The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-18 00:00:00

service, have established a claim to high consideration.
In ag ‘in commending this meaciure to the favourable
consideration of Congress, I would suggest that the
power of placing officers on the retinal list be limited to
one year. The practical op.-ration of the measure wou2
thus be tested, m:d if, aft,_.r the lapse (f years, there
should be occasion to renew the provision, it can be re-

produced with any improvements which experience may
indicate. The present organisation of the artillery into
regiments is liable to obvious objections. The service of
artillery is that of batteries, and an organisation of bat-
teries into a corps of artillery would be more consistent
with the nature of their duties. A large part of the troops
now called artillery are, and have been, on duty as in-
fantry—the distinction between the two arms being
merelynorninal. The nominal artillery in our service is
entirely disproportionate to the whole force, and greater
than the wants of the country demand. I therefore coin•
mend the discontinuance of a distinction which has no
foundation in either the arms used or the character of
the 'F er vice expected to be performed.
`` In connection with the propositton for the increase of
the army, I have presented these suggestions with regard
to certain measures of reform, ;s the complement of a
system which would produce the happiest results from a
given expenditure, and which, I hope, may attract the
early attention, and be deemed wol thy of the approval

of Congress.
" Tae repreeentation of the Secretary of the Navy,
be,ving reference to more nervAe provisions for the dis-
cipline and general improyeeient in the character of sea-
men, and ter the reorgae cation and gradual increase in
the olive-, I deem eminently worthy of your favourable
cocsideration. The principles which have controlled our
policy in relation tr, the permanent military force, by
sea and land, are re And, consistent with the theory of
our system, and should by no means be disregarded.
But, limiting thy force to the objects particularly set
forth in the preceding part of this Message, we should
not overlook t'ae present .magnitude and prospective ex-
tension of ore- commercial marine, nor fail to give due
_weight to tb.e fact that, besides the 2,000 miles of At-
lantic seaboard we have no ar a Pacific coast, stretching
from Mexiseo to the British possessions in the north,
teeming weith wealth and enterprise, and demanding the
constant 'presence of ships of war. The augmentation
of the v avy has not kept pace with the duties properly
,and Pr ofitably assigned to it in time of peace, and it is
"d'Jquate for the large field of its operations, not
mer ely in the present, but still more in the progres-
sly ely increasing exigencies of the wealth and commerce
rt(f the United States. I cordially approve of the pro-
posed apprentice system for our national vessels, recom-
mended by the Secretary of the Navy.
" The occurrence, during the last few months, of ma-
rine disasters of the most tragic nature, involving great
loss of human life, has produced intense emotions of
sympathy and sorrow throughout the country. It may
well be doubted whether all these calamitous events are
wholly attributable to the necessary and inevitable dan-
gers of thu sea. The merchants, mariners, and ship-
builders es. the United States, are, it is true, unsurpassed
in far-reaching enterprise, skill, intelligence, and courage
by, any %)thers in the world. But with the increasing
amount of our commercial tonnage in the aggregate, and
the Is Eger size and improved equipment of the ships
now 'constructed, a deficiency in the supply of reliable
seamen begins to be very seriously felt. The inconve-
nience may perhaps be met in part by due regula-
tie
u i
for the introduction into our merchant ships of in-
d'intured apprentices, which, while it would afford use-
fal and eligible occupation to numerous young men,
`would have a tendency to raise the character of seamen
as a class. And it is deserving of serious reflection
whether it may not be desirable to revise the existing
laws for the maintenance of discipline at sea, upon which
' the security of lite and property on the ocean must to
so great an extent depend. Although much attention
has already been given by Congress to the proper con-
struction and arrangement of steam-vessels and all pas-
senger-ships, still it is believed that the achievements of
science and mechanical skill in this direction have not
been ex:nausted. No good reason exists-for the marked
distinct ion which appears upon our statutes between the
laws for protecting life and property at sea and those for
protesting them on land. In most of the states severe
perrelties are provided to punish conductors of trains,
eresineers, and others, employed in the transportation of
parsons by railways, or by steam-boats on rivers. Why
a ould not the same principle be applied to acts of in-
embordination, cowardice, or other misconduct on the
part of masters or mariners, producing injury or death
to passengers on the high seas, beyond the jurisdiction
of any of the states, and where such delinquencies can
be reached only by the power of Congress? The whole
subject is earnestly recommended to your consideration.
"The report of the Postmaster General to which you
are referred for many interesting details in relation to
this important and rapidly-extending branch of the
public service, shows that the expenditure of the year
ending June 30, 1864, including $133,483 of balance
due to foreign offices, amounted to $8,710,907. The
gross receipts during the same period amounted, to
$6,955,586, exhibiting an expenditure over income of
$1,755,321, and a diminution of deficiency as compared
with the last year of $361,756. The increase of the
revenue of the department for the year ending June 30,
1345, over the preceding year was $970,399. No propor-
tionate increase, however, can he anticipated for the cur-
rent Year, in consequence of the act of Congress of June
23,1554, providing for increased compensation to all post-
. masters. From these statements it is apparent that the
post-office department, instead of defraying its expenses,
according to the design at the time of its creation, is
now, and under existing laws must continue to be, to no
small extent, a charge upon the general treasury. The
cost of mail transportation during the year ending June
30, 1854, exceeds all the cost of the preceding year by
$495,074. I again call your attention to the subject of
mail transportation by ocean steamers, and commend
the suggestions of the Postmaster-General to your early
attention.
" During the last fiscal year 11,070,935 acres of the
public lands hays been turveyed, and 8,190,017 acres
brought into market. The number of acres sold is
7,035,735, and the amount received therefore $9,285,533
The aggelgate amount of lands sold, located under mili-
tary scrip and land warrants, selected as swamp lands
by states and by locating under grants for roads, is up-
wards of 23,000,000 of acres. The increase of lands
sold over the previous year is about 6,000,000 of acres ;
and the sales during the first quarters of the current
fear present the extraordinary result of 5,500,000 sold,
exceeding by nearly 4,000,000 acres the sales of the cor-
respondeig quarters of the last year, thus increasing to
an extent unparalleled during any like period in our past
-history the amount of revenue provided from this source
for the Federal Treasury.
"The commendable policy of the Government, in re-
lation to setting apart a public ifrn oain for those who have
served their country in. times of war is illustrated by the
fact, that since 1790 no less than 3,000,000 of acres have
been applied to this object.
• "The suggestions which I submitted in my annual
•
'Message of last year, in reference to grants of land in
aid of the construction of railways, were less full and
explicit than the magnitude of the subject and subsequent
developments would seem to render proper and desirable.
Of the soundness of the principle then asserted with re-
gard to the limitation of the power of Congress I
entertain no doubt ; but in its application it is not
enough that the value of lands in a particular loca-
lity may be enhanced ; that, in fact, a larger amount
of money may probably be received in a given time
for alternate sections, than could have been rea-
lis ed for all the sections, without the impulse and
influence of the proposed improvements. A prudent
'proprietor looks beyond limited secticns-of his domain,
beyond present iesults, to the ultimate effect which a par
cular line of policy is likely to produce upon all his pos-
sesalons and interests. The government, which is trus-
tee in this matter for the people of the States, is bound
to take the same wise and comprehensive vie w, Prior
to and during the lasteeessien ii,f Congress, upwards of
30,000,000 of acres of land were withdrawn olipuc
elshr
sale with a view to applications for grants of f
of r
meter pending before Congress- A careful review of
the whole subject led me to direct that all such
ordersview so
be
• abrogated, and the lands restored to market ; and in-
structions were immediately given to that effect. The
applications at the last session contemplated the con-
struetion of more than 5000 miles of road, and grants to
the amount of nearly 20,000,000 of acres of the public
domain. 'Even admitting the right on the part of Con-
gress to be; unquestionable, is it quite clear that the pro-
posed gri.nts would be productive of good and not evil ?
The diffi rent projects are confined, for the present, to
11 state' of this Union and one territory. The reasons
' assigned for the grants show that it is proposed to put
the works speedily in process of construction. When
we reflect that since the commencement of the construc-
tion, of railways in the United States, stimulated as they
have been by the largedividends realised from the earlier
wo-rks over great thoroughfares, and between the most
irr ,portairt points of commerce and population, encouraged
Y state legislation, and pressed forward by the amaz-
it energy, of private enterprise, only 17,000 miles
batebeen completed in all the States in a quarter of a
,wor'eY—when we see the crippled condition of many
deerne,ol7otTmenced and prosecuted upon what were
when we
eebe sound principles and safe calculations ;
withdrawn tfirtemplate the enormous absorption of capital
• extravagant rates tel.he ordinary channels of business, the
tinue operations,
tohfeinterest at this moment paid to con-
but in character, at,dbainkrupteies nol; merely in money
doubted
inevitable effect upon finances
generally—ea,
matterttbted that the tendency is to run!
to excess in this
sebef sudden wealth expected to
cess by encouraging hoples I: it wise to augment this ex-
flow from magnificent
dePendent upon the ac
"usatedt which has produced
tion of Congress Does thrne
or checked ? Is it
such results need to be stint
7orks to private en •
not the better rule to leave all thexe•epen
terprise, regulated, and, when
tent, aided
',co-operation of states ?If constructed by • by the
most
effective
-
the stimulant end check go together, andPiruwate capital,
tart' restraint against speculative schemes arnadishe a "la'
gance. But it is manifest that with the
guards there is danger of goieg too fast and
ton
far•
ctive
" We may well pause before a proposition content Ia
ing a simultaneous inovemeet for the constfuctionOf
railroads, which, in extent, will ettilal, exclusive of the
Great Pacific Road and all its branches, nearly one-
third of the entire length of such works now completed,
ip the United States, and which cannot cost, with
eqiiipment, less than $150,000,000. The dangers likely
to result from con,;.,inations of in' erects of this character
can hardly be over-estimated. But, independently of
these coneideratione, where is the accurate knowledge,
the comprehensive intelligence, which shall discriminate
between the relative claims of these 28 proposed roads
in 11 states and one territory ? Where will you begin,
and where end ? If, to enable these companies to exe-
c ite their
of the proposed works, it is necessary that the aid
general government be primarily given, the policy
will present a a problem so comprehensive in its bearings,
and so
as to important to our political and social well-being,
claim, in anticipation, the severest analysis. En-
te
rtaining these views, I recur with statisfaction to the I