Year: 1861




. viding room for population. On this Who'll
!, proposition including the appropriation Of NOR
0 ey with the acquisition of territory, does no


the expediency amount to absolute necessity
that without which the government cannot b
" perpetual


/. In considering the policy to be adopted 70
.euppressing the insurrection, l have been anx
, ious and careful that the inevitable conflict fo
this purpose shall not degenerate into q violent
J and remorseless revolutionary struggle have
therefore thought proper TO keep the integrity
OF the Union prominent as the object of The
contest on our part, leaving all questions which
are not of vital military Importance to the more
deliberate acton Of the Legislature. In the cx
ercise Of my best discretion have adhered to a
blockade of the ports held by the insurgents,
instead Of putting in force, by proclamation, the
law OF Congress enscted at the late session for
closing the ports, also obeying the dictates Of
prudence as well as the obligations Of law, in.
stead of transcendng.


Ihave adhered 10 the act of Congress to con-
] hscate property used for insurrectonary purpo.
ses. III new law upon the same subject shall
be proposed, its propriety will be duly consid-
cred The Union must be preserved, and hence
all defeusble means must be employed We
should not be in haste to determine wha. Tadi.
cal and external measures, which may reach the
| scsoi 90 Nei dS UicIO1dI, are indispensable.
4 The inaugural address at the beginning of the
Administration, and the Message to Congress at
the late special session. were both devoted to
the domestic controversy out of which the insur-
recti0n and consequent war, have sprung. Moth
ing now occurs to add or subtract from the prin
ciples or general purposes stated and expressed
in those documents The last ray of hope for
! preserving the Union peaceably, expired ct the
assault upon Fort Sumter, and general review
OF what has occurred since hay be Improbable
What was painfully uncertain then, is much
better defined and more distinct now, and the
progress of events is plainly in the right direc.
ton.


The insurgents confidently claimed strong
support from north of Mason and Dixon's line,
and the friends OF the Union were net free from
| apprehension on this point. This, however, was
soon settled, definitely, and ON the right side,
south OF the line noble little Delaware led off
right from the first. Maryland was made to
seem against the Union. Our soldiers were as
saulted, bridges were burned, and railroads torn
! up within her limits and we were many DAYS at
one time without the ability to bring a single
| regiment over her soil to the Capital Now her
bridges and railroads are repaired and opened
to the Government. She already gives seven
regiments to the cause of the Union and none
| to the enemy, and her people at q regular cleo
tion have sustained the Union by large major
ity and larger aggregate vote than they ever
before gave to any candidate or any question:
| Kentucky, too, for some time in doubt, is now
decidedly and unchangedIy ranged on the side
of the Union. Missouri is comparatively quiet
1 and, believe, cannot again be overrun By the
Insurgents These three States of Maryland,
Kentucky and Missouri, neither of which would
promise single soldier at first have now an
aggregate of not less than 10000 in the field
for the Union, while tf their citizens not more
than third in number are among the insurgents
| and they OF doubtful whereabouts and existence


After somewhat bloody struggle of months,
winter closes on the Union people Of Western
Virginia leaving them masters Of their own
country. An insurgent force Of about 800, for
months dominating the narrow peninsula region
constituting the c0unte of Accomac and North.
ampton, and known as the Eastern Shore of
| Virginia. together with some contiguous parts
Of Maryland, have laid down their arms and the
people there have renewed their allegiance to
and accepted the protection of the flag. This
leaves no armed insurrection north of the Poto-
| mac or east of the Chesapeake. Also, we have
| obtained footing at each of tie isolated points
on the Southern coast of Hatteras, Port Royal,
Tybee Island. near Savannah, and Ship Island
and we likewise have some general accounts of
| popular movements in behalf of the Union in
North Carolina and Tennessee. These things
| NORTHUMBERLAND lHAt Tue CAUSE OI the Union Is Au.
| vancing steadily Southwark.


| Since your last adjournment, Lieut. General
| Scott has retired from the head of the army.-
During his long life the nation has not been un
| mindful of HE merit, yet on calling to mind
how faithfully, ably and brilliantly he has served
the county, from time far back in our history,
when few of the now living had been born and
thenceforward continually, cannot but think
that we are still his debtor. l submit, there
fore. for your consideration, what further work
of recognition is due to him and ourselves as a
| grateful people. With the retirement of Gen.
Scctt, came the executive duty of appointing in
his stead General-n- Chief of the army tits
fortunate circumstance that neither in council
or country wasA there, 60 far as I know, any
difference OF opinion as to the proper person to
be selected. The retiring chief repeatedly ex-
pressed his judgment in favor of General Nc.
Clellan for the position, and in this the nation
seemed to give an unanimous concurrence. The
designation of Gen. Mcclellan is therefore, in
a considerable degree, the selection of the coun-
try, as well as of the Executive, and hence there
is reason to hope there will be given him the
confidence and cordial support by fair impreca-
ton, promised, and without which he cannot,
with SO full efficiency, serve the country. 1t
has been said that one bad General is better than
two good ones, and the saying is true, if taken
| to mean no more than that an army is better di
rected by a single mind than by two inferior
| ones, at variance and cross purposes. And the
same is true in all joint operations wherein
| those engaged can have none but common
end in view and can differ only as to the
choice of means In storm at sea, no one on
board can wish the ship to sink, and vet, not un-
frequently, all 60 down together, because too
many will direct and no single mind can be al
lowed to control


1t continues to be developed that the insur-
rection flargely is not exclusively war upon
tho first principles Of popular government, the
rights OF the people. Conclusive evidence of
this is found in the most grave and maturely
considered public documents, as we'll as in the
general tone of the insurgents. In these docu.
/ ments we find the abridgment Of the existing
right of suffrage and the denial to the people Of
all participation in the selection Of public officers.
except the Legislative body advocated with la.
bored arguments to prove that large control of
the government, by the people, is the source of
all political evil. Monarchy itself as sometimes
hinted at as possible refuge from the power OF
the people. In my present position I could
scarcely be justified were to omit raising a
warning voice against this approach of return.
ing despotsm. 1t is not needed nor fitting here
that general argument should be made in favor
Of popular institutions, but there is one point
with its connections not SO hackneyed as most
othcrs, TO wnich ASK brief attention. 1t is
the effort to place capital on an equal footing
with, if not above, labor, in the structure Of
government. 1t is assumed that labor is avail.
able only in connection with capital That no.
body labors, unless somebody else owning capi.
tal somehow, BY the use of it, induces him to
labor. This assumed, it is next considered
whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers
and thus induce then to work by their own con-
sent, or buy them, and drive them to it, without
their consent. Having proceeded go far, it is
naturally concluded that all laborers are either
hired laborers or what we call slaves and fur
ther, it Is assumed that whoever is once hired
laborer is fixed in that condition for life.


Now there is no such relation between capi.
tai and labor as assumed, nor 10 there any such
thing as freeman being fixed for life in the
condition of hired laborer. Both of these as.
sumptions are false, and all inferences from
them are grouadle.s. Labor is prior to an in.
dependent OF capital. Capital is only the frui,
Of labor aud never could have existed II labor
had nat first existed. Labor is the superior Of
capital and deserves the higher consideration.
Capital has its righs which are as worthy OF