antly. I have intimated that I should make some allusion to myself. I have indicated to you what were my opinions and my views from 1838 down to the moment I stand before you. With the facts in relation to the contest which took place recently in the State of Tennessee, you are all familiar. No longer ago than last February there was an extra session of the Legislature called. There was then a law passed authorizing a Convention to be called. The people of that State voted it down by a majority of sixty-four thousand. In a very short time afterwards, another session of the Legislature was called. This Legislature went into secret session in a very short time. While the Southern Confederacy, or its agents, had access to it, and were put in possession of the doings and proceedings of this secret session, the great mass of my own State were not permitted even to put their ears to the keyhole, or to look through a crevice in the doors, to ascertain what was being done. A league with the Southern Confederacy has been formed, and the State has been handed over to the Southern Confederacy, with Jefferson Davis at its head. We, the people of Tennessee, have been handed over to this Confederacy, I say, like sheep in the shambles, bound hand and foot, to be disposed of as Jefferson Davis and his cohorts may think proper. This Ordinance was passed by the Convention with a proviso that it should be submitted to the people. The Governor was authorized to raise fifty-five thousand men. Money was appropriated to enable him to carry out this diabolical and nefarious scheme, depriving the people of their rights, disposing of them as stock in the market-handing them over body and soul, to the Southern Confederacy. Now you may talk about slaves and slavery, but in most instances when a slave changes his master, even he has the privilege of choosing whom he desires for his next master; but in this instance the sovereign people of a free State have not been allowed the power or privilege of choosing the master they desired to serve. They have been given a master without their consent or advice. No trouble was taken to ascertain what their desires were— they were at once handed over to this Southern Confederacy. Mr. Johnson here gave a statement of the provisions of the Tennessee Secession Ordinance, etc. The eastern portion of the State, he said, had rejected the ordinance by a large majority, and would always remain firmly opposed to it. He referred to the refusal of Governor Harris to furnish arms to East Tennessee, unless the people would agree to fight for the State Government. Speaking of the persecution of the Union men in Tennessee, he said: But while this contest has been going on, a portion of our fellow-citizens have been standing up for the Constitution and the Union, and because they have dared to stand upon the great embattlement of constitutional liberties, exercising the freedom and the liberty of speech, a portion of our people have declared that we are traitors; they have said that our fate was to be the fate of traitors; and that hemp was growing, and that the day of our execution was approaching-that the time would come when those who dare stand by the Constitution and the principles therein embraced, would expiate their deeds upon the gallows. We have met all these things. We have met them in open day. We have met them face to face-toe to toe at least in one portion of the State. We have told them that the Constitution of the United States defines treason, and that definition is, that treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against the General Government of the United States. We have told them that the time would come when the principles of the Constitution, and the law defining treason would be maintained. We have told them that the time would come when the judiciary of the Government would be sustained in such a manner that it could define what was treason under the Constitution and the law made in conformity with it, and that when defined, they would ascertain who were the traitors, and who it was that would stretch the hemp they had prepared for us. (Applause.) I know that in reference to myself and others, rewards have been offered, and it has been said that warrants have been issued for our arrest. Let me say to y u here today, that I am no fugitive, especially no fugitive from jus tice. (Laughter.) If I were a fugitive, I would be a fugitive from tyranny-a fugitive from the reign of terror. But, thank God, the country in which I live, and that division of the State from which I hail, will record a vote of twenty-five thousand against the Secession Ordinance. The county in which I live, gave a majority of two thousand and seven against this odious, diabolical, nefarious, hell-born and hell-bound doctrine. The speaker continued in a strain similar to the above for about fifteen minutes longer. He made many humorous allusions to the "bravery" of the secession soldiery, and wound up with a heart-stirring appeal for the preservation of the Union. PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITU TION. During the session of 1861, amid the innumerable plans of pacification offered, Senator Johnson presented three amendments to the Constitution. One proposed to make the President and Vice-President elected by the people directly, instead of by the electoral college. The second proposed that the Senators of the United States should be elected by the people, instead of by the Legislatures of the various States. The third provided that the Supreme Court should be divided into three classes, the term of the first class of judges to expire in four years from the time of making the classification; of the second class in eight years, and of the third class in twelve years, and as these vacancies occur they are to be filled by persons chosen-one half from the Slave States and the other half from the Free States, thereby taking the judges, so far as their selection goes, from the respective divisions of the country; also, that either the President or VicePresident, at each election, shall be from the slaveholding States. These amendments did not carry, but they afforded Mr. Johnson an opportunity to make a very able speech, showing the impossibility of legally breaking up the Union and the absurdity of any State claiming the right of secession. He said: "If the States have the right to secede at will, for real or imaginary evils or oppressions, I repeat again, this Government is at an end; it is not stronger than a rope of sand; its own weight will tumble it to pieces, and it cannot exist." On the 13th of July, 1861, Senator Johnson presented the credentials of Senators Willey and Carlisle, elected Senators by the Legislature of the new State of Western Virginia. After a long debate the credentials were received, and the new Senators were sworn in. THE ORIGIN OF THE REBELLION-OBJECT OF THE WAR. On the 26th of July, 1861, Senator Johnson offered the following resolution : Resolved, That the present deplorable civil war has been forced upon the country by the disunionists of the Southern States, now in revolt against the Constitutional government, and in arms around the Capitol; that, in this national emergency, Congress, banishing all feeling of mere passion or resentment, will recollect only its duty to the whole country; that this war is not prosecuted upon our part in any spirit of oppression, nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose of authorizing 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; that as soon as these objects are accomplished, the war ought to cease. After a spirited debate, the resolution was adoptedayes 80; noes 5. A similar resolution had been adopted by the House of Representatives, on motion of John J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, on the 22d of the same month. Perhaps the noblest speech of Mr. Johnson's Senatorial career-certainly, the one showing the deepest political research, the profoundest philosophy, and the most thorough and unselfish patriotism, was that delivered on the 27th of July, 1861. It was on the joint resolution approving certain acts of the President for suppressing insurrection and rebellion. The resolution finally passed, and as a precedent, it will be a warning to all who aim at rebellion in future, that salus respublica suprema lex. We regard Mr. Johnson's masterly oration as so grand and conclusive that, in spite of its length, we quote it in full : SPEECH OF ANDREW JOHNSON, ON THE RESOLUTION APPROVING CERTAIN ACTS OF THE PRESIDENT FOR SUPPRESSING REBELLION. The Senate having under consideration the joint resolution to approve and confirm certain acts of the President of the United States for suppressing insurrection and rebellion, Mr. Johnson, of Tennessee, said: MR. PRESIDENT:-When I came from my home to the seat of Government, in compliance with the proclamation of the President of the United States calling us together in extra session, it was not my intention to engage in any of the discussions that might transpire in this body; but since the session began, in consequence of the course which things have taken, I feel unwilling to allow the Senate to adjourn without saying a few words in response to many things that have been submitted to the Senate since its session commenced. What little I shall say today will be without much method or order. I shall present the suggestions that occur to my mind, and shall endeavor to speak of the condition of the country as it is. On returning here, we find ourselves, as we were when we adjourned last spring, in the midst of a civil war. That war is now progressing, without much hope or prospect of a speedy termination. It seems to me, Mr. |