Juniata sentinel. [volume] (Mifflintown, Pa.) 1846-1873, 1865-12-13

the public debt Of country is safe in
proportion as its people are free; that the
debt of republic is the safest of all
Our history confirms and establishes the
theory, and is, 1 firmly believe, destined
to give it still more signal illustration
The secret Of this superiority springs not
merely from the faot that i'll republic the
national obligations are distributed more
widely through countless numbers in all
classes of society; it has its roofs in the
character of our laws. Here all men con-
tribute to the public welfare, and bear
their fair share of the public burdens
During the war, under the impulse Of pa
triotism, the men of the great body OF
the people, without regard to their own
comparative want of wealth, thronged to
our armies and filed our fleets of war,
and held themselves ready to offer their
lives for the public good. Now, in their
turn, the property and income of the coun-
try should bear their just proportion OF
the burden of taxation, while in our i'm
post system, through means of which in
creased vitality is incidentally impaired to
all the industrial interests Of the nation,
the duties should be so adj usted as to fall
most heavily on articles of luxury, leav-
ing the necessaries of life as free from
taxation as the absolute wants of the
government, economically administered,
will Justify. No favored class should de-
nlaud freedom from assessment, and the
taxes should be SO distributed as not to
fall undgly on the poor, but rather on the
accumulated wealth of the country We
should look at the national debt just as it
is-not as a national blessing, but as a
heavy burden on The industry of the
country, to be discharged without uneces-
sary delay.
l have dwclled thus fully on our domes-
tic affairs because of their transceudent
importance. Uader any circumstances,
our great exteu. of territory and variety
of climate, producing almost everything
{ that is necessary for the wants, and even
i the comforts Of man, make US singularly
5 independent Of the varying policy of for
: eign Powers, and protect us against every
temptation to "entangling alliances"
e while at the present moment the re-estab-
lishment of harmony, and the strength
t that comes from harmony, will be our Sc
: curity against "nations who feel power
. aud forget right" For myself, it has
S been and will be my constant aim to pro-
t mote peace and amity with all foreign ma
5 tious and Powers and have every rea-
? son to believe that they all, without ex-
). eeption, are animated by the same dispo-
: sition. Our relations with the Emperor
f of China, so recent in their origin, are
: most friendly. Our commerce with his
e Gominions are receiving new develop
: ments; and it is very pleasing to find that
:. the government of that great Empire
! manifests satisfaction with our policy, and
0 reposes Just confidence in the iirmness
E which marks our intercourse. The un-
: broken lurrmouy between the United States
t and the Emperor of Russia is receiving a
:. new support from the enterprise designed
t to carry telegraph lines across the couti
: nent of Asia, through his domin:ons, and
a so to connect US with all Europe by a Few
D channel of intercourse
D The relations of the general govern.
: ment towards the four millions of inhabl,
tarts whom the war has called into free
dom have engaged my most serious con-
: sideration. On the propriety OF attempt
!. ing to make the freedmen electors by the
y proclamation of the Executive, | took
Tor my counsel the Constitution itself
t the interpretations of that instrument by
/. its authors and their contemporaries, and
G recent legislation by Congress. When
!. at the first movement towards Indepeud
q ence. the Congress Of the United States
;. instructed the several States to institute
Governments of their own, they left each
f State to decide for itself the conditions
e for the enjoyment Of the elective fran
e chise. During the period Of the corfed
8 eracy, there continued to exist very
4. great diversity in the qualifications CT the
o electors in the several States; and even
r within a State distinction OF qualltca
a tions prevailed with regard to the officers
! who were to be chosen. The Constltu
f ton of the United States recognises thes'
4 diyersities when 1t enjolns that, IN th'
o choice of members of the House OF Rep
r sen.atives of the United States, "the el
+ ectors in each State shall have qualitica
! tions requisite for electors Of the mos
+ numerous branch of the State Legisla
e ture." After the formation Of Constltu
e ton, it remained, as before, the uniform
n usage tor each State to enlarge the bod.
!. of its electors, accsrding to its own Judge
n ment; and, under this system. one Stat
!, after another has proceeded to lnereas'
:, rho numoer of its electors, until nov
). universal suffrage, or something very
near it, is the general rule. So liked wa
! this reservation of power in the habits o
!, the people, and SO 'unquestiOned has beer
$ the interpretation of the Constitution
t that during the civil war the late Presi
/ dent never harbored the purpose-cer
n tainly never avowed the purpOsecOO = .
e disregarding it, and in the acts of Con
gress, during that period, nothing can b'
6 found which, during the continuance o
}. hostihties, much less after their close
II -trV-., Ia