tempt for its possession
by insurgent or other illegal combinations.

Very respectfully, yours,

ANDREW JOHNSON.

EXECUTIVE MANSION,

_Washington, D.C., November 2, 1866_.

Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON,

_Secretary of War_.

SIR: There is ground to apprehend danger of an insurrection in Baltimore
against the constituted authorities of the State of Maryland on or about
the day of the election soon to be held in that city, and that in such
contingency the aid of the United States might be invoked under the acts
of Congress which pertain to that subject. While I am averse to any
military demonstration that would have a tendency to interfere with the
free exercise of the elective franchise in Baltimore or be construed
into any interference in local questions, I feel great solicitude that
should an insurrection take place the Government should be prepared to
meet and promptly put it down. I accordingly desire you to call General
Grant's attention to the subject, leaving to his own discretion and
judgment the measures of preparation and precaution that should be
adopted.

Very respectfully, yours,

ANDREW JOHNSON.

SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.

WASHINGTON, _December 3, 1866_.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

After a brief interval the Congress of the United States resumes its
annual legislative labors. An all-wise and merciful Providence has
abated the pestilence which visited our shores, leaving its calamitous
traces upon some portions of our country. Peace, order, tranquillity,
and civil authority have been formally declared to exist throughout the
whole of the United States. In all of the States civil authority has
superseded the coercion of arms, and the people, by their voluntary
action, are maintaining their governments in full activity and complete
operation. The enforcement of the laws is no longer "obstructed in any
State by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary
course of judicial proceedings," and the animosities engendered by the
war are rapidly yielding to the beneficent influences of our free
institutions and to the kindly effects of unrestricted social and
commercial intercourse. An entire restoration of fraternal feeling
must be the earnest wish of every patriotic heart; and we will have
accomplished our grandest national achievement when, forgetting the sad
events of the past and remembering only their instructive lessons, we
resume our onwa