strongest
desire was to secure to the freedmen the full enjoyment of their
freedom and property, then I will not quarrel with him as to the
means used. And while, as he tells us in this same message, he
only asks for states to be represented which are presented in an
attitude of loyalty and harmony and in the persons of representatives
whose loyalty cannot be questioned under any constitutional or
legal test, surely we ought not to separate from him until, at
least, we prescribe a test of their loyalty, upon which we are
willing to stand. We have not done it yet. I will not try him by
new creeds. I will not denounce him for hasty words uttered in
repelling personal affronts.

"I see him yet surrounded by the cabinet of Abraham Lincoln, pursuing
Lincoln's policy. No word from me shall drive him into political
fellowship with those who, when he was one of the moral heroes of
this war, denounced, spit upon him, and despitefully used him.
The association must be self-sought, and even then I will part with
him in sorrow, but with the abiding hope that the same Almighty
power that has guided us through the recent war will be with us
still in our new difficulties until every state is restored to its
full communion and fellowship, and until our nation, purified by
war, will assume among the nations of the earth the grand position
hoped for by Washington, Clay, Webster, Lincoln, and hundreds of
thousands of unnamed heroes who gave up their lives for its glory."

I received many letters in commendation of this speech, among others
the following from Thurlow Weed, who was in full sympathy with
Secretary Seward:

"Albany, N. Y., February 28, 1866.
"Dear Sherman:--You have spoken words of wisdom and patriotism--
spoken them boldly at the right time. They will help save the
Union--and they will save the Union particularly if fanatics and
despots will allow it to be saved. Just such a speech at the moment
it was made is worth more than all that has been said in Congress
since the session commenced. I thank you gratefully for it.

"Yours truly,
"Thurlow Weed."

I still hoped that the pending civil rights bill would be approved
by the President, and that then the controversy would end. On the
17th of March, 1866, I made a speech at Bridgeport, Conn., in which
I said:

"Now, I say, that upon all these various propositions, upon the
necessity of a change in the basis of representation, upon the
necessity for pro