Magistrate, and her hearty good wishes for its peace, prosperity, and welfare. Her Majesty has nothing more at heart than to conciliate those relations of amity and good understanding which have so long and so happily existed between the two kindred nations of the United States and Great Britain, and it is in this spirit that I am directed to perform the duties of the important and honorable post confided to me. Permit me, sir, to say, that it shall be the object of my earnest endeavors to carry out my instructions faithfully in this respect, and to express the hope, sir, that you will favorably consider my attempts to merit your approbation, and to give effect to the friendly intentions of the Queen and of her Majesty's Government. I have the honor to place in your hands the letter of credence confided to me by her Majesty.

THE PRESIDENT'S REPLY.

To which President Johnson replied:

SIR FREDERICK A. BRUCE: The very cordial and friendly sentiments which you have expressed on the part of her Britannic Majesty give me great pleasure. Great Britain and the United States, by the extended and various forms of commerce between them, the contiguity of portions of their possessions, and the similarity of their language and laws, are drawn into constant and intimate intercourse. At the same time they are, from the same causes, exposed to frequent occasions of misunderstanding, only to be averted by mutual forbearance. So eagerly are the people of the two countries engaged, throughout almost the whole world, in the pursuit of similar commercial enterprises, accompanied by natural rivalries

and jealousies, that, at first sight, it would almost seem that the two Governments must be enemies, or at best cold and calculating friends. So devoted are the two nations throughout all their domain, and even in their most remote territory and colonial possessions, to the principles of civil rights and constitutional liberty, that, on the other hand, the superficial observer might erroneously count upon a continued concert of action and sympathy, amounting to an alliance between them. Each is charged with the development of the progress of the human race, and each in its sphere is subject to difficulties and trials not participated in by the other. The interests of civilization and of humanity require that the two should be friends. I have always known and accounted as a fact honorable to both countries, that the Queen of England is a sincere and honest wellwisher to the United States. I have been equally frank and explicit in the opinion that the friendship of the United States toward Great Britain is enjoined by all considerations of interest and of sentiment affecting the character of both. You will, therefore, be accepted as a Minister friendly and well-disposed to the maintenance of peace and the honor of both countries. You will find myself and all my associates acting in accordance with the same enlightened policy and consistent sentiments, and so I am sure that it will not occur in your case that either yourself or this Government will ever have cause to regret that such an important relationship existed at such a crisis.

RECEPTION OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORPS.

SOON after the reception of the British Minister, the members of the Diplomatic Corps were presented to President Johnson, when Baron von Gerolt addressed the President as follows:

MR. PRESIDENT: The representatives of foreign nations have assembled here to express to your Excellency their feelings at the deplorable event of which they have been witnesses; to say how sincerely they share the national mourning for the cruel fate of the late President, Abraham Lincoln, and how deeply they sympathize with the Government and people of the United States in their great affliction. With equal sincerity we tender to you, Mr. President, our best wishes for the welfare and prosperity of the United States, and for your personal health and happiness. May we be allowed, also, Mr. President, to give utterance on this occasion to our sincerest hopes for an early reëstablishment of peace in this great country, and for the maintenance of the friendly relations between the Government of the United States and the governments which we rep

resent.

REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.

To which the President replied:

GENTLEMEN OF THE DIPLOMATIC BODY: I heartily thank you, on behalf of the Government and people of the United States, for the sympathy which you have so feelingly expressed upon the mournful event to which you refer. The good wishes also which you kindly offer for the welfare and prosperity of the United States, and

for my personal health and happiness, are gratefully received. Your hopes for the early restoration of peace in this country are cordially reciprocated by me, and you may be assured that I shall leave nothing undone towards preserving those relations of friendship which now fortunately exist between the United States and all foreign powers.

ADDRESS TO LOYAL SOUTHERNERS.

DURING the same month a deputation of loyal men from various Southern States waited on the President. In reply to a brief address, he said:

It is hardly necessary for me on this occasion to say that my sympathies and impulses, in connection with this nefarious Rebellion, beat in unison with yours. Those who have passed through this bitter ordeal, and who participated in it to a great extent, are more competent, as I think, to judge and determine the true policy which should be pursued. [Applause.] I have but little to say on this question in response to what has been said. It enunciates and expresses my own feelings to the fullest extent, and in much better language than I can at the present moment summon to my aid. The most that I can say is that, entering upon the duties that have devolved upon me under circumstances that are perilous and responsible, and being thrown into the position I now occupy unexpectedly, in consequence of the sad event, the heinous assassination which has taken place, in view of all that is before me and the circumstances that surround me, I cannot but feel that your encouragement and kindness

are peculiarly acceptable and appropriate. I do not think you, who have been familiar with my course, you who are from the South, - deem it necessary for me to make any professions as to the future on this occasion, nor to express what my course will be upon questions that may arise. If my past life is no indication of what my future will be, my professions were both worthless and empty; and in returning you my sincere thanks for this encouragement and sympathy, I can only reiterate what I have said before, and, in part, what has just been read. As far as clemency and mercy are concerned, and the proper exercise of the pardoning power, I think I understand the nature and character of the latter. In the exercise of clemency and mercy, that pardoning power should be exercised with caution. I do not give utterance to my opinions on this point in any spirit of revenge or unkind feelings. Mercy and clemency have been pretty large ingredients in my composition, having been the Executive of a State, and thereby placed in a position in which it was necessary to exercise clemency and mercy. I have been charged with going too far, being too lenient, and have become satisfied that mercy without justice is a crime, and that when mercy and clemency are exercised by the Executive, it should always be done in view of justice, and in that manner alone is properly exercised that great prerogative. The time has come, as you who have had to drink this bitter cup are fully aware, when the American people should be made to understand the true nature of crime. Of crime generally our people have a high understanding, as well as of the necessity for its punishment; but in the catalogue of crimes there is one, and that the highest known to the laws and the Constitution,