Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 3.

1 The loyal people of Washington City gathered in a great throng and called upon Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, for a speech. He addressed them, saying: “I am now about writing my foreign dispatches. What shall I tell the Emperor of China? I shall thank him, in your name, for never having permitted a piratical flag to enter the harbors of the empire. What shall I say to the Sultan of Turkey? I shall thank him for always having surrendered rebel insurgents who have taken refuge in his kingdom. What shall I say to the Emperor of the French? I shall say to him that he can go to Richmond tomorrow and get his tobacco, so long held under blockade there, provided the rebels have not used it up. To Lord John Russell I will say that British merchants will find the cotton exported from our ports, under treaty with the United States, cheaper than cotton obtained by running the blockade. As for Earl Russell himself, I need not tell him that this is a war for freedom and national independence, and the rights of human nature, and not a war for empire; and if Great Britain should only be just to the United States, Canada will remain undisturbed by us, so long as she prefers the authority of the noble Queen to voluntary incorporation in the United States. What shall I tell the King of Prussia? I will tell him that the Germans have been faithful to the standard of the Union, as his excellent Minister, Baron Gerolt, has been constant in his friendship to the United States, during his long residence in this country. To the Emperor of Austria, I shall say that he has proved himself a very wise man, for he told us in the beginning that he had no sympathy with rebellion anywhere.”

In this pleasant way the Secretary showed the relations of foreign governments to our own, during the war, and presented the fact, in bold relief, that while Great Britain and France-Christian nations — were doing all they dare to assist the Conspirators in destroying the Republic, Pagan China and Mohammedan Turkey, led by principles of right and justice, were its abiding friends. Andrew Johnson, the Vice-President, was also called upon for a speech. With great vehemence, he said: “At the time that the traitors in the Senate of the United States plotted treason against the Government, and entered into a conspiracy more foul, more execrable, and more odious than that of Cataline against the Romans, I happened to be a member of that body, and, as to loyalty, stood solitary and alone among the Senators from the Southern States. I was then and there called upon to know what I would do with such traitors, and I want to report my reply here. I said, if we had Andrew Jackson, he would hang them as high as Haman. But as he is no more, and sleeps in his grave in his own beloved State. where traitors and treason have even insulted his tomb and the very earth that covers his remains, humble as I am, when you ask what I would do, my reply is, I would arrest them; I would try them; I would convict them, and I would hang them. . . . . Since the world began there has never been a rebellion of such gigantic proportions, so infamous in character, so diabolical in motive, so entirely disregardful of the laws of civilized warfare. . . . . I am in favor of leniency; but, in my opinion, evil-doers should be punished. Treason is the highest crime known in the catalogue of crimes, and for him that is guilty of it — for him that is willing to lift his impious hand against the authority of the nation, I would say death is too easy a punishment. My notion is, that treason must be made odious; that traitors must be punished and impoverished; their social power must be broken; they must be made to feel the penalty of their crimes . . . . Let us commence the work. We have put down these traitors in arms; let us put them down in law, in public judgment, and in the morals of the world.”

So soon as Mr. Johnson was invested, by the death of Mr. Lincoln, with power to punish the offenders, he pardoned scores of the most conspicuous of them; and during his administration of the affairs of the nation, as President, he used his official and personal power to the utmost in efforts to place the Government under the control of those who had sought to destroy it.