seventy miles, and the face of the country is, in the main, favorable. For obvious reasons the government ought not to undertake the work itself by means of its own agents. This ought to be committed to other agencies, which Congress might assist by either grants of land or money, or by both, upon such terms and conditions as they may deem most beneficial for the country. Provision might thus be made, not only for the safe, rapid, and economical transportation of troops and munitions of war, but also of the public mails. The commercial interests of the whole country, both East and West, would be greatly promoted by such a road; and, above all, it would be a powerful additional bond of union. And, although advantages of this kind, whether postal, commercial, or political, can not confer constitutional power, yet they may furnish auxiliary arguments in favor of expediting a work which, in my judgment, is clearly embraced within the war-making power.

For these reasons I commend to the friendly consideration of Congress the subject of the Pacific railroad, without finally committing myself to any particular route.

The report of the secretary of the treasury will furnish a detailed statement of the condition of the public finances, and of the respective branches of the public service devolved upon that department of the government. By this report it appears that the amount of revenue received from all sources into the treasury during the fiscal year ending the 30th of June, 1857, was sixty-eight millions, six hundred and thirty-one thousand, five hundred and thirteen dollars and sixty-seven cents ($68,631,513 67), which amount, with the balance of nineteen millions, nine hundred and one thousand, three hundred and twenty-five dollars and forty-five cents ($19,901,325 45) remaining in the treasury at the commencement of the year, made an aggregate for the service of the year of eighty-eight millions, five hundred and thirty-two thousand, eight hundred and thirty-nine dollars and twelve cents ($88,532,839 12).

The public expenditures for the fiscal year ending the 30th of June, 1857, amounted to seventy millions, eight hundred and twenty-two thousand, seven hundred and twenty-four dollars and eighty-five cents ($70,822,724 85), of which five millions, nine hundred and forty-three thousand, eight hundred and ninety-six dollars and ninety-one cents ($5,943,896 91), were applied to the redemption of the public debt, including interest and premium; leaving in the treasury at the commencement of the present fiscal year on the 1st of July, 1857, seventeen millions, seven hundred and ten thousand, one hundred and fourteen dollars and twenty-seven cents ($17,710,114_27)

The receipts into the treasury for the first quarter of the present fiscal year, commencing the 1st of July, 1857, were twenty millions, nine hundred and twenty-nine thousand, eight hundred and nineteen dollars and eighty-one cents ($20,929,819 81), and the estimated receipts of the remaining three quarters to the 30th of June, 1858, are thirty-six millions, seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars ($36,750,000), making with the balance before stated an aggregate of seventy-five millions, three hundred and eighty-nine thousand, nine hundred and thirty-four dollars and eight cents ($75,389,934 08), for the service of the present fiscal year.

The actual expenditures during the first quarter of the present fiscal year were twenty-three millions, seven hundred and fourteen thousand, five hundred and twenty-eight dollars and thirty-seven cents ($23,714,528 37), of which three millions, eight hundred and ninety-five thousand,

two hundred and thirty-two dollars and thirty-nine cents ($3,895,232 39) were applied to the redemption of the public debt, including interest and premium. The probable expenditures of the remaining three quarters, to the 30th of June, 1858, are fifty-one millions, two hundred and forty-eight thousand, five hundred and thirty dollars and four cents ($51,248,530 04), including interest on the public debt, making an aggregate of seventy-four millions, nine hundred and sixty-three thousand, fifty-eight dollars and forty-one cents ($74,963,058 41), leaving an estimated balance in the treasury at the close of the present fiscal year of four hundred and twentysix thousand, eight hundred and seventy-five dollars and sixty-seven cents ($426,875 67).

The amount of the public debt at the commencement of the present fiscal year was twenty-nine millions, six thousand, three hundred and eighty-six dollars and ninety cents ($29,000,386 90).

The amount redeemed since the 1st of July was three millions, eight hundred and ninety-five thousand, two hundred and thirty-two dollars and thirty-nine cents ($3,895,232 39); leaving a balance unredeemed at this time of twenty-five millions, one hundred and sixty-five thousand, one hundred and fifty-four dollars and fifty-one cents ($25,165,154 51).

The amount of estimated expenditures for the remaining three quarters of the present fiscal year will, in all probability, be increased from the causes set forth in the report of the secretary. His suggestion, therefore, that authority should be given to supply any temporary deficiency by the issue of a limited amount of treasury-notes is approved, and I accordingly recommend the passage of such a law.

As stated in the report of the secretary, the tariff of March 3, 1857, has been in operation for so short a period of time, and under circumstances so unfavorable to a just development of its results as a revenue measure, that I should regard it as inexpedient, at least for the present, to undertake its revision.

I transmit herewith the reports made to me by the secretaries of war and of the navy, of the interior and of the postmaster-general. They all contain valuable and important information and suggestions, which I commend to the favorable consideration of Congress.

I have already recommended the raising of four additional regiments, and the report of the secretary of war presents strong reasons proving this increase of the army, under existing circumstances, to be indispensable.

I would call the special attention of Congress to the recommendation of the secretary of the navy in favor of the construction of ten small warsteamers of light draught. For some years the government has been obliged on many occasions to hire such steamers from individuals to supply its pressing wants. At the present moment we have no armed vessel in the navy which can penetrate the rivers of China. We have but few which can enter any of the harbors south of Norfolk, although many mil lions of foreign and domestic commerce annually pass in and out of these harbors. Some of our most valuable interests and most vulnerable points are thus left exposed. This class of vessels, of light draught, great speed, and heavy guns, would be formidable in coast defence. The cost of their construction will not be great, and they will require but a comparatively small expenditure to keep them in commission. In time of peace, they will prove as effective as much larger vessels, and often more useful. One of them should be at every station where we maintain a squadron,

and three or four should be constantly employed on our Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Economy, utility, and efficiency, combine to recommend them as almost indispensable. Ten of these small vessels would be of incalculable advantage to the naval service, and the whole cost of their construction would not exceed two millions, three hundred thousand dollars, or two hundred and thirty thousand dollars each.

The report of the secretary of the interior is worthy of grave consideration. It treats of the numerous, important, and diversified branches of domestic administration intrusted to him by law. Among these the most prominent are the public lands and our relations with the Indians.

Our system for the disposal of the public lands, originating with the fathers of the republic, has been improved as experience pointed the way, and gradually adapted to the growth and settlement of our western states and territories. It has worked well in practice. Already thirteen states and seven territories have been carved out of these lands, and still more than a thousand millions of acres remain unsold. What a boundless prospect this presents to our country of future prosperity and power!

We have heretofore disposed of three hundred and sixty-three millions, eight hundred and sixty-two thousand, four hundred and sixty-four acres of the public lands.

While the public lands as a source of revenue are of great importance, their importance is far greater as furnishing homes for a hardy and independent race of honest and industrious citizens, who desire to subdue and cultivate the soil. They ought to be administered mainly with a view of promoting this wise and benevolent policy. In appropriating them for any other purpose, we ought to use even greater economy than if they had been converted into money, and the proceeds were already in the public treasury. To squander away this richest and noblest inheritance which any people have ever enjoyed upon objects of doubtful constitutionality or expediency, would be to violate one of the most important trusts ever committed to any people. While I do not deny to Congress the power, when acting bona fide as a proprietor, to give away portions of them for the purpose of increasing the value of the remainder, yet, considering the great temptation to abuse this power, we can not be too cautious in its exercise.

Actual settlers under existing laws are protected against other purchasers at the public sales, in their right of pre-emption, to the extent of a quarter-section, or one hundred and sixty acres of land. The remainder may then be disposed of at public or entered at private sale in unlimited quantities.

Speculation has of late years prevailed to a great extent in the public lands. The consequence has been that large portions of them have become the property of individuals and companies, and thus the price is greatly enhanced to those who desire to purchase for actual settlement. In order to limit the area of speculation as much as possible, the extinction of the Indian title and the extension of the public surveys ought only to keep pace with the tide of immigration.

If Congress should hereafter grant alternate sections to states or companies, as they have done heretofore, I recommend that the intermediate sections retained by the government should be subject to pre-emption by actual settlers.

It ought ever to be our cardinal policy to reserve the public lands as much as may be for actual settlers, and this at moderate prices. Wo

shall thus not only best promote the prosperity of the new states and territories, and the power of the Union, but shall secure homes for our posterity for many generations.

The extension of our limits has brought within our jurisdiction many additional and populous tribes of Indians, a large proportion of which are wild, untractable, and difficult to control. Predatory and warlike in their disposition and habits, it is impossible altogether to restrain them from committing aggressions on each other, as well as upon our frontier citi zens and those emigrating to our distant states and territories. Hence expensive military expeditions are frequently necessary to overawe and chastise the more lawless and hostile.

The present system of making them valuable presents to influence them to remain at peace has proved ineffectual. It is believed to be the better policy to colonize them in suitable localities, where they can receive the rudiments of education and be gradually induced to adopt habits of industry. So far as the experiment has been tried, it has worked well in practice, and it will doubtless prove to be less expensive than the present system. The whole number of Indians within our territorial limits is believed to be, from the best data in the interior department, about three hundred and twenty-five thousand.

The tribes of Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Creeks, settled in the territory set apart for them west of Arkansas, are rapidly improving in education and all the arts of civilization and self-government; and we may indulge the agreeable anticipation that at no very distant day they will be incorporated into the Union as one of the sovereign states.

It will be seen from the report of the postmaster-general that the postoffice department still continues to depend on the treasury, as it has been compelled to do for several years past, for an important portion of the means of sustaining and extending its operations. Their rapid growth and expansion are shown by a decennial statement of the number of postoffices, and the length of the roads, commencing with the year 1827. In that year there were 7,000 postoffices; in 1837, 11,777; in 1847, 15,146; and in 1857 they number 26,586. In this year 1,725 postoffices have been established, and 704 discontinued, leaving a net increase of 1,021. The postmasters of 368 offices are appointed by the president.

The length of postroads in 1827 was 105,336 miles; in 1837, 141,242 miles; in 1847, 153,818 miles; and in the year 1857 there are 242,601 miles of postroad, including 22,530 miles of railroad, on which the mails are transported.

The expenditures of the department for the fiscal year ending on the 30th of June, 1857, as adjusted by the auditor, amounted to eleven millions, five hundred and seven thousand, six hundred and seventy dollars.

To defray these expenditures there was to the credit of the department on the 1st of July, 1856, the sum of seven hundred and eighty-nine thousand, five hundred and ninety-nine dollars; the gross revenue of the year, including the annual allowances for the transportation of free mail matter, produced eight millions, fifty-three thousand, nine hundred and fifty-one dollars; and the remainder was supplied by the appropriation from the treasury of two millions, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, granted by the act of Congress approved August 18, 1856, and by the appropriation of six hundred and sixty-six thousand, eight hundred and eighty-three dollars made by the act of March 3, 1857, leaving two hundred and fiftytwo thousand, seven hundred and sixty-three dollars to be carried to the

credit of the department in the accounts of the current year. I commend to your consideration the report of the department in relation to the estab lishment of the overland mail route from the Mississippi river to San Francisco, California. The road was selected with my full concurrence, as the one, in my judgment, best calculated to attain the important object contemplated by Congress.

The late disastrous monetary revulsion may have one good effect should it cause both the government and the people to return to the practice of a wise and judicious economy in both public and private expenditures.

An overflowing treasury has led to habits of prodigality and extravagance in our legislation. It has induced Congress to make large appropriations to objects for which they never would have provided had it been necessary to raise the amount of revenue required to meet them by increased taxation or by loans. We are now compelled to pause in our career, and to scrutinize our expenditure with the utmost vigilance; and, in performing this duty, I pledge my co-operation to the extent of my constitutional competency.

It ought to be observed at the same time that true public economy does not consist in withholding the means necessary to accomplish important national objects intrusted to us by the constitution, and especially such as may be necessary for the common defence. In the present crisis of the country it is our duty to confine our appropriations to objects of this character, unless in cases where justice to individuals may demand a different course. In all cases care ought to be taken that the money granted by Congress shall be faithfully and economically applied.

Under the federal constitution, "every bill which shall have passed the house of representatives and the senate, shall, before it becomes a law," be approved and signed by the president; and, if not approved, "he shall return it with his objections to that house in which it originated." In order to perform this high and responsible duty, sufficient time must be allowed the president to read and examine every bill presented to him for approval. Unless this be afforded, the constitution becomes a dead letter in this particular; and even worse, it becomes a means of deception. Our constituents, seeing the president's approval and signature attached to each act of Congress, are induced to believe that he has actually performed this duty, when in truth nothing is, in many cases, more unfounded.

From the practice of Congress, such an examination of each bill as the constitution requires, has been rendered impossible. The most important business of each session is generally crowded into its last hours; and the alternative presented to the president is either to violate the constitutional duty which he owes to the people, and approve bills which, for want of time, it is impossible he should have examined, or, by his refusal to do this, subject the country and individuals to great loss and inconvenience.

Besides, a practice has grown up of late years to legislate in appropriation bills, at the last hours of the session, on new and important subjects. This practice constrains the president either to suffer measures to become law which he does not approve, or to incur the risk of stopping the wheels of the government by vetoing an appropriation bill. Formerly, such bills were confined to specific appropriations for carrying into effect existing laws and the well-established policy of the country, and little time was then required by the president for their examination.