CH. XXI.] ANDREW JOHNSON'S ACCESSION. 543 bed, and reduced to great debility. felt that the government was enveloped 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. 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 |