PUBLIC DOCUMENTS. 



599 



coming the original causes of those dangers, and rec- 

 ommended such measures as I believed would have 

 the etl'eet of tranquillizing the country, and saving it 

 from the peril in which it had been needlessly and 

 most unfortunately involved. 



Those opinions and recommendations I do not pro- 

 nv to repeat. My own convictions upon the 

 whole subject remain unchanged. 



The t;:ct that a great calamity was impending over 

 the nation was even at that time acknowledged by 

 every intelligent citizen. It had already made itself 

 felt throughout the length and breadth of the land. 

 The necessary consequences of the alarm thus pro- 

 duced were most deplorable. The imports fell ofi' with 

 a rapidity never known before, except in time of war, 

 in the history of our foreign commerce; the Treasury 

 was unexpectedly left without the means which it had 

 reasonably counted upon to meet the public engage- 

 ments ; tratle was paralyzed ; manufactures were stop- 

 ped ; the best public securities suddenly sunk in the 

 market; every species of property depreciated more 

 or less; and thousands of poor men, who depended 

 upon their daily labor for their daily bread, were turn- 

 ed out of employment 



I deeply regret that I am not able to give you any 

 information upon the state of the Union which' is more 

 satisfactory than what I was then obliged to communi- 

 cate. On the contrary, matters are still worse at pres- 

 ent than they then were. When Congress met, a 

 Strong hope pervaded the whole public mind that some 

 amicable adjustment of the subject would speedily be 

 made by the Representatives of the States and of the 

 People which might restore peace between the con- 

 flicting sections of the country. That hope has been 

 diminished by every hour of delay; and, as the pros- 

 pect of a bloodless settlement fades away, the public 

 distress becomes more and more aggravated. As evi- 

 dence of this it is only necessary to say that the Treas- 

 ury notes authorized" by the act of 17th December last 

 were advertised according to the law, and that no re- 

 sponsible bidder offered to take any considerable sum 

 at par at a lower rate of interest than twelve per cent. 



From these facts it appears that, in a government 

 organized like ours, domestic strife, or even a well- 

 grounded fear of civil hostilities, is more destructive 

 to our public and private interests than the most for- 

 midable foreign war. 



In my Annual Message I expressed the conviction, 

 which I have long deliberately held, and which recent 

 reflection has only tended to deepen and confirm, that 

 no State has a right by its own act to secede from the 

 Union, or throw off its Federal obligations at pleasure. 

 I also declared my opinion to be that, even if that right 

 existed and should be exercised by any State of the 

 Confederacy, the Executive Department of this Gov- 

 ernment had no authority under the Constitution to 

 recognize its validity by acknowledging the independ- 

 ence of such State. This left me no alternative, as the 

 chief Executive officer under the Constitution of the 

 United States, but to collect the public revenues and 

 to protect the public property, so far as this might be 

 practicable under existing laws. 



This is still my purpose. My province is to execute, 

 and not to make the laws. It belongs to Congress ex- 

 clusively to repeal, to modify, or to enlarge their pro- 

 visions to meet exigencies as they may occur. I pos- 

 sess no dispensing power. 



I certainly had no right to make aggressive war 

 upon any State ; and I am perfectly satisfied that the 

 Constitution has wisely withheld that power even from 

 Congress. But the right and the duty to use military 

 force defensively against those who resist the Federal 

 officers in the execution of their legal functions, and 

 against those who assail the property of the Federal 

 Government, is clear and undeniable. 



But the dangerous and hostile attitude of the States 

 towards each other has already far transcended and 

 cast in the shade the ordinary Executive duties already 

 provided for by law, and has assumed such vast and 

 alarming proportions as to place the subject entirely 

 above and bevond Executive control. The fact cannot 



be disguised that we are in the midst of a great revo- 

 lution. In all its various bearings, therefore, I com- 

 mend the question to Congress, as the only human 

 tribunal, under Providence, possessing the power to 

 meet the existing emergency. To them exclusively 

 belongs the power to declare war, or to authorize the 

 employment of military force in all cases contemplated 

 by the" Constitution, and they alone possess the power 

 to remove grievances which might lead to war, and to 

 secure peace and union to this distracted country. On 

 them, and on them alone, rests the responsibility. 



The Union is a sacred trust left by our Revolution- 

 ary fathers to their descendants, arid never did any 

 pe'ople inherit so rich a legacy. It has rendered us 

 prosperous in peace and triumphant in war. The na- 

 tional flag has floated in glory over every sea. Under 

 its shadow American citizens have found protection 

 and respect in all lands beneath the sun. If we de- 

 scend to considerations of purely material interest, 

 when, in the history of all time, has a Confederacy 

 been bound together by such strong ties of mutual in- 

 terest? Each portion of it is dependent on all, and all 

 upon each portion, for prosperity and domestic secu- 

 rity. Free trade throughout the whole supplies the 

 wants of one portion from the productions of another, 

 and scatters wealth everywhere. The great planting 

 and farming States require the aid of the cpmmeYcial 

 and navigating States to send their productions to do- 

 mestic and foreign markets, and to furnish the naval 

 power to render their transportation secure against all 

 hostile attacks. 



Should the Union perish in the midst of the present 

 excitement, we have already had a sad foretaste of the 

 universal suffering which would result from its destruc- 

 tion. The calamity would be severe in every portion 

 of the Union, and would be quite as great, to say the 

 least, in the Southern as in the Northern States. 



The greatest aggravation of the evil, and that which 

 would place us in the most unfavorable light both be- 

 fore the wqrld and posterity, is, as I am firmly con- 

 vinced, that the secession movement has been chiefly 

 based upon a misapprehension at the South of the 

 sentiments of the majority in several of the Northern 

 States. Let the question be transferred from political 

 assemblies to the ballot-box, and the people themselves 

 would speedily redress the serious grievances which 

 the South have suffered. But, in Heaven's name, let 

 the trial be made before we plunge into armed conflict 

 upon the mere assumption that there is no other alter- 

 native. Time is a great conservative power. Let us 

 pause at this momentous point, and afiord the people 

 both North and South an opportunity for reflection. 

 "Would that South Carolina had been convinced of this 

 truth before her precipitate action ! 



I therefore appeal through you to the people of the 

 country to declare in their might that the Union must 

 and shall be preserved by all constitutional means. I 

 most earnestly recommend that you devote vourselves 

 exclusively to the question how this can be accom- 

 plished iu'peace. All other questions, when compared 

 with this, sink into insignificance. The present is no 

 time for palliations. Action, prompt action, is re- 

 quired. A delay in Congress to prescribe or to recom- 

 mend a distinct and practical proposition for concilia- 

 tion, may drive us to a point from which it will be 

 almost impossible to recede. 



A common ground on which conciliation and har- 

 mony can be produced is surely not unattainable. The 

 proposition to compromise by letting the North have 

 exclusive control of the territory above a certain line, 

 and to give Southern institutions protection below that 

 line, ought to receive universal approbation. In itself, 

 indeed, it may not be entirely satisfactory, but when 

 the alternative is between a reasonable concession on 

 both sides, and a destruction of the Union, it is an im- 

 putation upon the patriotism of Congress to assert that 

 its members will hesitate for a moment. 



Even now the danger is upon us. In several of the 

 States which have not seceded the forts, arsenals, and 

 magazines of the United States have been seized. This 

 is by far the most serious step which has been taken 



