undeniable, have been perpetrated in Kansas, to the occasional interruption
rather than the permanent suspension of regular government. Aggressive and
most reprehensible incursions into the Territory were undertaken both in
the North and the South, and entered it on its northern border by the way
of Iowa, as well as on the eastern by way of Missouri; and there has
existed within it a state of insurrection against the constituted
authorities, not without countenance from inconsiderate persons in each of
the great sections of the Union. But the difficulties in that Territory
have been extravagantly exaggerated for purposes of political agitation
elsewhere. The number and gravity of the acts of violence have been
magnified partly by statements entirely untrue and partly by reiterated
accounts of the same rumors or facts. Thus the Territory has been seemingly
filled with extreme violence, when the whole amount of such acts has not
been greater than what occasionally passes before us in single cities to
the regret of all good citizens, but without being regarded as of general
or permanent political consequence.
Imputed irregularities in the elections had in Kansas, like occasional
irregularities of the same description in the States, were beyond the
sphere of action of the Executive. But incidents of actual violence or of
organized obstruction of law, pertinaciously renewed from time to time,
have been met as they occurred by such means as were available and as the
circumstances required, and nothing of this character now remains to affect
the general peace of the Union. The attempt of a part of the inhabitants of
the Territory to erect a revolutionary government, though sedulously
encouraged and supplied with pecuniary aid from active agents of disorder
in some of the States, has completely failed. Bodies of armed men, foreign
to the Territory, have been prevented from entering or compelled to leave
it; predatory bands, engaged in acts of rapine under cover of the existing
political disturbances, have been arrested or dispersed, and every
well-disposed person is now enabled once more to devote himself in peace to
the pursuits of prosperous industry, for the prosecution of which he
undertook to participate in the settlement of the Territory.
It affords me unmingled satisfaction thus to announce the peaceful
condition of things in Kansas, especially considering the means to which it
was necessary to have recourse for the attainment of the end, namely, the
employment of a part of the military force of the United States. The
withdrawal of that force from its proper duty of defending the country
against foreign foes or the savages of the frontier to employ it for the
suppression of domestic insurrection is, when the exigency occurs, a matter
of the most earnest solicitude. On this occasion of imperative necessity it
has been done with the best results, and my satisfaction in the attainment
of such results by such means is greatly enhanced by the consideration
that, through the wisdom and energy of the present executive of Kansas and
the prudence, firmness, and vigilance of the military officers on duty
there tranquillity has been restored without one drop of blood having been
shed in its accomplishment by the forces of the United States.
The restoration of comparative tranquillity in that Territory furnishes the
means of observing calmly and appreciating at their just value the events
which have occurred there and the discussions of which the government of
the Territory has been the subject. We perceive that controversy concerning
its future domestic institutions was inevitable; that no human prudence, no
form of legislation, no wisdom on the part of Congress, could have
prevented it.
It is idle to suppose that the particular provisions of their organic law
were the cause of agitation. Those provisions were but the occasion, or the
pretext, of an agitation which was inherent in the nature of things.
Congress legislated upon the subject in such terms as were most consonant
with the principle of popular sovereignty which underlies our Government.
It could not have legislated otherwise without doing violence to another
great principle of our institutions--the imprescriptible right of equality
of the several States.
We perceive also that sectional interests and party passions have been the
great impediment to the salutary operation of the organic principles
adopted and the chief cause of the successive disturbances in Kansas. The
assumption that because in the organization of the Territories of Nebraska
and Kansas Congress abstained from imposing restraints upon them to which
certain other Territories had been subject, therefore disorders occurred in
the latter Territory, is emphatically contradicted by the fact that none
have occurred in the former. Those disorders were not the consequence, in
Kansas, of the freedom of self-government conceded to that Territory by
Congress, but of unjust interference on the part of persons not inhabitants
of the Territory. Such interference, wherever it has exhibited itself by
acts of insurrectionary character or of obstruction to process of law, has
been repelled or suppressed by all the means which the Constitution and the
laws place in the hands of the Executive.
In those parts of the United States where, by reason of the inflamed state
of the public mind, false rumors and misrepresentations have the greatest
currency it has been assumed that it was the duty of the Executive not only
to suppress insurrectionary movements in Kansas, but also to see to the
regularity of local elections. It needs little argument to show that the
President has no such power. All government in the United States rests
substantially upon popular election. The freedom of elections is liable to
be impaired by the intrusion of unlawful votes or the exclusion of lawful
ones, by improper influences, by violence, or by fraud. But the people of
the United States are themselves the all sufficient guardians of their own
rights, and to suppose that they will not remedy in due season any such
incidents of civil freedom is to suppose them to have ceased to be capable
of self-government. The President of the United States has not power to
interpose in elections, to see to their freedom, to canvass their votes, or
to pass upon their legality in the Territories any more than in the States.
If he had such power the Government might be republican in form, but it
would be a monarchy in fact; and if he had undertaken to exercise it in the
case of Kansas he would have been justly subject to the charge of
usurpation and of violation of the dearest rights of the people of the
United States.
Unwise laws, equally with irregularities at elections, are in periods of
great excitement the occasional incidents of even the freest and best
political institutions; but all experience demonstrates that in a country
like ours, where the right of self-constitution exists in the completest
form, the attempt to remedy unwise legislation by resort to revolution is
totally out of place, inasmuch as existing legal institutions afford more
prompt and efficacious means for the redress of wrong.
I confidently trust that now, when the peaceful condition of Kansas affords
opportunity for calm reflection and wise legislation, either the
legislative assembly of the Territory or Congress will see that no act
shall remain on its statute book violative of the provisions of the
Constitution or subversive of the great objects for which that was ordained
and established, and will take all other necessary steps to assure to its
inhabitants the enjoyment, without obstruction or abridgment, of all the
constitutional rights, privileges, and immunities of citizens of the United
States, as contemplated by the organic law of the Territory.
Full information in relation to recent events in this Territory will be
found in the documents communicated herewith from the Departments of State
and War.
I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Treasury for particular
information concerning the financial condition of the Government and the
various branches of the public service connected with the Treasury
Department.
During the last fiscal year the receipts from customs were for the first
time more than $64,000,000, and from all sources $73,918,141, which, with
the balance on hand up to the 1st of July, 1855, made the total resources
of the year amount to $92,850,117. The expenditures, including $3,000,000
in execution of the treaty with Mexico and excluding sums paid on account
of the public debt, amounted to $60,172,401, and including the latter to
$72,948,792, the payment on this account having amounted to $12,776,390.
On the 4th of March, 1853, the amount of the public debt was $69,129,937.
There was a subsequent increase of $2,750,000 for the debt of Texas, making
a total of $71,879,937. Of this the sum of $45,525,319, including premium,
has been discharged, reducing the debt to $30,963,909, all which might be
paid within a year without embarrassing the public service, but being not
yet due and only redeemable at the option of the holder, can not be pressed
to payment by the Government.
On examining the expenditures of the last five years it will be seen that
the average, deducting payments on account of the public debt and
$10,000,000 paid by treaty to Mexico, has been but about $48,000,000. It is
believed that under an economical administration of the Government the
average expenditure for the ensuing five years will not exceed that sum,
unless extraordinary occasion for its increase should occur. The acts
granting bounty lands will soon have been executed, while the extension of
our frontier settlements will cause a continued demand for lands and
augmented receipts, probably, from that source. These considerations will
justify a reduction of the revenue from customs so as not to exceed
forty-eight or fifty million dollars. I think the exigency for such
reduction is imperative, and again urge it upon the consideration of
Congress.
The amount of reduction, as well as the manner of effecting it, are
questions of great and general interest, it being essential to industrial
enterprise and the public prosperity, as well as the dictate of obvious
justice, that the burden of taxation be made to rest as equally as possible
upon all classes and all sections and interests of the country.
I have heretofore recommended to your consideration the revision of the
revenue laws, prepared under the direction of the Secretary of the
Treasury, and also legislation upon some special questions affecting the
business of that Department, more especially the enactment of a law to
punish the abstraction of official books or papers from the files of the
Government and requiring all such books and papers and all other public
property to be turned over by the outgoing officer to his successor; of a
law requiring disbursing officers to deposit all public money in the vaults
of the Treasury or in other legal depositories, where the same are
conveniently accessible, and a law to extend existing penal provisions to
all persons who may become possessed of public money by deposit or
otherwise and who shall refuse or neglect on due demand to pay the same
into the Treasury. I invite your attention anew to each of these objects.
The Army during the past year has been so constantly employed against
hostile Indians in various quarters that it can scarcely be said, with
propriety of language, to have been a peace establishment. Its duties have
been satisfactorily performed, and we have reason to expect as a result of
the year's operations greater security to the frontier inhabitants than has
been hitherto enjoyed. Extensive combinations among the hostile Indians of
the Territories of Washington and Oregon at one time threatened the
devastation of the newly formed settlements of that remote portion of the
country. From recent information we are permitted to hope that the
energetic and successful operations conducted there will prevent such
combinations in future and secure to those Territories an opportunity to
make steady progress in the development of their agricultural and mineral
resources.
Legislation has been recommended by me on previous occasions to cure
defects in the existing organization and to increase the efficiency of the
Army, and further observation has but served to confirm me in the views
then expressed and to enforce on my mind the conviction that such measures
are not only proper, but necessary.
I have, in addition, to invite the attention of Congress to a change of
policy in the distribution of troops and to the necessity of providing a
more rapid increase of the military armament. For details of these and
other subjects relating to the Army I refer to the report of the Secretary
of War.
The condition of the Navy is not merely satisfactory, but exhibits the most
gratifying evidences of increased vigor. As it is comparatively small, it
is more important that it should be as complete as possible in all the
elements of strength; that it should be efficient in the character of its
officers, in the zeal and discipline of its men, in the reliability of its
ordnance, and in the capacity of its ships. In all these various qualities
the Navy has made great progress within the last few years. The execution
of the law of Congress of February 28, 1855, "to promote the efficiency of
the Navy," has been attended by the most advantageous results. The law for
promoting discipline among the men is found convenient and salutary. The
system of granting an honorable discharge to faithful seamen on the
expiration of the period of their enlistment and permitting them to
reenlist after a leave of absence of a few months without cessation of pay
is highly beneficial in its influence. The apprentice system recently
adopted is evidently destined to incorporate into the service a large
number of our countrymen, hitherto so difficult to procure. Several hundred
American boys are now on a three years' cruise in our national vessels and
will return well-trained seamen. In the Ordnance Department there is a
decided and gratifying indication of progress, creditable to it and to the
country. The suggestions of the Secretary of the Navy in regard to further
improvement in that branch of the service I commend to your favorable
action. The new frigates ordered by Congress are now afloat and two of them
in active service. They are superior models of naval architecture, and with
their formidable battery add largely to public strength and security. I
concur in the views expressed by the Secretary of the Department in favor
of a still further increase of our naval force.
The report of the Secretary of the Interior presents facts and views in
relation to internal affairs over which the supervision of his Department
extends of much interest and importance.
The aggregate sales of the public lands during the last fiscal year amount
to 9,227,878 acres, for which has been received the sum of $8,821,414.
During the same period there have been located with military scrip and land
warrants and for other purposes 30,100,230 acres, thus making a total
aggregate of 39,328,108 acres. On the 30th of September last surveys had
been made of 16,873,699 acres, a large proportion of which is ready for
market.
The suggestions in this report in regard to the complication and
progressive expansion of the business of the different bureaus of the
Department, to the pension system, to the colonization of Indian tribes,
and the recommendations in relation to various improvements in the District
of Columbia are especially commended to your consideration.
The report of the Postmaster-General presents fully the condition of that
Department of the Government. Its expenditures for the last fiscal year
were $10,407,868 and its gross receipts $7,620,801, making an excess of
expenditure over receipts of $2,787,046. The deficiency of this Department
is thus $744,000 greater than for the year ending June 30, 1853. Of this
deficiency $330,000 is to be attributed to the additional compensation
allowed to postmasters by the act of Congress of June 22, 1854. The mail
facilities in every part of the country have been very much increased in
that period, and the large addition of railroad service, amounting to 7,908
miles, has added largely to the cost of transportation.
The inconsiderable augmentation of the income of the Post-Office Department
under the reduced rates of postage and its increasing expenditures must for
the present make it dependent to some extent upon the Treasury for support.
The recommendations of the Postmaster-General in relation to the abolition
of the franking privilege and his views on the establishment of mail
steamship lines deserve the consideration of Congress. I also call the
special attention of Congress to the statement of the Postmaster-General
respecting the sums now paid for the transportation of mails to the Panama
Railroad Company, and commend to their early and favorable consideration
the suggestions of that officer in relation to new contracts for mail
transportation upon that route, and also upon the Tehuantepec and Nicaragua
routes.
The United States continue in the enjoyment of amicable relations with all
foreign powers.
When my last annual message was transmitted to Congress two subjects of
controversy, one relating to the enlistment of soldiers in this country for
foreign service and the other to Central America, threatened to disturb the
good understanding between the United States and Great Britain. Of the
progress and termination of the former question you were informed at the
time, and the other is now in the way of satisfactory adjustment.
The object of the convention between the United States and Great Britain of
the 19th of April, 1850, was to secure for the benefit of all nations the
neutrality and the common use of any transit way or interoceanic
communication across the Isthmus of Panama which might be opened within the
limits of Central America. The pretensions subsequently asserted by Great
Britain to dominion or control over territories in or near two of the
routes, those of Nicaragua and Honduras, were deemed by the United States
not merely incompatible with the main object of the treaty, but opposed
even to its express stipulations. Occasion of controversy on this point has
been removed by an additional treaty, which our minister at London has
concluded, and which will be immediately submitted to the Senate for its
consideration. Should the proposed supplemental arrangement be concurred in
by all the parties to be affected by it, the objects contemplated by the
original convention will have been fully attained.
The treaty between the United States and Great Britain of the 5th of June,
1854, which went into effective operation in 1855, put an end to causes of
irritation between the two countries, by securing to the United States the
right of fishery on the coast of the British North American Provinces, with
advantages equal to those enjoyed by British subjects. Besides the signal
benefits of this treaty to a large class of our citizens engaged in a
pursuit connected to no inconsiderable degree with our national prosperity
and strength, it has had a favorable effect upon other interests in the
provision it made for reciprocal freedom of trade between the United States
and the British Provinces in America. The exports of domestic articles to
those Provinces during the last year amounted to more than $22,000,000,
exceeding those of the preceding year by nearly $7,000,000; and the imports
therefrom during the same period amounted to more than twenty-one million,
an increase of six million upon those of the previous year.
The improved condition of this branch of our commerce is mainly
attributable to the above-mentioned treaty.
Provision was made in the first article of that treaty for a commission to
designate the mouths of rivers to which the common right of fishery on the
coast of the United States and the British Provinces was not to extend.
This commission has been employed a part of two seasons, but without much
progress in accomplishing the object for which it was instituted, in
consequence of a serious difference of opinion between the commissioners,
not only as to the precise point where the rivers terminate, but in many
instances as to what constitutes a river. These difficulties, however, may
be overcome by resort to the umpirage provided for by the treaty.
The efforts perseveringly prosecuted since the commencement of my
Administration to relieve our trade to the Baltic from the exaction of
Sound dues by Denmark have not yet been attended with success. Other
governments have also sought to obtain a like relief to their commerce, and
Denmark was thus induced to propose an arrangement to all the European
powers interested in the subject, and the manner in which her proposition
was received warranting her to believe that a satisfactory arrangement with
them could soon be concluded, she made a strong appeal to this Government
for temporary suspension of definite action on its part, in consideration
of the embarrassment which might result to her European negotiations by an
immediate adjustment of the question with the United States. This request
has been acceded to upon the condition that the sums collected after the
16th of June last and until the 16th of June next from vessels and cargoes
belonging to our merchants are to be considered as paid under protest and
subject to future adjustment. There is reason to believe that an
arrangement between Denmark and the maritime powers of Europe on the
subject will be soon concluded, and that the pending negotiation with the
United States may then be resumed and terminated in a satisfactory manner.
With Spain no new difficulties have arisen, nor has much progress been made
in the adjustment of pending ones.
Negotiations entered into for the purpose of relieving our commercial
intercourse with the island of Cuba of some of its burdens and providing
for the more speedy settlement of local disputes growing out of that
intercourse have not yet been attended with any results. Soon after the
commencement of the late war in Europe this Government submitted to the
consideration of all maritime nations two principles for the security of
neutral commerce--one that the neutral flag should cover enemies' goods,
except articles contraband of war, and the other that neutral property on
board merchant vessels of belligerents should be exempt from condemnation,
with the exception of contraband articles. These were not presented as new
rules of international law, having been generally claimed by neutrals,
though not always admitted by belligerents. One of the parties to the war
(Russia), as well as several neutral powers, promptly acceded to these
propositions, and the two other principal belligerents (Great Britain and
France) having consented to observe them for the present occasion, a
favorable opportunity seemed to be presented for obtaining a general
recognition of them, both in Europe and America. But Great Britain and
France, in common with most of the States of Europe, while forbearing to
reject, did not affirmatively act upon the overtures of the United States.