Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1865-12-08

radations before mentioned should be ex-
cluded. The proposition, in that very
unsatisfactory form, has been declined.
The United States did not present the
subject as an impeachment of the good
faith of Power which was protesting the
most friendly dispositions but as involving
questions of public law, of which the set
tlement is essential to the peace of ma
tions; and, though pecuniary repafation to
their injured citizens would have followed
incidentally on decision against Great
Britain, such compensation was not their
primary object They had higher mo
tive, and it was in the interests of peace
and justice to establish important princi-
pies of international law. The correspon-
dence will be iplacad before you. The
ground on which the British minister rests
his justification is, substantially, that the
municipal law of nation, and the domestic
interpretations of that law, are the meas
ure of its duty as aSneutral; and l feel
bound to declare my opinion, before you
and before the world, that justification
cannot be sustained before the tribunal of
nations. At the same time | do not adj
wise to any present attempt at redress by
acts oflegislation. For the future, friend
ship between the two countries must rest
on the basis of mutual justice.
From the moment of the establishment
of our free Constitution, the civilized
world has been convulsed by revolutions
in the interests of democracy or monarchy;
but through all those revolutions the Uni
ted States have wisely and firmly refused
to become propagandists of republieanism.
1t is the only government suited to our
condition; but we have never sought to
impose it on others; and we bave constant
ly followed the advice of Washington to
recommend it only by the careful preser-
vation and prudent use of the blessing
During all the intervening period the pol
icy of European powers and of the United
States has, on the whole been harmonious.
Twice, indeed, rumors of. the invasion OF
some parts of America in the interest OF
monarchy, have prevailed; twice my pre-
decessors have had occasion to announce
the views of this nation in respect to such
interference. On both occasions the re-
monstraDce of the United States was re-
spected, from deep conviction, on the
part of European Governments, that the
system of fnon-interference and mutual ab-
stinence from propagandism was the true
rule for the two hemispheres. Since those
times we have advanced in wealth and
power; but we retain the same purpose to
leave the nations of Europe to chose their
own dynasties and form their own systems
of government. This consistent modera-
ton may justly demand corresponding
moderation. We seould regard it as a
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 defense of republicanism, against
foreign interference. We cannot foresee
and are unwilling to consider what op-
portunities might present themselves, what
combinations might offer to protect our
selves against designs inimical to our form
of government. The United States desire
to act in the future as they have ever act
ed heretofore; they never will be driven
from that course but by the aggression of
European powers; and we rely on the wis
dom and justice of those powers to res
pect the system of non interference
which has so long been sanctioned BY
time, and Which by its good results, has
approved itself to both continents.
The correspondence between the United
1 fofo n
which have become subjects of discussion be.
tween the two governments, will at a proper
time be laid before Congress.
When on the organization of our Government,
under the Constitution, the President of the
United States delivered his Inaugural Address
to the two houses of Congress, he said to them
and through them to the country and to man
kind, that "the preservation of the sacred fire of
liberty and the destiny of the Republican mod
el ofgovernment are justly considered as deeply
perhaps as finally staked on the experiment en-
trusted to the American people," And the
| House of REPRESENTATIVES answered Washington
| by the voice of Madison: "We adore the inVisi-
| bic hand which has led the American people
| through SO many difficulties, to cherish con-
| scious responsibility for the destiny of Repub-
| Iican liberty" More than seventy-six wears
have glided away since these words were spok-
en-; the United States have passed through se-
verer trials than were forseen; and now at this
epoch IN our history as one nation, with our
Union purified by sorrows. and strengthened by
| conflict, and established by the virtue of the
people, the greatness of the occasion invites us
| once more to repeat with solemnity, the pledges
of our fathers to hold ourselves answerable he
fore our fellOw-men for the success of the Re-
publican form of government Experience has
proved its sufficiency in peace and war: it has
vindcated its authority through dangers and
Affections and sudden and terrible emergen-
cies, which would have crushed any system
that had been less firmly fixed in the heart OF
the people. AT the Inauguration of Washing
ton the foreign relations of the country were
few, and its trade was repressed by hostile reg
ufatiOns; now all the civilized nations of the
globe welcome our commence, and their govern
ments profess towares US amty. Then our
country felt its way hesitatingly along an un-
tried path, with states so little bound together
by rapid means of communication as 10 be
badly known to one another, and with historic
traditions extending over very few years; now
intercourse between the states is swift and inti-
mate; the experience of centuries has been
crowded into a few generations, and has created
an intense, indestructable nationality. Then
our Jurisdiction did not reach beyond the incon-
venient boundaries of the territory which had
achieved independence; now through cessions
of lands, first colOnized by Spain an France, the
country has acquired more complex character,
and has for its natural limits the chain of lakes
the Gulf of Mexico, and on the east and the
west the two great oceans. Other nations were
wasted by civil wars for ages before they could
establish for themselves the necessary degree of
unity; the latent conviction that our form of
government is the best ever known to the world,
has enabled us to emerge from civil war within
four years, with complete vindication of the
constitutional authority of the general govern
ment, and with our local liberties and State in
stitutiOns unimpaired.
The throngs of emigrants that our shores are
witnesses of the confidence of all peoples in our perma
Here is the srest land of labor where in
dustry is blessed with unexsmpled rewards, aud the
bread of the workngman is sweetened BY conscious
that the of the country sis his own cause his
own safety, his own dignity" Hero every enjoys
the free of his faculties and the choice of activity as
natural right Here under the combined influence of
fruitful soil, genial climes and happy institutions
population has increased fteenfold within cs ntry
Here, through the easy development of boundess re-
sources wealth has increased with two-fold greater
pidity than numbers, that have become secure
against the financial vcistudes Of other countries and
alike in business and in opinion self centred and
truly independent. Here and given to
provide education for one born soil Here