offenders in question, but have declared their inability to identify them. In the present case no such plea can be set up, for two of your assailants are prisoners, and a pocket-book found on the ground near your legation contains a list of fourteen of the gang. With these two sources of information in their possession, there cannot be any difficulty in ascertaining the names of the whole band, and their consequent arrest and punishment. Should this government fail in its duty in the present case, it will be almost conclusive that it is either unable or unwilling to give us that protection which the punishment of crime would secure by the repression of criminal designs, and it will then become a matter of serious consideration what line of conduct should be adopted to secure to us those rights which we have guaranteed to us by our solemn treaty stipulations. I have addressed a letter to the Japanese ministers for foreign affairs in the sense of the foregoing, and I have pointedly shown them that any failure on their part at the present crisis will greatly endanger the peace of their country. I propose to have an interview with the ministers in this behalf, when I intend to urge upon them the necessity that exists for their action in this matter. In this connexion I beg to say that if you intend to have an interview with the ministers shortly, I will defer mine until after yours has taken place. I renew to you my cordial congratulations on your truly providential escape from a daring and almost successful attempt on your life. I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient humble servant, Minister resident of the United States in Japan. RUTHERFORD ALCOCK, Esq., C. B., Her Britannic Majesty's Envoy Ext'y and Minister Plen'y in Yedo. No. 37.] Mr. Alcock to Mr. Harris. HER MAJESTY'S LEGATION, Yedo, July 8, 1861. SIR: I have to thank you for the congratulations of escape from the assassins, conveyed in your letter of this date, and the expression of your views upon the present conjuncture, in which I am glad to say there is a general accordance with my own. If there be any divergence, it is in the absence of all hope on my part that the Japanese government will behave otherwise on this than on every former occasion of the like nature. They have shown great supineness and indifference hitherto, and appear wholly unconscious of the gravity of the circumstances and the atrocious nature of the outrage offered to the flag. I had proposed seeing the ministers to-morrow, but since the event of the 5th I have thought it better to wait an answer to a letter which I addressed them, urging them to give such full satisfaction as should relieve them of all charge of complicity or indifference. I expect Admiral Hope here also in a few days, which may further induce me to postpone an interview. If you wish to see the ministers, therefore, I beg I may not be a cause of delay. I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient humble servant, RUTHERFORD ALCOCK, Her Britannic Majesty's Envoy Ext'y and Minister Plenty in Japan. TOWNSEND HARRIS, Esq., &c., &c., &c., United States Legation, Yedo. Mr. Seward to Mr. Harris. No. 23.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 21, 1861. SIR: Your despatch of the 9th of July (No. 28) has been received. The assaults committed upon the minister of Great Britain and the other members of that legation, in violation of express treaty, of the laws of nations, and of the principles of common humanity, have excited a deep concern on the part of the President. Your prompt, earnest, and decided proceedings in aid of the just desire of her Britannic Majesty's minister to obtain adequate satisfaction for that outrage meet his emphatic approv. I have lost no time in assuring the British government directly of the willingness of the United States to co-operate with it in any judicious measure it may suggest to insure safety hereafter to diplomatic and consular representatives of the western powers in Japan, with due respect to the sovereignties in whose behalf their exposure to such grave perils is incurred. I am, sir, your obedient servant, TOWNSEND HARRIS, Esq., &c., &c., &c., Yedo. WILLIAM H. SEWARD. REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, November 30, 1861. SIR: The report of the operations of this department during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1861, will exhibit a diminished amount of business in some of the most important bureaus connected with the department. This is attributable mainly to the insurrection which has suddenly precipitated the country into a civil war. GENERAL LAND OFFICE. The decline of business has very sensibly affected the operations of the General Land Office. Official intercourse has been entirely suspended with all the southern States which contain any portion of the public lands, and consequently no sales have been made in any of those States. In all the northern States in which any of the public lands are situated the war has almost entirely suspended sales. The demand for volunteers has called into the ranks of the army a large number of that portion of our people whose energy and enterprise in time of peace incline them to emigrate to the west and settle upon the public lands, thus laying the foundations of future prosperous communities and States. Besides, the ordinary channels of trade and commerce have been so obstructed by the war that the sources of income, from which the settlers upon the public lands have realized the means of purchasing, have been greatly diminished. On the 30th September, 1861, there were 55,555,595.25 acres of the public lands which had been surveyed but not proclaimed for public sale. The lands surveyed and offered at public sale previous to that time, and then subject to private entry, amounted to 78,662,735.64 acres, making an aggregate of public lands surveyed and ready for sale of 134,218,330.89 acres. Since the last annual report of this department no proclamation for a public sale of lands has been made, as the quantity already subject to private entry is more than sufficient to meet the wants of the country. During the fiscal year ending 30th June, 1861, and the first quarter of the current year, ending 30th September, 1861, 5,289,532.31 acres have been disposed of. Of this amount 1,021,493.77 acres have been certified to the States of Minnesota, Michigan, and Louisiana, under railroad grants made by Congress; 606,094.47 acres have been certified to States as swamp lands; 2,153.940 acres have been located with bounty land warrants, and 1,508,004.07 acres have been sold for cash, producing $925, 299 42. It will be seen from this statement that the public lands have ceased substantially for the present, at least, to be a source of revenue to the government. The liberal manner in which the acts of Congress, granting swamp and overflowed lands to the States, have been construed and executed, the grants of large quantities to aid in the construction of railroads, and the quantity required to locate bounty land warrants for military services, have combined to reduce the cash sales to an amount but little more than sufficient to meet the expenses of our land system. The net income from sales during the last fiscal year will hardly reach the sum of $200,000. During the last fiscal year there were certified to the States for railroad construction, under the several acts of Congress making grants for such purposes: To Minnesota, 308,871.90 acres; to Michigan, 636,061.42 acres; and to Louisiana, 76,560.45 acres. The whole amount certified to all the States, under such grants, is 9,998,497.77 acres. The grants of swamp and overflowed lands to the States have absorbed a large amount of valuable lands, and have caused a heavy drain upon the treasury. The claims of the several States cover an aggregate of 57,895,577.40 acres. The United States have also paid to the States, in cash, under the indemnity act of March 2, 1855, on account of lands claimed as swamp lands, and which were sold by the United States subsequent to the date of the grant, $276, 126 50. Certificates have been issued for location upon any of the public lands subject to entry, to indemnify the States for lands claimed as swamp lands, but which had been located by bounty land warrants after the date of the grant, amounting to 145,595.92 acres. Additional claims are pending, yet undecided, for cash, $142,435, and for lands, 301,429 acres. The bounty land warrants and scrip issued under different acts of Congress, previous to September 30, 1861, embrace an aggregate of 71,717, 172 acres of land. Of this amount there have been located: For revolutionary services, 8,200, 612 acres; for services in the war with Great Britain, 4, 850, 120 acres; for Canadian volunteers, 72,750 acres; for services in the Mexican war and other services, under the acts of 1847, 1850, 1852, and 1855, in all 51,138,970 acres; leaving yet to be located on warrants and scrip, already issued, 7,454, 720 acres. Unless Congress shall authorize the issue of additional warrants, this drain upon the public lands will soon cease. The propriety of issuing bounty land warrants to the volunteers who have been called into service to suppress the existing insurrec tion, is already a subject of discussion, and must be determined by Congress. A warrant for 160 acres to each volunteer engaged in the service would absorb over one hundred millions of acres, a much larger amount than has been issued under all previous laws. It is evident that the issue of such an amount of warrants would destroy all hope of deriving any revenue from the public lands, at least for many years. And while such a measure would deprive the government of all income from this source, it would afford but little benefit |