devastations of war by a prompt and cheerful return to peaceful pursuits.
An abiding faith is entertained that their actions will conform to their
professions, and that, in acknowledging the supremacy of the Constitution
and the laws of the United States, their loyalty will be unreservedly
given to the government, whose leniency they cannot fail to appreciate,
and whose fostering care will soon restore them to a condition of
prosperity. It is true, that in some of the States the demoralizing
effects of war are to be seen in occasional disorders, but these are local
in character, not frequent in occurrence, and are rapidly disappearing as
the authority of civil law is extended and sustained. Perplexing questions
were naturally to be expected from the great and sudden change in the
relations between the two races, but systems are gradually developing
themselves under which the freedman will receive the protection to which
he is justly entitled, and, by means of his labor, make himself a useful
and independent member of the community in which he has his home. From all
the information in my possession, and from that which I have recently
derived from the most reliable authority, I am induced to cherish the
belief that sectional animosity is surely and rapidly merging itself
into a spirit of nationality, and that representation, connected with
a properly adjusted system of taxation, will result in a harmonious
restoration of the relations of the States to the national Union.

The report of Carl Schurz is herewith transmitted, as requested by the
Senate. No reports from the honorable John Covode have been received by
the President. The attention of the Senate is invited to the accompanying
report of Lieutenant General Grant, who recently made a tour of inspection
through several of the States whose inhabitants participated in the
rebellion.

ANDREW JOHNSON