The true Democrat., 1856-12-16
PREsIDENr's MESSAGE.
Gentlemen of Me Senate
 und H.ueo of Reyxo ee,1 }1fi,re.

Gentlemen of tse Senate
 and House of Representatives:
 The constitution requires that the President shall from time to'time, not only recommend to the consideration of Congress such measures as he may judge necessary and expedient, but also that he shai give information to them of the state of the Union. To do this fully involves exposition of all matters in the actual condi- ton of the country, domestic or foreign, which essentially concern the general welfare. While performing his constitutional duty in this re- spect, the President does not speak merely to express personal convictions, but as the execI,- tive minister of the government, enaiiled by his position, ard called upon by his official ob- legations, to with an impartial eye the in- terests of the whole, and of every part of the United States.
 L. Of the condition of the domestic interests of the Union, its agriculture, mines, manufactures, navi igaton, and commerce, it is necessary only to say that the internal prosperity of the coul'- try, its continuous and steady advancement Tn wealth and population, and in private as well as public being, attest the wisdom of our in- sttutions, and the predominant spirit of intel ligence and patriotism, which, notwithstanding occasional irregularities of opinion or action re- sulting from popular freedom, has distinguish ed and characterized the people of America.
 In the brief interval between the termina- ton of the last and the commencement of the present session of Congress, the public mind has been occupied with the care of selecting, for another constitutional term, the President and Vice President of the United States. 1 The determination of the persons, who are of right, or consttutionally, to preside over the administration of the government, is, under our system, committed to the States and the people. We appeal to them, by their voice pronounced in the forms of law, to call whom soever they will to the high post of Chief Ma gistrate.
 And thus it Is that as the senators represent the respective States of the Union, and the House of Representatives the several constl- tuencles of each State, so the President repre- sents the aggregate population of the United States.
 It is impossible to misapprehend the great principles, which, by their recent political ac- tion, the people of the United States have sanctioned and announced.
 They have attested the constitutional equa- lity of each and ali of the States of the Union as States; they have affirmed the constitutional equality of each and all of the citizens, what ever their religion, whatever their birth, or their residence; they have maintained the in violability of the constitutional rights of the different sections of the Union; and they have proclaimed their devoted and unalterable at tachment to the Union and to the constitution, as objects of interest superior to all objects ol local or sectional controversy, as the safeguard of the rights of ail as the spirit and essence of the liberty, peace and guarantees of the re- public.
 In doing this, they have, at the same time emphaically condemned the idea ol organiz- ing in these United States mere geographical parties; of marshallng in hostile array towards each other the different parts of the country, north or south, east or west
 Scenes of this nature, fraught with incalcula- ble mischief and which the consderate sense of the people has rejected, could have counte- nance in no part of the country, had pot they been disguised by suggestion, plausible in ap- iearance, acting upon all excited state of the public mnd induced by causes temporary in their charcter and 1t is to be hoped transient in their influence.
 Perfect liberty of association for political ob- jects, and the widest scope of discussion, are the received and ordinary conditions of govern- ment m our country. Our institutions, formed III the spirit oi confidence, in the int. liigence and integrity of the people, do not forbid citi- zens either individually or associated together to attack by writing, speech, any other me- thod short of physical force, the constitution and the very existence of the Union. Under the shelter of this great liberty, and protected by the laws and usages of the government they asSaIl, associations have been formed, in some of the States, of individuals, who, pre- tending to seek only to prevent the spread of the Institution of slavery into the present or future lnchoate States of the Union, are really inham. cd with desire to change the domestic institu. tInt pt objects they dedicate themselves to the odious task of depreciating the government organiza- ton which stands iu their way, and of calum- niatlng, with ndiscrmnate iuvectye, not only the citzens of particular States, with whose laws they find fault, but all others of their feliow-cltizens throughout the country, who do ! not par lclpate with them in their assaults up- 1 on the constitution, framed and adopted bv our fathers. and claiming for the privileges it has secured, ahd the blessings it has conferred, the steady support and grateful reverence of their children.
 1 They seek an object which they well know to be revolutionary one. They are perfectly aware that the change in the relative condition, of the white and black races in the slaychold- lng States, which they would promote, is be- ! yond thelr lawful authority that to them it is foreign objecl; that 1t cannot be effected by any { peaceful Insttumentalty of theirs; that for 1 them and the States of which they are citizens, the only path to its accom- mpllshment Is through | burning cities, anc raVaged fields and slaugh- tered populations, and all that is most terrible Ill form, complicated with civil and serylle war; ana that the first step Ill the attempt is the ioicbc disruption Of 8 country embracing in Its broad bosom degree of liberty. and an amount ot individual and public prosperity. to when there is no par lleI in history and sub- Stituting In Its place hostile governments driven at once and Inevitably into mutual devastation ana Eatrcldai carnage, transforming the now peacelul and lellctlous brotherhood into 4 vast permanent camp of armed men like the rival monarchies of Europe and Asia. Well know ing that such, and such only, are the means and 'he consequences of their plans and purposes. they endcavor to prepare the people of the United States for civil war by doing everything m their power to deprive the constitution and the laws of moral authority, and to undermine the fabric of the Union by appeals to passion and sectional prejudice, by indoctrinatng its people with reciprocal hatred, and by educat- Ing them to stand face to face as enemies rather than shoulder to shoulder, as friends
 It Is by the agency of such unwarrantable interference, foreign and domestic, that the minds ot many, otherwise good citizens, have been Sc iniiamed into the passionate condemna- ton of the domestic institutions of the south ern States, as at length to pass insensiblv to almost equally passionate hostility towards their iellow-citizens of those States, and thus finally to lead into temporary fellowship with the avowed and active enemies of the consttu ton. Ardently attached to liberty in the ab- stract, they do not stop to consider practically how the objects they would attain can be ac- complished, nor to reflect that, even if the evil were as great as they deem it, they have no re- medy to apply and that it can only be agra vated by their violence and unconstitutional action. A question, which is one of the most difficult Of all problems of social institution, political economy and Statesmanship, they treat with unreasouing intemperance of thought and language. Extremes beget extremes. Violemt attack from the north finds its ineyit,blo .,n