That no more than five millions of said stock shall be issued until the
creditors of the State holding bonds and other certificates of stock of
Texas, _for which duties on imports were specially_ pledged, shall first
file at the Treasury of the United States releases of all claims against
the United States for or on account of said bonds or certificates, in
such form as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury and
approved by the President of the United States.
The form of release thus provided for has been prescribed by the
Secretary of the Treasury and approved. It has been published in all
the leading newspapers in the commercial cities of the United States,
and all persons holding claims of the kind specified in the foregoing
proviso were required to file their releases (in the form thus
prescribed) in the Treasury of the United States on or before the 1st
day of October, 1851. Although this publication has been continued
from the 25th day of March, 1851, yet up to the 1st of October last
comparatively few releases had been filed by the creditors of Texas.
The authorities of the State of Texas, at the request of the Secretary
of the Treasury, have furnished a schedule of the public debt of that
State created prior to her admission into the Union, with a copy of the
laws under which each class was contracted.
I have, from the documents furnished by the State of Texas, determined
the classes of claims which in my judgment fall within the provisions of
the act of Congress of the 9th of September, 1850.
On being officially informed of the acceptance by Texas of the
propositions contained in the act referred to I caused the stock to be
prepared, and the five millions which are to be issued unconditionally,
bearing an interest of 5 per cent from the 1st day of January, 1851,
have been for some time ready to be delivered to the State of Texas. The
authorities of Texas up to the present time have not authorized anyone
to receive this stock, and it remains in the Treasury Department subject
to the order of Texas.
The releases required by law to be deposited in the Treasury not having
been filed there, the remaining five millions have not been issued.
This last amount of the stock will be withheld from Texas until the
conditions upon which it is to be delivered shall be complied with by
the creditors of that State, unless Congress shall otherwise direct by
a modification of the law.
In my last annual message, to which I respectfully refer, I stated
briefly the reasons which induced me to recommend a modification of
the present tariff by converting the _ad valorem_ into a specific duty
wherever the article imported was of such a character as to permit it,
and that such a discrimination should be made in favor of the industrial
pursuits of our own country as to encourage home production without
excluding foreign competition.
The numerous frauds which continue to be practiced upon the revenue by
false invoices and undervaluations constitute an unanswerable reason for
adopting specific instead of _ad valorem_ duties in all cases where the
nature of the commodity does not forbid it. A striking illustration of
these frauds will be exhibited in the report of the Secretary of the
Treasury, showing the custom-house valuation of articles imported under
a former law, subject to specific duties, when there was no inducement
to undervaluation, and the custom-house valuations of the same articles
under the present system of _ad valorem_ duties, so greatly reduced
as to leave no doubt of the existence of the most flagrant abuses under
the existing laws. This practical evasion of the present law, combined
with the languishing condition of some of the great interests of the
country, caused by overimportations and consequent depressed prices,
and with the failure in obtaining a foreign market for our increasing
surplus of breadstuffs and provisions, has induced me again to recommend
a modification of the existing tariff.
The report of the Secretary of the Interior, which accompanies this
communication, will present a condensed statement of the operations
of that important Department of the Government.
It will be seen that the cash sales of the public lands exceed those
of the preceding year, and that there is reason to anticipate a still
further increase, notwithstanding the large donations which have been
made to many of the States and the liberal grants to individuals as
a reward for military services. This fact furnishes very gratifying
evidence of the growing wealth and prosperity of our country.
Suitable measures have been adopted for commencing the survey of the
public lands in California and Oregon. Surveying parties have been
organized and some progress has been made in establishing the principal
base and meridian lines. But further legislation and additional
appropriations will be necessary before the proper subdivisions can
be made and the general land system extended over those remote parts
of our territory.
On the 3d of March last an act was passed providing for the appointment
of three commissioners to settle private land claims in California.
Three persons were immediately appointed, all of whom, however,
declined accepting the office in consequence of the inadequacy of the
compensation. Others were promptly selected, who for the same reason
also declined, and it was not until late in the season that the services
of suitable persons could be secured. A majority of the commissioners
convened in this city on the 10th of September last, when detailed
instructions were given to them in regard to their duties. Their first
meeting for the transaction of business will be held in San Francisco
on the 8th day of the present month.
I have thought it proper to refer to these facts, not only to explain
the causes of the delay in filling the commission, but to call your
attention to the propriety of increasing the compensation of the
commissioners. The office is one of great labor and responsibility,
and the compensation should be such as to command men of a high order
of talents and the most unquestionable integrity.
The proper disposal of the mineral lands of California is a subject
surrounded by great difficulties. In my last annual message I
recommended the survey and sale of them in small parcels under
such restrictions as would effectually guard against monopoly and
speculation; but upon further information, and in deference to the
opinions of persons familiar with the subject, I am inclined to change
that recommendation and to advise that they be permitted to remain as at
present, a common field, open to the enterprise and industry of all our
citizens, until further experience shall have developed the best policy
to be ultimately adopted in regard to them. It is safer to suffer the
inconveniences that now exist for a short period than by premature
legislation to fasten on the country a system founded in error, which
may place the whole subject beyond the future control of Congress.
The agricultural lands should, however, be surveyed and brought into
market with as little delay as possible, that the titles may become
settled and the inhabitants stimulated to make permanent improvements
and enter on the ordinary pursuits of life. To effect these objects
it is desirable that the necessary provision be made by law for the
establishment of land offices in California and Oregon and for the
efficient prosecution of the surveys at an early day.
Some difficulties have occurred in organizing the Territorial
governments of New Mexico and Utah, and when more accurate information
shall be obtained of the causes a further communication will be made on
that subject.
In my last annual communication to Congress I recommended the
establishment of an agricultural bureau, and I take this occasion
again to invoke your favorable consideration of the subject.
Agriculture may justly be regarded as the great interest of our people.
Four-fifths of our active population are employed in the cultivation of
the soil, and the rapid expansion of our settlements over new territory
is daily adding to the number of those engaged in that vocation. Justice
and sound policy, therefore, alike require that the Government should
use all the means authorized by the Constitution to promote the
interests and welfare of that important class of our fellow-citizens.
And yet it is a singular fact that whilst the manufacturing and
commercial interests have engaged the attention of Congress during a
large portion of every session and our statutes abound in provisions for
their protection and encouragement, little has yet been done directly
for the advancement of agriculture. It is time that this reproach to our
legislation should be removed, and I sincerely hope that the present
Congress will not close their labors without adopting efficient means
to supply the omissions of those who have preceded them.
An agricultural bureau, charged with the duty of collecting and
disseminating correct information as to the best modes of cultivation
and of the most effectual means of preserving and restoring the
fertility of the soil and of procuring and distributing seeds and plants
and other vegetable productions, with instructions in regard to the
soil, climate, and treatment best adapted to their growth, could not
fail to be, in the language of Washington in his last annual message
to Congress, a "very cheap instrument of immense national benefit."
Regarding the act of Congress approved 28th September, 1850, granting
bounty lands to persons who had been engaged in the military service of
the country, as a great measure of national justice and munificence,
an anxious desire has been felt by the officers intrusted with its
immediate execution to give prompt effect to its provisions. All the
means within their control were therefore brought into requisition
to expedite the adjudication of claims, and I am gratified to be
able to state that near 100,000 applications have been considered
and about 70,000 warrants issued within the short space of nine
months. If adequate provision be made by law to carry into effect
the recommendations of the Department, it is confidently expected
that before the close of the next fiscal year all who are entitled
to the benefits of the act will have received their warrants.
The Secretary of the Interior has suggested in his report various
amendments of the laws relating to pensions and bounty lands for the
purpose of more effectually guarding against abuses and frauds on the
Government, to all of which I invite your particular attention.
The large accessions to our Indian population consequent upon the
acquisition of New Mexico and California and the extension of our
settlements into Utah and Oregon have given increased interest and
importance to our relations with the aboriginal race.
No material change has taken place within the last year in the condition
and prospects of the Indian tribes who reside in the Northwestern
Territory and west of the Mississippi River. We are at peace with all of
them, and it will be a source of pleasure to you to learn that they are
gradually advancing in civilization and the pursuits of social life.
Along the Mexican frontier and in California and Oregon there have been
occasional manifestations of unfriendly feeling and some depredations
committed. I am satisfied, however, that they resulted more from the
destitute and starving condition of the Indians than from any settled
hostility toward the whites. As the settlements of our citizens progress
toward them, the game, upon which they mainly rely for subsistence,
is driven off or destroyed, and the only alternative left to them
is starvation or plunder. It becomes us to consider, in view of this
condition of things, whether justice and humanity, as well as an
enlightened economy, do not require that instead of seeking to punish
them for offenses which are the result of our own policy toward them
we should not provide for their immediate wants and encourage them to
engage in agriculture and to rely on their labor instead of the chase
for the means of support.
Various important treaties have been negotiated with different tribes
during the year, by which their title to large and valuable tracts of
country has been extinguished, all of which will at the proper time be
submitted to the Senate for ratification.
The joint commission under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo has been
actively engaged in running and marking the boundary line between the
United States and Mexico. It was stated in the last annual report of
the Secretary of the Interior that the initial point on the Pacific
and the point of junction of the Gila with the Colorado River had been
determined and the intervening line, about 150 miles in length, run and
marked by temporary monuments. Since that time a monument of marble has
been erected at the initial point, and permanent landmarks of iron have
been placed at suitable distances along the line.
The initial point on the Rio Grande has also been fixed by the
commissioners, at latitude 32° 22', and at the date of the last
communication the purvey of the line had been made thence westward
about 150 miles to the neighborhood of the copper mines.
The commission on our part was at first organized on a scale which
experience proved to be unwieldy and attended with unnecessary expense.
Orders have therefore been issued for the reduction of the number of
persons employed within the smallest limits consistent with the safety
of those engaged in the service and the prompt and efficient execution
of their important duties.
Returns have been received from all the officers engaged in taking
the census in the States and Territories except California. The
superintendent employed to make the enumeration in that State has
not yet made his full report, from causes, as he alleges, beyond his
control. This failure is much to be regretted, as it has prevented the
Secretary of the Interior from making the decennial apportionment of
Representatives among the States, as required by the act approved May
23, 1850. It is hoped, however, that the returns will soon be received,
and no time will then be lost in making the necessary apportionment and
in transmitting the certificates required by law.
The Superintendent of the Seventh Census is diligently employed, under
the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, in classifying and
arranging in tabular form all the statistical information derived from
the returns of the marshals, and it is believed that when the work shall
be completed it will exhibit a more perfect view of the population,
wealth, occupations, and social condition of a great country than has
ever been presented to the world. The value of such a work as the basis
of enlightened legislation can hardly be overestimated, and I earnestly
hope that Congress will lose no time in making the appropriations
necessary to complete the classifications and to publish the results
in a style worthy of the subject and of our national character.
The want of a uniform fee bill, prescribing the compensation to be
allowed district attorneys, clerks, marshals, and commissioners in civil
and criminal cases, is the cause of much vexation, injustice, and
complaint. I would recommend a thorough revision of the laws on the
whole subject and the adoption of a tariff of fees which, as far as
practicable, should be uniform, and prescribe a specific compensation
for every service which the officer may be required to perform. This
subject will be fully presented in the report of the Secretary of the
Interior.
In my last annual message I gave briefly my reasons for believing that
you possessed the constitutional power to improve the harbors of our
Great Lakes and seacoast and the navigation of our principal rivers, and
recommended that appropriations should be made for completing such works
as had already been commenced and for commencing such others as might
seem to the wisdom of Congress to be of public and general importance.
Without repeating the reasons then urged, I deem it my duty again to
call your attention to this important subject. The works on many of the
harbors were left in an unfinished state, and consequently exposed to
the action of the elements, which is fast destroying them. Great numbers
of lives and vast amounts of property are annually lost for want of
safe and convenient harbors on the Lakes. None but those who have been
exposed to that dangerous navigation can fully appreciate the importance
of this subject. The whole Northwest appeals to you for relief, and
I trust their appeal will receive due consideration at your hands.
The same is in a measure true in regard to some of the harbors and
inlets on the seacoast.
The unobstructed navigation of our large rivers is of equal importance.
Our settlements are now extending to the sources of the great rivers
which empty into and form a part of the Mississippi, and the value of
the public lands in those regions would be greatly enhanced by freeing
the navigation of those waters from obstructions. In view, therefore,
of this great interest, I deem it my duty again to urge upon Congress
to make such appropriations for these improvements as they may deem
necessary.
The surveys of the Delta of the Mississippi, with a view to the
prevention of the overflows that have proved so disastrous to that
region of country, have been nearly completed, and the reports thereof
are now in course of preparation and will shortly be laid before you.
The protection of our southwestern frontier and of the adjacent Mexican
States against the Indian tribes within our border has claimed my
earnest and constant attention. Congress having failed at the last
session to adopt my recommendation that an additional regiment of
mounted men specially adapted to that service should be raised, all
that remained to be done was to make the best use of the means at my
disposal. Accordingly, all the troops adapted to that service that could
properly be spared from other quarters have been concentrated on that
frontier and officers of high reputation selected to command them. A new
arrangement of the military posts has also been made, whereby the troops
are brought nearer to the Mexican frontier and to the tribes they are
intended to overawe.
Sufficient time has not yet elapsed to realize all the benefits that are
expected to result from these arrangements, but I have every reason to
hope that they will effectually check their marauding expeditions. The
nature of the country, which furnishes little for the support of an army
and abounds in places of refuge and concealment, is remarkably well
adapted to this predatory warfare, and we can scarcely hope that any
military force, combined with the greatest vigilance, can entirely
suppress it.
By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo we are bound to protect the territory
of Mexico against the incursions of the savage tribes within our border
"with equal diligence and energy" as if the same were made within our
territory or against our citizens. I have endeavored to comply as far
as possible with this provision of the treaty. Orders have been given
to the officers commanding on that frontier to consider the Mexican
territory and its inhabitants as equally with our own entitled to their
protection, and to make all their plans and arrangements with a view
to the attainment of this object. Instructions have also been given to
the Indian commissioners and agents among these tribes in all treaties
to make the clauses designed for the protection of our own citizens
apply also to those of Mexico. I have no reason to doubt that these
instructions have been fully carried into effect; nevertheless, it is
probable that in spite of all our efforts some of the neighboring States
of Mexico may have suffered, as our own have, from depredations by the
Indians.
To the difficulties of defending our own territory, as above mentioned,
are superadded, in defending that of Mexico, those that arise from its
remoteness, from the fact that we have no right to station our troops
within her limits and that there is no efficient military force on the
Mexican side to cooperate with our own. So long as this shall continue
to be the case the number and activity of our troops will rather
increase than diminish the evil, as the Indians will naturally turn
toward that country where they encounter the least resistance. Yet these
troops are necessary to subdue them and to compel them to make and
observe treaties. Until this shall have been done neither country will
enjoy any security from their attacks.
The Indians in California, who had previously appeared of a peaceable
character and disposed to cultivate the friendship of the whites, have
recently committed several acts of hostility. As a large portion of the
reenforcements sent to the Mexican frontier were drawn from the Pacific,
the military force now stationed there is considered entirely inadequate
to its defense. It can not be increased, however, without an increase of
the Army, and I again recommend that measure as indispensable to the
protection of the frontier.
I invite your attention to the suggestions on this subject and on others
connected with his Department in the report of the Secretary of War.
The appropriations for the support of the Army during the current fiscal
year ending 30th June next were reduced far below the estimate submitted
by the Department. The consequence of this reduction is a considerable
deficiency, to which I invite your early attention.
The expenditures of that Department for the year ending 30th June last
were $9,060,268.58. The estimates for the year commencing 1st July next
and ending June 30, 1853, are $7,898,775.83, showing a reduction of
$1,161,492.75.
The board of commissioners to whom the management of the affairs of the
military asylum created by the act of 3d March last was intrusted have
selected a site for the establishment of an asylum in the vicinity of
this city, which has been approved by me subject to the production of
a satisfactory title.
The report of the Secretary of the Navy will exhibit the condition of
the public service under the supervision of that Department. Our naval
force afloat during the present year has been actively and usefully
employed in giving protection to our widely extended and increasing
commerce and interests in the various quarters of the globe, and our
flag has everywhere afforded the security and received the respect
inspired by the justice and liberality of our intercourse and the
dignity and power of the nation.
The expedition commanded by Lieutenant De Haven, dispatched in search
of the British commander Sir John Franklin and his companions in the
Arctic Seas, returned to New York in the month of October, after having
undergone great peril and suffering from an unknown and dangerous
navigation and the rigors of a northern climate, without any satisfactory
information of the objects of their search, but with new contributions
to science and navigation from the unfrequented polar regions. The
officers and men of the expedition having been all volunteers for this
service and having so conducted it as to meet the entire approbation
of the Government, it is suggested, as an act of grace and generosity,
that the same allowance of extra pay and emoluments be extended to them
that were made to the officers and men of like rating in the late
exploring expedition to the South Seas.
I earnestly recommend to your attention the necessity of reorganizing
the naval establishment, apportioning and fixing the number of officers
in each grade, providing some mode of promotion to the higher grades of
the Navy having reference to merit and capacity rather than seniority or
date of entry into the service, and for retiring from the effective list
upon reduced pay those who may be incompetent to the performance of
active duty. As a measure of economy, as well as of efficiency, in this
arm of the service, the provision last mentioned is eminently worthy of
your consideration.
The determination of the questions of relative rank between the sea
officers and civil officers of the Navy, and between officers of
the Army and Navy, in the various grades of each, will also merit
your attention. The failure to provide any substitute when corporal
punishment was abolished for offenses in the Navy has occasioned the
convening of numerous courts-martial upon the arrival of vessels
in port, and is believed to have had an injurious effect upon the
discipline and efficiency of the service. To moderate punishment from
one grade to another is among the humane reforms of the age, but to
abolish one of severity, which applied so generally to offenses on
shipboard, and provide nothing in its stead is to suppose a progress of
improvement in every individual among seamen which is not assumed by
the Legislature in respect to any other class of men. It is hoped that
Congress, in the ample opportunity afforded by the present session, will
thoroughly investigate this important subject, and establish such modes
of determining guilt and such gradations of punishment as are consistent
with humanity and the personal rights of individuals, and at the same
time shall insure the most energetic and efficient performance of duty
and the suppression of crime in our ships of war.
The stone dock in the navy-yard at New York, which was ten years in
process of construction, has been so far finished as to be surrendered
up to the authorities of the yard. The dry dock at Philadelphia is
reported as completed, and is expected soon to be tested and delivered
over to the agents of the Government. That at Portsmouth, N.H., is also
nearly ready for delivery; and a contract has been concluded, agreeably
to the act of Congress at its last session, for a floating sectional
dock on the Bay of San Francisco. I invite your attention to the
recommendation of the Department touching the establishment of a
navy-yard in conjunction with this dock on the Pacific. Such a station
is highly necessary to the convenience and effectiveness of our fleet
in that ocean, which must be expected to increase with the growth of
commerce and the rapid extension of our whale fisheries over its waters.
The Naval Academy at Annapolis, under a revised and improved system of
regulations, now affords opportunities of education and instruction to
the pupils quite equal, it is believed, for professional improvement, to
those enjoyed by the cadets in the Military Academy. A large class of
acting midshipmen was received at the commencement of the last academic
term, and a practice ship has been attached to the institution to afford
the amplest means for regular instruction in seamanship, as well as for
cruises during the vacations of three or four months in each year.
The advantages of science in nautical affairs have rarely been more
strikingly illustrated than in the fact, stated in the report of the
Navy Department, that by means of the wind and current charts projected
and prepared by Lieutenant Maury, the Superintendent of the Naval
Observatory, the passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific ports of
our country has been shortened by about forty days.
The estimates for the support of the Navy and Marine Corps the ensuing
fiscal year will be found to be $5,856,472.19, the estimates for the
current year being $5,900,621.
The estimates for special objects under the control of this Department
amount to $2,684,220.89, against $2,210,980 for the present year, the
increase being occasioned by the additional mail service on the Pacific
Coast and the construction of the dock in California, authorized at the
last session of Congress, and some slight additions under the head of
improvements and repairs in navy-yards, buildings, and machinery.
I deem it of much importance to a just economy and a correct
understanding of naval expenditures that there should be an entire
separation of the appropriations for the support of the naval service
proper from those for permanent improvements at navy-yards and stations
and from ocean steam mail service and other special objects assigned to
the supervision of this Department.
The report of the Postmaster-General, herewith communicated, presents
an interesting view of the progress, operations, and condition of his
Department.
At the close of the last fiscal year the length of mail routes within
the United States was 196,290 miles, the annual transportation thereon
53,272,252 miles, and the annual cost of such transportation $3,421,754.
The length of the foreign mail routes is estimated at 18,349 miles
and the annual transportation thereon at 615,206 miles. The annual
cost of this service is $1,472,187, of which $448,937 are paid by
the Post-Office Department and $1,023,250 are paid through the Navy
Department.
The annual transportation within the United States, excluding the
service in California and Oregon, which is now for the first time
reported and embraced in the tabular statements of the Department,
exceeds that of the preceding year 6,162,855 miles, at an increased
cost of $547,110.
The whole number of post-offices in the United States on the 30th day of
June last was 19,796. There were 1,698 post-offices established and 256
discontinued during the year.
The gross revenues of the Department for the fiscal year, including the
appropriations for the franked matter of Congress, of the Departments,
and officers of Government, and excluding the foreign postages collected
for and payable to the British post-office, amounted to $6,727,866.78.
The expenditures for the same period, excluding $20,599.49, paid under
an award of the Auditor, in pursuance of a resolution of the last
Congress, for mail service on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers in 1832
and 1833, and the amount paid to the British post-office for foreign
postages collected for and payable to that office, amounted to
$6,024,566.79, leaving a balance of revenue over the proper expenditures
of the year of $703,299.99.
The receipts for postages during the year, excluding the foreign
postages collected for and payable to the British post-office, amounted
to $6,345,747.21, being an increase of $997,610.79, or 18.65 per cent,
over the like receipts for the preceding year.
The reduction of postage under the act of March last did not take effect
until the commencement of the present fiscal year. The accounts for
the first quarter under the operation of the reduced rates will not be
settled before January next, and no reliable estimate of the receipts
for the present year can yet be made. It is believed, however, that
they will fall far short of those of the last year. The surplus of the
revenues now on hand is, however, so large that no further appropriation
from the Treasury in aid of the revenues of the Department is required
for the current fiscal year, but an additional appropriation for the
year ending June 30, 1853, will probably be found necessary when the
receipts of the first two quarters of the fiscal year are fully
ascertained.
In his last annual report the Postmaster-General recommended a reduction
of postage to rates which he deemed as low as could be prudently adopted
unless Congress was prepared to appropriate from the Treasury for
the support of the Department a sum more than equivalent to the mail
services performed by it for the Government. The recommendations of the
Postmaster-General in respect to letter postage, except on letters from
and to California and Oregon, were substantially adopted by the last
Congress. He now recommends adherence to the present letter rates and
advises against a further reduction until justified by the revenue of
the Department.
He also recommends that the rates of postage on printed matter be so
revised as to render them more simple and more uniform in their operation
upon all classes of printed matter. I submit the recommendations of the
report to your favorable consideration.
The public statutes of the United States have now been accumulating
for more than sixty years, and, interspersed with private acts, are
scattered through numerous volumes, and, from the cost of the whole,
have become almost inaccessible to the great mass of the community.
They also exhibit much of the incongruity and imperfection of hasty
legislation. As it seems to be generally conceded that there is no
"common law" of the United States to supply the defects of their
legislation, it is most important that that legislation should be as
perfect as possible, defining every power intended to be conferred,
every crime intended to be made punishable, and prescribing the
punishment to be inflicted. In addition to some particular cases spoken
of more at length, the whole criminal code is now lamentably defective.
Some offenses are imperfectly described and others are entirely omitted,
so that flagrant crimes may be committed with impunity. The scale
of punishment is not in all cases graduated according to the degree
and nature of the offense, and is often rendered more unequal by the
different modes of imprisonment or penitentiary confinement in the
different States.
Many laws of a permanent character have been introduced into
appropriation bills, and it is often difficult to determine whether the
particular clause expires with the temporary act of which it is a part
or continues in force. It has also frequently happened that enactments
and provisions of law have been introduced into bills with the title or
general subject of which they have little or no connection or relation.
In this mode of legislation so many enactments have been heaped upon
each other, and often with but little consideration, that in many
instances it is difficult to search out and determine what is the law.
The Government of the United States is emphatically a government of
written laws. The statutes should therefore, as far as practicable, not
only be made accessible to all, but be expressed in language so plain
and simple as to be understood by all and arranged in such method as
to give perspicuity to every subject. Many of the States have revised
their public acts with great and manifest benefit, and I recommend that
provision be made by law for the appointment of a commission to revise
the public statutes of the United States, arranging them in order,
supplying deficiencies, correcting incongruities, simplifying their
language, and reporting them to Congress for its action.
An act of Congress approved 30th September, 1850, contained a provision
for the extension of the Capitol according to such plan as might be
approved by the President, and appropriated $100,000 to be expended
under his direction by such architect as he should appoint to execute
the same. On examining the various plans which had been submitted by
different architects in pursuance of an advertisement by a committee
of the Senate no one was found to be entirely satisfactory, and it
was therefore deemed advisable to combine and adopt the advantages
of several.
The great object to be accomplished was to make such an addition as
would afford ample and convenient halls for the deliberations of the two
Houses of Congress, with sufficient accommodations for spectators and
suitable apartments for the committees and officers of the two branches
of the Legislature. It was also desirable not to mar the harmony and
beauty of the present structure, which, as a specimen of architecture,
is so universally admired. Keeping these objects in view, I concluded
to make the addition by wings, detached from the present building, yet
connected with it by corridors. This mode of enlargement will leave the
present Capitol uninjured and afford great advantages for ventilation
and the admission of light, and will enable the work to progress without
interrupting the deliberations of Congress. To carry this plan into
effect I have appointed an experienced and competent architect. The
corner stone was laid on the 4th day of July last with suitable
ceremonies, since which time the work has advanced with commendable
rapidity, and the foundations of both wings are now nearly complete.
I again commend to your favorable regard the interests of the District
of Columbia, and deem it only necessary to remind you that although its
inhabitants have no voice in the choice of Representatives in Congress,
they are not the less entitled to a just and liberal consideration in
your legislation. My opinions on this subject were more fully expressed
in my last annual communication.
Other subjects were brought to the attention of Congress in my last
annual message, to which I would respectfully refer. But there was one
of more than ordinary interest, to which I again invite your special
attention. I allude to the recommendation for the appointment of a
commission to settle private claims against the United States. Justice
to individuals, as well as to the Government, imperatively demands that
some more convenient and expeditious mode than an appeal to Congress
should be adopted.
It is deeply to be regretted that in several instances officers of the
Government, in attempting to execute the law for the return of fugitives
from labor, have been openly resisted and their efforts frustrated and
defeated by lawless and violent mobs; that in one case such resistance
resulted in the death of an estimable citizen, and in others serious
injury ensued to those officers and to individuals who were using their
endeavors to sustain the laws. Prosecutions have been instituted against
the alleged offenders so far as they could be identified, and are still
pending. I have regarded it as my duty in these cases to give all aid
legally in my power to the enforcement of the laws, and I shall continue
to do so wherever and whenever their execution may be resisted.
The act of Congress for the return of fugitives from labor is one
required and demanded by the express words of the Constitution.