Considering an increased naval force, and especially of steam-vessels, corresponding with our growth and importance as a nation, and proportioned to the increased and increasing naval power of other nations, of vast importance as regards our safety, and the great and growing interests to be protected by it, I recommend the subject to the favorable consideration of Congress.

The report of the postmaster-general herewith communicated, contains a detailed statement of the operations of his department during the past year. It will be seen that the income from postages will fall short of the expenditures for the year between one and two millions of dollars. This deficiency has been caused by the reduction of the rates of postage, which was made by the act of the 3d of March last. No principle has been more generally acquiesced in by the people, than that this department should sustain itself by limiting its expenditures to its income. Congress has never sought to make it a source of revenue for general purposes, except for a short period during the last war with Great Britain, nor should it ever become a charge on the general treasury. If Congress shall adhere to this principle, as I think they ought, it will be necessary either to curtail the present mail service, so as to reduce the expenditures, or so to modify the act of the third of March last as to improve its revenues. The extension of the mail service, and the additional facilities which will be demanded by the rapid extension and increase of population on our western frontier, will not admit of such curtailment as will materially reduce the present expenditures. In the adjustment of the tariff of postages, the interests of the people demand that the lowest rates be adopted, which will produce the necessary revenue to meet the expenditures of the department. I invite the attention of Congress to the suggestions of the postmaster-general on this subject, under the belief that such a modification of the late law may be made, as will yield sufficient revenue, without further calls on the treasury, and with very little change in the present rates of postage.

Proper measures have been taken, in pursuance of the act of the third of March last, for the establishment of lines of mail-steamers between this and foreign countries. The importance of this service commends itself strongly to favorable consideration.

With the growth of our country, the public business which devolves on the heads of the several executive departments has greatly increased. In some respects, the distribution of duties among them seems to be incongruous, and many of these might be transferred from one to another with advantage to the public interests. A more auspicious time for the consideration of this subject by Congress, with a view to system in the organization of the several departments, and a more appropriate division of the public business, will not probably occur.

The most important duties of the state department relate to our foreign affairs. By the great enlargement of the family of nations, the increase of our commerce, and the corresponding extension of our consular system, the business of this department has been greatly increased. In its present organization, many duties of a domestic nature, and consisting of details, are devolved on the secretary of state, which do not appropriately belong to the foreign department of the government, and may properly be transferred to some other department. One of these grows out of the present state of the law concerning the patent office, which, a few years since, was a subordinate clerkship, but has become a distinct bureau of

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great importance. With an excellent internal organization, it is still connected with the state department. In the transaction of its business, questions of much importance to inventors, and to the community, frequently arise, which, by existing laws, are referred for decision to a board, of which the secretary of state is a member. These questions are legal, and the connexion which now exists between the state department and the patent office, may, with great propriety and advantage, be transferred to the attorney-general.

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In his last annual message to Congress, Mr. Madison invited attention to a proper provision for the attorney-general, as an important improvement in the executive establishment." This recommendation was re

peated by some of his successors. The official duties of the attorneygeneral have been much increased within a few years, and his office has become one of great importance. His duties may be still further increased, with advantage to the public interests. As an executive officer,

his residence and constant attention at the seat of government are required. Legal questions, involving important principles, and large amounts of public money, are constantly referred to him by the president and executive departments, for his examination and decision. The public business under his official management, before the judiciary, has been so augmented by the extension of our territory, and the acts of Congress authorizing suits against the United States for large bodies of valuable public lands, as greatly to increase his labors and responsibilities. I therefore recommend that the attorney-general be placed on the same footing with the heads of the other executive departments, with such subordinate officers, provided by law for his department, as may be required to discharge the additional duties which have been or may be devolved upon him.

Congress possess the power of exclusive legislation over the district of Columbia, and I commend the interests of its inhabitants to your favorable consideration. The people of this district have no legislative body of their own, and must confide their local as well as their general interests to representatives in whose election they have no voice, and over whose official conduct they have no control. Each member of the national legislature should consider himself as their immediate representative, and should be the more ready to give attention to their interests and wants, because he is not responsible to them. I recommend that a liberal and generous spirit may characterize your measures in relation to them. I shall be ever disposed to show a proper regard for their wishes, and, within constitutional limits, shall at all times cheerfully co-operate with you for the advancement of their welfare.

I trust it may not be deemed inappropriate to the occasion for me to dwell for a moment on the memory of the most eminent citizen of our country, who, during the summer that is gone by, has descended to the tomb. The enjoyment of contemplating, at the advanced age of near fourscore years, the happy condition of his country, cheered the last hours of Andrew Jackson, who departed this life in the tranquil hope of a blessed immortality. His death was happy, as his life had been eminently useful. He had an unfaltering confidence in the virtue and capacity of the people, and in the permanence of that free government which he had largely contributed to establish and defend. His great deeds had secured to him the affections of his fellow-citizens, and it was his happiness to witness the growth and glory of his country, which he loved so well. He departed amid the benedictions of millions of freemen. The nation

paid its tribute to his memory at his tomb. Coming generations will learn from his example the love of country and the rights of man. In his language on a similar occasion to the present, "I now commend you, fellowcitizens, to the guidance of Almighty God, with a full reliance on his merciful providence for the maintenance of our free institutions; and with an earnest supplication, that whatever errors it may be my lot to commit, in discharging the arduous duties which have devolved on me, will find a remedy in the harmony and wisdom of your counsels."

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 9, 1845.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:I COMMUNICATE, herewith, a letter received from the president of the existing government of the state of Texas, transmitting duplicate copies of the constitution formed by the deputies of the people of Texas in convention assembled, accompanied by official information that the said constitution had been ratified, confirmed, and adopted, by the people of Texas themselves, in accordance with the joint resolution for annexing Texas to the United States, and in order that Texas might be admitted as one of the states of that Union.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 19, 1845.

To the House of Representatives of the United States :—

I COMMUNICATE to the house of representatives, in reply to their resolution of the 25th of February last, a report from the secretary of state, together with the correspondence of George W. Slacum, late consul of the United States at Rio de Janeiro, with the department of state, relating to the African slave-trade.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JANUARY 3, 1846.

To the Senate of the United States :

I TRANSMIT to the senate a report of the secretary of the navy, communicating the information called for by their resolution of the 18th of December, 1845, in relation to the "number of agents now employed for the preservation of timber, their salaries, the authority of law under which they are paid, and the allowances of every description made within the last twenty years in the settlement of the accounts of said agents."

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 7, 1846.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:—

In compliance with the request of the house of representatives in their resolution of the 3d instant, I herewith communicate a report from the secretary of state, with the accompanying "correspondence which has taken place" between the secretary of state and the minister of the United States at London, and "between the government of Great Britain and this government, in relation to the country west of the Rocky mountains, since the last annual message of the president" to Congress.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 9, 1846.

To the House of Representatives of the United States :

I COMMUNICATE, herewith, in answer to the resolution of the house of representatives of the 19th of December last, the report of the secretary of state, enclosing "copies of correspondence between this government and Great Britain within the last two years, in relation to the Washington treaty, and particularly in relation to the free navigation of the river St. John, and in relation to the disputed territory fund named in said treaty;" and, also, the accompanying copies of documents filed in the department of state, which embrace the correspondence and information called for by the said resolution.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 18, 1846.

To the Senate of the United States :

IN compliance with the request of the senate, in their resolution of the 10th instant, asking for information relative to the Mexican indemnity, I communicate here with a report from the secretary of state, with the papers accompanying it.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 23, 1846.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:I TRANSMIT, for your consideration, a correspondence between the minister of her Britannic majesty in Washington, and the secretary of state, containing an arrangement for the adjustment and payment of the claims of the respective governments upon each other, arising from the collection

of certain import duties in violation of the second article of the commercial convention of the 3d of July, 1815, between the two countries; and I respectfully submit to Congress the propriety of making provision to carry this arrangement into effect.

The second article of this convention provides that "no higher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation into the United States of any articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of his Britannic majesty's territories in Europe, and no higher or other duties shall be imposed on the importation into the territories of his Britannic majesty in Europe of any articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United States, than are or shall be payable on the like articles, being the growth, produce, or manufacture of any other foreign country."

Previous to the act of parliament of the 13th of August, 1836, the duty on foreign rough rice imported into Great Britain was two shillings and sixpence sterling per bushel. By this act the duty was reduced to one penny per quarter (of eight bushels) on the rough rice "imported from the west coast of Africa."

Upon the earnest and repeated remonstrances of our ministers at London, in opposition to this discrimination against American and in favor of African rice, as a violation of the subsisting convention, parliament, by the act of the 9th of July, 1842, again equalized the duty on all foreign rough rice, by fixing it at seven shillings per quarter. In the intervening period, however, of nearly six years, large importations had been made into Great Britain of American rough rice, which was subjected to a duty of two shillings and sixpence per bushel; but the importers, knowing their rights under the convention, claimed that it should be admitted at the rate of one penny per quarter, the duty imposed on African rice. This claim was resisted by the British government, and the excess of duty was paid, at the first, under protest, and afterward, in consequence of an arrangement with the board of customs, by the deposite of exchequer bills.

It seems to have been a clear violation both of the letter and spirit of the convention to admit rough rice, "the growth" of Africa, at one penny per quarter, while the very same article, "the growth" of the United States, was charged with a duty of two shillings and sixpence per bushel.

The claim of Great Britain, under the same article of the convention, is founded on the tariff act of the 30th of August, 1842. Its 25th section provides "that nothing in this act contained shall apply to goods shipped in a vessel bound to any port of the United States, actually having left her last port of lading eastward of the cape of Good Hope, or beyond Cape Horn, prior to the first day of September, 1842; and all legal provisions and regulations existing immediately before the 30th day of June, 1842, shall be applied to importations which may be made in vessels which have left such last port of lading eastward of the cape of Good Hope, or beyond Cape Horn, prior to said first day of September, 1842."

The British government contends that it was a violation of the second article of the convention for this act to require that "articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture" of Great Britain, when imported into the United States in vessels which had left their last port of lading in Great Britain prior to the first day of September, 1842, should pay any "higher or other duties" than were imposed on like articles," "the growth, produce, or manufacture" of countries beyond the cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn. Upon a careful consideration of the subject, I arrived at the conclusion that this claim on the part of the British government was well founded.