The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-18 00:00:00

THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

Fellow citizens of the Senate and House of Represen•

tatives:
Throughout the year since our last meeting, the country
has been eminently prosperous in all its material interests.
The general health has been excellent, our harvests have
been abundant, and plenty smiles throughout the land.
Our commerce and manufactures have been prosecuted
with energy and industry, and have yielded fair and ample
returns. In short, no nation in the tide of time has ever
presented a spectacle of greater prosperity than we have
done until within a very recent period.
Why is it, then, that discontent now so extensively pre-
vails, and the Union of the States, which is the source of
all these blessings, is threatened with destruction ? The
long-continued and intemperate interference of the northern
people with the question of slavery in the Southern States
has at length produced its natural effects. The different
sections of the Union are now arrayed against each other,
and the time has arrived, so much dreaded by the father of
his country, when hostile geographical parties have been
formed. I have long foreseen and often forewarned my
countrymen of the now impending danger. This does not
proceed solely from the claim on the part of Congress or
the territorial legislatures to exclude slavery from the ter-
ritories, nor from the efforts of different states to defeat the
execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. All or any of these
evils might have been endured by the South without
danger to the Union (as others have been); in the hope
that time and reflection might apply the remedy. The
immediate peril arises not so much from these causes
as from the fact that the incessant and violent agitation
of the slavery question throughout the North for the last
quarter of a century has at last given proof of its malign
influence on the slaves, and inspired them with vague
notions of freedom. Hence a sense of security no
longer exists around the family altar. This feeling of
peace at home has given place to apprehensions of servile
insurrection. Many a matron throughout the South re-
tires at night in dread of what may befal herself and her
children before the morning. Should this apprehension of
domestic danger, whether real or imaginary, extend and
intensify itself until it shall pervade the masses of the
Southern people, then disunion will become inevitable.
Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and has been
implanted in the heart of man by his Creator for the wisest
purpose ; and no political union, however fraught with
blessings and benefits in all other respects, can long con-
tinue, if the necessary consequence be to render the homes
and firesides of nearly half the parties to it habitually and
hopelessly insecure. Sooner or later the bonds of such a
union must be severed. It is my conviction that this fatal
period has not yet arrived; and my prayer to God is, that
He preserve the Constitution and the Union throughout
all generations.
But let us take warning in time, and remove the cause of
danger. It cannot be denied that, for five and twenty
years, the agitation at the North, against slavery in the
South has been incessant. In 1335 pictorial hand-bills,
and inflammatory appeals, were circulated extensively
throughout the South, of a character to excite the passions
of the slaves ; and, in the language of General Jackson, " to
stimulate theta to insurrection, and produce all the horrors
of a servile war." This agitation has ever since been con-
tinued by the public press, by the proceedings of State and
county conventions, and by abolition sermons and lectures:
The time of Congress has been occupied in violent speeches
on this never-ending subject ; and appeals in pamphlet and
other forms, endorsed by distinguished names, have been
sent forth from this central point, and spread broadcast
over the Union.
How easy would it be for the American people to settle
the slavery question for ever, and to restore peace and har-
mony to this distracted country.
They, and they alone, can do it. All that is necessary to
accomplish the object, and all for which the slave States
have ever contended, is to be let alone, and permitted to
mariage their domestic institutions in their own way. As
sovereign States, they alone are responsible before God
and the world for the slavery existing among them. For
this the people of the North are not more responsible, and
have no more right to interfere, than with similar institu-
tions in Russia or in Brazil. Upon their good sense and
patriotic forbearance I confess I still greatly rely. With-
out their aid, it is beyond the power of any President, no
matter what may be his own political proclivities, to restore
peace and harmony among the States. Wisely limited and
restrained as is his power, under our Constitution and laws,
he alone can accomplish but little, for good or for evil, on
such a momentous question.
And this brings me to observe that the election
of any one of our fellow citizens to the office
of President does not of itself afford just cause
for dissolving the Union. This is more especially true
if his election has been effected by a mere plurality,
and not a majority, of the people, and has resulted from
transient and temporary causes, which may probably never
again occur. In order to justify a resort to revolutionary
resistance, the federal government must be guilty of a de-
liberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise of powers not
granted by the constitution. The late presidential election,
however, has been held in strict conformity with its ex-
press provisions. How, then, can the result justify a re-
volution to destroy this very constitution ? Reason, justice,
a regard for the constitution, all require that we should
wait for some overt and dangerous act on the part of the
President-elect before resorting to such a remedy.
It is said, however, that the antecedents of the President
elect have been sufficient to justify the fears of the South
that he will attempt to invade their constitutional rights.
But are such apprehension of contingent danger in the
future sufficient to justify the immediate destruction
of the noblest system of government ever devised
by mortals ? From the very nature of this office, and
its high responsibilities, he must necessarily be Con-
servative. The stern duty of administering the vast
and complicated concerns of this Government affords to
itself a guarantee that he will not attempt any violation of
a clear constitutional right. After all, he is no more than
the chief executive officer of the Government. His province
is not to make, but to execute, the laws ; and it is a remark-
able fact in our history that, notwithstanding the repeated
efforts of the anti-slavery party, no single act has ever
passed Congress, unless we may possibly except the Missouri
Compromise, impairing, in the slightest degree, the rights
of the South to their property in slaves. And it may also
be observed, judging from present indications, that no pos-
sibility exists of the passage of such an act, by a majority
of both houses, either in the present or the next Congress.
Surely, under these circumstances, we ought to be restrained
from present action by the precept of Him who spake as
never man spake, that " sufficient unto the day is the evil
thereof." The day of evil may never come, unless we shall
rashly bring it upon ourselves.
It is alleged as one cause for immediate secession, that
the Southern States are denied equal rights with the other
States in the common territories ? But by what authority
are these denied ? Not by Congress, which has never
passed, and I believe never will pass, any act to exclude
slavery from these territories, and certainly not by the
Supreme Court, which has solemnly decided that slaves are
property, and, like all other property, their owners have a
right to take them into the common territories, and hold
them there under the protection of the constitution.
So far, then, as Congress is concerned, the objection is
not to anything they have already done, but to what they
may do hereafter. It will surely be admitted that this appre-
hension of future danger is no good reason for an immediate
dissolution of tie Union. It is true that the territorial legis-
lature of Kansas, on the 23d of February, 1860, passed in
great haste an act, over the veto of the Governor, declaring
that slavery "is and shall be for ever prohibited in this
territory." Such act, however, plainly violating the rights
of property secured by the constitution, will surely be de-
clared void by the judiciary whenever it shall be presented
in a legal form.
Only three days after my inauguration the Supreme
Court of the United States solemnly adjudged that this
power did not exist in a territorial legislature. Yet such
has been the factious temper of the times that the correct-
ness of this decision has been extensively impugned before
the people, and the question has given rise to angry politi-
cal conflicts throughout the conntry. Those who have ap-
pealed from this judgment of our highest constitutional
tribunal to popular assemblies would, if they could, invest
a territorial legislature with power to annul the sacred
rights of, property. This power Congress is expressly
forbid den by Federal Constitution to exercise. Every
State legislature in the Union is forbidden by its own
constitution to exercise it. It cannot be exercised in any
State except by the people in their highest sovereign
capacity when framing or amending their state con-
stitution. In like manner, it can only be exercised
by the people of a territory represented in a.contivoenntion of
delegates for the purpose of framing a constitution prepa-
ratoryrenpowero decide
n't
authority,
Were
itot
other-
wise, to admission as a State inteLtihthe
and not until then, are they invested
the question whether slavery shall or shall not exist within
theirolfimsiuths.ordTinhaiste
not of the State in the
wise, then indeed would the equality
s territorialan ac act of
lf egi sovereignstio.
guarantees of the
majorities. of an. irresponsible.. territo-
Territories be destroyed, and the rights of property in slaves
would depend, not upon the Constitution,
influence
itffoarndyagoodreasonpfooir•
a doctrine, from its intrinsic tills
but upon the shifting
rial legislature. Such
considerable mud-
tiaondisosfooluur•
people, much less can
ness, cannot long
tion of the Union.
The most ions
of
palpable violet constitutional duty which
have yet been committed consist in the acts of different
state legislatures to defeat the execution of the fugitive
slave law. It ought to be remembered, however, that
for these acts neither Congress nor any President can
justly be held responsible. Having been passed in viola-
tion of the federal constitution, they are, therefore, null
and void. All the courts, both state and national, before
whom the question has arisen, have from the beginning
declared the Fugitive Slave Law to be constitutional.
The single exception is that of a state court in Wisconsin,
and this has not only been reversed by the proper appel-
late tribunal, but has met with such universal re' robe-
tion that there can be no danger from it as a piece-
dent. The validity of this law has been established over
and over again by the Supreme Court of the United States
with perfect unanimity. It is fuunded upon an express pro-
vision of the constitution, requiring that fugitive slaves who

escape from service in one state to another shall be " deli-
vered up" to their masters. Without this provision it is a
well-known historical fact that the constitution itself could .
never have been adopted by the convention. In one form
or other, cider the acts of 1793 and 1850, both being sub-
stantially the same, filo Fugitive Slave Law has been the
law of the land from the days of Washington until the
present moment. Here, then, a clear case is pre-
sented, in which it will be the duty of the
next President, as it has been my own, to act with vigour
in executing the supreme law against the conflicting en-
actments of State Legislatures. Should he fail in the per-
formance of this high duty, he will then have manifested a
disregard of the constitution and laws, to the great injury
of the people of nearly one half of the States of the Union.
But are we to presume in advance that he will thus violate
his duty ? This would be at war with every principle of
justice and of Christian charity. Let us wait for the overt
act. The Fugitive Slave Law has been carried into
execution in every contested ease since the commence-
ment of the present Administration, though often, it is to
be regretted, with great loss and inconvenience to the
master, and with considerable expense to the Government.
Let us trust that the State Legislature will repeal their
unconstitutional and obnoxious enactments. Unless this
shall be done without unnecessary delay, it is impossible
for any human power to save the Union.

TheLSouthern states, standing on the basis of the consti-
tution, have a right to demand this act of justice from the
states of the North. Should it be refused, then the consti-
tution, to which all the states are parties, will have been
wilfully violated by one portion of them in a provision
essential to the domestic security and happiness of the re-
mainder. In that event, the injured states, after having
first used all peaceful and constitutional means to obtain
redress, would be justified in revolutionary resistance to
the Government of the Union.
I have [purposely confined my remarks to revolutionary
resistance, because it has been claimed within the last two
years that any State, whenever this shall be its sovereign
will and pleasure, may secede from the Union, in accordance
with the Constitution, and without any violation of the
constitutional rights of the other members of the Confede-
racy. That as each became parties to the Union by the vote
of its own people assembled in Convention, so any one
of them may retire from the Union in a similar manner by
the vote of such a Convention.
In order to justify secession as a constitutional remedy it
must be on the principle that the Federal Government is a
mere voluntary association of States, to be dissolved at
pleasure by any one of the contracting parties. If this be
so, the Confederation is a rope of sand, to be penetrated,
dissolved by the first adverse wave of public opinion in any
of the States. In this manner our 33 States may resolve
themselves into as many petty, jarring, and hostile re-
publics, each one retiring from the Union, without respon-
sibility, whenever any sudden excitement might impel them
to such a course. By this process a Union might be entirely
broken into fragments in a few weeks, which cost our fore-
fathers many years of toil, privation, and blood to establish.
Such a principle is wholly inconsistent with the history
as well as the character of the federal constitution. After
it was framed, with the greatest eeliberation and care, it
was submitted to conventions of the people of the several
States for ratification. Its provisions were discussed at
length in these bodies, composed of the first men of the
country. Its opponents contended that it conferred powers
upon the federal government dangerous to the rights of the
States, whilst its advocates maintained that under a fair
construction of the instrument there was no foundation for
such apprehensions. In that mighty struggle between the
first intellects of this or any other country, it never occur-
red to any individual, either among its opponents or advo-
cates, to assert or even to intimate that their efforts were
all vain labour, because the moment that any State felt
aggrieved she might secede from the Union. What a
crushing argument would this have proved against those
who dreaded that the rights of the States would be endan-
gered by:the constitution. The truth is that it was not until
many years after the origin of the federal government
that such a proposition was first advanced. It was then
met and refuted by the conclusive arguments of General
Jackson, who in his Message of 16th January, 1833, trans-
mitting the nullifying ordinance of South Carolina to
Congress, employs the following language :—" The rights
of the people of a single State to absolve themselves
at will, and without the consent of the other States, from
their most solemn obligations, and hazard the liberty and
happiness of the millions composing the Union, cannot be
acknowledged. Such authority is believed to be utterly
repugnant both to the principles upon which the general
Government is constituted and to the objects which it was
expressly formed to attain."
It is not pretended that any cause in the Constitution
gives countenance to such a theory. It is altogether
founded upon inference, not from any language contained in
the instrument itself, but from the sovereign character of
the several States by which it was ratified. But it is beyond
the power of a State, like an individual, to yield a portion
of its sovereign rights as to secure the remainder ? In
the language of Mr. Madison, who has been called the
&oiler of the Constitution :—" It was formed by the States
—that is, by the people in each of the States, acting in
their highest sovereign capacity, and formed consequently
by the same authority which formed the State constitu-
tions."
" Nor is the Government of the United States created by
the Constitution, less a Government in the strict sense of
the term, within the sphere of its powers, than the go-
vernments created by the constitutions of the States are,
within their several spheres. It is, like them, organised
into legislative, executive, and judiciary departments. It
operates, like them, directly on persons and things ; and
like them, it has at command a physical force for execut-
ing the powers committed to it."
It was intended to be perpetual, and not to be annulled at
the pleasure of any one of the contracting parties. The old
articles of confederation were entitled " Articles of Confe-
deration and Perpetual Union between the States ;" and by
the 13th article it is expressly declared that " the articles of
this Confederation shall be inviolably observed by every
State, and the Union shall be perpetual." The preamble
to the Constitution of the United States, having express
reference to the articles of Confederation, recites that it was
established "in order to form a perfect union." And yet it
is contended that this "more perfect union" does not
include the essential attribute of perpetuity.
But that the Union was designed to be perpetual appears
conclusively from the nature and extent of the powers
conferred by the Constitution and the Federal Governments
These powers embrace the very highest attributes of national
,overeignty. They place both the swerd and the purse under
its control. Congress has power to make war and to make
peace, to raise and support armies and navies, and to con-
clude treaties with foreign governments. It is invested
with the power to coin money, and to regulate the value
thereof, and to regulate commerce with foreign nations, and
among the several States. It is not necessary to enumerate
the other high powers whieh have been conferred upon the
Federal Government. In order to carry the enumerated
powers into effect, Congress possesses the exclusive right to
lay and collect duties on imports, and in common with the
States to lay and collect all other taxes.

But the Constitution has not only conferred these high
powers upon Congress, but it has adopted effectual means
to restrain the States from interfering with their exercise.
For that purpose it has, in strong prohibitory language,
expressly declared that " no State shall enter into any
treaty, alliance, or confederation ; grant letters of marque
and reprisal ; coin money ; emit bills of credit ; make any-
thing but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts
pass any bills of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impair-
ing the obligation of contracts." Moreover, " without the
consent of Congress, no State shall lay any imposts or
duties on any imports or exports, except what may be abso-
lutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and if
they exceed this amount, the excess shall belong to the
United States.

And " no State shall, without the consent of Congresop
lay any duty of tonnage ; keep troops or ships of war in
time of peace; enter into any agreement or compact with
another State, or with a foreign power; or engage in war,
unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will
not admit of delay."

-- -
In order still further to secure the uninterrupted exercise
of these high powers against State interposition, it is pro-
vided " that this constitution 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:land ; on
the judges in every State shall be bound thereby, anything
in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrail
notwithstanding."
The solemn sanction of religion has been superadded to
the obligations of official duty, and all senators and reply"
sentatives of the United States, all members of State leg's"
latures and all executive and judicial officers "both of the
United States, and of the several States, shall be bound by
oath or affirmation to support this Constitution."
In order to carry into effect these powers, the Constitution
has established a perfect Government in all its forme,
Legislative, Executive, and Judicial ; and this Govern-
ment, to the extent of its powers, acts directly upon the
individual citizens of every State, and executes its own
decrees by the agency of its own officers.
In this respect it differs entirely from the Government
under the old confederation, which was confined to making
requisitions on the States in their sovereign character.
This left it in the discretion of each whether to obey or F
refuse, and they often declined to comply with such requiel"
tions. It thus became necessary, for the purpose of re
moving this barrier, and "in order to form a more perfect
Union," to establish a Government which could act directly
upon the people, and execute its own laws without the in-
termediate agency of the States. This has been acorn

plished by the constitution of the United States.
In short, the Government created by the Constitution,
and deriving its authority from the sovereign people of
each of the several States, has precisely the same right to
exercise its power over the people of all these States, in the
enumerated cases, that each one of them possesses over
subjects not delegated to the United States but " reserved
to the States, respectively, or to the people."
To the extent of the delegated powers the Constitution of
the United States is as much a part of the constitution of
each State, and is as binding upon its
people, as though it
had been textually inserted therein.
This Government, therefore, is a great and powerful
Government, invested with t 1 the attributes of sivereigni
eve,' ,he special subjects in which its authority extends.
f amers never intended to implant in its bosom the seeds
of its own destruction, nor were they at its creation guilty
of :the absar, i y of providing f r its own disolution.
It
was not intended by its framers to be the baseless fabric of
a vision wiich, at the touch of the enchanter, would valise
into thin air, but a substantial and mighty fabric, capable

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