Litchfield enquirer., 1863-12-17

oO~'osS SSioA3uVo ACClOu.
 BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS.
 commend the benevolent institutions es. ta6iished or patronizsd by the good in this District to your generous and fostering care.
 sHIr CANAL.
 The attention of Congress during the last ,es. sion was engaged to some extent with prop. osition tor enlarging the water communication between the Mississippi River and the North Eastern seaboard, which proposition, however, failed for the time.
 Since then, upon a call of the greatest res. pectability. Convention has been held at Chi cago upon the same subject, summary of whose views is contained in memorial ad- dress to the President and Congress, and which now have the honor to lay before you. That this interest is one which ere long will force its own way do not entertain doubt, while it is submitted entirely te your wisdom as to what can be done HOW. Augmented in. terest is given to this subject by the actual commencement of work upon the Pacific Rail- road, under auspices SO favorable to rapid pro. gress and completion. The enlarged naviga. tion becomes palpable need to the great road.
 THE DEPARTMENT or AaRrcuLruRE.
 transmit the second annual report of the Commissioners of the Department of Agricul- turs, asking your attention to the develop ments in that vital interest of the nation.
 RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION.
 When Congress assembled year ago, the War had already lasted nearly twenty months and there had been many conflicts on both land and sea, with varying results the Rebellion had been pressed back into reduced limits, yet the tone of public feeling and opinion at home and abroad was not satisfactory. With other signs the popular elections then just past indi- catsd uneasiness among ourselves, while, amid much that was cold and menacing, the kindest words coming from Europe were uttered in accents of pity, that we were too blind to sur rend,r hopeless cause.
 Our commence was suffering greatly by a few armed vessels built upon and furnished from foreign shores, and we were threatened with such additions from the same quarters as would sweep our trade from the sea and raise the blockade. We had failed to elicit from European Governments anything hopeful upon this subject.
 The preliminary Emancipation Proclamation issued in September was running it's assigned period to the beginning of the new year. A month later ths final Proclamation came, in. cluding the announcement that colered men of suitable condition would be received in the war s'rviee. The policy of Emancipation and of employing black soldiers gave to the future . new aspect, about which hope and fear and doubt contended in uncertain conflict.
 According to our political system, as mat ter of civil administration the Government had no lawful power to effect Emancipation in any State, and for long time it had been hoped that the Rebellion could be suppressed without resorting to it as military measure. It was all the while deemed possible that the necessi- ty for it might come, and that if it should, the crisis of the contest would then be presented It came, and, as was anticipated, was followed by dark and doubtful days.
 Eleven months having now passed, we are permitted to take another review. The Rebel borders are pressed still further back. and by the complete opening of the Mississippi the country dominated by the Rebellion is divided into two distinct parts, with no practical com munication between them.
 Tennessee and Arkansas have been sabstan- tially cleared ofinsurgent control, and inauen tial citizens in each, owners of slaves and ad. vocates of Slavery at the beginning of the Re. bellion, now declare openly for Emancipation in their respective States. Of these States not included in the Emancipation Proclamation, Maryland and Missouri, neither of which three years ago would tolerate any restraint upon the extension of Slavery into new Territories, only dispute now ss to the best mode of removing it within their own limits.
 Of those who were slaves at the beginning of the Rebellion, full 100000 are now in the United States military service, about one.half of which number actually bear arms in the ranks, thus giving the double advantage of taking 30 much labor from the insurgent cause, and supplying the places which otherwise must be filed with so many white men, So far as tested it is difficult to say they are not as good 'oldiers as any. No ss.vile insurrection or tendency to violence or cruelty has marked the measures of Emancipation and arming the blacks. These me ,sures have len much discussed in foreign countries, and cotemporary with sucn discussion, the tone of public sentiment there is much improved. At home the same meas lres have been fully discussed, supported. crit cised, and den ounced. and the annual elections following are highly encouraging to those whose official duty it is to bear the country through this great trial. Thus we have the new reckoning. The crisis which threatened Q divide the friends of tho Union is past.
 ON RECONSTRUCTION.
 Looking now to the present and future, and with a reference to a resumption of the nation Il authority in the States wherein that authori. y has been suspended, l have thought it to ssus Proclamation-a copy of which is here. with transmitted. On examination of this Proclamation it will appear las is believed) that nothing Is attempted beyond what is amply jus. flied by the Constitution. True, the form of m oath is given, but no man is cosrced to take |.
 The man is only promised pardon in case ie voluntarily takes the oath. The Constitu. ion authorizes the Executive to grant or with. ,old the pardon at his own absolute discretion, md this includes the power tp grant on terms, .s is fully established by judicial and other au. horities. It is also preferred that if in any of he States named State Governn,et shall be recognized and guarantied by the United States, and that under it ihe State shall, on the Constitutional conditions. be protected against invasion and domestic violence.
 The Constitutional obligation of the United States to guarantee to every State in the Un- ion publican form of Government, and to protect the State in the cases stated, is explic it and fall. But why tender the benefits of this provision only to State Government set up in this particular way {! This section of the Constitution con:emplates case wherein the element within State favorable to republican
 :- Al {. I- Go.