Year: 1867

selves. Without military power they are wholly


incapable of holding in subsection the white peo-


Pc of the South


1 submit to the judgment of Congress whether


the public credit may not be injurously affected


by rsystem of measures like this With our debt,
and the vast private interests which are conpli-


Gated with it we cannot be too cautious of a pol


Icy which might by possibility. impair the conf


dence of the worid in our Gevernment. That con
hdence can only be retained by carefully incul-
eating the principle of Justice and honor the
popular mind, and by the most unscrupuious f.
deiity to all our engagements of every sort Any
serious breach of the organic law persisted in for
considerable time, cannot but create fears for
the stability of our institutions. Habitual viola.
tion of prescribed rules, which we bind ourselves
to observe. must pemoralize the people Our on


ly standard of civil duty being set at naught the
sheet-anchor of our political morality is lost the
public conscience swings from its moorings, and
yields to every impulse of passion and interest.
If we repudiate the Constitution, will not be
expected to much for mere pecuniary obli-
cations. The violation of such pledge


made on the 22d day of July. 1861, will assuredly
diminish the market value of our other promises.
Besides, if we now acknowledge that the national
dept was created not TO hold the States of the u
Mon, as the tax payers were led to suppose, but
to expei them from it and hand them over to be
governed by negroes, the moral duty to pay it
may TEN much less clear. L say it may SEEN so;
for do not admit that this any other argu
ment III favor of reputation can be entertained
as sound but its influences on some classes of
minds may well be apprehended The financial
/
debted and with republican form of govern
ment dministered by the agents of the popular
choice, is a thing Of such delicate texture, and
the destruction of it would be followed by such


unspeakable calamity. that every true patriot
must desire to evoid whatever might expose 1T to
the slightest danger.


The great interests of the country require i'm


mediate relief from these euactnents Business
in the South is paralyzed by sense of general


insecurity, by the terror of confiscation- and the
dread of negro supremacy The Southern trade,
from which the North would have derived so great


profit under government of law still languishes,


and can never be revived until itceases to be fet-
tered by the arbitrary power which makes all its
operations unsafe That rich country--the richest
IN natural resources the world ever saws worse
than lost if it be not soon placed under the pro-
lection of free Constitution. Instead of being,


as it ought to be- source of wealth and power 1t


will become intoerable burden upon the rest
of the nation.


Another reason for retracing steps will
doubtless be seen by Congress in the late manfes


tations of public opinion upon this subject, We
live in country where the popular will always
enforces obedience to itself. or later 1t is
vain to think of opposing it with anything short


oflegaI authority, back ed by overwhelming g force
1t cannot have escaped your attention that from
the day which Congress fairly and formally
presented the proposition to govern the southern
Stvtes by military force. with a view to ultimate


establishment of negro supremacy, every express
sion of the general sentiment has been more or


less adverse to it. The affections of this genera
ton cannot be detached from the institutions of
their ancestors. Ihelr determination TO preserve


the inheritance of free government in their own


hands. and transmit it undivided and unimpaired
to their posterity is too strong to be success


fully opposed Every weaker passion will disap-
pear before that love of liberty and law for which
the American people are distinguished above all


others in the world.


How far the duty of the President. s'to preserve,
protect and defend the Constitution requires
him to go in opposing an unconstitutional act of
Congress- is a very serious and important ques


ton. which L have deliberated much, and felt
extremely anxious TO reach a proper conclusion


Where an act has been passed according to the
forms of the Constitution by the supreme leglsla-
tive authority, and is regularly enrolled among
the public statutes Of the country, Executive re-


sistance to it, especa lily in times of high party ex
citement, would be likely TO produce violent col
lison between the respective adherents of the two


branches of the government. This would be SIM
ply civil war, and civil war must be Tesorted to
only the last remedy for the worst of evils.
Whatever mi ght tend to provoke it should be most
carefully avoided. A faithful and conscientious
Magistrate will concede very m uch to honest error
and something even to perverse malice, before he


will endanger the public peace; and he will not
adopt forcibe measures, or such as might lead to
force, as long as those which are peaceable remain
open to him to his constituents 1t is true that
cases may occur in which the Executive would be
compelled to stand its rights, and maintain
them, regardless of all consequences If Con-
gress should pass act which is not only in pal
pable conflict with the Constitution, but viii GER
tainly, if carried out. produce Immediate ana lr-
reparable injury to the organic structure OF the
Government. and il there be neither Jualcla rem
edy for the wrongs it inicts, power IN the peo


pie to protect themselves without the aid OF their
elected defender. if. for instance, the Legislative
Department should pass an act even through all
the forms of law to abolish coordinate Depart
ment of the Government in such case the pres-
ident must take the high responsibilities OF his
office and say the life of the nation at all haz
ards. The so-called reconstruction acts though
as plainly unconstitutional as any that can be i'm
agined, were not believed to be within the class
last mentioned. The people were not who ~ dis
armed of the power OF self defense In all the
Northern States they still held in theirhand the
sacred right of the ballot and ii was safe to be-
lieve that due time theywould to the rescue
of their own institutions 1t gives me pleasure to
add that the appeal to our common constituents
was not taken in vain, and that my confidence in
their wisdom and virtue seems hot to have been
misplaced.


1t is well and publicly known that enor-


nous frauds have been perpetrated on the
Treasury, and that colossal fortunes nave
been made at the public expense. This spe-
cleS of corruption has increased, Is lncreas-
ing, and if not diminished will soon bring US
into total ruin and disgrace. The public cred


itors and the taxpayers are alike interested
in an honest administration of the finances,
and neither class will long endure the large


handed robberies of the recent past. For
this discreditable state Of things there are
several causes. Some of the taxes are so


laid as to present an irresistible temptation


to evade payment. The great sums which
officers may win by connivance at fraud Gre
ate pressure which is more than the vir-
tue of many can withstand and there can be


no doubt that the open disregard of consti-
tutional obligations avowed by some of the


highest and influential men in the country
has greatly weakened the moral sense of


those who serve in subordinate places. The


expences of the United States, including IN


terest on the public debt, are more than