PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Fellow-eitieene of the Senate and of the Hones of
Representatives:
The Constitution requires that the President
shall, from time, to time, not only recommend to
the consideratiop of Congress such measures as
be may judge necessary and expedient, but also
that he shall give information to them of the
state of the Union. To do this fully involves an ex
position of all matters in the actual condition of
the country, domestic or foreign, which essen
tially, concern the general welfare. While per
forming his constitutional duty in this respect,
the President does not speak merely to express
personal convictions, but as the executive minis
ter of the government, enabled by his position,
and called upon by his offioial obligations, to
scan with an impartial eye the interests of the
whole, and of every part of the United States.
DOMESTIC INTERESTS.
Of the condition of the domestic interests of
the Union, its agriculture, mines, manufactures,
navigation, and commerce, it is necessary only
to say that the internal prosperity of the coun
try, its continuous and steady advancement in
wealth and population, and in private as well as
public Well.being, attest the wisdom of our in
' stitutions, and •the predominant spirit of intelli
gence. and patriotism, which, notwithstanding
occasional irregularities of opinion or action re
sulting from popular freedom, hoe distinguished
and characterized the people of America.
•
MR PRESIDENCY.
In the brief interval between the termination
of the last and the commencement of the pre
sent session of Congress, the public mind has
, been ocoupie,d, with the care of selecting, for
another 'constitutional term, the President and
'Vice Preeiden of the United .States.
' The determination;of the persons who are of
right, or contingently; to
. preside over the ad
/.•ministration •of. the government, is, under our
systemi . oommitted to the States and the people.
We appeal to them, by their voieb pronounced in
the forms of law, to call whomsoever they will
to the high post of, Chief , Magistrate:
And thus it is that as the Senators represent
the respective States of the Union, and the mem
bers of , the Hou3e of Representatives the several
constitnericiev of ,eaoh State, so the President
represents the aggregate population of the Uni
ted States. Their election of him is the explicit
and solemn act of the sole sovereign authority of
the Union.
GREAT PRINCIPLES
It is impossible to misapprehend the great
principles, which by their recent political action,
the people of the United States have sanctioned
and announced.
They have asserted the constitutional equality,
oteach and'all of the States of the Union, as
States; they have , affirmed the constitutional
equality of each and all of the citizens of the
United' StateS as citizens, whatever their religion,
wherever their birth or residence; they have
maintained the inviolability of the constitutional
rights of the different sections of the Union ; and
they have p t °claimed their devoted and unalter
able attachment to the Union and to the Consti
tution as objects of interest superior to all sub
jects of local or sectional controversy, as the
safeguard of the rights of all, as the spirit and
the essence of the liberty, peace, and greatness
of the Republic.
GEOGRAPHIC/kJ, PARTIES
In doing this, they have, at the same time,
emphatically condemned the• idea of organizing
in these 'United States, mere geographical parties;
.of marshalling in hostile array towards each
other, the different parts of the country, North or
South, East or West.
Schemes of this nature, fraught with incalcu
lable mischief, and which the considerate sense
of the people has rejected, could have had coun
tenance in no part of the country, had they not
been disguised ,by suggestions plausible in ap
pearance, acting upon an excited state of the
public ,mind, induced by causes temporary in
their character, and it is to be hoped transient in
their influence.
Perfect liberty of association for political ob
jects, and the widest scope of discussion, are the
received and ordinary conditions of government
in our country. Oar• institutions, framed in the
spirit of, confidence in the intelligence and in
tegrity of the people, do not forbid citizens, eith
er individually or associated together, to attack
by writing, speech, or any other methods !Alert
of physical force, the Constitution and the very
existence of the Union. Under the shelter of
this great liberty, and, protected by the lawis and
usages of the government they assail, associations
have been formed, in some of the States ' of in.
dividuels, who, pretending to seek only to pre
" vent the spread of the institution of slavery into
the present or future inchoate States of the
Union, are really inflamed with desire to change
the domestic institutions of existing States. To
accoornplish their objects, they dedioate them
selves to the odious task of depreciating the gov
ernment organization which stands in their way,
and of calumniating, with indiscriminate invec
tive, not only citizens of particular States, with
whose laws they find fault, but all others of their
fellow-citizens throughout the country, who do
• not participate with them in their assaults upon
the Constitution, framed and adopted by our
fathers, and claiming for the privileges it hies se
cured, and the blessings it has conferred, the
steady support and grateful reverence of their
children. They seek an object which they well
• know to be a revolutionary one. They , are per-
featly aware that the change in the relative con
dition of the white and black races in the slave
holdiitg States, which they would proinote,
beyond their lawftilauthority ; that to them it is
a foreign- object ; that it cannot be effected by
any. peaceful instrumentality of theirs
_; that for
them, and the States of which they. are citizens,
.the only path to its accomplishMent is through
burniag cities, and ravaged fields, and slaught
ered populations, and all there is Most terrible in
foreign • complicated with civil and servile war ;
`and that the first step in the attempt is the for
cible disruption of a country embracing in its
broad bosom a degree of liberty, and an amount
of individual and public prosperity, to which
there is no parallel in history, and substituting
in its place hostile governments, driven at once
and inevitably into mutual devastation and fra
tricidal carnage, transforming the now peaceful
and, felicitous brotherhood into a vast permanent
camp of armed men like the rival monarchies of
Europe and Asia. Well knowing that such, and
such only, are the means and the consequences
of their ,plans and purposes, they endeavor to
prepare the people of the United States for civil
war by doing every thing in their power to de
prive the. Constitution ,and the laws of moral
authority, and to undermine the fabric of the
Union by appeals to-passion and sectional preju
dice, by indoctrinating its people with reciprocal
hat;ed, , and by educating them to stand face to
face as enemies, rather than shoulder to shoulder
as friends.
SECTIONAL - ,CONTROVERSY
It is, by She ,agency: of such unwarrantable
interference, foreign and domestic, that the
minds of Many, "otherivise goodveltizens, have
heen so inthuned into the passionate coudemna
don of the domestic institutions of the southern
States, as 'at length to pass insensibly to almost
equally passionate hostility toward their fellow..
citizens
. or those States, and thus finally to fall
into temporary fellowship with the avowed and
active -enemies of the Constitution. Ardently
attached' to liberty In the abstract, they do' not
stop to consider practically how.the objects they
would attain can be accomplished, nor to reflect
that, even if the evil were as great as they deem
it, they have no remedy to apply, and that it can
be-only 'aggravated by their violence and uncon
stitutional action. A question, which is one of
the most difficult of all the problems of social
• institutions, political economy and statesman
shipt_they treat with unreasoning interference of
thought andlanguage. Extremesbeget extremes.
• Violent Attack from the north finds its inevitable
consequence In the growth of a spirit of angry defi
ance at 'the south. • Thus in the progress of
events hid reached that consummation, which
the "voice of the people has now eo pointedly
rebuked, of attempt of a , portion of the
States ' by a sectional organization and move
. went , to usurp the control of the government of
the United States.
confidently believe that the great body of
Alegi who inconsiderately took this fatal step,
are sincerely attached to the Constitution and
the'llnion, They would, upon deliberation,
ehrhskytith unaffected horror, from any conscious
act of disunion, or civil war. But they have
enteredlnto a path, which leads nowhere, unless
it be to civil war or disunion, and which has no
other possible outlet. They have proceeded
• thus far in that direction in consequence of the
succeeding stages-of their progress having con
sisted of a semi; of secondary issues, each of
which confessed' to be confined within coned .tntional and peacefullimits, but ;which attempted
indirectly what few men were , williing to do di
reitly; that is, tenet' aggressively against the
constitutional rights of nearly one half of the
thirty•one States.
long se t ries of acts orindirect aggres
aitsa,the` first was.the .istionnotis agitation, by
g
esis of ni nor thern Stator, in Cone and
out of it, of the question of negro emancipation
in the southern States.
The second step in this path of evil consisted
of acts of the people of the northern States, and
in several instances of their governments, aimed
to facilitate the escape of persons held to service
in the southern States, and to prevent their ex
tradition when reclaimed according to law and
in virtue of express provisions of the Constitu
tion. To promote this object, legislative enact.
ments and other means were adopted to take
away or defeat rights, which the Constitution
solemnly guarantied. In order to nullify the
then existing act of Congress concerning the ex
tradition of fugitives from service, laws were
enacted in many States, forbidding their officers,
under the severest penalties, to participate in
the execution of any act of Congress whatever.
In this way that system of harmonious co-opera
tion between the authorities of the United States
and the several States, for the maintenance of
their common institutions, which existed in the
enrly years of the Republic, was destroyed;
conflicts of jurisdiction came to be frequent;
and Congress found itself compelled, for the sup
port of the Constitution, and the vindication of
its power, to authorize the appointment of new
officers charged with the execution of its acts,
as if they and the office.rs of the - States were the
ministers, respectively, of foreign governments
in a state of mutual hostility, rather than fellow
magistrates of a common country, peacefully
subsisting under the protection of one well•con•
stituted Union. Thus, here, also, aggression
was followed by reaction ; and the attackti upon
the Constitution at this point did but serve to
raise up new barriers for its defence and security,
THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE
The third stage of this unhappy sectional con
troversy was in connection with the organization
of territorial governments; and the admission' of
new States into the Union. When it, was pro•
posed to admit the State of Maine, by separation
of territory from that of Maseachusetts, and the
State of Missouri, formed of a portion of the
territory ceded by France to the United States,
representatives in Congress objected to the ad
mission of the latter, unless with eonditions
suited to particular views of public policy. The
imposition of such a condition was surcessfully
resisted. But, at the same period, the question
was presented of imposing restrictions upon the
residue of the territory ceded by Fiance. That
question was, for the time, disposed of by the
adoption of a geographical eof limitation.
In this connexion it should not be forgotten
that France, of her own accord, resolved, from
considerations of the most far-sighted sagacity,
to cede Louisiana to the United States; and that
accession was accepted by the United States,
the,latter expressly engaged that "the inhabi
tants of the ceded territory shall be incorpor
ated in the . Union of the United States, and ad
mitted as soon as possible, according to the prin
ciples of the . Federal Constitution, to the enjoy
ment of all the rights, advantages, and immuni
ties of citizens of the United States ; and in the
meantime they shall be maintained and. protected
in the free enjoyment of their - liberty, property,
and the religion which they profess''—that is to
say, while it remains in a territorial condition,
its inhabitants are maintained.and protected in
the free enjoyment of their liberty and property,
with a right then to pass into the condition of
States on a footing of perfect equality with the
original States.
The enactment, which established the restric
tive geographical line was acquiesced in rather
thattapproved by the States of the Union. It
stood on the statute book, however, for a num
ber of years ;.and the people of the respective
States acquiesced in the re.enactment of the
principle as applied to the State of Texas: and
it was proposed to acquiesce in its further appli
cation to the territory acquired by the United
States from Mexico. But this proposition was
euccessfully resisted by the representatives from
the northern States, who, regardless of the stat
ute line, insisted Upowapplyiug the restriction to
the new territory generally, whether lying north
or south of it, thereby repealing it as a legisla
tive compromise, and, on the part of the North,
persistently violating the compact, if compact
there was.
Thereupon this enactment ceased to have bind
ing virtue in any sense whether as respects the
North or the South; and so in effect it was treat.
ed on the occasion of the admission of the State
of California, and the organization of the Terri
tories of New Mexico, Utah, and Washington.
KANS AS AND NEBRASKA
Such was the state of this question, when the
time arrived for the organization of the territo
ries of Kansas and Nebraska. In the progress
of constitutional inquiry and reflection, it had
now at length come to be seen clearly that Con
gress does not possess constitutional power to
impose restrictions of this character upon any
'present or future State of the Union. In a long
series of decisions, on the fullest argument, and
after the most deliberate consideration, the Su
preme Court of the United States had finally de
termined this point, in every form under which
the question could arise, whether as affecting
public or private rights—in questions of the pub
lic domain, of religion, of navigation, and of
servitude.
STATE RIGHTS
The'several States of the Union are, by force
of the Constitution, co-equal in domestic legis
lative power. Congress can not change a law of
domestic relation in the State of Maine ; no more
can it, in the State of Missouri. Any statute
which-proposes to do this is a mere nullity; it
takes away no right, it confers none. If it re
mains on the statute book unrepealed, it remains
there only as a monument of error, and a bea
con of warning , to the legislator and the states
man.- To repeal it will be only to remove imper
fection•frorn the statutes, without affecting, eith
er in the sense of permission or of prohibition,
the action of the States, or of their citizens.
REPEAL OF . THE COMPROMISE
Still, when the nominal reetriction of this na
ture, already a dead letter in law, was in terms
repealed by-the last Congress, in a clause of the
act organizing the territories of Kansas and Ne
braska, that repeal was made the occasion of a
wide-spread and dangerous agitation.
It was alleged that the original enactment be
ing a compact of perpetual moral obligation, its
repeal constituted an odious breach of, faith.
An act of Congress, while it remains unre
pealed, more especially if be constitutionally
valid in the judgment of those Public functiona
ries whose duty it is to pronounbe on that point,
is undoubtedly binding on the conscience of each
good citizen of the Republic. But in what sense
can it be, asserted that the enactment in question
was invested with perpetuity and entitled to the
respect of a ,solemn compact? Between whom
was the compact? No distinct' contending pow
ers of the government, no separate sections of
the 'Union, treating as such, entered into treaty
stipulations on the subject. It was a mere clause
of an act of Congress, and like any other con
troverted matter of legislation, received its final
shape and was passed by compromise of the con
flicting opinions or sentiments of the members
of Congress. But if it bad moral authority over
men's consciences, to whoin did this authority
attach ? Not to those of the North, who had re
, peatedly refused' to confirm it by - extension, and
who had zealously striven to establish other and
incompatible regulations upon the subject.' And
if, as it thus appears, the supposed compact had
no obligatory force as to the North, of course it
could
. not have bad any as to the South, for all
such compacts must be mutual and of reciprocal
obligation.
It has not =frequently happened that law..
givers, with undue estimation of the value of the
law they give, or in the view of imparting to it
peculiar strength, make it perpetual in terms;
but they cannot thus bind the conscience, the
judgment, and the will of those who may succeed
them, invested with similar responsibilities, and
clothed with equal authority. More careful in
vestigation may prove the law to be unsound in
principle. Experience may show it to be imper
fect in detail and impracticable in execution.
And then both reason and right combine not
merely to justify, but to require its repeal.
The Constitution, supreme as it is over all the
departments of the" government, legislative,
executive, and judicial, is open to amendments by
its very terms ; and Congress or the States
may in their discretion propose amendments
to it, solemn compact though it in truth is be
tween the sovereign States of the Union. In
the present instance, a political enactment,
which had ceased to have legal power or author
ity of any kind, was repealed.. The position
assumed, that Congress had no moral right to
enact =oh repeal, was strange enough, and sin
gularly so in view of the s fact that the argument
came from those openly refusing obedience to ex
isting laws of the land, having the same popular
designation and quality as compromise acts—
nay, more, who unequivocally disregarded and
condemned the most positive and obligatory in
junctions of the Constitution itself, and sought,
by every means within their reach, to deprive a
portion of their fellow-citizens of the equal en
joyment of those rights and privileges guaran
teed alike to all by the fundamental compact of
our. Union.
This argument against the repeal of the statute
line in question, was accompanied by another of
congenial character, and equally with the farmer
destitute of foundation in reason and truth. It
TEE PRESBYTERIAN BANNER ANT) ADVOCATE.
was imputed that the measure originated in the
conception of extending the limits of slave
labor beyond those previously assigned to it,
and that such was its natural as well its intended
effect; and these baseless assumptions were
made, in the northern States, the ground of
unceasing assault upon constitutional right
EFFECT OF VIE REPEAL
The repeal in terms of a Statute, which was
already obsolete, and also null for unconstitu
tionality, could have no influence to obstruct or
to promote the propagation of conflicting views
of political or social institutions. When the act
organising the Territories of Kansas and Nebras
ka was passed, the inherent effect upon that por
tion of the public domain thus opened to legal
settlement, was to admit settlers from all the
States of the Union alike, each with his convic
tions of public, policy and private interest; there
to found in their discretion, subject to such limb.
tations as the Constitution and acts of Congress
might prescribe; new States, hereafter to be ad
matted into the Union. It was a free field, open
alike to all, whether the statute line of assumed
restriction . were repealed or not. That repeal
die not open to free competition of the diverse
opinions and domestic institutions 'a field, which,
without , such repeal, would have been closed
against them : it found that field of competition
already opened, in fact, and law. All the repeal
did waste relieve the statute-book of an objec- ,
tionable enactment, unconstitutional in. effect,
and injurious in terms to a large portion of the
Is it the fact, that, in all the unsettled regions
of the United States, if emigration be left free to.
act in this respect for itself, without legal prohi
bitions on either. Side, slave labor will spontane
osly go everywhere, in preference to 'free
labor'? Is it the fact, that the peculiar domestic:
institutions of the Southern States possess relth
tively BO much of vigor, that, whereeoever an
avenue is freely open to all the world, they
_will
penetrate to the exclusion of the Northern States?
Is it the fact, that the former enjoy,, compared
with the latter, snchirresistibly superior vitality,
independent of, climate, soil, and all otheracci
dental circumstances, as to be able to prochade
the supposed insult, in spite of the assumed
moral and natural obstacles to' its accomplish
ment, and of the more numerous population of
the Northern States?
IMPUTATIONS:
The argument of those, who advocate the en
actment of newlaws of restriction, and condetna
the repeal of old ones, in &foot avers that their
particular views of government have no self-ex
tending or self sustaining power of their own,
and wilt go nowhere unless forced by act Of Con
gress. If Congress do hut pause fo'r a Moment
in the policy of stern coercion.; if it venture to
try the experiment of leaving'men to judge for
themselVeS what institutions will best suit them;
if it be not strained up to perpetual legislative
exertion on this point ; if Congress proceed thus
to act in the very, spirit of liberty, it, is at once
charged with aiming to extend 'slave labor into
all the new Territories of the United States.
Of course, these imputations on the intentions
of Congress in this respect, conceive.d, as they
were in prejudice, and disseminated iti passion,
are utterly destitute of any justification in the
nature of things, and contrary to all the funds-.
mental doctriaes and principles of civil liberty
and self-government.
AGITATIONS.
While therefore, in general, the people of the
northern States have never, at any time, arroga
ted for the federal government the power to iu
terfere directly with the donnstic condition= of
persons in the southern States, but on the con
trary have disavowed all such intentions, and
have shrunk froin conspicuous affiliation with
those few who pursue their farlatical objects
avowedly through the contemplated means of
revolutionary change of the government, and
with acceptance of the necessary consequences—
a civil and servile war—yet many citizens have
suffered themselves to be drawn into one evanes
cent political issue of agitation after another,
appertaining to the same set of opinions, and
which subsided as rapidly as they arose when it
came to be seen, as it uniformly did, that they
were incompatible with the compacts of the
Constitution and the existence of the Union.
Thus, when the acts •of some of the States to
nullify the existing extradition law imposed upon
Congress the duty of passing a new one, ^the
country was invited by agitators to enter into
party organization for its repeal; but that agi•
tation speedily ceased by reason of the iinprac
ticabilit3r of its object. So, when the statute of
restriction upon the institutions of new States,
by a geographical line, bad been repealed, the
country was urged to demand its restoration,
and that project also died almost with its, birth.
Then followed the cry of alarm from the North
against imputed Southern encroachments ; which
cry, sprang in reality from the spirit of revolt'•
tionaryattack on the domestic institutions of the
South, and, after a troubled existence of a few
months, has been rebuked by the voice of a pa
triotic people.
THE DISORDERS IN KANSAS.
-- Of this last agitation, one lamentable feature
was, that it was carried at the immediate ex
pence of the peace and happiness of the people
of the Territory of Kansas. "That was made the
battle-field, not so much of opposing factions or
interests within itself, as of the conflicting-pas
sions of the whole people of the United States.
Revolutionary disorder in Kansas had its origin
in projects of intertention, deliberately arranged
by certain members of that Congress, which
enacted the law for the organization of the Ter
ritory. And when propagandist colonization of
Kansas had thus been undertaken in one section
of the Union, for the systematic promotion of its
peculiar views of policy, there ensiled, as a mat
ter of course, a counter-action with opposite
views, in other sections of the Union:
In consequence of- these and other incidents,
many acts of disorder, it is undeniable, have been
perpetrated in Kansas, to the occasional inter
ruption 'rather than the permanent , suspension,
of regular government. Aggressive and most
reprehensible incursions into the Territory were
undertaken, both in the north and the south, and
entered it on its northern border by the way, of
lowa, as well as on the eastern by way of Mis
souri; and there bas existed within it a state Of
insurrection against the, constituted authorities,
with countenance from inconsiderate persons
in each of the great' sections of the Union.
But the difficulties in that Territory. have been
extravagantly exaggerrated for purposes of
political agitation elsewhere. The number and
gravity of the sots of violence have been magni
fied partly by statements entirely untrue, and
partly by reiterated accounts of the stone rumors
or facts. Thus the Territory has been seeming.
ly filled with extreme violence, when the whole
amount of such acts has not been greater than
what occasionally passes before us' in single
cities to the regret of all good citizens, but with
out being regarded as , of, general or political
consequence.
IRREGULARITY IN ELECTIONS.
Imputed irregularities in the elections had in
Kansas, like oecasionalirregularities of the same
description in the States, were beyond the ephere
of action of the Executive." But incidents of.
actual violence or of organized obstruotion of
law, pertinaciously renewed from time to time,
have, been met as they Occurred, by such means
as were available and as the circumstances re
quired ; and nothing of this character new
remains to affect the general peace of the Union.
The attempt of a part of the inhabitants of the
territory to erect a revolutionary government,
though sedulously encouraged and supplied with
pecuniary aid from active agents of disorder in
some of the States, has completely failed. Bodies
of armed men, foreign to the Territory, have
been prevented from entering or compelled to
leave it. Predatory bands, engaged in acts of
rapine, under cover of the existing political dis
turbances, have been arrested or dispersed. And
every wetl‘ disposed person is tow enabled once
more to devote himself in peace to the pursuits
of prosperous industry, for:the prosecution of
which he undertook to participate in the egttle
ment of the Territory.
EMPLOYMENT OF UNITED PTATES TROOPS.
It affords me unmingled satisfaction tints to
announce the peaceful condition of things in
Kansas, especially considering the means to
which it was necessary to have recourse for the
attainment of the end, namely, the employment,
of a part of the military force of the United;
States. The withdrawal of that force from its
proper duty of defending th• country against
foreign foes or savages of the frontier, to employ
it for the suppression of domestic insurrection,
is, when the exigency occurs, a matter of the
most earnest solicitude. On this occasion of im
perative necessity it has been done with the best
results, and my satisfaction in the attainment of
such results by such, means is 'greatly enhanced'
by the:consideration, that, through the wisdom
and energy of the present Executive of Kansas,
and the.prudence, firmness and vigilance of the
military officers on duty there, tranquillity has
been restored without one drop of blood havink
been shed in its accomplishment by the forces of
the United States.
THE CONTROVERSY INEVITABLE.
The restoration of comparative tranquility
. .
,that • Territoryfni*shes-the:means of !observing.
calmly, and nOreeinting at their just wane, the
events which have occurred 'there, and the dis
eussion&of which the government of the Terri
tory has been the subject. its
future
perceive that .controversy concerning
future domestic institutions was inevitable ; that
no human prudence, no form of legislation, no
wisdom on the part of Congress, could have pre*.
vented this.
CAUSE OP TUE AGITATION.
It is idle to suppose that the particular pros
visions of their organic:l law were the cause of
agitation. Those provisions were but the °p
ension, or the pretext of an agitation, which was
inherent in the nature of things. Congress
legislated upon the subject in such terms as
were most consonant with the principle of popue
lar sovereignty which underlies our government,
It could not have legislated otherwise without
doing violence to another great principle of our
institutions, the inprescriptible right of equality
of the several States.
We perceiVe, also, that sectional interests and
party . passions, have been the great impediment
to the salutary operation of the organic princi
ples adopted, and the chief cause of the gnome-
Hive disturbance& in Kansas. The assumption
that, beeause in the organization of the Territo
ries of:Nebraska and Kansas, Congress abstained
from imposing restraints upon them to which
certain'other Territories had been subject, there
fore disorders occurred in the latter Territory,
is emphatically contradicted by the fact that none
have occurred in the former Those disorders
were' not the conseqrience, - KanSas, of the
ft : ceder& "of • selflgovernment conceded to that
Territorrhy Cengress, but of unjust interference
on the part of persons riot inhabitants of the
Territory. Such interference, wherever -it has
exhibited itself, - by'actiof insurrectionary char
acter, or of obstruction to processes of law, has
been repelled ,or suppressed, by all the, means
which the COristitution and the laws ;place in the
hands of the Eiecutive.
NO POWER TO CONTROL ELECTIONS.
In those parts of the United States where, by
reason of the inflathed;state of the public mind,
false immorri.and misrepresentations have the
greatest currency, it has been assumed that it
was the duty of , the Executive not only to sup
press insurrectionary" movements in Kansas, but
also`to see to r the, regularity of local elections.
It nestle little argument to show that the Presi..
.
dent his no such'potver. All government in the
United States rests substantially upon popular
election. The freedom of elections is liable to
be impaired by the intrusion of unlawful votes,
or the exclusion of lawful ones,
by improper in
fluences, by violence, or by fraud. But the
people of the United States are themselves the
'all-sufficient guardians of their own rights, and
to suppose that they will not remedy, in due
season, any such incidents of civil freedom, is to
suPpose them to haVe ceased to be °snob'. eof self
government.- The President of the United States
has not power to, interpose in elections, to see to
their freedom, to canvass their votes, or to pass
upon their legality in the Territories any more
than in the State's: If he had such "power the
government might be republican in form, but, it
would be a monarchy in fact;` and if he had
undertaken to exercise it in the case of Kansas,
he would have been' justly subject to the charge
of usurpation, and of violation of the dearest
rights of the people of the United States,
UNWISE LAWS
Unwise laws, equally with irregularities at
elections, are, in periods of great excitement, the
occasional incidents of even the freest and hest
political institutions'. , But all experience denten
strates that in a country like ours, where the
right of self . constitution exists in the completest
form, the attempt to remedy unwise legislation
by resort to revolution, is totally out of plabe ;
inasmuch as existing legal institutions afford
more prompt and efficacious means for the re
dress of wrong.
THE REMEDY
I confidently trust that now, when the peace-
ful condition of .Kansas , affords opportunity for
calm 'reflection and wise legislation, either the
legislative assembly of the Territory, or Congress,
will see that no act remains on its statute.book
violative 'of the provisions of' the Constitution,
or subversive of the great objects for which that
was ordained and established, and will: take all
other necessary steps to 'assure to its inhabitants
the enjoyment, without obstruCtion or abridge-
went, of .all the constitutional righti, privileges,
and immunities of citizens of the United States,
is contemplated by the organic law of the Ter
.
rit ory,.
Full information in•relation to recent events in
this Teiritoii will be found in the documents
communicated herewith frem the Departments of
State and Wad.
THE 'TREASURY
I refer you to the report,of the Secretary of
the Treasury for particular infOrmation concern
ing thetnancial condition of. the government.
and the various branches of the public service
connected with the Treasury Department.
During the last fiscal year the receipts from
customs were, for the first time, more than sixty
four million of Aollars, and from all sources,
seventy-three million nine hundred and eighteen
thousand one hundred and. forty-one dollars;
which; with the balance on:handuP to the,lst of
July, 1855, made the total resources of the year
to amount to ninety-two million eight hundred
and fifty thousand one hundred and seventeen
dollars. The expenditures, including three mil
lion dollars in execution of the treaty with Mex
ico, and excluding sums paid on account of the
public debt, amounted to sixty million one bun.
dred and 'seventy=tiro thousand four hundred and
one dollars; and, inclnd ing the latter, to seventy
two million nine hundred and forty-eight thou
_
•sand seven hundred and ninety-two , dollars, the
payment on this account having amounted to
twelve, million .seven hundred and seventy-six
titioni . ationliiie - bilndred and ninety dollars.
TUB PUBLIC DEBT.
On the 4th of March, 1853, the amount of the
public debt was sixty-nine million one hundred
and twenty-nine thou-and nine hundred add
thirty. seven dollars. There was a subsequent
increase of two million. -seven hundred and fifty
thousand dollars for the debt of Texas—making
a total of seventymone million eight hundred and
seventy-nine thousand nine hundred and thirty.
seven dollars. Of this thesnm of fortymfivemillion
five hundred 'and twentymfive thousand three
nundred and nineteen dollars, including premim
um, has been.discharged, reducing the debt to
thirty million seven hundred and thirty-seven
thousand one hundred and twenty-nine dollars ;
all which. might: be - paid within a year without
embarrassing the public service, but being not
yet due, and' only redeemable at the option of
the holder, cannot be pressed to payment by the
government:
EXPENDITURES AND REDUCTION OF REVENUE
On examining the expenditures of the last five
years, it will. Xic seen that the average, deducting
payments on, account of the patio debt and ten mil
lions paid bytreaty to Mexico, had been but about
forty-eight, million dollars. It is believed that, un
der an economical administration of the government,
the average expenditure for the ensuing five years
will not exceed that sum, unless extraordinary °ces
sion for its iricrense should occur. The acts grant
ing bounty lands will soon have been executed, while
the extension of our frontier settlements will cause a
continued deniand for lands and augmented receipts,
probably, from that source. These considerations'
`Frill j'uatifya reditction of the revenue from customs,
so as not to exceed forty-eight or fifty million dollars.
I think the exigency for such redaction is imperative,
and again urgelt upon- the consideration of Congress.
The amount of reduction, as well as the manner of
effecting it, are questions of great and general inte
rest; it being essential to industrial enterprise and
the Public . prosperity, as well as the, dictate of ob
viousjustice,Ahat the burden f taxation be made to
rest as equally as possible upon all classes, and all
sections and interests of the country.
REVENUE "LAWS.
I have heretofore recommended to your considera
tion the revision of the revenue laws, prepared under
the direction 'of the Secretary of the Treasury, and
also legislation upon some special qnestions affecting
the business of that department, more especially the
enactment of a law to punish the abstraction of offi
cial books and papers and all other public property
to be turned over by the out-going officer to hie sue
cessor ;• of X law requiring disbursing officers to de
posit all public moneys in the vaults of the treasury,
or in other legal depositories, wherethe same are con
veniently accessible • and a law to extend existing
penal provisions to all persons who may become pos
sessed of public money by deposit or otherwise, and
mho shall i'efuse or neglect, on due demand, to pay
the same into the treasury. I invite your attention
anew to each of 'these objects..
THE ARMY
The army during the past year has been so con
stantly employed against hostile Indiana in various
• quarters, that it Can scarcely be said, with propriety
of language, to have been a peace establishment.
Its duties have been satisfactorily performed, and we
have reason to expect, us a result of the.year's opera
tions, greater security to the frontier inhabitauts than
has been hitherto enjoyed. Extensive conthinationa
among the hostile Indians of the Territories of
Washington and Oregon at one time threatened the
devastation of the newly-formed settlements of that
remote portion of the country. Prom recent infor
mation, we are permitted to hope that the energetic
and successful operations conducted there will .pre
vent such. combinations in future, and secure to those
Territories an opportunity to make steady progress in
the development of their agricultural and mineral
'resources. -
Legislation.haa been recommended by me on pre
iioaa occasions to cure defects in the existing organi
zation, and .to increase the efficiency - of the army ri
and furiher obldrvatitno hat but eatveld tb ethiform me
in the views then expressed, and to enforce on my
mind the conviction that such measures are not only
proper but necessary.'
I have, in addition, to invite the attention of Con
gress to a change of policy in the distribution of
troops, and to the necessity of providing - a
more rapid
increase of the military armament. For details of
these and other subjects relating to the army, I refer
to the report of the Secretary of. War.
THE NAVY.
The condition of the navy is not merely satisfac
tory, but exhibits the most gratifying evidences 'of
increased vigor. As it is comparatively, small, it is
more important that it should be as complete as pm-
Bible in all the elements of strength; that it should
he efficient in the character of its officers, in the zeal
and dilicipline of its men, in the reliability of its
ordnance, and in the capacity of its ships. . In all
these various qualities the navy has made great pro
.gress within the' last few years. The execution of
the law of Congress, of February 28, 1855, "to pro
mote the effieiency f the navy," has been attended
by the most advantageous results. The law for pro
moting discipline among the men is found convenient
and, salutary. The system of granting an honorable.
discharge to faithful seamen on the expiration of
the period of their enlistment, and permitting' them
tore-enlist after a leave of absence of a few months,
without cessation of pay, is highly beneficial in its
influence. The apprentice system recently adopted
is evidently destined to incorporate into the service a
large number of our countrymen hitherto so difficult
to procure. Several hundred American boys are now.
on a three years' cruise in our, national vessels, and
will. return well trained seamen. In the ordnance
department there is a decided and gratifying indica ;
tion of progress creditable to it and to the country.
The suggestions of the Secretary of the Navy, in
regard to further improvement in that branch of the
service, I commend to your favorable action.
,The •new frigates Ordered by Congress are now
afloat, and two of them in active service. They are
superior models of naval architecture, and with their
formidable battery add largely to public strength and •
security. . ,
I concur in the views expressed by the Secretes' ,
of the Department s in favor of a still further increase
of our naval force.
, • • .
DEPARTMENT OT THE DITEILIOR..
The ,reeort of the Secretary of the Interior pre.
5014n9 foots and views in relation'4to internal affairs
over which the supervision of his department ex
tends; of much interest 'and importancm
Tile aggregate sales of the public lands, during the
last fiscal year, amount to nine million two hundred
and twenty-seven-thousand eight hundred and sev
enty-eight acres; for which has been receivedthe sum
of. eight millions eight , hundred and twenty-ono
thousand four hundred and fourteen dollars. Daring
the same period there have been located, with Mili
tary scrip and land warrants, and for other purposes
thirty million one hundred thousand two hundred
and thirty acres, thus makirg a total aggregate of
thirty-nine million three hundred and twenty-eight
thousand one hundred and eight acres. On the 30th
of September last r aurveys had been made of sixteen
million eight hundred and sevanty-three thousand
six hundred and ninety-nine acres, a large proportion
of which is ready for market. --
The suggestions in his report in regard to the com
plication and , progressive expansion of the business
of the different bureaux of the department; to the
pension system; ; to the colonization of Indian tribes,
and the. recommendations in relation to the, various
improvements in the District of enlumbla, are espe
cially recommended to your Consideration.
THE POST OFFICE
The report of the Postmaster General- presents
fully the condition of that department of the goiern
ment. Its expenditures for the last fiscal year, were
ten million four hundred and seven thousand eight
hundredand sixty-eight dollars; and its gross receipts
seven million six hundred and twenty thousand eight
hundred and one dollars--making.an excess of ex.:
peuditure over receipts of two million seven hundred
and eighty-seven thousand and forty six dollars. The
deficiency of this department is thus seven hundred
and forty-four thousand dollars greater than for the
year ending June 30,1855. Of this deficiency, three'
hundred and thirty thousand dollars is to be attribu
ted to the additional compensation allowed post
masters by the act of Congress - of June 22, 1854.
The, mail faculties in every part of the country have
been very. much increased in, that period, and the
large addition of railroad serviee,amounting to seven
thousand nine hundred and eight miles, has added
largely to the cost of transportation.
The inconsiderable augmentation of the income of
the Post Office Department under the reduced rates
of postage, and its increasing expenditures, must,
for the present, make it dependent, to some extent,
upon the treasury for stipport. -The recommenda
tions of the Postmaster_: General, in relation to the
abolition of the franking privilege, and his views on
the establishment of mail steamship lines, deserve
the emasideration.of. Congress. I also call the spe..
cial attention of Congress`to the statement of the
Postmaster General respecting the sums now paid
for the transportation ef, mails to the Panama Rail
road Company, and commend to their 'early and fo--
vorable consideration the stiggestions of that officer
in relation to new contracts for mail transportation
upon' that route, and also upon the-Tehuantepec and
Nicaragua routes.
OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS.
The United States continue in the enjoymerit of
amicable relations with alt foreign powers.
GREAT. BRITAIN.
When my last annual' message was transmitted to
Congress, two subjects of controversy, one relating to
the enlistment cf soldiers in this country for foreign
service, and the other to Central America, threatened
to disturb good understanding between the United
States and Great Britain. Of the progress and ter
mination of the former question you were informed
at the time; and the other is now in the way °flat
iafactory adjustment.
The object of the convention between the United
States and Great Britain of the 19th of April, 1850,
was to secure, for the benefit of all nations, the nett=
trality and the common use of any transit way, or
interoceanic communication, across the isthmus of
Panama, which might be opened within the limits of
Central America. The pretension subsequently as
serted by Great Britain, to dominion or control over
territories, in or near two of the routes, those of Ni
oaragna• and Honduras, were deemed by the United
States not merely incompatible with the. main object
of the treaty, but opposed oven to its express stipu
lations. Occasion of controversy on this point has
bean removed by an additional treaty, which our
minister at London has Concluded, and which will be
immediately submitted to the Senate for its consid
eration. Should the proposed supplemental ar
rangement be concurred in by all the, parties to be
affected by it, tbe objects contemplated by the origi
nal convention will have been fully attained.
The treaty between the United States and Great
Britain, of the sth of June. 1854, which went into
effective operation in 1855, put an end to causes of
irritation between the two countries, by securing to
the United States the right of fishery on the coast of
the British North American provinces, with advan
tages equal to those enjoyed by British subjects.
Besides the signal benefits of this treaty to a large
class of our citizens engaged , in a pursuit connected
to no inconsiderable degree with our national pros
perity and 'strength, it has had a favorable effect
upon other interests in the provision it made for re
ciprobal freedom of trade between the United States
and the British provinces in America.
The exports of domestic articles to those provinces
during the last year amounted to more than twenty
two millions of dollars, exceeding those of the pre
ceding year by nearly seven millions of dollars ; and
the' imports therefrom, during the same period,
amounted to more than twenty-one millions—an in
crease of six millions upon those of the previous year.
The improved condition of this branch of our
commerce is mainly attributable to the above men
tioned treaty.
Provision was made, in the first article of that
treaty, for a commission to-designate the mouths of
rivers to which the common right of fishery, on the
coast of the United States nod British Provinces, was
not to extend. This commission has been employed
a part of two seasons, but without much progress in
accomplishing the object for which it was instituted,
in consequence of a serious difference of opinion be
tween the commissioners, not only as to the precise
point where the rivers terminate, but in many in
stances as to what constitutes a river. These_diffi
culties, however, m ty be overcome by resort to the
nuipirage provided for by the treaty.
DENMARK.
The efforts perseveringly prosecuted since the
commencement of my administration, to relieve our
trade to the Baltic from the exaction of sound dues
by Denmark, have not yet been attended with suc
cess. Otter governments have also sought to obtain
a like relief to their commerce, and Denmark was
thus induced to propose an arrangement to all the
European powers interested in the subject; and the
manner in which her proposition was received, war
ranting her to believe that a satisfactory arrange
ment with thorn could soon be concluded, she made
a strong appeal to this country for a temporary sus
pension of definite action on its part, in considera
tion of the embarrassment which might result to her
European negotiations by an immediate adjustment
of the question with the United States. This re
quest has been acceded to, upon the condition that
the sums collected after the 16th of June last, and
until the 16th ofJune next, from vessels and cargoes
belonging to our merchants, are to be considered as
paid under the protest, and subject 'to future adjust
went. There is reason to believe that an arrange
ment between Denmark and the maritime powers of
Europe on the subject, will soon be concluded, and
that the pending negotiation with the United States
may then be resumed and terminated in a satisfacto
ry manner.
SPAIN.
With Spain no new difficulties have arisen, nor has
much progress been made in the adjustment of pend
ing ones.
Negotiations entered into for the purpose of re-
Having our commercial intercourse with the Island
of Cuba of some of its burdens,
and providing for
the more speedy settlement of local disputes grow.
ing, out of that intercourse, have not yet been atten
ded with any results.
NEUTRAL COMMERCE.
Soon after the commencement of the late war in
Europe,
this government submitted to the considera
tion of all,maratime nations, two principles for the
security of neutral commerce: one, that the neutral
flag should cover enemies' goods, except articles con
traband of war; and the other ,
hat neutral property
'on board merchant vessels of belligerents should be
exempt from eciatemnetion, with the eiceptibe of
contraband articles. These were not presented as
new rules of international law; having been gener
ally claimed by neutrals ' though not always admitted
by belligerents. One of the parties to the war—
Russia-,-as well as several neutral powers, promptly
acceded to those propositions;, and the two other
principal belligerants—Great Britain and France—
having consented to observe thein. for the present
,oceasion, a favorable opportunity seemed to be pre
sented for obtaining a general recognition of them
both in Europe and America.
But Great Brstain and France, in common with
most of the states, of Europe, while forbearing to re
ject, did not affirmatively ant upon the overtures of
the United States.
While.the question was in, this position, the Rep
resentativea of Russia, France, Great Britain, Ads
tria, Prussia, Sardinia, and Turkey, assembled at
Paris, took into consideration the subdect of mare
time rights, and put forth a declaration containing
the two principles which this government had sub ,
mitted, nearly two years before, to the consideration
of maratime powers, and adding thereto the folloir
ing propositions: Privateering is and remains
abolished," and " Blockades, in order to be binding,
must be effective, that is to Bay, maintained by a
force, sufficient really, to prevent access to the coast
of the enemy;" and. to the declaration thus composed
of four points, two of which had already been pro
posed by the United States, this gpvernment hasbeen
invited to accede by all the powers represented at
Paris, except Great Britain and Turkey. To the Last
of the two additional propositions—that in relation
to blockades—there can certainly be no objection.
It is merely the definition of what shall constitute
the effectual investment of a blockaded place, a defi
nition for which this government has always con
tended,, claiming indemnity for losses where a practi
cal violation of the rule, thus defined has been injn.
emit; to our commerce.
PRIVATEERINg.
As to Jim remaining article of the declaration of
the conference of Paris, " that privateering is and re-
Mains abolished,"-:-.1. certidrily cannot ascribe to the
powers represented in the conference of. Paris, tiny
bat liberal and philanthropic views in the atttempt
to change the unquestionable rule of maritime law
in regard to privateering. Their proposition was
doubtless intended to imply approval of the principle
that private property upon the ocean,, although it
might belong to citizens of a belligerent state, Shoara
be exempted from capture; and had that'propositiOn
been so framed as to giltefulleffect to the principle,
it Would haie received my ready unfit on behalf of
the United States. But the measure proposed is in
adequate to that purpose. It is true that if adopted,
private property upon the ocean would he Withdrawn
from onemode of plunder, but left exposed, mean
while, to another mode, which could be used with in
creased effectiveness. The aggressive capacity of
great naval powers would be thereby greatly aug
mented, while the defensive ability of others ytould
be reduced. Though the surrender of the means of
prosecuting hostilities by employing privateers, as
proposed' by' the conference of Paris, is mutual in
terms, yet, in practical effect, it would be the relit'•
quishment of a right of little value, to one class of
states, but of essential importance to another and a
far larger class. It ought not to Nave been antici.
pated that a measure, so inadequate to the aceom
plishment of the proposed object, and so, unequal in
its operation, would receive the 'assent of 'all mari
time powers. Private property would be still left to
theelepredations of the•publie armed ; cruisers.
THE PRESIDENT'S PROPOSITION
I have expressed a readiness on the part of this,
government to accede to alt the principles contained
in the declaration of the conference of - Paris,' provi
ded that relating to the abandonreent of privateer
jug can be so amended as to effect the object for
which, as is presumed, it was intended, the immuni
ty of private property on the ocean from hostile cap
ture. To effect this object, it is proposed to add to
the declaration that "privateering is and remains ,
abolished," the following, amendment: "And
.that,
the private property of subjects and citizens,of a bel- .
ligerent on the high, seas, shall be exempt from. sei-,
sure by the public armed vessels of the other bellige-'
rent, except it be contraband." This amendment
has been presented not only to the , powers which
have asked our assent to the declaration to abolish
privateering, but to all other maritime states: Thus'
far it has not been rejected by any, and is favorably'
entertained by all which have made any communica
tion in reply..
RUSSIA AND FRANCE ACCEPT.
Several of the governments, regarding with favor
the proposition of the United States,' have delayed
'definitive action upon it, only for the purpOse of cen
, suiting with 'others, parties to the Conference of •
Paris_ I have the satisfaction of stating, however;
that the Emperor of Russia has entirely and expli
citly approved - of that modification, and will co-ope
rate in endeavoring to obtain the assent of other
powers; aad that assurances of a similar purport
have been received in relation to the diaposition of
the Emperor of thegrench.
The preient aspect of this important subject' al
lows us to cherish the hope that a principle so hrt
mane in its character, so just and equal in its opera
tion, so essential to the'prosperity of commercial na.
dons, and so consonant to the sentiments of this en
lightened period of the world, will command the ap
probation of all Maritime powers, and thus be Moor
,porated.into the code; of international law.
My views on,the subject are more fully set forth in
the.reply of the Secretary of Btate,.a copy of which
is herewith transmitted, to, the communications on
the subject made to this government, eve:6l6lllM
`the camniunieatioa of France.
TELE AkIBRICAN STITES
The Government of the United States has at all
'times regarded with friendly interest the other States
•of America, formerly, like this country, European
colonies P arid now independent members of, the great
'family of nations. But the unsettled condition of
some of them, distracted by frequent revolutions,
and thus incapable of regular and firm internal ad
ministration, has tended to embarrass oeciaionally
our
. publio intercourse, by reason of wrongs which
our citizens suffer at their hands, and which they are
slow to redress.
NBRICO
Unfortunately, it is against the Republic of Mex
ico, with whioh it is our special desire to maintain a
good understanding, that such complaints are moat
numerous; and although earnestly urged upon its
attention; they have not as yet received the consid
eration which this government had a right to expect.
While reparation for past injuries has been withheld,
others have been added. The political condition of
that country, however, has been such as to demand
forbearance on the part of the United States. I
shall continue my efforts to procure for the wrongs of
env citizens that redress which is indispensable to
the continued friendly association of the two
republics
NICARAGUA
The Peculiar condition of affairs in Nicaragua in
the early part of the present year, rendered it impor
tant that this government -should have diplomatic
relations with that state: Through its territory had
been opened. one of the principal thoroughfares
across the isthmus, connecting North and South
America, on which a vast amount of property was
transported, and to which our citizens resorted in
great numbers, in passing between the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts of the United States. The protection
of both required that the existing power ID that
state should be regarded as a responsible govern
ment; and its minister was accordingly received.
But ha remained here only a short time. Soon
thereafter the political affairs of Nicaragua under
went unfavorable change, and became involved in
much uncertainty and confusion. Diplomatic repre
sentatives from two contending parties have been
recently sent, to this government; but, with the im
perfect
. information possessed, it was not possible to
decide whioh.waa the government de facto; and,
awaiting further developments, I have refused to
receive either. '
NEW GRANADA
Questions of the most Barium nature are pending
- between the United States and the Republio of New
Granada. The government of that republic under
took, a year since, to impose tonnage duties on for
elgp vessels in her ports, bu t the purpose was resisted
by this government, as being contrary to existing
treaty stipulation with the United States, and to
rights conferred by charter upon the Panama Railroad
Company, and was accordingly relinquished at that
time, it being admitted that our vessels were entitled
to be exempt from tonnage duty in the free ports of
Panama and Aspinwall. But the purpose has been
recently revived, on the part of New Granada, by
the enactment of a lavr to subject vessels visiting her
ports to the tonnage duty of forty cents per ton; and,
although the law has not been put in force, yet the
right to enforce it is still asserted, and may, at any
time, be acted on by the government of that republic.
The Congress of New Granada has also enacted a
law, during the last year, which levies a tax of more
than three dollars on every pound of mail matter
transported across the Isthmus. The sum thus re
quired to be paid on the mails of the United States
would be nearly two millions of dollars annually, in
addition to the large sum payable by contract to the
Panama Railroad Company. If the only objection
to this exaction were the exorbitancY of its amount,
it could not be submitted to by the United States.
The imposition of it, however, would obviously
contravene our treaty with New Grenada, and in
fringe.the contract of that republic with the Panama
Railroad Company. The law providing for this tax
was,by its terms, to take effect on the Ist of Septem
bor ast, but the ecal authorities on the Isthmus have
been induced to suspend its execution, and to await
further instructions on the subject from the govern
ment of the republic. I am not yet advised of the
determination of that government. If a measure so
extraordinary in its character, and so clearly con
trary to treaty stipulations, and the contract rights of
the Panama Railroad Company, composed mostly of
American citizens, should be persisted in, be
the duty of the United States to resist its execution.
THE PANAMA OUTRAGE.
I regret exceedingly that occasion exists to invite year at.
Motion to a subject of still graver import in our relations
with the Republic of New Granada. On the fifteenth of
April las t . a riot One assemblage of the inhabitants of Padayna
ma committed a violent and outrageous attack on the pre
mises of the railroad company, and the passenger@ and
other persons in or near the me, inv o lyi ng .
several citizens of the United sa
States„the pillage of man y
the death of
others. and the destruction of a huge amount of property
belonging to the railroad company. ea oae d full
UM of that event to be made, and the result shows sagest
iga-
torily that complete responsibility for what occurred at- .
Ladies to the government Of:New Granada. I have, there
fore, demanded of that govet-nat ta t that the perpetrators of
the wrongs in question should be punished; that provision
should be loads for the familiee of citizens of the United
p
S t r ot lhowerefpljindemnity far the property
dr deduitlyert.
TELE ISTIIIIIIB
The present condition of the Isthmus of Panama, i n
far as regards the security of persons and property pu s i ng
over it, requires serious consideration. Recent incidents,
tend to show that the local authorities cannot be relied on,
to maintain the public pence of Panama, and there is Just
ground for app ehension that a portion or the inhabitant s
are meditating further outrages, without adequate nee.
sures for the security and protection of persons or property
having been taken, either by the State of Panama or the
general government of Best Unmade-
Under the guaranties of treaty, citizens of the 'United
States have, by the outlay of several millions of dollars, con.
strutted a railroad across the Isthmus, and it has become
the main route between onr Atlantic and Pacific posse-23t0n%
over which multitudes of our citizens and a vast amend of
property are constantly passing—to the security and protec
tion of all which, and the continuance of the public edvas_
tages involved, it is impossible for the government of the
United States to be indifferent.
. . .
I have deemed the danger of the recurrence of scenes of law
less violence in this quarter so imminent as to matte it my duty
to station a part of our naval force lu the harbors of Pans.
ma and Aspinwall,. in order to protect the persons and pre_
perty of the citizens of the United' States in those ports, and
to insure to them safe passage across the Isthmus. And it
would, in my judgment, be unwise to withdraw the naval
force now in those ports, until, by the spontaneous action of
the republic of New Granada, or otherwise, some adequate
airanizement shall have been made for the protection and
security of a line of inter-oceanic communication so Impor
tant .at this time, not to the United States only, but to all
other maritime States both of Europe and Amt rice.
Meanwlule, negotiations have been instituted by means of
a special commission, to obtain from New Granada fall
demnity for inparien received by oar citizens on the Isthnon,
aud satisfactory security for the general interests of th e
- United States.
VALEDICTORY CONGRATULATION.
In addreseing to you my last annual message, theoceision
seems to me an appropriate one to express my congrntula•
time in view of the peace, greatness, and felicity which the
United States now possess and enjoy.- To point you to the
state of the various departments of the government, and of
all the great branches of the public service, civil and mit ,
they, in order to speak of the intelligence and the integrity
which pervades the whole,' would be to indicate but imper
fectly the administrative condition of the country, and the
beneficial' effects of that on the general welfare Nor weeid
it suffice to say that-the nation is actually at peace at bone
aid abroad; that its industrial hateresteare prosperous; th a t
the canvas of its mariners whitens every sea; and the
plough of its hnsbandmen is marching steadily onward to
the• bloodless congueet of the continent; that cities and poi..
ulons States are springing up, as if by enchantment, from
the bosom of our western wilds, and that the cenrageou l
energy of our people is milling of these United Stets the
great republic of the world. These results have not been at
tained without passing through triels and perils, by experi.
once of which, and thus only, nations can harden into man
hood. Our forefathers were trained to the wisdom which
conceived, and the courage which achieved independence, by
the eireimetances which atirrounded them, and they were
thus made capable of the Creation of the republie. It de
volved on the next generation to consolidate the work of
the revolution, to deliver the country entirely from the in.
flueeeee of conflicting transatlantic partialities or antea.
this, which attached to onr colonial and revolutionary his
tory, and to organize the practical operation <the cense.
tutional and legal institutions of the Union. To us, of the
generation. remains the not leas noble task of maintaining
and extending the power 01 the United States. We haw,
at length, reached that stage of the national career, in
which the dangers to be encountered, and the exertions to
be made, are the incidents, not of weakness, but of etrength.
Sn our foreign , relations we have to temper oar rower V. he
less happy condition of other republics in America, and to
place ourselves in the calmness and conscious dignity of
right:by the side of the greatest and wealthiest of the em
pires of Europe In our domestic relations, we hare to guard
against the shock of thediecontente the ambitions, the in•
terests, and the exuberant, and, therefore, sometimes irregu
lar hareilties of opinion,"or of action, which are the near I
product of the present political elevation, the self-reliance
and therestless spirit of enterprihe of the people of the Uni
ted States.
CONCLDSION
. .
. . ,
I Shen prepare to surrender the Exceptive trust to mymu
cessor, and retire to private life with sentiments of profaned
gratitude to the good Providence 'which, during the period
of my administration, has vouchsafed to carry the country
through many difficulties, domestic and f avian, and to ena
ble me to contemplate the spectacle of amicab'e and respect
ful relations between ours and all other governments, and
the establishment of constitutional order and tranquility
ihrottahout the Union. ' ' TRANK.LIN PIERCE,
Wesinnatos, December 2,1866.
'RATES OF
00833E:OVIAD WZEKL
PR
' PgIINSPIXANI.S.
Banks of Pittsburgh, par !
Banks of Philadelphia" par
Bank of Chambernburg, p
Bank of Gettysburg,
Bank of Middletown,
bank of Newcastle,
Erie bank, 4
Vann. a' brov. Wayneibic
Pranklln bk. Washington, par
Harrisburg bank,
Honesdaleltink,
Bank of Warren,
YOrksbitilk, ' 44
Belief Notes,
/Mother solvent backs, 'par
OHIO
State bank, .and branches,
All other solvent banks,
BEV 101 GLAND:
Allsolventbanks, .
. ; .1911W YORK.
New York City,
gg ' Country,
MAIMMAND.
Country,
ADV.EITISEMENIS.
•
ir OHN N. HIRKPATEI ICE ATTORI
4111 AND COUNSELOR AT LAW, and SOMA": in Chao•
eery. Office, No. 183 Fourth Street. above the corneref
Eimithfi.l4. Pittalmnch. Dsa • Tinkle
HENRY LLOYD. ..
KENS CROTON IRON WORKS.-- L LOYD
et BLACK, blatant/Laurens of Bar, Sheet., Hoop and
Angle Iron, Male, and Epikes ; also, Flat Bar-Punched
road Iron.
Warehouse No. 99 Water Street, between Wood and
Market. 0c25-6m
DIA CLARSICALINIIPkITUTR--THR
Bummer Beaelon of this Irorlitnte trill commence on
!Tuesday, May Ist.
Circulars may be had at the Drug More of A. W. dayley,
18th and Chestnut etreete, Philadelphia, at the Book store ot
J. M. Wilson, 9th and Arch streets, and at the Ednestioll
RAGMEN 285 Chestnut street, or address
Rev. J . . M. GAYLEY.
Media. Del. Co., Pa.
apl4-tf
NEW STOCK OP BOOKS, STATIONERY, Ac,—E. C.
COCKS ANTI, No. S Federal Street, Allegheny, invitee
attention to the new and large stock opening, of recent per
chases in the' Eastern' cities, comprising new publications,
and valuable Theological, Standard, and kliscellaneees
Works; in the various departments of literature. Fine edi
tions of the Poets, and standard authors. New Books from
Carters' Harpers', A. S. S. Union Tract Society , and Presby
terian Board. E. C. COOllttANie, (Sue. to S. Sadler,)
nol 6 Federal Street, Allegheny.
V E . I BRP N
a B CO I. " S.
afalftriaV.l. ll.ll.6diei a wsompa,AZE AND DETAIL
DEALDRS.
N 0.32 North SECOND Street, above Market, Philadelphia.
The largest, cheapest, and best assortment of PLAIN ani
NANOY BLINDS of any other establishment in the Onitel
Statee.
larr REPAIRING promptly attended to. Otto 111 acai
and *Misty 3oorsalvow fOR-IT
ELESBYTERIAiI BOOK ROGNIS.—THE
P
Depository is no Will furnished with all the Publics.
bone, of the Presbyterian Board of
with those that are suitable for Sabbath School Libraria.
There is also a good supply of nearly 400 additional volunw,
selected with special care, from the numerous publication!
of the Massachusetts 3. S. Society, sad the American S.
Union.
Orders from any part of the country will be promptly is.
tended to by addresidnethe subscriber. Money may be sett
by mail at our risk.
Also a good supply of stationery. •
nirri7 • • JAMRB A. IRWIN. Librariir.
OXFORD . FEMALE{ COLLKGE , BUTLS
County, Ohio, under care of the Synod-of Cinciowd .
Principal, Rev. J. W. Scott, D. D., aided 1.4 eight mutt teachers. Expense from szo to $9O per session of tit
months. Scholarships at rates still lower. The buildiO
and grounds are, unsurpassed. EV ' Modern conTenierst
and comfort has been supplied. Roots all heated 'le
steam, and lighted with gas. Session, open early in .161%*
ary and September. For circulaia or information in detsf.
apply to Olt. SCOTT, or 11,3 V. W. S. ROORBB, Oxford, Oh
mh2241
W.I D E 9 OIL AND LEATHER STORE , "
JAL D. KIRKPATRICK & SONS;I4o. 21 B. THIRD St. te
ween Market and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, haute
sale
DRY AND SALTED SPANISH HIDES,
Dry and Green Salted Patna Hips, Twiner's OH, Twaner ,
and Cumier's Tools at the lowest prices, and npon the 10
terms. •
agar* All kinds of Leather in the rough wanted! P t
which the hightuit market price will be given in cashg
w hen in exchaup for Hides Lowther lured free 01 afar
.nd 040.1.r.fs .Aminiminim •
ELCOANT PICTORIAL EDITION OP siATTII B I
ISNRY'S Commentary, containing 740 beatelillil
instrative Engravings, besiJes maps, Ac.; also, 100 ~'
printed pagea of Supplementary Notes to each Book of ,
Testament, G li
ospels, anddets,from the most eminent DEP'
writers. The Comment on the Epistles (finished by 010 .1:
after' Bei:trios destb,) has been revised and enlarged Y.' t ,
eminent English Divines ; also, lame additions on
Apocalypse, from the beat writers on Prophecy- -t itc 'r t.l 9
this is by far the best edition, and it is the cheapest ars.
be had In this country. In 8 vole , quarto, price onlYV l ' . 4 . .
well and handsomely bound. Kept also in elegant
trigs, suited for presentation. Imperted and sold by
AVM. S. RENTOL. ;
Theological Bookseller and Bible Importer, ho. a' -1
Cla i r Street, Pittsburgh. oc.l°
MIX s CHAMPION LOCHS O. TO
AL WORLD, are only wtriplinge in cost, ($6 to $ 9, o r t
made gunpowder proof, $lO, and less at wholes:lila/
test which they (have, endured is unparalleled. The
est lock-pickers 41theworld, stimulated by the oho'
large premium• for several years, have songbt in rain,
a clue to pick:them. Thenot only bid defiance to all ' ec
pickers, but the offer of Two Trioussan Dottses for pr, i.
t ,
ling cohtharted to June, 1857, with ample guarantY-
World il'ehallenged for a competitor to produce s for
equal veins, for five times its roet,whether it is Ug . -
the specie-Tann, night latch, or desk.
S. B. WOODBRIDGE,
Perth Amboy, ••V • .1.
READ THIS.
B. E. WOODBRIXII 2 Bs.:—You have, been awarded
honorable mention, with special approbation, for bill;
proof Locks and Night Latches. They were considere d
the jury to merit all that you claim for them, as belea of
cheapest, and at the game time, the safest and most duta • .
'
Locks on exhibition and a valuable acquisition to th e
mirotty. Yours, tru ly,
/him% Ilszvooß7,
Commissioner of Juries, Crystal Wag, Nor• / B ' l.
22-o.mrlys
.1111 1 CNIDELY 9 8 BICLee. .IiPOIIMIPR Ie.
WEST TROY, NEW
ha
We notice that the Messrs. Meneelve their fu r°,
in fall bleat again, and we are pleased to know that tv.
are daily receiving orders for their celebrated
different parts of the Union. •tirj
Among those ordered within a week is ow, we r
2.,500 pounds for New • Bedford, Mass., another of
. 1 „ ,
same weight for Ganderland Centre, one of 2,000 P'";
for Concord, N. 11_, one ef 8,000 polio& „
for the titl .. .,
Mobile,Ala., one of - 1,800 pounds for Beloit, Vii,
of 1,20 ponds for Fort Des Moines,lowa, AC., &C. to [le
are also. furnishing six bells for th Govereruenti
lased on , board Light Shit" in foggy weather, to „, 0
13 14 r e "
immtiriliwageert. not tO • approach too near the coast lre4..
DISCOUNT.
roa THIS PAPER
NSW JEBSBY &
All /wisest banks, jS
vraGaFrLa.
I All solvent banks,
NORTE CAROLINA.
All eot►ent
801770 OMIOILTHA..
MI solvent, tlaike,
GEORGIA.
All solvent bloats,
TENNESSEE,
dll solvent banks,
KMtTIFOKT.
lAll solvent lbanks,
111
State bank and branches,
MISSOITEI
Bank of Btatenf Niegouri o %
W?.SCONBI2f
& Flre Inß. Co. cheeks, ft
111101111 GAN.
lAtt solvent banis,-,
OARADA.
All solvent husks,