with the Constitution, but will certainly,
if carried out, produce immediate and irreparable injury to the organic
structure of the Government, and if there be, neither judicial remedy
for the wrongs it inflicts nor power in the people to protect themselves
without the official aid of their elected defender--if, for instance,
the legislative department should pass an act even through all the forms
of law to abolish a coordinate department of the Government--in such a
case the President must take the high responsibilities of his office and
save the life of the nation at all hazards. The so-called reconstruction
acts, though as plainly unconstitutional as any that can be imagined,
were not believed to be within the class last mentioned. The people were
not wholly disarmed of the power of self-defense. In all the Northern
States they still held in their hands the sacred right of the ballot,
and it was safe to believe that in due time they would come to the
rescue of their own institutions. It gives me pleasure to add that the
appeal to our common constituents was not taken in vain, and that my
confidence in their wisdom and virtue seems not to have been misplaced.

It is well and publicly known that enormous frauds have been perpetrated
on the Treasury and that colossal fortunes have been made at the public
expense. This species of corruption has increased, is increasing, and
if not diminished will soon bring us into total ruin and disgrace. The
public creditors and the taxpayers are alike interested in an honest
administration of the finances, and neither class will long endure the
large-handed robberies of the recent past. For this discreditable state
of things there are several causes. Some of the taxes are so laid as
to present an irresistible temptation to evade payment. The great sums
which officers may win by connivance at fraud create a pressure which is
more than the virtue of many can withstand, and there can be no doubt
that the open disregard of constitutional obligations avowed by some of
the highest and most influential men in the country has greatly weakened
the moral sense of those who serve in subordinate places. The expenses
of the United States, including interest on the public debt, are more
than six times as much as they were seven years ago. To collect and
disburse this vast amount requires careful supervision as well as
systematic vigilance. The system, never perfected, was much disorganized
by the "t