shall exhibit as the mournful fruit of (suicidal) councils, an extended series of petty principalities, without harmony in either, and wasting their resources and their energies by worrying among themselves. Dissolve the Union and the last example of freedom to the oppressed will at once be destroyed, and the only hope of man for well regulated government will be lost forever from the earth. In comparison with the vast importance and the sacred duty of maintaining such a Union, how poor and insignificant are all of our little local jealousies, and all our divisions of individual opinion! In support of the Constitution, however we may differ on other and minor subjects, all sects and all parties may freely and cordially unite, and before the altar of the Union, bow down in a common worship, as citizens of one country, and brethren of the same great family."

These are noble words, and there need be no doubt that Mr. Polk would have sustained them in his life had he lived twenty-five years longer.

The President returned through Newburyport, Salem, Lynn, etc., and at Fall River took steamer for New York. His second Sunday, which was the 4th of July, was spent at Portland, and there he attended Church twice, and in the evening quietly received a few friends. On the 6th he left New York on his return to Washington, the journey, in the main, having been without unpleasant incidents, and on the whole quite gratifying to him.

The Presidential election came off in November, 1848, and resulted in the success of General Taylor and Millard Fillmore, the Whigs, and the defeat of Lewis Cass and William O. Butler. The Democratic candidates were not President Polk's first

choice, but he gave himself no uneasiness as to his successor. He was greatly attached to Franklin Pierce, and he much desired to advance the political interests of Thomas H. Benton, although Mr. Benton did not sustain the principle on which he was elected, nor did he support with any warmth some features of his official course, and opposed his treaty of peace with Mexico, and much of his conduct, and, indeed, among all the Democratic politicians of the country none looked so unfavorably on Mr. Polk's Administration throughout, as did Mr. Benton.

CHAPTER XXVII.

PRESIDENT POLK'S LAST ANNUAL MESSAGE-ANOTHER APPEAL FOR THE UNION-HUMAN

SLAVERY.

ONGRESS convened on the 4th of December,

CON

1848, and continued in session till the 3d of March, 1849. On the following day President Polk sent in his last annual message.

FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.

December 5, 1848.

FELLOW-CITIZENS of the Senate and of THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTA

TIVES:

Under the benignant providence of Almighty God, the Representatives of the States and of the people are again brought together to deliberate for the public good. The gratitude of the Nation to the sovereign arbiter of all human events, should be commensurate with the boundless blessings which we enjoy.

Peace, plenty, and contentment, reign throughout our borders, and our beloved country presents a sublime moral spectacle to the world.

The troubled and unsettled condition of some of the principal European powers has had a necessary tendency to check and embarrass trade, and to depress prices throughout all commercial nations; but notwithstanding these causes, the United States, with their abundant products, have felt their effects less severely than any other country, and all our great interests are still prosperous and successful.

In reviewing the great events of the past year, and contrasting the agitated and disturbed state of other countries with our own tranquil and happy condition, we may congratulate ourselves that we are the most favored people on the face of the earth. While the people of other countries are struggling to establish free institutions, under which man may govern himself, we are in the actual enjoyment of them, a rich inheritance from our fathers. While enlightened nations of Europe are convulsed and distracted by civil war or intestine strife, we settle all our political controversies by the peaceful exercise of the rights of freemen at the ballot-box. The great republican maxim so deeply engraven on the hearts of our people, that the will of the majority, constitutionally expressed, shall prevail, is our sure safeguard against force and violence. It is the subject of just pride, that our fame and character as a nation continue rapidly to advance in the estimation of the civilized world. To our wise and free institutions it is to be attributed, that while other nations have achieved glory at the price of the suffering, distress, and impoverishment of their people, we have won our honorable position in the midst of an uninterrupted prosperity, and of an increasing individual comfort and happiness. I am happy to inform you that our relations with all nations are friendly and pacific. Advantageous treaties of commerce have been concluded within the last four years with New Grenada, Peru, the Two Sicilies, Belgium, Hanover, Oldenburg, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Pursuing our example, the restrictive system of Great Britain, our principal foreign customer, has been relaxed; a more liberal commercial policy has been adopted by other enlightened nations, and our trade has been greatly enlarged and extended. Our country stands higher in the respect of the world than at any former period. To continue to occupy this proud position, it is only necessary to preserve peace, and faithfully adhere to the great and fundamental principles of our foreign policy, of non-interference in the domestic concerns of other nations. We recognize in all nations the right which we enjoy ourselves, to change and reform their political institutions according to their own will and pleasure. Hence we do not look behind existing governments, capable of maintaining their own authority. We

recognize all such actual governments, not only from the dictates of true policy, but from a sacred regard for the independence of nations.

While this is our settled policy, it does not follow that we can ever be indifferent spectators of the progress of liberal principles. The Government and people of the United States hailed with enthusiasm and delight the establishment of the French Republic, as we now hail the efforts in progress to unite the States of Germany in a confederation, similar in many respects to our own Federal Union. If the great and enlightened German States, occupying, as they do, a central and commanding position in Europe, shall succeed in establishing such a confederated government, securing at the same time to the citizens of each State local governments adapted to the peculiar condition of each, with unrestricted trade and intercourse with each other, it will be an important era in the history of human events. While it will consolidate and strengthen the power of Germany, it must essentially promote the cause of peace, commerce, civilization, and constitutional liberty, throughout the world.

With all the governments on this continent our relations, it is believed, are now on a more friendly and satisfactory footing than they have ever been at any former period.

Since the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace with Mexico, our intercourse with the government of that Republic has been of the most friendly character. The envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to Mexico has been received and accredited, and a diplomatic representative from Mexico of similar rank has been received and accredited by this government. The amicable relations between the two countries which had been suspended have been happily restored, and are destined, I trust, to be long preserved. The two Republics, both situated on this continent, and with coterminous territories, have every motive of sympathy and of interest to bind them together in perpetual amity.

This gratifying condition of our foreign relations renders it unnecessary for me to call your attention more specifically to them.