Of course there can be no citizen of a republic too high for exposure, as there can be none too low for protection.

Exposure of the powerful, and protection of the weak,--these are not only invaluable liberties, but commanding duties.

At last the country is opening its eyes to the actual condition of things.

Already it sees that Andrew Johnson, who came to supreme power by a bloody incident, has become the successor of Jefferson Davis in the spirit by which he is ruled and in the mischief he inflicts on his country.

It sees the President of the Rebellion revived in the President of the United States.

It sees that the violence which took the life of his illustrious predecessor is now by his perverse complicity extending throughout the Rebel States, making all who love the Union its victims, and filling the land with tragedy.

It sees that the war upon faithful Unionists is still continued under his powerful auspices, without distinction of color, so that all, both white and black, are sacrificed.

It sees that he is the minister of discord, and not the minister of peace.

But indignation assumes the form of judgment, when it is seen also that this incredible, unparalleled, and far-reaching mischief, second only to the Rebellion itself, of which it is a continuation, is created, invigorated, and extended…

He has bent Constitution, laws, and men to his arbitrary will, and has even invoked the Declaration of Independence for the overthrow of those Equal Rights it so grandly proclaims.

The President has usurped the powers of Congress on a colossal scale, and has employed these usurped powers in fomenting the Rebel spirit and kindling anew the dying fires of the Rebellion.

This is his great and unpardonable offence, for which history must condemn him, if you do not.

He is a usurper, through whom infinite wrong is done to his country.

He is a usurper, who, promising to be a Moses, has become a Pharaoh.

Some, who would not become the partisans of his tyranny, he has, according to his own language, “kicked out.” Others are spared, but silenced by this menace and the fate of their associates.

I need not add, that, just in proportion as we sanction such nominations or fail to arrest them, according to the measure of our power, we become parties to his usurpation.

I have already said that the duty of the hour is in protection to the loyal and patriotic citizen against the President.

The first duty of a Government is protection.

The crowning glory of a Republic is, that it leaves no human being, however humble, without protection.

Show me a man exposed to wrong, and I show you an occasion for the exercise of all the power that God and the Constitution have given you.

Especially must you apply it, when, as now, this wrong is part of a huge usurpation in the interest of recent Rebellion.

The necessity for this remedy may be seen in the Rebel States, and also in the Loyal States, for the usurpation is felt in both.

If you look at the Rebel States, you will see everywhere the triumph of Presidential tyranny.

There is not a mail which does not bring letters without number supplicating the exercise of all the powers of Congress against the President.

There is not a wind from that suffering region which is not freighted with voices of distress.