The Northern Daily Times. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-16 00:00:00

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE. [The following appeared in our Second Edition, published Yesterday morning at six o'clock :—] llow citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives. The Constitution requires that the President shall, from time to time, not only recommend to the considera tion of Congress, such measures as he may judge necessary and expedient, but also that he shall give information to them of the state of the Union. To do this fully involves exposition of all matters in the actual conditba of the country, domestic :or or foreign, which essentially concern the general welfare. While performing his constitutional duty in this tespett, the President does not speak merely to express tiersonal convictions, but as the executive minister of the 'government, enabled by his position, and called by his 'official obligations, to scan with an impartial eye the interests of the whole, and of every part of the United Of the condition of the domestic interests of the Union, its agriculture, mines, manufactures, navigation and commerce, it is necessary only to say that the internal prosperity of the country, its continuous and steady ad vancement in wealth and• population, and in private as well as public well being, attest the wisdom of our insti • tutlons, and the predominant spirit of intelligence and patriotism, which, notwithstanding occasional irregulari ties of opinion or action, resulting from popular freedom, hat distinguished and characterised the people of A therica. ' In'the brief interval between the termination of the last, and the commencement of the present session of Congress, the public mind has b'en occupied with the care of selecting, for another constitutional term, the President and the Vice President of the United States. The determination of the persons who are of right, or contingently, to preside over the administration of the government, is, under our system, committed to the States and the people. We appeal to them, by their voice, pronounced in the forms of law, to call whomsoever they will to the high post of Chief Magistrate. And thus it is that as the Senators represent the respective States of the Union, and the members of the House of Representatives the several constituencies of each State, so the President represents the aggregate population of the United States. Their election of him is the explicit and solemn act of the tole sovereign authority of the Union. It is impossibleto misapprehend the great principles, which, by their recent political action, the people of the United States have sanctioned and announced. They have asserted the constitutional equality of each and all of the States of the Union as States ; they have affirmed the constitutional equality of each and all of the citizens of the United States as citizens, whatever their religion, whatever their birth, or their residence ; they have maintained the inviolability of the constitu tional rights of the different sections of the Union ; and they have proclaimed their devoted and unalterable attachment to the Union and to the-constitution, as objects of interest superior to all subjects of local or sectional controversy, as the safeguard of the rights of all, as the spirit and essence of the liberty, peace, and greatness of the Republic. In doing this, they have, at the same time, emphatically condemned the. idea of organising in the United States mere geographical parties ; of marshalling in hostile array, towards each other, the different parts of the country, north or south, east or west. Schemes of this nature fraught with incalculable mischief, and which the considerate sense of the people has rejected, could have had countenance in no part of the country, had they not been disguised by suggestions plausible in appearance, acting upon an excited state of the public mind, induced by causes temporary in their character, and it is to be hoped transient in their influence. Perfect liberty of association for political objects, and the wildest scope of discussion, are the received and ordinary conditions of government in our country. Our institutions, framed in the spirit of confidence in the intelligence and integrity of the people, do not for bid citizens, either individually or associated, to attack, by writing, speech, or any other methods short of physical force, the constitution and the very existence of the Union. Under the shelter of this great liberty, and protected by the laws and usages of the government they assail, associations have been formed, in some of the States, of individuals, who, pretending to seek only to prevent the spread of the institution of slavery into the present or future inchoate States of the Union, are really inflamed with a desire to change the domestic institutions of existing States. To accomplish their objects, they dedicate themselves to the odious task of deprecating the government organisation which stands in their way, and of calumni ating with indiscriminate invective, not only the citizens of particular States, with those laws they find fault, but all others of their fellow citizens throughout the country, who- do not participate with them in their assaults upon the Constitution, framed and atlop..ed by our fathers, and claiming for the privileges it has secured, and the blessings it has conferred, the steady support and grateful reverence of their children. They seek an object which they well know to be a revolutionary one. They are perfectly aware that the change in the relative condition of the white and black races in the slaveholding States, which they would pro mote, is beyond their lawful authority ; that to them it is a foreign object ; that it cannot be effected by any peaceful instrumentality of theirs ; that for them, and the States of which they are citizens, the only path to its accomplishment is through burning cities, and ravaged fields, and slaughtered populations, and all there is most terrible in foreign, complicated with civil and servile war ; and that the first step in the attempt is the forcible disruption of a country embracing in its broad bosom a degree of liberty, and an amount of individual and public prosperity, to which there is no parallel in history, 'and substituting in its place hostile governments, driven at once and inevitably into mutual devastation and fratricidal carnage, transforming the now peaceful and felicitous brotherhood into a vast permanent camp of armed men like the rival monarchies of Europe and Asia. Well knowing that such, and such .only, are the means and the consequences of their plans and purposes, they endeavour to prepare the people of the United States for civil war by doing everything in their power to deprive the constitution and the laws of moral authority, and to under mine the fabric of the Union by appeals to passion and sectional prejudice, by indoctrinating its people with re ciprocal hatred, and by educating them to stand face to face as enemies, rather than shoulder to shoulder as frie.nds. it is by the agency of such unwarrantable interference, foreign and domestic, that the minds of many, otherwise good citizens, have been so inflamed into the passionate condemnation of the domestic institutions of the southern states, as at length to pass insensibly in almost equally pas. sionate hesti'ity to their fellow citizens of those states, and thus finally to fall into temporary fellowship with the avowed and active enemies of the constitution. Ardently attached to liberty in the abstract, they do not stop to consider prac tically how the objects they would obtain can be accom plished, nor to reflect that, even if the evil were so great as they deem it, they have no remedy to apply, aid that it can be only aggravated by their violence and unconstitutional action. A qtustion which is one of the most difficult of all the problems of social institution, poli'ical economy and states_ manship, they treat with unreasoning intemperance of thought and language. Extremes beget extremes. Violent attack from the north finds inevitable consequence in the growth of a spirit of angry defiance at the south. Thus in the progress of event's we had reached that consummation, which the voice of the people has now so pointedly rebuked of the attempt of a portion of the States, by a sectional organisation and movement, to usurp the control of the government of the United States. I confidently believe that the great body of those who in considerately took this fatal step, are sincerely attached to the constitution and the union. They would, upon deliberation, shrink with unaffected horror from any conscious act of disunion or civil war. But they have entered into a path which leads nowhere unless it be to civil war and disunion, and which hag no other possible outlet. They have proceeded thus far in that direction in conse quence of the successive stages of thEir progress having consisted of a series of secondary issues, each of which professed to be confined within constitutional and peaceful lirni;s, but which uttempted indirectly_ what few men were willing to do directly, that is, to act aggressively against the con stitution,' rights of nearly one-half of the thirty-one States. In the long series of acts of indirect aggression, the first was the streauous agita t i on , by citizens of the northern States, in Congress and out of it, of the question of negro emancipation in the southe rn S tates. . The second step in this path of evil consisted of acts of the people of the northern States, and in several instances of their governments, aimed to ,facilitate the escape of persons held to service in the southern States, and t o pre vent their extradition when reclaimed accordin g to law and in virtue of express provisions of the Constitution. T., promote this object legistative e nactments and oth er means were adopted to take away or defeat rights which the constitution solemnly gauranteed. in order to milli!) , the then existing act of Congress concerning the extraui tiop of fugitives from service, laws were enacted in many States, forbidding their officers, under the severest penalties, to participate in the execution of any act of Congress whatever. - _ _ Jn,this_way that ..ystem of harmonious co-operation be tween the authorities of the Uilited States 'and of the several States, for the maintenance of „their common, institutions, which existed in the e irly._years of the Republic, was de stroyed; conflicts of jurisdiction came to be frequent ; and Congress found itself to be conipelled, for the suppott of the Constitu ion, and the , indication of its power, to autharize the appointment of new officers charged withthe execution Of its acts, as it they and the officers bf the. States were the ministers respectiliely, of foreign governments in a state of mutual, hostility, rather ,tban fellow magistrates of . a dont nion country, peacefully subsisting under the protection of one well-cons'itutei Union. Thus here also, aggression was followed by reaction; and the attacks upon the Con stitution at this point did but serve to raise up new barriers for its defence and security. The third stage of this unhappy sectional controversy was in connection with the 'organisation of territorial goiernments, and the admission of new States • into the Union. When it was -proposel to admit the State of Maine, by separation of territory from that of Massa . - chusetts, and the State of Missouri formed a portion of the territory ceded by France to the Uni•ed States, repre sentatives in Congress objected to the admission of the latter, unless with conditions suited to particular views of public policy. The imposition of such a condition was successfully resisted. But, at the same period, the question was pre sented of imposing restrictions upon the residue of the territory ceded by France. That question was; for the time, disposed of by the adoption of a. ge)graphical line of limitation. In this connection it should not be forgot en that France, of her own accord resolved,' for considerations of the most far sighted sagacity, to ce le Louisiana to the United States, and that accession was accepted by the United States, the latter expressly engaged that " the inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the union of the United States, and admitted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the federal constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of citizens of the United States ; and in the meantime they shall be main tained in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and the religion which they profees"—that is to say, while it remains in a territorial condition, its inhabitants are mains tained and protected i❑ the free enjoyment of their liberty and property, with a right then to pass into the condition of States on a footing of perfect equality with the original States.- - ' . The enactment which established restrictive geographical line, was acquiesced in rather than approved of by the States of the Union. It stood on the statute book, however, for a number of years ; and the people of the respective States acquiesced in the re-enactment of the principle as applied to the State• of Texas; end it was proposed to acquiesce in its further application to the territory acquired by the United States from. Mexico. But this position was suceessfully resisted by the repre sentatives from the northern States, who, regardless of the statute line, insisted upon applying restriction to die new territory generally, whether lying north or south of it, Thereby repealing it as a legislative compromise, and, on the part of the North, persistently violating the compact; if compact there was. _ _ Thereupon this enactment ceased to have binding virtue in any sense. whether as respects the North or the South ; and so in effect it was treated on the occasion of the admission of the State of California, and the organization of the Territories of New Mexico, Utah, and Washington. Such was the state of this question, when ' the time arrived for the organization of the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. In the progress of constitutional inquiry and reflection, it had now at length come to be seen elearly that Congress does not possess constitutional power to impose restrictions of this character up3n any present or future State of the Union. In a long series of decisions, on the fullest argument, and after the most deliberate oonsidera tion, the Supreme Court of the United States had finally determined this point, in every form under which the question could arise, whether as affecting public or private rights—in question of the public domain, of religion, of navigation, and of servitude. The several States of the Union are, by force of the Constitution, co-equal in domestic legislative power. Congress cannot change a law of domestic relation in the State of Maine, no more can it in the State of Missouri. Any statute which proposes to do this is a mere nullity— it takes aivay no right, it confers none. If it remains on the statute book unrepealed, it remains there only as a monument of error, and a beacon of warning to the legis lator and the statesmen. To repeal it will be only to remove imperfection from the statutes, without affecting either in the sense of permission or of prohibition, the action of the States, or of thnir citizens. _ _ Still, when the nominal restriction of this nature, already a dead letter in law, was in terms repealed by the last Congress, in a clause of the act organising the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska, that repeal was made the .occa sion of a wide-spread and dangerous agitation. It was alleged that the original enactment being a compact of perpetual moral obligation, its repeal consti tuted, an odious breach of faith. _ _ An art of Congress, while it remains unrepealed, more especially if it be constitutionally valid iu the judgment of those public functionaries whose duty it is to pronounce on that point, is undoubtedly binding on the conscience of each good citizen of the Republic. - But in what sense can it be asserted that the enactment in question was invested with perpetuity and entitled to the respect of a solemn compact ? Between-whom was the compact ? No distinct contending powers of the government, no separate sections of the Union, treating as such, entered into treaty stipula tions on the subject. It was a mere clause of an act of Congress, and like any other controverted matter of legislation, received its final shape and was passed by cotnpromise of the conflicting opinions or sentiments of the members of Congress. But if it had moral authority over men's consciences, to wham did this authority attach? Not to those of the North, who had repeatedly, refused to confirm it by extension, and who had zealously striven to establish other and in. compatible regulations upon the subject. And if, as it thus appears, the supposed compact had no obligatory force as to the North, of courze it could not have had any as to the South, for all such compacts must be mutual and of reciprocal obligation. It has not unfrequently happened that lawgivers, with undue estimation of the value of the law they give, or in the view of imparting to it peculiar strength, make it per petual in terms; but they cannot, thus bind the con , cience, the judgment, and the will of those who may succeed them, invested with similar responsibilities, and clothed with equal authority. More careful investigation may prove the law to be unsound in principle. Experience may show it to be imperfect in detail and impracticable in execution. And then both reason and right combine not merely to justify but to require its repeal. The Constitution, supreme as it is over all the depart ments of the government, legislative, executive, and judicial, is open to amendment by its very terms ; and Congress or the States may, in_ their discretion, propose amendment to it, solemn compact though it in truth is between the sovereign States of the Union. In the present instance, a political enactment, which had ceased to have legal power or authority of any kind, was repealed. The position assumed, that Congress had no moral right to• enact such repeal, was strange enough, and sin gularly so in view of the fact that the argument came from those who openly refused obedience to existing laws of the land, having the same popular designation and quality as compromise acts—nay, more, who unequivocally disregarded andcondemned the most positive and obligatory injunctions of the Constitution itself, and sought, by every means within their reach, to deprive a portion of their fellow.citizens of the equal enjoyment of those rights and privileges guaranteed alike to all by the fundamental cJm pact of our Union. This argument against the repeal of the statute line in question, was accompanied by another of congenial cha racter, and equally with the former destitute of founda tion in reason and truth. It was imputed that the mea sure originated in the conception of extending the limits of slave labour beyond those previously assigned to it, and that such was its natural as well as intended effect ; and these baseless assumptions were made, in the northern States, the ground of unceasing assault upon constitu tional right. The repeal'in terms of a statue, which was already ob solete, and also null for unconstitutionality, could have no influence to obstruct or to promote the propagation of conflicting views of political or social institution. When the act organising the territories of Kansas and Nebraska was passed, the inherent effect upon that portion of the put lie domain thus opened to legal settlement was to admit settlers from all the States of the Union alike, each with his convictions of public policy and private interest, there to found in their discretion, sutject to such limita tions as the Constitution and acts of Congress might pre scribe, new States, hereafter to be admitted into the Union. It wes a free field, open alike to all, whether the statute line of assumed restriction were repealed or not. That repeal did not open to free competition of the diverse opinions and domestic institutions a field, which, without such repeal, would have been closed against them ; it found that field of competition already opened, in fact and in law. All the repeal did was to relieve the statute book of an objectionable enactment, unconstitutional in effect, and injurious in terms to a large portion of the States. Is it the fact, that, in all the unsettled regions of the United States, if emigration be left free to act in this re spect for itself, without legal prohibitions on either side, slave labour will spontaneously go everywhere, in prefer ence to free labour? It is the fact that the peculiar domestic institutions of the Southern States possess rela tively so much of vigour, that, wheresoever an avenue is freely open to all the world, they will penetrate to the exclusion of those of the Northern States. It is the fact that the former enjoy, compared with the latter, such irresistibly superior vitality, independent of climate, soil, and all other accidental circumstances, so as to be abl e to produce the supposed result, in spite of the assumed moral and natural obstacles to its accomplish ment, and of the more numerous population of the Northern States? "The argument of those who alvocate the enactment Of new laws of restriction, and condemn the repeal of old oues, in effect avers that. their particular views of govern ment have no self-extending or self-sustaining power of their own, and will go nowhere unless forced by act of Congress. And if Congress , do but pause for a moment in the policy of stern coercion ; if - it venture to try the experiment of leaving men to judge for themselves what institutions will best suit them ; if it be not strained up to perpetnal legislative exertion on this point; if Congress proceed ,thus to act in the very spirit of liberty, it is at once charged with aiming to extend slave labour into all the new, Territories of the United States, . • Of course, these imputations on the intentions of Con gress in this respect, conceived as they were in prejudice, and disseminated in passion, are utterly destitute of any justification in the nature of thing's . , and contrary to all the fundamental 'clOctritieg and, kinclplek of civil' liberty and self-government. While, therefore, in general, the people of the Northern States have never at any time arrogated for the federal government the power to interfere directly with the domestic condition of persons in the Southern States, but on the contrary have disavowvl all- such intentions, and have shrunk from conspicuous affiliation with those, few who pursue their fanatical objects avowedly through the contemplated means of revolutionary. change of the government, and with acceptance of the necessary conse quences—a civil and servile war—yet many - citizens have suffered themselves to be drawn into one vanescent poli tical issue of agitation after another, appertainlng to the same set of opinions, and which subsided as rapidly as they arose when it came to be seen, as It uniformly did, that they were incompatible with the compacts of the Constitution and the existence of the Union. Thus, when the acts of some, of the States to nullify the existing extradition law imposed, upon Congress the duty of passing a new one, the country was invited by agitators to enter into party organisation for its repeal ; but that agitation speedily ceased by reason of the impracticability of its object - So, when'the statute restrictions upon the institutions of new' States, by a geographical line, had been repealed, the country was urged to demand its re storation, and that project also died almost with its birth. Then followed the cry of alarm from the North against imputed Southern/ encroachments ; which cry sprang in reality from the spirit of revolutionary attack on the domestic institutions of the South, and, after a troubled existence of a few mouths, has been rebuked by the voice of a . patriotic people. • Of this lag. agitation, one lamentable feature was, that it Was carried on at the immediate expense of the peace and happiness of the Territory of Kansas. That was made the battlefield; not so much of opposing • factions or in terests within itself, as of the conflicting passions of the Whole people of the United States. Revolutionary disorder in Kansas had its origin in projects of interven tion, deliberately arranged by certain members of that Congress; which enacted the law for the organisation of the Territory. And when propagandist colonisation of Kansas had thus been undertaken in one section of the Union, for the systematic promotion of its peculiar views of policy, there ensued, as a matter of course, a counter action with opposite views; in other sections of the Union. In consequence of these and other incidents, many acts of disorder it is undeniable, have been perpetrated in Kansas, to the-occasional interruption, rather than the permanent suspension of regular government. Aggressive and most reprehensible disturbances into the territory were undertaken, both in the North and the South, and entered on its northern border by way of lowa, 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 of the territory have been extravagantly exaggerated for the purposes of political agitation else where, " The nnmber and gravity of the acts of violence have been magnified partly by statements entirely untrue, and partly by reiterated accounts of the same rumours 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 politi cal consequence. Imputed irregularities in the elections had in Kansas, like occasional irregularities of the same desci iption in the states, were beyond the sphere of the action of the Executive. But incidents of actual violence or of organised 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 employment o for the attainment of the end, namely, the the military force of the United The withdrawal of that force from its proper duty of defending the country against foreign foes or the sayagelof 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 atta'n ment 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 officers on duty there, tran quillity 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 tranquility in that territory furnishes the means of observin , calmly, and appreciating at their just value, the events which have occurred there, and the discussions of which the govern ment of the territory has been the subject. e perceive that controversy concerning its future dometic institutions was inevitable—that no human pru dence, no form of legislation, no wisdom on the part of the Congress could have prevented this. 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 sove reignty which underlies our government. It could not have legislated otherwise without doing violence to another great principle of our institutions, the imperscriptible 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 contra dicted by the fact that none have occurred in the former. These 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 inter ference wherever it has exhibited itself, by acts of insur rectionary character, or of obstruction to processes 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 rumours 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 Territo ries 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 charge a of usurpation. and of violation of the clearest rights of the people of the United States. Unwise laws, equally with irregularities at elections are, in periods of great excitement , the occasional inci dents of even the freest and best political institutions. But all experience demonstrates that in a country like ours, where the right of seliconstitution exists in its coin pletest form, the attempt to remedy unwise legislation by a resort to revolution, is totally out of place ; i nasmuc h as existing legal institutions afford-' more prompt and effi cacious means for the redress of wrong. I confidently trust that now, when the peaceful condi tion of Kans.'s affords opportunity . for calm reflection and wise legislation, either the legislative assembly of the ter ritory, or Congress, will see that no act shall remain on its statute book violative of the provisions of the Consti— tution, or subversive of the great objects for which that, was crdained 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 THE NORTHERN TIMES.-LIVERPOOL, TUESDAY. }or; wits N. and in the documents communicated with from the Departmentspf State and War. 3 the report of the Secretary of the Treasury cerning the financial condi filar informitiolV - „ t i ion of the_government, and ,the various branches of the public seriice connected with the Treasury Department. During the last fiscal year the receipts from , customs were, for the first time, more than 64,000;000 'dols, and from all sources, 73,918,141 dols; which, with the balance on hand up to the Ist 'of July, 1855; made the total resources of the year to amount to 92,850,117 dols. The expenditures, including 3,000,000 dols in execution of the treaty with: Mexico,. and .excluding sums paid on account of the public debt, amounted to 60,172,401 dols; and, including the latter, to 72,948,792 dols, the payment ,on this account having amounted. to 12,776,390 do..s. • On the 4th of Mara, 1853, the amount of the public debt was sixty-nine million one , htmdred - and twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven dollars. There was a subsequent increase of two million seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the debt of Texas—making a total of seven' y-one million eight hundred and seventy nine thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven dollars. Of this sum of forty-five millions five hundred and twenty-five thousand three hundred and nineteen dollars, including premium, has beeitidischarged, reducing the old debt to thirty million seven hundred and thirty-seven thousand one hundred and twenty-nine dollars ; all which public service, but being not yet due, and only44theniable at the option of the holder, cannot be pressed to payment by the government. On examining the expenditures of the last five years, it will he seen that the average, 'deducting payments on account of the public debt and ten millions paid by treaty to Mexico, has been but about forty-s It is believed that, under an ecooomii zht million dollars the Government, the average-expenditur five bears will notf,exceeil:thit sum, unle a extraor dina - iy occasion for its increase should occur. The acts granting bounty lands will soon' have been executed, while the extensien, 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 nut 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 or great and general interest ; it being essential to industrial enterprise and the public prosperity, as well as the dictates 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 legis lation 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 out-doing 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 per sons 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 infor mation 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 mental resources. Legislation has been recommended by me ou previous occasions to cure defects in the existing organisation, and to increase the efficiency of the army, and further obser vation has but served'to confirm me in the views then ex pressed, and to enforce on my mind the conviction that such measures are not only proper but necessary. I have, in, in addition, to invite the attention of Congress to a change of policy in the distribution of troops, and to the necessity of providrng 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 vigour. As it is comparatively small, it is more import ant 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 tho reliability of its ordnance, and in the capacity of its ships. In all these various qualities the navy has male great progress within the last few years. The execution of the law of Congress, of February 28th, 1855, " to promote the ef f iciency of the navy," has beers attended bv the most advantageous results. The law for promoting discipline among the men is found convenient and salutary. The system of grantiyg an honourable discharge to faith ful seamen on t went, and permitting them to re-enlist after a p _ _ absence of a few months, without cessation of pay, is highly beneficial in its influence. The apprentice system recently adopted is evidently destined to inc,)rporate 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 suggestion of the Secretary of the Navy, in regard to further improvement in that branch of the service, I commend to your favourable action. The new frigates ordered by Congress are now afloat, two of them in active service. Tiny are superior models of naval architecture, an.l with their formidable battery add largely to public strength are security. I concur in the views expressed by the'S.cretary of the Department in favour 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 nine million two hundred and twenty seven thousand eight hundred and seveniy-eight acres ; for which has been received the sum of eight millions eight hundred and twenty-one thousand four hundred and fourteen dollars. During the same period there have been located with military scrip and land warrants, and for other purposes, thirty million, one hundred thousand two hundred and thirty acres, thus making a total aggregate of thirty-nine million three hundred and twenty-eight thousand one hundred and eight acres . On the 30th of September last, surveys had been made of 16,873,699 acres, a large portion of which is ready for mar ket. The suggestions in this report in regard to the complicaz tion and progressive expansion of the business of the difp. ferent bureaux of the department ; to the pension system ; to the colonization of Indian tribes, and the recommends: lions in relation to various improvements in the District of Columbia, are especially commended to your consideration. The report of the postm ister general presents fully the condition cf that dep trtment of the government. Its expenditures for the last fiscal year, were ten millions four hundred and seven thousand eight hundred and sixtyseight dollars ; and its gross receipts seven million six hundred and twenty thousand and eight hundred and one dollars —mak ing an excess of expenditure over receipts of two million seven hundred and eighty-seven thousand and forty-six dollars. The deficiency of this department is thus seven hundre d and forty four thousand dollars greater than for the year ending June 30, 1853. Of this deficiency, three hundred and thirty thousand dollars is to be attributed to the addii tional compensation allowed postmasters by the act of Congress of June 22, 1854. The mail facdities in every part of the country have been very much increased in that period, and the large addition of railroad service, amounting to seven thousand nine hundred and eight miles, has added largely to the cost of transportation. The inconsiderable augmentation in the income of the post office department under the reduced rates of postage, and its increasing expenditures, must, for tha present, make it dependent to some extent upon the treasury for support. The recommendations cif the Postmaster General, in relation to the abolition of the franking privilege, and his views on the establishment of rnail 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 favourable consideration the suggestions of that officer in relation to new contracts for mail transportation upon that route, and also upon the Tehuantapec and Nica ragua routes. • The Unite.l States continue in the enjoyment of amicable relations with all foreign powers. • When my last annual message was transmitted to Con gress, 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 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, itcross the isthmus of Panama, wb within the limits of Central Amer subsequen trol over territori C 0291011 0 by an a, mental ar or near t Tonal treaty, w.l vention will bavc The treaty between of the sth of June, 18 of doll ht'of Di Vell lIT is mainty atttibut Provision comm a to d common rig States and the British Prcivit This commission has beeti em refroro, mmerce treaty., for a part of two sessions, but without much progress in ac-ompliihing 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 man} These diffic . _. . The efforts perseveringly prosecuted since the commence ment of my administration, to relieve our trade to the Baltic from the exaction of sound dues by Denmark; hive not yet been attended with success. Other governments have also sought to obtain a like relief to their commerce, and Denmark was then induced to propose an arrangement to all - the European powers inter ested in the subject; and the manner in which her proposis tion was received, warranting her to believe . that a satisfac tory arrangement with them could soon be concluded, she made a strong appeal to thi4 government for temporary suspension - Of definite action on its part, in consideration of the embarrassment which might result to European nego ciations by an immediate adjustment of the question with the United States. This request has been acceded to, upon the condition that the sums co:lected after the 16'1 of .Tunelast, ani until the 16.11 of June next, fropa 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 arranzement between Denmark and the maritime Powers of t triope,on the subject, will soon. be concluded, and that the pending negOcittion with; the United States may then be resumed and tertninated in a satisfactory manner. . With Spain' no new difficulties bave arisen, nor has much progress been made in the adjustment of pending NTociations entered into for the purpose of relieving our commercial intercourse with the - Island of Cuba of some of its burdens, and provid . -rieedv settlement g for the mor of local disputes . grom yet been attended wi.t ng out of that any result 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, xcept articles c the other, that neutral property of belligerents should fie exempt from condemnation, with thU exception of contraband articles: These were not presented as new rules of international law ; having been generally claimed by nentra's, though not always admitted by belligerents. One of the parties to the war—Russia—as well as several neutral powers, promptly acceded, to these proposit: And the two other principal belligerents, Great Britain France, having consented to observe ihem for ti Occasion, a fa - iourable opportunity seemed to to. presented for obtaining a general recognition of them both in Europe and AmFrica. But Great Britain and France, in, common with most of the States of Europe, white forbearing 'to reject, did not affirmatively act upon the overtures of the United States. While the question was in this position, the represents. aent had sub sideration of maritime powors, and adding thereto the following propositions :—" Privateering is aad remains abolished," and " blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective; that is tosiy, maintained really, to prevent access to the coast to the declaration thus compsed which had already been proposed b le enemy;" and r points. two of . . Government has peen invittd to acee le by all the powers represented at Paris except Gre tt Britain and Turkey: To the last of the two adoitional propositions--that in relation to blockades—there cmn certainly b 3 no objection. It is merely the definition of what shall constitute the effectual investment of a blockaied place, a definition for which this government has always contended, claiming indemnity for losses where a practical violation of the rule thus defined has been injurious to oar commerce. As to the remaining article of the declaration of the conference, of Paris, " that privateeriug is and remains abolished"—l certainly cannot ascribe to the powers represented in the conference of Paris, any bnt liberal and philanthropic views in the a tempt to change the unquestionable rule of mari time law in rsgard to privateering. Their proposition was doubtless intended to imply appro val of the principle that private property upon the ocean, although it might belong to the citizens of a belligerent state, should be exempted from capture : and bad the pro position been so framed as to give full effect to the principle, it would have received my ready assent on behalf of the United Slates. But the measure proposed is inadequate to that purpose. It is true that if adopted, private property upon the ocean would be withdrawn from one mode of plunder, but left exposed, meanwhile, to another mode, which could be used with increased effectiveness. The aggressive capacity of great naval powers would be thereby augmented, while the defensive ability of others would be reduced. Though the surrender of the means of prosecuting hos tilities by employing privateers, as proposed by the confer ence of Paris, is mutual in terms, yet, in practical effect, it would be the relinquishment of a right of little value to one class of States, but of essential importance to another and a far larger class. It ought not to have been anticipated that a measure, so inadequate to the accomplishment of the proposed object, and so unequal in its operation, would receive the assent of all maritime powers. Private property would be still left to the depradations of the public armed cruisers. I have expressed a readiness on the part of this govern. ment, to accede to all the principles contained in the decla ration of the conference of Paris, provided that relating to the abandonment of privateering can be so amended as to effect the object for which, as is presumed, it was intended, the immunity of private property on the ocean from hostile capture. To effect this object, it is proposed to add to the declaration that " privateering is and remains abolished," the following amendment :—"And that the private property of subjects and citizens of a belligerent on the high seas, shall be exempt from seizure by the public armed vessels of . the other belligerent, except it be contraband." This amendment has been presented not only to the powers which hive asked our assent to the declaration to abolish privateeriog, but to all other maritime states. Thus far it has not been rejected by any, and is favourably enter tained by all which have made any communication in reply. Several of the governments, regarding with favour the pro. proposition of the United States, have delayed definite action upon it, only for the purpose of ccnsulting with others, parties to the conference of Paris. I have the satisfaction of stating, hoymver, that the Em peror of Russia has entirely and explicitly approved of that modification, and will co-operate in endeavouring to obtain the assent of other powers ;. and that assurance s in of a simi lar purport have been received rel tion of the Eiiperor of the French. The present aspect of this important subject allows us to cherish the hope that a principle so h umane i n i ts character, so just and equal in its operation, so essential to the pros perity of commercial nations, an d so consonant to the senti ments of this enlightened period of th e wor ld, w ill comman d the approbation of all maritime powers, and thus be incor porated into the cod e o f i n t ernat i ona l l aw. 11Iy views on the suTet are more fully set forth in the reply of the Secretary of State, a copy of - which is herewith transmitted, to the communications on the subject made to this government, especially to the communication of France. The government of the United States has at all times regarded with friendly interest the other States of America, formerly, like this county, European colonies, and dependent members of the great family of nations But the unsettled condition of some of them, distracted disposi now in by frequent revolutions, and thus incapable of regular ant -firm internal administration, - has tended to embsrras. occasionally our public intercourse, by reason of wrong . which our citizens suffer at their hands, and whiehlbef ,dol understand sous ; and althongl! ey have no t as a r eceived the consideration „which this govern ment ` h - While reparation for past inju ries has bel ' l ' 4 . Th e p olitical conditio. -itch as to demani - T ,hall republic o desire y•urged upon its to expec on the r condi The pretension n or con aitted to th rt 'of the Un' xes. of our citizens ble to the continued friendly in the a thigll ons w itb that State. ". nrincip9l of the present year, rendered it iropur aiptorc orth a!:j.":tuet,,,iii, nestm eeu th, T was ac short tim ti of the tinilei pO Wel. B ex i s ting vouti ible govern ai e But he r e©M ff i iro litical e bea m ' iWe) an nvolced in ti uncertainty confusion or tieo h the - governm ent ; but, Wits Qt:' ntormation possessed, it was not Possib le t tlig i was the government de facto ;- ad, O I s, I have refused to receive e i t her. eel _0 moat serious uature are pending 198tscola tes and the republic of New Granad 3 ' to .at republic undertook, a year sinc e 'b a t —0 tonnage duties on foreign vessels in tier P rts ' the purpose was resisted by this gOvernment as beAingg trary to . existing treaty stipulation with the Uniteu n - i t i a , ad and to rights conferred by charter on the Panama it ta ° it Company, .1111 d Ras accordingly relinquished at that t A i i — a i'pl being admitted that our vessels were entitled to:b e ,A -e .pill' from tonnage duty in the free ports of Panama an impede cide v .epresentatives from two Conte urther development iverunient of th wall. the v P s4 But the purpose has been recently revived, an olt of New Granada, by the enactment of a law to subject ,i.tou: visiting her ports to the tonnage duty of forty cents P:p l 0 1° and, although the law has not been put in,force, J' e be right to enforce it is still asserted, and may, at any acted on by the government of that republic , lote The Congress of New Granada has also enacte d ' l OlO during the last year, which levied a tax of more the n i the dollars On every pound of mail matter transported '515 of Isthmus. The sum thus required to be paid 0 0 , ( i o nsre the United States would be nearly two millions ei n ifscs annually, in addition to the large sum payable 14i'01 to the Panama railroad company. If the only eb•rcoold this exaction were the exorbitancy of its amoun t, not " be submitted to by the United - Stites. The inquisitiono f • t , however, would obviottakt vene'our treaty with New Granada, and infrin;:e tee,op tract of , that republic with the Panama Railroad Co to The law providing for this tax was, by its terms , u t cl er itiee effect on the firstuf Sept.,mber last, but the loCal on the Isthmus have been induced to suspend its el e ", o the and to await further instructions on the subject rf the 'government of the Republic. I am•not yet advisel o f determination of that governMent. If a measure so ` trea ty ordinary in its character, and so clearly contra*? tg ii i r osa Stipulations, and the contract rights of the Panama n' hoe id be Company, composed'mostly of American citivue• e:,,,tes in, it will be the duty of the United °'" retist its exec I re persisted IL - inv ite c" $11 „,0 Singly that occasion exists to -.,:, attention to a subject of still graver imp , rt ill c ur rel l ati / u°l with A the republic of New Granada. - 0a the ibth u t 3 . l Of pril last,, a riotous assemblage of the iabahitol-the Panama committed a violent and ontrageous attack 13n saa s of the railroad company, and the Pais egerli th of ions in or .near the same, involving the de: 00 ,01 Tens of the United States, the pila? °' e rlf of _l l egt .• the destruction destruction of a large amount P i -ailroaci company. I c atised fall, 111 00! vent to be made, and the Vs ° a rea isibilitY for vidiat °cc 5 Granada re t exce other per srveral cii attache - a to government o: torily that c :e respon; 3 t he th' d • Al of that govertunen t &s he , wrongs in question shoul d he Pi! ens of i should be made for the familie s of i tiz c fog with, fall indetlol"J therefore, demand perpretators of it ho were killed, ed. 00 4 ,Isthmus of Paranisi',,eiog persons and propertY. P.denti , u qL, re - rea serious consideration. Reccnt lit,' 00 h op n r_ p en t h ib en li s o io ,w t that the local authorities cannot be rel ie d isst p n en th e a o t f rti - - gdequ ate of s or Pr ° P t bs nis , or bl f a P p o o n r,, , i m o a, 0 fantVbipehretoictlitilt,o operty pillaged or d condition of, ti er outra; , ,e3,_ without curity and pro 011 of per tate of P. avinz ken,cht by the S i eg 6 everi l m e i l- Zo e n n s 9 o o f fdotbllearCrs„iatty' s the Isthmus, ar:d it 11, becci" weal our Atlantic and Pacific r'sssessioll 'f our citiz?ns and a vast 010 nassing—to t h e sPcurity n tin n ai,ce of the Ptiv t 0 1 the goverome° y are c!q ich, an the ble for to 3 1, 0 0 a this quarter so imminent as bar my duty to station a part of our naval forces in the _ 5 Ol of an _Panama and A;pinwall, in order to protect the li t o the recurrence of se n : ll . l,es e ° i li of the citizmas of the United States in.botis, it would, in my judgmo t o d rtr and to p And,... to insure to them safe passage across tbe I s ", the he until,unwas Epo ntall e o v o naval force now in th se Por-trq. 'the action of the republic ' , G_d by otbersvise, 0 o, adequate arrangementshall hav ' e r blecen, made for 1 P O tectionso important and security of a line of inter-ocean cornnitgeofioll but t amportant at this time, not to the United Sato - AP to all' other maritime states both of ' lr°Pfl • e to withara" 41 es to be indifferent, the dar hp 01 America. f Meanwhile, negotiations have been instituted -Jos the indemnity special commission, to obtain from Now P p r r 00, 1 . 11 0 8 1 for injuries sustained by our eft" — ° re et' Isthmus, and satisfactory • prat in— r security for the gen- ' the United States. t oae alisl In addressing to you my last annual tnessag'er b ri e n grat a th e ie. seems o to me an appropriate one to express my c- w hich t he United States now possess and enjoy. To po_in t n Lt li of the various departments of the gorer"'Cifil °i t , of all the great branches of the public service , . s ad.,.. l ie military, in order to speak of the intelligent iaal4, h in u tegrity which pervades the whole, would be coan Y ' r and N timperfectly 6 a t the eeff eeffects o f administrative thato Nor would it suffice to say thatnetl:tenhedniatthit;eolign:fineetill'iialfssieltallicsls peace at home and abroad ; that its industrial tn.", o O l eo pn sperous; that the canvas of its mariners wh,lt,,,esteel,t sea ; and the plough of its husbandmen is marn b Zot; `;t. onward to the bloodless conquest of the con g ',;eob. s o meat, a f n r d om po t p h u e lo h u o s so st m ate o s f ar o e u s r p w ri e n s g te in rn g up, as coif ''''‘i tb P ied courageous not at t be seenh a t gt energy aeina etth oiti ba ll d re w p i u t b h l o ic ut of pa t s h si e ng wo t r b l r d o . of our people is makinZidoBi °nese- 1111' c • through hese rel od P er ,l l eo by experience of which, and thus only, n hattir°ll°6l6;s bilr" ; b ° iv into manhood. gli.e 1 Our forefathers ware trained to the wieb ni eolre e ter b ° ceived, and the courage which achieved ind e P,i e tberrr - de thusth the n circumstancesmade eapahle w o h f ic th h e seurerarotfuonndoefd tthheernr,epeullb).l,oew.osool, voiced on the next generation to consolidate P ar t be geo the revolution, to deliver the country entirelY ir ; n tiPe a l A 'rif fluerces of conflicting transatlantic partialities or", bit.„" ol which attached to our colonial and revol!tiealrolittetiv'rer: and to organise the practical operation of t he " A i 0 155 ; 0 and legal institutions of the Union. To ne , v i • nine $ ation, remains the not less noble ;ask of raa I° 0 0 1 extending the power of the United States. We have, at length, reached that stage °f ll ' t he Ir. er o I career, in which l the_daangers to be encoun tered ' Bil e ° btittit have tf r omr weter o hei rg n rei s et het t mo. o pt b hil e rene ms our ofea less e fore Europe.h re p g p tli n y e r einnloacntididoietnnisot .condition 0 f otb er Tad 0 0 „,, .. to America, and to plac • ourselves in the c iel a °h lm t:v o e vi e: lBBr d ekt"ti ! ir e lli:efil°ll : ll dignity of right by I. the side of the greatest en eifat ioreto• In our doarestic r t he , e , .to guard against the shock of the disconteu"'herek`b nd, t" obi () bitions, the interests and the exhuberant, p a - ot i 0, ,i o e, sometimes irregular impulses of opinion, or cl s i s elef il- the ,re the natural product of the present r_llllttieereprise of the s,lf.reliance and the restless spirit of o oti st t ° people of the United States • e t " fP re I shall prepare to surrender the Exectitly co o t i l e successor, and retire to private life with sen tiej derieg the found gratitude to the good Providence whicbr,,, 04,4, period of my administration has vouchsafed n i forelti country through many diffiCulties, doweetie:lolft'arniear'r and to enable me to contempl a te the spectee " r go 04 and respectful relations between ours and all 0 0 or der meats, and the establishment of consti tutional tranquillity throughout the Union. amount of property was )ur citizens resorted in g Atlantio and Pa Soon therea t num D FUANICLIN riSOCS' TION, 9, a la t s t t h w ei e r e o k fti ST. ANNE'S DISPENSARY EAO -- D O AND E" Aspd en t he WO ROSE BILL—New. patients entered ,OL;rel dr , ,wvnizdi—weßneilnigevs,edon!lrthoetair,sigion. )7 1 .: P' o , E. Watts, and Sec and • Treasurer. - Mr. Kirk. oseph.:Kitehelrillsq 00 Washington, December ,ers have been add,