The war has not been waged with a view to conquest, but, having been
commenced by Mexico, it has been carried into the enemy's country and will
be vigorously prosecuted there with a view to obtain an honorable peace,
and thereby secure ample indemnity for the expenses of the war, as well as
to our much-injured citizens, who hold large pecuniary demands against
Mexico.
Such, in my judgment, continues to be our true policy; indeed, the only
policy which will probably secure a permanent peace.
It has never been contemplated by me, as an object of the war, to make a
permanent conquest of the Republic of Mexico or to annihilate her separate
existence as an independent nation. On the contrary, it has ever been my
desire that she should maintain her nationality, and under a good
government adapted to her condition be a free, independent, and prosperous
Republic. The United States were the first among the nations to recognize
her independence, and have always desired to be on terms of amity and good
neighborhood with her. This she would not suffer. By her own conduct we
have been compelled to engage in the present war. In its prosecution we
seek not her overthrow as a nation, but in vindicating our national honor
we seek to obtain redress for the wrongs she has done us and indemnity for
our just demands against her. We demand an honorable peace, and that peace
must bring with it indemnity for the past and security for the future.
Hitherto Mexico has refused all accommodation by which such a peace could
be obtained.
Whilst our armies have advanced from victory to victory from the
commencement of the war, it has always been with the olive branch of peace
in their hands, and it has been in the power of Mexico at every step to
arrest hostilities by accepting it.
One great obstacle to the attainment of peace has undoubtedly arisen from
the fact that Mexico has been so long held in subjection by one faction or
military usurper after another, and such has been the condition of
insecurity in which their successive governments have been placed that each
has been deterred from making peace lest for this very cause a rival
faction might expel it from power. Such was the fate of President Herrera's
administration in 1845 for being disposed even to listen to the overtures
of the United States to prevent the war, as is fully confirmed by an
official correspondence which took place in the month of August last
between him and his Government, a copy of which is herewith communicated.
"For this cause alone the revolution which displaced him from power was set
on foot" by General Paredes. Such may be the condition of insecurity of the
present Government.
There can be no doubt that the peaceable and well-disposed inhabitants of
Mexico are convinced that it is the true interest of their country to
conclude an honorable peace with the United States, but the apprehension of
becoming the victims of some military faction or usurper may have prevented
them from manifesting their feelings by any public act. The removal of any
such apprehension would probably cause them to speak their sentiments
freely and to adopt the measures necessary for the restoration of peace.
With a people distracted and divided by contending factions and a
Government subject to constant changes by successive revolutions, the
continued successes of our arms may fail to secure a satisfactory peace. In
such event it may become proper for our commanding generals in the field to
give encouragement and assurances of protection to the friends of peace in
Mexico in the establishment and maintenance of a free republican government
of their own choice, able and willing to conclude a peace which would be
just to them and secure to us the indemnity we demand. This may become the
only mode of obtaining such a peace. Should such be the result, the war
which Mexico has forced upon us would thus be converted into an enduring
blessing to herself. After finding her torn and distracted by factions, and
ruled by military usurpers, we should then leave her with a republican
government in the enjoyment of real independence and domestic peace and
prosperity, performing all her relative duties in the great family of
nations and promoting her own happiness by wise laws and their faithful
execution.
If, after affording this encouragement and protection, and after all the
persevering and sincere efforts we have made from the moment Mexico
commenced the war, and prior to that time, to adjust our differences with
her, we shall ultimately fail, then we shall have exhausted all honorable
means in pursuit of peace, and must continue to occupy her country with our
troops, taking the full measure of indemnity into our own hands, and must
enforce the terms which our honor demands.
To act otherwise in the existing state of things in Mexico, and to withdraw
our Army without a peace, would not only leave all the wrongs of which we
complain unredressed, but would be the signal for new and fierce civil
dissensions and new revolutions--all alike hostile to peaceful relations
with the United States. Besides, there is danger, if our troops were
withdrawn before a peace was conducted, that the Mexican people, wearied
with successive revolutions and deprived of protection for their persons
and property, might at length be inclined to yield to foreign influences
and to cast themselves into the arms of some European monarch for
protection from the anarchy and suffering which would ensue. This, for our
own safety and in pursuance of our established policy, we should be
compelled to resist. We could never consent that Mexico should be thus
converted into a monarchy governed by a foreign prince.
Mexico is our near neighbor, and her boundaries are coterminous with our
own through the whole extent across the North American continent, from
ocean to ocean. Both politically and commercially we have the deepest
interest in her regeneration and prosperity. Indeed, it is impossible that,
with any just regard to our own safety, we can ever become indifferent to
her fate.
It may be that the Mexican Government and people have misconstrued or
misunderstood our forbearance and our objects in desiring to conclude an
amicable adjustment of the existing differences between the two countries.
They may have supposed that we would submit to terms degrading to the
nation, or they may have drawn false inferences from the supposed division
of opinion in the United States on the subject of the war, and may have
calculated to gain much by protracting it, and, indeed, that we might
ultimately abandon it altogether without insisting on any indemnity,
territorial or otherwise. Whatever may be the false impressions under which
they have acted, the adoption and prosecution of the energetic policy
proposed must soon undeceive them.
In the future prosecution of the war the enemy must be made to feel its
pressure more than they have heretofore done. At its commencement it was
deemed proper to conduct it in a spirit of forbearance and liberality. With
this end in view, early measures were adopted to conciliate, as far as a
state of war would permit, the mass of the Mexican population; to convince
them that the war was waged, not against the peaceful inhabitants of
Mexico, but against their faithless Government, which had commenced
hostilities; to remove from their minds the false impressions which their
designing and interested rulers had artfully attempted to make, that the
war on our part was one of conquest, that it was a war against their
religion and their churches, which were to be desecrated and overthrown,
and that their rights of person and private property would be violated. To
remove these false impressions, our commanders in the field were directed
scrupulously to respect their religion, their churches, and their church
property, which were in no manner to be violated; they were directed also
to respect the rights of persons and property of all who should not take up
arms against us.
Assurances to this effect were given to the Mexican people by Major General
Taylor in a proclamation issued in pursuance of instructions from the
Secretary of War in the month of June, 1846, and again by Major-General
Scott, who acted upon his own convictions of the propriety of issuing it,
in a proclamation of the 11th of May, 1847. In this spirit of liberality
and conciliation, and with a view to prevent the body of the Mexican
population from taking up arms against us, was the war conducted on our
part. Provisions and other supplies furnished to our Army by Mexican
citizens were paid for at fair and liberal prices, agreed upon by the
parties. After the lapse of a few months it became apparent that these
assurances and this mild treatment had failed to produce the desired effect
upon the Mexican population. While the war had been conducted on our part
according to the most humane and liberal principles observed by civilized
nations, it was waged in a far different spirit on the part of Mexico. Not
appreciating our forbearance, the Mexican people generally became hostile
to the United States, and availed themselves of every opportunity to commit
the most savage excesses upon our troops. Large numbers of the population
took up arms, and, engaging in guerrilla warfare, robbed and murdered in
the most cruel manner individual soldiers or small parties whom accident or
other causes had separated from the main body of our Army; bands of
guerrilleros and robbers infested the roads, harassed our trains, and
whenever it was in their power cut off our supplies.
The Mexicans having thus shown themselves to be wholly incapable of
appreciating our forbearance and liberality, it was deemed proper to change
the manner of conducting the war, by making them feel its pressure
according to the usages observed under similar circumstances by all other
civilized nations.
Accordingly, as early as the 22d of September, 1846, instructions were
given by the Secretary of War to Major-General Taylor to "draw supplies"
for our Army "from the enemy without paying for them, and to require
contributions for its support, if in that way he was satisfied he could get
abundant supplies for his forces." In directing the execution of these
instructions much was necessarily left to the discretion of the commanding
officer, who was best acquainted with the circumstances by which he was
surrounded, the wants of the Army, and the practicability of enforcing the
measure. General Taylor, on the 26th of October, 1846, replied from
Monterey that "it would have been impossible hitherto, and is so now, to
sustain the Army to any extent by forced contributions of money or
supplies." For the reasons assigned by him, he did not adopt the policy of
his instructions, but declared his readiness to do so "should the Army in
its future operations reach a portion of the country which may be made to
supply the troops with advantage." He continued to pay for the articles of
supply which were drawn from the enemy's country.
Similar instructions were issued to Major-General Scott on the 3d of April,
1847, who replied from Jalapa on the 20th of May, 1847, that if it be
expected "that the Army is to support itself by forced contributions levied
upon the country we may ruin and exasperate the inhabitants and starve
ourselves." The same discretion was given to him that had been to General
Taylor in this respect. General Scott, for the reasons assigned by him,
also continued to pay for the articles of supply for the Army which were
drawn from the enemy.
After the Army had reached the heart of the most wealthy portion of Mexico
it was supposed that the obstacles which had before that time prevented it
would not be such as to render impracticable the levy of forced
contributions for its support, and on the 1st of September and again on the
6th of October, 1847, the order was repeated in dispatches addressed by the
Secretary of War to General Scott, and his attention was again called to
the importance of making the enemy bear the burdens of the war by requiring
them to furnish the means of supporting our Army, and he was directed to
adopt this policy unless by doing so there was danger of depriving the Army
of the necessary supplies. Copies of these dispatches were forwarded to
General Taylor for his government.
On the 31st of March last I caused an order to be issued to our military
and naval commanders to levy and collect a military contribution upon all
vessels and merchandise which might enter any of the ports of Mexico in our
military occupation, and to apply such contributions toward defraying the
expenses of the war. By virtue of the right of conquest and the laws of
war, the conqueror, consulting his own safety or convenience, may either
exclude foreign commerce altogether from all such ports or permit it upon
such terms and conditions as he may prescribe. Before the principal ports
of Mexico were blockaded by our Navy the revenue derived from import duties
under the laws of Mexico was paid into the Mexican treasury. After these
ports had fallen into our military possession the blockade was raised and
commerce with them permitted upon prescribed terms and conditions. They
were opened to the trade of all nations upon the payment of duties more
moderate in their amount than those which had been previously levied by
Mexico, and the revenue, which was formerly paid into the Mexican treasury,
was directed to be collected by our military and naval officers and applied
to the use of our Army and Navy. Care was taken that the officers,
soldiers, and sailors of our Army and Navy should be exempted from the
operations of the order, and, as the merchandise imported upon which the
order operated must be consumed by Mexican citizens, the contributions
exacted were in effect the seizure of the public revenues of Mexico and the
application of them to our own use. In directing this measure the object
was to compel the enemy to contribute as far as practicable toward the
expenses of the war.
For the amount of contributions which have been levied in this form I refer
you to the accompanying reports of the Secretary of War and of the
Secretary of the Navy, by which it appears that a sum exceeding half a
million of dollars has been collected. This amount would undoubtedly have
been much larger but for the difficulty of keeping open communications
between the coast and the interior, so as to enable the owners of the
merchandise imported to transport and vend it to the inhabitants of the
country. It is confidently expected that this difficulty will to a great
extent be soon removed by our increased forces which have been sent to the
field.
Measures have recently been adopted by which the internal as well as the
external revenues of Mexico in all places in our military occupation will
be seized and appropriated to the use of our Army and Navy.
The policy of levying upon the enemy contributions in every form
consistently with the laws of nations, which it may be practicable for our
military commanders to adopt, should, in my judgment, be rigidly enforced,
and orders to this effect have accordingly been given. By such a policy, at
the same time that our own Treasury will be relieved from a heavy drain,
the Mexican people will be made to feel the burdens of the war, and,
consulting their own interests, may be induced the more readily to require
their rulers to accede to a just peace.
After the adjournment of the last session of Congress events transpired in
the prosecution of the war which in my judgment required a greater number
of troops in the field than had been anticipated. The strength of the Army
was accordingly increased by "accepting" the services of all the volunteer
forces authorized by the act of the 13th of May, 1846, without putting a
construction on that act the correctness of which was seriously questioned.
The volunteer forces now in the field, with those which had been "accepted"
to "serve for twelve months" and were discharged at the end of their term
of service, exhaust the 50,000 men authorized by that act. Had it been
clear that a proper construction of the act warranted it, the services of
an additional number would have been called for and accepted; but doubts
existing upon this point, the power was not exercised. It is deemed
important that Congress should at an early period of their session confer
the authority to raise an additional regular force to serve during the war
with Mexico and to be discharged upon the conclusion and ratification of a
treaty of peace. I invite the attention of Congress to the views presented
by the Secretary of War in his report upon this subject.
I recommend also that authority be given by law to call for and accept the
services of an additional number of volunteers, to be exercised at such
time and to such extent as the emergencies of the service may require.
In prosecuting the war with Mexico, whilst the utmost care has been taken
to avoid every just cause of complaint on the part of neutral nations, and
none has been given, liberal privileges have been granted to their commerce
in the ports of the enemy in our military occupation. The difficulty with
the Brazilian Government, which at one time threatened to interrupt the
friendly relations between the two countries, will, I trust, be speedily
adjusted. I have received information that an envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary to the United States will shortly be appointed by
His Imperial Majesty, and it is hoped that he will come instructed and
prepared to adjust all remaining differences between the two Governments in
a manner acceptable and honorable to both. In the meantime, I have every
reason to believe that nothing will occur to interrupt our amicable
relations with Brazil.
It has been my constant effort to maintain and cultivate the most intimate
relations of friendship with all the independent powers of South America,
and this policy has been attended with the happiest results. It is true
that the settlement and payment of many just claims of American citizens
against these nations have been long delayed. The peculiar position in
which they have been placed and the desire on the part of my predecessors
as well as myself to grant them the utmost indulgence have hitherto
prevented these claims from being urged in a manner demanded by strict
justice. The time has arrived when they ought to be finally adjusted and
liquidated, and efforts are now making for that purpose.
It is proper to inform you that the Government of Peru has in good faith
paid the first two installments of the indemnity of $30,000 each, and the
greater portion of the interest due thereon, in execution of the convention
between that Government and the United States the ratifications of which
were exchanged at Lima on the 31st of October, 1846. The Attorney-General
of the United States early in August last completed the adjudication of the
claims under this convention, and made his report thereon in pursuance of
the act of the 8th of August, 1846. The sums to which the claimants are
respectively entitled will be paid on demand at the Treasury.
I invite the early attention of Congress to the present condition of our
citizens in China. Under our treaty with that power American citizens are
withdrawn from the jurisdiction, whether civil or criminal, of the Chinese
Government and placed under that of our public functionaries in that
country. By these alone can our citizens be tried and punished for the
commission of any crime; by these alone can questions be decided between
them involving the rights of persons and property, and by these alone can
contracts be enforced into which they may have entered with the citizens or
subjects of foreign powers. The merchant vessels of the United States lying
in the waters of the five ports of China open to foreign commerce are under
the exclusive jurisdiction of officers of their own Government. Until
Congress shall establish competent tribunals to try and punish crimes and
to exercise jurisdiction in civil cases in China, American citizens there
are subject to no law whatever. Crimes may be committed with impunity and
debts may be contracted without any means to enforce their payment.
Inconveniences have already resulted from the omission of Congress to
legislate upon the subject, and still greater are apprehended. The British
authorities in China have already complained that this Government has not
provided for the punishment of crimes or the enforcement of contracts
against American citizens in that country, whilst their Government has
established tribunals by which an American citizen can recover debts due
from British subjects. Accustomed, as the Chinese are, to summary justice,
they could not be made to comprehend why criminals who are citizens of the
United States should escape with impunity, in violation of treaty
obligations, whilst the punishment of a Chinese who had committed any crime
against an American citizen would be rigorously exacted. Indeed, the
consequences might be fatal to American citizens in China should a flagrant
crime be committed by any one of them upon a Chinese, and should trial and
punishment not follow according to the requisitions of the treaty. This
might disturb, if not destroy, our friendly relations with that Empire, and
cause an interruption of our valuable commerce. Our treaties with the
Sublime Porte, Tripoli, Tunis, Morocco, and Muscat also require the
legislation of Congress to carry them into execution, though the necessity
for immediate action may not be so urgent as in regard to China.
The Secretary of State has submitted an estimate to defray the expense of
opening diplomatic relations with the Papal States. The interesting
political events now in progress in these States, as well as a just regard
to our commercial interests, have, in my opinion, rendered such a measure
highly expedient.
Estimates have also been submitted for the outfits and salaries of charges'
d'affaires to the Republics of Bolivia, Guatemala, and Ecuador. The
manifest importance of cultivating the most friendly relations with all the
independent States upon this continent has induced me to recommend
appropriations necessary for the maintenance of these missions.
I recommend to Congress that an appropriation be made to be paid to the
Spanish Government for the purpose of distribution among the claimants in
the Amistad case. I entertain the conviction that this is due to Spain
under the treaty of the 20th of October, 1795, and, moreover, that from the
earnest manner in which the claim continues to be urged so long as it shall
remain unsettled it will be a source of irritation and discord between the
two countries, which may prove highly prejudicial to the interests of the
United States. Good policy, no less than a faithful compliance with our
treaty obligations, requires that the inconsiderable appropriation demanded
should be made.
A detailed statement of the condition of the finances will be presented in
the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury. The imports for the
last fiscal year, ending on the 30th of June, 1847, were of the value of
$146,545,638, of which the amount exported was $8,011,158, leaving
$138,534,480 in the country for domestic use. The value of the exports for
the same period was $158,648,622, of which $150,637,464 consisted of
domestic productions and $8,011,158 of foreign articles.
The receipts into the Treasury for the same period amounted to
$26,346,790.37, of which there was derived from customs $23,747,864.66,
from sales of public lands $2,498,335.20, and from incidental and
miscellaneous sources $100,570.51. The last fiscal year, during which this
amount was received, embraced five months under the operation of the tariff
act of 1842 and seven months during which the tariff act of 1846 was in
force. During the five months under the act of 1842 the amount received
from customs was $7,842,306.90, and during the seven months under the act
of 1846 the amount received was $15,905,557.76.
The net revenue from customs during the year ending on the 1st of December,
1846, being the last year under the operation of the tariff act of 1842,
was $22,971,403.10, and the net revenue from customs during the year ending
on the 1st of December, 1847, being the first year under the operations of
the tariff act of 1846, was about $31,500,000, being an increase of revenue
for the first year under the tariff of 1846 of more than $8,500,000 over
that of the last year under the tariff of 1842.
The expenditures during the fiscal year ending on the 30th of June last
were $59,451,177.65, of which $3,522,082.37 was on account payment of
principal and interest of the public debt, including Treasury notes
redeemed and not funded. The expenditures exclusive of payment of public
debt were $55,929,095.28.
It is estimated that the receipts into the Treasury for the fiscal year
ending on the 30th of June, 1848, including the balance in the Treasury on
the 1st of July last, will amount to $42,886,545.80, of which $31,000,000,
it is estimated, will be derived from customs, $3,500,000 from the sale of
the public lands, $400,000 from incidental sources, eluding sales made by
the Solicitor of the Treasury, and $6,285,294.55 from loans already
authorized by law, which, together with the balance in the Treasury on the
1st of July last, make the sum estimated.
The expenditures for the same period, if peace with Mexico shall not be
concluded and the Army shall be increased as is proposed, will amount,
including the necessary payments on account of principal and interest of
the public debt and Treasury notes, to $58,615,660.07. On the 1st of the
present month the amount of the public debt actually incurred, including
Treasury notes, was $45,659,659.40. The public debt due on the 4th of
March, 1845, including Treasury notes, was $17,788,799.62, and consequently
the addition made to the public debt since that time is $27,870,859.78.
Of the loan of twenty-three millions authorized by the act of the 28th of
January, 1847, the sum of five millions was paid out to the public
creditors or exchanged at par for specie; the remaining eighteen millions
was offered for specie to the highest bidder not below par, by an
advertisement issued by the Secretary of the Treasury and published from
the 9th of February until the 10th of April, 1847, when it was awarded to
the several highest bidders at premiums varying from one-eighth of per cent
to 2 per cent above par. The premium has been paid into the Treasury and
the sums awarded deposited in specie in the Treasury as fast as it was
required by the wants of the Government.
To meet the expenditures for the remainder of the present and for the next
fiscal year, ending on the 30th of June, 1849, a further loan in aid of the
ordinary revenues of the Government will be necessary. Retaining a
sufficient surplus in the Treasury, the loan required for the remainder of
the present fiscal year will be about $18,500,000. If the duty on tea and
coffee be imposed and the graduation of the price of the public lands shall
be made at an early period of your session, as recommended, the loan for
the present fiscal year may be reduced to $17,000,000. The loan may be
further reduced by whatever amount of expenditures can be saved by military
contributions collected in Mexico. The most vigorous measures for the
augmentation of these contributions have been directed and a very
considerable sum is expected from that source. Its amount can not, however,
be calculated with any certainty. It is recommended that the loan to be
made be authorized upon the same terms and for the same time as that which
was authorized under the provisions of the act of the 28th of January,
1847.
Should the war with Mexico be continued until the 30th of June, 1849, it is
estimated that a further loan of $20,500,000 will be required for the
fiscal year ending on that day, in case no duty be imposed on tea and
coffee, and the public lands be not reduced and graduated in price, and no
military contributions shall be collected in Mexico. If the duty on tea and
coffee be imposed and the lands be reduced and graduated in price as
proposed, the loan may be reduced to $17,000,000, and will be subject to be
still further reduced by the amount of the military contributions which may
be collected in Mexico. It is not proposed, however, at present to ask
Congress for authority to negotiate this loan for the next fiscal year, as
it is hoped that the loan asked for the remainder of the present fiscal
year, aided by military contributions which may be collected in Mexico, may
be sufficient. If, contrary to my expectation, there should be a necessity
for it, the fact will be communicated to Congress in time for their action
during the present session. In no event will a sum exceeding $6,000,000 of
this amount be needed before the meeting of the session of Congress in
December, 1848.
The act of the 30th of July, 1846, "reducing the duties on imports," has
been in force since the 1st of December last, and I am gratified to state
that all the beneficial effects which were anticipated from its operation
have been fully realized. The public revenue derived from customs during
the year ending on the 1st of December, 1847, exceeds by more than
$8,000,000 the amount received in the preceding year under the operation of
the act of 1842, which was superseded and repealed by it. Its effects are
visible in the great and almost unexampled prosperity which prevails in
every branch of business.
While the repeal of the prohibitory and restrictive duties of the act of
1842 and the substitution in their place of reasonable revenue rates levied
on articles imported according to their actual value has increased the
revenue and augmented our foreign trade, all the great interests of the
country have been advanced and promoted.
The great and important interests of agriculture, which had been not only
too much neglected, but actually taxed under the protective policy for the
benefit of other interests, have been relieved of the burdens which that
policy imposed on them; and our farmers and planters, under a more just and
liberal commercial policy, are finding new and profitable markets abroad
for their augmented products. Our commerce is rapidly increasing, and is
extending more widely the circle of international exchanges. Great as has
been the increase of our imports during the past year, our exports of
domestic products sold in foreign markets have been still greater.
Our navigating interest is eminently prosperous. The number of vessels
built in the United States has been greater than during any preceding
period of equal length. Large profits have been derived by those who have
constructed as well as by those who have navigated them. Should the ratio
of increase in the number of our merchant vessels be progressive, and be as
great for the future as during the past year, the time is not distant when
our tonnage and commercial marine will be larger than that of any other
nation in the world.
Whilst the interests of agriculture, of commerce, and of navigation have
been enlarged and invigorated, it is highly gratifying to observe that our
manufactures are also in a prosperous condition. None of the ruinous
effects upon this interest which were apprehended by some as the result of
the operation of the revenue system established by the act of 1846 have
been experienced. On the contrary, the number of manufactories and the
amount of capital invested in them is steadily and rapidly increasing,
affording gratifying proofs that American enterprise and skill employed in
this branch of domestic industry, with no other advantages than those
fairly and incidentally accruing from a just System of revenue duties, are
abundantly able to meet successfully all competition from abroad and still
derive fair and remunerating profits. While capital invested in
manufactures is yielding adequate and fair profits under the new system,
the wages of labor, whether employed in manufactures, agriculture,
commerce, or navigation, have been augmented. The toiling millions whose
daily labor furnishes the supply of food and raiment and all the
necessaries and comforts of life are receiving higher wages and more steady
and permanent employment than in any other country or at any previous
period of our own history.
So successful have been all branches of our industry that a foreign war,
which generally diminishes the resources of a nation, has in no essential
degree retarded our onward progress or checked our general prosperity.
With such gratifying evidences of prosperity and of the successful
operation of the revenue act of 1846, every consideration of public policy
recommends that it shall remain unchanged. It is hoped that the system of
impost duties which it established may be regarded as the permanent policy
of the country, and that the great interests affected by it may not again
be subject to be injuriously disturbed, as they have heretofore been by
frequent and sometimes sudden changes.
For the purpose of increasing the revenue, and without changing or
modifying the rates imposed by the act of 1846 on the dutiable articles
embraced by its provisions, I again recommend to your favorable
consideration the expediency of levying a revenue duty on tea and coffee.
The policy which exempted these articles from duty during peace, and when
the revenue to be derived from them was not needed, ceases to exist when
the country is engaged in war and requires the use of all of its available
resources. It is a tax which would be so generally diffused among the
people that it would be felt oppressively by none and be complained of by
none. It is believed that there are not in the list of imported articles
any which are more properly the subject of war duties than tea and coffee.
It is estimated that $3,000,000 would be derived annually by a moderate
duty imposed on these articles.
Should Congress avail itself of this additional source of revenue, not only
would the amount of the public loan rendered necessary by the war with
Mexico be diminished to that extent, but the public credit and the public
confidence in the ability and determination of the Government to meet all
its engagements promptly would be more firmly established, and the reduced
amount of the loan which it may be necessary to negotiate could probably be
obtained at cheaper rates.
Congress is therefore called upon to determine whether it is wiser to
impose the war duties recommended or by omitting to do so increase the
public debt annually $3,000,000 so long as loans shall be required to
prosecute the war, and afterwards provide in some other form to pay the
semiannual interest upon it, and ultimately to extinguish the principal. If
in addition to these duties Congress should graduate and reduce the price
of such of the public lands as experience has proved will not command the
price placed upon them by the Government, an additional annual income to
the Treasury of between half a million and a million of dollars, it is
estimated, would be derived from this source. Should both measures receive
the sanction of Congress, the annual amount of public debt necessary to be
contracted during the continuance of the war would be reduced near
$4,000,000. The duties recommended to be levied on tea and coffee it is
proposed shall be limited in their duration to the end of the war, and
until the public debt rendered necessary to be contracted by it shall be
discharged. The amount of the public debt to be contracted should be
limited to the lowest practicable sum, and should be extinguished as early
after the conclusion of the war as the means of the Treasury will permit.
With this view, it is recommended that as soon as the war shall be over all
the surplus in the Treasury not needed for other indispensable objects
shall constitute a sinking fund and be applied to the purchase of the
funded debt, and that authority be conferred by laws for that purpose. The
act of the 6th of August, 1846, "to establish a warehousing system," has
been in operation more than a year, and has proved to be an important
auxiliary to the tariff act of 1846 in augmenting the revenue and extending
the commerce of the country. Whilst it has tended to enlarge commerce, it
has been beneficial to our manufactures by diminishing forced sales at
auction of foreign goods at low prices to raise the duties to be advanced
on them, and by checking fluctuations in the market. The system, although
sanctioned by the experience of other countries, was entirely new in the
United States, and is susceptible of improvement in some of its provisions.
The Secretary of the Treasury, upon whom was devolved large discretionary
powers in carrying this measure into effect, has collected and is now
collating the practical results of the system in other countries where it
has long been established, and will report at an early period of your
session such further regulations suggested by the investigation as may
render it still more effective and beneficial.
By the act to "provide for the better organization of the Treasury and for
the collection, safe-keeping, and disbursement of the public revenue" all
banks were discontinued as fiscal agents of the Government, and the paper
currency issued by them was no longer permitted to be received in payment
of public dues. The constitutional treasury created by this act went into
operation on the 1st of January last. Under the system established by it
the public moneys have been collected, safely kept, and disbursed by the
direct agency of officers of the Government in gold and silver, and
transfers of large amounts have been made from points of collection to
points of disbursement without loss to the Treasury or injury or
inconvenience to the trade of the country.
While the fiscal operations of the Government have been conducted with
regularity and ease under this system, it has had a salutary effect in
checking and preventing an undue inflation of the paper currency issued by
the banks which exist under State charters. Requiring, as it does, all dues
to the Government to be paid in gold and silver, its effect is to restrain
excessive issues of bank paper by the banks disproportioned to the specie
in their vaults, for the reason that they are at all times liable to be
called on by the holders of their notes for their redemption in order to
obtain specie for the payment of duties and other public dues. The banks,
therefore, must keep their business within prudent limits, and be always in
a condition to meet such calls, or run the hazard of being compelled to
suspend specie payments and be thereby discredited. The amount of specie
imported into the United States during the last fiscal year was
$24,121,289, of which there was retained in the country $22,276,170. Had
the former financial system prevailed and the public moneys been placed on
deposit in the banks, nearly the whole of this amount would have gone into
their vaults, not to be thrown into circulation by them, but to be withheld
from the hands of the people as a currency and made the basis of new and
enormous issues of bank paper. A large proportion of the specie imported
has been paid into the Treasury for public dues, and after having been to a
great extent recoined at the Mint has been paid out to the public creditors
and gone into circulation as a currency among the people. The amount of
gold and silver coin now in circulation in the country is larger than at
any former period.
The financial system established by the constitutional treasury has been
thus far eminently successful in its operations, and I recommend an
adherence to all its essential provisions, and especially to that vital
provision which wholly separates the Government from all connection with
banks and excludes bank paper from all revenue receipts.
In some of its details, not involving its general principles, the system is
defective and will require modification. These defects and such amendments
as are deemed important were set forth in the last annual report of the
Secretary of the Treasury. These amendments are again recommended to the
early and favorable consideration of Congress.
During the past year the coinage at the Mint and its branches has exceeded
$20,000,000. This has consisted chiefly in converting the coins of foreign
countries into American coin.
The largest amount of foreign coin imported has been received at New York,
and if a branch mint were established at that city all the foreign coin
received at that port could at once be converted into our own coin without
the expense, risk, and delay of transporting it to the Mint for that
purpose, and the amount recoined would be much larger.
Experience has proved that foreign coin, and especially foreign gold coin,
will not circulate extensively as a currency among the people. The
important measure of extending our specie circulation, both of gold and
silver, and of diffusing it among the people can only be effected by
converting such foreign coin into American coin. I repeat the
recommendation contained in my last annual message for the establishment of
a branch of the Mint of the United States at the city of New York.
All the public lands which had been surveyed and were ready for market have
been proclaimed for sale during the past year. The quantity offered and to
be offered for sale under proclamations issued since the 1st of January
last amounts to 9,138,531 acres. The prosperity of the Western States and
Territories in which these lands lie will be advanced by their speedy sale.
By withholding them from market their growth and increase of population
would be retarded, while thousands of our enterprising and meritorious
frontier population would be deprived of the opportunity of securing
freeholds for themselves and their families. But in addition to the general
considerations which rendered the early sale of these lands proper, it was
a leading object at this time to derive as large a sum as possible from
this source, and thus diminish by that amount the public loan rendered
necessary by the existence of a foreign war.
It is estimated that not less than 10,000,000 acres of the public lands
will be surveyed and be in a condition to be proclaimed for sale during the
year 1848.
In my last annual message I presented the reasons which in my judgment
rendered it proper to graduate and reduce the price of such of the public
lands as have remained unsold for long periods after they had been offered
for sale at public auction.
Many millions of acres of public lands lying within the limits of several
of the Western States have been offered in the market and been subject to
sale at private entry for more than twenty years and large quantities for
more than thirty years at the lowest price prescribed by the existing laws,
and it has been found that they will not command that price. They must
remain unsold and uncultivated for an indefinite period unless the price
demanded for them by the Government shall be reduced. No satisfactory
reason is perceived why they should be longer held at rates above their
real value. At the present period an additional reason exists for adopting
the measure recommended. When the country is engaged in a foreign war, and
we must necessarily resort to loans, it would seem to be the dictate of
wisdom that we should avail ourselves of all our resources and thus limit
the amount of the public indebtedness to the lowest possible sum.
I recommend that the existing laws on the subject of preemption rights be
amended and modified so as to operate prospectively and to embrace all who
may settle upon the public lands and make improvements upon them, before
they are surveyed as well as afterwards, in all cases where such
settlements may be made after the Indian title shall have been
extinguished.
If the right of preemption be thus extended, it will embrace a large and
meritorious class of our citizens. It will increase the number of small
freeholders upon our borders, who will be enabled thereby to educate their
children and otherwise improve their condition, while they will be found at
all times, as they have ever proved themselves to be in the hour of danger
to their country, among our hardiest and best volunteer soldiers, ever
ready to attend to their services in cases of emergencies and among the
last to leave the field as long as an enemy remains to be encountered. Such
a policy will also impress these patriotic pioneer emigrants with deeper
feelings of gratitude for the parental care of their Government, when they
find their dearest interests secured to them by the permanent laws of the
land and that they are no longer in danger of losing their homes and
hard-earned improvements by being brought into competition with a more
wealthy class of purchasers at the land sales. The attention of Congress
was invited at their last and the preceding session to the importance of
establishing a Territorial government over our possessions in Oregon, and
it is to be regretted that there was no legislation on the subject. Our
citizens who inhabit that distant region of country are still left without
the protection of our laws, or any regularly organized government. Before
the question of limits and boundaries of the Territory of Oregon was
definitely settled, from the necessity of their condition the inhabitants
had established a temporary government of their own. Besides the want of
legal authority for continuing such a government, it is wholly inadequate
to protect them in their rights of person and property, or to secure to
them the enjoyment of the privileges of other citizens, to which they are
entitled under the Constitution of the United States. They should have the
right of suffrage, be represented in a Territorial legislature and by a
Delegate in Congress, and possess all the rights and privileges which
citizens of other portions of the territories of the United States have
heretofore enjoyed or may now enjoy.
Our judicial system, revenue laws, laws regulating trade and intercourse
with the Indian tribes, and the protection of our laws generally should be
extended over them.
In addition to the inhabitants in that Territory who had previously
emigrated to it, large numbers of our citizens have followed them during
the present year, and it is not doubted that during the next and subsequent
years their numbers will be greatly increased.
Congress at its last session established post routes leading to Oregon, and
between different points within that Territory, and authorized the
establishment of post-offices at "Astoria and such other places on the
coasts of the Pacific within the territory of the United States as the
public interests may require." Post-offices have accordingly been
established, deputy postmasters appointed, and provision made for the
transportation of the mails.
The preservation of peace with the Indian tribes residing west of the Rocky
Mountains will render it proper that authority should be given by law for
the appointment of an adequate number of Indian agents to reside among
them.
I recommend that a surveyor-general's office be established in that
Territory, and that the public lands be surveyed and brought into market at
an early period.
I recommend also that grants, upon liberal terms, of limited quantities of
the public lands be made to all citizens of the United States who have
emigrated, or may hereafter within a prescribed period emigrate, to Oregon
and settle upon them. These hardy and adventurous citizens, who have
encountered the dangers and privations of a long and toilsome journey, and
have at length found an abiding place for themselves and their families
upon the utmost verge of our western limits, should be secured in the homes
which they have improved by their labor. I refer you to the accompanying
report of the Secretary of War for a detailed account of the operations of
the various branches of the public service connected with the Department
under his charge. The duties devolving on this Department have been
unusually onerous and responsible during the past year, and have been
discharged with ability and success.
Pacific relations continue to exist with the various Indian tribes, and
most of them manifest a strong friendship for the United States. Some
depredations were committed during the past year upon our trains
transporting supplies for the Army, on the road between the western border
of Missouri and Santa Fe. These depredations, which are supposed to have
been committed by bands from the region of New Mexico, have been arrested
by the presence of a military force ordered out for that purpose. Some
outrages have been perpetrated by a portion of the northwestern bands upon
the weaker and comparatively defenseless neighboring tribes. Prompt
measures were taken to prevent such occurrences in future.
Between 1,000 and 2,000 Indians, belonging to several tribes, have been
removed during the year from the east of the Mississippi to the country
allotted to them west of that river as their permanent home, and
arrangements have been made for others to follow.
Since the treaty of 1846 with the Cherokees the feuds among them appear to
have subsided, and they have become more united and contented than they
have been for many years past. The commissioners appointed in pursuance of
the act of June 27, 1846, to settle claims arising under the treaty of
1835-36 with that tribe have executed their duties, and after a patient
investigation and a full and fair examination of all the cases brought
before them closed their labors in the month of July last. This is the
fourth board of commissioners which has been organized under this treaty.
Ample opportunity has been afforded to all those interested to bring
forward their claims. No doubt is entertained that impartial justice has
been done by the late board, and that all valid claims embraced by the
treaty have been considered and allowed. This result and the final
settlement to be made with this tribe under the treaty of 1846, which will
be completed and laid before you during your session, will adjust all
questions of controversy between them and the United States and produce a
state of relations with them simple, well defined, and satisfactory. Under
the discretionary authority conferred by the act of the 3d of March last
the annuities due to the various tribes have been paid during the present
year to the heads of families instead of to their chiefs or such persons as
they might designate, as required by the law previously existing. This mode
of payment has given general satisfaction to the great body of the Indians.
Justice has been done to them, and they are grateful to the Government for
it. A few chiefs and interested persons may object to this mode of payment,
but it is believed to be the only mode of preventing fraud and imposition
from being practiced upon the great body of common Indians, constituting a
majority of all the tribes. It is gratifying to perceive that a number of
the tribes have recently manifested an increased interest in the
establishment of schools among them, and are making rapid advances in
agriculture, some of them producing a sufficient quantity of food for their
support and in some cases a surplus to dispose of to their neighbors. The
comforts by which those who have received even a very limited education and
have engaged in agriculture are surrounded tend gradually to draw off their
less civilized brethren from the precarious means of subsistence by the
chase to habits of labor and civilization.
The accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy presents a
satisfactory and gratifying account of the condition and operations of the
naval service during the past year. Our commerce has been pursued with
increased activity and with safety and success in every quarter of the
globe under the protection of our flag, which the Navy has caused to be
respected in the most distant seas.
In the Gulf of Mexico and in the Pacific the officers and men of our
squadrons have displayed distinguished gallantry and performed valuable
services. In the early stages of the war with Mexico her ports on both
coasts were blockaded, and more recently many of them have been captured
and held by the Navy. When acting in cooperation with the land forces, the
naval officers and men have performed gallant and distinguished services on
land as well as on water, and deserve the high commendation of the
country.
While other maritime powers are adding to their navies large numbers of war
steamers, it was a wise policy on our part to make similar additions to our
Navy. The four war steamers authorized by the act of the 3d of March, 1847,
are in course of construction.
In addition to the four war steamers authorized by this act, the Secretary
of the Navy has, in pursuance of its provisions, entered into contracts for
the construction of five steamers to be employed in the transportation of
the United States mail "from New York to New Orleans, touching at
Charleston, Savannah, and Havana, and from Havana to Chagres;" for three
steamers to be employed in like manner from Panama to Oregon, "so as to
connect with the mail from Havana to Chagres across the Isthmus;" and for
five steamers to be employed in like manner from New York to Liverpool.
These steamers will be the property of the contractors, but are to be built
"under the superintendence and direction of a naval constructor in the
employ of the Navy Department, and to be so constructed as to render them
convertible at the least possible expense into war steamers of the first
class." A prescribed number of naval officers, as well as a post-office
agent, are to be on board of them, and authority is reserved to the Navy
Department at all times to "exercise control over said steamships" and "to
have the right to take them for the exclusive use and service of the United
States upon making proper compensation to the contractors therefor."
Whilst these steamships will be employed in transporting the mails of the
United States coastwise and to foreign countries upon an annual
compensation to be paid to the owners, they will be always ready, upon an
emergency requiring it, to be converted into war steamers; and the right
reserved to take them for public use will add greatly to the efficiency and
strength of this description of our naval force. To the steamers thus
authorized under contracts made by the Secretary of the Navy should be
added five other steamers authorized under contracts made in pursuance of
laws by the Postmaster-General, making an addition, in the whole, of
eighteen war steamers subject to be taken for public use. As further
contracts for the transportation of the mail to foreign countries may be
authorized by Congress, this number may be enlarged indefinitely.
The enlightened policy by which a rapid communication with the various
distant parts of the globe is established, by means of American built sea
steamers, would find an ample reward in the increase of our commerce and in
making our country and its resources more favorably known abroad; but the
national advantage is still greater--of having our naval officers made
familiar with steam navigation and of having the privilege of taking the
ships already equipped for immediate service at a moment's notice, and will
be cheaply purchased by the compensation to be paid for the transportation
of the mail in them over and above the postages received.
A just national pride, no less than our commercial interests, would Seem to
favor the policy of augmenting the number of this description of vessels.
They can be built in our country cheaper and in greater numbers than in any
other in the world.
I refer you to the accompanying report of the Postmaster-General for a
detailed and satisfactory account of the condition and operations of that
Department during the past year. It is gratifying to find that within so
short a period after the reduction in the rates of postage, and
notwithstanding the great increase of mail service, the revenue received
for the year will be sufficient to defray all the expenses, and that no
further aid will be required from the Treasury for that purpose.
The first of the American mail steamers authorized by the act of the 3d of
March, 1845, was completed and entered upon the service on the 1st of June
last, and is now on her third voyage to Bremen and other intermediate
ports. The other vessels authorized under the provisions of that act are in
course of construction, and will be put upon the line as soon as completed.
Contracts have also been made for the transportation of the mail in a
steamer from Charleston to Havana.
A reciprocal and satisfactory postal arrangement has been made by the
Postmaster-General with the authorities of Bremen, and no difficulty is
apprehended in making similar arrangements with all other powers with which
we may have communications by mail steamers, except with Great Britain.
On the arrival of the first of the American steamers bound to Bremen at
Southampton, in the month of June last, the British post-office directed
the collection of discriminating postages on all letters and other mailable
matter which she took out to Great Britain or which went into the British
post-office on their way to France and other parts of Europe. The effect of
the order of the British, post-office is to subject all letters and other
matter transported by American steamers to double postage, one postage
having been previously paid on them to the United States, while letters
transported in British steamers are subject to pay but a single postage.
This measure was adopted with the avowed object of protecting the British
line of mail steamers now running between Boston and Liverpool, and if
permitted to Continue must speedily put an end to the transportation of all
letters and other matter by American steamers and give to British steamers
a monopoly of the business. A just and fair reciprocity is all that we
desire, and on this we must insist. By our laws no such discrimination is
made against British steamers bringing letters into our ports, but all
letters arriving in the United States are subject to the same rate of
postage, whether brought in British or American vessels. I refer you to the
report of the Postmaster-General for a full statement of the facts of the
case and of the steps taken by him to correct this inequality. He has
exerted all the power conferred upon him by the existing laws.
The minister of the United States at London has brought the subject to the
attention of the British Government, and is now engaged in negotiations for
the purpose of adjusting reciprocal postal arrangements which shall be
equally just to both countries. Should he fail in concluding such
arrangements, and should Great Britain insist on enforcing the unequal and
unjust measure she has adopted, it will become necessary to confer
additional powers on the Postmaster-General in order to enable him to meet
the emergency and to put our own steamers on an equal footing with British
steamers engaged in transporting the mails between the two countries, and I
recommend that such powers be conferred. In view of the existing state of
our country, I trust it may not be inappropriate, in closing this
communication, to call to mind the words of wisdom and admonition of the
first and most illustrious of my predecessors in his Farewell Address to
his countrymen.
That greatest and best of men, who served his country so long and loved it
so much, foresaw with "serious concern" the danger to our Union of
"characterizing parties by geographical discriminations--Northern and
Southern, Atlantic and Western--whence designing men may endeavor to excite
a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views," and
warned his countrymen against it.
So deep and solemn was his conviction of the importance of the Union and of
preserving harmony between its different parts, that he declared to his
countrymen in that address:
It is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense
value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness;
that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to
it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of
your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with
jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion
that it can in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the
first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from
the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various
parts.
After the lapse of half a century these admonitions of Washington fall upon
us with all the force of truth. It is difficult to estimate the "immense
value" of our glorious Union of confederated States, to which we are so
much indebted for our growth in population and wealth and for all that
constitutes us a great and a happy nation. How unimportant are all our
differences of opinion upon minor questions of public policy compared with
its preservation, and how scrupulously should we avoid all agitating topics
which may tend to distract and divide us into contending parties, separated
by geographical lines, whereby it may be weakened or endangered.
Invoking the blessing of the Almighty Ruler of the Universe upon your
deliberations, it will be my highest duty, no less than my sincere
pleasure, to cooperate with you in all measures which may tend to promote
the honor and enduring welfare of our common country.