32D CONG.....2D SESS.

mercial nations have found it indispensable, for the purpose of preventing fraud and perjury, to make the duties specific whenever the article is of such a uniform value in weight or measure as to justify such a duty. Legislation should never encourage dishonesty, or crime. It is impossible that the revenue officers at the port where the goods are entered and the duties paid, should know with certainty what they cost in the foreign country. Yet the law requires that they should levy the duty according to such cost. They are therefore compelled to resort to very unsatisfactory evidence to ascertain what that cost was. They take the invoice of the importer, attested by his oath, as the best evidence of which the nature of the case admits. But every one must see that the invoice may be fabricated, and the oath by which it is supported false, by reason of which the dishonest importer pays a part only of the duties which are paid by the honest one, and thus indirectly receives from the Treasury of the United States a reward for his fraud and perjury. The reports of the Secretary of the Treasury, heretofore made on this subject, show conclusively that these frauds have been practiced to a great extent. The tendency is to destroy that high moral character for which our merchants have long been distinguished; to defraud the Government of its revenue; to break down the honest importer by a dishonest competition; and, finally, to transfer the business of importation to foreign and irresponsible agents, to the great detriment of our own citizens. I therefore again most earnestly recommend the adoption of specific duties, wherever it is practicable, or a home valuation, to prevent these frauds.

I would also again call your attention to the fact that the present tariff in some cases imposes a higher duty upon the raw material imported, than upon the article manufactured from it; the consequence of which is, that the duty operates to the encouragement of the foreigner and the discouragement of our own citizens.

For full and detailed information in regard to the general condition of our Indian affairs, I respectfully refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Interior and the accompanying documents.

The Senate not having thought proper to ratify the treaties which had been negotiated with the tribes of Indians in California and Oregon, our relations with them have been left in a very unsatisfactory condition.

In other parts of our territory particular districts of country have been set apart for the exclusive occupation of the Indians, and their right to the lands within those limits has been acknowledged and respected. But in California and Oregon there has been no recognition by the Government of the exclusive right of the Indians to any part of the country. They are therefore mere tenants at sufferance, and liable to be driven from place to place, at the pleasure of the whites.

Message of the President.

ished object of the Government, and it is one to which my attention has been steadily directed. Admonished by past experience of the difficulty and cost of the attempt to remove them by military force, resort has been had to conciliatory measures. By the invitation of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs several of the principal chiefs recently visited Washington, and whilst here acknowledged, in writing, the obligation of their tribe to remove with the least possible delay. Late advices from the special agent of the Government represent that they adhere to their promise, and that a council of their people has been called to make their preliminary arrangements. A general emigration may therefore be confidently expected at an early day.

The report from the General Land Office shows increased activity in its operations. The survey of the northern boundary of Iowa has been.completed with unexampled dispatch. Within the last year 9,822,953 acres of public land have been surveyed, and 5,032,463 acres brought into market. In the last fiscal year there were sold..

Located with bounty land war

rants..

Located with other certificates..

1,553,071 acres.

3,201,314 115,682

5,219,188 "" 3,025,920

66

Making an aggregate of.......13,115,175 Being an increase in the amount of lands sold and located under land warrants of 569,220 acres over the previous year.

The whole amount thus sold, located under land warrants, reported under swamp land grants, and selected for internal improvements, exceeds that of the previous year by 3,342,372 acres; and the sales would, without doubt, have been much larger but for the extensive reservations for railroads in Missouri, Mississippi, and Alabama.

For the quarter ending 30th September, 1852, there were sold... 243,255 acres. Located with bounty land warrants 1,387,116 Located with other certificates... 15,649 Reported under swamp land grants 2,485,233

Making an aggregate for the quarter of...

.4,131,253

66 66 66

66

Much the larger portion of the labor of arranging and classifying the returns of the last census has been finished, and it will now devolve upon Congress to make the necessary provision for the publication of the results in such form as shall be deemed best. The apportionment of representation, on the basis of the new census, has been made by the Secretary of the Interior, in conform

subject, and the recent elections have been made in accordance with it.

If it be the desire of Congress to remove them from the country altogether, or to assign to them particular districts more remote from the settlements of the whites, it will be proper to set apart by law the territory which they are to occupy, and to provide the means necessary for removing them to it. Justice alike to our own citizens and to the Indians requires the prompt action of Congress on this subject.

The amendments proposed by the Senate, to the treaties which were negotiated with the Sioux Indians of Minnesota, have been submitted to the tribes who were parties to them, and have received their assent. A large tract of valuable territory has thus been opened for settlement and cultivation, and all danger of collision with these powerful and warlike bands has been happily removed.

The removal of the remnant of the tribe of Seminole Indians from Florida has long been a cher

I commend to your favorable regard the suggestion contained in the report of the Secretary of the Interior, that provision be made by law for the publication and distribution, periodically, of an analytical digest of all the patents which have been, or may hereafter be, granted for useful inventions and discoveries, with such descriptions and illustrations as may be necessary to present an intelligible view of their nature and operation. The cost of such publication could easily be de| frayed out of the patent fund; and I am persuaded that it could be applied to no object more acceptable to inventors, and beneficial to the public at large.

An appropriation of $100,000 having been made at the last session for the purchase of a suitable site, and for the erection, furnishing, and fitting up of an Asylum for the Insane of the District of Columbia, and of the Army and Navy of the United States, the proper measures have been adopted to carry this beneficent purpose into effect.

By the latest advices from the Mexican Boundary Commission, it appears that the survey of the river Gila, from its confluence with the Colorado to its supposed intersection with the western line of New Mexico, has been completed. The survey of the Rio Grande has also been finished from the

"Provided, That no part of this appropriation 'shall be used or expended until it shall be made satisfactorily to appear to the President of the United States that the southern boundary of New

Mexico is not established by the commissioner 'and surveyor of the United States further north ' of the town called Paso' than the same is laid 'down in Disturnell's map, which is added to the treaty."

My attention was drawn to this subject by a report from the Department of the Interior, which reviewed all the facts of the case, and submitted for my decision the question whether, under existing circumstances, any part of the appropriation could be lawfully used or expended for the further prosecution of the work. After a careful consideration of the subject, I came to the conclusion that it could not, and so informed the head of that Department. Orders were immediately issued by him to the commissioner and surveyor to make no further requisitions on the Department, as they could not be paid, and to discontinue all operations on the southern line of New Mexico. But as the Department had no exact information as to the amount of provisions and money which remained unexpended in the hands of the commissioner and surveyor, it was left discretionary with them to continue the survey down the Rio Grande as far as the means at their disposal would enable them, or at once to disband the Commission. A special messenger has since arrived from the officer in charge of the survey on the river, with information that the funds subject to his control were exhausted, and that the officers and others employed in the service were destitute alike of the means of prosecuting the work and of returning to their homes.

The object of the proviso was doubtless to arrest the survey of the southern and western lines of New Mexico, in regard to which different opinions have been expressed; for it is hardly to be supposed that there could be any objection to that part of the line which extends along the channel of the Rio Grande. But the terms of the law are so broad as to forbid the use of any part of the money for the prosecution of the work, or even for the payment, to the officers and agents, of the arrearages of pay which are justly due to them.

I earnestly invite your prompt attention to this subject, and recommend a modification of the terms of the proviso, so as to enable the Department to use as much of the appropriation as will be necessary to discharge the existing obligations of the Government, and to complete the survey of the Rio Grande to its mouth.

It will also be proper to make further provision by law for the fulfillment of our treaty with Mexico, for running and marking the residue of the boundary line between the two countries.

Permit me to invite your particular attention to the interests of the District of Columbia, which are confided by the Constitution to your peculiar

care.

Among the measures which seem to me of the greatest importance to its prosperity, are the introduction of a copious supply of water into the city of Washington, and the construction of suitable bridges across the Potomac, to replace those which were destroyed by high water in the early part of the present year.

At the last session of Congress an appropriation was made to defray the cost of the surveys necessary for determining the best means of affording an unfailing supply of good and wholesome water. Some progress has been made in the survey, and as soon as it is completed the result will be laid before you.

Further appropriations will also be necessary for grading and paving the streets and avenues, and inclosing and embellishing the public grounds within the city of Washington.

I commend all these objects, together with the charitable institutions of the District, to your favorable regard.

32D CONG.....2D SESS.

Every effort has been made to protect our frontier, and that of the adjoining Mexican States, from the incursions of the Indian tribes. Of about eleven thousand men of which the Army is composed, nearly eight thousand are employed in the defense of the newly-acquired territory, (including Texas,) and of emigrants proceeding thereto. I am gratified to say that these efforts have been unusually successful. With the exception of some partial outbreaks in California and Oregon, and occasional depredations on a portion of the Rio Grande, owing, it is believed, to the disturbed state of that border region, the inroads of the Indians have been effectually restrained.

Experience has shown, however, that whenever the two races are brought into contact, collisions will inevitably occur. To prevent these collisions the United States have generally set apart portions of their territory for the exclusive occupation of the Indian tribes. A difficulty occurs, however, in the application of this policy to Texas. By the terms of the compact by which that State was admitted into the Union, she retained the ownership of all the vacant lands within her limits. The government of that State, it is understood, has assigned no portion of her territory to the Indians; but as fast as her settlements advance lays it off into counties, and proceeds to survey and sell it. This policy manifestly tends, not only to alarm and irritate the Indians, but to com

pel them to resort to plunder for subsistence.

Message of the President.

suggestions of which I ask your approval. It exhibits an unusual degree of activity in the operations of the Department during the past year. The preparations for the Japan expedition, to which I have already alluded; the arrangements made for the exploration and survey of the China Seas, the Northern Pacific, and Behring's Straits; the incipient measures taken towards a reconnoissance of the Continent of Africa eastward of Liberia; the preparation for an early examination of the tributaries of the river La Plata, which a recent decree of the Provisional Chief of the Argentine Confederation has opened to navigation; all these enterprises, and the means by which they are proposed to be accomplished, have commanded my full approbation, and I have no doubt will be productive of most useful results.

Two officers of the Navy were heretofore instructed to explore the whole extent of the Amazon river, from the confines of Peru to its mouth. The return of one of them has placed in the possession of the Government an interesting and valuable account of the character and resources of a country abounding in the materials of commerce, and which, if opened to the industry of the world, will prove an inexhaustible fund of wealth. The report of this exploration will be communicated to you as soon as it is completed.

Among other subjects offered to your notice by the Secretary of the Navy, I select for special, interests of the Navy, the plan submitted by him commendation, in view of its connection with the

for the establishment of a permanent corps of seamen, and the suggestions he has presented for the reorganization of the Naval Academy.

In reference to the first of these, I take occasion to say that I think it will greatly improve the

also deprives this Government of that influence and control over them without which no durable peace can ever exist between them and the whites. I trust, therefore, that a due regard for her own interests, apart from considerations of humanity and justice, will induce that State to assign a small portion of her vast domain for the provis-efficiency of the service, and that I regard it as ional occupancy of the small remnants of tribes still more entitled to favor for the salutary influwithin her borders, subject of course to her own- ence it must exert upon the naval discipline, now ership and eventual jurisdiction. If she should greatly disturbed by the increasing spirit of infail to do this, the fulfillment of our treaty stipu- subordination, resulting from our present system. lations with Mexico, and our duty to the Indians The plan proposed for the organization of the themselves, will, it is feared, become a subject of seamen furnishes a judicious substitute for the serious embarrassment to the Government. It is law of September, 1850, abolishing corporal punhoped, however, that a timely and just provisionishment, and satisfactorily sustains the policy of by Texas may avert this evil. that act, under conditions well adapted to maintain the authority of command and the order and security of our ships. It is believed that any change which proposes permanently to dispense with this mode of punishment, should be preceded by a system of enlistment which shall supply the Navy with seamen of the most meritorious class, whose good deportment and pride of character may preclude all occasion for a resort to penalties of a harsh or degrading nature. The safety of a ship and her crew is often dependent upon immediate obedience to a command, and the authority to enforce it must be equally ready. The arrest of a refractory seaman, in such moments, not only deprives the ship of indispensable aid, but imposes a necessity for double service on others whose fidelity to their duties may be relied upon in such an emergency. The exposure to this increased and arduous labor, since the passage of the act of 1850, has already had, to a most observable and injurious extent, the effect of preventing the enlistment of the best seamen in the Navy. The plan now suggested is designed to promote a condition of service in which this objection will no longer exist. The details of this plan may be established in great part, if not altogether, by the Executive, under the authority of existing laws; but I have thought it proper, in accordance with the suggestion of the Secretary of the Navy, to submit it to your approval.

No appropriations for fortifications were made at the last two sessions of Congress. The cause of this omission is, probably, to be found in a growing belief that the system of fortifications adopted in 1816, and heretofore acted on, requires revision. The subject certainly deserves full and careful investigation; but it should not be delayed longer than can be avoided. In the mean time there are certain works which have been commenced--some of them nearly completed-designed to protect our principal sea-ports, from Boston to New Orleans, and a few other important points. In regard to the necessity for these works, it is believed that little difference of opinion exists among military men. I therefore recommend that the appropriations necessary to prosecute them be made.

I invite your attention to the remarks on this subject, and on others connected with his Department, contained in the accompanying report of the Secretary of War.

Measures have been taken to carry into effect the law of the last session making provision for the improvement of certain rivers and harbors, and it is believed that the arrangements made for that purpose will combine efficiency with economy. Owing chiefly to the advanced season when the act was passed, little has yet been done in regard to many of the works beyond making the necessary preparations. With respect to a few of the improvements, the sums already appropriated will suffice to complete them, but most of them will require additional appropriations. I trust that these appropriations will be made, and that this wise and beneficent policy, so auspiciously resumed, will be continued. Great care should be taken, however, to commence no work which is not of sufficient importance to the commerce of the country to be viewed as national in its character. But works which have been commenced should not be discontinued until completed, as otherwise the sums expended will, in most cases, be lost.

The report from the Navy Department will inform you of the prosperous condition of the branch of the public service committed to its charge. It presents to your consideration many topics and

The establishment of a corps of apprentices for the Navy, or boys to be enlisted until they become of age, and to be employed under such regulations as the Navy Department may devise, as proposed in the report, I cordially approve and commend to your consideration; and I also concur in the suggestion that this system for the early training of seamen may be most usefully ingrafted upon the service of our merchant-marine.

The other proposition of the report to which I have referred the reorganization of the Naval Academy-I recommend to your attention as a project worthy of your encouragement and support. The valuable services already rendered by this institution entitle it to the continuance of your fostering care.

|

SENATE & HO. OF REPS.

Your attention is respectfully called to the reper of the Postmaster General for the detailed opention of his Department during the last fiscal yar from which it will be seen that the receipts fr postages for that time were less by $1,431,5 than for the preceding fiscal year, being a decreas of about 23 per cent.

This diminution is attributable to the reduction in the rates of postage made by the act of Mar. 3, 1851, which reduction took effect at the com mencement of the last fiscal year.

Although in its operation during the last ye the act referred to has not fulfilled the predictions of its friends by increasing the correspondence the country in proportion to the reduction of por age, I should nevertheless question the policy of returning to higher rates. Experience warran's the expectation that as the community becomes accustomed to cheap postage, correspondence w increase. It is believed that from this cause, at. from the rapid growth of the country in population and business, the receipts of the Departmer: must ultimately exceed its expenses, and that te country may safely rely upon the continuance c the present cheap rate of postage.

In former messages I have, among other things respectfully recommended to the consideration Congress the propriety and necessity of further legislation for the protection and punishment of foreign consuls residing in the United States; t March, 1838, to restrain unlawful military exe revive with certain modifications the act of lez

ditions against the inhabitants of conterminous States or Territories; for the preservation and pretection from mutilation or theft of the papers. records, and archives of the nation; for authorizing the surplus revenue to be applied to the paymen of the public debt in advance of the time when it will become due; for the establishment of lan offices for the sale of the public lands in Californi and the Territory of Oregon; for the construction | of a road from the Mississippi valley to the Pacif ocean; for the establishment of a Bureau of Ame culture for the promotion of that interest, perhaps the most important in the country; for the prever tion of frauds upon the Government in applicatieri for pensions and bounty lands; for the establis ment of a uniform fee bill, prescribing a speci“ compensation for every service required of clerks, district attorneys, and marshals; for authorizing an additional regiment of mounted men, for the de fense of our frontiers against the Indians, and for fulfilling our treaty stipulations with Mexico t defend her citizens against the Indians “with equa diligence and energy as our own;" for determining the relative rank between the naval and civil officers in our public ships, and between the officers of we Army and Navy in the various grades of each; for reorganizing the naval establishment by fixing the number of officers in each grade, and providing for a retired list upon reduced pay of those unfit for active duty; for prescribing and regulating punistments in the Navy; for the appointment of a com. mission to revise the public statutes of the United, States, by arranging them in order, supplying deficiencies, correcting incongruities, simplifying i their language, and reporting them to Congress for its final action; and for the establishment of i! commission to adjudicate and settle private claims against the United States. I am not aware, however, that any of these subjects have been finali acted upon by Congress. Without repeating the reasons for legislation on these subjects which have been assigned in former messages, I respect fully recommend them again to your favorable corsideration.

I think it due to the several Executive Departments of this Government, to bear testimony to the efficiency and integrity with which they are conducted. With all the careful superintendence which it is possible for the heads of those Depart ments to exercise, still the due administration and guardianship of the public money must very much depend on the vigilance, intelligence, and fidelity of the subordinate officers and clerks, and espe cially on those intrusted with the settlement and adjustment of claims and accounts. I am gratified | to believe that they have generally performed their duties faithfully and well. They are appointed to guard the approaches to the public Treasury, and they occupy positions that expose them to all the temptations and_seductions which the cupidity of

32D CONG.....2d Sess.

peculators and fraudulent claimants can prompt them to employ. It will be but a wise precaution to protect the Government against that source of mischief and corruption, as far as it can be done, by the enactment of all proper legal penalties. The laws, in this respect, are supposed to be defective, and I therefore deem it my duty to call your attention to the subject, and to recommend that provision be made by law for the punishment not only of those who shall accept bribes, but also of those who shall either promise, give, or offer to give to any of those officers or clerks a bribe or reward touching or relating to any matter of their official action or duty.

Report of the Secretary of War.

66

nent safety and interest of the country. They knew that the world is governed less by sympathy than by reason and force; that it was not possible for this nation to become a propagandist" of free principles without arraying against it the combined Powers of Europe; and that the result was more likely to be the overthrow of republican liberty here than its establishment there. History has been written in vain for those who can doubt this. France had no sooner established a republican form of government than she manifested a desire to force its blessings on all the world. Her own historian informs us that, hearing of some petty acts of tyranny in a neighboring principal

'would afford succor and fraternity to all nations. who wished to recover their liberty; and she gave it in charge of the executive power to give ' orders to the generals of the French armies to aid 'all citizens who might have been or should be

It has been the uniform policy of this Govern-ity, "The National Convention declared that she ment, from its foundation to the present day, to abstain from all interference in the domestic affairs of other nations. The consequence has been, that while the nations of Europe have been engaged in desolating wars, our country has pursued its peaceful course to unexampled prosperity and happi-oppressed in the cause of liberty." Here was ness. The wars in which we have been compelled to engage, in defense of the rights and honor of the country, have been fortunately of short duration. During the terrific contest of nation against nation, which succeeded the French Revolution, we were enabled, by the wisdom and firmness of President Washington, to maintain our neutrality. While other nations were drawn into this wide sweeping whirlpool, we sat quiet and unmoved upon our own shores. While the flower of their numerous armies was wasted by disease, or perished by hundreds of thousands upon the battlefield, the youth of this favored land were permitted to enjoy the blessings of peace beneath the paternal roof. While the States of Europe incurred enormous debts, under the burden of which their subjects still groan, and which must absorb no small part of the product of the honest industry of those countries for generations to come, the United States have once been enabled to exhibit the proud spectacle of a nation free from public debt; and, if permitted to pursue our prosperous way for a few years longer in peace, we may do the same again."

But it is now said by some that this policy must be changed. Europe is no longer separated from us by a voyage of months, but steam navigation has brought her within a few days' sail of our shores. We see more of her movements, and take a deeper interest in her controversies. Although no one proposes that we should join the fraternity of potentates who have for ages lavished the blood and treasure of their subjects in maintaining "the balance of power," yet it is said that we ought to interfere between contending sovereigns and their subjects, for the purpose of overthrowing the monarchies of Europe and establishing in their place republican institutions. It is alleged that we have heretofore pursued a different course from a sense of our weakness, but that now our conscious strength dictates a change of policy, and that it is consequently our duty to mingle in these contests and aid those who are struggling for liberty.

the false step which led to her subsequent misfortunes. She soon found herself involved in war with all the rest of Europe. In less than ten years her government was changed from a Republic to an Empire; and finally, after shedding rivers of blood, foreign Powers restored her exiled dynasty, and exhausted Europe sought peace and repose in the unquestioned ascendency of monarchial principles. Let us learn wisdom from her example. Let us remember that revolutions do not always establish freedom. Our own free institutions were not the offspring of our Revolution. They existed before. They were planted in the free charters of self-government under which the English colonies grew up, and ur Revolution only freed us from the dominion of a foreign Power, whose government was at variance with those institutions. But European nations have had no such training for self-government, and every effort to establish it by bloody revolutions has been, and must, without that preparation, continue to be a failure. Liberty, unregulated by law, degenerates into anarchy, which soon becomes the most horrid of all despotisms. Our policy is wisely to govern ourselves, and thereby to set such an example of national justice, prosperity, and true glory, as shall teach to all nations the blessings of self-government, and the unparalleled enterprise and success of a free people.

We live in an age of progress, and ours is emphatically a country of progress. Within the last half century the number of States in this Union has nearly doubled, the population has almost quadrupled, and our boundaries have been extended from the Mississippi to the Pacific. Our territory is chequered over with railroads, and furrowed with canals. The inventive talent of our country is excited to the highest pitch, and the numerous applications for patents for valuable improvements distinguish this age and this people from all others. The genius of one American has enabled our commerce to move against wind and tide, and that of another has annihilated distance in the transmission of intelligence. The whole country is full of enterprise. Our common schools are diffusing intelligence among the people, and our industry is fast accumulating the comforts and luxuries of life. This is in part owing to our peculiar position, to our fertile soil, and comparatively sparse population; but much of it is also owing to the popular institutions under which we

This is a most seductive but dangerous appeal to the generous sympathies of freemen. Enjoying as we do the blessings of a free Government, there is no man who has an American heart that would not rejoice to see these blessings extended to all other nations. We cannot witness the struggle between the oppressed and his oppressor any where without the deepest sympathy for the former, and the most anxious desire for his triumph. Never-live, to the freedom which every man feels to theless, is it prudent or is it wise to involve ourselves in these foreign wars? Is it indeed true that we have heretofore refrained from doing so merely from the degrading motive of a conscious weakness? For the honor of the patriots who have gone before us, I cannot admit it. Men of the Revolution who || drew the sword against the oppressions of the mother country, and pledged to Heaven "their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor" to maintain their freedom, could never have been actuated by so unworthy a motive They knew no weakness or fear where right or duty pointed the way, and it is a libel upon their fair fame for us, while we enjoy the blessings for which they so nobly fought and bled, to insinuate it. The truth is, that the course which they pursued was dictated by a stern sense of international justice; by a statesmanlike prudence and a far-seeing wisdom, looking not merely to the present necessities, but to the perma

engage in any useful pursuit, according to his taste or inclination, and to the entire confidence that his person and property will be protected by the laws. But whatever may be the cause of this unparalleled growth in population, intelligence, and wealth, one thing is clear, that the Government must keep pace with the progress of the people. It must participate in their spirit of enterprise, and while it exacts obedience to the laws, and restrains all unauthorized invasions of the rights of neighboring States, it should foster and protect home industry, and lend its powerful strength to the improvement of such means of intercommunication as are necessary to promote our internal commerce and strengthen the ties which bind us together as a people.

It is not strange, however much it may be regretted, that such an exuberance of enterprise should cause some individuals to mistake change for

SENATE & HO. OF REPS.

progress, and the invasion of the rights of others for national prowess and glory. The former are constantly agitating for some change in the organic law, or urging new and untried theories of human rights. The latter are ever ready to engage in any wild crusade against a neighboring people, regardless of the justice of the enterprise, and without looking at the fatal consequences to ourselves and to the cause of popular government. Such expeditions, however, are often stimulated by mercenary individuals, who expect to share the plunder or profit of the enterprise without exposing themselves to danger, and are led on by some irresponsible foreigner, who abuses the hospitality of our own Government by seducing the young and ignorant to join in his scheme of personal ambition or revenge, under the false and delusive pretense of extending the area of freedom. These reprehensible aggressions but retard the true progress of our nation and tarnish its fair fame. They should, therefore, receive the indignant frowns of every good citizen who sincerely loves his country and takes a pride in its prosperity and honor.

Our Constitution, though not perfect, is doubtless the best that ever was formed. Therefore, let every proposition to change it be well weighed, and if found beneficial, cautiously adopted. Every patriot will rejoice to see its authority so exerted as to advance the prosperity and honor of the nation, whilst he will watch with jealousy any attempt to mutilate this charter of our liberties, or pervert its powers to acts of aggression or injustice. Thus shail conservatism and progress blend their harmonious action in preserving the form and spirit of the Constitution, and at the same time carry forward the great improvements of the country with a rapidity and energy which freemen only can display.

In closing this, my last annual communication, permit me, fellow-citizens, to congratulate you on the prosperous condition of our beloved country. Abroad its relations with all foreign Powers are friendly; its rights are respected, and its high place in the family of nations cheerfully recognized. At home we enjoy an amount of happiness, public and private, which has probably never fallen to the lot of any other people. Besides affording to our own citizens a degree of prosperity, of which on se large a scale I know of no other instance, our country is annually affording a refuge and a home to multitudes, altogether without example, from the Old World.

We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the happy Constitution and Government which were bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is our sacred duty to transmit in all their integrity to our children. We must all consider it a great distinction and privilege to have been chosen by the people to bear a part in the administration of such a Government. Called by an unexpected dispensation to its highest trust, at a season of embarrassment and alarmn, I entered upon its arduous duties with extreme diffidence. I claim only to have discharged them to the best of an humble ability, with a single eye to the public good; and it is with devout gratitude, in retiring from office, that I leave the country in a state of peace and prosperity. MILLARD FILLMORE. WASHINGTON, December 6, 1852.

Report of the Secretary of War. WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, December 4, 1852. SIR: I beg leave to submit a brief account of the operations of this Department during the year. The efforts of the Department have been principally directed to the defense of our frontiers and those of Mexico from the Indian tribes within our borders. For this purpose, out of about 11,000 officers and men borne on the rolls of the Army, about 8,000 are employed in the defense of Texas, New Mexico, California, and Oregon, or of emigrants destined to the last two.

It affords me great pleasure to say that the efforts of the Department for this purpose have been attended with more than usual success.

The benefits that were anticipated from the judicious arrangements made by the commanders of the 8th and 9th military departments (Texas and