The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1854-12-14
Presidents MESSAGE.
Fclo,c Citizens Of the Senate
and House of Representatives

and House Of Representatives:
The past has been an cventful year, and
will he hereafter referred to as marked
epoch in the history of the world While
we have been happily preserved frcm the
calalnitics of war, our domestic prosperity
has not been entirely uninterrupted The
crops, in portions of the country, have been
nearly cut off. Disease has prevailed to
greater extent than usual, and the sacri-
flee of human life, through casualties by
sea and land, is without parallel. But
the pestilence has swept by, and restored
salubrity invites the absent to their hemcs,
and the return Of business to its ordinary
channels. If the earth has rewarded the
labor of the husbandman less bountifully
than in preceding seasons, it has left him
with abundance for domestic wants, and
large surplus for expectation.
In the present, therefore, as in the past,
we find ample grounds for rcverent thank
fulncss to the God of Grace and Provi-
dcnce for His protecting care and merci-
full dealings with us as a people.
Although our attention has been arres-
ted by painful interest in passing events,
yet our country feels no more than the
slight vibrations of the commissions which
have shaken Europe AS individuals, we
cannot rcpress sympathy with human suffer
ing, or the regret for the causes which pro-
duce it. AS a nation, we are reminded
that whatever interrupts the peace Or checks
the prosperity of any part of Christendom
tends more or less to involve our own.
The condition of states is not unlike that
Of individuals They arc mutually dcpen-
dent upon each other Amicable relations
between them and reciprocal good will, are
essential for the promotion of whatever is
desirable in their moral, social, and political
condition. Hence it has been my earnest
cndeavor to maintain peace and friendly III
tercOursc with all nations.
The wise theory of this government, so
early adopted and steadily pursued, of avoi-
ding all entangling alliances, has hitherto
exempted it from many complications in
which it would otherwise have become in
yolved. Notwithstanding this our clearly
defined and well sustained course of action,
and or geographical position so remote
from Europe, increasing disposition has
been manifested by some of its govern
ments to supervise and in some respects to
direct our foreign policy.
In plans for adjusting the balance Of power among
themselves, they have assumed to take us into &C.
count, and would constran conform our conduct
to their views. One another of the powers of Eu.
rope has, from time to time, undertaken to enforce
arbitrary regulations, contrary in many respects to
established principles of International law. That law
h. It. h,x,, al. r
uniformly respected and observed; and they cannot
recognize any such interpretations therein as the tenn
porary interests OF others may suggest. They do not
admit that the egns Of one continent. or Of a
particular community OF states, egisIac for all
others.
Leaving the transatlantic nations to adjust
their political system, in the way they may
think best for their common welfare the indie
pendent powers of this continent may well as
sert the right to be exempt from all annoying
interference on their part. Systematic absti-
nence from intimate political connection with
distant foreign nations does not conflict with
giving the widest range to our foreign COM
merce. This distinction, so clearly marked in
history, seems to have been overlooked, or
disregarded, by some leading foreign states.
Our refusal to be brought within and subjected
to their peculiar system, has, fear, created
jealous distrust of our conduct and induced,
On their part, occasional acts of disturbing ef-
feet upon our foreign relations.
Our present attitude and past course give
assurances, which should not be questioned,
that our purposes arc not aggressive Or threat
cning to the safety and welfare of other ma
tions. Oar military establishment, in time of
peace, is adapted to maintain exterior defcn-
fences, and to preserve order among the abor-
ignal tribes within the limits of the Union.
Our naval force is intended only for the pro-
lection of our citizens abroad, and Of our COM
merce, diifuscd. it u.s. over all the seas of the
globe The government of the United States
belaS essentially pacific in policy, stands pre-
pared to repel Invasion by the voluntary SER
vice Of patriotic people, and provides no
permanent mcansof foreign aggression. These
considerations should allay all apprehensions
that We are disposed to encroach on the rights
or cadangcr the security Of other states.
Some European powers have regarded
with disquieting concern, the territorial en-
pansion of the United States This rapid
growth has resulted from the Legitimate ex-
crcise of sovereign rights, beIongidg alike
to all nations, and by many literally exer-
cised. Under such circumstances, it could
hardly have been expected that those among
them which have, within comparatively
recent period, subdacd and absorbed ALI