The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-11 00:00:00

THE PRESIDE S'T'S MESSAGE.

[The following is the concluding- portion of the Message,
which, owing to tho late hour of its arrival, we were unable
to publish in our first edition yesterday] :
The Thirty-fifth Congress terminated on the 3d of March,
1859, without having passed the " act making appropria-
tions for the service of the Post Office Department during
the fiscal year ending June 30, 1850." This act also con-
tained an appropriation "to supply deficiencies in the re-
venue of . the Post Office Department foi- the year
ending the 30th of June, 1859." I believe this is the
first instance since the formation of the Federal Govern-
ment, now more than 70 years age, when any Congress went
out of existence without having passed all the general ap -
propriation bills necessary to carry on the Government
until the regular period for the meeting of a new Congress.
This event imposed on the Executive a grave responsibility.
It presented a choice of evils.
Had this omission of duty occurred at the first session of
the last Congress, the remedy would have been plain. I
might then have instantly recalled them to complete their
work—and this without expense to the Government. But
on the 4th of March last there were 15 of the 33 States which
had not elected any representatives to the present Congress.
Had Congress been called together immediately, these States
would have been virtually disfranchised. If an intermediate
period had been selected, several of the States would have
been compelled to hold extra sessions of their Legislatures,
at great inconvenience and expense, to provide for elections
at an earlier day than that previously fixed by law. In the
regular course, ten of these States would not elect until
after the beginning of August, and five of these ten not
until October and November.
On the other hand, when I came to examine carefully
the conditon of the Post-office Department, I did not meet
as many or as great difficulties as I had apprehended.
Had the bill which failed been confined to appropriations
far the fiscal year ending on the 30th June next, there
would have been no reason of pressing importance for the
call of an extra session. Nothing would become due on
contracts (those with railroad companies only excepted) for
carrying the mail for the first quaff ter of the present fiscal
year, commencing on the Ist of July until the Ist of De-
cember—less than one week before the meeting of the pre-
sent Congress. The reason is that the mail contractors for
this the current year did not complete their first quarter's
service until the 30th September last ; and by the terms of
their contracts 60 days more are allowed for the settlement
of their accounts before the Department could be called
upon for payment.
The great difficulty and the great hardship consisted in
the failure for the payment of the deficiency in the fiscal
year ending the 30th June, 1859. The Department had
entered into contracts, in obedience to existing laws, for the
service of that fiscal year, and the contractors were fairly
entitled to their compensation as it became due. The defi-
ciency, as stated in the bill, amounted to 3,838,728 dole., but
after a careful settlement of all these accounts, it has been
ascertained that it amounts to 4,296,000 dole. With the
scanty means at his command the Postmaster-General has
managed to pay that portion of this deficiency which oc-
curred in the flint two quarters of the past fiscal year, end-
ing on the 31st of December last. In the meantime the
contractors themselves, under these trying circumstances,
have behaved in a manner worthy of all commendation.
They had one resource in the midst of their embarrass-
ments. After the amount due to each of them had been
ascertained and finally settled according to law, this became
a specifisd debt of record against the United States, which
enabled them to borrow money on this unquestionable se-
curity. Still they were obliged to pay interest in conse-
quence of the default of Congress' and on every principle
of justice ought to receive interest from the Government.
This interest! should commence from the date when a war-
rant would have issued for the payment of the principal
had au appropriation been made for this purpose. Calcu-
lated up to Ist December, it will not exceed 96,660 dols.—
a sum not to be taken into account when contrasted with
the great difficulties and embarrassments of a public and
private character, both to the people and the States, which
would have resulted from convening and holding a special
session of Congress.
For these reasons I recommend the passage of a bill, at as
early a day as may be practicable, to provide for the pay-
ment of the amount, with interest, due to these last men-
tioned contractors, as well as to make the necessary appro-
priations for the service of the Post Office Department for
the current fiscal year.
The failure to pass the Post Office bills necessarily gives
birth to serious reflections. Congress, by refusing to pass
the general appropriation bills necessary to carry on the go-
vernment, may not only arrest its action, but might eN, en de-
stroy its existence. The anny,thena vy, the judiciary, in short
every 'department of government can no longer perform
their functions if Congress refuse the money necessary for
their support. If this failure should teach the country the
necessity of electing a full Congress in sufficient time to
enable the President to convene them in any emergency,
even immediately after the old Congress has expired, it will
have been productive of great good. In a time of sudden
and alarming danger, foreign or domestic, which all nations
must expect to encounter in their progress, the very salva-
tion of our institutions may be staked upon the assembling
of Congress without delay. If, under such circumstances,
the Presient should find himself in the condition in which
he was placed at the close of the last Congress, with nearly
half the States of the Union destitute of representatives,
the consequences might be disastrous. I, therefore, recom-
mend to Congress to carry into effect the provisions of the
constitution on this subject, and to pass a law appointing
some day previous to the 4th of March in each year of odd
number for the election of representatives throughout all
the States. They have already appointed a day for the
election of electors for President and Vice-President, and
this measure has been approved by the country.
I would again express a most decided opinion in favour of
the construction of the Pacific railroad, for the reasons stated
in my two last annual Messages. When I reflect upon what
would be the defenceless condition of our States and Territo-
ries west of the Rocky Mountains in case of a war with a naval
power sufficiently strong to interrupt all intercourse with
them by the routes across the Isthmus, I am still more con-
vinced than ever of the vast importance of this railroad. I
have never doubted the constitutional competency of Con-
gress to provide for its construction, but this exclusively
under the war-making power. Besides, the constitution
expressly requires, as an imperative duty, that "the United
States shall protect each of them (the States) against inva •
sion." lamat a loss to conceive how this protection can
be afforded to California and Oregon against such a naval
power by any other means. I repeat the opinion contained
in my last annual Message, that it would be inexpedient
for the government to undertake this great work by agents
of its own appointment and under its direct and exclusive
control. This would increase the patronage of the Execu-
tive to a dangerous extent, and would foster a system of
jobbing and corruption which no vigilance on the part of
federal officials could prevent. The construction of this
road ought, therefore, to be entrusted to incorporated com-
panies, or other agencies, who would exercise that active
and vigilant supervision over it which can be inspired alone
by a sense of corporate and individual interest. I venture
to assert that the additional cost of transporting troops,
munitions of war, and necessary supplies for the army
across the vast intervening plains to our possessions on the
Pacific coast would be greater in such a war than the whole
amount required to constrnct the road. And yet this re-
sort would, after all, be inadequate for their defence and
protection.
We have yet scarcely recovered from the habits of ex-
travagant expenditure, produced by our overflowing Trea-
sury, during several years prior to the commencement of
my Administration. The financial reverses which we have
since experienced onght to teach us all to scrutinise our ex-
penditures with the greatest vigilance, and to reduce them
to the lowest possible point. The Executive Departments
of the Government have devoted themselves to the accom-
plishment of this object with considerable success, as will
appear from their different reports and estimates. To these
I invite the scrutiny of Congress, for the purpose of re-
ducing them still lower, if this be practicable, consistent
with the great public interests of the country. In aid of
the policy of retrenchment I pledge myself to examine
closely the bills appropriating lands or money, so that if
any of these should inadvertently pass both Houses, as
must sometimes be the case, I may afford them an oppor-
tunity for reconsideration. At the same time we ought
never to forget that true public economy consists, not in
withholding the means necessary to accomplish important
national objects confided to us by the Constitution, but in
taking care that the money appropriated for these purposes
shall be faithfully and frugally expended.
It will appear from the report of the Secretary of the
Treasury that it is extremely doubtful, to say the least,
whether we shall be able to pass through the present and
the next fiscal year without providing additional revenue.
This can only be accomplished by strictly confining the ap-
propriations within the estimates of the different depart-
ments without making an allowance for any additional ex-
penditures which Congress may think proper in their dis-
cretion to authorise, and without providing for the redemp-
tion of any portion of the 20,000,000 dols. of Treasury notes
which have boon already issued. In the event of a deficiency,
which 1 consider probable, this ought never to be supplied
by a resort to additional loans. It would be a ruinous prac•
tice in the day of peace and prosperity to go on increasing
the national debt to meet the ordinary expenses of the go-
vernment. This policy would cripple our resources and
impair our credit in case the existence of war should render
it necessary to borrow money. Should such a deficiency
occur as I apprehend, I would recommend the necessary
revenue to be raised by an increase of our present duties on
imports. I need not repeat the opinions expressed in my
last annual message as to the best mode and manner of ac-
complishing this object, and shall now merely observe that
these have since undergone no change.
The report of the Secretary of the Treasury will explain
in detail the operations of that department of the govern
inent.

The roceipts into the Treasury from all sources during
the fiscal year ending 30th June, 18,59, including the loan
authorised by the act of 14th June, 1858, and the issues of
Treasury notes authorised by existing laws, were eighty-one
million six hundred and ninety-two thousand four hundred
and seventy-odd dollars and one cent (81,692,471 dole. lc.),
which sum, with the balance of six millions three hundred
and ninety-eight thousand three hundred and sixteen dol-
lars and ten cents (6,398,366 dols. 10c.) remaining in the
Treasury at the commencement of that fiscal year, made an
aggregate for the service of the year of eighty-eight million
ninety thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven dollars
and eleven cents (88,090,767 dols. lie.)
The public expenditure during the fiscal year ending
30th of June, 1859, amounted to eighty-three million
seven hundred and fifty-one thousand five hundred and
eleven dollars and fifty-seven cents (83,751,511 dols. 57c.)
Of this sum seventeen million fcur hundred and five thou-
sand two hundred and eighty five dollars and forty-four
cents. (17,405,285 dols. 44c.) were applied to the payment
of interest on the public debt and the redemption of the
issues of treasury notes. The expenditures for all the other
branches of the public service during that fiscal year were
therefore-sixty-six million three hundred and forty-six thou-
sand two hundred and twenty-six dollars and thirteen cents
(66,346,226 dols. 13c.)
The balance remaining in the treasury on the Ist July,
18,59, being the commencement of the present fiscal year,
was four million three hundred and thirty-vino thousand
two hundred and seventy-five dollars and fifty-four cents.
(4,339,275 dols. 54c.)
The receipts into the treasury during the first quarter of
the present fiscal year, commencing July 1, 1859, were
twenty million six hundred and eighteen thousand eight
hundred and sixty-five dollars and eighty-five cents
(20,618,865 dole. 85c.) Of this amount three million
eight hundred and twenty-one thousand three
hundred dollars (3,821,300 dollars) was received on
account of the loan and issue of treasury notes
—the amount of sixteen million seven hundred and
ninety-seven thousand five hundred and sixty Ave dollars
and eighty-five cents. (16,797,565 85c.) having beed re-
ceived during the quarter from the ordinary sources of pub-
lic revenue. The estimated receipts for the remaining three
quarters of the present fiscal year to 30th June, 1860, are
fifty million four hundred and twenty-six thousand four
hundred dollars (50,426,400 dole.) Of this amount it is
estimated that five million seven hundred and fifty-six
thousand four hundred dollars (5,756,400 dols.) will be re-
ceived for treasury notes which may be reissued under the
fifth section of the act of 3d March last, and one million one
hundred and seventy thousand dollars (1,170,000 dols.) on '
account (4* loan authorised by the act of June 14t 1858 1