in relation to measures to be adopted for the purpose of materially increasing the permanent fund of the University.

The last Legislature enacted a law "to encourage the manufacture of salt in the State of Michigan," and by its provisions exempted from taxation, for any purpose, all property, real and personal, used for the purpose of boring for, and manufacturing that article; and at the same time provided for the payment from the Treasury of the State of a bounty of ten cents per bushel for all salt manufactured. The act, no doubt, stimulated explorations considerably, and with the best results. It is no longer doubtful that we have excellent facilities, and abundant saline waters, for this manufacture. Appropriate encouragement is wise, but the bounty is evidently much too large, being, in fact, it is said, fully equal to the entire cost of manufacturing the salt. I recommend you either greatly to reduce, or entirely abolish, this bounty, as you think most conducive to the public interest.

In pursuance of the act of Congress granting the Swamp Lands to the State, the last Legislature provided for the drainage and reclamation of those lands by means of State Roads and Ditches. This act settled, and I think beneficially for the State, the question of the disposition of the lands which had long agitated the public mind. The act provided for the laying out and establishment, by Commissioners, of ten roads, and required the appointment of three Commissioners upon each of them. This act went directly into effect, and the Commissioners were appointed by my predecessor, and have been acting. It is thought that there may be danger, that among so large a number of Commissioners, the fund may be unnecessarily encroached upon by expenses of the commissions. I recommend to you to consider whether the work might not be more economically, and still quite as well done, either by a single Commissioner for each road, or by one or two commissions to have charge of all the roads. The experience of the State, in the disposition and substantial wasting of the five hundred thousand acres of Internal Improvement Lands heretofore, ought to teach

us great care and caution. If judiciously managed, the proceeds of the Swamp Lands will be of immense advantage to the regions in which they lie.

The Act, approved February 14, 1859, "to provide a Military Fund, in aid of the volunteer uniformned militia," and appropriating for that object, the sum of three thousand dollars each year, has produced a most beneficial effect. Thus stimulated by the countenance and aid of the State, a considerable number of volunteer companies has been formed and well equipped, and the organization of the militia, which was almost abandoned, has been revived and placed upon a good footing. I recommend that the yearly appropriation for this object, be materially increased in amount. The United States supports but a very small standing army, and the great reliance of the government to defend itself against foreign enemies, and to put down domestic insurrection, is upon the militia of the States. It is nei ther safe nor wise, to allow the organization and discipline of the militia to fall into discredit or disuse. The military spirit of the people ought to be kept up, and their confidence in their ability to bear arms and defend themselves, should be fostered. In point of expense also, it is much less burdensome to the people to pay a reasonable amount to support volunteer companies, than to call out the whole body liable to bear arms, as was the old method. Besides, the volunteer organization is much more effective, and forms a nucleus for a larger force, always to be relied upon.

Gentlemen of the two Houses:-While we are citizens of the State of Michigan, and as such deeply devoted to her interests and honor, we have a still prouder title. We are also citizens of the United States of America. By this title, we are known among the nations of the earth. In remote quarters of the globe, where the names of the States are unknown, the flag of the great Republic, the banner of the stars and stripes, honors and protects the citizen. In whatever concerns the honor, the prosperity and the perpetuity of this great government, we are

deeply interested. The people of Michigan are loyal to that government-faithful to its Constitution and its laws. Under it they have had peace and prosperity; and under it they mean to abide to the end.

Feeling a just pride in the glorious history of the past, they will not renounce the equally glorious hopes of the future. But whether in peace or war, they will rally around the standards of the nation and defend its integrity and its constitution, with fidelity.

The existence of the government is threatened, not by enemies from without, but by traitors from within. The State of South Carolina, possessing a free white population of less than three hundred thousand, of all ages and sexes, has assumed to dissolve the national government. By a convention called under State authority, and without consulting any other State or people, and without the least discussion which seems to have been interdicted, she passed an ordinance annulling the laws and Constitution of the United States. In her own cherished phrase, she has seceded from the Union. If it could be properly done, I presume the country, generally, would be willing to let that restless, heady little nation, retire from the confederacy forever. But that cannot be, without admitting the right of secession to exist in all the States. This done, and no government remains to us; but only a voluntary association of States, dissolvable at the pleasure of any of them. If South Carolina may of right secede, then may also New York and Louisiana, thus cutting off the free right of way, of the entire North-west to the ocean, in both directions. The doctrine cannot be admitted. Self-preservation, if no other reason, would compel us to resist it. But the doctrine has no foundation in fact or reason. It is said, that a State having entered voluntarily into the Union, may also voluntarily, and of right, withdraw whenever such State may think its rights are no longer protected, or its interests secured, by the connection. And the State is itself, the sole judge in this respect. The argument is altogether fallacious-at war with every just idea of compact.

If it were admitted that the Constitution and government of the United States is a mere voluntary compact of sovereign States, still it would not follow, that the compact might be at any time dissolved by any one of the contracting parties. That would necessarily depend on the terms of the compact itself. If the compact by its terms, or by manifest implication, was intended to be perpetual, then it could not be dissolved without the consent of all the contracting parties.

The Constitution of the United States, if a compact at all, is one of government in the term of its continuance, without limit, and in its powers sovereign. It is also by its terms "the supreme law of the land, and the judges in every State are bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding." If the State of South Carolina regards this Constitution as a contract or agreement between States, then she is bound in good faith to keep it according to its conditions. She is bound to submit her grievances, if she has any, to the Congress established by the Constitution, in which she has an equal voice with the other States; and to abide by the decisions and acts of that body, so long as they conform to the fundamental law, and are within its granted powers. If the Congress shall usurp powers not granted, then the injured parties must resort to the Courts for redress. But the Constitution of the United States of America is not in any sense a compact or league between independent sovereign States. On the contrary, it is a foundation of government established by the people of the United States, as a whole, perpetual in its character, and possessing all the elements of sovereign power and nationality. This is plain from the instrument itself, and is fully stated by the preamble, as follows: "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution, for the United States of America."

It is true, that the State organizations were availed of for the purpose of ratification; but it was only as a convenient method to ascertain the wishes of the people. By resolution of Congress on the 28th day of September, 1787, it was directed, that the the report of the Convention, which, included a Constitution for the United States, should be "transmitted to the several Legislatures, in order to be submitted to a Convention of delegates chosen in each State by the people thereof.

The Constitution of the Federal Government, and the laws of Congress enacted under its authority, therefore operate upon individuals, and not upon States, in the same manner and with the like effect, as if there were no States. The Constitution of the United States was formed by the people of the whole country, in the same manner, and with the same effect as the State governments were formed in their respective jurisdictions. The States are independent of each other in all respects, and they are independent of the National Government in all the powers not granted by the people to that government, and as to those they are entirely subject. There is, then, no right of secession in a State, but the State has the exclusive soverignty over its domestic institutions and laws, and in respect to these the Federal government has no authority whatever. It results, that the purely local and domestic institution of slavery, wherever it exists in the States of this confederacy is wholly beyond the interference or control of the national government. In respect to the common Territories, however, the case is entirely different. The Constitution of the United States deals only with the people of the States, and has made no provision for the government of the Territories, unless the section authorizing Congress "to make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States," should be held to be such a provision. The power to acquire and hold territory, carries with it the power to govern. From whatever source derived, therefore, the sovereignty over the Territories resides wholly in the General Government, and this is also in accordance with uniform practice. Slavery may be