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    NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS , eral articles and communications aro unavoidably postoned until next week . ..,- '' . ¦ notice can . bo taken of anonymous coircspondence . iTiatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated ythe name and address of the writer ; not necessarily ir publication , but as a guarantee of his good faith , do not undertake to return rejected communications .

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    . THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE . ; e power of the United States resides in 3 intellectual , ¦ ¦ mo ral ,. and physical strength the whole body of the people . In proporn as they are well-informed , energetic , e , and conscientious , the G-overninent will pure and direct , the community will be Dspei'ous , the territory of civilization will tend , and the citizens of the United States 11 determine for themselves their own intutions . They accepted tlie constitution

    it was proposed for them by Washington , iFFERSON , and their colleagues ; they subpiiently corrected that Constitution , and 3 j have copied it in the constitution of neAV ites . But hi all cases they have mainned and applied , if not extended , the iginal principles upon which the constitun rested . State after state has delibe-; ely and distinctly repeated those principles

    3 U m its own enactments . Those who talk out the possibility that the freedom of nerica , as it was conceived by "Washing - n and his coadjutorc * , may have declined th the lapse of time , for ^ eb these repeated fcs of organization find legislation on the rt of the Americans . One difficult problem has proved to be too eat for settlement hitherto . When the

    nstitution was arranged , even the vigour Jefferson failed to master the one diffilty . It was a . problem thrust upon the lonies by England—thrust upon America 3 eed by the phihmthropy of Las Casas . lgland imported Negro slaves into Ame-; a , and left her Southern colonies burdened th a Blaclc population . "What should be me with those infantile human beiugs ? was e question that most perplexed the authors the constitution . They could not settle They procrastinated ; they evaded any terference with '' " the domestic

    institu-Dn , and virtually leit it to the individual ates and to the future . Since that time there have been various tempts to settle the difficulty . AVhen the ate of Missouri was admitted , into tlie nion , and the question arose whether some aunds should not be put to the extension of lis inconvenient element , a line was drawn , a the North of which White freedom should b uncontaminatcd , while on the South there lould bo freedom for the extension of the

    'lack population . It is quite clear that this ompromise was not based upon a strict ) gic ; for the very principle of the constituon was , that the individual states should be ee to choose their own institutions , so long ^ they were not incompatible with the conbitution of the whole republic . Now , the eculiar institution was ecus facto admitted to e > compatible with the constitution of the ^ public , and therefore 110 state could , prc-IouBlijr to ifca existence , bo prohibited from dopting that inconvenient element , if it so

    pleased . " We need not go into all the motives which induced a citizen of the United States to override the conditions of that compromise , and to mate the proposition of omitting in the provisional constitution of Nebraska and Kansas the restraint which had hitherto been imposed upon territories ; but such was the fact . " We may question the motives of that proceeding , but its strict accordance with logic is obvious . It leaves the territories and the states free to choose their

    own institutions , in accordance with , the fundamental statute of the whole Union ; a freedom which we believe to be most strictly conducive to the ultimate triumph of pure freedom in every sense of the word . There are always in the world , however those who desire to attain the end from the very beginning ; there are citizens of the United States who have not the faith which

    we have in the steady working of their own institutions . They were animated with an impatience that Kansas should at once "be free from . the condemned element , and they strove to procure that freedom by certain mpans . Hence , a very extensive tampering with the free action of the inhabitants . There was a sjiecies of colonizing invasion for the very purpose of swamping the spontaneous colonizers of the state . Another

    movement was the consequence ; the conservative protectors of slave extension replied to the irregular invasion from the North by extravagantly oppressive laws : statutes totally incompatible with the institutions of the republic , prohibiting discussion , and restrain .-ing all freedom of action . The lamentable incidents of the contest are too well known .

    A party in the Union called out for a sudden declaration against Negro slavery ; people in this country joined in the cry ; and " Abolition" was the sole remedy which these impatient persons saw for the dead lock which had ensued in Kansas . I / uekily , there are in the Union , men who better understand the working of their national institutions ; and even some who have been most severely censured in this country have persevered steadily with the sole course that could extricate

    either Ivansas or Congress from the embroglio . The first step was to restore regularity to the elections and public proceedings of the territory . This has been done .- G-overnor Geary has established complete quiet . The people of the territory will now be in a condition to determine their own institutions ; and if others choose to colonize the state in

    a regular way , there will be the freedom and quiet for them to do so . The next step was to revise the legislation . This cannot be done by riots in the streets or bloody couiiicts in the iields , but it can be done by firm adhesion to the governing statute of the Union . v "I confidently trust , " says President Pierce , in the message just delivered to Congress , " that now , when the peaceful condition of Kansas affords opportunity for

    cnlm reflection and wise legislation , either the legislative assembly of the territory , or Congress , will see that no act shall remain on its statute-book violntivo of the provisions of the Constitution , or subversive of the great objocta for which that was ordained and established , and will talce all other necessary steps to assure to its inhabitants the enjoyment , without obstruction or abridgment , of all tho constitutional rights , privileges , niul immunities of citizens of the United States , as contemplated by the organic law of the territory . "

    To the west of tho United States stretch almost boundless lands . A portion of them partake of the heated climate which belongs to the Southern states , and which is scarcely Hi , for White labour . It is possible that the Black race may extend into those regions ; but by far tlie larger portion of lands to the west " become more changeable in climate , more liable to the rigours of win tor , more and more unfitted to tho physical constitution of the negro . They are peculiarly adapted to

    secured by this Arm action of the federal Government , by this natural increase of the free states , the Negro element inevitably becomes more fractional ^ until ultimately it shall be reduced to a subject which can be brought within the control of deliberate legislation . In short , secure freedom for the development of the "White element in the Union , and that element must , by . all the laws of ethnology ^ outgrow , overbear , and extinguish , the Black element .

    feet freedom the Anglo-American constitution . The march of emigration to the west proceeds with more breadth , and rapidity than has ever been witnessed in the history of the world . Immense tracts of country are from time to time added to the list of states , where the Negro is not available as a servant ; he is worthless as a servant whenever the cold numbs hia energies ; and in these states he is repelled by the natural repugnance of race . With

    per-In these few sentences we have but moralized that portion of President Piebce ' s Message to Congress which reports the proceedings taken by Government in reference to Kansas ; but the rest of tlie Message in effect bears upon the same subject . The Union continues in the enjoyment of amicable relations with all foreign powers ; the Central American question appears to he settled ; the proposition of General Piebce for an improvement in the maritime law has been respectfully received by the European Governments . It is the Spanish colonies alone which border on the Southern frontier

    of the Union that persevere in irritating hostilities and intrigue . The Spaniards , in fact , appear to be incapable of organizing settled governm ent . As we well know , eminent citizens of the United States have distinctly declined to negotiate the cession of Mexico , which has been offered to them en bloc , because it would be difficult to

    incorporate with the Anglo-American Union , a fully developed foreign state . But it . is of course impossible that the republic should tolerate perpetual interference with its peaceful movement , or permit intrigues to damage the enterprise of its citizens . It is the insecurity and irregularity of the politically disorganized state of Mexico and the other American colonies that invite * lie entrance

    of men like Houston and Waikee , and unless the Spaniards can at last be reduced to something like order and regularity in their proceedings , they must inevitably give way to the march of Anglo-American colonization . What would that , however , be , but substitution of a . race capable of sustaining free institutions for one which ha-s proved its incapacity ? In no country of the world do the same means exist ibr diffusing information as in the United States of America . An excellent

    school is opened for the children ot every citizen , under a management which is the theme of admiration from every foreign visitor . A distribution of Congressional papers , in itself very useful , is but a drop in the ocean in comparison with the diffusion which booUs of all kinds—standard works as well as 'light' literature and newspaperssecured for tlie whole Union . The Americans have developed that system of printing and

    publishing at prices available for the million , to which England is coming by very slow degrees . Tho consequence is , that a map showing the expanse of settled districts exhibits the spread , not only of human beings in tho -wilderness , but of actual intelligence . The map of the Union is the map of a community educated , informed , trained to confront difficulties , and to govern itself . It is impossible that the progress of such a community should be arrested by tho intrigues , the dogmas , or tho dictates of any foreign

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    * - ~~ \ ^^ y : - t SATURDAY , DECEMBER 20 , 1856 .

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    ire is nothing so revolutionary , "because thure is othinp ? so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain > keep things fixed -when all the world is "by the very , w of its creation in eternal progress . —Da . Arnoxd

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    December 20 , 1856 ] TH E LE ADEB , 1211

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 20, 1856, page 1211, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2172/page/11/