_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
Since your last annual assembling another year of health and bountiful
harvests has passed, and while it has not pleased the Almighty to bless
us with a return of peace, we can but press on, guided by the best light
He gives us, trusting that in His own good time and wise way all will
yet be well.
The correspondence touching foreign affairs which has taken place during
the last year is herewith submitted, in virtual compliance with a
request to that effect made by the House of Representatives near the
close of the last session of Congress.
If the condition of our relations with other nations is less gratifying
than it has usually been at former periods, it is certainly more
satisfactory than a nation so unhappily distracted as we are might
reasonably have apprehended. In the month of June last there were some
grounds to expect that the maritime powers which at the beginning of our
domestic difficulties so unwisely and unnecessarily, as we think,
recognized the insurgents as a belligerent would soon recede from that
position, which has proved only less injurious to themselves than to our
own country. But the temporary reverses which afterwards befell the
national arms, and which were exaggerated by our own disloyal citizens
abroad, have hitherto delayed that act of simple justice.
The civil war, which has so radically changed for the moment the
occupations and habits of the American people, has necessarily disturbed
the social condition and affected very deeply the prosperity of the
nations with which we have carried on a commerce that has been steadily
increasing throughout a period of half a century. It has at the same
time excited political ambitions and apprehensions which have produced a
profound agitation throughout the civilized world. In this unusual
agitation we have forborne from taking part in any controversy between
foreign states and between parties or factions in such states. We have
attempted no propagandism and acknowledged no revolution. But we have
left to every nation the exclusive conduct and management of its own
affairs. Our struggle has been, of course, contemplated by foreign
nations with reference less to its own merits than to its supposed and
often exaggerated effects and consequences resulting to those nations
themselves. Nevertheless, complaint on the part of this Government, even
if it were just, would certainly be unwise.
The treaty with Great Britain for the suppression of the slave trade has
been put into operation with a good prospect of complete success. It is
an occasion of special pleasure to acknowledge that the execution of it
on the part of Her Majesty's Government has been marked with a jealous
respect for the authority of the United States and the rights of their
moral and loyal citizens.
The convention with Hanover for the abolition of the Stade dues has been
carried into full effect under the act of Congress for that purpose.
A blockade of 3,000 miles of seacoast could not be established and
vigorously enforced in a season of great commercial activity like the
present without committing occasional mistakes and inflicting
unintentional injuries upon foreign nations and their subjects.
A civil war occurring in a country where foreigners reside and carry on
trade under treaty stipulations is necessarily fruitful of complaints of
the violation of neutral rights. All such collisions tend to excite
misapprehensions, and possibly to produce mutual reclamations between
nations which have a common interest in preserving peace and friendship.
In clear cases of these kinds I have so far as possible heard and
redressed complaints which have been presented by friendly powers. There
is still, however, a large and an augmenting number of doubtful cases
upon which the Government is unable to agree with the governments whose
protection is demanded by the claimants. There are, moreover, many cases
in which the United States or their citizens suffer wrongs from the
naval or military authorities of foreign nations which the governments
of those states are not at once prepared to redress. I have proposed to
some of the foreign states thus interested mutual conventions to examine
and adjust such complaints. This proposition has been made especially to
Great Britain, to France, to Spain, and to Prussia. In each case it has
been kindly received, but has not yet been formally adopted.
I deem it my duty to recommend an appropriation in behalf of the owners
of the Norwegian bark _Admiral P. Tordenskiold_, which vessel was in
May, 1861, prevented by the commander of the blockading force off
Charleston from leaving that port with cargo, notwithstanding a similar
privilege had shortly before been granted to an English vessel. I have
directed the Secretary of State to cause the papers in the case to be
communicated to the proper committees.
Applications have been made to me by many free Americans of African
descent to favor their emigration, with a view to such colonization as
was contemplated in recent acts of Congress. Other parties, at home and
abroad--some from interested motives, others upon patriotic
considerations, and still others influenced by philanthropic
sentiments--have suggested similar measures, while, on the other hand,
several of the Spanish American Republics have protested against the
sending of such colonies to their respective territories. Under these
circumstances I have declined to move any such colony to any state
without first obtaining the consent of its government, with an agreement
on its part to receive and protect such emigrants in all the rights of
freemen; and I have at the same time offered to the several States
situated within the Tropics, or having colonies there, to negotiate with
them, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate, to favor the
voluntary emigration of persons of that class to their respective
territories, upon conditions which shall be equal, just, and humane.
Liberia and Hayti are as yet the only countries to which colonists of
African descent from here could go with certainty of being received and
adopted as citizens; and I regret to say such persons contemplating
colonization do not seem so willing to migrate to those countries as to
some others, nor so willing as I think their interest demands. I
believe, however, opinion among them in this respect is improving, and
that ere long there will be an augmented and considerable migration to
both these countries from the United States.
The new commercial treaty between the United States and the Sultan of
Turkey has been carried into execution.
A commercial and consular treaty has been negotiated, subject to the
Senate's consent, with Liberia, and a similar negotiation is now pending
with the Republic of Hayti. A considerable improvement of the national
commerce is expected to result from these measures.
Our relations with Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Russia,
Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, the Netherlands, Italy, Rome, and the
other European States remain undisturbed. Very favorable relations also
continue to be maintained with Turkey, Morocco, China, and Japan.
During the last year there has not only been no change of our previous
relations with the independent States of our own continent, but more
friendly sentiments than have heretofore existed are believed to be
entertained by these neighbors, whose safety and progress are so
intimately connected with our own. This statement especially applies to
Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru, and Chile.
The commission under the convention with the Republic of New Granada
closed its session without having audited and passed upon all the claims
which were submitted to it. A proposition is pending to revive the
convention, that it may be able to do more complete justice. The joint
commission between the United States and the Republic of Costa Rica has
completed its labors and submitted its report.
I have favored the project for connecting the United States with Europe
by an Atlantic telegraph, and a similar project to extend the telegraph
from San Francisco to connect by a Pacific telegraph with the line which
is being extended across the Russian Empire.
The Territories of the United States, with unimportant exceptions, have
remained undisturbed by the civil war; and they are exhibiting such
evidence of prosperity as justifies an expectation that some of them
will soon be in a condition to be organized as States and be
constitutionally admitted into the Federal Union.
The immense mineral resources of some of those Territories ought to be
developed as rapidly as possible. Every step in that direction would
have a tendency to improve the revenues of the Government and diminish
the burdens of the people. It is worthy of your serious consideration
whether some extraordinary measures to promote that end can not be
adopted. The means which suggests itself as most likely to be effective
is a scientific exploration of the mineral regions in those Territories
with a view to the publication of its results at home and in foreign
countries--results which can not fail to be auspicious.
The condition of the finances will claim your most diligent
consideration. The vast expenditures incident to the military and naval
operations required for the suppression of the rebellion have hitherto
been met with a promptitude and certainty unusual in similar
circumstances, and the public credit has been fully maintained. The
continuance of the war, however, and the increased disbursements made
necessary by the augmented forces now in the field demand your best
reflections as to the best modes of providing the necessary revenue
without injury to business and with the least possible burdens upon
labor.
The suspension of specie payments by the banks soon after the
commencement of your last session made large issues of United States
notes unavoidable. In no other way could the payment of the troops and
the satisfaction of other just demands be so economically or so well
provided for. The judicious legislation of Congress, securing the
receivability of these notes for loans and internal duties and making
them a legal tender for other debts, has made them an universal
currency, and has satisfied, partially at least, and for the time, the
long-felt want of an uniform circulating medium, saving thereby to the
people immense sums in discounts and exchanges.
A return to specie payments, however, at the earliest period compatible
with due regard to all interests concerned should ever be kept in view.
Fluctuations in the value of currency are always injurious, and to
reduce these fluctuations to the lowest possible point will always be a
leading purpose in wise legislation. Convertibility, prompt and certain
convertibility, into coin is generally acknowledged to be the best and
surest safeguard against them; and it is extremely doubtful whether a
circulation of United States notes payable in coin and sufficiently
large for the wants of the people can be permanently, usefully, and
safely maintained.
Is there, then, any other mode in which the necessary provision for the
public wants can be made and the great advantages of a safe and uniform
currency secured?
I know of none which promises so certain results and is at the same time
so unobjectionable as the organization of banking associations, under a
general act of Congress, well guarded in its provisions. To such
associations the Government might furnish circulating notes, on the
security of United States bonds deposited in the Treasury. These notes,
prepared under the supervision of proper officers, being uniform in
appearance and security and convertible always into coin, would at once
protect labor against the evils of a vicious currency and facilitate
commerce by cheap and safe exchanges.
A moderate reservation from the interest on the bonds would compensate
the United States for the preparation and distribution of the notes and
a general supervision of the system, and would lighten the burden of
that part of the public debt employed as securities. The public credit,
moreover, would be greatly improved and the negotiation of new loans
greatly facilitated by the steady market demand for Government bonds
which the adoption of the proposed system would create.
It is an additional recommendation of the measure, of considerable
weight, in my judgment, that it would reconcile as far as possible all
existing interests by the opportunity offered to existing institutions
to reorganize under the act, substituting only the secured uniform
national circulation for the local and various circulation, secured and
unsecured, now issued by them.
The receipts into the Treasury from all sources, including loans and
balance from the preceding year, for the fiscal year ending on the 30th
June, 1862, were $583,885,247.06, of which sum $49,056,397.62 were
derived from customs; $1,795,331.73 from the direct tax; from public
lands, $152,203.77; from miscellaneous sources, $931,787.64; from loans
in all forms, $529,692,460.50. The remainder, $2,257,065.80, was the
balance from last year.
The disbursements during the same period were: For Congressional,
executive, and judicial purposes, $5,939,009.29; for foreign
intercourse, $1,339,710.35; for miscellaneous expenses, including the
mints, loans, Post-Office deficiencies, collection of revenue, and other
like charges, $14,129,771.50; for expenses under the Interior
Department, $3,102,985.52; under the War Department, $394,368,407.36;
under the Navy Department, $42,674,569.69; for interest on public debt,
$13,190,324.45; and for payment of public debt, including reimbursement
of temporary loan and redemptions, $96,096,922.09; making an aggregate
of $570,841,700.25, and leaving a balance in the Treasury on the 1st day
of July, 1862, of $13,043,546.81.
It should be observed that the sum of $96,096,922.09, expended for
reimbursements and redemption of public debt, being included also in the
loans made, may be properly deducted both from receipts and
expenditures, leaving the actual receipts for the year $487,788,324.97,
and the expenditures $474,744,778.16.
Other information on the subject of the finances will be found in the
report of the Secretary of the Treasury, to whose statements and views I
invite your most candid and considerate attention.
The reports of the Secretaries of War and of the Navy are herewith
transmitted. These reports, though lengthy, are scarcely more than brief
abstracts of the very numerous and extensive transactions and operations
conducted through those Departments. Nor could I give a summary of them
here upon any principle which would admit of its being much shorter than
the reports themselves. I therefore content myself with laying the
reports before you and asking your attention to them.
It gives me pleasure to report a decided improvement in the financial
condition of the Post-Office Department as compared with several
preceding years. The receipts for the fiscal year 1861 amounted to
$8,349,296.40, which embraced the revenue from all the States of the
Union for three quarters of that year. Notwithstanding the cessation of
revenue from the so-called seceded States during the last fiscal year,
the increase of the correspondence of the loyal States has been
sufficient to produce a revenue during the same year of $8,299,820.90,
being only $50,000 less than was derived from all the States of the
Union during the previous year. The expenditures show a still more
favorable result. The amount expended in 1861 was $13,606,759.11. For
the last year the amount has been reduced to $11,125,364.13, showing a
decrease of about $2,481,000 in the expenditures as compared with the
preceding year, and about $3,750,000 as compared with the fiscal year
1860. The deficiency in the Department for the previous year was
$4,551,966.98. For the last fiscal year it was reduced to $2,112,814.57.
These favorable results are in part owing to the cessation of mail
service in the insurrectionary States and in part to a careful review of
all expenditures in that Department in the interest of economy. The
efficiency of the postal service, it is believed, has also been much
improved. The Postmaster-General has also opened a correspondence
through the Department of State with foreign governments proposing a
convention of postal representatives for the purpose of simplifying the
rates of foreign postage and to expedite the foreign mails. This
proposition, equally important to our adopted citizens and to the
commercial interests of this country, has been favorably entertained and
agreed to by all the governments from whom replies have been received.
I ask the attention of Congress to the suggestions of the
Postmaster-General in his report respecting the further legislation
required, in his opinion, for the benefit of the postal service.
The Secretary of the Interior reports as follows in regard to the public
lands:
The public lands have ceased to be a source of revenue. From the 1st
July, 1861, to the 30th September, 1862, the entire cash receipts from
the sale of lands were $137,476.26--a sum much less than the expenses of
our land system during the same period. The homestead law, which will
take effect on the 1st of January next, offers such inducements to
settlers that sales for cash can not be expected to an extent sufficient
to meet the expenses of the General Land Office and the cost of
surveying and bringing the land into market.
The discrepancy between the sum here stated as arising from the sales of
the public lands and the sum derived from the same source as reported
from the Treasury Department arises, as I understand, from the fact that
the periods of time, though apparently, were not really coincident at
the beginning point, the Treasury report including a considerable sum
now which had previously been reported from the Interior, sufficiently
large to greatly overreach the sum derived from the three months now
reported upon by the Interior and not by the Treasury.
The Indian tribes upon our frontiers have during the past year
manifested a spirit of insubordination, and at several points have
engaged in open hostilities against the white settlements in their
vicinity. The tribes occupying the Indian country south of Kansas
renounced their allegiance to the United States and entered into
treaties with the insurgents. Those who remained loyal to the United
States were driven from the country. The chief of the Cherokees has
visited this city for the purpose of restoring the former relations of
the tribe with the United States. He alleges that they were constrained
by superior force to enter into treaties with the insurgents, and that
the United States neglected to furnish the protection which their treaty
stipulations required.
In the month of August last the Sioux Indians in Minnesota attacked the
settlements in their vicinity with extreme ferocity, killing
indiscriminately men, women, and children. This attack was wholly
unexpected, and therefore no means of defense had been provided. It is
estimated that not less than 800 persons were killed by the Indians, and
a large amount of property was destroyed. How this outbreak was induced
is not definitely known, and suspicions, which may be unjust, need not
to be stated. Information was received by the Indian Bureau from
different sources about the time hostilities were commenced that a
simultaneous attack was to be made upon the white settlements by all the
tribes between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The State
of Minnesota has suffered great injury from this Indian war. A large
portion of her territory has been depopulated, and a severe loss has
been sustained by the destruction of property. The people of that State
manifest much anxiety for the removal of the tribes beyond the limits of
the State as a guaranty against future hostilities. The Commissioner of
Indian Affairs wall furnish full details. I submit for your especial
consideration whether our Indian system shall not be remodeled. Many
wise and good men have impressed me with the belief that this can be
profitably done.
I submit a statement of the proceedings of commissioners, which shows
the progress that has been made in the enterprise of constructing the
Pacific Railroad. And this suggests the earliest completion of this
road, and also the favorable action of Congress upon the projects now
pending before them for enlarging the capacities of the great canals in
New York and Illinois, as being of vital and rapidly increasing
importance to the whole nation, and especially to the vast interior
region hereinafter to be noticed at some greater length. I purpose
having prepared and laid before you at an early day some interesting and
valuable statistical information upon this subject. The military and
commercial importance of enlarging the Illinois and Michigan Canal and
improving the Illinois River is presented in the report of Colonel
Webster to the Secretary of War, and now transmitted to Congress. I
respectfully ask attention to it.
To carry out the provisions of the act of Congress of the 15th of May
last, I have caused the Department of Agriculture of the United States
to be organized.
The Commissioner informs me that within the period of a few months this
Department has established an extensive system of correspondence and
exchanges, both at home and abroad, which promises to effect highly
beneficial results in the development of a correct knowledge of recent
improvements in agriculture, in the introduction of new products, and in
the collection of the agricultural statistics of the different States.
Also, that it will soon be prepared to distribute largely seeds,
cereals, plants, and cuttings, and has already published and liberally
diffused much valuable information in anticipation of a more elaborate
report, which will in due time be furnished, embracing some valuable
tests in chemical science now in progress in the laboratory.
The creation of this Department was for the more immediate benefit of a
large class of our most valuable citizens, and I trust that the liberal
basis upon which it has been organized will not only meet your
approbation, but that it will realize at no distant day all the fondest
anticipations of its most sanguine friends and become the fruitful
source of advantage to all our people.
On the 22d day of September last a proclamation was issued by the
Executive, a copy of which is herewith submitted.
In accordance with the purpose expressed in the second paragraph of that
paper, I now respectfully recall your attention to what may be called
"compensated emancipation."
A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its people, and its
laws. The territory is the only part which is of certain durability.
"One generation passeth away and another generation cometh, but the
earth abideth forever." It is of the first importance to duly consider
and estimate this ever-enduring part. That portion of the earth's
surface which is owned and inhabited by the people of the United States
is well adapted to be the home of one national family, and it is not
well adapted for two or more. Its vast extent and its variety of climate
and productions are of advantage in this age for one people, whatever
they might have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and intelligence
have brought these to be an advantageous combination for one united
people.
In the inaugural address I briefly pointed out the total inadequacy of
disunion as a remedy for the differences between the people of the two
sections. I did so in language which I can not improve, and which,
therefore, I beg to repeat:
One section of our country believes slavery is _right_ and ought to be
extended, while the other believes it is _wrong_ and ought not to be
extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive-slave
clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppression of the
foreign slave trade are each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can
ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly
supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry
legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I
think, can not be perfectly cured, and it would be worse in both cases
_after_ the separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave
trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without
restriction in one section, while fugitive slaves, now only partially
surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the other.
Physically speaking, we can not separate. We can not remove our
respective sections from each other nor build an impassable wall between
them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go out of the presence and
beyond the reach of each other, but the different parts of our country
can not do this. They can not but remain face to face, and intercourse,
either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible,
then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory
_after_ separation than _before_? Can aliens make treaties easier than
friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between
aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you can not
fight always; and when, after much loss on both sides and no gain on
either, you cease fighting, the identical old questions, as to terms of
intercourse, are again upon you.
There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for a national boundary
upon which to divide. Trace through, from east to west, upon the line
between the free and slave country, and we shall find a little more than
one-third of its length are rivers, easy to be crossed, and populated,
or soon to be populated, thickly upon both sides; while nearly all its
remaining length are merely surveyors' lines, over which people may walk
back and forth without any consciousness of their presence. No part of
this line can be made any more difficult to pass by writing it down on
paper or parchment as a national boundary. The fact of separation, if it
comes, gives up on the part of the seceding section the fugitive-slave
clause, along with all other constitutional obligations upon the section
seceded from, while I should expect no treaty stipulation would ever be
made to take its place.
But there is another difficulty. The great interior region bounded east
by the Alleghanies, north by the British dominions, west by the Rocky
Mountains, and south by the line along which the culture of corn and
cotton meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part of Tennessee,
all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri,
Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Territories of Dakota, Nebraska, and
part of Colorado, already has above 10,000,000 people, and will have
50,000,000 within fifty years if not prevented by any political folly or
mistake. It contains more than one-third of the country owned by the
United States--certainly more than 1,000,000 square miles. Once half as
populous as Massachusetts already is, it would have more than 75,000,000
people. A glance at the map shows that, territorially speaking, it is
the great body of the Republic. The other parts are but marginal borders
to it, the magnificent region sloping west from the Rocky Mountains to
the Pacific being the deepest and also the richest in undeveloped
resources. In the production of provisions, grains, grasses, and all
which proceed from them this great interior region is naturally one of
the most important in the world. Ascertain from the statistics the small
proportion of the region which has as yet been brought into cultivation,
and also the large and rapidly increasing amount of its products, and we
shall be overwhelmed with the magnitude of the prospect presented. And
yet this region has no seacoast--touches no ocean anywhere. As part of
one nation, its people now find, and may forever find, their way to
Europe by New York, to South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to
Asia by San Francisco; but separate our common country into two nations,
as designed by the present rebellion, and every man of this great
interior region is thereby cut off from some one or more of these
outlets, not perhaps by a physical barrier, but by embarrassing and
onerous trade regulations.
And this is true, _wherever_ a dividing or boundary line may be fixed.
Place it between the now free and slave country, or place it south of
Kentucky or north of Ohio, and still the truth remains that none south
of it can trade to any port or place north of it, and none north of it
can trade to any port or place south of it, except upon terms dictated
by a government foreign to them. These outlets, east, west, and south,
are indispensable to the well-being of the people inhabiting and to
inhabit this vast interior region. _Which_ of the three may be the best
is no proper question. All are better than either, and all of right
belong to that people and to their successors forever. True to
themselves, they will not ask _where_ a line of separation shall be, but
will vow rather that there shall be no such line. Nor are the marginal
regions less interested in these communications to and through them to
the great outside world. They, too, and each of them, must have access
to this Egypt of the West without paying toll at the crossing of any
national boundary.
Our national strife springs not from our permanent part; not from the
land we inhabit; not from our national homestead. There is no possible
severing of this but would multiply and not mitigate evils among us. In
all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands union and abhors
separation. In fact, it would ere long force reunion, however much of
blood and treasure the separation might have cost.
Our strife pertains to ourselves--to the passing generations of men--and
it can without convulsion be hushed forever with the passing of one
generation.
In this view I recommend the adoption of the following resolution and
articles amendatory to the Constitution of the United States:
_Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses
concurring)_, That the following articles be proposed to the
legislatures (or conventions) of the several States as amendments to
the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles,
when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures (or conventions),
to be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, viz:
ART. --. Every State wherein slavery now exists which shall abolish
the same therein at any time or times before the 1st day of January,
A.D. 1900, shall receive compensation from the United States as
follows, to wit:
The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State
bonds of the United States bearing interest at the rate of ---- per cent
per annum to an amount equal to the aggregate sum of ---- for each slave
shown to have been therein by the Eighth Census of the United States,
said bonds to be delivered to such State by installments or in one
parcel at the completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same
shall have been gradual or at one time within such State; and interest
shall begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its
delivery as aforesaid. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid and
afterwards reintroducing or tolerating slavery therein shall refund to
the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all
interest paid thereon.
ART. --. All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the chances
of the war at any time before the end of the rebellion shall be forever
free; but all owners of such who shall not have been disloyal shall
be compensated for them at the same rates as is provided for States
adopting abolishment of slavery, but in such way that no slave shall
be twice accounted for.
ART. --. Congress may appropriate money and otherwise provide for
colonizing free colored persons with their own consent at any place
or places without the United States.
I beg indulgence to discuss these proposed articles at some length.
Without slavery the rebellion could never have existed; without slavery
it could not continue.
Among the friends of the Union there is great diversity of sentiment and
of policy in regard to slavery and the African race amongst us. Some
would perpetuate slavery; some would abolish it suddenly and without
compensation; some would abolish it gradually and with compensation;
some would remove the freed people from us, and some would retain them
with us; and there are yet other minor diversities. Because of these
diversities we waste much strength in struggles among ourselves. By
mutual concession we should harmonize and act together. This would be
compromise, but it would be compromise among the friends and not with
the enemies of the Union. These articles are intended to embody a plan
of such mutual concessions. If the plan shall be adopted, it is assumed
that emancipation will follow, at least in several of the States.
As to the first article, the main points are, first, the emancipation;
secondly, the length of time for consummating it (thirty-seven years);
and, thirdly, the compensation.
The emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of perpetual
slavery, but the length of time should greatly mitigate their
dissatisfaction. The time spares both races from the evils of sudden
derangement-- in fact, from the necessity of any derangement--while most
of those whose habitual course of thought will be disturbed by the
measure will have passed away before its consummation. They will never
see it. Another class will hail the prospect of emancipation, but will
deprecate the length of time. They will feel that it gives too little to
the now living slaves. But it really gives them much. It saves them from
the vagrant destitution which must largely attend immediate emancipation
in localities where their numbers are very great, and it gives the
inspiring assurance that their posterity shall be free forever. The plan
leaves to each State choosing to act under it to abolish slavery now or
at the end of the century, or at any intermediate time, or by degrees
extending over the whole or any part of the period, and it obliges no
two States to proceed alike. It also provides for compensation, and
generally the mode of making it. This, it would seem, must further
mitigate the dissatisfaction of those who favor perpetual slavery, and
especially of those who are to receive the compensation. Doubtless some
of those who are to pay and not to receive will object. Yet the measure
is both just and economical. In a certain sense the liberation of slaves
is the destruction of property--property acquired by descent or by
purchase, the same as any other property. It is no less true for having
been often said that the people of the South are not more responsible
for the original introduction of this property than are the people of
the North; and when it is remembered how unhesitatingly we all use
cotton and sugar and share the profits of dealing in them, it may not be
quite safe to say that the South has been more responsible than the
North for its continuance. If, then, for a common object this property
is to be sacrificed, is it not just that it be done at a common charge?
And if with less money, or money more easily paid, we can preserve the
benefits of the Union by this means than we can by the war alone, is it
not also economical to do it? Let us consider it, then. Let us ascertain
the sum we have expended in the war since compensated emancipation was
proposed last March, and consider whether if that measure had been
promptly accepted by even some of the slave States the same sum would
not have done more to close the war than has been otherwise done. If so,
the measure would save money, and in that view would be a prudent and
economical measure. Certainly it is not so easy to pay _something_ as it
is to pay _nothing_, but it is easier to pay a _large_ sum than it is to
pay a _larger_ one. And it is easier to pay any sum _when_ we are able
than it is to pay it _before_ we are able. The war requires large sums,
and requires them at once. The aggregate sum necessary for compensated
emancipation of course would be large. But it would require no ready
cash, nor the bonds even any faster than the emancipation progresses.
This might not, and probably would not, close before the end of the
thirty-seven years. At that time we shall probably have a hundred
millions of people to share the burden, instead of thirty-one millions
as now. And not only so, but the increase of our population may be
expected to continue for a long time after that period as rapidly as
before, because our territory will not have become full. I do not state
this inconsiderately. At the same ratio of increase which we have
maintained, on an average, from our first national census, in 1790,
until that of 1860, we should in 1900 have a population of 103,208,415.
And why may we not continue that ratio far beyond that period? Our
abundant room, our broad national homestead, is our ample resource. Were
our territory as limited as are the British Isles, very certainly our
population could not expand as stated. Instead of receiving the foreign
born as now, we should be compelled to send part of the native born
away. But such is not our condition. We have 2,963,000 square miles.
Europe has 3,800,000, with a population averaging 73-1/3 persons to the
square mile. Why may not our country at some time average as many? Is it
less fertile? Has it more waste surface by mountains, rivers, lakes,
deserts, or other causes? Is it inferior to Europe in any natural
advantage? If, then, we are at some time to be as populous as Europe,
how soon? As to when this _may_ be, we can judge by the past and the
present; as to when it _will_ be, if ever, depends much on whether we
maintain the Union. Several of our States are already above the average
of Europe--73-1/3 to the square mile. Massachusetts has 157; Rhode
Island, 133; Connecticut, 99; New York and New Jersey, each 80. Also two
other great States, Pennsylvania and Ohio, are not far below, the former
having 63 and the latter 59. The States already above the European
average, except New York, have increased in as rapid a ratio since
passing that point as ever before, while no one of them is equal to some
other parts of our country in natural capacity for sustaining a dense
population.
Taking the nation in the aggregate, and we find its population and ratio
of increase for the several decennial periods to be as follows:
Year. Population. Ratio of increase.
_Per cent._
1790 3,929,827 .....
1800 5,305,937 35.02
1810 7,239,814 36.45
1820 9,638,131 33.13
1830 12,866,020 33.49
1840 17,069,453 32.67
1850 23,191,876 35.87
1860 31,443,790 35.58
This shows an average decennial increase of 34.60 per cent in population
through the seventy years from our first to our last census yet taken.
It is seen that the ratio of increase at no one of these seven periods
is either 2 per cent below or 2 per cent above the average, thus showing
how inflexible, and consequently how reliable, the law of increase in
our case is. Assuming that it will continue, it gives the following
results:
Year. Population.
1870 42,323,341
1880 56,967,216
1890 76,677,872
1900 103,208,415
1910 138,918,526
1920 186,984,335
1930 251,680,914
These figures show that our country _may_ be as populous as Europe now
is at some point between 1920 and 1930--say about 1925--our territory,
at 73-1/3 persons to the square mile, being of capacity to contain
217,186,000.
And we _will_ reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish the
chance by the folly and evils of disunion or by long and exhausting war
springing from the only great element of national discord among us.
While it can not be foreseen exactly how much one huge example of
secession, breeding lesser ones indefinitely, would retard population,
civilization, and prosperity, no one can doubt that the extent of it
would be very great and injurious.
The proposed emancipation would shorten the war, perpetuate peace,
insure this increase of population, and proportionately the wealth of
the country. With these we should pay all the emancipation would cost,
together with our other debt, easier than we should pay our other debt
without it. If we had allowed our old national debt to run at 6 per cent
per annum, simple interest, from the end of our revolutionary struggle
until to-day, without paying anything on either principal or interest,
each man of us would owe less upon that debt now than each man owed upon
it then; and this because our increase of men through the whole period
has been greater than 6 per cent--has run faster than the interest upon
the debt. Thus time alone relieves a debtor nation, so long as its
population increases faster than unpaid interest accumulates on its
debt.
This fact would be no excuse for delaying payment of what is justly due,
but it shows the great importance of time in this connection--the great
advantage of a policy by which we shall not have to pay until we number
100,000,000 what by a different policy we would have to pay now, when we
number but 31,000,000. In a word, it shows that a dollar will be much
harder to pay for the war than will be a dollar for emancipation on the
proposed plan. And then the latter will cost no blood, no precious life.
It will be a saving of both.
As to the second article, I think it would be impracticable to return to
bondage the class of persons therein contemplated. Some of them
doubtless, in the property sense belong to loyal owners, and hence
provision is made in this article for compensating such.
The third article relates to the future of the freed people. It does not
oblige, but merely authorizes Congress to aid in colonizing such as may
consent. This ought not to be regarded as objectionable on the one hand
or on the other, insomuch as it comes to nothing unless by the mutual
consent of the people to be deported and the American voters, through
their representatives in Congress.
I can not make it better known than it already is that I strongly favor
colonization; and yet I wish to say there is an objection urged against
free colored persons remaining in the country which is largely
imaginary, if not sometimes malicious.
It is insisted that their presence would injure and displace white labor
and white laborers. If there ever could be a proper time for mere catch
arguments, that time surely is not now. In times like the present men
should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible
through time and in eternity. Is it true, then, that colored people can
displace any more white labor by being free than by remaining slaves? If
they stay in their old places, they jostle no white laborers; if they
leave their old places, they leave them open to white laborers.
Logically, there is neither more nor less of it. Emancipation, even
without deportation, would probably enhance the wages of white labor,
and very surely would not reduce them. Thus the customary amount of
labor would still have to be performed--the freed people would surely
not do more than their old proportion of it, and very probably for a
time would do less, leaving an increased part to white laborers,
bringing their labor into greater demand, and consequently enhancing the
wages of it. With deportation, even to a limited extent, enhanced wages
to white labor is mathematically certain. Labor is like any other
commodity in the market--increase the demand for it and you increase the
price of it. Reduce the supply of black labor by colonizing the black
laborer out of the country, and by precisely so much you increase the
demand for and wages of white labor.
But it is dreaded that the freed people will swarm forth and cover the
whole land. Are they not already in the land? Will liberation make them
any more numerous? Equally distributed among the whites of the whole
country; and there would be but one colored to seven whites. Could the
one in any way greatly disturb the seven? There are many communities now
having more than one free colored person to seven whites and this
without any apparent consciousness of evil from it. The District of
Columbia and the States of Maryland and Delaware are all in this
condition. The District has more than one free colored to six whites,
and yet in its frequent petitions to Congress I believe it has never
presented the presence of free colored persons as one of its grievances.
But why should emancipation South send the free people North? People of
any color seldom run unless there be something to run from. _Heretofore_
colored people to some extent have fled North from bondage, and _now_,
perhaps, from both bondage and destitution. But if gradual emancipation
and deportation be adopted, they will have neither to flee from. Their
old masters will give them wages at least until new laborers can be
procured, and the freedmen in turn will gladly give their labor for the
wages till new homes can be found for them in congenial climes and with
people of their own blood and race. This proposition can be trusted on
the mutual interests involved. And in any event, can not the North
decide for itself whether to receive them?
Again, as practice proves more than theory in any case, has there been
any irruption of colored people northward because of the abolishment of
slavery in this District last spring?
What I have said of the proportion of free colored persons to the whites
in the District is from the census of 1860, having no reference to
persons called contrabands nor to those made free by the act of Congress
abolishing slavery here.
The plan consisting of these articles is recommended, not but that a
restoration of the national authority would be accepted without its
adoption.
Nor will the war nor proceedings under the proclamation of September 22,
1862, be stayed because of the _recommendation_ of this plan. Its timely
_adoption_, I doubt not, would bring restoration, and thereby stay both.
And notwithstanding this plan, the recommendation that Congress provide
by law for compensating any State which may adopt emancipation before
this plan shall have been acted upon is hereby earnestly renewed. Such
would be only an advance part of the plan, and the same arguments apply
to both.
This plan is recommended as a means, not in exclusion of, but additional
to, all others for restoring and preserving the national authority
throughout the Union. The subject is presented exclusively in its
economical aspect. The plan would, I am confident, secure peace more
speedily and maintain it more permanently than can be done by force
alone, while all it would cost, considering amounts and manner of
payment and times of payment, would be easier paid than will be the
additional cost of the war if we rely solely upon force. It is much,
very much, that it would cost no blood at all.
The plan is proposed as permanent constitutional law. It can not become
such without the concurrence of, first, two-thirds of Congress, and
afterwards three-fourths of the States. The requisite three-fourths of
the States will necessarily include seven of the slave States. Their
concurrence, if obtained, will give assurance of their severally
adopting emancipation at no very distant day upon the new constitutional
terms. This assurance would end the struggle now and save the Union
forever.
I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed
to the Congress of the nation by the Chief Magistrate of the nation, nor
do I forget that some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you have
more experience than I in the conduct of public affairs. Yet I trust
that in view of the great responsibility resting upon me you will
perceive no want of respect to yourselves in any undue earnestness I may
seem to display.
Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten
the war, and thus lessen its expenditure of money and of blood? Is it
doubted that it would restore the national authority and national
prosperity and perpetuate both indefinitely? Is it doubted that we
here--Congress and Executive--can secure its adoption? Will not the good
people respond to a united and earnest appeal from us? Can we, can they,
by any other means so certainly or so speedily assure these vital
objects? We can succeed only by concert. It is not "Can _any_ of us
_imagine_ better?" but "Can we _all_ do better?" Object whatsoever is
possible, still the question recurs, "Can we do better?" The dogmas of
the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is
piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our
case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall
ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
Fellow-citizens, _we_ can not escape history. We of this Congress and
this Administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No
personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us.
The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or
dishonor to the latest generation. We _say_ we are for the Union. The
world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union.
The world knows we do know how to save it. We, even _we here_, hold the
power and bear the responsibility. In _giving_ freedom to the _slave_ we
_assure_ freedom to the _free_--honorable alike in what we give and what
we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of
earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain,
peaceful, generous, just--a way which if followed the world will forever
applaud and God must forever bless.