Year: 1861




petuafed7 In considering the policy to be
adopted for suppressing the insurrection /
have been anxious and careful that the
inevitable conflict for this purpose shall
not degenerate into violent and remorseless
revolutionary struggle. have, therefore, in every
case thought il proper to keep the integrity Of the
Union prominent as the primary object of the
contest on our part, leaving all questions which
are not of vital military importance TO the more
deliberate action of the legislature. In the ex-
ercise of my best discretion, have adhered to
the blockade of the ports held by the iisnr-
gents instead of putting in force by procla-
nation the law of Congress, enacted at the
late session, for closing those ports; also obey
ing the dictates of prudence as well as the
obligations of law, instead of transcending


have adhered to the act of Congress to con
fscate property used for insurrectionary purpo-
ses. If new law upon the same subject shall
be proposed, its propriety will be duly considered.
| The Union must be preserved, and hence all dis
pensable means must be employed. We should
not be in haste to determine what radical
and extreme measures which may reach
the loyal well the disloyal are indispensable.
The inaugural address, at the beginning of the
Administration and the message to Congress at
the late special session were both mainly devoted
to the domestic controversy out of which the in
surrection and consequent war have sprung.
Nothing now occurs to add subtract TO or
/ from the principles or general purposes stated
and expressed in those documents.


The last ray of hope for preserving the Union
peaceably expired at the assault upon Fort
Sumter, and general review of what has oc-
CURED since may not be Improbable What
was painfully uncertain then is much bet
ter defined and more distinct now, and the
progress of events is plainly in the right di-
recton. The insurgents confidently claimed
strong support from the North of Ma
son and Dixon's line, and the friends of the
Union were not free from apprehension on this
point This, however, 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 assaulted bridges
were burned and railroads torn up within her
limits, and we were many days at one time with
out the ability to bring a single regiment over her
soil to the capitol. Now her bridges and rail-
roads 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 a regular election, have sustained the
Union by large majority, and larger aggre-
gate vote than ever before gave to any candidate
or any question.


Kentucky, too, for some time in doubt, is now
decidedly and, think unchangeably, ranged on
the side of the Union. Missouri is comparatively
quiet. and think can not 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 forty thousand in the field for the Union,
while of their citizens not less than third in
number are among the insurgents, and they OF
doubtful whereabouts and existence


After a 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 l 500 for
months dominating the narrow pen
insular region constituting the counties of
Accomac and Northampton 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 pro-
lection of the old flag. This leaves no armed
insurrection north of the Potomac or east of the
Chesapeake


Also. we have obtained a footing at each of
the isolated points of the southern coast of Fort
Hatteras, Port Royal, Tybee Island, near Sa-
vannah, and Ship Island, aud we likewise have
some general accounts of popular movements in
behalf of the Union in North Carolina and Ten
nessee. These things demonstrate that the cause
of Union is advancing steadily Southwark


Since your last adjournment Lieut.. Gen. Scott
has retired from the head of the army. During
his long life the nation has not been unmindful





fully, ably and brilliantly he has served the coun
try from time far back in our history, when
few Of the now living had been born, and thence
| forward continually, cannot but think that we
are still his debtor. j submit, therefore for your
! consideration what farther mark of recognition
is due to him and ourselves as grateful people


With the retirement of General Scott came the
executive duty of appointing in bis stead, a Gen.
eril i'll chief of the army 1t is fortunate
circumstance that neither in council nor country
was there, so far as | know, any difference of
opinion the proper person to be selected. The re-
tiring Chief repeatedly expressed his Judgment
in favor of General Mcclellan for the position,
and in this the nation seemed to give an unani-
nous concurrence. The designation of General
Mcclellan is therefore in considerable degree
the selection OF the country well as of the ex-
ecutive, and hence there is better reason to hope
there will be given him the confidence and cordi-
al support, thus by fair implication 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 army is better directed by
a single mind, though inferior, than by two
superior ones at variance and cross purposes, and
the same is true in all joint operations wherever
those engaged can have none but common end
in view, and can differ only as to the choice of
means. In storm at no one on board can
wish the ship to sink, and vet not unfrequenty all
go down together, because too many will direct
and no single mind can be allowed to control.


1t continues to develop that the insurrection
is largely, If not exclusively, upon the first
principles of popular Gvoernment-the rights of
: the people. Conclusive evidence of this is found
in the most grave and maturey considered pub
lie documents, well in the general tone
of the insurgents In these documents We
find the abridgment of the existing right
of suffrage and the denial to the people of all
right to participate in the selection of public
officers, except the legislative body, advocated
with labored arguments that large control of
the Government in the people is the source of all
political evil monarchy itself is sometimes limited
at as a possible refuge from the power of the
people. In my present position / could scarce
ly be justified were | to omit raising a warning
voice against this approach of returning despotism.
1t is not needed nor fitting here that general ar
gument shond be made in favor of popular in
stitutions but there is one point with its connec-
tions not so hackneyed as most Others, to which
! ask brief attention. 1t is the effort to place
capital on equal footing with, it not above labor
in the structure of the government. 1t Is assumed
that labor is available only in connection with
capital. that nobody labors unless somebody else
owning capital somehow by the use of il induces
him to labor This assumed, it is next considered
whether il is best that capital shall hire laborers
and induce them to work by their own con-
sent or buy them and drive them to it without
their consent Having proceeded far it is
naturally concluded that all laborers are either
hired laborers or what we call slaves, and further
it is assumed that whoever is a hired
laborer is fxed in the condition for life. Now
there is no such relation between capital and Ia
Dor as assumed. nor is there any such thing as
a freeman being fixed for lie in the condition
OF hired laborer. Both of these assumptions
are false and all inferences from them are
groundless. Labor is prior to and independent of
capital. Capital is only the fruit OF labor, and