Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-12-28
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
Fellow Citizens OF Tie Senate

varied and numerous blessings throughout the
past year. The general health of the country has
been excellent; our harvests have been unusually
plentiful, and prosperity smiles throughout the
land. Indeed, notwithstanding our dement's, We
have much reason to believe from the past events
in history, that have enjoyed the special
protection of Divine Providence ever since our
origin as nation. We have been exposed to many
threatening and alarming difficulties in our pro-
gress; but on each successive occasion the impend
ing cloud has been disspated at the moment it APP.
peared ready to burst upon her head, and the
danger to our institutions has passed away. May
we ever be under the divine guidance and protec-
ton.
Whilst it is the duty of the President ''from time
to time to give to Congress information Of the state
of the Union" shall not refer in detail to the re-
cent sad and bloody occurrences at Harpers Ferry.
Still it is proper to observe that these events how
ever bad and cruel in themselves, derive their
chief Importance from the apprehension that they
are but symptoms of an incurable disease in the
public mind, which may break out in still more
dangerous outrages, and terminate at last in an
open war by the North to abolish slavery in the
South. Whilst, for myself, entertain such ap-
prehension. they ought to afford solemn warning
to all to beware of the approach of danger. Our
Union is a stake of such inestimable value as to
demand our constant and watchful vigilance for
its preservation. In this view, let me iInplore my
countrymen. North and South, to cultivate the an
cient feeling of mutual forbearance and good will
towards each other. and strive to allay the demon
spirit of sectional hatred and strive now alive in
the land. This advice proceeds from the heart of
an old public functonary whose services commenced
in the last generation, among the wise and conserva
away, and whose first and dearest earthly wish is
to leave his country tranquil, prosperous, united
and powerful.
We ought to reflect that in this age, and especial
~ IN this country there is an ncessant hux and
refiux of public opinion. Questions which in their
day assume a most threatening aspect, have now
nearly gone from the memory Of men. They are
volcanoes burnt out and on the lava and ashes
and squalid scor@ of old eruptions grow the peace
full olive, the cheering vine, and the sustaining
corn" Such, in my opinion, will prove to be the
IN a fha unrnt bn.t1i
those who wisely seek to apply tile remedy con-
tlnue always to conine their efforts within the pale
Of the Constitution. Ii this course be pursued,
the existing agitation on the subject of domestic
slavery, like everything human, will have its day
and give place to other and less threatening
troyersies Public opinion in this country is all
powerful, and when 1T reaches dangerous excess
upon any question, the good sense of the people
Will furnish the corrective and bring it back within
safe limits. STILL to hasten the suspicious result
at the present crisis, we ought to remember that
every rational creature must be presumed to intend
the natural consequences of his own teachings.
Those who announce abstract doctrines subversye
OF the Constitution and the Union must not be sur
prlsed should their heated partizans advance one
step further and attempt by violence to carry these
doctrines into practical effect In this view of the
subject it ought never to be forgotten that however
great may have been the political advantages
sultng from the Union to every portion of our COM
mon country, these will all prove to be as nothing
should the time ever arrive when they cannot be
enjoyed without serious danger to the personal
safety of the people of fifteen members of the con-
leueTdcy. IL the peace OF the domestic hreSde
throughout these States should ever be invaded-if
the mothers of families within this extensive region
should not be able to retire to rest night without
suffering dreadful apprehensions of what may be
their own fate and that of their children before
morning-it would be vain to recount to such
people the political benefits which result to TEEN
from the Union Self-preservation is the first in
stnct of natures and therefore any state of society
in which the sword is all the time suspended over
the heads of the people, must at last become intol-
cradle. But indulge in no such gloomy forebod-
/ hell hat Tho
events at Harpers Ferry, by causing the people to
pause and renect upon the possible peril to their
cherished institutions, will be the means, under
Providence, of alaying the existing excitement
and preventing future outbreaks of similar char
acter They will resolve that the Constitution and
the Union shall not be endangered by rash counses
knowing that, should the silver cord be loosed or
the golden bowl be broken + at the fountan,n
human power could never reunite the scattered and
hostile fragments
l cordially congratulate YOU upon the final set
Element by the Supreme Court of the United States
OF the question OF slavery in the Territories which
had presented an aspect so truly formidable at
the commencement Of my administration. The
right has been established of every citizen to take
his property of any kind, including slaves into the
common Territories belonging equally to all the
States of the coniederacy and to have it protected
there under the federal constitution Neither Con-
gress nor Territorial Legislature, nor any human
power has any authority to annul or impair this
vested right. The supreme judicial tribunal of the
country, which is coordinate branch of the gov
ernment, has sanctioned and affirmed these princi-
pies of constitutional law, so manfestly Just in
themselves, and so we'll calculated to promote
peace and harmony among the States. 1t is
striking proof of the Of justice which is inhe-
rent in our people, that the property in slaves has
never boon dsturbed to my lanovvlod So in amy OF
the territories. Even throughout the late troubles
in Kansas there has not been any attempt as am
eredibly informed to interfere, in single instance
with the right of the master. Had any such at
tempt been made the Judiciary would doubtless
have afforded an adequate remedy Should they
fail to do this hereafter, it will then be time enough
Strcnpthpn their hands ~ furth latric1 otin
Had it been decided that either Congress or the
Territorial Legislature possess the power to annul
or impair the right to property in slaves, the evil
would be intolerable. In the latter event, there
would be a struggle for majority of the members
OF the Legislature at each successive election and
the sacred rights of property held under the Fed
eral constitution would depend for the time being
on the result The agitation would thus be rendered
incessant while the Territorial condition remained
and its baneful influence would keep alive dan
gerous excitement among the people of the several
States
Thus has the status of Territory, during the in
termediate period from its first settlement until it
shall become State, been rreyocably fixed by the
final decision of the Supreme Court Fortunate
has been this for the prosperity of the Territories
as well as the tranquility of the States. Now, en-
igrants from the North and the South the East and
the West, will meet in the Territories on common
platform, having brought with them that species
of property best adapted, in their opinion, to
promote their welfare. From natural causes the
slavery question will in each case soon virtually
settle ITSELF and before the Territory is prepared
for admission as State into the Union, this deci-
sion, one way or the other will have been a FORE
gone conclusion. Meanwhile the settlement of the
new Territory will proceed without serious inter-
rupton, and its progress and prosperity will not
be endangered or retarded by violent political
struggles.
When in the progress of events the inhabitants of
any Territory shall have reached the number re-
qulred to form State they will then proceed in a
regular manner, and in the exercise of the rights
OF popular sovereignty, to form constitution pre-
paratory to admission into the Union After this
has been DONE to employ the language of the Kan
sas and Nebraska act they ''shall be received into
the Union with or without slavery as their const-
tuition may prescribe at the time of their admis-
sion" This sound principle has happily been re-
cognlzed, in some form other by an almost unan-
imous vote of both houses of the last Congress-.
All lawful means at my command have been en-
ployed, and shall continue to be employed to exc
cute the laws against the African slave trade After
most careful and rigorous examination of our
coasts and a thorough examination of the subject,
we have not been able to discover that any slaves
have been imported into the United States except
the cargo by the Wanderer, numbering between
three and four hundred. Those engaged in this un
lawful enterprise have been vigorously prosecuted
but not with as much success as their crimes have
deserved. number of them are still under prose-
cutiOn.
Our history proves that the fathers of the repub-
nc, IN advance OF all other nations condemned the
African slave trade. 1t was Notwithstanding,
deemed expedient by the fra ners of the constiti-
ton to deprive Congress of the power to prohibit
the migration or importation Of such persons as
any Of the States now existing shall think proper
to admit" "Prior, to the year one thousand eight
hundred and eight"
II will be seen that this restriction on the power
OF Congress was confined to such States only as
might think proper to admit the importation Of
slaves. 1t did not extend to other States or to the
trade carried on abroad. Accordingly we find that
SO early as the 22d March, l79l Congress passed an
act imposing severe penalties and punishments up
on citizens and residents of the United States who
should engage in this trade between foreign ma
tons The provisions of this act were enforced and
EXTENDED by the act Of 10th May, 1900.
Again: the States themselves had a clear right to
waive the constitutional privilege intended for
their benefit, and to prohibit bY their own laws