The republic., 1851-01-28

and the bill to authorize the district Judge of
Arkansas to appoint steamboat inspectors in
that district, were ordered to be engrossed.
The bill to ascertain and settle the private
land claims in California was taken up, and
discussed by Messrs. BERRIEN and BENTON.
In the House Of Representatives the Defici-
ency bill was under consideration.
The state Of things which prevailed in the
country previous to the PRONUNCIATION of the
| annual message of the PRESIDENT, is fresh in
the recollection of our readers. There is no
necessity of dwelling upon it. North and
South there was a feeling of painful uncer-
tainty and doubt. Prudent and patriotic men
regarded the future with fear and trembling.
| They doubted how far the Administration
might venture to assume the responsibility of
measures which, in the general Judgment, in
volved the repose and prosperity of the Re
public.
The message of the PRESIDENT removed all
doubt upon this subject. Its language was ex-
! plicit and unequivocal. 1t did not avow an
approval Of all the measures which were COM
prised in the Adjustment. 1t declared, on the
contrary, that no adjustment could be devised
that would meet universal appreciation. 1t is
the inevitable condition of compromise of
conflicting interests and opinion that it must
contain something Objectionable in the view of
all parties. The PRESIDENT did not attempt
to Disguise the fact that such was the case with
the present Compromise. While some of the
southern States were almost prepared for re-
belion or secession, on account of the
irregular admission of California, there were
combinations in the northern States for
! forcible resistance to the execution Of the
4 Fugitive Slave law. 1t would have been
4 false, therefore, to assume that the Adjustment
1 was to be acquiesced in because it had given
! universal satisfaction to the country. The fact
was notoriously otherwise. The idea of pleas
4 ing everybody cannot enter into the calculations
of rational statesman This folly is happily
illustrated in a fable that is familiar to every
schoolboy.
utstatcsmen can calculate from given facts
| whether ornot result has been reached, which
is on the whole the best that may be hoped for
or relied upon. The Administration looked at
the condition of the country = the scenes
| through which it had passed-the excite
ments not yet subsidized to which it had been
exposed-thed dangers of the past and the chances
of the future; and, on full survey of the whole
ground, with the best opportunities of know
ledge, and from their central position the best
opportunities of forming correct judgment,
they came TO the conclusion that the common
interests would be best promoted, and their high
trusts and duties best discharged, by recon-
mending an ''adherence" to the Adjustment of
the last session of Congress as "fnal settle
ment" of the distractng topics which it en-
braced. They do little justice to the PREsI-
DENT and his advisers who suppose that this
recomm endation was made without full COM
prehension of the responsibilities it involved, or
without well-consdered determination to
abide by all its consequences.
The result was more favorable to the Admin
istration than its most sanguine friends could
have anticipated. The message was hailed
with an universal acclaim from the WING
execution Of the journals of the Free -soilers
and of the southern ultras, the press of all
parties responded with patriotic alacrity to the
recommendations Of the PRESIDENT, and one
would have supposed that the great heart Of
the country beat with but one pulsation.
These testimonials are on record. The writ
ten word stands, and transmits the first impul-
sive tribute of gratitude and admiration paid
by willing country to an honest and wise
Chief Magistrate. And this general tribute,
it must be borne in mind, was the spontaneous
tribute of the press, simultaneously issued in
all sections Of the land. There was no room
for the manufacture of opinion. The press of
Chicago commented on the message at the
same moment with the press of Washington;
and the first unbiased, unalloyed, unwarped
sentiment ofthe people, was that of universal
approval of its recommendations.
We have no reason to believe that there has
been any material change in public senti-
men, in regard to the policy advised by the
PRESIDENT. The people seem, on the contrary,
TO respond to the press. But pains have been
taken TO create the impression that the PREsI-
DENT does not wish to be sustained in his own
doctrines; that he by no means intends what he
has said; and that he neither desires nor ex-
poets that his friends will stand by him in the
position which he has assumed.
We are glad, therefore, that Mr.. VARNuM
has introduced, in the Assembly Of New York,
resolutions which reafirm the doctrines of the
message, and which will, no doubt call for a
test vote, indicating to the people how far the
policy of the PRESIDENT is sustained by the
Legislature of his own State. Those resolu-
tlons are in the following words
Resolved II the Senate concur, that the Legs-
aturc of New York cordially responds to the patri
otic sentiments and wise counsels contained in the
last annual message Of the President Of the United
States.
Resolced, If the Senate concur, that the series
of mea at thc1 of Col