網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版
[ocr errors]

CH. XXI.]

ANDREW JOHNSON'S ACCESSION.

543

bed, and reduced to great debility. felt that the government was enveloped
One of the band of murderers, named in the meshes of a conspiracy, whose
Payne, made his way into Mr. Seward's agents were unknown, and which was
house, at ten o'clock in the evening, all the more terrible for the darkness and
under pretence of bringing medicines mystery in which it moved.
from the physician, and though hin- All these feelings, however, gradually
dered in his progress by Mr. Seward's subsided, and gave way to a feeling of
son, who forbad his entering the room, intense anxiety for the life of the presi-
he succeeded in getting to the third dent. Crowds of people assembled in
story and forcing his way into the pre- the neighborhood of the house where
sence of the utterly helpless invalid. the dying martyr lay, eager
for tidings
Throwing himself upon the bed, Payne of his condition, throughout the night;
made three powerful stabs at Mr. and when early in the morning it was
Seward's throat, gashing him badly, but announced that he was dead, a feeling
not fatally. An invalid soldier, named of solemn awe filled every heart, and
Robinson, acting as nurse, seized Payne sat, a brooding grief, upon every face."*
about the body and tried to drag him
away; and Mr. Seward crept quickly
off the bed at the further side. The
murderer, having broken away from
Robinson, rushed to the door, and de-
spite all obstacles, escaped into the
street, mounted a horse he had there,
and rode quickly away.

We need not enlarge upon the feel. ing produced by what has just been narrated. The news, as carried by the telegraph over the country, on the morning of April 15th, excited everywhere profound astonishment and horror; and as the crime of assassination was one unknown in our annals, and utterly abhorrent to the spirit and genius of our people, it stirred to their very depths the indignation of Americans, and the sense of wrong and insult

"When the news of this appalling tragedy," says Mr. Raymond, "spread through the city, it carried consternation to every heart. Treading close on the heels of the president's murder-received at the hands of the shameless perpetrated indeed at the same instant -it was instinctively felt to be the work of a conspiracy, secret, remorseless, and terrible. The secretary of war, Mr. Stanton, had left Mr. Seward's bedside not twenty minutes before the assault, and was in his private chamber, preparing to retire, when a messenger brought tidings of the tragedy, and summoned his instant attendance. On

his way to Mr. Seward's house, Mr.
Stanton heard of the simultaneous
murder of the president, and instantly

wretches who had taken this course in order to gratify the malignity and bitterness of their depraved souls. Quite possibly, Booth and his fellow con spirators and employers had some insane notion that Mr. Lincoln's death would involve dire confusion, perhaps revolution, in the government; and under such a state of things, they may

"Life of Abraham Lincoln," p. 700. Of the funeral honors paid to Mr. Lincoln, in the several portions of the country through which his remains passed on their way to Illinois, Mr. Raymond gives a full and in

teresting account, pp. 702–712.

have thought that the rebels would and regularly as if the deplorable gain some advantage to themselves or murder of Abraham Lincoln had never their cause; but they little knew or been committed. appreciated the strength of the Constitution, and the spirit of willing obedi Here we bring our present labors to ence which the people always render to a close. We do not attempt to give its provisions. There was no political expression to sentiments which might agitation or danger, no disturbance of naturally be uttered on such an occathe finances, no outbreaks, no doubt sion. We indulge in no words of anywhere as to the stability of the eulogy; we venture upon no criticism; government. The attorney-general, the day has not arrived for either. The James Speed, in behalf of the cabinet of Mr. Lincoln, immediately and of ficially informed Andrew Johnson, vicepresident, of the facts of the case, and that he was now, by the Constitution, president of the United States.* That same morning, April 15th, 1865, at ten o'clock, the chief-justice, Salmon P. Chase, administered the oath of office to Andrew Johnson, who made some appropriate remarks on the occasion, but declined to indicate any line of policy at present. The country was duly informed, by Secretary Stanton, of what had been done, and Mr. Johnson, retaining the same gentlemen in the cabinet, the regular routine of government affairs went on as quietly

For a brief sketch of Andrew Johnson's life, see p. 47 of the present volume.

narrative of the progress of affairs, subsequently to Andrew Johnson's acces sion to the presidency, must be deferred to a later occasion. Then, probably, it will be seen and understood, what peculiar trials, and testings of its strength and adaptedness to the needs of a free people, the Constitution was called upon to endure; and how the nation advanced in those onward steps towards its high destiny, and its rightful place among the controlling powers of the world. In due time, we believe, it will become evident, far more so than it is now, what are the permanent re sults of the fearful struggle of four years of civil war, and the succeeding years, hardly less fearful, of political, sectional strife and discord in the Republic. Esto perpetua.

Declaration of Independence.

Fac-simile of the original document in the hand-writing of Thomas Jefferson,

[Copied by permission from the MS. in the Department of State, at Washington.]

A Diclaration by the Representatives of the UNITED STATES

OF AMERICA, in General Congress assembled.

course

J

one

When in the disolve the political bands which have connected them with

human events it becomes necessory for the people to

Jume among

another, and to chickthey hone hitherto smacard to as Neparate and equal

the powers of the earth the man bestoptat station to

which the laws of nature & of nature's god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

•vernments are

certain

the consent of the

дне

the

self evident.

these

до

We hold these truths to be dared Kondrial;, that all men are created equal, fondspondront; that [from that equal orcation they derive they are endowed by their creator with ad splats inherent Finalienable, among which are they f life liberty, & the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these times, are institated among among men, deriving their just powers from governed; that whenever any form of government Sable becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it's foundation on such principles Vorganising it's powers in such form, as to them shell seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness. predence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light & transient causes: and accordingly all expenence hath shewn that disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right. themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed but

mankind are more

:

when a long train of abuses &'usurpations [begun at adistinguished period object, evinces a design to sadjad reduce

8 pursuing invarial Despotion.

riably the same

under,

them tebeary process, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government If to provide new quards for their future security, such has

alter

been the patient sufferance of these colonces, & such is now the necessity which constrains them to [expunge] their former systems of government. King of Gred Britain

the

the history of his present_mxperty,

ца

repeared history of unremitting injuries and usurpations, [among which, Spear for talent bach to contrasolitary fact

appears

no

but all having

all of abeck [have] in direct object the

over these states. to

- dict the uniform tenor of the rest establishment of an absolute tyranny sulmitted to a candid world. [ for the truth of which we pledge a faith

you unsullied by falsehood]

prove this, let facts be

he has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the pris. -lic good:

he has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate & pressing importance,

unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained,

utterly

and when so suspended, he has elected at by to attend to them.

a right

he has refused to pass other laws for the accomodation of large districts of people in the legislative unless those people would relinquish the right of representation, inestimable to them, & formidable to tyrants only:

he has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, & distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliana

with his measures;

he has dissolved Representative houses repeatedly & continually for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people:

time after such dissolutimst

td, he has refused for a long space of time to cause others to be clected,

wherely the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise, the state remaining in the mean time

exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without & convulsions within : e has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose

districting the laws for naturalization of forcigness; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, & raising the conditions of new ap_ -propriations, of lands:

he has suffered the administration of justice [totally to cease in some of these abstate refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary prowers:

ie has made [our] judges dependant on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, & payment

the +

and amount of

salaries:

e has erected a multitude of new offices [by a self-assumed power. ]&vent hi

-ther swarms

power,}]&vent

of officers to harrass over people & eat out their substance:

Legislatures

without the consent of our, has kept among us in times of peace, sanding armies & ships of war] re has affected to render the military, independent of & superior to the civil prower. e has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions and unacknoleged by our laws; giving his assent to their pretended cost o acts Br flegislation, for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;.

for protecting them by a mock-trial from punishment for any murders

which

they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;

for cutting offour trade with all parts of the world;

taxes on us without our consent;

for imposing taxes

many cases.

for depriving us of the benefits of trial by jury;

for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:

for abolishing the free system of English laws in a neightoning province, establishing therein an arbitrary govemment and enlarging it's boundanes so as to render it at once an clample & fit instrument for introducing the same abs sis of hlour in a there are war

oulcinte

[ocr errors]
« 上一頁繼續 »