March 5, 1861; The Charleston Mercury
LATEST by TELEGRAPH.
Lincoln Marches to the Capitol under the Protection of Federal Bayonets.
COERCION PROCLAIMED.
Our Exclusive Despatches.
FROM OUR REPORTERS IN WASHINGTON.
WASHINGTON, March 4 – 10 a.m. – The city is all astir and excited concerning the Inauguration of ABRAHAM LINCOLN, to come off this morning. The scene is a very different one from that presented at all former inaugurations. A deep and general gloom hangs over the city. The volunteers seem to feel that they are ordered out to join in the funeral procession of the Union. There are over twelve hundred of SCOTT’S hireling troops under arms, with shotted cannon, closely watching every movement. The citizens are completely overawed.
QUARTER PAST ELEVEN O’CLOCK. – The procession has begun to move from the City Hall. The military escort is a powerful one.
SCOTT has hit upon a new coup de guerre. At all the principal points along Pennsylvania Avenue the housetops are covered with Federal soldiers, with their muskets pointing at the crowd. This is a Mexican idea.
ONE O’CLOCK. – The procession has reached the Capital, and the inaugural ceremonies have begun. The following is
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
Fellow Citizens of the United States: In compliance with a custom as old as the government itself, I appear before you to address you briefly, and to take in your presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States to be taken by the President before he enters on the execution of his office.
I do not consider it necessary at present for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement. Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that, by the accession of a Republican Administration, their property and peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the public speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it now exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me did so with a full knowledge that I had made this and many similar declarations, and has never recanted them. And, more than this, they placed in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read:
Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions, according, to its own judgment, exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend, and we denounce the lawless invasion, by armed force, of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes.
I now reiterate these sentiments, and in doing so, I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the property, peace and security of no section are to be in anywise endangered by the incoming Administration. I add to that all the protection which, consistently with the constitution and the laws, can be given, will cheerfully given to all the States, when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause, as cheerfully to one section as to another.
There is much controversy about the delivering up of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provisions: “No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due.” It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of what we call fugitive slaves, and the intention of the law given is the law; all members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution–to this provision as much as to any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves, whose cases come within the terms of this clause, shall be delivered up, their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could the not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and pass a law by means of which to keep good that unanimous oath? There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be enforced by national or by State authority; but surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him or to others by which authority it is done. And should any one in any case be content that his oath shall go unkept on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept? Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be not in any case surrendered as a slave? And might it not be well, at the same time, to provide by law for the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution, which guarantees that the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States?
I take the official oath today with no mental reservations, with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypocritical rules; and while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts which stand unrepealed than to violate any of them, trusting to find impunity in having them held to be constitutional.
It is seventy two years since the first inauguration of a President under our National Constitution. During that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens have in succession administered the Executive branch of the Government. They have conducted it through many periods, and generally with great success. Yet, with all this scope for precedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief constitutional term of four years, under great and peculiar difficulties. A disruption of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is now formidably admitted. I hold that, in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual –perpetuity is implied if not expressed in the fundamental law of national governments. It is safe to assert that no government proper ever had a provision in its organic law for its own termination. Continue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution and the Union will endure forever, –it being impossible to destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself. Again, if the United States be not a government proper but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it as a contract be practically unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it, break it, so to speak, but does it not require all to lawfully desolve it? Descending from these general principles, we find this proposition, that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association, in 1774; it was further matured, and the faith of all these thirteen States expressly pledged and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation, in 1778; and, finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution, was to perform a more perfect Union; but if destruction of the Union by one, or by a part only of the States, be lawfully, possible, the Union is less perfect than before the Constitution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity. It follows from these views, that no State, upon its own mere notion, can lawfully go out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally void; and that acts of violence within any State or States, against the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances. I, therefore, consider that in view of the Constitution and the Laws the Union is unbroken; and, to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the Laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. Doing this, I deem it to be only a simple duty on my part, and I shall perform it so far as practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite means, or, in some authoritative manner, direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union, that it will constitutionally defend and maintain itself. In doing this, there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none, unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy and possess the property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties and imports; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States in any interior locality shall be so great and so unusual as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people for that object, while the strict legal right may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irrational and so nearly impracticable withal, that I deem it better to forego for the time the uses of such offices. The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of the Union. So far as possible, the people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect security which is most favorable to cool thought and reflection. The course here indicated will be followed, unless current events and experience shall show a modification or change to be proper, and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be exercised according to circumstances actually existing, and with a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles, and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections. That there are persons in one section or another who seek to destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of any pretext to do it, I will neither affirm or deny; but if there be such, I need address no word to them. To those however, who really love the Union, may I not speak before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, its hopes. Would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real existence? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are greater than all the real ones you fly from, will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake? All progress to be content in the Union if all constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written in the Constitution has been denied? I think not. Happily the human mind is so constituted that no part can reach to the audacity of doing this thing; if you can offer a single instance in which a plainly written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied, if by the mere force of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might in a moral point of view justify a revolution. It certainly would, if such a right were a vital one; but such is not our case; all the vital rights of minorities and of individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirmations and negotiations, guarantees and prohibitions in the Constitution, that controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length contain, express provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or by State authority? the Constitution does not expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. From the questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities; if the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the government must cease. There is no other alternative for continuing the government than acquiescence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case will secede rather than acquiesce, they make a precedent, which in turn will divide and ruin them; for a minority of their own will secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be controlled by such minority; for instance, why may not any portion of a new confederacy, a year or two hence, arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede for it? All who cherish disunion sentiments are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this. Is there such perfect identity of interest among the States to compose a new Union to produce harmony only and prevent renewed secession? Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily, with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or despotism; unanimity is impossible; the rule of a minority as a permanent arrangement is wholly inadmissible. So that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left. I do not forget the position assumed by some that constitutional questions are to be decided by the Supreme Court; not do I deny that such decisions must be binding in any case upon the parties to a suit. As to the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases by all other departments of the Government, and while it is obviously possible that such decision may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect following it being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be overruled and never become a precedent for other cases, can better be borne, than could the evils of a different practice at the same, time. The candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the Government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of Supreme Courts, the instant they are made in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions, the people will have ceased to be their own rules, having to that extent practically resigned their Government into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there, in this view, any assault upon the Court and Judges. It is a duty from which they may not shrink, to decide cases of property brought before them; and it is no fault of theirs, if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes. 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 has been as faithfully executed 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. Each, I think, cannot 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 cannot separate; we cannot 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 cannot do this; they cannot 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 that 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 cannot fight always, and when after much loss on both sides and no gain on either, you cease fighting, in identical old questions, as to terms of intercourse are again upon you. This country with its institutions belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise the constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the National Constitution amended. While I make no recommendation of amendment, I fully recognize the rightful authority of the people over the whole subject to be exercised in either of the modes presented in the instrument itself, and I should, under existing circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that, to me, the convention mode seems preferable in that it allows amendments to originate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or repel propositions originated by others not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such as they would wish to either accept or refuse.
I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution – which amendment, however, I have not seen – has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments, so far as to say that holding such a provision to now be implied by the Constitution and the law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable.
The Chief Magistrate derives all his authority from the people, and they have conferred none upon him to fix terms for the separation of the States. The people themselves can do this also if they choose, but the Executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to administer the present Government, as it came to his hands, and to transmit it, unimpaired by him, to his successor. Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or equal hope in the world? In our present differences, is either party without faith of being in the right? If the Almighty Ruler of nations, with his eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on your of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal.
The American people, by the frame of the Government under which we live–this same people have wisely given their public servants but little power for mischief, and have, with equal wisdom, provided for the return of that little to their own hands at very short intervals. While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no Administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the Government in the short space of four years. My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well upon this –nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which you would never take deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking time, but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unimpaired; and on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing, under which the new Administration will have no immediate control. If it should change either, if it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the wisest way all our present difficulties.
In our hands, my dissatisfied friends and countrymen, not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it. I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion my have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory stretching from every battle field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet sell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.