Des Arc citizen., 1866-12-15
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

Fello,o- Citizens of the Senate and House
 J Representatives:
 After brief interval the Congress of the United States resumes its annual legislative labors. An all-wise and merciful Providence has abated the pestilence which visited our shores, leaving its calamitous traces upon some portions of our country. Peace, order, tranquility and civil authority, have been formally declared to exist throughout the whole of the United States. In all of the States civil au- thority has superseded the coercion of arms, and the people, by their volun- tary action, are maintaining their Gov ernment in full activity and complete operation. The enforcement of the laws is no longer obstructed in any State by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings. and the ami mosities engendered by the war are rapidly yielding to the beneficent in fuence of our free institutions and to the kindly effects of restricted social and commercial intercourse.
 An entire restoration of fraternal feeling must be the earnest wish of every patriotic heart, and we will have accomplished our grandest national achievements when forgetting the sad events of the past and remembering only their instructive lessons, we re- sume our onward career as free, prosperous and united people.
 THE SUBJECT OF RESTORATION.
 In my message of the 4th of Decem- Der, 1865, Congress was informed of the measures which had been instituted by the Executive, with view to the gradual restoration of the States, in which the insurrection occurred, to their relations with the general gov ernment. Provisional governors had been appointed, conventions called, governors elected, legislatures assem- bled, and senators and representatives States; courts had been opened for the enforcement of laws long i'll abeyance. The blockade had been removed, cus- tom houses re-established, and the in- ternal revenue laws put in force; in order that the people might contribute to the national income, postal opera tions had been renewed, and efforts were being made to restore them to their former condition of efficiency. The States themselves had been asked to take part in the high functions of amending the Constitution and of thus sanctioniEg the extinction of African slavery as one of the legitimate results of our internecine struggle. Having progressed thus far, the Executive de- partment found thati it had accomplish ed nearly all that was within the scope of it's Constitutional authority. One thing, however, was yet to be done be- fore the work of restoration could be completed, and that was the admission to Congress ofloyal senators and rep resentatives from the States whose people had rebelled against the lawful authority of the general government This question devolved upon the res pectivc houses which, by the Constitu- ton, are made the judges of the elec- ton returns and qualifications of their own members, and it's consideration at once engaged the attention of Con- gress.
 In the meantime the Executive de- partment, no other plan having been proposed by Congress, continued it's efforts to perfect, as far as was practi- cable, the restoration of the proper re- lations between the citizens of the res pcctive States. The States and the Federal government extending, from time to time, as the public interests seemed to require, the judicial, revenue and postal systems of the country, with the advice and consent of the senate, the necessary officers were appointed and appropriations made by Congress for anf nf ator
 The proposition to amend the Feder- al constitution so as to prevent the ex- istence of slavery within the United States or any place subject to their ju- risdiction was ratified by the required number of States, and on the 18th day of December, 1865, it was officially de- clared to have become valid as part of the Constitution of the United States. All of the States i'll which the instruction had existed promptly amended their constitutions so as to make them conform to the great change thus effected in the organic law of the land, declared null and void all ordi- nances and laws of secession, repudia- ted all pretended debts and obligations created for the revolutionary purposes of the insurrection and proceeded in good faith to the enactment of meas ures for the protection and ameliora- tion of the condition of the colored race.
 TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.
 Congress, however, yet hesitated to admit any of these States to represent ation, and it was not until towards the close of the eight month of the session that an exception was made in favor of Tennessee by the admission of her Senators and Representatives I deem it subject of profound regret that Congress has thus failed to admit to seats the loyal Senators and Represent atives from the other States whose in- habitants, with those of Tennessee, had engaged in rebellion. Ten States, more than one-fourth of the whole number, remain without representation. The seats of fifty members of the House of Representative and twenty members of the senate are yet vacant, not by their own consent, not by failure of election, but by the refusal of Congress to accept their credentials. Their ad- mission, it is believed, would accom- plish much towards the renewal and strengthening of our relations as a