Year: 1859

President Buchanan's Message to Congress


is State paper of great interest beyond the


boundaries of the American Union. The Uni
ted States are rapidly growing in population,
wealth, power, and importance. Although
traditional policy keeps them aloof from active
interference in the politics or diplomacy of Eu-
rope, they exercise considerable indirect infiu-
ence. The time is approaching, andis probably
not far distant, when they will find it necessary
to modify or relinquish the rule of strict neu


trality upon which they have hitherto acted.
great nation cannot remain long isolated, or
direct all its energies to purely selfish ends
A rolicy which suited young country with
large territories and small population, and
without fleets and armies, cannot be continued
by spirited and powerful people, confident in
their numbers and rich in resources. Human
ity will have its claims upon them, they will be
interested in the independence of nations, the
spread of liberty, and the progress of mankind.
In the next generation the United States will
contain little short of hundred millions of
inhabitants, and they will be in close contact
with the East and the West. Like ourselves,
they will cover the seas of the world with
their flag, and no region of the earth will be
strange to them Their development and the
tendency of their political ideas viii be anxious
ly watched even IN Europe, and by none with
more interest than by ourselves. We rcmcm-
Der with pride that they and we boast the same
lineage, speak the same language, enjoy the
same liberty, and live under the same laws
We are close ncighbors of the United States
on the american continent and are bound
to them by the links of vast and mutually
beneficial commerce. Without regard to the
great part which they will be called to perform
in the future history of the world, we have
present and continuous interest in them, for we
participate in their prosperity, as they do in
ours, and if they are struck by any adversely
or calamity we also feel the blow. For these
reasons, the Presidents message is read in
England nearly as eagerly as in America.


Our readers need not be reminded of the diff
ference between Presidents message and
Queens speech. The latter is ordinarily and
purposely framed in vague and general terms,
so as to afford the smallest possible amount OF
information and to evade the commlttal OF the
sovereign or the ministry to any definite pledges.
The task of simplifcation, explanation and deti-
milton is reserved for Ministers In their places
in Parliament The President of the United
States is, in some degree, in the position OF
Prime Minister, for while he wields the execu-
tive, the sovereign power is vested in the Con-
gress. At the same time he takes no part in
the debates, and he is bound to communicate
his opinions and to justify his acts in writing
His annual message, therefore, is history of
the Administration during the preceding year,
a review of the condition of domestic affairs,
an exposition of foreign relations, and decla-
ration of the policy of his Government, at
home and abroad A document embracing
such variety of topics must be long, but that
is its only drawback, for it is usually as frank
and outspoken as it is comprehensive. Forthe
benefit of those who have not the leisure or
the inclination ito digest several columns OF
small type, we propose to present IN summary
the chief points of the message which reached
this country in the present week.


President Buchanan is in position to con-
gratulate his fellow-citizens on the material
progress of his country. The commercial and
monetary crisis which swept this country
and invaded Europe in the last months OF 1857,
had its rise in the United States There it was
the consequence of "an unsound and extrava-
CANT system of bank credits and inflated cur
rency" Here causes nearly similar led to like
results. The abuse of credit for wild and reck-
less speculation produced universal distress
among the commercial, manufacturing, and
working classes The crash appears to have
been more severely felt in the United States
than in England, for we are told that, "with
all the elements of national wealth in abun-
dance their manufactures were suspended, use
full public and private enterprises were arrest
ed, AID thousands of laborers were deprived of
employment and reduced to want" But the
reaction has set in, and we find trade revivlng,
capital accommodating at the great centres, and
the interest of money reduced from an extrav-
arantly high to a very low rate. The imam
cial condition of wealthy country, whose
whole public debt does not exceed the annual