In consequence of the embarrassed state of business and the currency,
some of the States may meet with difficulty in their financial concerns.
However deeply we may regret anything imprudent or excessive in the
engagements into which States have entered for purposes of their own, it
does not become us to disparage the State governments, nor to discourage
them from making proper efforts for their own relief. On the contrary,
it is our duty to encourage them to the extent of our constitutional
authority to apply their best means and cheerfully to make all necessary
sacrifices and submit to all necessary burdens to fulfill their
engagements and maintain their credit, for the character and credit of
the several States form a part of the character and credit of the whole
country. The resources of the country are abundant, the enterprise and
activity of our people proverbial, and we may well hope that wise
legislation and prudent administration by the respective governments,
each acting within its own sphere, will restore former prosperity.

Unpleasant and even dangerous as collisions may sometimes be between the
constituted authorities of the citizens of our country in relation to
the lines which separate their respective jurisdictions, the results can
be of no vital injury to our institutions if that ardent patriotism,
that devoted attachment to liberty, that spirit of moderation and
forbearance for which our countrymen were once distinguished, continue
to be cherished. If this continues to be the ruling passion of our
souls, the weaker feeling of the mistaken enthusiast will be corrected,
the Utopian dreams of the scheming politician dissipated, and the
complicated intrigues of the demagogue rendered harmless. The spirit of
liberty is the sovereign balm for every injury which our institutions
may receive. On the contrary, no care that can be used in the
construction of our Government, no division of powers, no distribution