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

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 16, 1i365.

Now, military governments, established for an indefinite
period, would have offered no security for the early sup-
pression of discontent ; would have divided the people into
vanquishers and vanquished; and would have envenomed
hatred rather than restored affection. Once established, no
precise limit to their continuance was conceivable. They
would have occasioned an incalculable and exhausting
expense. Peaceful emigration to and from that portion of
the country is one of the best means that can be thought
of for the restoration of harmony ; and that emigration
would have been prevented; for what emigrant from
abroad, what industrious citizen at home, would place him-
self willingly under military rule? The chief persons who
would have followed in the train of the army would have
been dependents on the general government, or who ex-
pected profit from the miseries of their erring fellow-citi-
zens.
The powers of patronage and rule which would
have been exercised, under the President, over a vast, and
Populous, and naturally
wealthy region, are greater that,
unless under extreme necessity, I should be willing to en-
trust to any one man ; they are such as, for myself, I could
never, unless on occasions of great emergency, consent
to exercise. The wilful use of such powers, if continued
through a period of years, would have endangered the
Purity of the general administration and the liberties of
the States which remained loyal.
Besides, the policy of military rule over a conquered
territory would have implied that the States whose inhabi-
tants may have taken part in the rebellion had, by the act
of those inhabitants, ceased to exist. But the true theory
is, that all pretended acts of secession were, from the be-

own members.
The full assertion of the powers of the General Govern-
ment requires the holding of Circuit Courts of the United
States within the districts where their authority has been
interrupted. In the present posture of our public affairs,
strong objections have been urged to holding those courts
in any of the States where the rebellion has existed ; and
it was ascertained, by inquiry, that the Circuit Court of
the United States would not be held within the district of
Virginia during the autumn or early winter, nor until
Congress should have "an opportunity to consider and
act on the whole subject." To your deliberations the re-
storation of this branch of the civil authority of the United
States is therefore necessarily referred, with the early
hope that early provision will be made for the resumption
of all its functions. It is manifest that treason, most flagrant
in character, has been committed. Persons who are
charged with its commission she u'd have fair and im-
partial trials in the highest civil tribunals of the country,
in order that the constitution and the laws may be fully
vindicated ; the truth clearly established and affirmed
that treason is a crime, that traitors should be
punished, and the offenco made infamous ; and,
at the same time, that the question may ba judicially set-
tled, finally and for ever, that no State of its own will has
the right to renounce its place in the Union.
The relations of the General Government towards the
four millions of inhabitants whom the war has called into
freedom, have engaged my most serious consideration. On
the propriety of attempting to make the freedthen electors
' by the proclamation of the Executive, I took for my counsel
the Constitution itself, the interpretation of that instrument
by its authors and their contemporaries, and recent legisla-
tion by Congress. When, at the first movement towards
independence, the Congress of the United States instructed
the several States to institute governments of their own,
they left each State to decide for itself the conditions for
the enjoyment of the elective franchise. During the period
of the Confederacy, there continued to exist a very great
diversity in the qualifications of electors in the several
States; and even within a State a distinction of qualifica-
tions prevailed with regard to the officers who were to be
chosen. The Constitution of the United States recog-
nises these diversities when it enjoins that, in the choice
of members of the House of Representatives of the United
States, "the electors in each State shall have the qualifi-
cations requisite for electors of the host numerous branch
of the State Legislature." After the formation of the Con-
stitution it remained, as before, the uniform usage for each
State to enlarge the body of its electors, according to its
own judgment; and, under this system, ono State after
another has proceeded to increase the number of it 3 elec-
tors, until now universal suffrage, or something very near
it, is the general rule. So fixed was this reservation of
Power in the habits of the people, and so unquestioned has
been the interpretation of the Constitution, that during the 1
civil war the late President never harbored the purpose—'
certainly never avowed the purpose —of disregarding it ;
and in the acts of Congress, during that period, nothing can
be found which, during the continuance of hostilities, much
less after their close, would have sanctioned any depar-
ture I.by the Executive from a policy which has so
uniformly obtained. Moreover, a concession of the elec-1
tivo franchise to the freedmen, by act of the President of
the United States, must have been extended to all coloured
men, wherever found, and so must have established a
change of suffrage in the Northern, Middle, and Western
States, not less than in the Southern and South-Western.
Such an act would have created a new class of voters, and
Nwsvothaittch
leashwaovuela beenh a v ane
warranted. assumption
nothing in the constitution or laws of the United
On the other hand, danger of conflict is avoided
when the settlement of etlrieerY question is referred to the seve-
ral States. They can, each for itself, decide on the mea-
sure, and whether it is toanbtra3 adopted at once and absolutely
show
conditions. In my judg-
ment, the freedmen, if they patience and manly vir-
tues, will sooner obtain a participationl the elective fran-
chise through the States
power than
o throughiht ienr
votheh General Go-
vernment,the even if it had
tumult of emotions that have been raised be.
sudden-
ness of the social change shall have subsided, it may
that they will receive the kindliest usage from so pmreo voef
those on whom they have heretofore most closely de-
pended.
But while I have no doubt that now, after the close of
the war, it is not competent for the General Government
to extend the elective franchise in the several States, it is
equally clear that good faith requires the security of the
freedmen in their liberty and their property. their right to
labour, and their right to claim the just return of
their labour. I cannot too strongly urge a dispas-
sionate treatment of this subject, which should be
carefully kept aloof from all party strife. We must
equally avoid hasty assumptions of any natural impossi-
bility for the two rases to live side by side, in a state of
mutual benefit and good-will. The experiment involves
us in no inconsistency ; let us, then, go on and make that
experiment in good faith, and not be too easily disheartened.
The country is in need of labour, and the freedmen are in
need of employment, culture, and protection. While their
right of voluntary migration and expatriation is not to be
questioned, I would not advise their forced removal and
colonisation. Let us rather encourage them to honourable
and useful industry, where it may be beneficial to them-
selveso and to the country ; and, instead of hasty anticipa-
tinsof the certainty of failure, let there be nothing
wanting
in theirctoontahiteiofan i s
h
fair trialte uut
sofbstthiteeixop:ri of
labour by contract
for Thecochnan gel
for the status of slavery. The freedman cannot fairly be
accused of unwillingness to work, so long as a doubt re-

mains about his freedom of choice in his pursuits, and the
certainty of his recovering his stipulated wages. In this
the interests of the employer and the employed coincide.
The employer desires in his workman spirit and alacrity,
and these can be permanently secured in no other way.
And if the one ought to be able to enforce the con-
tract, so ought the other. The public interest will be best
promoted, if the several States will provide adequate pro-
tection and remedies for the freedmen. Until this is in
some way accomplished, there is no chance for the advan-
tageous use of their labour ; and the blame of ill-success
will not rest on them.

I know that sincere philanthropy is earnest for the im-
mediate realisation of its remotest aims; but time is always
an element in reform. It is one of the greatest acts on re-
cord to have brought four millions of people into freedom.
The career of free industry must be fairly opened to them;
and then their future prosperity and condition must, after
all, rest mainly on themselves. If they fail, and so perish
away, let us be careful that the failure shall not be attri-
butable to any denial of justice. In all that relates to the
destiny of th 9 freedmen, we need not be too anxious to read
the future ; many incidents which, from a speculative point
of view, might raise alarm, will quietly settle themselves.
Now that slavery is at an end, the greatness of its evil,
in the point of view of public economy, becomes more and
more apparent. Slavery was essentially a monopoly of la-
bour, and as such locked the States where it prevailed
against the incoming of free industry. Where labour was
the property of the capitalist, the white man was excluded
from employment, or had but the second best chance of
finding it; and the foreign emigrant turned away from the
region where his condition would be so precarious. With
the destruction of the monopoly, free labour will hasten
from all parts of the civilised world to assist in de-
veloping various and immeasurable resources which
have hitherto lain dormant. The eight or nine States
nearest the Gulf of Mexico have a soil of exuberant
fertility, a climate friendly to long life, and can sustain a
denser population, than is found as yet in any part of our
country. And the future influx of population to them will
be mainly from the North, or from the most cultivated
nations in Europe. From the sufferings that have attended
them during our late struggle, let us look away to the
future, which is sure to be laden for them with greater
prosperity than has ever before been known. The removal
of the monopoly of slave labour is a pledge that those
regions will be peopled by a numerous and enterprising
population, which will vie with any in the Union in com-
pactness, inventive genius, wealth, and industry.
Our Government springs from and was made for the
people—not the people for the Government. To them it
owes allegiance ; from them it must derive its courage,
strength, and wisdom. But, while the Government is thus
bound to defer to the people, from whom it derives its
existence, it should, from the very consideration of its
origin, be strong in its power of resistance to the establish-
ment of inequalities. Monopolies, perpetuities, and clam
legislation are contrary to the genius of free government
and ought not to be allowed. Here, there is no room for
favoured classes or monopolies; the principle of our Go-
vernment is that of equal laws and freedom of industry.
Wherever monopoly obtains a foothold, it is sure to be a
source of danger, discord, and trouble. We shall
but fulfil our duties as legislators by according
" equal and exact justice to all men," special privileges
to none. The Government is subordinate to the
people ; but, as the agent and representative of the
people, it must be held superior to monopolies, which,
in themselves, ought never to be granted, and which
where they exist, must be subordinate and yield to the
government.
The constitution confers on Congress the right to regu-
late commerce among the several states. It is of the first
necessity, for the maintenance of the Union, that that
commerce should be free and unobstructed. No state can
be justified in any device to tax the transit of travel and
commerce between states. The position of many states
is such that, if they were allowed to take advantage of it
for purposes of local revenue, the commerce between
states might be injuriously burdened, or even virtually
prohibited. It is best, while the country is still young,
and while the tendency to dangerous- monopolies of this
kind is still feeble, to use the power of Congress so as to
prevent any selfish impediment to the free circulation of
men and merchandise. A tax on travel and merchandise,
in their transit, constitutes one of the worst forms of
monopoly, and the evil is increased if coupled with a dee
nial of the choice of route. When the vast extent of our
country is considered, it is plain that every obstacle to the
free circulation of commerce between the States ought to
be sternly guarded against by appropriate legislation,
within the limits of the constitution.
The report of the Secretary of the Interior explains the
condition of the public lands, the transactions of the Patent-
office and the Pension-bureau, the management of our
Indian affairs, the progress made in the construction of the
Pacific Railroad, and furnishes information in reference to
matters of local interest in the district of Columbia. It also
presents evidence of the successful operation of the home-
stead Act, under the provisions of which 1,160,535 acres of
the public lands were entered during the last fiscal year—
more than one-fourth of the whole number of acres sold
or otherwise disposed of during that period. It is esti-
mated that the receipts derived from this source are suffi-
cient to cover the expenses incident to the survey and
disposal of the lands entered under this Act, and that pay-
ments in cash to the extent of from forty to fifty per cent.
will be made by settlers, who may thus at any time acquire
title before the expiration of the period at which it would
otherwise rest. The homestead policy was established
only after long and earnest resistance ; experience proves
its wisdom. The lands, in the hands of industrious
settlers, whose labour creates wealth and contributes to
the public resources, are worth more to the United States
than if they bad been reserved as a solitude for future
purchasers.
The lamentable events of the last four years, and the
sacrifices made by the gallant men of our Army and Navy,
have swelled the records of the Pension Bureau to an un-
precedented extent. On the 30th day of June last, the
total number of pensioners was 85,986, requiring for their
annual pay, exclusive of expenses, the sum of $8,023,445.
The number of applications that have been allowed since
that debt will require a large increase of this amount for
the next fiscal year. The means for the payment of the
stipends due, under existing laws, to our disabled soldiers
and sailors, and to tho families of such as have perished
in the service of the country, will no doubt be cheerfully
and promptly granted. A grateful people will not hesitate
to sanction any measures having for their object the relief
of soldiers mutilated and families made fatherless in the
efforts to preserve our national existence.
The report of the Postmaster-General presents an encou-
raging exhibit of the operations of the Post-office depart-
ment during the year. The revenues of the past year from
the loyal States alone exceeded the maximum annual re-
ceipts from all the States previous to the rebellion in the
sum of $6,038,091; and the annual average increase of re-
venue during the last four years, compared with the
revenues of the four years immediately preceding the re-
bellion, was $3,533,845. The revenues of the last fiscal
year amounted to $14,556,158, and the expenditure to
$13,694,728, leaving a surplus of receipts over expenditure
of $861,430. Progress has been made in restoring the
postal service in the Southern States. The views presented
by the Postmaster-General against the policy of granting
subsidies to ocean mail steamship lines upon established
routes, and in favour of continuing the present system,
which limits the compensation for ocean service to the
postage earnings, are recommended to the careful consi-
deration of Congress.
It appears from the report of the Secretary of the Navy
that, while at the commencement of the present year there
were in commission 530 vessels of all classes and descrip-
tions, armed with 3,000 guns and manned by 51,000 men,
the number of vessels at present in commission is 117, with
830 guns and 12,128 men. By this prompt reduction of
the naval forces the expenses of the Government have
been largely diminished, and a number of vessels, pur-
chased for naval purposes from the merchant marine, have
been returned to the peaceful pursuits of commerce. Since
the suppression of active hostilities our foreign squadrons
have been re-established, and consist of vessels much more
efficient than those employed on similar service previous to
the rebellion. The suggestion for the enlargement of the
navy yards, and especially for the establishment of one in
fresh water for iron-clad vessels, is deserving of considera-
tion, as is also the recommendation for a different location
and more ample grounds for the Naval Academy.
In the report of the Secretary of War, a general summary
is given of the military campaigns of 1864 and 1865, end-
ing in the suppression of the armed resistance to the na-
tional authority in the insurgent States. The operations
of the general administrative Bureau of the War Depart-
ment during the past year are detailed, and an estimate
made of the appropriations that will be required for mili-
tary purposes in the fiscal year commencing the 30th day
of June, 1866. Tho national military force on the Ist of
May, 1865, numbered 1,000,516 men. It is proposed to re-
duce the military establishment to a peace footing, com-
prehending 50,000 troops of all arms, organised so as to
airpmooeionrinttirs:oeonfdfraioncuenlargement by filling up the ranks to 82,600,
if the circumstances of the country should require an aug-
' mentation of the army. The volunteer force has already
thed
f dht
the
further
drteehpdoaur
tin departments
u nhar
rrgi s e
The
adequate
servicereowqmaura proceedingtef or estimatesoarf
appovereaidrael
ey
reducedB ioenOs,
estab-
lishment. Oe
joshnarnseentl6. ,2Tloh,el3ll.eatosiisre33s,Bo-1141,04t6re1n,
retrenchment
amount, oeuanet,b
bureau
nurethaue
and branch of the service exhibit a diligent economy
the necessity of providing for a uniforrnim ialistivabsjyecsttcomf' andthe
report
vital
to the propriety of making suitable provision for wounded
and disabled officers and soldiers.
The revenue system of the country s
interest to its honor and prosperity, and should command
the earnest consideration of Congress. The Secretary of
the Treasury will lay before you a full and detailed report of
the receipts and disbursements of the last fiscal year, of the
first quarter of the present fiscal year, of the probable re-
ceipts and expenditures for the other three quarters, and
the estimates for the year following the 30th of June,lB66.
I might content myself with a reference to that report, in
which you will find all the information required for your
deliberation and decision. But the paramount importance
of the subject so presses itself on my own mind, that I
cannot but lay before you my views of the measure which

years.

are required for the good character, and, I might almokt
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 compared withthe count-
less blessings that will be conferred upon our country and
upon man by the preservation of the nation's life. Now,
on the first occasion of the meeting of Congress since the
return of peace, it is of the utmost importance to inaugu-
rate a just policy, which shall at once be put in motion,
and which shall commend itself to those who come after us
for its continuance. We must aim at nothing less than
the complete effacement of the financial evils that neces-
sarily followed a state of civil war. We must endeavour
to apply the earliest remedy to the deranged state of the
currency, and not shrink from devising a policy which,
without being oppressive to the people, shall immediately
begin, to effect a reduction of the debt, and if persisted in,
discharge it fully within a definitely fixed number of

s our first duty to prepare in earnest for our recovery
*rom the ever-increasing evils of an irredeemable currency,
without a sudden revulsion, and yet without untimely
procrastination. For that end we must, 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 great national resource.
Of the banks to which authority has been given to issue
notes secured by bonds of the United States, we may re-
quire the greatest moderation and prudence, and the law
must be rigidly enforced when its limits are exceeded. We
may, each one of us, counsel our active and enterprising
countrymen to be constantly on their guard to liquidate
debts contracted in a paper currency, and, by conducting
business as nearly as possible on a system of cash pay-
ments or short credits, to hold themselves prepared to re-
turn to the standard of gold and silver. To aid our fellow
citizens in the prudent management of their monetary
affairs, the duty devolves on us to diminish by law the
amount of paper money now in circulation. Five years
ago the bank noto circulation of the country amounted to
not much more than two hundred millions ; now the cir-
culation, bank and national, exceeds seven hundred mil-
lions. The simple statement of the fact 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—first 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. During the war, under the
impulses of patriotism, the men of the great body of the
people, without regard to their own 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, in our impost system, 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 heavily 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 the poor, but rather on the
accumulated wealth of the country. We should look at
the national debt just as it is—not as a national blessing,
but as a heavy burden on the industry of the country, to
be discharged without necessary 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 iu 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 temptation to "entangling alli-
ances," while at the present moment the re-establishment
of harmony, and the strength that comes from harmony,
will be our best security against "nations who feel power
and forget right." For myself, it has 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, 63 recent in their organ, are most friendly. Our
commerce with his dominions is receiving new develop-
ments, and it is very pleasing to find that the Government
of that great empire manifests satisfaction 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 continent of Asia; through his
dominions, and so to connect us with all Europe by a new
channel of intercourse. Our commerce with South Ame-
rica is about to receive encouragement 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 the 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 isuch
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 , ,and
justice to establish important principles of in-
ternational law. The correspoudence 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 measure 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 those 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 feur 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
are witnesses of the confidence of all peoples in our per-
manence. • Here is the great land of free liibour, 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 clinics, 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.
Here 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 han4
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 JOIINSON.

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 Grantand
Leo.
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