Message Of President Grant

Washiugton, March 30. To the Sennte and House of Representativas i It s unusual to notify the two HousC3 of CoDgress by Message of the promulgation by proclamation of the Ideortu-y of Stato of tho ratiflcation of a Constitucional arncndinent. In view, howcver, of tlie importanco of tbc löth, Ameiidmcnt to tho Constitution tbisday dtclared a part of that severed instrunienl, I deern a doparture from tho usuil custoin JGStifiablo. A racasuro, thst raakes at once 4,000,000 of per.ple votcr?, who were heretofore deckred by tho bighest tribunal in the land not oitizens of the United Statea, nor eligióle to bccomeso, wi;h tho asfertion that at the time of the Declaratioo of Independcnce the opinión was fixed and universal amoog the civilized portioü of the white race and regarded as an aziom in moráis as well as in poliiieg, that tho l!ack man had no righta which v?hite men were bound to respec', is indeed a measure of grander importanco than an othor nno ast of the kind from tü foundation of our freo Government to tho pre;eot time. In=tituioD8 liko ours in which all power 8 derived directly from the peopie, mu.it depend mainíy upon their intelligcnce, patriotism und induetry. I culi the attention, therefora, of the newly enfraáchised r:ice to the importance oí tlioir Mnving ín cvory honorable nimmer te mako tlie:nselves worlby of thcir new privilege. To tbe race more favored hcretofore by our lawa, I would tay, whlilmld no legal pnvilrgo of advnnocrnent I'roin the new citizecs. Tbeframers of our Constituion firmly bclievod that a Hupublican form of poverntnent could not enduro without intelligence aud education geucrally diffused among the peoplo. The fatber of Lis country, in his Fnrewetl Addreg', used tfais language: "Promote then as a matter of piimary mportance institutions fur tliegeiienll diffusion of kuowlfdge. ín propnrtion as tbe structure of (ho Gover'iu:eit gires forcé to publio opinión, t isesseotial tbat public opinioa should be euliglitcüed." ín his first anuual message lo concress tho sama views were forcibly presented and are again uri'ed iu his eighth taesfage. I repeat tbat (ho adoption ol tho 15th Amendment to tlc (onstitution, coinpleted the greaiest civil clianennd constitutes the must important evcnt that Las occurred sinco the nation eame into life. Th chunge wil] lie bcnelicial ia proportion to the Leed (liat is givon to the urgent reconimendatioue of Washington. If those recoiumendatiors were important thcn with a populution of a few millions, how muc6 more important r.ow with a populaiion of 40,000,000 and increaiing in a rapid ratJ . I woi.ld therefore cali upon Congresa to take il] nteana within the:r coustitulionfil power to promote aud encoürage popnlar Bdneation throughout the couotry, ard upon the pcoplc cvcrywhcre to cc to it, that all nho possess and exereiso politioftl rigbts, sliall have the oppnrtunity to acquirc knowledge which will make théir sharc in the Government a bleüsing and not a dangcr. By such means onlv, can the bensfits conlemplated by this imendment to tbc Conslitution be st-eured. (SSgoed) ü. S. GRANT. Hamilton Fim, Sccretary of Stata of tbe United States. Tho Suprema Ccurt of Illinois, in September last, rcfused Mrs. Myra Bradweil, of Cliicago, a licer.se to practice law, CMr whieh she had appliad after passing a rigid examination. Her application was denied solely on tho grouud that tho disabilities of her married dition rcndered it impossible that sbe should be bound by her obligaties sa an attorney. Mrs. B afterward submitted a priüted argument to the court, wbicb is repretented as bcing very able, and the court reconsidered her application but again denicd it. The opinión of the court was delivered by Judga LawreDce, and decides that no woman can be ndmitted to practice law in IlliDois. An attorney, the court liolds, is not inerely an ogent but an offieer, whose business is lo iissist in the administratino of justico If a woman canfill this office, tvery office in the State will bo open to her. The adverse argument is biiecd raainly on iho comraon law ai it affects the propcrly of woman under tbc siatute, relieviug semewhat its rigois, and the usages urder it which have denied women iheright to hold office.- The opinión closes with the remark that "couits of justice wcre not intcoded to bc made the Instruments for pushing forward mensures of popular refi)rin."