President[ Millard Fillmore
Date[ December 6, 1852
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The brief space which has elapsed since the close of your last session has
been marked by no extraordinary political event. The quadrennial election
of Chief Magistrate has passed off with less than the usual excitement.
However individuals and parties may have been disappointed in the result,
it is, nevertheless, a subject of national congratulation that the choice
has been effected by the independent suffrages of a free people,
undisturbed by those influences which in other countries have too often
affected the purity of popular elections.
Our grateful thanks are due to an all-merciful Providence, not only for
staying the pestilence which in different forms has desolated some of our
cities, but for crowning the labors of the husbandman with an abundant
harvest and the nation generally with the blessings of peace and
prosperity.
Within a few weeks the public mind has been deeply affected by the death of
Daniel Webster, filling at his decease the office of Secretary of State.
His associates in the executive government have sincerely sympathized with
his family and the public generally on this mournful occasion. His
commanding talents, his great political and professional eminence, his
well-tried patriotism, and his long and faithful services in the most
important public trusts have caused his death to be lamented throughout the
country and have earned for him a lasting place in our history. In the
course of the last summer considerable anxiety was caused for a short time
by an official intimation from the Government of Great Britain that orders
had been given for the protection of the fisheries upon the coasts of the
British provinces in North America against the alleged encroachments of the
fishing vessels of the United States and France. The shortness of this
notice and the season of the year seemed to make it a matter of urgent
importance. It was at first apprehended that an increased naval force had
been ordered to the fishing grounds to carry into effect the British
interpretation of those provisions in the convention of 1818 in reference
to the true intent of which the two Governments differ. It was soon
discovered that such was not the design of Great Britain, and satisfactory
explanations of the real objects of the measure have been given both here
and in London.
The unadjusted difference, however, between the two Governments as to the
interpretation of the first article of the convention of 1818 is still a
matter of importance. American fishing vessels, within nine or ten years,
have been excluded from waters to which they had free access for
twenty-five years after the negotiation of the treaty. In 1845 this
exclusion was relaxed so far as concerns the Bay of Fundy, but the just and
liberal intention of the home Government, in compliance with what we think
the true construction of the convention, to open all the other outer bays
to our fishermen was abandoned in consequence of the opposition of the
colonies. Notwithstanding this, the United States have, since the Bay of
Fundy was reopened to our fishermen in 1845, pursued the most liberal
course toward the colonial fishing interests. By the revenue law of 1846
the duties on colonial fish entering our ports were very greatly reduced,
and by the warehousing act it is allowed to be entered in bond without
payment of duty. In this way colonial fish has acquired the monopoly of the
export trade in our market and is entering to some extent into the home
consumption. These facts were among those which increased the sensibility
of our fishing interest at the movement in question. These circumstances
and the incidents above alluded to have led me to think the moment
favorable for a reconsideration of the entire subject of the fisheries on
the coasts of the British Provinces, with a view to place them upon a more
liberal footing of reciprocal privilege. A willingness to meet us in some
arrangement of this kind is understood to exist on the part of Great
Britain, with a desire on her part to include in one comprehensive
settlement as well this subject as the commercial intercourse between the
United States and the British Provinces. I have thought that, whatever
arrangements may be made on these two subjects, it is expedient that they
should be embraced in separate conventions. The illness and death of the
late Secretary of State prevented the commencement of the contemplated
negotiation. Pains have been taken to collect the information required for
the details of such an arrangement. The subject is attended with
considerable difficulty. If it is found practicable to come to an agreement
mutually acceptable to the two parties, conventions may be concluded in the
course of the present winter. The control of Congress over all the
provisions of such an arrangement affecting the revenue will of course be
reserved.
The affairs of Cuba formed a prominent topic in my last annual message.
They remain in an uneasy condition, and a feeling of alarm and irritation
on the part of the Cuban authorities appears to exist. This feeling has
interfered with the regular commercial intercourse between the United
States and the island and led to some acts of which we have a fight to
complain. But the Captain-General of Cuba is clothed with no power to treat
with foreign governments, nor is he in any degree under the control of the
Spanish minister at Washington. Any communication which he may hold with an
agent of a foreign power is informal and matter of courtesy. Anxious to put
an end to the existing inconveniences (which seemed to rest on a
misconception), I directed the newly appointed minister to Mexico to visit
Havana on his way to Vera Cruz. He was respectfully received by the
Captain-General, who conferred with him freely on the recent occurrences,
but no permanent arrangement was effected.
In the meantime the refusal of the Captain-Generalto allow passengers and
the mail to be landed in certain cases, for a reason which does not
furnish, in the opinion of this Government, even a good presumptive ground
for such prohibition, has been made the subject of a serious remonstrance
at Madrid, and I have no reason to doubt that due respect will be paid by
the Government of Her Catholic Majesty to the representations which our
minister has been instructed to make on the subject.
It is but justice to the Captain-General to add that his conduct toward the
steamers employed to carry the mails of the United States to Havana has,
with the exceptions above alluded to, been marked with kindness and
liberality, and indicates no general purpose of interfering with the
commercial correspondence and intercourse between the island and this
country.
Early in the present year official notes were received from the ministers
of France and England inviting the Government of the United States to
become a party with Great Britain and France to a tripartite convention, in
virtue of which the three powers should severally and collectively disclaim
now and for the future all intention to obtain possession of the island of
Cuba, and should bind themselves to discountenance all attempts to that
effect on the part of any power or individual whatever. This invitation has
been respectfully declined, for reasons which it would occupy too much
space in this communication to state in detail, but which led me to think
that the proposed measure would be of doubtful constitutionality,
impolitic, and unavailing. I have, however, in common with several of my
predecessors, directed the ministers of France and England to be assured
that the United States entertain no designs against Cuba, but that, on the
contrary, I should regard its incorporation into the Union at the present
time as fraught with serious peril.
Were this island comparatively destitute of inhabitants or occupied by a
kindred race, I should regard it, if voluntarily ceded by Spain, as a most
desirable acquisition. But under existing circumstances I should look upon
its incorporation into our Union as a very hazardous measure. It would
bring into the Confederacy a population of a different national stock,
speaking a different language, and not likely to harmonize with the other
members. It would probably affect in a prejudicial manner the industrial
interests of the South, and it might revive those conflicts of opinion
between the different sections of the country which lately shook the Union
to its center, and which have been so happily compromised.
The rejection by the Mexican Congress of the convention which had been
concluded between that Republic and the United States for the protection of
a transit way across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and of the interests of
those citizens of the United States who had become proprietors of the
rights which Mexico had conferred on one of her own citizens in regard to
that transit has thrown a serious obstacle in the way of the attainment of
a very desirable national object. I am still willing to hope that the
differences on the subject which exist, or may hereafter arise, between the
Governments will be amicably adjusted. This subject, however, has already
engaged the attention of the Senate of the United States, and requires no
further comment in this communication.
The settlement of the question respecting the port of San Juan de Nicaragua
and of the controversy between the Republics of Costa Rica and Nicaragua in
regard to their boundaries was considered indispensable to the commencement
of the ship canal between the two oceans, which was the subject of the
convention between the United States and Great Britain of the 19th of
April, 1850. Accordingly, a proposition for the same purposes, addressed to
the two Governments in that quarter and to the Mosquito Indians, was agreed
to in April last by the Secretary of State and the minister of Her
Britannic Majesty. Besides the wish to aid in reconciling the differences
of the two Republics, I engaged in the negotiation from a desire to place
the great work of a ship canal between the two oceans under one
jurisdiction and to establish the important port of San Juan de Nicaragua
under the government of a civilized power. The proposition in question was
assented to by Costs Rica and the Mosquito Indians. It has not proved
equally acceptable to Nicaragua, but it is to be hoped that the further
negotiations on the subject which are in train will be carried on in that
spirit of conciliation and compromise which ought always to prevail on such
occasions, and that they will lead to a satisfactory result.
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the executive government of
Venezuela has acknowledged some claims of citizens of the United States
which have for many years past been urged by our charge d'affaires at
Caracas. It is hoped that the same sense of justice will actuate the
Congress of that Republic in providing the means for their payment.
The recent revolution in Buenos Ayres and the Confederated States having
opened the prospect of an improved state of things in that quarter, the
Governments of Great Britain and France determined to negotiate with the
chief of the new confederacy for the free access of their commerce to the
extensive countries watered by the tributaries of the La Plata; and they
gave a friendly notice of this purpose to the United States, that we might,
if we thought proper, pursue the same course. In compliance with this
invitation, our minister at Rio Janeiro and our charge d'affaires at
Buenos Ayres have been fully authorized to conclude treaties with the newly
organized confederation or the States composing it. The delays which have
taken place in the formation of the new government have as yet prevented
the execution of those instructions, but there is every reason to hope that
these vast countries will be eventually opened to our commerce.
A treaty of commerce has been concluded between the United States and the
Oriental Republic of Uruguay, which will be laid before the Senate. Should
this convention go into operation, it will open to the commercial
enterprise of our citizens a country of great extent and unsurpassed in
natural resources, but from which foreign nations have hitherto been almost
wholly excluded.
The correspondence of the late Secretary of State with the Peruvian charge
d'affaires relative to the Lobos Islands was communicated to Congress
toward the close of the last session. Since that time, on further
investigation of the subject, the doubts which had been entertained of the
title of Peru to those islands have been removed, and I have deemed it just
that the temporary wrong which had been unintentionally done her from want
of information should be repaired by an unreserved acknowledgment of her
sovereignty.
I have the satisfaction to inform you that the course pursued by Peru has
been creditable to the liberality of her Government. Before it was known by
her that her title would be acknowledged at Washington, her minister of
foreign affairs had authorized our charge d'affaires at Lima to announce
to the American vessels which had gone to the Lobos for guano that the
Peruvian Government was willing to freight them on its own account. This
intention has been carried into effect by the Peruvian minister here by an
arrangement which is believed to be advantageous to the parties in
interest.
Our settlements on the shores of the Pacific have already given a great
extension, and in some respects a new direction, to our commerce in that
ocean. A direct and rapidly increasing intercourse has sprung up with
eastern Asia. The waters of the Northern Pacific, even into the Arctic Sea,
have of late years been frequented by our whalemen. The application of
steam to the general purposes of navigation is becoming daily more common,
and makes it desirable to obtain fuel and other necessary supplies at
convenient points on the route between Asia and our Pacific shores. Our
unfortunate countrymen who from time to time suffer shipwreck on the coasts
of the eastern seas are entitled to protection. Besides these specific
objects, the general prosperity of our States on the Pacific requires that
an attempt should be made to open the opposite regions of Asia to a
mutually beneficial intercourse. It is obvious that this attempt could be
made by no power to so great advantage as by the United States, whose
constitutional system excludes every idea of distant colonial dependencies.
I have accordingly been led to order an appropriate naval force to Japan,
under the command of a discreet and intelligent officer of the highest rank
known to our service. He is instructed to endeavor to obtain from the
Government of that country some relaxation of the inhospitable and
antisocial system which it has pursued for about two centuries. He has been
directed particularly to remonstrate in the strongest language against the
cruel treatment to which our shipwrecked mariners have often been subjected
and to insist that they shall be treated with humanity. He is instructed,
however, at the same time, to give that Government the amplest assurances
that the objects of the United States are such, and such only, as I have
indicated, and that the expedition is friendly and peaceful.
Notwithstanding the jealousy with which the Governments of eastern Asia
regard all overtures from foreigners, I am not without hopes of a
beneficial result of the expedition. Should it be crowned with success, the
advantages will not be confined to the United States, but, as in the case
of China, will be equally enjoyed by all the other maritime powers. I have
much satisfaction in stating that in all the steps preparatory to this
expedition the Government of the United States has been materially aided by
the good offices of the King of the Netherlands, the only European power
having any commercial relations with Japan.
In passing from this survey of our foreign relations, I invite the
attention of Congress to the condition of that Department of the Government
to which this branch of the public business is intrusted. Our intercourse
with foreign powers has of late years greatly increased, both in
consequence of our own growth and the introduction of many new states into
the family of nations. In this way the Department of State has become
overburdened. It has by the recent establishment of the Department of the
Interior been relieved of some portion of the domestic business. If the
residue of the business of that kind--such as the distribution of
Congressional documents, the keeping, publishing, and distribution of the
laws of the United States, the execution of the copyright law, the subject
of reprieves and pardons, and some other subjects relating to interior
administration--should be transferred from the Department of State, it
would unquestionably be for the benefit of the public service. I would also
suggest that the building appropriated to the State Department is not
fireproof; that there is reason to think there are defects in its
construction, and that the archives of the Government in charge of the
Department, with the precious collections of the manuscript papers of
Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and Monroe, are exposed to
destruction by fire. A similar remark may be made of the buildings
appropriated to the War and Navy Departments.
The condition of the Treasury is exhibited in the annual report from that
Department.
The cash receipts into the Treasury for the fiscal year ending the 30th
June last, exclusive of trust funds, were $49,728,386.89, and the
expenditures for the same period, likewise exclusive of trust funds, were
$46,007,896.20, of which $9,455,815.83 was on account of the principal and
interest of the public debt, including the last installment of the
indemnity to Mexico under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, leaving a
balance of $14,632,136.37 in the Treasury on the 1st day of July last.
Since this latter period further purchases of the principal of the public
debt have been made to the extent of $2,456,547.49, and the surplus in the
Treasury will continue to be applied to that object whenever the stock can
be procured within the limits as to price authorized by law.
The value of foreign merchandise imported during the last fiscal year was
$207,240,101, and the value of domestic productions exported was
$149,861,911, besides $17,204,026 of foreign merchandise exported, making
the aggregate of the entire exports $167,065,937. Exclusive of the above,
there was exported $42,507,285 in specie, and imported from foreign ports
$5,262,643.
In my first annual message to Congress I called your attention to what
seemed to me some defects in the present tariff, and recommended such
modifications as in my judgment were best adapted to remedy its evils and
promote the prosperity of the country. Nothing has since occurred to change
my views on this important question.
Without repeating the arguments contained in my former message in favor of
discriminating protective duties, I deem it my duty to call your attention
to one or two other considerations affecting this subject. The first is the
effect of large importations of foreign goods upon our currency. Most of
the gold of California, as fast as it is coined, finds its way directly to
Europe in payment for goods purchased. In the second place, as our
manufacturing establishments are broken down by competition with
foreigners, the capital invested in them is lost, thousands of honest and
industrious citizens are thrown out of employment, and the farmer, to that
extent, is deprived of a home market for the sale of his surplus produce.
In the third place, the destruction of our manufactures leaves the
foreigner without competition in our market, and he consequently raises the
price of the article sent here for sale, as is now seen in the increased
cost of iron imported from England. The prosperity and wealth of every
nation must depend upon its productive industry. The farmer is stimulated
to exertion by finding a ready market for his surplus products, and
benefited by being able to exchange them without loss of time or expense of
transportation for the manufactures which his comfort or convenience
requires. This is always done to the best advantage where a portion of the
community in which he lives is engaged in other pursuits. But most
manufactures require an amount of capital and a practical skill which can
not be commanded unless they be protected for a time from ruinous
competition from abroad. Hence the necessity of laying those duties upon
imported goods which the Constitution authorizes for revenue in such a
manner as to protect and encourage the labor of our own citizens. Duties,
however, should not be fixed at a rate so high as to exclude the foreign
article, but should be so graduated as to enable the domestic manufacturer
fairly to compete with the foreigner in our own markets, and by this
competition to reduce the price of the manufactured article to the consumer
to the lowest rate at which it can be produced. This policy would place the
mechanic by the side of the farmer, create a mutual interchange of their
respective commodities, and thus stimulate the industry of the whole
country and render us independent of foreign nations for the supplies
required by the habits or necessities of the people.
Another question, wholly independent of protection, presents itself, and
that is, whether the duties levied should be upon the value of the article
at the place of shipment, or, where it is practicable, a specific duty,
graduated according to quantity, as ascertained by weight or measure. All
our duties are at present ad valorem. A certain percentage is levied on the
price of the goods at the port of shipment in a foreign country. Most
commercial nations have found it indispensable, for the purpose of
preventing fraud and perjury, to make the duties specific whenever the
article is of such a uniform value in weight or measure as to justify such
a duty. Legislation should never encourage dishonesty or crime. It is
impossible that the revenue officers at the port where the goods are
entered and the duties paid should know with certainty what they cost in
the foreign country. Yet the law requires that they should levy the duty
according to such cost. They are therefore compelled to resort to very
unsatisfactory evidence to ascertain what that cost was. They take the
invoice of the importer, attested by his oath, as the best evidence of
which the nature of the case admits. But everyone must see that the invoice
may be fabricated and the oath by which it is supported false, by reason of
which the dishonest importer pays a part only of the duties which are paid
by the honest one, and thus indirectly receives from the Treasury of the
United States a reward for his fraud and perjury. The reports of the
Secretary of the Treasury heretofore made on this subject show conclusively
that these frauds have been practiced to a great extent. The tendency is to
destroy that high moral character for which our merchants have long been
distinguished, to defraud the Government of its revenue, to break down the
honest importer by a dishonest competition, and, finally, to transfer the
business of importation to foreign and irresponsible agents, to the great
detriment of our own citizens. I therefore again most earnestly recommend
the adoption of specific duties wherever it is practicable, or a home
valuation, to prevent these frauds.
I would also again call your attention to the fact that the present tariff
in some cases imposes a higher duty upon the raw material imported than
upon the article manufactured from it, the consequence of which is that the
duty operates to the encouragement of the foreigner and the discouragement
of our own citizens.
For full and detailed information in regard to the general condition of our
Indian affairs, I respectfully refer you to the report of the Secretary of
the Interior and the accompanying documents.
The Senate not having thought proper to ratify the treaties which have been
negotiated with the tribes of Indians in California and Oregon, our
relations with them have been left in a very unsatisfactory condition.
In other parts of our territory particular districts of country have been
set apart for the exclusive occupation of the Indians, and their right to
the lands within those limits has been acknowledged and respected. But in
California and Oregon there has been no recognition by the Government of
the exclusive right of the Indians to any part of the country. They are
therefore mere tenants at sufferance, and liable to be driven from place to
place at the pleasure of the whites.
The treaties which have been rejected proposed to remedy this evil by
allotting to the different tribes districts of country suitable to their
habits of life and sufficient for their support. This provision, more than
any other, it is believed, led to their rejection; and as no substitute for
it has been adopted by Congress, it has not been deemed advisable to
attempt to enter into new treaties of a permanent character, although no
effort has been spared by temporary arrangements to preserve friendly
relations with them.
If it be the desire of Congress to remove them from the country altogether,
or to assign to them particular districts more remote from the settlements
of the whites, it will be proper to set apart by law the territory which
they are to occupy and to provide the means necessary for removing them to
it. Justice alike to our own citizens and to the Indians requires the
prompt action of Congress on this subject. The amendments proposed by the
Senate to the treaties which were negotiated with the Sioux Indians of
Minnesota have been submitted to the tribes who were parties to them, and
have received their assent. A large tract of valuable territory has thus
been opened for settlement and cultivation, and all danger of collision
with these powerful and warlike bands has been happily removed.
The removal of the remnant of the tribe of Seminole Indians from Florida
has long been a cherished object of the Government, and it is one to which
my attention has been steadily directed. Admonished by past experience of
the difficulty and cost of the attempt to remove them by military force,
resort has been had to conciliatory measures. By the invitation of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, several of the principal chiefs recently
visited Washington, and whilst here acknowledged in writing the obligation
of their tribe to remove with the least possible delay. Late advices from
the special agent of the Government represent that they adhere to their
promise, and that a council of their people has been called to make their
preliminary arrangements. A general emigration may therefore be confidently
expected at an early day.
The report from the General Land Office shows increased activity in its
operations. The survey of the northern boundary of Iowa has been completed
with unexampled dispatch. Within the last year 9,522,953 acres of public
land have been surveyed and 8,032,463 acres brought into market.
Acres In the last fiscal year there were sold 1,553,071 Located with
bounty-land warrants 3,201,314 Located with other certificates 115,682
Making a total of 4,870,067
In addition there were--Reported under swamp-land grants 5,219,188 For
internal improvements, railroads, etc 3,025,920 Making an aggregate of
13,115,175 Being an increase of the amount sold and located under land
warrants of 569,220 acres over the previous year. The whole amount thus
sold, located under land warrants, reported under swamp-land grants, and
selected for internal improvements exceeds that of the previous year by
3,342,372 acres; and the sales would without doubt have been much larger
but for the extensive reservations for railroads in Missouri, Mississippi,
and Alabama.
Acres For the quarter ending 30th September, 1852, there were sold 243,255
Located with bounty-land warrants 1,387,116 Located with other certificates
15,649 Reported under swamp-land grants 2,485,233 Making an aggregate for
the quarter of 4,131,253
Much the larger portion of the labor of arranging and classifying the
returns of the last census has been finished, and it will now devolve upon
Congress to make the necessary provision for the publication of the results
in such form as shall be deemed best. The apportionment of representation
on the basis of the new census has been made by the Secretary of the
Interior in conformity with the provisions of law relating to that subject,
and the recent elections have been made in accordance with it.
I commend to your favorable regard the suggestion contained in the report
of the Secretary of the Interior that provision be made by law for the
publication and distribution, periodically, of an analytical digest of all
the patents which have been or may hereafter be granted for useful
inventions and discoveries, with such descriptions and illustrations as may
be necessary to present an intelligible view of their nature and operation.
The cost of such publication could easily be defrayed out of the patent
fund, and I am persuaded that it could be applied to no object more
acceptable to inventors and beneficial to the public at large.
An appropriation of $100,000 having been made at the last session for the
purchase of a suitable site and for the erection, furnishing, and fitting
up of an asylum for the insane of the District of Columbia and of the Army
and Navy of the United States, the proper measures have been adopted to
carry this beneficent purpose into effect.
By the latest advices from the Mexican boundary commission it appears that
the survey of the river Gila from its continence with the Colorado to its
supposed intersection with the western line of New Mexico has been
completed. The survey of the Rio Grande has also been finished from the
point agreed on by the commissioners as "the point where it strikes the
southern boundary of New Mexico" to a point 135 miles below Eagle Pass,
which is about two-thirds of the distance along the course of the river to
its mouth.
The appropriation which was made at the last session of Congress for the
continuation of the survey is subject to the following proviso: Provided,
That no part of this appropriation shall be used or expended until it shall
be made satisfactorily to appear to the President of the United States that
the southern boundary of New Mexico is not established by the commissioner
and surveyor of the United States farther north of the town called "Paso"
than the same is laid down in Disturnell's map, which is added to the
treaty.
My attention was drawn to this subject by a report from the Department of
the Interior, which reviewed all the facts of the case and submitted for my
decision the question whether under existing circumstances any part of the
appropriation could be lawfully used or expended for the further
prosecution of the work. After a careful consideration of the subject I
came to the conclusion that it could not, and so informed the head of that
Department. Orders were immediately issued by him to the commissioner and
surveyor to make no further requisitions on the Department, as they could
not be paid, and to discontinue all operations on the southern line of New
Mexico. But as the Department had no exact information as to the amount of
provisions and money which remained unexpended in the hands of the
commissioner and surveyor, it was left discretionary with them to continue
the survey down the Rio Grande as far as the means at their disposal would
enable them or at once to disband the commission. A special messenger has
since arrived from the officer in charge of the survey on the river with
information that the funds subject to his control were exhausted and that
the officers and others employed in the service were destitute alike of the
means of prosecuting the work and of returning to their homes.
The object of the proviso was doubtless to arrest the survey of the
southern and western lines of New Mexico, in regard to which different
opinions have been expressed; for it is hardly to be supposed that there
could be any objection to that part of the line which extends along the
channel of the Rio Grande. But the terms of the law are so broad as to
forbid the use of any part of the money for the prosecution of the work, or
even for the payment to the officers and agents of the arrearages of pay
which are justly due to them.
I earnestly invite your prompt attention to this subject, and recommend a
modification of the terms of the proviso, so as to enable the Department to
use as much of the appropriation as will be necessary to discharge the
existing obligations of the Government and to complete the survey of the
Rio Grande to its mouth.
It will also be proper to make further provision by law for the fulfillment
of our treaty with Mexico for running and marking the residue of the
boundary line between the two countries.
Permit me to invite your particular attention to the interests of the
District of Columbia, which are confided by the Constitution to your
peculiar care.
Among the measures which seem to me of the greatest importance to its
prosperity are the introduction of a copious supply of water into the city
of Washington and the construction of suitable bridges across the Potomac
to replace those which were destroyed by high water in the early part of
the present year.
At the last session of Congress an appropriation was made to defray the
cost of the surveys necessary for determining the best means of affording
an unfailing supply of good and wholesome water. Some progress has been
made in the survey, and as soon as it is completed the result will be laid
before you.
Further appropriations will also be necessary for grading and paving the
streets and avenues and inclosing and embellishing the public grounds
within the city of Washington.
I commend all these objects, together with the charitable institutions of
the District, to your favorable regard. Every effort has been made to
protect our frontier and that of the adjoining Mexican States from the
incursions of the Indian tribes. Of about 11,000 men of which the Army is
composed, nearly 8,000 are employed in the defense of the newly acquired
territory (including Texas) and of emigrants proceeding thereto. I am
gratified to say that these efforts have been unusually successful. With
the exception of some partial outbreaks in California and Oregon and
occasional depredations on a portion of the Rio Grande, owing, it is
believed, to the disturbed state of that border region, the inroads of the
Indians have been effectually restrained.
Experience has shown, however, that whenever the two races are brought into
contact collisions will inevitably occur. To prevent these collisions the
United States have generally set apart portions of their territory for the
exclusive occupation of the Indian tribes. A difficulty occurs, however, in
the application of this policy to Texas. By the terms of the compact by
which that State was admitted into the Union she retained the ownership of
all the vacant lands within her limits. The government of that State, it is
understood, has assigned no portion of her territory to the Indians, but as
fast as her settlements advance lays it off into counties and proceeds to
survey and sell it. This policy manifestly tends not only to alarm and
irritate the Indians, but to compel them to resort to plunder for
subsistence. It also deprives this Government of that influence and control
over them without which no durable peace can ever exist between them and
the whites. I trust, therefore, that a due regard for her own interests,
apart from considerations of humanity and justice, will induce that State
to assign a small portion of her vast domain for the provisional occupancy
of the small remnants of tribes within her borders, subject, of course, to
her ownership and eventual jurisdiction. If she should fail to do this, the
fulfillment of our treaty stipulations with Mexico and our duty to the
Indians themselves will, it is feared, become a subject of serious
embarrassment to the Government. It is hoped, however, that a timely and
just provision by Texas may avert this evil.
No appropriations for fortifications were made at the two last sessions of
Congress. The cause of this omission is probably to be found in a growing
belief that the system of fortifications adopted in 1816, and heretofore
acted on, requires revision.
The subject certainly deserves full and careful investigation, but it
should not be delayed longer than can be avoided. In the meantime there are
certain works which have been commenced, some of them nearly completed,
designed to protect our principal seaports from Boston to New Orleans and a
few other important points. In regard to the necessity for these works, it
is believed that little difference of opinion exists among military men. I
therefore recommend that the appropriations necessary to prosecute them be
made.
I invite your attention to the remarks on this subject and on others
connected with his Department contained in the accompanying report of the
Secretary of War.
Measures have been taken to carry into effect the law of the last session
making provision for the improvement of certain rivers and harbors, and it
is believed that the arrangements made for that purpose will combine
efficiency with economy. Owing chiefly to the advanced season when the act
was passed, little has yet been done in regard to many of the works beyond
making the necessary preparations. With respect to a few of the
improvements, the sums already appropriated will suffice to complete them;
but most of them will require additional appropriations. I trust that these
appropriations will be made, and that this wise and beneficent policy, so
auspiciously resumed, will be continued. Great care should be taken,
however, to commence no work which is not of sufficient importance to the
commerce of the country to be viewed as national in its character. But
works which have been commenced should not be discontinued until completed,
as otherwise the sums expended will in most cases be lost.
The report from the Navy Department will inform you of the prosperous
condition of the branch of the public service committed to its charge. It
presents to your consideration many topics and suggestions of which I ask
your approval. It exhibits an unusual degree of activity in the operations
of the Department during the past year. The preparations for the Japan
expedition, to which I have already alluded; the arrangements made for the
exploration and survey of the China Seas, the Northern Pacific, and
Behrings Straits; the incipient measures taken toward a reconnoissance of
the continent of Africa eastward of Liberia; the preparation for an early
examination of the tributaries of the river La Plata, which a recent decree
of the provisional chief of the Argentine Confederation has opened to
navigation--all these enterprises and the means by which they are proposed
to be accomplished have commanded my full approbation, and I have no doubt
will be productive of most useful results.
Two officers of the Navy were heretofore instructed to explore the whole
extent of the Amazon River from the confines of Peru to its mouth. The
return of one of them has placed in the possession of the Government an
interesting and valuable account of the character and resources of a
country abounding in the materials of commerce, and which if opened to the
industry of the world will prove an inexhaustible fund of wealth. The
report of this exploration will be communicated to you as soon as it is
completed.
Among other subjects offered to your notice by the Secretary of the Navy, I
select for special commendation, in view of its connection with the
interests of the Navy, the plan submitted by him for the establishment of a
permanent corps of seamen and the suggestions he has presented for the
reorganization of the Naval Academy.
In reference to the first of these, I take occasion to say that I think it
will greatly improve the efficiency of the service, and that I regard it as
still more entitled to favor for the salutary influence it must exert upon
the naval discipline, now greatly disturbed by the increasing spirit of
insubordination resulting from our present system. The plan proposed for
the organization of the seamen furnishes a judicious substitute for the law
of September, 1850, abolishing corporal punishment, and satisfactorily
sustains the policy of that act under conditions well adapted to maintain
the authority of command and the order and security of our ships. It is
believed that any change which proposes permanently to dispense with this
mode of punishment should be preceded by a system of enlistment which shall
supply the Navy with seamen of the most meritorious class, whose good
deportment and pride of character may preclude all occasion for a resort to
penalties of a harsh or degrading nature. The safety of a ship and her crew
is often dependent upon immediate obedience to a command, and the authority
to enforce it must be equally ready. The arrest of a refractory seaman in
such moments not only deprives the ship of indispensable aid, but imposes a
necessity for double service on others, whose fidelity to their duties may
be relied upon in such an emergency. The exposure to this increased and
arduous labor since the passage of the act of 1850 has already had, to a
most observable and injurious extent, the effect of preventing the
enlistment of the best seamen in the Navy. The plan now suggested is
designed to promote a condition of service in which this objection will no
longer exist. The details of this plan may be established in great part, if
not altogether, by the Executive under the authority of existing laws, but
I have thought it proper, in accordance with the suggestion of the
Secretary of the Navy, to submit it to your approval.
The establishment of a corps of apprentices for the Navy, or boys to be
enlisted until they become of age, and to be employed under such
regulations as the Navy Department may devise, as proposed in the report, I
cordially approve and commend to your consideration; and I also concur in
the suggestion that this system for the early training of seamen may be
most usefully ingrafted upon the service of our merchant marine. The other
proposition of the report to which I have referred--the reorganization of
the Naval Academy--I recommend to your attention as a project worthy of
your encouragement and support. The valuable services already rendered by
this institution entitle it to the continuance of your fostering care.
Your attention is respectfully called to the report of the Postmaster
General for the detailed operation of his Department during the last fiscal
year, from which it will be seen that the receipts from postages for that
time were less by $1,431,696 than for the preceding fiscal year, being a
decrease of about 23 per cent.
This diminution is attributable to the reduction in the rates of postage
made by the act of March 3, 1851, which reduction took effect at the
commencement of the last fiscal year.
Although in its operation during the last year the act referred to has not
fulfilled the predictions of its friends by increasing the correspondence
of the country in proportion to the reduction of postage, I should,
nevertheless, question the policy of returning to higher rates. Experience
warrants the expectation that as the community becomes accustomed to cheap
postage correspondence will increase. It is believed that from this cause
and from the rapid growth of the country in population and business the
receipts of the Department must ultimately exceed its expenses, and that
the country may safely rely upon the continuance of the present cheap rate
of postage.
In former messages I have, among other things, respectfully recommended to
the consideration of Congress the propriety and necessity of further
legislation for the protection and punishment of foreign consuls residing
in the United States; to revive, with certain modifications, the act of
10th March, 1838, to restrain unlawful military expeditions against the
inhabitants of conterminous states or territories; for the preservation and
protection from mutilation or theft of the papers, records, and archives of
the nation; for authorizing the surplus revenue to be applied to the
payment of the public debt in advance of the time when it will become due;
for the establishment of land offices for the sale of the public lands in
California and the Territory of Oregon; for the construction of a road from
the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific Ocean; for the establishment of a
bureau of agriculture for the promotion of that interest, perhaps the most
important in the country; for the prevention of frauds upon the Government
in applications for pensions and bounty lands; for the establishment of a
uniform fee bill, prescribing a specific compensation for every service
required of clerks, district attorneys, and marshals; for authorizing an
additional regiment of mounted men for the defense of our frontiers against
the Indians and for fulfilling our treaty stipulations with Mexico to
defend her citizens against the Indians "with equal diligence and energy as
our own;" for determining the relative rank between the naval and civil
officers in our public ships and between the officers of the Army and Navy
in the various grades of each; for reorganizing the naval establishment by
fixing the number of officers in each grade, and providing for a retired
list upon reduced pay of those unfit for active duty; for prescribing and
regulating punishments in the Navy; for the appointment of a commission to
revise the public statutes of the United States by arranging them in order,
supplying deficiencies, correcting incongruities, simplifying their
language, and reporting them to Congress for its final action; and for the
establishment of a commission to adjudicate and settle private claims
against the United States. I am not aware, however, that any of these
subjects have been finally acted upon by Congress. Without repeating the
reasons for legislation on these subjects which have been assigned in
former messages, I respectfully recommend them again to your favorable
consideration.
I think it due to the several Executive Departments of this Government to
bear testimony to the efficiency and integrity with which they are
conducted. With all the careful superintendence which it is possible for
the heads of those Departments to exercise, still the due administration
and guardianship of the public money must very much depend on the
vigilance, intelligence, and fidelity of the subordinate officers and
clerks, and especially on those intrusted with the settlement and
adjustment of claims and accounts. I am gratified to believe that they have
generally performed their duties faithfully and well. They are appointed to
guard the approaches to the public Treasury, and they occupy positions that
expose them to all the temptations and seductions which the cupidity of
peculators and fraudulent claimants can prompt them to employ. It will be
but a wise precaution to protect the Government against that source of
mischief and corruption, as far as it can be done, by the enactment of all
proper legal penalties. The laws in this respect are supposed to be
defective, and I therefore deem it my duty to call your attention to the
subject and to recommend that provision be made by law for the punishment
not only of those who shall accept bribes, but also of those who shall
either promise, give, or offer to give to any of those officers or clerks a
bribe or reward touching or relating to any matter of their official action
or duty.
It has been the uniform policy of this Government, from its foundation to
the present day, to abstain from all interference in the domestic affairs
of other nations. The consequence has been that while the nations of Europe
have been engaged in desolating wars our country has pursued its peaceful
course to unexampled prosperity and happiness. The wars in which we have
been compelled to engage in defense of the rights and honor of the country
have been, fortunately, of short duration. During the terrific contest of
nation against nation which succeeded the French Revolution we were enabled
by the wisdom and firmness of President Washington to maintain our
neutrality. While other nations were drawn into this wide-sweeping
whirlpool, we sat quiet and unmoved upon our own shores. While the flower
of their numerous armies was wasted by disease or perished by hundreds of
thousands upon the battlefield, the youth of this favored land were
permitted to enjoy the blessings of peace beneath the paternal roof. While
the States of Europe incurred enormous debts, under the burden of which
their subjects still groan, and which must absorb no small part of the
product of the honest industry of those countries for generations to come,
the United States have once been enabled to exhibit the proud spectacle of
a nation free from public debt, and if permitted to pursue our prosperous
way for a few years longer in peace we may do the same again.
But it is now said by some that this policy must be changed. Europe is no
longer separated from us by a voyage of months, but steam navigation has
brought her within a few days' sail of our shores. We see more of her
movements and take a deeper interest in her controversies. Although no one
proposes that we should join the fraternity of potentates who have for ages
lavished the blood and treasure of their subjects in maintaining "the
balance of power," yet it is said that we ought to interfere between
contending sovereigns and their subjects for the purpose of overthrowing
the monarchies of Europe and establishing in their place republican
institutions. It is alleged that we have heretofore pursued a different
course from a sense of our weakness, but that now our conscious strength
dictates a change of policy, and that it is consequently our duty to mingle
in these contests and aid those who are struggling for liberty.
This is a most seductive but dangerous appeal to the generous sympathies of
freemen. Enjoying, as we do, the blessings of a free Government, there is
no man who has an American heart that would not rejoice to see these
blessings extended to all other nations. We can not witness the struggle
between the oppressed and his oppressor anywhere without the deepest
sympathy for the former and the most anxious desire for his triumph.
Nevertheless, is it prudent or is it wise to involve ourselves in these
foreign wars? Is it indeed true that we have heretofore refrained from
doing so merely from the degrading motive of a conscious weakness? For the
honor of the patriots who have gone before us, I can not admit it. Men of
the Revolution, who drew the sword against the oppressions of the mother
country and pledged to Heaven "their lives, their fortunes, and their
sacred honor" to maintain their freedom, could never have been actuated by
so unworthy a motive. They knew no weakness or fear where right or duty
pointed the way, and it is a libel upon their fair fame for us, while we
enjoy the blessings for which they so nobly fought and bled, to insinuate
it. The truth is that the course which they pursued was dictated by a stern
sense of international justice, by a statesmanlike prudence and a
far-seeing wisdom, looking not merely to the present necessities but to the
permanent safety and interest of the country. They knew that the world is
governed less by sympathy than by reason and force; that it was not
possible for this nation to become a "propagandist" of free principles
without arraying against it the combined powers of Europe, and that the
result was more likely to be the overthrow of republican liberty here than
its establishment there. History has been written in vain for those who can
doubt this. France had no sooner established a republican form of
government than she manifested a desire to force its blessings on all the
world. Her own historian informs us that, hearing of some petty acts of
tyranny in a neighboring principality, "the National Convention declared
that she would afford succor and fraternity to all nations who wished to
recover their liberty, and she gave it in charge to the executive power to
give orders to the generals of the French armies to aid all citizens who
might have been or should be oppressed in the cause of liberty." Here was
the false step which led to her subsequent misfortunes. She soon found
herself involved in war with all the rest of Europe. In less than ten years
her Government was changed from a republic to an empire, and finally, after
shedding rivers of blood, foreign powers restored her exiled dynasty and
exhausted Europe sought peace and repose in the unquestioned ascendency of
monarchical principles. Let us learn wisdom from her example. Let us
remember that revolutions do not always establish freedom. Our own free
institutions were not the offspring of our Revolution. They existed before.
They were planted in the free charters of self-government under which the
English colonies grew up, and our Revolution only freed us from the
dominion of a foreign power whose government was at variance with those
institutions. But European nations have had no such training for
self-government, and every effort to establish it by bloody revolutions has
been, and must without that preparation continue to be, a failure. Liberty
unregulated by law degenerates into anarchy, which soon becomes the most
horrid of all despotisms. Our policy is wisely to govern ourselves, and
thereby to set such an example of national justice, prosperity, and true
glory as shall teach to all nations the blessings of self-government and
the unparalleled enterprise and success of a free people.
We live in an age of progress, and ours is emphatically a country of
progress. Within the last half century the number of States in this Union
has nearly doubled, the population has almost quadrupled, and our
boundaries have been extended from the Mississippi to the Pacific. Our
territory is checkered over with railroads and furrowed with canals. The
inventive talent of our country is excited to the highest pitch, and the
numerous applications for patents for valuable improvements distinguish
this age and this people from all others. The genius of one American has
enabled our commerce to move against wind and tide and that of another has
annihilated distance in the transmission of intelligence. The whole country
is full of enterprise. Our common schools are diffusing intelligence among
the people and our industry is fast accumulating the comforts and luxuries
of life. This is in part owing to our peculiar position, to our fertile
soil and comparatively sparse population; but much of it is also owing to
the popular institutions under which we live, to the freedom which every
man feels to engage in any useful pursuit according to his taste or
inclination, and to the entire confidence that his person and property will
be protected by the laws. But whatever may be the cause of this
unparalleled growth in population, intelligence, and wealth, one tiring is
clear--that the Government must keep pace with the progress of the people.
It must participate in their spirit of enterprise, and while it exacts
obedience to the laws and restrains all unauthorized invasions of the
rights of neighboring states, it should foster and protect home industry
and lend its powerful strength to the improvement of such means of
intercommunication as are necessary to promote our internal commerce and
strengthen the ties which bind us together as a people.
It is not strange, however much it may be regretted, that such an
exuberance of enterprise should cause some individuals to mistake change
for progress and the invasion of the rights of others for national prowess
and glory. The former are constantly agitating for some change in the
organic law, or urging new and untried theories of human rights. The latter
are ever ready to engage in any wild crusade against a neighboring people,
regardless of the justice of the enterprise and without looking at the
fatal consequences to ourselves and to the cause of popular government.
Such expeditions, however, are often stimulated by mercenary individuals,
who expect to share the plunder or profit of the enterprise without
exposing themselves to danger, and are led on by some irresponsible
foreigner, who abuses the hospitality of our own Government by seducing the
young and ignorant to join in his scheme of personal ambition or revenge
under the false and delusive pretense of extending the area of freedom.
These reprehensible aggressions but retard the true progress of our nation
and tarnish its fair fame. They should therefore receive the indignant
frowns of every good citizen who sincerely loves his country and takes a
pride in its prosperity and honor. Our Constitution, though not perfect, is
doubtless the best that ever was formed. Therefore let every proposition to
change it be well weighed and, if found beneficial, cautiously adopted.
Every patriot will rejoice to see its authority so exerted as to advance
the prosperity and honor of the nation, whilst he will watch with jealousy
any attempt to mutilate this charter of our liberties or pervert its powers
to acts of aggression or injustice. Thus shall conservatism and progress
blend their harmonious action in preserving the form and spirit of the
Constitution and at the same time carry forward the great improvements of
the country with a rapidity and energy which freemen only can display.
In closing this my last annual communication, permit me, fellow-citizens,
to congratulate you on the prosperous condition of our beloved country.
Abroad its relations with all foreign powers are friendly, its rights are
respected, and its high place in the family of nations cheerfully
recognized. At home we enjoy an amount of happiness, public and private,
which has probably never fallen to the lot of any other people. Besides
affording to our own citizens a degree of prosperity of which on so large a
scale I know of no other instance, our country is annually affording a
refuge and a home to multitudes, altogether without example, from the Old
World.
We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the happy Constitution and
Government which were bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is our
sacred duty to transmit in all their integrity to our children. We must all
consider it a great distinction and privilege to have been chosen by the
people to bear a part in the administration of such a Government. Called by
an unexpected dispensation to its highest trust at a season of
embarrassment and alarm, I entered upon its arduous duties with extreme
diffidence. I claim only to have discharged them to the best of an humble
ability, with a single eye to the public good, and it is with devout
gratitude in retiring from office that I leave the country in a state of
peace and prosperity.
Contents
Prev
Next
Last
