Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1853-12-21

upon the islands of that country, consi-
derable difficulties are experienced in OBJ
tanning the requisite supply. Measures
have been taken to remove those difficult
ties and to secure a more abundant i'm
portation of the article. Unfortunately
there has been a serious collision between
our citizens, who have resorted to the
Chincha islands for it, and the Peruvian
authorities stationed there. Redress for
the outrages committed by the latter,
was promptly demanded by our minister
at Lima. This subject is now under con-
sideration, and there is reason to believe
that Peru is disposed to offer adequate
indemnity to the aggrieved parties,
We are thus..not only at peace with all
foreign countries. but, in regard TO poll
teal affairs, are exempt from any cause
of serious disquietude in our domestic re-
lations.
The controversies. which have agitated
the country heretofore, are passing away
with the causes which produced them and
the passions which they had awakened; or
il any trace of them remains, it may be
reasonably hoped that it will only be per
ceiyed in the Jealous rivalry of all good
citiz rs to testify their respect for the
rights of the States, their devotion to the
Union, and their common determination
that each one of the States, its institu-
tions, its welfare and its domestic peace
shall be held alike secure under the sacred
agis of the constitution.
The new league of amity and mutual
confidence and support, into which the
people of the republic have entered, hap
PLY affords inducement and opportunity
for the adoption of a more comprehensive
and unembarrassed line of policy and ac-
ton, as to the great material interests of
the country, whether regarded in them
selves or in connection with the powers of
the civilized world.
The United States have continued gra-
dually and steadily to expand, through
acquisitions of territory. which, how much
soever some of them may have been
questioned, are now universally seen and
admitted to have been wise in policy, Just
in character, and great element IN the
advancement of our country, and with it
of the human race, in freedom, in pros
perity and in happiness. The thirteen
States have grown to be thirty-one, with
relations reaching to Europe on the one
side, and on the other to the distant realms
of Asia. -.H
am deeply sensible of the immenJe
responsibility which the present magni-
tude of the republic, and the diversity
and multiplicity of its interests, devolves
upon me: the alleyiation of which, so far
as relates to the immediate conduct of the
public business is, first in my reliance on
the wisdom and patriotism of the two
Houses of Congress; and secondly, in the
directions afforded me by the principles
of public polity, affirmed by our forefa-
theirs of the epoch of 1898. sanctioned by
long experience, and consecrated anew
by the overwhelming voice of the people
of the United States.
Recurring to these principles, which
constitute the organic basis Of Union, we
perceive that, vast as are the functions
and the duties of the federal government,
vested in, or entrusted to, its three great
departments, the Legislative, executive, and
judicial, yet the substantive power, the pop
ular force, and the large capacities for social
andmaterial development. exist in the re-
spective States. which, all being of them
selves well constituted republics, as they
preceded. so they alone are capable of main
tanning and perpetua1ing the American
Union. The federal government has il:
appropriate line OF action in the specific
and limited powers conferred on it by the
constitution. chiefly as those things in
which the States have a common interest
in their relations to one another. and 70
foreign governments; while the grea;
mass of interests which belong to cult.
vated men, the ordinary business of life,
the springs ofinduStry, all the diversified
personal and domestic affairs of society,
rest securely upon the general reserved
powers of the people of the several
States.
There is the effective democracy of the
nation, and there the vital essence of its
being and its greatness.
OF the practical consequences which
flow from the nature of the Federal Go
vernment, the primary one is the duty oI
administering with integrity and fidelity
the high trust reposed in il by the Consti-
tuition, especially in tho application o'
the public funds, as drawn By taxation
from the people, and appropriated to spe
cifc objects by Congress. Happily
have no occasion TO suggest any radical
changes IN the financial policy of the go,
vernment. Ours is almost, if not abso,
lutely, the solitary power Of Christendom
having a surplus revenue, drawn imme.
diately from imposts on commerce, and
therefore. measured by the spontaneous
enterprise and national prosperity of thc
country, with such indirect relations u
agriculture, manufactures. and the pro
ducts of the earth and sea, as to yioIat,
no constitutional doctrine. and yet yigor
ously promote the general welfare. Nei
ther as TO tho sources of the public trea
sure, nor as TO the manner of keepiu,
and managing il, does any grave coatro