Year: 1867

they arc taught to recognise as an enemy


every white man who has any respect fol


tho rights of his own rcce.


x this continues 1t must become worse


and worse, until oil order will DO subyerted,


all industry cease, and the fertile fields OF


the South grow up into wilderness. Oh


all the dangers which our nation has yet en-.


countered, none are equal to those which


must result from the success Of the effort


now making to Africanize the half Of oul


country.


l would not put considerations of none,


in competition with justice and right, bu


tho expences incident to reconstruction undel


the system adopted by Congress aggravatt


what regard as intrinsic wrong ofthe meas


ure itsolf It has cost uncounted million,


already, and if persisted in will add largely


to the weight Of taxation already too oppres


sive to be borne without just complaint, ant


may finally reduce the treasury Of the natior


to condition Of bankruptcy.


We must not delude ourselves. II vii!


require strong standing army, and probabl,


more than two lund ed m lilo OF d. lar.


per annum to maintain the supremacy Of


negro governments after they are established.


The sum thus thrown away would If proper.


ly used, form sinking fund large enough


to pay the whole national debt in less than
fifteen years. 1t is vain to hope tina. negroes


will maintain their ascendency themselves.


Without military power they are wholly in
capable of holding in subjugation the white
people of the South. submit to the judg.
ment Of Congress whether the public credit
may not be iniuriously affected by system
Of measures like this With our debt, aud
the vast private incrosts which are compli-
Gated with it, we cannot be too cautious OF
a policy wich might by possibility impair
the confidence Of the world in our govern
ment That confidence can only BE- retain
cd by carefully inculcating the principles Of
justice and honor on the popular mind, and
by the most scrupulous fidelity to al! cur en-
gagements of every sort. ANY serious
breach Of the organic law, persisted in for u
considerable time, cannot but create fears
for the stability Of our institutions. Habit
nal violation of prescribed rules, which we
bind ourselves to observe, must demoralize
the people. Our only standard Of civil duty
being set at nausht, the sheet anchor Of our
political morality is lost, the public con-
science swings from its moorings and yields
to every impulse Of passion and interest. -
II we repIdiatc the Constitution we will not
be expected TO care much for mere pecuniary
obligations.


The violation of such pledge as We made
on the 22d day Of July, 1861, will assuredly
diminish the market value Of our promises
besides, if we now acknowledge that the
national debt was created not to hold the
State in the Union, as the taxpayers were
led TO suppose, but to expell them from it
and hand them over to be governed by ne
groes, the moral duty to pay it may seem
much less clear. | say it may seem so, for
I 10 not admit that this or any other argu-
ment in favor of reputation can be- enter.
tanned as sound; but its influence on some
classes of minds may we'll be apprehended,
The financial honor Of great commercial
nation, largely indebted, and with republi-
can form Of government administered by
agents Of the popular choice, is thing OF
such delicate texture, and the destruction Of
it would be followed by such unSpeakable
calamity, that every true patriot must desire
to avoid whatever might expose it to the
slightest danger.


The great interests of the country require
releaf from these enactments.-
Business in the South is paralyzed by sense
Of general insecurity, terror OF cOntiscation
and the dread of negro supremacy.


The Southern trade from which the North
have derived so great a profit under gov
crnment of law, still languishes, and can
never be revived until it ceases to be fetter-
cd by the arbitrary power which makes all
its operations unsafe. That rich country,
the richest in national resources the world
ever saw, is worse than lost, if it be not
soon placed under the protection of free
constitution. Instead of its being as it
ought to be. sourcn of wealth and power,
it will become an into, o,arable burden upon the
rest Jt the nation.


Another reason for rctracing our steps
will doubtless be seen by Congress in the
late manifestations: ::of public opinion upon
this subject. We live in country where
popular will always forces obedience to itself,
sooner or later. 1t is vain to think of OPP
posing t with anything short Of legal author
Ity, backed by overwhelming force. Itcan-
not have escaped your attention that, from
the day on which Congress fairly and form
ally presented the proposition to govern, the
Southern States by military force, with a
view to the ultimate establishment OF negro
supremacy, every expression Of the general
sentiment has been more or less adverse to
t. The affections of this generation cannot
DC detached from the institutions Of their
ancestors. Their determination to preserve
he inheritance Of free government in their
,wn hands, and transmit it undivided and
to their own posterity, is too
,trong to be successfully opposed. Every
weaker passion will disappear before that
owe of liberty and law for which the Amer
can people are distinguished above all 9TH
,rs in the world.


How far the duty of the President ito
, gs,rve, protect and defend the Constitu-
ion, requires him to go on in opposing an
act Of Congress, is a very
erious and important question, on which ]
,aye drl;berated much and felt extremely
nyious to reach o proper conclusion.-
Where an act has been passed according to
he forms Of the Constitution, by the su.
irene legislative authority, and is regular
y enrolled among thcpublic statutes Of the
ountry, Executive resistance to it, especially
n time of high party excitement, would be
ikely to produ .e Violent collision between the
espectiye adnercnts Of the two branches Of
he government. This would he simply civil
var, and civil war must be resorted to only
y the last remedy for the worst of evils
Whatever might tend to provoke It should
e most carefully avoided. A faithful and
onscentiOus magistrate will concede very
much to honest error and something even 20
before he will enlanger the