LATER AMERICAN NEWS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 7, Issue 378, 21 May 1866, Page 1

LATER AMERICAN NEWS.

By the arrival of the Eliza Sharpe at Auckland, we (Southern Cross) have Californian papers to the sth March. Several vessels had sailed for Auckland with breads! uSs, WASHINGTON NEWS. New York, 2nd March. The Times’ Washington special despatch says the President is fully sustained by the Cabinet, and there will be no disruption. Washington, Ist March. Mrs Jane Gr. Swishelm was dismissed from her clerkship in the QuartermasterGeneral’s Office, on Monday, for language direspectful to the President in a little weekly paper edited by her. Maximilian's agent is floating about Washington in a very unobtrusive way. At the request of Mrs Lincoln, the Treasurer of the United States has invested the amount of twenty-two thousand dollars voted to her by Congress in five-twenty bonds. 2nd March. The Congressional Committee for the circulation of documents among the people are arranging for the most thorough diffusion of such documents as will put all the questions connected with reconstruction fully and fairly before the country. It is charged that this Committee is bent upon sending nothing but the most radical speeches; but the character of the men composing the Committee is a sufficient.guarantee of the falsity of this report, and all opinions will be freely given. The Miscellaneous Appropriation Bill, as passed by the House, included the following: —For the survey of public lands in California, thirty thousand dollars; in Oregon and Washington territory, twenty thousand dollars each ; in Nebraska, twenty thousand dollars; and in Colorado, ten thousand dollars. RECONSTRUCTION. The Minnesota Legislature has adopted the following resolution by a strict party vote: — Resolved —That it is to Congress that the people look for a true reconstruction policy, and we rely upon its firmness and wisdom in the present exigencies of public affairs. Resolutions sustaining the President were tabled by a party vote, and both Houses of the Legislature adjourned to-day. The Wisconsin Legislature passed the following Resolved—That while we remember with gratitude the noble and devoted patriotism manifested by President Johnson during the dark days of the rebellion, we should be guilty of deceiving him and misrepresenting our constituents if we failed to declare that bis message vetoing the Freedman’s Bureau

Bill, in its general tone and spirit, has caused pain and disappointment among his true friends and supporters, and has been hailed with exuberant joy by every man whose sympathies were with the rebellion, and who were cold and indifferent when treason threatened the life of the Republic. Resolved—That we most cordially endorse and approve the action of the Senators and Representatives in Congress who have persistently asserted the right of Congress to determine for itself when and in what manner it will admit the Representatives from the States disorganised by the rebellion; and we earnestly request them to firmly resist the admission of the Representatives of such States until peacefully secured, and the people of each State positively guarantee equal and exact justice to all men within her borders. The Herald’s Fortress Monroe correspondent states that Jeff. Davis pretended to be surprised that a national salute was fired on the 22nd, which included one gun for each of the rebel States. THE PRESIDENT’S SPEECH. Chicago, 23rd February. The Republican’s Washington special despatch gives a full report of the President’s speech yesterday. The meeting at Grover’s Theatre adjourned to the White House to present a series of resolutions, endorsing the President’s veto, and arrived in front of the White House a noisy crowd of two thousand persons. The President came out aud said: It is extremely gratifying that so large a portion of my fellow citizens approve of the policy adopted, and which I intend to carry out. The day is peculiarly appropriate for the endorsement of a policy whose subject is the restoration of the Union as designed by the father of his country. I stand here to-day as I stood in the Senate in 1860 ; and when I denounced traitors trying to break up the Government, there were two parties, one which was determined to destroy the Government and save slavery, aud the other almost equally dangerous and equally willing to break up the Government to destroy slavery. Whether dis-unionists come from the North or South, I stand now, as I did then, vindicating the Union and the Constitution. The Government has stretched forth its strong arm, and with its physical power put down treason in the field. The armies of the traitors have been disbanded, and they come forward now in penitential spirit, saying:—“ We were mistaken. We made an effort to carry out the doctrine of Secession and to dissolve the Union, and we have failed. We have traced this doctrine to its logical and physical results, and find w© were mistaken. We acknowledge the flag of our country, and are willing to obey the Constitution and yield to the supremacy of the laws.” Coming in that spirit, I say to them ; —“ When you have acknowledged your allegiance; I will, as far as I can, open the door of the Union to those who have erred and strayed for a time.” The spirit of revenge is not the spirit in which to deal with the whole people, I know there has been a great deal said about the exercise of the pardoning power. I know there is no one who has labored with more earnestness than myself to have the principal, intelligent, and conscious traitors brought to justice, the laws vindicated, and the great fact judicially established, that treason is a crime. But while conscious that leading and intelligent traitors are to be punished, should whole communicates, states, and their people, be made to submit to the penalty of death? (“ No, No,”) Let those who have erred be punished, but to the great multitude, forced into the rebellion, I say, give leniency and kindness. We put down the rebellion in order to prevent the separation of states but when the struggle on our part has been successful, we find now an effort to concentrate all the power in the hands of a few at Federal head-quarters, and thereby establish a new principle of equality as objectionable as separation. The Government may be revolutionised without war; and this is the most dangerous because its progress is not so easily watched. I fought traitors and treason in the South, and now when I turn round and find men —I care not what kind of men you call them —still opposed to the

Union, I am free to say to you that I am still in the field. I stand for my country — I stand for the Constitution. There I have placed my feet from my advent into public life. They may traduce, they may slander, or they may vituperate me; hut let me say to you all, it has no influence upon me. Let me say further, that I do not intend to be overawed by real or pretended friends; nor do I mean to be bullied by my enemies. My honest conviction is my courage; the Constitution is my guide. I know, my countrymen, it has been insinuated—no, not insinuated —it has been said directly—in high circles, that if such usurpation of power as I am charged with had been exercised 200 years ago, it would have cost the individual his head. Of what usurpation has Andrew Johnson been guilty ? (“ None, none.”) Is it usurpation that I stand between the people and the encroachments of power from the same source ? The exclamation has gone forth that they were in the midst of earthquakes, that they were trembling, and could not yield. Yes, fellow-citizens, there is an earthquake coming; there is a grand swelling of popular judgment and indignation. The American people will speak, aud by their instinct, if not otherwise, they will know who are their enemies. I have occupied, and there is hardly a position in this Government I have not at some time filled. Point to the man who can say that Andrew Johnson ever acted with infidelity to the great mass of people. Men talk about beheading and usurpation, but when I am beheaded I want the American people to be the witnesses. Ido not want it by inuendoes and indirect remarks in high places to be suggested to men who have assassination breeding in their bosoms. Others have exclaimed that the present obstacle must be got out of the way, What is that but —I make use of a strong word—inciting to assassination ; no doubt, I say the intention was to incite, to assassination, that the obstacle which the people had placed here might be got out of the way. Are the opponents of this Government not yet satisfied ? Are those who want to destroy our institutions and change the character of the Government not yet satisfied with the quantity of blood that has been shed ? Are they not satisfied with one martyr in this place? If my blood must be shed because I vindicate the Union, remember the “blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” This seed will grow and continue to increase in strength and power, though it may be cemented and cleansed in blood. I never insisted on encroachments on the Constitution, and I stand prepared to resist them to-day. Would to God the whole American people could be assembled here today, as you are, and could witness the great struggle going on to preserve the Constitution of their fathers. They wonld soon settle the question if they could only see the kind of spirit manifested in the effort to break up the principles of a free Government.