The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1867-12-28
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
lCoatimed from ti,st page.l
THE COST OF THE PRESENT PLAN.

VIZ VA paloSo lnNlhHHt w EtNOii0tiu AhA"i
the ayStem adopted by Congress will aggra.
vate what regard as tho intrinsic wrong Of
the measure itself IL has cost uncounted
millions already, and il persisted III, it will
udd largely to tho list Of taxation already
too oppressive to be borne without just com
plant, and may finally reduce the treasury
Of the nation to condition of bankruptcy.
Wo must not delude ourselves. 1t will re.
quire strong standing army, and probably
more than two hundred millions OF dollars
per atnum, 90 maintain the supremacy oi
the negro Governments after they arc estab.
lished. The sum thus thrown away would,
if properly used. form II sinking fund large
enough to pay the whole national debt III
less than fifteen years IL is in vain 70 hope
that the negroes will Themselves without
military power maintain thor asccndencY
they are wholly incapable Of holding III sub.
jugation the white people OF tho South.
submit to the judgment Of Congress wheth
or the public credit may not be iniurlously
affected BY n system Of measures like this.
With our debt aud the vast private interests
which are complicated with it, we cannot
be too cautious ofa policy which might by pos
sibility impair the confidence Of the world in
our Government That confidence can only
be retained by carefully inculcating the prin.
ciplcs of Justice and honor on the popular
mind, and hy the most scrupul0us fidelity to
all our engagements Of every sort. Any
| serious breach of the organic law, persisted
in for II considerable time. cannot but create
fears for the stability Of free Institutions.
IIabitual violation Of prescribed ruies, which
We bind ourselves 10 observe. must dem0r
alizc the people. Our only standard Of civil
duty being set Mt naught. the sheet anchor
| ofour political morality is lost, the public
conscience swings from iia mo0rings and
yields 10 every impulse Of passion and inter.
est. If wc rcpudiatn the Constitution we
will not be- expected to care much for pecu-
mary obligations. The violation Of such
pledge as We made OF the 22d day of July,
| 1861, will assurelly diminish the market
value nf our other promises; besides, If we
now acknowledge that the national debt was
created not to hold the States in the Union,
as the taxpayers were led b. suppose, but to
| cxpel them from !, and hand them over 10 be
governed by negroes, tho duty to pay il nny
| seem much less clear. | say il may seem
| SO: for do not admit that this or any other
| argument in favor of rcpu1iatiou can be Gu
| iortajncd as sound, bat its influence on
some classes Of minds may well bc apprc.
/ heudcl The financial honor of a great
commercial nation largely indebted. and
| with n republican form Df government nd
miuistcrei by agents If the popular voice.
/ is thing of such delicate texture, and the
destruction of il would BE- followed bY such
tnsneakablc calamity, that every true
patriat must desire % avoid Whatever might
/ exu8sc il tn the slightest danger. The great
/ interests of tho country require Immediate
/ relief from these enactmeuts. Business in
/ the South is paralYzei by sense Of gen
| crat insecurity, by the terror oF conhscafjOu
aud the dread Of negro supremacy. The
| Southern trade. from which the North
| would have derived 30 great q profit under
/ a government of law, still lauguishcs, and
/ can never be retrieved until it ceases to be
sheltered by shc arbitrary power which,
makes all It's operations unsafe. That rich
| country. the richest the world ever saw, is
worse than lost If Il hc uot so9n placed AN.
| der she protection of free Constitution.
/ Instead nf being. as il ought to be, source
/ Of wealth and honor, it Will become au in.
/ tolcTablc burden upon the veal ol tAg patton.
THE VOICE o. THE ELECTIONS.
Another reason for retracing our steps
will doubtless be seen by Congress in the
late manifestations Of public opinion up.
on the subject We live in a country
where the popular will always enfoFccs
obedience sooner or later /, is vain TO
think of opposing il with anything short
Of legal authority, backed by oyerwbeln-
i ing forces II cannot have escaped your
attention that from the day on which
Congress fairly and formally presented
the proposition to govern the Southern
States with military force, with view to
the ultimate establishment Of negro su-
premacy, every expression Of the general
sentiment has been more or less adverse
to il. Tho affections Of this generation
cannot be detached from the institutions
Of their ancestors. Their determination
to preserve the Inheritance Of a free
Government in their own hands, and
transmit il unimpaired to their own pos.
tcriiy. is too strong to be successfully
overpowered. Every weaker passion will
disappear before that love of liberty aud
law for which the American people me
| distinguished above all others in the world
How far the duty of the President to pre-.
serve, protect and defend tho Constitu-
ton requires him to go in opposing un-
constitutional Acts of Congress, is very
serious and important question, on which
| have deliberated much, and feel ex-
treme!y anxious to reach proper conclu.
sion. Where an Act has been passed ac-
c0rding to the forms of the Constitution
by the supreme legislative authority and
regularly enrolled among the public stat
utes Of tho country, Executive resistance
to it, especially in times of high party ex-
citement, would be likely to produce a vi
olent collision between the respective ad
berents of the two branches of the Gov
ernment This would be simple civil
war, and civil war must be resorted to on.
ly as the last remedy for the worst of
evils. Whatever might tend to provoke
should be most carefully avoided A
faithful and conscientious magistrate will
concede very much to honest error and
something even to perverse malice, be-
fore he will endanger the public peace,
and he will not adopt forcible measures,
or such as might lead to force, as long as
those which arc peaceablc remain open to
him or to his constituents 1t is true
that cases may occur in which the Exec
utive would be compelled to stand upon
its rights and maintain them regardless of
all consequences. If Congress should
pass an Act which is not only in palpable
conflict with the Constitution, but will
certainly, if carried out, produce immedi-
ate and irrcparable injury to the organic
structure of the Government, and il there
be neither judicial remedy for the wrongs