tement of the facts of the case and of the steps taken by
him to correct this inequality. He has exerted all the power conferred
upon him by the existing laws.

The minister of the United States at London has brought the subject to
the attention of the British Government, and is now engaged in
negotiations for the purpose of adjusting reciprocal postal arrangements
which shall be equally just to both countries. Should he fail in
concluding such arrangements, and should Great Britain insist on
enforcing the unequal and unjust measure she has adopted, it will become
necessary to confer additional powers on the Postmaster-General in order
to enable him to meet the emergency and to put our own steamers on an
equal footing with British steamers engaged in transporting the mails
between the two countries, and I recommend that such powers be
conferred.

In view of the existing state of our country, I trust it may not be
inappropriate, in closing this communication, to call to mind the words
of wisdom and admonition of the first and most illustrious of my
predecessors in his Farewell Address to his countrymen.

That greatest and best of men, who served his country so long and loved
it so much, foresaw with "serious concern" the danger to our Union of
"characterizing parties by _geographical_ discriminations--_Northern_
and _Southern_, _Atlantic_ and _Western_--whence designing men may
endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local
interests and views," and warned his countrymen against it.

So deep and solemn was his conviction of the importance of the Union and
of preserving harmony between its different parts, that he declared to
his countrymen in that address:

It is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense
value of your national union to your collective and individual
happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable
attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of
the palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its
preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest
even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned, and indignantly
frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion
of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now
link together the various parts.

After the lapse of half a century these admonitions of Was