Chosen by the body of the people, under the assurance that my administration would be devoted to the welfare of the whole country, and not to support any particular section or merely local interest, I this day renew the declarations I have heretofore made, and proclaim my fixed determination to maintain, to the extent of my ability, the government in its original purity, and to adopt as the basis of my public policy, those great republican doctrines which constitute the strength of our national existence.

In reference to the army and navy, lately employed with so much distinction on active service, care shall be taken to ensure the highest condition of efficiency; and, in furtherance of that object, the military and naval schools, sustained by the liberality of congress, shall receive the special attention of the executive.

As American freemen, we cannot but sympathize in all efforts to extend the blessings of civil and political liberty; but, at the same time, we are warned by the admonitions of history, and the voice of our own beloved Washington, to abstain from entangling alliances with foreign nations. In all disputes between conflicting governments, it is our interest, not less than our duty, to remain strictly neutral; while our geographical position, the genius of our institutions and our people, and the advancing spirit of civilization, and, above all, the dictates of religion, direct us to the cultivation of peaceful and friendly relations with all other powers. It is to be hoped that no international question can now arise which a government, confident in its own strength, and resolved to protect its own just rights, may not settle by wise negotiation; and it eminently becomes a government like our own, founded on the morality and intelligence of its citizens, and upheld by their affections, to exhaust every resort of honourable diplomacy before appealing to arms. In the conduct of our foreign relations, I shall conform to these views, as I believe them essential to the best interests and true honour of the country.

The appointing power vested in the President, imposes delicate and onerous duties. So far as it is possible to be informed, I shall make honesty, capacity. and fidelity, indispensable prerequisites to the bestowal of office, and the absence of either of these qualities shall be deemed sufficient cause for removal.

It shall be my study to recommend such constitutional measures to congress as may be necessary and proper to secure encouragement and protection to the great interests of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures; to improve our rivers and harbours; to provide for the speedy extinguishment of the public debt; to enforce a strict accountability on the part of all officers of the government, and the utmost economy in all public expenditures. But it is for the wisdom of congress itself, in which all legislative powers are vested by the constitution, to regulate these and other matters of domestic policy. I shall look with confidence to the enlightened patriotism of that body, to adopt such measures of conciliation as may harmonize conflicting interests, and tend to perpetuate that union which should be the paramount object of our hopes and affections. In any action calculated to promote an object so near the heart of every one who truly loves his country, I will zealously unite with the co-ordinate branches of the government. In conclusion, I congratulate you, my fellow-citizens, upon the high state of prosperity to which the goodness of Divine Providence has conducted our common country. Let us invoke a continuance of the same protecting care, which has led us from small beginnings to the eminence we this day occupy, and let us seek to deserve that continuance, by prudence and moderation in our councils; by welldirected attempts to assuage the bitterness which too often marks unavoidable differences of opinion; by the promulgation and practice of just and liberal principles; and by an enlarged patriotism, which shall acknowledge no limits but those of our own wide-spread republic.

SPEECH OF THE QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN,

AT THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, FEB. 1, 1849.

My Lords and Gentlemen.-The period being arrived at which the business of parliament is usually resumed, I have called you together for the discharge of your important duties.

It is satisfactory to me to be enabled to state that both in the north and in the south of Europe the contending parties have consented to a suspension of arms for the purpose of negotiating terms of peace.

The hostilities carried on in the island of Sicily were attended with circumstances so revolting, that the British and French admirals were impelled, by motives of humanity, to interpose and stop the further effusion of blood.

I have availed myself of the interval thus obtained to propose, in conjunction with France, to the king of Naples, an arrangement calculated to produce a permanent settlement of affairs in Sicily.

The negotiation on these matters is still pending. It has been my anxious endeavour, in offering my good offices to the various contending powers, to prevent the extension of a calamitous war, and to lay the foundations of lasting and honourable peace.

It is my constant desire to maintain with all foreign states most friendly relations.

As soon as the interests of the public service will permit, I shall direct the papers connected with these transactions to be laid before you.

A rebellion of a formidable character has broken out in the Punjaub, and the governor-general of India has been compelled, for the preservation of the peace of the country, to assemble a considerable force, which is now engaged in military operations against the insurgents; but the tranquillity of British India has not been affected by these unprovoked disturbances.

I again commend to your attention the restrictions imposed on commerce by the navigation laws.

If you shall find that these laws are, in whole or in part, unnecessary for the maintenance of our maritime power, while they fetter trade and industry, you will no doubt deem it right to repeal or modify their provisions.

Gentlemen of the House of Commons:-I have directed the estimates for the service of the year to be laid before you. They will be framed with the most anxious attention to a wise economy. The present aspect of affairs has enabled me to make large reductions on the estimates of last year.

My Lords and Gentlemen:-I observe with satisfaction that this portion of the united kingdom has remained tranquil amidst the convulsions which have disturbed so many parts of Europe. The insurrection in Ireland has not been renewed, but a spirit of disaffection still exists, and I am compelled, to my great regret, to ask for a continuance, for a limited time, of those powers which, in the last session, you deemed necessary for the preservation of the public tranquillity.

I have great satisfaction in stating that commerce is reviving from those shocks which, at the commencement of last session, I had to deplore.

The condition of the manufacturing districts is likewise more encouraging than it has been for a considerable period.

It is also gratifying to me to observe that the state of the revenue is one of progressive improvement.

I have to lament, however, that another failure in the potato crop has caused very severe distress in some parts of Ireland.

The operation of the laws for the relief of the poor in Ireland will properly be a subject of your inquiry, and any measures by which those laws may be

beneficially amended, and the condition of the people may be improved, will receive my cordial assent.

It is with pride and thankfulness that I advert to the loyal spirit of my people, and that attachment to our institutions which has animated them during the period of commercial difficulty, deficient production of food, and political revolution.

I look to the protection of Almighty God for favour in our continued progress, and I trust you will assist me in upholding the fabric of the constitution, founded as it is upon the principles of freedom and justice.

MESSAGE OF THE MEXICAN PRESIDENT,

AT THE OPENING OF THE CONGRESS ON THE FIRST OF JANUARY.

GENTLEMEN:

Favoured by the hopes of the country, by a general feeling of the necessity of public order, and by a tranquillity which our revolutions had long forbidden, you are once more about to begin the constitutional period of your labours. A happy change in the state of things is realizing itself, such as assures, under those auspices of law and of concord which we have, a further and regular melioration. I congratulate you, gentlemen, most sincerely, that this assembly of the people's representatives begins under circumstances so flattering, and, besides, so favourable to the successful discharge of your legislative duties.

Since the close of your last session I have nothing very notable to announce to you. The government, although contending with incessant obstacles, has gone forward in a course both steady and entirely constitutional. In the several states the same spirit prevails, and much is doing toward the reorga nization of the different public business and private pursuits, which were destroyed or paralyzed.

Faithful to its principles, the government will labour unweariedly to carry forward those which it proclaimed in Queretaro, reduced to this single point -"good administration." The papers which shall be laid before you by the secretaries of the several departments will let you see what progress has been made toward accomplishing that great object. Much is yet to be done; and to you it belongs to establish, by wise and just laws, the foundations of an administrative system that shall not permit change and corruption, frequent and fatal.

To-morrow, the treasury department will submit to the congress the esti mates of the public expenditures for the coming year; and I may, in advance, felicitate you upon the performance of a duty, about to be perfected by you, which has never been executed, except once, in the long period of twentyseven years. The estimates once settled by your vote, the treasury will assume a clear and regular orderliness, and the taxes will be paid without repugnance, because it will be known that they are spent in conformity to law. I can assure you, gentlemen, that it is not only not impossible, but quite practicable and even easy, to square our public expenditures with our receipts, and the public debt will be paid with punctuality, and must become a fountain of credit and confidence, if the idea be adopted of establishing a national bank, which, aiding the financial operations of the government, shall banish that confusion in which we have hitherto wandered, without any body's being able to tell what revenues belonged to the treasury and what to its creditors.

Free from any such serious difficulty as might interrupt the friendly relations in which we stand with foreign nations; our administration of justice making with success efforts to render secure all the guarantees of the person

and of property; our public expenditures met by our receipts; the vicious organization of our army reformed, and a militia raised; you can, gentlemen, perceive that our present condition is far from that which, all probabilities considered, was to be expected from us. Let us, then, not lament our past disorders, unless that we may guard against them henceforth. If they recur, it will not be the people's fault; the people desire nothing but rest and tranquillity.

Let us do all that we can to accomplish that popular vow; let the efforts and the feelings of congress and of government be the same, for the principles of moderation and of justice, for a sincere unitedness among the citizens, and for the preservation of that peace within and without, which we owe to the bounty of Divine Providence.

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE NEW YORK COLONIZATION

SOCIETY.

DEVONPORT, Dec. 6, 1848.

My Dear Sir:-Since my return from Paris my engagements have been so numerous and pressing that I have not been able to send you even a line to advise you of my doings. I am happy now, however, to inform you that I have succeeded in England quite to my satisfaction. The English and French governments especially have been exceedingly kind. I have concluded with the British government a treaty of amity and commerce, which places the republic upon the footing of the most favoured nations.

Upon an application which I had the honour of making to her majesty's government, they have kindly ordered the British commodore on the African coast to render to the republic the necessary assistance to enable the Liberian authorities to remove from their recently acquired territory at New Cestors the slavers established there. The French government have also placed at our disposal two vessels for the same purpose.

We have every prospect of obtaining from her majesty's government the necessary assistance to enable us to secure the territory of Gallenas. They have also promised to present to the republic a small vessel, to be fitted and sent out soon, to be employed against slavers on the Liberian coast, which will enable us, with the pecuniary aid to purchase Gallenas, no doubt thoroughly and effectually to abolish the inhuman traffic in slaves from the entire coast lying between Sierra Leone and Cape Palmas.

At Brussels I found the government so engaged as not to be able to devote any time to my business, unless I could remain there several days, which I could not conveniently do. I have not been able to visit any of the German states. Chevalier Bunsen, the Prussian minister in London, informed me that his government had been notified of the change which had been effected in the political relations of Liberia, and that he was authorized to say that the Prussian government would follow the example of England and France, and recognise the independence of the republic. I have addressed a letter through their embassy at London to the Prussian court, asking a recognition, and proposing a commercial treaty. I have every assurance that it will be favourably received, but I must leave Europe without arranging any thing definitely with that court. A reply to my communication will be forwarded to Liberia.

I embark to-morrow with my family on board her majesty's ship Amazon, in which vessel the government have been kind enough to grant me a passage for my own country. Therefore I leave England under many, very many obligations to her majesty's government for the kindness and attention I have received at their hands. Not only am I indebted to all the officers of the British government with whom I have had to do; private individuals also have VOL. II.-MARCH, 1849.

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rendered me important services. Dr. Hodgkin, Samuel Gurney, G. Ralston, George Thompson, and Petty Vaughan, Esq., have been unwearied in their efforts to serve me. Indeed, sir, to name all from whom I have received great attention and kindness during my visit to this country would be impossible.

I have every reason to believe that my visit to Europe will result in great good to Africa in general, and to Liberia in particular. I found much ignorance here with regard to Liberia, and the operations of the society, and many sincere good friends of the African race totally misinformed with respect to the real objects of the Colonization Society, and, in consequence, prejudiced against it. You, however, are aware of these prejudices, and of the arguments used to sustain them. During my sojourn here I have conversed freely with many who hitherto have been violent in their opposition to the society, and think in many instances I have succeeded in correcting their erroneous impressions.

I cannot fail to mention that in Paris I received great assistance and attention from that unwearied friend to liberty, Hon. George Washington Lafayette. He did all in his power, backed by all the members of his family, to facilitate the objects of my mission. I am sure that it was by his assistance, and the assistance of letters furnished me by his son-in-law, Mr. Beaumont, French minister in London, to his government, that I succeeded in arranging my business so quickly in Paris.

I have not time, dear sir, to write another letter; I beg, therefore, that you will inform Rev. Messrs. M'Lain, Pinney, Tracy, and Mr. Cresson, of my doings in Europe, as far as I have been able to detail them here. When I reach home, the Lord willing, I will send you and them a full account of my proceedings. I cannot omit to mention a noble and generous act of my friend, Samuel Gurney, Esq., of London, who, when I informed him of the desire of the Liberians to secure the Gallenas, that they might extirpate the slave factories at that place, and effectually abolish the slave trade at that point, and that the natives were disposed to sell the territory, but that the consideration demanded was more than the present ability of the Liberian government to meet, pledged himself for one thousand pounds to aid them in the purchase.

I beg that you will remember me kindly to all your family. Say to Messrs. Dodge, Stokes, Altenburg, and your son Anson, that I can never forget their kindness to me during my stay in New York. I shall entertain a grateful remembrance of them as long as I live. I am also under lasting obligations to your dear daughters. I am, dear sir, yours, &c.

ANSON G. PHELPS, Esq.

J. J. ROBERTS.

MANIFESTO OF POPE PIUS IX.

"PIUS IX. TO THE ROMAN PEOPLE.

"The outrage in latter days committed against our person, and the intention openly manifested to continue these acts of violence, (which the Almighty, inspiring men's minds with sentiments of union and moderation, has prevented,) have compelled us to separate ourselves temporarily from our subjects and children, whom we love, and ever shall love.

"The reasons which have induced us to take this important step-heaven knows how painful it is to our hearts-have arisen from the necessity of our enjoying free liberty in the exercise of the sacred duties of the Holy See, as under the circumstances by which we were then afflicted, the Catholic world might reasonably doubt of the freedom of that exercise. The acts of violence of which we complain can alone be attributed to the machinations which have been used, and the measures that have been taken by a class of men degraded in the face of Europe and the world. This is the more evident, as the wrath