Washington telegraph., 1853-03-23

]
Having no implied engagements to ratify,
no rewards to bestow, no resentments to re-
member, no personal wishes to consult, in
selecting for official stations, l shall fulfil
the difficult and delicate trust, admitting no
motive as worthy my character or position,
which does not contemplate an efficient dis.
charge of duty and the best interests of my
country.
acknowledge my obligations to the mas
ses Of my couGtrymen. and to them alone,
and as higher objects than personal aggran-
dizement gave direction to their exertions in
the late canvass, they shall not be disap-
pointed. They require at my hands dill
gence, integrity and capacity, whenever
there are duties to perform; and without this
guaranteed quality in their public servants,
more stringent laws for the prevention or
punishment of negilgences and peculation
will be vain, and with them would be un-
necessary But these are not the only points
to which you look for vigilance and watch
fulness Of duty. The danger of concentra-
ton of all the powers in the General Go
vernment in a coufederacy so vast as ours, is
too obvious to be disregarded; you have
right, therefore, to expect your agents, in
every department, to regard strictly the
limits imposed upon them by the Constitu-
ton. The great scheme of our constitution
al liberty rests upon proper distribution of
power between State and Federal authori-
ties, and experience has shown that the har-
mony and happiness of our people depend
upon the just discrimination between the
separate rights and responsibilities of the
States, and your separate rights; and herein,
in my opinion, are the considerations which
should form the true basis Of future concord
in regard to the questions which have most
seriously disturbed the tranquility of the 90
vernment. In the exercise of powers clear.
ly granted by the constitution, it can hardly
happen that its action upon any question
should endanger the institutions of the
States, or interfere with their rights to man.
age matters of strictly domestic character,
according to the will of their own people.
In expressing my views, briefly, upon an
important subject which has recently agitated
the nation to an almost fearful degree, am
moved by no other impulse than an earnest
desire for the perfection of that Union which
us blessings, and conferring power and in
fuence which our fathers could hardly have
anticipated, even with their most sanguine
hopes directed to far-off future.
The sentiments | now announce were not
unknown before the expression of that voice
called me here-my own position upon this
subject was clear and unequivocal in the
record of my words and my acts, and it is
only reasserted at this time, because my ST. !
lence might prehaps be misunderstood /
With the Union my dearest hopes are en-
listed-without it, what are we individually
or collectively What becomes of the no
blest field ever opened for the advance
ment of our race in religion, in government,
in arts. and in all that digniGes and adorns
mankind, from that radiant constellation.
which both illumes our own way, and points
out to struggling nations their course but
let a single star be lost, and if utter darkness
does not follow, the lustre of the whole is d.
minished Do my counrymen need any
assurance that such a catastrophe is not to
oyertake them while possess the power to
stay it 1t is with me an earnest and vital
belief that as the Union has been the sour,e.
under Providence, Of our prosperity up to
this time, so it is a pledge of the continu-
ance of the blessing we have enjoyed. and
which we are bound to transmit, undimin-
ished, to our children The field of calm
and free discussion in our country is open.
and will always be so, but it never has and
never can be traverscd for good in a spirit
of sectionalism and uncharitableuess.
The founders of the Republic dealt with
things as they were presented to them in
self-sacrticing patriotism, and, as time has
proved with comprehensive wisdom which
it viii be safe for us to consult Every
measure tending to strengthen the fraernal
feeling of all the members of our Union,
has had my heartfelt appreciation, but to ev-
cry theory of government, whether the off
spring of feverish ambition or Of morbid
enthusiasm, calculated to dissolve the bonds
of love and affection which unite us, I shall
interpose a ready and stern resistance. I
believe that involuntary servitude, as it ex-
lists in the different States of this Union, is
recognized by the Constitution, and | believe
that it stands like any other admitted right,
and that the States where it exists are enti-
tied to efficient remedies to enforce the Con-
stitutional provisions. hold that the laws
of 1850, commonly called the Compromise
measures, are strictly constitutional, and
should be uuhesitatingly carried out. l be-
lieve that the constituted authorities of this
republic are bound to regard the rights of
the South in this respect, as they would view
any other features, and constitutional right,
and that the laws to enforce them should be
respected and obeyed; not with reluctance,
but cheeTfuly and according to the decision
of the tribunal to which their exposition be-
longs
Such have been and are my convictions;