is at an end, and the States again resume their position and renew their relations with the Federal Government, we find they are excluded from Congress in express violation of that sacred instrument the Constitution of the United States. We find that it is in violation of the express terms of the Constitution, as well as of its spirit, that States now in this Union are denied representation in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. Now, shall we submit to this? Will the American people submit to this doctrine? Why, if they do, so far as representation is concerned, it is practically a dissolution of the Union. Are we prepared now, after having passed through this fearful rebellion-are we prepared now, after expending this immense amount of blood and treasure, after all the calamities that have been visited upon our people North and South, to continue to exclude these States.

"It has been asserted that these men's professions of patriotism are doubtful, and that they ought not to be believed. What better evidence can you have of loyalty and devotion to the Government than profession and action? If we have reached the point that all confidence is lost in man, then I tell you that the Government is not as strong as a rope of sand-its own weight will crush it to pieces. Why should a Southern man not be believed? I do not say so because I am a Southern man and first saw the light of heaven in a Southern State-and while I say I

am a Southern man, I am a Northern man. That is to say, I am a citizen of the United States, and am willing to concede to all other citizens what I claim for myself. Now the reason why the Southern States demanded secession was that they feared their rights under the Constitution would not be preserved to them. What kind of a Constitution did they adopt? Why, it was, with some variations, the same as that contemplated by the Constitution of the United States. The rebellion has ceased; and when their armies were put down by the army and navy of the United States, they accepted the terms of the Government. And what were they? We said to them before the termination of the rebellion, 'Disband your armies, return to your original position in the Government, and we will receive you back with open arms.' Now the query comes up, will they be accepted? We do not want to ruin them. I have said this, and I repeat it here to-night,-I do not want them to come back into this Union degraded and debased. Are they fit to be a part of this great American family, degraded and debased? Having lost the institution of slavery, the great apple of discord, now, in returning, they take up the Constitution under which they lived before the one they wanted to establish themselves. Where, then, is the cause of distrust? I thought that at one time there was a party in the South trying to break up this Government, but now we find a party in the North equally anxious to consummate that end. I am against all those who are opposed to the Union. I am for the Union, the whole Union, and nothing but the Union. General Grant and myself have fought secession on one end of the line, and I tell you we are ready to fight it out on the other."

And addressing the populace afterwards from a balcony, the President said :

"The finger of Providence had been visible in the cause of the people. There had been those who had called him a demagogue; but for that he did not care, as there was a time coming which would teach traitors at the South and at the North that the Union must be preserved. He had told the leaders of the rebellion what would be the result, and now at the other end of the line were found traitors also, who denounced and traduced him as a traitor to the Government. These men would, if they could, pull down the Constitution and trample it under foot. He would challenge the whole Congress to prove that he had abandoned the principles upon which he had been elected. Because he had opposed the Freedmen's Bureau Bill? What was this Bureau? Nothing more than the transfer of the slaves from their owners to other taskmasters who were to pocket the profits; but if the scheme was not successful, the Government was to pocket the loss. The President had no power except the veto, however, and in the exercise of this he had simply done his duty. He would refer his hearers to his past record, and ask them to show any act of his whole life that was not in the interest of the people. He had fought oppo

sition in the South, and he would fight it in the North; and with the consent and aid of the people he would succeed. There would be no more rebellion in the South, and he stood now where he stood in 1861."

The result of the general election was very unfavourable to the President. In the Senate it was estimated that he would have not more than 11 supporters against 41 opponents, and in the House of Representatives the majority against him was more than twothirds of the whole. The new Congress-the thirty-ninth of the United States-met on the 3rd of December, and the Message of the President was, as usual, communicated to the two Houses. It was a long document and a great part of it consisted of a defence of his policy on the vexed question of "reconstruction." We will quote the most important passages.

"Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives,"After a brief interval the Congress of the United States resumes its annual legislative labours. An all-wise and merciful Providence has abated the pestilence which visited our shores, leaving its calamitous traces upon some portions of our country. Peace, order, tranquillity, and civil authority have been formally declared to exist throughout the whole of the United States. In all of the States civil authority has superseded the coercion of arms, and the people, by their voluntary action, are maintaining their Governments in full activity and complete operation. The enforcement of the laws is no longer 'obstructed in any State by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings;' and the animosities engendered by the war are rapidly yielding to the beneficent influences of our free institutions, and to the kindly effects of unrestricted social and commercial intercourse. An entire restoration of fraternal feeling must be the earnest wish of every patriotic heart; and we will have accomplished our grandest national achievement when, forgetting the sad events of the past, and remembering only their instructive lessons, we resume our onward career as a free, prosperous, and united people.

"In my Message of the 4th of December, 1865, Congress was informed of the measures which had been instituted by the Executive with a view to the gradual restoration of the States in which the insurrection occurred to their relations with the General Government. Provisional governors had been appointed, conventions called, governors elected, legislatures assembled, and senators and representatives chosen to the Congress of the United States. Courts had been opened for the enforcement of laws long in abeyance. The blockade had been removed, custom-houses reestablished, and the internal revenue laws put in force in order that the people might contribute to the national income. Postal operations had been renewed, and efforts were being made to restore them to their former condition of efficiency. The States themselves had been asked to take part in the high function of amending the

Constitution, and of thus sanctioning the extinction of African slavery as one of the legitimate results of our internecine struggle.

"Having progressed thus far, the Executive Department found that it had accomplished nearly all that was within the scope of its constitutional authority. One thing, however, yet remained to be done before the work of restoration could be completed, and that was the admission to Congress of loyal Senators and Representatives from the States whose people had rebelled against the lawful authority of the General Government. This question devolved upon the respective Houses, which, by the Constitution, are made the judges of the elections, returns, and qualifications of their own members; and its consideration at once engaged the attention of Congress.

"In the meantime, the Executive Department-no other plan having been proposed by Congress-continued its efforts to perfect, as far as was practicable, the restoration of the proper relations between the citizens of the respective States, the States and the Federal Government, extending, from time to time, as the public interest seemed to require, the judicial, revenue, and postal systems of the country. With the advice and consent of the Senate, the necessary officers were appointed, and appropriations made by Congress for the payment of their salaries. The proposition to amend the Federal Constitution, so as to prevent the existence of slavery within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction, was ratified by the requisite number of States; and on the 18th day of December, 1865, it was officially declared to have become valid as a part of the Constitution of the United States. All of the States in which the insurrection had existed promptly amended their Constitutions, so as to make them conform to the great change thus effected in the organic law of the land; declared null and void all ordinances and laws of secession; repudiated all pretended debts and obligations created for the revolutionary purposes of the insurrection; and proceeded, in good faith, to the enactment of measures for the protection and amelioration of the condition of the coloured race. Congress, however, yet hesitated to admit any of these States to representation; and it was not until towards the close of the eighth month of the Session that an exception was made in favour of Tennessee, by the admission of her Senators and Representatives.

"I deem it a subject of profound regret that Congress has thus far failed to admit to seats loyal Senators and Representatives from the other States whose inhabitants, with those of Tennessee, had engaged in the rebellion. Ten States-more than one-fourth of the whole number-remain without representation; the seats of fifty members in the House of representatives and of twenty members in the Senate are yet vacant-not by their own consent, not by a failure of election, but by the refusal of Congress to accept their credentials. Their admission, it is believed, would have accomplished much towards the renewal and strengthening of our rela

tions as one people, and removed serious cause for discontent on the part of the inhabitants of those States. It would have accorded with the great principle enunciated in the Declaration of American Independence, that no people ought to bear the burden of taxation and yet be denied the right of representation. It would have been in consonance with the express provisions of the Constitution, that each State shall have at least one representative,' and, 'that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.' These provisions were intended to secure to every State, and to the people of every State, the right of representation in each House of Congress; and so important was it deemed by the framers of the Constitution that the equality of the States in the Senate should be preserved, that not even by an amendment of the Constitution can any State, without its consent, be denied a voice in that branch of the National Legislature.

"It is true, it has been assumed that the existence of the State was terminated by the rebellious acts of their inhabitants, and that the insurrection having been suppressed, they were thenceforward to be considered merely as conquered territories. The Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Departments of the Government have, however, with great distinctness and uniform consistency, refused to sanction an assumption so incompatible with the nature of our republican system and with the professed objects of the war. Throughout the recent legislation of Congress, the undeniable fact makes itself apparent, that these ten political communities are nothing less than States of this Union. At the very commencement of the rebellion each House declared, with an unanimity as remarkable as it was significant, that the war was not 'waged upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof, and to preserve the Union with all the dignity, equality, and rights of the several States unimpaired; and that as these objects were accomplished the war ought to cease.' In some instances Senators were permitted to continue their legislative functions, while in other instances representatives were elected and admitted to seats after their States had formally declared their right to withdraw from the Union, and were endeavouring to maintain that right by force of arms. All of the States whose people were in insurrection, as States, were included in the apportionment of the direct tax of $20,000,000 annually laid upon the United States by the Act approved the 5th of August, 1861. Congress by the Act of March 4, 1862, and by the apportionment of representation thereunder, also recognized their presence as States in the Union; and they have, for judicial purposes, been divided into districts, as States alone can be divided. The same recognition appears in the recent legislation in reference to Tennessee, which evidently rests upon the fact that the functions of the State were