It is inspiring, too, to remember that no great emergency in the one hundred and eight years of our eventful national life has ever arisen that has not been met with wisdom and courage by the American people, with fidelity to their best interests and highest destiny, and to the honor of the American name.  These years of glorious history have exalted mankind and advanced the cause of freedom throughout the world, and immeasurably strengthened the precious free institutions which we enjoy.  The people love and will sustain these institutions.  The great essential to our happiness and prosperity is that we adhere to the principles upon which the Government was established and insist upon their faithful observance.  Equality of rights must prevail, and our laws be always and everywhere respected and obeyed.  We may have failed in the discharge of our full duty as citizens of the great Republic, but it is consoling and encouraging to realize that free speech, a free press, free thought, free schools, the free and unmolested right of religious liberty and worship, and free and fair elections are dearer and more universally enjoyed to-day than ever before.  These guaranties must be sacredly preserved and wisely strengthened.  The constituted authorities must be cheerfully and vigorously upheld.  Lynchings must not be tolerated in a great and civilized country like the United States; courts, not mobs, must execute the penalties of the law.  The preservation of public order, the right of discussion, the integrity of courts, and the orderly administration of justice must continue forever the rock of safety upon which our Government securely rests.

One of the lessons taught by the late election, which all can rejoice in, is that the citizens of the United States are both law-respecting and law-abiding people, not easily swerved from the path of patriotism and honor.  This is in entire accord with the genius of our institutions, and but emphasizes the advantages of inculcating even a greater love for law and order in the future.  Immunity should be granted to none who violate the laws, whether individuals, corporations, or communities; and as the Constitution imposes upon the President the duty of both its own execution, and of the statutes enacted in pursuance of its provisions, I shall endeavor carefully to carry them into effect.  The declaration of the party now restored to power has been in the past that of “opposition to all combinations of capital organized in trusts, or otherwise, to control arbitrarily the condition of trade among our citizens,” and it has supported “such legislation as will prevent the execution of all schemes to oppress the people by undue charges on their supplies, or by unjust rates for the transportation of their products to the market.”  This purpose will be steadily pursued, both by the enforcement of the laws now in existence and the recommendation and support of such new statutes as may be necessary to carry it into effect.