[coliampzap&TED. ADDRESS, Delivered before the citizens of Petersburg (Y. S.) and its vicinity, and others; by LEWIS X. IiAMMERSLY, February 22d. Fxt.tow•Urrtzsior—l hnd indulged in the common expectation that you would be addressed by some of the distinguished strangers who were invited to he present on ibis occasion; and I like wise share the common disappointment which is felt because 01 their n on-attendance. Under these peculiar circumstances, 1 have consented to deliv er a few remarks. You will certainly not expect • a lengthy or labored oration; nor am I at all pre pared to gratify any such expectations. Fellow•citisens—'l'bere is something more than ordinarily interesting iu this assemblage. The Character of the times in which we lice, impute to this and similar meetings, a peculiar interest and importance. I am sure I do not mis-interpret tho meaning of passing events, nor attach undue Importanco to the chronicles of the day, when I claim an extraordinary share of consideration fur those subjects which naturally connect themselves with tho occasion we now honor. We have met together for the purpose of com memorating another anniversary of the birth of Washington. We have come here for the pur pose of paying the homage of our hearts to the principles ■nd the character of that great man whose memory is not only enshrined first in the affections of his countrymen, but whose unap proachable excellence is already the property of the-world, and the common heritage of the whole human race. Let us give full vent to our ardent sympathies for ill the associations which cluster around the day we celebrate. Let us exult in the eoneciousuess of a new-born spirit of patriotism. Once more, we stand up • common platform.— Once more', we hove dropped the yirulence of th• partizan, and forgotten the minor differences of the politician, and assembled togetber, to the spirit of blethron, to act the high part which it is the duty of every American citizen to perform. Fellow-citizens—This day ie not without its sober thoughts and its solemn appeals. And they should pervade the whole land, receiving a voice and utterance as well in the legislative hall or the council of the ruler, as in the humble assemblage which are found together, throughout the country, on this day. They should be alike spoken in the town and in the country; in the city and in the hamlet. The twentyrsecond of February! It should come to us as richly fraught with perma nent instruction as it is with passing conviviality. It should be made the season for recurring to the true principles of our social and political institu tions. It should bring with its annuml return a renewed spirit of devotion to the constitutions end laws of the land. Its very observance should infuse into us a portion of that lofty spirit which has given to the immortal Washington the conse crated title, • Pater Patriw! Let it serve to re fresh our recollection of the wholesome end in valuable lesson, which may bo derived from the frequent study of his character and principles.— Let it impel us to linger over the moral beauties of his life; attentively contemplating the wisdom' of - his piecepts and the purity of hts motive% marking all the various excellencies so pre-emi nently blended in the man; and studying to be what we behold; until (to use the beautiful senti bent of a congenial spirit) "we contemplate his character till all its virtues spread out and display themselves to our delighted vision; as the earliest astronomers, the shepherds on the plain of Baby lon, gazed at the stars till they saw them form into dusters end constellation, overpowering at length the eyes of the beholders with the united blaze of a thousand light,." Thus will we truly honor this high anniversary day. Thus will we impart to our fleeting cere monies a good influence which will not too so transient. Thus do we, as it were, resuscitate the hallowed manes of the tether of his country; •nd, in effect, restore, those golden days when his valor, his patriotism, and his sage wisdom was so chiefly instrumental in achieving and preserving our liberties, and directing the energies of the infant republic in those admirable Principles of policy which have so rapidly conducted us to • high degree of national prosperity and glory.. Fellow•cittzens—ln attempting briefly, to deli- neat. the character of Washington, I scarcely knew what to present you in particular, or as its strong features. So admirably were the virtue. which shone forth in him te.npered; so pre-emi- nently were the elements of his nature adjusted into harmonious, well-proportioned action. Hume has given us his very personation in that passage in which, speaking of the great Alfred, he remarks that elle seemed, indeed, to be the complete model of that perfect character which, under the denom ination of a sage or • wise man, the philosophers have been fond of delineating, rather as a fiction of their imagination, than in hope of ever seeing it reduced to practice; so happily were all his vir tues tempered together; so justly were they blen ded; and so powerfully did each prevent the other from exceeding its proper bounds." Time, which but too often consigns to prema ture oblivion the - Memory and the deeds of the good and the great, has, in its Lethean flight, but served to enshrine the remembrance, and add a purer lustre to the character of Washington. His actions and fame are so indissolubly associated with the triumph of ennobling principles; with the germination, the budding, and the expansion of liberal institutions; with the honor awl renown of his country; in short, with those characteristics and ends which shove all others adorn and beau tify humanity, that the usually oblivious flight of time has served no other purpose than to increase his reputation, and add to his glory. His whole life is a beautiful model, and one which mankind might study with signal benefit. His character' blended together all the constituents of true nobil ity—the only nobility which freemen design ever to acknowledge—the nobility of Nature. His fame is not exclusively his country's. It embra ces in its periphery every clime and people under the Heavens. We are told "that the Arab of the i desert talks of Washington in his tent, and that I f his name is familiar to the wandering Scythian." Burh are, and such ever will be, the legitim a t e rewards of exalted patriotism and virtue. What were all the trappings of royalty, or the arbitrary distinctions of titled despotism, in comparison with the unsullied redience of his name alone— I ,Bow dissimilar is Washington's fame to that of! hie mighty contemporary of another hemisphere; whose name and achievements too many blindly idolise, end whose very renown is built upon the convulsion of kingdoms and cemented by the desolation ef empires! Iltere is something in the character of the fa ther of his country which the morose stoicism of misanthropy anJ the pride 11 intellect, equally yiel.l to. The highest-in worldly estimation, the greatest ufientnees; (do moat splendidly r [Aiwa ateesiet yeent—in 'hail, the grids and power of earth, have emulated each other in the expression of fervid admiration for the character of Wash- Thus, one declares "that it will be the duty of the Historian and the Sage in all ages to omit no occasion of commemorating this illustrious man; and until time shall be no longer will be a teat of the progress which our race Ivis made in wisdom and in virtue to be derived from the venerations paid to the immortal name of Waslaington."—oln the production of Washington" (such is the lan guage of another of his celebrated eulogist) "in the production of Washington it does really ap pear as if nature was desirous to improve on her self, and that all the virtues of the ancient world were but so many studies preparatory to the pa triot of the new. Individual instances, no doubt, there were; splendid exemplification■ of some single qualification: Cesar was merciful; Scipio was continent; Hannibal was patient; but it was reserved for Washington to blend them all in ono, and like the lovely master piece of the Grecian artist, to exhibit in one glare of associated beauty, the pride of every model, and the perfection of every master.--..1f" (exclaims another of the master spirits of the world, when speaking of Washington)' tho prediction of the poet, ut tered a few years before his birth, be true; if in deed it be designed by Providence that the grand est exhibition of human character and human affairs shell be made on this theatre of the western world; if it be true that The four first ems already past, A fifth shall close the drama with the day; Time's noblest offspring is the last; how could this imposing, swelling, final scene, be appropriately opened, how could its intense in terest be adequately sustained, but by the intro duction of just such • character as our Wash ington!" Such, is the language which men of the most enlarged views of human character end human conduct; men of sober judgments and profound minds. have delighted to make use of when speak ing of Washington. And why should we wonder •t it! The fame of mere heroes, indeed, is grow ing vulgar! But .inc 6 the world began, thole has been but one IVashington. And his fame is unapproachable. We may safely challenge the records of ancient arid modern times to exhibit to our view an in stance in which is manifested a loftier spirit of patriotism, or • majestic simplicity of character supetior to that which impute a matchless dignity of expression and truth of sentiment to the words of his military bequests to some of his re:ativca. '-These swords," (I quote his own words) these swords are accompanied with an injunction not to ;illiberal' them fur the purpose of shedding blood, except it be fur self-defence, or in defence of this country end its rights; and, in the latter case, to keep them unsheathed, and prefer falling with them in their bands, to the relinquishment thereof." Is there anything in the boasted annals of Grecian or Roman oratory or patriotism, which shines with a brighter lustre than this memento of our Washington! Citizen soldiery! why need you travel back to the days of the Brutuees and the Cates, in order to nerve your valor or stimulate your patriotisin, when the deeds and virtues of the father of his country are invested with so resplendent a radieneel Surely, surely, the friends of human rights and human liberty, both at home and abroad, who are sending up so many heartfelt aspirations fur the prosperity of free government in this western republic, could breathe no more effective prayer than that our bravo and patriotic citizen soldiery might ever continue to be actua. ted by the spirit which pervades these precepts of Washington. There are, however, those who assert that Washington was not one of tho gmatest of men What do such mean The's° who say that Wash ington was not a great man can merely mean that "•he displayed no one quality in excess; that he played off no coruscations;" but that he had that sterling worth—that daily beauty in life—that grandeur and elevation of the whole man—which rendered him far more great and estimable than the poet, the painter, and the orator. And those who detract Irons the merits of Washington's character,frequently exalt the claims of Bonaparte, and such a. Bonapaite, to rank far above him in the scale of greatness. But the world has already vindicated the fame of Washington. True; be was not the counterpart of Napoleon. There is scarcely a trait of character that they possessed in common. The former had in him "no quality of mind deficient; no quality in excess; no false lights and no deficient lights." Ho gave to every thing its true weight, and no more. The latter was a prodigy. His life baffled all speculation. ..lie was, through all his vicissitudes, the same stern, impatient, inflexible original; the same mysterious, incomprehensible self; the man with out a model and without a shadow." With no restraint upon a will despotic in its dictates; with a mind inflexible in its determinations; he exalted the dark spirit of hiquiioundleas ambition above every other coneideration; above country; above liberty, immutable truth and even God himself— courting its favor with blind zeal—ministering to it on all occasions—and worshipping it as his destiny. Fellow-citizens—l feel that any further pane gyric upon Washington would be in vain on the present occasion. I cannot but feel that I am addressing an audience of American citizens who cherish with a vigilant and jealous eye the honor and faithful remembrance—not only of Washing ington, but of all those of their countrymen who have so eminently conduced in rendering the name and institutions of which we share the high benefits, illustrious and free. Who, indeed, is not willing to acknowledge the untarnished radi ; ence of the apotbesis which adorns the fathers of i American liberty! It was finely remarked, on a somewhat similar occasion, that the Roman people needed no labored commentary on t he . lives and deeds of their ancestors—it was aufficient for them that, on great and solemn occasions, the mote statues of their honored dead passed before them in silent and slow procession. To the men tal eye of each grateful Roman, those cold forms were warm and breathing personatione of the vir tues and the hercic deeds of the illustrious origi nals. e-We have no chisseled marble to present —but does not more than art of orator could tell crowd to your grateful memories, and Out a quicker impulse to the warm current of your hearts" at the simple enunciation of the venerable names of Washington, Jefferson, Adams-, and their coropetriotta And when, in the full fruition of time, it plea sed the Sovereign Disposer of all things to remind an almost idolizing people that there wee, oven in the great Washington himself, that which is tLe common inheritance of all mortality—when he was gathered to his fathers—it is deeply affecting, oven at this remote time, to look back upon the evidence of a nation's spontaneous, drop, and heartfelt grief. arbick was evinced baps anxiety of the American people to devise "the most suita ble means of paying honor to the memory of the Man first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Tho Senate of the United States, in their letter of condolence to President Adams on that mournful event, declare with what patriotic pride they review the life of our Washington, and compare him with those of other countries who have been pre;eminent in fame. Ancient and modern names are diminished before him. Greatness and guilt have been too often allied; but his fame is whiter than it is brilliant. The destroyers of nations stood abashed at the majesty of his virtues. It reproved the intemperance of their ambition, and darkened the splendor of victory. Felloweliisens—Such was Washington in life —such is his immortal memory. He shines, the central orb in the brilliant constellation of earth's virtue and patriotism. The mythology of the ancient Grecian is enriched with its apotheosised heroes and its men•gods; the Pantheon of pagan Rome boasts of its Romulus and its Remus; the Colender of spiritual Rome is adorned with its St. Bernard, Its Si. Ignatius, and others; and the con secreted temple of free government—the sacred ' camas of human rights and human liberty h a s now its illustrious ornament and pride in the name and matchless worth of Washington. Fellow-citixone--The spirit of liberty, as retire. plified in free government and popular institutions, is eminently a spirit of progress. The present is its ago of results. It id stretching out its cause boldly and beautifully; overshadowing the nation. with its benign influences. Surely and speedily the eternal principles of justice on which it is founded aro working their way— prostrating, with mistiest; force, principalities end powers; over turning the strongest pillars of time-consecrated opp ' n.. There la no legitimate or just gov ernment, save where the people elect their own rulers. Equality is the only true basis of this form of government. And this is the government toward* reason, humanity and religion ell tend. It is the friend and coadjutor of civilisation, mor ale and christianity. It is the great progressive principle of the age: it will be that of all ages to come. It iv the grand conservator of all that is worthy of conservation in the 'social and political instittutions of mon. It will only cease to be an active ; struggling, Uncles principle when it ceases its be opposed; and all communities of mankind practically realise its power. The admirable frame of republican government, under which we live, and which secures to us our liberties, is, mainly, an embodiment of these first principles. Yet it should aver be remembered, that the federal constitution is the result of mutual forintarance and concession. In the address to the people of the United Staten, signed by Wash ington on behalf of the convention which framed it, it is impressively rimarked that such is the fact. It is the offspring of conceded rights and granted privileges. It is a government of co ordinate powers and balanced interests. And, as it was framed in a spirit of amity and concession, so only can the energies of government created by its silent provisions be called into -safer and permanent action, by the continual exercise of this spirit. And, in times of high political excitement, when the whole nation is rocked to and fro by the intensity of strenuous partizan effort, jt ren dered doubly necessary to recur seriously , to these momentoug subjects. Washington has left us the unfailing evidence of his regard and appreciation of ail these views. lie was the great conservative of his time. His is the consummate merit of having administered the affairs of government, in times of the highest political excitement, in a spirit re gardless alike of the violence of either extreme. With a heart single to his country's good, his course was above the influence of every inferior consideration. He ,disdainfully rejected all that was illiberal or selfish. His policy was as . broad and comprehensive as his country itself; nay, in all the relation■ which he sustained to his coun trymen and to the world, he was actuated by mo tives as expanded as enlightened principle to its very abstract. He truly exemplified that noble spirit of patriotism—of "universal philanthrophy" —which yields up every private and partial feel ing; every restrained or equivocal sentiment, upon the broad platform of the general good. The domestic policy of the first President's ad ministration "was founded in the avowed objects of the constitution," and consequently aimed at forming a more perfect union; establishing justice; ensuring domestic tranquility; providing for the common defence; promoting the general welfare; and securing and perpetuating the blessings of liberty. And, in the pursuit of all those exalted objects, Washington's administration was pre eminently successful. His intercourse with for eign powers was governed by rules, ■nd maxims, and principles, equally worthy our attention and commendation—equally worthy of himself— equally worthy of truth and justice. And from the steady and uniform adherence to his prescri bed line of conduct, the strongest inducements failed to tempt him. Fellow-citizens—There could scarcely be a greater favor conferred upon the people of these United States, at the present time, than that of holding up to their daily view the principles and the policy of this illustrious man. And the con sequences which would certainly result from the uniform observance of his injunctions, could not fail to prove in the highest degree beneficial to the best interests of the nation. And particularly in Washington's Farewell Address to his country men, we see the passing wisdom of his council, the fervor of his patriotism, and the moving evi dences of his deep solicitude for the welfare of , his beloved country. In that memorable paper be conjures us to guard and cherish, as of price less value, that unity of government which con stitutes us one people; to be determined and un ceasing in our opposition to all obstructions to the execution of the laws; to frown upon all combi nations unknown to the spirit of the constitution or inimical to true liberty; and to ponder well before we countenance any innovations upon the principles of our institutions. He exhorts us to guard with unabating vigilance those consecrative walls which our forefathers have erected to pre vent the co-ordinate departments of the govern ment from encroaching upon each other. He impresses upon us, in the strongest language, his deep conviction of the vital importance of national ' morality and firm religious.principle; the primary importance of enlightening .public opinion by promoting institutions for .thigeneral - diffusion of knowledge; and the observance of good faith end justice towards all nations- 7 -the- cultivation of peace and harmony with all; and last, though not least, hu conjures us to guard against the alarming evils of excessive party spirit. Fellow-citizens—The principles and policy of Washington are fast receiving that universal as and authority which they so well de serve. Ili truth, they ere the very portraiture of our country, as it ought to be. And they are, like the great characteristics of our country, fast becoming the distinctive and controlling features of the age. May it ever be thus. Thus are the foundations of the republic bagel' upon mountains of granite, and the superstructure bound together with adamantine strength. And we have only to continue true to our own high duties; true to our own national principles; true to the glorious past and the mighty future, in order to realize the au gust conception which foresees, springing up from this germ of national greatness, the noble—the sublime spectacle of a hundred millions of freemen, inhabiting a continent stretching from the Atlan- tic to the Pacific ocean, "living under that - law. of Alfred, and speaking the language of Shakspeare and Milton." I will only respond, Ealo perpetual EN1Z07.1141114 1.191:113M22 PRESIDENT HARRISON, Called from& retirement which 1 had sup posed was to continue for the residue of my life, to fill the Chief Executive office of this great and free nation. 1 appear before you, fellow-citizens, to take the oaths which the Constitution prescribes as a necessary qual ification for the performance of its duties. And in obedience to a custom coeval with our Government, and what I believe to be your expectations, I proceed to present to you a summary of the principles which will govern me in the discharge of the duties which I @hall be called upon to perform. It was the remark of a Roman Conaul,in an early period of that celebrated Repub lic, that a moat striking contrast was obser vable in the conduct of candidates for offi ces of poWer and trust, helot° and alter ob taining them they seldom carrying out in the latter case the pledges and promises made in the former. However much the world may have improved,in many respects, in the lapse of upwards of two thousand years since the remark was made by the virtuous and indignant Roman. I fear that a strict examination of the annals of some of the modern elective Governments would develops similar instances of violated confi dence. Although the fist of the People has gone forth, proclaiming me the Chief Magistrate of this glorious Union, nothing upon their part remeieingto be done,it may be thought that a motive may exist to keep up the delusion under which they may be supposed to have acted in relation to my principles and opinions; and perhaps there may be some in this assembly who have come here either prepared to condemn those 1 shall now deliver, or, approving them, to doubt the sincerity with which they are uttered. But the lapse of a few months will confirm or dispel their fears. The outline of prin ciplos to govern, and measures to be adopt ed by an Administration not yet begun, will soon be exchanged fir tmmutabla history, and I shall stand either exonerated by my countrymen, or classed with the mass of those who promised that they might de. ceive, and flattered with the intention to be tray. However strong may be my present pur• pose to realize the expectations of a meg, nanimoue end confiding People, I too well understand the infirmities of human nature, and the dangerous temptations to which I shall be exposed, from the magnitude of the power which it has been the pleasure of the People to commit to my hands, not to place my chief confidence upon the aid of that Almighty Power which has hitherto pro• tectod me, and enabled me to bring to favor able issues other important, but still greatly inferior trusts, heretofore confided to me by my country. The broad foundation upon which our Constitution rests being the People—a breath of theirs having made as a breath can unmake. change, or modify it—it •can be assigned to none of the great divisions of Government but to that of Democracy. If such is its theory, those who are called upon to administer it must recognise, as its leading principle the duty of shaping their measures eo as to produce the greatest good to the greatest number. But, with these broad admissions, if we would com pare the sovereignty acknowledged to exist in the mass of our People with the power claimed by other sovereignties, even by those which have been considered most purely democratic, we shall find a most es. sential difference. All others lay claim to power limited only by their own will. The majority of our citizens, on this contrary, possess a sovereignty with an amount of power precisely equal to that which has been granted to them by the parties to the _naturel compact, and nothing beyond. We admit of no Government by Divine right; believing that, so far as power is concerned the beneficent Crosier has made no dis tinction amongst men, that all are upon an equality, and that the only legi!imate right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed. The Constitution of the United States is the instrument containing this great of power to the several depart ments composing the Government. On an examination of that instrument, it will be found to contain declarations of pow or granted, and of power withheld. The latter is also susceptible of division into power which the majority had the right to grant, but which they did not think proper to entrust to their agents, and that which they could not have granted, nut being possessed by themselves. In other words, there are certain rights possessed by each individual American citizen, which in his compact with the others, he has never sur rendered. Some of them, indeed, he is unable to surrender, being, in the language of our system, unalienable. •The boasted privilege of a Roman cit izen was to him a shield only against a pet ty provincial ruler, whilst the proud dem ocrat of Athens could console himself under a sentence of death, for a supposed violation of national faith, which no one understood and which at times was the subject of the mockery of all, or of banishment from his home,. his family, and his country, with or without an alleged cause; that it wee the , set not of a single tkrasit, or hatred woe racy, but of his assembled countrymen. I Far different is th e power of our sovereignty. It can interfere with no one's faith, prescribe forms of worship for no one's observance, inflict no punishment but after well seer tained guilt, the result of investigation un der forms prescribed by the Constitution itself. These precious privileges, and those scarcely less important ofgiving expression to his thoughts and opinions, either by writing or spenking,unrestrained but by the liability for injury to others, and that of a full participation in all the advantages which flow from the Government, the acknowl edged property of all the American citizen derives from no charter granted by his fel low man. He claims them because he,is \ i, himself a man, Cushioned by the same . I mighty hand as the rest of his species, an entitled to a full share of the blessings with which he hasendowed them. Notwithstanding the limited sovereignty possessed by the People of the United States, and the restricted grant of power to the Government which they have adopted, enough has bean given to accomplish all the objects for which it was created. It has been found powerful in war, and, hitherto, justice has been administered, an intimate union effected, domestic tranquility preser ved, and personal liberty secured to the citizen. As was to be expected, however, from the defect of the language, and the necessarily sententious manner in which the Constitution was written, disputes have arisen as to the amonnt of Dower which it has actually granted, or was intended to grant.—This is more particularly the case in relation to that part of the instrument which treats of the legislative branch. And not only as regards the exercise of pow. era claimed under a general clause, giving that body the authority to pass all laws necessary to carry into effect the specified powers, but in relation to the latter also. It is however, consolatory to reflect that most of the instances of alleged departure from the letter or spirit of the Constitution have ultimately received the sanction of a majority of the People. And the fact, that many of our statesmen, most distinguished for (silent and patriotism, have been at one time or other of their political career, on both sides °leach of the mist warmly dis puted questions, forces upon us the inference that the errors if errors, there were, are attribute+) to intrinsic ditficulty,in many in stances, of ascertaining the intentions of the framers of the Constitution, rather than the influence of any sinister or unpatriotic mo tive. But the great danger to our institutions does not appear to me to be in a usurpation, by the Government, of r:oriwer not granted by the people, but by the accumulation in one of the departments, of that which was assigned to others. Limited as are the pow ers which have been granted, still enough have been granted to constitute a despotism, if concentrated in one of the departments. Chia danger is greatly heightened,as it has always been observable that men are less jealous of encroachments of one department upon another than upon their own reserved rights. When the Constitution cf the U. States first came from the hands of the convention which formed it, many of the sternest re publicans of the day were alarmed at the extent of the power which had been granted to the Federal Government,and more panic. ularly of that portionwhich had been assigned to the Executive branch.• There were in it features which appeared not to be in harmo ny with their Welts of a simple representa. live democracy or republic. And know ing the tendency of power to increase itself, particularly when executed by a single in dividual, predictions were made that, at no very remote period, the Government would terminate in virtual monarchy. It would not become me to say that tho fears of these patriots have been already realized. But, as I sincerely believe that the tendency of measures, and of men's opinions, for some years past, has been in that direction, it is, conceive, strictly proper that I should take this occasion to repeat the assurances I have heretofore given, of my determina tion to arrest the progress of that tendency, if it really exists, and restore the Govern ment to its pristine health and vigor, as §ir as thts can be effected by any legitimate exorcise of the power placed in my hands. I proceed to state, in as summary a man ner as I can, my opinion of the sources of the evils which have been en extensively complained of, and the correctives which may be applied. Some of the former are unquestionably to heJound in the defects of the coastitation; others, in my judgment, are attributable to a misconstruction ofsome of its provisions. Ot the former is the eligi bility of the same individual to a second term of the Presidency. The sagacious mind of Mr. Jefferson early saw and lamented this error; and attempts have been made, hitherto without success, to ap. ply the amendatory power of the States to its correction. As, however one mode of correction is in the power of every President, and con sequently in mine, it would be useless, and perhaps invidious, to enumerate the opinion of many of our fellow citizens, this error of the sages who framed the Constitution may have been the source, and the bitter fruits which we are still to gather from it if it continuos to disfigure our system. It may be observed, however, as a general remark, that republics can commit no greater error than to adopt or continue any featnre in their systems of government which may be calculated to create or increase the love of power in the bosoms of those to whom ne cessity,. obliges them to commit the man agement of !heir affairs. And surely nothing is more likely to pro duce such a state of mind than the long continuance of an office of high trust.— Nothing can be more corrupting, nothing more destructive of all those noble feelings which belong to the character ofn devoted republican patriot. When Om corrupting passion once takes possession of the human mind, like the love of gold, it becomes in• satinbte. It is the never•dving worm in Ilia bosom-811144 with hi, growth, and strengthens with his declining y ears of its victim. Il this is true, it is the part of wisdom for a republic to limit 1110 service °fillet office, at least to whom she has cu trusted the management of her foreign re lation', the execution of her laws, and the command of her armies arid navies, t o a po . Iriod so short as to prevent his forgetting the lie is the accountable agent, nut the principal—the servant, not the master.-- Until al amendment of the Constitution can be effected, public opinion may secure that desired object. I give my aid to it by renewing the pledge heretofore given, that, under no circumstances, will I consent to serve a second term. But if there is danger to public liberty from the acknowledged defects of the Con stitution, in the want of limit to the continu ance of the Executive power in the same .hands, there is, I apprehend, not much less from a misconstraetion of that instrument, as it regards the powers actually given.— I cermet conceive that, by a fair construc tion, any or either edits provisions would be found to constitute the President a part of the legislative power. It cannot bo claim ed from the power to recommend, since, although enjoined as a duty upon him, it is a privilege which ho holds in common with every other citizen. And although there may be something more of confidence in the propriety of the measures recommend ed in the one case than in tho other, in the obligations of the ultimate decision there can be no difference. In the language of the Constitution, "all the legislative pow ers" which it grants "are vested in the Congress of the Vatted States"' It would be a solecism in language to say that any portion of these is not Included in the whole. It may be said, indeed, that the Consti tution has given to the Executive the pow er to annul the acts of the legislative body by refusing to them his assent.—So a sim ilar power has necesarily resulted from that instrument to the Judiciary: and yet the Judiciaary forms no part of the Legislature. There is, it is true, this dal; rence bet Neen these grants of power: the Executive can put his negative upon the acts of the Legisla: lure for other cause than that of want of conformity to the Constitution, whilst the Judiciary can only declare void those which violate that instrument. But the decision of the Judiciary is final in such a case, whereas, in every instance where the veto of the .Executive is applied it may be overcome by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses of Congress. The negative up on the actsof theLegislntive,by thoExecutivo authority, and that in the hands of one 'nth vidualwould seem to be an incongruity in our system. Like some others of a similar char acter, however, it appears to be highly ex• pediere; and if used only with the ferbear ance and in the spirit which was intended by its authors, it may be productive of great good, and be found one of the best safeguards to the Union. At the period of the forma tion of the Constitution, the krincipal clues not appear to have enjoyed much favor with the State Governments. It existed but in two, and in one of these was a plural Executive. if we would search for the motives which operated upon the purely patriotic and enlightened assembly which framed the Constitution, for the adoption of a provision so apparently repugnant to the leading democratic principles, that thnma jority should govern, we mist reject the idea that they anticipated from it any benefit to the ordinary course of legislation. They knew 416 well tLe high degree of in telligence wirtch existed among the People and the enlightened character of the State Legiskitures, not to have the fullest confi dence that the two bodies . elected by them would be worthy representatives of such constituents, and, of course, that they would require no aid in conceiving and maturing the measures which the circumstance, of the country might require. And it is pre posterous to suppose that a thought could for a moment have been entertained that the President, placed at the capital, in the cen- Ire of the country, could bettor understand the wants and wishes ol • the People than their own immediate representatives, who spend a part of every year among them, lii ing with them, ollen laboring with them and bound to thorn by the triple tie of in terest, duty, and affection. To assist or control Congress, then, in its ordinary legislation, could not, I conceive, have been the motive for conferring the ve to power on the President. This argument acquires additional force from the fact of its having never been used by the first sk Pre sidents—and two of them were members of I the convention, one presiding over its delib erations, and the other having a largo share in consummating the Werra of that august body more than any other person. But if bills were never returned to Congress, by either of the Presidents above referred to, upon the ground of their being inexpedient, or not as well adapted as they might be to the wants of the people, the veto power was applied upon that of want of conformity to the constitution, or because errors had been committed from a too hasty enactment. There is another ground for the adoption of tho veto principle, which had probably more influence in recommending it to the convention than any other. 1 refer to the security which it gives to the just and equi table action of the Legislature upon all parts of the Union. It could not but have occur red to the convention that, in a country so extensive, embracing so great a variety of soil and climate, and, consequently of pro ducts, and which, from the same causes,,, roust ever exhibit a great difference in the amount of the population of its various sec tions, calling for a great diversity in the employments of the people, that the legisla, tion of the majority might not always justly regard the rights , and interests of the nority; and that acts of this character might be paised, under on express grant by the words of the constitution, and, therefore, nut within the competency of the Judiciary to declare void. Thnt however enlightened and pntriotto they might suppose, from mist experience, m-mbers of Congress might be, and howev er largelt pet-Inking, in the genernl,'of the libersil feelings attic people, it was impossi ble to expect that bodies so constituted should not sometimes be controlled by local interests and sectional feelings. It was proper, therefore, to provide some umpire, from whose situation and mode of nppoint. went more independence and freedom from such influences might be expected. Such a one was affirded by the Executive Depart meat, constituted by the constitution. A person elected to that high office—having bis constituents in every section, State, and subdivision of the Union, must consider himself hound by the most Belem. sanctions to guard, protect, and defend the rights of all, and of every portion, great or small, from the injustice and oppression of the rest. I consider tho veto power, therefore, giyen by the Constitution to the Executive of the United States, solely as a conservative pow. er; to be used only, Ist, to protect the Con stitution from violation; 2dly, the People from the effects of hasty legislation, where their will has been probably disregarded or not well understood; and, idly, to prevent the effects of combinations violative of the rights of minorities. In reference to the second of these objects, I may observe that 1 consider it the right and privilege of the People to decide disputed points of the Con stitution, arising from the general grant of power to Congress to carry into effect the powers expressly given. And 1 believe, with Mr. Madison, "that repeated recogni tions tinder varied circumstances, in acts of tho legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the Government, accompanied by indications in different modes of the con ourrollOe of the general will of the nation, as affording to the President sufficient au thority for his considering such disputed points us settled." Upwards of half a century has elapsed since the adoption of our present form of government. It would be an object more highly desirable than the gratification of the curiosity of speculative statesmen, if its precise situation could be ascertained, a fair exhibit made of the operations of each of its Departments of the powers which they respectively claim and exercise, of the collisions which have occurred between them, or between the whole Government and those of the States, or either of them. 11'e could then compare our actual condition after fifty years' trial of our system, with what it was in the commencement of its operations, and ascertain whether the pre• dictions of the patriots who opposed its adoption, or the confident hopes of its ad• vomiter', have been best realized. The great dread of the former seems to have been, that the reserved powers of the States would be absorbed by those of the Federal Government, and a consolidated power established, leaving the States the shadow, only, of that independent action for which they had so zealously contended, and on the preservation of which they, relied as the last hope of liberty. Without denying that the result to which they looked with so much apprehension is in the way of be ing realized, it is obvious that they did ' not clearly see the mode of its accomplishment. The General Government has seized upon none of the reserved rights of the States. As far as any open warfare may have gone, the State authorities have amply maintained their rights. To a casual ob. server, our system presents no appearance of discord between the different members which compose it. Even the addition of many new once has produced no jarring. They move in their respective orbio in per fect harmony wiih the central head,and with each other. But there is still an under cur. rent at work, by which if not seasonably chocked, the worst apprehensions of our an tifedoral patriots will be realized. And not only will the State authorities be over• shadowed by the great increase of power in the Executive Department of the General Government but the character of the Government, if not its designation, be essentially and radically changed. This state of things has been in part effected by causes inherent in the constitution, and in putt by the never failing tendency of polit ical power to increase itself. By making the President the sole distributor of all the patronage of the Government the framers of the Constitution do not appear to have anticipated at hew short a period it would become a formidable instrument to control the free operations of the State governments. Of trifling importance at first it had early in Mr. Jefferson's administration, become so powerful as to create great alarm in the mind ()filial pat rlot,from the potent influence it might exert in controling the freedom of the elective franchise. If such could have boen the effects of its influence, how much greater must be the danger at this time, quadrupled in amount, as it certainly is more completely under the control' of the Exec utive will, than their construction of their powora allowed, or the forbearing chnrae tars of all the early Presidents permitted them to make? Hut It is not by the extent of its patronage alone that the Executive Department has become dan• garotte, but by the use which it appears may he mado of the appointing power, to bring under its control the whole revenues of the country.— The Constitution has declared it to be the duly of the President to see that, the law. are execu tad, and it makes him the Commander in-chief of tho Armies and Navy of the United States. If the opinion of the most approved writers upon that species of mixed Government, which, in mo darn Europe, is termed Monarchy, in contradis- tinction to Despotism, is correct, there was wan ling no other additiLn to the powers of our Chief Magistrate to stamp a monarchical character on our Government, but the control of the public finances. And tome it appears strange, indeed, thnt any ono should doubt, that the entire con trol which the President possesses over the MR. ma who have the custody of the public money by the power of removal with or without cause, does, for all mischievous purposes ,at least, vir. tunny subject the treasure also to his disposal The first Roman Emperor, in hie attempt to seize the sacred treasure, silenced tho opposition of the officers to whose charge it had been corn milted, by a significant allusion to his sword.— By a seloption of political instruments for the eare of the public money. a roforonce to their commission., by a President, would ho quito as rffinnual an argument as that of Cwsar to the Roman Knight. I am not insensible of the great difficulty that exists in daylong s prnper plan for the safe-keep ing and disbursement alba public revennos, and I know the importunce which has been attached by awn of great isbilities epd patriotidat to the di. vorce, as it is called, of the Treasury from the ban - king insttlutione. It is not the divorce which is complained ot; but the unhallowed union ef the Treasury with the Executive department which has created ouch extensive alarm. To this dun. ger to our republican institutions, and that crea ted by the influence given to the Executive thro' the instrumentality of the federal officers, I pro pose to apply all the remedies which may bo at my command. It was certainly a groat error in the framers of the constitution, not to have made the officer at the head of the Treasury Depart ment entirely independent oftho Executive. lie should at least have been removable only upon the demand of the popular branch of the Legisla ture. I have determined never to remove a Se cretary of the Trensury without communicating all the circumstances attending such removal to i both Houses of Congress. The influence of the Executive in controlling the freedom of the elec tive franchise through the medium of the public officers can be effectually checked by renewing the prohibition poblishod by Mr. Jefferson, for bidding their interference in elections, further then giving their own votes; and their own inde pendence secured by an assurance of perfect im munity, in exercieing this sacred privilege of free men under the dictates of their own unbiased judgments. Never, with my consent, shall an of. fiver of the people, compensated for his services out of their pochete, become the pliant instrument of Executive will. There is no part of the means placed in the hands of the Executive, which might bo used with greater effect, for unhallowed purposes, than the control; of the public prose. Tho maxim which our ancestors derived from the mother country, that"the freedom of the press is the great bulwark of civil and religious liberty," is one of the most precious legacies which they have left us. We have learned, too, from our own as well as the ex penance of other countries, that golden shackles, by whomsoever or by whatever pretence impos. od, are as fatal to it as the iron bonds of denpot ism. Tho presses in the necessary employment of the Government ritinuld never be used "to•clear the guilty, or to varnish crimes." — A deient and manly examination of the acts oftho Government should he not only tr'lerated but encouraged. Upon another occasion I have given my opin ion, at some length, upon the impropriety of Ex. ecutive interference in the legislation of Con gress. That the article in the Constitution ma king it,the duty of the President to communicate information, and authorizing him to recommend measures, was not intended to make him the source of legislation, and, in particular that ho should never he looked to for ' , charms of finance. It would bo very strange, indeed, that the Con stitution should have strictly forbidden one branch of the Legislature from interfering in the origination of such bill., and that it should be considered proper that an altogether different department of the government should be permit ted to do so. Some of our best political maxims and opinions have boon drawn from our parent Isle. There aro others, however, which cannot be introduced in our system without singular in congruity, and the production of much mischief. And this I conceive to be ono. No matter in which of the Houses of Parliament obi!l mayorig inate, nor by whom introduced, a minister, or a member of the opposition, by the fiction of law, or rather of Constitutional principle, the Sover eign is supposed to have prepared it agreeably to his will, and then submitted it to Parliament for their advice and consent. Now the very reverse is the case here, not only with regard to the prin ciolo, but the forms prescribed by the Conatitu tion The principle certainly assigns to the only bo. dy constituted by the Constitution (the legisla tive body) the power to make laws, and the forms even direct that the enactment should be ascrib. ed to them. The Senate, in relation to Revenue bills, have tho right to propose amendments; and so has the Executive, by the power given him to return them to the House of Representatives, with hie objections. It is in his power, also, to propose amendments in the existing revenue laws, suggested by his observations upon their defective or Injurious operation. But the doll cate duty of devising schemes of revenue should be loft where the Constitution hes placed it— with the immediate Representutivca of the Peo ple. For similar reasons, the mode of keeping the public treasure should be prescribed by them; and the farther removed it may be from the con. trol of the Executive, the more wholesome the arrangement, and the more in accordance with . Republican principle. Connected with Olio subject is the charaeter of the currency: The idea of making it exclusive. ly metallic, however well intended, appears to me to be fraught with more fatal consequences than any other scheme, having no relation to the personal rights of the citizen, that has ever been devised Merry - single scheme could pro. duce the efioct of arresting, at once, that mute. tioniof condition by which thousands of our most indigent fellow-citizens, by their industry and enterprise, are raised to the possession of wealth, that is one. If there is one measure better cal culated than another to produce that state of things so much deprecated by all true republi cans, by which the rich are daily adding to their hoards, and the poor sinking deeper into penury, it is an exclusive metallic currency. Or if there is a process by which the character of the . coun. try for generosity and nobleness of feeling may be destroyed by the great Increase and necessa. ry toleration of usury, it is an exclusive metallic currency. Amongst the other duties of a delicate char. acter which the President is called upon to per. form, is the supervision of the government of the Territories of the United States. Those of them which are destined to become members of our great political faintly, are compensated by their rapid progress from infancy to manhood, for the partial and temporary deprivation of their politi. cal rights, It is in this District, only, whore American citizens aro to be found, who, under a settled system of policy, are deprived of many important political privileges, without any inspi. ring hope as to the future. Their only-consola tion, ander circumstances of such deprivation, is that of the devoted exterior guards of a camp— that their sufferings secure tranquility and safe. ty within:—Are there any of their countrymen who would subject them to greater sacrifices, to any other humiliations than those essentially necessary to the security of the object for which they were thus separated from their follow-citi zens? Are their rights alone not to be guaran teed by the application of those great principles upon which all our constitutions aro founded?— We are told by the greatest of British Orators and Statesmen, that at the commencement of the war of the Revolution, the most stupid men in England spoke of "their American subjects,"— Are there, indeed, citizens of any of our States who have dreamed of their subjects in tho district ofCclumbia7 Such dreams can never bo realized by any agency of mine. The people of the District of Columbia are not the subjects of the people of the Slates, but free American citizens. Being in the latter condition when the Constitution was formed, no words used in that instrument could have been intended to deprive them of that character. If there is any thing in the great principles ofunaliona e rights, so emphatically insisted upon in our Docl ation of Independence, they could neither mire, nor the United States accept, a surrender of thei lib erties, and become the subjects, in other ords the slaves, of their former -fellow-citize s. If thir be true, and it - will scarcelted by any one who has a correct idea of his own rights as an American citizen, the grant to Congress of exclusive jurisdiction in the District nrColumbia, can he interpreted, so far as respects the ag. gregato people of the United States, as meaning nothing Inure than to allow to Congress .the con. trolling power necessary to afford a free and safe exercise of the functions assigned to the General Government by the Constitution. In all other respects the legislation of Congress should be udap'ed to their peculiar position and wants, and be conformable with their deliberate opinions of their own interests. 1 have spoken of the necessity of keeping the respective Departments of the Government, as well as all the other authorities of our country, within their appropriate orbits. This is matter , of difficulty in some Cast., as the powers which they respectively claim are often nut defined by very distinct lines. Mischievous, however, in their tendencies, as collisions of this kind may be, those which arises between the respective communities, which fi,r certain purposes compose one nation, are much more so, for no such nation can long exist without the careful culturazifthose feelings of confidence and affection which are the .effective bonds of union between free and corded. ()rated States. Strong as is the tie of Interest, it has been often foulid ineffectual. Men, blinded by their passions, have been known to adopt measures for their country in direct opposition to all the suggestions of policy. The alternative, then, is, to destroy or keep down a bad passion by creating and fostering a good one; and this Booms to be the corner stone upon which our American political architects have reared the fabric of our Government. The cement which was to bind it, and perpetuate its existence, was the affectionate attachment between all its mom. bare. To insure the continuance of this feeling, pro. duced at first by a community of dangers, of Bur foringe, and of interests, the advantages of each were made accessible to all. No participation in any good, possessed by any member of an eaten else confederacy, except in domestic government, was withheld from the citizen of any other mem ber. Hy a process, attended with no difficulty, no delay, no expense but that of removal, the cit izen of one might become the citizen °fang other, and successively of the whole. The lines, too, separating powers to be exorcised by the citizens of one State from those of another seem to be so distinctly drawn as to leave no room for tnisun. dorstanding. The citizens of each State unite in their persons all the privileges which that charac. for confers, and all that they may claim as citi zens of the United States; but in no case can the same person, at tho same time, act as the citizen of two separate States, and he is therefore posi tively precluded from any interference with the reserved powers of any State but that of which . he is, for the time being, a citizen. He may indeed offer to the citizens of other States his adv.ce as to their management, and the form in which it is tendered is loft to his own discretion and sense of propriety. It may be observed, however, that organized associations of citizens, requiring compliance with their wishes, too much resemble the recom mendations of Athens to their allies—supported by an armed and powerful fleet. It was, indeed,. to the ambition of the leading States of Greece to control the domestic concerns of the others, that the destruction of that celebrated confedera cy, and subsequently of all its members, is main. ly to be attributed. And it is owing to the ob. sonce of that spirit that the Helvetic confederacy has for so many years been preserved Never has there been seen in the institutions of the sep. erato members of any confederacy more ale. ments of discord. In the principles and forms of government and religion, as well as in the circumstances, of the several cantons, so marked a discropance, was observable, as to promise any thing but harmony in their intercourse of per. maneney in their alliance. And yet, for ages, neither line been interrupted. Content with the positive benefits which their union produced, with the independence and safety from foreign aggression which it secured, these sagacious People respected the institutions of each other, however repugnant to their own principles and prejudices. Our Confederacy, follow-citizens, can only be preserved by the same forbearance. Our citizens must bo content with the exorcise of the powers with which the Constitution clothes them. The attempt of those of ono State to control the do mestic institutions of another, can only result in feelings of distrust and jealously, the certain Harbingers of disunion, violence, civil war. and the ultimate destruction of our free institutions. Our Confederacy is perfectly illustrated by the terms and principles governing a common partnership. There a fund of power is to be ex ercised under the direction of the joint councils of the allied members., but that which has been reserved by the individual members IR intangi. ble by the common government or the individual members composing it. To attempt it finds no support in the principlea ofour Coustitution. It should be our constant and earnest oodeavor mutually to cultivate a spirit of concord and her- mony among their various parts of our Confado. racy. Experience has abundantly taught us that the agitation by citizens of one part of the Union of a subject not confided to the General Government, but exclusively under the guardian. ship of the local authorities, is productive of no oilier consequences than bitterness, alienation, discord, and injury to the vary cause which is intended to be advanced. Of all the great inter. eats which appertain to our country,that of union, cordial, confiding, fraternal union, is by far the roost important, since it is the only true and sure guaranty of all others. In consequence of the embarrassed state of business and the currency, some of the States may meet with difficulty in their financial con cerns. However deeply we may regret any thing imprudent or excessive in the engage ments into which States have entered for purpo. sea of their own, it does not become us to diaper. age the State Governments, nor to discourage them from making proper efforts for their own relief; on the contrary, it is our duty to encour age them, to the extent of our constitutional au. thorny, to apply their best means and cheerfully to make all necessary sacrifices and submit to all necessary burdens to fulfil their engagements and maintain their credit; for the character and credit of the several States form part of the char acter and credit of the whole country. The re sources of the country are abundant, the enter priao and activity of our people proverbial; and we may well hope that wise legislation and pru dent administration, by the respective Govern meets, each acting within its own sphere, will restore former prosperity. Unpleasant and even dangerous as collisions may sometimes bo, between the constituted au thorities or the citizens of our country, ih relation to the lines which separate their respective juris dictlon,the results can be of no vital injury to our institutions, if that ardent patriotism, that devo ted attachment to liberty, that spirit to modera tion and forbearance for which our countrymen' were once distinguished, continue to be cherish ed. If this continues to be the ruling passion of our souls, the weaker feelings of the mistaken enthusiast will be corrected, the Utopian dreams of the scheming politician dissipated, and the complicated intrigues of the demagogue rendered harmless. The spirit of liberty is tho sovereign balm for every injury whicliour institutions may receive. Or/ the contrary, no care that can be used in the construction of our Governments, no division of powers, no distribution of checks in its several departmonts, will prove effectual to keep us a free People. it this spirit is suffered to decay; and do. cay it will without constant nurture. To tho neglect of this duty, tho best historians ogre') in attributing the ruin of all the Republics with whose existence and fall their writings have made us acquainted' The same causes will ever pro duce the same effects; and at long as the love of power is a dominant passion of the bosom, midis lunges the understandings ot men can be warped and their affections changed by operations upon their passions and prejudices, so long will the liberty of a people depend on their own constant attention to its preservation. The danger to all well-established free governmeuts arises from the unwillingness of tho people to believe in its existence, or from the influence of designing men, diver ting their attention from the quarter whence it approaches, to a source Flom t,i , hich it can never come. This Is the old trick of those who would usurp the government el their country. In the name of Democracy they speak, warning the People against the influence of wealth and the danger of aria. tocrncy. History, ancient and modern, is full of such examples. Cirdar became the mnater of the Roman people and the Ben. ate, under the pretence of supporting the democratic claims of the former against the aristocracy of the latter; Cromwell, is the character of protecter of the liberties of the People, became the dictator of England;and Bolivar possessed himself of unlimited pow. er with the title of his country's Liberator. There is, on the contrary no single instance on record of an extensive and well estate fished republic being changed into an aria tocracy. The tendencies of all such gov. ernments in their decline is monarchy; and the antagonist principle to liberty there is the spirit of faction—a spirit which as sullies the character. and in times of great excitement imposes itself upon the people as the genuine spirit of freedom, and like 1 the false Christs whose earning was fore. told by the Saviour, seeks to and were it possible would impose upon the true and most faithfull disciples of liberty. It is in periods like this that it behoves the people to be watchful of those to whom they have entrusted power. And although there is at times much difficulty in distin guishing the false from a true spirit, a calm and dispassionate investigation will detect the counterfeit an well by the character of its operations, ae the results .that are pro duced. The true spirit ofliberty although devoted, persevering bold, uncompromising in principle, that secured is mild and toler• ant, and scrupulous as to the means item ploys; whilst the spirit of party, assuming to be that of liberty, is harsh, vindictive and intollerant, and totally reckless as to the character of the allies which it brings to the aid of its cause. When the genuine spirit of liberty animates the body of n peo plc to a thorough examination of their af fairs, it leads to the excision of every ex crescence which may have fastened itself upon nny of the departments of the govern. merit, and restores the system to its pristine health and beauty. But the reign of an intollerant spirit of party amongst a free people, seldom fails to result in a dangerous accession to the executive power introduced and established amidst unusual professions of devotion to democracy. The foregoing remarks relate almost exclusively to matters connected with our don3estie concerns. It may be primer, however, that I should give some indica tions to my fellow citizens of my proposed course of colduct in the management of our foreign relations. I assure them, therefore, that it is my intention to use every means in my power to preserve the friendly int:wourse which now so happily subsists with every foreign nation; and that, although. of course, not well informed as to the state of any pending negotiations with any of them, I see in the personal characters of the Sovereigns, as well as in the mutual interest of our own and of the governments with which our rela tions are most intimate, a pleasing guaranty that the harmony so important to the interests of tht.ir sub• jests, as well as our citizens, will not be interrupted y the advancement of any claim, or pretension upon their part to which our honor would not permit us to yield. Long the defender' of my country's rights in the field, I trust that my fellow-citizens will not see in my earnest desire to preserve peace with foreign Powers any indication that their rights will ever be sacrificed, or the honor of the nation tarnished, by any admission on the part of their Chief Magistrate unworthy of their former glory. In our intercourse with our Aboriginal neighbors, Mistime liberality and justice, which marked the course prescribed to me by two of my illustrious pre decessors, when acting under their direction in the discharge of the duties of Superintendent awl Com missioner, shall be strictly observed. I can conceive of no more aublimn spectacle—none more likely to propitiate an impartial and common Creator. than a rigid sulhorence to the principles of justice on the part of a powerful nation in its transactions with a weaker and uncivilized people, whom circumstance, have placed at its &von!. Before concluding, fellow-citizens, I must say some thing to you on the subject of the parties at this time existing JO our country. To me it appears perfectly clear, that the interest of that country requires that the violence of the spirit by which those parties are at this time governed, must be greatly mitigated, if not entirely extinguished, or consequences will ensue which are appalling to be thought of. If parties in a Republic are necessary to secure a degree of vigilance sufficient to keep the public functionaries within the bounds of law and duty, at that point their usefulness ends. Beyond that they become destructive of pub lic virtue, the parents of a spirit antagonist to that of liberty, and, eventually.its inevitable conqueror. We have examples of Republics. where the love of coun try and of liberty, at one time were the dominant passions of the whole mass of cit izens. And yet, with the continuance of the name and forms of free govern ment, not a vestige of these qualities remaining in the bosom of any one of its citizens. It was the beautifu- . . remark of a distinguished English writer that "in the Roman Senate, Octavius had a party, and Anthony a party, but the Commonwealth bad none." Yet the Senate continued to meet in the Temple of Llierty, to talk of the sacredness and beauty of the Common wealth, and gaze at the statues of the elder Brutus and of the Curtli and Dccii. And the people assembled in the forum r pot at in the days of Camillus and the Scipios, to cas( their free votes for annual Magis trates or pass upon the acts of the Senate, but to re ceive from the hands of the leaders of the respective parties their share of the spoils, and to shout for one, or the other, as those collected in Gaul, or Egypt, and the Lesser Asia, would furnish the larger dividend. The spirit of liberty had fled, and. avoiding the abodes of civilized man, had sought protection in the wilds of Scythia or Scandinavia; and to, under the operation of the same causes and influences, it will fly from our Capitol and our forums. A calamity so awful, not only to our country but to the world, must be deprecated by every patriot; and every tendency to a state of things likely to produce it Immediately checked.— Such a tendency has existed—does exist. Always the friend of my countrymen, never their flatterer, it becomes my duty to say to t hem from this high place to which their partiality has exalted me, that there exists in the land a spirit hostile to their best interests—hostile to liberty itself. It is a spirit contracted in its TiOW/, selfish in Its object. It looks to the aggrandisement of a few, even to the destruc tion of the interest of the whole. The entire remedy is with the people. Something, however, may be effected by the means which they have placed in my hands. It is union that we wait, not of a party for the sake of that party, but a union of the whole coun try for the sake of the whole count ry—for the defence of its interests and its honor, plait foreign aggres sion, for the defence of those principles for which our ancestors so gloriously contended. As fir as it de pends upon me it shall be accomplished. All the in fluence that I possess, shall be exerted to prevent the formation at least of an Executive party in the halls of the legislative body. I wish for the support of no member of that body to any measure ermine that does not satisfy his judgment and his sense of duty to those from whom he holds hie appointment; nor any confi dence in advance from the people, but that asked f,r by Mr. Jefferson, "to give firmness and effect to the legal administration of their affairs." I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify me in expressing to my fellow citizens a profound reverence for the Christian Reli gion, and a thorough conviction that sound morals, re ligious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsi bility, are essentially connected wtth all true and lasting happiness; and to that good Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious freedom, who watched over and prospered the labors of our Fathers, and has hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding in excellence those of any other people, let us unite in fervently commending every interest of our beloved country in all future time. (Oath ad ministered ) Fellow-citizens:—Being fully invested with that high office to which the partiality of my countrymen lias called me, I now take an affectionate leave of you. You will bear with you to your homes the remem brance of the pledge I have this day given to dis charge all the big! , duties of my exalted station, ac cording, to the best of my ability; and I shall enter upon their performance with entire coafidesce lb• appptet a( strut and generous people. REPUBLICAN BANNER. GETTYS BURG % March 9, 1 8 41. Gen. Harrison's Innagnral Address. We present our rnaders today with this highly interesting document. It presents in a plain, sim ple and sound manner the principles by which the'brave old Chief will he governed in his ad ministration of the nffairs of the nation. Want of space forbid& our taking a detailed notice of this document. We aro compelled to omit our usunl Variety in order to make room for the Inaugural Address of Gen. Harrison. Among other articles crowded out are several interesting letters from our obliging Harrisburg correspondent. They will bo given in our next. On Tuesday last, the United States Senate con firmed the nomination of Peter V. Daniel, as As• societe Judge of the Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Bar bour. The nomination of Jghn Y. Mason, to the place of District Judge vacated by Mr. Daniel, was also confirmed. The Federal Lucofoco convention, which met at Harrisburg on 'Thursday last, re nominated Gov. Porter for defeat et the next fall election. Usranxt.xxxem SPEID.—The Inaugural Ad• dress of President Ilianii(ox was conveyed by express on the Rail Road from Washington to 'Baltimore in one hour and fourteen nannies and fifty-five seconds—being at the rate of 30 miles per hour. FROM HARRISBURG Correspondence of ths Gettysburg Star and Banner Ihnixsnuno, March 1, 184 Dear Sir:—The House this morning concern ed in the amendment made by the Senate to the amendment made by the House to tho Senate Bill pledging tho faith of the state for the payment of a loan at the end of ten years of eight thou. sand dollars for the repair of tho injury done to the Codorue Navigation, by the late freshet. The bill as it passed the Senate pledged the faith of the State for the payment of a loan of eight thou- sand dollars, which in the House was amended so as to make the sum six thousand instead of eight thousand dollars. Tho atneadmont of the House was concerned in by the Senate. The bill now wants only the signature of the governor to be. come a law. A protracted debate was had in the House on a resolution reported by the committee on claims, granting additional compensation of five hundred dollars to John Neilson late chiefclerk in the treasury department. - Efforts were made by the loco foco economists to amend the - report of the committee by striking out five hnndred and inser ting one thonsand dollars. The amendment was dlingreed to and the resolution negatived in corn mtnee of the whole, only nine members voting in favor of the resolution. The Harrison mem. bers are determined to carry out the principles of reform,w'hcthcr the individuals affected by them be political friends or foes. Their determination. is to be consistent and not mere empty profession, es has been too long unfortunately the practice of our loco foco opponents. The bill providing for the payments of costs, incurred in and by the county of Adams in the trial of certain causes removed to said county from the county of York, by the commissioners of York county, has passed the Senate and now re• quires merely the signature of the Governor to become a law. Your's ace. CAN IT uel—Mr. Underwood of 'Ky. in a speech in the House of Representativee on Saturday last, stated that the Po9t-mas ter of New-York by means of box-rent and other perquisites received twenty six thou sand dollars per auuum, and that the Col lector Naval, officer and surveyor of the port of New York received fourteen thou• sand dollars each from the condemnation ola single importation!—Fred. Exam, HYMENIAL REGIMTER. MA URI ED. On the 4th inst., by the Rev. B. Keller, Mr. Da vid Beecher to Miss Elizabeth Aliland—both o ranklin township. On the evening of the same day, by the same, Mr. Jacob C. Sacrist, merchant, of Mount Hope, to Miss Margaret Nicodernint; of Washington township--both of Franklin County. On Thursday last, by the Rev. J. C. Watson, Mr: Julrn 'Bowman, Jr. of York county, to Miss Maria Catharine Krieg, of Biroban township, Adams county. ' 4630 ItEWA.RDI. STOP THE RUNAWAY. ONTuesday the 2d inst., a man about 5 feet Chinches high, wearing a blue' frock coat, and gray over coat, nearly now; came to the Livery Stable of the subscriber and hired a mare, fur the purpose, as he stated, of going to Petersburg, (Y. S) Ad• ems county,promising to return on the same evening or next morning; and as he has not yet returned, it is bslieved that he has nh seonded with the mare. The mare is a very dark CHESTNUT SORREL, thinly built, about 11 yews old this spring; the saddle is coy erect with drab fustian and buffalo skin; the bridle le a double reined snaffle bit, with a worsted hand hold and martingale. There is n scar forming a ring around the right hind leg above the knee of the mare; by which she may easily be known. No oth er marks recollected. The above reward will be given for the recovery of the runaway and mare, or ten dollars for the mare alone, and twenty dol lars for the runaway. N, WEAVER. Gettysburg, March 9,141. St-150 ADVERTISEM ENTS. Sheri a rs pursuance of a Writ of V . editioei Er. - 12 - peal, iestird out of the Court of Com mon Pleas of Adorns anonty . snit to me directed, will be exposed to Public Sale, at the Court houserin the bornuall of Gettys. bunt, on Tne:trioy the 161 k duy of March next, at 1 o'clock. r. m. yUyact of 'Lank pitunted in Cumbertarn! tinnnstitp, Adama county, containing FIF FY ACRES, more or Ices, on which are erected a TWO eTORY "IP Stone rhvettiog-house 1/1 1 1111 IN I and atone Bank barn, with an Or. chard thareon,and a spring of water near the door, adjoining lands of Daniel Heider, John F. Macfarlane and otherp; —Also, Two Lots of Ground, aituatod in the Borough of Gcttvaburg, ad. joining lota of William Breckenridae on the north, the heirs of Francis Allison on the south, the Main street en the east, and an alley on the west. Seized and taken in execution as the Estate of Samuel Wither ow (merchant.) a - Lot of Gl r ouna, situated in the borough of Gettysburg, on which ate erected a TWO STORY • BRICK HOUSE, . and a one story Brick Beck N et il . - ding, and frame Stab:e with a well of wa ter near the door, adjoining iota nft,M 7 m• Bayer on the east, the heirs of JAn Wee nauahy on the west, the Mnin street on the north, and en alley on the south, Bcized and taken in execution as the Estate of Adam Nu ury. -A L 0- a. Lot of Groand. situated in Petersburg, (York Springs) Huntington township, Adains county, Pa. on which are erected a ONE STORY mg SLOG NOUS E, ir r: • and a frame Stable, adjoining lots of George Deardorff on the east, Jacob Gardner on the west, and fronting on Turn pike road. Seized and taken in execution as the Estate of Andrew Spealman. -ALBO a Tract of Land, situated in Latimore toi.vnehip,Adamscoun ty, containing 114 ACRES, more or less, on which are erected a TWO STORY Stone Dwelling-house, or;;;;.• s a and Spring house, a stone Bank i , Bern, Wagon shed, with an Orchard, and a well of water near . the door, adjoining lands of Alexander Powers, John Tudor and George Jacobs.—Also, al Tract of Land, situated in the same township, containfng 58 ACRES, more of less, on which are erected a one story LOG HOUSE ; I a a and Log Stable, and twia wells of water, and two orchards thereon, adjoining lands of John Tudor, Abiliham Eliker, Aaron Cox and others. Seized and taken in execution as the Estate of Samuel Morthland. G W. M'CLELLAN, Sheriff. March 9, 1841. 3t-50 Notice is herein iiiven. TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN. THAT A SPECIAL ADJtJURNED COURT COMMON PUP A% W ILL be holden at the Court House, in the Borough of Gettysburg, on 'Monday the 18th day of April next, (being the third Monday in said month,) at 10 o'clock, A. M. to try the suits which have been removed from ,the Court of Common Pleas of York county to the Court of Corn. mon Pleiks of Adams county G W. M'CLELLAN, Sheriff , : March 9, 1941. is-50 NOTICE. William King MORTGArigE. to ' Upon petition of the own- John Brien. ere of the premises upon which this mortgage was given setting fOrth the full silisfaction and payment there of—On motion in open Court—the Court grant a Rule upon all the parties interested their heirs and legal Representatives to ap pear nt the next Court of Common Pleas, to be held in and for the county of Adams, on Monday the 26th day of April next, to an. awer said petition and alien , cause if any exist, why satisfaction should not ba entitled upon this Mortgage. Notice to be inserted in one newspaper in Adams county for lour weeks successively. G. W. 51 - TLELLAN, Sheriff. March 9, 1841. 4t-50 PLOUGHS: PLOUGHS: PLOUGHS! f HE subscriber has on hand a large as sortment of P g,32 made by Messrs. 'Youngman Ze. Withßrow, which be will dispose of for Wood and Flour, or nny kind of cottony produce.-- Farmers wilt find it to their advantage to call and see them, as they are a first rate article. E. BUCKING HA M Gettysburg, Feb. lfi. fit 47 DENTAL SURGE.Q.Y. IN addition to the MEDICAL TDACTICII, Dr. D. GILBERT is itterinrratOn'-itrt 111NEI AL TErrtr, Of the best quality, nal to perform nil other opPrationet for the pro qe:•vatinn and itt , atov of the text h.; All operation! warranted. Getty,burg,Ma-ch 41 ‘ 1949.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers