the market in competition with the foreign article, and the importer is thus compelled to reduce his price to that at which the domestic article can be sold, thereby throwing a part of the duty upon the producer of the foreign article. The continuance of this process creates the skill, and invites the capital, which finally enable us to produce the article much cheaper than it could have been procured from abroad, thereby benefiting both the producer and the consumer at home. The consequence of this is, that the artizan and the agriculturist are brought, together, each affords a ready market for the produce of the other, the whole country becomes prosperous, and the ability to produce every necessary of life renders us independent in war as well as in peace.

"A high tariff can never be permanent. It will cause dissatisfaction, and will be changed. It excludes competition, and thereby invites the investment of capital in manufactures to such excess, that when changed it brings distress, bankruptcy, and ruin upon all who have been misled by its faithless protection. What the manufacturer wants is uniformity and permanency, that he may feel a confidence that he is not to be ruined by sudden changes. But to make a tariff uniform and permanent it is not only necessary that the law should not be altered, but that the duty should not fluctuate. To effect this, all duties should be specific, wherever the nature of the article is such as to admit of it. Ad valorem duties fluctuate with the price, and offer strong temptations to fraud and perjury.

"Specific duties, on the contrary, are equal and uniform in all ports and at all times, and offer a strong

inducement to the importer to bring the best article, as he pays no more duty upon that than upon one of inferior quality. I therefore strongly recommend a modification of the present tariff, which has prostrated some of our most important and necessary manufactures, and that specific duties be imposed sufficient to raise the requisite revenue, making such discrimination in favour of the industrial pursuits of our country as to encourage home production without excluding foreign competition. It is also important that an unfortunate provision in the present tariff, which imposes a much higher duty upon the raw material that enters into our manufactures than upon the manufactured article, should be remedied.

The

"The papers accompanying the report of the Secretary of the Treasury will disclose frauds attempted upon the revenue, in variety and amount so great as to justify the conclusion that it is impossible, under any system of ad valorem duties levied upon the foreign cost or value of the article, to secure an honest observance and an effectual administration of the laws. fraudulent devices to evade the law, which have been detected by the vigilance of the appraisers, leave no room to doubt that similar impositions, not discovered, to a large amount, have been successfully practised since the enactment of the law now in force. This state of things has already had a prejudicial influence upon those engaged in foreign commerce. It has a tendency to drive the honest trader from the business of importing, but to throw that important branch of employment into the hands of unscrupulous and dishonest men, who are alike regard

"Land Laws.-I also beg leave to call your attention to the propriety of extending, at an early day, our system of land laws, with such modifications as may be necessary, over the State of California and the territories of Utah and New Mexico. The mineral lands of California will, of course, form an exception to any general system which may be adopted. Various methods of disposing of them have been suggested. I was at first inclined to favour the system of leasing, as it seemed to promise the largest revenue to the Government and to afford the best security against monopolies; but further reflection, and our experience in leasing the lead mines and selling lands upon credit, have brought my mind to the conclusion that there would be great difficulty in collecting the rents, and that the relation of debtor and creditor between the citizens and the Government would be attended with many mischievous consequences. I therefore recommend that, in stead of retaining the mineral lands under the permanent control of the Government, they may be divided into small parcels, and sold, under such restrictions as to quantity and time as will insure the best price, and guard most effectually against combinations of capitalists to obtain monopolies.

"The annexation of Texas, and the acquisition of California and New Mexico, have given increased importance to our Indian relations. The various tribes brought under our jurisdiction by these enlargements of our boundaries are estimated to embrace a population of 124,000.

"Texas and New Mexico are sur

dians, who are a source of constant terror and annoyance to the inhabitants. Separating into small predatory bands, and always mounted, they overrun the country, devastating farms, destroying crops, driving off whole herds of cattle, and occasionally murdering the inhabitants or carrying them into captivity. The great roads leading into the country are infested with them, whereby travelling is rendered extremely dangerous, and immigration is almost entirely arrested. The Mexican frontier, which, by the 11th article of the Treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, we are bound to protect against the Indians within our border, is exposed to these incursions equally with our own. The military force stationed in that country, although forming a large proportion of the army, is represented as entirely inadequate to our own protection and the fulfilment of our treaty-stipulations with Mexico. The principal deficiency is in cavalry, and I recommend that Congress should, at as early a period as practicable, provide for the raising of one or more regiments of mounted men.

"Navy. The Navy continues to give protection to our commerce and other national interests in the different quarters of the globe, and, with the exception of a single steamer on the northern lakes, the vessels in commission are distributed in six different squadrons.

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The report of the head of that department will exhibit the services of these squadrons, and of the several vessels employed in each during the past year. It is a source of gratification that, while they have been constantly prepared for any hostile emergency, they have everywhere met with the

respect and courtesy, due as well to the dignity as to the peaceful disposition and just purposes of the nation.

"The two brigantines accepted by the Government from a generous citizen of New York, and placed under the command of an officer of the navy, to proceed to the Arctic Seas in quest of the British commander, Sir John Franklin, and his companions, in compliance with the Act of Congress, approved in May last, had, when last heard from, penetrated into a high northern latitude, but the success of this noble and humane enterprise is yet uncertain.

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The questions in relation to rank in the army and navy, and relative to rank between officers of the two branches of the service, presented to the Executive by certain resolutions of the House of Representatives at the last Session of Congress, have been submitted to a board of officers in each branch of the service, and their report may be expected at an early day.

"I also earnestly recommend the enactment of a law authorising officers of the army and navy to be retired from the service when incompetent for its vigorous and active duties, taking care to make suitable provision for those who have faithfully served their country, and awarding distinctions, by retaining in appropriate commands those who have been particularly conspicuous for gallantry and good conduct. While the obligation of the country is to maintain and honour those who, to the exclusion of other pursuits, have devoted themselves to its arduous service, this obligation should not be permitted to interfere with the efficiency of the service itself.

"A revision of the code for the VOL. XCII.

government of the navy seems to require the immediate consideration of Congress. Its system of crimes and punishments has undergone no change for half a century until the last Session, though its defects have been often and ably pointed out, and the abolition of a particular species of corporal punishment, which then took place, without providing any substitute, has left the service in a state of defectiveness which calls for prompt correction. I therefore recommend that the whole subject be revised without delay, and such a system established for the enforcement of discipline as shall be at once humane and effectual.

"Post-Office.-The accompanying report of the Postmaster-General presents a satisfactory view of the operations and condition of that department.

"At the close of the last fiscal year the length of the inland mail routes in the United States (not embracing the service in Oregon and California) was 178,672 miles; the annual transportation thereon 46,541,423 miles; and the annual cost of such transportation 2,724,426 dollars.

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The increase of the annual transportation over that of the preceding year was 3,997,354 miles, and the increase in cost was 342,440 dollars.

"The number of post-offices in the United States on the 1st day of July last was 18,417, being an increase of 1670 during the preceding year.

"The gross revenue of the department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1850, amounted to 5,552,971 dollars 48c., including the annual appropriation of 260,000 dollars for the franked matter of the departments, and excluding the [A A]

foreign postages collected for and payable to the British Govern

ment.

"The expenditures for the same period were 5,212,953 dollars 43c., leaving a balance of revenue over expenditure of 348,018 dollars 5c. "I am happy to find that the fiscal condition of the department is such as to justify the PostmasterGeneral in recommending the reduction of our inland letter postage to 3c. the single letter when prepaid, and 5c. when not prepaid. He also recommends that the prepaid rate shall be reduced to 2c. whenever the revenues of the department, after the reduction, shall exceed the expenditures by more than 5 per cent. for two consecutive years; that the postage upon California and other letters sent by our ocean steamers shall be much reduced; and that the rates of postage on newspapers, pamphlets, periodicals, and other printed matter, shall be modified and some reduction thereon made.

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It cannot be doubted that the proposed reduction will for the present diminish the revenues of the department. It is believed that the deficiency, after the surplus already accumulated shall be exhausted, may be almost wholly met, either by abolishing the existing privileges of sending free matter through the mails, or by paying out of the Treasury to the Postoffice department a sum equivalent to the postage of which it is deprived by such privileges. The latter is supposed to be the preferable mode, and will, if not entire ly, so nearly supply the deficiency as to make any further appropriation that may be found necessary so inconsiderable as to form no obstacle to the proposed reductions.

Creditors of Government.-The

difficulties and delays incident to the settlement of private claims by Congress, amount in many cases to a denial of justice. There is reason to apprehend that many unfortunate creditors of the Government have thereby been unavoidably ruined. Congress has so much business of a public character that it is impossible it should give much attention to mere private claims, and their accumulation is now so great that many claimants must despair of ever being able to obtain a hearing. It may well be doubted whether Congress, from the nature of its organization, is properly constituted to decide upon such cases. It is impossible that each member should examine the merits of every claim on which he is compelled to vote, and it is preposterous to ask a judge to decide a case which he has never heard.

"Such decisions may, and frequently must, do injustice either to the claimant or the Government, and I perceive no better remedy for this growing evil than the establishment of some tribunal to adjudicate upon such claims. I beg leave, therefore, most respectfully to recommend that provision be made by law for the appointment of a commission to settle all private claims against the United States; and as an ex parte hearing must in all contested cases be very unsatisfactory, I also recommend the appointment of a solicitor, whose duty it shall be to represent the Government before such commission, and protect it against all illegal, fraudulent, or unjust claims which may be presented for their adjudication.

Measures of the Session." It was hardly to have been expected that the series of measures passed at your last Session with the view

of healing the sectional differences which had sprung from the slavery and territorial questions, should at once have realized their beneficent purpose. All mutual concessions in the nature of a compromise must necessarily be unwelcome to men of extreme opinions; and though without such concessions our Constitution could not have been formed and cannot be permanently sustained, yet we have seen them made the subject of bitter controversy in both sections of the Republic. It required many months of discussion and deliberation to secure the concurrence of a majority of Congress in their favour. It would be strange if they had been received with immediate approbation by people and States prejudiced and heated by the exciting controversy of their representatives. "I believe these measures to have been required by the circumstances and condition of the country. I believe they were necessary to allay asperities and animosities that were rapidly alienating one section of the country from another, and destroying those fraternal sentiments which are the strongest support of the Constitution. They were adopted in the spirit of conciliation and for the purpose of conciliation. I believe that a great majority of our fellow citizens sympathize in that spirit and that purpose, and in the main approve, and are prepared in all respects to sustain, these enactments. I cannot doubt that the American people, bound together by kindred blood and common traditions, still cherish a paramount regard for the Union of their fathers, and that they are ready to rebuke any attempt to undermine its integrity, to disturb the compromises on which it is passed, or to resist the laws which

have been enacted under its authority.

"The series of measures to which I have alluded are regarded by me as a settlement in principle and substance-a final settlement of the dangerous and exciting subjects which they embraced. Most of these subjects, indeed, are beyond your reach, as the legislation which disposed of them was, in its character, final and irrevocable. It may be presumed from the opposition which they all encountered that none of those measures were free from imperfections, but in their mutual dependence and connection they formed a system of compromise, the most conciliatory and the best for the entire country that could be obtained from conflicting sectional interests and opinions.

"For this reason I recommend your adherence to the adjustment established by those measures, until time and experience shall demonstrate the necessity of further legislation to guard against evasion or abuse.

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By that adjustment we have been rescued from the wide and boundless agitation that surrounded us, and have a firm, distinct, and legal ground to rest upon. And the occasion, I trust, will justify me in exhorting my countrymen to rally upon and maintain that ground as the best if not the only means of restoring peace and quiet to the country and maintaining inviolate the integrity of the Union.

"And now, fellow citizens, I cannot bring this communication to a close without invoking you to join me in humble and devout thanks to the great Ruler of nations for the multiplied blessings which He has graciously bestowed on us. His hand, so often visible in our