The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-18 00:00:00

HANOVER.

A letter, dated Hanover, 10th March, says :
" France is making large purchases of horses in
the north. Within the last few days 23 vessels,
fr.ight,c.a with Itutaca, oailcd from tho vest cvaat of
Friesland, and large numbers have gone by land by
Magdeburg, Salzwedal, &c., so as not to go by the
same route. Mules are also bought up. The French
agents pay good prices, and are not particular in
their choice."

THE HEART!-711E HEART!

The heart—the heart I Oh 1 let it be
A true and bounteous thing ;
As kindly warm as nobly free,
As eagle's nestling wug. •
Oh %keep it not like mier's gold,
Shut in from all besites ;
But let its precious stops unfold,
In mercy far and with.
The heart—the heart tlat's truly blest
Is never all its own ;
No ray of glory lights he breast
The beats for self alcie.

The heart—the heart loh I let it spare
A sigh for others' pen,
The breath that soothe a brother's care
Is never spent in vai,.
And though it throb atgentlest touch,
Or sorrow's faintest all ;
'Twere better it shoulatche too much
Than never ache at tl.
The heart—the heart hat's truly blest
Is.never all its own
No ray of glory lightlhe breast
That beats for self gam).

ELTZA COOK.

BERLIN, Sunday.—Het Royal Highness the
Princess Frederick William Crown Princess of Prussia)
left this morning for London n account of the demise cf
the Duchess of Kent.

BANK OF AUSTRALASIA—The half-yearly meet.
ing of proprietors was he'd tlis morning, at which a divi-
dend was declared at the ratiof G per cent. per annum, or
245. per share, and a bonus e the rate of 4 per cent. per
annum, or 16s. per share, freef income-tax, being togett or
it the rate of 10 per cent. peiannum.

• THE UNITED STATES.

ARRIVAL OF THE AMERICA.

QUEENSTOWN, SUNDAY MORNING.
The royal mail steamer America arrived here at
midnight. She left Boston on the 6th March, and
Halifax on the Sth.
PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S INAUGURAL
SPEECH.

NEW YORK, March 5.
President Lincoln delivered his inaugural speech
at Washington yesterday. After a few prelimi-
nary remarks, Mr. Lincoln said :
FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES
In compliance with a custom as old as the Go-
vernment itself, I appear before you to address you
briefly, and to take in your presence the oath pre-
scribed by the constitution of the United States to
be taken by the President before he enters on the
execution of his office.
I do not consider it necessary at present for me to
discuss those matters of administration about which
there is no special anxiety or excitement.
Apprehension seems to exist among the people of
the Southern States that, by the accession of a re-
publican administration, their property and their
peace and personal security are to be endangered.
There has never been any reasonable cause for such
apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to
the contrary has all the while existed and been
open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all
the published speeches of him who now addresses
you. Ido but qnote from one of those speeches
when I declare that " I have no purpose directly or
indirectly to interfere with the• institution of
slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I
have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclina-
tion to do so." Those who nominated and elected
me did so with a full knowledge that I had made
this and many similar declarations, and had never
recanted them. And more than this, they placed in
the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to
themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic reso-
lution which I now read :
" Resolved—That the maintenance inviolate of
the rights of the States, and especially the right of
each State to order and control its own domestic
institutions according to its own judgment exclu-
sively is essential to that balance of power on
which the perfection and endurance of our political
fabric depend, and we denounce lawless invasion by
armed force of the soil of any state or territory, no
matter under what pretext, as the gravest of
crimes."

I now reiterate those sentiments, and in doing
so I only press upon the public attention the most
conclusive evidence of which the ease is suscep-
tible, that the property, peace, and security of no
section are to be in anywise endangered by the
now incoming administration. I add, too, that
all the protection which, consistently with the con-
stitution and the laws, can be given, will be
cheerfully given to all the States, when lawfully
demanded, for whatever cause, as cheerfully to one
section as to another.
There is much controversy about the delivering
up of fugitives from service or labour. The clause
I now read is as plainly written in the constitu-
tion as any other of its provisions.
No person held to service or labour in one State,
under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall,
in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be
discharged from such service or labour, but shall be
delivered up on claim of the party to whom such
service or labour may be due.
It is scarcely questioned that this provision was
intended by those who made it for the reclaiming
of what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention
of the lawgiver is the law. All members of Con-
gress swear their support to the whole constitution,
to this provision as much as any other. To the
proposition, then, that slaves, whose cases come
within the terms of this clause, "shall be delivered
up," their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they
would make the effort in good temper, could they
not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and pass a
law by means of which to keep good that unanimous
oath. There is some difference of opinion whether
this clause should be enforced by national or by
State authority; but surely that difference is not
a very material one.- If the slave is not to be sur-
rendered it can be of little consequence to him or to
others by which authority it is done. And should
any one, in any case, be content that this oath shall
go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy
as to how it shall be kept ? Again, in any law
upon this subject, ought not all the safe-
guards of liberty known in civilized and
humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that
a free man be not, in any case, surrendered as a
slave ? And might it not be well at the same time
to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause
in the constitution which guarantees that " the
citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the
privileges and immunities of citizens in the several
States." I take the official oath to-day with no
mental reservations, and with no purpose to con-
strue the constitution or laws by any hypercritical
rules ; and while I do not choose now to specify
particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced,
I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both
in official and private stations, to conform and abide
by all those acts which stand marepealed, than to
violate any of them, busting to find impunity in
having them held to be unconstitutional.
It is seventy-two years since the first inaugura-
tion of a President under our national constitution.
During that period fifteen different and greatly
distinguished citizens have in succession adminis-
tered the executive- branch of the Government.
They have conducted it through many perils, and
generally with great success. Yet, with all this
scope for precedent, I now enter upon the same
task, for the brief constitutional term of four years,
under great and peculiar difficulty. A disruption
of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is
now formidably attempted. I hold that, in con-
templation of universal law and of the constitution,
the union of these states is perpetual. Perpetuity
is implied if not expressed in the fundamental law
of all national governments. It is safe to assert
that government proper never had a provision in
its organic law for its own termination. Continue
to execute all the express provisions of our national
constitution, and the Union will endure for ever, it
being imposssible to destroy it except by some
action not provided for in the instrument itself.
Again, if the United States be not a government
proper, but an association of States in the nature
of a contract merely, can it as a contract be peace-
ably unmade by less than all the parties who made
it ? One party to a contract may violate it—break
it, so to speak—but does it not require all to law-
fully rescind it ?
Descending from these general principles, we
find the proposition that, in legal contemplation,
the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history of
the Union itself.
The Union is much older than the constitution.
It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association
in 1774. It was matured and continued in the
Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was fur-
ther matured, and the faith of all the then 13 States
exifressly plighted and engaged that it should be
perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778 ;
and finally in 1787, one of the declared objects for
ordaining and establishing the constitution was
to form a more perfect Union. But if the destruc-
tion of the Union by one or by a part only of the
States be lawfully possible, the Union is less than
before, the constitution having lost the vital ele-
ment of perpetuity.
It follows from these views that no State, upon
its own mere notion, can lawfully get out of the
Union ; that resolves and ordinances to that effect
are legally void, and that act of violence within
any State or States, against the authority of the
United States, are insurrectionary-or revolutionary,
according to circumstances. I therefore consider.
that, in view of the constitution and the laws, the
Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability
I shall take care, as the constitution itself expressly
enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be
faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this I
deem to be only a simple duty on my part. I shall
perfectly perform it, so far as is practicable, unless
my rightful masters, the American people, shall
withhold the requisition, or in some authoritative
manner direct :the contrary. I trust this will not
be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared

purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally
defend and maintain itself.

In doing this there need be no bloodshed or vio-
lence, and there shall be none, unless it is forced
upon the national authority. The, power confided
to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the
property and places belonging to the Government,
and collect the duties and imposts ; but beyond what
may be necessary for these objects there will be no
invasion—no using of force against or amongst the
people anywhere.

Where hostility to the United States shall be so
great and so universal as to prevent competent
resident citizens from holding the federal offices,
there will be no attempt to force obnoxious
strangers among the people that object. While the
strict legal right may exist of the Government to
enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to
do so would be so irritating and so nearly imprac-
ticable withal, that I deem it better to forego for
the time the uses of such offices.

The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be
furnished in all parts of the Union.

So far as possible, the people every where shall
have that sense of perfect security which is most
favourable to calm thought and reflection. The
course here indicated will be followed unless cur-
rent events and experience shall show a modifica-
tion or change to be proper ; and in every case
and exigency my best discretion will be exercised
accordingly to the circumstances actually exist-
ing, and with a view and a hope of a peaceful
solution of the national troubles and the restoration
of fraternal sympathies and affections. That there
are persons in one section or another who seek to
destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of any
pretext to do it, I will neither affirm nor deny. But
if there be such I need address no word to you.
To those, however, who really love the Union,
may I not speak ? Before entering upon so grave a
matter as the destruction of our national fabric,
with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes,
would it not be well to ascertain why we do it.
Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is
any portion of the ills you fly from that have no real
existence ? Will you, while the certain ills you fly
to are greater than all the real ones you fly from ?
Will you risk the commission of so fearful a mis-
take? All profess to be content in the Union if
all constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it
true, then, that any right, plainly written in the
constitution, has been denied ? I think not. Hap-
pily the human mind is so constituted that no party
can reach to the audacity of doing this. Think,
if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly
written provision of the constitution has ever been
denied. If, by the mere force of numbers, a ma-
jority should deprive a minority of any clearly
written constitutional right, it might, in a moral
point of view justify revolution : certainly would,
if such right were a vital one. But such is not the

case.
All the vital rights of minorities and of indivi-
duals are so plainly assured to them by affirma-
tions and negations, guarantees and prohibitions,
in the constitution, that controversies never arise
concerning them. But no organic law can ever
be framed with a provision specifically appli-
cable to every question which may occur
in practical administration. No foresight can
anticipate, nor any document of reasonable
length contain, express provisions for all
possible questions. Shall fugitives from labour be
surrendered by national or by State authority ?
The constitution does not expressly say. Must
Congress protect slavery in the territories ? The
constitution does not expressly say. From ques-
tions of this class spring all our constitutional con-
troversies, and we divide upon them into majorities
and minorities.
If the minority will not acquiesce the majority
must, or the Government must cease. There is
no alternative for continuing the Government but
acquiescence on the one side or the other. If a
minority in such a case will secede rather than
acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn
will ruin and divide them, for a minority of
their own will secede from them when-
ever a majority refuses to be controlled by
such a minority. For instance, why not any
portion of a new confederacy, a year or two
hence, arbitrarily secede again, precisely as por-
tions of the present Union now claim to secede
from it. All who cherish disunion sentiments are
now being educated to the exact temper of doing
this. Is there such perfect identity of interests
among the States to comprise a new Union as to
produce a harmony only and prevent renewed seces-
sion. Plainly, the central idea of secession is the
essence of anarchy.'
A majority held in restraint by constitutional
checks and limitations, and always changing easily
with deliberate changes of popular opinions and
sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a true
people. Whoever rejects it does, of necessity, fly
to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impossi-
ble. The rule of a minority, as a permanent ar-
rangement, is wholly inadmissible. So that, re-
jecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism
in some form is all that is left.
I do not forget the position assumed by some, that
constitutional questions are to be decided by the
Supreme Court, nor do I deny that such decisions
must be binding, in any case, upon the parties to
a suit, as to the object of that suit, while they are
also entitled to very high respect and considera-
tion in all parallel cases by all other departments of
the Government, and while it is obviously possible
that such decision may be erroneous in any given
case, still the evil effect following it, being limited
to that particular case, with the chance that it may
be overruled and never become a precedent for
other cases, can better be borne than could the
evils of a different practice. At the same time the
candid citizen must confess that if the policy of
the Government; upon the vital questions affecting
the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by the
decisions of the Supreme,Court, the instant they
are made in ordinary litigation between parties in
personal actions the people will have ceased to be
their own, unless having to that extent practically
resigned their government into the hands of that
eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any
assault upon the court or the judges.
It is a duty from which they may not shrink to
decide cases properly brought before them, and it
is no fault of theirs if others seek to turn their
decisions to political purposes. One section of our
country believes slavery is right, and ought to be
extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and
ought not to be extended. This is the only sub-
stantial dispute; and the fugitive slave clause of
the constitution, and the law for the suppression of
the foreign slave trade, are each as well enforced,
perhaps, as any law can over be in a community
where the moral sense of the people imperfectly
supports the law itself. The great body of the
people abide by the dry, legal obligations in both
cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think,
cannot be perfectly cured, and it would be worse
in both cases after the separation of the sections
than before. The foreign slave trade, now im-
perfectly suppressed, would be ultimately re.
vived, without restriction in one section, while
fugitive slaves, now only partially surrendered,
would not be surrendered at all by the other.
Physically speaking, we cannot separate —we can-
not remove our respective
llwsaectiobnestwfreoemn etahcohtno.theAr,
nor build an impassable
husband and wife may be divorced and go out of
the presence and beyond the reach of each other
but the different parts of our country cannot do this'
They cannot but remain face to face, and intercourse,
either amicable or hostile, must continue between
them. Is it possible, then, to make that intercourse
more advantageous or more satisfactory after sepa-
ration than before ? Can aliens make treaties easier
than friends can make laws ? Can treaties be more
faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can
among friends ? Suppose you go to war, you cannot
fight always, and when, after much loss on both sides,
and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the iden-
tical questions as to terms of intercourse are again
upon you. This country, with its institutions, belongs
to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall
grow weary of the existing Government, they can
exercise their constitutional right of amending, or
their revolutionary right to dismember or over-
throw it. I cannot, be ignorant of the fact that
many worthy and patriotic citizens are desiwus

having the national constitution amended. While
I make no recommendation of amendment, I freely
recognise the full authority of the people over the
whole subject, to be exercised in either of the
modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I
should, under existing circumstances, favour rather
than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the
people to act upon it. I will venture to add that to
me the convention mode seems preferable, in that
it allows amendments to originate with the people
themselves, instead of only permitting them to
take or reject propositions originated by others
not specially chosen for the purpose, and
which might not be precisely such as they
would wish themselves to accept or refuse.
I understand a proposed amendment to the
constitution—which amendment, however, I have
not seen—has passed Congress, to the effect that
the Federal Government shall never interfere with
the domestic institut;ons of States, including that
of persons held to service. To avoid misconstrue-
tion of most I have said I depart from my purpose
not to speak of particular amendments, s,J far as to
say that holding such a provision to now be implied
constitutional law, I have no objection to its being
made express and irrevocable. The Chief Magis-
trate derives all his authority from the people, and
they have conferred none upon him to fix the terms
for the separation of the States. The people them-
selves also can do this if they choose, but the Execu-
tive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is
to administer the present government as it came to
his hands, and to transmit it unimpaired by him to
his successor. Why should there not be a patient
confidence in the ultimate justice of the people ?
Is there any better or equal hope in the world ?
In our present differences, is either party without
faith of being in the right ? If the Almighty Ruler
of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be
on your side of the North, or on yours of the South,
that truth and that justice will surely prevail by
the judgment of this great tribunal--the American
people. By the frame of the Government under
which we live, this same people have wisely given
their public servants but little power for mlbatief,
and have with equal wisdom provided for the return
of that little to their own hands at very short inter-
vals. While the people retain their virtue and
vigilance, no administration, by any extreme
wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the
Government in the short space of four years.
My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and
well upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable
can be lost by taking time.

If there be an object to hurry any of you, in hot
haste, to a step which you would never take deli-
berately, that object will be frustrated by taking
time ; but no good object can be frustrated by it.
Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the
old constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive
point, the laws of your own framing under it, while
the new administration will have no immediate
power, if it would, to change either. If it were
admitted that you whoare dissatisfied hold the right
side in the dispute, there still is :no single reasou
for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism,
Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has
never yet forsaken this favoured land, are still
competent to adjust in the best way all our present
difficulty.

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow country-
men, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of
civil war. The government will not assail you.
You have no conflict without being yourselves the
aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven
to destroy the government, while I shall have the
most solemn one to " preserve, protect and defend"
it. lam loth to close. We are not enemies, but
friends. We must not be enemies. Though
passion may have strained, it must not break our
bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory►
stretching from every battle field and patriot grave
to every living heart and hearthstone all over this
broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union►
when again touched, as surely they will be, by
the better angels of our nature.

During the delivery of the inaugural, which cone'
menced at half-past one o'clock, there was much
cheering, especially at any allusion to the Union.

President Buchanan and Chief Justice Taney lie
tened with the utmost attention to every word Of
the address, and at its conclusion the latter admi-
nistered the usual oath, in taking which Mr. Lin-
coln was vociferously cheered.

VISIT OF THE NEW YORK DELEGATION
TO MR. LINCOLN.
Washington, March 4, 1861.
In pursuance of previous appointment, a delegs'
tion of New Yorkers numbering nearly 1,000, headed
by Marshals Gavitt and J. H. H. Ward, of Newyork,
proceeded in a body this evening from Willard's
Hotel to the White House, to pay their respects to
Mr. Lincoln. Among the number were Thurlov,
Wood,J. Kelly, and Senators Ferry, Tiero, M'GraW,
and Bell, of the New York Legislature. On reach'
ing the White House the crowd formed in a square
about the main entrance, and a committee, consist-
ing of Senators Ferry and Bell and Messrs. Kell,'
and Ward, was sent in to notify the President of
their presence. The committee found Mr. Lincoln
in the famous East Room, and were severally intro-
duced by Senator Ferry.
In response to an invitation to go out and address
the crowd, he said he had just sat down to the dinner
table, and had left his company there, but he would
go out and make a very brief speech.
On appearing he .was received with immense
cheering, which was long continued. After co'
parative silence had been restored, Senator Ferrf
introduced Mr. Lincoln to the audience, and be
spoke substantially as follows :
FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS---I understood both
before I appeared from your committee and by the intro'
duction of my friend that you were, from New York. Yeti
seem to be in good humour after the proceedings of the
day. If I have been fortunate enough to contribute 0
your good feeling I amglad, and I shall rejoice if whet ,
have said may cause the friends of the Union South to feel
good when they hear it. I made it as near right as I could
in my poor humble judgment, and in accordance with the
principles of the constitution and the perpetuity of freedorn.
(Cheers.) He made it as well for the good of those Who
lived south of Mason's and Dixon's line as you who live
north of that line. (Cheers.) As ho arose from the dinner
table to speak to them; he hoped that it would not be amid
to bid them good night.
Immediate applause followed and he retired,
aftq narrowly escaping a general handshaking.
When he had retired a gentleman in the crowd
proposed to visit General Scott, at his residence, ill
Tenth-street, and it was carried by a tremendous
shout.

Arriving at his quarters, the crowd, which had
received strong accessions to its ranks, again dreg
up, and a committee was sent in to invite the old
chieftain to address the audience.
The appearance of the gigantic form of the
venerable Commander-in-Chief upon the stoop el
his house was the signal for the wildest outburst
of enthusiasm that ever greeted him. Nine rousing
cheers were given him, which affected him almost
to tears. On being introduced by Senator Fiero'
Gen. Scott drew up his form erect, and, with
voice thick with emotion, said :
Friends,—Whether from New York, Pennsylvania, N°ll
Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, or Kentucky—it would make 11°
matter from what quarter you may come, you are el
countrymen. (Great cheers, and cries of " You are I/
noble man," " Our saviour.") I can find no words t°
express my sense of the honour you have done ute. Feliessi
citizens, I receive these cheers with deep thankfulness'
One of the great saturnalias of the nation—the inaugurs;
tion of the Chief Magistrate—is safely passed—a Chief
Magistrate elected by the voice of the people. I pray Wit/1
you that the adminstration may be as happy every day
of its existence as has been this of its commencement'
May the sentiments of good feeling expressed by the pre-
sident to-day be the sentiments of every one before the e'd
ministration closes. May God so command that at the end
we may be one people,one brotherhood, and one Union. ni
was highly gratified that after paying respects to the Chic:
Magistrate they should think it proper to make so corePlii
mentary a call upon him. He was the oldest servant °f
this mighty republic, of which we are all pillars and our
ports. Ho had laboured fifty years to serve the country?
and he felt cheered by their presence here, and fully repaid
for all he had done. He closed by invoking the blessinge
God upon the country, upon the audience and their familie;
and again and again thanked them for the great honour
they had done him.
Immense cbeering followed, and
the audience
cried out t—" May Gud bless you," " You are th,.
e
e
savour of the country," " Good bye," and many of
e audience shed tears while the old marl wasi