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

THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

The following following is the full text of President John-
son's Message to Congress:—
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives—
To express gratitude to God, in the name of the people,
for the preservation of the United States, is my first duty
in addressing you. Our thoughts next revert to the death
of the late President by an act of parricidal treason. The
grief of the nation is still fresh; it finds some solace in the
consideration that he lived to enjoy the highest proof of
its confidence by entering on the renewed term of the chief
magistracy, to which he had been elected ; that he brought
the civil war subsequently to a close ; that his loss was
deplored in all parts of the Union; and that foreign nations
have rendered justice to his memory. His removal cast
upon me a heavier weight of cares than ever devolved upon
any one of his predecessors. To fulfil my trust I need the
support and confidence of all who are associated with me
in the various departments of Government, and the support
and confidence of the people. There is but one way in
which I can hope to gain their necessary aid; it is to state
with frankness the principles which guide my conduct, and
their application to the present state of affairs, well aware
that the efficiency of my labours will, in a great measure,
depend on your and their undivided approbation.
The Union of the United States of America was intended
by its authors to last as long as the States themselves shall
last. "The Union shall be perpetual" are the words of the
Confederation. "To form a more perfect Union," by an
ordinance of the people of the United States, is the de-
clared purpose of the constitution. The hand of Divine
Providence was never more plainly visible in the affairs of
men than in the framing and the adopting of that instru-
ment. It is, beyond comparison, the greatest event in
American history; and indeed is it not, of all events
in modern times, the most pregnant with conse-
quences for every people of the earth ? The mem-
bers of the Convention which prepared it, brought to
their work the experience of the confederation of their
several States, and of other Republican Governments, old
and new ; but they needed and they obtained a wisdom
superior to experience. And when for its validity it re-
quired the approval of a people that occupied a large part
of a continent and acted separately in many distinct con-
ventions, what is more wonderful than that, after earnest
contention and long discussion, all feelings and all opi-
nions were ultimately drawn in one way to its support ?
The constitution to which life was thus imparted con-
tains within itself ample resources for its own preservation.
It has power to enforce the laws, punish treason, and in-
sure domestic tranquillity. In the case of the usurpation
of the Government of a State by one man, or an oligarchy,
it becomes a duty of the United States to make good the
guarantee to that State of a republican form of government,
and so to maintain the homogeneousness of all. Does the
lapse of time reveal defects? A simple mode of amend-
ment is provided in the constitution itself, so that its con-
ditions can always be made to conform to the requirements
of advancing civilisation. No room is allowed even for the
thought of a possibility of its coming to an end. And these
powers of self-preservation have always been asserted in
their complete integrity by every patriotic Chief Magis-
trate—by Jefferson and Jackson, not less than by Wash-
ington and Madison. The parting advice of the Father of
his Country, while yet President, to the people of the
United State; was, that " the free constitution, which was
the work of their hands, might be sacredly maintained ;"
and the inaugural words of President Jefferson held up
" the preservation of the general government, in its con-
stitutional vigour, as the sheet anchor of our peace at
home and safety abroad." The constitution is the work of
the people of the United States, and it should be as inde-
structible as the people.
Is it not strange that the framers of the constitution, which
had no model in the past, should not have fully compre-
hended the excellence of their own work. Fresh from a
struggle against arbitrary power, many patriots suffered
from harassing fears of an absorption of the State Govern-
ments by the General Government, and many from a
dread that the States would break away from their orbits.
But the very greatness of our country should allay the
apprehensions of encroachments by the general govern-
ment. The subjects that come unquestionably within its
jurisdiction are so numerous that it must ever naturally
refuse to be embarrassed by questions that lie beyond it.
Were it otherwise, the Executive would sink beneath the
burden ; the channels of justice would be choked ; legis-
lation would be obstructed by excess; so that there is
greater temptation to exercise some of the functions of the
general government through the States than to trespass
on their rightful sphere. "The absolute acquiescence in
the decisions of the majority" was, at the beginning of the
century, enforced by Jefferson "as the vital principle of
republics," and the events of the-last four years have esca-
blished, we will hope for ever, that there lies no appeal to
force.

The maintenance of the Union brings with it "the sup-
port of the State governments in all their rights ;" but it is
not one of tho rights of any State government to renounce
its own place in the Union, or to nullify the laws of the
Union. The largest liberty is to be maintained in the dis-
cussion of the acts of the Federal Government ; but there
is no appeal from its laws, except to the various branches
of that government itself, or to the people, who grant to
the members of the Legislative and of the Executive De-
partments no tenure but a limited one, and in that manner
always retain the power of redress.
" The sovereignty of the States" is the language of the
Confederacy, and not the language of the Constitution.
The latter contains the emphatic words : " The Constitu-
tion, and the laws of the United States which shall be
made in pursuance thereof, and all treaties made or which
shall be made under the authority of the United States,
shall be the supreme law of the laud; and the judges in
every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the Con-
stitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwith-
standing."
Certainly the Government of the United States is a limited
government; and so is every State government a limited
government. With us, this idea of limitation spreads
through every form of administration, general, State, and
municipal, and rests on the great distinguishing principle
of the recognition of the rights of man. The ancient re-
publics absorbed the individual in the State, prescribed his
religion, and controlled his activity. The American system
rests on the assertion of the equal right of every man to
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; to freedom of
conscience, to the culture and exercise of all his faculties.
As a consequence, the State Government is limited, as to
the General Government in the interests of Union, as to
individual citizen in the interest of freedom.
States, with proper limitations of power, aro essential to
the existence of the Constitution of the United States. At
the very commencement, when we assume a place among
the powers of the earth, the declaration of independence
was adopted by states; so also were the Articles of Con-
federation ; and when "the People of the United States"
ordained and established the constitution, it was the assent
of the States, one by one, which gave it vitality. In the
event, too, of any amendment to the constitution, the pro-
position of Congress needs the confirmation of States.
Without States one great branch of the legislative go-
vernment would be wanting. And, if we look beyond the
letter of the constitution to the character of our ceuntry,
_ its capacity for comprehending within its jurisdiction a
vast continental empire is due to the system of States. The
best security for the perpetual existence of the
states is the " snprerae authority " of the constitu-
tion of the States. The perpetuity of the constitution
brings with it the perpetuity of the States; their mutual
ro
makes us what we are, and in our political system
thei uconnection is indissoluble. The whole cannot exist
without the parts, nor the parts without the whole. So
long as the constitution of the United States endures, the
States will endure ; the destruction of the one is
the d
etructiou of the other ; the
preservation of the one is the
preservation of the other.
I have thus explained my views of the mutual relations
of the Constitution and the States, because they unfold the
principles on which I have sought to solve the momentous
questions and overcome the appalling difficulties that met
me at the very commencement of my administration. It
has been my steadfast object to escape from the sway of
momentary passions, and to derive a healing policy for the
fundamental and unchanging principles of the constitution.
I found the States suffering from the effects of a civil
war, Resistance to the general government appeared to
have exhausted itself. The United States had recovered
possession of their forts and arsenals, and theirarmies were
in the occupation of every State which had attempted to
secede. Whether the territory within the limits of those
States should be held as conquered territory, under military
authority emanating from the President as the head of the
army, was the first question that presented itself for de-
cision.

ginning, null and void. The States cannot commit
treason, nor screen the individual citizens who may have
committed treason, any more than they can Int ke valid
treaties or engage in lawful commerce with ,-. foreign
Power. The States attemptitg to secede aced them-
selves in a condition where their vitality wa, 'mpaired, but
not extinguished—their functions suspeafieu, but not de-
stroyed.

But if any State neglects or refuses to perform its offices,
there is the more need that the General Government should
maintain all its authority, and, as soon as practicable, re-
sume the exercise of all its functions. On this principle I
have acted, and have gradually and quietly and by almost
imperceptible steps, sought to restore the rightful energy
of the General Government and of the States. To that end
provisional governors have been appointed for the States,
conventions called, governors elected, Legislatures as-
sembled, and senators and representatives chosen to the
Congress of the United States. At the same time, the
courts of the United States, as far as could be done, have
been re-opened, so that the laws.of the United States may
be enforced through their agency. The blockade has been
removed and the custom houses re-established in ports of
entry, so that the revenue of the United States may be
collected. The Post-office department renews its ceaseless
activity, and the General Government is thereby enabled
to communicate promptly with its officers and agents. The
courts bring security to persons and property ; the open-
ing of the ports invites the restoration of industry and
commerce, the post-office renews the facilities of social in-
tercourse and of business. And is it not happy for us all
that the restoration of each one of these functions of the
General Government brings with it a blessing to the State
over which they are extended? Is it not a sure promise
of harmony and renewed attachment to the Union that,
after all that has happened, the return of the General
Government is known only as a beneficence ?
I know very well that the policy is attended with some
risk; that for its success it requires at least the acquies-
cence of the States which it concerns ; that it implies an
invitation to those States, by renewing their allegiance to
the United States, to resume their functions as States of
the Union. But it is a risk that must be taken ; in the
choice of difficulties it is the smallest risk ; and to dimi-
nish, and, if possible, to remove all danger, I have felt it
incumbent upon me to assert one other power of tho gene-
ral government—the power of pardon. As no State can
throw a defence over the crime of treason, the power of
pardon is exclusively vested in the Executive Government
of the United States. In exercising that power, I have
taken every precaution to connect it with the clearest re-
cognition of the binding force of the laws of the United
States, and an unqualified acknowledgment of the great
social change of condition in regard to slavery which has
grown out of the war.
The next step which I have taken to restore the consti-
tutional relations of the States has been an invitation to
them to participate in the high office of amending the con-
stitution. Every patriot must wish for a general amnesty
at the earliest epoch consistent with public safety. For
this great end there is need of a concurence of all opinions,
and the spirit of mutual conciliation. All parties in the
late terrible conflict must work together in harmony. It
is not much to ask, in the name of the whole people, that
on tho one side the plin of restoration shall proceed with
a willingness to cast the disorders of the past into oblivion;
and that, on the other, the evidence of sincerity in the fu-
ture maintenance of the Union shall be put beyond any
doubt by the ratification of the proposed amendment to the
constitution which provides for the abolition of slavery
for ever within the limits of our country. So long as the
adoption of this amendment is delayed, so long will
doubt, and jealousy, and uncertainty prevail. This is the
measure which will efface the sad memory of the

past ; this is the measure which will most cer-
tainly call population, and capital, and security to
those parts of the Union that have the most need of
them. Indeed, it is not too much to ask of the
States which are now resuming their places in the family
of the Union to give this pledge of perpetual loyalty and
peace. Until it is done, the past, however much we may
desire it, will not be forgotten. The adoption of the
amendment reunites us beyond all power of disruption. It
heals the wound that is still imperfectly closed ; it re-
moves slavery, the element which has so long perplexed
and divided the country ; it makes of us once more a
united people, renewed and strengthened, bound more
than over to mutual affection and support.
The amendment in the constitution being adopted, it
would remain for the States, whose powers have been so
long in abeyance, to resume their places in the two
branches of the National Legislature, and thereby com-
plete the work of restoration. Hero it is for you, fellow-
citizens of the Senate, and for you, fellow-citizens of the
House of Representatives, to judge, each of you for your-
selves, of the elections, returns, and qualifications of your