iirabtor^ilcpork.
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L\ (). GOODRICH, EMTffR*
TO WATS^pJUCkZI
Gatnrihrn Rio nunn, Januiun 5. 1858
TI^KWS —One Dollar per annum, inmsriablyjn adrtmer.—
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MONKV may be sent by mail, nl our risk—en closed in an
en refepe, and properly directed, we will be responsible
for its safe delivery.
t6r To make room for the President's mes
sage, we have been obliged to defer our Local
Items, Congressional proceedings, News of the
Week, &c.
PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE.
The legislature of this State convened on
Tuesday last, aud the first day's proceedings
have reached us. In the House, RICH AKI WON
L. WRIGHT, of Philadelphia, was elected Spea
bcr upon the first ballot. 11l the Senate, WM.
M. PIATT, of Wyoming, was elected Speaker
u}>Oii the first ballot.
The Governor's Message was expected on
Wednesday ; we shall publish it next week.
CONGRESS.
In the House quite an excitement was occa
sioned by Mr. CAMPBELL, of Ohio, offering a
resolution placing Mr. OKU, of South Carolina,
temporarily in the Speaker's chair. After con
siderable discussion, the resolution was with
drawn. Several more ballots have been had,
with no material difference iu the result from
those we have already published.
The Message was sent in on Monday ; in
the Senate it was received and ordered to be
printed ; in the House, after a long debate, it
was decided by a vote of 120 to 87 that it
should not lie read.
PRESIDENT S MESSAGE.
Read Monday, December 31, 1855.
fellow-Citizens of the Semite and
of the. J louse of llrprvseututires :
The constitution of the United States pro
vides that Congress snail annually assemble on
the first Monday of Decemlier, and it has been
usual for the President to make 110 communi
cation of a public character to the Senate and
House of Representatives, until advised of
their oeadincss to receive it. I have deferred
to this usage until the close of the first mouth
of the session, but mv convictions of duty will
not permit me longer to postpone the discharge
of the obligation enjoined by tlie Constitution,
"to give to the Congress information of the
state of the Union, and to recommend to their
consideration such measures as he shall deem
necessary and expedient."
It is matter of congratulation that the repub
lic is tranquilly advancing in u career of pros
perity and peace.
FOREIGN RELATIONS CENTRAL AMERICA.
Whilst relations of amity continue to exist
between the United States aud all foreign pow
ers, with some of them grave cf nest ions are de
pending, which may require the consideration
of Congress.
Of such questions, the most important is that
which lias arisen out of the negotiations with
Great Britain in reference to Central America.
Bv the convention concluded between the
two governments on the 19th of April, 1850,
both parties covenanted that" neither will ever
occupy, or fortify, or colonize, or assume or ex
ercise any dominion Over Nicaragua, Costa Ri
ca. the Misquito Coast, or any part of Central
America."
It was the undoubted understanding of the
United States, in making this treaty, tiiat all
the present states of the former republic of
Central America, and the entire territory of
each, would thenceforth enjoy complete inde
pendence • and that both contracting parties
engaged equally and to the same extent,for the
E resent and for the future, that if either then
ad any claim of right in Central America,
such claim, and all occupation and authority
nnder it, were unreservedly relinquished by the
stipulations of the convention ; and that no
dominion was thereafter to lie exercised or as
sumed in any part of Central America by eith
er Great Britain or the United States.
This government consented to restrictions in
regard to a region of country where we had
specific and peculiar interests, only upon the
conviction that the like restrictions were in the
same sense obligatory upon (ireat Britain. But
for this understanding of the force and effect
of the (invention, it would never have been
concluded by us.
So clear was this understanding on the purt
of the United States, tiiat, in correspondence
contemporaneous with the ratification of the
convention, it was distinctly expressed that the
mutual covenants of non-ovcupatiou were not
intended to apply to the British establishment
at the Balize. This qualification is to be as
cribed to the fact that in virtue of successive
treaties with previous sovereigns of the coun
try Great Britain hail obtained a concession of
the right to cut mahogany or dye woods at the
Balize, but with positive exclusion of all sove
reignty or domain ; and thus it confirms the
natural construction and understood import of
the treaty as to all the rest of the region to
which the stipulation applied.
It however became apparent, at an early day
after entering upon the discharge of my present
functions, that Great Britain still continued in
the exercise or assertion oi large authority in
nil part of Central America commonly called
the Mosquito ('oast, aud covering the entire
length of the state of .Nicaragua aud a part of
Costa lticu ; that she regarded the BalizP us
her absolute domain, and was gradually exten
ding its limits at tlnfexpense of the state of
Honduras; and that she had formally coloniz
ed a considerable insular group known us the
Bay Islands, and belonging, of right, to that
State.
.V! these act- or pretensions of Great Brit
ain, being contrary to tlie rights of the States ]
of Central America, ami to the manifest tenor
of fceeMtf pulatj#ns |tli the Unitedgfßt|ps,aas
.undensoo<l Ijf j thi;HJq^Tnten*j| !*cr
made the of Inejjptiat|||i through the
Aincrfenn Miujjfffeß. in Lonqflii. I fensmif
herewith the instructions to him on sub
ject, and the him and
the British Secretary for foreign AffaTrs, by
which yon will jierceive that the two govern
iueata diil'er widely and irreeouoiJeabiy as t the
constmetion of the convention, and its effects
on their respective relations to Central Amcri-
C'U.
(•rent Britain so construes the convention as
to maintain unchanged ail her previons preten
sions over the Mosquito coast, and in different
parts of Central America. Tiiesa pretensions,
as to the Mosquito coast, are founded on the
assumption of political relation between Great
Britain and the remnant of a tribe of Indians
on that coast, entered into at a time whtn tlie
whole country was a colonial {Kissession of
Spain. It caunot be successfully controverted,
thai by the public law of Europe aud America,
no possible act of such Indiaug or their prede
cessors could confer on Great Britain any po
litical rights.
Great Britain docs not allege the assent of
Spain as the origin of her claims on the Mos
quito coast. She has, on the contrary, by re
jeatcd and successive treaties, renounced and
reliuquislicd all pretensions of her own, and re
cognized the full aud sovereign rights of Spain
in the most unequivocal terms. Yet these pre
tensions, so without solid foundation in the be
ginning, aud thus repeatedly abjured, were at
a recent jieriod revived by Great Britain
against the Central American States, the le
gitimate successors to all the ancient jurisdic
tion of Spaiu in that region. They were first
applied only to a defined part of the coast of
Nicaragua, afterwards to the whole of its At
lantic coast, and, lastly to a part of the coast
of Costa Rica; and they are now re-asserted to
this extent, notwithstanding engagements to
the United States.
On the eastern coast of Nicaragua ami Cos
ta Ivica the interference of Great Britain, tho'
exerted at one time in the form of military oc
cupation of the jiort of Sau J nan del Norte,
then iu the peaceful jxjssessiou of the appro
priate authorities of the Central American
States, is now presented by her as the rightful
exercise of a protectorship over the Mosquito
tribe of ludiaus.
But the establishment at the Bulizc, now
reaching far beyond its treaty limits into the
State of Honduras, and that of the Bay Is
lands, appertaining of right to the same State,
are as distinctly colonial governments as those
of Jamaica or Canada, aud therefore contrary
to the very letter as well as the spirit of the
convention with the United States, as it was
at the time of ratification, and now is, under
stood by this government.
The interpretation which the British govern
ment, thus in assertion and act, persists in as
eribing to the convention, entirely changes its
character. While it holds us to all our obli
gations, it in a great measure releases Great
Britain from those which constituted the con
sideration of this government for entering into
the convention. It is impossible, in my judg
ment, for the I nited States to acqniesee iu
such a construction of the respective relations
of the two governments to Central America.
To a renewed call by this government upon
Great Britain, to abide by, and carry into ef
fect, the stipulations of tlie convention accord
ing to its obvious import, by withdrawing from
the possession or colonization of portions of
the Central American States of Honduras, Ni
caragua, and Costa Rica, the British govern
ment lias at length replied, affirming that the
ojieration of the treaty is prosjieetive only, and
did not require Great Britain to abandon or
contract any possessions held by heriri Central
America at the date of its conclusion.
This reply substitutes a partial issue, in the
place of the general one presented by the Uni
ted States. The British government passes
over the question of the rights of Great Bri
tain, real or supposed, in Central America,and
assumes that she bad such rights at the dale
of the treaty, aud that those rights compre
hended tlie protectorship of the Mosquito In
dians, the extended jurisdiction and limits of
the Balize, and the colony of the Bay Islands,
and thereupon proceeds by implication to infer
that., if the stipulations! of the treaty lie mere
ly future in effect, Great Britain may still con
tinue to hold tlie contested portions of Central
America. The United States States cannot
admit either the inference or the premises.—
We steadily deny that, at tlie date of the trea
ty, Great Britain had any possessions there,
other than the limited and peculiar establish
ment at the Balize, and maintain that, if she
had any, they were surrendered by the con
vention.
This government, recognizing the obligations
of the treaty, has of course desired to see it exe
cuted in good faith by i>oth |Mirties, and in the
discussion, therefore, has not looked to rights
which we might assert, independently of the
treaty, in consideration of our geographical po
sition, and of other circumstances, which cre
ate for us relations to the Central American
States different from those of any government
of Europe.
The British government, in its last commu
nication, although well knowing the views of
the United States, stiil declares that it sees no
reason why a conciliatory spirit may not ena
ble the two governments to overcome nil ob
stacles to a satisfactory adjustment of the sub
ject.
Assured of the correctness of the construc
tion of the treaty constantly adhered to by this
government, and resolved to insist on the rights
of the United States, yet actuated also by the
same desire, which is avowed by the British
government, to remove all causes of serious
misunderstanding between two nations associa
ted by so many ties of interest and kindred, it
has appeared to me proper not to consider an
amicable solution of the controversy hopeless.
There is, however, reason to apprehend,that,
with Great Britain in the actual occupation of
the disputed territories, and the treaty there
fore practically null, so fur as regards our rights,
this international difficulty cannot long remain
undetermined, without involving in scrions dan
ger the friendly relations, which it is the inter
est as well as the duty of both countries to
cherish and preserve. It will afford me sin
cere gratification, if future efforts shall result
in the success, anticipated heretofore with more
confidence than the aspect of the case permits
me now to entertain.
KXr.IJSIt RECRUITMENT.
One other subject of discussion between
Great Britain and the United States has grown
oat of the attempt which the exigences of the
war in which she is engaged with Russia in
dueed her to make, to draw recruits from the
United States.
It is the traditional and settled policy of the
United States to maintain impartial neutrality
during the wars, which from time to time, oc
cur among the great powers of the world.— j
the duties of neutrahtr Bpird|J
tfee belligerent states, we may reajonay cfl
wet ftieni not to interfere with oat lnvSl cM
its benefits. tl"jJ
existence ufatirh hostilities, our
the individual right to continue all lheijr
toined pursuits, by land or by sea, at home or j
abroad, subject only to such restrictions in this
wu r .the usage of nn-i
tions, or special treaties, may impose ; and it is
our sovereign right that our jurisdiction and i
our territory shall not lie invaded by either of
the belligerent parties, for the transit of their
armies,, the operations of their Meets, the levy ,
of troops fAr their service, the fitting out of
cruisers by or against either, or any oilier act
or incident of war. Ami these undeniable
rights of neutrality, individual and national,
the United States will uuder uo circumstauccs
surrender.
Iu pursuance of this policy, the laws of the
United States do not forbid their citizens to
sell to either of the belligerent powers, articles
contraband of war, or to take niuuitious of
war or soldiers ou board their private ships for
transjHirtation ; and although in so doing, tlie
individual citizen exposes his person or projier
ty to some of the hazards of war, his acts do
not involve any breach of national neutrality,
nor of themselves implicate the government. —
Thus, during tlie progress of the present war
iu Eurojie, our citizens have, without national
responsibility therefor, sold gunpowder aud
arms to all buyers, regardless of the destina
tion of those articles. Our merchantmen have
been, and still continue to be, largely employ
ed by Great Britain and by France, in trans
porting troops, provisions, and munitions of
war to the principal soot of the military ojicra
tions, and in bringing home their sick and dis
abled soldiers ; but such use of our mercantile
marine is not interdicted by the international,
or by our municipal law, and therefore does not
conpromit our neutral relations with Russia.
But our municipal law, in accordance with
the law of nations, peremptorily forbids, not
only foreigners, but their own citizens, to fit
out, within tlie limits of the United States,
a vessel to commit hostilities against any State
with which the United States are at peace, or
to increase the force of any foreign armed ves
sel intended for such hostilities against a friend-
1)' State.
Whatever concern may have been felt by
either of the belligerent powers lest private
armed cruisers, or other vessels in the service
of one, might be fitted out in the jiorts of this
country, to depredate ou the property of the
other, all such fears have proved to be ground
less. Our citizens have been withheld from
any such act or purpose by good faith and by j
respect to the luw.
While the laws of the Union are thus per
emptory in their prohibition of the equipment
or armament of belligerent cruisers in our |>orts, i
they provide not less absolutely that no JHTSOU
shall, within the territory or jurisdiction of the
United States, enlist or enter himself, or hire '
or retain another person to enlist or enter him
self, or to go beyond the limits or jurisdiction
of the United States with intent to be enlisted
or entered in the service of any foreign State,
either as a soldier, or a marine or seaman on
board of any vessel of war, letter of marque, J
or privateer. And these enactments are also
in strict conformity with the law of nations,
which declares that no State has the right to
raise troops for land or sea service iu another
State, without its consent, and whether forbid
den by the municipal law or not, the very at
tempt to do it, without such consent, is an at
tack 011 the national sovereignty.
Such beiug the public rights suid the muni
cipal law of the Uuited States,no solicitude on
the subject was entertained by this government ;
when a year since the British Parliament pas
sed an act to provide for the enlistment of fo
reigners in the military service of Great Brit
ain. Nothing on the face of the act, or in its
public history, indicated that the British gov
ernment proposed to attempt recruitment in the
United States ; nor did it ever give intimation
of such intention to this government. It was
matter of surprise, to find, subsequently, that
the engagement of jicrsons within the United
States to proceed to Halifax, in Nova Scotia,
and there enlist in the service of Great Britain,
was going 011 extensively, with little or no dis
guise. Ordinary legal steps were taken to ar
rest and punish parties concerned, and put an
end to acts infringing the municipal law and
derogatory to our sovereignty. Meanwhile
suitable representations 011 the subject were
addressed to the British government.
Thereupon it became known, by the admis
sion of the British government itself, that tiie
attempts to draw recruits from this country,
originated with it, or ut least had its approval
and sanction ; hut it also appeared that the
public agents engaged in it had " stringent in
structions" not to violate the municipal law of
the Uuited States.
It is difficult to understand how it should
have sup|oscd that troops could be raised here
by Ureat Britain without violation of the mu
nicipal law. The unmistakable object of the
law was to prevent every sucli act, which, if
performed, must lie either iu violation of the
law, or iu studied evasion of it, and iu either
alternative, the act done would be alike injuri
ous to the sovereignty of the United States.
In the meantime, the matter acquired addi
tional importance by the recruitments iu the
United States not being discontinued, and the
disclosure of the fact that they were prosecut
ed upon a systematic plan devised by official
authority, that recruiting rendezvous had been
opened in our principal cities, and depots for
the reception of recruits established on our
frontier ; and the whole business conducted
under the supervision and by the regular co
operation of British officers, civil and military,
in the North American provinces, and some in
the United States. The complicity of these
officers iu an undertaking, which could only be
accomplished by defying our laws, throwing
suspicion over our attitude of neutrality, and
disregarding our territorial rights, is conclu
sively proved by the evidence elicited on the
trial of such of their agents as have been aje
preheuded and convicted. Some of the officers
implicated arc of high official position, and ma
ny of tlicni beyond our jurisdiction, so that le
gal proceedings could not reach the source of
the mischief.
These considerations, and the fact that the
cause of complaint was not a mere casual oc
currence, but a deliberate design, entered ujmvu
full knowledge of our laws and national policy,
and conducted by responsible public functiona
ries, impelled me to present the ease to the Bri
tish government, iu order to secure not only a
cessation of the wrong, but preparation.—
Ihe subject is still under discussion, the result
of which will be communicated to you in due
time.
BRITISH RELATION'S GEXERAI.I.Y.
I reiicut the reeumiueudutiou submitted to
the last Congress, that provisions lie made for
tlie aj >{h >i utiiu'iil of a commissioner, in counex
iOHrith i-i-teat ta'-swry aniiestab
snirtMaiK-line Svlim dHides tjßk terri4
tofy fnnii*)e
t*asH of Be e\. and
beM dungljlof be^cenjtltc,
subjects of Great Tfntain and the citizens of
the United States, including their respective
a speedy arrangement has contributed hitlierto
to induce ou both sides forbearance to assert by
force what each claim as a right. Continu
-1 ance of delay on the part of the two govern
ments jto set in the -pattcr* p ill jticvfuse tire
dangers ftn'd ißfficdltirts of the cAlrtrAvWsy;
Misundei standing exist* a* to tlta extant,
character ami value of the possessor rights of
the Hudson's Bay Company, and the pro|ierty
of the Puget's Sound Agricultural Comjaiiiy,
reserved in our treaty with Great Britain rela
tive to tli Territory of Oregon. I have rear
son to believe that a eessiou of the rights of
both companies to the United States, which
would be the reaiiiest menus of terminating all
questions,eau be obtained on reasonable terms;
and, with a view to this end, I present the sub
ject to the consideration of Congress.
The colony of Newfoundland, having enact
ed the laws trequired by the treaty of the sth
of June, 1554, is now placed ou the same foot
j iiig, in respect to commercial intercourse with
the United States, as the other British North
American provinces.
The commission, which that treaty contem
plated for tbopurposcof determining the rights
J of fishery in rivers and mouths of rivers ou the
coasts of the United States and the British
North American provinces, lias been organized
and has commenced its labors ; to complete
J which there is need further appropriations for
the service of another season.
SOUND DUES.
In pursuance of the authority, conferred by
a resolution of the Senate of the United States,
passed on the 3d day of March last, notice was
given to Denmark, on the 14th day of April,
! of the intention of this government to avail it
self of the stipulation of the subsisting conven
tion of friendship, commerce and navigation be
tween that kingdom and the United States,
whereby either party might, after , ten years,
terminate the same at the expirutiou of out*
year from the date of uotiec for that purjKise.
The considerations which led me to call the
attention of Congress to that convention, and
induced the Senate to adopt the resolution re
ferred to, still continue iu full force. The con
vention contains an article, which, although it
docs not directly engage the United States to
i submit to the imposition of tolls ou the vessels
! and cargoes of Americans passing into or from
! the Baltic sea, during the continuance of the
treaty, yet may, by possil i!ity, be construed as
implying such submission. The exaction of
, those tolls not being justified by any principle
| of international law, it became the right and
j the duty of the United States to relieve thciu
' selves from the implication of engagement on
the subject, so as to be perfivtlv free to act in
the premises in such way as their public inter
ests and honor demand.
I remain of the opinion that the United
States ought not to submit to the payment of
the Sound dues, not so much because of their
amount, which is a secondary matter, but lo
calise it is in effect the recognition of the right
of Denmark to treat one of the great maritime
highways of nations as a close sea, and the na
vigation of it as privilege for which tribute may
be inqioscd upon those who have occasion to
use it.
Tli'is government, on a former occasion not
unlike the present, signalized it- determination
to maintain the freedom of the seas, and of the
great natural channels of navigation. The
Barbnrv States had, fur a long time, coerced
the payment of tribute from all nations whose
ships frequented the Mcdterrancan. To tlie
last demand of such pnymcut made by them,
the Uuited Stales, although sulfering less by
their depredations than many other nations,
returned the explicit answer, that vre preferred
war to tribute, and thus opened the way to the
relief of the commerce of the world from an
iguominous tax, so long submitted to by the
more powerful nations of Europe.
If the manner of payment of the Sound dues
dill'er from that of the tribute formerly conced
ed to the Barhary States, >till their exaction
by Denmark has no better foundation in right.
Each was, in its origin, nothing but a tax on a
common natural right, extorted by tliose, who
were at that time able to obstruct the free and
secure enjoyment of it, but who no longer jos
sess that power.
Denmark, while resisting our assertions of
the freedom of the Baltic Sound aud Belts,has
indicated a readiuess to make some new ar
rangement 011 the subject, aud has invited the
governments interested, including the United
States, to be represented iu a convention to
assemble for the purj>osc of receiving and con
sidering a projiosition, which she intends to
submit, for the capitalization of the Sound dues,
aud the distribution of the sum to lie paid as
commutation among the governments, accord
ing to the respective proportions of their mari
time commerce to aud from the Baltic. I have
declined iu behalf of the United States to ac
cept this invitation, for the most cogent rea
sons. One is, that Denmark does not offer to
submit to the convention the question of her
right to levy the Sound dues. A second is,
that, if the convention were allowed to take
cognizance of that particular question, still it
would not be competent to deal with the great
international principle involved which affects
the right to other cases of navigation aud com
mercial freedom, as well as that of access to
the Baltic, Above all, by the express terms
of the proposition it is contemplated, that the
consideration of the Sound Dues shall be com
mingled with, and made subordinate to, a mat
ter wholly extraneous, the balance ol power
among the governments of Europe.
While, however, rejecting this proposition,
aud insisting on the right of free transit into
and from the Baltic, I have expressed to Den
mark a willingness, ou the part of the United
States, to share liberally with other powers in
compensating her for any advantages which
commerce shall hereafter derive from expendi
tures made by her for the improvement and
safety of the navigation of the Sound or Belts.
I lay before you, herewith, sundry documents
on the subject, in which my views are more
fully disclosed. Should no satisfactory nrrauge
mcnt be soon concluded, I shall agaiu call your
attention tu the subject, with recommendation
of such measures as may appear to be required
in order to assert and secure the rights of the
United States so far as tliey arc affected by
the pretensions of Denmark.
FH.VN'CK.
I announce with much uTatific.ition, that,
since the adjournment of the lust Confess,the
(|uestion then existing between this govoru
uient aud that of France, respecting the French
Consul at San Francisco, lias hecu satisfactori
ly determined, uutl that the relations of the
continue to be of prtHTMSst;
which has been
l' r K* > V- vl W i United Hteltcs
of Greece, growing M of:
the sequestration, by public authorities of that
country, of property la-longing to the present
mAmmmmm in'— il rti A lining vw4.-w ■ bad
been the subject of very earnest discussion here
tofore, has recently been settled to the stitig
faction of the [wirty interested and of both go
vernments.
. . L { > ; i wai*-
WHh fcpriiti; -peaceful relations are still main
tniiiiwil r fitirti itiiMift iu*
securing the redress w ruin's cpmplaiued of
by this government. Spain bus not otjly dis
avowed and disapproved the conduct of the
officers who illegally seized and detained the
steamer Slack Warrior at Havana, but has al
so paid the sum claimed as indemnity for the
loss thereby inflicted on citizens of the United
States.
In consequence of a destructive hurricane,
wliich visited Culai in 1841, tlie supreme au
thority of that island issued u decree, permit
ting the importation, for the period of six
months, of certain buikUug materials aud pro
visions free of duty, but revoked it wheu about
half the period only had elapsed, to the injury
of citizens of the United Stab's who had pro
ceeded to act on the faith of that decree. The
Spanish government refused indemnification to
the parties aggrieved, until recently, when it
was assented to, payment being promised to be
made so soon as the umount due euu be ascer
tained.
Satisfaction claimed for the arrest and search
of the steamer Eldorado has not yet been ac
corded, but there is reason to believe that it
will be, and that ease, with others, continues
to be urged on the attention of the Spanish go
verimxiit. Ido not abandon the hope of con
cluding with Spain some general arrangement,
which, if it do not wholly prevent the recur
rence of difficulties in Culm, will render them
less frequent, and whenever they shall occur,
facilitate their more speedy settlement.
MEXICO.
The intcr{K>sitioa of this government has lieen
invoked by mauv of its citizens, ou account of
injuries done to their jiersoui; aud property, for
which the Mexican government is resjiousible.
The unhappy situation of that country, for
some time past, has uot allowed its government
to give due consideration to claims of private
reparation, aud has appeared to cull for and
justify some forbearaucc iu such matters ou
the part of this government, liut, if the re
volutionary movements which have lately oc
curred in that rejmblic, cud iu the organiza
tion of a stable government, urgent appeals to
its justice will then be made, and, it may be
hoped, with success, for the redress of all com
plaints of our citizens.
NICAKAOCA.
In regard to the American republics, which,
from their proximity and other considerations,
have iccuiinr relations to this government,
while it Ims been my constant aim strictly to
observe all the obligations of political friend
ship aud uf good neighborhood, obstacles to
this have arisen iu some of them, from their
own insufficient power to check lawless irrup
j tions, which in effect throws mast of the task
ou the United States. Thus it is, that the dis
tracted internal eonditiou of the State of Ni
earagua has made it incumbent ou me to ap
peal to the good faith of our citizens to abstain
from unlawful intervention in its affairs, and
to adopt preventive measures to the same end,
which, on a similar occasion, had the best re
sults in re-assuring the peace of the Mexican
States of Sotiora aud Lower California.
TREATIES.
Since the last session of Congress a treaty
of amity, commerce aud navigation, and for
tlie surrender of fugitive criminals, with the
with the kingdom of the Two Sicilies ; a trea
ty of friendship, commerce and navigation with
Nicaragua; ami a convention of commercial re
ciprocity with the Hawaii* kingdom have been
negotiated. The latter kingdom aud the State
of Nicaragua have also acceded to a declara
tion, recognizing as international rights the
principles contained in the convention between
the United States and ilnssia of the 22d of
July, 1754. These treaties and conventions
will be laid before the Senate for ratification.
TREASURY.
The statements made in my last annual
message, resjiecting the anticipated receipts
and expenditures of the Treasury, have been
substantially verified.
It appears from the report of the Secretary
of the Treasury, that the receipts during the
last fiscal year ending June 30, 1855, from ail
sources, were sixty-five millions three thousand
nine hundred aud thirty dollars; and that
the public expenditures for the same period,
exclusive of payments on account of the pub
lid debt, amounted to fifty-six millions three
hundred and sixty-five thousand three hun
dred and ninety-three dollars. During the
same jieriod, the payments made in redemp
tion of the public debt, including interest and
premium, amounted to nine millions eight hun
dred and forty-four thousand five hundred and
twenty-eight dollars.
The balance iu the Treasury at the begin
ning of the present fiscal year, July I, ISnf,
was eighteen millions nine hundred and thirty
one thousand nine hundred and seventy-six
dollars ; the receipts for the first quarter,
and the receipts for the remaiug three quar
ters, amount, together, to sixty-seven millious
nine hundred and eighteen thousand seven
hundred and thirty-four dollars; thus afford
ing iu all, us the available resources of the
current fiscal year, the sum of eighty-six mil
lions eight hundred and fifty-six thousand sev
en hundred and ten dollars.
If, to the actna! expenditures of the first
quarter of the current fiscal year, bo added the
probable expenditures for the remaining three
quarters, as estimated by the Secretary of the
Treasury, the sunt total will be seventy-one
million two hundred and twenty-six thousand
eight Imudred and forty-six dollars, thereby
leaving an estimated balance in the treasury
on July 1, 1856, of fifteen million six hnndred
and twenty-three thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three dollars and forty-one cents.
In the above estimate*] expenditures of the
present fiscal year are included three million
dollars to meet the last instalment provided
for in the late treaty with Mexico, and seven
million seven hundred ami fifty thousand dol
lars appropriated on account of the debt due
to Texas, which two sums make an aggregate
a mount of ten million seven hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, and reduce the expendi
tures, actual or estimated, for ordinary objects
of the year, to the sum of sixty million four
hundred and seventy-six thousand dollars.
The amount of the public debt, at the com
mencement of the present fiscal vear, was for
ty million five hundred and eighty-time
sand six hundred and thirty-one dollars ;u |,j
||efcfpKc>bt of the federal gov!! ni '
l at this time is less than f (jr t >v
The retnnuhl of certain other government
to two hundred and f,,rtv
three thousand dollars, referred to in i, lv
message as outstanding, has since been* i
I ■ hlly t ''"l'lui lhi> il nowhl be d,th
cult to devise a system suiierior to thin i _
which Hie f fiscal business of the gov,A
is now conducted. Notwithstanding t|„ „
umnlier of public agents or collection aiaf'ijj?
burscmcnt, it is lielievcd that the checks aed
guards provided, including the require, ,"r
oud*ly render it scare,-lv
for any considerable fraud on the part
agents, .0- neglect involviug liazanl of
public loss, to escape detection. I renew !, ( , v
ever, the Teeonmu rolnUoii heretofore ruad<> , v
me,as the eiiHctiiidnt of a law declariii" it fclii
ny on the ]*,rt of puldic officers, to insert fat,,
entries in their booksof record or account, or
to make false returns, and also requiring them
on the termination of their service to deliver to
their successors all books, record*, and otlvr
objects of a public nature in tlieir custody
Derived as our public revenue is, in chiefpart
from duties on imports, its magnitude affords
gratifying evidence of the prosperity, not only
of our commerce, but of the other great in
terests u]ou which that depends.
The principle that all moneys not required
for tlie current exjieiisas of the government
should remain for active employment in the
j hands of the people, and the conspicuous fuet
j that the annual revenue from all sources ex
ceeds, by matry millions of dollars, the amount
| needed for a prudent and economical adiuini;,-
] tration of pulilie affairs, cannot fail to sU"g fc st
! the propriety of an early revision and redue
! tiou of the tariff of duties on imjiorts. ]t p
j now so generally conceded that the purpose
; of revenue alone can justify Uie imposition of
duties ou imports, that, in re-udjustiug the j m .
j {*ost tables and schedules, which miqueMioiiii
! bly require essential modifications, a dvpar
j turc from the preaeut tariff is not anticipated.
AK.UY
The arm) , during the past yenr, has lx* u
engaged in defending the Imliau frontier, the
state of the service permit ting hut few' ami
small garrisons in our |H*ruiaiieiit fortifications.
The additional regiments authorized at the
lust session of Congress have been recruited
and organwed, and a lurge jtortiou of the
troops have already been sent to the field.
All the duties which devolve <>n the military
establishment have been satisfactorily ]orfyriu
ed, aud the dangers and privations inoitlent to
the the service reiquired ol our
troo{>s hare furnished additional evidence of
their courage, zeal and capacity to meet auv
requisition which their country may make npun
tin in. For the details of the military o[ it-ra
tions, the distribution of the tro<>ps ami addi
tional provisions required for the military ser
vice, 1 refer to the report of the Secretary of
War and the accompanying docsuiß-uts.
Exjieriencc, gathered from event.- which
have transpired since my last annual message,
has bat served to confirm the o]tiuion tben ex
pressed of the propriety of making provision,
by a retired list, for disabled officers, and lot
increased compeiisation to the Oliv er- retained
on the list for active duty. All the reasons
which existed when these measures were recom
mended on former occasions coatiuue vriiliuot
modification, except so lur as circumstances
have given to some of them additional force.
The recommendations heretofore made for a
partial reorganization of the annv, are ai*>
renewed. The thorough elementary education
given to those officers, who commend- their
serviees with the grade of cadet, qualities iiiem,
to a considerable extent, to |erfnriii f!.•• ■ iutie
of every uriu of tle service ; but to give lite
highest efficiency to artillery requires the prac
tice and sjK-c-ial study of many years; and >
is not, therefore, believed to be advisable i
maintain, in time of peace, a larger force of
that arm thamtfcui le usually employed in tic
duties appertaining to the service of field and
siege artillery. The duties of the staff in ail
its various branches belong to the m<>s m: -
of troops, aud the efficiency of an army intii
field would materially dcepeud upon tlie a' i'.ty
with which those duties are discharged. 1- 1
not, as in the ease of the artillery, a -pxkilitY,
but requires, al>o, an intimate knowledge
the duties of an officer of the line, and it is
Hot doubted that, to complete the ediic.it.
of an officer for either the line <>;• the m r •-
staff, it is desirable that he shall have .- i i
in both. With this view, it was recommend
ed ou a former occasion that the duties of tlie
staff should be mainly performed by details
from the line ; and, with conviction of toe
advantages which would result from such a
change, it is again presented for the considera
tion of Congress.
NAVY.
The report of the Secretary of tho Navy,
herewith submitted, axhibits in full the "i—
--oppcrations of the pa-st year, together with t;.
present condition of the service, and it i l|lK '
suggestions of further legislation, to which
your attention is invited.
The construction of the six steam frigb'"
for which appropriations were made by :
last Congress, has proceeded in the most sit -
factory manner, and with such expedition.
to warrant the belief that tiiey will bo rea<:y
for service early in the coming -pi'ing. I
portant as this addition to our naval fora'
it still remains imuleqiiate to the eontin- r
exigencies of the protection of the extern-'
sea coast and vast commercial interests <>! b'_
United Stares. In vie\v of this fact, and
the acknowledged wisdom of the policy > !i •'
gradual and systematic iuerea.se of the mo}'-'
appropriation is recommended for the c*>"truc
tiou of six steam sloops-of-war
In regt.rU to the stejvs taken in execution
the act o." Cougross to promote the etlicie.i' y
of the navy, it is unnecessary for me to
more than to express entire concurrence in >•'
observations ou that subject, presented by 1111
Secretary in his report.
TOST OFKICK.
It will be perceived, by the report <*f
Postmaster General, that the gross e.\p : "
ture of the department for the last tisttt' ~ l"
was nine million nine hnudred and -ix'ys --
thousand three hundred and forty two lK ' " '
and the gross receipts seven milb-si three ■
dred and forty-two thousand one l.iiinh'''•
thirty-six dollars, making an exec— e! < y :
diturr over receipts of two millions " lX ■ '!'
dred and twenty-six thousand two '' ' 'b
aud six dollars ; ami that the cost oi
transportation during that year was s'-x
dred ami sovent v-funr thousand nine l" l |"
and fifty-two dollars greater than the pf*
year. Much oi* the heavy expend > lll
which the treasury is thus subjected' t ' u
ascribed to tfw large quantity of priato 1 ■
; ter convevt-d bv the mails, either Iran ' l '