[Sidenote:  [Seal.]]

     Done at the city of Washington, the twenty-second day of September,
     in the year of our Lord 1881, and of the independence of the United
     States the one hundred and sixth.

     Chester A. Arthur.

     By the President: 

     James G. Blaine.  Secretary of State.

President Arthur soon showed his appreciation of the responsibilities of his new office.  Knowing principles rather than persons, he subordinated individual preferences and prejudices to a well-defined public policy.  While he was, as he always had been, a Republican, he had no sympathy for blind devotion to party; he had “no friends to reward, no enemies to punish;”—­and he has been governed by those principles of liberty and equality which he inherited.  His messages to Congress have been universally commended, and even unfriendly critics have pronounced them careful and well-matured documents.  Their tone is more frank and direct than is customary in such papers, and their recommendations, extensive and varied as they have been, show that he has patiently reviewed the field of labor so sadly and so unexpectedly opened before him, and that he was not inclined to shirk the constitutional duty of aiding Congress by his suggestions and advice.  An honest man, who believes in his own principles, who follows his own convictions, and who never hesitates to avow his sentiments, he has given his views in accordance with his deliberate ideas of right.

The foreign relations of the United States have been conducted by Secretary Frelinghuysen, under the President’s direction, in a friendly spirit and when practicable with a view to mutual commercial advantages.  He has taken a conservative view of the management of the public debt, approving all the important suggestions of the secretary of the treasury, and recognizing the proper protection of American industry.  He is in favor of the great interests of labor, and opposed to such tinkering with the tariff as will make vain the toil of the industrious farmer, paralyze the arm of the sturdy mechanic, strike down the hand of the hardy laborer, stop the spindle, hush the loom, extinguish the furnace-fires, and degrade all independent toilers to the level of the poor in other lands.  The architect of his own fortune, he has a strong and abiding sympathy for those bread-winners who struggle against poverty.

The reform of the civil service has met with President Arthur’s earnest support, and his messages show that every department of the government has received his careful administration.  Following the example of Washington, he has personally visited several sections of the United States, and has especially made himself acquainted with the great problem of Indian civilization.