WASHINGTON, _March 3, 1859_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
An imperative sense of duty compels me to make an appeal to Congress
to preserve the credit of the country. This is the last day of the
present Congress, and no provision has yet been made for the payment
of appropriations and to meet the outstanding Treasury notes issued
under the authority of law. From the information which has already
been communicated to Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury it is
manifest that the ordinary receipts into the Treasury, even under the
most favorable circumstances, will scarcely meet the ordinary expenses
of the Government during the remainder of the present fiscal year,
ending on the 30th of June. At that time nearly eighteen millions of
Treasury notes will have become due, and many of those not yet due are
daily paid for duties at the different ports, and there will be no
means in the Treasury to meet them. Thus the country, which is full of
resources, will be dishonored before the world, and the American people,
who are a debt-paying people, will be disgraced by the omission on our
part to do our duty. It is impossible to avoid this catastrophe unless
we make provision this very day to meet the lawful demands on the public
Treasury. If this were the first instead of the last session of a
Congress, the case would be different. You might then be convened by
proclamation for to-morrow morning. But there are now thirteen States of
the Union, entitled to seventy-eight Representatives, in which none have
been elected. It will therefore be impracticable for a large majority
of these States to elect their Members before the Treasury shall be
compelled to stop payment.
Under these circumstances I earnestly recommend to Congress to make
provision within the few remaining hours of the session for the
preservation of the public credit. The urgency of the case not only
justifies but demands that, if necessary, this shall be done by a
separate bill. We ought to incur no risk when the good faith of the
country is at stake.