Year: 1861

SOUTH CAROLINA SECESSION.


WASHINGTON, January 8.
To tie Senate and House Of Representatives


AT the opening OF your present session |
called your attention to the dangers which
threatened the existence of the Union. l
expressed my opinion freely concerning the
original causes of these dangers, and recon-
mended such measures as believed would
have the effect OF tranquiliziug the country
and saving it from the peril in which it had
been needlessly and most unfortunately
involved. Those opinions and recommen-
dations l do not propose now to repeat.
My own convictions upon the whole subject
remain unchanged. The fact that great
calamity was impending over the nation,
was even at that time acknowledged by
every intelligent citizen. 1t had already
made itself felt throughout the length and
breadth of the land.


The necessary consequences of the alarm
thus produced were most deplorable. The
imports fell off with rapidity never known
before except in time Of war, in the history
of our foreign commerce. The treasury
was Unexpectedly left witout the means
which it had reasonably counted upon to
meet its public engagements, trade was
paralyzed, manufactures were stopped, the
best public securities suddenly sunk in the
market, every species of property deprecated
more or less, and thousands of poor men,
who depended on their daily labor for their
daily bread, were turned out of employment
l deeply regret that am not able to give
you any information upon the state Of the
Union which is more satisfactory than what
was then obliged to communicate. On
the contrary, matters are still worse at the
present time than they were. When
Congress met strong hope pervaded the
whole public mind that some amieable
adjustment of the subject would be speedily
made by the Representatives of the states
and OF the people, which might restore
peace between the conflicting sections of
the country.


That hope has been diminished by every
hour of delay, and as the prospect of
bloodless settlement fades away, the public
distress becomes more and more aggravated.
As an evidence of this, it is only necessary
to say that the treasury notes authorized by
the act of the 18th of December last, were
advertised according to law, and that no
responsible bidder offered to take any
considerable sum at par, at a lower rate of
interest than twelve per cent. From those
facts it appears that in a government
organized like ours, domestic strife, or even
well grounded fear of civil hostilities, is
more dettructive to our public and private
interests than the most formidable foreign
war.


In my annual message expressed the
conviction which have long deliberately
held, and which recent reflection has only
tended to deepen and confirm, that no state
has the right, by its own act, to secede from
the Union or throw of its federal obligations
at pleasure. also declared my opinion to be,
that even if that right existed, and should
be exercised by any stateo the Confederacy,
the Executive Department of this govern
ment had no authority under the COnstitu.
tion to recognize its validity by acknowl.
edging the independence of such state. This
left me no alternative, as the chief executive
officer, under the Constitution of the United
States, but to collect the public revenue and
protect the public property, as far as this
might be practicable under the existing
laws. This is still my purpose. nv
province is to execute, not to make, the laws.
1t belongs to Congress exclusively to repeal,
modify, or enlarge their provisions to meet
exigencies as they occur. I possess no
dispensing power. I certainly had no right
to make an aggressive war upon any state.
and l am perfectly satisfied that the
Constitution has wisely withheld that power
even from Congress.


But the right and the duty to use the
military force defensively against those who
resist the federal officers in the execution of
their legal functions, and against those who
assail the property of the federal government.
is clear and undeniable. But the dangerous
hostile attitude of states towards each other
has already far transcended and cast into the
shade the ordinary executive duties already
provided for by law, and has assumed sucb
vast and alarming proportions as to place
the subject entirely above and beyond the
executive control. The fact cannot he
disguised that we are in the midst of a great
revolution. In all its various bearincs
therefore, / commend the question to Con-
gress, as the only human tribunal under
Providence possessing the power to meet
the existing emergency. To them EXCLUSIVELY
belongs the power to declare war or
authorize the employment of the militarv
force in all cases contemplated BY the
Constitution, and they alone possess the
power to remove the grievances which
might lead to war, and to secure peace and
union to his distracted country. On them
and on them alone, rests the responsibility.
The Union is . sacred trust left BY our