with another; then we see our government is to be a perpetuity, there being no provision for pulling it down, the Union being its vitalizing power, imparting life to the whole of the States that move around it like planets around the sun, receiving thence light, and heat, and motion. Upon this idea of destroying States, my position has been heretofore well known, and I see no cause to change it now, and I am glad to hear its reiteration on the present occasion. Some are satisfied with the idea that States are to be lost in territorial and other divisions; are to lose their character as States. But their life breath has only been suspended, and it is a high constitutional obligation we have to secure each of these States in the possession and enjoyment of a republican form of Government. A State may be in the Government with a peculiar institution, and by the operation of rebellion lose that feature; but it was a State when it went into rebellion, and when it comes out without the institution, it is still a State. I hold it a solemn obligation in any one of these States where the rebel armies have been beaten back or expelled, I care not how small the ship of State, I hold it, I say, a high duty to protect and to secure to them a republican form of government. This is no new opinion. It is expressed in conformity with my understanding of the genius and theory of our Government. Then in adjusting and putting the Government upon its legs again, I think the progress of this work must pass into the hands of its friends. If a State is to be nursed until it again gets strength, it must be nursed by its friends, not smothered by its enemies. Now, permit me to remark, that while I have opposed dissolution and disintegration on the one hand, on the other I am equally opposed to consolidation, or the centralization of power in the hands of a few.

PENNSYLVANIA AND THE PRESIDENT.

A delegation of citizens of Pennsylvania called upon the President, to present to him a letter from the Governor of that Commonwealth. Among those present were Colonel F. Jordan, military agent of Pennsylvania at Washington city, and his assistant, Colonel Gilliland, Samuel Wagner, Esq., of York county, and others. Colonel J. W. Forney read the letter of Governor Curtin to the President:

:

EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, Harrisburg, Pa., April 25, 1865. SIR I have just returned from reverently attending the remains of our martyred President on their passage through this Commonwealth, and I avail myself of the first moment to assure you that, as Pennsylvania has throughout steadily and effectively sustained the Government in its efforts to crush the existing rebellion, so she and her authorities may be relied on to stand heartily by your Adminstration, and that, with an earnestness and vigor enhanced by the just horror which all her people entertain of the base and cowardly assassination to which your predecessor has fallen a victim.

I know that it is unnecessary to give you this assurance; but looking to the vast responsibilities that have been suddenly cast upon you, it has seemed to me that an express word of hearty encouragement from your friends cannot be otherwise than agreeable to you. I should have visited Washington to say this much to you in person, but I am unwilling just at this moment to incur the danger of interfering with the just discharge of your public duties by occupying your time.

I am, sir, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, To the President. A. G. CURTIN.

REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.

In reply, President Johnson expressed his fervent thanks to Governor Curtin for the hearty manner in which he had proffered his valuable support of the General Administration. Some of his most interesting recollections were of the old Keystone State. In the war for the maintenance of the Government she had surpassed herself in her contributions to our armies and in the valor and sacrifices of her sons, many of whom he classed among his best friends, having met them in large numbers during his trials in Tennessee. President Johnson trusted that his administration of the Government would not be unworthy of the confidence of the loyal people of Pennsylvania.

ANOTHER PENNSYLVANIA DELEGATION. A committee of prominent gentlemen from different parts of Pennsylvania, most of whom participated in a large meeting, held in Harrisburg on Thursday evening, 27th April, was appointed to present the preamble and resolutions unanimously adopted at that time to Andrew Johnson, President of the United States. In accordance with the instructions of that meeting, nearly all the gentlemen appointed on the committee, accompanied by the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, paid their respects to President Johnson, at his rooms in the Treasury building.

Gen. Cameron introduced the members of the committee, individually, to the President, after which, in the following language, he presented the preamble and resolutions which the committee was charged to convey to the Chief Magistrate :

MR. PRESIDENT.-I have only one word to say. A large number of people, members of the Union and Republican party, met at Harrisburg last Thursday, and appointed this Committee to come and pay their respects to you. We have nothing to desire but the prosperity of your administration, and have ample confidence in your ability, a confidence derived from your past history. Your first great task is to close up this war, and we take it for granted you will act not only wisely but justly. I also take it for granted that the men who brought on this war will meet the full reward of their guilt, while we believe the mere deluded instruments ought to be suffered to go along their wonted way and do the best they can. We cannot doubt that the men who made the war-who have killed in battle thousands of our sons and brothers, and who have suffered other thousands to die from starvation in loathsome prisons-will be permitted to live in the country which they have disgraced and denounced; and we hope that you will find some way to take care of them and to save and reunite the country. There are none here who have come from any desire for place for themselves or their relations-they are substantial men, from all parts

of our great State, who have no interest so strong as to interpose with their love of country. They hope and believe you will bring the country out of its present trouble; and, above all things, they feel assured that, by your hand, no arrangement for peace will be made that does not put an end to slavery forever.

me.

THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY.

MR. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN.-I can only reply in general terms; and perhaps as good a reply as I can make would be to refer to or repeat what I have already said to other delegations who have come for the purpose of encouraging and inspiring me with confidence on entering upon the discharge of duties so responsible, so perilous. All that I could now say would be but a reiteration of sentiments already indicated. The words you have spoken are most fully and cordially accepted and responded to by I, too, think the time has arrived when the people of this nation should understand that treason is a crime. When we turn to the catalogue of crime, we find that most of those contained in it are understood; but the crime of treason has neither been generally understood nor generally appreciated as I think it should be; and there has been an effort, since this rebellion commenced, to make the impression that it was a mere political struggle, or, as I see it thrown out in some of the papers, a struggle for ascendancy of certain principles, from the dawn of the government, to the present time, and now settled by the final triumph of the Federal arms. If this is to be a determined, settled idea and opinion, the government is at an end, for no question can arise but they will make it a party issue; and then, to whatever length they carry it, the party defeated, will be only a party defeated, and no crime attaches thereto. But, I say, treason is a crime-the highest crime known to the law-and the people ought to understand it, and be taught to know, that unless it be so considered, there can be no government. I do not say this to indicate a revengeful or improper spirit. It is simply the enunciation of deliberate consideration and temperate judg

ment.

There are men who ought to suffer the penalties of their treason; but there are also some who have been engaged

in this rebellion who, while technically speaking, they are guilty of treason, yet who morally are not-thousands who have been drawn into it, involved by various influences, by conscription, by dread, by force of public opinion in the localities in which they lived-these are not so responsible as are those who led, deceived, and forced them. To the unconscious, deceived, conscripted-in short, to the great mass of the misled-I would say mercy, clemency, reconciliation, and the restoration of their Government. To those who have deceived-to the conscious, influential traitor, who attempted to destroy the life of a nation-I would say, on you be inflicted the severest penalties of your crime. (Applause.)

I fully understand how easy it is to get up an impression in regard to the exercise of mercy; and if I know myself and my own heart, there is in it as great a disposition to mercy as can be manifested on the part of any other individual; BUT MERCY WITHOUT JUSTICE IS A CRIME. In the exercise of mercy, there should be deliberate consideration and a profound understanding of the case; and I am not prepared to say but what it should often be transferred to a higher court, a court where mercy and justice can best be united.

In responding to the remarks of your chairman in reference to free government and the discharge of my duties, I can only say again, that my past public life must be taken as the guide to what my future will be. My course has been unmistakable and well defined. I know it is easy to cry out demagogue, but let that be as it may. If I have spent the toil of youth and the vigor of my life for the elevation of the great masses of the people, why it was a work of my own choosing, and I will bear the loss; and if it is demagogism to please the people, if it is demagogism to strive for their welfare and amelioration, then I am a demagogue. I was always proud when my duties were so discharged that the people were pleased.

A great monopoly (and the remarks of your chairman bring me to it) existed-that of slavery, and upon it rested an aristocracy. It is the work of freemen to put down monopolies. You have seen the attempt made by the monopoly of slavery to put down the free Government; but the making of the attempt, thereby to control and destroy the Government, you have seen the Government