So early as April 21 he frankly states his position. In his speech on that day he says: "Provision" (in the Constitution) "is made for the admission of new States; no provision is made for the secession of old ones. * * * The Government is composed of parts, each essential to the whole, and the whole essential to each part."[46] He emphatically urges that the Constitution provides a panacea for rebellion. "The United States (that is, the great integer) shall guarantee to each State (the integers composing the whole) in this Union a republican form of government. Yes, if rebellion has been rampant, and set aside the machinery of a State for a time, there stands the great law to remove the paralysis and revitalize it, and put it on its feet again." He also harmonizes his strict construction views with the fact of emancipation. "A State may be in the Government with a peculiar institution, and by the operation of rebellion lose that feature; but it was a State when it went into rebellion, and when it comes out without the institution it is still a State." President Johnson did not allow many days to pass by after his installation, before he began to give practical evidence of his attitude towards the conquered South.[47] The first step which he made was an order, issued April 29, restoring partial commercial intercourse to that portion of the Confederate States lying east of the Mississippi river and within the lines of national military occupation. This removed at the outset one of the chief burdens that had resulted from the insurrection, and would he thought act powerfully in the restoration of peaceful pursuits in that section. The following August another proclamation removed all remaining restrictions on trade in those States, declaring that all necessity for restriction had ceased.[48] On May 9, 1865, the order restoring the administration of the United States in the State of Virginia was issued.[49] It authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to nominate assessors of taxes, collectors of customs, and other officers of the Treasury Department, and further provided that in making appointments the preference should be given to "qualified loyal persons residing within the districts where their respective duties are to be performed. But if suitable persons shall not be found residents of the districts, then persons residing in other States or districts shall be appointed." Post offices and post routes were to be established, and district judges empowered to hold courts, while "to carry into effect the guarantee of the Federal Constitution of a republican form of state government, * * * Francis H. Pierpiont, Governor of the State of Virginia, will be aided by the Federal Government," in his administration of the state government, in whatever way might be necessary.