UNITED STATES. 



749 



General Conference in the Conference by which they 

 may be elected. 



The first Tuesday in November, 1873, was 

 the day on which the vote shonld be taken. 

 Suitable rules were adopted to regulate the 

 election, and provision was made for carrying 

 the purposed amendment into effect should it 

 be ratified. 



In reply to the proposition of the Rev. Dr. 

 S. S. Schmucker, on the subject of Christian 

 union, and his suggestion that delegates be ftp- 

 pointed to attend the World's Conference of 

 the Evangelical Alliance in October, twenty- 

 five such delegates were appointed, the bishops 

 being included in the number. 



The first independent Church of the United 

 Brethren was formed in Baltimore in 1774, by 

 the Rev. William Otterbein and the officers of 

 his congregation. It appeared, therefore, that 

 the year 1874 would be the one hundredth year 

 of the existence of the Church. The Conference 

 recommended that this fact be recognized by 

 the holding of centenary meetings in every 

 society of the Church during 1874, and by the 

 taking of collections and subscriptions as tliank- 

 ofieringg. It was directed that the funds thus 

 secured shonld be equally divided between the 

 Missionary Society, the Church Erection So- 

 ciety, and the endowment fund of the Union 

 Biblical Seminary, "except wheu otherwise 

 directed by the donors." 



UNITED STATES. The inauguration of 

 President Grant for his second term as Presi- 

 dent of the United States, and Henry Wil- 

 son, of Massachusetts, as Vice-President, took 

 place at Washington, on March 4th. The day 

 was clear, but intensely cold, and many thou- 

 sand persons on their way to witness the pro- 

 cession, found it impossible to keep themselves 

 comfortable. 



The address of the President on the occa- 

 sion was as follows : 



Fillovi-Citizmi: Under Providence I have been 

 called a Hecoiul time to act an Executive of this great 

 nation. It lias been my endeavor in the past to 

 maintain all the lawn, and, BO far as lay in my pow- 

 er, to act for the best interests of the whole people. 

 My best efforts will be given in the same direction 

 in the future, aided, I trust, by my four years' expe- 

 rience in the office. When my first term of the office 

 of Chief Executive began, the land had not recov- 

 tp'd from the effects of an internal revolution, and 

 three of the former States of the Union had not been 

 restored to their Federal relations. It seemed to me 

 wise that no new questions should be raised so long 

 as that condition of affairs existed ; therefore, the 

 past four years, BO far as I could control events, 

 have been consumed in the effort to restore harmo- 

 ny, r.ublio credit, commerce, and all the arts of peace 

 nd progress. 



It is my firm conviction that the civilized world is 

 tending toward republicanism, orgovernment by the 

 through their chosen representatives, and 

 that our own great republic is destined to be the 

 guiding star to all others. Under our republic we 

 support an army less than that of any European 

 power of any standing, and a navv less than that of 

 nt Icaxf five of them. There could be no extension 

 of territory on this continent which would call for 

 iin inoreasf- of this force, but rnther might such ex- 

 tension enable us to extinguish it. 



The theory of government changes with general 

 progress. Now that the telegraph is made availa- 

 ble for communicating thought, together with rapid 

 transit by steam, all parts of the continent are made 

 contiguous for all purposes of the Government, and 

 communication between the extreme limits of the 

 country made easier than it was throughout the old 

 thirteen States at the beginning of our national ex- 

 istence. 



The effects of the late civil war have been to free 

 the slave and make him a citizen. Yet he is not 

 possessed of the civil rights which citizenship should 

 carry with it. 



This is wrong, and should be corrected. To this 

 correction I stand committed, so far as Executive in- 

 fluence can avail. Social equality is not a subject to 

 be legislated upon, nor shall I ask that any thing be 

 done to advance the social status of the colored man, 

 except to give him a fair chance to develop what 

 there is good in him. Give him access to schools, 

 and, when he travels, let him feel assured that his 

 conduct will regulate the treatment and fare he will 

 receive. 



The States lately at war with the General Govern- 

 ment are now happily rehabilitated, and no .Execu- 

 tive control is exercised in any one of them that 

 would not be exercised in any other State under like 

 circumstances. 



In the first year of the past Administration, the 

 proposition came up for the admission of Santo Do- 

 mingo as a Territory of the Union. It was not a 

 question of my seeking, but was a proposition from 

 tne people of Santo Domingo, and which I enter- 

 tained. I believe now, as I did then, that it was for 

 the best interests of the country, for the people of 

 Santo Domingo, and all concerned, that the proposi- 

 tion should be received favorably. It was. however, 

 rejected constitutionally, and therefore the subject 

 was never brought up again by me. 



In the future, while I hold my present office, the 

 subject of acquisiton of territory must have the sup- 

 port of the people before I will recommend any 

 proposition looking to such acquisition. 



I say here, however, that I do not share in the 

 apprehension held by many, as to the danger of 

 governments becoming weakened and destroyed by 

 reason of their extension of territory. Commerce, 

 education, and rapid transit of thought and matter 

 by telegraph and steam, have changed all this. 



"Rather do I believe that our great Maker is pre- 

 paring the world, in his own good time, to become 

 one nation, speaking one language, and when armies 

 and navies will be no longer required. 



My efforts in the future will be directed to the 

 restoration of good feeling between the different sec- 

 tions of our common country, to the restoration of 

 our currency to a fixed value as compared with the 

 world's standard of values, gold, and if possible 

 to a par with it; to the construction of cheap routes 

 of transit throughout the land, to the end that the 

 products of all sections may find a market, and leave 

 a living remuneration to the producer, to the main- 

 tenance of relations with all our neighbors, and with 

 distant nations ; to the reestablishment of onr com- 

 merce, and a share in the carrying-trade upon the 

 ocean; to the management of such manufacturing 

 industries as can be economically pursued in the 

 country, to the end that the exports of home prod- 

 ucts and industries may pay for our imports, the 

 only sure method of returning to and permanently 

 maintaining a specie basis ; to the elevation of labor ; 

 and by a humane course to bring the aborigines of 

 the country under the benign influence of education 

 and civilization. It is cither this or a war of exter- 

 mination. Wars of extermination engaged in by 

 people pursuing commerce, and all the industrial 

 pursuits, are expensive, even against the weakest 

 people, and are demoralizing and wicked. Every 

 superiority of strength, and advantages of civiliza- 

 tion, should make us lenient toward the Indian. 



The wrong already inflicted on him should be 



