.' - '01) . ..-.. -.. 3, - Eati,it/O/t . .,•ntttti.**/0 . t.. VOL. LVII. Fellow Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives The Constitution requires that the Presi dent shall from time to time not only recom mend to the consideration of Congress such measures as he may judge necessary and ex pedient, but that he shall also give informa tion to them of the state of the Union. To do this fatly involves exposition of all matters in the actual condition of the country, domestic or foreign, which essentially concern the gen eral welfare. While performing this constitu tional daty in this respect, the President does not speak merely to express personal convic tions, bat as the executive minister of the go vernment, enabled by his position, and called 'upon by his official obligations, to scan with an impartial eye the intersets of the whole, and of every part of the United States. Of the condition of the domestic interests of the Uniou,its agriculture,mines, manufactures, navigation and commerce, it is necessary only to say that the internal prosperity of the coun try, its continuous and steady advancement in wealth and population, and in private as well as public well-being, attest the wisdom of our institutions, and the predominant spirit and intelligence and patriotism, which, not withstanding occasional irregularities of opin ion or action resulting from popular freedom, has distinguished and characterized the peo ple of America: In the brief interval between the termination of the last and the commencement of the present session of Congress, the public mind has been occupied with the care of ' selecting, for another constitutional term, the President and Vice President of the United States. - - The determination of the persons, who are of right, or continently, to preside over the administration of the government, is, under our system, committed to the States and the. people. e appeal to theth, by their voice pronounced in the forms of law, to call whom soever they will to the high post of Chief Magistrate. And thus it is that as the senators represent the respective States of the Union, and the members of the House of Representatives the several constituencies of each State, so the President represents the aggregate population of the United States. Their election of him is the explicit and solemn act of the sole sov ereign authority of the Union. It is impo-sible to misapprehend the great principles, which, by their recent political ac tion, the people of the United States have sanctioned and announced. They have asserted the constitutional equali ty of each and all of the States of the Union as States; they have affirmed the constitutional equality of each and all of the citizens of the United States as citizens, whatever their reli gion, wherever their birth, or their residence ; they have maintained the inviolability of the constitutional rights of the different sections of the Union; and they have proclaimed their devoted and unalterable attachment to the Union and to the Constitution, as objects of interest superior to all subjects of local or sec tional controversy, as the safeguard of the rights of all, as the spirit. and the essence of the liberty, peace, and greatness of the Repub lic. In doing this, they have, at the same time, emphatically condemned the s idea of organi zing in these United States mere geographical parties ; of marshalling in hostile array tow ards each other the different parts of the country, North or South, East or West. Schemes of this nature, fraught with incal culable mischief, and which the considerate sense of the people has rejected,. could have had countenance in no part of the country, had they not been disguised by suggestions plausible in appearance, acting upon an exci ted state of the public mind, induced by causes temporary in their character, and it is to be transient in their influence. Perfect liberty of association for political objects, and the widest scope of discussion, are the received and ordinary conditions of government in our country. Our institutions, framed in the spirit of confidence in the intelli gence and integrity of the people, do not for bid citizens either individually or associated together, to attack by writing, speech, or any other methods short of physical force, the Constitution and the very existence of the Union. Under the shelter of this great liberty, and protected by the laws and usages of the government they assail, associations have been formed, in same of the States, of indi viduals, who, pretending to seek only to pre vent the spread of the institution of slavery into the preselkt or future inchoate States of the Union, are really inflamed with desire to change the domestic institutions of existing States. To accomplish their objects, they dedicate themselves to the odious task of depreciating the government organization which stands in their way, and of calumniating, with indis criminate invective, not only the citizens of particular States, with whose laws they find fault, but all others of their fellow-citizens throughout the country, who do not participate with them in their assaults upon the Consti tution, framed and adopted by their fathers, and claiming for the privileges it has secured, and the blessings it has conferred, the steady support and grateful reverence of their chil dren. They seek an object which they well know to be a revolutionary one. They are perfectly aware that the change in the relative condition of the white and black races in the slaveholding States, which they would pro mote, is beyond their lawful authority ; that to them it is a foreign object ; that it cannot be effected by any peaceful instrumentality of theirs ; that for them and the States of which they are citizens, the only path to its accom plishment is through burning cities and rava ged fields, and slaughtered populations, and all there is most terrible in foreign, complica ted with civil and servile war; and that the first step in the attempt is the forcible disrup tion of a country embracing in its broad bo som a degree of liberty, and an amount of in dividual and public prosperity, to which there is no parallel in history, and substituting in its place hostile governmentp,..flriven at once and inevitably into mutual devastation and fratricidal carnage, transforming the now peaceful and felicitous brotherhood into a vast permanent camp of armed men like the rival monarchies of Europe and Asia. Well know ing that such, and such only, are the means and consequences of their plans and purposes, they endeavor to prepare the people of the United States for civil war by doing every thing in their power to deprive the Constitu tion and the laws of moral authority, and to undermine the fabric of the Union by appeals to passion and sectional prtludice, by indoc trinating its people with reciprocal hatred, and by educating them to stand face to face as 'en emies, rather than shoulder to shoulder as friends. It is by the agency of such unwarrantable interference, foreign and domestic, that the minds of many, otherwise good citizens, have been so inflamed into the passionate condem natidn of the domestic institutions of the sou thern-states as at length to pass insensibly to almost equal passionate hostility towards their fellow citizens of those states, and thus to fin ally to fall into temporary fellowship with the avowed and active enemies of the constitution. Ardently attached to liberty in the abstract, they do not stop to consider practically how the objects they would attain can be accom plished, nor to reflect that, even if the evil were as great as they deem it, they have no remedy to apply, and that it can only be ag grairated by their violence and unconstitution al action. A question, which is one of the most difficult of all the problems of social in stitution, political economy and statesmanship, they treat with unreasoning intemperance of thought and language. Extremes beget ex tremes. Violent attacks from the North finds its inevitable consequence in the growth of a spirit of angry defiance at the South. Thus in the progress of events we had reached the consummation, which the voice of the people has now so pointedly rebuked of the attempt of a portion of the States, by a sectional orga nization and movement to usurp the control of the government of the United States. I confidently believe, that the great body of those, who inconsiderately took this fatal . step are sincerely attached to the constitu tion and the union. They would, upon 'delib eration, shrink with unaffected horror from suar conscious act of disunion or civil war. Bat they have entered into a path, which leads nowhere, unless it be to civil war and disunion, :and which has no other possible outlet. They have proceeded thus far in that direction in consequence of the successive stages of their progress having consisted of a series of secondary issues, each of which professed to be confined within constitution al and peaceful limits, bat which attempted indirectly what few men were willing to do directly, that is, to act aggressively against the constitutional rights of nearly ons-half of the thirty-one States. In the long series of acts of indirect ag gression, the first was the strenuous agitation, by citizens of the northern States, in Con gress, and out of it, of the piestion of negro emancipation in the southern States. The second step in this path of evil con sisted of acts of the people of the northern States, and in several instances of their gov ernments, aimed to facilitate the escape of persons held to service in the southern States, and to prevent' their extradition when reclaimed according to law and in vir tue of the express provisions of the Consti tution. To promote this object, legislative enactments and other means were adopted to take away or defeat rights, which the Consti tution solemnly guaranteed. In order to nullify the then existing acts of Congress concerning the extradition of fugitives from service, laws were enacted in many States, forbidding their officers, under the severest penalties, to participate in the execution of any act of Congress whatever. In this way that system of harmonious co-operation be tween the authorities of the United States and of the several States, for the mainte nance of their common institutions, which existed in the early years of the Republic, was destroyed; conflicts of jurisdiction came to be frequent ; and Congress found itself , compelled, fur the support of the Constitn ion, and the vindication of its power, to au thorize the appointmet of new officers charg ed with the execution of its acts, as if they and the officers of the States were the minis ters, respectively, of foreign governments in a state of mutual hostility, rath,lr than fel low magistrates of a common country, peacefully subsisting under.the protection of one well-constituted Union. Thus here, also, aggression was followed by reaction ; and the attacks upon the Constitution at this point did but serve to raise up new barriers for its defence and security. The third stage of this unhappy sectional conrroversy was in connexion with the or ganization of territorial governments, and the admission of new States into the Union.— When it was proposed to admit the State of Maine, by separatiou of that territory from Ilia of Massachusetts, and the State of Mis souri, formed of a portion of the territory ce ded by France to the United States, repre sentatives of Congress objected to the admis sion of the latter, unless with conditions sui ted to particular views of public policy. The imposition of such a condition was success fully resisted. But, at the same period, the question was presented of imposing restric tions upon the residue of the territory ceded by France. That question was, for the time, disposed of by the adoption of a geographi cal line of limitation.. In this connexion is should not be forgot ten that France, of her own accord, resolved, for considerations of the most far-sighted sagacity, to cede Louisiana to the United States, and that accession was accepted by the United States, the latter expressly en gaged that " the inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States ; and in the meantime they shall be maintained and pro tected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion which they pro fess."—that is to say, while it remains in a territorial condition, its inh - dbitants are main tained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and property, with a right then to pass into the condition of States on a foot ing ~f perfect equality with the original States. The enactment, which established the re strictive geographical line, was acquiesced in rather than approved by the States of the Union. It stood on the statute book, how ever, for a number of years ; and the people of the respective States acquiesced in the re enactment of tlie principle as applied to the State of Texas; and it was proposed to ac quiesce in its further application to the terri tory acquired by the United States from Mexico. But this proposition was success fully resisted by the representatives from the northern States, who, regardless of the statute line, insisted upon applying restriction to the new territory generally, whether lying north or south of it, thereby repealing it as a legis lative compromise, and, on the part of the North, persistently violating the compact, if compact there was. Thereupon this enactment ceased to have binding virtue in any sense, whether as re spects the North or the South ; and so in effect it was treated on the occasion of the admission of the State of California, and. the organization of the Territories of New - Mexico, Utah, and Washington. Such was the state of this question, when the time arrived for the organizatiou of the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. In the progress of constitutional inquiry and reflec tion, it had now at length come to be seen clearly that Congress does not possess Con stitutional , power to impose restrictions of this character upon any pri)isant-or future State of the Union. In it long series of de cisions, on the fullestargument, and after the most deliberate 9onsideration, the Su preme Court of the United States had finally determined this point, in every form under which the 'questioitotruld arise, whether as affecting public or titivate rights—in ques tions of. the public domain, of religion, of navigation, and of servitude. The several Slates of the Union are, by force of the Constitution, co-equal in domes tic legislative power. Congress cannot change a law of domestic relation in the State of Maine ; no more can it in the State of Mis souri. Any statute which proposes to do this is a mere nullity ; it takes away no right, it confers none. If it remains on the statute-book unrepealed, it remains there on ly as a monument of error, and a beacon of warnrng to the legislator and the statesman. To repeal it will be only to remove imperfec tion from the statutes, without affecting, ei ther in the sense of permission or of prohibi tion, the action of the States, or of their citi zens. Still, when the nominal restriction of this nature, already a dead letter in law, was in terms repealed by the last Congress, in a clause of the act org zing the Territories of .1;4 Kansas and Nebrask that repeal was made the occasion of a wide-spread and dangerous agitation. It was alleged that the original enactment being a compact of perpetual moral obligation, its repeal constittited an odious breach of faith. An act of Congress, while it remains mire pealed, more especially if it be constitutionally valid in the judgment of those public func tionaries whose duty it is to pronounce on that point, is undoubtedly binding on theconscience of each good citizen of the Republic. But in what sense can it be asserted that the enact ment in question was invested with perpetuity and entitled to the respect of a solemn com pact ? Between whom was the compact ? No distinct contending powers of the government, no separate sections of the Union, treating as such, entered into treaty stipulations on the subject. It was a mere clause of an act of Congress, and like any other controverted mat ter of legislation, received its final shape and was passed by compromise of the conflicting opinions or sentiments of the members of Con gress. But if it had moral authority overmen's consciences, to whom did this authority.attach? Not to those of the North, who had repeatedly refused to confirm it by extension, and who had zealously striven to establish other and incompatible regulations upon the snject. And it, as it thus appears, the supposed compact had no obligatory force as to the North, of course it could not lave had any as to the South, for all such compacts must be mutual and of reciprocal obligation. It has not unfrequently happened that law— "THAT COUNTRY IS THE MOST PROSPEROUS WHERE LABOR COMMANDS THE GREATEST REWARD." LANCASTER CITY, PA., TUESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 9, 1856. givers, with undue estimation of the value of the law they give, or in the view of im parting to it peculiar strength, make it per petual in terms ; but they cannot thus bind the conscience, the judgment, and the will of those who may succeed them, invested with similar responsibilities, and clothed with equal authority. More careful investi gation may prove the law to be unsound in principle. Experience may show it to be im perfect in detail and impracticable in execu tion. And then both reason and right com bine not merely to justify, but to require its repeal. The Constitution, suprethe as it is over all the departments of the government, legisla tive, executive, and judicial, is open to amendment by its very terms ; and Congress or the States may, in their discretion, pro pose amendment to it, solemn compact though it in truth is between the sovereign States of the Union,' In the present instance, a political enactment, which had ceased to have legal power or authority of any kind, was repealed. The position assumed, that Congress had no moral right to enact such repeal, was strange enough, and singularly so in view of the fact that the argument came from those who openly refused obedi ence to existing laws of the land, having the same popular designation and quality as I compromise acts—nay, more, who unequivo cally disregarded and condemned the most positive and obligatory injunctions of the Constitution itself, and sought by every means within their reach, to deprive a por tion of their fellow citizens of the equal en joyment of those rights and' privileges guar antied alike to all by the fundamental com- I pact of onr Union. This argument against the repeal of the sta tute line in question, was accompanied by another of congenial character, and equally with the former destitute of foundation in rea son and truth. It was imputed that the mea sure originated in the conception of extending the limits of slave-labor beyond those pre viously assigned to it, and that such was its natural as well as intended effect ; and these baseless assumptions were made, in the north ern States, the ground of unceasing assault upon constitutional right. The repeal in terms of a statute, which was already obsolete, and also null for unconstitu tionality, could have no influence to obstruct or to promote the propagation of conflicting views of political or social institution. 'When the act organizing the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska was passed, the inherent effect upon that portion of the public domain thus opened to legal settlement, was to admit set tlers from all the States of the Union alike, each with his convictions of public policy and private interest, there to found in their discre tion, subject to such limitations as the Con stitution and acts of Congress might prescribe, new States, hereafter to be admitted into the Union. It was a free field, open alike to all, whether the statute line of assumed restriction were repealed or not. That repeal did not open to free competition of the diverse opinions and domestic institutions a field, which, without such repeal, would have been closed against them : it found that field of competition al ready opened, in fact and in law, All the re peal did was to relieve the statute book of an objectionable enactment, unconstitutional in effect, and injurious in terms to a large pro portion of the States. Is it the fact, that, in all the unsettled re gions of the United States, if emigration be left free to act in this respect for itself, with out legal prohibitions on either side, slave la bor will spontaneously go everywhere, in preference to free labor ? Is it the fact, that the peculiar domestic institutions of the southern States possess relatively so much of vigor, that, wheresoever an avenue is freely open to all o ,the world, they will penetrate to the exclusion of those of the northern States? Is it the fact, that the former enjoy, compar ed with the latter, such irresistibly superior vitality, independent of climate, soil, and all other accidental circumstances, as to be able to produce the supposed result, in spite of the assumed moral and natural obstacles to its accomplishment, and of the more numer ous population of the northern States ? The argument of those, who advocate the enactment of new laws of restriction, and condemn the repeal of old ones, in effect avers that their particular views of govern ment have no self-extending orself-sustaining power of their own, and will go nowhere un less forced by act of Congress. And if Con gress'do but pause for a moment in the policy of stern coercion ; if it venture to try the ex periment of leaving men to judge for them selves what institutions will best suit them; if it be not strained up to perpetual legisla tive exertion on this point ; if Congress proceed thus to act in the very spirit of lib erty, it is at once charged with aiming to ex tend slave labor into all the new Territories of the United States. Of course, these imputations on the inten tions of Congress in this respect, conceived as they were in prejudice, and disseminated in passion, are utterly destitute of any justi fication in the nature of things, arid contrary to all the fundamental doctrines and priuci pies of civil liberty and self-government. While therefore, in general, the people of the northern States have never, at any time arrogated for the federal government the power to iuterefere directly with the domes tic condition of persons in .the southern States, but on the flontrary have disavowed all such intentions, and have shrunk from conspicuous affiliation with those few who pursue_their fanatical objects avowedly through the contemplated means of revolu tionary change of the government, and with acceptance of the necessary consequences— a civil and servile war—yet many citizens have suffered themselves to be drawn into one evanescent political issue of agitation af ter another, appertaining to the same set of opinions, and which subsided as rapidly as they arose when it came to be seen, as it uniformly did, that they were incompatible with the compacts of the Constitution and the existence of the Union. Taus, when the acts of some of the States to nullify the ex isting extradition law imposed upon Con gress the duty of passing a new one, the country was invited by agitators to enter in to party organization for its repeal ; but that agitation speedi'y ceased by reason of the impracticability of its objects. So, when the statute restriction upon the institutions of new States, by a geographical line, had been repealed, the country was. urged to demand its restoration, and that project also died al most with its birth. Then followed the cry of alarm from the North against imputed southern encroachments ; which cry sprang in reality from the spirit of revolutionary at tack on the domestic institutions of the South, and, after a troubled existence of a few months has been rebuked by the voice of a patriotic people. Of this last agitation, obe lamentable fea ture was, that it was carried on at the imme diate expense of the peace and happiness of the people of the Territory of Kansas. That was made the battle-field, not so much of op posing factions or interests within itself, as of the conflicting passions of the whole peo ple of the United States. Revolutionary disorder in Kansas had its origin in projects of intervention, deliberately arranged by certain members of Congress, which enacted the law for the organization of the Territory. And when propagandist colonization of Kan sas had thus been undertaken in one section of the Union, for the systematic promotion of its peculiar views of policy, there ensued, as a matter of course, a counter-action with opposite views, in other sections of the Union. In consequence of these and other inci dents, many acts of , disorder it is undenia ble, have been perpetrated in Kansas, to the occasional interruption, rather than the per manent suspension, of regular government. Aggressive and most reprehensible incursions into the Territory were undertaken, both in the North and the South, and entered it on its northern border by the way of lowa, as well as on the eastern by way of Missouri ; and there has existed within it a state of in surrection against the constituted authori ties, not without countenance from inconsid erable persons in each of the great seotions of the Union. But the difficulties in that Territory have been extravagantly exaggera ted for purposes of political agitation else where. The number and gravity of the seta of violence have been magnified partly by . statements entirely untrue, and partly by reiterated accounts of the same rumors or facts. Thus the Territory has been seeming ly filled with extreme violence, when the whole amount of such acts has not been greater than what occasionally passes before tie in single cities to the regret of all good citizens, lint without being regarded as of general or permanent political consequence. Imputed irregularities in the elections had in Kansas, like occasional irregularities of the same description in the States, were be) and the sphere of action of the Executive. But incidents of actual violence or of organized obstruction of law pertinaciously renewed from time to time; have been met as they oc curred, by such means as were available and 'as circumstances required ; and nothing of this character now remains to affect the gen eral peace of the Union. The attempt of a part of the inhabitants of the Territory to elect a revolutionary government, though Se dulously encouraged and supplied with' pe cuniary aid from active agents of disorder in some of the States, has completely failed.— Bodies of armed men, foreign to the Territo- , ry, have been prevented from entering or compelled to leave it. Predatory bands, en gaged in acts of rapine, under cover of the ex isting political disturbances, have been ar rested or dispersed. And every well dispos- I ed person is now enabled once more to de vote himself in peace to the pursuits of pros perous industry, for the prosecution of which he undertook to participate in the settlement of the Territory. It affords me unmingled satisfaction thus to announce the peaceful condition of things in Kansas, especially considering the means to which it was necessary to have recourse for the attainment of the end, namely, the employment of a part of the military force of the United States. The withdrawal of that force from its proper duty of defending the country against foreign foes or the savages of the frontier, to employ it for the suppression of domestic insurrection, is, when the exi gency occurs, a matter of the most earnest solicitude. On this occasion of imperative necessity it has been done with the best re sults, and my satisfaction in the attainment of such results by such means is greatly en hanced by the consideration, that, through the wisdom and energy of the present Exec utive of Kansas, and the prudence, firmness and vigilance of the military officers on du ty there, tranquility has been restored with out one drop of bloodjhaving been shed in its accomplishment by the forces of the United States. The restoration of comparative tranquility in that Territory furnishes the means of ob serving calmly, and appreciating at their just value, the events which have occurred there, and the discussions of which the got ernment of the Territory has been the sub ject. . We perceive that controversy concerning its future domestic institutions was inevita ble ; that no human prudence, no form of le gislation, no wisdom on the part of Congress, could have prevented this. It is idle to suppose that the particular provisions of their organic law were the cause of agitation. Those provisions were but the occasion, or the pretext of an agita tation, which was inherent in the nature of things. Congress legislated upon the subject in such terms as were most consonant with the principle of popular sovereignty which un derlies our government. It could not have legislated otherwise without doing violence to another great principle of oar institutions, the inaprescriptible right of equality of the several States. We perceive, a Is°, that sectional interests and party passions, have been the great imped iment to the salutary operation of the organic principles adopted, and the chief cause of the successive disturbances in Kansas. The as sumption that, because in the organization of the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas, Con gress abstained from imposing restraints upon them to which certain other Territories had been subject, therefore disorders occurred in the latter Territory, is emphatically contra dkted by the fact that none have occurred in the former. These disorders were notthe con sequence, in Kansas, of the freedom of self government conceded to that Territory by Congress, but of unjust interference on the part of persons not inhabitants of the Territory.— Such interference, wherever it has exhibited itself, by acts of insurrectionary character, or of obstruction to processes of law, has been repelled or suppressed, by all the means which the Constitution and the laws place in the hands of the Executive. In those parts of the United States where by reason of the inflamed state of the public mind, false rumors and misrepresentations have the greatest currency, it has been assumed that it was the duty of the Executive not only to sup press insurrectionary movements in Kansas, but also to see to the regularity of local elec tions. It needs little argument to show that the President has no such power. All govern ment in the United States rests substantially upon popular election. The freedom of elec tions is liable to be impaired by the intrusion of unlawful votes, or the exclusion of lawful ones, by improper influences, by violence, or by fraud. But the people of the United States are themselves the all-snfficient guardians of their own rights, and to suppose they will not remedy, in due season, any such incidents of civil freedom, is to suppose them to have ceased to be capable of self-government. The Presi dent of the United States has not power to in terpose in elections, to see to their freedom, to canvass their votes, or to pass upon their legal ity in the Territories any more than in the States. If he had such power, the government might be republican in form, but it would be a monarchy in fact; and if he had undertaken to exercise it in the case of Kansas, he would have been justly subject to the charge of usurp ation, and of violation of the dearepiti rights of the people of the United States. Unwise laws, equally with irrg ties at elections, are, in periods of great °Bement, the occasional incidents of even e freest and best political institutions. Bu all expe rience demonstrates that in a country, like ours, where the right of self-constitution ex ists in the completest form, the attempt to remedy unwise legislation by resort to revo lution, is totally out of place ; inasmuch as existing legal institutions afford more prompt and efficacious means for the redress of wrong. I confidently trust that now, when the peace ful condition of Kansas affords opportunity for calm reflection and wise legislation, either the legislative assembly of the territory, or Con gress, will see that no act shall remain on its statute-book violative of the provisions of the Constitution, or subversive of the great objects for which that was ordained and established, and will take all other necessary steps to as sure to its inhabitants the enjoyment, without obstruction or abridgement, of all the consti tutional rights, privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States, as contemplated by the organic law of the Territory. Full information in relation to recent events in this Territory will be found in the docu ments communicated herewith from the De partments of State and War. I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury for particular information con cerning the financial condition of the govern ment, and 'the various branches of the public service connected with the Treasury Depart ment. During the last fiscal year, the receipts from customs were, for the first time, more than sixty-four million dollars, and from all sources, seventy-three million nine hundred and eight een thousand one hundred and forty-one dol lars ; which, with the balance on hand up to the Ist of July, 1555, made the total resources of the year to amount to ninety-two million eight hundred and fifty thousand one hundred and seventeen dollars. The expenditures, in chiding three million dollars in execution of the treaty with Mexico, and excluding sums paid on account of the public debt, amounted to sixty million one hundred and seventy-two thousand four hundred and one dollars; and, including the latter, to seventy-two million nine hundred and forty-eight thousand seven hundred and ninety-two dollars, the payment on this account having amounted to twelve million seven hundred and seventy-six thou sand three hundred and ninety dollars. On the 4th of March, 1853, the amount of the public 'debt was sixty-nine million one hundred and twenty-nine thousand nine hun- -BUCH&NAN dred and thtgty-seven dollars.. There was a hundred and eight miles, has added largely Ito add to the declaration that "Privateering is and subsequent increase of two million seven hnn- to the cost of transport lion. , , remains abolished,' the following amendment : " Bred and fifty thousand dollars for the debt of The inconsiderable augmentation of the income of : And that the private property of subjects and Texas—making a total of seventy-one million the Post Office Department under the reduced citizens of a beligereut on the high seas, shall be exempt from seizure by the public armed vessels eight hundred and seventy-nine thousand nine rates of postage, and its increasing expenditures, i of the other belligerent, except it be contraband." mast, for the present, make it dependent to some hundred and thirty-seven dollars. Of this the support. The relationronl. sum of forty-tire million five hundred and ex e t :d g a t t ' io po ns n o t f he th u ?rt ry m -fo te r srurre; This h a w m e e r n s dz i n e t h h h m aye be as en ke p d re o se ur nted ,en n t ot to onl t the y de n twenty-five thousand three hundred and nine- de to the abolition of th e os franking as privileg e , nen and bis ' c t la e r! ' ;ion to abolish privateering, but to all other teen dollars, including premium, has been views on the establishment of mail steinus hip lines, maritime states. Thus far it has noneen rejected discharged, reducing the debt to thirty million deserve the consideration of Congress.; I also call by any, and is favorably entertained by all which seven hundred acid thirty-seven thousand one the special attention of Congress to the statement I have made any communication in reply. hundred and twenty-nine dollars ; all of which of the Postmaster General respecting the sums now Several of the governments, regarding with fa• might be paid within a year without embair, paid for the transportation of mails to the Panama vor the proposition of the United States, have de. rassing the public servict, but being not yet Railroad Company, and commend td their early layed definitive action upon it, onl7 for the due, and only redeemable at the option of the and favorable consideration the suggestions of that Purpose of consulting with others, parties to the `,holder, con.not be pressed to payment b the officer in relation to new contracts for mail trans. conference of Paris. I have the satisfaction of government. I y -, portation upon that route, and also upon the Te- stating, however, that the Emperor of Russia has huantepec and Nicaragua routes. • entirely and explicitly approved of that modifica • On examining the expenditures of the last ' The United States continue in the Onjoyment of tion, and will eo-operate in endeavoring to obtain five years, it will be seen that the average, de- amicable relationtswith all foreign potters. 1 the assent of other powers ; and that assurances of ducting payments on account of the public When my last annual message was ;transmitteda similar purport have been received in relation to debt, and ten mllions paid by treaty to Mex-... to Congress, two subjects of controversy, one rat I the disposition of the Emperor of the French. ico, has been about forty-eight millions dol- ' flog to the enlistment of soldiers in this country i The present aspect of this-important subject al .. . . ... . .. . , .. lars. It is believed that, under an econom cal, administration of the government, the average expenditure for the ensuing 5 years will not exceed that sum unless extraordina ry occasion for its increase occur. The acts granting ,bounty lands will soon have been executed, while the extension of our frontier settlements will cause a continued demand for lands and augmented receipts, probably, from that source. These considerations will justify a reduction of the revenue on cus toms, so as not to exceed forty-eight or fifty million dollars. I think the exigency for such reduction is-imperative Land again urge it upon the consideration of Congress. The amount of reduction, as well as the manner ofeffecting it, are questions of great and general interest; it being essential to in dustrial enterprise and the public prosperity, as well as the dictate of obvious justice, that the burden of taxation be made to rest as equally as pbssible upon all classes, and all sections and interests of the country. I have heretofore recommended to your consideration the revision of the revenue laws; prepared under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, and also legislation upon some special questions affecting the business of that department, more especially the enactment of a law to punish the abstraction of official books or papers from the files of the government, and requiring all such books and papers and all other public property to be turned over by the out-going officer to his suceessor; of a law re quiring disbursing officers to deposits all pub lic money in the vaults of the treasury or in other legal depositories, where the same are conveniently accessible; and a law to extend existing penal provisions to all persons who may become possessed of public money by de posits or otherwise, and who shall refuse or neglect, on due demand, to pay the same into the treasury. I invite your attention anew to each of these objectS. The army during the past year has been so constantly employed against hostile Indians in various quarters, that it can scarcely be said, with propriety of language, to have been a peace establishment. -Its duties have been Satisfactorily performed, and we have reason to expect, as a result of the year's operations, greater security to the frontier inhabitants than has been hitherto enjoyed. Extensive combinations among the hostile Indians of the Territories of Washington and Oregon at one time threatened the devastation of the newly formed settlements of that remote por tion of the country. From recent informa tion, we are permitted to hope that the ener getic and successful operations conducted there will prevent such combinations in future, and secure to those Territories an op portunity to make steady - progress in the de velopment of their agrichltural and mineral resources. Legislation has been recommended by me on previous occasions to cure defects in the existing organization, and to increase the effi ciency of the army, and further observation has but served to confirm me in the views then expressed, and to enforce on my mind the con viction that such measures are not only proper but necessary. I have, in addition, to invite the attention of Congress to a change of policy in the distribu tion of troops, and to the necessity of providing a more rapid increase of the military arma ment. ,gor details of these and other subjects relating To the army, I refer to the report of the Secretary of War. The condition of the navy is not merely sa tisfactory, but exhibits the most gratifying evi 'deuces of increased vigor. As it is compara tively small, it is more important that it should' be as complete as possible in all the elements of strength; that it should be sufficient in the character of its officers, in the zeal and disci pline of its men, in the reliability of its ord nance, and in the capacity of its ships. In all these various qualities the navy has made great progress within the last few years. The execution of the law of Congress, of February 23, 1855, "to promote the efficiency of the navy," has been attended by the most advan tageous results. The law for promoting disci pline among the men is found convenient and salutary. The system of granting an honor able discharge to faithful seamen on the expi ration of the period of their enlistment, and permitting them to re-enlist after a leave of ab sence of a few months, without cessation of pay, is highly beneficial in its influence. The ap prentice system recently adopted is evidently destined to incorporate into the service a large number of our countrymen hitherto so difficult to procure. Several hundred Americans boys are now on a three years' cruise in our national ves sels, and will return well trained seamen. In the ordanance department there is a decided gratifying indication of progress creditable to it and to the country. The suggestions of the Secretary of the Navy, in regard to further improvement in that branch of the service, I commend to your favorable action. The new frigates ordered by Congress are now afloat, and two of them in active service. They are superior models of naval architecture and with their formidable battery add largely to public strength and security. I concur iu the views expressed by the Se cretary of the Department in favor of a still further increase of our naval force. The report of the Secretary of the fnterior presents facts and views in relation to inter nal affairs over which the supervision of his department extends, of much interest and im portance. The aggregate sales of the public lands dur ing the last fiscal year, amount to nine mill ion two hundred and twenty-seven thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight acres ; for which has been received eight millions eight hundred and twenty-one thousand four hun dred and fourteen dollars. ' During the same period there have been located, with militars , scrip and land warrants, and for other purpo ses, thirty million one hundred thobsand two hundred and thirty acres, thus making a total aggregate of thirty-nine millions three hun dred and twenty-eight thousand one hundred and eight acres. On the 30th of September last, surveys had been made of sixteen mill ions eight hundred and seventy-three thous and six hundred and ninety-nine acres, a large proportion of which is ready for market. The suggestions in this report in regard to the complication and progressive expansion of the business of the different bureaux of the department, to the pension system; to the colonization of Indian tribes, and the re commendations in relation to various im provements in the District of Columbia, are especially recommended to your considera tion. The report of the Postmaster General pre sents fully the condition of that department of the government. Its expenditures for the last fiscal year, were ten millions four hund red and seven thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight dollars; and its gross receipts seven millions six hundred and twenty thou sand eight hundred and one dollars—making an excess of expenditure over receipts of two millions seven hundred and eighty-seve thousand and forty-six dollars. The defi ciency of this department is thus seven hun dred and forty-four thousand dollars greater than for the year ending June 30, 1853. Of this deficiency , three hundred and thirty thousand dollars is to be attributed to the additional .compensation allowed post masters by the act of Congress of June 22, 1854. The mail facilities in every part of the country have ben very much increased in that period, and the large addition of railroad service amounting to seven thousand nine for foreign service, and the other to Central America, threatened to disturb good understanding between the United States and Great Britain. Of the pro. gress and termination of the former q!lestion you were informed at the time ; and the other is now in the way of satisfactory adjustment.: The object of the convention between the United States and Great Britain of the 19th of April, t 859, was to secure, for the benefit. of all nations, the neutrality and the common use of any transit way or interoceanic communication, across the isthmus of Panama, which might be opened :within the litiiito of Central America. The preteitsion subse quently asserted by Great Britain, to dominion or control over territories, in or near two of the routes, those of Nicaragua and Honduras, were deemed ....earagua and Honduras, we' by the United States, not merely incompatible with the main object of the treaty, but opposed even to its express stipulations. Deco Zion of eon troversy on this point has been removed by an ad. ditional treaty, which our minister at i.olllloll has concluded, and which will be immediatlsly submits. ted to the Senate for its consideratithot. Should the proposed supplemental arrangetne'nt be con curred in by all the parties to be affected by it, the objects contemplated by the original convention will have been fully attained. The treaty between the United StateS and Great Britain, of the sth of June, 1854, which went into effective operation in 1855, put an and to causes of irritation between the two countries, by securing to the United States the right of fishery - an the coast of the British North Americarprovinces, with advant'ages equal to those enjoyed' by British subjects. Besides the signal benefits ofithis treaty to a large class of our citizens engaged in a pur suit connected to no inconsiderable degree with our national prosperity and strength, it hes had a fa vorable effect upon other interests in the provision it made for reciprocal freedom of trade between the United States and the British provincesfp America. The exports of domestic articles to thhee provin ces during the last year amounted to imore than twehty-two millions of dollars, exceeding those of the preceding year by nearly seven millions of dal lars ; and th imports therefrom, during the same period, amounted to more than twenty-one mil lions,—an increase of six millibns upon those of the previous year. The improved condition of this branch of our commerce is mainly attributable to the oho, e mentioned treaty. Provision was made, in the first article of that treaty, for a commission to designate the mouths of rivers to which the common right of fishery, on the coast of thh United States and the British Pro vinces, was not to extend. This commission has been employed a part of two seasons, but without much progress in accomplishing the object for which it was instituted, in consequence of a seri ous difrerence of opinion between the commission ers, not only as to the precise point where the rivers terminate, but in many instances as to what constitutes a river. These difficulties, how ever, may be overcome by resort to the umpirage provided for by the treaty, The efforts perseveringly prosecuted since the commencement of my administration, to relieve our trade to the Baltic from the exaction of sound dues by Denmark, have not yet been- attended - with success. Other governments have also sought to obtain a like relief to theircommence, and Den mark was thus induced to propose an arrangement to all the European Powers interested in the sub ject ; and the manner in which her proposition was received, warranting her to believe that a sa tisfactory arrangement with them could soon bo concluded, she made a strong appeal to this gov ernment for temporary suspension of definite ac tion on its part', in consideration of the embarrass. ment which Might result to her European negotia tions by an immediate adjustment of the question with the United States. This request has been acceded to, upon the condition that the sums col lected after the 16th of June lust, and until the 16th of June next, from vessels and cargoes be longing to our merchanttare to be consideied as paid under protest and subject to future adjustment.— There is reason to believe that an arrangement, between Denmark and the maritime powers of Eu rope on the subject, will be soon concluded, and that the pending negotiation with the United States may then be resumed and terminated in a satis factory manner. With Spain no new difficulties have arisen, nor has much progress been made in the adjustment of pending ones. Negotiations entered into for the purpose of re lieving our. commertial intercourse with the Island of Cuba of ;time of its burdens, and providing for the more speedy settlement of local dismites grow ing out of that intercourse, have not yet been at tended with any result. Soon after the commencement of the late war in Europe, this government submitted to the consid eration of all maritime nations, two principles for the security of neutral commerce : -One, that the neutral flag should cover enemies' goods, except articles contraband of war ; and the other, that neutral property on board merchant vessels of bel ligerents should be exempt from condemnation, with the exception of contraband articles. These were not presented as new rules of inter national law ; having been generally claimed by' neutrals, though not always admitted by belliger ents. One of the parties to the,war—Russia—as well as several neutral powers, promptly acceded to these propositions ; and the two other principal belligerents, Great Britain and France, having eon sented to observe them for the present occasion, a favorable opportunity seemed to be presented for obtaining a general recognition of them both in Europe and America. But Great Britain and France, in common with most of the states of Europe, while forbearing to reject, did not affirmatively act upon the dvertares of the United States. While the question was in this positionr - the rep resentatives of Rueeia, France, Great Britain, Aus tria, Prussia, Sardinia, and Turkey, asee'rnbled at Paris, took into consideration the subject of mari time rights, and put forth a declaration containing the twooprinciples which this government had sub mitted, nearly two years before, to the considera tion of maritime powers, and adding thereto the following propositions : "Privateering is and re mains abolished," and " Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective, that, is to say, main. tamed by a force, sufficient really, to prhvent ac cess to the coast of the enemy ;" and to the dec. laration thus composed of four points, two of which had already been proposed by the United States, this government has been invited to accede by all the powers represented at Paris, except Great Brit. sin and Turkey. To the last of the twcraddition al propositions—that in relation to blOckades-- there can certainly be no objection. It is merely the definition of what shall constitute the effectual investment of a blockaded place, a deflaition for which this government has always contended, claiming indemnity for losses where a prictical vi olation of the rule thus defined has been :injurious to our commerce. As to the remaining }article of the declaration of the conference of Paris,." that privateering is and remains abolished,'?—l cer• tainly cannot ascribe to the powers reprisented in the conference of Paris, any but liberal' and phi lanthropic views in the attempt to change the un questionable rule of maritime law in !regard to privateering. Their proposition was dohbtless in tended to imply approval of the principal that pri vate property upon the ocean, although it might belong to the citizens of a belligerent state, should be exempted from capture ; and had that prop osition been so framed as to give full effect to the principle, it would have received thy ready assent, on behalf of the United Stites. But the measure proposed is inadequate tothat pur pose. It is true that if adopted, priVte prop erty upon the ocean would be withdrawn from one meanwhile. ' mode of plunder, but left exposed, meanwhile, to another mode, which could be used witlOnoreased effectiveness. The aggressive capacity' , of mat naval powers would be thereby figgmented, while the defensive ability of others would be reduced. Though the surrender of the means of prosecuting hostilities by employing privateers, as proposed by the conference of Paris, is mutual in terms, yet, in practical effect, it would be the relinquishment of a right of little value to one class of states, but of essential importance to another and a , far larger class. It ought not to have been anticipated that a measure, so inadequate to the accomplishment of the proposed object, and so unequal in its oper ation, would receive the assent of all maritime powers. Private property would be etiltleft to the depredations of public public armed °misers. I have expressed a readineis on the part of this government, to accede to all the minciples 'con tained in the declaration of the confeyende of Paris, provided that that relating to the abandonment of privateering canobe so amended as titeffect the object for which, as is presumed,, it Avasei intended, the immunity of private property on the ocean from bostileospture. To effect this object, it IS proposed lows us to cherish the hope that a principle so humane in its character, so just 'and equal in ita operation, so essential to the prosperity ofcommer cial nations, and so consonant to the sentimenta of this enlightened period of the world, will com mand the approbation of all maritime powers, and thus be incorporated into the code of international law. My views on the subject are more fully set forth in the reply of the Secretary of State, a copy of which is herewith transmitted, to the communica tions on the subject made to this government, es pecially to the communication of France. The government of the United States has at all times regarded with friendly interest the other States of America, formerly, like this county' European colonies, and now independent members of the great family of nations. But the unsettled condition ofsOme of them, distracted by frequent revolutions, and thus incapable of regular and firm internal administration, has tended to embarrass occasionally our public intercourse, by reason of wrongs which our citizens suffer at their bands, and which they are slow to redress. Unfortunately it is against the Republic of Mexico, with which it is our special desire to maintain a good understanding, that such com plaints are most numerous; and although earnest ly urged upon its attention, they have not as yet received the consideration which this government had a right to expect. While reparation for past injuries has been withheld, others have been added. The political condition of that country, however, has been Welk as to demand forbearance on the part of the United States. I shall continue my efforts to procure for the wrongs of our citizens that redress which is indispensable to the continu ed friendly association of the two republics. The peculiar condition of affairs in Nicaragua in the early part of the present year, rendered It important that this government should have diplo matic relations with that State. Through its territory had been opened one of the' principal , thoroughfares across the isthmus connecting North and South America, on which a vast amount of property was transported, and to which our citi zens resorted in great numbers, in passing between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the U. States. The protection of both required that the existing power in that state should be regarded as a re sponsible government, and its minister was ac cordingly received. But he remained here only a short time. Soon thereafter the political affairs of Nicaragua underwent unfavorable changes and became involved in much uncertainty and confus ion. Diplomatic representatives from two con tending parties have been recently. sent to this government; but with the imperfect information. possessed, it was not possible to decide which was the government de facto; and, awaiting further developments, I have refused to receive either. Questions of the most serious nature are pending between the United States and the Republic of New Granada. The government of the republic undertook, a year since, to impose tonnage duties on foreign vessels, in her ports, but the purpose was resisted by this government, us being contrary to existing treaty stipulation with the U. States, - and to rights conferred by charter upon the Panama Railroad Company, and was accordingly relinquished at that time, it being admitted that our vessels were entitled to be exempt from ton nage duty in the free ports of Panama:and Aspin wall. But the purpose has been recently.revived, on the part of New Granada, by the enactment of a law to subject vessels visiting her ports to the tonnage duty of forty cents per ton; and,although the law has not beep put in force, yet the right to enforce it is still asserted and may, at any time be acted on by the goverement of that republic. The Congress of New Granada has also enacted a law during the last year, which levies a tax ef more than three dollars on every pound of mail matter transported across the Isthmus. The stun thus required to be paid on the mails of the Unit ed States would be nearly two,millions of dollars annually, in addition to the large sum payable by contract to the Railroad Company. If the only objection to this exaction were the exor bitancy of its amount, it could not be submitted to by the United States. The imposition of it, however, would obviously contravene our treaty with New Granada, and in fringe the contract of that republic with the Pan ama Railroad Company. The law providing for this tax was, by its terms, to take offset' on the first of September last, but the local authorities on the isthmus have been induced to nuspend its execution, and to await further instructions on the subject from the government of the republic. I am not yet advised of the determination . of that government. If a measure so extraordinary in its character, and so clearly contrary to treaty stipulations, and, the contract rights of the Pan ama Railroad Company, composed mostly of Ame rican citizens, should be persisted in, it will be the duty of the United States to resist its execu tion. I regret exceedingly that occasion exists to in vite your attention to a subject of still graver im. port in our relations with the Republic of New Granada. On the fifteenth day of April last, a riotous assemblage of the inhabitants of Panama committed a violent and outrageous attack on the premises of the railroad company, and the passen gers and other persons in or near the same, involv ing the death of several citizens of the United States, the pillage of many others, and the destruction of a large amount of property belong. ing-to,the railroad company. I caused full inves tigation of that event to be made, and the result shows satisfactorily that completeresponsibility for what occurred attaches to the government of New Granada. I have, therefore, demanded of Unit government that the perpetrators of the wrongs in question should be punished; that provision should • be made for the families of citizens of the United Stateswho were killed, with full indemnity for the property pillaged or destroyed. The. present condition of the Isthmus of Panama, in so far as regards the security of per. eons and property passing over it, requires serious consideration. Recent incidents tend to show that the local authorities cannot be relied on to maintain the public peace of Pananta, and'there is just ground for apprehension that a portion of the inhabitants are meditating further outrages, with out adequate measures for the security and pro. tectiod of persona or property having been taken, eitheriby the State of Panama, or by the general .r.ji goverriment of New Granada. . Under the guaranties of treaty, citizens of the United States have, by the outlay of several mil lions or dollars, constructed a railroad across the Isthmus, and it has become the main route betwetin our Atlantic and PaCific possessions, over which 'a multitude of- our citizens and a vast amount of property are constantly paasing—to the security and protection of all which, and the con. tinuanPe of the public advantages involved, it is impossible for the government of the United States to be 'indifferent. , I have deemed the danger of the recurrence of scenes of lawless violence in this quarter so im .minen . as to make it my duty to station a part of our naval force in the harbors of Panama and Appinall, in order to protect the persons and pro perty f the citizens of the United States in those ports, nd to insure to them safe passage across the Is hmus. And it would, in my judgment, be 1 , unwis to withdraw the naval force now in those ports, ntil, by the spontanedus action of the re public of New Granada, or otherwise, some iade quate rangement shall have been made for the protection and security of a line of inter-ocearao communication. so important at this time, not to the United States only, but to all other maritime States' of Europe and' America. Me while, negotiations 'have been instituted by means of a special commission, to obtain from .‘w Granada full indemnit, r.....:- • • - 'ned ~ _,• New Cfranada full indemnity for injuries sustains, by ou citizens on the Isthmus, and satisfactory securi y for the general interests of the United State In addressing to you my last annual message, the oc3asion seems to me an appropriate one 'to express my congratulations in view of the peace, greatness and felicity, which the United States now pp!sess and enjoy. To point you to the' state of the various departments of the government, and of all the great branches of the public service, civil.„ and military, in order to speak of the, in. telligebce and the integrity which pervades the whole) would be to indicate but imperfectly, the administrative condition of the country, and. the benefi :MI effects of that on the general welfare. Nor would it suffice to say that the nation is actu- ally at peace at home and abroad; thaeitalados• trial interests are prosperous ; that the canvas -of its mariners whitens every sea; And the plough of its ha f andmen is marching stead il y Onward to the blood so conquest of theeontinent ; that oitteniste poptd ns States are springingnik, es ithrelesitaut, ment, from the bosom of our we tern wild., and. (Concluded on foiith,*pe.) l, - • - ~,-. NO 47
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