reasons, is to fix the minimum, and his decision is to be final. Perhaps this process will secure a price for the lands as nearly just to the government and to the purchaser as any that can be devised. I believe it meets the difficulty; and since the vested rights of miners are protected under the fifth section of the bill, no material injustice can result, either to the government or the purchaser. Mr. Speaker, there are other and minor objections to which I think I need not refer. They are all met or overcome by the arguments already presented, joined to the palpable folly of further maintaining the present suicidal policy of the government. Nor shall I stop to discuss the details of the bill I have reported, the leading features of which have already been stated. It has been prepared with much care, and with the assistance of some of the ablest men in the country, whose extensive knowledge of our land system gives peculiar weight to their opinions, and who have given to the subject much thought. The policy which it proposes has also the decided approval of many of our most distinguished public characters, including such men as Colonel Benton, Chief Justice Chase, General Fremont, Robert J. Walker, Hugh McCulloch, and Horace Greeley. I may mention also Hon. John Wilson, who so ably presided over our General Land Office years ago, and whose thorough acquaintance with the subject should command great respect for his judgment. I add further, that the most intelligent men I have met from California and other mining regions who speak from actual observation and extensive experience in mining, express the same opinion. Undoubtedly, the bill is imperfect. A measure so revolutionary of past ideas and policy, and dealing with interests so vast and peculiar, must of-necessity, to some extent, prove an experiment. I believe it will be a grand one. Holding the principle of the measure to be sound, I would launch it, trusting to time and experience to point out its defects and suggest the needed remedies. I sincerely hope the Thirtyeighth Congress will not close its labors without adding this bill to the list of those great measures which have already signalized its legislation. The passage of the bill will powerfully stimulate foreign immigration, and the settlement of the great Pacific States of the future. By drawing into our mining regions a large and constantly swelling stream of settlers it will demand and necessitate the speedy construction of our great railway thoroughfares to the Pacific, which shall belt the Continent with ribs of iron, and prove themselves the grandest of commercial enterprises and the mightiest bonds of national union. In securing perfect land titles it will build up permanent settlements, promote a more thorough knowledge of localities, and institute a more profitable system of mining than would otherwise be possible. The establishment of settlements in the mines will lead to the exploration and purchase of the agricultural lands in the valleys, and thus develop their productive power. It will introduce social order, domestic life, fixed habits, free schools, homogeneous communities, and general prosperity, in the place of itinerant and scattered tribes whose condition could best be defined by the absence of all these blessings. It would cement and consolidate the Union, by intrenching the government in the hearts and homes of the teeming millions whose habitations are to be set up in the great empire of States now so rapidly springing into life in the distant West. It would rebuke those feudal ideas to which the government has so long lent its sanction, and recognize the independence and dignity of labor. Holding these views, Mr. Speaker, and embracing them, as I do, with ardor, I have labored with some zeal to awaken among our public men an interest in the subject; and I shall regard it as one of the many grand and providential compensations of this war if the financial crisis which has been its result shall prepare us to enact this great and far-reaching measure, and thus to lay the foundations of Christian civilization and genuine democracy in the budding Commonwealths of the Pacific. DANGERS AND DUTIES OF THE HOUR-RE CONSTRUCTION AND SUFFRAGE. IN THE HALL OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, INDIANAPOLIS, NOVEMBER 17, 1865. [This specimen of a Western stump speech, not intended for publication, but unexpectedly reported for the "Cincinnati Gazette," was reprinted by the friends of Mr. Julian in a large pamphlet edition. The Legislature being in session, the use of the hall of the House was tendered him by resolution; and on motion of Mr. Kilgore, a member from Delaware County, the resolution was so amended as to request Mr. Julian to be very explicit in saying whether he agreed or disagreed with the policy of President Johnson. This will explain certain allusions in the speech. Its line of argument will readily be appreciated by those who will judge it in the light of our subsequent history, and remember the year 1865 as an era of undefined politics, and of hesitation and doubt on the part of many Republican leaders. Even Mr. Julian's own constituents were not prepared for his views. The Radical theory of Reconstruction, which afterward prevailed, was then by no means established; while the rebel theory, whose motto was "Once a State always a State," found a champion in Presi dent Johnson. Several prominent Republicans joined him at once, and sought to rally the party in this attempted new departure, and in unqualified hostility to the policy of negro suffrage. Chief among these was Governor Morton, who, in the fall of this year, made his memorable Richmond speech, to the leading positions of which Mr. Julian replies; but his argument, in substance, had been repeated, and with decided effect, in a vigorous canvass of his Congressional district during the spring and summer months. It is needless to add that time has overwhelmingly settled the questions of Reconstruction and Suffrage against the theories of the Johnson Administration and its friends.] THE meeting having been organized by calling Governor Dunning to the chair, Mr. Julian spoke as follows: MR. CHAIRMAN LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,- Before proceeding to say what I propose to say to-night, I ask leave to make a statement, due to myself and to you. The charge has been circulated, through the press and otherwise, recently, that I have been making speeches inside of my district and outside of it, denunciatory of Governor Morton and President Johnson, and that I have been seeking by factious movements to divide and disorganize the Union party. I think it due to truth to say that these charges are wholly unfounded. I have made quite a number of speeches during the last few weeks, but in not one of them have I spoken of Governor Morton or President Johnson in any other terms than those of perfect courtesy and respect. I have differed, to some ex tent, with President Johnson, as I understand his policy; but I have never had a thought of indulging in any unkind words toward him, having known him since 1849, when we first met in Congress and became personal friends through our earnest advocacy of the homestead policy, in which we stood almost alone. I am quite sure that I still enjoy his respect and friendship. Nor is there any truth in the charge that I am seeking to divide the Union party. On the contrary, I have sought by all the means in my power to unite and consolidate that party in my district, in which I have almost exclusively labored. I am sure that my labors have not been wholly fruitless, and that to-day that party is more perfectly united and consolidated there than it ever has been at any previous period of its history. I ought, perhaps, to make another reference in the outset. I have been invited to address the people here by some prominent citizens of this city, and by some of the members of the Legisla ture, and this hall has been tendered me for the purpose, subject to certain instructions. It was thought wise to instruct me to be very explicit and unambiguous as to whether I agree or disagree with the policy of President Johnson. What will be the penalty of disobedience I am not advised. -- I confess I am gratified I really feel flattered to find, unexpectedly, that my opinions are of so much moment that the House of Representatives of Indiana have seen fit to pass a resolution calling for great carefulness on my part in their expression. There may have been wisdom in doing this. A man who skulks habitually, and about whose opinions nobody ever could learn anything very definitely, particularly on the subject of slavery and antislavery as connected with our politics, may properly be coerced into plainness of speech; it may be well enough to smoke him out, and compel him to declare himself unequivocally. Certainly, I have no manner of complaint to make on that subject. I must say, however, that I feel some embarrassment as to the performance of the task assigned me. If the House had told me what, in their opinion, the policy of President Johnson is, I could then have told you precisely whether I agree or disagree with him. But I find that Copperheads, some of the vilest and meanest of them, indorse in unqualified terms the policy of President Johnson. Now, certainly the Union men have not gone over to the Copperheads, and I doubt very much whether the Copperheads have been really converted and come over to us. There is, then, a difference of opinion as to what the policy is. In requiring me, therefore, to say whether I approve or disapprove, I submit that it would have been proper for you, gentlemen, to have told me what in your judgment the President's policy is. There is another difficulty. President Johnson himself says his policy is merely an experiment, and perhaps he will abandon it to-morrow. Then of what use would be your bill of discovery filed against me, requiring me to say whether I agree with him or not? These are revolutionary times. Marvelous changes in the opinions of men have been wrought within the past four years. The watch-words of the hour are transition, growth, development. Who can be so infatuated as to single out any present phase of our politics, and seek to stereotype it into a test of any man's political orthodoxy? If it be true that the policy of the President is simply that of referring the whole matter of reconstruction to Congress, then I can say, unequivocally, that I am for it, for I believe, decidedly, that the business of reconstruction belongs to Congress. Upon the whole, gentlemen, I prefer to go on in my own way, and say what I think, explicitly, as I usually do, leaving each one of you to determine for himself the question as to whether I agree or disagree with President Johnson, and the far more important question whether I am right or wrong in my views. Let me now invite your attention to some of the dangers and duties of the hour; and I remark in the outset, that the only question that has been absolutely settled by this war is the fact that by numbers and violence we have mastered the rebels. All else is in dispute. Slavery is not certainly abolished. The proclamation of President Lincoln did not pretend to abolish the institution of slavery; and even the effect of that proclamation in giving freedom to the slaves in certain districts remains to be adjudicated by the courts. Your constitutional amendment has not yet received the approval of three fourths of the States, which, according to the views of the administration, is requisite to its adoption. The question of loyal suffrage in the South - the great question of the day-is one about which there is a wide difference of opinion, even among loyal men. Do you mean to gather the fruits of this war, or to scatter them to the winds? Shall you reap the rich harvest of victory now within your grasp and ready for the sickle, or allow it to be overtaken by blight? Through the madness of the rebels the way is opened up to this nation to a career of glory otherwise entirely beyond our reach. Shall we slumber over our grand opportunity? There has been no moment, in my judgment, since the beginning of this war, so full of peril |