5 
 
 X 
 
SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. WILLIAM H. SEWARD 
 
 AT AUBURN, OCTOBER 20, 1865. 
 
 The friends and neighbors of Secretary Seward, desiring to 
 manifest their regard for him previous to his return to Wash- 
 ington, paid him a parting visit at his residence on Friday, 
 October 20, 1865. The weather was cold and stormy, but a 
 hirge number of citizens w^ere, nevertheless, in attendance. 
 The Rev. Dr. Hawley, of the First Presbyterian Church, ad- 
 dressed the Secretary in behalf of the citizens in the following 
 remarks : 
 
 REMARKS OF REV. DR. HAWLEY. 
 
 Secretary Seward: Your friends and neighbors are gathered in this 
 informal manner to welcome you home once more, in the midst of familiar 
 scenes and cherished associations. A cordial and aiFectionate greeting 
 always awaits you in Auburn. Whenever you have come back to us, 
 whether from journeyings in foreign lands, or to seek a brief respite from 
 public cares, in times of peace or Avar, we have claimed the privilege of 
 neighbors, to take you by the hand and listen to your words of cheer and 
 counsel. 
 
 Time and events have strengthened these bonds of friendship and made 
 them sacred. The trials and sufferings, personal and national, which 
 
2 
 
 have come of the war, now happily ended, have taught us all lessons of 
 patience and wisdom, brotherly kindness and charity. No sorrow in the 
 sum of agony which the nation has paid for its life, conspicuous or ob- 
 scure, has been in vain. The path of duty is always the path of sacri- 
 fice. The men Avho stood at the head of Government, in that terrible 
 time, and bore the daily burden, did not ask others to brave dangers 
 which they were not willing, themselves, to encounter. In their mission, 
 o-iven them of Heaven to fulfill Avith a consecrated patriotism, and relig- 
 ious fidelity, they did not count their OAvn lives dear unto them. Our 
 beloved President, whose worth none could have known as you knew it, 
 whose confidence and labors and perils you shared so largely, must at 
 last make his grave Avith tlie martyrs of liberty, to complete the nation's 
 sacrifice. 
 
 It has been your lot, my dear sir, after a long and honored service of 
 the State, and in the orderings of a wise Providence, which in a great 
 crisis always regards the fitness of men for their place, to take a chief 
 part in the momentous events of the past five years. The whole world 
 knows where you have stoo<l, and what you have done, and what you 
 have suffered, toward the result over Avhich all now rejoice. The past is 
 secure — and the reward is certain. Need I say that all this while, you 
 have had our support and confidence, our sympathy and our prayers. 
 The bloAV from the assassin's hand, Avhich struck you doAvn, smote our 
 hearts. The great national bereavement put on a deeper gloom because 
 of the peril that hung over your life, and the lives of your household, 
 Avhich has ahvays been a part of ourselves. We Avept Avith you, Avhen 
 the life, dear to you as your own, Avas taken. We rejoiced Avith you, 
 Avhen the life Avhich was bound up in yours Avas restored. 
 
 I knoAV you will pardon this allusion to scenes and CA'ents Avhich have 
 endeared you to your friends and neighbors, not only, but have attracted 
 public sympathy at home and abroad. They make this interA^icAV one of 
 thoughtful and tender interest. They lift public life out of the sphere of 
 personal ambition, and partizan strife, and invest it with miAVonted dig- 
 nities aud sacred memories. And noAv, through the mercy of God, who 
 has Avrought a great salvation for our common country, and has given to 
 
 l_ 
 
 I 
 
3 
 
 all that measure of wisdom and eourairo, and sacrifice, uliicli tlio time 
 demanded, Ave greet you to-day, in renewed health and vigor, hopol'id lor 
 the future, as in the past, still at your post, and taking your part in the 
 more congenial task of restoring to the whole country the hlossings of 
 Peace and Union and liil)erty. 
 
 This is a visit both of Avelcome and of )>arlin,u- — f )r a season. May 
 our Heavenly Father ever have you and your family in His rare and 
 loving kindness; and may it please Ilim so to guide you and all who 
 have charge of public trusts, as to fulfill the best hopes we cherish for 
 our nation and for all men. 
 
 At the conclusion of Dr. Hawley"^ remarks Secretary Seward 
 addressed his neighbors and friends from the steps of his resi- 
 dence, as follows : 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. W. H. SKWARD. 
 
 My Good Friends : A meeting with you here from time to time, as 
 opportunity serves and duty permits, is not merely a privilege, but even 
 a blessing. Your greeting on this occasion comes in the season when 
 fruits are clustered around us, although tlie leaves aliove our heads and 
 the grass beneath our feet are yet fresh and green. The assemblage 
 which has gathered to express to me its good wishes harmonizes with the 
 season and the scene. However youthful a townsman of Auliurn is, he 
 is nevertheless habitually tlioughtful ; liowever old, he is yet always cheer- 
 ful and hopeful. This particidar greeting calls up not mere fancies, Ijut 
 memories — some new and others old ; some pleasing, others mournful : 
 some private, others public; with all of which, however, you all are inti- 
 mately and generously associated ; and those memories have become so 
 indellibly impressed upon me that they seem to me to constitute a part of 
 my very being. AVe have met occasionally during tlie i)ast five years, 
 but always under circumstances that were painful, and wliicli excited 
 deep solicitude. You freely gave me your sympathies then, even when 
 my visits were hurried ; Avhen my appeals to you, and through you to 
 more distant fellow-citizens, to make new efforts and sacrifices for our 
 suffering country, must have seemed (juerulous and exacting : but when 
 
either public or private anxieties denied me the privilege of even tempo- 
 rary rest and calmness. Who that labored under the weight of a dispro- 
 portionate responsibility could have rested or been at ease, when the 
 land which he ought to love with more than earthly aiFection was threat- 
 ened every day with a violent dissolution of its political institutions, to 
 to be too quickly followed by domestic anarcl)y, and afterwards by impe- 
 rial, and possibly foreign despotism! Would to God that the patriots of 
 Mexico had never, in the midst of her civil commotions, taken to them- 
 selves the comfort of indifference and repose ! But all is now changed. 
 The civil war is ended. Death has removed his victims ; liberty has 
 crowned her heroes, and humanity has canonized her martyrs ; the sick 
 and the stricken are cured ; the surviving combatants are fraternizing ; 
 and the country — the object of our just pride and lawful affection — once 
 more stands collected and composed, firmer, stronger, and more majestic 
 than ever before, without one cause of dangerous discontent at home, 
 and without an enemy in the world. Why should we not felicitate each 
 oth?r on this change, and upon the new prospects which open before us? 
 
 These prospects, however, cover a broad field. I could not rightly 
 tax your kindness so much as to survey the whole of it ; and even if I 
 were Avilling, you would kindly remember that at the present moment my 
 power of speech is abridged. Only magnanimous themes are Avorthy of 
 your intellectual understan'^ g, or compatible with the feelings which 
 have moved this interview. 
 
 We have lost the gi eat and good Abraham Lincoln. He had reached 
 a stage of m^ral consideration when his name alone, if encircled with a 
 martyr's wreath, would be more useful to humanity than his personal 
 efforts could be beneficial to any one country as her chosen chief magis- 
 trate. He is now associated with Washington. The tAvo American 
 chiefs, though they are dead, still live, and they are leading the entire 
 human race in a more spirited progress towards fields of broader liberty 
 and higher civilization. 
 
 In the place of Abraham Lincoln Ave haA^e a new President. To most 
 of you he is personally unknown. The people around me, with their 
 customary thoughtfulness, are inquiring of those Avho are nearer to him 
 than themselves Avhat manner of man AndrcAv Johnson is, and Avhat man- 
 
ner of President be maybe expected to l)e. AVlicn, in ISCI, treason, 
 laying aside, for tbe moment, tbe already obnoxious mask of slavi-ry, and 
 investing itself witb tbo always attractive an.l bonored rolics of Demo- 
 cratic freedom, ilaslied its lurid ligbt tbrougb tbr Senate cliamiter, and 
 announced, as already completed, a diss<dution of tbe rniou. tbcn a 
 leader, Avbo sbould be at first a Senatorial and afterwards a ). ovular 
 leader, was required, to awaken sleeping loyalty and patriotism tbrougb- 
 out tbe land, to rouse its unconscious bosts and to inspire tbcm witii tbe 
 resolution needed to rescue tbe Constitution, suppress tbe rebellion, and 
 preserve tbe integrity of tbe Kepublie. To me reason seemed to suggest, 
 in tliis case, as a necessity resulting from circimistances, tbat tbat leader 
 wbile be sbould be a capable, inflexible, and devoted patriot, sbould also 
 be a citizen of a besitating Border State — a slavebolder in practice, 
 tbougb not in principle, and yet in principle and association a Democrat. 
 Andrew Jobnson, of Tennessee, completely filled tbcse complex condi- 
 tions, and witb tbe consent of tbe wbole American people be assumeil 
 tbe great responsibility. Tbe insurrection soon became flagitious, inso- 
 lent, defiant, and announced, to tbe astonisbment of maid<ind, tbat tbe 
 pretended free empire wbicb it was building by usurpation Avitbin forbid- 
 den borders was founded upon tbe corner-stone of slavery I The newly- 
 inaugurated President, witb decision, not unaccompanied by cbaracteristic 
 prudence, announced tbat tbencefortb slavery sbould be deemed and 
 treated as a public enemy. Andrew Jobnson accepted tbe new condition 
 of bis popular leadersbip wbicb tbis announcement created, and tbence- 
 forward be openly, freely, and bonestly declared, not only tbat tbe 
 erection of tbe new^ edifice sbould be prevented, but tbe corner-stone of 
 slavery itself, tbe rock of all our past as well as of all our tben future 
 danc^ers, sbould be uplifted and removed, and cast out from tbe Republic. 
 AYhatever may bave been tbougbt by you, or by me, or by otbers, at tbat 
 time, it is now apparent tbat tbe attempted revolution culminated wben 
 tbe national banner was for tbe first time successfully replanted by our 
 gallant army on tbe banks of tbe Cumberland, and Avlien Tennessee, first 
 amons tbe Border States wbicb bad been reluctantly carried into rebel- 
 lion, oifered once more a footbold and a resting-place to tbe authorities 
 
6 
 
 of tlie Union. From tliat time, while it was yet necessary to prosecute 
 tlie war with such energies as human nature had never before exerted, it 
 Avas at the same time equally needful, with wisdom which had never been 
 surpassed, to prosecute the beneficent Avork of restoring the Union, and 
 harmonizing the great political family which, although it had been tem- 
 porarily distracted, was destined, nevertheless, to live and grow forever 
 under that majestic protection. The abolition of slavery Avas thenceforth 
 equally an element of persistent Avar and of returning peace. He neither 
 reads history Avith care nor studies the Avays of Providence Avitli reverence, 
 Avho does not see that, for the prosecution of these double, diverse, and 
 yet equally important purposes of Avar and peace, AndreAV Johnson Avas 
 fitly appointed to be a Provisional (rovernor in Tennessee — the first of a 
 series of Provisional Governors afterwards to be assigned to the insur- 
 rectionary States — and Avas subsequently elected A^ice President, and in 
 the end constitutionally inaugurated President of the United States. 
 
 We are continually hearing debates concerning the origin and authority 
 of the plan of restoration. Ncav converts. North and South, call it the 
 President's plan. All speak of it as if it Avere a noAv and recent devel- 
 opment. On the contrary, Ave noAv see that it is not specially AndrcAV 
 Johnson's plan, nor even a new plan in any respect. It is the plan Avhich 
 abruptly yet distinctly oifered itself to the last Administration, at the 
 moment I have before recalled, Avhen the Avork of restoration Avas to 
 ben-in; at the moment Avhen, although by the Avorld unperceived, it did 
 begin, and it is the only plan Avhich thus seasonably presented itself; and, 
 therefore, is the only possible plan Avhich then or ever afterAvard could 
 be adopted. This plan, although occasionally requiring variation of de- 
 tails, nevertheless admits of no substantial change or modification. It 
 could neither be enlarged nor contracted. State conventions in loyal 
 States, hoAvever favorable, in disloyal States, however hostile, could not 
 laAvfully or effectually disalloAV it; and even the people themselves, Avhen 
 amending the Constitution of the United States, are only giving to that 
 plan its just and needful sovereign sanction. In the meantime, the ex- 
 ecutive and legislative authorities of Congress can do no more than dis- 
 charge their proper functions of protecting the recently insurgent States 
 from anarchy during the intervening period Avliile the plan is being car- 
 
ried into execution. It is essential to this plan that the insurreetionary 
 States sliall, by themselves, and iui- themselves, aeeept and adopt this 
 plan, and thereby submit themselves to and reeu^^ni/.c the national autho- 
 rity. This is Avliat I meant when I said to ^Iv. Adams, in a passage 
 which you may possibly recall, that in the sense in which the word auh- 
 jugation ^s'ViS then used by the enemies of the United States, at home and 
 abroad, it was not the expectation or purpose of this (Jovernmciit that 
 the Southern States should be svdijugated; but that I thought that those 
 States Avould be brought, by the judiciously mingled exercise of pressure 
 and persuasion, to a condition in which they would voluntarily return to 
 their allegiance. This was the explanation uliich Mr. Adams "ave to 
 Lord Palmerston, the Prime ^Minister of Kngland. wlioi iliat great, and, 
 as I trust, not unfriendly statesman, said that he did not liclicvc that the 
 Federal Union could 1)e restored, because he knew tliat while any man 
 can lead a horse to the Avater, no man could make him driid<. The plan, 
 therefore, recognizes not the destruction, nor even the subversion of 
 States, but their actual existence ; and it reasons from facts as they are, 
 not from assumed or possible changes to be efiected by continual war — 
 much less does it reason from mere chimeras. This al)solute existence 
 of the States which constitute the Ivepublic is the most palpable of all 
 the facts with which the American statesman has to deal. If many 
 have stumbled over it into treason and rebellion, the fact, for all leo-iti- 
 mate deductions and purposes, nevertheless remains. In a practical 
 sense, at least, the States were before the American Union was. Even 
 while they were colonies of the British crown they still were embryo 
 States — several, free, self-existing, and indestructible. Our Federal 
 Republic exists, and henceforth and forever nmst exist, through, not the 
 creation, but the combination of these several, free, self-existing, stub- 
 born States. These States are not stakes driven into the ground by an 
 imperial hand, nor are they posts hauled together, squared, and hewed, 
 and so erected loosely upon it; but they are living, growing, majestic 
 trees, whose roots are widely spread and interlaced within the soil, and 
 Avhose shade covers the earth. If at an}^ time any of these trees shall 
 be blown down or u[)turned by violence, it must be lifted up again in its 
 proper place, and sustained b}'- kindly hands until it has renewed its 
 
natural stability and erectness ! If at any time the American Union is 
 fractured through a lesion of one of its limbs, that limb must be restored 
 to soundness before due constitutional health and vigor can be brought 
 back to the whole system. If one of these limbs offend, we have indeed 
 the power — and I will not cavil about the right — to cut it off and cast it 
 away from us ;■ but when we should have done that, we would have done 
 just Avhat other nations less wise than ourselves have done, that have 
 submitted unnecessarily to amputation, and given up a material portion 
 of their strength, to save themselves from apprehended destruction. We 
 know the inherent strength, vitality, and vigor of the whole American 
 people. We neither passionately torment any offending limb, nor con- 
 sent to its being cut off, because we know that all of our limbs are capa- 
 ble of being restored, and all are necessary to the prolongation of our 
 national life. 
 
 You will ask whether a reconciliation which follows so closely upon 
 military coercion can be relied upon. Can it be sincere ? Can it 
 be permanent ? I answer : Do you admit separation to be in any 
 case possible ? Does anybody now believe that it ever will hereafter bo- 
 come possible? Will you yourselves now or ever consent to it ? You 
 answer all these questions in the negative. Is not reconciliation, then, 
 not only desirable, but imperative? Is any other reconciliation, under 
 the circumstances, possible ? Certainly you must accept this proposed 
 reconciliation, or you must purpose to delay and wait until you can pro- 
 cure a better one. Good surgery requires that even simple wounds, 
 much more severe ones, shall be healed, if possible, at the first intention. 
 Would not delay necessarily prolong anarchy? Are you sure that you 
 can procure a better reconciliation after prolonged anarchy, without em- 
 ploying force? Who will advocate the employment of force merely to 
 hinder and delay, through prolonged anarchy, a reconciliation which is 
 feasible and perfectly consistent with the Constitution ? In what part of 
 the Constitution is written the power to continue civil war against suc- 
 cumbino- States for ultimate political triumph? What would this be but, 
 in fact, to institute a new civil war, after one had ended with the com- 
 plete attainment of the lawful objects for which it was waged ? Con- 
 gress and the Administration have power to levy wars against foreign 
 

 
 States foiMvliatcvercau.se tlicy see fit. Congress ami tin' I'rt'sidtut have 
 a right to accept or even make ^var against any part of tlic peofdc of the 
 United States only under tlicir limited power to suppress seditinii and 
 insurrection, and for that })urpose only. What then? Must we give up 
 the hope of further elevation of classes in the several States witliout any 
 new guaranties for individual liberty and progress? Uy no means. 
 Marching in this path of progress and elevation of masses is what wi; 
 have been doing still more efVeetually in the prosecution of the war. Ii 
 is a national march, as oii\\;inl and irresistible as the late eontliet be- 
 tween free and slave labor was vigorous and irrepressible. The plan of 
 reconciliation we are inirsuins; has jxiven us two great national advances 
 in this progress of moral and political elevation, which are now to be 
 made fast and firmly fixed. First, it secures a voluntary abolition of 
 slavery by every State wliieli has engaged in insurrection; and secondly, 
 it must secure and does secure an effectual adoption by the late slave 
 States themselves of the amendment of the Federal Constitution, which 
 declares that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except for crime, 
 shall ever hereafter exist in any part of the United States. The people 
 who have so steadily adhered to the true path of Democratic progress 
 and civilization through all the seductions of peace, and through so many 
 difficulties and at such fearful cost in war, will now have new inducements 
 and encouragements to persevere in that path until they shall have suc- 
 cessfully reduced to a verity the sublime assertion of the political equality 
 of all men, which the founders, in their immortal declaration, laid down 
 as the true basis of American Union. 
 
 It is certain that the plan of reconciliation which I have thus largely 
 explained must and will be adopted. It may, however, be hindered or 
 hastened. How can it be hindered? You shew j^ourselves aware of the 
 answer when you fasten upon any violent, factious, or seditious exhibi- 
 tion of passion or discontent in any of the lately rebellious States and 
 argue from it the f;iilure of the plan. You argue justly. Every turbu- 
 lent and factious person in the lately insurrectionary States is resisting, 
 hindering, and delaying the Avork of restoration to the extent of his 
 ability. But the case is precisely the same with ourselves. Manifesta- 
 tions of doubt, distrust, crimination, contempt, or defiance, in the loyal 
 
10 
 
 States, are equally injurious, and equally tend to delay the work of 
 reconciliation. How, then, shall it be hastened? I reply, virtually 
 in the language of the President — in the spirit of the Constitution, 
 and in harmony, not only with our politics, but with our religion. 
 ^'We must trust each other."' Can we not trust each other? Once 
 we were friends. We have since been enemies. AYe are friends 
 again. But, whether in friendship or in enmity, in peace or in war, 
 Ave are and can be nothing else to each other than brethren. A few 
 evenings ago, an hundred Southern men, who recently had been 
 more or less influential and leading revolutionists, visited my house at 
 Washington. They were frank, unreserved, and earnest in their assur- 
 ances of acquiescence and reconciliation, as I also was in mine. ITappily, 
 a party of intelligent Englishmen were in my dwelling at the same time. 
 I introduced the late rebels to the representatives of sympathising Eng- 
 land, and I said to the parties : " You lately each of you thought that 
 the Southern men preferred British rule to citizenship in the United 
 States." While the Englishmen individually disclaimed, both parties 
 promptly answered, as they do now, that the idea was not merely a 
 delusion, but an absurd mistake. They now knew that even during the 
 excitement of the war, the American citizen, whether North or South, 
 really preferred his own countrymen of every section to any other people 
 in the "world. 
 
 Some of you fear that the President may be too lenient to those 
 Southern leaders who plunged the country into the calamities of civil 
 Avar. Except those of you aa'Iio have been maimed or bereaved, have any 
 of you suffered more of Avrong, insult, and violence at the hands of those 
 leaders than he has ? Can we not forget Avhere he can forgive ? Are 
 you aware that his terms of amnesty are far more rigorous than those 
 which Avere offered by Abraham Lincoln? Have you ever seen the 
 majesty of hiAV more firmly maintained than it has been by him in the 
 exercise of discriminating clemency? Some of you seem to have been 
 slightly disturbed by professions or demonstrations of favor tOAvard the 
 President made by parties Avho have heretofore opposed his administra- 
 tion, as Avell as the administration of his predecessor. And you ask: 
 May not the President yet prove unfaithful to us? For myself, I laid 
 
11 
 
 aside pavtizansliip, if I had any, in 11S(51, Avlion the salvation of tlic 
 country demanded that sacrifice. It is not, tlicrefore, my purpose to 
 descend to mere partis^anship now, Andrew Johnson hiid aside, I am 
 sure, whatever of partisanship lie had. at the same time. That noble act 
 did not allow, but, on the other hand, it forbade collusion by the friends 
 of the Union with opponents of the policies of the Avar and of reconcilia- 
 tion which the Government has found it necessary to pursue. Duty re- 
 quires absolute and uncompromising fidelity to the supporters of those 
 policies, wdiosoever and of whatsoever party they may be. Andrew 
 Johnson has practiced that fidelity against the violence of enemies, to 
 the sacrifice of his fortune, the hazard of his liberty, and even the peril 
 of his life. The same fidelity is still identified with the success of those 
 policies, and, of course, is necessary to the achievement of their magnifi- 
 cent ends. Why should he now abandon those policies, and desert 
 time-honored and favored supporters, merely because the dawning suc- 
 cess of our efforts has compelled former opponents to approve and accept 
 them? Patriotism and loyalty equally, however, re(|uire that fidelity in 
 this case should be mutual. Be ye faithful, therefore, on your part, and 
 although the security I offer is unnecessary and superfluous, yet I will 
 guarantee fidelity on his part. Those who hitherto opposed the Presi- 
 dent, but now profess to support him, either are sincere or insincere. 
 Time must prove which is the fact. If they are sincere, who that has a 
 loyal heart must not rejoice in their late, though not too-long-delayed 
 conversion? If they are insincere, are we either less sagacious or have 
 we less ability now than heretofore to counteract treachery to the 
 national cause? Perhaps you fear the integrity of the man. I confess, 
 with a full sense of my accountability, that among all the public men 
 Avhom I have met or with whom I have been associated or concerned, in 
 this or any other country, no one has seemed to me to be more wholly 
 free from personal caprice and selfish ambition than Andrew Johnson ; 
 none to be more purely and exclusively moved in public action by love 
 of country and good will to mankind. 
 
 I hope I have said enough of the President, Shall I now speak of his 
 associates in administration — the heads of executive departments, as they 
 are called? I do it cheerfully, because now, for the first time, I am free 
 
12 
 
 to speak of tliem as I truly regard and esteem tlieni. Heretofore I could 
 not do so without inviting wliat might prove injurious debate — moreover, 
 I could not do so without seeming to desire for myself some exemption 
 from censure, some exercise of clemency, which self-respect forbade me 
 personally to invoke. For the time, I said to myself: 
 
 •• Bly name is lost:_ 
 By treason's tooth bare-knawn .■iml (?aiikoi-bit. 
 Yet I am noble as the adversaiy 
 I come to cope withal ."' 
 
 That time has passed away. The present and the last Administrations 
 are inseparably allied. Their work is now either completely done, or its 
 end is near at hand. The heads of departments in these allied Adminis- 
 trations are now separable without injury to the national safety and wel- 
 fare. Each is entitled to his proper merit, and each must be content to 
 bear his distinct responsibility. 
 
 We have had three Secretaries of the Treasury. I believe that the 
 fiscal system under which the nation has been conducted through greater 
 difficulties than any other nation ever encountered was not only wisely 
 projected and efficiently organized by Mr. Chase, but was the only one 
 which, under the then existing circumstances, could have been successful. 
 There has been since no departure from that plan, nor any relaxation in 
 pursuing it, by either his immediate successor, Mr. Fessenden, or by Mr. 
 McCulloch, the present incumbent. Intricate financial questions must 
 continue to present themselves from time to time, until we shall have 
 turned the outgoing tide of debt, and begun to experience the incoming 
 flow of surplus revenue. For myself I can safely leave them to the care 
 of the Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 We have had two Secretaries of War, Mr. Cameron and Mr. Stanton. 
 The period of the first was short ; that of the last has been long. Of 
 Mr. Cameron I bear witness that he was in all things honest, earnest, 
 zealous, and patriotic. Of Mr. Stanton I am to speak in even more ex- 
 alted praise. My acquaintance with him began amid the hours of deep 
 and overwhelming solicitude which filled what may justly be called an 
 interregnum which occurred between the election of Abraham Lincoln 
 to the Presidency, in November, 1860, and his inauguration, in March, 
 1861, and while Edwin M. Stanton was an acting member of the waning 
 Administration of James Buchanan. From that time, throuo-h all the 
 
period uhicli elapsed until April, ]8(^">, uhon the sie^'c of tlie i-apital 
 was raised, and tlie fearful tragedy of the country was closed witli the 
 assassination of the Chief Magistrate who had saved it, I hourly saw and 
 closely observed, by night and by day, the Secretary of War. 1 saw 
 him organize and conduct a war of pure repression, greater than any 
 war which mankind has before experienced. In all that time I saw no 
 great or serious error committed. I saw, as you have all seen, the great- 
 est military results achieved — results which the whole w<»rl(l regarded as 
 impossible. There is not one of those results that is not more or less 
 directly due to the fertile invention, sagacious preparation, and indomit- 
 able perseverance and energy of the Secretary of AVar. 1 have never 
 known him to express or even betray a thought in regard to our country 
 which was not divine. What remains to be done, by exliibiting military 
 force in bringing the insurrectionary States out from anarchy into a con- 
 dition of internal peace and co-operation with the Government, may be 
 safely trusted to him. 
 
 I am equally satisfied with the naval administration of [Mr. Welles ; 
 and yet I am bound to acknowledge that, during the whole period of his 
 service, the navy has practically enjoyed the administration of two saga- 
 cious and effective chiefs. The Secretary of the Navy will himself, I 
 am sure, approve and thank me for this tribute to his assistant, Captain 
 Fox. The Dejiartment has achieved glory enough to divide between 
 them. I apprehend neither now nor in any near future any danger of 
 maritime collision or conflict; but I think the nuiintenance of naval pre- 
 paration equally advantageous, both at home and abroad, with regard to 
 questions which, without that precaution, might possibly arise. I am 
 content to leave the responsibility of this case with Mr. Welles. 
 
 We have had three Secretaries of the Interior, or Home Department 
 — Mr. Smith, Mr. Usher, and Mr. Harlan. Amid the tumults of war 
 and the terror inspired by foreign conspiracies, the operations of the 
 Home Department have all the while been carried on without arresting 
 attention, or even obtaining observation. It might be sufficient praise 
 to say of its chiefs that now, when the time for scrutiny has come, those 
 unobserved operations are found to have been faultless. But this is not 
 all. A thousand, five thousand years hence, men will inquire when and 
 
14 
 
 by ^vllol^ uas projected and instituted the steam overland connection, 
 ■which, durino- all the intervening period, will ])eseen to have indissolublj 
 bound the distant coasts of the Pacific to the shores of the iVtlantic 
 Ocean. The answer will be, it was projected and instituted by the Sec- 
 retaries of the Interior during the administration of Abraham Lincoln. 
 
 We have had two Postmaster Generals. No more prudent or efficient 
 one than Montgomery Blair has ever presided in that Department. In 
 his successor, Mr. Dennison, we find a practised statesman, who, under 
 the improved circumstances of our national condition, is giving us special 
 and peculiar cause for satisfaction. He is promptly restoring the trans- 
 portation of mails throughout the late theatre of war, and in that way 
 performing an eminent part in the reconciliation of the American people. 
 Watchful of the interests of external as well as of internal commerce, 
 he has brought into action a new and direct postal line with Brazil, and 
 thus has introduced us to more intimate intercourse Avith the States of 
 South America. A year hence Ave shall see him extending commercial, 
 political, and friendly connection to the islands of the Pacific and the 
 great continents that lie beyond it. 
 
 I wash you all could understand Mr. Speed, the Attorney General, as 
 I do. I do not know Avhetlier he is to be admired more for varied and 
 accurate learning, or for Avhat seems to be an intuitive faculty of moral 
 j)hilosophy. Only tlie delicate nervous system, -which Ave all enjoy, but 
 so seldom appreciate, seems to me to furnish a parallel for his quick sen- 
 sibilities in the discovery and appreciation of truth. Firmer than most 
 men in his convictions, and ])raver in his hopes of the progress of human- 
 ity, he is neA'ertheless temperate, thoughtful, and Avise in the conduct of 
 administration. 
 
 These are they Avho Avere or are the counsellors and agents of the Pre- 
 sident of the United States during the eventful period through Avhich Ave 
 have passed. That they liave always agreed from the first in deciding 
 the momentous questions Avitli AvJiich they Avere engaged is not asserted. 
 A Cabinet Avhich should agree at once on every such question Avould be 
 no better or safer than one counsellor. Our republican SA^stem, and the 
 political system of every free country, requires, if not a "multitude of 
 counsellors," at least an aggregation and diverseness of counsellors. 
 
16 
 
 But this 1 do iiiaiiitaiii and coiitidcntly i)roclaiiii, that evory impoi'taiit 
 decision of the Administration's lias been wiso. 1 maintain witli (■((ual 
 firmness, and declave witli still liTcatcr jdcasurc, tlic opininii tliat ii<. 
 council of o-overnmont ever existed in a i-cvolutionary period in any 
 nation Avhich was either more harmonious or more loyal to each othei-, to 
 their chief, and to their country. Had this council been at any time 
 less harmonious or less loyal, 1 should then lia\e i'earcd the dowiilall of 
 the Republic. 
 
 Happily, I need not enter the field toassi^'n honors to our military and 
 naval chiefs. Their achievements, while they have excited the admira- 
 tion and won the aftectionatc gratitude of all our countrymen, have 
 already become a grand theme of universal history. 
 \ I omit to speak of foreign nations and of the proceedings of the Gov- 
 ernment in regard to them for two reasons : first, because the discussion 
 of such questions is for a season necessarily conducted without imme- 
 diate publicity; the other is a reason I need not assign. Nevertheless, 
 I may say in general terms this: We have claims upon foreign nations 
 for injuries to the United States and their citizens, and other nations have 
 presented claims against this (Jovernment for alleged injuries to them or 
 their subjects. Although these claims are chiefly of a personal and 
 pecuniary nature, yet the discussion of them involves principles essen- 
 tial to the independence of States and harmony among the nations. I 
 believe that the President will conduct this part of our affairs in such a 
 manner as to ^neld and recover indemnities justly due, without any com- 
 promise of the national dignity and honor. With whatever jealousy we 
 may adhere to our inherited principle of avoiding entangling alliances 
 with foreign nations, the United States must continue to exercise — as 
 always before our civil Avar they did exercise — a just and beneficent in- 
 fluence in the international conduct of foreign States, particularly those 
 which are near to us on this continent, and which are especially endeared 
 to us by their adoption of republican institutions. That just influence 
 of ours was impaired, as might have been apprehended by the American 
 people, when they fell into the distractions of civil war. "With the return 
 of peace it is coming back to us again, in greater strength than ever. I 
 am sure that this important interest has not been lost sight of by the 
 
10 
 
 President of the United States for a single moment, and I expect that 
 we shall see republican institutions, Avherever they have been heretofore 
 established throughout the American continent, speedily vindicated, re- 
 newed, and reinvigoratod. When I shall see this progress successfully 
 worked out on the American continent, I shall then look for the signs of 
 its successful working throughout the other continents. 
 
 It is thus that I think the administrations of Abraham Lincoln and 
 Andrew Johnson may be assumed as an epoch at which humanity will 
 resume with new spirit and courage the career which, however slow, is 
 nevertheless constantly directed toward the destruction of every form of 
 human slavery, and the political equality of all men. 
 
 And now, my dear friends and neighbors, after this pleasant intervicAV, 
 we part once more — you to continue, I hope with unabated success and 
 pleasure, your accustomed domestic and social pursuits; I to return to 
 the Capital, there to watch and wait and work on a little longer. But 
 we shall meet again. We came together to-day to celebrate the end of 
 civil war. We will come together again under next October's sun, to 
 rejoice in the restoration of peace, harmony, and union throughout the 
 land. Until that time I refrain from what would be a pleasant task — 
 the forecasting of the material progress of the country, the normal in- 
 crease of population by birth and immigration, and its diffusion over tlie 
 now obliterated line of Mason and Dixon, to the (jiulf of Mexico, and 
 over and across the Rocky Mountains along the border of Mexico to the 
 Pacific Ocean. I say now only this: Go on, fellow-citizens, increase and 
 multiply as you luive heretofore done. Extend channels of internal 
 commerce as the development of agricultural, forest, and mineral re- 
 sources requires. Improve your harbors, consolidate tlie Union now 
 Avhile you can, Avithout unconstitutionally centralizing the Government, 
 and henceforth you Avill enjoy, as a tribute of respect and confidence, 
 that security at home and that consideration abroad which maritime 
 powers of the world have of late, when their candor wus specially 
 needed, only reluctantly and partially conceded. ^lay our Heavenly 
 Father bless you and your families and friends, and have you all in His 
 holy keeping until the rolling months shall bring around that happy 
 meeting in 186G; and so, for the present, farewell. 
 
LIBKHKY Uh CUNbKt:>b 
 
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