though its defects have been often and ably pointed out, and the abolition of a particular species of corporal punishment, which then took place, without providing any substitute, has left the service in a state of defectiveness, which calls for prompt correction. I therefore recommend that the whole subject be revised without delay, and such a system established for the enforcement of discipline as shall be at once humane and effectual. The accompanying report of the postmaster-general presents a satisfactory view of the operations and condition of that department.

At the close of the last fiscal year, the length of the inland mail-routes in the United States (not embracing the service in Oregon and California) was one hundred and seventy-eight thousand, six hundred and seventytwo miles; the annual transportation thereon, forty-six millions, five hundred and forty-one thousand, four hundred and twenty-three miles; and the annual cost of such transportation two millions, seven hundred and twenty-four thousand, four hundred and twenty-six dollars.

The increase of the annual transportation over that of the preceding year was three millions, nine hundred and ninety-seven thousand, three hundred and fifty-four miles, and the increase in cost was three hundred and forty-two thousand, four hundred and forty dollars.

The number of postoffices in the United States on the first day of July last, was eighteen thousand, four hundred and seventeen-being an increase of one thousand, six hundred and seventy during the preceding year.

The gross revenues of the department for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1850, amounted to five millions, five hundred and fifty-two thousand, nine hundred and seventy-one dollars, and forty eight cents, including the annual appropriation of two hundred thousand dollars for the franked matter of the departments, and excluding the foreign postages collected for and payable to the British government.

The expenditures for the same period were five millions, two hundred and twelve thousand, nine hundred and fifty-three dollars, and forty-three cents-leaving a balance of revenue over expenditures of three hundred and forty thousand, and eighteen dollars, and five cents.

I am happy to find that the fiscal condition of the department is such as to justify the postmaster-general in recommending the reduction of our inland letter postage to three cents the single letter when prepaid, and five cents when not prepaid. He also recommends that the prepaid rate shall be reduced to two cents whenever the revenues of the department, after the reduction, shall exceed its expenditures by more than five per cent. for two consecutive years; that the postage upon California and other letters sent by our ocean-steamers shall be much reduced; and that the rates of postage on newspapers, pamphlets, periodicals, and other printed matter, shall be modified, and some reduction thereon made.

It can not be doubted that the proposed reductions will, for the present, diminish the revenues of the department. It is believed that the deficiency, after the surplus already accumulated shall be exhausted, may be almost wholly met, either by abolishing the existing privileges of sending free matter through the mails, or by paying out of the treasury to the postoffice department a sum equivalent to the postage of which it is deprived by such privileges. The last is supposed to be the preferable mode, and will, if not entirely, so nearly supply that deficiency as to make any further appropriation that may be found necessary so inconsiderable as to form no obstacle to the proposed reductions.

I entertain no doubt of the authority of Congress to make appropria tions for leading objects in that class of public works comprising what are usually called works of internal improvement. This authority I suppose to be derived chiefly from the power of regulating commerce with foreign nations and among the states, and the power of laying and collecting imposts. Where commerce is to be carried on, and imposts collected, there must be ports and harbors, as well as wharves and customhouses. If ships, laden with valuable cargoes, approach the shore, or sail along the coast, lighthouses are necessary at suitable points for the protection of life and property. Other facilities and securities for commerce and navigation are hardly less important; and those clauses of the constitution, therefore, to which I have referred, have received from the origin of the government a liberal and beneficial construction. Not only have lighthouses, buoys, and beacons, been established, and floating lights maintained, but harbors have been cleared and improved, piers constructed, and even breakwaters for the safety of shipping, and sea-walls to protect harbors from being filled up and rendered useless, by the action of the ocean, have been erected at very great expense. And this construction of the constitution appears the more reasonable from the consideration, that if these works, of such evident importance and utility, are not to be accomplished by Congress, they can not be accomplished at all. By the adoption of the constitution the several states voluntarily parted with the power of collecting duties of imposts in their own ports; and it is not to be expected that they should raise money, by internal taxation direct or indirect, for the benefit of that commerce, the revenues derived from which do not, either in whole or in part, go into their own treasuries. Nor do I perceive any difference between the power of Congress to make appropriations for objects of this kind on the ocean and the power to make appropriations for similar objects on lakes and rivers, wherever they are large enough to bear on their waters an extensive traffic. The magnificent Mississippi and its tributaries, and the vast lakes of the north and northwest, appear to me to fall within the exercise of the power, as justly and as clearly as the ocean and the gulf of Mexico. It is a mistake to regard expenditures judiciously made for these objects as expenditures for local purposes. The position or site of the work is necessarily local; but its utility is general. A ship-canal around the falls of St. Mary of less than a mile in length, though local in its construction, would yet be national in its purpose and its benefits, as it would remove the only obstruction to a navigation of more than a thousand miles, effecting several states, as well as our commercial relations with Canada. So, too, the breakwater at the mouth of the Delaware is erected, not for the exclusive benefit of the states bordering on the bay and river of that name, but for that of the whole coastwise navigation of the United States, and, to a considerable extent, also of foreign commerce. If a ship be lost on the bar at the entrance of a southern port for want of sufficient depth of water, it is very likely to be a northern ship; and if a steamboat be sunk in any part of the Mississippi, on account of its channel not having been properly cleared of obstructions, it may be a boat belonging to either of eight or ten states. I may add, as somewhat remarkable, that among all the thirty-one states there is none that is not, to a greater or less extent, bounded on the ocean or the gulf of Mexico, or one of the great lakes, or some navigable river.

In fulfilling our constitutional duties, fellow-citizens, on this subject, as

in carrying into effect all other powers conferred by the constitution, we should consider ourselves as deliberating and acting for one and the same country, and bear constantly in mind that our regard and our duty are due, not to a particular part only, but to the whole.

I therefore recommend that appropriations be made for completing such works as have been already begun, and for commencing such others as may seem to the wisdom of Congress to be of public and general impor

tance.

The difficulties and delays incident to the settlement of private claims by Congress, amount in many cases to a denial of justice. There is reason to apprehend that many unfortunate creditors of the government have thereby been unavoidably ruined. Congress has so much business of a public character, that it is impossible it should give much attention to mere private claims; and their accumulation is now so great, that many claimants must despair of ever being able to obtain a hearing. It may well be doubted whether Congress, from the nature of its organization, is properly constituted to decide upon such cases. It is impossible that each member should examine the merits of every claim on which he is compelled to vote; and it is preposterous to ask a judge to decide a case which he has never heard. Such decisions may, and frequently must, do injustice either to the claimant or the government, and I perceive no better remedy for this growing evil than the establishment of some tribunal to adjudicate upon such claims. I beg leave, therefore, most respectfully, to recommend that provision be made by law for the appointment of a commission to settle all private claims against the United States; and, as an exparte hearing must in all contested cases be very unsatisfactory, I also recommend the appointment of a solicitor, whose duty it shall be to represent the government before such commission, and protect it against all illegal, fraudulent, or unjust claims, which may be presented for their adjudication.

This district, which has neither voice nor vote in your deliberations, looks to you for protection and aid, and I commend all its wants to your favorable consideration, with a full confidence that you will meet them not only with justice, but wlth liberality. It should be borne in mind that in this city, laid out by Washington and consecrated by his name, is located the Capitol of our nation, the emblem of our Union and the symbol of our greatness. Here, also, are situated all the public buildings necessary for the use of the government, and all these are exempt from taxation. It should be the pride of Americans to render this place attractive to the people of the whole republic, and convenient and safe for the transaction of the public business and the preservation of the public records. The government should, therefore, bear a liberal proportion of the burdens of all necessary and useful improvements. And, as nothing could contribute more to the health, comfort, and safety of the city, and the security of the public buildings and records, than an abundant supply of pure water, I respectfully recommend that you make such provisions for obtaining the same as in your wisdom you may deem proper.

The act passed at your last session, making certain propositions to Texas for settling the disputed boundary between that state and the territory of New Mexico, was, immediately on its passage, transmitted by express to the governor of Texas, to be laid by him before the general assembly for its agreement thereto. Its receipt was duly acknowledged, but no official information has yet been received of the action of the gen

eral assembly thereon; it may, however, be very soon expected, as, by the terms of the propositions submitted, they were to have been acted upon on or before the first day of the present month.

It was hardly to have been expected that the series of measures passed at your last session, with the view of healing the sectional differences which had sprung from the slavery and territorial questions, should at once have realized their beneficent purpose. All mutual concession in the nature of a compromise must necessarily be unwelcome to men of extreme opinions. And though without such concessions our constitution could not have been formed, and can not be permanently sustained, yet we have seen them made the subject of bitter controversy in both sections of the republic. It required many months of discussion and deliberation to secure the concurrence of a majority of Congress in their favor. It would be strange if they had been received with immediate approbation by people and states prejudiced and heated by the exciting controversies of their representatives. I believe those measures to have been required by the circumstances and condition of the country. I believe they were necessary to allay asperities and animosities that were rapidly alienating one section of the country from another, and destroying those fraternal sentiments which are the strongest supports of the constitution. They were adopted in the spirit of conciliation, and for the purpose of conciliation. I believe that a great majority of our fellow-citizens sympathize in that spirit and that purpose, and in the main approve, and are prepared in all respects to sustain, these enactments. I can not doubt that the American people bound together by kindred blood and common traditions, still cherish a paramount regard for the Union of their fathers; and that they are ready to rebuke any attempt to violate its integrity, to disturb the compromises on which it is based, or to resist the laws which have been enacted under its authority.

The series of measures to which I have alluded are regarded by me as a settlement, in principle and substance-a final settlement of the dangerous and exciting subjects which they embrace. Most of these subjects, indeed, are beyond your reach, as the legislation which disposed of them was, in its character, final and irrevocable. It may be presumed, from the opposition which they all encountered, that none of those measures was free from imperfections, but in their mutual dependence and connexion they formed a system of compromise, the most conciliatory, and best for the entire country, that could be obtained from conflicting sectional interests and opinions.

For this reason I recommend your adherence to the adjustment established by those measures, until time and experience shall demonstrate the necessity of further legislation to guard against evasion or abuse.

By that adjustment we have been rescued from the wide and boundless agitation that surrounded us, and have a firm, distinct, and legal ground to rest upon. And the occasion, I trust, will justify me in exhorting my countrymen to rally upon and maintain that ground, as the best, if not the only means of restoring peace and quiet to the country, and maintaining inviolate the integrity of the Union.

And now, fellow-citizens, I can not bring this communication to a close without invoking you to join me in humble and devout thanks to the Great Ruler of nations for the multiplied blessings which he has graciously bestowed upon us. His hand, so often visible in our preservation, has

stayed the pestilence, saved us from foreign wars and domestic disturbances, and scattered plenty throughout the land.

Our liberties, religious and civil, have been maintained, the fountains of knowledge have all been kept open, and means of happiness widely spread and generally enjoyed, greater than have fallen to the lot of any other nation. And while deeply penetrated with gratitude for the past, let us hope that His all wise providence will so guide our counsels as that they shall result in giving satisfaction to our constituents, securing the peace of the country, and adding new strength to the united government under which we live.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 13, 1850.

To the Senate and House of Representatives :—

I HAVE the pleasure of announcing to Congress the agreement on the part of Texas to the propositions offered to that state by the act of Congress approved on the ninth day of September last, entitled "An act proposing to the state of Texas the establishment of her northern and western boundaries, the relinquishment by the said state of all territory claimed by her exterior to said boundaries, and of all her claims upon the United States, and to establish a territorial government for New Mexico."

By the terms of that act, it was required that the agreement of Texas to the propositions contained in it should be given on or before the first day of December, eighteen hundred and fifty. An authenticated transcript of a law, passed by the legislature of Texas on the twenty-fifth day of November, agreeing to and accepting the propositions contained in the act of Congress, has been received. This law, after reciting the provisions of the act of Congress, proceeds to enact and declare as follows, viz.:

"Therefore, first: Be it enacted by the legislature of the state of Texas, That the state of Texas hereby agrees to and accepts said propositions, and it is hereby declared that the said state shall be bound by the terms thereof, according to their true import and meaning.

"Second: That the governor of this state be, and is hereby, requested to cause a copy of this act, authenticated under the seal of the state, to be furnished to the president of the United States, by mail, as early as practicable; and also a copy thereof, certified in like manner, to be transmitted to each of the senators and representatives of Texas in Congress; and that this act take effect from and after its passage.

"C. G. KEENAN,

Speaker of the House of Representatives. "JOHN A. GREER,

"Approved, November 25, 1850.

"President of the Senate.

"P. H. BELL."

From the common sources of public information, it would appear that a very remarkable degree of unanimity prevailed, not only in the legisla