Year: 1860

House OF REPRESENTATIVES,:


Our deep and heart felt gratitude is due
to that Almighty power which has bestow-
ed upon us such, varied and numerous blcs
sings throughout the past year The gen.
eral health of the country has been excel
lent. our harvests have been unusually
plentiful, and prosperity smiles through
out the land. Indeed notwithstanding our
deuier;ts, we have much reason to believe
from the past events in our history, that
we have enjoyed the special protection Of
Divine Providence ever since our origin
as nation. We have been exposed to
many threatening and alarming difficulties
in our progress; but on each successive oc-
casion the impending cloud has been dis
sipated at the moment it appeared ready
to brit npon our head, and the DANCE.
to our Institutions has passed away. May
we ever be under the divine guidance and
protection.


HARpER's FERRY.


Whilst it is the duty of the President
''from time to time to give to Congress in
formation of the state Of the Union,"
shall not refer in detail to the recent sad
and bloody occurrences at Harper's Ferry.
Still it is proper to observe that these
events, however bad and cruel in them
selves, derive their chief Importance from
the apprehension that they are but symp-
toms OF an incurable disease in the pub
lie mind, which may break out in still
more dangerous outrages, and terminate at
last in open war by the North 10 abolish
slavery in the South. Whilst, for myself,
l entertain no such apprehension, they
ought to afford solemn warning to us all
to beware of the approach of danger. Our
Union is stake Of such incstimable value
as to demand our constant and watchful
vigilance for its preservation In this
view, let me implore my countrymen,
North and South, to cultivate the ancient
feeling of mutual forbearance and good
will towards each other, and strive to al
lay the demon spirit of sectional hatred
and strife now alive in the land. This adj
vice proceeds from the heart of an old pub
lie functionary whose services commenced
in the last generation, among the wise and
conservative statesmen of that day, now
nearly all passed away, and whose first
and dearest earthly wish is to leave his
country tranquil, prosperous, united and
powerful.


We orght to reflect that in this age, and
especially in this country, there is an in
cessant fux and refux of public opinion.
Questions which in their day assumed a
most threatening aspect, have now nearly
gone from the memory of men. They are
volcanoes burnt ont, aud on the lava and
ashes. an, squalid scoria OF old eruptions
grow the peaceful olive. the cheering vine,
and the sustaining corn" Such. in my
opinion will prove to be the fate of the
present sectional excitement, should those
who wisely seek to apply the remedy,
continue always to confine their efforts
within the pale of the Constitution. If
this course be pursued, the existing agita
ton on the subject of domestic slavery,
like everything human, viii have its day
and give place to other and less threaten
ing controversies Public opinion in this
country is all powerful. and when it reaches
a dangerous excess upon any question, the
good sense of people will furnish the cor
rective and bring it back within safe limits.
Still, to hasten to auspicious result, at the
present crisis, we ought to remember that
every rational creature must be presumed
to intend the natural consequences of his
own teachings. Those who announce alb
stract doctrine subversive of the Consti-
tuition and the Union must not be surpris-
Ell should their heated partizans advance
one step further, and attempt by violence
to carry these doctrines into practical ef-
feet. In this view of the subject it ought
never to be forgotten that, however great
may have been the political advantages
resulting from the Union to every portion
of our common country, these will all
prove to be as nothing should the time
ever arrive when they cannot be enjoyed
without serious danger to the personal
safety of fifteen members of the confolera-
cy. If the peace of the domestic fireside
throughout these States shonld ever be in
vaded-if the mothers Of the families with
in this extensive region shodll not be able
to retire to rest at night without suffering
dreadful apprehensions of what may be
their own fate and that of their children
before morning-it would be vain to re-
count to such a people the political benefits
which result to them from the Union
Self-preservation is the first instinct Of
nature: and therefore any state of society
in which the sword is all the time suspen-
ded over the heads of the people, must at
last become intolerable. But l indulge
in no such gloomy forebodings. On the
contrary, / firmly believe that the events
at Harper's Ferry, by causing the people
to pause and reflect upon the possible per-
il to their cherished Institutions. will be
the means, under Providence, of allaying
the existing excitement and preventing fur
ther outbreak of similar character
They will resolve that the Constitution
AMI the Union shall not be endangered by
rash counsels, knowing that should ''the
silver cord be loosed or the golden bowl
be broken = at the fountain,'' human
power could never reunitc the scattered and
hostile fragments. rs resa ra..


Is SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES sa


j cordially congratulate you upon the
final settlement by the Supreme Court of
the United States of the question of slave
ry in the Territories. which had presented
an aspect so truly formidable at the COM
mencement of my administration. The
right has been established of every citizen
4 L. \