Star.
London, England, 1825-04-13 00:00:00

for the beneficence, and the best guaranty against
abuse of power, consist in the freedom, the purity, and
the frequency of popular elections--that the general
Government of the Union, and the separateGovernm cots
of the States, are all sovereignties of limited powers,
fellow-set Tants of the s 'me masters, uncontrolled within
ther respective spheres, ur controllable by encroachments
upon each other—that the firmest security of peace is
the preparation, during peace, of the defences cf war—
that a rigorous economy, and accountability of public
expenditut es, should guard against the' aggravation,
and alleviate, when possible, the burden of texation—'
that the military should be kept in strict subordina-1
lion to the civil power—that the freedom of the press
and of religious opinion should be inviolate—that
the policy of our country is peace, and the ark of
our salvation union, are articles of faith non which
we are all now agreed. If there have been those
who doubted whether a confedei iced representaive
democracy were a government competent to the wise
and orderly management of the commit concerns of
a mighty notion, those doilies have been dispelled. It
there have been projects of partial confederacies to be
elected upon the ruins of the Union, they have he n
scattered to the winds. If there have been dangerous
attachments to one foreign nation, and aniipathies
against another, they have been extinguished. Ten
years of peace, at home and abroad, have assutued
the animosities of politico' contention, and blended
into harmony the most d s:otdant elements r f pub is
opinion. There still remains one fro; t of magna-
niniity, one sacrifice of pr judice and passion, to be
ma e by tl e in.ividnals thioughout the nation who
have heretofore followed the standards of political
potty. It is that of discarding every remnant of ran-
cour against each other ; t t cm's; at,ing as countrymen
and fii,nds, and • f yielding to talen•s and virtue
alone, that confidence tim s of contenfon lot
principles, was bestowed only upon those who bole the
badge of party commitnien.
66 The collisions of patty spirit, which ori,inatel in
speculative opinions, or in different views of adminis•
tiative policy, are in their na ure transitory. Those'
which are founded on geogtaphical divisions, adserse
intere:as of soil, climate, and modes of dcmestic life, are
more permanent, and therefore, perhaps, mote danger-
ens. It is this which give, ineaitiroble value to the
character of our Government, at once federal and na-
tional. It holds out to us a perp-tual admonition to
preset re alike, and with equal anxiety, rlrerights of each
individual State in its own Government, and the rights,
of the whole nation in that of the Utaan. Whatsoever
is of domestic concernment, unconn cted with the other
members of the Union, or with foreign lands, belongs
exclusively to the administration of the Sta e Govein-
ments. 'Whatsoever disectiy involves the rights
and interests of the federative fiatetnity, or of
Foreign Powers, is of the resort of this general
Government. The duties cf both ate obvious in
the general pi incipte, thouph sometimes i.eiplexed with
difficulties in the detail. To tespect the rights of the
State Governments is the inviolable duty of that of the
Union ; the Government f every Sate a ill feel its own
obligation to respect and preserve the tights of the
whale. The prejudices, every a bete too commonly
entertained agaisist distsnt strangers, ate worn away,
and the jealousies of jailing inhere is are allayed by the,
composition and functions of thi great National Coun-
as, annually assembled from all quarters of the U. ion
'it this place. Here the di-tingteshed men from every
section of our country, while netting to drlibet ate upon
the great interests of those by whom they are deputed,
learn to estimate t! e t lents, and to do jirrice to the
virtues, of each other. The hot mooy of the nation i,
pr. muted, and 'the whole Union is knit tr grther,' by the
sentiments of mutual tes ect, the habits o: social inter-
course, and the ties of pet sonal friendship, formed be-
tween the Represei wives of its several part, in the
performance of their service at this metrorolis.
" Passing from this general teview of tf.e purposes
and injunctions of the Federal Constitution, and their
results, as hid eating the first traces of the path of duty
in the discharge of my public trust, 1 turn to If e ad-
ministration of my immediate predecessor, as the
sec nd. It has passed away in a reliod of pro.
found race ; how much to the satisfaction of our
country, and to the honour of our country's name,
is known to you all. The great features of its
policy, in general concurrence with the aia of the
legislature. have been—to cherish peace, while pre.
paring for defensive war ; to yield exact justice to
other nations, and maintain the rights of our off n ; to
cherish the principles of freedom and of equal rights,
wherever they were proclaimed ; to discharge, with all
possible promptitude, the national debt ; to reduce,,
within the narrowest limits of efficieucy, the military
force; to improve the organization And discipline of the
army; to provide and sustain a school of military
science ; to extend equal protection to all the great in-
terests of the nation; to promote the civilization of the
Indian tribes; and to proceed in the great system of
internal improvements within the limits of the consti-
tutional power of the Union. Under the pledge of
these promises, made by that eminent citizen at the
time of his first hut:action to this office, in his cat eer of
eight years, the internal taxes have been repealed; sixty
millions of the public debt have been discharged; pro-
vision has been made for the comfort and relict of the
aged and indigent among the surviving warriors of the
Revolution ; the regular armed force has been reduced,
and its constitution revised and perfected ; the account-
ability for the expenditure of public monies has been
made more effective ; the Floridas have been peaceably
acquired, and our boundary has been extended to the
Pacific Ocean; the independence of the southern na-
tions of this hemisphere has been recognized, and re-
commended by example and by counsel to the Poten-
tates of Europe: progress has been made in the defence
of the country by fortifications, and the increase of the
navy ; towards the effectual suppression of the Aft icanl
traffic in slaves ; in Alining the atm; iginal Welters of
our land to the cultivation of the soil and of the it ind;
in exploring the ititetior regions of the Union; and in
preparing, by scientific researches and surveys, for the'
further application of our national resources to the in-
ternal improvement of our country.
" hi this brief outline of the promise and performance
of my immediate predecessor, the line of duty for his
surcessor is. clearly delineated. To pursue, to their
consummation, those purpose. of improvement in our
'common condition, instituted or recommended by him,
will embrace the whole sphere of my obligations.
" To the topic of internal improvement, emphatically
urged by him at his inauguration. I recur with peculiar
satisfaction. It is that from which I am convinced
the unborn millions of our posterity, who are, in future
ages, to people this continent, will derive their most
fervent gratitude to the founders of the Union ; that, in
which the beneficent action of its government will be