Mr. BAKER asked and obtained leave to have printed as a part of the debates of the House remarks he had prepared on reconstruction and the future civil policy of the Government. [The REMARKS will be found in the Appendix.] Mr. Speaker, when I look over this great land and think how immense is its surface; when I consider its rivers, its mountains, its lakes, its valleys and its plains, all lying various and broad beneath a brighter sky than overhangs the States of Euro e, I am filled with admiration of the beautifu and rand material home which God has provided or civilization in this western world. When I reflect upon the prodigious mate rial work which man has already performed in this new scene; when I recall that within little more than 2 centuries he has hewn down the forests, and drained the swamps, and tan neled the mountains of a continent; whenl look at his great cities, almost equal to Paris, London, or ancient Rome on soon to be greater than these; when I contemplate his ships going and coming over every sea upon the planet; when I consider the dock yar s of his commercial emporiums, burdened with a commerce that dwarfs the old fame of Arad and Tyre and Sidon; his flectsofdcep froighted steamers swimming his broad rivers and beau tiful lakes; his fire breathing steam cars, nu merous as an army, and running with their long trains swift as the wind to and from every point of the compass; the lightning messenger of his thoughts, by which deep answers unto deep and the eastern speaks to the western ocean; his immense agriculture, fructifying with teeming abundance unbroken 1000s of miles of the most. beautiful country the sun shines on from heaven; when I consider these things, my admiration mounts yet higher, and my love of country grows to a still deeper passion. But, when I put aside all this natural beauty and magnificence; when I close the eye of sense to all this rand, visible performance, wrought out in so 5 ort a time by the canning hand of ourcountrymen, and, with the eye of the mind look in upon the great soul of the nation, and consider what heroism, whatintelligencc, what high purpose is there higher than all mertlly selfish)and material ends then it is that my love of country is profoundest; for then it is that I realize the full measure of its greatness. With all their limitations and their vices, with all their still unenlightend ignorance and unconquered prejudices, in very truth the American people are more distinctively a people, self conscious, self thinking, self acting, and aspiring to higher and better realizations, than is to be seen elsewhere on earth today, or found recorded upon any the brightest page of human history. forccur to this fact not. in any spirit of vain boasting, but in humble thankfulness to God that He has set in this fair heritage 11 people with such antecedents and advantages, that it is theirs to lead the nations in their wear battle journey to'ward the humanities which spring out of the true democratic idea. Upon these great qualities of the popular masses the American statesman must ever rely in his contests with the American dema goguc. And in every case of urgent and pos itive necessit. they can be relied upon with implicit confience. Theybave saved the country from 2 mighty perils, and they will save it from a 3rd. When slaver went about overthrowing the great. landmar's of liberty, and aspired to establish an absolute rule over the nation in the civil sphere, the people hurled it from power by the ballot. When next it: took the sword to sever the Republic in half, the people crushed it upon the battle field and wiped it from existence. And now, after the great struggle of arms is over, after more than half a million of patriot lives have perished in the conflict, the people will see to itthot every thing shall not belieft at loose ends unguarded, insecure, and liable to rela sointo another public calamity but that the asis of pacifiention shall involve proper and just securities for the future peace and welfare of the country. When the 1st peril came, the demagoguo advised the people to how their necks and wear the yoke of the slaveholder. The people spurned the demagoguc. When the 2nd peril came, the demagogue advised the people to let the nation perish in peace, rather than knock the rogues on the head who were seeking its life. Again the po0 10 spurned the demagoguc. And now that te3rd peril is upon us, the demagoguc, over true to his nn worthy instincts, is trying to persuade the people that their blood is as cheap' as the soft eart that drank it, and that they should take to themselves no reliable guarantees that it has not been poured out in vain! An (l once more, so sure as God reigns and reason has not forsaken this noble people, they will spam the demngoguet After long, earnest, and laborious consideruation, this Congress, by very great ma‘orities in both Houses, has agreed upon a fun amental basis for the pacification and f uture security of the Republic. As it was plainly necessary that the nation, and not its late enemies, should take into its own hands the keeping of its own securities, itelearly resulted that the great terms of the arrangement should go into the Constitution of the country. Accordingly, the plan presented consists of a proposed amendment of the Constitution, madli: up of 5 sections. This amendment [regard as one of immense value. Though it may not make our Constitution ideally perfect, or embrace all that many desired, yet. it is full of strong, practical, and most valuable provisions; valuable for the safety of the Republic, and valuable for the security and future growth of liberty. On the whole, I regardit as a very fair expression of the aver age sense and average culture of the great popu lar mind of the country. And I will say here, that as I apprehend it, the growth of institutions and liberties in any country is and must be but the forward moro ment. of this average sense and culture. in the development of its civilization, the whole of a national society, and especially of a democratic society, must be looked at as one individual organism, impelled by one aggregate life force; from which it results that the social and institutional progress of the community will conform itself, not to the highest thought and aspiration in the State, nor yet to the lowest, but, as I have said, to the general average of the whole mass. This being one of the laws, higher than any of human enactment, which governs the prog ress of nations and the growth of civilization, ever truly wise thinker, freighted though his mind may be with darling conceptions which he longs to see completely realized, will accept. it as a providential arrangement, content himself with adding one additional stone to the edifice of ages, and thus contrive to keep his soul in peace. The coral insect that is building a new continent in the western sea works wiser than it knows, because its puny efforts are guided by an infinite intelligence. Man too, with all his intellect, works to ends other and higher than he perceives, because the order, consistence and upshot of his effort is fashioned, not by him, but by that same infinite in telligence which is composing human history, age after age, even as a poet composes a drama act after act, scene after scene. If in the working out of the grand finale of human life on the earth, whatever that may be, progress seems slow, and the aspiring heart sinks with sadness, we may remember with the great Christian father, that God is patient, because He has all eternity to work in; and we may gather some cheer from the reflection, that all lands is still blunder ing in its alphabet, at the realized fact of today is higher than e most famous ideal embodiments of the past; for we have herein our own country on actual subsisting polity incom parably sufferior as a whole to anything we read ofin the [to public. of Plato, the New At lantis of Bacon, 518 Uceana ot'Harrington, or the Utopia of More. In view of this great law, which slowly evolves, step by step, the prog ress of human society, as of universal physical nature, we may learn to chasten our impa tience without abating' our zeal, and to accept thankfully for the time the best measure of good we are able to attain. If liberty will not grow in advance of culture, if in polities as in hydraulics the stream will not flow above the fountain head, it is no fault of ours, nor of God's either. Dee down at the bottom of the being of things, urther down than finite intelligence may ever be able to eiietrate, I make no quesgpn there is a comp ete moral justitication of that wonderful arrangement, h which the individual, the social, the moral tic political, and religious life of mankind must pass by gradual advances, and through suffering, la or, and)atient endurance, into the higher goods of liberty and virtue. If it seem that the wine press of affliction we have trod during these late bloody 'ears should ield more perfect immediate results, we may doubt whether our national culture has been equal to our national aflliction, and we may know that the blood of the martyrs of humanity, like all other seed, does not instantly s)ring from the ground and flower forth into the full fruition of human uses. Now, and in the future, the utmost return will be made for the late prodi ious heroism and suffering of the nation. lost encouraging is that profound change for the better which has already taken place in our public life and public thought. The popu lar mind now perceives, if not perfectly, yet in shadowy outline, that there is a higher law than any of human devise, older than cities and cm pires, and to the requirements of which every nation ought to conorin its institutions and its laws, just as the mason builds his wall by the plumet line, or as the liusbandman observes the course of the seasons in his tillage. Here is the foundation of that party of Progress to which belongs the future of our country. When I attentively contemplate our fair and stalwart young Republic, hef foot upon the broken lash and manacle, her arments red with the precious blood of her 5am children, Idetect upon her beautiful counwiiunce a greater depth of thought, a more humane love, a higher purpose and wiser look than was ever seen there cfore. Like Magdalene, she has lluiig from her the gross filthiness of her pollutious, and lifted her heart in strong resolve to the things of a purer and greater life. Ifyet she has not entered completely into that higher life, if yet the new habit has not fully conquered the old, still, the great thoughts that quicken her intellect, the noble aspirations that inspire her heart, are prophetic of the peerless beauty and glory and righteousness which shall crown her coming life. Meantime, content with the possibilities of the present, nothing doubting the better realizations of the future, let us briefly analyze this Reconstruction Amendment which we have tendered to the States as a practical basis for the restored political order of the Union. Indeed, comment upon the several sections which compose this amendment may well be brief; for there are some propositions, the justice and propriety of which are so obvious in their simp e statement, that they cannot be much helped by any amount of argument or illustration. The 1st section of the amendment is as fo"llows: $201. All persons born or naturalizedin the U.S., an subjectto the jurisdiction thereof.are tchiteizyenspf the U.S and of the State whereln resulc.‘ No State shall makeor enforceanylaw though civilization in which shall abridgethe privileges or immunities of citizens of the U.S.; nor shall any State deprive any person of life liberty, or property. without due process of law, nordcny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." i This section I regard as more valuable for (clearing away bad interpretations and bad uses & of the Constitution as it is than for any posi ive grant of new power which it contains. lHow admirable, how plainly just, are the several provisions of it! " All persons born or naturalized in the U.S and sub'eet to the jurisdiction thereof.are citizensof the U.S and of the State wherein they reside." Who can object to this? Persons born or naturalized in the U.S., and subject to its jurisdiction, subject to taxation, to military service, to all the burdens of society, both State and national, ought, upon every principle of manly justice, to receive in turn from society that protection which is involved in the status of citizenship. To compel a man to submit to your jurisdiction in all things, to pay our taxes, and fight your battles, and then Withhold from him this reasonable measure of reciprocal protection is, to say the least, and to call it by no harder name, a political villainy which every citizen of a democratic country ought to be ashamed of. Again: “No State shall make or enforce any law which shall iilirirlgo the privileges or immunitiesof citizens of the U.S." i What business is it of any State to do the ithings here forbidden? to robthe American, citizen of rights thrown around him by the supreme law of the land? When we remember to what an extent this has been done in the 'past, we can appreciate the need of putting a itop to it in the future. Again: " Nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law, nor deny to any crsoa within IL'l jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” How clearly right and iiccessar to liberty is this! The Constitution alread declares generally that no person shall “be deprived of ife liberty, or property without due process of.law.” This declares particularly that no State shall do it a wholesome and needed check: upon the great abuse of liberty which several, of the States have practiced, and which they, mnnifest too much purpose to continue. The ‘ffinal clause of the section, providing that no State shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws, is so obviously right, that one would imagine nobody could be found so hard hearted and cruel as not to recognize its simple justice. 'Is it not a 'disgrace to a free country that the poor and v the weak members of society should be denied equal justice and equal protection at the hands of the law? Who can look straight at the fact till he realizes its full meaning and its full, meaniiess without droppin his eyes and hanging his head in shame? his whole section is sound in all its parts and in every particular.:It appeals irresistibly to the democratic instinct of the people, and it will be a jewel of. eauty when placed in the Constitution of the dountry. The 2nd section is in these words: “Si:0.2.Representativos shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding lndians not taxed. But whan the right to vote at any election for the choiceo elect States. Representatives in Congress, the executive andjudicial officersofa Stat or the members of the Legislature thereof, is demo to any of the male inhabitants of such state, bein: 21 years of age and citilens of the U.S., or in any way abridged, except for participation ip rebellion or other crime. the basis of representation ther in shall beredueedin the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole num ger ot malecitizens21 yearsof age in such into. The substantial, practical meaniii of which is, that those States which disfranc iise their colored population shall have them struck out of their basis of representationin Congress, lessening thereby their number of Representatives, are for President and VEEP and, by consequence, lessening to the same extent their uotas of electors for President and VEEP. Takin fora basis the census of 1860, and the present law regulating the number of Representatives, the exact state of the case is as follows: the number ofslnves was 3,950,000; the legal quota for a representutive in congress is 127,000; from which it results than the unvoting, manumitted slave population, as matters now stand, would yield 31 members of congress and 31 electois of President and VEEP. In addition to this, the curiously absurd feature of the case is to be observed, that in consequence of the abolition of slaver, the 2/5th s of the slaves who were excluded, would now be included in the basis of representation thus actually adding not less than 11 Representatives and residential electors to the strength of the late slaveliolding States: that is before the rebellion there were 20, now there would be 31 Representatives and electors, resting upon no better foundation than the disfranchis colored people of the South. That a power so great as this great enough in all doubtful cases to determine the destiny of the Republic by electing its President and controlling the popular branch of its Legislature that such an 0 ions, aristocratic power, based on not one solitary vote among the people, and controlled too, by those States which have delu ed the country in blood in order to overthrow the Republic; that such a power, I say, so grossly‘unjust, so disgraceful to free institutions, and so dangerous to the country, should be permitted to continue in the system as a means of strengthening the hands of the late enemies of the Republic, is a thing too absurd, too out of joint with all the logic, justice, and patriotism of the case, to be conceived of as possible on any other hypothesis than that the loyal people of the country shall become stricken with judicial blindness. It is idle to so the defeated insurgents are impoverished an weak. They have an ally in the North whose name is legion. The exrebel of the South and the cop erhead' democrat of theNorth will rally on er one banner, gatherinspiration from one imulse, and strain every nerve to get control oft e Government. In view of all that is past, the sentiment is higher than mere rty, which prompts me to say that the ascen ency of this coalition would be dangerous to the lte public. Upon all acunts and by every just means such a public c lamity ought to be prevented. Now the eminent merit of this 2nd section is, that while it will serve the practical purpose of greatly narrowing the power of the disilloyal and dongerous element of the country, it is pal ably Just in itself, and at the same time p ainly tends to a still higher justice. Who will be imudent enough to say, that if a State with holdis suffrage from a large portion of her people they ought nevertheless, in point of very right, to be numbered in her basis of representation? No just minded man can say it. And who does not perceive that when such disfraneliised persons are stricken from the count, the State is placed under an inducement of interest to enlarge her political power by elevating her political Justice ‘.' This section of the amendment, in View of all the circumstances of the country, is, in my judgment, a most wise, righteous, and necessar measure. The following is the 3rd section of the amendment: “Sac. 3. No person shall bea Senatoror Represcpt ntive in conress, or elector of Presidentand VEEP, or old any office, civil or military. under the U.S or under any State. who having previously taken an oath as nmeiuber of Congress, or asan officer of the U.S., or as a member of any State Legislature, or asan executiveor judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the U.S shall haveengagedin insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfortto the enemiesthereof But Congress may. by a vote of 2/3rds of eachHouse, removesuch disability." Small room for comment here. It would be unfit, unjust, and indecent in the last degree, to allow these classes of ringleaders in treason to exercise any official control over the country. Members of Congress, graduates of WestPoint, gratuitously educated and nurtured by the nation, officers of the U.S. generally, Governorsifitate judges, and State legislstors, who having sworn to support the constitution, did then break their plig ited faith and urgeon the recent infernal rebellion against the life of the Republic, are excluded from office, unless Congress shall by a vote of 2/3rds ofeach House remove the disability. Here is mild rigor and humane leniency; rigor enough to make treason odious that once favorite idea of the President; rigor enoogh to teach the value ofan oath, and the necessity of official patriotism in all our borders; leniency enough to relax the rule, if by future repentance and good conduct, particular persons or classes may appear to merit such indulgence. The moral senseof the country sorely demands that some punishment shouldy be visited upon so great a public crime as the late rebellion; the safety of the country surely demands that its olh'ces should not be filled by the prime movers of the rebellion; and thus public jus tice and public safety lend their united sanction to the measure under review. I proceed to the 4th section of the amendment: SeC, 4.The validity of the public debt of the U.D. authorised bylaw. including debts incurred forpaymento. f pensionsand bountiesfor servicesin suppressing insurrection or rebellion shall not be gliaictsetisohnaed. as But mneeiotrhepra the U.S. bnliogrataionny incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the U.S., or any claim for the lossor emancipntion of my slave: butall such debts.obligations, and claims shall beheld illegal and void." Beyond all question this is a vitally necessary measure; the happiness and safety of the people demand that the cat material interests it provides for should be made perfectly secure. That these interests are perectly secure without it, it is idle to pretend. That without such a check, many ifiiot all the late rebel States will fasten their respective rebel debts on theirpeople, is morally certain; that the pol icy of these same States will be to obtain some compensation for slaves manomitted by force and‘against their will, is equally certain; that another part of their policy will be to deny the justice of being taxed to pay the war debt of the nation and the pensions of Union soldiers, while their own war debt is repudiated and their own soldiers pensionless, is likewise certain; that, failing to get recognition of their own debt and pensions for their own soldiers, and y for their manumitted slaves, they will do allathe can to unsettle the national debt, and to re the Union soldier of his pension, is none the less certain. The nature of man and the interests and passions by which he is actuated make these conclusions exceedingly probable. When we add to this the powerfnl alliance the late rebel States will have in the North, and think of the corrupting power of an enormous monetary interest strug ling for recognition, these considerations, when summed up and taken as a whole, make it perfect! apparent that the safet and well being oft 0 country loudly demon the adoption of this security. The following is the 5th and last clause of the amendment: “Site. 5. The Congress shall have powertoent‘orce, bY npproprim legislation, the provisions of this article." This section was of course netessary in order to carry the proposed article into practical effect. Now, when we look at this amendment in the aggregate, and reflect how just and reason able are its several provisions; when we consider the great liberties which are better secured by the 1st section liberties to which the 'honor of the nation is pledged, and which no rational man can gainsay; when we consider the plain, undeniable political justice of that more equal basis of representation which is provided for in the 2nd section; when he look at the 3rd section, by“ which, in conformity to national justice and national safety, the for sworn ringleaders of the late rebellion are most righteoiisly excluded from the honors of official station in a country which the have striven through have c and blood to destroy; when we examine the 4th section, and see what an ample shield of protection it throws over the otherwise imperiled material interests of the count; when we consider how humane and mo erate is the whole arrangement punishing lightly the prime actors in the rebellion, and punishing not at all the misled rebel masses; and finally, when we reflect how fatally necessary are the great features of the plan to the safety and well being of the nation, I feel the utmost assurance that it will be triumphantly ratified by the voice of the people. So strong is it, so just is it, so necessary is it that whoever stands before it and tries to defeat its adoption will be swept like a dry leaf before a western hurricane! After all that has happened by this iniquitous rebellion after the tears and the blood that have flowed, the wreck of property and the grinding debt iled high on the shoulders of the nation on or God I declare it does not now rest with traitors, apos States, demagogucs and trimmers, to so sha e affairs at this criticaljuncture, that the Republic shall be left insecure, and the people be robbed at last of the price of their blood! The amendment will and must be carried through. liib erty, patriotism, public safety, justice to the martvred dead and justice to the whole country, demand its adoptionin a voice of thunder! When ratified an conformed to in good faith by the revolted States respectively, they will be in a condition to resume their cast 0!? governing power in the Union, on terms at once safe to the country and humane and just to themselves. That the loyal nation, after crushing a rebellion which shook the Republic to its center, has now a constitutional right to require of its late enemies such conditions precedent, as a basis for its own future quiet and security, is a proposition too utterly plain to admit of serious argument. The power to put down the rebellion carried with it as a necessary sequence the power to prescribe a safe order for the future. After all this terrible hubbub of war, after marshaling 2 millions of men to the field, and fighting 100s of bloody battles, to be told that we have now no constitutional right to insist upon proper conditions of safety for the future, before admitting the defeated rebellion to power again is an assumption so basely absurd, and so absurdly base, that I fling it from me with the contempt it merits. Most true, representation is a sacred right in a free Governhient. But, when States combine to other in a Government like this, and drenc the land with blood in their mad effort to OVerthrow the Republic, it is not. true, that the very moment their flag of treason goes down in the field, they have a 11' ht to march their representative men into the councils of the nation! Some little breathing time, some decent interval for looking over the field and arranging the terms of a safe future, is certainly the most natural and the thost reasonable thing in the world under the extraordinary circumstances of the case. That such temporary delay, for such just and necessary purposes, is an infringement of the real rig it of representation, can be seen only by the most inveterate of demo ogues. The difference between the plan of Congress, as presented in this Reconstruction Amendment, and the plan of the President, as present edin whatistermed his “policy, ” may be stated in one brief sentence: all that is contained in the 1st is missing in the 2nd. That great security for civil liberty provided for in the 1st section of the amendment, to which the honor of the nation is committed, and which has been so richly earned by the suffering and the blood of its poor people, finds no place in the President’s plan. ‘hnt plainly just and democratic, basis of representation, provided for in the 2nd section, by which t late southern traitor will not be allowed in future to wield nearli twice the political power of the northern loya ist, finds no place in the President’s plan. That most just provision of the 3rd section. by which the perjiired leaders of the rebellion will be effectually debarred from holding office and making laws for the loyal people of the country, finds no place in the President’s lan. That wise and necessary provision of the ourth section, making inviolable the national debt and securely protecting the people from rebel debts and immense impending claims for man umitted slaves. finds no place in the President’s plan. All these great matters are fully provided for and permanently adjusted in the scheme of Congress none of them in that of the President. Surely here is a difference wide enough to arrest the attention of the way faring man, though a fool and running as he reads. Allis made secure on the one hand, all is left insecure on the other. Here, sir, I might rest; but I am loath to close without adverting, though in the briefest possible manner. to the great ideas and principles which should enter into the public li e, and mold the future Civil Policy of our coniitry. 1. The 1st grand political idea is, that the Republic should be contemplated as an indis soluble whole; all its powers should be cheer fully respected and obeyed; and the citizen of every State should feel a yet larger distinction in bein a citizen of the U.S. 2. TOStates ought to be regarded as inde structible members of the Republic, and all their rights should be sacredly respected. These 2 ideas, taken in just combination, will guard against undue States rights on the one hand, and undue centralization on the other. Nature supplies as with a sublime and beautiful analogy to our political system. As the sun presides over the great movements of the solar field, holding each planet in its proper orbit, so each lanet in turn presides over the things whicli) belong peculiarly to itself. The destruction of the son would send the planets madly from their spheres. The destruction of the planets would rifle the sys tem of all its beauty and variety. We should adhere with equal tenacity to the indissolu bility of the Republic and the indestructibility of the States; and all the rights and powers appropriate to each, should be regargedas indispensable to the health and well being of the entire system. 8. The Administration of the Government of the Republic should be lifted high above all seetional or local partiality; and the official men who administer it, though elected or appointed from local districts, should stand for the equal rights and well being of the whole country. 4. The people of eve part should cultivate kind and respectful feeings toward the people of every other part of the Republic; and their representative men should encourage the growth of these sentiments. 5. The true Democratic Idea should be so cultivated, that all the liberties and humanities of our institutions and laws should find a vital exression in the s here of our social life. Truedemocracy, iketroereligion, recognizes the inherent and immeasurable value of man, and of all men. I fear that this great scatiment finds, as yet, a better expression in our declarations, bills of rights, and brave public utterances, than in the core and habit of our private, practical life. We still look rather at the accidents of the man his wealth, his station, his factitious advantage than at the man himself. The divine genius of democracy willgrad equally remedy this, and bring our social life more completely under the influence of that broad humanity which we profess as a public theory. The leper must be cleansed and healed and made equal to a king in American society. Lazarus, scorned by the passer by, and licked by the dogs, must be washed and renovated and advanced to a.full peership with the rich est denizen of Gotham. 0 Democracy! excel lent benefactor of mankind, this is th work! Th0ii li in thy name had men and mishedmen have done the work of devils, placing their feet upon their brotherYs neck, laying the lash and the gyve n on thy altar as the symbols of thy genius, an striving might and main and through seas of blood to rend in twain thy temple of liberty, yet. blessed band maiden of humanity, art thou holy and from God! These false ones have known thee no more than those knew Christ who burned their brother man to ashes with green wood for very love of the Lord! 6. Order combined with Progress is a political formula which ought to be appropriated by every American citizen; order for the permanent preservation of all that is good; progress for the remedy of all that is em! or iin perfect in the Republic. Thus the stability oft esys teamwill be assured on the one hand, and its growth and perfection on the other. 7. As a people, we ought to cultivate just, generous, and magnanimous feelings toward all the other peoples of the earth; entering into appreciative sympathy with their peculiar genius; aiding them all we properly can in their struggles for liberty; and) recognizing at its fullest value the contribution of each to the common civilization of the race. By occupying this high moral position before the nations, we shall draw to us the well wishes and the affection of mankind, and aid, in the highest possible degree, the growth of that larger liberty, and that cosmopolitan civilization which are dawning upon the world. 8. As a means of counteracting the influence of climate upon character, and preventing the development of Provincial Centers in a country so great in area, a very important part of policy is to encourage the most intimate and the cheapest possible Intercommunication extending in every direction, and from center to circumference of the Republic. Not less than 3 such centers have manifested themselves already, though in different degrees in the South, in NewEngland, andin the west. These results have been produced in part by causes in dependent of slavery, and having nothing to do with Puritan and Cavalier. The assemblage of physical causes in the South, on the Missis sippi plain, and in NewEngland, have certainly a tendency to produce modified types of character; and these in turn conduce to modified social, and political opinions. The general dif fusion of right Ideas, combined with a systemof Intercommunication which shall multiply commercial relations, and translate the people frequently and nunierously from part to part of 0 republic, will hold these natural tendencies within such limits, that they will contribute to the richness and variety of the national enius, without endangering the integrity of the man., 9. Finally, and most important of all, Edu cation should be made universal in the Republic; and in one important respect it should correspond to our political system. As we have a central Government for the whole Republic, and State governments for the subordinate parts, so the education of the national mind, which supports this complexsystem, should be unitary as to certain great general elements of culture, and diverse as to the rest. The unity of such a system of education would constitute us one natiom in thought, while its diver city would break up our culture into as many varieties as there are States. Thus the popu lar mind of the whole country would become harmoniously adapted only institutions, State and National, and etnyt em up with all the force 0’ early habit and instinctive affection. I am persuaded thnta profound improVGMOM, in the direction here indicated, is needed in our sys tem, orrather no system, of National Education. such are the cardinal elements of a permanent future Civil Policy for the country. If buty tolerably observed, they will conduct our republic to an inconceivable measure of greatness and power; and, what is of infinite! more worth, they will make it an unequale blessing to the countless millions who shall dwell beneath its protecting wing, and to the more numerous millions upon whom it shall shed its ameliorating influence. Sir. as there is a time for all things, so there are things which are appropriate to each period of time. Late the martial drum boat was heard through all our borders, and the deep throated cannon was dragged to fields of carnage and death. War, furious, relentless, consuming war, was then the duty of the hour made its duty in order that the Republic might not be blotted from the map of nationq. After the most tremendous conflict of the age if not of history, the flag of‘treason and slavery went down before the banner of the Republic. The smoke has cleared away from the battle field; the moldering dead, sown thick as the leaves of the forest, sleep quietly in the long battle trenchcs where they fell; the reen grass of summer is made greener by the blood that enriched the soil. 0, God! how revolting is the thought, that the coming harvest of such a sowin should be prematurely blighted by the same and that cast the seed! that the people which gave its children to the slaughter, and made itself immortal by its heroic endurance and its deeds of valor, should now prove itself incompetent to make secure and fruitful the eace it has conquered at so great a cost! It is impossible ! It is impossible! There is too much intelligence, and patriotism, and nobleness ot'inind and heart in this great people, to allow such an ignoble and detestable fact to have a place in their history! The imperative public duty that now lies next our hand will lie performed! The amendment proposed by this Congress as a basis of safe antipermonent pacification so just to the Nation, so just to the South, and so just in itself will be sustained and placed in the Constitution of the Republic. Then the country made secure from the perils which still threaten it every star restored to more than its former luster in the azure field of the national esentcheon we shall move upon the future with firm and assured footstep, meeting, as I trust in God successfully, the ever new and momentous duties which that future shall bring.