Speech Transcript:

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

After a brief interval the Congress of the United States resumes its
annual legislative labors. An all-wise and merciful Providence has
abated the pestilence which visited our shores, leaving its
calamitous traces upon some portions of our country. Peace, order,
tranquillity, and civil authority have been formally declared to
exist throughout the whole of the United States. In all of the States
civil authority has superseded the coercion of arms, and the people,
by their voluntary action, are maintaining their governments in full
activity and complete operation. The enforcement of the laws is no
longer "obstructed in any State by combinations too powerful to be
suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings," and the
animosities engendered by the war are rapidly yielding to the
beneficent influences of our free institutions and to the kindly
effects of unrestricted social and commercial intercourse. An entire
restoration of fraternal feeling must be the earnest wish of every
patriotic heart; and we will have accomplished our grandest national
achievement when, forgetting the sad events of the past and
remembering only their instructive lessons, we resume our onward
career as a free, prosperous, and united people.

In my message of the 4th of December, 1865, Congress was informed of
the measures which had been instituted by the Executive with a view
to the gradual restoration of the States in which the insurrection
occurred to their relations with the General Government. Provisional
governors had been appointed, conventions called, governors elected,
legislatures assembled, and Senators and Representatives chosen to
the Congress of the United States. Courts had been opened for the
enforcement of laws long in abeyance. The blockade had been removed,
custom-houses reestablished, and the internal-revenue laws put in
force, in order that the people might contribute to the national
income. Postal operations had been renewed, and efforts were being
made to restore them to their former condition of efficiency. The
States themselves had been asked to take Dart in the high function of
amending the Constitution, and of thus sanctioning the extinction of
African slavery as one of the legitimate results of our internecine
struggle.

Having progressed thus far, the executive department found that it
had accomplished nearly all that was within the scope of its
constitutional authority. One thing, however, yet remained to be done
before the work of restoration could be completed, and that was the
admission to Congress of loyal Senators and Representatives from the
States whose people had rebelled against the lawful authority of the
General Government. This question devolved upon the respective
Houses, which by the Constitution are made the judges of the
elections, returns, and qualifications of their own members, and its
consideration at once engaged the attention of Congress.

In the meantime the executive department--no other plan having been
proposed by Congress--continued its efforts to perfect, as far as was
practicable, the restoration of the proper relations between the
citizens of the respective States, the States, and the Federal
Government, extending from time to time, as the public interests
seemed to require, the judicial, revenue, and postal systems of the
country. With the advice and consent of the Senate, the necessary
officers were appointed and appropriations made by Congress for the
payment of their salaries. The proposition to amend the Federal
Constitution, so as to prevent the existence of slavery within the
United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction, was
ratified by the requisite number of States, and on the 18th day of
December, 1865, it was officially declared to have become valid as a
part of the Constitution of the United States. All of the States in
which the insurrection had existed promptly amended their
constitutions so as to make them conform to the great change thus
effected in the organic law of the land; declared null and void all
ordinances and laws of secession; repudiated all pretended debts and
obligations created for the revolutionary purposes of the
insurrection, and proceeded in good faith to the enactment of
measures for the protection and amelioration of the condition of the
colored race. Congress, however, yet hesitated to admit any of these
States to representation, and it was not until toward the close of
the eighth month of the session that an exception was made in favor
of Tennessee by the admission of her Senators and Representatives.

I deem it a subject of profound regret that Congress has thus far
failed to admit to seats loyal Senators and Representatives from the
other States whose inhabitants, with those of Tennessee, had engaged
in the rebellion. Ten States--more than one-fourth of the whole
number--remain without representation; the seats of fifty members in
the House of Representatives and of twenty members in the Senate are
yet vacant, not by their own consent, not by a failure of election,
but by the refusal of Congress to accept their credentials. Their
admission, it is believed, would have accomplished much toward the
renewal and strengthening of our relations as one people and removed
serious cause for discontent on the part of the inhabitants of those
States. It would have accorded with the great principle enunciated in
the Declaration of American Independence that no people ought to bear
the burden of taxation and yet be denied the right of representation.
It would have been in consonance with the express provisions of the
Constitution that "each State shall have at least one Representative"
and "that no State, without its consent, shall be deprived of its
equal suffrage in the Senate." These provisions were intended to
secure to every State and to the people of every State the right of
representation in each House of Congress; and so important was it
deemed by the framers of the Constitution that the equality of the
States in the Senate should be preserved that not even by an
amendment of the Constitution can any State, without its consent, be
denied a voice in that branch of the National Legislature.

It is true it has been assumed that the existence of the States was
terminated by the rebellious acts of their inhabitants, and that, the
insurrection having been suppressed, they were thenceforward to be
considered merely as conquered territories. The legislative,
executive, and judicial departments of the Government have, however,
with Heat distinctness and uniform consistency, refused to sanction
an assumption so incompatible with the nature of our republican
system and with the professed objects of the war. Throughout the
recent legislation of Congress the undeniable fact makes itself
apparent that these ten political communities are nothing less than
States of this Union. At the very commencement of the rebellion each
House declared, with a unanimity as remarkable as it was significant,
that the war was not "waged upon our part in any spirit of oppression,
nor for any purpose of conquest or subjugation, nor purpose of
overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established
institutions of those States, but to defend and maintain the
supremacy of the Constitution and all laws made in pursuance thereof,
and to preserve the Union, with all the dignity, equality, and rights
of the several States unimpaired; and that as soon as these objects"
were "accomplished the war ought to cease." In some instances
Senators were permitted to continue their legislative functions,
while in other instances Representatives were elected and admitted to
seats after their States had formally declared their right to withdraw
from the Union and were endeavoring to maintain that right by force of
arms. All of the States whose people were in insurrection, as States,
were included in the apportionment of the direct tax of $20,000,000
annually laid upon the United States by the act approved 5th August,
1861. Congress, by the act of March 4, 1862, and by the apportionment
of representation thereunder also recognized their presence as States
in the Union; and they have, for judicial purposes, been divided into
districts, as States alone can be divided. The same recognition
appears in the recent legislation in reference to Tennessee, which
evidently rests upon the fact that the functions of the State were
not destroyed by the rebellion, but merely suspended; and that
principle is of course applicable to those States which, like
Tennessee, attempted to renounce their places in the Union.

The action of the executive department of the Government upon this
subject has been equally definite and uniform, and the purpose of the
war was specifically stated in the proclamation issued by my
predecessor on the 22d day of September, 1862. It was then solemnly
proclaimed and declared "that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will
be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the
constitutional relation between the United States and each of the
States and the people thereof in which States that relation is or may
be suspended or disturbed."

The recognition of the States by the judicial department of the
Government has also been dear and conclusive in all proceedings
affecting them as States had in the Supreme, circuit, and district
courts. In the admission of Senators and Representatives from any and
all of the States there can be no just ground of apprehension that
persons who are disloyal will be clothed with the powers of
legislation, for this could not happen when the Constitution and the
laws are enforced by a vigilant and faithful Congress. Each House is
made the "judge of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its
own members," and may, "with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a
member." When a Senator or Representative presents his certificate of
election, he may at once be admitted or rejected; or, should there be
any question as to his eligibility, his credentials may be referred
for investigation to the appropriate committee. If admitted to a
seat, it must be upon evidence satisfactory to the House of which he
thus becomes a member that he possesses the requisite constitutional
and legal qualifications. If refused admission as a member for want
of due allegiance to the Government and returned to his constituents,
they are admonished that none but persons loyal to the United States
will be allowed a voice in the legislative councils of the nation,
and the political power and moral influence of Congress are thus
effectively exerted in the interests of loyalty to the Government and
fidelity to the Union. Upon this question, so vitally affecting the
restoration of the Union and the permanency of our present form of
government, my convictions, heretofore expressed, have undergone no
change, but, on the contrary, their correctness has been confirmed by
reflection and time. If the admission of loyal members to seats in the
respective Houses of Congress was wise and expedient a year ago, it is
no less wise and expedient now. If this anomalous condition is right
now--if in the exact condition of these States at the present time it
is lawful to exclude them from representation--I do not see that the
question will be changed by the efflux of time. Ten years hence, if
these States remain as they are, the right of representation will be
no stronger, the right of exclusion will be no weaker.

The Constitution of the United States makes it the duty of the
President to recommend to the consideration of Congress "such
measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient." I know of no
measure more imperatively demanded by every consideration of national
interest, sound policy, and equal justice than the admission of loyal
members from the now unrepresented States. This would consummate the
work of restoration and exert a most salutary influence in the
reestablishment of peace, harmony, and fraternal feeling. It would
tend greatly to renew the confidence of the American people in the
vigor and stability of their institutions. It would bind us more
closely together as a nation and enable us to show to the world the
inherent and recuperative power of a government founded upon the will
of the people and established upon the principles of liberty, justice,
and intelligence. Our increased strength and enhanced prosperity would
irrefragably demonstrate the fallacy of the arguments against free
institutions drawn from our recent national disorders by the enemies
of republican government. The admission of loyal members from the
States now excluded from Congress, by allaying doubt and
apprehension, would turn capital now awaiting an opportunity for
investment into the channels of trade and industry. It would
alleviate the present troubled condition of those States, and by
inducing emigration aid in the settlement of fertile regions now
uncultivated and lead to an increased production of those staples
which have added so greatly to the wealth of the nation and commerce
of the world. New fields of enterprise would be opened to our
progressive people and soon the devastations of war would be repaired
and all traces of our domestic differences effaced from the minds of
our countrymen.

In our efforts to preserve "the unity of government which constitutes
as one people" by restoring the States to the condition which they
held prior to the rebellion, we should be cautious, lest, having
rescued our nation from perils of threatened disintegration, we
resort to consolidation, and in the end absolute despotism, as a
remedy for the recurrence of similar troubles. The war having
terminated, and with it all occasion for the exercise of powers of
doubtful constitutionality, we should hasten to bring legislation
within the boundaries prescribed by the Constitution and to return to
the ancient landmarks established by our fathers for the guidance of
succeeding generations. The constitution which at any time exists
till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people is
sacredly obligatory upon all. If in the opinion of the people the
distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any
particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way
which the Constitution designates; but let there be no change by
usurpation, for it is the customary weapon by which free governments
are destroyed. Washington spoke these words to his countrymen when,
followed by their love and gratitude, he voluntarily retired from the
cares of public life. "To keep in all things within the pale of our
constitutional powers and cherish the Federal Union as the only rock
of safety" were prescribed by Jefferson as rules of action to endear
to his "countrymen the true principles of their Constitution and
promote a union of sentiment and action, equally auspicious to their
happiness and safety." Jackson held that the action of the General
Government should always be strictly confined to the sphere of its
appropriate duties, and justly and forcibly urged that our Government
is not to be maintained nor our Union preserved "by invasions of the
rights and powers of the several States. In thus attempting to make
our General Government strong we make it weak. Its true strength
consists in leaving individuals and States as much as possible to
themselves; in making itself felt, not in its power, but in its
beneficence; not in its control, but in its protection; not in
binding the States more closely to the center, but leaving each to
move unobstructed in its proper constitutional orbit." These are the
teachings of men whose deeds and services have made them illustrious,
and who, long since withdrawn from the scenes of life, have left to
their country the rich legacy of their example, their wisdom, and
their patriotism. Drawing fresh inspiration from their lessons, let
us emulate them in love of country and respect for the Constitution
and the laws.

The report of the Secretary of the Treasury affords much information
respecting the revenue and commerce of the country. His views upon
the currency and with reference to a proper adjustment of our revenue
system, internal as well as impost, are commended to the careful
consideration of Congress. In my last annual message I expressed my
general views upon these subjects. I need now only call attention to
the necessity of carrying into every department of the Government a
system of rigid accountability, thorough retrenchment, and wise
economy. With no exceptional nor unusual expenditures, the oppressive
burdens of taxation can be lessened by such a modification of our
revenue laws as will be consistent with the public faith and the
legitimate and necessary wants of the Government.

The report presents a much more satisfactory condition of our
finances than one year ago the most sanguine could have anticipated.
During the fiscal year ending the 30th June, 1865 (the last year of
the war), the public debt was increased $941,902,537, and on the 31st
of October, 1865, it amounted to $2,740,854,750. On the 31st day of
October, 1866, it had been reduced to $2,552,310,006, the diminution
during a period of fourteen months, commencing September 1, 1865, and
ending October 31, 1866, having been $206,379,565. In the last annual
report on the state of the finances it was estimated that during the
three quarters of the fiscal year ending the 30th of June last the
debt would be increased $112,194,947. During that period, however, it
was reduced $31,196,387, the receipts of the year having been
$89,905,905 more and the expenditures $200,529,235 less than the
estimates. Nothing could more clearly indicate than these statements
the extent and availability of the national resources and the
rapidity and safety with which under our form of government, great
military and naval establishments can be disbanded and expenses
reduced from a war to a peace footing.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1866, the receipts were
$558,032,620 and the expenditures $520,750,940, leaving an available
surplus of $37,281,680. It is estimated that the receipts for the
fiscal year ending the 30th June, 1867, will be $475,061.386, and
that the expenditures will reach the sum of $316,428,078, leaving in
the Treasury a surplus of $158,633,308. For the fiscal year ending
June 30, 1886, it is estimated that the receipts will amount to
$436,000,000 and that the expenditures will be $350,247,641, showing
an excess of $85,752,359 in favor of the Government. These estimated
receipts may be diminished by a reduction of excise and import
duties, but after all necessary reductions shall have been made the
revenue of the present and of following years will doubtless be
sufficient to cover all legitimate charges upon the Treasury and
leave a large annual surplus to be applied to the payment of the
principal of the debt. There seems now to be no good reason why taxes
may not be reduced as the country advances in population and wealth,
and yet the debt be extinguished within the next quarter of a
century.

The report of the Secretary of War furnishes valuable and important
information in reference to the operations of his Department during
the past year. Few volunteers now remain in the service, and they are
being discharged as rapidly as they can be replaced by regular troops.
The Army has been promptly paid, carefully provided with medical
treatment, well sheltered and subsisted, and is to be furnished with
breech-loading small arms. The military strength of the nation has
been unimpaired by the discharge of volunteers, the disposition of
unserviceable or perishable stores, and the retrenchment of
expenditure. Sufficient war material to meet any emergency has been
retained, and from the disbanded volunteers standing ready to respond
to the national call large armies can be rapidly organized, equipped,
and concentrated. Fortifications on the coast and frontier have
received or are being prepared for more powerful armaments; lake
surveys and harbor and river improvements are in course of energetic
prosecution. Preparations have been made for the payment of the
additional bounties authorized during the recent session of Congress,
under such regulations as will protect the Government from fraud and
secure to the honorably discharged soldier the well-earned reward of
his faithfulness and gallantry. More than 6,000 maimed soldiers have
received artificial limbs or other surgical apparatus, and 41
national cemeteries, containing the remains of 104,526 Union
soldiers, have already been established. The total estimate of
military appropriations is $25,205,669.

It is stated in the report of the Secretary of the Navy that the
naval force at this time consists of 278 vessels, armed with 2,351
guns. Of these, 115 vessels, carrying 1,029 guns, are in commission,
distributed chiefly among seven squadrons. The number of men in the
service is 13,600. Great activity and vigilance have been displayed
by all the squadrons, and their movements have been judiciously and
efficiently arranged in such manner as would best promote American
commerce and protect the rights and interests of our countrymen
abroad. The vessels unemployed are undergoing repairs or are laid up
until their services may be required. Most of the ironclad fleet is
at League Island, in the vicinity of Philadelphia, a place which,
until decisive action should be taken by Congress, was selected by
the Secretary of the Navy as the most eligible location for that
class of vessels. It is important that a suitable public station
should be provided for the ironclad fleet. It is intended that these
vessels shall be in proper condition for any emergency, and it is
desirable that the bill accepting League Island for naval purposes,
which passed the House of Representatives at its last session, should
receive final action at an early period, in order that there may be a
suitable public station for this class of vessels, as well as a
navy-yard of area sufficient for the wants of the service on the
Delaware River. The naval pension fund amounts to $11,750,000, having
been increased $2,750,000 during the year. The expenditures of the
Department for the fiscal year ending 30th June last were
$43,324,526, and the estimates for the coming year amount to
$23,568,436. Attention is invited to the condition of our seamen and
the importance of legislative measures for their relief and
improvement. The suggestions in behalf of this deserving class of our
fellow-citizens are earnestly recommended to the favorable attention
of Congress.

The report of the Postmaster-General presents a most satisfactory
condition of the postal service and submits recommendations which
deserve the consideration of Congress. The revenues of the Department
for the year ending June 30, 1866, were $14,386,986 and the
expenditures $15,352,079, showing an excess of the latter of
$965,093. In anticipation of this deficiency, however, a special
appropriation was made by Congress in the act approved July 28, 1866.
Including the standing appropriation of $700,000 for free mail matter
as a legitimate portion of the revenues, yet remaining unexpended,
the actual deficiency for the past year is only $265,093--a sum
within $51,141 of the amount estimated in the annual report of 1864.
The decrease of revenue compared with the previous year was 1 1/5 per
cent, and the increase of expenditures, owing principally to the
enlargement of the mail service in the South, was 12 per cent. On the
30th of June last there were in operation 6,930 mail routes, with an
aggregate length of 180,921 miles, an aggregate annual transportation
of 71,837,914 miles, and an aggregate annual cost, including all
expenditures, of $8,410,184. The length of railroad routes is 32,092
miles and the annual transportation 30,609,467 miles. The length of
steamboat routes is 14,346 miles and the annual transportation
3,411,962 miles. The mail service is rapidly increasing throughout
the whole country, and its steady extension in the Southern States
indicates their constantly improving condition. The growing
importance of the foreign service also merits attention. The
post-office department of Great Britain and our own have agreed upon
a preliminary basis for a new postal convention, which it is believed
will prove eminently beneficial to the commercial interests of the
United States, inasmuch as it contemplates a reduction of the
international letter postage to one-half the existing rates: a
reduction of postage with all other countries to and from which
correspondence is transmitted in the British mail, or in closed mails
through the United Kingdom; the establishment of uniform and
reasonable charges for the sea and territorial transit of
correspondence in closed mails; and an allowance to each post-office
department of the right to use all mail communications established
under the authority of the other for the dispatch of correspondence,
either in open or closed mails, on the same terms as those applicable
to the inhabitants of the country providing the means of
transmission.

The report of the Secretary of the Interior exhibits the condition of
those branches of the public service which are committed to his
supervision. During the last fiscal year 4,629,312 acres of public
land were disposed of, 1,892,516 acres of which were entered under
the homestead act. The policy originally adopted relative to the
public lands has undergone essential modifications. Immediate
revenue, and not their rapid settlement, was the cardinal feature of
our land system. Long experience and earnest discussion have resulted
in the conviction that the early development of our agricultural
resources and the diffusion of an energetic population over our vast
territory are objects of far greater importance to the national
growth and prosperity than the proceeds of the sale of the land to
the highest bidder in open market. The preemption laws confer upon
the pioneer who complies with the terms they impose the privilege of
purchasing a limited portion of "unoffered lands" at the minimum
price. The homestead enactments relieve the settler from the payment
of purchase money, and secure him a permanent home upon the condition
of residence for a term of years. This liberal policy invites
emigration from the Old and from the more crowded portions of the New
World. Its propitious results are undoubted, and will be more signally
manifested when time shall have given to it a wider development.

Congress has made liberal grants of public land to corporations in
aid of the construction of railroads and other internal improvements.
Should this policy hereafter prevail, more stringent provisions will
be required to secure a faithful application of the fund. The title
to the lands should not pass, by patent or otherwise, but remain in
the Government and subject to its control until some portion of the
road has been actually built. Portions of them might then from time
to time be conveyed to the corporation, but never in a greater ratio
to the whole quantity embraced by the grant than the completed parts
bear to the entire length of the projected improvement. This
restriction would not operate to the prejudice of any undertaking
conceived in good faith and executed with reasonable energy, as it is
the settled practice to withdraw from market the lands falling within
the operation of such grants, and thus to exclude the inception of a
subsequent adverse right. A breach of the conditions which Congress
may deem proper to impose should work a forfeiture of claim to the
lands so withdrawn but unconveyed, and of title to the lands conveyed
which remain unsold.

Operations on the several lines of the Pacific Railroad have been
prosecuted with unexampled vigor and success. Should no unforeseen
causes of delay occur, it is confidently anticipated that this great
thoroughfare will be completed before the expiration of the period
designated by Congress.

During the last fiscal year the amount paid to pensioners, including
the expenses of disbursement, was $13,459,996, and 50,177 names were
added to the pension rolls. The entire number of pensioners June 30,
1866, was 126,722. This fact furnishes melancholy and striking proof
of the sacrifices made to vindicate the constitutional authority of
the Federal Government and to maintain inviolate the integrity of the
Union They impose upon us corresponding obligations. It is estimated
that $33,000,000 will be required to meet the exigencies of this
branch of the service during the next fiscal year.

Treaties have been concluded with the Indians, who, enticed into
armed opposition to our Government at the outbreak of the rebellion,
have unconditionally submitted to our authority and manifested an
earnest desire for a renewal of friendly relations.

During the year ending September 30, 1866, 8,716 patents for useful
inventions and designs were issued, and at that date the balance in
the Treasury to the credit of the patent fund was $228,297.

As a subject upon which depends an immense amount of the production
and commerce of the country, I recommend to Congress such legislation
as may be necessary for the preservation of the levees of the
Mississippi River. It is a matter of national importance that early
steps should be taken, not only to add to the efficiency of these
barriers against destructive inundations, but for the removal of all
obstructions to the free and safe navigation of that great channel of
trade and commerce.

The District of Columbia under existing laws is not entitled to that
representation in the national councils which from our earliest
history has been uniformly accorded to each Territory established
from time to time within our limits. It maintains peculiar relations
to Congress, to whom the Constitution has granted the power of
exercising exclusive legislation over the seat of Government. Our
fellow-citizens residing in the District, whose interests are thus
confided to the special guardianship of Congress, exceed in number
the population of several of our Territories, and no just reason is
perceived why a Delegate of their choice should not be admitted to a
seat in the House of Representatives. No mode seems so appropriate
and effectual of enabling them to make known their peculiar condition
and wants and of securing the local legislation adapted to them. I
therefore recommend the passage of a law authorizing the electors of
the District of Columbia to choose a Delegate, to be allowed the same
rights and privileges as a Delegate representing a Territory. The
increasing enterprise and rapid progress of improvement in the
District are highly gratifying, and I trust that the efforts of the
municipal authorities to promote the prosperity of the national
metropolis will receive the efficient and generous cooperation of
Congress.

The report of the Commissioner of Agriculture reviews the operations
of his Department during the past year, and asks the aid of Congress
in its efforts to encourage those States which, scourged by war, are
now earnestly engaged in the reorganization of domestic industry.

It is a subject of congratulation that no foreign combinations
against our domestic peace and safety or our legitimate influence
among the nations have been formed or attempted. While sentiments of
reconciliation, loyalty, and patriotism have increased at home, a
more just consideration of our national character and rights has been
manifested by foreign nations.

The entire success of the Atlantic telegraph between the coast of
Ireland and the Province of Newfoundland is an achievement which has
been justly celebrated in both hemispheres as the opening of an era
in the progress of civilization. There is reason to expect that equal
success will attend and even greater results follow the enterprise for
connecting the two continents through the Pacific Ocean by the
projected line of telegraph between Kamchatka and the Russian
possessions in America.

The resolution of Congress protesting against pardons by foreign
governments of persons convicted of infamous offenses on condition of
emigration to our country has been communicated to the states with
which we maintain intercourse, and the practice, so justly the
subject of complaint on our part, has not been renewed.

The congratulations of Congress to the Emperor of Russia upon his
escape from attempted assassination have been presented to that
humane and enlightened ruler and received by him with expressions of
grateful appreciation.

The Executive, warned of an attempt by Spanish American adventurers
to induce the emigration of freedmen of the United States to a
foreign country, protested against the project as one which, if
consummated, would reduce them to a bondage even more oppressive than
that from which they have just been relieved. Assurance has been
received from the Government of the State in which the plan was
matured that the proceeding will meet neither its encouragement nor
approval. It is a question worthy of your consideration whether our
laws upon this subject are adequate to the prevention or punishment
of the crime thus meditated.

In the month of April last, as Congress is aware, a friendly
arrangement was made between the Emperor of France and the President
of the United States for the withdrawal from Mexico of the French
expeditionary military forces. This withdrawal was to be effected in
three detachments, the first of which, it was understood, would leave
Mexico in November, now past, the second in March next, and the third
and last in November, 1867. Immediately upon the completion of the
evacuation the French Government was to assume the same attitude of
nonintervention in regard to Mexico as is held by the Government of
the United States. Repeated assurances have been given by the Emperor
since that agreement that he would complete the promised evacuation
within the period mentioned, or sooner.

It was reasonably expected that the proceedings thus contemplated
would produce a crisis of great political interest in the Republic of
Mexico. The newly appointed minister of the United States, Mr.
Campbell, was therefore sent forward on the 9th day of November last
to assume his proper functions as minister plenipotentiary of the
United States to that Republic. It was also thought expedient that he
should be attended in the vicinity of Mexico by the Lieutenant-General
of the Army of the United States, with the view of obtaining such
information as might be important to determine the course to be
pursued by the United States in reestablishing and maintaining
necessary and proper intercourse with the Republic of Mexico. Deeply
interested in the cause of liberty and humanity, it seemed an obvious
duty on our part to exercise whatever influence we possessed for the
restoration and permanent establishment in that country of a domestic
and republican form of government.

Such was the condition of our affairs in regard to Mexico when, on
the 22d of November last, official information was received from
Paris that the Emperor of France had some time before decided not to
withdraw a detachment of his forces in the month of November past,
according to engagement, but that this decision was made with the
purpose of withdrawing the whole of those forces in the ensuing
spring. Of this determination, however, the United States had not
received any notice or intimation, and so soon as the information was
received by the Government care was taken to make known its dissent to
the Emperor of France.

I can not forego the hope that France will reconsider the subject and
adopt some resolution in regard to the evacuation of Mexico which will
conform as nearly as practicable with the existing engagement, and
thus meet the just expectations of the United States. The papers
relating to the subject will be laid before you. It is believed that
with the evacuation of Mexico by the expeditionary forces no subject
for serious differences between France and the United States would
remain. The expressions of the Emperor and people of France warrant a
hope that the traditionary friendship between the two countries might
in that case be renewed and permanently restored.

A claim of a citizen of the United States for indemnity for
spoliations committed on the high seas by the French authorities in
the exercise of a belligerent power against Mexico has been met by
the Government of France with a proposition to defer settlement until
a mutual convention for the adjustment of all claims of citizens and
subjects of both countries arising out of the recent wars on this
continent shall be agreed upon by the two countries. The suggestion
is not deemed unreasonable, but it belongs to Congress to direct the
manner in which claims for indemnity by foreigners as well as by
citizens of the United States arising out of the late civil war shall
be adjudicated and determined. I have no doubt that the subject of all
such claims will engage your attention at a convenient and proper
time.

It is a matter of regret that no considerable advance has been made
toward an adjustment of the differences between the United States and
Great Britain arising out of the depredations upon our national
commerce and other trespasses committed during our civil war by
British subjects, in violation of international law and treaty
obligations. The delay, however, may be believed to have resulted in
no small degree from the domestic situation of Great Britain. An
entire change of ministry occurred in that country during the last
session of Parliament. The attention of the new ministry was called
to the subject at an early day, and there is some reason to expect
that it will now be considered in a becoming and friendly spirit. The
importance of an early disposition of the question can not be
exaggerated. Whatever might be the wishes of the two Governments, it
is manifest that good will and friendship between the two countries
can not be established until a reciprocity in the practice of good
faith and neutrality shall be restored between the respective
nations.

On the 6th of June last, in violation of our neutrality laws, a
military expedition and enterprise against the British North American
colonies was projected and attempted to be carried on within the
territory and jurisdiction of the United States. In obedience to the
obligation imposed upon the Executive by the Constitution to see that
the laws are faithfully executed, all citizens were warned by
proclamation against taking part in or aiding such unlawful
proceedings, and the proper civil, military, and naval officers were
directed to take all necessary measures for the enforcement of the
laws. The expedition failed, but it has not been without its painful
consequences. Some of our citizens who, it was alleged, were engaged
in the expedition were captured, and have been brought to trial as
for a capital offense in the Province of Canada. Judgment and
sentence of death have been pronounced against some, while others
have been acquitted. Fully believing in the maxim of government that
severity of civil punishment for misguided persons who have engaged
in revolutionary attempts which have disastrously failed is unsound
and unwise, such representations have been made to the British
Government in behalf of the convicted persons as, being sustained by
an enlightened and humane judgment, will, it is hoped, induce in
their cases an exercise of clemency and a judicious amnesty to all
who were engaged in the movement. Counsel has been employed by the
Government to defend citizens of the United States on trial for
capital offenses in Canada, and a discontinuance of the prosecutions
which were instituted in the courts of the United States against
those who took part in the expedition has been directed.

I have regarded the expedition as not only political in its nature,
but as also in a great measure foreign from the United States in its
causes, character, and objects. The attempt was understood to be made
in sympathy with an insurgent party in Ireland, and by striking at a
British Province on this continent was designed to aid in obtaining
redress for political grievances which, it was assumed, the people of
Ireland had suffered at the hands of the British Government during a
period of several centuries. The persons engaged in it were chiefly
natives of that country, some of whom had, while others had not,
become citizens of the United States under our general laws of
naturalization. Complaints of misgovernment in Ireland continually
engage the attention of the British nation, and so great an agitation
is now prevailing in Ireland that the British Government have deemed
it necessary to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in that country.
These circumstances must necessarily modify the opinion which we
might otherwise have entertained in regard to an expedition expressly
prohibited by our neutrality laws. So long as those laws remain upon
our statute books they should be faithfully executed, and if they
operate harshly, unjustly, or oppressively Congress alone can apply
the remedy by their modification or repeal.

Political and commercial interests of the United States are not
unlikely to be affected in some degree by events which are
transpiring in the eastern regions of Europe, and the time seems to
have come when our Government ought to have a proper diplomatic
representation in Greece.

This Government has claimed for all persons not convicted or accused
or suspected of crime an absolute political right of
self-expatriation and a choice of new national allegiance. Most of
the European States have dissented from this principle, and have
claimed a right to hold such of their subjects as have emigrated to
and been naturalized in the United States and afterwards returned on
transient visits to their native countries to the performance of
military service in like manner as resident subjects. Complaints
arising from the claim in this respect made by foreign states have
heretofore been matters of controversy between the United States and
some of the European powers, and the irritation consequent upon the
failure to settle this question increased during the war in which
Prussia, Italy, and Austria were recently engaged. While Great
Britain has never acknowledged the right of expatriation, she has not
for some years past practically insisted upon the opposite doctrine.
France has been equally forbearing, and Prussia has proposed a
compromise, which, although evincing increased liberality, has not
been accepted by the United States. Peace is now prevailing
everywhere in Europe, and the present seems to be a favorable time
for an assertion by Congress of the principle so long maintained by
the executive department that naturalization by one state fully
exempts the native-born subject of any other state from the
performance of military service under any foreign government, so long
as he does not voluntarily renounce its rights and benefits.

In the performance of a duty imposed upon me by the Constitution I
have thus submitted to the representatives of the States and of the
people such information of our domestic and foreign affairs as the
public interests seem to require. Our Government is now undergoing
its most trying ordeal, and my earnest prayer is that the peril may
be successfully and finally passed without impairing its original
strength and symmetry. The interests of the nation are best to be
promoted by the revival of fraternal relations, the complete
obliteration of our past differences, and the reinauguration of all
the pursuits of peace. Directing our efforts to the early
accomplishment of these great ends, let us endeavor to preserve
harmony between the coordinate departments of the Government, that
each in its proper sphere may cordially cooperate with the other in
securing the maintenance of the Constitution, the preservation of the
Union, and the perpetuity of our free institutions.