A complete reform in our system of prison discipline, having specially in view the welfare of the families of criminals, whose labor should not be lost to them; the rearrangement of the system and control of internal improvements; the adoption of some better means for caring for the helpless and indigent; the establishment of strictly mutual and reciprocal relations with all foreign Powers who will unite to better the condition of the productive class, and the adoption of such principles as shall recognize this class as the true wealth of the country, and give it a just position beside capital, thus introducing a practical plan for universal government upon the most enlightened basis, for the actual, not the imaginary benefit of mankind. These important changes can only be expected to follow a complete departure from the beaten tracks of political parties and their machinery; and this, I believe my canvass of 1872 will effect. That the people are sick of the present administration and the principles it professes to sustain, is a proposition, I think, that does not require to be argued; but as I have now taken a decided stand against its continuance for another term of four years, and offered myself as a candidate for the Presidential succession, a few preliminary observations on the general management of our home and foreign policy will not be out of place. The present administration has been a failure from the beginning; weak, vacillating and deficient in moral courage, it commands neither the respect nor admiration of foreign Powers nor receives the active support of its party. The general management of our foreign and domestic affairs does not seem to have risen to the dignity of a policy; though it be allowed to have been consistent in its various parts, it has been destitute of that decision and firmness which characterized the victorious soldier who is now President.