Year: 1860

InEO1OGAv - M Ed 0AOG
Fello,c citizens of the Senate and House of


Representatives.


Our deep and heart felt gratitude is due to
that Almighty Power which has bestowed
upon US such varied and numerous blessings
throughout the past year. The general
health of the country has been excellent; our
harvests have been unusually plentiful, and
prosperity smiles throughout the land. In
deed, Notwithstanding our demerts, we have
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 occasion the impending cloud has
been dissipated at the moment it appeared
ready to burst upon our head, and the danger
to our institutions has passed away. May
we ever be under the divine guidance and
protection.


HARPER's FERRY OUTBREAK.


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 occurrence at Harper's Ferry. Still,
it is proper to observe that these events,
however bad and cruel in themselves, derive
their chief Importance from the apprehen-
sion that they are but symptoms of an in
durable disease in the public mind, which
may break out in still more dangerous OUT
RACES and terminate at last in an open war
by the North to abolish slavery in the
South. Whilst, for myself, / 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 inestimable value as to demand our
constant and watchful vigilance for its pre-
servation. In this view, let me implore my
countrymen, North and South, to cultivate
the ancient feelings of mutual forbearance
and good will towards each other, and
strive to allay the demon spirit of sectional
hatred and strife now alive in the land. This
advice proceeds from the heart of an old
public iunctionary whose service 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 ought to reflect that in this age, and
especially in this country, there is an inces.
SAINT fux and refuX of public opinion.
Questions which in their day assumed most
threatening aspects, have now nearly gone
from the memory of men. They are 8" vol
canos burnt out, and on the lava and ashes
and 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 con-
fine their efforts within the pale of the con-
stitution. If this course be pursued, the
existing agitation on the subject of domes-
tic slavery, like everything human, will
have its day and give place to other and less
threatening controversies. Public opinion
in this country is all powerful, and when it
reaches a dangerous excess upon any ques-
tion, the good sense of the people will fur
nish the corrective and bring it back within
safe limits. Still, to hasten this auspicious
result, at the present crisis, we ought to
remember that every rational creature must
be presumed to intend the natural conse-
quences of his own teachings. Those who
announce abstract doctrines subversive of
the constitution and the Union, must not
be surprised should their heated partizans
advance one step further, and attempt by
violence to carry these doctrines into prac.
tical effect. In this view OF the subject, it
ought never to be forgotten that, however
great may have been the political advanta.
ges resulting from the Union to every por-
tion of our common country, these would
all prove to be as nothing, should the time
ever arrive when they cannot be enjoyed
without serious danger to the personal safety
of the people of fifteen members of the con-
federacy. If the peace of the domestic
fireside throughout these States should ever
be invaded-if the mothers of families with
in this extensive region should 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;
the morning, it would be vain to recount to
such people the political benefits which
result to them from the Union. Selfpres-
ervation is the first instinct of nature and
therefore any state of society in which the
sword is all the time suspended over the
uCouo VI IuO POoPlC, uuSC oU loo1 UCCOuC III.
tolerable. But indulge in no such gloomy
forebodings. On the contrary, 1 firmly
believe that the events at Harpers Ferry,
by causing the people to pause and reflect
upon the possible peril to their cherished
institutions, will be the means, under Prov
idenee, of allayiDg the existing excitement,
and preventing future outbreaks of similar
character. They will resolve that the Con.
stitution and the Union shall not be endan-
gered by rash couDsels, knowing that should
"the silver ccrd be loosed or the golden
bowl be broken at the fountain" human
power could never reunite the scattered and
hostile fragments.


SLAVERY IN THE TERRITORIES,


I cordially congratulate you upon the
final settlement by the Supreme Court of
the United States of the question of slavery
in the Territories, which had presented an
aspect so truly formidable at the commence.
ment Of my administration. The right has
been established of every citizen to take his
property of any kind, including slaves, into
the common Territories belonging equally to
all the States of the Confederacy, and to
hovo II vrotooto1 fboro up1or Tho Eodpra1