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 degrees 22', and at the date of the last
communication the survey 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 reductions 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.