In the midst of unprecedented political troubles, we have
cause of great gratitude to God for unusual good health and most abundant
harvests.
You will not be surprised to learn that, in the peculiar
exigencies of the times, our intercourse with foreign nations has been attended
with profound solicitude, chiefly turning upon our own domestic affairs.
A disloyal portion of the American people have, during the
whole year, been engaged in an attempt to divide and destroy the Union. A
nation which endures factious domestic division is exposed to disrespect
abroad, and one party, if not both, is sure, sooner or later, to invoke foreign
intervention.
Nations thus tempted to interfere are not always able to
resist the counsels of seeming expediency and ungenerous ambition, although
measures adopted under such influences seldom fail to be unfortunate and
injurious to those adopting them.
The disloyal citizens of the United States who have offered
the ruin of our country in return for the aid and comfort which they have
invoked abroad have received less patronage and encouragement than they
probably expected. If it were just to suppose, as the insurgents have seemed to
assume, that foreign nations, in this case, discarding all moral, social, and
treaty obligations, would act solely and selfishly for the most speedy
restoration of commerce, including especially the acquisition of cotton, those
nations appear as yet not to have seen their way to their object more directly
or clearly through the destruction than through the preservation of the Union.
If we could dare to believe that foreign nations are actuated by no higher
principle than this, I am quite sure a sound argument could be made to show
them that they can reach their aim more readily and easily by aiding to crush
this rebellion than by giving encouragement to it.
The principal lever relied on by the insurgents for exciting
foreign nations to hostility against us, as already intimated, is the
embarrassment of commerce. Those nations, however, not improbably saw from the
first that it was the Union which made as well our foreign as our domestic
commerce. They can scarcely have failed to perceive that the effort for
disunion produces the existing difficulty, and that one strong nation promises
more durable peace and a more extensive, valuable, and reliable commerce than
can the same nation broken into hostile fragments.
It is not my purpose to review our discussions with foreign
States, because whatever might be their wishes or dispositions the integrity of
our country and the stability of our Government mainly depend, not upon them,
but on the loyalty, virtue, patriotism, and intelligence of the American
people. The correspondence itself, with the usual reservations, is herewith
submitted.
I venture to hope it will appear that we have practiced prudence
and liberality toward foreign powers, averting causes of irritation, and with
firmness maintaining our own rights and honor.
Since, however, it is apparent that here, as in every other
State, foreign dangers necessarily attend domestic difficulties, I recommend
that adequate and ample measures be adopted for maintaining the public defenses
on every side. While under this general recommendation provision for defending
our sea-coast line readily occurs to the mind, I also, in the same connection,
ask the attention of Congress to our great lakes and rivers. It is believed
that some fortifications and depots of arms and munitions, with harbor and
navigation improvements, all at well selected points upon these, would be of
great importance to the national defense and preservation. I ask attention to
the views of the Secretary of War, expressed in his report, upon the same
general subject.
I deem it of importance that the loyal regions of East
Tennessee and Western North Carolina should be connected with Kentucky and
other faithful parts of the Union by railroad. I therefore recommend, as a
military measure, that Congress provide for the construction of such road as
speedily as possible. Kentucky no doubt will co-operate, and, through her
Legislature, make the most judicious selection of a line. The northern terminus
must connect with some existing railroad, and whether the route shall be from
Lexington or Nicholasville to the Cumberland Gap, or from Lebanon to the
Tennessee line in the direction of Knoxville, or on some still different line,
can easily be determined. Kentucky and the General Government co-operating the
work can be completed in a very short time, and when done it will be not only
of vast present usefulness but also a valuable permanent improvement, worth its
cost in all the future.
Some treaties, designed chiefly for the interests of
commerce, and having no grave political importance, have been negotiated and
will be submitted to the Senate for their consideration.
Although we have failed to induce some of the commercial
powers to adopt a desirable melioration of the rigor of maritime war, we have
removed all obstructions from the way of this humane reform, except such as are
merely of temporary and accidental occurrence.
I invite your attention to the correspondence between Her
Britannic Majesty's minister accredited to this Government and the Secretary of
State relative to the detention of the British ship Perthshire, in June last,
by the U. S. steamer Massachusetts, for a supposed breach of the blockade. As
this detention was occasioned by an obvious misapprehension of the facts, and
as justice requires that we should commit no belligerent act not founded in
strict right, as sanctioned by public law, I recommend that an appropriation be
made to satisfy the reasonable demand of the owners of the vessel for her
detention.
I repeat the recommendation of my
predecessor, in his annual message to Congress in December last, in regard
to the disposition of the surplus which will probably remain after satisfying
the claims of American citizens against China, pursuant to the awards of the
commissioners under the act of the 3d of March, 1859. If, however, it should
not be deemed advisable to carry that recommendation into effect, I would
suggest that authority be given for investing the principal, over the proceeds
of the surplus referred to, in good securities, with a view to the satisfaction
of such other just claims of our citizens against China as are not unlikely to
arise hereafter in the course of our extensive trade with that Empire.
By the act of the 5th of August last Congress authorized the
President to instruct the commanders of suitable vessels to defend themselves
against and to capture pirates. This authority has been exercised in a single
instance only. For the more effectual protection of our extensive and valuable
commerce, in the Eastern seas especially, it seems to me that it would also be
advisable to authorize the commanders of sailing vessels to recapture any
prizes which pirates may make of U. S. vessels and their cargoes, and the
consular courts, now established by law in Eastern countries, to adjudicate the
cases, in the event that this should not be objected to by the local
authorities.
If any good reason exists why we should persevere longer in
withholding our recognition of the independence and sovereignty of Hayti and
Liberia, I am unable to discern it. Unwilling, however, to inaugurate a novel
policy in regard to them without the approbation of Congress, I submit for your
consideration the expediency of an appropriation for maintaining a charge
d'affaires near each of those new States. It does not admit of doubt that
important commercial advantages might be secured by favorable treaties with
them.
The operations of the Treasury during the period which has
elapsed since your adjournment have been conducted with signal success. The
patriotism of the people has placed at the disposal of the Government the large
means demanded by the public exigencies. Much of the national loan has been
taken by citizens of the industrial classes, whose confidence in their country's
faith and zeal for their country's deliverance from present peril have induced
them to contribute to the support of the Government the whole of their limited
acquisitions. This fact imposes peculiar obligations to economy in disbursement
and energy in action.
The revenue from all sources, including loans, for the
financial year ending on the 30th of June, 1861, was $86,835,900.27, and the
expenditures for the same period, including payments on account of the public
debt, were $84,578,834.47, leaving a balance in the Treasury on the 1st of July
of $2,257,005.80. For the first quarter of the financial year, ending on the
30th of September, 1861, the receipts from all sources, including the balance
of 1st of July, were $102,532,509.27, and the expenses $98,239,733.09, leaving
a balance on the 1st of October, 1861, of $4,292,770.18.
Estimates for the remaining three quarters of the year, and
for the financial year 1863, together with his views of ways and means for
meeting the demands contemplated by them, will be submitted to Congress by the
Secretary of the Treasury. It is gratifying to know that the expenditures made
necessary by the rebellion are not beyond the resources of the loyal people,
and to believe that the same patriotism which has thus far sustained the
Government will continue to sustain it till peace and union shall again bless
the land.
I respectfully refer to the report of the Secretary of War
for information respecting the numerical strength of the Army, and for
recommendations having in view an increase of its efficiency and the wellbeing
of the various branches of the service intrusted to his care. It is gratifying to know that the patriotism
of the people has proved equal to the occasion and that the number of troops
tendered greatly exceeds the force which Congress authorized me to call into
the field.
I refer with pleasure to those portions of his report which
make allusion to the creditable degree of discipline already attained by our
troops, and to the excellent sanitary condition of the entire Army.
The recommendation of the Secretary for an organization of
the militia upon a uniform basis is a subject of vital importance to the future
safety of the country, and is commended to the serious attention of Congress.
The large addition to the Regular Army, in connection with
the defection that has so considerably diminished the number of its officers,
gives peculiar importance to his recommendation for increasing the corps of
cadets to the greatest capacity of the Military Academy.
By mere omission, I presume, Congress has failed to provide
chaplains for hospitals occupied by volunteers. This subject was brought to my
notice, and I was induced to draw up the form of a letter, one copy of which,
properly addressed, has been delivered to each of the persons, and at the dates
respectively named and stated, in a schedule containing also the form of the
letter, marked A, and herewith transmitted.
These gentlemen, I understand, entered upon the duties designated
at the times respectively stated in the schedule and have labored faithfully
therein ever since. I therefore recommend that they be compensated at the same
rate as chaplains in the Army. I further suggest that general provision be made
for chaplains to serve at hospitals, as well as with regiments.
The report of the Secretary of the Navy presents in detail
the operations of that branch of the service, the activity and energy which
have characterized its administration and the results of measures to increase
its efficiency and power. Such have been the additions, by construction and
purchase, that it may almost be said a navy has been created and brought into
service since our difficulties commenced.
Besides blockading our extensive coast, squadrons larger
than ever before assembled under our flag have been put afloat and performed
deeds which have increased our naval renown.
I would invite special attention to the recommendation of
the Secretary for a more perfect organization of the Navy by introducing
additional grades in the service.
The present organization is defective and unsatisfactory,
and the suggestions submitted by the Department will, it is believed, if
adopted, obviate the difficulties alluded to, promote harmony, and increase the
efficiency of the Navy.
There are three vacancies on the bench of the Supreme Court —
two by the decease of Justices Daniel and McLean and one by the resignation of
Justice Campbell. I have so far forborne making nominations to fill these
vacancies for reasons which I will now state. Two of the outgoing judges
resided within the States now overrun by revolt; so that if successors were
appointed in the same localities they could not now serve upon their circuits;
and many of the most competent men there probably would not take the personal
hazard of accepting to serve, even here, upon the supreme bench. I have been
unwilling to throw all the appointments northward, thus disabling myself from
doing justice to the South on the return of peace; although I may remark that
to transfer to the North one which has heretofore been in the South, would not,
with reference to territory and population, be unjust.
During the long and brilliant judicial career of Judge
McLean his circuit grew into an empire — altogether too large for any one judge
to give the courts therein more than a nominal attendance — rising in
population from 1,470,018 in 1830 to 6,151,405 in I860.
Besides this, the country generally has outgrown our present
judicial system. If uniformity was at all intended, the system requires that
all the States shall be accommodated with circuit courts, attended by supreme
judges, while, in fact, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Florida, Texas,
California, and Oregon have never had any such courts. Nor can this well be
remedied without a change of the system; because the adding of judges to the
Supreme Court, enough for the accommodation of all parts of the country with
circuit courts, would create a court altogether too numerous for a judicial
body of any sort. And the evil, if it be one, will increase as new States come
into the Union. Circuit courts are useful, or they are not useful. If useful,
no State should be denied them; if not useful, no State should have them. Let
them be provided for all or abolished as to all.
Three modifications occur to me, either of which, I think,
would be an improvement upon our present system. Let the Supreme Court be of
convenient number in every event. Then, first, let the whole country be divided
into circuits of convenient size, the supreme judges to serve in a number of
them corresponding to their own number, and independent circuit judges be
provided for all the rest; or, secondly, let the supreme judges be relieved
from circuit duties, and circuit judges provided for all the circuits; or,
thirdly, dispense with circuit courts altogether, leaving the judicial
functions wholly to the district courts and an independent Supreme Court.
I respectfully recommend to the consideration of Congress
the present condition of the statute laws, with the hope that Congress will be
able to find an easy remedy for many of the inconveniences and evils which
constantly embarrass those engaged in the practical administration of them.
Since the organization of the Government Congress has enacted some 5,000 acts
and joint resolutions, which fill more than 6,000 closely printed pages and are
scattered through many volumes. Many of these acts have been drawn in haste and
without sufficient caution, so that their provisions are often obscure in
themselves or in conflict with each other, or at least so doubtful as to render
it very difficult for even the best informed persons to ascertain precisely
what the statute law really is.
It seems to me very important that the statute laws should
be made as plain and intelligible as possible, and be reduced to as small a
compass as may consist with the fullness and precision of the will of the
Legislature and the perspicuity of its language. This, well done, would, I
think, greatly facilitate the labors of those whose duty it is to assist in the
administration of the laws, and would be a lasting benefit to the people, by
placing before them, in a more accessible and intelligible form, the laws which
so deeply concern their interests and their duties.
I am informed by some whose opinions I respect that all the
acts of Congress now in force, and of a permanent and general nature, might be
revised and rewritten so as to be embraced in one volume (or at most, two
volumes) of ordinary and convenient size; and I respectfully recommend to
Congress to consider of the subject, and if my suggestion be approved, to
devise such plan as to their wisdom shall seem most proper for the attainment
of the end proposed.
One of the unavoidable consequences of the present
insurrection is the entire suppression, in many places, of all the ordinary
means of administering civil justice by the officers and in the forms of
existing law. This is the case, in whole or in part, in all the insurgent
States; and as our armies advance upon and take possession of parts of those
States the practical evil becomes more apparent. There are no courts nor
officers to whom the citizens of other States may apply for the enforcement of
their lawful claims against citizens of the insurgent States, and there is a vast
amount of debt constituting such claims. Some have estimated it as high as
$200,000,000, due in large part from insurgents, in open rebellion, to loyal
citizens, who are even now making great sacrifices in the discharge of their
patriotic duty to support the Government.
Under these circumstances, I have been urgently solicited to
establish, by military power, courts to administer summary justice in such
cases. I have thus far declined to do it, not because I had any doubt that the
end proposed — the collection of the debts — was just and right in itself, but
because I have been unwilling to go beyond the pressure of necessity in the
unusual exercise of power; but the powers of Congress, I suppose, are equal to
the anomalous occasion, and therefore I refer the whole matter to Congress,
with the hope that a plan may be devised for the administration of justice in
all such parts of the insurgent States and Territories as may be under the
control of this Government, whether by a voluntary return to allegiance and
order or by the power of our arms; this, however, not to be a permanent
institution, but a temporary substitute, and to cease as soon as the ordinary
courts can be re-established in peace.
It is important that some more convenient means should be
provided, if possible, for the adjustment of claims against the Government,
especially in view of their increased number by reason of the war. It is as much
the duty of Government to render prompt justice against itself, in favor of
citizens, as it is to administer the same between private individuals. The
investigation and adjudication of claims in their nature belong to the judicial
department; besides, it is apparent that the attention of Congress will be more
than usually engaged for some time to come with great national questions. It was
intended by the organization of the Court of Claims mainly to remove this
branch of business from the halls of Congress; but while the court has proved
to be an effective and valuable means of investigation, it in great degree
fails to effect the object of its creation for want of power to make its
judgments final.
Fully aware of the delicacy, not to say the danger, of the
subject, I commend to your careful consideration whether this power of making
judgments final may not properly be given to the court, reserving the right of
appeal on questions of law to the Supreme Court, with such other provisions as
experience may have shown to be necessary.
I ask attention to the report of the Postmaster-General, the
following being a summary statement of the condition of the Department:
The revenue from all sources during the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1861, including the annual permanent appropriation of $700,000 for the
transportation of “free mail matter,” was $9,049,296.40, being about 2 per
cent, less than the revenue for 1860.
The expenditures were $13,606,759.11, showing a decrease of
more than 8 per cent, as compared with those of the previous year, and leaving
an excess of expenditure over the revenue for the last fiscal year of
81,557,462.71.
The gross revenue for the year ending June 30,1863, is
estimated at an increase of 4 per cent, on that of 1861, making $8,683,000, to
which should be added the earnings of the Department in carrying free matter,
viz, $700,000, making $9,383,000.
The total expenditures for 1863 are estimated at
$12,528,000, leaving an estimated deficiency of $3,145,000 to be supplied from
the Treasury, in addition to the permanent appropriation.
The present insurrection shows, I think, that the extension
of this District across the Potomac River at the time of establishing the
capital here was eminently wise, and consequently that the relinquishment of
that portion of it which lies within the State of Virginia was unwise and
dangerous. I submit for your consideration the expediency of regaining that
part of the District, and the restoration of the original boundaries thereof,
through negotiations with the State of Virginia.
The report of the Secretary of the Interior, with the
accompanying documents, exhibits the condition of the several branches of the
public business pertaining to that Department. The depressing influences of the
insurrection have been especially felt in the operations of the Patent and
General Land Offices. The cash receipts from the sales of public lands during
the past year have exceeded the expenses of our land system only about
$200,000. The sales have been entirely suspended in the Southern States, while
the interruptions to the business of the country and the diversion of large
numbers of men from labor to military service have obstructed settlements in
the new States and Territories of the Northwest.
The receipts of the Patent Office have declined in nine
months about $100,000, rendering a large reduction of the force employed
necessary to make it self sustaining.
The demands upon the Pension Office will be largely
increased by the insurrection. Numerous applications for pensions, based upon
the casualties of the existing war, have already been made. There is reason to
believe that many who are now upon the pension rolls and in receipt of the
bounty of the Government are in the ranks of the insurgent army or giving them
aid and comfort. The Secretary of the Interior has directed a suspension of the
payment of the pensions of such persons upon proof of their disloyalty. I
recommend that Congress authorize that officer to cause the names of such
persons to be stricken from the pension rolls.
The relations of the Government with the Indian tribes have
been greatly disturbed by the insurrection, especially in the Southern superintendency
and in that of New Mexico. The Indian country south of Kansas is in the
possession of insurgents from Texas and Arkansas. The agents of the United
States appointed since the 4th of March for this superintendency have been
unable to reach their posts, while the most of those who were in office before
that time have espoused the insurrectionary cause and assume to exercise the
powers of agents by virtue of commissions from the insurrectionists. It has
been stated in the public press that a portion of those Indians have been
organized as a military force and are attached to the army of the insurgents.
Although the Government has no official information upon this subject, letters
have been written to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs by several prominent
chiefs giving assurance of their loyalty to the United States and expressing a
wish for the presence of Federal troops to protect them. It is believed that
upon the repossession of the country by the Federal forces the Indians will
readily cease all hostile demonstrations and resume their former relations to
the Government.
Agriculture, confessedly the largest interest of the nation,
has not a department nor a bureau, but a clerkship only, assigned to it in the
Government. While it is fortunate that this great interest is so independent in
its nature as to not have demanded and extorted more from the Government I
respectfully ask Congress to consider whether something more cannot be given
voluntarily with general advantage.
Annual reports exhibiting the condition of our agriculture,
commerce, and manufactures would present a fund of information of great
practical value to the country. While I make no suggestion as to details, I
venture the opinion that an agricultural and statistical bureau might profitably
be organized.
The execution of the laws for the suppression of the African
slave trade has been confided to the Department of the Interior. It is a
subject of gratulation that the efforts which have been made for the
suppression of this inhuman traffic have been recently attended with unusual
success. Five vessels being fitted out for the slave trade have been seized and
condemned. Two mates of vessels engaged in the trade, and one person in
equipping a vessel as a slaver, have been convicted and subjected to the
penalty of fine and imprisonment, and one captain, taken with a cargo of
Africans on board his vessel, has been convicted of the highest grade of
offense under our laws, the punishment of which is death.
The Territories of Colorado, Dakota, and Nevada, created by
the last Congress, have been organized, and civil administration has been
inaugurated therein under auspices especially gratifying, when it is considered
that the leaven of treason was found existing in some of these new countries when
the Federal officers arrived there.
The abundant natural resources of these Territories, with
the security and protection afforded by organized government, will doubtless
invite to them a large immigration when peace shall restore the business of the
country to its accustomed channels. I submit the resolutions of the Legislature
of Colorado, which evidence the patriotic spirit of the people of the
Territory. So far the authority of the United States has been upheld in all the
Territories, as it is hoped it will be in the future. I commend their interests
and defense to the enlightened and generous care of Congress.
I recommend to the favorable consideration of Congress the
interests of the District of Columbia. The insurrection has been the cause of
much suffering and sacrifice to its inhabitants, and as they have no
representative in Congress, that body should not overlook their just claims
upon the Government.
At your late session a joint resolution was adopted authorizing
the President to take measures for facilitating a proper representation of the
industrial interests of the United States at the exhibition of the industry of
all nations to be holden at London in the year 1862. I regret to say I have
been unable to give personal attention to this subject — a subject at once so
interesting in itself and so extensively and intimately connected with the
material prosperity of the world. Through the Secretaries of State and of the
Interior a plan, or system, has been devised and partly matured, and which will
be laid before you.
Under and by virtue of the act of Congress entitled “An act
to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes,” approved August 6,
1861, the legal claims of certain persons to the labor and service of certain
other persons have become forfeited, and numbers of the latter thus liberated
are already dependent on the United States and must be provided for in some
way. Besides this, it is not impossible that some of the States will pass similar
enactments for their own benefit, respectively, and by operation of which
persons of the same class will be thrown upon them for disposal. In such case I
recommend that Congress provide for accepting such persons from such States
according to some mode of valuation in lieu, pro tanto, of direct taxes,
or upon some other plan to be agreed on with such States, respectively; that
such persons on such acceptance by the General Government be at once deemed
free; and that in any event steps be taken for colonizing both classes (or the
one first mentioned if the other shall not be brought into existence) at some
place or places in a climate congenial to them. It might be well to consider,
too, whether the free colored people already in the United States could not, so
far as individuals may desire, be included in such colonization.
To carry out the plan of colonization may involve the
acquiring of territory, and also the appropriation of money beyond that to be
expended in the territorial acquisition. Having practiced the acquisition of
territory for nearly sixty years, the question of constitutional power to do so
is no longer an open one with us. The power was questioned at first by Mr.
Jefferson, who, however, in the purchase of Louisiana, yielded his scruples on the
plea of great expediency. If it be said that the only legitimate object of
acquiring territory is to furnish homes for white men, this measure effects
that object; for the emigration of colored men leaves additional room for white
men remaining or coming here. Mr. Jefferson, however, placed the importance of
procuring Louisiana more on political and commercial grounds than on providing
room for population.
On this whole proposition, including the appropriation of
money with the acquisition of territory, does not the expediency amount to
absolute necessity — that, without which the Government itself cannot be
perpetuated!
The war continues. In considering the policy to be adopted
for suppressing the insurrection, I have been anxious and careful that the inevitable
conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a violent and remorseless
revolutionary struggle. I have, therefore, in every case, thought it proper to
keep the integrity of the Union prominent as the primary object of the contest
on our part, leaving all questions which are not of vital military importance
to the more deliberate action of the Legislature.
In the exercise of my best discretion I have adhered to the
blockade of the ports held by the insurgents, instead of putting in force, by
proclamation, the law of Congress enacted at the late session for closing those
ports.
So, also, obeying the dictates of prudence, as well as the
obligations of law, instead of transcending, I have adhered to the act of
Congress to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes. If a new law
upon the same subject shall be proposed, its propriety will be duly considered.
The Union must be preserved; and hence, all indispensable means must be
employed. We should not be in haste to determine that radical and extreme
measures, which may reach the loyal as well as the disloyal, are indispensable.
The
inaugural address at the beginning of the Administration and the message to
Congress at the late special session were both mainly devoted to the domestic
controversy out of which the insurrection and consequent war have sprung.
Nothing now occurs to add or subtract, to or from, the principles, or general
purposes, stated and expressed in those documents.
The last ray of hope for preserving the Union peaceably expired
at the assault upon Fort Sumter; and a general review of what has occurred
since may not be unprofitable. What was painfully uncertain then is much better
defined and more distinct now; and the progress of events is plainly in the
right direction. The insurgents confidently claimed a strong support from north
of Mason and Dixon's line; and the friends of the Union were not free from
apprehension on the point. This, however, was soon settled definitely, and on
the right side. South of the line, noble little Delaware led off right from the
first. Maryland was made to seem against the Union. Our soldiers were
assaulted, bridges were burned, and railroads torn up within her limits; and we
were many days, at one time, without the ability to bring a single regiment
over her soil to the capital. Now her bridges and railroads are repaired and
open to the Government; she already gives seven regiments to the cause of the
Union and none to the enemy; and her people, at a regular election, have
sustained the Union by a larger majority and a larger aggregate vote than they
ever before gave to any candidate or any question. Kentucky, too, for some time
in doubt, is now decidedly, and, I think, unchangeably, ranged on the side of
the Union. Missouri is comparatively quiet; and I believe cannot again be
overrun by the insurrectionists. These three States of Maryland, Kentucky, and
Missouri, neither of which would promise a single soldier at first, have now an
aggregate of not less than 40,000 in the field for the Union; while, of their
citizens, certainly not more than a third of that number, and they of doubtful
whereabouts, and doubtful existence, are in arms against it. After a somewhat
bloody struggle of months, winter closes on the Union people of Western
Virginia, leaving them masters of their own country.
An insurgent force of about 1,500, for months dominating the
narrow peninsular region constituting the counties of Accomuc and Northampton,
and known as Eastern Shore of Virginia, together with some contiguous parts of
Maryland, have laid down their arms; and the people there have renewed their
allegiance to and accepted the protection of the old flag. This leaves no armed
insurrectionist north of the Potomac or east of the Chesapeake.
Also we have obtained a footing at each of the isolated
points on the Southern coast, of Hatteras, Port Royal, Tybee Island, near
Savannah, and Ship Island; and we likewise have some general accounts of
popular movements in behalf of the Union in North Carolina and Tennessee.
These things demonstrate that the cause of the Union is
advancing steadily and certainly southward.
Since your last adjournment Lieutenant General Scott has
retired from the head of the Army. During his long life the nation has not been
unmindful of his merits; yet, on calling to mind how faithfully, ably, and
brilliantly he has served the country, from a time far back in our history,
when few of the now living had been born, and thenceforward continually, 1
cannot but think we are still his debtors. I submit, therefore, for your
consideration, what further mark of recognition is due to him, and to
ourselves, as a grateful people.
With the retirement of General Scott came the executive duty
of appointing, in his stead, a general-in-chief of the army. It is a fortunate
circumstance that neither in council nor country was there, so far as I know,
any difference of opinion as to the proper person to be selected. The retiring
chief repeatedly expressed his judgment in favor of General McClellan for the
position; and in this the nation seemed to give a unanimous concurrence. The
designation of General McClellan is, therefore, in considerable degree, the
selection of the country, as well as of the Executive; and hence there is
better reason to hope there will be given him the confidence and cordial
support thus, by fair implication, promised, and without which he cannot, with
so full efficiency, serve the country.
It has been said that one bad general is better than two
good ones; and the saying is true, if taken to mean no more than that an army
is better directed by a single mind, though inferior, than by two superior ones
at variance and cross-purposes with each other.
And the same is true in all joint operations wherein those
engaged can have none but a common end in view, and can differ only as to the
choice of means. In a storm at sea no one on board can wish the ship to sink;
and yet, not unfrequently, all go down together, because too many will direct,
and no single mind can be allowed to control.
It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if
not exclusively, a war upon the first principle of popular government — the
rights of the people. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most grave
and maturely considered public documents, as well as in the general tone of the
insurgents. In those documents we find the abridgment of the existing right of
suffrage, and the denial to the people of all right to participate in the
selection of public officers, except the legislative, boldly advocated, with
labored arguments to prove that large control of the people in government is
the source of all political evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a
possible refuge from the power of the people.
In my present position I could scarcely be justified were I
to omit raising a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism.
It is not needed, nor fitting here, that a general argument
should be made in favor of popular institutions; but there is one point, with
its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief
attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing with, if not
above, labor in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is
available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless somebody
else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to labor. This
assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital shall hire
laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them, and
drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is
naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers, or what we
call slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is
fixed in that condition for life.
Now, there is no such relation between capital and labor as
assumed; nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the
condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all
inferences from them are groundless.
Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is
only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first
existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher
consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any
other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a
relation between labor and capital, producing mutual benefits. The error is in
assuming that the whole labor of community exists within that relation. A few
men own capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and, with their capital,
hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither
class — neither work for others nor have others working for them. In most of
the Southern States a majority of the whole people of all colors are neither
slaves nor masters; while in the Northern a large majority are neither hirers
nor hired. Men with their families — wives, sons, and daughters — work for
themselves, on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the
whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand
nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a
considerable number of persons mingle their own labor with capital — that is,
they labor with their own hands, and also buy or hire others to labor for them;
but this is only a mixed, and not a distinct class. No principle stated is
disturbed by the existence of this mixed class.
Again, as has already been said, there is not, of necessity,
any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for
life. Many independent men everywhere in these States, a few years back in
their lives, were hired laborers. The prudent, penniless beginner in the world
labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for
himself, then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires
another new beginner to help him. This is the just and generous and prosperous
system which opens the way to all — gives hope to all, and consequent energy
and progress and improvement of condition to all. No men living are more worthy
to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty—none less inclined to take,
or touch, aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of
surrendering a political power which they already possess, and which, if
surrendered, will surely be used to close the door of advancement against such
as they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty
shall be lost.
From the first taking of our national census to the last are
seventy years; and we find our population, at the end of the period, eight
times as great as it was at the beginning. The increase of those other things
which men deem desirable has been even greater. We thus have, at one view, what
the popular principle, applied to government through the machinery of the
States and the Union, has produced in a given time; and also what, if firmly
maintained, it promises for the future. There are already among us those who,
if the Union be preserved, will live to see it contain two hundred and fifty
millions. The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to-day — it is for a
vast future also. With a reliance on Providence all the more firm and earnest,
let us proceed in the great task which events have devolved upon us.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
Washington, December
3, 1861.
SOURCES: The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of
the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series III,
Volume 1 (Serial No. 122), p. 709-21; Basler, Roy P. Editor, The Collected Works of Abraham
Lincoln, Vol. 5, p. 35-53;
