Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1853-03-09

Just and pacific will be significantly marked in the
fconduct offoreign affairs. intend that my ad.
ministration, shall leave no foul blot upou oul
fair record, and trust may safely give the as
surance that no act within the legitimate scope oi
my constitutional control, will be tolerated on the
part Of any portion of our citizens, which cannot
challenge a ready Justification before the tribunal
of the civilized world An administration would
be unworthy of confidence at home and abroad
that no apparent advantage can be purchased at a
price so dear that of national wrong or dishon-
Tor. A
1t is not your privilege as a nation to speak ol
a distant past The striking incidents of your
history are replete with instruction, and furnish
comprised in period comparatively short; but il
your past is limited, your future is boundless. It's
obligations throng the unexplored pathway oil
advancement, and will be lmitless as duration.-
Hence sound and comprehensive policy should
embrace not less the distant future than the ur-
gent present.
The great objects of our pursuit as people
are best to be obtained by peace, and entirely
consistent with the tranquility and interest of the
rest of mankind. With the neighboring nations
on our continent we should cultivate kindly and
fraternal relations, we desire nothing in re-
gard to them so much as to see them consolidate
their strength and pursue the paths of prosperity
and happiness.
If in the course of their growth, we should open
new channels of trade and create additional facil-
tiles for friendly intercourse the benefits realized
will be equal and mutual. Of the complicated
European systems of national policy we have
heretofore been independent. From their wars.
their tumults and anxieties we have been happily
almost entirely exempt. Whilst these are con-
fined to the nations which gave them existence,
and within their legitimate jurisdiction, they ap-
peal to our sympathies in the cause of human
freedom and universal advancement.
But the vast interests of commerce are common
to all mankind, and the advantages of trade inter
national intercourse must always present noble
field for the moral influence of great people
With these views firmly, and honestly carried out,
we have right to expect and shall under all cir
cumstances require prompt rec procity.
The rights which belong to us as a nation are
not alone to be regarded, but those which pertain
to every citizen in his individual capacity at home
and abroad must be sacredly maintained So long
as he can discern every star in its place upon that
ensign, without wealth to purchase for him prefer
ment, or title to secure for him place, it will be
his privilege, and must be his acknowledged right,
+lr,
with proud consciousness that he is himself one
of nation of sovereigns, and that he cannot in
legitimate pursuit wander so far from home, that
the agent whom he should leave behind, in the
place which | now occupy, will not see that no
rude hand of power or tyrannical passion is laid
upon him with impunity. He must realize that
upon every water and on every soil, where our en-
terprize may rightfuly seek the protection of our
flag, American citizenship is an nvolable pano-
ply for the security of American rights, and in this
it can hardly be necessary to reafim a
principle which should now be regarded as funda-
mental.
The rights, security and repose of this confede-
racy reject the idea of interference or colonization
on this side of the ocean by any foreign power,
beyond the present jurisdiction, as utterly unad-
vsable.
The opportunities of observation furnished by
own mind, the opinion entertained in and acted
upon by others from the formation of the govern
ment, that the maintenance of large standing
armies in our country would be not only danger
ous, but unnecessary; they a lso illustrated the
Importance, might well say, the absolute neces-
sity of the military science, and the practical skill
furnished in such an eminent degree by the insti-
ution, which has made your army what it is, under
he discipline and instruction of officers not more
for their solid attainments, galantry
md devotion to the public service, than to an OBJ
rusive bearing, and high moral tone.
The army, as organized, must be the nucleus
lround which, in every time of need, the strength
If your military power, the sure bulwark of your
lefence. national militia, may be readily
ormed into well disciplined and efficient organ
zation; and the skill and sef-devotion of the navy
assure you that you may take the performance of
he past as pledge for the future, and may con-
idently except that the flag which has waved its
lntarnshed folds every sea, will still float in
honor
But these like many other subjects, will be ap-
brought at future time before the CO.
ordinate branches of the government, to which
shall always look with profound respect and with
rustful confidence that they accord to me the aid
ind support which shall so much need, and which
heir experience and wisdom will readily suggest.
In the administration of domestic affairs, you
expect devoted integrity in the public service,
md an observance of rigid economy in all depart
nents SO marked as never justly to be questioned.
f this reasonable expectation be not realized, l |
rankly confess that one of your leading hopes is
doomed to disappointment, and that my efforts in