The Express.
London, England, 1857-03-21 00:00:00

MARCH 21, 1857:

UNITED STATES.

INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF THE NEW

We published a full summary of President
Buchanan's address in our impression of yes-
terday. The Fulton brought specie for France
to the amount of 12,200 dole. Amongst her
passengers is the Hoe; Charles Sumner, the United
States senator for Massachusetts, whose health ap-
pears to have derived some benefit from the see.
voyage.
The news we get by this arrival is three days later
than the date of the letters and papers we had pre-
viously received by the Asia.
On the very day when the Asia left New York,
Wednesday, March 4, the inauguration of the new
government took place at Washington, where James
13uelitinan, of Pennsylvania, and Jphn C. Breckin-
ridge, of Kentucky, having been duly elected Presi-
dent and Vico-President of the United States, en-
tered upon their high offices. Having gone in
procession, accompanied by the late President, the
!jolted States marshal, foreign ministers, members
of Congress, governors and ex-governors of states
and territories, judges, officers of the army, navy,
and militia, and the representatives of municipal
authorities, and other corporate bodies (with a liberty
car, a liberty pole fifty feet high, and a full rigged
ship drawn by hones, having its crew about the
rigging and on deck), from the National Hotel to the
Capitol, the new President was conducted to the
senate chamber, and having taken his seat there,
proceeded, in the presence of the august witnesses
above mentioned, to read the following inaugural
address:

Fellow Citizens, —I appear before you this day to take the
solemn oath that t will faithfully execute the offios of Peri-
dent of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, pee-
nerve, protect and defend the constitution of the Unita! States.
Inc ntering upon this great office, I must humbly invoke the
God of our Fathers for wisdom and drainer to execute its
high and responsible duties in such a manner es to restate
harmony and the Extent friendship among the people of the
several States, and to preserve our free institutions through-
out many generations. Convinced that I owe my ignition to
the inherent love for the constitution and the Limon which
Mill animate. the keens of the American ?apple, let me
earnestly ask their powerful support in sustaining all just
memures calculated toperpetuate these, the richest political
blessings which heaven has ever bestowed upon any nation.
Having detmminsd net to beeper a emate for re-eke-
lion, I shall haver active to inflows my conduct in ad-
ministering thermosets:it except the desire ably and Wil-
fully to *erre my country, and to dm In the grateful memory
of my countrymen. We have recently passed through •
presidential contest which the perksa of our fellow
citizen. were exalted to the highest depes4questiona of
deep and vital imprienises; bet whoa the proclaimed
their will, the tempest et ewe anheldsd, and wm aim.
The voice ofelluderity, in the meaner me-
scribed by the wee —.--, iodinating sulanielion
followed. Our era wintry weld have exhibited so
grand and fl&g a spectacle of the capacity of man for
eilf-govionement What a happy conception then was it for
Congress to apply tide aba.*-rela, that the will of the ma-
jority shall govern, te the settlement of the question of
domestic slavery in the territories. Contrails is neither to
legielate elavery into my territory or Mate, nor to exclude it
therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to
form and regulate their domestic institutions in Choir own
way, subject only to the °meditation of the United States.
As a natural conacquenee Congress hes also prescribed that
when the territory of Kura shall be admitted as a State,
it shall be admitted into the Union with or without darer,
as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their

A dreg of opinion has arias° in regard to the time
when the people of a territory shall decide this question foe
themselves. Thiabld.h:pi pily, a matter of last little_ radical
imporUulee sad, at is a judicial question which legi-
timately belongs to ths Court of the United States,
before whom it is now pendi and will, it is understood, be
speedily and Emily settled. To their decision, in cowman
with all good citizens, I elan cheerfully submit, whatever
this may be; though it him been my individual opinion that
under the Nebraska-Sans Act, the appropriate period will
be when the number of actual residents in the territory Abell
justify the formation of a constitution with a view to its la-
mination as a state into the Union. But be this as it may, it
is the imperative and indispensable duty of the government
of the toiled States to secure to every resident inhabitant
the free and independent exprearion of his opinion by his
vote.

lie peered right of each individual must be preserved.
Mis being accomplished, nothing can be fairer than to leave
the people of a territory free Somali foreign interference to
decide their own deniny for thcmaelves, subject only to the
conetitution of the United States. The whole territorial
question being thus settled upon the principle of popular
sovereignty—a principle as ancient as free government itaelf
—everything of a practical nature has been decided, and no
other question remains for adjustment, because all Wei that
under tho conatitution, slavery in the gated is beyond the
reach of any human power, except that of the respective
stetes themselves wherein ft exists. May we not then hope
that the long agitation en this subject is approaching its end,
and that the geographical parties to which It has given birth
so much dreaded by the father of his country, will speedily
become extinct. . _

Most happy will it be for the country when the public
mind shall be diverted from this question to others of plosa-
ing and more practical importune. Throughout the whole
rupees of this agitation, which ham scarcely known
any intermissiim for more than twenty years, whilst
It has been productive of no positive rood to any human
being, it has been the prolific source of gnat evils to the
master, to the slave, and to the whole country; it has
alienated and estranged the people of the sister states from
each other, and has even seriously endangered the very ex-
istence of the Union, nor has the danger yet entirely
ceased.

L leder our system there is a remedy for all mere political
evil. in the sound sense and sober judgment of the
Time a great corrective. The political subjects which but
a few yeas ago excited and exasperated the public mind,
ban paned away, sad are now nearly forgotten ; but this
question of domestic, slavery is of far greater importance
then any mere political question, because, should the agita-
tion continue, it may eventually endanger the personal safety
of a large portion of our countrymen where the institution
exists. In that event, no funs of government, however ad-
miesible in itself, however productive of material benefits, can
compensate for the ken of peace and domestic security around
the family altar. Let every union-loving man therefore
earn his beet influence to supposss this agitation, which,
since the recent legielation of Congress, is without any legiti-
mate object.
It is an mil of the times that men have undertaken to ads
mine the mere material value of the union. Reasoned esti-
mate. have been presented of the pecuniary profits and local
advantages which would result to *Recent states and netions
from its disaolution, and of the comparative injuries which
such en event would inflict on other states and annum
Even descending to this low and narrow view of the mighty
question, all ouch calculations see at fault. The lore refm
owe toe single consideration will be conclusive on this
point.
We at present enjoy a tree trade throughout our extensive
and expenxive country such ea the world never witneemed.
This trade is conducted on renew& and canals, on noble
there and arms of the no, which bind together the north
and the south, the east and the west of our confederacy.
Annihilate this trade, wren its free progress by the geogra-
phical lines of jealous and hostile states, and you destroy the
prosperity and onward march of the whole end every part,
and involve all in one common ruin.

But such ocendisseligen, Imperial' as they are in them-
selves, oink bibs imelegoileemie who. we reltect on the terrific
sells which would mat from dinuniesi to every portion of
the emeitheary—ne the North not more than to the South—
to the Bast sat Imes then to the West. These I ahall not
attempt to palmy, betsuse I fixd an humble confidence that
the kind providing* wild& Inspired our father. with wisdom
to frame the mot waist form of government and union ever
devised by man, sirE Set saw It to perish until it shall have
been peacefully laalwwwasiid, by its example, in the exten-
sion of civil sad rills. Suety throughout the world.
Next in impatiens, be the mintenance of the constitution
and the mina, to the hely ot prowning the gee evument free
from the Minion inn the suspicion, of corruption. Public
virtue is the AMI spelt of rublica, and history proves that
when this Ms ibilayelard the love of money has usurped it.
Ow" alba.* the Ilems effete government may remain for
1 a ensesgmbeddsultilisse beekdeparted
without
everr;ll ::innrizitesent
grrtions ha!~ bdiee boa an °beurratter frome :oo lart;erYlS
surplus la Its blaiwry.
This Amd wwwwwwily glass birth to extravagant legisla-
tion. It pedlawas wed adows. of expenditures., and begets
a we of grewilitens end when ingenuity Is exerted
in centrl,ft oil 01.0411011 to obtain the public
moue/. Ths , dim* fie elicial agents, whetheror rightfully ,is suspested, and the character of
wrciumirese,
the government salmi In theastiniatim of the people. This
is in itself a very greet evil. The natural mode of relief
from this embannemsne is to appropriate the surplus in the
Tramwayto piwit national *eds., for which a clear warrant
ma be hewed In the emetitutkm. Among these, I ' t
=Mks the adkirsidostat of the public debt ; a le
hamar of the orgy, which is at present inadequate to the
peuteetien at war vast tonnage died—wow greater than that
al any
d. adwr max; as wall en tie theme of our extended

It is baited qualm the bas pdadrio that no morn
name ought to be easelsi bum the people then the
sasumi aesssom St *kg the asparm of • vim, econo-
mical, mai ffet saminishellas of the gemsument. To
mask tbi b ass warary b MIA Is a saidlkation
of Yr sad this bas bate secomeiliod in ads •
ammo to os Una isjony rUse boat pootioshis
to ear ammo* aimakes, espedelly thole staismr, for
do Miro of do cooddy. dookikodos spirt •
poodookr lima do do d ihwaral tor-
reinisofialimis sr laws beta *art
ios andomity, owl lonothisd Ida ikd
Won ad giddy dlik op* poomastr.
of • wow WM; bat taw do
dory dodo Ws tookpoodho •
eestweles. vita °mimed do
bed diegalikkodo. Naos is died& of dr ode

been blessed with an rich and noble an inheritance as To
=soy in the public lands,
In administering this important trust, whilst It may ihe
wise to grant pornons of them foe the improvement of tfte
remainder, yet we Meld never forget that it is oar oardi
policy to reserve these lands as much en may be fur act
settler', and this at moderate prime. We shall thus not y
best promote the promperity of the sew States by furniabieg
them a heady and indepen&ent nos of honest and iniustrione
citizens, but shall wive homes for our children, and oar
children's children, en well an for the= exiles from foreign
onores.whe may seek in this country to Improve their con-
dition, and to enjoy the blaming, of civil and religious
liberty. Such emigrants have done touch to promote the
growth and penepenty of the country. They have proved
faithful both in peace and ins... After becoming citizen@ they
are entitled, under the ceostitution and lawn, to be placed on
perfect equality with native-horn citizens, and in this charac-
ter they should emir be kindly recognised.
The federal institution la • grant from the States to Con-
gress to entsin aped= powers, and the question whether
this rant ehall be liberally or @triedy oonstreed has, more or
lee, divided political parties from the beginning. Without
entering into the argument, I dente to state at the commence-
ment of my adminintration, that long experience and observe-
non has amine= me that a lonia oonstruction of the powers
of the government is the only true a. well me the only sale
theory of the constitution. Whenever in our pant history
doubtful powers have been exercised by Cognac, they
have never failed to produce injurione and unhappy come-
gement. Many ouch instances might be adduced if this
were the proper occasion. Neither ill it neeemary for the
public merry to strain the language of the constitution be-
MUM all the great and woeful powers required for a 811(Wlin •
ful adminietration of the government, both in peace and in
war, have been granted either in express terms or by the
plainest implication.
Whilst deeply eonvinced of them truths, I yet consider it
clear that under the war-making power Congress may appro-
priate money towards the construction of a military read
when thin is abeolutely notemy for the defence of any state
or territory of the union against foreign invasion. Under
the constitution Congress has power to declare war, to rano
end support amino, to provide and maintain a navy, and to
call forth the militia to repel invasion. Thus endowed in en
ample manner with the war-making power, the correapond-
ing duty is required that the United States shall protect each
of them (the states) against invaaion. How Le it parable to
mind this protection to California and our Pacific pones-
stens, except by nines of a military road through the terri-
tory of the United Staten, over which men and munitions of
wet may be speedily tranaported from the Atlantic atates to
meet and repel the invader P In case of a war with a naval
power much Wringer than our own, we ohould then have no
ether available saws to the Pacific roast; became such a
power would instantly close the route scram the Isthmus of
Central America.
It le imponsible to conceive that whilst the constitution
bar exproasly required Congress to defend all the states, it
should yet deny to them by any fair construction the only
poseible means by which one of these etateo can be defended.
Besides, the government, ever atom ire origin, has been in
the constant practice of ennatructing military roads. It might
also bo wise to consider whether the love for the union,
which now animated our fellow-eitixena on the Pacific coast,
may not he impaired by our neglect, or refusal to provide for
them in their remote and isolated condition, the only means
by which the power of the states en this aide of the Rocky
Mountain* ran reach them in sufficient time to protect them
against invasion. I f orb ear, for the present, from expressing
en opinion as to the wisent and meet economical mode in
which the government can lend its aid in accompliebing this
grat and neceisary work. I believe that many difficulties 111
the way, which now appear formidable, will in a great
degree vanish, as men am the nearest and best route shall
have been satisfactorily serertained. It may be right that on
this occasion I should male some brief remarks as to oar
rights and duties aa a member of the great family of nations.
In our intereourre with them there are some plain prin-
ciples approved by our own experience from which we
should never depart. We ought to cultivate peace, commerce
and friendship with all nations, and thia not merely as the
best means of promoting our own Menial interest, but in •
spirit of Christian benevolence towards fellow men wherever
their lot may be amt. Our diplomacy should be direct and
frank—neither seeking to obtain more, nor accepting less
than Is nor due. We ought to cherish a tarred regard for the
independent of all nations,and never attempt to interfere in
the domest,.
is concerns of any, nine this shall be imperatively
required by the greet law of self-preeervation.
To avoid entangling alliance. bag been a maxim of our po-
licy ever Pine the dam of Washington, and its wind.= no
one will attempt to dispute. In eland, we ought to do jus-
tice in a kindly spirit to all nations, and require justice from
them in return. It in our glory, that while other entices
bare extended their dominions by the noon, we have never
aspired any territory except by fair pure-hoer, or, an in the
cam of Teem, by the voluntary determination of a brave,
kindred, and independent people to blend their deetiniee with
our own. Even our orquisitions from Mexico form no ex-
ception. Unwilling to take advantage of the fortune of war
'gained a sister republic, we purchased the polemic= under
the treaty of peace, for a sum 'which was considered at the
time a fair equivalent.
Our pint history forloidm that we 401 in the future acquire
territory mime this be %auctioned by the lawn of justice and
honour. Acting on this pneciple, no nation will have a right
to interfere, or to complain, if in the progress of evente, we
*hall still further extend our poseemons. Hitherto in all
our acquisitions, the people under the American flag hare no
joyed civil and religious liberty, as well as equal and just
lawn, and have been contented, eperous, and happy. T=tr
trade with the rest of the world has rapidly increased, and
thus every commercial nation his shared largely in their sue-
manful . I shall now proved to like the oath pre-
acribed y the constitution,whilst humbly invoking the bless-
ing of Divine Providence on this great people.
JAMES BUCHANAN.
At the conclusion of the delivery of the inaugural
address' the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court ad-
ministered the oath of office to the l'resident, u
follows :

" I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully exe-
cute the office of President of the United States, and
will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and
defend the constitution of the Lnited States."
After the ceremonies at the Capitol had been con-
cluded the proceasion was again formed, and the
Prtsident was conducted to the executive mansion,

accompanied by the ex-President. The latter left
Mr. Buchanan at the door, which he entered, taking
full posseasion of the White House.
It had been expected that a message from Presi-
dent Buchanan would be presented in the Senate on
Friday, the 6th, an arrangement to that effect having
been made by him with a deputation of the Senate
who waited on him the day before. The message,
however, was deferred.
Mr. Seward, senator from the state of New York,
presented what is called " a petition from certain
British subjects," setting forth that "as lord
Palmerston s act in surrendering the maritime rights
of that government is an act of high treason, those
rights will revert to the British crown and nation as
soon as the guilty party shall be impeached for that
crime ; that the petitioners have heard that the Pre-
sident of the United States is about proposing the
terms on which the declaration of Parts will be
agreed to by the United States; that such an act
would be one of connivance with Lord Palmerston in
his attempt to possess himself of an arbitrary power,
foreign to the British constitution and to the con-
stitution of the United States ; and pray Congress to
refuse their sanction to any convention with Great
Britain founded on the illegal, treasonable, and in-
valid declaration at Paris.

On the motion of Mr. Seward, the petition was
laid on the table. It does not appear who or what
the petitioners were. The petition was signed by
"C. D. Cobbett, president," and "C. F. Jones,
secretary." The Senate then went into executive
session, and Mr. Buchanan sent in his nominations
for the cabinet, which were confirmed, as follows:
Secretary of State—Hon. Lewis Casa, of Michigan.
Secretary of the Treasury —Hon. Howell Cobb, of Georgia.
Secretary of War—Hon. John B. Floyd, of Virginia.
Secretary of the Navy—Hon. Isaac Toueey, of Connec-

--
Secretary of tho Interior—Hon. Jacob Thompson, of MB-
Attorney-General--Jodge Black, of Pennsylvania.
Postumater-General—Hon. Aaron V. Broon, of Ten-
nessee. _

The Senate adjourned until Monday, the 9th
instant.

Lord Napier, the new British minister to Wash-
ington, arrived at New York on the 6th, in the
steamship Persia, accompanied by Lady Napier, his
four children, governess, and tutor, and attended by
two men and two female servants. Ile was to stay
at the Clarendon Hotel till his departure for Wash-
ington. The New York Daily Times says
The Liverpool merchants hating entertained our minister,
Mr. Dallas, in a very handsome manner, it has been deter-
mined by our chamber of eommerce to reciprocate the friendly
spirit of Liverpool by tendering a public reception or testi-
monial to Lord Napier. At the last meeting of the chamber
of common a committee of nierehante, consisting of twelve
persons, was formed, to take tneasuree for paying soma mark
of respect to the new minister.
At New Orleans advises have been received from
Vera Cruz, stating that the waggon road from
Minititlan to Ventosa Bay, across the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec, had been completed, in accordance
with the terms of the Sloo grant, and that waggons
had been driven across conveying the American con-
ed at Vera Crus, General Gutereiz, of Mexico, and
others. Carriages passed over the whole line to the
Pacific terminus on the 4th offanoary, thus insuring
the privileges guaranteed by the Mearian govern-
ment. It is thought that the road will be eiduely
completed andopenod to the travelling public by
the lot of Jame.
Congress has provided for a mail once, twice,. or
four times a month, overhead from the Mireareippt to
' asit Fnuicisto.

Appropriations have been made for exploration
and verification of the surveys fur a ship canal at
the Isthmus of Darien, and the extension of the
surveys and completion of the exploration of tho
Parana and Paraguay rivers.
The Legislature of Missouri has adopted - an
amendment to the constitution, limiting the Stato
debt to 30,000,000 dollars. _ _

--
An important decision has been pronounced .by
the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of
Dred Scott, a negro, who claimed his freedom on the
ground that he had resided two years, by the act of
his owner, in a State where slavery was prohibited
by its constitution, and attervrards in a territory
from which it was prohibited by the Missouri Com-
promise. The Supreme Court deans the validity of
his claim, and decides the follooing points:
First—That Scott being a negro is not a citizen, inasmuch
u men of the African nee, whether slue or hes, an not
citizens of the United States. Ils NADU; therefore, sue in
the court. of the United States.

Second—The ordinenco of 1787 had no independent con-
stitutional force or legal effect subsequently to the adoption
of the constitution, and could not
_operate of itself to confer
freedom or citizenship within the Northweet Territory upon
neTnot citizens by the constitution.
in—The act of 1820, commonly called the Missouri
Compromise, in so far as it undertook to exclude negro
slavery from, and give freedom and citizenship to negroes in,
the northern part of the Louisiana cession, was a legislative
act exceeding the powers of Congress, and void =dot no legal
effort to that end.