t punishment of the guilty.

It is to be observed that the principal appropriation made for the
Department of Justice at the last session contained the following
clause:

And for defraying the expenses which may be incurred in the
enforcement of the act approved February 28, 1871, entitled
"An act to amend an act approved May 31, 1870, entitled 'An
act to enforce the rights of citizens of the United States
to vote in the several States of this Union, and for other
purposes,'" or any acts amendatory thereof or supplementary
thereto.

It is the opinion of the Attorney-General that the expenses of these
proceedings will largely exceed the amount which was thus provided,
and I rely confidently upon Congress to make adequate appropriations
to enable the executive department to enforce the laws.

I respectfully urge upon your attention that the Congressional
elections, in every district, in a very important sense, are justly a
matter of political interest and concern throughout the whole country.
Each State, every political party, is entitled to the share of power
which is conferred by the legal and constitutional suffrage. It is the
right of every citizen possessing the qualifications prescribed by
law to cast one unintimidated ballot and to have his ballot honestly
counted. So long as the exercise of this power and the enjoyment of
this right are common and equal, practically as well as formally,
submission to the results of the suffrage will be accorded loyally and
cheerfully, and all the departments of Government will feel the
true vigor of the popular will thus expressed. No temporary or
administrative interests of Government, however urgent or weighty,
will ever displace the zeal of our people in defense of the primary
rights of citizenship. They understand that the protection of liberty
requires the maintenance in full vigor of the manly methods of free
speech, free press, and free suffrage, and will sustain the full
authority of Government to enforce the laws which are framed to
preserve these inestimable rights. The material progress and welfare
of the States depend on the protection afforded to their citizens.
There can be no peace without such protection, no prosperity without
peace, and the whole country is deeply interested in the growth and
prosperity of all its parts.

While the country has not yet reached complete unity of feeling
and reciprocal confidence between the communities so late