Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1866-12-05
TILE PRESTDENT,S MESSAGE.


THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
In laying this important document be-
fore the readers of the UNION AND Dis
PATCH, this morning we offer our con-
gratulations that in its author, the coun.
try has at the helm patriot and states
man, who is guided by the old chart of
Republicanism, and who keeps steadily
in the right course, unbafled by contrary
winds, and unblenebed by the storm that
RACES around him He is calm, aud more
prudent, more firm and stronger in pro-
portion as the dangers increase, and as
the necessities OF his position require.
ANDREW JOHNSON, as statesman and as
the Chief Executive of a Government,
which it is not an empty claim to call the
mightiest among the mighty, was never
stronger than at this moment Standing
upon the Constitution, with the emblem
of unity in his grasp, he is invulnerable
to any assault that can or may be directed
at his person. The attacks upon him are
leyeled at the principles and institutions
he proclaims, and he only fails when they
fail.
The great and controlling fact by which
he is guided, he announces with admira-
bic precision in saying "In al the
States civil authority has superseded the
coercion ofarms, and the people, by their
voluntary action, are maintaining their
government in full activity and complete
operation. The enforcement Of the laws
is no longer 'obstructed in any State by
combinations too powerful to be sup
pressed by the ordinary course of Judicial
proceedings. This truth removes all
obstacles under the Constitution, and
leaves that instrument and the laws
passed in pursuance in their full force and
operation in all the States of the Union,
as designated by the trainers of the Gov
eminent 1t places the country in pre-
cisely the same condition it was on the
first day of December. 1860, save the one
alteration made by three-fourths of the
States in the organic law of the Union
since that date From the moment Of
this restoration of the national authority,
resistance ended and if crimes had
been committed, the remaining functions
of government should be addressed to
establishing the guilt and inaic ting the
attaching punishment upon the persons
who committed the ofensesg
The citations from the Constitution fix
ing the rights Of the States, the princiN
pies which require representation, the
warnings and counsels of Washington
and jefferson, are well selected by the
President; and the whole argument Of
the message upon the subject of restora-
ton is a specimen of clear, close, terse
and convincing logic, which we regard as
unsurpassed and irrefragible.
The treatment of our relations with
Foreign Governments is brief and COM
prehensive, and embraces all material
facts necessary to a fair comprehension
Of them by Congress and the country at
large. Those with France and England,
including the Mexican Republic, em-
bracing questions of great pith and deli
cacy, are handled with a frankness and
frmness which will be impressive without
being offensive The Fenian invasion of
Canada, and his action, is fully, fairly,
and satisfactorily stated.
The administration of the several Exc
cutive Departments is referred to at sufi-
cient length, but without encumbering
the message with useless details.
Altogether, the document before us, in
matter, manner and tone, is unexcep-
tionable, and is a vast improvement in
style and comprehensiyeness upon most
ofthose that have been delivered to Con-
Cress during the last forty years.