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OLD SERIES, VOL. LXXVI.
uhvouiclc & icutuut.
IfKMtY MOOUi:,
a. j:. wriKiHT.
I* \TRI< K WVI.sH, Asscriate Editor.
i -.ItAI t)i’ >1 BHCJtII’TION.
;>AT - T - *.»
, , !SJ
' ."".'".W’"" l to
. ■ 300
At «.I r-V. <• A :
W Kli’i i.;»UA V KOKMMi. UKCKMBI.H 11.
Hit; Peabody Fund.
D Dr. Scars, agent of the P :al ly
J.'nri.!, has written to l)r. Tucker, of Mercer
(’nisei tiiy, that lie expect., to attend the
Hi - tin:' of the Georgia Teachers’ Associa
tion, to r. held in Macon on the 18th iuat.
Financial ’ Matters in Congress.
The propositions that have Itcen introdu
■ 1 in the House of Representative* so far
during this adjourned terra of the Fortieth
( .tigress, relative to the currency and
national debt, arc numerous. What action
may be taken it is impossible to forecast.
Thu great body of Congressmen evidently
approach this subject v. ith dislike and dis
trust and were it not for the anxiety and
r< s'lcssnoßs which is being manifested by
the people at large-for a legislative a«-
nouiiceincnt oi s rate settled and deter
mined financial policy, removing the doubt
:md uncertainty which clogs the general
bu/.ness of the country, it is more than
pro : able that fiovi riiniciit finances would
bo allowed to drift under the direction oi
the officials oi' the Treasury Department.
So far it is only disclosed that there is in
existence in the House— a gold party—a
greenback party—an expansion party—a
contraction party—a national bank party,
anti an anti national bank party. The
various shades of opinion which these
Ht'cs indicate renders action at an early
day improbable, and makes the ultimate
n..-;u ; t dependent in a great degree upon
t.lm : i-.ill of the Committee of Ways and
Means in presenting a general plan which
will con-train definite action, bypresentim:
a general issue which will he available for
popular apprehension. In that event it is
probable that the question will turn upon
this single point, whether there should be
tin expansion with a reduction in taxation,
or a contraction of the currency and a re
turn to specie payments.
Manifestly the measures thus far intro
duced indicate the drift of opinion as
modified hy recent intercourse among the
people. The very prompt manner in which
they have been introduced so early alter)
the reassembling of Congress furnishes |
a true exponent of the impatience with
which Congressional action is awaited, and j
th : pre eminent importance which these |
subjects are beginning to assume in the |
eyes of the Northern public. It v.ill not
be until after Mr. McCulloch’s annual
report, which, in a few days, will be pre
.ainted, that finances in all its relations
will be fairly before Congress for con
sideration, debate and ; lion, lint the
eagerness which has been so readily dis
played. is more the indication of ambitious
dr ires to ride the pop .ar wave than the
charts to give the public the benefit of
research in the abstru e science of political
economy.
Penrr.i! Pope's Kdlets Concerning the
Press.
Among ho many tyrannous and oppros- |
rive acts of (Jon. Cope, not the least dis-’
creditable is his partisan effort to build up {
Ihe Radical party in the South by forbid
ding civil officers in the counties from!
iving their advertis.meats to any but;
Radi.-id Presses. The elf ct of this edict,
is to rub sonic two hundred Conservative
papei of the patronage which justly be- !
lung, to them hy their circulation anti m
fluenee, and to bestow it twelve ,
or thirteen Radical sheets, which hare otdy
a limited circulation, and derive their sup
port fro \ foreign subsidies. Such inter
ference with the functions of civil officers
i . of coir.se, new in this land, and it is to
the shame of den. Dupe, that i t even his
unworthy eo satraps seem to have thought
i! a dee. nt resort. It is a more direct blow
at, the liberty of the people than has been
struck for some time, with one solitary
disgraceful exception in Mississippi.
The State laws very properly require
< ivil officers to make publications in papers
ui their own county where there is one.
As (here is rarely over one paper in a coun
ty, this order; in effect, compels sheriffs to
send their advertisements out of the
county where the sales are to be made, and
thus, not being seen by the parties or
neighborhood interested, for want of bid
ders ami illegality of sale, property is sac
rificed, and creditors fail to receive vhat is
due lit .nil. In eases of sales by registers ill
chancery, they are compelled to disobey
both the civil law and the decrees of the
court, with the hazard that these acts may
same day, when law is restored, ho set aside
as mill and void.
It is ouo of the curses of military rule
that the parties who administer it are not
able to appreciate the grave considerations
we have mentioned. 1 ooking to one end
only, and at one side ofa ease, oftentimes
Ivady and violent, impatient of counsel,
and initated to madness by hostile crit
icism, they poccoJ by rash and arbitrary
edicts to inflict the m t serious mischiefs
on a community. A step of folly once
taken, prole comes in to preclude those
corrections which reflection aud public
opinion suggest to the statesman.
\\ e appeal to the more decent ami re
iieetir r men of the Republican party
whether measures of tyranny and partisan
ship such as this order meets their appro
bation. If the executive office were in its
due degree of vigor and authority, we
should look to that quarter tors prompt
and efficacious remedy. An officer who
thus prostitutes bis functions to partisan
.. .ids should be removed as promptly as ii.
.u ■ ,‘r the imlulgeneeof a vain rhodouaontade.
m had by his imbecility brought reproach
;pou the national arms, and put the very
.txisteuce of the Government ia peril.—
A abend / Wl«.r.
'fu; Minnesota Election—A Vote
os i'niNeirt.K and a Vote on Interest.
The ibllowiug is the official vote in Min
nesota :
Majority for Marshal’ (ii. p.! fur
Majority agaiust negrosuffrage... l.ffyS
Toui v.iii' iiu Uovernot (54,443
4.1 u *ui. rage 5(5,220
The New York Repress says 4 “We see
bore S. 1. Republicans, who voted for
G amor, refusing to vote on suffrage—
which, added 10 the majority against suf
frage. 1,208, mates lO.SUI against negro
suffrage. Tuc vote of the Republicans for
interest, was a,'-27 tor their Governor,
Marshal! ; the vote against uegro suffrage
on priulpl was it),Mil.
The worst aspect of this sort of voting
is. that the dose the Republicans of Min
nesota refuse to take tor themselves, they
(dminister without scruple to ten Southern
ffita: > in their Five Monarchy Construe
ti.m Act.
A. :i». nt to Gastello's Cifxus.—A
di-patch from Bollard. Alabama, dated
November doth, savs :
i : train from M 'uigotuery to Mobile,
transporting Gastello's Girona atid Menage
rie, was thrown from the track by the
hroakit-.g of a rail yesterday evening about
lift, - u miles below ltere, killing one man
and bruising several others. Also cue
horse killed and several more or less bruis
cd. 'l'he w ild animals all escaped to the
woods, the cages being broken, but were
caught and caged again without much
trouble, only a Jew offering resistance.
Sour Krout has become an article of ex
port in Poylestown, Pennsylvania. Tbe
stampers and cutters, wo are told, resound
at all hours in that locality now, and the
demand for this delicacy is so great that
fears are entertained of the ability of tile
I.biylestowucrs to supply it.
The White Man’s Meeting.
Quite a number of the citizens of Brooks
county assembled in the Court House in
Quitman, on Saturday last, for the purpose
of making an expression of opinion on the
political condition of the country, and se
lecting a delegate to the Conservative
\v bite Man's Convention, which will meet
at Macon on the sth of December.
On motion of F. R. Hides, Judge Jar.
Hilliard was called to the Chair, and Capt.
•J. G. McCall requested to act as Secretary.
An organization having been effected, on
motion, a committee of five, consisting of
1. It. Fildes, James H. llanter. A. Hunt
er, James Stevens and M. J. Culpepper,
was appointed to-prepare business for the j
meeting. After a brief absence, the Com
mittee reported the following preamble and j
resolutions, which were unanimously
adopted:
Whereas, It seems to be the settled
purpose of the dominant party iu the
United States Congress, by oppressive
legislation, the use of the military power,
aud other unfair and dishonorable means,
to degrade the white race of the South (if
possible) to a state, social and political, of:
inferiority to the black.s-our former slaves— j
aud this for the vilest of party purposes, j
As the most odious of the measures referred
to, we regard the late Military (miscalled) ,
Reconstruction Acts of that body, by which j
they haye,placed us under a most oppres- |
rive military government, und demand that
before we can be relieved from it, we, our- i
selves, shall yield control of our State in- j
stiluti' ns into the hands of the negroes, I
and a lew unprincipled whites, whom we I
regard as too base to be associated with ,
the first named class—the blacks. And |
Whereas, We consider that it was for the
accomplishment of this purpose that the j
Convention to which delegates were lately
elected, by order of Gen. I’ope, is to be j
held, and for this purpose alone. There
fore, be it—
Hi solved. That we believe in tbe su- «
premaoy of the white race—that this is a
white man’s country, and intended by the j
original founders of the Government to be j
governed by white men.
Resolved, That we hail the result of the
late elections in several of the Northern
States, as an auspicious omen that the
people of that section have resolved to
throw off Radical rule, and return to a
Constitutional White Man’s Government;
and it is our wish to unite with them, and
do all we can to bring about a thing so
desirable.
Resolved, That we heartily endorse the
proposition made by several of the Con
servative papers of the State, to hold a
Conservative White Man’s Convention of
the people of the State, at the city of
Macon, on the sth of December, or at such
other time as may be deemed most ex
pedient.
Resolved. , That Judge James Hilliard is
hereby appointed to represent the people
of Brooks county in said Convention, with
the power of appointing an alternate
should he not be able to attend.
Resolved , That we are not enemies of
the black man, although we are unwilling
to yield our State Government into his
hands; but on the contrary, we believe we
are the truest friends he has; and we
propose not only to guarantee to him full
security of life, liberty and property, but
will do all in our power to elevate him
socially, by placing the means of education
within his reach.
On motion it was ordered that the pro
ceedings be published in the Quitman Ban
ner, and tlio (Savannah and Thomasville
papers were requested to copy.
Thu meeting was haruiornious and
pleasant, and adjourned with the confident
hope that good results would flow ironi the
deliberations of the Macon Convention.
Washington County. —The people of j
Washington county held a meeting on the |
23d ult., and appointed General S. Robin- j
son, Green Brantly, I)r. J. B. Turner, T. I
O. Wicker, G. R. Pringle, D. R. Tucker *
and Col. 11. W. Flournoy, as delegates to !
the Macon Convention.
The Committee who appointed the dele- !
gate/ also presented the following resolu- i
thins, which were unanimously adopted :
Relieving that the emissaries of the Rad- !
ioal party have been the means of creating 1
false impressions, especially in the North- j
evn States, relative to the investment of
capital in and emigration to the fertile lands :
of the South; and being desirous of j
expressing iu a public manner out views j
and feelings on the subject; be it, there-;
fore,
Resolved, That we cordially invite both
capital and labor to our country and State, j
and that wo guarantee by all tbe lawful j
means at ourcommund the same protection j
to both capital aud labor that we ask for
ourselves.
And be it further resolved, That, in our
opinion, there is here a wide and rich field i
open for the profitable establishment of |
various manufacturing, agricultural, liorti- ,
cultural and mechanical interests, and that '
in the varied soil and climate of the State
of Georgia all tastes may be suited, and i
industry and economy receive its just !
reward.
Conservative Meeting in Grecncsboro,
November 30th, 1807.
1 According to previous announcement a
portion of die .citizens of Greene county
met in Greensboro on Saturday, the 30tlx
j inst, to appoint delegates to the Macon
Convention, and on motion the Hon. J.
P. King was called to the chair and
( apt. Phillip I’oullain, and John 11. Seals,
Esq., were appointed Secretaries. The
lion. Chairman, on taking his seat, ex
plained the object of the meeting in a few
j appropriate and happy remarks, and,
having announced the meeting ready for
business, Col. 11. J. Dawson moved the
j appointment ofa committee of seven to
sulcct delegates to represent the county in
the Conservative Convention to be held iu
Maeou on the sth proximo. The Chair
man appointed the following gentlemen
to constitute said committee, viz: Col. -
William L. Strain, Dr. 11. 11. King, J.
Murray, William Ik Jackson, J. T Daw
sun, E. J. Mapp and 11. C. W eaver,
who. having retired, soon returned with
' the following report;
If/iemis, The friends of order and good
government in our State have proposed
holding a convention in the city of Mncon
e:i the bth proximo ; and whereas, the
white citizens of “old Greene" cordially
approve ol thesauio : therefore,
ltaokul Ist That it is the sense of
this mcotiug that this county should be
represented in said Convention.
Rewind 2j. That the lion. Wiles
W. Lewis', Capt. I’hillip Poullain, lion, j
L. B. Jackson, Rev. H. H. Tucker, Hon. j
L. D. Carlton. Capt. L. B. Willis, J. 11. :
Seals. Esq., Col. R. H. Ward, Hon. W. '
W. Moore, Col. Nelson Arm w, Major
William Bacon, Dr. A. Jernigan, J. R. 1
Sanders, Hon. William A. Corrv, V. D.
Gresham, T. W. Robinsou, Esq., and
John K. Spencer be appointed as dele
gates.
On motion of Hon. L. B. Jackson, the i
report was adopted. j
On motion of J. 11. Seals, Esq , the !
name of Hon. J. P. King be added to the
list of delegates.
On motion the Grecncsboro Herald and
Augusta ChroMeU & Sentinel wore re
quested to publish those proceedings.
The meeting adjourned.
J. r. King, President.
J. 11. Se.ua, Puillu’ Poullain, Sec
retaries.
Conservative fleeting.
Macon, Noy. 30, 1807.
At a meeting of the citizens oi Bibb
county, held this day in the Council cham
ber, to appoint delegates to the Conserva
tive Convention to assemble in the city of
Macon on the sth prox.: on motion oi
Geo. W. Adam?. Esq., Dr. Edwd. L.
Stroheckcr was called to the Chair, and
: John B. Weems appointed Secretary.
lion. Thos. Hardeman, Jr., moved that
a committee consisting of seven members
i be appointed by the Chair, for the purpose
of reporting to the meeting ibe names of
-suitable delegates t > said Convention;
- which motion prevailed.
Col. Hardeman requested that the
meeting indicate the number of delegates
to be nominated by the Committee ;
whereupon, on motion of Mr. Adams, the
j Committee were instructed to report the
t names of 21 delegates.
The Committee retired, and after a brief
conference submitted the following report,
to wit :
; “The Committee bog leave to reeom
-1 mend the following persons as delegates to
ihe State Conservative Convention that
will assemble in this city on the oth of
\ December : f G Holt, L N fi hittle, J R
I Sneed, A W Reese, J J Gresham, J B
Ross. W FWelburn, Jas Tiuley, Arthur
Foster, C A Tharpe, J A NisKt, lv
Crockett, F II Alley, D Abraham, P
Reynolds, E L Strohecker, J E Jones, A
O Baeon, G W Adams, T C Dempsey, T
Hardeman.
' ’ Your Committee decline any expression
■ of opiniou upon the political questions of
the day. aud the proper policy to be pur
sued by the people of Georgia in the pres
ent crisis ; preferring to leave ail action on
these important questions to the judgment
1 of the Convention.
Mr Adams moved to in "res-e the num
ber of delegates to 30: which was carried.
The Committee again reared, and report
ed the following additional names: A
Iverson. 0 A Nutting, C Anderson, T C
N’isbet. Dr D W Hammond. P E Bowdre,
M S Thomson, George Jones, Jacob Rus
sell.
On motion, the Chairman appointed a
Committee—eomi-ting of Stephen Collins,
Thos Gresham, Benj Smith, George W
Gustin, and Sam’l Hunter, to procure a
suitable hall anu to make other necessary’
arrangements for the Convention.
On motion, the proceedings of the meet
ing were requested to be published in the
city paper-. ,
The meeting then adjourned.
JvvVit L Stroeecker, Chairman.
J B Weems, Secretary.
MESSAGE
or the
President of the United States
To the Two Houses of Congress at the Com
mencement of the Regular Session
of the Fortieth Congress.
FeU<nc-('!ti:ent of tl. Senate and House of
Representatives:
Tbe continued disorganization oftlie Union
to which the President has so often railed the
attention of Congress is yet a subject of pro
found aud patriotic concern. We may, how
ever, find some reiiet from that anxiety iu the
relleeliou that the painful political situation,
although before untried tiy ourselves, is not
new in the experience ot nations. Political
science, herhaps as highly perfected in our own
time and country as in any other, has not yet
disclosed any means by which civil wars can he
absolutely prevented. An enlightened nation,
however, with a wise and beneficent Constitu
tion of free government, may diminish their
frequency and mitigate their severity by direct
ing all its proceedings in accordance with its
fundamental law.
When a civil war lias been brought to a dose,
it is manifestly the first interest and duty of the
.Slate to repair the injuries which the war has
iniiieted, and to secure the benefit of the les
sons it teaches as fully aud as speedily as pos
sible. This duty was, upon the termination of
the rebellion, promptly accepted, not only by
the Executive Department, hut by the insur
rectionary States themselves, aud restoration,
in tile first moment oi peace, was believed to
beas easy and certain as it was indispensable.
The expectations, however, then so reasonably
aud eonfideuuVy entertained, were disappoint
ed by legislation from which I felt constrained,
by my obligations to the Constitution, to with
hold my assent.
It is therefore a source of profound regret
that, in complying with the obligation imposed
upon tbe President by the Constitution, to
give to Congress from time to time information
of the stale of the Union, I am unable to com
municate any definite adjustment, satisfactory
to the American people, ot the questions
which, since the close of the rebellion,
have agitated tbe public mind. On the
contrary, eaudor compels me to declare that
at this time there is no Uniou as our lathers
understood the term, aud as they meant
it to be understood by us, The
Union which tbev established can exist
only where all the States are represented iu
both Houses of Congress ; where one State is
as free as another to regulate its internal con
cerns recording to its own will; and where the
laws of the central Government, strictly con
fined to matters of national jurisdiction, apply
with equal force to all the people ot every sec
tion. That such is not tbe present “state of
the Uniou" is a melancholy fact; and we all
must acknowledge that the i estoration of the
States to their proper legal relations with the
Federal Government and with one another, ac
cording to the terms of the original compact,
would be the greatest-blessing which God, in
his kindest providence, could bestow upon this
nation, it tieeomes our imperative duty to
consider whether or not it is impossible to
eilect. this most desirable consummation.
The Union and the Constitution are insepara
ble. As long as one is obeyed by all parties, the
other wilt be preserved, and it one is destroyed
both must perish together. The destruction of
the Constitution will be followed ty other and
still greater calamities. It was ordained not
only 7 to form a more perfect union between the
States, but to “ establish justice, Insure do
mestic tranquility, provide for the common de
fense, promote the general welfare, and secure
the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our
posterity.” Nothing but implicit obedience to
its requirements iu all parts <fl the country will
accomplish these great ends. Without that
obedience, we can look lorward only to con
tiuu .1 outrages upon individual rights, inces
saut breaches of the public peace, national
weakness, financial dishonor, the total loss of
our prosperity, the general corruption of
morals, and the final extinction ot popular
freedom To save our country from evils so
appalling as these, we should renew our efforts
again aud again.
To me the process of restoration seems per
fectly plain and simple. I consists merely iu a
faithful application ol the Constitution and
laws. The . sedition of the laws is uot now
obstructed or opposed by physical force.
There is no military or other necessity, real or
pretended, which can prevent obedience to the
Constitution, oil Iter North or South. Ail
the rights and all the obligations ot Stales
and individuals can be protected and en
forced by means perfectly consistent with the
fundamental law. courts may be every
where open, aud, ii opt n, their process would
] be unimpeded. Crimes against the United
! States can be prevented or puuisbed by the
1 proper judicial authorities, in a manner entire
! ly practicable and legal. There is, therefore,
i no reason why the Constitution should not be
obeyed, unless those who exercise its powers
| have determined that it shall be disregarded
i and violated. The mere naked will of this
! Government, or of someone or more ol its
j brunches, is the only obstacle that can exist to
j a perfect uniou of all the States,
j On this momentous question, and some of
the measures growing out of it, I have bad the
misfortune to differ from Congress, and have
expressed inv convictions without reserve,
though-with becoming delerence to the opinion
0! (he Legislative Department. Those convic
tions are not only unchanged, but strengthen
ed hy subsequent events and further reflection.
The transcendent importance of the subject
will be a sufficient excuse for calling your at
tention to some of the reasons which have so
strongly influenced my own judgment. The
hope that we may all dually concur in a mode
ol settlement, consistent at once with our true
interests and with our sworn duties to the Con
stitution, is too natural and too just to be tasily
relinquished.
It is clear to my apprehension that the States
lately in rebellion are still members of the Na
tional Union. When did they cease to be so?
Ttie “ordinances of secession,” adopted hy a
portion (in most of them a very small portion)
of their citizens, were mere nullities, if we
admit now that they were valid and effectual
tor the purpose intended by their authors, we
sweep Irom under onr leet the whole ground
upon which we justified the war. Were those
Slates afterwards expelled front the Union by
the war? The direct contrary was averred by
this Government to be its purpose, and was so
understood by all those who gave their blood
aud treasure to aid in its prosecution. It can
not be that n successful war, waged ior the pre
servation of 1! - Union, had the legal effect of
dissolving it. Thu victory ol the nation’s arms
was not the disgrace of tier policy ; the defeat
of secession on the battle lieid was not the tri
umph of its lawless principles. Nor could Con
gress, with or without the consent of the Execu
tive, do anything which would have the effect,
directly or indirectly, of separating the States
i from each other. To dissolve the Union is to
repeal the Constitution which holds it together,
I and that is a power which docs not belong to
any department ol this Government, or to all
oi them unite-!.
Tins is so plain that it has been acknowledg
ed l>y all branches of the Federal Government.
The Executive (my predecessor as \»cl! is my
self ) and the heads of ail the Department* have
uniformly acted upon the principle that the
Union is not only nndi*solved, but indissolu
ble. Congress submitted an amendment of the
Constitution to be ratified by the Southern
Mates, and accepted tiieir acts of ratification as
a necessary and lawful exercise of their highest
fiiuction. It they were uot States, or were
States out of the Union, their consent to a
change in the fundamental law of the Union
would have been nugatory, and Congress, in
asking it, committed a political absurdity. The
Judiciary has also given the solemn sanction of
its authority to the same view of the case. The
judges of the Supreme Court have included
the Southern States in their circuits, and they
constantly, t';i hnne and elsewhere, exercising
jurisdiction which does not belong to them,
unless those States are States ol the Union.
It the Southern States are component parts
of the Union, the Constitution is tbe supreme
law- for them, as it is for all the other State*.—
They are bound to obey it, and so are we. The
right ot the Federal Government, which is clear
and unquestionable, lo enforce tiie Constitution
upon them, implies the correlative obligation
on our part to observe its limitations aud exe
cute its guaranties. Without the Constitution
wc are nothing; by, through, and under tbe
Constitution we arc what it makes us; We may
doubt the wisdom of the law, we may not ap
prove of its provisions, but we carmot violate
it merely bet '.use it seems to confine our pow
ers within iiiniis narrower than we eonld wish.
It is not a question of individual, or class, cr
sectional interest, much less of party predomi
nance, but of duty—of high aud sacred dutT—
which we are edi sworn to oertorm. It we can
not support the Constitution with the cheerful
alacrity 01 those who love and believe in it, we
mnst give to it at '.east the fidelity of public
servants who art under solemn obligations and
commands which they dare not disregard.
Tho constitutional duty is not the on!/ one
which requires the Btates to be restored. There
is another consideration which, though of
minor importance, is y.-t of great weight. On
the 23d day of July, 1861, Congress declared,
by an almost nnucimons vote ot both Houses,
that the war should ire conducted 6olely tor the
purpose ot preserving the Union, and mait
taiuing the supremacy of the Federal Constitu
tiou aud laws, without impairing the dignity,
equality, aud rights ot the States or of indi
viduals and that when this was done the war
should cease. Ido not say that this declaration
is personally binding on those who joined in
making i:, any more than ind'vidual members
of Congress are jiersonaiit' bound to pav a pub
lic debt created under a law for which they
voted. But it was a solemn, public, official
pledge ol the national honor, and I cannot
tmagiue upon what grounds the repudiation ot
it is to be justified, ft it Le said that we are
not bound to keep ia:th with rebels, let it be
remembered that this promise was not made to
rebels only. Thousands of true men in the
South w ere drawn to onr standard by ;t, aud
hundreds ol thous.-ads in the North gave their
Jives in the belief that it would be carried
out. It was made on the day after the first
great battle of the war had Leon fought
and {lost. All patriotic and intelligent men
then saw the necessity of giving such an assu
rance, aud believed that without it the war
would end iu disaster to our cause. Having
given that assurance in the extremity ofour
peril, the violation of it now, iu the day of our
AUGUSTA, GA., WED
j power, would be a rude rending of that good
faith which holds the moral world together ;
our country would cease to have any claim
upon tbe confidence of men ; it would make
I the war not only a failure, but a fraud.
being sincerely convinced that these views
are correct, I would be uuiaitbful to my duty
if 1 did not recommend the repeal ol the acts
of Congress which place ten of the Southern
j Stales under the domination of military mas
ters. If ealra reflection shall satisfy ajmsjority
I of your honorable bodies that the sets reterred
! to are not only a violation o! the nation.-. 1 tajtli,
Mu' in direct conflict with the Constitution. I
dare not permit myself to doubt that you w ill
immediately strike them froth the statute book.
To demonstrate the unconstitutional charae
| ter of those acta, I need do no more limn refer
;to their general provisions. It must be
! -ea at once that they are not authorized. To
dictate what alterations shall be made in the
constitutions of the several States ; to control
the elections of State legislators and State offi
cers, members oi Congress and eleeiors of
President and Vice-President, by arbitrarily de
claring who shall vote and who shall he ex
cluded from that privilege ; to dissolve State
! Legislatures or prevent them from assembling;
: to dismi-s judges and other civil| functionaries
! of the State, and appoint others without re
i gard to State law ; to organize and operate all
i the political machinery of the States : to regu
late i±e whole administration of their domestic
| and local affairs according to the mere will of
] strange and irresponsible agents, sent among
j them lor that purpose—these are powers not
! granted to .the Federal Government or to any
one of its branches. Not being grmvtd, we
j vii ale our trust by assuming them as palpably
J as we would by acting iu tbe face of a positive
j interdict; for the Constitution torhids us to do
whatever it does not affirmatively authorize
either by express words or by clear impli
cation. If the authority we desire to use
does not come to us through the Con
stilutiou, we cau exercise it only by usurpa
tion; and usurpation is the most dangerous ot
political crimes. But that crime the enemies
of free government iu all ages have worked out
their designs against public liberty and private
right. It leads directly and immediately to the
establishment of absolute rule, for undelegated
power is always unlimited and unrestrained.
The acts of Congress in question are not only
objectionable for their assumption of ungrant
ed power, but many of their provisions are in
j conflict with the direct prohibitions of the Cou
| siituLion. The Constitution commands that a
republican form ot government shall he guar
! anteed to all the States; that no person shall
i be deprived ot life, liberty or property without
: due process of law, arrested without a judicial
I warrant, or punished without a fair trial before
; an impartial jury; that the privilege of habeas
corpus shall not be denied in time of peace ;
1 and that no bill of attainder shall he passed
even against a single individual. Yet the sys-
Item of measures established by these acts of
I Congress does totally subvert and destroy the
| form as well as the substance of republican
government iu the ten States to which
they apply. It binds them hand and
foot in absolute slavery, aud subjects them to a
strange and hostile power, more unlimited and
more likely to he abused than any other now
known among civilized men. It tramples
down all those rights in which the essence of
liberty consists, and which a free government
is always most careful to protect. It denies the
habeas corpus and the trial by jury. Personal
freedom, property, and life, if assailed by the
passion, the prejudice, or the rapacity ot the
ruler, have no security whatever. It has the
effect of a bill of attainder, or bill of pains and
penalties, not upon a few individuals, hut upon
whole masses, including the millions who in
habit the subject States, and even their unborn
children. These wrongs, being expressly for
bidden, cannot be constitutionally inflicted
upon any portion of our people, no matter
how they may have come within our jurisdic
tion, and no matter whether they live in States,
I Territories, or districts.
X have no desire to save from the proper and
jnst consequences ol their great crime those
wuo engaged in rebellion against the Gov
ernment ; but as a mode of punishment
tlie measures under consideration are the
most unreasonable that could be invented.
Many of those people are perfectly inno
cent ; many kept their fidelity to the Union
untainted to the last; many were inca
pable of any legal offence; a large propor
tion even of the persons able to bear arms
were forced into rebellion against their will;
and of those who are guilty with their own
consent, the degrees of guilt are as various as
the shades ot their character aud temper. But
these acts of Congress confounded them all
together in one coommou doom. Indiscriminate
vengeance upon t-las: es, sects, and parties, or
upon whole communities, for offences commit
ted by a portion of them against the govern
ments to which they owed obedience, was com
mon in the barbarous ages of the world. But
Christianity and civilization have made such
progress that recourse to a punishment so
cruel anti unjust would meet with the condem
nation of all unprejudiced and right-minded
men. The punitive justice of this age, aud
especially of this country, does not consist in
stripping whole States of their liberties, and
reducing all their people, without distinction,
to the condition of slavery. It deals separately
with each individual, confines itself to the
forms of law, and vindicates its own purity by
au impartial examination ot every case b- fore a
competent judicial tribunal. If this does not
satisfy all our desires with regard to Southern
rebels, let us console ourselves by reflecting
that a free Constitution, triumphant iu war aud
unbroken in peace, is worth far more to us and
<mr children than tbe gratification of any pre
sent feeling.
1 mn aware it is assumed that this system of
government for the Southern Slates is not to
be perpetual. It is true this military govern
ment is to lie only provisional, blit it is through
this temporary evil that a greater evil is to be
made perpetual. If the guarantees of the Con
stitution can lie broken provisionally to serve
a temporary purpose, and in a part only of the
country, we can destroy them everywhere aud
for all time. Arbitrary measures often change,
but they generally change for the worse. It
is the curse ot despotism that it has no halt
ing place. The Intermitted exercise of its
power brings no sense of security to its sub
jects ; tor they can never know what more
they will he called to endure when its red right
hand is armed to plague them'again. Nor is
it possible to conjecture how o'- where power,
unrestrained by law, may seek its next
victims. The States that are still free may
be enslaved at any moment; for if the Con
stitution does not protect all, it protects none.
It is manifestly and avowedly the object of
these laws to confer upon negroes tbe pi ivilege
of voting, -and to disfranchise such a number of
white citizens as will give the former a cleat
majority at ail elections in the Southern States.
This, to the minds of some persons, is so im
portant; that a violation ol tlie Constitution is
justified as a means of bringing it about. The
morality is always false which excuses a wrong
because it proposes to accomplish a desirable
end. We are not permitted to do evil that good
may come. But in this ease the end itself is
evil, as well as the means. The subjugation ot
the States to negro domination would he worse
than the military despotism under which they
are now suffering. It was believed beforehand
that the people would endure any amount of
military oppression, for any length of time,
rather than degrade themselves by subjection
to the negro race. Thetciore they have been
left without a choice. Negro suffrage was
established by act of Congress, and the military
officers were commanded to superintend the
process of clothing the negro race with the
political privileges torn trom white men.
The blacks in the South are entitled to be
well and humanely governed, and to Imre the
protection of just lqws for nil their rights of
person and property. If it were practicable at
this time to give them a government exclusive
ly their own, under which they might manage
their own affairs in their own way, it would be
come a grave question whether we ought to do
so, or whether common humanity would not
require us to save them from themselves. But,
under the circumstances, this is oniy a specu
lative point, it is not proposed merely that
they shall govern themselves, hut that they
shali rule the white race, make and administer
State laws, elect Presidents and members oi
Congress, and shape, to a greater or less ex
tent, the future destiny oi the whole country.
Would such a trust aud (tower be safe in such
hands?
The peculiar qualities which should char.te- !
terize any people who are fit to decide upon 1
the management of public affairs for a great !
Statejhave seldom been combined. It is Lite glory
of white men to know that they have had these ;
qualities in sufficient measure to build upon this
continent a great political la brie, and to preserve
its stability ior more than ninety years, while j
in every other part of the world all similar ex- i
pertinents have lulled. But if anything can be ;
proved by kuown facts—if all reasouiug upon j
evidence is not abandoned, it must be acknowi- j
edged that iu tiie progress ot nations negroes ■
have shown less capacity for government than
any other race of people. No independent
government of any form has ever been success
ful in their hands. On the contrary, wherever
they have been left to their own devices, they
have shown a constant tendency to relapse into
btrbarism. In the Southern States, however,
Congress has undertaken to confer upon them
•he privilege of the ballot. Just released irom
slavery, it may be doubted whether, as a class,
they know more than their ancestors how to
org'auizo and regulate civil society. Indeed, it
is admitted that the blacks of the South are not
only regardless of the rights or property, but
so utterly ignorant of public affairs that their
i voting can consist in nothing more than carry
ing a ballot to the place where they are
■ directed to deposit it. I need not re
mind you that the exercise of the eiec
-1 tive tranchise is the highest attribute of
; an American citizen, and that, when
guided by virtue, imelligance, patriotism, and a
i proper appreciation of our free institutions, it
; constitutes’ the true basis of a democratic form
j of government, in which the sovereign power
; is “lodged in the body ot the people. A trust
j artificially created, not for its ov- n sake, but
i solely as a means of promoting the general
i welfare, its influence for good must necessarily
| depend upon the elevated character and true
; allegiance of the elector. It ought therefore to
! be reposed in noue except those who are fitted
‘ r. >rally and mentally to administer it well; for
it conferred upon aersons who do not justly
estimate its value, mil who are indifferent as to
j its results, it will only serve s-s a Iu: -US of
I , lacing power in the hands of the ua
-1 principled and ambitious, and must eventu
ate in the complete destruction of that liberty
l o: which it should be the most powerful con
, servitor. I have therefore heretofore urged
i upon your attention the great danger “to be
apprehended from an untimely extension ot
I tue elective franchise to any new class in our
country,” especially when the large majority of
* that class, in wielding the power thus placed iu
i their bauds, cannot be expected correct
ly to comprehend the duties and respon
sibilities widen pertain to suffrage.
Yesterday, as it were, four millions of persons
| were held in a condition of slavery that had
i existed for generations ; t»-day they are free-
I men. and are .assumed by law to be citizens. It
cunnot be presumed, from their previous con
i ditiou of servitude, that, as a class, they are as
well informed as to the nature ct our Govern
ment as the intelligent foreigner who makes
: our laud the home of his choice. In tac case
! of th - latter, neither s residence of five years,
I and the kuow.edge of onr institutions which it
gives, nor attachment to the R, .uciples ot the
: Constitution, are the only conditions upon
which he can he admitted to citizens rip Re
must prove, in addition, a good moral charac
ter and thus give reasonable ground!-- the
bcliei that he will be fcuihiul to the obligations
1 which he assumes as a citizen of the Hepublic.
ESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 11, 1867.
Where a people—tlL source ot all political
power—speak, by tblir suffrages, through the
instrumentality of the ballot box, it must be.
carefully guarded afainst the control ot those
who are corrupt In principles and ene
mies of free institutions, tor it can only
become to onr political and social system a
sate conductor ot lealthy popular sentiiqent
when kept free front demoralizing influ
ences. Controlled, through fraud and usurpa
tion, by tbe designing, an: and despotism
must inevitably follow. Iu the hands of the
patriotic and worthy, our Government will be
preserved upon the principles ot the Constitu
tion inherited lrora our fathers. It follows,
therefore, that in admitting to the ballot box a
new class ot voters uot qualified for the exer
cise of the elective, franchise, we weaken our
system of government, instead ot adding to its
strength and durability.” “I yield to no one
iu attachment to that rule of general suffrage
which distinguishes oor poth-v as a nation-.
But there is a limit, wisely coserved hitherto,
which makes the ballot a privilege and a trust,
and which requires of some classes a time suit
able for probation and preparation. To give it
indiscriminately to anew class, wholly unpre
pared, by previous habits and opportunities, to
perform the trust which it demands, is to de
grade it, aud finally to destroy its power ; for
it may be safely assumed that no political truth
is better established than that such indiscrimi
nate and all-embracing extension of popular
suffrage must end a:, last in its overthrow and
destruction.”
I repeat the expression of ray willingness to
join any plan within the scope of our constitu
tional authority which promises to better the
condition of the negroes in the South, by en
couraging them in industry, enlightening their
minds, improving their morals, and giving pro
tection to all their just rights as freedmeu. But
the transfer of our political inheritance to them
would, in my opinion, be an abandonment of a
duty w hich we owe alike to the memory of
our tattlers and the right of onr children.
The plan ot putting the Southern States
wholly, and the General Government partially,
into the hands ot negroes, is proposed at a
time peculiarly nnpropitious. The f. .nidations
ot society have been broken up by civil war.—
Industry must !, re', ganized, justice re-estab
lished. public credit maintained, and order
brought out of confusion. To accomplish
these ends would require all the wisdom and
virtue ot the great men who formed our insti
tutions originally. I confidently believe that
their descendants will be equal to the arduous
task before them, but it is worse, than madness
to expect that negroes will perform it for us.
Certainly we ought not to ask their assistance
until we despair ol our own competency.
The great differe ice between the two races
in physical, mental and moral characteristics
will prevent an amalgamation or tusiou of them
together in one homogeneous mass. It the in
ferior obtains .the ascendency over the other,
it will govern with reference only to its own
interests—tor it will recognize no common in
terest —and create such a tyranny as this conti
nent hue never yet witnessed. Already the ne
groes are influenced by promises of confiscation
aud plunder. They are taught to regard as an
enemy every white man who has any respect for
the rights ot his own rare. If this continues,
it must become worse and worse, until all order
will he subverted, all industry cease, and the
fertile fields of the South grow up into a wil
derness. Os all the dangers which our nation
has yet encountered, none are equal to those
which must result from the success of the effort
now making to Africanize the half of our coun
try.
I would not put considerations of mouey in
competition with justice and right. But the ex
penses incident to "reconstruction” under the
system adopted by Congress aggravate what I re
gard as the intrinsic wrongof the measure itself,
it has cost uncounted millions already, and if
persisted in will add largely to the weight of
taxation, already to oppressive to lie borne
without just complaint, and may finally rednee
the Treasury ot the nation to a condition of
bankruptcy. We must not and iudo ourselves.
It will require a strong standing army, and
probably more than two hundred millions ot
dollars per annum, to maintain the supremacy
of uegro governments after they are establish
ed. The sum thus thrown away would, if pro
perly nsed, form a sinking fund large enough
to pay the whole national debt in less than fif
teen years. It is vain to hope that negroes will
maintain their ascendency themselves. With
out military power they are wholly incapable
of holding in subjection the white people of
tiie South.
I submit to the judgment oi Congress wheth
er the public may not be injuriously affected by
a system of measures like this. With our debt,
and the vast p 'vate interests which are com
plicated with it, we cannot he too cautions of a
poliey which might, by possibility, impair the
confidence of the would in our Government.—
That confidence can only he retained by care
fully inculcating the principles of justice aud
honor on tiie popular mind, aud oy the
most scrupulous fidelity to all our engagements
of every sort. Any serious breach of tiie
organic law, persi ted in lor a considerable
time, cannot but create fears for tiie stability
of our institutions. Habitual violation of
prescribed rules, which we bind ourselves
to observe, must demoralize the people.—
Our only standard ol civil duty being set nt
naught, the sheet-anchor of our political
morality is lost, the public conscience swings
from Us moorings, and yi ids to every
impulse of passion and iute.voi. If we repu
diate tiie Constitution, wo will not be
expected to cure much for mere pecuniary ob
ligations, The violation of such a pledge as
we made on the 23d Jay of July, 1861, will
assuredly diminish the market value of out
other promises. Besides, it we now acknowl
edge that the national debt was created.
uot to hold tilt: States in the Union, as the tax
payers were led to suppose, but to expel tliem
from it and hand them over to lie governed by
negroes, the moral duty to pay it may seem
much less clear. I say it may seem so; for Ido
not admit that this or any other argument in
favor of repudiation can be entertained as
sound; but its influence on some classes of
minds may well be apprehended. The financial
honor of a great commercial nation, largely
indebted, and willi a republican form of gov
ernment administered by agents ol the popular
choice, is u thing of such delicate texture, and
the destruction oi it would he followed hy such
unspeakable calamity, that every true patriot
must desire to avoid whatever might expose it
the slightest danger.
The great interests of the country require im
mediate relief from these enactments. Busi
ness in the South is paralyzed by a 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 a profit under a govern
ment ot law, still languishes, and can never lie
revived until it ceases to he fettered hy the
arbitrary power which makes all its operations
unsafe, 'flint rich country —tlic richest in na
tural resources the world ever saw—is worse
than lost i! it he not soon placed under the
protection ot a tree Constitution, instead of
being, as it ought to he, a source of vrtallh and
power, it will become an intolerable burden
upon 1 lie rest of t lie nation.
Another reason for retracing our steps will
doubtless lie seen by Congress in the late mani
festations of public opinion upon this subject
We lire lu a couutry where the popular will
always enforce? obedience to itself, sooner or
later. It is vain to think o! opposing it with
anything short of legal authority, hacked by
overwhelming force. It cannot have escaped
your attention that from the day on which
Congress fairly and formally presented the
proposition to govern the Southern States by
military force, with a view to the ultimate
establishment ot negro supremacy, every ex
pression of the general sentiment has been
more or less adverse to it. The a tike lions of
this generation cunnot be detached from the
institutions of their ancestors. Their determi
nation to preserve the inheritance of free gov
ernment in their own hands, and transmit it
undivided and unimpaired to their own pos
terity, is too strong to be successfully opposed.
Every weaker passion will disappear before
that love oi liberty and law for which the
American people are distinguished above all
otners in the world.
How far the duty of the President, “ to pre
serve, protect, and defend the Constitution,”
requires him to go in opposing au unconstitu
tional act of Congress, is a very serious and
important questiou, on which I hare deliberat
ed much, ami felt extremely anxious to reach a
proper conclusion. Where an act has been
passed according to the forms of the Constitu
tion by the supreme legislative authority, and
is regularly enrolled among the public statutes
ol tile country. Executive resistance to it,
especially in times of high party excitement,
would be likely to produce violent collision be
tween the respective adherents of the two
branches of the Government. This would be
simply civil war ; and civil war must be resort- !
ed to only as the last remedy for the worst of j
evils. Whatever might tend to provoke it i
should be most carefully avoided. A faithful '
and conscientious Magistrate will concede very '
much to honest error, and something even to ’
perverse malice, before lie will endauger the j
public peace; and he will not adopt forcible I
measures, or such as might lead to force, as j
long 'is those which are peaceable remain ,
open lo him or to his constituents, it is
true that cases may occur iu which the Execu
tive would be compelled to stand on its 1 ights,
aud maintain them, regardless of all con
sequences. If Congress should pass an act
which is uot only iu palpable conflict
with the Con ’itution, bnt will certainly, is
carried out, j -lace Jmmedate aud irrepara
ble injury to the organic structure of tiie tjov
ernmenn and if'here be neither judicial remedy
tor tbfi wrong* it inflicts, nor power in the
people tp protect themselves without the ofij
ciqi aid pf their -cted defender ;if tor instance,
the Legislative Department should pass an act
even through ail the forais of law to abolish a
co-ordinate department of the Government—
in such a case the President must take the high
responsibilities of his office, and save the file
of the nation at all hazards. The socalled re
construction acts, though as plainly unconstitu
tional as any that can be imagined, were not
believed to be within the class last mentioned.
The people weFe not wholiy disarmed of the
power of self-defence. In ail the Northern
states they stiL held in their Is the sacred
right of the ballot and it was safe 'to befieve
that in due time they would corao to the rescue
of their own institutions. It gives me pleasure
to add that the appeal to onr common consti.
tpeV.w was not taken in vain, aud that my con
fidence in their wisdom aud virtue seems not
to have been misplaced.
It is well aud publicly known that enor
mous frauds hive been pe 'petrated on tfie
Treasury, and that colossal fortunes have
been made at the public expense. This
species of corruption has increased, is in
creasing, and if uot diminished will soon
bring us into total ruin and disgrace. The
public creditors and tax-payers are alike
interested iu an Honest aduiinjstrntic.n of
the nuances, anti neither class will long
endure the large-handed robberies of the
recent past. For this discreditable state of
things there are several causes, borne of
the taxes are so laid as to present an irre
sistible temptation to evade payment. The
great sums which officers may win by
connivance at fraud create a pressure
which is more than tbe virtue of manvean
w ithstand ; and there cau be no doubt that
the open disregard of constitutional obli
gations avowed by some of tbe highest and
most influential men in the country lias
greatly weakened the moral sense of those
who serve in subordinate places. The ex
penses of the United States, including
interest on the public debt, are more than
six times a* much as they were seven
years ago. To collect and disburse this
vast amount requires careful supervision
as well as systematic vigilance. The sys
-1 tem, never perfected, was much disor
ganized by the “Tenure of Office BG1,”
which has almost destroyed official ac
countability, The President may be
thoroughly convinced that an officer is
incapable, dishonest, or unfaithful to the
Constitution, but, under the law which I
have named, the utmost he cau do is to
complain to the Senate, and ask the privi
lege of supplying his place with a better
man. If the Senate be regarded as person
ally or politically hostile to the President,
it is natural, and not altogether unreasona
ble, for the officer to expect that it will
take his part as faras possible, restore him
t >his place, ami give him a triumph over
his Executive superior. The officer has
other chance* of impunity arising from ac
cidental defects of evidence, the mode of
investigating it, and the secrecy of the
hearing. It is not wonderful that official
malfeasance shou’ ’ become bold in pro
portion as the deli pients learn to think
themselves safe. lain entirely persuaded
that under such a ru’a the President can- j
not perform the great duty assigned to j
him of seeing the laws faithfully executed, '
aud that it disables him most" especially |
from enforcing that rigid accountability j
which is necessary to the duo execution of '
tho revenue law.
The Constitution invests the President '
with authority to decide whether a removal !
should be made in any given case; the act j
of Congress declares, in substance, that he j
shall only accuse such as he supposes to be
unworthy of their trust. The Constitution
makes him sole judge in the premises;
but the statute takes away his jurisdiction,
transfers it to tho Senate, and leaves him
nothing but the odious and sometimes im
practicable duty of becoming a prosecutor.
The prosecution is to be conducted before
a tribunal whose members aro not, like
him, responsible to the whole people, hut
to separate constituent bodies, and who
may hear his accusation wilti great dis
favor. Tho Senate is absolutely without
any known standard of decision applicable
to such a case. Its judgment cannot be
anticipated, for it is not governed by any
rule. The law does not define what shall
be deemed good cause for removal. It is
impossible even to conjecture what may or
may not be so considered by the Senate.
The nature of the subject "forbids clear
proof. If the charge bo incapacity, what
evidence will support it? Fidelity to
the Constitution ' may be understood
or misunderstood in* a thousand dif
ferent ways, and by violent party men,
in violent party times, unfaithfulness to
the Constitution may eveu come to be
considered meritorious. If tbe officer be
accused of dishonesty, how shall it be
made out ? Will it bo inferred from acts
unconnected with public duty, from private
history, or from general reputation ? Or
must the President await the commission
of an actual misdemeanor in office ? Shall
he, in the meantime, risk tho character
and interest of the Nation in the hands of
men to whom he cannot give his con
fidence ? Musi he forbear bis complaint
until the mischief is done and cannot he
prevented ? If his zeal iu the public
service should impel him to anticipate the
overt act, must he move at the peril of be
ing tried himself for the offence of slander
ing his subordinates ? In the present cir
cumstances of the country, Home one must
bo heid responsible for official delinquency
of every kind. It is extremely difficult
to say where that responsibility should bo
thrown, if it be not left where it baa been
placed by the Constitution. But ail just
men will admit that the President ought to
be entirely relieved from such responsi
bility, if he cannot meet it by reason of
restrictions placed by law upoii his action.
The unrestricted power of removal from
office is a vory great one to be trusted
even to a Magistrate chosen by the gen
eral suffrage of the whole people, and ac
countable directly to them for his acts. It
is undoubtedly liable to abuse, and at some
periods of our history perhaps has been
abused. If it be thought desirable and
constitutional that it should be so limited
as to make the President merely a com
mon informer against other public agents,
he should at least bo permitted to act in
that capacity before some open tribunal,
independent of party politics, ready to in
vestigate the merits of every case, furnish
ed with the means of taking evidence, and
bound to decide according to established
rales. This would guarantee the safety o
the accuser when lie acts in good faith,
and at the same time secure the rights of
the other party. I speak of course with
all proper respect for tho present Senate,
but it does not seetn to me that any legis
lative body can be so constituted as to in
sure its fitness for these functions.
It is not the theory of this Government
that public offices are the property of
those who hold them. They are given
merely as a trust for the public benefit,
sometimes for a fixed period, sometimes
during good behavior, but generally they
are liable to be terminated at tbe pleasure
of the appointing power, which represents
the collective majesty and speaks the will
of the people. The forced retention in of
fice of a single dishonest person may work
great injury to the public interest. The
danger to tiie public service oomes not
from tho power to remove, but from the
power to appoint. Therefore it was that
the framers of the Constitution left the
power of removal unrestricted, while they
gave the Senate t right to reject all ap
pointments, which, in its opinion, were
not tit to he made. A little reflection on
this subject will pr ■ -!y satisfy all who
have the good of thu country at heart that
our best course is to take tho Constitution
for our guide, walk iu ho path marked
out liy tho founders of the Republic, and
obey the rules made sacred by tho obser
vance of our great predecessors.
The present condition of our finances
and circulating medium is 0110 to which
your early consideration is invited.
The proportion which the currency of
any country should bear to the whole
value of the annual produce circulated by
its means is a question upon which poli
eal economists have not agreed. Nor oan
it be controlled by legislation, but must
be left to tho irrevocable laws which every
where regulate commerce and trade. The
circulating medium will ever irresistibly
1 How to those points witere it is in the
! greatest demand. The law of demand and
j supply is as unerring as that which re
gulates the tides of the Ocean ; and iudeod
! currency, like the tides, has its ebbs and
Hows throughout the commercial world.
At the beginning of the rebellion tbe
; bank-note circulation of the country
amounted to uot much more than two
! hundred millions of dollars ; now the cir
- eolation of National Hank notes and those
known as “legal-tenders” is nearly seven
1 hundred millions. While jt js urged by
•some that this amount should be increased,
others oontend that a decided reduction is
absolutely essential to the best Interest ot
the country. In view of these diverse
opinions, it may lie well to ascertain tho
real value of our paper issue*, when
compared with a metallic or con
vertible currency. For this purpose,
lot us inquire ’fiov,' much gold and
silver could bo purchased by the
seven hundred millions of paper money
i nowin circulation? Probably not more
than half Lite amount of the latter—show
j ing that " lien our paper currency is 00m
j pared with gold and silver, its cQtrpqer
j dial value is compressed into three hun
j dred and fifty millions. This striking
! fact makes it the obvious duty of the
| Government, as early as may be consist
ent with tho principles of sound political
! economy, to take such measures as tyiii
; enable the holder of its notes aud those of
1 the Natiunal Batiks to convert them, witli-
I out loss, into specie or its equivalent- A
i reduction ofourpaper circulating medium
; need not necessarily follow. This, how
ever, would depotitl upon the law of de
mand and supply, though it should lie
borne in tnind that by making iegal
i tender and bond notes convertible into
‘ coin or its equivalent, their present specie
value in the hands of tbejr hqkje/q foul'd
1 be enhanced one l',ui,di'y.d per cent.
Regisifttion for the accomplishment of a
I result so desirable is demanded by the
highest public considerations. The Con- I
1 stitulion contemplates that the circulating !
1 medium of the country' shall be unifoi-m
jiu quality and value. At tlje time of the
formation of that instrument, the country
, had just emerged from , the War of the
I Revolution, and was suffering from the 1
effects of a redundant and worthless paper i
i currency'. The sages of that perio.tl were I
; anxious to protect their posterity from !
the evils whici; tffay iheuqselves had ex- j
perjermou. lienee, in providing a cireu- 1
taring medium, they conferred upon Con
gress the power to coin money and regu- ;
late the value thereof, at the same time 1
1 prohibiting the States from making any
: thing but gold and siivera tender in p..y- 1
men! of debts,
The anomalous condition of our enr- i
rency is jn striking contrast with that I
which was originally designed. Our cir
cnlation now embraces, first, notes of the ,
National Banks, which are n,acia rooetva- j
i ble for ail dueff to ihe Government, ex
i eluding imposts, and by all its creditors, j
! excepting In payment of interest upon its !
j bonds and the securities themselves ; !
second, legal-tender notes, issued by the
! United States, and which the law requires
shall be received as weU in payment 1 of all
1 debts between citizens as of all Govern
ment dues, excepting imposts; and,third,
; gold and silver coin. By the operation of
i our present system of finance, however, 1
the metallic currency, when collected, is
reserved only for one class'qf Government
creditors, who, holding its bonds, semi
| annually receive their interests in coin
1 from the National Treasury, They are
tl; as made to occupy an invidious position
which may be used to strengthen tfie ar
guments of those who would bring into
disrepute the obliga'ionsof the nation. In
; the payments of ail its debts, the plighted
faith of the Government should be invio
! lably' maintained. But while it acts with
fidelity toward the i holder who loaned
1 his money that the ■ ■.- grity of the Union
might t;e preserved, it should at the same
time observe good faith with the masse, of
the people, who, having rescued the Union
from the perils of the rebellion, now bear
the burdens of taxation, that the
ment may bo able to fulfil it', engagements.
There is no reason which will be accepted
as satisfactory by the people, why those
who defend us on the land and protect us
on the sea; the pensioner upon the grati
tude of the nation, bearing the scars and
. wounds received while in its service, the
public serv'.uts in the various Depart
ments of the Government; the farmer who
supplies the soldiers of the army and the
; sailors of the navy; the artisan who toiks
; in the nation’s workshop, or the me
> chauics aud laborers who build its edifices
and construct its forts and vessels of war—
j should, in payment of their just and
* hard earned dues, receive depreciated
’ paper, while another class of their
I countrymen, no more deserving, are
; paid in coin of gold and silver. —
Equal and exact justice requires that all
j the creditors of the Government should
be paid in a currency possessing a uni
form value. This can only be accomplish
ed by the restoration of the currency to
the standard established by the Constitu
tion; and by this means we would remove
a discrimination which may, if it has not
a.ready done so, create a prejudice that
may become deep-rooted and wide-spread,
and imperil the national credit.
The feasibility of making onr currency
correspond with tho constitutional stand
ard may be seen by reference to a few
facts derived from' our commercial sta
tistics.
The production of precious metals in the
United States from 1849 to 1857, inclusive,
amounted to $579,000,000; from 1858 to 1850,
inclusive, to $137,500,000: and from ISOI to
1807, inclusive, to $457,500.000 —making
the grand aggregate of products sin,
1849, $1,174,000,000. The amount of
specie coined from 1849 to 1857, in
clusive, was $439,000,000; from 1858 to
1800, Inclusive, $135,000,000; and from ISBI
to 1807, inclusive. s3lo,ooo,ooo—making the
total coinage since 1549, $74,000,000. From
1849 to 1857, inclusive, the net exports of
specie amounted to $•’71,000,000; from 1858
to 1860, inclusive, to $148,000,000; and from
1861 to 1867, inclusive, s327,ooo.ooo—mak
ing the aggregate of net exports since 1849,
$741,000,000. These figures show an excess
of product over net exports of $133,000,000.
There are in the Treasury $111,000,900 in
coin, something more than $40,000,000 in
circulation on tho Pacific Coast, and a few
millions in the National and other Banks
—in all about $160,000,000. This, however,
taking into account the specie in the coun
try prior to 1549, leaves more than tiiree
hundred millions of dollars which have
not been accounted for by exportation,
and therefore may vet remain in the coun
try.
These are important facts, and show
how completely the inferior currency will
supersede tho 'better, forcing it from cir
culation among tho masses, and causing it
to be exported as u mere article of trade,
to add to the money capital of foreign
lands. They show the necessity of retir
ing our paper money, that the return of
gold and silver to the avenues of trade
may be invited, and a demand created
which will cause tin retention at home of
at least so much of the productions of our
rich and inexhaustible gold-bearing fields
as may bo sufficient for purposes of circu
lation. It is unreasonable to expect a re
turn to a sound currency so long as tho
Government, by continuing to issue irre
deemable notes, fills tbe channels of cir
culation with depreciated paper. Not
withstanding coinage by onr mints, since
1849, of eight hundred and seventy-four
millions of dollars, the people are now
strangers to the currency which was de
signed for their use and benefit, and speci
mens of the precious metals bearing tbe
national device are seldom seen, except
when produced to gratify the interest ex
cited by their novelty, if depreciated pa
per is to be continued as tbe permanent
currency of the country, and all our coin
is to become a more articlo of traffic and
speculation, to tbe enhancement in price
of all that is indispensable to the comfort
of the people, it would be wise economy
to abolish our mints, thus saving the na
tion the care and expense incident to such
establishments, and let ail our precious
metals bo exported in bullion. The time
has oome, however, when the Government
and National Banks should be required to
take the most efficient steps and make all
necessary arrangements for a resumption
of specie payments at the earliest practi
cable period. Specie payments having
once been resumed by the Government
and banks, all notes or bids of paper is
sued by either of a less denomination titan
twenty dollars should by law be excluded
from circulation, so that the people may
have the benetit and convenience of a
gold and silver currency which in all their
business transactions will be uniform in
value at home and abroad.
“Every man of property and industry,
every man who desires to preserve what
he honestly possesses, or to obtain what he
can honestly earn, has a direct interest in
maintaining a safo circulating medium
such a medium as shall be real and sub
stantial, not liable to vibrate with opinions,
not subject to be blown up or blown down
by the broathof speculation, but to bemade
stable and secure. A disordered currency
is one of the greatest political evils. It
undermines the virtues necessary for the
support of the social system, and encourages
propensities destructive of its happiness;
it wars against industry, frugality, and
economy, and it fosters the evil spirits of
extravagance and speculation.” It has
been assorted by one of our profound and
most gifted statesmen, that “of all the con
trivances for cheating the laboring classes
of mankind, none lias been more effectual
than that which deludes them with paper
money. This is the most effectual of in
ventions to fertilize the rich man’s fields
by the sweat of the poor man’s brow. Or
dinary tyranny, oppression, excessive
taxation—these bear lightly on the happi
ness of the mass of the community com
pared with a fraudulent currency, and the
robberies committed by depreciated paper.
Our own history has recorded for our in
struction enough, and more than enough
of tho demoralizing tendency, the in jus
tice, and the intolerable oppression on tbe
virtuous and well-disposed* of a degraded
paper currenoy, authorized by law or in
any way countenanced by Government.” It
is one of the most successful devices, in
times of peace or war, expansions or re
vulsions, to accomplish the tra isfer of all
the precious metals from the great mass
of the people into the hands of tho few,
where they are hoarded iu secret places or
deposited in strong boxes under bolts and
bars, while tbe people are left to endure
all the inconvenience, sacrifice, and de
moralization resulting from the use of a
depreciated and worthless paper money.
The condition of onr finances and the
operations of our revenue system are set
forth and fully explained in the able and
instructive report of tho Secretary of the
Treasury. On the 30th of June, 18(56, the
public debt amounted to $2,783,125,87!): o,u
the 30th of June lust it was $2,(592, Rib, 3ls,
showing a reduction during ttie fiscal year
of 91,226,6(51. during the fiscal year end
ing June 80, 18(57, the receipts W“re $490,-
(534,010, and tbe expenditures $34(5,720,120,
leaving an available surplus of $143,00-1,880.
It is estiimued that the receipts for the
fiscal year ending June 30, 18(58, wijl Re
$417,1(51,028, and that tbe exppfbhtgepSVill
reach the sum of *s3 2ffiyJ2fi. leaving in
the Treasury a surplus of $2-'1,8!G,7<>2. For
tfie fiscal your ending June 30, 18(50, it is
estimated that the receipts will amount to
$381,000,000, and that the expenditures will
be $372,000,000, showing an excess of
$04)00,000 in favor of the Government.
The attention of Congress is earnestly in -
vited to the necessity of a (ffqroqgU revis
ion of our revenue sy-.te.ni. Onr internal
revenue lqv. s grid impost system should lie
so adjusted us to bear most heavily on ar
ticles of luxury, leaving tho necessaries of
life as free from taxation as may Ro con
sistent with the real want?; eff the Govern
ment, economically administered. Taxa
tion would nftt then fall unduly on the
man of moderate means ; and while pone
would lie entirely exempt from assess
ment, all, in proportion to their pecuniary
abilities, would contribute toward the
support of tfie State. A modification of
the internal reyenue system, by a largo re
duction in thenumber of article* l\c,W ue,b-'
jootto tax, would lie followed Lv results
equally ad van so deny,;, to the citizen and
the QoyertHfieui. it would render the
execution or tho lawless expensive aud
more certain, remove obstructions to in
dustry, lessen the temptations to evade the
law, diminish the violations and fp.m;t
perpetrated upon its (,y'u;d its
operations less inquiqßc.riaj, greatly
reduce in ijitffiLfiV-i ti,o army of tax-gath
erq;-q a,*,!,*od by the system, who “take
f«dm tho mouth of honest labor the bread
it has earned.” Retrench meat, reform
unit economy should be earned ••very
branch of the public seryiao, that the 'ex
penditures of ttjcGovernment may be re
duced, nud ttie people relieved from op
pressive taxation ; a sound currency
should ho restored, and the public laith in
regard to the national debt sacredly ob
served. The accomplishment of these
important results, together with the
ration of the Pnion of the States upon the
principles of Constitution, would in
spire con (Lienee at home and abroad in the
Stability of our institutions, and bring to
the nation prosperity, peace and good
will.
The report of the Secrgany. «i War ail
interim exhibits ’.ha operations of tho army
and of VLe, sever id Bureaus of tbe War
The aggregate strength ot
our military force on tbe 30 th of Sepl cm hol
las t was 50,315. The total estimate *bq.mil
itary appropriations is $77 includ
ing a deficiency- year's appropriation
of #.’2,(s(|G,t4ep, The payments at the Treas
ury on account of the service of the War
Department from January I to October 2<i,
186,—a period of ten mouths—ainov.ciuti to
$100,807,000. The expenses cf ihe military
establishment, as “ ej as the numbers of
the army are now'three times as great as
thi.y have ever been in times of peace;
while the discretionary power it vested iu
tue Executive to add millions to, ,ms ex
penditure hy an increase, of the army to
the maximurq allowed by the
lav,’,
Tiie menacing attitude of some of the
warlike bands of Indians inhabiting ‘L t
district of country between the Arkansas
and P'atte rivers, and portions of Dakota!)
Territory, required the; presence of a large
military force in that region. Instigated
by real or imaginary grievances, the Try.
aians occasionally committed acts of bar
barous violence upon emigrants and our
frontier settlements ■ but a*general Indian
wur has been providentially averted. The
C’emmis doners under the act of 20th Jqly,
| 1867, were invested with full power to ad
, just existing difficulties, negotiate treaties
I with the disaffected hands, aud select for
them reservations remote front the travell
ed routes between the >fiusis..iopi and the
Pacific. They entered without delay' upon
the execution of their trust, but have not
yet made any official report of their pro
ceedings. It is of vita! importance that,
our distant Territories should be pxempt
from Indian outbreaks, and that the
construction cf the Pacific Railroad,
an ofiject of national importance,
should not be interrupted by hostile
1 tribes. These objects, as well as the
1 material interests and the moral and iutel
-1 leetual impr ivement of tho fndians, can
i be most effectually secured by concentrat
ing the’m upon portions of country set
apart for their exclusive use, aud located
at points remote from our highways and
encroaching white settlements.
, Since the commencement of the second I
NEW SERIES YOL. XXVI. NO. 49.
! session of tho Thirty-Ninth Congress, live
hundred and ten miles of road have been
constructed on the main line und branches
of the Pacific Railway. The line from
Omaha is rapidly approaching tho eastern
base of the Kooky Mountains, whilst the
terminus of the last section of constructed
road in California, accepted by the Gov
ernment on the 24th dav of October last,
! was but eleven miles distant from tho
| Sierra Nevada. The remarkable energy
, evinced by tho Companies ..pliers the
I strongest assurance that tho completion
of the road frpui Sacramento to Omaha
i will be long deferred.
I During tho last fiscal year seven million
forty-one thousand one hundred and four
teen acres of public land were disposed of,
and the cash receipts from sales and foes
exceeded by one-tialf million dollars the
sum realized from those sources during
tho preceding year. The amount paid to
pensioners, including expenses of dis
bursements, was $18,018,956, and thirty
six thousand four hundred and oighty
two names were added to the roils.' The
entire number of pensioners on the 30th of
i June last was one hundred and fifty-five
thousand four hundred and seventy-four.
Eleven thousand six hundred and fifty
live patents aud designs were issued du
ring the year ending September 30, 1867,
and at that date the balance in the
Treasury to tho credit of tho Patent fund
was $286,607.
The report of the Secretary of the Navy
state that wo have seven squadrons ac
tively aud judiciously employed, under
efficient and able commanders', in protect
ing the persons and property of American
citizens, maintaining the dignity and
power of the Government, and promoting
the commerce and business interests of
our countrymen in every part Os the
world. Os the two hundred and thirty
eight vessels composing the present navy
ot the United States, fifty-six, carryiug
live hundred aud seven guns, are in
squadron service. During the year the
number of vessels in commission has
been reduced twelve, and there are thir
teen less on squadron duty than there
were at the date of the last report. A large
number of vessels were commenced aud
in the course of construction when the war
terminated, and although Congress had
made tiro necessary appropriations for
their completion, the Department has
either suspended work upon them or lim
ited the slow completion of tho steam ves
sels, so as to meet tiie contracts for ma
chinery made with private establishments.
The total expenditures of the Navy De
partment for the fiscal year ending 'June
30, 1867, were $31,034,0i1. No appropria
tions have been made or required since
the close of the war lor tho construction
and repair of vessels, forsteam machinery,
ordnance, provisions and clothing, fuel,
hemp, Ac., the balances under these several
heads iiaviug been more than sufficient for
current expenditures. It should also be
stated to the credit of the Department
that, besides asking no appropriations for
tho aboveobjects forthe last two years, the
Secretary of the Navy, on the 30th of Sep
tember last, in accordance with the act of
May 1, 1820, requested the Secretary of the
Treasury to carry the surplus fund, the
sum of sixty-live millions of dollars,
being tho amount received from the sales
of vessels aud other war property, and the
remnants of former appropriations.
The report of tho Fostniaster Generai
shows the business of the Postoffice De
partment and the condition of tho postal
service in a very favorable light, and the
attention of Congress is called'to its practi
cal recommendations. The receipts of the
Department for the year ending June 30,
1867, including all special appropriations
for sea and land service anti for free mail
matter, were $10,978,693. The expendi
tures for alt purposes were $19,235,483,
leaving an unexpended balance in favor
of the Department of $743,210, which can
be applied toward the expenses of the
Department for the current year. Tiie in
crease of postal revenue, independent of
specific appropriations, for the year 1867,
over that of 1866, was $850,040. The in
crease of revenue from the sale of stamps
and stamped envelopes was $783,404. The
increase of expenditures for 1867 over
those of the previous year was owing
chieffy to the extension of the land and
ocean mail service. During the past year
new postal conventions have been
ratified and exchanged with the
United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, Belgium, tho Nether
lands, Switzerland, the North German
Union, Italy, and the colonial Govern
ment at Hong-Kong, reducing very large
ly the rates of ocean and land postages to
and from and within those countries.
The report of the Acting Commissioner
of Agriculture concisely presents the con
dition, wants and progress of an interest
eminently worthy the fostering (-.are of
Congress, and exhibits a large ineasureof
useful results achieved during the year to
which it refers.
The re-establishment of peace at home,
and the resumption of extended trade,
travel and commerce abroad, have served
to increase the number and variety of
questions in the department lor foreign
affairs. None of these questions, however,
have seriously disturbed our relations
with other States.
'Hie Republic <>f Mexico, having been
relieved freni foreign intervention, is
earnestly engaged in efforts to re-establish
her constitutional system of government.
A good understanding continues to exist
I between our Government and the Repub
! lies of Hay ti and San Domingo, and our
cordial relations with the Central and
; South American States remain unchang
ed. Tfie tender, made in conformity with
a resolution of Congress, of the good offices
of the Government, with a view to an
amicable adjustment of peace between
Brazil aud tier allies, on one side, and
Paraguay on the other, and between Chili
and her allies, on the one side, and Spain
on the other, though kindly received, has
in either case been fully accepted by tho
belligerents. Tho war iu tho Valiev of the
Parana is still vigorously maintained. On
tbe other hand, actual hftsiilities between
the Pacific Spain have been
more than q year suspended. 1 shall, on
any proper oocasion that may occur, re
new tho conciliatory recommendations
which have been already made. Brawl
with enlightened sagacity and tiumjA'chon-'
sive statesmanship, lias oponyfi tho great
channels of the Auhusc.n and its tributaries
to universal commerce, One thing more
seeqiq i|.>6(l(i\l to assmro a rapid and cheer
l ing progress in South America, I refer to
j those pcacoiui habits without which States
1 and Nations cannot, in this age, welt ex
! pact material prosperity or socialmlvauoe
ment.
The Exposition of Universal Industry
I at Paris has passed, and seems to have
| fully realized tfio high expectations of the
Fi onoli < iovernment. If due allowance he
mode, for tbe recent political derangement
of industry here, the part which the United
States inis borno in this exhibition of in
vention and art may be regarded with
very high satisfaction. During the-Expo
sitjuii a conference was held of delegates
ffoui several nations,(the United States be
ing one, in which iiio inconveniences of
commerce and social intercourse resulting
from tho diverse standards of money value
W&ve very fully discussed, and plans were
| developed for establishing, hy universal
I consent, a common principle for the coin
j age of gold. These conferences are ex
! Dcctotf (o U> renewed, with the attendance
of I.(any foreign States not hitherto repre
sented. A report of these interesting pro
ceedings will be submitted to Congress,
which will no doubt justly appreciate tho
great object, and be ready to adopt any
measure which may tend to facilitate its
ultimate iiooeioplKUment.
( ii 1 : <,u L 4 Los February, 1862, Congress
'l.VvLV'cd by law that Treasury notes vvitb
( oyt interest, authorized by that act, should
>. be legal-tender in payment of all dobts,
; public and private, within tbe United
j Stales. An annual remittance of $30,000,
i less stipulated expenses, accrues to claim-
I anU uVider the Convention, made with
1 Spain in 1834. There remittances, since
j tho passage of ’.bat act, iuive been »aid in
; sucit 110*0,. Tfie claimant* insist that the
Govern I pent ought to require payment in
; coin. The subject may be deemed worthy
; of your attention,
j No arrangement iias as yet been reached
for the settlement of our claims for British
depredations upon the commerce of ihe
j United States. 1 have felt it my «/uty to
decline the proposition of gufbitration made
by Her Majesty’s Cimyrnment, because it
j has heretofore, accompanied by res-
I (•rvathyi, and limitations incompatible
n.ih the rights, interest, and honor '.S our
, country. It is not to be apprehended that
Great Britain will persist;!, her refusal to
: satisfy these just and reasonable claims,
which involve, tho sacred principle ofuon
intervtuaJoa —a principle henceforth uot
more important to tbe United Stat/yq than
to all other commercial liatiqvw.
i lie V» es! India Island" were settled and
1 colonized by pyuopean States simulta
neously v;ib*. the settlement aud eoloniza
tiur; -Alio American continent, Meet of
tho colonies planted here hvearne inde
; pendent nations in the oluae of the lastarid
ihe beginning of the present century. Our
; own counity etU.braoescommunities which
at one period, were colonies of Great Bri-,
aim, France, Spain, Holland, Sweden and
. Russia. The people in the \YWs Indies,
• with the exception ot those of the Island
I of Havti. have neither attained or aspired
1 to independent*,, nor have they become
prepare; 1 , y,c self-defence. Although, pos
; ; easing considerable commercial value,
; they have been held bv ‘-be several Eu
ropean States which colonized or at some
j time conquered them, chiefly forpurpo. es
of military and naval strategy ;n carrying
I out European policyand designs in regard
, to this continent. In our Revolutionary
War, ports arid h&ibors in the West India
I Islands were used by our enemy, to the
great injury and embarrassment ot the
V nited States. We had the same expe-
J rience in our second war with Great
Britain. Tb.o same European policy for a
Jong excluded us even from trade
, with the West Indies, while wo '. ere at
peace with all nations. In our iveent civil
war the rebels, and their piraticai and
j blockade-breaking allies, found facilities
i in tbe same ports for the work, which they
{ too successfully aecornplished, of injuring
j and devastating the commerce which wo
1 are now engaged in rebuilding. We la-
I bored especially under this disadvantage—
-1 that European steam vessels, employed by
| our enemies, found friendly shelter, protec
tion, and supplies in West Indian ports
while onr own naval operations were ne
cessarily carried on from |our own distant
shores. There was then a universal feelin-'
of the want of an advanced naval outposl
between the Atlantic coast and Europe.
I The duty of obtaining such an outpost
| peacefully and lawfully, while neither
j doing nor menacing injury to other States
! earnestly engaged tho attention of tho Ex* j
ecutive Department before the close of the
war, and it has not been lost sight of since
that time. A not entirely dissimilar naval
want revealed itself during the same pe
riod on the Pacific coast. Tho required
foothold there was fortunately secured In
cur late treaty with tho Emperor of Rus
sia, ajid it now seems imperative that the
moro obvious necessities of the Atlantic
coast should not be Uv.s carefully provided
for. A good andconvenient port and har
bor, capable of easy defence, will supply
that want, With the possession of such a
station by the United States, neither wo
nor any other American nation need long
er apprehend injury or offence from any
Trans-Atlantic enemy. I agree with our
early statesmen that t ho West Indies natu
rally gravitate to, and may bo expected
ultimately to bo absorbed by the Conti
nental States, including our own. I agree
with them also that it i* wise to leave the
question of such absorption to . his process
of natural political gravitation. The Isl
ands of St. Thomas aud St. John’s, which
constitute a part of the group called tho
Virgin Islands, seemed to offer us advan
tages immediately desirable, while their
acquisition could bo secured in harmony
with tho principles to which I have al
luded, A treaty has, therefore, been con
cluded with the King of Denmark lor tho
cession of those islands, and will be sub
mitted to tho Senate for consideration.
It will hardly be necessary to call the
attention of Congress to tho subject of pro
viding for the payment to Russia of tho
sum stipulated in'the oessiou of Alaska.
Possession having been formally deliver
ed to our commission, the territory re
mains for the present in care of a military
force, awaiting such civil organizations as
shall be directed by Congress.
The annexation of many small German]
States to Prussia, and the reorganization!
of that country under anew and liberall
constitution, have induced me to renew!
tho effort to obtain a just and prompt sell
tlement of the long-vexed question eon J
periling the claims of foreign States fol
military service from their subjects natiJ
ralized injthe United States.
in connection with this subject, tho afl
teution, of Congress is respectfully cal lei
to a singular and embarrassing conflict fl
laws. Tho Executive Department of ihjfl
Government has hitherto uniformly lielfl
as it now holds, that naturalization,
conformity with the Constitution and k'lwW
ot the l mied States,absolves the
trom his native allegiance. The courts
Great Britain hold that allegiance to tlB
British Crown is indefeasible, and is nfl
absolved by our laws of naturaiizatioß
British judges cite courts and law millioiH
ties of the United States in support of thH
theory against the position held by il
Executive authority of the United Siatiß
This conflict perplexes the public nml
concerning the rights of naturalized
zens, and impairs the national authoriß
abroad, i called attention to this
in my last annual message, and nowag.iß
respectfully appeal to Congress to
the national w ill unmistakably upon
important question.
Theabuse of our laws by the
prosecution oftlie African'.-lave trade
Anierican ports by American eiiizi ns
altogether ceased, and, under
circumstances, no apprehensions of its
nowal in this part of the world are
tuilicd. Under these «;ir< uuistauces it
comes a question whether we shall
propose to Her Majesty's GovcrnmciHf
suspension or diseon;inuanen s;
lations for maintaining a natal
tiie suppression of tlmt'trado. Wm
AN DRE\V JOUN.B(
'Washington. December in;;.
Conservative Meeting in Llnedßi Con
Lincolnton, Deo. 2d, isd
A meeting was held at Lincolntot]
day, for the purpose of selecting deled
to the Conservative Convention, to hel
at Macon on tho sth inst.
On motion, Dr. J. L. Wilkes was cJ
to the Chair and Mr. J. W. McCautd
quested to act as Secretary.
A Committee was appointed by I
Chairman to nominate delegates, w|
reported the following: Elil Lock!
Nathan Bussey, and K J. Lyons as J
gates.
The folio wing resolutions were adopl
Resolved, That wc approve the cal
said Convention, and will stand by I
friends throughout the State in the ul
all legitimate aud peaceful means to 1
vent the government of the State I
passing into the hands of the ignJ
and degraded, of whatever race or <1
and pledge our lirm co-operation in alll
lul eftorts to maintain a white nl
government against the efforts of alll
sons, whether white or black. I
Resolved, That the proceedings oil
meeting be forwarded to the Au|
Giro a ii;lc as Sentinel for publication!
J. L. Wilkes, Chairuil
J. W. McCants, Secretary. ■
lulled States Court for ttie Sou
iUstrict of Georgi?.
CIRCUIT COURT IION. JOHN ERS
.JUDGE, PRESIDING.
December 2d, 1807.—1n the case 1
United States us. Foster Blodgett, G
Jackson, of counsel i'or the dele
moved the Court to fix the amount
i'or his appearance at the next term
Court, whereupon the Court askt
opinion of District Attorney as t
amount of bail in this case, who sug
$20,000. Counsel i'or defendant s
thought that even SIO,OOO, under I
oiroumstances, was high. It wal
agreed that it should be fixed at I
to which the Court assented.
[ iSuvciHitah Republican J
From the Macon Telegraph, I
Perjury by Southern MenJ
The case of Mr. Blodgett, who hi
indicted in the United States I
Court for perjury, by a jury coniptl
clusively of Southern men wliourJ
to swear, and have sworn, that till
no aid, comfort or counteuancel
Soutli in her recent struggle hi
pendcnce, is suggestive. It d<l
staud alone. It is but one, we rfl
say, of numerous instances that isl
the loose moral sentiment oi tin!
and the inordinate desire for gaiiH
dered by tho transactions of the wfl
temptation to do wrong was greaH
they could bear, arid the ojqiressiiß
North afa time of great ludividß
and suffering, tending to make JijH
of men heretofore considered lioifl
had its full share in the busitiessM
very many the argument has bfl
Government has no right to imptH
conditions and restrictions; 1 unH
and must make someliiing tor n.jH
or, I am rich and want to be ntH
there is no moral guilt in sub-cH
declarations thus wrongfully H
even though it should amount
ble falsehood, “it don’t
thing,” is a saying among tlicß
easy virtue,
Wo 'know a young soldier
bravely through a “ret pm mm ■
and l(«t a leg in Ins last battle,
tie: emoluments a village
willing to take an oath that he
given aid or comfort to the
An rher ca..e irr.v in mind
, advanced in years, who wears
of Heaven as a minister oi'
truth, and edited a paper
the Confederacy, to ad
ougiiiy id-mUi and w caq-.^H
i ft' the pa.tr> ode e iff r. gi-t; av^H
- ur-r boa - ID.-irto-.-i if 11
iron end oath. Gid help
sti h deuioranzatir-u i» not
by ail indignant .-, and iff
tue guilty parties consigned
dishonor.
It is in this way that the
unprincipled nave ..
an 1 fa,ill- ... -.-.
which under other
have -. i-^H|
tier lear ol j a olio opinion.
incut 1 It wa.-: the tempting
and the men who jn . 1
pally with which they i.uve
.-elves are now powerful,
a .g: ..^n
V: I diet, liny ter
of the iuv,’, ot tee . ■«
in the VutL -J.
, 1 H
And it sir, Hit ic- rH[||
dec or:.; k;i -J
it,■ added tiie- '--'Blslj
i tieasoii ay. tie
.
fide. ,-L lilie.-^HH
. . H||||
-a
ii .1. . i
the -fi'c-’.ni^^^H
-nt a • f.'g
and i".( .crr^Hßra
-i -
F-,r .- nee two ye.:.-.- HH
i ■ '
i G---I t)
him.—rif is, the .vhar. where
until night. Wh.-n txuHß
store his wile cso-.-d Mm t- e^HH|
dew,. lie said lie would do^HH
ia.-.’. (hue. After putting
ho die-v a pistol, and Id
with him t» g it, but faii^HH
leer au i si.-KiteU ice' iu ip.
' :u; ; ; e
killing himself in.-tai
v,';o in-ready l -re t - pkc .
an! 1 -n HHH|
. tl. .’ h- u:,. .r^HHH
-I- r:tliv--1.i.-i!t. lit- ;• .tvt^^HH
: . mmm
