“It is to be feared, however, that those whose circumstances obliged them to dispose of these securities have in many cases been compelled to submit to a heavy discount. I would most earnestly urge upon Congress the necessity of making an early appropriation to meet all the existing liabilities of the department. As the faith of the government has been broken, not only should the principal of these debts be promptly paid, but interest on them should also be allowed. In many instances this may prove but an imperfect indemnity for the damage which the creditors of the department have actually sustained; but this much, at least, is due, from the gravest considerations of public justice and policy, and cannot, in my judgment, be withheld without national dishonor.” HORATIO KING was postmaster-general for a short time. He had, of course, no opportunity of displaying those qualities which a long connection with the postal department had enabled him to acquire. The appointment of Montgomery Blair, which was a settled matter, as the successor of Mr. Holt, limited his services. Glancing over official postal documents, we find his name frequently coupled with important matters in the department. It was during his short service as postmaster-general that the celebrated additional articles were made to those of the convention of March 2, 1857, between the post-office of the United States and the general post-office of France. (_See Report of the Postmaster-General for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1861._) MONTGOMERY BLAIR.—This gentleman was appointed postmaster-general in 1861, forming one of the Cabinet under the administration of Abraham Lincoln. Perhaps history affords no parallel to the state of affairs in our country when Abraham Lincoln took the Presidential chair. Our readers are all familiar with the history of this rebellion. We will not go over the grounds, dark and bloody as they are: suffice to say, the blow was struck, and treason assumed a bold and formidable front. The Constitution, even from its adoption, with all its amendments, has ever been a fruitful subject of dispute, more particularly with those whose interests were identified with the institution of slavery. To keep that peculiar institution—a relic of barbarism—intact, with their ideas of labor, men South advocated the idea that a sovereignty of States and their separate independency of the Union were guaranteed to them by the Constitution. This fatal error misled the ignorant: men of intellect, men educated in the Union, living under its Constitution and heretofore abiding by its laws, preached up a Utopian scheme to these misguided men. The South was to become the Eden of the world, and slavery its _Magna Charta_.