t is inspiring, too, to remember that no great emergency in the one
hundred and eight years of our eventful national life has ever arisen
that has not been met with wisdom and courage by the American people,
with fidelity to their best interests and highest destiny, and to the
honor of the American name. These years of glorious history have exalted
mankind and advanced the cause of freedom throughout the world, and
immeasurably strengthened the precious free institutions which we enjoy.
The people love and will sustain these institutions. The great essential
to our happiness and prosperity is that we adhere to the principles upon
which the Government was established and insist upon their faithful
observance. Equality of rights must prevail, and our laws be always and
everywhere respected and obeyed. We may have failed in the discharge of
our full duty as citizens of the great Republic, but it is consoling and
encouraging to realize that free speech, a free press, free thought,
free schools, the free and unmolested right of religious liberty and
worship, and free and fair elections are dearer and more universally
enjoyed to-day than ever before. These guaranties must be sacredly
preserved and wisely strengthened. The constituted authorities must be
cheerfully and vigorously upheld. Lynchings must not be tolerated in a
great and civilized country like the United States; courts, not mobs,
must execute the penalties of the law. The preservation of public order,
the right of discussion, the integrity of courts, and the orderly
administration of justice must continue forever the rock of safety upon
which our Government securely rests.

One of the lessons taught by the late election, which all can rejoice
in, is that the citizens of the United States are both law-respecting
and law-abiding people, not easily swerved from the path of patriotism
and honor. This is in entire accord with the genius of our institutions,
and but emphasizes the advantages of inculcating even a greater love for
law and order in the future. Immunity should be granted to none who
violate the laws, whether individuals, corporations, or communities; and
as the Constitution imposes upon the President the duty of both its own
execution, and of the statutes enacted in pursuance of its provisions, I
shall endeavor carefully to carry them into effect. The declaration of
the party now restored to power has been in the past that of "opposition
to all combinations