mankind.




THE TREASURY REPORT AND MR. SECRETARY CHASE.


The military condition at the present time is highly encouraging; but
our armies have not always been successful in the field, and many of our
campaigns have ended either in disaster or without decisive results. The
navy, though it has achieved much in some quarters, has not altogether
answered to the reasonable expectations of the country or to the vast
sums which have been expended to make it powerful and efficient. Our
foreign relations, during the war, have sometimes assumed a threatening
aspect, and, it must be confessed, have not always been managed with the
skill and firmness due to our prominent position among the nations of
the world. But there is at least one department of the Government whose
general operations during all these vicissitudes have been the subject
of just pride to the American people. In the midst of great
difficulties, sufficient to appal and disconcert any ordinary mind, our
stupendous fiscal affairs have been conducted with unrivalled firmness,
ability, and success. All our military and naval operations, and indeed
our whole national strength at home and abroad, have necessarily been in
a large degree contingent upon the public credit, and this has remained
solid and unmoved except to gain strength, in spite of all the
disasters of the war on the land and on the water. The recent annual
report of Mr. Chase, though chiefly confined to a simple statement of
facts and figures, is like the account of some great victorious
campaign, submitted by the unassuming officer who conducted it. The