The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-16 00:00:00

are required for the good character, sad, I might almost
say, for the existence of this people. The life of a republic
lies certainly in the energy, virtue, and intelligence of its
citizens ; but it is equally true that a good revenue system
is the life of an organised government. I meet you at a
time when the nation has voluntarily burdened itself with
a debt unprecedented in our annals. ,Vast as is its amount
it fades away into nothing when conpared withthe count-
less blessings that will bo conferred Ipon our country and
upon man by the preservation of the nation's life. Now,
on the first occasion of the meeting >f Congress since the
return of peace, it is of the utmost importance to inaugu-
rate a just policy, which shall at oxee be put in motion,
and which shall commend itself to those who come after us
for its continuance. We must aim tt nothing less than
the complete effacement of the finalcial evils that neces-
sarily followed a state of civil war. We must endeavour
to apply the earliest remedy to the leianged state of the
currency, and not shrink from devising a policy which,
without being oppressive to the peolle, shall immediately
begin, to effect a reduction of the debt, and if persisted in,
discharge it fully within a definitely fixed number of
years.

It is our first duty to prepare in ea'nest for our recovery
from the ever-increasing evils of an kredeemable currency,
without a sudden revulsion, and :et without untimely
procrastination. For that end we nust, each in our re-
spective positions, prepare the way. I hold it the duty of
the Executive to insist upon frugality in the expenditures;
and a sparing economy is itself a gnat national resource.
Of the banks to which authority hat been given to issue
notes secured by bonds of the Unitec State; we may re-
quire the greatest moderation and prudence, and the law
must be rigidly enforced when its lints are exceeded. We
may, each one of us, counsel our actve and enterprising
countrymen to be constantly on ther guard to liquidate
debts contracted in a paper currency, and, by conducting
business as nearly as possible on a lystem of cash pay-
ments or short credits, to hold themnlves prepared to re-
turn to the standard of gold and silver. To aid our fellow
citizens in the prudent managemem of their monetary
affair; the duty devolves on us to diminish by law the
amount of paper money now in circulation. Five years
ago the bank note circulation of the !ountry amounted to
not much more than two hundred mllions ; now the cir-
culation, bank and national, exceeds seven hundred mil-
lions. The simple statement of the het recommends more
strongly than any words of mine could do the necessity
of our restraining this expansion. the gradual reduction
of the currency is the only measure that can save the
business of the country from disastrous calamities ; and
this can be almost imperceptibly accomplished by gra-
dually funding the national circulation in securities that
may be made redeemable at the pleasure of the Govern-
ment.

Our debt is doubly secure—irst in the actual wealth
and still greater undeveloped resources of the country ; and
next in the character of our institutions. The most in-
telligent observers among political economists have
not failed to remark that the public debt• of a
country is safe in proportion as its people are free ;
that the debt of a republic is the safest of all. Our history
confirms and establishes the theory, and is, I firmly believe,
destined' to give it a still more signal illustration. The
secret of this superiority springs not merely from the fact
that in a republic the national obligations are distributed
more widely through countless numbers of all classes of
society ; it has its root in the character of our laws. Here
all men contribute to the public welfare, and bear their fair
share of the public burdens. Dtring the war, under the
impulses of patriotism, the men of the great bod/ of the
people, without regard to their iwn comparative want of
wealth, thronged to our armies and filled our fleets of war,
and held themselves ready to offer their lives for the public
good. Now,'in their turn, the property and income of the
country shall bear their just proportion of the burden of
taxation, while in our impost s; stem, through means of
which increased vitality is incidentally imparted to all the
industrial interests of the nation, the duties would be so
adjusted as to fall most heaviy on articles of luxury,
leaving the necessaries of life as free from taxation as the
absolute wants of the Government, economically adminis-
tered, will justify. No favoured class should demand free-
dom from assessment, and the taxes should bo so adminis-
tered as not -to fall unduly on tie poor, but rather on the
accumulated wealth of the country. We should look at
the national debt just as it is—rot as a national blessing,
but as a heavy burden on the industry of the country, to
be discharged without necessar'- delay.
It is estimated by the Secretary of the Treasury that the
expenditure for the fiscal year ending the 30th of June,
1866, will exceed the receipts $112,194,947. It is gratify-
ing, however, to state that it is also estimated that the
revenue for the year ending the 30th of June, 1867, will
exceed the expenditures in the sum of $111,682,218. This
amount, or so much as may be deemed sufficient for the
purpose, may be applied to the reduction of the public debt,
which, on the 31st day of October, 1865, was $2,740,854,750.
Every reduction will diminish the total amount of inte-
rest to be paid, and still enlarge the means of still further
reductions, until the whole shall be liquidated ; and this,
as will be seen from the estimates of the Secretary of the
Treasury, may be accomplished by annual payments even
within a period not exceeding thirty years. I have faith
that we shall do all this within a reasonable time ; that, as
we have amazed the world by the suppression of a civil
war which was thought to be beyond the control of any
government, so we shall equally show the superiority of
our Institutions by the prompt and faithful discharge of
our national obligations.
The Department of Agriculture, under its present direc-
tion, is accomplishing much in developing and utilising
the vast agricultural capabilities of the country, and for
information respecting the details of its management re-
ference is made to the annual report of the commissioner.
I have dwelt thus fully on our domestic affairs because
of their transcendent importance. Under any circum-
stances, our great extent of territory and variety of climate,
producing almost everything that is necessary for the
wants, and even the comforts of man, make us singularly
independent of the varying policy of foreign Powers, and
protects us against every temptatiot to "entangling alli-
ances," while at tho present moment the re-establishment
of harmony, and the strength that comes from harmony,
will be our best security against " nttions who feel power
and forget right." For myself, it his been, and it will be,
my constant aim to promote peace and amity with all
foreign nations and powers; and I have every reason to
believe that they all, without exception, are animated by
the same disposition. Our relations with the Emperor of
China, se recent in their organ, are most friendly. Our
commerce with his dominions is receiving new develop-
ments, and it is very pleasing to fad that the Government
of that great empire manifests satiefaction with our policy,
and reposes just confidence in the fairness which marks
our intercourse. The unbroken harmony between the
United States and the Emperor of Russia is receiving a
new support from an enterprise designed to carry tele-
graphic lines across the confined of Asia, through his
dominions, and so to connect us w.th all Europe by a new
channel of intercourse. Our comnerce with South Ame-
rica is about to receive encouragenent by a direct line of
mail steamships to the rising Empire of Brazil. The
distinguished party of men of science who have re•
cently left our country to make a scientific exploration of
the natural history and rivers and mountain ranges of
that region, have received from the Emperor that generous
welcome which was to have been expected from his con-
stant friendship for the United States, and his well-known
zeal in promoting the advancement of knowledge. A hope
is entertained that our commerce with the rich and popu-
lous countries that border tho Mediterranean sea may be
largely increased. Nothing will be wanting, on the part
of this Government, to extend the protection of our flag
over the enterprise of our fellow citizens. We receive from
the Powers in that region assurances of good will ; and it
is worthy of note that a special envoy has brought us mes-
sages of condolence on the death of our late chief magis-
trate from the Bay of Tunis, whose rule includes the old
dominions of Carthage, on the African coast.
Our domestic contest, now happily ended, has left some
traces in our relations with one at least of the great mari-
time Powers. The formal accordance of belligerent rights
to the insurgent States was unprecedented, and has not
been justified by the issue. But in the systems of neu-
trality pursued by the Powers which made that concession,
there was a marked difference. The materials of war for
the insurgent States were furnished, in a great measure,
from the workshops of Great Britain, and British ships,
manned by British subjects, and prepared for receiving
British armaments, sailed from ports of Great Britain to
make war on American commerce, under the shelter of a
commission from the insurgent States. These ships
having once escaped from British ports, ever afterwards
entered them in every part of the world, to refit, and so to
renew their depredations. The consequences of this con-
duct were most disastrous to the States then in rebellion,
increasing their desolation and misery by the pro-
longation of our civil contest. It had, moreover, the
effect, to a great extent, to drive the American flag from
the sea, and to transfer much of our shipping and our
commerce to the very Power whose subjects had created
the necessity for such a change. These events took
place before I was called to the administration of the
Government. The sincere desire for peace by which I
am animated led me to approve the proposal, already made,
to submit the questions which had thus arisen between
the countries to arbitration. These questions are of ;,such
moment that they must have commanded the attention of
the great Powers, and are so interwoven with the peace
and interests of every one of them as to have ensured an
impartial decision. I regret to inform you that Great
Britain declined the arbitrament, but, on the other hand,
invited us to the formation of a joint commission to settle
mutual claims between the two countries, from which those
for the depredations before mentioned should be excluded.
The proposition, on that very unsatisfactory form, has been
declined.

The United States did not present the subject as an
impeachment of the good faith of a Power which was pro-
fessing the most friendly dispositions, but as involving
questions of public law, of which the settlement is essen-
tial to the peace of nations ; and, though pecuniary repa-
ration to their injured citizens would have followed inci-
dentally on a decision against Great Britain, such com-
pensation was not their primary object. They had a higher
motive, and it was the interests of peace Land
justice to establish important principles of in,
ternational law. The correspondence will be

placed before you. The ground on which the
British Minister rests his justification is, sub-
stantially, that the municipal law of a nation, and the do-
mestic interpretations of that law, are the measuro of its
duty as a neutral; and I feel bound to declare my opinion,
before you and before the world, that that justification can-
not be sustained before the tribunal of nations. At the
same time I do not advise to any present attempt at redress
by acts of legislation. For the future, friendship between
the two countries must rest on the basis of mutual justice.

From the moment of the establishment of our free Con-
stitution, the civilised world has been convulsed by revolu-
tions in the interests of democracy or of monarchy ; but
through all those revolutions the United States have
wisely and firmly refused to become propagandists of re-
publicanism. It is the only Government suited to our con-
dition ; but we have never sought to impose it on others ;
and we have consistently followed the advice of Wash-
ington to recommend it only by the careful preser-
vation and prudent use of the blessing. During all the
intervening period the policy of European Powers and of
the United States has, on the whole, been harmonious.
Twice, indeed, rumours of the invasion of some parts of
America, in the interest of monarchy, have prevailed ;
twice my predecessors have had occasion to announce the
views of this nation in respect to such interference. On
both occasions the remonstrances of the United States was
respected, from a deep conviction, on the part of European
governments, that the system of non-interference and
mutual abstinence from propagandism was the true rule for
the two hemispheres. Since those times we have advanced
in wealth and power, but we retain the same purpose to
leave the nations of Europe to choose their own dynasties
and form their own systems of government. The consis-
tent moderation may justly demand a corresponding
moderation. We should regard it as a great calamity
to ourselves, to the cause of good government, and to the
peace of the world, should any European power challenge
the American people, as it were, to the defence of repub-
licanism against foreign interference. We cannot foresee
and are unwilling to consider, what opportunities might
present themselves, what combinations might offer to pro-
tect ourselves against designs inimical to our form of go-
vernment. The United States desire to act in the future
as they have ever acted heretofore ; they never will be
driven from that course but by the aggression of European
powers; and we rely on the wisdom and justice of those
powers to respect the system of non-interference which
has so long been sanctioned by time, and which, by its
good results, has approved itself to both continents.
The correspondence between the United States and
France, in reference to questions which have become sub-
jects of discussion between the two governments, will, at
a proper time, be laid before Congress.
When, on the organisation of our government, un-
der the Constitution, the President of the United
States delivered his inaugural address to the two
houses of Congress, he said to them, and through them
to the country and to mankind, that "the preserva-
tion of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of
the republican model of Government are justly considered
as deeply, perhaps as finally staked on the experiment in-
trusted to the American people." And the House of Re-
presentatives answered Washington by the voice of Madi-
son, "We adore the invisible hand which has led the Ame-
rican people, through so many difficulties, to cherish a con-
scious responsibility for the destiny of republican liberty."
More than 76 years have glided away since these words
wore spoken ; the United States have passed through
severer trials than were foreseen ; and now, at this new
epoch in our existence as one nation, with our Union puri-
fied by sorrows, and strengthened by conflict, and estab-
lished by the virtue of the people, the greatness of the
occasion once more invites us to repeat, with solemnity,
the pledges of our fathers to hold ourselves answerable
before our fellow-men for the success of the republican
form of government. Experience has proved its suffi-
ciency in peace and in war; it has vindicated its autho-
rity through dangers, and afflictions, and sudden and
terrible emergencies, which would have crushed any sys-
tem that had been less firmly fixed in the heart of the
people. At the inauguration of Washington the foreign
relations of the country were few, and its trade was re-
pressed by hostile regulations ; now all the civilised
nations of the globe welcome our commerce, and their Go-
vernments profess towards us amity. Then our country
felt its way hesitatingly along an untried path, with States
so little bound together by rapid means of communication
to be hardly known to one another, and with historic
traditions extending over very few years ; now inter-
course between the States is swift and intimate ; the ex-
perience of centuries has been crowded into a few genera-
tions, and has created an intense, indestructible nationality.
Then our jurisdiction did not reach beyond the inconve-
nient boundaries of the territory which had achieved inde-
pendence; now, through cessions of lands, first colonised
by Spain and France, the country has acquired a more
complex character, and has for its natural limits the chain
of Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, and on the east and
the west the two great oceans. Other nations
were wasted by civil war for ages before they could esta-
blish for themselves the necessary degree of unity ; the
latent conviction that our form of government is the best
ever known to the world has enabled us to emerge from
civil war within four years, with a complete vindication of
the constitutional authortty of the general government,
and with our local liberties and State institutions unim-
paired. The throngs of emigrants that crowd to our shores
arc witnosaoe of the confidence of all peoples in our per-
manence. Hero is the great land of free labour, where in-
dustry is blessed with unexampled rewards, and the bread
of the working man is sweetened by the consciousness
that the cause of the country "is his own cause, his own
safety, his own dignity." Here every one enjoys the free
use of his faculties and the choice of activity as a natural
right. Here, under the combined influence of a fruitful
soil, genial climes, and happy institutions, population
has increased fifteen-fold within a century. Here,
through the easy development of boundless resources,
wealth has increased with two-fold greater rapidity
than numbers, so that we have become secure against
the financial vicissitudes of other countries, and, alike in
business and in opinion, arc self-centred and truly inde-
pendent. Here more and more care is given to provide
education for every one born on our soil. Here religion,
released from political connection with the civil govern-
ment, refuses to subserve the craft of statesmen, and be-
' comes, in its independence, the spiritual life of the people.
IHere toleration is extended to every opinion, in the quiet
certainty that truth needs only a fair field to secure the
victory. Here the human mind goes forth unshackled in
the pursuit of science, to collect stores of knowledge and
acquire an ever-increasing mastery over the forces of
nature. Here the national domain is offered and
held in millions of separate freeholds, so that our fellow-
citizens, beyond the occupants of any other part of the
earth, constitute in reality a people. Here exists the de-
mocratic form of government; and that form of govern-
ment by the confession of European statesmen, "gives a
power of which no other form is capable, because it incor-
porates every man with the State, and arouses everything
that belongs to the soul."
Where, in past history, does a parallel exist to the public
happiness which is within the reach of the people of the
United States. Where, on any part of the globe, can in-
stitutions be found so suited to their habits or so entitled
to their love as their own free constitution ? Every one of
them, then, in whatever part of the land he has his home,
must wish its perpetuity. Who of them will not now ac-
knowledge, in the words of Washington, that "every step
by which the people of the United States have advanced
to the character of an independent nation seems to have
been distinguished by some token of Providential agency?".
Who will not join me in the prayer, that the invisible hand
which has led us through the clouds that gloomed around
our path will guide us onward to a perfect restoration of
fraternal affection, that we of this day may be able to
transmit our great inheritance of State Governments in all
their rights, of the General Government, in its whole con-
stitutional vigour, to our posterity, and they to theirs,
through countless generations.

Washington, Dec. 4, 1865.

ANDREW JOHNSON.

At an auction sale of two estates in Staunton, in
the valley of the Shenandoah, a short time ago, the white
population were horrified to find that the highest bidder
was a colored man, who thus entered into the ranks of the
landed aristocracy of Virginia.
The first battle of the American civil war, Ma-
nassas, was fought on the land of Mr. Andrew M‘Lean, in
the county of Fairfax, Virginia, and the virtual termination
of the struggle took place in the same gentleman's house,
in the county of Appomatox, where the terms of surrender
were formally drawn up and ratified by Generals Grant and
Lee.

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