The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-03-12 00:00:00

INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT
GARFIELD.

General Garfield, on assuming office on March 4 as Pre-
sident of the United States, delivered an inaugural address,
from which we give the following extracts :

"Fellow-citizens,—We stand to-day upon an emi-
nence which overlooks a hundred years of the national
life, a century crowded with the triumphs 6f liberty and
law. Before continuing olnonward march let us pause
on this height for a moment to strengthen our faith
and renew our hope by a glance at the pathway along
which our people have travelled. It is now three
days more than a hundred years since the adoption
of the first written Constitution of the United States
and the articles of Confederation ind perpetual Union.
The new Republic was then beset with dangers on every
hand. It had not conquered a place in the family
of nations; the decisive battle for independence,
whose centennial anniversary will soon be gratefully
celebrated atYorktown, had not yet been:fought. The
colonists were struggling, not only against the armies
of a great nation, but against the settled opinions of
mankind, for the world did not believe that the
supreme authority of Government could be safely
entrusted to the guardianship of the people them-
selves. We cannot over-estimate the fervent love of
liberty, the intelligent courage, and saving common
sense, with which our fathers made the great experi-
ment ol self-government. When they found, after a
short trial, that a Confederacy of States was too
weak to meet the necessities of a vigorous and expand-
ing Republic, they boldly set it aside, and in its stead
established a national Union, founded directly upon
the will of the people, endowed with full powers of
self-preservation, and with ample authority for the
accomrlishment of its great objects. Under this Con-
stitution the boundaries of freedom have been en-
larged, the foundations of order and peace have been
strengthened, and the growth in all the better ele-
ments of national life has vindicated the wisdom of
its founders and given new hope to their descendants.
Under this Constitution our people long ago made
themselves safe against danger from without, and
secured for their marine and flag equality of rights on
all the seas. Under this Constitution thirty-five
States have been added to the Union, with Constitu-
tions and laws framed and enforced by their own
citizens, to secure the manifold blessings of local self-
government. The jurisdiction of this Constitution
now covers areas fifty times greater than that of the
original thirteen States' and a population twenty
times greater than that 0f.1.780.
"The supreme trial of the Constitution came at
last under the tremendous pressure of the Civil War.
We ourselves are witnesses that the Union emerged
from the blood and fire of that conflict purified and
made stronger for all the beneficent purposes of good
government. And now, at the close of this first cen-
tury of growth, with the inspirations of its history in
their hearts, our people have lately reviewed the con-
dition of the nation and passed judgment upon the
conduct and opinions of political parties, and have
registered their will concerning the future adminis-
tration of the Government. To interpret that will
in accordance with the Constitution is the paramount
duty of the Executive. Even from this brief review
it is manifest that the hation is resolutely facing to
the front, resolved to employ its best energies in
developing the great possibilities of the future,
sacredly preserving whatever has been gained to
liberty and good Government during the century.
Our people are determined to leave behind them
all those bitter controversies concerning things
which have been irrevocably settled, and the further'
discussion of which can only stir up strife and delay
their onward march. The supremacy of the nation
and its laws should be no longer a subject of debate.
That discussion, which for half a century threatened
the existence of the Union, was closed at last in the
high court of war by the decree from which there is no
appeal, that the Constitution and laws made in pur-
suance thereof are, and shall continue to be, the
supreme law of the land, binding alike upon States
and people. This decree does not disturb the autonomy
of the States, nor interfere with any of their neces-
sary rules of local self-government ; but it does fix
and establish the permanent supremacy of the Union.
The will of the nations speaking with the voice of
battle and through an amended Constitution, has
fulfilled the great promise of 1776 by proclaiming
liberty throughout the land to all the inhabitants
thereof. -

"Tle elevation of the negro race from slavery to
the full rights of citizenship is the most important
political change we have known since the adoption
of the Constitution of 1787. No thoughtful man can
fail to appreCiate its beneficent effect upon our institu-
tions and neople. It has freed us from the perpetual
danger of war and dissolution; it has added im-
mensely to the moral and industrial forces of our
people; it has liberated the master as well as the slave
from a relation which wronged and enfeebled both;
it has surrendered to their own guardianship the man-
hood of more than five millions of people, and has
opened to each one of them a career of freedom gnd
usefulness; it has given a new inspiration to the
power of self-help in both races by making labour
more honourable to the one and more necessary to
the other. The influence of this force will grow
greater and greater, and bear richer fruit with coming
years. No doubt the great change has caused serious
disturbance to our Southern community. This
is to be deplored, though it was unavoidable, but
those who resisted the change should remember that
under our institutions there was no middle ground for
the negro race between slavery and equal citizenship.
There can be no permanently disfranchised peasantry
in the United States. Freedom can never yield its
fulness of blessing, so long as the law or its admini-
stration places the smallest obstacle in the pathway of
any virtuous citizen. The emancipated- race have
already made remarkable progress. With unquestion-
ing devotion to the Union, with patience and gentle-
ness not born of fear, they hatic iollowed the light as
God gave them to see the light. They are rapidly
laying material foundations of self-support, widening
the circle of their intelligence, and beginning to enjoy
the blessings that gather around the homes of the in-
dustrioua poor. They deserve the generous encourage-
ment of all good men. So far as my authority can
lawfully extend, they shall enjoy the full and equal
protection of the Constitution and the laws. Their
free enjoyment of equal suffrage is still in question,
and a frank statement of the issue may aid its solu-
tion,"

The President then dwelt upon the importance of a
free and pure ballot; and of education, in preparing all
classes for the discharge of the responsibilities resting
upon them; and proceeded to say :—" We have no
standard by which to measure the disaster that may
bp brought upon us by ignorance and vice in our
citizens when joined to corruption and fraud in the
suffrage. The yam qf the Union, who make and
unmake Constitutions and upon whose will hang the
destinies of our Governments, can transmit their
supreme authority to no successors save the coming
-generation of voters, who are the sole heirs of
the sovereign power. If that generation come
to its inheritance blinded by ignorance and cor-
rupted by vice, the fall of the Republic will be
certain and remediless. The census has already
sounded the alarm in the appalling figures which
mark how dangerously high the tide of illiteracy
has risen among our voters and their children. To-the
South this question is of supreme importance, but the
responsibility for the existence of slavery does not rest
upon the South alone. The nation itself is responsible

for the extension of the suffrage, and is under special
obligations to aid in removing the illiteracy which it
has added to the voting population. For the North
and South alike there is but one remedy. All the
Constitutional power of the nation and of the States,
and all the volunteer forces of the people, should
le summoned to meet this danger by the saving
influence of universal education. It is the high
privilege and the sacred duty of those now living to
educate their successors and fit them by intelligence
and virtue for the inheritance which awaits them. In
this beneficent work sections and races should be for-
gotten, and partisanship should be unknown. Let
our people find a new meaning in the Divine Oracle,
which declares that a little child shall lead them, for
our little children will soon control the destinies of the
Republic. My countrymen, we do not now differ in
our judgment concerning the controversies of past
generations, and fifty years hence our children will
not be divided in their opinions concerning our con-
troversies. They will surely bless their fathers and their
fathers' God that union was preserved, that slavery
was overthrown, aud that both races were made equal
befcre law. We may hasten or Nye may retard, but
we cannot prevent a final reconciliation. Is it not
possible for us now to make truce with time by
anticiplting and accepting its inevitilble verdict?
Enterprises of the highest importance to our moral
and material well-being invite us, and offer ample scope
for the employment of our best powers. Let all our
people, leaving behind them the battle-fields of dead
i
issues, move forward, and n the strength of liberty
and restored Union win the grander victories of peace. i
The prosperity which now prevails s without parallel
in our history. Fruitful seasons have done much to
secure it, but they have not done all. The preserva-
tion of public credit, and the resumption of specie
nayments so successfully attained by the admini-
;tration of my predecessor, have enabled our people to
secure the blessings which the seasons brought. By
the experience of commercial nations in all ages, it has
been found that gold and silver afford the only safe
foundation for a monetary system. Confusion has
recently been created by variations in the relative
value of the two metals, but I confidently believe that
arrangements can be made between the leading com-
mercial nations which will secure the general use of
both metals. Congress should provide that the com-
pulsory coinage of silver now required by law may not
disturb our monetary system by driving either metal
out of circulstion. If possible, such an adjustment
should be made that the purchasing power of every
coined dollar will be exactly equal to its debt-paying
power in all the markets of the world."
After some further allusion to financial matters,
the President continued :—" The interest of agricul-
ture deserve more attention from Government than
they have yet received. The farms of the United
States afford homes and employment for more than
one-half of our people, and furnish much the largest
part of all our exports. As the Government lights our
coasts for the protection of mariners and for the
benefit of commerce, so it should give to the tillers
of the soil lights and practical science and experience.
Our manufactures are rapidly making us industrially
imdependent, and are opening to capital and labour
new and profitable fields of employment. This steady
and healthy growth should still be maintained. Our
facilities (or transportation should be promoted by
the combined improvement of our harbours and
our great interior waterways, and by the increase
of our tonnage on the ocean. The develop-
ment of the world's commerce has led to an
urgent demand for shortening the great sea voyage
around Cape Horn by constructing ship canals or rail-
ways across the isthmus which unites the two conti-
nents. Various plans to this end have been suggested,
and will need consideration, but none of them have
been sufficiently matured to warrant the United
States in extending to them pecuniary aid. The sub-
ject, however, is one which will immediately engage
the attention of the Government with a view to the
thorough protection of American interests. We will
urge no narrow policy, nor seek peculiar or exclusive
privileges in any commercial route, but, in the lan-
guage of my predecessor, I believe it to be the right ,
and duty of the United States ty assert and maintain
such supervision and authority over any interoceanic
canal across the isthmus that connects North and South
America as will protect our national interests."

Having briefly referred to the subjects of religious
freedom and polygamy, the President concluded his
address as follows my judgment it is the duty
of Congress, while respecting to the uttermost the
conscientious convictions and religious scruples of
every citizen, to prohibit within its jurisdiction all
criminal pkactices, especially of that clap which
destroy family relations and endanger social order.
Nor can any ecclesiastical organization be safely per-
mitted to usurp in the smallest degree the functions
and powers of the National Government.
The Civil Service can never be placed on 'a satis-
factory basis until it is regulated by law for the goad
of the service itself. For the protection of those
who are intrusted with the appointing power against
the waste of time and the obstruction to public busi-
ness caused by the inordinate pressure for place, and
for the protection of the incumbents against intrigue
and wrong, I shall, at the proper time, ask Congress
to fix the tenure of the minor offices of several execu-
tive departments, and prpscribe grounds upon which
removals shall be made during the terms for which the
incumbents have been appointed.
"Finally, acting always within the authority and
limitations of the Constitution, invading neither the
rights of States nor the reserved rights of the people,
it will be the purpose of my Administration to main-
tain authority in all places within its jurisdiction, to
enforce obedience to all the laws of the Union in the
interests of the people, to demand rigid economy in
all expenditures of the Government, and to require
honest and faithful service of all the executive officers,
remembering that the offices were created, not for
benefit of the incumbents or their supporters, but
for the service of the Government. And now,
fellow-citizens, I am about to assume the great
trust which you have committed to my hands. I
appeal to you for that earnest and thoughtful support
which makes this Government in fact, as it is in law,
the Government of the people. I shall greatly rely
upon the wisdom and patriotism of Congress, and of
those who may share with me the responsibilities and
duties of Administration; and above all upon our
efforts to promote the welfare of this great people and
their Government, I reverently invoke the support
and blessing of Almighty God."