The continued disorganization of the Union, to which the President has so often called the attention of Congress, is yet a subject of profound and patriotic concern. We may, however, find some relief from that anxiety in the reflection that the painful political situation, although before untried by ourselves, is not new in the experience of nations. Political science, perhaps as highly perfected in our own time and country as in any other, has not yet disclosed any means by which civil wars can be absolutely prevented. An enlightened nation, however, with a wise and beneficent constitution of free government, may diminish their frequency and mitigate their severity by directing all its proceedings in accordance with its fundamental law. When a civil war has been brought to a close, it is manifestly the first interest and duty of the state to repair the injuries which the war has inflicted, and to secure the benefit of the lessons it teaches as fully and as speedily as possible. This duty was, upon the termination of the rebellion, promptly accepted not only by the executive department, but by the insurrectionary States themselves, and restoration in the first moment of peace was believed to be as easy and certain as it was indispensable. The expectations, however, then so reasonably and confidently entertained were disappointed by legislation from which I felt constrained by my obligations to the Constitution to withhold my assent. It is therefore a source of profound regret that in complying with the obligation imposed upon the President by the Constitution to give to Congress from time to time information of the state of the Union I am unable to communicate any definitive adjustment satisfactory to the American people, of the questions which since the close of the rebellion have agitated the public mind. On the contrary, candor compels me to declare that at this time there is no Union as our fathers understood the term, and as they meant it to be understood by us. The Union which they established can exist only where all the States are represented in both Houses of Congress; where one State is as free as another to regulate its internal concerns according to its own will, and where the laws of the central Government, strictly confined to matters of national jurisdiction, apply with equal force to all the people of every section. That such is not the present "state of the Union" is a melancholy fact, and we must all acknowledge that the restoration of the States to their proper legal relations with the Federal Government and with one another, according to the terms of the original compact, would be the greatest temporal blessing which God, in His kindest providence, could bestow upon this nation. It becomes our imperative duty to consider whether or not it is impossible to effect this most desirable consummation. The Union and the Constitution are inseparable. As long as one is obeyed by all parties, the other will be preserved; and if one is destroyed, both must perish together. The destruction of the Constitution will be followed by other and still greater calamities. It was ordained not only to form a more perfect union between the States, but to "establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." Nothing but implicit obedience to its requirements in all parts of the country will accomplish these great ends. Without that obedience we can look forward only to continual outrages upon individual rights, incessant breaches of the public peace, national weakness, financial dishonor, the total loss of our prosperity, the general corruption of morals, and the final extinction of popular freedom. To save our country from evils so appalling as these, we should renew our efforts again and again. To me the process of restoration seems perfectly plain and simple. It consists merely in a faithful application of the Constitution and laws. The execution of the laws is not now obstructed or opposed by physical force. There is no military or other necessity, real or pretended, which can prevent obedience to the Constitution, either North or South. All the rights and all the obligations of States and individuals can be protected and enforced by means perfectly consistent with the fundamental law. The courts may be everywhere open, and if open their process would be unimpeded. Crimes against the United States can be prevented or punished by the proper judicial authorities in a manner entirely practicable and legal. There is therefore no reason why the Constitution should not be obeyed, unless those who exercise its powers have determined that it shall be disregarded and violated. The mere naked will of this Government, or of some one or more of its branches, is the only obstacle that can exist to a perfect union of all the States. On this momentous question and some of the measures growing out of it I have had the misfortune to differ from Congress, and have expressed my convictions without reserve, though with becoming deference to the opinion of the legislative department. Those convictions are not only unchanged, but strengthened by subsequent events and further reflection The transcendent importance of the subject will be a sufficient excuse for calling your attention to some of the reasons which have so strongly influenced my own judgment. The hope that we may all finally concur in a mode of settlement consistent at once with our true interests and with our sworn duties to the Constitution is too natural and too just to be easily relinquished. It is clear to my apprehension that the States lately in rebellion are still members of the National Union. When did they cease to be so? The "ordinances of secession" adopted by a portion (in most of them a very small portion) of their citizens were mere nullities. If we admit now that they were valid and effectual for the purpose intended by their authors, we sweep from under our feet the whole ground upon which we justified the war. Were those States afterwards expelled from the Union by the war? The direct contrary was averred by this Government to be its purpose, and was so understood by all those who gave their blood and treasure to aid in its prosecution. It can not be that a successful war, waged for the preservation of the Union, had the legal effect of dissolving it. The victory of the nation's arms was not the disgrace of her policy; the defeat of secession on the battlefield was not the triumph of its lawless principle. Nor could Congress, with or without the consent of the Executive, do anything which would have the effect, directly or indirectly, of separating the States from each other. To dissolve the Union is to repeal the Constitution which holds it together, and that is a power which does not belong to any department of this Government, or to all of them united. This is so plain that it has been acknowledged by all branches of the Federal Government. The Executive (my predecessor as well as myself) and the heads of all the Departments have uniformly acted upon the principle that the Union is not only undissolved, but indissoluble. Congress submitted an amendment of the Constitution to be ratified by the Southern States, and accepted their acts of ratification as a necessary and lawful exercise of their highest function. If they were not States, or were States out of the Union, their consent to a change in the fundamental law of the Union would have been nugatory, and Congress in asking it committed a political absurdity. The judiciary has also given the solemn sanction of its authority to the same view of the case. The judges of the Supreme Court have included the Southern States in their circuits, and they are constantly, in banc and elsewhere, exercising jurisdiction which does not belong to them unless those States are States of the Union. If the Southern States are component parts of the Union, the Constitution is the supreme law for them, as it is for all the other States. They are bound to obey it, and so are we. The right of the Federal Government, which is clear and unquestionable. to enforce the Constitution upon them implies the correlative obligation on our part to observe its limitations and execute its guaranties. Without the Constitution we are nothing; by, through, and under the Constitution we are what it makes us. We may doubt the wisdom of the law, we may not approve of its provisions, but we can not violate it merely because it seems to confine our powers within limits narrower than we could wish. It is not a question of individual or class or sectional interest, much less of party predominance, but of duty--of high and sacred duty--which we are all sworn to perform. If we can not support the Constitution with the cheerful alacrity of those who love and believe in it, we must give to it at least the fidelity of public servants who act under solemn obligations and commands which they dare not disregard. The constitutional duty is not the only one which requires the States to be restored. There is another consideration which, though of minor importance, is yet of great weight. On the 22d day of July, 1861, Congress declared by an almost unanimous vote of both Houses that the war should be conducted solely for the purpose of preserving the Union and maintaining the supremacy of the Federal Constitution and laws, without impairing the dignity, equality, and rights of the States or of individuals. and that when this was done the war should cease. I do not say that this declaration is personally binding on those who joined in making it, any more than individual members of Congress are personally bound to pay a public debt created under a law for which they voted. But it was a solemn. public, official pledge of the national honor, and I can not imagine upon what grounds the repudiation of it is to be justified. If it be said that we are not bound to keep faith with rebels, let it be remembered that this promise was not made to rebels only. Thousands of true men in the South were drawn to our standard by it, and hundreds of thousands in the North gave their lives in the belief that it would be carried out. It was made on the day after the first great battle of the war had been fought and lost. All patriotic and intelligent men then saw the necessity of giving such an assurance, and believed that without it the war would end in disaster to our cause. Having given that assurance in the extremity of our peril, the violation of it now, in the day of our power, would be a rude rending of that good faith which holds the moral world together; our country would cease to have any claim upon the confidence of men; it would make the war not only a failure, but a fraud. Being sincerely convinced that these views are correct, I would be unfaithful to my duty if I did not recommend the repeal of the acts of Congress which place ten of the Southern States under the domination of military masters. If calm reflection shall satisfy a majority of your honorable bodies that the acts referred to are not only a violation of the national faith, but in direct conflict with the Constitution, I dare not permit myself to doubt that you will immediately strike them from the statute book. To demonstrate the unconstitutional character of those acts I need do no more than refer to their general provisions. It must be seen at once that they are not authorized. To dictate what alterations shall be made in the constitutions of the several States; to control the elections of State legislators and State officers, members of Congress and electors of President and Vice-President, by arbitrarily declaring who shall vote and who shall be excluded from that privilege; to dissolve State legislatures or prevent them from assembling; to dismiss judges and other civil functionaries of the State and appoint others without regard to State law; to organize and operate all the political machinery of the States; to regulate the whole administration of their domestic and local affairs according to the mere will of strange and irresponsible agents, sent among them for that purpose--these are powers not granted to the Federal Government or to any one of its branches. Not being granted, we violate our trust by assuming them as palpably as we would by acting in the face of a positive interdict; for the Constitution forbids us to do whatever it does not affirmatively authorize, either by express words or by clear implication. If the authority we desire to use does not come to us through the Constitution, we can exercise it only by usurpation, and usurpation is the most dangerous of political crimes. By that crime the enemies of free government in all ages have worked out their designs against public liberty and private right. It leads directly and immediately to the establishment of absolute rule, for undelegated power is always unlimited and unrestrained. The acts of Congress in question are not only objectionable for their assumption of ungranted power, but many of their provisions are in conflict with the direct prohibitions of the Constitution. The Constitution commands that a republican form of government shall be guaranteed to all the States; that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, arrested without a judicial warrant, or punished without a fair trial before an impartial jury; that the privilege of habeas corpus shall not be denied in time of peace, and that no bill of attainder shall be passed even against a single individual. Yet the system of measures established by these acts of Congress does totally subvert and destroy the form as well as the substance of republican government in the ten States to which they apply. It binds them hand and foot in absolute slavery, and subjects them to a strange and hostile power, more unlimited and more likely to be abused than any other now known among civilized men. It tramples down all those rights in which the essence of liberty consists, and which a free government is always most careful to protect. It denies the habeas corpus and the trial by jury. Personal freedom, property, and life, if assailed by the passion, the prejudice, or the rapacity of the ruler, have no security whatever. It has the effect of a bill of attainder or bill of pains and penalties, not upon a few individuals, but upon whole masses, including the millions who inhabit the subject States, and even their unborn children. These wrongs, being expressly forbidden, can not be constitutionally inflicted upon any portion of our people, no matter how they may have come within our jurisdiction, and no matter whether they live in States, Territories, or districts. I have no desire to save from the proper and just consequences of their great crime those who engaged in rebellion against the Government, but as a mode of punishment the measures under consideration are the most unreasonable that could be invented. Many of those people are perfectly innocent; many kept their fidelity to the Union untainted to the last; many were incapable of any legal offense; a large proportion even of the persons able to bear arms were forced into rebellion against their will, and of those who are guilty with their own consent the degrees of guilt are as various as the shades of their character and temper. But these acts of Congress confound them all together in one common doom. Indiscriminate vengeance upon classes, sects, and parties, or upon whole communities, for offenses committed by a portion of them against the governments to which they owed obedience was common in the barbarous ages of the world; but Christianity and civilization have made such progress that recourse to a punishment so cruel and unjust would meet with the condemnation of all unprejudiced and right-minded men. The punitive justice of this age, and especially of this country, does not consist in stripping whole States of their liberties and reducing all their people, without distinction, to the condition of slavery. It deals separately with each individual, confines itself to the forms of law, and vindicates its own purity by an impartial examination of every case before a competent judicial tribunal. If this does not satisfy all our desires with regard to Southern rebels, let us console ourselves by reflecting that a free Constitution, triumphant in war and unbroken in peace, is worth far more to us and our children than the gratification of any present feeling. I am aware it is assumed that this system of government for the Southern States is not to be perpetual. It is true this military government is to be only provisional, but it is through this temporary evil that a greater evil is to be made perpetual. If the guaranties of the Constitution can be broken provisionally to serve a temporary purpose, and in a part only of the country, we can destroy them everywhere and for all time. Arbitrary measures often change, but they generally change for the worse. It is the curse of despotism that it has no halting place. The intermitted exercise of its power brings no sense of security to its subjects, for they can never know what more they will be called to endure when its red right hand is armed to plague them again. Nor is it possible to conjecture how or where power, unrestrained by law, may seek its next victims. The States that are still free may be enslaved at any moment; for if the Constitution does not protect all, it protects none. It is manifestly and avowedly the object of these laws to confer upon Negroes the privilege of voting and to disfranchise such a number of white citizens as will give the former a clear majority at all elections in the Southern States. This, to the minds of some persons, is so important that a violation of the Constitution is justified as a means of bringing it about. The morality is always false which excuses a wrong because it proposes to accomplish a desirable end. We are not permitted to do evil that good may come. But in this case the end itself is evil, as well as the means. The subjugation of the States to Negro domination would be worse than the military despotism under which they are now suffering. It was believed beforehand that the people would endure any amount of military oppression for any length of time rather than degrade themselves by subjection to the Negro race. Therefore they have been left without a choice. Negro suffrage was established by act of Congress, and the military officers were commanded to superintend the process of clothing the Negro race with the political privileges torn from white men. The blacks in the South are entitled to be well and humanely governed, and to have the protection of just laws for all their rights of person and property. If it were practicable at this time to give them a Government exclusively their own, under which they might manage their own affairs in their own way, it would become a grave question whether we ought to do so, or whether common humanity would not require us to save them from themselves. But under the circumstances this is only a speculative point. It is not proposed merely that they shall govern themselves, but that they shall rule the white race, make and administer State laws, elect Presidents and members of Congress, and shape to a greater or less extent the future destiny of the whole country. Would such a trust and power be safe in such hands? The peculiar qualities which should characterize any people who are fit to decide upon the management of public affairs for a great state have seldom been combined. It is the glory of white men to know that they have had these qualities in sufficient measure to build upon this continent a great political fabric and to preserve its stability for more than ninety years, while in every other part of the world all similar experiments have failed. But if anything can be proved by known facts, if all reasoning upon evidence is not abandoned, it must be acknowledged that in the progress of nations Negroes have shown less capacity for government than any other race of people. No independent government of any form has ever been successful in their hands. On the contrary, wherever they have been left to their own devices they have shown a constant tendency to relapse into barbarism. In the Southern States, however, Congress has undertaken to confer upon them the privilege of the ballot. Just released from slavery, it may be doubted whether as a class they know more than their ancestors how to organize and regulate civil society. indeed, it is admitted that the blacks of the South are not only regardless of the rights of property, but so utterly ignorant of public affairs that their voting can consist in nothing more than carrying a ballot to the place where they are directed to deposit it. I need not remind you that the exercise of the elective franchise is the highest attribute of an American citizen, and that when guided by virtue, intelligence, patriotism, and a proper appreciation of our free institutions it constitutes the true basis of a democratic form of government, in which the sovereign power is lodged in the body of the people. A trust artificially created, not for its own sake, but solely as a means of promoting the general welfare, its influence for good must necessarily depend upon the elevated character and true allegiance of the elector. It ought, therefore, to be reposed in none except those who are fitted morally and mentally to administer it well; for if conferred upon persons who do not justly estimate its value and who are indifferent as to its results, it will only serve as a means of placing power in the hands of the unprincipled and ambitious, and must eventuate in the complete destruction of that liberty of which it should be the most powerful conservator. I have therefore heretofore urged upon your attention the great danger-- 
  to be apprehended from an untimely extension of the elective franchise to any new class in our country, especially when the large majority of that class, in wielding the power thus placed in their hands, can not be expected correctly to comprehend the duties and responsibilities which pertain to suffrage. Yesterday, as it were, 4,000,000 persons were held in a condition of slavery that had existed for generations; to-day they are freemen and are assumed by law to be citizens. It can not be presumed, from their previous condition of servitude, that as a class they are as well informed as to the nature of our Government as the intelligent foreigner who makes our land the home of his choice. In the case of the latter neither a residence of five years and the knowledge of our institutions which it gives nor attachment to the principles of the Constitution are the only conditions upon which he can be admitted to citizenship; he must prove in addition a good moral character, and thus give reasonable ground for the belief that he will be faithful to the obligations which he assumes as a citizen of the Republic. Where a people--the source of all political power--speak by their suffrages through the instrumentality of the ballot box, it must be carefully guarded against the control of those who are corrupt in principle and enemies of free institutions, for it can only become to our political and social system a safe conductor of healthy popular sentiment when kept free from demoralizing influences. Controlled through fraud and usurpation by the designing, anarchy and despotism must inevitably follow. In the hands of the patriotic and worthy our Government will be preserved upon the principles of the Constitution inherited from our fathers. It follows, therefore, that in admitting to the ballot box a new class of voters not qualified for the exercise of the elective franchise we weaken our system of government instead of adding to its strength and durability. I yield to no one in attachment to that rule of general suffrage which distinguishes our policy as a nation. But there is a limit, wisely observed hitherto, which makes the ballot a privilege and a trust, and which requires of some classes a time suitable for probation and preparation. To give it indiscriminately to a new class, wholly unprepared by previous habits and opportunities to perform the trust which it demands, is to degrade it, and finally to destroy its power, for it may be safely assumed that no political truth is better established than that such indiscriminate and all-embracing extension of popular suffrage must end at last in its destruction. I repeat the expression of my willingness to join in any plan within the scope of our constitutional authority which promises to better the condition of the Negroes in the South, by encouraging them in industry, enlightening their minds, improving their morals, and giving protection to all their just rights as freedmen. But the transfer of our political inheritance to them would, in my opinion, be an abandonment of a duty which we owe alike to the memory of our fathers and the rights of our children. The plan of putting the Southern States wholly and the General Government partially into the hands of Negroes is proposed at a time peculiarly unpropitious. The foundations of society have been broken up by civil war. Industry must be reorganized, justice reestablished, public credit maintained, and order brought out of confusion. To accomplish these ends would require all the wisdom and virtue of the great men who formed our institutions originally. I confidently believe that their descendants will be equal to the arduous task before them, but it is worse than madness to expect that Negroes will perform it for us. Certainly we ought not to ask their assistance till we despair of our own competency. The great difference between the two races in physical, mental, and moral characteristics will prevent an amalgamation or fusion of them together in one homogeneous mass. If the inferior obtains the ascendency over the other, it will govern with reference only to its own interests for it will recognize no common interest--and create such a tyranny as this continent has never yet witnessed. Already the Negroes are influenced by promises of confiscation and plunder. They are taught to regard as an enemy every white man who has any respect for the rights of his own race. If this continues it must become worse and worse, until all order will be subverted, all industry cease, and the fertile fields of the South grow up into a wilderness. Of all the dangers which our nation has yet encountered, none are equal to those which must result from the success of the effort now making to Africanize the half of our country. I would not put considerations of money in competition with justice and right; but the expenses incident to "reconstruction" under the system adopted by Congress aggravate what I regard as the intrinsic wrong of the measure itself. It has cost uncounted millions already, and if persisted in will add largely to the weight of taxation, already too oppressive to be borne without just complaint, and may finally reduce the Treasury of the nation to a condition of bankruptcy. We must not delude ourselves. It will require a strong standing army and probably more than $200,000,000 per annum to maintain the supremacy of Negro governments after they are established. The sum thus thrown away would, if properly used, form a sinking fund large enough to pay the whole national debt in less than fifteen years. It is vain to hope that Negroes will maintain their ascendency themselves. Without military power they are wholly incapable of holding in subjection the white people of the South. I submit to the judgment of Congress whether the public credit may not be injuriously affected by a system of measures like this. With our debt and the vast private interests which are complicated with it, we can not be too cautious of a policy which might by possibility impair the confidence of the world in our Government. That confidence can only be retained by carefully inculcating the principles of justice and honor on the popular mind and by the most scrupulous fidelity to all our engagements of every sort. Any serious breach of the organic law, persisted in for a considerable time, can not but create fears for the stability of our institutions. Habitual violation of prescribed rules, which we bind ourselves to observe, must demoralize the people. Our only standard of civil duty being set at naught, the sheet anchor of our political morality is lost, the public conscience swings from its moorings and yields to every impulse of passion and interest. If we repudiate the Constitution, we will not be expected to care much for mere pecuniary obligations. The violation of such a pledge as we made on the 22d day of July, 1861, will assuredly diminish the market value of our other promises. Besides, if we acknowledge that the national debt was created, not to hold the States in the Union, as the taxpayers were led to suppose, but to expel them from it and hand them over to be governed by Negroes, the moral duty to pay it may seem much less clear. I say it may seem so, for I do not admit that this or any other argument in favor of repudiation can be entertained as sound; but its influence on some classes of minds may well be apprehended. The financial honor of a great commercial nation, largely indebted and with a republican form of government administered by agents of the popular choice, is a thing of such delicate texture and the destruction of it would be followed by such unspeakable calamity that every true patriot must desire to avoid whatever might expose it to the slightest danger. The great interests of the country require immediate relief from these enactments. Business in the South is paralyzed by a sense of general insecurity, by the terror of confiscation, and the dread of Negro supremacy. The Southern trade, from which the North would have derived so great a profit under a government of law, still languishes, and can never be revived until it ceases to be fettered by the arbitrary power which makes all its operations unsafe. That rich country--the richest in natural resources the world ever saw--is worse than lost if it be not soon placed under the protection of a free constitution. Instead of being, as it ought to be, a source of wealth and power, it will become an intolerable burden upon the rest of the nation. Another reason for retracing our steps will doubtless be seen by Congress in the late manifestations of public opinion upon this subject. We live in a country where the popular will always enforces obedience to itself, sooner or later. It is vain to think of opposing it with anything short of legal authority backed by overwhelming force. It can not have escaped your attention that from the day on which Congress fairly and formally presented the proposition to govern the Southern States by military force, with a view to the ultimate establishment of Negro supremacy, every expression of the general sentiment has been more or less adverse to it. The affections of this generation can not be detached from the institutions of their ancestors. Their determination to preserve the inheritance of free government in their own hands and transmit it undivided and unimpaired to their own posterity is too strong to be successfully opposed. Every weaker passion will disappear before that love of liberty and law for which the American people are distinguished above all others in the world. How far the duty of the President "to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution" requires him to go in opposing an unconstitutional act of Congress is a very serious and important question, on which I have deliberated much and felt extremely anxious to reach a proper conclusion. Where an act has been passed according to the forms of the Constitution by the supreme legislative authority, and is regularly enrolled among the public statutes of the country, Executive resistance to it, especially in times of high party excitement, would be likely to produce violent collision between the respective adherents of the two branches of the Government. This would be simply civil war, and civil war must be resorted to only as the last remedy for the worst of evils. Whatever might tend to provoke it should be most carefully avoided. A faithful and conscientious magistrate will concede very much to honest error, and something even to perverse malice, before he will endanger the public peace; and he will not adopt forcible measures, or such as might lead to force, as long as those which are peaceable remain open to him or to his constituents. It is true that cases may occur in which the Executive would be compelled to stand on its rights, and maintain them regardless of all consequences. If Congress should pass an act which is not only in palpable conflict with the Constitution, but will certainly, if carried out, produce immediate and irreparable injury to the organic structure of the Government, and if there be neither judicial remedy for the wrongs it inflicts nor power in the people to protect themselves without the official aid of their elected defender--if, for instance, the legislative department should pass an act even through all the forms of law to abolish a coordinate department of the Government--in such a case the President must take the high responsibilities of his office and save the life of the nation at all hazards. The so-called reconstruction acts, though as plainly unconstitutional as any that can be imagined, were not believed to be within the class last mentioned. The people were not wholly dis-armed of the power of self-defense. In all the Northern States they still held in their hands the sacred right of the ballot, and it was safe to believe that in due time they would come to the rescue of their own institutions. It gives me pleasure to add that the appeal to our common constituents was not taken in vain, and that my confidence in their wisdom and virtue seems not to have been misplaced. It is well and publicly known that enormous frauds have been perpetrated on the Treasury and that colossal fortunes have been made at the public expense. This species of corruption has increased, is increasing, and if not diminished will soon bring us into total ruin and disgrace. The public creditors and the taxpayers are alike interested in an honest administration of the finances, and neither class will long endure the large-handed robberies of the recent past. For this discreditable state of things there are several causes. Some of the taxes are so laid as to present an irresistible temptation to evade payment. The great sums which officers may win by connivance at fraud create a pressure which is more than the virtue of many can withstand, and there can be no doubt that the open disregard of constitutional obligations avowed by some of the highest and most influential men in the country has greatly weakened the moral sense of those who serve in subordinate places. The expenses of the United States, including interest on the public debt, are more than six times as much as they were seven years ago. To collect and disburse this vast amount requires careful supervision as well as systematic vigilance. The system, never perfected, was much disorganized by the "tenure-of-office bill," which has almost destroyed official accountability. The President may be thoroughly convinced that an officer is incapable, dishonest, or unfaithful to the Constitution, but under the law which I have named the utmost he can do is to complain to the Senate and ask the privilege of supplying his place with a better man. If the Senate be regarded as personally or politically hostile to the President, it is natural, and not altogether unreasonable, for the officer to expect that it will take his part as far as possible, restore him to his place, and give him a triumph over his Executive superior. The officer has other chances of impunity arising from accidental defects of evidence, the mode of investigating it, and the secrecy of the hearing. It is not wonderful that official malfeasance should become bold in proportion as the delinquents learn to think themselves safe. I am entirely persuaded that under such a rule the President can not perform the great duty assigned to him of seeing the laws faithfully executed, and that it disables him most especially from enforcing that rigid accountability which is necessary to the due execution of the revenue laws. The Constitution invests the President with authority to decide whether a removal should be made in any given case; the act of Congress declares in substance that he shall only accuse such as he supposes to be unworthy of their trust. The Constitution makes him sole judge in the premises, but the statute takes away his jurisdiction, transfers it to the Senate, and leaves him nothing but the odious and sometimes impracticable duty of becoming a prosecutor. The prosecution is to be conducted before a tribunal whose members are not, like him, responsible to the whole people, but to separate constituent bodies, and who may hear his accusation with great disfavor. The Senate is absolutely without any known standard of decision applicable to such a case. Its judgment can not be anticipated, for it is not governed by any rule. The law does not define what shall be deemed good cause for removal. It is impossible even to conjecture what may or may not be so considered by the Senate. The nature of the subject forbids clear proof. If the charge be incapacity, what evidence will support it? Fidelity to the Constitution may be understood or misunderstood in a thousand different ways, and by violent party men, in violent party times, unfaithfulness to the Constitution may even come to be considered meritorious. If the officer be accused of dishonesty, how shall it be made out? Will it be inferred from acts unconnected with public duty, from private history, or from general reputation, or must the President await the commission of an actual misdemeanor in office? Shall he in the meantime risk the character and interest of the nation in the hands of men to whom he can not give his confidence? Must he forbear his complaint until the mischief is done and can not be prevented? If his zeal in the public service should impel him to anticipate the overt act, must he move at the peril of being tried himself for the offense of slandering his subordinate? In the present circumstances of the country someone must be held responsible for official delinquency of every kind. It is extremely difficult to say where that responsibility should be thrown if it be not left where it has been placed by the Constitution. But all just men will admit that the President ought to be entirely relieved from such responsibility if he can not meet it by reason of restrictions placed by law upon his action. The unrestricted power of removal from office is a very great one to be trusted even to a magistrate chosen by the general suffrage of the whole people and accountable directly to them for his acts. It is undoubtedly liable to abuse, and at some periods of our history perhaps has been abused. If it be thought desirable and constitutional that it should be so limited as to make the President merely a common informer against other public agents, he should at least be permitted to act in that capacity before some open tribunal, independent of party politics, ready to investigate the merits of every case, furnished with the means of taking evidence, and bound to decide according to established rules. This would guarantee the safety of the accuser when he acts in good faith, and at the same time secure the rights of the other party. I speak, of course, with all proper respect for the present Senate, but it does not seem to me that any legislative body can be so constituted as to insure its fitness for these functions. It is not the theory of this Government that public offices are the property of those who hold them. They are given merely as a trust for the public benefit, sometimes for a fixed period, sometimes during good behavior, but generally they are liable to be terminated at the pleasure of the appointing power, which represents the collective majesty and speaks the will of the people. The forced retention in office of a single dishonest person may work great injury to the public interests. The danger to the public service comes not from the power to remove, but from the power to appoint. Therefore it was that the framers of the Constitution left the power of removal unrestricted, while they gave the Senate a fight to reject all appointments which in its opinion were not fit to be made. A little reflection on this subject will probably satisfy all who have the good of the country at heart that our best course is to take the Constitution for our guide, walk in the path marked out by the founders of the Republic, and obey the rules made sacred by the observance of our great predecessors. The present condition of our finances and circulating medium is one to which your early consideration is invited. The proportion which the currency of any country should bear to the whole value of the annual produce circulated by its means is a question upon which political economists have not agreed. Nor can it be controlled by legislation, but must be left to the irrevocable laws which everywhere regulate commerce and trade. The circulating medium will ever irresistibly flow to those points where it is in greatest demand. The law of demand and supply is as unerring as that which regulates the tides of the ocean; and, indeed, currency, like the tides, has its ebbs and flows throughout the commercial world. At the beginning of the rebellion the bank-note circulation of the country amounted to not much more than $200,000,000; now the circulation of national-bank notes and those known as "legal-tenders" is nearly seven hundred millions. While it is urged by some that this amount should be increased, others contend that a decided reduction is absolutely essential to the best interests of the country. In view of these diverse opinions, it may be well to ascertain the real value of our paper issues when compared with a metallic or convertible currency. For this purpose let us inquire how much gold and silver could be purchased by the seven hundred millions of paper money now in circulation. Probably not more than half the amount of the latter, showing that when our paper currency is compared with gold and silver its commercial value is compressed into three hundred and fifty millions. This striking fact makes it the obvious duty of the Government, as early as may be consistent with the principles of sound political economy, to take such measures as will enable the holder of its notes and those of the national banks to convert them without loss into specie or its equivalent. A reduction of our paper circulating medium need not necessarily follow. This, however, would depend upon the law of demand and supply, though it should be borne in mind that by making legal-tender and bank notes convertible into coin or its equivalent their present specie value in the hands of their holders would be enhanced 100 per cent. Legislation for the accomplishment of a result so desirable is demanded by the highest public considerations. The Constitution contemplates that the circulating medium of the country shall be uniform in quality and value. At the time of the formation of that instrument the country had just emerged from the War of the Revolution, and was suffering from the effects of a redundant and worthless paper currency. The sages of that period were anxious to protect their posterity from the evils that they themselves had experienced. Hence in providing a circulating medium they conferred upon Congress the power to coin money and regulate the value thereof, at the same time prohibiting the States from making anything but gold and silver a tender in payment of debts. The anomalous condition of our currency is in striking contrast with that which was originally designed. Our circulation now embraces, first, notes of the national banks, which are made receivable for all dues to the Government, excluding imposts, and by all its creditors, excepting in payment of interest upon its bonds and the securities themselves; second, legal-tender notes, issued by the United States, and which the law requires shall be received as well in payment of all debts between citizens as of all Government dues, excepting imposts; and, third. gold and silver coin. By the operation of our present system of finance, however, the metallic currency, when collected, is reserved only for one class of Government creditors, who, holding its bonds, semiannually receive their interest in coin from the National Treasury. They are thus made to occupy an invidious position, which may be used to strengthen the arguments of those who would bring into disrepute the obligations of the nation. In the payment of all its debts the plighted faith of the Government should be inviolably maintained. But while it acts with fidelity toward the bondholder who loaned his money that the integrity of the Union might be preserved, it should at the same time observe good faith with the great masses of the people, who, having rescued the Union from the perils of rebellion, now bear the burdens of taxation, that the Government may be able to fulfill its engagements. There is no reason which will be accepted as satisfactory by the people why those who defend us on the land and protect us on the sea; the pensioner upon the gratitude of the nation, bearing the scars and wounds received while in its service; the public servants in the various Departments of the Government; the farmer who supplies the soldiers of the Army and the sailors of the Navy; the artisan who toils in the nation's workshops, or the mechanics and laborers who build its edifices and construct its forts and vessels of war, should, in payment of their just and hard-earned dues, receive depreciated paper, while another class of their countrymen, no more deserving, are paid in coin of gold and silver. Equal and exact justice requires that all the creditors of the Government should be paid in a currency possessing a uniform value. This can only be accomplished by the restoration of the currency to the standard established by the Constitution; and by this means we would remove a discrimination which may, if it has not already done so, create a prejudice that may become deep rooted and widespread and imperil the national credit. The feasibility of making our currency correspond with the constitutional standard may be seen by reference to a few facts derived from our commercial statistics. The production of precious metals in the United States from 1849 to 1857, inclusive, amounted to $579,000,000; from 1858 to 1860, inclusive, to $137,500,000, and from 1861 to 1867, inclusive, to $457,500,000--making the grand aggregate of products since 1849 $1,174,000,000. The amount of specie coined from 1849 to 1857 inclusive, was $439,000,000; from 1858 to 1860, inclusive, $125,000,000, and from 1861 to 1867, inclusive, $310,000,000--making the total coinage since 1849 $874,000,000. From 1849 to 1857, inclusive, the net exports of specie amounted to $271,000,000; from 1858 to 1860, inclusive, to $148,000,000, and from 1861 to 1867, inclusive, $322,000,000--making the aggregate of net exports since 1849 $741,000,000. These figures show an excess of product over net exports of $433,000,000. There are in the Treasury $111,000,000 in coin, something more than $40,000,000 in circulation on the Pacific Coast, and a few millions in the national and other banks--in all about $160,000,000. This, however, taking into account the specie in the country prior to 1849 leaves more than $300,000,000 which have not been accounted for by exportation, and therefore may yet remain in the country. These are important facts and show how completely the inferior currency will supersede the better, forcing it from circulation among the masses and causing it to be exported as a mere article of trade, to add to the money capital of foreign lands. They show the necessity of retiring our paper money, that the return of gold and silver to the avenues of trade may be invited and a demand created which will cause the retention at home of at least so much of the productions of our rich and inexhaustible gold-bearing fields as may be sufficient for purposes of circulation. It is unreasonable to expect a return to a sound currency so long as the Government by continuing to issue irredeemable notes fills the channels of circulation with depreciated paper. Notwithstanding a coinage by our mints, since 1849, of $874,000,000, the people are now strangers to the currency which was designed for their use and benefit, and specimens of the precious metals bearing the national device are seldom seen, except when produced to gratify the interest excited by their novelty. If depreciated paper is to be continued as the permanent currency of the country, and all our coin is to become a mere article of traffic and speculation, to the enhancement in price of all that is indispensable to the comfort of the people, it would be wise economy to abolish our mints thus saving the nation the care and expense incident to such establishments, and let all our precious metals be exported in bullion. The time has come, however, when the Government and national banks should be required to take the most efficient steps and make all necessary arrangements for a resumption of specie payments at the earliest practicable period. Specie payments having been once resumed by the Government and banks, all notes or bills of paper issued by either of a less denomination than $20 should by law be excluded from circulation, so that the people may have the benefit and convenience of a gold and silver currency which in all their business transactions will be uniform in value at home and abroad. 
  Every man of property or industry, every man who desires to preserve what he honestly possesses or to obtain what he can honestly earn, has a direct interest in maintaining a safe circulating medium--such a medium as shall be real and substantial, not liable to vibrate with opinions, not subject to be blown up or blown down by the breath of speculation, but to be made stable and secure. A disordered currency is one of the greatest political evils. It undermines the virtues necessary for the support of the social system and encourages propensities destructive of its happiness; it wars against industry, frugality, and economy, and it fosters the evil spirits of extravagance and speculation.
 It has been asserted by one of our profound and most gifted statesmen that-- 
  Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effectual than that which deludes them with paper money. This is the most effectual of inventions to fertilize the rich man's fields by the sweat of the poor man's brow. Ordinary tyranny, oppression, excessive taxation--these bear lightly on the happiness of the mass of the community compared with a fraudulent currency and the robberies committed by depreciated paper. Our own history has recorded for our instruction enough, and more than enough, of the demoralizing tendency, the injustice, and the intolerable oppression on the virtuous and well disposed of a degraded paper currency authorized by law or in any way countenanced by government.
 It is one of the most successful devices, in times of peace or war, expansions or revulsions, to accomplish the transfer of all the precious metals from the great mass of the people into the hands of the few, where they are hoarded in secret places or deposited in strong boxes under bolts and bars, while the people are left to endure all the inconvenience, sacrifice, and demoralization resulting from the use of a depreciated and worthless paper money. The condition of our finances and the operations of our revenue system are set forth and fully explained in the able and instructive report of the Secretary of the Treasury. On the 30th of June, 1866, the public debt amounted to $2,783,425,879; on the 30th of June last it was $2,692,199,215, showing a reduction during the fiscal year of $91,226,664. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1867, the receipts were $490,634,010 and the expenditures $346,729,129, leaving an available surplus of $143,904,880. It is estimated that the receipts for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, will be $417,161,928 and that the expenditures will reach the sum of $393,269,226, leaving in the Treasury a surplus of $23,892,702. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1869, it is estimated that the receipts will amount to $381,000,000 and that the expenditures will be $372,000,000, showing an excess of $9,000,000 in favor of the Government. The attention of Congress is earnestly invited to the necessity of a thorough revision of our revenue system. Our internal-revenue laws and impost system should be so adjusted as to bear most heavily on articles of luxury, leaving the necessaries of life as free from taxation as may be consistent with the real wants of the Government, economically administered. Taxation would not then fall unduly on the man of moderate means; and while none would be entirely exempt from assessment, all, in proportion to their pecuniary abilities, would contribute toward the support of the State. A modification of the internal-revenue system, by a large reduction in the number of articles now subject to tax, would be followed by results equally advantageous to the citizen and the Government. It would render the execution of the law less expensive and more certain, remove obstructions to industry, lessen the temptations to evade the law, diminish the violations and frauds perpetrated upon its provisions, make its operations less inquisitorial, and greatly reduce in numbers the army of taxgatherers created by the system, who "take from the mouth of honest labor the bread it has earned." Retrenchment, reform, and economy should be carried into every branch of the public service, that the expenditures of the Government may be reduced and the people relieved from oppressive taxation; a sound currency should be restored, and the public faith in regard to the national debt sacredly observed. The accomplishment of these important results, together with the restoration of the Union of the States upon the principles of the Constitution, would inspire confidence at home and abroad in the stability of our institutions and bring to the nation prosperity, peace, and good will. The report of the Secretary of War ad interim exhibits the operations of the Army and of the several bureaus of the War Department. The aggregate strength of our military force on the 30th of September last was 56,315. The total estimate for military appropriations is $77,124,707, including a deficiency in last year's appropriation of $13,600,000. The payments at the Treasury on account of the service of the War Department from January 1 to October 29, 1867--a period of ten months--amounted to $109,807,000. The expenses of the military establishment, as well as the numbers of the Army, are now three times as great as they have ever been in time of peace, while the discretionary, power is vested in the Executive to add millions to this expenditure by an increase of the Army to the maximum strength allowed by the law. The comprehensive report of the Secretary of the Interior furnishes interesting information in reference to the important branches of the public service connected with his Department. The menacing attitude of some of the warlike bands of Indians inhabiting the district of country between the Arkansas and Platte rivers and portions of Dakota Territory required the presence of a large military force in that region. Instigated by real or imaginary grievances, the Indians occasionally committed acts of barbarous violence upon emigrants and our frontier settlements; but a general Indian war has been providentially averted. The commissioners under the act of 20th July, 1867, were invested with full power to adjust existing difficulties, negotiate treaties with the disaffected bands, and select for them reservations remote from the traveled routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific. They entered without delay upon the execution of their trust, but have not yet made any official report of their proceedings. It is of vital importance that our distant Territories should be exempt from Indian outbreaks, and that the construction of the Pacific Railroad, an object of national importance, should not be interrupted by hostile tribes. These objects, as well as the material interests and the moral and intellectual improvement of the Indians, can be most effectually secured by concentrating them upon portions of country set apart for their exclusive use and located at points remote from our highways and encroaching white settlements. Since the commencement of the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress 510 miles of road have been constructed on the main line and branches of the Pacific Railway. The line from Omaha is rapidly approaching the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, while the terminus of the last section of constructed road in California, accepted by the Government on the 24th day of October last, was but 11 miles distant from the summit of the Sierra Nevada. The remarkable energy evinced by the companies offers the strongest assurance that the completion of the road from Sacramento to Omaha will not be long deferred. During the last fiscal year 7,041,114 acres of public land were disposed of, and the cash receipts from sales and fees exceeded by one-half million dollars the sum realized from those sources during the preceding year. The amount paid to pensioners, including expenses of disbursements, was $18,619,956, and 36,482 names were added to the rolls. The entire number of pensioners on the 30th of June last was 155,474. Eleven thousand six hundred. and fifty-five patents and designs were issued during the year ending September 30, 1867, and at that date the balance in the Treasury to the credit of the patent fund was $286,607. The report of the Secretary of the Navy states that we have seven squadrons actively and judiciously employed, under efficient and able commanders, in protecting the persons and property of American citizens, maintaining the dignity and power of the Government, and promoting the commerce and business interests of our countrymen in every part of the world. Of the 238 vessels composing the present Navy of the United States, 56, carrying 507 guns, are in squadron service. During the year the number of vessels in commission has been reduced 12, and there are 13 less on squadron duty than there were at the date of the last report. A large number of vessels were commenced and in the course of construction when the war terminated, and although Congress had made the necessary appropriations for their completion, the Department has either suspended work upon them or limited the slow completion of the steam vessels, so as to meet the contracts for machinery made with private establishments. The total expenditures of the Navy Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1867, were $31,034,011. No appropriations have been made. or required since the close of the war for the construction and repair of vessels, for steam machinery, ordnance, provisions and clothing, fuel, hemp, etc., the balances under these several heads having been more than sufficient for current expenditures. It should also be stated to the credit of the Department that, besides asking no appropriations for the above objects for the last two years, the Secretary of the Navy, on the 30th of September last, in accordance with the act of May 1, 1820, requested the Secretary of the Treasury to carry to the surplus fund the sum of $65,000.000, being the amount received from the sales of vessels and other war property and the remnants of former appropriations. The report of the Postmaster-General shows the business of the Post-Office Department and the condition of the postal service in a very favorable light, and the attention of Congress is called to its practical recommendations. The receipts of the Department for the year ending June 30, 1867, including all special appropriations for sea and land service and for free mail matter, were $19,978,693. The expenditures for all purposes were $19,235,483, leaving an unexpended balance in favor of the Department of $743,210, which can be applied toward the expenses of the Department for the current year. The increase of postal revenue, independent of specific appropriations, for the year 1867 over that of 1866 was $850,040. The increase of revenue from the sale of stamps and stamped envelopes was $783,404. The increase of expenditures for 1867 over those of the previous year was owing chiefly to the extension of the land and ocean mail service. During the past year new postal conventions have been ratified and exchanged with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the North German Union, Italy, and the colonial government at Hong Kong, reducing very largely the rates of ocean and land postages to and from and within those countries. The report of the Acting Commissioner of Agriculture concisely presents the condition, wants, and progress of an interest eminently worthy the fostering care of Congress, and exhibits a large measure of useful results achieved during the year to which it refers. The reestablishment of peace at home and the resumption of extended trade, travel, and commerce abroad have served to increase the number and variety of questions in the Department for Foreign Affairs. None of these questions, however, have seriously disturbed our relations with other states. The Republic of Mexico, having been relieved from foreign intervention, is earnestly engaged in efforts to reestablish her constitutional system of government. A good understanding continues to exist between our Government and the Republics of Hayti and San Domingo, and our cordial relations with the Central and South American States remain unchanged. The tender, made in conformity with a resolution of Congress, of the good offices of the Government with a view to an amicable adjustment of peace between Brazil and her allies on one side and Paraguay on the other, and between Chile and her allies on the one side and Spain on the other, though kindly received, has in neither case been fully accepted by the belligerents. The war in the valley of the Parana is still vigorously maintained. On the other hand, actual hostilities between the Pacific States and Spain have been more than a year suspended. I shall, on any proper occasion that may occur, renew the conciliatory recommendations which have been already made. Brazil, with enlightened sagacity and comprehensive statesmanship, has opened the great channels of the Amazon and its tributaries to universal commerce. One thing more seems needful to assure a rapid and cheering progress in South America. I refer to those peaceful habits without which states and nations can not in this age well expect material prosperity or social advancement. The Exposition of Universal Industry at Paris has passed, and seems to have fully realized the high expectations of the French Government. If due allowance be made for the recent political derangement of industry here, the part which the United States has borne in this exhibition of invention and art may be regarded with very high satisfaction. During the exposition a conference was held of delegates from several nations, the United States being one, in which the inconveniences of commerce and social intercourse resulting from the diverse standards of money value were very fully discussed, and plans were developed for establishing by universal consent a common principle for the coinage of gold. These conferences are expected to be renewed, with the attendance of many foreign states not hitherto represented. A report of these interesting proceedings will be submitted to Congress, which will, no doubt, justly appreciate the great object and be ready to adopt any measure which may tend to facilitate its ultimate accomplishment. On the 25th of February, 1862, Congress declared by law that Treasury notes, without interest, authorized by that act should be legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, within the United States. An annual remittance of $30,000, less stipulated expenses, accrues to claimants under the convention made with Spain in 1834. These remittances, since the passage of that act, have been paid in such notes. The claimants insist that the Government ought to require payment in coin. The subject may be deemed worthy of your attention. No arrangement has yet been reached for the settlement of our claims for British depredations upon the commerce of the United States. I have felt it my duty to decline the proposition of arbitration made by Her Majesty's Government, because it has hitherto been accompanied by reservations and limitations incompatible with the rights, interest, and honor of our country. It is not to be apprehended that Great Britain will persist in her refusal to satisfy these just and reasonable claims, which involve the sacred principle of nonintervention--a principle henceforth not more important to the United States than to all other commercial nations. The West India islands were settled and colonized by European States simultaneously with the settlement and colonization of the American continent. Most of the colonies planted here became independent nations in the close of the last and the beginning of the present century. Our own country embraces communities which at one period were colonies of Great Britain, France, Spain, Holland, Sweden, and Russia. The people in the West Indies, with the exception of those of the island of Hayti, have neither attained nor aspired to independence, nor have they become prepared for self-defense. Although possessing considerable commercial value, they have been held by the several European States which colonized or at some time conquered them, chiefly for purposes of military and naval strategy in carrying out European policy and designs in regard to this continent. In our Revolutionary War ports and harbors in the West India islands were used by our enemy, to the great injury and embarrassment of the United States. We had the same experience in our second war with Great Britain. The same European policy for a long time excluded us even from trade with the West Indies, while we were at peace with all nations. In our recent civil war the rebels and their piratical and blockade-breaking allies found facilities in the same ports for the work, which they too successfully accomplished, of injuring and devastating the commerce which we are now engaged in rebuilding. We labored especially under this disadvantage, that European steam vessels employed by our enemies found friendly shelter, protection, and supplies in West Indian ports, while our naval operations were necessarily carried on from our own distant shores. There was then a universal feeling of the want of an advanced naval outpost between the Atlantic coast and Europe. The duty of obtaining such an outpost peacefully and lawfully, while neither doing nor menacing injury to other states, earnestly engaged the attention of the executive department before the close of the war, and it has not been lost sight of since that time. A not entirely dissimilar naval want revealed itself during the same period on the Pacific coast. The required foothold there was fortunately secured by our late treaty with the Emperor of Russia, and it now seems imperative that the more obvious necessities of the Atlantic coast should not be less carefully provided for. A good and convenient port and harbor, capable of easy defense, will supply that want. With the possession of such a station by the United States, neither we nor any other American nation need longer apprehend injury or offense from any transatlantic enemy. I agree with our early statesmen that the West Indies naturally gravitate to, and may be expected ultimately to be absorbed by, the continental States, including our own. I agree with them also that it is wise to leave the question of such absorption to this process of natural political gravitation. The islands of St. Thomas and St. John, which constitute a part of the group called the Virgin Islands, seemed to offer us advantages immediately desirable, while their acquisition could be secured in harmony with the principles to which I have alluded. A treaty has therefore been concluded with the King of Denmark for the cession of those islands, and will be submitted to the Senate for consideration. It will hardly be necessary to call the attention of Congress to the subject of providing for the payment to Russia of the sum stipulated in the treaty for the cession of Alaska. Possession having been formally delivered to our commissioner, the territory remains for the present in care of a military force, awaiting such civil organization as shall be directed by Congress. The annexation of many small German States to Prussia and the reorganization of that country under a new and liberal constitution have induced me to renew the effort to obtain a just and prompt settlement of the long-vexed question concerning the claims of foreign states for military service from their subjects naturalized in the United States. In connection with this subject the attention of Congress is respectfully called to a singular and embarrassing conflict of laws. The executive department of this Government has hitherto uniformly held, as it now holds, that naturalization in conformity with the Constitution and laws of the United States absolves the recipient from his native allegiance. The courts of Great Britain hold that allegiance to the British Crown is indefensible, and is not absolved by our laws of naturalization. British judges cite courts and law authorities of the United States in support of that theory against the position held by the executive authority of the United States. This conflict perplexes the public mind concerning the rights of naturalized citizens and impairs the national authority abroad. I called attention to this subject in my last annual message, and now again respectfully appeal to Congress to declare the national will unmistakably upon this important question. The abuse of our laws by the clandestine prosecution of the African slave trade from American ports or by American citizens has altogether ceased, and under existing circumstances no apprehensions of its renewal in this part of the world are entertained. Under these circumstances it becomes a question whether we shall not propose to Her Majesty's Government a suspension or discontinuance of the stipulations for maintaining a naval force for the suppression of that trade.
The continued disorganization of the Union, to which the President has so often called the attention of Congress, is yet a subject of profound and patriotic concern. We may, however, find some relief from that anxiety in the reflection that the painful political situation, although before untried by ourselves, is not new in the experience of nations. Political science, perhaps as highly perfected in our own time and country as in any other, has not yet disclosed any means by which civil wars can be absolutely prevented. An enlightened nation, however, with a wise and beneficent constitution of free government, may diminish their frequency and mitigate their severity by directing all its proceedings in accordance with its fundamental law. When a civil war has been brought to a close, it is manifestly the first interest and duty of the state to repair the injuries which the war has inflicted, and to secure the benefit of the lessons it teaches as fully and as speedily as possible. This duty was, upon the termination of the rebellion, promptly accepted not only by the executive department, but by the insurrectionary States themselves, and restoration in the first moment of peace was believed to be as easy and certain as it was indispensable. The expectations, however, then so reasonably and confidently entertained were disappointed by legislation from which I felt constrained by my obligations to the Constitution to withhold my assent. It is therefore a source of profound regret that in complying with the obligation imposed upon the President by the Constitution to give to Congress from time to time information of the state of the Union I am unable to communicate any definitive adjustment satisfactory to the American people, of the questions which since the close of the rebellion have agitated the public mind. On the contrary, candor compels me to declare that at this time there is no Union as our fathers understood the term, and as they meant it to be understood by us. The Union which they established can exist only where all the States are represented in both Houses of Congress; where one State is as free as another to regulate its internal concerns according to its own will, and where the laws of the central Government, strictly confined to matters of national jurisdiction, apply with equal force to all the people of every section. That such is not the present "state of the Union" is a melancholy fact, and we must all acknowledge that the restoration of the States to their proper legal relations with the Federal Government and with one another, according to the terms of the original compact, would be the greatest temporal blessing which God, in His kindest providence, could bestow upon this nation. It becomes our imperative duty to consider whether or not it is impossible to effect this most desirable consummation. The Union and the Constitution are inseparable. As long as one is obeyed by all parties, the other will be preserved; and if one is destroyed, both must perish together. The destruction of the Constitution will be followed by other and still greater calamities. It was ordained not only to form a more perfect union between the States, but to "establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." Nothing but implicit obedience to its requirements in all parts of the country will accomplish these great ends. Without that obedience we can look forward only to continual outrages upon individual rights, incessant breaches of the public peace, national weakness, financial dishonor, the total loss of our prosperity, the general corruption of morals, and the final extinction of popular freedom. To save our country from evils so appalling as these, we should renew our efforts again and again. To me the process of restoration seems perfectly plain and simple. It consists merely in a faithful application of the Constitution and laws. The execution of the laws is not now obstructed or opposed by physical force. There is no military or other necessity, real or pretended, which can prevent obedience to the Constitution, either North or South. All the rights and all the obligations of States and individuals can be protected and enforced by means perfectly consistent with the fundamental law. The courts may be everywhere open, and if open their process would be unimpeded. Crimes against the United States can be prevented or punished by the proper judicial authorities in a manner entirely practicable and legal. There is therefore no reason why the Constitution should not be obeyed, unless those who exercise its powers have determined that it shall be disregarded and violated. The mere naked will of this Government, or of some one or more of its branches, is the only obstacle that can exist to a perfect union of all the States. On this momentous question and some of the measures growing out of it I have had the misfortune to differ from Congress, and have expressed my convictions without reserve, though with becoming deference to the opinion of the legislative department. Those convictions are not only unchanged, but strengthened by subsequent events and further reflection The transcendent importance of the subject will be a sufficient excuse for calling your attention to some of the reasons which have so strongly influenced my own judgment. The hope that we may all finally concur in a mode of settlement consistent at once with our true interests and with our sworn duties to the Constitution is too natural and too just to be easily relinquished. It is clear to my apprehension that the States lately in rebellion are still members of the National Union. When did they cease to be so? The "ordinances of secession" adopted by a portion (in most of them a very small portion) of their citizens were mere nullities. If we admit now that they were valid and effectual for the purpose intended by their authors, we sweep from under our feet the whole ground upon which we justified the war. Were those States afterwards expelled from the Union by the war? The direct contrary was averred by this Government to be its purpose, and was so understood by all those who gave their blood and treasure to aid in its prosecution. It can not be that a successful war, waged for the preservation of the Union, had the legal effect of dissolving it. The victory of the nation's arms was not the disgrace of her policy; the defeat of secession on the battlefield was not the triumph of its lawless principle. Nor could Congress, with or without the consent of the Executive, do anything which would have the effect, directly or indirectly, of separating the States from each other. To dissolve the Union is to repeal the Constitution which holds it together, and that is a power which does not belong to any department of this Government, or to all of them united. This is so plain that it has been acknowledged by all branches of the Federal Government. The Executive (my predecessor as well as myself) and the heads of all the Departments have uniformly acted upon the principle that the Union is not only undissolved, but indissoluble. Congress submitted an amendment of the Constitution to be ratified by the Southern States, and accepted their acts of ratification as a necessary and lawful exercise of their highest function. If they were not States, or were States out of the Union, their consent to a change in the fundamental law of the Union would have been nugatory, and Congress in asking it committed a political absurdity. The judiciary has also given the solemn sanction of its authority to the same view of the case. The judges of the Supreme Court have included the Southern States in their circuits, and they are constantly, in banc and elsewhere, exercising jurisdiction which does not belong to them unless those States are States of the Union. If the Southern States are component parts of the Union, the Constitution is the supreme law for them, as it is for all the other States. They are bound to obey it, and so are we. The right of the Federal Government, which is clear and unquestionable. to enforce the Constitution upon them implies the correlative obligation on our part to observe its limitations and execute its guaranties. Without the Constitution we are nothing; by, through, and under the Constitution we are what it makes us. We may doubt the wisdom of the law, we may not approve of its provisions, but we can not violate it merely because it seems to confine our powers within limits narrower than we could wish. It is not a question of individual or class or sectional interest, much less of party predominance, but of duty--of high and sacred duty--which we are all sworn to perform. If we can not support the Constitution with the cheerful alacrity of those who love and believe in it, we must give to it at least the fidelity of public servants who act under solemn obligations and commands which they dare not disregard. The constitutional duty is not the only one which requires the States to be restored. There is another consideration which, though of minor importance, is yet of great weight. On the 22d day of July, 1861, Congress declared by an almost unanimous vote of both Houses that the war should be conducted solely for the purpose of preserving the Union and maintaining the supremacy of the Federal Constitution and laws, without impairing the dignity, equality, and rights of the States or of individuals. and that when this was done the war should cease. I do not say that this declaration is personally binding on those who joined in making it, any more than individual members of Congress are personally bound to pay a public debt created under a law for which they voted. But it was a solemn. public, official pledge of the national honor, and I can not imagine upon what grounds the repudiation of it is to be justified. If it be said that we are not bound to keep faith with rebels, let it be remembered that this promise was not made to rebels only. Thousands of true men in the South were drawn to our standard by it, and hundreds of thousands in the North gave their lives in the belief that it would be carried out. It was made on the day after the first great battle of the war had been fought and lost. All patriotic and intelligent men then saw the necessity of giving such an assurance, and believed that without it the war would end in disaster to our because. Having given that assurance in the extremity of our peril, the violation of it now, in the day of our power, would be a rude rending of that good faith which holds the moral world together; our country would cease to have any claim upon the confidence of men; it would make the war not only a failure, but a fraud. Being sincerely convinced that these views are correct, I would be unfaithful to my duty if I did not recommend the repeal of the acts of Congress which place ten of the Southern States under the domination of military masters. If calm reflection shall satisfy a majority of your honorable bodies that the acts referred to are not only a violation of the national faith, but in direct conflict with the Constitution, I dare not permit myself to doubt that you will immediately strike them from the statute book. To demonstrate the unconstitutional character of those acts I need do no more than refer to their general provisions. It must be seen at once that they are not authorized. To dictate what alterations shall be made in the constitutions of the several States; to control the elections of State legislators and State officers, members of Congress and electors of President and Vice-President, by arbitrarily declaring who shall vote and who shall be excluded from that privilege; to dissolve State legislatures or prevent them from assembling; to dismiss judges and other civil functionaries of the State and appoint others without regard to State law; to organize and operate all the political machinery of the States; to regulate the whole administration of their domestic and local affairs according to the mere will of strange and irresponsible agents, sent among them for that purpose--these are powers not granted to the Federal Government or to any one of its branches. Not being granted, we violate our trust by assuming them as palpably as we would by acting in the face of a positive interdict; for the Constitution forbids us to do whatever it does not affirmatively authorize, either by express words or by clear implication. If the authority we desire to use does not come to us through the Constitution, we can exercise it only by usurpation, and usurpation is the most dangerous of political crimes. By that crime the enemies of free government in all ages have worked out their designs against public liberty and private right. It leads directly and immediately to the establishment of absolute rule, for undelegated power is always unlimited and unrestrained. The acts of Congress in question are not only objectionable for their assumption of ungranted power, but many of their provisions are in conflict with the direct prohibitions of the Constitution. The Constitution commands that a republican form of government shall be guaranteed to all the States; that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, arrested without a judicial warrant, or punished without a fair trial before an impartial jury; that the privilege of habeas corpus shall not be denied in time of peace, and that no bill of attainder shall be passed even against a single individual. Yet the system of measures established by these acts of Congress does totally subvert and destroy the form as well as the substance of republican government in the ten States to which they apply. It binds them hand and foot in absolute slavery, and subjects them to a strange and hostile power, more unlimited and more likely to be abused than any other now known among civilized men. It tramples down all those rights in which the essence of liberty consists, and which a free government is always most careful to protect. It denies the habeas corpus and the trial by jury. Personal freedom, property, and life, if assailed by the passion, the prejudice, or the rapacity of the ruler, have no security whatever. It has the effect of a bill of attainder or bill of pains and penalties, not upon a few individuals, but upon whole masses, including the millions who inhabit the subject States, and even their unborn children. These wrongs, being expressly forbidden, can not be constitutionally inflicted upon any portion of our people, no matter how they may have come within our jurisdiction, and no matter whether they live in States, Territories, or districts. I have no desire to save from the proper and just consequences of their great crime those who engaged in rebellion against the Government, but as a mode of punishment the measures under consideration are the most unreasonable that could be invented. Many of those people are perfectly innocent; many kept their fidelity to the Union untainted to the last; many were incapable of any legal offense; a large proportion even of the persons able to bear arms were forced into rebellion against their will, and of those who are guilty with their own consent the degrees of guilt are as various as the shades of their character and temper. But these acts of Congress confound them all together in one common doom. Indiscriminate vengeance upon classes, sects, and parties, or upon whole communities, for offenses committed by a portion of them against the governments to which they owed obedience was common in the barbarous ages of the world; but Christianity and civilization have made such progress that recourse to a punishment so cruel and unjust would meet with the condemnation of all unprejudiced and right-minded men. The punitive justice of this age, and especially of this country, does not consist in stripping whole States of their liberties and reducing all their people, without distinction, to the condition of slavery. It deals separately with each individual, confines itself to the forms of law, and vindicates its own purity by an impartial examination of every case before a competent judicial tribunal. If this does not satisfy all our desires with regard to Southern rebels, let us console ourselves by reflecting that a free Constitution, triumphant in war and unbroken in peace, is worth far more to us and our children than the gratification of any present feeling. I am aware it is assumed that this system of government for the Southern States is not to be perpetual. It is true this military government is to be only provisional, but it is through this temporary evil that a greater evil is to be made perpetual. If the guaranties of the Constitution can be broken provisionally to serve a temporary purpose, and in a part only of the country, we can destroy them everywhere and for all time. Arbitrary measures often change, but they generally change for the worse. It is the curse of despotism that it has no halting place. The intermitted exercise of its power brings no sense of security to its subjects, for they can never know what more they will be called to endure when its red right hand is armed to plague them again. Nor is it possible to conjecture how or where power, unrestrained by law, may seek its next victims. The States that are still free may be enslaved at any moment; for if the Constitution does not protect all, it protects none. It is manifestly and avowedly the object of these laws to confer upon Negroes the privilege of voting and to disfranchise such a number of white citizens as will give the former a clear majority at all elections in the Southern States. This, to the minds of some persons, is so important that a violation of the Constitution is justified as a means of bringing it about. The morality is always false which excuses a wrong because it proposes to accomplish a desirable end. We are not permitted to do evil that good may come. But in this case the end itself is evil, as well as the means. The subjugation of the States to Negro domination would be worse than the military despotism under which they are now suffering. It was believed beforehand that the people would endure any amount of military oppression for any length of time rather than degrade themselves by subjection to the Negro race. Therefore they have been left without a choice. Negro suffrage was established by act of Congress, and the military officers were commanded to superintend the process of clothing the Negro race with the political privileges torn from white men. The blacks in the South are entitled to be well and humanely governed, and to have the protection of just laws for all their rights of person and property. If it were practicable at this time to give them a Government exclusively their own, under which they might manage their own affairs in their own way, it would become a grave question whether we ought to do so, or whether common humanity would not require us to save them from themselves. But under the circumstances this is only a speculative point. It is not proposed merely that they shall govern themselves, but that they shall rule the white race, make and administer State laws, elect Presidents and members of Congress, and shape to a greater or less extent the future destiny of the whole country. Would such a trust and power be safe in such hands? The peculiar qualities which should characterize any people who are fit to decide upon the management of public affairs for a great state have seldom been combined. It is the glory of white men to know that they have had these qualities in sufficient measure to build upon this continent a great political fabric and to preserve its stability for more than ninety years, while in every other part of the world all similar experiments have failed. But if anything can be proved by known facts, if all reasoning upon evidence is not abandoned, it must be acknowledged that in the progress of nations Negroes have shown less capacity for government than any other race of people. No independent government of any form has ever been successful in their hands. On the contrary, wherever they have been left to their own devices they have shown a constant tendency to relapse into barbarism. In the Southern States, however, Congress has undertaken to confer upon them the privilege of the ballot. Just released from slavery, it may be doubted whether as a class they know more than their ancestors how to organize and regulate civil society. indeed, it is admitted that the blacks of the South are not only regardless of the rights of property, but so utterly ignorant of public affairs that their voting can consist in nothing more than carrying a ballot to the place where they are directed to deposit it. I need not remind you that the exercise of the elective franchise is the highest attribute of an American citizen, and that when guided by virtue, intelligence, patriotism, and a proper appreciation of our free institutions it constitutes the true basis of a democratic form of government, in which the sovereign power is lodged in the body of the people. A trust artificially created, not for its own sake, but solely as a means of promoting the general welfare, its influence for good must necessarily depend upon the elevated character and true allegiance of the elector. It ought, therefore, to be reposed in none except those who are fitted morally and mentally to administer it well; for if conferred upon persons who do not justly estimate its value and who are indifferent as to its results, it will only serve as a means of placing power in the hands of the unprincipled and ambitious, and must eventuate in the complete destruction of that liberty of which it should be the most powerful conservator. I have therefore heretofore urged upon your attention the great danger-- to be apprehended from an untimely extension of the elective franchise to any new class in our country, especially when the large majority of that class, in wielding the power thus placed in their hands, can not be expected correctly to comprehend the duties and responsibilities which pertain to suffrage. Yesterday, as it were, 4,000,000 persons were held in a condition of slavery that had existed for generations; to-day they are freemen and are assumed by law to be citizens. It can not be presumed, from their previous condition of servitude, that as a class they are as well informed as to the nature of our Government as the intelligent foreigner who makes our land the home of his choice. In the case of the latter neither a residence of five years and the knowledge of our institutions which it gives nor attachment to the principles of the Constitution are the only conditions upon which he can be admitted to citizenship; he must prove in addition a good moral character, and thus give reasonable ground for the belief that he will be faithful to the obligations which he assumes as a citizen of the Republic. Where a people--the source of all political power--speak by their suffrages through the instrumentality of the ballot box, it must be carefully guarded against the control of those who are corrupt in principle and enemies of free institutions, for it can only become to our political and social system a safe conductor of healthy popular sentiment when kept free from demoralizing influences. Controlled through fraud and usurpation by the designing, anarchy and despotism must inevitably follow. In the hands of the patriotic and worthy our Government will be preserved upon the principles of the Constitution inherited from our fathers. It follows, therefore, that in admitting to the ballot box a new class of voters not qualified for the exercise of the elective franchise we weaken our system of government instead of adding to its strength and durability. I yield to no one in attachment to that rule of general suffrage which distinguishes our policy as a nation. But there is a limit, wisely observed hitherto, which makes the ballot a privilege and a trust, and which requires of some classes a time suitable for probation and preparation. To give it indiscriminately to a new class, wholly unprepared by previous habits and opportunities to perform the trust which it demands, is to degrade it, and finally to destroy its power, for it may be safely assumed that no political truth is better established than that such indiscriminate and all-embracing extension of popular suffrage must end at last in its destruction. I repeat the expression of my willingness to join in any plan within the scope of our constitutional authority which promises to better the condition of the Negroes in the South, by encouraging them in industry, enlightening their minds, improving their morals, and giving protection to all their just rights as freedmen. But the transfer of our political inheritance to them would, in my opinion, be an abandonment of a duty which we owe alike to the memory of our fathers and the rights of our children. The plan of putting the Southern States wholly and the General Government partially into the hands of Negroes is proposed at a time peculiarly unpropitious. The foundations of society have been broken up by civil war. Industry must be reorganized, justice reestablished, public credit maintained, and order brought out of confusion. To accomplish these ends would require all the wisdom and virtue of the great men who formed our institutions originally. I confidently believe that their descendants will be equal to the arduous task before them, but it is worse than madness to expect that Negroes will perform it for us. Certainly we ought not to ask their assistance till we despair of our own competency. The great difference between the two races in physical, mental, and moral characteristics will prevent an amalgamation or fusion of them together in one homogeneous mass. If the inferior obtains the ascendency over the other, it will govern with reference only to its own interests for it will recognize no common interest--and create such a tyranny as this continent has never yet witnessed. Already the Negroes are influenced by promises of confiscation and plunder. They are taught to regard as an enemy every white man who has any respect for the rights of his own race. If this continues it must become worse and worse, until all order will be subverted, all industry cease, and the fertile fields of the South grow up into a wilderness. Of all the dangers which our nation has yet encountered, none are equal to those which must result from the success of the effort now making to Africanize the half of our country. I would not put considerations of money in competition with justice and right; but the expenses incident to "reconstruction" under the system adopted by Congress aggravate what I regard as the intrinsic wrong of the measure itself. It has cost uncounted millions already, and if persisted in will add largely to the weight of taxation, already too oppressive to be borne without just complaint, and may finally reduce the Treasury of the nation to a condition of bankruptcy. We must not delude ourselves. It will require a strong standing army and probably more than $200,000,000 per annum to maintain the supremacy of Negro governments after they are established. The sum thus thrown away would, if properly used, form a sinking fund large enough to pay the whole national debt in less than fifteen years. It is vain to hope that Negroes will maintain their ascendency themselves. Without military power they are wholly incapable of holding in subjection the white people of the South. I submit to the judgment of Congress whether the public credit may not be injuriously affected by a system of measures like this. With our debt and the vast private interests which are complicated with it, we can not be too cautious of a policy which might by possibility impair the confidence of the world in our Government. That confidence can only be retained by carefully inculcating the principles of justice and honor on the popular mind and by the most scrupulous fidelity to all our engagements of every sort. Any serious breach of the organic law, persisted in for a considerable time, can not but create fears for the stability of our institutions. Habitual violation of prescribed rules, which we bind ourselves to observe, must demoralize the people. Our only standard of civil duty being set at naught, the sheet anchor of our political morality is lost, the public conscience swings from its moorings and yields to every impulse of passion and interest. If we repudiate the Constitution, we will not be expected to care much for mere pecuniary obligations. The violation of such a pledge as we made on the 22d day of July, 1861, will assuredly diminish the market value of our other promises. Besides, if we acknowledge that the national debt was created, not to hold the States in the Union, as the taxpayers were led to suppose, but to expel them from it and hand them over to be governed by Negroes, the moral duty to pay it may seem much less clear. I say it may seem so, for I do not admit that this or any other argument in favor of repudiation can be entertained as sound; but its influence on some classes of minds may well be apprehended. The financial honor of a great commercial nation, largely indebted and with a republican form of government administered by agents of the popular choice, is a thing of such delicate texture and the destruction of it would be followed by such unspeakable calamity that every true patriot must desire to avoid whatever might expose it to the slightest danger. The great interests of the country require immediate relief from these enactments. Business in the South is paralyzed by a sense of general insecurity, by the terror of confiscation, and the dread of Negro supremacy. The Southern trade, from which the North would have derived so great a profit under a government of law, still languishes, and can never be revived until it ceases to be fettered by the arbitrary power which makes all its operations unsafe. That rich country--the richest in natural resources the world ever saw--is worse than lost if it be not soon placed under the protection of a free constitution. Instead of being, as it ought to be, a source of wealth and power, it will become an intolerable burden upon the rest of the nation. Another reason for retracing our steps will doubtless be seen by Congress in the late manifestations of public opinion upon this subject. We live in a country where the popular will always enforces obedience to itself, sooner or later. It is vain to think of opposing it with anything short of legal authority backed by overwhelming force. It can not have escaped your attention that from the day on which Congress fairly and formally presented the proposition to govern the Southern States by military force, with a view to the ultimate establishment of Negro supremacy, every expression of the general sentiment has been more or less adverse to it. The affections of this generation can not be detached from the institutions of their ancestors. Their determination to preserve the inheritance of free government in their own hands and transmit it undivided and unimpaired to their own posterity is too strong to be successfully opposed. Every weaker passion will disappear before that love of liberty and law for which the American people are distinguished above all others in the world. How far the duty of the President "to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution" requires him to go in opposing an unconstitutional act of Congress is a very serious and important question, on which I have deliberated much and felt extremely anxious to reach a proper conclusion. Where an act has been passed according to the forms of the Constitution by the supreme legislative authority, and is regularly enrolled among the public statutes of the country, Executive resistance to it, especially in times of high party excitement, would be likely to produce violent collision between the respective adherents of the two branches of the Government. This would be simply civil war, and civil war must be resorted to only as the last remedy for the worst of evils. Whatever might tend to provoke it should be most carefully avoided. A faithful and conscientious magistrate will concede very much to honest error, and something even to perverse malice, before he will endanger the public peace; and he will not adopt forcible measures, or such as might lead to force, as long as those which are peaceable remain open to him or to his constituents. It is true that cases may occur in which the Executive would be compelled to stand on its rights, and maintain them regardless of all consequences. If Congress should pass an act which is not only in palpable conflict with the Constitution, but will certainly, if carried out, produce immediate and irreparable injury to the organic structure of the Government, and if there be neither judicial remedy for the wrongs it inflicts nor power in the people to protect themselves without the official aid of their elected defender--if, for instance, the legislative department should pass an act even through all the forms of law to abolish a coordinate department of the Government--in such a case the President must take the high responsibilities of his office and save the life of the nation at all hazards. The so-called reconstruction acts, though as plainly unconstitutional as any that can be imagined, were not believed to be within the class last mentioned. The people were not wholly dis-armed of the power of self-defense. In all the Northern States they still held in their hands the sacred right of the ballot, and it was safe to believe that in due time they would come to the rescue of their own institutions. It gives me pleasure to add that the appeal to our common constituents was not taken in vain, and that my confidence in their wisdom and virtue seems not to have been misplaced. It is well and publicly known that enormous frauds have been perpetrated on the Treasury and that colossal fortunes have been made at the public expense. This species of corruption has increased, is increasing, and if not diminished will soon bring us into total ruin and disgrace. The public creditors and the taxpayers are alike interested in an honest administration of the finances, and neither class will long endure the large-handed robberies of the recent past. For this discreditable state of things there are several causes. Some of the taxes are so laid as to present an irresistible temptation to evade payment. The great sums which officers may win by connivance at fraud create a pressure which is more than the virtue of many can withstand, and there can be no doubt that the open disregard of constitutional obligations avowed by some of the highest and most influential men in the country has greatly weakened the moral sense of those who serve in subordinate places. The expenses of the United States, including interest on the public debt, are more than six times as much as they were seven years ago. To collect and disburse this vast amount requires careful supervision as well as systematic vigilance. The system, never perfected, was much disorganized by the "tenure-of-office bill," which has almost destroyed official accountability. The President may be thoroughly convinced that an officer is incapable, dishonest, or unfaithful to the Constitution, but under the law which I have named the utmost he can do is to complain to the Senate and ask the privilege of supplying his place with a better man. If the Senate be regarded as personally or politically hostile to the President, it is natural, and not altogether unreasonable, for the officer to expect that it will take his part as far as possible, restore him to his place, and give him a triumph over his Executive superior. The officer has other chances of impunity arising from accidental defects of evidence, the mode of investigating it, and the secrecy of the hearing. It is not wonderful that official malfeasance should become bold in proportion as the delinquents learn to think themselves safe. I am entirely persuaded that under such a rule the President can not perform the great duty assigned to him of seeing the laws faithfully executed, and that it disables him most especially from enforcing that rigid accountability which is necessary to the due execution of the revenue laws. The Constitution invests the President with authority to decide whether a removal should be made in any given case; the act of Congress declares in substance that he shall only accuse such as he supposes to be unworthy of their trust. The Constitution makes him sole judge in the premises, but the statute takes away his jurisdiction, transfers it to the Senate, and leaves him nothing but the odious and sometimes impracticable duty of becoming a prosecutor. The prosecution is to be conducted before a tribunal whose members are not, like him, responsible to the whole people, but to separate constituent bodies, and who may hear his accusation with great disfavor. The Senate is absolutely without any known standard of decision applicable to such a case. Its judgment can not be anticipated, for it is not governed by any rule. The law does not define what shall be deemed good because for removal. It is impossible even to conjecture what may or may not be so considered by the Senate. The nature of the subject forbids clear proof. If the charge be incapacity, what evidence will support it? Fidelity to the Constitution may be understood or misunderstood in a thousand different ways, and by violent party men, in violent party times, unfaithfulness to the Constitution may even come to be considered meritorious. If the officer be accused of dishonesty, how shall it be made out? Will it be inferred from acts unconnected with public duty, from private history, or from general reputation, or must the President await the commission of an actual misdemeanor in office? Shall he in the meantime risk the character and interest of the nation in the hands of men to whom he can not give his confidence? Must he forbear his complaint until the mischief is done and can not be prevented? If his zeal in the public service should impel him to anticipate the overt act, must he move at the peril of being tried himself for the offense of slandering his subordinate? In the present circumstances of the country someone must be held responsible for official delinquency of every kind. It is extremely difficult to say where that responsibility should be thrown if it be not left where it has been placed by the Constitution. But all just men will admit that the President ought to be entirely relieved from such responsibility if he can not meet it by reason of restrictions placed by law upon his action. The unrestricted power of removal from office is a very great one to be trusted even to a magistrate chosen by the general suffrage of the whole people and accountable directly to them for his acts. It is undoubtedly liable to abuse, and at some periods of our history perhaps has been abused. If it be thought desirable and constitutional that it should be so limited as to make the President merely a common informer against other public agents, he should at least be permitted to act in that capacity before some open tribunal, independent of party politics, ready to investigate the merits of every case, furnished with the means of taking evidence, and bound to decide according to established rules. This would guarantee the safety of the accuser when he acts in good faith, and at the same time secure the rights of the other party. I speak, of course, with all proper respect for the present Senate, but it does not seem to me that any legislative body can be so constituted as to insure its fitness for these functions. It is not the theory of this Government that public offices are the property of those who hold them. They are given merely as a trust for the public benefit, sometimes for a fixed period, sometimes during good behavior, but generally they are liable to be terminated at the pleasure of the appointing power, which represents the collective majesty and speaks the will of the people. The forced retention in office of a single dishonest person may work great injury to the public interests. The danger to the public service comes not from the power to remove, but from the power to appoint. Therefore it was that the framers of the Constitution left the power of removal unrestricted, while they gave the Senate a fight to reject all appointments which in its opinion were not fit to be made. A little reflection on this subject will probably satisfy all who have the good of the country at heart that our best course is to take the Constitution for our guide, walk in the path marked out by the founders of the Republic, and obey the rules made sacred by the observance of our great predecessors. The present condition of our finances and circulating medium is one to which your early consideration is invited. The proportion which the currency of any country should bear to the whole value of the annual produce circulated by its means is a question upon which political economists have not agreed. Nor can it be controlled by legislation, but must be left to the irrevocable laws which everywhere regulate commerce and trade. The circulating medium will ever irresistibly flow to those points where it is in greatest demand. The law of demand and supply is as unerring as that which regulates the tides of the ocean; and, indeed, currency, like the tides, has its ebbs and flows throughout the commercial world. At the beginning of the rebellion the bank-note circulation of the country amounted to not much more than $200,000,000; now the circulation of national-bank notes and those known as "legal-tenders" is nearly seven hundred millions. While it is urged by some that this amount should be increased, others contend that a decided reduction is absolutely essential to the best interests of the country. In view of these diverse opinions, it may be well to ascertain the real value of our paper issues when compared with a metallic or convertible currency. For this purpose let us inquire how much gold and silver could be purchased by the seven hundred millions of paper money now in circulation. Probably not more than half the amount of the latter, showing that when our paper currency is compared with gold and silver its commercial value is compressed into three hundred and fifty millions. This striking fact makes it the obvious duty of the Government, as early as may be consistent with the principles of sound political economy, to take such measures as will enable the holder of its notes and those of the national banks to convert them without loss into specie or its equivalent. A reduction of our paper circulating medium need not necessarily follow. This, however, would depend upon the law of demand and supply, though it should be borne in mind that by making legal-tender and bank notes convertible into coin or its equivalent their present specie value in the hands of their holders would be enhanced 100 per cent. Legislation for the accomplishment of a result so desirable is demanded by the highest public considerations. The Constitution contemplates that the circulating medium of the country shall be uniform in quality and value. At the time of the formation of that instrument the country had just emerged from the War of the Revolution, and was suffering from the effects of a redundant and worthless paper currency. The sages of that period were anxious to protect their posterity from the evils that they themselves had experienced. Hence in providing a circulating medium they conferred upon Congress the power to coin money and regulate the value thereof, at the same time prohibiting the States from making anything but gold and silver a tender in payment of debts. The anomalous condition of our currency is in striking contrast with that which was originally designed. Our circulation now embraces, first, notes of the national banks, which are made receivable for all dues to the Government, excluding imposts, and by all its creditors, excepting in payment of interest upon its bonds and the securities themselves; second, legal-tender notes, issued by the United States, and which the law requires shall be received as well in payment of all debts between citizens as of all Government dues, excepting imposts; and, third. gold and silver coin. By the operation of our present system of finance, however, the metallic currency, when collected, is reserved only for one class of Government creditors, who, holding its bonds, semiannually receive their interest in coin from the National Treasury. They are thus made to occupy an invidious position, which may be used to strengthen the arguments of those who would bring into disrepute the obligations of the nation. In the payment of all its debts the plighted faith of the Government should be inviolably maintained. But while it acts with fidelity toward the bondholder who loaned his money that the integrity of the Union might be preserved, it should at the same time observe good faith with the great masses of the people, who, having rescued the Union from the perils of rebellion, now bear the burdens of taxation, that the Government may be able to fulfill its engagements. There is no reason which will be accepted as satisfactory by the people why those who defend us on the land and protect us on the sea; the pensioner upon the gratitude of the nation, bearing the scars and wounds received while in its service; the public servants in the various Departments of the Government; the farmer who supplies the soldiers of the Army and the sailors of the Navy; the artisan who toils in the nation's workshops, or the mechanics and laborers who build its edifices and construct its forts and vessels of war, should, in payment of their just and hard-earned dues, receive depreciated paper, while another class of their countrymen, no more deserving, are paid in coin of gold and silver. Equal and exact justice requires that all the creditors of the Government should be paid in a currency possessing a uniform value. This can only be accomplished by the restoration of the currency to the standard established by the Constitution; and by this means we would remove a discrimination which may, if it has not already done so, create a prejudice that may become deep rooted and widespread and imperil the national credit. The feasibility of making our currency correspond with the constitutional standard may be seen by reference to a few facts derived from our commercial statistics. The production of precious metals in the United States from 1849 to 1857, inclusive, amounted to $579,000,000; from 1858 to 1860, inclusive, to $137,500,000, and from 1861 to 1867, inclusive, to $457,500,000--making the grand aggregate of products since 1849 $1,174,000,000. The amount of specie coined from 1849 to 1857 inclusive, was $439,000,000; from 1858 to 1860, inclusive, $125,000,000, and from 1861 to 1867, inclusive, $310,000,000--making the total coinage since 1849 $874,000,000. From 1849 to 1857, inclusive, the net exports of specie amounted to $271,000,000; from 1858 to 1860, inclusive, to $148,000,000, and from 1861 to 1867, inclusive, $322,000,000--making the aggregate of net exports since 1849 $741,000,000. These figures show an excess of product over net exports of $433,000,000. There are in the Treasury $111,000,000 in coin, something more than $40,000,000 in circulation on the Pacific Coast, and a few millions in the national and other banks--in all about $160,000,000. This, however, taking into account the specie in the country prior to 1849 leaves more than $300,000,000 which have not been accounted for by exportation, and therefore may yet remain in the country. These are important facts and show how completely the inferior currency will supersede the better, forcing it from circulation among the masses and causing it to be exported as a mere article of trade, to add to the money capital of foreign lands. They show the necessity of retiring our paper money, that the return of gold and silver to the avenues of trade may be invited and a demand created which will because the retention at home of at least so much of the productions of our rich and inexhaustible gold-bearing fields as may be sufficient for purposes of circulation. It is unreasonable to expect a return to a sound currency so long as the Government by continuing to issue irredeemable notes fills the channels of circulation with depreciated paper. Notwithstanding a coinage by our mints, since 1849, of $874,000,000, the people are now strangers to the currency which was designed for their use and benefit, and specimens of the precious metals bearing the national device are seldom seen, except when produced to gratify the interest excited by their novelty. If depreciated paper is to be continued as the permanent currency of the country, and all our coin is to become a mere article of traffic and speculation, to the enhancement in price of all that is indispensable to the comfort of the people, it would be wise economy to abolish our mints thus saving the nation the care and expense incident to such establishments, and let all our precious metals be exported in bullion. The time has come, however, when the Government and national banks should be required to take the most efficient steps and make all necessary arrangements for a resumption of specie payments at the earliest practicable period. Specie payments having been once resumed by the Government and banks, all notes or bills of paper issued by either of a less denomination than $20 should by law be excluded from circulation, so that the people may have the benefit and convenience of a gold and silver currency which in all their business transactions will be uniform in value at home and abroad. Every man of property or industry, every man who desires to preserve what he honestly possesses or to obtain what he can honestly earn, has a direct interest in maintaining a safe circulating medium--such a medium as shall be real and substantial, not liable to vibrate with opinions, not subject to be blown up or blown down by the breath of speculation, but to be made stable and secure. A disordered currency is one of the greatest political evils. It undermines the virtues necessary for the support of the social system and encourages propensities destructive of its happiness; it wars against industry, frugality, and economy, and it fosters the evil spirits of extravagance and speculation. It has been asserted by one of our profound and most gifted statesmen that-- Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effectual than that which deludes them with paper money. This is the most effectual of inventions to fertilize the rich man's fields by the sweat of the poor man's brow. Ordinary tyranny, oppression, excessive taxation--these bear lightly on the happiness of the mass of the community compared with a fraudulent currency and the robberies committed by depreciated paper. Our own history has recorded for our instruction enough, and more than enough, of the demoralizing tendency, the injustice, and the intolerable oppression on the virtuous and well disposed of a degraded paper currency authorized by law or in any way countenanced by government. It is one of the most successful devices, in times of peace or war, expansions or revulsions, to accomplish the transfer of all the precious metals from the great mass of the people into the hands of the few, where they are hoarded in secret places or deposited in strong boxes under bolts and bars, while the people are left to endure all the inconvenience, sacrifice, and demoralization resulting from the use of a depreciated and worthless paper money. The condition of our finances and the operations of our revenue system are set forth and fully explained in the able and instructive report of the Secretary of the Treasury. On the 30th of June, 1866, the public debt amounted to $2,783,425,879; on the 30th of June last it was $2,692,199,215, showing a reduction during the fiscal year of $91,226,664. During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1867, the receipts were $490,634,010 and the expenditures $346,729,129, leaving an available surplus of $143,904,880. It is estimated that the receipts for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1868, will be $417,161,928 and that the expenditures will reach the sum of $393,269,226, leaving in the Treasury a surplus of $23,892,702. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1869, it is estimated that the receipts will amount to $381,000,000 and that the expenditures will be $372,000,000, showing an excess of $9,000,000 in favor of the Government. The attention of Congress is earnestly invited to the necessity of a thorough revision of our revenue system. Our internal-revenue laws and impost system should be so adjusted as to bear most heavily on articles of luxury, leaving the necessaries of life as free from taxation as may be consistent with the real wants of the Government, economically administered. Taxation would not then fall unduly on the man of moderate means; and while none would be entirely exempt from assessment, all, in proportion to their pecuniary abilities, would contribute toward the support of the State. A modification of the internal-revenue system, by a large reduction in the number of articles now subject to tax, would be followed by results equally advantageous to the citizen and the Government. It would render the execution of the law less expensive and more certain, remove obstructions to industry, lessen the temptations to evade the law, diminish the violations and frauds perpetrated upon its provisions, make its operations less inquisitorial, and greatly reduce in numbers the army of taxgatherers created by the system, who "take from the mouth of honest labor the bread it has earned." Retrenchment, reform, and economy should be carried into every branch of the public service, that the expenditures of the Government may be reduced and the people relieved from oppressive taxation; a sound currency should be restored, and the public faith in regard to the national debt sacredly observed. The accomplishment of these important results, together with the restoration of the Union of the States upon the principles of the Constitution, would inspire confidence at home and abroad in the stability of our institutions and bring to the nation prosperity, peace, and good will. The report of the Secretary of War ad interim exhibits the operations of the Army and of the several bureaus of the War Department. The aggregate strength of our military force on the 30th of September last was 56,315. The total estimate for military appropriations is $77,124,707, including a deficiency in last year's appropriation of $13,600,000. The payments at the Treasury on account of the service of the War Department from January 1 to October 29, 1867--a period of ten months--amounted to $109,807,000. The expenses of the military establishment, as well as the numbers of the Army, are now three times as great as they have ever been in time of peace, while the discretionary, power is vested in the Executive to add millions to this expenditure by an increase of the Army to the maximum strength allowed by the law. The comprehensive report of the Secretary of the Interior furnishes interesting information in reference to the important branches of the public service connected with his Department. The menacing attitude of some of the warlike bands of Indians inhabiting the district of country between the Arkansas and Platte rivers and portions of Dakota Territory required the presence of a large military force in that region. Instigated by real or imaginary grievances, the Indians occasionally committed acts of barbarous violence upon emigrants and our frontier settlements; but a general Indian war has been providentially averted. The commissioners under the act of 20th July, 1867, were invested with full power to adjust existing difficulties, negotiate treaties with the disaffected bands, and select for them reservations remote from the traveled routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific. They entered without delay upon the execution of their trust, but have not yet made any official report of their proceedings. It is of vital importance that our distant Territories should be exempt from Indian outbreaks, and that the construction of the Pacific Railroad, an object of national importance, should not be interrupted by hostile tribes. These objects, as well as the material interests and the moral and intellectual improvement of the Indians, can be most effectually secured by concentrating them upon portions of country set apart for their exclusive use and located at points remote from our highways and encroaching white settlements. Since the commencement of the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress 510 miles of road have been constructed on the main line and branches of the Pacific Railway. The line from Omaha is rapidly approaching the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, while the terminus of the last section of constructed road in California, accepted by the Government on the 24th day of October last, was but 11 miles distant from the summit of the Sierra Nevada. The remarkable energy evinced by the companies offers the strongest assurance that the completion of the road from Sacramento to Omaha will not be long deferred. During the last fiscal year 7,041,114 acres of public land were disposed of, and the cash receipts from sales and fees exceeded by one-half million dollars the sum realized from those sources during the preceding year. The amount paid to pensioners, including expenses of disbursements, was $18,619,956, and 36,482 names were added to the rolls. The entire number of pensioners on the 30th of June last was 155,474. Eleven thousand six hundred. and fifty-five patents and designs were issued during the year ending September 30, 1867, and at that date the balance in the Treasury to the credit of the patent fund was $286,607. The report of the Secretary of the Navy states that we have seven squadrons actively and judiciously employed, under efficient and able commanders, in protecting the persons and property of American citizens, maintaining the dignity and power of the Government, and promoting the commerce and business interests of our countrymen in every part of the world. Of the 238 vessels composing the present Navy of the United States, 56, carrying 507 guns, are in squadron service. During the year the number of vessels in commission has been reduced 12, and there are 13 less on squadron duty than there were at the date of the last report. A large number of vessels were commenced and in the course of construction when the war terminated, and although Congress had made the necessary appropriations for their completion, the Department has either suspended work upon them or limited the slow completion of the steam vessels, so as to meet the contracts for machinery made with private establishments. The total expenditures of the Navy Department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1867, were $31,034,011. No appropriations have been made. or required since the close of the war for the construction and repair of vessels, for steam machinery, ordnance, provisions and clothing, fuel, hemp, etc., the balances under these several heads having been more than sufficient for current expenditures. It should also be stated to the credit of the Department that, besides asking no appropriations for the above objects for the last two years, the Secretary of the Navy, on the 30th of September last, in accordance with the act of May 1, 1820, requested the Secretary of the Treasury to carry to the surplus fund the sum of $65,000.000, being the amount received from the sales of vessels and other war property and the remnants of former appropriations. The report of the Postmaster-General shows the business of the Post-Office Department and the condition of the postal service in a very favorable light, and the attention of Congress is called to its practical recommendations. The receipts of the Department for the year ending June 30, 1867, including all special appropriations for sea and land service and for free mail matter, were $19,978,693. The expenditures for all purposes were $19,235,483, leaving an unexpended balance in favor of the Department of $743,210, which can be applied toward the expenses of the Department for the current year. The increase of postal revenue, independent of specific appropriations, for the year 1867 over that of 1866 was $850,040. The increase of revenue from the sale of stamps and stamped envelopes was $783,404. The increase of expenditures for 1867 over those of the previous year was owing chiefly to the extension of the land and ocean mail service. During the past year new postal conventions have been ratified and exchanged with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the North German Union, Italy, and the colonial government at Hong Kong, reducing very largely the rates of ocean and land postages to and from and within those countries. The report of the Acting Commissioner of Agriculture concisely presents the condition, wants, and progress of an interest eminently worthy the fostering care of Congress, and exhibits a large measure of useful results achieved during the year to which it refers. The reestablishment of peace at home and the resumption of extended trade, travel, and commerce abroad have served to increase the number and variety of questions in the Department for Foreign Affairs. None of these questions, however, have seriously disturbed our relations with other states. The Republic of Mexico, having been relieved from foreign intervention, is earnestly engaged in efforts to reestablish her constitutional system of government. A good understanding continues to exist between our Government and the Republics of Hayti and San Domingo, and our cordial relations with the Central and South American States remain unchanged. The tender, made in conformity with a resolution of Congress, of the good offices of the Government with a view to an amicable adjustment of peace between Brazil and her allies on one side and Paraguay on the other, and between Chile and her allies on the one side and Spain on the other, though kindly received, has in neither case been fully accepted by the belligerents. The war in the valley of the Parana is still vigorously maintained. On the other hand, actual hostilities between the Pacific States and Spain have been more than a year suspended. I shall, on any proper occasion that may occur, renew the conciliatory recommendations which have been already made. Brazil, with enlightened sagacity and comprehensive statesmanship, has opened the great channels of the Amazon and its tributaries to universal commerce. One thing more seems needful to assure a rapid and cheering progress in South America. I refer to those peaceful habits without which states and nations can not in this age well expect material prosperity or social advancement. The Exposition of Universal Industry at Paris has passed, and seems to have fully realized the high expectations of the French Government. If due allowance be made for the recent political derangement of industry here, the part which the United States has borne in this exhibition of invention and art may be regarded with very high satisfaction. During the exposition a conference was held of delegates from several nations, the United States being one, in which the inconveniences of commerce and social intercourse resulting from the diverse standards of money value were very fully discussed, and plans were developed for establishing by universal consent a common principle for the coinage of gold. These conferences are expected to be renewed, with the attendance of many foreign states not hitherto represented. A report of these interesting proceedings will be submitted to Congress, which will, no doubt, justly appreciate the great object and be ready to adopt any measure which may tend to facilitate its ultimate accomplishment. On the 25th of February, 1862, Congress declared by law that Treasury notes, without interest, authorized by that act should be legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, within the United States. An annual remittance of $30,000, less stipulated expenses, accrues to claimants under the convention made with Spain in 1834. These remittances, since the passage of that act, have been paid in such notes. The claimants insist that the Government ought to require payment in coin. The subject may be deemed worthy of your attention. No arrangement has yet been reached for the settlement of our claims for British depredations upon the commerce of the United States. I have felt it my duty to decline the proposition of arbitration made by Her Majesty's Government, because it has hitherto been accompanied by reservations and limitations incompatible with the rights, interest, and honor of our country. It is not to be apprehended that Great Britain will persist in her refusal to satisfy these just and reasonable claims, which involve the sacred principle of nonintervention--a principle henceforth not more important to the United States than to all other commercial nations. The West India islands were settled and colonized by European States simultaneously with the settlement and colonization of the American continent. Most of the colonies planted here became independent nations in the close of the last and the beginning of the present century. Our own country embraces communities which at one period were colonies of Great Britain, France, Spain, Holland, Sweden, and Russia. The people in the West Indies, with the exception of those of the island of Hayti, have neither attained nor aspired to independence, nor have they become prepared for self-defense. Although possessing considerable commercial value, they have been held by the several European States which colonized or at some time conquered them, chiefly for purposes of military and naval strategy in carrying out European policy and designs in regard to this continent. In our Revolutionary War ports and harbors in the West India islands were used by our enemy, to the great injury and embarrassment of the United States. We had the same experience in our second war with Great Britain. The same European policy for a long time excluded us even from trade with the West Indies, while we were at peace with all nations. In our recent civil war the rebels and their piratical and blockade-breaking allies found facilities in the same ports for the work, which they too successfully accomplished, of injuring and devastating the commerce which we are now engaged in rebuilding. We labored especially under this disadvantage, that European steam vessels employed by our enemies found friendly shelter, protection, and supplies in West Indian ports, while our naval operations were necessarily carried on from our own distant shores. There was then a universal feeling of the want of an advanced naval outpost between the Atlantic coast and Europe. The duty of obtaining such an outpost peacefully and lawfully, while neither doing nor menacing injury to other states, earnestly engaged the attention of the executive department before the close of the war, and it has not been lost sight of since that time. A not entirely dissimilar naval want revealed itself during the same period on the Pacific coast. The required foothold there was fortunately secured by our late treaty with the Emperor of Russia, and it now seems imperative that the more obvious necessities of the Atlantic coast should not be less carefully provided for. A good and convenient port and harbor, capable of easy defense, will supply that want. With the possession of such a station by the United States, neither we nor any other American nation need longer apprehend injury or offense from any transatlantic enemy. I agree with our early statesmen that the West Indies naturally gravitate to, and may be expected ultimately to be absorbed by, the continental States, including our own. I agree with them also that it is wise to leave the question of such absorption to this process of natural political gravitation. The islands of St. Thomas and St. John, which constitute a part of the group called the Virgin Islands, seemed to offer us advantages immediately desirable, while their acquisition could be secured in harmony with the principles to which I have alluded. A treaty has therefore been concluded with the King of Denmark for the cession of those islands, and will be submitted to the Senate for consideration. It will hardly be necessary to call the attention of Congress to the subject of providing for the payment to Russia of the sum stipulated in the treaty for the cession of Alaska. Possession having been formally delivered to our commissioner, the territory remains for the present in care of a military force, awaiting such civil organization as shall be directed by Congress. The annexation of many small German States to Prussia and the reorganization of that country under a new and liberal constitution have induced me to renew the effort to obtain a just and prompt settlement of the long-vexed question concerning the claims of foreign states for military service from their subjects naturalized in the United States. In connection with this subject the attention of Congress is respectfully called to a singular and embarrassing conflict of laws. The executive department of this Government has hitherto uniformly held, as it now holds, that naturalization in conformity with the Constitution and laws of the United States absolves the recipient from his native allegiance. The courts of Great Britain hold that allegiance to the British Crown is indefensible, and is not absolved by our laws of naturalization. British judges cite courts and law authorities of the United States in support of that theory against the position held by the executive authority of the United States. This conflict perplexes the public mind concerning the rights of naturalized citizens and impairs the national authority abroad. I called attention to this subject in my last annual message, and now again respectfully appeal to Congress to declare the national will unmistakably upon this important question. The abuse of our laws by the clandestine prosecution of the African slave trade from American ports or by American citizens has altogether ceased, and under existing circumstances no apprehensions of its renewal in this part of the world are entertained. Under these circumstances it becomes a question whether we shall not propose to Her Majesty's Government a suspension or discontinuance of the stipulations for maintaining a naval force for the suppression of that trade.
the continued disorganization of the union to which the president has so often called the attention of congress is yet a subject of profound and patriotic concern we may however find some relief from that anxiety in the reflection that the painful political situation although before untried by ourselves is not new in the experience of nations political science perhaps as highly perfected in our own time and country as in any other has not yet disclosed any means by which civil wars can be absolutely prevented an enlightened nation however with a wise and beneficent constitution of free government may diminish their frequency and mitigate their severity by directing all its proceedings in accordance with its fundamental law when a civil war has been brought to a close it is manifestly the first interest and duty of the state to repair the injuries which the war has inflicted and to secure the benefit of the lessons it teaches as fully and as speedily as possible this duty was upon the termination of the rebellion promptly accepted not only by the executive department but by the insurrectionary states themselves and restoration in the first moment of peace was believed to be as easy and certain as it was indispensable the expectations however then so reasonably and confidently entertained were disappointed by legislation from which i felt constrained by my obligations to the constitution to withhold my assent it is therefore a source of profound regret that in complying with the obligation imposed upon the president by the constitution to give to congress from time to time information of the state of the union i am unable to communicate any definitive adjustment satisfactory to the american people of the questions which since the close of the rebellion have agitated the public mind on the contrary candor compels me to declare that at this time there is no union as our fathers understood the term and as they meant it to be understood by us the union which they established can exist only where all the states are represented in both houses of congress where one state is as free as another to regulate its internal concerns according to its own will and where the laws of the central government strictly confined to matters of national jurisdiction apply with equal force to all the people of every section that such is not the present state of the union is a melancholy fact and we must all acknowledge that the restoration of the states to their proper legal relations with the federal government and with one another according to the terms of the original compact would be the greatest temporal blessing which god in his kindest providence could bestow upon this nation it becomes our imperative duty to consider whether or not it is impossible to effect this most desirable consummation the union and the constitution are inseparable as long as one is obeyed by all parties the other will be preserved and if one is destroyed both must perish together the destruction of the constitution will be followed by other and still greater calamities it was ordained not only to form a more perfect union between the states but to establish justice insure domestic tranquillity provide for the common defense promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity nothing but implicit obedience to its requirements in all parts of the country will accomplish these great ends without that obedience we can look forward only to continual outrages upon individual rights incessant breaches of the public peace national weakness financial dishonor the total loss of our prosperity the general corruption of morals and the final extinction of popular freedom to save our country from evils so appalling as these we should renew our efforts again and again to me the process of restoration seems perfectly plain and simple it consists merely in a faithful application of the constitution and laws the execution of the laws is not now obstructed or opposed by physical force there is no military or other necessity real or pretended which can prevent obedience to the constitution either north or south all the rights and all the obligations of states and individuals can be protected and enforced by means perfectly consistent with the fundamental law the courts may be everywhere open and if open their process would be unimpeded crimes against the united states can be prevented or punished by the proper judicial authorities in a manner entirely practicable and legal there is therefore no reason why the constitution should not be obeyed unless those who exercise its powers have determined that it shall be disregarded and violated the mere naked will of this government or of some one or more of its branches is the only obstacle that can exist to a perfect union of all the states on this momentous question and some of the measures growing out of it i have had the misfortune to differ from congress and have expressed my convictions without reserve though with becoming deference to the opinion of the legislative department those convictions are not only unchanged but strengthened by subsequent events and further reflection the transcendent importance of the subject will be a sufficient excuse for calling your attention to some of the reasons which have so strongly influenced my own judgment the hope that we may all finally concur in a mode of settlement consistent at once with our true interests and with our sworn duties to the constitution is too natural and too just to be easily relinquished it is clear to my apprehension that the states lately in rebellion are still members of the national union when did they cease to be so the ordinances of secession adopted by a portion in most of them a very small portion of their citizens were mere nullities if we admit now that they were valid and effectual for the purpose intended by their authors we sweep from under our feet the whole ground upon which we justified the war were those states afterwards expelled from the union by the war the direct contrary was averred by this government to be its purpose and was so understood by all those who gave their blood and treasure to aid in its prosecution it can not be that a successful war waged for the preservation of the union had the legal effect of dissolving it the victory of the nation arms was not the disgrace of her policy the defeat of secession on the battlefield was not the triumph of its lawless principle nor could congress with or without the consent of the executive do anything which would have the effect directly or indirectly of separating the states from each other to dissolve the union is to repeal the constitution which holds it together and that is a power which does not belong to any department of this government or to all of them united this is so plain that it has been acknowledged by all branches of the federal government the executive my predecessor as well as myself and the heads of all the departments have uniformly acted upon the principle that the union is not only undissolved but indissoluble congress submitted an amendment of the constitution to be ratified by the southern states and accepted their acts of ratification as a necessary and lawful exercise of their highest function if they were not states or were states out of the union their consent to a change in the fundamental law of the union would have been nugatory and congress in asking it committed a political absurdity the judiciary has also given the solemn sanction of its authority to the same view of the case the judges of the supreme court have included the southern states in their circuits and they are constantly in banc and elsewhere exercising jurisdiction which does not belong to them unless those states are states of the union if the southern states are component parts of the union the constitution is the supreme law for them as it is for all the other states they are bound to obey it and so are we the right of the federal government which is clear and unquestionable to enforce the constitution upon them implies the correlative obligation on our part to observe its limitations and execute its guaranties without the constitution we are nothing by through and under the constitution we are what it makes us we may doubt the wisdom of the law we may not approve of its provisions but we can not violate it merely because it seems to confine our powers within limits narrower than we could wish it is not a question of individual or class or sectional interest much less of party predominance but of duty of high and sacred duty which we are all sworn to perform if we can not support the constitution with the cheerful alacrity of those who love and believe in it we must give to it at least the fidelity of public servants who act under solemn obligations and commands which they dare not disregard the constitutional duty is not the only one which requires the states to be restored there is another consideration which though of minor importance is yet of great weight on the 22d day of july 1861 congress declared by an almost unanimous vote of both houses that the war should be conducted solely for the purpose of preserving the union and maintaining the supremacy of the federal constitution and laws without impairing the dignity equality and rights of the states or of individuals and that when this was done the war should cease i do not say that this declaration is personally binding on those who joined in making it any more than individual members of congress are personally bound to pay a public debt created under a law for which they voted but it was a solemn public official pledge of the national honor and i can not imagine upon what grounds the repudiation of it is to be justified if it be said that we are not bound to keep faith with rebels let it be remembered that this promise was not made to rebels only thousands of true men in the south were drawn to our standard by it and hundreds of thousands in the north gave their lives in the belief that it would be carried out it was made on the day after the first great battle of the war had been fought and lost all patriotic and intelligent men then saw the necessity of giving such an assurance and believed that without it the war would end in disaster to our because having given that assurance in the extremity of our peril the violation of it now in the day of our power would be a rude rending of that good faith which holds the moral world together our country would cease to have any claim upon the confidence of men it would make the war not only a failure but a fraud being sincerely convinced that these views are correct i would be unfaithful to my duty if i did not recommend the repeal of the acts of congress which place ten of the southern states under the domination of military masters if calm reflection shall satisfy a majority of your honorable bodies that the acts referred to are not only a violation of the national faith but in direct conflict with the constitution i dare not permit myself to doubt that you will immediately strike them from the statute book to demonstrate the unconstitutional character of those acts i need do no more than refer to their general provisions it must be seen at once that they are not authorized to dictate what alterations shall be made in the constitutions of the several states to control the elections of state legislators and state officers members of congress and electors of president and by arbitrarily declaring who shall vote and who shall be excluded from that privilege to dissolve state legislatures or prevent them from assembling to dismiss judges and other civil functionaries of the state and appoint others without regard to state law to organize and operate all the political machinery of the states to regulate the whole administration of their domestic and local affairs according to the mere will of strange and irresponsible agents sent among them for that purpose these are powers not granted to the federal government or to any one of its branches not being granted we violate our trust by assuming them as palpably as we would by acting in the face of a positive interdict for the constitution forbids us to do whatever it does not affirmatively authorize either by express words or by clear implication if the authority we desire to use does not come to us through the constitution we can exercise it only by usurpation and usurpation is the most dangerous of political crimes by that crime the enemies of free government in all ages have worked out their designs against public liberty and private right it leads directly and immediately to the establishment of absolute rule for undelegated power is always unlimited and unrestrained the acts of congress in question are not only objectionable for their assumption of ungranted power but many of their provisions are in conflict with the direct prohibitions of the constitution the constitution commands that a republican form of government shall be guaranteed to all the states that no person shall be deprived of life liberty or property without due process of law arrested without a judicial warrant or punished without a fair trial before an impartial jury that the privilege of habeas corpus shall not be denied in time of peace and that no bill of attainder shall be passed even against a single individual yet the system of measures established by these acts of congress does totally subvert and destroy the form as well as the substance of republican government in the ten states to which they apply it binds them hand and foot in absolute slavery and subjects them to a strange and hostile power more unlimited and more likely to be abused than any other now known among civilized men it tramples down all those rights in which the essence of liberty consists and which a free government is always most careful to protect it denies the habeas corpus and the trial by jury personal freedom property and life if assailed by the passion the prejudice or the rapacity of the ruler have no security whatever it has the effect of a bill of attainder or bill of pains and penalties not upon a few individuals but upon whole masses including the millions who inhabit the subject states and even their unborn children these wrongs being expressly forbidden can not be constitutionally inflicted upon any portion of our people no matter how they may have come within our jurisdiction and no matter whether they live in states territories or districts i have no desire to save from the proper and just consequences of their great crime those who engaged in rebellion against the government but as a mode of punishment the measures under consideration are the most unreasonable that could be invented many of those people are perfectly innocent many kept their fidelity to the union untainted to the last many were incapable of any legal offense a large proportion even of the persons able to bear arms were forced into rebellion against their will and of those who are guilty with their own consent the degrees of guilt are as various as the shades of their character and temper but these acts of congress confound them all together in one common doom indiscriminate vengeance upon classes sects and parties or upon whole communities for offenses committed by a portion of them against the governments to which they owed obedience was common in the barbarous ages of the world but christianity and civilization have made such progress that recourse to a punishment so cruel and unjust would meet with the condemnation of all unprejudiced and men the punitive justice of this age and especially of this country does not consist in stripping whole states of their liberties and reducing all their people without distinction to the condition of slavery it deals separately with each individual confines itself to the forms of law and vindicates its own purity by an impartial examination of every case before a competent judicial tribunal if this does not satisfy all our desires with regard to southern rebels let us console ourselves by reflecting that a free constitution triumphant in war and unbroken in peace is worth far more to us and our children than the gratification of any present feeling i am aware it is assumed that this system of government for the southern states is not to be perpetual it is true this military government is to be only provisional but it is through this temporary evil that a greater evil is to be made perpetual if the guaranties of the constitution can be broken provisionally to serve a temporary purpose and in a part only of the country we can destroy them everywhere and for all time arbitrary measures often change but they generally change for the worse it is the curse of despotism that it has no halting place the intermitted exercise of its power brings no sense of security to its subjects for they can never know what more they will be called to endure when its red right hand is armed to plague them again nor is it possible to conjecture how or where power unrestrained by law may seek its next victims the states that are still free may be enslaved at any moment for if the constitution does not protect all it protects none it is manifestly and avowedly the object of these laws to confer upon negroes the privilege of voting and to disfranchise such a number of white citizens as will give the former a clear majority at all elections in the southern states this to the minds of some persons is so important that a violation of the constitution is justified as a means of bringing it about the morality is always false which excuses a wrong because it proposes to accomplish a desirable end we are not permitted to do evil that good may come but in this case the end itself is evil as well as the means the subjugation of the states to negro domination would be worse than the military despotism under which they are now suffering it was believed beforehand that the people would endure any amount of military oppression for any length of time rather than degrade themselves by subjection to the negro race therefore they have been left without a choice negro suffrage was established by act of congress and the military officers were commanded to superintend the process of clothing the negro race with the political privileges torn from white men the blacks in the south are entitled to be well and humanely governed and to have the protection of just laws for all their rights of person and property if it were practicable at this time to give them a government exclusively their own under which they might manage their own affairs in their own way it would become a grave question whether we ought to do so or whether common humanity would not require us to save them from themselves but under the circumstances this is only a speculative point it is not proposed merely that they shall govern themselves but that they shall rule the white race make and administer state laws elect presidents and members of congress and shape to a greater or less extent the future destiny of the whole country would such a trust and power be safe in such hands the peculiar qualities which should characterize any people who are fit to decide upon the management of public affairs for a great state have seldom been combined it is the glory of white men to know that they have had these qualities in sufficient measure to build upon this continent a great political fabric and to preserve its stability for more than ninety years while in every other part of the world all similar experiments have failed but if anything can be proved by known facts if all reasoning upon evidence is not abandoned it must be acknowledged that in the progress of nations negroes have shown less capacity for government than any other race of people no independent government of any form has ever been successful in their hands on the contrary wherever they have been left to their own devices they have shown a constant tendency to relapse into barbarism in the southern states however congress has undertaken to confer upon them the privilege of the ballot just released from slavery it may be doubted whether as a class they know more than their ancestors how to organize and regulate civil society indeed it is admitted that the blacks of the south are not only regardless of the rights of property but so utterly ignorant of public affairs that their voting can consist in nothing more than carrying a ballot to the place where they are directed to deposit it i need not remind you that the exercise of the elective franchise is the highest attribute of an american citizen and that when guided by virtue intelligence patriotism and a proper appreciation of our free institutions it constitutes the true basis of a democratic form of government in which the sovereign power is lodged in the body of the people a trust artificially created not for its own sake but solely as a means of promoting the general welfare its influence for good must necessarily depend upon the elevated character and true allegiance of the elector it ought therefore to be reposed in none except those who are fitted morally and mentally to administer it well for if conferred upon persons who do not justly estimate its value and who are indifferent as to its results it will only serve as a means of placing power in the hands of the unprincipled and ambitious and must eventuate in the complete destruction of that liberty of which it should be the most powerful conservator i have therefore heretofore urged upon your attention the great danger to be apprehended from an untimely extension of the elective franchise to any new class in our country especially when the large majority of that class in wielding the power thus placed in their hands can not be expected correctly to comprehend the duties and responsibilities which pertain to suffrage yesterday as it were persons were held in a condition of slavery that had existed for generations they are freemen and are assumed by law to be citizens it can not be presumed from their previous condition of servitude that as a class they are as well informed as to the nature of our government as the intelligent foreigner who makes our land the home of his choice in the case of the latter neither a residence of five years and the knowledge of our institutions which it gives nor attachment to the principles of the constitution are the only conditions upon which he can be admitted to citizenship he must prove in addition a good moral character and thus give reasonable ground for the belief that he will be faithful to the obligations which he assumes as a citizen of the republic where a people the source of all political power speak by their suffrages through the instrumentality of the ballot box it must be carefully guarded against the control of those who are corrupt in principle and enemies of free institutions for it can only become to our political and social system a safe conductor of healthy popular sentiment when kept free from demoralizing influences controlled through fraud and usurpation by the designing anarchy and despotism must inevitably follow in the hands of the patriotic and worthy our government will be preserved upon the principles of the constitution inherited from our fathers it follows therefore that in admitting to the ballot box a new class of voters not qualified for the exercise of the elective franchise we weaken our system of government instead of adding to its strength and durability i yield to no one in attachment to that rule of general suffrage which distinguishes our policy as a nation but there is a limit wisely observed hitherto which makes the ballot a privilege and a trust and which requires of some classes a time suitable for probation and preparation to give it indiscriminately to a new class wholly unprepared by previous habits and opportunities to perform the trust which it demands is to degrade it and finally to destroy its power for it may be safely assumed that no political truth is better established than that such indiscriminate and extension of popular suffrage must end at last in its destruction i repeat the expression of my willingness to join in any plan within the scope of our constitutional authority which promises to better the condition of the negroes in the south by encouraging them in industry enlightening their minds improving their morals and giving protection to all their just rights as freedmen but the transfer of our political inheritance to them would in my opinion be an abandonment of a duty which we owe alike to the memory of our fathers and the rights of our children the plan of putting the southern states wholly and the general government partially into the hands of negroes is proposed at a time peculiarly unpropitious the foundations of society have been broken up by civil war industry must be reorganized justice reestablished public credit maintained and order brought out of confusion to accomplish these ends would require all the wisdom and virtue of the great men who formed our institutions originally i confidently believe that their descendants will be equal to the arduous task before them but it is worse than madness to expect that negroes will perform it for us certainly we ought not to ask their assistance till we despair of our own competency the great difference between the two races in physical mental and moral characteristics will prevent an amalgamation or fusion of them together in one homogeneous mass if the inferior obtains the ascendency over the other it will govern with reference only to its own interests for it will recognize no common interest and create such a tyranny as this continent has never yet witnessed already the negroes are influenced by promises of confiscation and plunder they are taught to regard as an enemy every white man who has any respect for the rights of his own race if this continues it must become worse and worse until all order will be subverted all industry cease and the fertile fields of the south grow up into a wilderness of all the dangers which our nation has yet encountered none are equal to those which must result from the success of the effort now making to africanize the half of our country i would not put considerations of money in competition with justice and right but the expenses incident to reconstruction under the system adopted by congress aggravate what i regard as the intrinsic wrong of the measure itself it has cost uncounted millions already and if persisted in will add largely to the weight of taxation already too oppressive to be borne without just complaint and may finally reduce the treasury of the nation to a condition of bankruptcy we must not delude ourselves it will require a strong standing army and probably more than per annum to maintain the supremacy of negro governments after they are established the sum thus thrown away would if properly used form a sinking fund large enough to pay the whole national debt in less than fifteen years it is vain to hope that negroes will maintain their ascendency themselves without military power they are wholly incapable of holding in subjection the white people of the south i submit to the judgment of congress whether the public credit may not be injuriously affected by a system of measures like this with our debt and the vast private interests which are complicated with it we can not be too cautious of a policy which might by possibility impair the confidence of the world in our government that confidence can only be retained by carefully inculcating the principles of justice and honor on the popular mind and by the most scrupulous fidelity to all our engagements of every sort any serious breach of the organic law persisted in for a considerable time can not but create fears for the stability of our institutions habitual violation of prescribed rules which we bind ourselves to observe must demoralize the people our only standard of civil duty being set at naught the sheet anchor of our political morality is lost the public conscience swings from its moorings and yields to every impulse of passion and interest if we repudiate the constitution we will not be expected to care much for mere pecuniary obligations the violation of such a pledge as we made on the 22d day of july 1861 will assuredly diminish the market value of our other promises besides if we acknowledge that the national debt was created not to hold the states in the union as the taxpayers were led to suppose but to expel them from it and hand them over to be governed by negroes the moral duty to pay it may seem much less clear i say it may seem so for i do not admit that this or any other argument in favor of repudiation can be entertained as sound but its influence on some classes of minds may well be apprehended the financial honor of a great commercial nation largely indebted and with a republican form of government administered by agents of the popular choice is a thing of such delicate texture and the destruction of it would be followed by such unspeakable calamity that every true patriot must desire to avoid whatever might expose it to the slightest danger the great interests of the country require immediate relief from these enactments business in the south is paralyzed by a sense of general insecurity by the terror of confiscation and the dread of negro supremacy the southern trade from which the north would have derived so great a profit under a government of law still languishes and can never be revived until it ceases to be fettered by the arbitrary power which makes all its operations unsafe that rich country the richest in natural resources the world ever saw is worse than lost if it be not soon placed under the protection of a free constitution instead of being as it ought to be a source of wealth and power it will become an intolerable burden upon the rest of the nation another reason for retracing our steps will doubtless be seen by congress in the late manifestations of public opinion upon this subject we live in a country where the popular will always enforces obedience to itself sooner or later it is vain to think of opposing it with anything short of legal authority backed by overwhelming force it can not have escaped your attention that from the day on which congress fairly and formally presented the proposition to govern the southern states by military force with a view to the ultimate establishment of negro supremacy every expression of the general sentiment has been more or less adverse to it the affections of this generation can not be detached from the institutions of their ancestors their determination to preserve the inheritance of free government in their own hands and transmit it undivided and unimpaired to their own posterity is too strong to be successfully opposed every weaker passion will disappear before that love of liberty and law for which the american people are distinguished above all others in the world how far the duty of the president to preserve protect and defend the constitution requires him to go in opposing an unconstitutional act of congress is a very serious and important question on which i have deliberated much and felt extremely anxious to reach a proper conclusion where an act has been passed according to the forms of the constitution by the supreme legislative authority and is regularly enrolled among the public statutes of the country executive resistance to it especially in times of high party excitement would be likely to produce violent collision between the respective adherents of the two branches of the government this would be simply civil war and civil war must be resorted to only as the last remedy for the worst of evils whatever might tend to provoke it should be most carefully avoided a faithful and conscientious magistrate will concede very much to honest error and something even to perverse malice before he will endanger the public peace and he will not adopt forcible measures or such as might lead to force as long as those which are peaceable remain open to him or to his constituents it is true that cases may occur in which the executive would be compelled to stand on its rights and maintain them regardless of all consequences if congress should pass an act which is not only in palpable conflict with the constitution but will certainly if carried out produce immediate and irreparable injury to the organic structure of the government and if there be neither judicial remedy for the wrongs it inflicts nor power in the people to protect themselves without the official aid of their elected defender if for instance the legislative department should pass an act even through all the forms of law to abolish a coordinate department of the government in such a case the president must take the high responsibilities of his office and save the life of the nation at all hazards the reconstruction acts though as plainly unconstitutional as any that can be imagined were not believed to be within the class last mentioned the people were not wholly of the power of in all the northern states they still held in their hands the sacred right of the ballot and it was safe to believe that in due time they would come to the rescue of their own institutions it gives me pleasure to add that the appeal to our common constituents was not taken in vain and that my confidence in their wisdom and virtue seems not to have been misplaced it is well and publicly known that enormous frauds have been perpetrated on the treasury and that colossal fortunes have been made at the public expense this species of corruption has increased is increasing and if not diminished will soon bring us into total ruin and disgrace the public creditors and the taxpayers are alike interested in an honest administration of the finances and neither class will long endure the robberies of the recent past for this discreditable state of things there are several causes some of the taxes are so laid as to present an irresistible temptation to evade payment the great sums which officers may win by connivance at fraud create a pressure which is more than the virtue of many can withstand and there can be no doubt that the open disregard of constitutional obligations avowed by some of the highest and most influential men in the country has greatly weakened the moral sense of those who serve in subordinate places the expenses of the united states including interest on the public debt are more than six times as much as they were seven years ago to collect and disburse this vast amount requires careful supervision as well as systematic vigilance the system never perfected was much disorganized by the bill which has almost destroyed official accountability the president may be thoroughly convinced that an officer is incapable dishonest or unfaithful to the constitution but under the law which i have named the utmost he can do is to complain to the senate and ask the privilege of supplying his place with a better man if the senate be regarded as personally or politically hostile to the president it is natural and not altogether unreasonable for the officer to expect that it will take his part as far as possible restore him to his place and give him a triumph over his executive superior the officer has other chances of impunity arising from accidental defects of evidence the mode of investigating it and the secrecy of the hearing it is not wonderful that official malfeasance should become bold in proportion as the delinquents learn to think themselves safe i am entirely persuaded that under such a rule the president can not perform the great duty assigned to him of seeing the laws faithfully executed and that it disables him most especially from enforcing that rigid accountability which is necessary to the due execution of the revenue laws the constitution invests the president with authority to decide whether a removal should be made in any given case the act of congress declares in substance that he shall only accuse such as he supposes to be unworthy of their trust the constitution makes him sole judge in the premises but the statute takes away his jurisdiction transfers it to the senate and leaves him nothing but the odious and sometimes impracticable duty of becoming a prosecutor the prosecution is to be conducted before a tribunal whose members are not like him responsible to the whole people but to separate constituent bodies and who may hear his accusation with great disfavor the senate is absolutely without any known standard of decision applicable to such a case its judgment can not be anticipated for it is not governed by any rule the law does not define what shall be deemed good because for removal it is impossible even to conjecture what may or may not be so considered by the senate the nature of the subject forbids clear proof if the charge be incapacity what evidence will support it fidelity to the constitution may be understood or misunderstood in a thousand different ways and by violent party men in violent party times unfaithfulness to the constitution may even come to be considered meritorious if the officer be accused of dishonesty how shall it be made out will it be inferred from acts unconnected with public duty from private history or from general reputation or must the president await the commission of an actual misdemeanor in office shall he in the meantime risk the character and interest of the nation in the hands of men to whom he can not give his confidence must he forbear his complaint until the mischief is done and can not be prevented if his zeal in the public service should impel him to anticipate the overt act must he move at the peril of being tried himself for the offense of slandering his subordinate in the present circumstances of the country someone must be held responsible for official delinquency of every kind it is extremely difficult to say where that responsibility should be thrown if it be not left where it has been placed by the constitution but all just men will admit that the president ought to be entirely relieved from such responsibility if he can not meet it by reason of restrictions placed by law upon his action the unrestricted power of removal from office is a very great one to be trusted even to a magistrate chosen by the general suffrage of the whole people and accountable directly to them for his acts it is undoubtedly liable to abuse and at some periods of our history perhaps has been abused if it be thought desirable and constitutional that it should be so limited as to make the president merely a common informer against other public agents he should at least be permitted to act in that capacity before some open tribunal independent of party politics ready to investigate the merits of every case furnished with the means of taking evidence and bound to decide according to established rules this would guarantee the safety of the accuser when he acts in good faith and at the same time secure the rights of the other party i speak of course with all proper respect for the present senate but it does not seem to me that any legislative body can be so constituted as to insure its fitness for these functions it is not the theory of this government that public offices are the property of those who hold them they are given merely as a trust for the public benefit sometimes for a fixed period sometimes during good behavior but generally they are liable to be terminated at the pleasure of the appointing power which represents the collective majesty and speaks the will of the people the forced retention in office of a single dishonest person may work great injury to the public interests the danger to the public service comes not from the power to remove but from the power to appoint therefore it was that the framers of the constitution left the power of removal unrestricted while they gave the senate a fight to reject all appointments which in its opinion were not fit to be made a little reflection on this subject will probably satisfy all who have the good of the country at heart that our best course is to take the constitution for our guide walk in the path marked out by the founders of the republic and obey the rules made sacred by the observance of our great predecessors the present condition of our finances and circulating medium is one to which your early consideration is invited the proportion which the currency of any country should bear to the whole value of the annual produce circulated by its means is a question upon which political economists have not agreed nor can it be controlled by legislation but must be left to the irrevocable laws which everywhere regulate commerce and trade the circulating medium will ever irresistibly flow to those points where it is in greatest demand the law of demand and supply is as unerring as that which regulates the tides of the ocean and indeed currency like the tides has its ebbs and flows throughout the commercial world at the beginning of the rebellion the circulation of the country amounted to not much more than now the circulation of notes and those known as is nearly seven hundred millions while it is urged by some that this amount should be increased others contend that a decided reduction is absolutely essential to the best interests of the country in view of these diverse opinions it may be well to ascertain the real value of our paper issues when compared with a metallic or convertible currency for this purpose let us inquire how much gold and silver could be purchased by the seven hundred millions of paper money now in circulation probably not more than half the amount of the latter showing that when our paper currency is compared with gold and silver its commercial value is compressed into three hundred and fifty millions this striking fact makes it the obvious duty of the government as early as may be consistent with the principles of sound political economy to take such measures as will enable the holder of its notes and those of the national banks to convert them without loss into specie or its equivalent a reduction of our paper circulating medium need not necessarily follow this however would depend upon the law of demand and supply though it should be borne in mind that by making and bank notes convertible into coin or its equivalent their present specie value in the hands of their holders would be enhanced 100 per cent legislation for the accomplishment of a result so desirable is demanded by the highest public considerations the constitution contemplates that the circulating medium of the country shall be uniform in quality and value at the time of the formation of that instrument the country had just emerged from the war of the revolution and was suffering from the effects of a redundant and worthless paper currency the sages of that period were anxious to protect their posterity from the evils that they themselves had experienced hence in providing a circulating medium they conferred upon congress the power to coin money and regulate the value thereof at the same time prohibiting the states from making anything but gold and silver a tender in payment of debts the anomalous condition of our currency is in striking contrast with that which was originally designed our circulation now embraces first notes of the national banks which are made receivable for all dues to the government excluding imposts and by all its creditors excepting in payment of interest upon its bonds and the securities themselves second notes issued by the united states and which the law requires shall be received as well in payment of all debts between citizens as of all government dues excepting imposts and third gold and silver coin by the operation of our present system of finance however the metallic currency when collected is reserved only for one class of government creditors who holding its bonds semiannually receive their interest in coin from the national treasury they are thus made to occupy an invidious position which may be used to strengthen the arguments of those who would bring into disrepute the obligations of the nation in the payment of all its debts the plighted faith of the government should be inviolably maintained but while it acts with fidelity toward the bondholder who loaned his money that the integrity of the union might be preserved it should at the same time observe good faith with the great masses of the people who having rescued the union from the perils of rebellion now bear the burdens of taxation that the government may be able to fulfill its engagements there is no reason which will be accepted as satisfactory by the people why those who defend us on the land and protect us on the sea the pensioner upon the gratitude of the nation bearing the scars and wounds received while in its service the public servants in the various departments of the government the farmer who supplies the soldiers of the army and the sailors of the navy the artisan who toils in the nation workshops or the mechanics and laborers who build its edifices and construct its forts and vessels of war should in payment of their just and dues receive depreciated paper while another class of their countrymen no more deserving are paid in coin of gold and silver equal and exact justice requires that all the creditors of the government should be paid in a currency possessing a uniform value this can only be accomplished by the restoration of the currency to the standard established by the constitution and by this means we would remove a discrimination which may if it has not already done so create a prejudice that may become deep rooted and widespread and imperil the national credit the feasibility of making our currency correspond with the constitutional standard may be seen by reference to a few facts derived from our commercial statistics the production of precious metals in the united states from 1849 to 1857 inclusive amounted to from 1858 to 1860 inclusive to and from 1861 to 1867 inclusive to making the grand aggregate of products since 1849 the amount of specie coined from 1849 to 1857 inclusive was from 1858 to 1860 inclusive and from 1861 to 1867 inclusive making the total coinage since 1849 from 1849 to 1857 inclusive the net exports of specie amounted to from 1858 to 1860 inclusive to and from 1861 to 1867 inclusive making the aggregate of net exports since 1849 these figures show an excess of product over net exports of there are in the treasury in coin something more than in circulation on the pacific coast and a few millions in the national and other banks in all about this however taking into account the specie in the country prior to 1849 leaves more than which have not been accounted for by exportation and therefore may yet remain in the country these are important facts and show how completely the inferior currency will supersede the better forcing it from circulation among the masses and causing it to be exported as a mere article of trade to add to the money capital of foreign lands they show the necessity of retiring our paper money that the return of gold and silver to the avenues of trade may be invited and a demand created which will because the retention at home of at least so much of the productions of our rich and inexhaustible fields as may be sufficient for purposes of circulation it is unreasonable to expect a return to a sound currency so long as the government by continuing to issue irredeemable notes fills the channels of circulation with depreciated paper notwithstanding a coinage by our mints since 1849 of the people are now strangers to the currency which was designed for their use and benefit and specimens of the precious metals bearing the national device are seldom seen except when produced to gratify the interest excited by their novelty if depreciated paper is to be continued as the permanent currency of the country and all our coin is to become a mere article of traffic and speculation to the enhancement in price of all that is indispensable to the comfort of the people it would be wise economy to abolish our mints thus saving the nation the care and expense incident to such establishments and let all our precious metals be exported in bullion the time has come however when the government and national banks should be required to take the most efficient steps and make all necessary arrangements for a resumption of specie payments at the earliest practicable period specie payments having been once resumed by the government and banks all notes or bills of paper issued by either of a less denomination than 20 should by law be excluded from circulation so that the people may have the benefit and convenience of a gold and silver currency which in all their business transactions will be uniform in value at home and abroad every man of property or industry every man who desires to preserve what he honestly possesses or to obtain what he can honestly earn has a direct interest in maintaining a safe circulating medium such a medium as shall be real and substantial not liable to vibrate with opinions not subject to be blown up or blown down by the breath of speculation but to be made stable and secure a disordered currency is one of the greatest political evils it undermines the virtues necessary for the support of the social system and encourages propensities destructive of its happiness it wars against industry frugality and economy and it fosters the evil spirits of extravagance and speculation it has been asserted by one of our profound and most gifted statesmen that of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind none has been more effectual than that which deludes them with paper money this is the most effectual of inventions to fertilize the rich man fields by the sweat of the poor man brow ordinary tyranny oppression excessive taxation these bear lightly on the happiness of the mass of the community compared with a fraudulent currency and the robberies committed by depreciated paper our own history has recorded for our instruction enough and more than enough of the demoralizing tendency the injustice and the intolerable oppression on the virtuous and well disposed of a degraded paper currency authorized by law or in any way countenanced by government it is one of the most successful devices in times of peace or war expansions or revulsions to accomplish the transfer of all the precious metals from the great mass of the people into the hands of the few where they are hoarded in secret places or deposited in strong boxes under bolts and bars while the people are left to endure all the inconvenience sacrifice and demoralization resulting from the use of a depreciated and worthless paper money the condition of our finances and the operations of our revenue system are set forth and fully explained in the able and instructive report of the secretary of the treasury on the 30th of june 1866 the public debt amounted to on the 30th of june last it was showing a reduction during the fiscal year of during the fiscal year ending june 30 1867 the receipts were and the expenditures leaving an available surplus of it is estimated that the receipts for the fiscal year ending june 30 1868 will be and that the expenditures will reach the sum of leaving in the treasury a surplus of for the fiscal year ending june 30 1869 it is estimated that the receipts will amount to and that the expenditures will be showing an excess of in favor of the government the attention of congress is earnestly invited to the necessity of a thorough revision of our revenue system our laws and impost system should be so adjusted as to bear most heavily on articles of luxury leaving the necessaries of life as free from taxation as may be consistent with the real wants of the government economically administered taxation would not then fall unduly on the man of moderate means and while none would be entirely exempt from assessment all in proportion to their pecuniary abilities would contribute toward the support of the state a modification of the system by a large reduction in the number of articles now subject to tax would be followed by results equally advantageous to the citizen and the government it would render the execution of the law less expensive and more certain remove obstructions to industry lessen the temptations to evade the law diminish the violations and frauds perpetrated upon its provisions make its operations less inquisitorial and greatly reduce in numbers the army of taxgatherers created by the system who take from the mouth of honest labor the bread it has earned retrenchment reform and economy should be carried into every branch of the public service that the expenditures of the government may be reduced and the people relieved from oppressive taxation a sound currency should be restored and the public faith in regard to the national debt sacredly observed the accomplishment of these important results together with the restoration of the union of the states upon the principles of the constitution would inspire confidence at home and abroad in the stability of our institutions and bring to the nation prosperity peace and good will the report of the secretary of war ad interim exhibits the operations of the army and of the several bureaus of the war department the aggregate strength of our military force on the 30th of september last was the total estimate for military appropriations is including a deficiency in last year appropriation of the payments at the treasury on account of the service of the war department from january 1 to october 29 1867 a period of ten months amounted to the expenses of the military establishment as well as the numbers of the army are now three times as great as they have ever been in time of peace while the discretionary power is vested in the executive to add millions to this expenditure by an increase of the army to the maximum strength allowed by the law the comprehensive report of the secretary of the interior furnishes interesting information in reference to the important branches of the public service connected with his department the menacing attitude of some of the warlike bands of indians inhabiting the district of country between the arkansas and platte rivers and portions of dakota territory required the presence of a large military force in that region instigated by real or imaginary grievances the indians occasionally committed acts of barbarous violence upon emigrants and our frontier settlements but a general indian war has been providentially averted the commissioners under the act of 20th july 1867 were invested with full power to adjust existing difficulties negotiate treaties with the disaffected bands and select for them reservations remote from the traveled routes between the mississippi and the pacific they entered without delay upon the execution of their trust but have not yet made any official report of their proceedings it is of vital importance that our distant territories should be exempt from indian outbreaks and that the construction of the pacific railroad an object of national importance should not be interrupted by hostile tribes these objects as well as the material interests and the moral and intellectual improvement of the indians can be most effectually secured by concentrating them upon portions of country set apart for their exclusive use and located at points remote from our highways and encroaching white settlements since the commencement of the second session of the congress 510 miles of road have been constructed on the main line and branches of the pacific railway the line from omaha is rapidly approaching the eastern base of the rocky mountains while the terminus of the last section of constructed road in california accepted by the government on the 24th day of october last was but 11 miles distant from the summit of the sierra nevada the remarkable energy evinced by the companies offers the strongest assurance that the completion of the road from sacramento to omaha will not be long deferred during the last fiscal year acres of public land were disposed of and the cash receipts from sales and fees exceeded by million dollars the sum realized from those sources during the preceding year the amount paid to pensioners including expenses of disbursements was and names were added to the rolls the entire number of pensioners on the 30th of june last was eleven thousand six hundred and patents and designs were issued during the year ending september 30 1867 and at that date the balance in the treasury to the credit of the patent fund was the report of the secretary of the navy states that we have seven squadrons actively and judiciously employed under efficient and able commanders in protecting the persons and property of american citizens maintaining the dignity and power of the government and promoting the commerce and business interests of our countrymen in every part of the world of the 238 vessels composing the present navy of the united states 56 carrying 507 guns are in squadron service during the year the number of vessels in commission has been reduced 12 and there are 13 less on squadron duty than there were at the date of the last report a large number of vessels were commenced and in the course of construction when the war terminated and although congress had made the necessary appropriations for their completion the department has either suspended work upon them or limited the slow completion of the steam vessels so as to meet the contracts for machinery made with private establishments the total expenditures of the navy department for the fiscal year ending june 30 1867 were no appropriations have been made or required since the close of the war for the construction and repair of vessels for steam machinery ordnance provisions and clothing fuel hemp the balances under these several heads having been more than sufficient for current expenditures it should also be stated to the credit of the department that besides asking no appropriations for the above objects for the last two years the secretary of the navy on the 30th of september last in accordance with the act of may 1 1820 requested the secretary of the treasury to carry to the surplus fund the sum of being the amount received from the sales of vessels and other war property and the remnants of former appropriations the report of the shows the business of the department and the condition of the postal service in a very favorable light and the attention of congress is called to its practical recommendations the receipts of the department for the year ending june 30 1867 including all special appropriations for sea and land service and for free mail matter were the expenditures for all purposes were leaving an unexpended balance in favor of the department of which can be applied toward the expenses of the department for the current year the increase of postal revenue independent of specific appropriations for the year 1867 over that of 1866 was the increase of revenue from the sale of stamps and stamped envelopes was the increase of expenditures for 1867 over those of the previous year was owing chiefly to the extension of the land and ocean mail service during the past year new postal conventions have been ratified and exchanged with the united kingdom of great britain and ireland belgium the netherlands switzerland the north german union italy and the colonial government at hong kong reducing very largely the rates of ocean and land postages to and from and within those countries the report of the acting commissioner of agriculture concisely presents the condition wants and progress of an interest eminently worthy the fostering care of congress and exhibits a large measure of useful results achieved during the year to which it refers the reestablishment of peace at home and the resumption of extended trade travel and commerce abroad have served to increase the number and variety of questions in the department for foreign affairs none of these questions however have seriously disturbed our relations with other states the republic of mexico having been relieved from foreign intervention is earnestly engaged in efforts to reestablish her constitutional system of government a good understanding continues to exist between our government and the republics of hayti and san domingo and our cordial relations with the central and south american states remain unchanged the tender made in conformity with a resolution of congress of the good offices of the government with a view to an amicable adjustment of peace between brazil and her allies on one side and paraguay on the other and between chile and her allies on the one side and spain on the other though kindly received has in neither case been fully accepted by the belligerents the war in the valley of the parana is still vigorously maintained on the other hand actual hostilities between the pacific states and spain have been more than a year suspended i shall on any proper occasion that may occur renew the conciliatory recommendations which have been already made brazil with enlightened sagacity and comprehensive statesmanship has opened the great channels of the amazon and its tributaries to universal commerce one thing more seems needful to assure a rapid and cheering progress in south america i refer to those peaceful habits without which states and nations can not in this age well expect material prosperity or social advancement the exposition of universal industry at paris has passed and seems to have fully realized the high expectations of the french government if due allowance be made for the recent political derangement of industry here the part which the united states has borne in this exhibition of invention and art may be regarded with very high satisfaction during the exposition a conference was held of delegates from several nations the united states being one in which the inconveniences of commerce and social intercourse resulting from the diverse standards of money value were very fully discussed and plans were developed for establishing by universal consent a common principle for the coinage of gold these conferences are expected to be renewed with the attendance of many foreign states not hitherto represented a report of these interesting proceedings will be submitted to congress which will no doubt justly appreciate the great object and be ready to adopt any measure which may tend to facilitate its ultimate accomplishment on the 25th of february 1862 congress declared by law that treasury notes without interest authorized by that act should be legal tender in payment of all debts public and private within the united states an annual remittance of less stipulated expenses accrues to claimants under the convention made with spain in 1834 these remittances since the passage of that act have been paid in such notes the claimants insist that the government ought to require payment in coin the subject may be deemed worthy of your attention no arrangement has yet been reached for the settlement of our claims for british depredations upon the commerce of the united states i have felt it my duty to decline the proposition of arbitration made by her majesty government because it has hitherto been accompanied by reservations and limitations incompatible with the rights interest and honor of our country it is not to be apprehended that great britain will persist in her refusal to satisfy these just and reasonable claims which involve the sacred principle of nonintervention a principle henceforth not more important to the united states than to all other commercial nations the west india islands were settled and colonized by european states simultaneously with the settlement and colonization of the american continent most of the colonies planted here became independent nations in the close of the last and the beginning of the present century our own country embraces communities which at one period were colonies of great britain france spain holland sweden and russia the people in the west indies with the exception of those of the island of hayti have neither attained nor aspired to independence nor have they become prepared for although possessing considerable commercial value they have been held by the several european states which colonized or at some time conquered them chiefly for purposes of military and naval strategy in carrying out european policy and designs in regard to this continent in our revolutionary war ports and harbors in the west india islands were used by our enemy to the great injury and embarrassment of the united states we had the same experience in our second war with great britain the same european policy for a long time excluded us even from trade with the west indies while we were at peace with all nations in our recent civil war the rebels and their piratical and allies found facilities in the same ports for the work which they too successfully accomplished of injuring and devastating the commerce which we are now engaged in rebuilding we labored especially under this disadvantage that european steam vessels employed by our enemies found friendly shelter protection and supplies in west indian ports while our naval operations were necessarily carried on from our own distant shores there was then a universal feeling of the want of an advanced naval outpost between the atlantic coast and europe the duty of obtaining such an outpost peacefully and lawfully while neither doing nor menacing injury to other states earnestly engaged the attention of the executive department before the close of the war and it has not been lost sight of since that time a not entirely dissimilar naval want revealed itself during the same period on the pacific coast the required foothold there was fortunately secured by our late treaty with the emperor of russia and it now seems imperative that the more obvious necessities of the atlantic coast should not be less carefully provided for a good and convenient port and harbor capable of easy defense will supply that want with the possession of such a station by the united states neither we nor any other american nation need longer apprehend injury or offense from any transatlantic enemy i agree with our early statesmen that the west indies naturally gravitate to and may be expected ultimately to be absorbed by the continental states including our own i agree with them also that it is wise to leave the question of such absorption to this process of natural political gravitation the islands of thomas and john which constitute a part of the group called the virgin islands seemed to offer us advantages immediately desirable while their acquisition could be secured in harmony with the principles to which i have alluded a treaty has therefore been concluded with the king of denmark for the cession of those islands and will be submitted to the senate for consideration it will hardly be necessary to call the attention of congress to the subject of providing for the payment to russia of the sum stipulated in the treaty for the cession of alaska possession having been formally delivered to our commissioner the territory remains for the present in care of a military force awaiting such civil organization as shall be directed by congress the annexation of many small german states to prussia and the reorganization of that country under a new and liberal constitution have induced me to renew the effort to obtain a just and prompt settlement of the question concerning the claims of foreign states for military service from their subjects naturalized in the united states in connection with this subject the attention of congress is respectfully called to a singular and embarrassing conflict of laws the executive department of this government has hitherto uniformly held as it now holds that naturalization in conformity with the constitution and laws of the united states absolves the recipient from his native allegiance the courts of great britain hold that allegiance to the british crown is indefensible and is not absolved by our laws of naturalization british judges cite courts and law authorities of the united states in support of that theory against the position held by the executive authority of the united states this conflict perplexes the public mind concerning the rights of naturalized citizens and impairs the national authority abroad i called attention to this subject in my last annual message and now again respectfully appeal to congress to declare the national will unmistakably upon this important question the abuse of our laws by the clandestine prosecution of the african slave trade from american ports or by american citizens has altogether ceased and under existing circumstances no apprehensions of its renewal in this part of the world are entertained under these circumstances it becomes a question whether we shall not propose to her majesty government a suspension or discontinuance of the stipulations for maintaining a naval force for the suppression of that trade
continued disorganization union president often called attention congress yet subject profound patriotic concern may however find relief anxiety reflection painful political situation although untried new experience nations political science perhaps highly perfected time country yet disclosed means civil wars absolutely prevented enlightened nation however wise beneficent constitution free government may diminish frequency mitigate severity directing proceedings accordance fundamental law civil war brought close manifestly first interest duty state repair injuries war inflicted secure benefit lessons teaches fully speedily possible duty upon termination rebellion promptly accepted executive department insurrectionary states restoration first moment peace believed easy certain indispensable expectations however reasonably confidently entertained disappointed legislation felt constrained obligations constitution withhold assent therefore source profound regret complying obligation imposed upon president constitution give congress time time information state union unable communicate definitive adjustment satisfactory american people questions since close rebellion agitated public mind contrary candor compels declare time union fathers understood term meant understood us union established exist states represented houses congress one state free another regulate internal concerns according laws central government strictly confined matters national jurisdiction apply equal force people every section present state union melancholy fact must acknowledge restoration states proper legal relations federal government one another according terms original compact would greatest temporal blessing god kindest providence could bestow upon nation becomes imperative duty consider whether impossible effect desirable consummation union constitution inseparable long one obeyed parties preserved one destroyed must perish together destruction constitution followed still greater calamities ordained form perfect union states establish justice insure domestic tranquillity provide common defense promote general welfare secure blessings liberty posterity nothing implicit obedience requirements parts country accomplish great ends without obedience look forward continual outrages upon individual rights incessant breaches public peace national weakness financial dishonor total loss prosperity general corruption morals final extinction popular freedom save country evils appalling renew efforts process restoration seems perfectly plain simple consists merely faithful application constitution laws execution laws obstructed opposed physical force military necessity real pretended prevent obedience constitution either north south rights obligations states individuals protected enforced means perfectly consistent fundamental law courts may everywhere open open process would unimpeded crimes united states prevented punished proper judicial authorities manner entirely practicable legal therefore reason constitution obeyed unless exercise powers determined shall disregarded violated mere naked government one branches obstacle exist perfect union states momentous question measures growing misfortune differ congress expressed convictions without reserve though becoming deference opinion legislative department convictions unchanged strengthened subsequent events reflection transcendent importance subject sufficient excuse calling attention reasons strongly influenced judgment hope may finally concur mode settlement consistent true interests sworn duties constitution natural easily relinquished clear apprehension states lately rebellion still members national union cease ordinances secession adopted portion small portion citizens mere nullities admit valid effectual purpose intended authors sweep feet whole ground upon justified war states afterwards expelled union war direct contrary averred government purpose understood gave blood treasure aid prosecution successful war waged preservation union legal effect dissolving victory nation arms disgrace policy defeat secession battlefield triumph lawless principle could congress without consent executive anything would effect directly indirectly separating states dissolve union repeal constitution holds together power belong department government united plain acknowledged branches federal government executive predecessor well heads departments uniformly acted upon principle union undissolved indissoluble congress submitted amendment constitution ratified southern states accepted acts ratification necessary lawful exercise highest function states states union consent change fundamental law union would nugatory congress asking committed political absurdity judiciary also given solemn sanction authority view case judges supreme court included southern states circuits constantly banc elsewhere exercising jurisdiction belong unless states states union southern states component parts union constitution supreme law states bound obey right federal government clear unquestionable enforce constitution upon implies correlative obligation part observe limitations execute guaranties without constitution nothing constitution makes us may doubt wisdom law may approve provisions violate merely seems confine powers within limits narrower could wish question individual class sectional interest much less party predominance duty high sacred duty sworn perform support constitution cheerful alacrity love believe must give least fidelity public servants act solemn obligations commands dare disregard constitutional duty one requires states restored another consideration though minor importance yet great weight 22d day july 1861 congress declared almost unanimous vote houses war conducted solely purpose preserving union maintaining supremacy federal constitution laws without impairing dignity equality rights states individuals done war cease say declaration personally binding joined making individual members congress personally bound pay public debt created law voted solemn public official pledge national honor imagine upon grounds repudiation justified said bound keep faith rebels let remembered promise made rebels thousands true men south drawn standard hundreds thousands north gave lives belief would carried made day first great battle war fought lost patriotic intelligent men saw necessity giving assurance believed without war would end disaster given assurance extremity peril violation day power would rude rending good faith holds moral world together country would cease claim upon confidence men would make war failure fraud sincerely convinced views correct would unfaithful duty recommend repeal acts congress place ten southern states domination military masters calm reflection shall satisfy majority honorable bodies acts referred violation national faith direct conflict constitution dare permit doubt immediately strike statute book demonstrate unconstitutional character acts need refer general provisions must seen authorized dictate alterations shall made constitutions several states control elections state legislators state officers members congress electors president arbitrarily declaring shall vote shall excluded privilege dissolve state legislatures prevent assembling dismiss judges civil functionaries state appoint others without regard state law organize operate political machinery states regulate whole administration domestic local affairs according mere strange irresponsible agents sent among purpose powers granted federal government one branches granted violate trust assuming palpably would acting face positive interdict constitution forbids us whatever affirmatively authorize either express words clear implication authority desire use come us constitution exercise usurpation usurpation dangerous political crimes crime enemies free government ages worked designs public liberty private right leads directly immediately establishment absolute rule undelegated power always unlimited unrestrained acts congress question objectionable assumption ungranted power many provisions conflict direct prohibitions constitution constitution commands republican form government shall guaranteed states person shall deprived life liberty property without due process law arrested without judicial warrant punished without fair trial impartial jury privilege habeas corpus shall denied time peace bill attainder shall passed even single individual yet system measures established acts congress totally subvert destroy form well substance republican government ten states apply binds hand foot absolute slavery subjects strange hostile power unlimited likely abused known among civilized men tramples rights essence liberty consists free government always careful protect denies habeas corpus trial jury personal freedom property life assailed passion prejudice rapacity ruler security whatever effect bill attainder bill pains penalties upon individuals upon whole masses including millions inhabit subject states even unborn children wrongs expressly forbidden constitutionally inflicted upon portion people matter may come within jurisdiction matter whether live states territories districts desire save proper consequences great crime engaged rebellion government mode punishment measures consideration unreasonable could invented many people perfectly innocent many kept fidelity union untainted last many incapable legal offense large proportion even persons able bear arms forced rebellion guilty consent degrees guilt various shades character temper acts congress confound together one common doom indiscriminate vengeance upon classes sects parties upon whole communities offenses committed portion governments owed obedience common barbarous ages world christianity civilization made progress recourse punishment cruel unjust would meet condemnation unprejudiced men punitive justice age especially country consist stripping whole states liberties reducing people without distinction condition slavery deals separately individual confines forms law vindicates purity impartial examination every case competent judicial tribunal satisfy desires regard southern rebels let us console reflecting free constitution triumphant war unbroken peace worth far us children gratification present feeling aware assumed system government southern states perpetual true military government provisional temporary evil greater evil made perpetual guaranties constitution broken provisionally serve temporary purpose part country destroy everywhere time arbitrary measures often change generally change worse curse despotism halting place intermitted exercise power brings sense security subjects never know called endure red right hand armed plague possible conjecture power unrestrained law may seek next victims states still free may enslaved moment constitution protect protects none manifestly avowedly object laws confer upon negroes privilege voting disfranchise number white citizens give former clear majority elections southern states minds persons important violation constitution justified means bringing morality always false excuses wrong proposes accomplish desirable end permitted evil good may come case end evil well means subjugation states negro domination would worse military despotism suffering believed beforehand people would endure amount military oppression length time rather degrade subjection negro race therefore left without choice negro suffrage established act congress military officers commanded superintend process clothing negro race political privileges torn white men blacks south entitled well humanely governed protection laws rights person property practicable time give government exclusively might manage affairs way would become grave question whether ought whether common humanity would require us save circumstances speculative point proposed merely shall govern shall rule white race make administer state laws elect presidents members congress shape greater less extent future destiny whole country would trust power safe hands peculiar qualities characterize people fit decide upon management public affairs great state seldom combined glory white men know qualities sufficient measure build upon continent great political fabric preserve stability ninety years every part world similar experiments failed anything proved known facts reasoning upon evidence abandoned must acknowledged progress nations negroes shown less capacity government race people independent government form ever successful hands contrary wherever left devices shown constant tendency relapse barbarism southern states however congress undertaken confer upon privilege ballot released slavery may doubted whether class know ancestors organize regulate civil society indeed admitted blacks south regardless rights property utterly ignorant public affairs voting consist nothing carrying ballot place directed deposit need remind exercise elective franchise highest attribute american citizen guided virtue intelligence patriotism proper appreciation free institutions constitutes true basis democratic form government sovereign power lodged body people trust artificially created sake solely means promoting general welfare influence good must necessarily depend upon elevated character true allegiance elector ought therefore reposed none except fitted morally mentally administer well conferred upon persons justly estimate value indifferent results serve means placing power hands unprincipled ambitious must eventuate complete destruction liberty powerful conservator therefore heretofore urged upon attention great danger apprehended untimely extension elective franchise new class country especially large majority class wielding power thus placed hands expected correctly comprehend duties responsibilities pertain suffrage yesterday persons held condition slavery existed generations freemen assumed law citizens presumed previous condition servitude class well informed nature government intelligent foreigner makes land home choice case latter neither residence five years knowledge institutions gives attachment principles constitution conditions upon admitted citizenship must prove addition good moral character thus give reasonable ground belief faithful obligations assumes citizen republic people source political power speak suffrages instrumentality ballot box must carefully guarded control corrupt principle enemies free institutions become political social system safe conductor healthy popular sentiment kept free demoralizing influences controlled fraud usurpation designing anarchy despotism must inevitably follow hands patriotic worthy government preserved upon principles constitution inherited fathers follows therefore admitting ballot box new class voters qualified exercise elective franchise weaken system government instead adding strength durability yield one attachment rule general suffrage distinguishes policy nation limit wisely observed hitherto makes ballot privilege trust requires classes time suitable probation preparation give indiscriminately new class wholly unprepared previous habits opportunities perform trust demands degrade finally destroy power may safely assumed political truth better established indiscriminate extension popular suffrage must end last destruction repeat expression willingness join plan within scope constitutional authority promises better condition negroes south encouraging industry enlightening minds improving morals giving protection rights freedmen transfer political inheritance would opinion abandonment duty owe alike memory fathers rights children plan putting southern states wholly general government partially hands negroes proposed time peculiarly unpropitious foundations society broken civil war industry must reorganized justice reestablished public credit maintained order brought confusion accomplish ends would require wisdom virtue great men formed institutions originally confidently believe descendants equal arduous task worse madness expect negroes perform us certainly ought ask assistance till despair competency great difference two races physical mental moral characteristics prevent amalgamation fusion together one homogeneous mass inferior obtains ascendency govern reference interests recognize common interest create tyranny continent never yet witnessed already negroes influenced promises confiscation plunder taught regard enemy every white man respect rights race continues must become worse worse order subverted industry cease fertile fields south grow wilderness dangers nation yet encountered none equal must result success effort making africanize half country would put considerations money competition justice right expenses incident reconstruction system adopted congress aggravate regard intrinsic wrong measure cost uncounted millions already persisted add largely weight taxation already oppressive borne without complaint may finally reduce treasury nation condition bankruptcy must delude require strong standing army probably per annum maintain supremacy negro governments established sum thus thrown away would properly used form sinking fund large enough pay whole national debt less fifteen years vain hope negroes maintain ascendency without military power wholly incapable holding subjection white people south submit judgment congress whether public credit may injuriously affected system measures like debt vast private interests complicated cautious policy might possibility impair confidence world government confidence retained carefully inculcating principles justice honor popular mind scrupulous fidelity engagements every sort serious breach organic law persisted considerable time create fears stability institutions habitual violation prescribed rules bind observe must demoralize people standard civil duty set naught sheet anchor political morality lost public conscience swings moorings yields every impulse passion interest repudiate constitution expected care much mere pecuniary obligations violation pledge made 22d day july 1861 assuredly diminish market value promises besides acknowledge national debt created hold states union taxpayers led suppose expel hand governed negroes moral duty pay may seem much less clear say may seem admit argument favor repudiation entertained sound influence classes minds may well apprehended financial honor great commercial nation largely indebted republican form government administered agents popular choice thing delicate texture destruction would followed unspeakable calamity every true patriot must desire avoid whatever might expose slightest danger great interests country require immediate relief enactments business south paralyzed sense general insecurity terror confiscation dread negro supremacy southern trade north would derived great profit government law still languishes never revived ceases fettered arbitrary power makes operations unsafe rich country richest natural resources world ever saw worse lost soon placed protection free constitution instead ought source wealth power become intolerable burden upon rest nation another reason retracing steps doubtless seen congress late manifestations public opinion upon subject live country popular always enforces obedience sooner later vain think opposing anything short legal authority backed overwhelming force escaped attention day congress fairly formally presented proposition govern southern states military force view ultimate establishment negro supremacy every expression general sentiment less adverse affections generation detached institutions ancestors determination preserve inheritance free government hands transmit undivided unimpaired posterity strong successfully opposed every weaker passion disappear love liberty law american people distinguished others world far duty president preserve protect defend constitution requires go opposing unconstitutional act congress serious important question deliberated much felt extremely anxious reach proper conclusion act passed according forms constitution supreme legislative authority regularly enrolled among public statutes country executive resistance especially times high party excitement would likely produce violent collision respective adherents two branches government would simply civil war civil war must resorted last remedy worst evils whatever might tend provoke carefully avoided faithful conscientious magistrate concede much honest error something even perverse malice endanger public peace adopt forcible measures might lead force long peaceable remain open constituents true cases may occur executive would compelled stand rights maintain regardless consequences congress pass act palpable conflict constitution certainly carried produce immediate irreparable injury organic structure government neither judicial remedy wrongs inflicts power people protect without official aid elected defender instance legislative department pass act even forms law abolish coordinate department government case president must take high responsibilities office save life nation hazards reconstruction acts though plainly unconstitutional imagined believed within class last mentioned people wholly power northern states still held hands sacred right ballot safe believe due time would come rescue institutions gives pleasure add appeal common constituents taken vain confidence wisdom virtue seems misplaced well publicly known enormous frauds perpetrated treasury colossal fortunes made public expense species corruption increased increasing diminished soon bring us total ruin disgrace public creditors taxpayers alike interested honest administration finances neither class long endure robberies recent past discreditable state things several causes taxes laid present irresistible temptation evade payment great sums officers may win connivance fraud create pressure virtue many withstand doubt open disregard constitutional obligations avowed highest influential men country greatly weakened moral sense serve subordinate places expenses united states including interest public debt six times much seven years ago collect disburse vast amount requires careful supervision well systematic vigilance system never perfected much disorganized bill almost destroyed official accountability president may thoroughly convinced officer incapable dishonest unfaithful constitution law named utmost complain senate ask privilege supplying place better man senate regarded personally politically hostile president natural altogether unreasonable officer expect take part far possible restore place give triumph executive superior officer chances impunity arising accidental defects evidence mode investigating secrecy hearing wonderful official malfeasance become bold proportion delinquents learn think safe entirely persuaded rule president perform great duty assigned seeing laws faithfully executed disables especially enforcing rigid accountability necessary due execution revenue laws constitution invests president authority decide whether removal made given case act congress declares substance shall accuse supposes unworthy trust constitution makes sole judge premises statute takes away jurisdiction transfers senate leaves nothing odious sometimes impracticable duty becoming prosecutor prosecution conducted tribunal whose members like responsible whole people separate constituent bodies may hear accusation great disfavor senate absolutely without known standard decision applicable case judgment anticipated governed rule law define shall deemed good removal impossible even conjecture may may considered senate nature subject forbids clear proof charge incapacity evidence support fidelity constitution may understood misunderstood thousand different ways violent party men violent party times unfaithfulness constitution may even come considered meritorious officer accused dishonesty shall made inferred acts unconnected public duty private history general reputation must president await commission actual misdemeanor office shall meantime risk character interest nation hands men give confidence must forbear complaint mischief done prevented zeal public service impel anticipate overt act must move peril tried offense slandering subordinate present circumstances country someone must held responsible official delinquency every kind extremely difficult say responsibility thrown left placed constitution men admit president ought entirely relieved responsibility meet reason restrictions placed law upon action unrestricted power removal office great one trusted even magistrate chosen general suffrage whole people accountable directly acts undoubtedly liable abuse periods history perhaps abused thought desirable constitutional limited make president merely common informer public agents least permitted act capacity open tribunal independent party politics ready investigate merits every case furnished means taking evidence bound decide according established rules would guarantee safety accuser acts good faith time secure rights party speak course proper respect present senate seem legislative body constituted insure fitness functions theory government public offices property hold given merely trust public benefit sometimes fixed period sometimes good behavior generally liable terminated pleasure appointing power represents collective majesty speaks people forced retention office single dishonest person may work great injury public interests danger public service comes power remove power appoint therefore framers constitution left power removal unrestricted gave senate fight reject appointments opinion fit made little reflection subject probably satisfy good country heart best course take constitution guide walk path marked founders republic obey rules made sacred observance great predecessors present condition finances circulating medium one early consideration invited proportion currency country bear whole value annual produce circulated means question upon political economists agreed controlled legislation must left irrevocable laws everywhere regulate commerce trade circulating medium ever irresistibly flow points greatest demand law demand supply unerring regulates tides ocean indeed currency like tides ebbs flows throughout commercial world beginning rebellion circulation country amounted much circulation notes known nearly seven hundred millions urged amount increased others contend decided reduction absolutely essential best interests country view diverse opinions may well ascertain real value paper issues compared metallic convertible currency purpose let us inquire much gold silver could purchased seven hundred millions paper money circulation probably half amount latter showing paper currency compared gold silver commercial value compressed three hundred fifty millions striking fact makes obvious duty government early may consistent principles sound political economy take measures enable holder notes national banks convert without loss specie equivalent reduction paper circulating medium need necessarily follow however would depend upon law demand supply though borne mind making bank notes convertible coin equivalent present specie value hands holders would enhanced 100 per cent legislation accomplishment result desirable demanded highest public considerations constitution contemplates circulating medium country shall uniform quality value time formation instrument country emerged war revolution suffering effects redundant worthless paper currency sages period anxious protect posterity evils experienced hence providing circulating medium conferred upon congress power coin money regulate value thereof time prohibiting states making anything gold silver tender payment debts anomalous condition currency striking contrast originally designed circulation embraces first notes national banks made receivable dues government excluding imposts creditors excepting payment interest upon bonds securities second notes issued united states law requires shall received well payment debts citizens government dues excepting imposts third gold silver coin operation present system finance however metallic currency collected reserved one class government creditors holding bonds semiannually receive interest coin national treasury thus made occupy invidious position may used strengthen arguments would bring disrepute obligations nation payment debts plighted faith government inviolably maintained acts fidelity toward bondholder loaned money integrity union might preserved time observe good faith great masses people rescued union perils rebellion bear burdens taxation government may able fulfill engagements reason accepted satisfactory people defend us land protect us sea pensioner upon gratitude nation bearing scars wounds received service public servants various departments government farmer supplies soldiers army sailors navy artisan toils nation workshops mechanics laborers build edifices construct forts vessels war payment dues receive depreciated paper another class countrymen deserving paid coin gold silver equal exact justice requires creditors government paid currency possessing uniform value accomplished restoration currency standard established constitution means would remove discrimination may already done create prejudice may become deep rooted widespread imperil national credit feasibility making currency correspond constitutional standard may seen reference facts derived commercial statistics production precious metals united states 1849 1857 inclusive amounted 1858 1860 inclusive 1861 1867 inclusive making grand aggregate products since 1849 amount specie coined 1849 1857 inclusive 1858 1860 inclusive 1861 1867 inclusive making total coinage since 1849 1849 1857 inclusive net exports specie amounted 1858 1860 inclusive 1861 1867 inclusive making aggregate net exports since 1849 figures show excess product net exports treasury coin something circulation pacific coast millions national banks however taking account specie country prior 1849 leaves accounted exportation therefore may yet remain country important facts show completely inferior currency supersede better forcing circulation among masses causing exported mere article trade add money capital foreign lands show necessity retiring paper money return gold silver avenues trade may invited demand created retention home least much productions rich inexhaustible fields may sufficient purposes circulation unreasonable expect return sound currency long government continuing issue irredeemable notes fills channels circulation depreciated paper notwithstanding coinage mints since 1849 people strangers currency designed use benefit specimens precious metals bearing national device seldom seen except produced gratify interest excited novelty depreciated paper continued permanent currency country coin become mere article traffic speculation enhancement price indispensable comfort people would wise economy abolish mints thus saving nation care expense incident establishments let precious metals exported bullion time come however government national banks required take efficient steps make necessary arrangements resumption specie payments earliest practicable period specie payments resumed government banks notes bills paper issued either less denomination 20 law excluded circulation people may benefit convenience gold silver currency business transactions uniform value home abroad every man property industry every man desires preserve honestly possesses obtain honestly earn direct interest maintaining safe circulating medium medium shall real substantial liable vibrate opinions subject blown blown breath speculation made stable secure disordered currency one greatest political evils undermines virtues necessary support social system encourages propensities destructive happiness wars industry frugality economy fosters evil spirits extravagance speculation asserted one profound gifted statesmen contrivances cheating laboring classes mankind none effectual deludes paper money effectual inventions fertilize rich man fields sweat poor man brow ordinary tyranny oppression excessive taxation bear lightly happiness mass community compared fraudulent currency robberies committed depreciated paper history recorded instruction enough enough demoralizing tendency injustice intolerable oppression virtuous well disposed degraded paper currency authorized law way countenanced government one successful devices times peace war expansions revulsions accomplish transfer precious metals great mass people hands hoarded secret places deposited strong boxes bolts bars people left endure inconvenience sacrifice demoralization resulting use depreciated worthless paper money condition finances operations revenue system set forth fully explained able instructive report secretary treasury 30th june 1866 public debt amounted 30th june last showing reduction fiscal year fiscal year ending june 30 1867 receipts expenditures leaving available surplus estimated receipts fiscal year ending june 30 1868 expenditures reach sum leaving treasury surplus fiscal year ending june 30 1869 estimated receipts amount expenditures showing excess favor government attention congress earnestly invited necessity thorough revision revenue system laws impost system adjusted bear heavily articles luxury leaving necessaries life free taxation may consistent real wants government economically administered taxation would fall unduly man moderate means none would entirely exempt assessment proportion pecuniary abilities would contribute toward support state modification system large reduction number articles subject tax would followed results equally advantageous citizen government would render execution law less expensive certain remove obstructions industry lessen temptations evade law diminish violations frauds perpetrated upon provisions make operations less inquisitorial greatly reduce numbers army taxgatherers created system take mouth honest labor bread earned retrenchment reform economy carried every branch public service expenditures government may reduced people relieved oppressive taxation sound currency restored public faith regard national debt sacredly observed accomplishment important results together restoration union states upon principles constitution would inspire confidence home abroad stability institutions bring nation prosperity peace good report secretary war ad interim exhibits operations army several bureaus war department aggregate strength military force 30th september last total estimate military appropriations including deficiency last year appropriation payments treasury account service war department january 1 october 29 1867 period ten months amounted expenses military establishment well numbers army three times great ever time peace discretionary power vested executive add millions expenditure increase army maximum strength allowed law comprehensive report secretary interior furnishes interesting information reference important branches public service connected department menacing attitude warlike bands indians inhabiting district country arkansas platte rivers portions dakota territory required presence large military force region instigated real imaginary grievances indians occasionally committed acts barbarous violence upon emigrants frontier settlements general indian war providentially averted commissioners act 20th july 1867 invested full power adjust existing difficulties negotiate treaties disaffected bands select reservations remote traveled routes mississippi pacific entered without delay upon execution trust yet made official report proceedings vital importance distant territories exempt indian outbreaks construction pacific railroad object national importance interrupted hostile tribes objects well material interests moral intellectual improvement indians effectually secured concentrating upon portions country set apart exclusive use located points remote highways encroaching white settlements since commencement second session congress 510 miles road constructed main line branches pacific railway line omaha rapidly approaching eastern base rocky mountains terminus last section constructed road california accepted government 24th day october last 11 miles distant summit sierra nevada remarkable energy evinced companies offers strongest assurance completion road sacramento omaha long deferred last fiscal year acres public land disposed cash receipts sales fees exceeded million dollars sum realized sources preceding year amount paid pensioners including expenses disbursements names added rolls entire number pensioners 30th june last eleven thousand six hundred patents designs issued year ending september 30 1867 date balance treasury credit patent fund report secretary navy states seven squadrons actively judiciously employed efficient able commanders protecting persons property american citizens maintaining dignity power government promoting commerce business interests countrymen every part world 238 vessels composing present navy united states 56 carrying 507 guns squadron service year number vessels commission reduced 12 13 less squadron duty date last report large number vessels commenced course construction war terminated although congress made necessary appropriations completion department either suspended work upon limited slow completion steam vessels meet contracts machinery made private establishments total expenditures navy department fiscal year ending june 30 1867 appropriations made required since close war construction repair vessels steam machinery ordnance provisions clothing fuel hemp balances several heads sufficient current expenditures also stated credit department besides asking appropriations objects last two years secretary navy 30th september last accordance act may 1 1820 requested secretary treasury carry surplus fund sum amount received sales vessels war property remnants former appropriations report shows business department condition postal service favorable light attention congress called practical recommendations receipts department year ending june 30 1867 including special appropriations sea land service free mail matter expenditures purposes leaving unexpended balance favor department applied toward expenses department current year increase postal revenue independent specific appropriations year 1867 1866 increase revenue sale stamps stamped envelopes increase expenditures 1867 previous year owing chiefly extension land ocean mail service past year new postal conventions ratified exchanged united kingdom great britain ireland belgium netherlands switzerland north german union italy colonial government hong kong reducing largely rates ocean land postages within countries report acting commissioner agriculture concisely presents condition wants progress interest eminently worthy fostering care congress exhibits large measure useful results achieved year refers reestablishment peace home resumption extended trade travel commerce abroad served increase number variety questions department foreign affairs none questions however seriously disturbed relations states republic mexico relieved foreign intervention earnestly engaged efforts reestablish constitutional system government good understanding continues exist government republics hayti san domingo cordial relations central south american states remain unchanged tender made conformity resolution congress good offices government view amicable adjustment peace brazil allies one side paraguay chile allies one side spain though kindly received neither case fully accepted belligerents war valley parana still vigorously maintained hand actual hostilities pacific states spain year suspended shall proper occasion may occur renew conciliatory recommendations already made brazil enlightened sagacity comprehensive statesmanship opened great channels amazon tributaries universal commerce one thing seems needful assure rapid cheering progress south america refer peaceful habits without states nations age well expect material prosperity social advancement exposition universal industry paris passed seems fully realized high expectations french government due allowance made recent political derangement industry part united states borne exhibition invention art may regarded high satisfaction exposition conference held delegates several nations united states one inconveniences commerce social intercourse resulting diverse standards money value fully discussed plans developed establishing universal consent common principle coinage gold conferences expected renewed attendance many foreign states hitherto represented report interesting proceedings submitted congress doubt justly appreciate great object ready adopt measure may tend facilitate ultimate accomplishment 25th february 1862 congress declared law treasury notes without interest authorized act legal tender payment debts public private within united states annual remittance less stipulated expenses accrues claimants convention made spain 1834 remittances since passage act paid notes claimants insist government ought require payment coin subject may deemed worthy attention arrangement yet reached settlement claims british depredations upon commerce united states felt duty decline proposition arbitration made majesty government hitherto accompanied reservations limitations incompatible rights interest honor country apprehended great britain persist refusal satisfy reasonable claims involve sacred principle nonintervention principle henceforth important united states commercial nations west india islands settled colonized european states simultaneously settlement colonization american continent colonies planted became independent nations close last beginning present century country embraces communities one period colonies great britain france spain holland sweden russia people west indies exception island hayti neither attained aspired independence become prepared although possessing considerable commercial value held several european states colonized time conquered chiefly purposes military naval strategy carrying european policy designs regard continent revolutionary war ports harbors west india islands used enemy great injury embarrassment united states experience second war great britain european policy long time excluded us even trade west indies peace nations recent civil war rebels piratical allies found facilities ports work successfully accomplished injuring devastating commerce engaged rebuilding labored especially disadvantage european steam vessels employed enemies found friendly shelter protection supplies west indian ports naval operations necessarily carried distant shores universal feeling want advanced naval outpost atlantic coast europe duty obtaining outpost peacefully lawfully neither menacing injury states earnestly engaged attention executive department close war lost sight since time entirely dissimilar naval want revealed period pacific coast required foothold fortunately secured late treaty emperor russia seems imperative obvious necessities atlantic coast less carefully provided good convenient port harbor capable easy defense supply want possession station united states neither american nation need longer apprehend injury offense transatlantic enemy agree early statesmen west indies naturally gravitate may expected ultimately absorbed continental states including agree also wise leave question absorption process natural political gravitation islands thomas john constitute part group called virgin islands seemed offer us advantages immediately desirable acquisition could secured harmony principles alluded treaty therefore concluded king denmark cession islands submitted senate consideration hardly necessary call attention congress subject providing payment russia sum stipulated treaty cession alaska possession formally delivered commissioner territory remains present care military force awaiting civil organization shall directed congress annexation many small german states prussia reorganization country new liberal constitution induced renew effort obtain prompt settlement question concerning claims foreign states military service subjects naturalized united states connection subject attention congress respectfully called singular embarrassing conflict laws executive department government hitherto uniformly held holds naturalization conformity constitution laws united states absolves recipient native allegiance courts great britain hold allegiance british crown indefensible absolved laws naturalization british judges cite courts law authorities united states support theory position held executive authority united states conflict perplexes public mind concerning rights naturalized citizens impairs national authority abroad called attention subject last annual message respectfully appeal congress declare national unmistakably upon important question abuse laws clandestine prosecution african slave trade american ports american citizens altogether ceased existing circumstances apprehensions renewal part world entertained circumstances becomes question whether shall propose majesty government suspension discontinuance stipulations maintaining naval force suppression trade
continued disorganization union president often call attention congress yet subject profound patriotic concern may however find relief anxiety reflection painful political situation although untried new experience nation political science perhaps highly perfected time country yet disclose mean civil war absolutely prevent enlightened nation however wise beneficent constitution free government may diminish frequency mitigate severity direct proceeding accordance fundamental law civil war bring close manifestly first interest duty state repair injury war inflict secure benefit lesson teach fully speedily possible duty upon termination rebellion promptly accept executive department insurrectionary state restoration first moment peace believe easy certain indispensable expectation however reasonably confidently entertain disappointed legislation felt constrained obligation constitution withhold assent therefore source profound regret comply obligation impose upon president constitution give congress time time information state union unable communicate definitive adjustment satisfactory american people question since close rebellion agitate public mind contrary candor compels declare time union father understood term mean understood u union establish exist state represent house congress one state free another regulate internal concern accord law central government strictly confine matter national jurisdiction apply equal force people every section present state union melancholy fact must acknowledge restoration state proper legal relation federal government one another accord term original compact would greatest temporal blessing god kind providence could bestow upon nation becomes imperative duty consider whether impossible effect desirable consummation union constitution inseparable long one obeyed party preserve one destroyed must perish together destruction constitution follow still great calamity ordain form perfect union state establish justice insure domestic tranquillity provide common defense promote general welfare secure blessing liberty posterity nothing implicit obedience requirement part country accomplish great end without obedience look forward continual outrage upon individual right incessant breach public peace national weakness financial dishonor total loss prosperity general corruption moral final extinction popular freedom save country evil appal renew effort process restoration seem perfectly plain simple consist merely faithful application constitution law execution law obstruct opposed physical force military necessity real pretended prevent obedience constitution either north south right obligation state individual protect enforced mean perfectly consistent fundamental law court may everywhere open open process would unimpeded crime united state prevent punished proper judicial authority manner entirely practicable legal therefore reason constitution obey unless exercise power determine shall disregard violate mere naked government one branch obstacle exist perfect union state momentous question measure grow misfortune differ congress express conviction without reserve though become deference opinion legislative department conviction unchanged strengthen subsequent event reflection transcendent importance subject sufficient excuse call attention reason strongly influence judgment hope may finally concur mode settlement consistent true interest sworn duty constitution natural easily relinquish clear apprehension state lately rebellion still member national union cease ordinances secession adopt portion small portion citizen mere nullity admit valid effectual purpose intend author sweep foot whole ground upon justified war state afterwards expel union war direct contrary averred government purpose understood give blood treasure aid prosecution successful war wag preservation union legal effect dissolve victory nation arm disgrace policy defeat secession battlefield triumph lawless principle could congress without consent executive anything would effect directly indirectly separate state dissolve union repeal constitution hold together power belong department government unite plain acknowledged branch federal government executive predecessor well head department uniformly act upon principle union undissolved indissoluble congress submit amendment constitution ratify southern state accept act ratification necessary lawful exercise high function state state union consent change fundamental law union would nugatory congress ask commit political absurdity judiciary also give solemn sanction authority view case judge supreme court include southern state circuit constantly banc elsewhere exercise jurisdiction belong unless state state union southern state component part union constitution supreme law state bind obey right federal government clear unquestionable enforce constitution upon implies correlative obligation part observe limitation execute guaranty without constitution nothing constitution make u may doubt wisdom law may approve provision violate merely seem confine power within limit narrower could wish question individual class sectional interest much less party predominance duty high sacred duty swear perform support constitution cheerful alacrity love believe must give least fidelity public servant act solemn obligation command dare disregard constitutional duty one require state restore another consideration though minor importance yet great weight 22d day july 1861 congress declare almost unanimous vote house war conduct solely purpose preserve union maintain supremacy federal constitution law without impair dignity equality right state individual do war cease say declaration personally bind join make individual member congress personally bind pay public debt create law vote solemn public official pledge national honor imagine upon ground repudiation justify say bound keep faith rebel let remember promise make rebel thousand true men south draw standard hundred thousand north give life belief would carry make day first great battle war fight lose patriotic intelligent men saw necessity give assurance believe without war would end disaster give assurance extremity peril violation day power would rude rend good faith hold moral world together country would cease claim upon confidence men would make war failure fraud sincerely convinced view correct would unfaithful duty recommend repeal act congress place ten southern state domination military master calm reflection shall satisfy majority honorable body act referred violation national faith direct conflict constitution dare permit doubt immediately strike statute book demonstrate unconstitutional character act need refer general provision must see authorized dictate alteration shall make constitution several state control election state legislator state officer member congress elector president arbitrarily declare shall vote shall exclude privilege dissolve state legislature prevent assemble dismiss judge civil functionary state appoint others without regard state law organize operate political machinery state regulate whole administration domestic local affair accord mere strange irresponsible agent send among purpose power grant federal government one branch grant violate trust assume palpably would act face positive interdict constitution forbids u whatever affirmatively authorize either express word clear implication authority desire use come u constitution exercise usurpation usurpation dangerous political crime crime enemy free government age work design public liberty private right lead directly immediately establishment absolute rule undelegated power always unlimited unrestrained act congress question objectionable assumption ungranted power many provision conflict direct prohibition constitution constitution command republican form government shall guarantee state person shall deprive life liberty property without due process law arrest without judicial warrant punish without fair trial impartial jury privilege habeas corpus shall deny time peace bill attainder shall pass even single individual yet system measure establish act congress totally subvert destroy form well substance republican government ten state apply bind hand foot absolute slavery subject strange hostile power unlimited likely abused know among civilized men trample right essence liberty consist free government always careful protect denies habeas corpus trial jury personal freedom property life assail passion prejudice rapacity ruler security whatever effect bill attainder bill pain penalty upon individual upon whole mass include million inhabit subject state even unborn child wrong expressly forbid constitutionally inflict upon portion people matter may come within jurisdiction matter whether live state territory district desire save proper consequence great crime engage rebellion government mode punishment measure consideration unreasonable could invent many people perfectly innocent many keep fidelity union untainted last many incapable legal offense large proportion even person able bear arm force rebellion guilty consent degree guilt various shade character temper act congress confound together one common doom indiscriminate vengeance upon class sect party upon whole community offenses committed portion government owe obedience common barbarous age world christianity civilization make progress recourse punishment cruel unjust would meet condemnation unprejudiced men punitive justice age especially country consist strip whole state liberty reduce people without distinction condition slavery deal separately individual confines form law vindicate purity impartial examination every case competent judicial tribunal satisfy desire regard southern rebel let u console reflect free constitution triumphant war unbroken peace worth far u child gratification present feeling aware assume system government southern state perpetual true military government provisional temporary evil great evil make perpetual guaranty constitution break provisionally serve temporary purpose part country destroy everywhere time arbitrary measure often change generally change bad curse despotism halt place intermit exercise power brings sense security subject never know call endure red right hand arm plague possible conjecture power unrestrained law may seek next victim state still free may enslave moment constitution protect protect none manifestly avowedly object law confer upon negro privilege vote disfranchise number white citizen give former clear majority election southern state mind person important violation constitution justify mean bring morality always false excuse wrong proposes accomplish desirable end permit evil good may come case end evil well mean subjugation state negro domination would worse military despotism suffer believe beforehand people would endure amount military oppression length time rather degrade subjection negro race therefore leave without choice negro suffrage establish act congress military officer command superintend process clothing negro race political privilege tear white men black south entitle well humanely govern protection law right person property practicable time give government exclusively might manage affair way would become grave question whether ought whether common humanity would require u save circumstance speculative point propose merely shall govern shall rule white race make administer state law elect president member congress shape great less extent future destiny whole country would trust power safe hand peculiar quality characterize people fit decide upon management public affair great state seldom combine glory white men know quality sufficient measure build upon continent great political fabric preserve stability ninety year every part world similar experiment fail anything proved know fact reason upon evidence abandon must acknowledge progress nation negroes show less capacity government race people independent government form ever successful hand contrary wherever leave device show constant tendency relapse barbarism southern state however congress undertaken confer upon privilege ballot release slavery may doubt whether class know ancestor organize regulate civil society indeed admit black south regardless right property utterly ignorant public affair vote consist nothing carry ballot place direct deposit need remind exercise elective franchise high attribute american citizen guide virtue intelligence patriotism proper appreciation free institution constitute true basis democratic form government sovereign power lodge body people trust artificially create sake solely mean promote general welfare influence good must necessarily depend upon elevated character true allegiance elector ought therefore repose none except fit morally mentally administer well confer upon person justly estimate value indifferent result serve mean place power hand unprincipled ambitious must eventuate complete destruction liberty powerful conservator therefore heretofore urge upon attention great danger apprehend untimely extension elective franchise new class country especially large majority class wield power thus place hand expect correctly comprehend duty responsibility pertain suffrage yesterday person hold condition slavery exist generation freeman assume law citizen presume previous condition servitude class well informed nature government intelligent foreigner make land home choice case latter neither residence five year knowledge institution give attachment principle constitution condition upon admit citizenship must prove addition good moral character thus give reasonable ground belief faithful obligation assume citizen republic people source political power speak suffrages instrumentality ballot box must carefully guard control corrupt principle enemy free institution become political social system safe conductor healthy popular sentiment keep free demoralizing influence control fraud usurpation design anarchy despotism must inevitably follow hand patriotic worthy government preserve upon principle constitution inherit father follow therefore admitting ballot box new class voter qualify exercise elective franchise weaken system government instead add strength durability yield one attachment rule general suffrage distinguishes policy nation limit wisely observe hitherto make ballot privilege trust require class time suitable probation preparation give indiscriminately new class wholly unprepared previous habit opportunity perform trust demand degrade finally destroy power may safely assume political truth well establish indiscriminate extension popular suffrage must end last destruction repeat expression willingness join plan within scope constitutional authority promise good condition negro south encouraging industry enlighten mind improve moral give protection right freedman transfer political inheritance would opinion abandonment duty owe alike memory father right child plan put southern state wholly general government partially hand negro propose time peculiarly unpropitious foundation society break civil war industry must reorganize justice reestablish public credit maintain order bring confusion accomplish end would require wisdom virtue great men form institution originally confidently believe descendant equal arduous task bad madness expect negro perform u certainly ought ask assistance till despair competency great difference two race physical mental moral characteristic prevent amalgamation fusion together one homogeneous mass inferior obtain ascendency govern reference interest recognize common interest create tyranny continent never yet witness already negro influence promise confiscation plunder teach regard enemy every white man respect right race continue must become bad bad order subvert industry cease fertile field south grow wilderness danger nation yet encounter none equal must result success effort make africanize half country would put consideration money competition justice right expense incident reconstruction system adopt congress aggravate regard intrinsic wrong measure cost uncounted million already persist add largely weight taxation already oppressive borne without complaint may finally reduce treasury nation condition bankruptcy must delude require strong stand army probably per annum maintain supremacy negro government establish sum thus throw away would properly use form sink fund large enough pay whole national debt less fifteen year vain hope negro maintain ascendency without military power wholly incapable hold subjection white people south submit judgment congress whether public credit may injuriously affected system measure like debt vast private interest complicate cautious policy might possibility impair confidence world government confidence retain carefully inculcate principle justice honor popular mind scrupulous fidelity engagement every sort serious breach organic law persist considerable time create fear stability institution habitual violation prescribe rule bind observe must demoralize people standard civil duty set naught sheet anchor political morality lose public conscience swing mooring yield every impulse passion interest repudiate constitution expect care much mere pecuniary obligation violation pledge make 22d day july 1861 assuredly diminish market value promise besides acknowledge national debt create hold state union taxpayer lead suppose expel hand govern negro moral duty pay may seem much less clear say may seem admit argument favor repudiation entertain sound influence class mind may well apprehend financial honor great commercial nation largely indebted republican form government administer agent popular choice thing delicate texture destruction would follow unspeakable calamity every true patriot must desire avoid whatever might expose slight danger great interest country require immediate relief enactment business south paralyzed sense general insecurity terror confiscation dread negro supremacy southern trade north would derive great profit government law still languish never revive cease fetter arbitrary power make operation unsafe rich country rich natural resource world ever saw bad lose soon place protection free constitution instead ought source wealth power become intolerable burden upon rest nation another reason retrace step doubtless see congress late manifestation public opinion upon subject live country popular always enforces obedience sooner later vain think oppose anything short legal authority back overwhelming force escape attention day congress fairly formally present proposition govern southern state military force view ultimate establishment negro supremacy every expression general sentiment less adverse affection generation detach institution ancestor determination preserve inheritance free government hand transmit undivided unimpaired posterity strong successfully oppose every weak passion disappear love liberty law american people distinguish others world far duty president preserve protect defend constitution require go oppose unconstitutional act congress serious important question deliberate much felt extremely anxious reach proper conclusion act pass accord form constitution supreme legislative authority regularly enrol among public statute country executive resistance especially times high party excitement would likely produce violent collision respective adherent two branch government would simply civil war civil war must resort last remedy worst evil whatever might tend provoke carefully avoid faithful conscientious magistrate concede much honest error something even perverse malice endanger public peace adopt forcible measure might lead force long peaceable remain open constituent true case may occur executive would compel stand right maintain regardless consequence congress pas act palpable conflict constitution certainly carry produce immediate irreparable injury organic structure government neither judicial remedy wrong inflict power people protect without official aid elect defender instance legislative department pas act even form law abolish coordinate department government case president must take high responsibility office save life nation hazard reconstruction act though plainly unconstitutional imagine believe within class last mentioned people wholly power northern state still hold hand sacred right ballot safe believe due time would come rescue institution give pleasure add appeal common constituent take vain confidence wisdom virtue seem misplace well publicly know enormous fraud perpetrate treasury colossal fortune make public expense specie corruption increase increase diminish soon bring u total ruin disgrace public creditor taxpayer alike interested honest administration finance neither class long endure robbery recent past discreditable state thing several cause tax lay present irresistible temptation evade payment great sum officer may win connivance fraud create pressure virtue many withstand doubt open disregard constitutional obligation avow high influential men country greatly weaken moral sense serve subordinate place expense united state include interest public debt six time much seven year ago collect disburse vast amount require careful supervision well systematic vigilance system never perfect much disorganize bill almost destroy official accountability president may thoroughly convinced officer incapable dishonest unfaithful constitution law name utmost complain senate ask privilege supply place well man senate regard personally politically hostile president natural altogether unreasonable officer expect take part far possible restore place give triumph executive superior officer chance impunity arise accidental defect evidence mode investigate secrecy hear wonderful official malfeasance become bold proportion delinquent learn think safe entirely persuaded rule president perform great duty assign see law faithfully execute disables especially enforce rigid accountability necessary due execution revenue law constitution invest president authority decide whether removal make give case act congress declare substance shall accuse supposes unworthy trust constitution make sole judge premise statute take away jurisdiction transfer senate leaf nothing odious sometimes impracticable duty become prosecutor prosecution conduct tribunal whose member like responsible whole people separate constituent body may hear accusation great disfavor senate absolutely without know standard decision applicable case judgment anticipate govern rule law define shall deem good removal impossible even conjecture may may consider senate nature subject forbids clear proof charge incapacity evidence support fidelity constitution may understand misunderstood thousand different way violent party men violent party time unfaithfulness constitution may even come consider meritorious officer accuse dishonesty shall make inferred act unconnected public duty private history general reputation must president await commission actual misdemeanor office shall meantime risk character interest nation hand men give confidence must forbear complaint mischief do prevented zeal public service impel anticipate overt act must move peril tried offense slander subordinate present circumstance country someone must hold responsible official delinquency every kind extremely difficult say responsibility throw leave placed constitution men admit president ought entirely relieve responsibility meet reason restriction place law upon action unrestricted power removal office great one trust even magistrate choose general suffrage whole people accountable directly act undoubtedly liable abuse period history perhaps abuse think desirable constitutional limited make president merely common informer public agent least permitted act capacity open tribunal independent party politics ready investigate merit every case furnish mean take evidence bound decide accord establish rule would guarantee safety accuser act good faith time secure right party speak course proper respect present senate seem legislative body constitute insure fitness function theory government public office property hold give merely trust public benefit sometimes fixed period sometimes good behavior generally liable terminate pleasure appoint power represent collective majesty speaks people force retention office single dishonest person may work great injury public interest danger public service come power remove power appoint therefore framer constitution leave power removal unrestricted give senate fight reject appointment opinion fit make little reflection subject probably satisfy good country heart best course take constitution guide walk path mark founder republic obey rule make sacred observance great predecessor present condition finance circulate medium one early consideration invite proportion currency country bear whole value annual produce circulate mean question upon political economist agree controlled legislation must leave irrevocable law everywhere regulate commerce trade circulate medium ever irresistibly flow point great demand law demand supply unerring regulates tide ocean indeed currency like tide ebb flow throughout commercial world begin rebellion circulation country amount much circulation note know nearly seven hundred million urged amount increase others contend decide reduction absolutely essential best interest country view diverse opinion may well ascertain real value paper issue compare metallic convertible currency purpose let u inquire much gold silver could purchase seven hundred million paper money circulation probably half amount latter show paper currency compare gold silver commercial value compress three hundred fifty million strike fact make obvious duty government early may consistent principle sound political economy take measure enable holder note national bank convert without loss specie equivalent reduction paper circulate medium need necessarily follow however would depend upon law demand supply though borne mind make bank note convertible coin equivalent present specie value hand holder would enhance 100 per cent legislation accomplishment result desirable demand high public consideration constitution contemplate circulate medium country shall uniform quality value time formation instrument country emerge war revolution suffer effect redundant worthless paper currency sag period anxious protect posterity evil experience hence provide circulate medium confer upon congress power coin money regulate value thereof time prohibit state make anything gold silver tender payment debt anomalous condition currency strike contrast originally design circulation embrace first note national bank make receivable dues government exclude impost creditor except payment interest upon bond security second note issue united state law require shall receive well payment debt citizens government due except impost third gold silver coin operation present system finance however metallic currency collect reserve one class government creditor hold bond semiannually receive interest coin national treasury thus make occupy invidious position may use strengthen argument would bring disrepute obligation nation payment debt plight faith government inviolably maintain act fidelity toward bondholder loan money integrity union might preserve time observe good faith great mass people rescue union peril rebellion bear burden taxation government may able fulfill engagement reason accept satisfactory people defend u land protect u sea pensioner upon gratitude nation bear scar wound received service public servants various department government farmer supply soldier army sailor navy artisan toil nation workshop mechanic laborer build edifice construct fort vessel war payment due receive depreciate paper another class countryman deserve pay coin gold silver equal exact justice require creditor government pay currency possess uniform value accomplish restoration currency standard establish constitution mean would remove discrimination may already do create prejudice may become deep rooted widespread imperil national credit feasibility make currency correspond constitutional standard may see reference fact derive commercial statistic production precious metal unite state 1849 1857 inclusive amount 1858 1860 inclusive 1861 1867 inclusive make grand aggregate product since 1849 amount specie coin 1849 1857 inclusive 1858 1860 inclusive 1861 1867 inclusive make total coinage since 1849 1849 1857 inclusive net export specie amount 1858 1860 inclusive 1861 1867 inclusive make aggregate net export since 1849 figure show excess product net export treasury coin something circulation pacific coast million national bank however take account specie country prior 1849 leaf account exportation therefore may yet remain country important fact show completely inferior currency supersede good force circulation among mass cause export mere article trade add money capital foreign land show necessity retire paper money return gold silver avenue trade may invite demand create retention home least much production rich inexhaustible field may sufficient purpose circulation unreasonable expect return sound currency long government continue issue irredeemable note fill channel circulation depreciate paper notwithstanding coinage mint since 1849 people stranger currency design use benefit specimen precious metal bear national device seldom see except produce gratify interest excite novelty depreciate paper continue permanent currency country coin become mere article traffic speculation enhancement price indispensable comfort people would wise economy abolish mint thus save nation care expense incident establishment let precious metal export bullion time come however government national bank require take efficient step make necessary arrangement resumption specie payment earliest practicable period specie payment resume government bank note bill paper issue either less denomination 20 law exclude circulation people may benefit convenience gold silver currency business transaction uniform value home abroad every man property industry every man desire preserve honestly possess obtain honestly earn direct interest maintain safe circulate medium medium shall real substantial liable vibrate opinion subject blow blown breath speculation make stable secure disorder currency one great political evil undermines virtue necessary support social system encourage propensity destructive happiness war industry frugality economy foster evil spirit extravagance speculation assert one profound gift statesman contrivance cheat laboring class mankind none effectual deludes paper money effectual invention fertilize rich man field sweat poor man brow ordinary tyranny oppression excessive taxation bear lightly happiness mass community compare fraudulent currency robbery commit depreciated paper history record instruction enough enough demoralizing tendency injustice intolerable oppression virtuous well dispose degrade paper currency authorize law way countenanced government one successful device time peace war expansion revulsion accomplish transfer precious metal great mass people hand hoard secret place deposit strong box bolt bar people leave endure inconvenience sacrifice demoralization result use depreciate worthless paper money condition finance operation revenue system set forth fully explain able instructive report secretary treasury 30th june 1866 public debt amount 30th june last showing reduction fiscal year fiscal year end june 30 1867 receipt expenditures leave available surplus estimate receipt fiscal year end june 30 1868 expenditure reach sum leave treasury surplus fiscal year end june 30 1869 estimate receipt amount expenditures show excess favor government attention congress earnestly invite necessity thorough revision revenue system law impost system adjust bear heavily article luxury leave necessary life free taxation may consistent real want government economically administer taxation would fall unduly man moderate mean none would entirely exempt assessment proportion pecuniary ability would contribute toward support state modification system large reduction number article subject tax would follow result equally advantageous citizen government would render execution law less expensive certain remove obstruction industry lessen temptation evade law diminish violation frauds perpetrate upon provision make operation less inquisitorial greatly reduce number army taxgatherers create system take mouth honest labor bread earn retrenchment reform economy carry every branch public service expenditure government may reduce people relieve oppressive taxation sound currency restore public faith regard national debt sacredly observe accomplishment important result together restoration union state upon principle constitution would inspire confidence home abroad stability institution bring nation prosperity peace good report secretary war ad interim exhibit operation army several bureau war department aggregate strength military force 30th september last total estimate military appropriation include deficiency last year appropriation payment treasury account service war department january 1 october 29 1867 period ten month amount expense military establishment well number army three time great ever time peace discretionary power vested executive add million expenditure increase army maximum strength allow law comprehensive report secretary interior furnishes interest information reference important branch public service connect department menace attitude warlike band indian inhabit district country arkansas platte river portion dakota territory require presence large military force region instigate real imaginary grievance indians occasionally committed act barbarous violence upon emigrant frontier settlement general indian war providentially avert commissioner act 20th july 1867 invest full power adjust exist difficulty negotiate treaty disaffect band select reservation remote travel route mississippi pacific enter without delay upon execution trust yet make official report proceeding vital importance distant territory exempt indian outbreak construction pacific railroad object national importance interrupt hostile tribe object well material interest moral intellectual improvement indian effectually secure concentrate upon portion country set apart exclusive use locate point remote highway encroach white settlement since commencement second session congress 510 mile road construct main line branch pacific railway line omaha rapidly approach eastern base rocky mountains terminus last section construct road california accept government 24th day october last 11 mile distant summit sierra nevada remarkable energy evince company offer strong assurance completion road sacramento omaha long defer last fiscal year acres public land dispose cash receipt sale fee exceed million dollar sum realize source precede year amount pay pensioner include expense disbursement names add roll entire number pensioner 30th june last eleven thousand six hundred patent design issue year end september 30 1867 date balance treasury credit patent fund report secretary navy state seven squadron actively judiciously employ efficient able commander protect person property american citizen maintain dignity power government promote commerce business interest countryman every part world 238 vessel compose present navy united state 56 carry 507 gun squadron service year number vessel commission reduce 12 13 less squadron duty date last report large number vessel commence course construction war terminate although congress make necessary appropriation completion department either suspend work upon limit slow completion steam vessel meet contract machinery make private establishment total expenditure navy department fiscal year end june 30 1867 appropriation make require since close war construction repair vessel steam machinery ordnance provision clothe fuel hemp balance several head sufficient current expenditure also state credit department besides ask appropriation object last two year secretary navy 30th september last accordance act may 1 1820 request secretary treasury carry surplus fund sum amount receive sale vessel war property remnant former appropriation report show business department condition postal service favorable light attention congress call practical recommendation receipt department year end june 30 1867 include special appropriation sea land service free mail matter expenditures purpose leave unexpended balance favor department apply toward expense department current year increase postal revenue independent specific appropriation year 1867 1866 increase revenue sale stamp stamp envelope increase expenditures 1867 previous year owe chiefly extension land ocean mail service past year new postal convention ratify exchange united kingdom great britain ireland belgium netherlands switzerland north german union italy colonial government hong kong reduce largely rate ocean land postage within country report act commissioner agriculture concisely present condition want progress interest eminently worthy foster care congress exhibit large measure useful result achieve year refers reestablishment peace home resumption extend trade travel commerce abroad serve increase number variety question department foreign affair none question however seriously disturbed relation state republic mexico relieve foreign intervention earnestly engage effort reestablish constitutional system government good understanding continue exist government republic hayti san domingo cordial relation central south american state remain unchanged tender make conformity resolution congress good office government view amicable adjustment peace brazil ally one side paraguay chile ally one side spain though kindly receive neither case fully accept belligerent war valley parana still vigorously maintain hand actual hostility pacific state spain year suspend shall proper occasion may occur renew conciliatory recommendation already make brazil enlightened sagacity comprehensive statesmanship open great channel amazon tributary universal commerce one thing seem needful assure rapid cheer progress south america refer peaceful habit without state nation age well expect material prosperity social advancement exposition universal industry paris pass seem fully realize high expectation french government due allowance make recent political derangement industry part united state borne exhibition invention art may regard high satisfaction exposition conference hold delegate several nation unite state one inconvenience commerce social intercourse result diverse standard money value fully discuss plan develop establish universal consent common principle coinage gold conference expect renew attendance many foreign state hitherto represent report interest proceeding submit congress doubt justly appreciate great object ready adopt measure may tend facilitate ultimate accomplishment 25th february 1862 congress declare law treasury note without interest authorize act legal tender payment debt public private within united state annual remittance less stipulated expense accrue claimant convention make spain 1834 remittance since passage act pay note claimant insist government ought require payment coin subject may deem worthy attention arrangement yet reach settlement claim british depredation upon commerce united state felt duty decline proposition arbitration make majesty government hitherto accompany reservation limitation incompatible right interest honor country apprehend great britain persist refusal satisfy reasonable claim involve sacred principle nonintervention principle henceforth important united state commercial nation west india island settle colonized european state simultaneously settlement colonization american continent colony plant become independent nation close last beginning present century country embrace community one period colonies great britain france spain holland sweden russia people west indie exception island hayti neither attain aspired independence become prepared although possess considerable commercial value hold several european state colonize time conquer chiefly purpose military naval strategy carry european policy design regard continent revolutionary war port harbor west india island use enemy great injury embarrassment united state experience second war great britain european policy long time exclude u even trade west indie peace nation recent civil war rebel piratical ally find facility port work successfully accomplish injure devastate commerce engage rebuild labor especially disadvantage european steam vessel employ enemy find friendly shelter protection supply west indian port naval operation necessarily carry distant shore universal feel want advance naval outpost atlantic coast europe duty obtain outpost peacefully lawfully neither menace injury state earnestly engage attention executive department close war lose sight since time entirely dissimilar naval want reveal period pacific coast require foothold fortunately secure late treaty emperor russia seem imperative obvious necessity atlantic coast less carefully provide good convenient port harbor capable easy defense supply want possession station united state neither american nation need longer apprehend injury offense transatlantic enemy agree early statesman west indie naturally gravitate may expect ultimately absorbed continental state include agree also wise leave question absorption process natural political gravitation islands thomas john constitute part group call virgin island seem offer u advantage immediately desirable acquisition could secure harmony principle allude treaty therefore conclude king denmark cession island submit senate consideration hardly necessary call attention congress subject provide payment russia sum stipulate treaty cession alaska possession formally deliver commissioner territory remain present care military force await civil organization shall direct congress annexation many small german state prussia reorganization country new liberal constitution induce renew effort obtain prompt settlement question concern claim foreign state military service subject naturalize united state connection subject attention congress respectfully call singular embarrassing conflict law executive department government hitherto uniformly hold hold naturalization conformity constitution law united state absolve recipient native allegiance court great britain hold allegiance british crown indefensible absolve law naturalization british judge cite court law authority unite state support theory position hold executive authority united state conflict perplexes public mind concern right naturalize citizen impair national authority abroad call attention subject last annual message respectfully appeal congress declare national unmistakably upon important question abuse law clandestine prosecution african slave trade american port american citizen altogether cease exist circumstance apprehension renewal part world entertain circumstance become question whether shall propose majesty government suspension discontinuance stipulation maintain naval force suppression trade