588 



PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



cure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective 

 as their stringent execution. 



The country having just emerged from a great re- 

 bellion, many questions will come before it for settle- 

 ment in the next four years, which preceding Admin- 

 istrations have never had to deal with. In meeting 

 these, it is desirabte that they should be approached 

 calmly, without prejudice, hate, or sectional pride, re- 

 membering that the .greatest good to the greatest 

 number is the object to be attained. 



This requires security of person, property, and for 

 religious and political opinion, in every part of pur 

 common country, without regard to local prejudice. 

 All laws to secure these ends will receive my best 

 efforts for their enforcement. 



A great debt has been contracted in securing to us 

 and our posterity the Union ; the payment of this, 

 principal and interest, as well as the return to a specie 

 basis, as soon as it can be accomplished without ma- 

 terial detriment to the debtor class or to the country 

 at large, must be provided for. To protect the 

 national honor, every dollar of Government indebt- 

 edness should be paid in gold unless otherwise ex- 

 pressly stipulated in the contract. Let it be under- 

 stood that no repudiator of one farthing of our 

 public debt will be trusted in public place, and it 

 will go far toward strengthening a credit which ought 

 to be the best in the world, and will ultimately enable 

 us to replace the debt with bonds bearing less interest 

 than we now pay. To this should be added a faith- 

 ful collection of the revenue, a strict accountability to 

 the Tresaury for every dollar collected, and the great- 

 est practicable retrenchment in expenditure in every 

 department of Government. 



When we compare the paying capacity of the 

 country now with the ten States in poverty from the 

 effects of war, but soon to emerge, I trust, into 

 greater prosperity than ever before, with its paying 

 capacitv twentv-five years ago, and calculate what it 



Srobably will oe twenty-five years hence, who can 

 oubt the feasibility of paying every dollar then with 

 more ease than we now pay for useless luxuries? 

 Why, it looks as though Providence had bestowed 

 upon us a strong box in the precious metals locked up 

 in the sterile mountains of the far "West, of which 

 we are now forging the key to unlock to meet the 

 very contingency that is now upon us. 



Ultimately it may be necessary to insure the facil- 

 ities to reach these riches, and it may be necessaiy 

 also that the General Government should give its aid 

 to secure this access. But that should only be when 

 a dollar of obligation to pay secures precisely the 

 same sort of dollar to use now, and not before. 

 While the question of specie payments is in abeyance, 

 the prudent business man is careful about contracting 

 debts payable in the distant future. The nation 

 should follow the same > rule. A prostrate commerce 

 is to be rebuilt and all industries encouraged. 



The young men of the country, those who from 

 their age must be its rulers twenty-five years hence, 

 have a peculiar interest in maintaining the national 

 honor. A moment's reflection as to what will be our 

 commanding influence among the nations of the earth 

 in their day, if they are only true to themselves, should 

 inspire them with national pride. All divisions, 

 geographical, political, and religious, can join in this 

 common sentiment. How the public debt is to be 

 paid, or specie payments resumed, is not so important 

 as that a plan should be adopted and acquiesced in. 



A united determination to do is worth more than 

 divided counsels upon the method of doing. Legis- 

 lation upon this subject may not be necessary 

 now, nor even advisable, but it will be when the 

 civil law is more fully restored in all parts of the 

 country, and trade resumes its wonted channels. 



It will be my endeavor to execute all laws in good 

 faith, to collect all revenues assessed, and to have 

 them properly accounted for and economically dis- 

 bursed. I will, to the best of my ability, appoint to 

 ofiice those only who will carry out this design. 



In regard to foreign policy, I would deal with 

 nations as equitable law requires individuals to deal 

 with each other, and I would protect the law-abiding 

 citizen, whether of native or foreign birth, where- 

 ever his rights are jeopardized or the flag of our 

 country floats. I would respect the rights of all 

 nations, demanding equal respect for our own. If 

 others depart from this rule in their dealings with us, 

 we may be compelled to follow their precedent. 



The proper treatment of the original^ occupants of 

 this land, the Indians, is one deserving of careful 

 study. I will favor any course toward them which 

 tends to their civilization and ultimate citizen- 

 ship. 



The question of suffrage is one which is likely to 

 agitate the public so long as a portion ^of the citizens 

 of the nation are excluded from its privileges in any 

 State. It seems to me very desirable that this ques- 

 tion should be settled now, and I entertain the hope 

 and express the desire that it may be bv the ratifica- 

 tion of the fifteenth article of amendment to the 

 Constitution. 



In conclusion, I ask patient forbearance one 

 toward another throughout the land, and a deter- 

 mined effort on the part of every citizen to do his 

 share toward cementing a happy Union ; and I ask 

 the prayers of the nation to Almighty God in behalf 

 of this consummation. 



President GKAXT'S Proclamation for the Elec- 

 tion in Virginia, May 14, 1869. 



In pursuance of the provisions of the act of Con- 

 gress, approved April 10, 1869, I hereby designate 

 the 6th day of July, 1869, as the time for submitting 

 the constitution passed by the convention which met 

 in Kichmond, Virginia, on Tuesday, the 3d day of 

 December, 1867, to the voters of said State registered 

 at the date of such submission, viz., July 6, 1869, for 

 ratification or rejection. 



And I submit to a separate vote the fourth clause 

 of section 1, article III., of said constitution, which 

 is in the following words : 



Every person who has been a Senator or repre- 

 sentative in Congress, or elector of President orVice- 

 President, or who held any office, civil or military, 

 under the United States, or under any State, who, 

 having previously taken an oath as a member of Con- 

 gress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a 

 member of any State Legislature, or as an executive 

 or judicial officer of any State, shall have engaged in 

 insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given 

 aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. This clause 

 shall include the following officers : Governor, Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, Secretary of State, auditor of public 

 accounts, second auditor, register of the land-office. 

 State treasurer, attorney-general, sheriff, sergeant or 

 a city or town, commissioner of the revenue, county 

 surveyor, constables, overseers of the'ppor, commis- 

 sioner of the board of public works, judges of the 

 supreme court, judges of the circuit court, judge of 

 the court of hustings, justices of the county courts, 

 mayor, recorder, aldermen, councilmen of a city or 

 town, coroners, escheators, inspectors of tobacco, 

 flour, etc., and clerks of the supreme, district, circuit, 

 and county courts, and of the court of "hustings, and 

 attorneys for the Commonwealth ; provided that the 

 Legislature may. by a vote of three-fifths ~of both 

 houses, remove the disabilities incurred by this clause 

 from any person included therein, by a separate vote 

 in each case. 



And I also submit to a separate vote the 7tli sec- 

 tion of article III. of the said constitution, which is 

 in the words following : 



In addition to the foregoing oath of office, the Gov- 

 ernor, Lieutenant-Go vernor, members of the General 

 Assembly, Secretary of State, auditor of public ac- 

 counts, State treasurer, attorney-general, and all per- 

 sons elected to any convention to frame a constitution 



