present condition of public affairs. The secession ordinance of South Carolina was passed on the 20th of December last, and from that period until the majesty of the Government was made manifest, immediately after you had assumed the Chief Magistracy, the conspirators against its Constitution and laws have left nothing undone to penetrate the memory of their infamy. Revenue steamers have been deliberately betrayed by their commanders, or, where treason could not be brought to consummate the defection, have been overpowered by rebel troops at the command of disloyal Governors. The Government arsenals at Little Rock, Baton Rouge, Mount Vernon, Apalachicola, Augusta, Charleston, and Lafayette, the ordnance depot at San Antonio and all the other Government works in Texas, which served as the depots of immense stores of arms and ammunition, have been surrendered by the commanders or seized by disloyal hands. Forts Macon, Caswell, Johnston, Clinch, Pulaski, Jackson, Marion, Barrancas, McRee, Morgan, Gaines, Pike, Macomb, Saint Philip, Livington, Smith, and three at Charleston; Oglethorpe Barracks, Barrancas Barracks, New Orleans Barracks, Fort Jackson on the Mississippi; the battery at Bienvenue, Dupre, and the works at Ship Island, have been successively stolen from the Government or betrayed by their commanding officers. The custom-houses at New Orleans, Mobile, Savannah, Charleston, and other important points containing vast amounts of Government funds, have been treacherously appropriated to sustain the cause of rebellion. In like manner the branch mints at New Orleans, at Charlotte, and at Dahlonega, have been illegally seized, in defiance of every principle of common honesty and of honor. The violent seizure of the U. S. Marine Hospital at New Orleans was only wanting to complete the cat-alogue of crime. The inmates, who had been disabled by devotion to their country's service, and who there had been secured a grateful asylum, were cruelly ordered to be removed, without the slightest provision being made for their support or comfort. In Texas the large forces detailed upon the frontier for the protection of the inhabitants against the attacks of marauding Indians were ignominiously deserted by their commander, Brigadier-General Twiggs. To the infamy of treason to his flag was added the crowning crime of deliberately handing over to the armed enemies of his Government all the public property instructed to his charge, thus even depriving the loyal men under his command of all means of transportation out of the State.

A striking and Honorable contrast with the recreant conduct of Brigadier-General Twiggs and other traitorous officers has been presented in the heroic and truly self-sacrificing course pursued by Major Robert Anderson and the small and gallant band of officers and men under his command at Fort Sumter, and also by Lieutenant Adam J. Slemmer, his officers and men, at Fort Pickens. In referring with strongest commendation to the conduct of these brave soldiers under the trying circumstances which surrounded them, I only echo the unanimous voice of the American people. In this connection it is a pleasurable duty to refer to the very gallant action of Lieutenant Roger Jones, at Harper's Ferry, and the handsome and successful manner in which he executed the orders of the Government at that important post.

The determination of the Government to use its utmost power to subdue the rebellion has been sustained by the unqualified approval of the whole people. Heretofore the leaders of this conspiracy have professed to regard the people of this country as incapable of making a forcible resistance to rebellion. The error of this conclusion is now being made manifest. History will record that men who in ordinary