Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-12-15
Ihe 8elforl gInqaifff.
BEDFORD. "a. rEIDar Def. Is, tsfs.
lie pREsIpENr,s MEssAGE.

We. to-day. by btere ON readers the
first Messaee af President .jeht-on Ii ISL
plain. frank document and If mode,ate
length. considering the many ssll.ieets oi ii
terest necessary to be discussed Ifrelnaik
able for anything, ii is tamencss On the
great queStt;en of reconstruction it Simply
relates theexperiences Of the lastsix months
with which the whole country is familiar
and lays the matter before Congress with-
cut any attempt to point our policy fer
their guidance. The discussion, Of the spir-
it and design Of our Union and Constitution,
the doctrine of State Sovereignty, the dan
gers Of military rule, &C. atopnds in gen
eralities, which may he useful and Instruct
i've to the Southern people, but contains
nothing that has not long been familiar to
every intelligent man in the North The
brief notice of the necessity for an early IL
storation Of the Fe,leral Courts. pointed
with the statement, that, since If is manifest
that treason, most fragrant in character, has
been committed. Persons who are charged
with its commission should have fair and
impartial trials in the highest civil tribunals
of the country, in order that the Constitu-
ton and the laws may be fully virdicatedi
the truth clearly established and affirmed,
that treason is crime that traitors should
be punished and the offence made infamous;
and, at the same time, that the question
may be judicially settled. finally and forey-
er. that no state of its own viii has the right
to renounce its place in the Union viii af-
ford matter for the serious consideration of
Jeff. Davis, and his friends, North and
South. Inregard to the freedmen, the Pres
ident reiterates what he so frequently told
the southern people, that the rights Of the
freedmen. the security of their persons and
property and the enjoyment of the fruits of
their labor, must be recognized by the peo-
pie and maintained by the Government, He
recognizes the fact, so long palpable to eve
ry unpreiudiced mind, that slavery was an
incubus upon the whole country and espe-
cially the States wherein it existed, and that
with its extinction, there opens before the
Southern people a prospect Of future wealth
and prosperity unequaled in any country.
In relation to our claims upon England, he
simply states the facts already familiar to
the people, without advising any attempt at
redress, for the present. On the Monroe
Doctrine the message is explicit, and in the
following words gives no uncertain sound
ssWe should regard it as great calamity to
ourselves, to the cause Of good government (
and to the peace of the world, should any
European power challenge the American
people, as it were, to the defence Of repubH-
canism against foreign interference We
cannot foresee and are unwilling to eonsid-
er, what opportunities may present them
selves, what combinations might offer to pro-
tect ourselves against designs inimical to
cur form of government. The United
States desire to act IN the future as they
have acted heretofore; they never will be
driven from that course but by the aggres-
sion of European powers; and we rely on
the wisdom and justice Of those powers to
respect the system of non-interferenee which
has so long been sanctioned by time, and
which, by its good results, has approved it.
self to both continents.
The message then closes with a, by no
means inappropriate, reference to cur pres
ent unexampled blessings, and magnificent
future prospects, and finally calls upon the
nation to join with its Chief Magistrate in
an appeal for future guidance to that Provi-
dence which has brought US in safety thro
all our past vicissitudes.