Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1851-12-10

same period excluding S2O, by ~, Paid
under an award Of the Auditor, in pursli-
ancc of resolution of the last Congress,
for mail service ON the Ohio and Mississippi
rivers in 1882 and 1888, and the amount
paid to the British post office for foreign
postages collected for and payable to that
Office amounted to 81, ,024 500 10; leaving
a balance of revenue over the proper ex-
penditure of the year of s703,299 80.
The receipts for postages during the
year, excluding the foreign postages col
lected for and payable to the British post
office. amounted to s6,345,747 Il, being
an Increase OF 1897 $40 10, lS.65-lO0 per
cent. over the like receipts for the preced-
ing year.
The reduction of postage, under the act
of March last, did not take effect until the
commencement of the present fiscal year.
The accounts Of the first quarter, under the
operation of the reduced rates, will not be
settled before January next and no rell-
able estimate of the recei pts for the present
year can yet be made. 1t is believed,
however, that they will fall far short of
those of last year. The surplus of the
revenues now on hand is, however, so
large, that no further appropriation from
the Treasury, in aid Of the revenue of the
Department, is required for the current
fiscal year but an additional approprla-
ton for the year ending June 80, 1852,
will probably be found necessary when tho
receipts of the first two quarters Of the
fiscal year are ascertained.
The recommendations of the Post Master
General, in respect to letter postage, except
on letters to and from California and Ore
eon, were substantially adopted by the
last Congress He now recommends ad-
herence to the present letter rates, and
advises against further reduction until
justified by the revenue of the Department.
He also recommends that the rates of
postage on printed matter be so revised as
to render them more simple, and more
uniform in their operation upon all classes
of printed matter ! submit the recon-
mcndations of the report to your favorable
consideration.
The government of she United States Is
emphatically a government Of written laws
The statutes should, therefore, as far as
practicable, not only be made accessible to
all, but be expressed in language so PLAIN
and simple as to be understood by all, and
arranged in such method as to give per
spicuity to every subject. Many Of the
States have revised their public acts with
great and manifest benefit a~d recon-
mend that provision be made by law for
the appointment of Il commission to revise
the public statutes of the United States,
arranging them in order, supplying def
cienc:cs, correcting incongruities, simplify
ins their language, and reporting them to
Congress for their action.
1t is deeply to be regretted that in sew
eral instances officers of the government,
in endcavoring to execute the law for the
return of fugitives from labor, have been
openly resisted, and their efforts frustrated
and defeated by lawless and violent mobs;
that in one case such resistance resulted in
the death of an estimable citizen, and in
others serious injury ensucd to those officers
and to individuals who were using their
endeayors to sustain the laws. Prosecutions
have been instituted against the alleged
offenders, so far as they could be identified,
and are still pending. | have regarded it
as my duty, in these cases, to give all aid
legally in my power to the enforcement Of
the laws, and l shall continue to do so
wherever and whenever their execution
may be resisted.
Some objections have been urged against
the details of the act for the return of fu-
gitives from labor but ii is worthy of re-
mark that the main opposition is aimed
against the Constitution itself, and pro-
ceeds from persons and classes of persons,
many Of whom declare their wish to see
the Constitution overturned.
In my last annual message | stated that
| considered the series of measures, which
had been adopted at the previous session,
in reference to the agitation growing ont
of the Territorial and Slavery questions
as final settlement in principle and sub
stance of the dangerous and exciting sub
jects which they embraced and | recon-
mended adherence to the Adjustment es-
tablished by these measures, until time and
experience should demonstrate the neces-
sity of further legislation to guard against
evasion or abuse. l was not induced to
make this recommendation because tho't
those measures perfect, for no human legis-
lation can be perfect.
TO that recommendation I still adhere,
and l congratulate you and the country
upon the general acquiescence in these
measures Of peace, which has been exhibi-
ted in all parts of the Republic. And not
only is there this general acIuiescence in
these measures, but the spirit of concilia-
ton which has been manifested in regard
to them in all parts of the country, has
doubts and uncertainties in the
minds of thousands of good men concern
ing the durability of our popular institu-
tions, and given renewed assurance that
our Liberty and our Union may subsist
together for the benefit of this and all sue
ceeding generations.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
Washington, Decembcr ., 1851.
The Jacksonville hurna' saws. II uav |
no, he general, known iha castor oii -
)e;frr for l,up. than sueTr rf .ari oii,