to protect themselves, preserve their liberties, strengthen the Union, promote the common happiness and welfare, and best develop the resources of the lands within exclusive Federal jurisdiction. By the conduct and manifest designs of the leaders of that same reactionary movement, the same issue was kept open and presented to the country in a form still more intense, and a popular verdict demanded in the elections of 1860. So far as that issue can be settled by a popular election of President of the United States, its settlement is for the present, complete. In the next National election it may again be presented and the grand issue of 1860 be repeated in 1864, should the people of the country be of opinion that any duty or practical advantage remains dependent on the possible result of a new trial. Meanwhile other duties command our immediate care. There is now no issue before the people touching their political relations to slavery in the Territories. The policy of the National Government in that regard is determined for the next four years; but instead of preparing for a re-hearing and an endeavor to reverse the verdict at the end of that period, that party of reaction has now engaged in an effort to abolish the tribunal and overthrow the authority of the People themselves. And the single question now presented to the nation is this-Shall a reactionary spirit, unfriendly to liberty, be permitted to subvert democratic republican government organized under constitutional forms?

Upon this issue, over the heads of all mere politi cians and partisans, in behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts I appeal directly to the warm hearts and clear heads of the great masses of the people. The men who own and till the soil, who drive the mills, and hammer out their own iron and leather on their own anvils and lapstones, and they who, whether in the city or the country, reap the rewards of enterprising industry and skill in the varied pursuits of business, are honest, intelligent, patriotic, independent, and brave. They know that simple defeat in an election is no cause for the disruption of a government. They know that those who declare that they will not live peaceably within the Union, do not mean to live peaceably out of it. They know that the people of all sections have a right which they intend to maintain, of free access from the interior to both oceans, and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, and of the free use of all the lakes and rivers and highways of commerce, North, South, East or West. They know that the Union means Peace, and unfettered commercial intercourse from sea to sea and from shore to shore; that it secures us all against the unfriendly presence or possible dictation of any foreign power, and commands respect for our flag and security for our trade. And they do not intend, nor will they ever consent, to be excluded from these rights which they have so long enjoyed, nor to abandon the prospect of the benefits which Humanity claims for itself by

means of their continued enjoyment in the future. Neither will they consent that the continent shall be overrun by the victims of a remorseless cupidity, and the elements of civil danger increased by the barbarizing influences which accompany the African slave trade. Inspired by the same ideas and emotions which commanded the fraternization of Jackson and Webster on another great occasion of public danger, the people of Massachusetts, confiding in the patriotism of their brethren in other States, accept this issue, and respond, in the words of Jackson "The Federal Union, it must be preserved!"

Until we complete the work of rolling back this wave of rebellion which threatens to engulf the government, overthrow democratic institutions, subject the people to the rule of a minority, if not of mere military despotism, and in some communities to endanger the very existence of civilized society, we cannot turn aside, and we will not turn back. It is to those of our brethren in the disaffected States whose mouths are closed by a temporary reign of terror, not less than to ourselves, that we owe this labor which, with the help of Providence, it is our duty to perform.

I need not add that whatever rights pertain to any person under the Constitution of the Union, are secure in Massachusetts, while the Union shall endure; and whatever authority or function pertains to the Federal Government for the maintenance of any such right, is an authority or function which neither the Govern

ment nor the people of this Commonwealth can, or would, usurp, evade or overthrow. And Massachusetts demands, and has a right to demand, that her sister States shall likewise respect the constitutional rights of her citizens within their limits. And it is a reproach to human nature, and a breach of honor, that more of her free citizens, who happened to touch the soil of South Carolina, should have been sold into slavery under laws the assertion of the unconstitutionality of which that State punishes with a grievous penalty, than ever fugitive slaves have escaped from South Carolina to Massachusetts.

The Pacific Railroad.

I congratulate the country upon the passage of the Pacific Railroad Bill through the House of Representatives at the present session of Congress, and upon the probable early adoption of the same measure by the Senate. Its prompt enactment is due to our brethren on the Pacific coast, as an earnest of our desire for speedy, safe, and ample communication between them and ourselves; and while it will open vast territories abounding in agricultural and mineral wealth, it must also add to the trade and importance of the great maritime cities. It has been framed in a spirit of honorable concession to supposed conflicting interests, but it will inure to the benefit of all.

GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE AND

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:

With unaffected solicitude, I approach this office; but with the frankness which is due to you, to the occasion, and to our constituency I commit these inquiries, opinions and suggestions to your wise and patriotic counsels. The People and the State are entitled to our honest thought and our best services. At the termination of this career of public duty, I trust that a consciousness of faithful purpose and patient effort will be our great reward.