extension, and in some respects a new direction, to our commerce in that
ocean. A direct and rapidly increasing intercourse has sprung up with
eastern Asia. The waters of the Northern Pacific, even into the Arctic Sea,
have of late years been frequented by our whalemen. The application of
steam to the general purposes of navigation is becoming daily more common,
and makes it desirable to obtain fuel and other necessary supplies at
convenient points on the route between Asia and our Pacific shores. Our
unfortunate countrymen who from time to time suffer shipwreck on the coasts
of the eastern seas are entitled to protection. Besides these specific
objects, the general prosperity of our States on the Pacific requires that
an attempt should be made to open the opposite regions of Asia to a
mutually beneficial intercourse. It is obvious that this attempt could be
made by no power to so great advantage as by the United States, whose
constitutional system excludes every idea of distant colonial dependencies.
I have accordingly been led to order an appropriate naval force to Japan,
under the command of a discreet and intelligent officer of the highest rank
known to our service. He is instructed to endeavor to obtain from the
Government of that country some relaxation of the inhospitable and
antisocial system which it has pursued for about two centuries. He has been
directed particularly to remonstrate in the strongest language against the
cruel treatment to which our shipwrecked mariners have often been subjected
and to insist that they shall be treated with humanity. He is instructed,
however, at the same time, to give that Government the amplest assurances
that the objects of the United States are such, and such only, as I have
indicated, and that the expedition is friendly and peaceful.
Notwithstanding the jealousy with which the Governments of eastern Asia
regard all overtures from foreigners, I am not without hopes of a
beneficial result of the expedition. Should it be crowned with success, the
advantages will not be confined to the United States, but, as in the case
of China, will be equally enjoyed by all the other maritime powers. I have
much satisfaction in stating that in all the steps preparatory to this
expedition the Government of the United States has been materially aided by
the good offices of the King of the Netherlands, the only European power
having any commercial relations with Japan.
In passing from this survey of our foreign relations, I invite the
attention of Congress to the condition of that Department of the Government
to which this branch of the public business is intrusted. Our intercourse
with foreign powers has of late years greatly increased, both in
consequence of our own growth and the introduction of many new states into
the family of nations. In this way the Department of State has become
overburdened. It has by the recent establishment of the Department of the
Interior been relieved of some portion of the domestic business. If the
residue of the business of that kind--such as the distribution of
Congressional documents, the keeping, publishing, and distribution of the
laws of the United States, the execution of the copyright law, the subject
of reprieves and pardons, and some other subjects relating to interior
administration--should be transferred from the Department of State, it
would unquestionably be for the benefit of the public service. I would also
suggest that the building appropriated to the State Department is not
fireproof; that there is reason to think there are defects in its
construction, and that the archives of the Government in charge of the
Department, with the precious collections of the manuscript papers of
Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and Monroe, are exposed to
destruction by fire. A similar remark may be made of the buildings
appropriated to the War and Navy Departments.
The condition of the Treasury is exhibited in the annual report from that
Department.
The cash receipts into the Treasury for the fiscal year ending the 30th
June last, exclusive of trust funds, were $49,728,386.89, and the
expenditures for the same period, likewise exclusive of trust funds, were
$46,007,896.20, of which $9,455,815.83 was on account of the principal and
interest of the public debt, including the last installment of the
indemnity to Mexico under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, leaving a
balance of $14,632,136.37 in the Treasury on the 1st day of July last.
Since this latter period further purchases of the principal of the public
debt have been made to the extent of $2,456,547.49, and the surplus in the
Treasury will continue to be applied to that object whenever the stock can
be procured within the limits as to price authorized by law.
The value of foreign merchandise imported during the last fiscal year was
$207,240,101, and the value of domestic productions exported was
$149,861,911, besides $17,204,026 of foreign merchandise exported, making
the aggregate of the entire exports $167,065,937. Exclusive of the above,
there was exported $42,507,285 in specie, and imported from foreign ports
$5,262,643.
In my first annual message to Congress I called your attention to what
seemed to me some defects in the present tariff, and recommended such
modifications as in my judgment were best adapted to remedy its evils and
promote the prosperity of the country. Nothing has since occurred to change
my views on this important question.
Without repeating the arguments contained in my former message in favor of
discriminating protective duties, I deem it my duty to call your attention
to one or two other considerations affecting this subject. The first is the
effect of large importations of foreign goods upon our currency. Most of
the gold of California, as fast as it is coined, finds its way directly to
Europe in payment for goods purchased. In the second place, as our
manufacturing establishments are broken down by competition with
foreigners, the capital invested in them is lost, thousands of honest and
industrious citizens are thrown out of employment, and the farmer, to that
extent, is deprived of a home market for the sale of his surplus produce.
In the third place, the destruction of our manufactures leaves the
foreigner without competition in our market, and he consequently raises the
price of the article sent here for sale, as is now seen in the increased
cost of iron imported from England. The prosperity and wealth of every
nation must depend upon its productive industry. The farmer is stimulated
to exertion by finding a ready market for his surplus products, and
benefited by being able to exchange them without loss of time or expense of
transportation for the manufactures which his comfort or convenience
requires. This is always done to the best advantage where a portion of the
community in which he lives is engaged in other pursuits. But most
manufactures require an amount of capital and a practical skill which can
not be commanded unless they be protected for a time from ruinous
competition from abroad. Hence the necessity of laying those duties upon
imported goods which the Constitution authorizes for revenue in such a
manner as to protect and encourage the labor of our own citizens. Duties,
however, should not be fixed at a rate so high as to exclude the foreign
article, but should be so graduated as to enable the domestic manufacturer
fairly to compete with the foreigner in our own markets, and by this
competition to reduce the price of the manufactured article to the consumer
to the lowest rate at which it can be produced. This policy would place the
mechanic by the side of the farmer, create a mutual interchange of their
respective commodities, and thus stimulate the industry of the whole
country and render us independent of foreign nations for the supplies
required by the habits or necessities of the people.
Another question, wholly independent of protection, presents itself, and
that is, whether the duties levied should be upon the value of the article
at the place of shipment, or, where it is practicable, a specific duty,
graduated according to quantity, as ascertained by weight or measure. All
our duties are at present ad valorem. A certain percentage is levied on the
price of the goods at the port of shipment in a foreign country. Most
commercial nations have found it indispensable, for the purpose of
preventing fraud and perjury, to make the duties specific whenever the
article is of such a uniform value in weight or measure as to justify such
a duty. Legislation should never encourage dishonesty or crime. It is
impossible that the revenue officers at the port where the goods are
entered and the duties paid should know with certainty what they cost in
the foreign country. Yet the law requires that they should levy the duty
according to such cost. They are therefore compelled to resort to very
unsatisfactory evidence to ascertain what that cost was. They take the
invoice of the importer, attested by his oath, as the best evidence of
which the nature of the case admits. But everyone must see that the invoice
may be fabricated and the oath by which it is supported false, by reason of
which the dishonest importer pays a part only of the duties which are paid
by the honest one, and thus indirectly receives from the Treasury of the
United States a reward for his fraud and perjury. The reports of the
Secretary of the Treasury heretofore made on this subject show conclusively
that these frauds have been practiced to a great extent. The tendency is to
destroy that high moral character for which our merchants have long been
distinguished, to defraud the Government of its revenue, to break down the
honest importer by a dishonest competition, and, finally, to transfer the
business of importation to foreign and irresponsible agents, to the great
detriment of our own citizens. I therefore again most earnestly recommend
the adoption of specific duties wherever it is practicable, or a home
valuation, to prevent these frauds.
I would also again call your attention to the fact that the present tariff
in some cases imposes a higher duty upon the raw material imported than
upon the article manufactured from it, the consequence of which is that the
duty operates to the encouragement of the foreigner and the discouragement
of our own citizens.
For full and detailed information in regard to the general condition of our
Indian affairs, I respectfully refer you to the report of the Secretary of
the Interior and the accompanying documents.
The Senate not having thought proper to ratify the treaties which have been
negotiated with the tribes of Indians in California and Oregon, our
relations with them have been left in a very unsatisfactory condition.
In other parts of our territory particular districts of country have been
set apart for the exclusive occupation of the Indians, and their right to
the lands within those limits has been acknowledged and respected. But in
California and Oregon there has been no recognition by the Government of
the exclusive right of the Indians to any part of the country. They are
therefore mere tenants at sufferance, and liable to be driven from place to
place at the pleasure of the whites.
The treaties which have been rejected proposed to remedy this evil by
allotting to the different tribes districts of country suitable to their
habits of life and sufficient for their support. This provision, more than
any other, it is believed, led to their rejection; and as no substitute for
it has been adopted by Congress, it has not been deemed advisable to
attempt to enter into new treaties of a permanent character, although no
effort has been spared by temporary arrangements to preserve friendly
relations with them.
If it be the desire of Congress to remove them from the country altogether,
or to assign to them particular districts more remote from the settlements
of the whites, it will be proper to set apart by law the territory which
they are to occupy and to provide the means necessary for removing them to
it. Justice alike to our own citizens and to the Indians requires the
prompt action of Congress on this subject. The amendments proposed by the
Senate to the treaties which were negotiated with the Sioux Indians of
Minnesota have been submitted to the tribes who were parties to them, and
have received their assent. A large tract of valuable territory has thus
been opened for settlement and cultivation, and all danger of collision
with these powerful and warlike bands has been happily removed.
The removal of the remnant of the tribe of Seminole Indians from Florida
has long been a cherished object of the Government, and it is one to which
my attention has been steadily directed. Admonished by past experience of
the difficulty and cost of the attempt to remove them by military force,
resort has been had to conciliatory measures. By the invitation of the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, several of the principal chiefs recently
visited Washington, and whilst here acknowledged in writing the obligation
of their tribe to remove with the least possible delay. Late advices from
the special agent of the Government represent that they adhere to their
promise, and that a council of their people has been called to make their
preliminary arrangements. A general emigration may therefore be confidently
expected at an early day.
The report from the General Land Office shows increased activity in its
operations. The survey of the northern boundary of Iowa has been completed
with unexampled dispatch. Within the last year 9,522,953 acres of public
land have been surveyed and 8,032,463 acres brought into market.
Acres In the last fiscal year there were sold 1,553,071 Located with
bounty-land warrants 3,201,314 Located with other certificates 115,682
Making a total of 4,870,067
In addition there were--Reported under swamp-land grants 5,219,188 For
internal improvements, railroads, etc 3,025,920 Making an aggregate of
13,115,175 Being an increase of the amount sold and located under land
warrants of 569,220 acres over the previous year. The whole amount thus
sold, located under land warrants, reported under swamp-land grants, and
selected for internal improvements exceeds that of the previous year by
3,342,372 acres; and the sales would without doubt have been much larger
but for the extensive reservations for railroads in Missouri, Mississippi,
and Alabama.
Acres For the quarter ending 30th September, 1852, there were sold 243,255
Located with bounty-land warrants 1,387,116 Located with other certificates
15,649 Reported under swamp-land grants 2,485,233 Making an aggregate for
the quarter of 4,131,253
Much the larger portion of the labor of arranging and classifying the
returns of the last census has been finished, and it will now devolve upon
Congress to make the necessary provision for the publication of the results
in such form as shall be deemed best. The apportionment of representation
on the basis of the new census has been made by the Secretary of the
Interior in conformity with the provisions of law relating to that subject,
and the recent elections have been made in accordance with it.
I commend to your favorable regard the suggestion contained in the report
of the Secretary of the Interior that provision be made by law for the
publication and distribution, periodically, of an analytical digest of all
the patents which have been or may hereafter be granted for useful
inventions and discoveries, with such descriptions and illustrations as may
be necessary to present an intelligible view of their nature and operation.
The cost of such publication could easily be defrayed out of the patent
fund, and I am persuaded that it could be applied to no object more
acceptable to inventors and beneficial to the public at large.
An appropriation of $100,000 having been made at the last session for the
purchase of a suitable site and for the erection, furnishing, and fitting
up of an asylum for the insane of the District of Columbia and of the Army
and Navy of the United States, the proper measures have been adopted to
carry this beneficent purpose into effect.
By the latest advices from the Mexican boundary commission it appears that
the survey of the river Gila from its continence with the Colorado to its
supposed intersection with the western line of New Mexico has been
completed. The survey of the Rio Grande has also been finished from the
point agreed on by the commissioners as "the point where it strikes the
southern boundary of New Mexico" to a point 135 miles below Eagle Pass,
which is about two-thirds of the distance along the course of the river to
its mouth.
The appropriation which was made at the last session of Congress for the
continuation of the survey is subject to the following proviso: Provided,
That no part of this appropriation shall be used or expended until it shall
be made satisfactorily to appear to the President of the United States that
the southern boundary of New Mexico is not established by the commissioner
and surveyor of the United States farther north of the town called "Paso"
than the same is laid down in Disturnell's map, which is added to the
treaty.
My attention was drawn to this subject by a report from the Department of
the Interior, which reviewed all the facts of the case and submitted for my
decision the question whether under existing circumstances any part of the
appropriation could be lawfully used or expended for the further
prosecution of the work. After a careful consideration of the subject I
came to the conclusion that it could not, and so informed the head of that
Department. Orders were immediately issued by him to the commissioner and
surveyor to make no further requisitions on the Department, as they could
not be paid, and to discontinue all operations on the southern line of New
Mexico. But as the Department had no exact information as to the amount of
provisions and money which remained unexpended in the hands of the
commissioner and surveyor, it was left discretionary with them to continue
the survey down the Rio Grande as far as the means at their disposal would
enable them or at once to disband the commission. A special messenger has
since arrived from the officer in charge of the survey on the river with
information that the funds subject to his control were exhausted and that
the officers and others employed in the service were destitute alike of the
means of prosecuting the work and of returning to their homes.
The object of the proviso was doubtless to arrest the survey of the
southern and western lines of New Mexico, in regard to which different
opinions have been expressed; for it is hardly to be supposed that there
could be any objection to that part of the line which extends along the
channel of the Rio Grande. But the terms of the law are so broad as to
forbid the use of any part of the money for the prosecution of the work, or
even for the payment to the officers and agents of the arrearages of pay
which are justly due to them.
I earnestly invite your prompt attention to this subject, and recommend a
modification of the terms of the proviso, so as to enable the Department to
use as much of the appropriation as will be necessary to discharge the
existing obligations of the Government and to complete the survey of the
Rio Grande to its mouth.
It will also be proper to make further provision by law for the fulfillment
of our treaty with Mexico for running and marking the residue of the
boundary line between the two countries.
Permit me to invite your particular attention to the interests of the
District of Columbia, which are confided by the Constitution to your
peculiar care.
Among the measures which seem to me of the greatest importance to its
prosperity are the introduction of a copious supply of water into the city
of Washington and the construction of suitable bridges across the Potomac
to replace those which were destroyed by high water in the early part of
the present year.
At the last session of Congress an appropriation was made to defray the
cost of the surveys necessary for determining the best means of affording
an unfailing supply of good and wholesome water. Some progress has been
made in the survey, and as soon as it is completed the result will be laid
before you.
Further appropriations will also be necessary for grading and paving the
streets and avenues and inclosing and embellishing the public grounds
within the city of Washington.
I commend all these objects, together with the charitable institutions of
the District, to your favorable regard. Every effort has been made to
protect our frontier and that of the adjoining Mexican States from the
incursions of the Indian tribes. Of about 11,000 men of which the Army is
composed, nearly 8,000 are employed in the defense of the newly acquired
territory (including Texas) and of emigrants proceeding thereto. I am
gratified to say that these efforts have been unusually successful. With
the exception of some partial outbreaks in California and Oregon and
occasional depredations on a portion of the Rio Grande, owing, it is
believed, to the disturbed state of that border region, the inroads of the
Indians have been effectually restrained.
Experience has shown, however, that whenever the two races are brought into
contact collisions will inevitably occur. To prevent these collisions the
United States have generally set apart portions of their territory for the
exclusive occupation of the Indian tribes. A difficulty occurs, however, in
the application of this policy to Texas. By the terms of the compact by
which that State was admitted into the Union she retained the ownership of
all the vacant lands within her limits. The government of that State, it is
understood, has assigned no portion of her territory to the Indians, but as
fast as her settlements advance lays it off into counties and proceeds to
survey and sell it. This policy manifestly tends not only to alarm and
irritate the Indians, but to compel them to resort to plunder for
subsistence. It also deprives this Government of that influence and control
over them without which no durable peace can ever exist between them and
the whites. I trust, therefore, that a due regard for her own interests,
apart from considerations of humanity and justice, will induce that State
to assign a small portion of her vast domain for the provisional occupancy
of the small remnants of tribes within her borders, subject, of course, to
her ownership and eventual jurisdiction. If she should fail to do this, the
fulfillment of our treaty stipulations with Mexico and our duty to the
Indians themselves will, it is feared, become a subject of serious
embarrassment to the Government. It is hoped, however, that a timely and
just provision by Texas may avert this evil.
No appropriations for fortifications were made at the two last sessions of
Congress. The cause of this omission is probably to be found in a growing
belief that the system of fortifications adopted in 1816, and heretofore
acted on, requires revision.
The subject certainly deserves full and careful investigation, but it
should not be delayed longer than can be avoided. In the meantime there are
certain works which have been commenced, some of them nearly completed,
designed to protect our principal seaports from Boston to New Orleans and a
few other important points. In regard to the necessity for these works, it
is believed that little difference of opinion exists among military men. I
therefore recommend that the appropriations necessary to prosecute them be
made.
I invite your attention to the remarks on this subject and on others
connected with his Department contained in the accompanying report of the
Secretary of War.
Measures have been taken to carry into effect the law of the last session
making provision for the improvement of certain rivers and harbors, and it
is believed that the arrangements made for that purpose will combine
efficiency with economy. Owing chiefly to the advanced season when the act
was passed, little has yet been done in regard to many of the works beyond
making the necessary preparations. With respect to a few of the
improvements, the sums already appropriated will suffice to complete them;
but most of them will require additional appropriations. I trust that these
appropriations will be made, and that this wise and beneficent policy, so
auspiciously resumed, will be continued. Great care should be taken,
however, to commence no work which is not of sufficient importance to the
commerce of the country to be viewed as national in its character. But
works which have been commenced should not be discontinued until completed,
as otherwise the sums expended will in most cases be lost.