Detroit Daily Tribune, March 5, 1861

In our last issue, we spread before our readers the Inaugural Address of President LINCOLN. This document was looked for with exceeding interest, and we have no doubt, has been universally read. We also believe that it will thoroughly satisfy every loyal Union man in both sections of the Confederacy, for it is imbued with the very genius of the Constitution.

The distinguishing characteristic of Mr. LINCOLN's address is its perspicacity. It is clear as a mountain brook. The depth and flow of it are apparent at a glance. There is no sort of circumlocution. The President says what he means and means what he says. We observe in every line unmistakable decision, firmness, integrity and will. He has been elected by the people to execute the laws, and for no other purpose. He has sworn an oath to do their bidding, and he will do it, unless they give him new directions. He recognizes that the constitution is for the protection of both sections, and is in favor of, and determined upon, the most scrupulous adherence to its provisions. He has no reservations in taking the Constitutional oath. The Constitution does not give him the power to interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, and he disavows at once the power and the desire to do so. He fully recognizes the apprehensions of the slave States, and aims by specific avowals of honest and amicable intentions toward them, and a general tone of conciliation, to re-assure them; at the same time he declares mildly, but firmly, that the Constitution must be maintained and the laws obeyed. Such is the spirit of the first address of the President to the people.

Some of the specific features of the message will claim peculiar attention. Is Mr. LINCOLN for "coercion"? He is for nothing of the kind. He will do nothing but what is absolutely necessary to maintain the Government and execute the laws. He says he will hold the forts, and he could do no less, for in all the Constitution there is no authority to surrender one of them, and they were erected not for the South, but for the "common defence." He will collect the revenue. He must do that, for it furnishes the motive power of the government, and the supreme law of the land commands him to collect it. He will not force judges or Marshals, or Registers of public lands upon the Southern States if they object to them; not but that he has the right to do it, but he will perform no act of needless irritation. He will avoid any act by which bloodshed will come, and act purely and cautiously upon the defensive. If any citizen, upon first view, is distrustful of the firm attitude of Mr. LINCOLN, we only ask him to consider this one point: Every act Mr. LINCOLN proposes to do is enjoined upon him by his constitutional oath, and to oppose him is to oppose the Constitution itself!

But what is there to re-assure the South? First, the emphatic declaration that the Federal government will not interfere with slavery in the States, and the willingness of Mr. LINCOLN to approve a constitutional amendment that the instrument shall never be so amended as to give that power. Second, the complete enforcement of the Fugitive Slave law; and in this connection Mr. LINCOLN would be untrue to himself, did he not suggest that in the modes of enforcing the law, the rights of freemen should be guarded. Third, the expressed determination of the President, whether in case of invasion or insurrection, to afford all the constitutional protection in his power. Fourth, his declaration that he will respect the decisions of the Supreme Court, trusting to the legal remedies for them, rather than in any case array himself against them; and at the same time he points out the danger of the decisions of the Court being turned to political uses. Fifth, the fraternal kindness and sympathy that pervades every line of the inaugural, which speaks of the "dissatisfied citizens" of the Confederacy.

In those parts of his address where Mr. LINCOLN exposes with an ITHURIEL touch the impossibility of State secession, and the worse conditions in all respects, that must ensue from disunion; in that comprehensive argument of the perpetuity of the Union, and the irrefragible power and right of all Government to maintain its existence; in that earnest appeal to the people to confide in the operation of their Government to redress all ills, the simple logic sweeps on with an irresistible force that leaves in the mind no obstacle.

Mr. LINCOLN proposes no remedies, for he evidently considers the Constitution as it is adequate, but he looks with no disfavor on a National Convention, to consider whether it needs amendment. For the rest, he trusts to the good sense and justice of the people. The address is just what the people had a right to expect—able, firm, conciliatory, true to principle and of transparent honesty. It will draw tighter from this day the cords of the Union, for it asserts the dignity and power of the Government, and gives assurance that, at last, the country has, in fact and in name, a President!