A year of peace and general prosperity to this nation has passed since the last assembling of Congress. We have, through a kind Providence, been blessed with abundant crops, and have been spared from complications and war with foreign nations. In our midst comparative harmony has been restored. It is to be regretted, however, that a free exercise of the elective franchise has by violence and intimidation been denied to citizens in exceptional cases in several of the States lately in rebellion, and the verdict of the people has thereby been reversed. The States of Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas have been restored to representation in our national councils. Georgia, the only State now without representation, may confidently be expected to take her place there also at the beginning of the new year, and then, let us hope, will be completed the work of reconstruction. With an acquiescence on the part of the whole people in the national obligation to pay the public debt created as the price of our Union, the pensions to our disabled soldiers and sailors and their widows and orphans, and in the changes to the Constitution which have been made necessary by a great rebellion, there is no reason why we should not advance in material prosperity and happiness as no other nation ever did after so protracted and devastating a war. Soon after the existing war broke out in Europe the protection of the United States minister in Paris was invoked in favor of North Germans domiciled in French territory. Instructions were issued to grant the protection. This has been followed by an extension of American protection to citizens of Saxony, Hesse and Saxe-Coburg, Gotha, Colombia, Portugal, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, and Venezuela in Paris. The charge was an onerous one, requiring constant and severe labor, as well as the exercise of patience, prudence, and good judgment. It has been performed to the entire satisfaction of this Government, and, as I am officially informed, equally so to the satisfaction of the Government of North Germany. As soon as I learned that a republic had been proclaimed at Paris and that the people of France had acquiesced in the change, the minister of the United States was directed by telegraph to recognize it and to tender my congratulations and those of the people of the United States. The reestablishment in France of a system of government disconnected with the dynastic traditions of Europe appeared to be a proper subject for the felicitations of Americans. Should the present struggle result in attaching the hearts of the French to our simpler forms of representative government, it will be a subject of still further satisfaction to our people. While we make no effort to impose our institutions upon the inhabitants of other countries, and while we adhere to our traditional neutrality in civil contests elsewhere, we can not be indifferent to the spread of American political ideas in a great and highly civilized country like France. We were asked by the new Government to use our good offices, jointly with those of European powers, in the interests of peace. Answer was made that the established policy and the true interests of the United States forbade them to interfere in European questions jointly with European powers. I ascertained, informally and unofficially, that the Government of North Germany was not then disposed to listen to such representations from any power, and though earnestly wishing to see the blessings of peace restored to the belligerents, with all of whom the United States are on terms of friendship, I declined on the part of this Government to take a step which could only result in injury to our true interests without advancing the object for which our intervention was invoked. Should the time come when the action of the United States can hasten the return of peace by a single hour, that action will be heartily taken. I deemed it prudent, in view of the number of persons of German and French birth living in the United States, to issue, soon after official notice of a state of war had been received from both belligerents, a proclamation defining the duties of the United States as a neutral and the obligations of persons residing within their territory to observe their laws and the laws of nations. This proclamation was followed by others, as circumstances seemed to call for them. The people, thus acquainted in advance of their duties and obligations, have assisted in preventing violations of the neutrality of the United States. It is not understood that the condition of the insurrection in Cuba has materially changed since the close of the last session of Congress. In an early stage of the contest the authorities of Spain inaugurated a system of arbitrary arrests, of close confinement, and of military trial and execution of persons suspected of complicity with the insurgents, and of summary embargo of their properties, and sequestration of their revenues by executive warrant. Such proceedings, so far as they affected the persons or property of citizens of the United States, were in violation of the provisions of the treaty of 1795 between the United States and Spain. Representations of injuries resulting to several persons claiming to be citizens of the United States by reason of such violations were made to the Spanish Government. From April, 1869, to June last the Spanish minister at Washington had been clothed with a limited power to aid in redressing such wrongs. That power was found to be withdrawn, "in view," as it was said, "of the favorable situation in which the island of Cuba" then "was," which, however, did not lead to a revocation or suspension of the extraordinary and arbitrary functions exercised by the executive power in Cuba, and we were obliged to make our complaints at Madrid. In the negotiations thus opened, and still pending there, the United States only claimed that for the future the rights secured to their citizens by treaty should be respected in Cuba, and that as to the past a joint tribunal should be established in the United States with full jurisdiction over all such claims. Before such an impartial tribunal each claimant would be required to prove his case. On the other hand, Spain would be at liberty to traverse every material fact, and thus complete equity would be done. A case which at one time threatened seriously to affect the relations between the United States and Spain has already been disposed of in this way. The claim of the owners of the Colonel Lloyd Aspinwall for the illegal seizure and detention of that vessel was referred to arbitration by mutual consent, and has resulted in an award to the United States, for the owners, of the sum of $19,702.50 in gold. Another and long-pending claim of like nature, that of the whaleship Canada, has been disposed of by friendly arbitrament during the present year. It was referred, by the joint consent of Brazil and the United States, to the decision of Sir Edward Thornton, Her Britannic Majesty's minister at Washington, who kindly undertook the laborious task of examining the voluminous mass of correspondence and testimony submitted by the two Governments, and awarded to the United States the sum of $100,740.09 in gold, which has since been paid by the Imperial Government. These recent examples show that the mode which the United States have proposed to Spain for adjusting the pending claims is just and feasible, and that it may be agreed to by either nation without dishonor. It is to be hoped that this moderate demand may be acceded to by Spain without further delay. Should the pending negotiations, unfortunately and unexpectedly, be without result, it will then become my duty to communicate that fact to Congress and invite its action on the subject. The long-deferred peace conference between Spain and the allied South American Republics has been inaugurated in Washington under the auspices of the United States. Pursuant to the recommendation contained in the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th of December, 1866, the executive department of the Government offered its friendly offices for the promotion of peace and harmony between Spain and the allied Republics. Hesitations and obstacles occurred to the acceptance of the offer. Ultimately, however, a conference was arranged, and was opened in this city on the 29th of October last, at which I authorized the Secretary of State to preside. It was attended by the ministers of Spain, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. In consequence of the absence of a representative from Bolivia, the conference was adjourned until the attendance of a plenipotentiary from that Republic could be secured or other measures could be adopted toward compassing its objects. The allied and other Republics of Spanish origin on this continent may see in this fact a new proof of our sincere interest in their welfare, of our desire to see them blessed with good governments, capable of maintaining order and of preserving their respective territorial integrity, and of our sincere wish to extend our own commercial and social relations with them. The time is not probably far distant when, in the natural course of events, the European political connection with this continent will cease. Our policy should be shaped, in view of this probability, so as to ally the commercial interests of the Spanish American States more closely to our own, and thus give the United States all the preeminence and all the advantage which Mr. Monroe, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Clay contemplated when they proposed to join in the congress of Panama. During the last session of Congress a treaty for the annexation of the Republic of San Domingo to the United States failed to receive the requisite two-thirds vote of the Senate. I was thoroughly convinced then that the best interests of this country, commercially and materially, demanded its ratification. Time has only confirmed me in this view. I now firmly believe that the moment it is known that the United States have entirely abandoned the project of accepting as a part of its territory the island of San Domingo a free port will be negotiated for by European nations in the Bay of Samana. A large commercial city will spring up, to which we will be tributary without receiving corresponding benefits, and then will be seen the folly of our rejecting so great a prize. The Government of San Domingo has voluntarily sought this annexation. It is a weak power, numbering probably less than 120,000 souls, and yet possessing one of the richest territories under the sun, capable of supporting a population of 10,000,000 people in luxury. The people of San Domingo are not capable of maintaining themselves in their present condition, and must look for outside support. They yearn for the protection of our free institutions and laws, our progress and civilization. Shall we refuse them? The acquisition of San Domingo is desirable because of its geographical position. It commands the entrance to the Caribbean Sea and the Isthmus transit of commerce. It possesses the richest soil, best and most capacious harbors, most salubrious climate, and the most valuable products of the forests, mine, and soil of any of the West India Islands. Its possession by us will in a few years build up a coastwise commerce of immense magnitude, which will go far toward restoring to us our lost merchant marine. It will give to us those articles which we consume so largely and do not produce, thus equalizing our exports and imports. In case of foreign war it will give us command of all the islands referred to, and thus prevent an enemy from ever again possessing himself of rendezvous upon our very coast. At present our coast trade between the States bordering on the Atlantic and those bordering on the Gulf of Mexico is cut into by the Bahamas and the Antilies. Twice we must, as it were, pass through foreign countries to get by sea from Georgia to the west coast of Florida. San Domingo, with a stable government, under which her immense resources can be developed, will give remunerative wages to tens of thousands of laborers not now upon the island. This labor will take advantage of every available means of transportation to abandon the adjacent islands and seek the blessings of freedom and its sequence--each inhabitant receiving the reward of his own labor. Porto Rico and Cuba will have to abolish slavery, as a measure of self-preservation, to retain their laborers. San Domingo will become a large consumer of the products of Northern farms and manufactories. The cheap rate at which her citizens can be furnished with food, tools, and machinery will make it necessary that contiguous islands should have the same advantages in order to compete in the production of sugar, coffee, tobacco, tropical fruits, etc. This will open to us a still wider market for our products. The production of our own supply of these articles will cut off more than one hundred millions of our annual imports, besides largely increasing our exports. With such a picture it is easy to see how our large debt abroad is ultimately to be extinguished. With a balance of trade against us (including interest on bonds held by foreigners and money spent by our citizens traveling in foreign lands) equal to the entire yield of the precious metals in this country, it is not so easy to see how this result is to be otherwise accomplished. The acquisition of San Domingo is an adherence to the "Monroe doctrine;" it is a measure of national protection; it is asserting our just claim to a controlling influence over the great commercial traffic soon to flow from west to east by way of the Isthmus of Darien; it is to build up our merchant marine; it is to furnish new markets for the products of our farms, shops, and manufactories; it is to make slavery insupportable in Cuba and Porto Rico at once, and ultimately so in Brazil; it is to settle the unhappy condition of Cuba and end an exterminating conflict; it is to provide honest means of paying our honest debts without overtaxing the people; it is to furnish our citizens with the necessaries of everyday life at cheaper rates than ever before; and it is, in fine, a rapid stride toward that greatness which the intelligence, industry, and enterprise of the citizens of the United States entitle this country to assume among nations. In view of the importance of this question, I earnestly urge upon Congress early action expressive of its views as to the best means of acquiring San Domingo. My suggestion is that by joint resolution of the two Houses of Congress the Executive be authorized to appoint a commission to negotiate a treaty with the authorities of San Domingo for the acquisition of that island, and that an appropriation be made to defray the expenses of such a commission. The question may then be determined, either by the action of the Senate upon the treaty or the joint action of the two Houses of Congress upon a resolution of annexation, as in the case of the acquisition of Texas. So convinced am I of the advantages to flow from the acquisition of San Domingo, and of the great disadvantages--I might almost say calamities--to flow from nonacquisition, that I believe the subject has only to be investigated to be approved. It is to be regretted that our representations in regard to the injurious effects, especially upon the revenue of the United States, of the policy of the Mexican Government in exempting from impost duties a large tract of its territory on our borders have not only been fruitless, but that it is even proposed in that country to extend the limits within which the privilege adverted to has hitherto been enjoyed. The expediency of taking into your serious consideration proper measures for countervailing the policy referred to will, it is presumed, engage your earnest attention. It is the obvious interest, especially of neighboring nations, to provide against impunity to those who may have committed high crimes within their borders and who may have sought refuge abroad. For this purpose extradition treaties have been concluded with several of the Central American Republics, and others are in progress. The sense of Congress is desired, as early as may be convenient, upon the proceedings of the commission on claims against Venezuela, as communicated in my messages of March 16, 1869, March 1, 1870, and March 31, 1870. It has not been deemed advisable to distribute any of the money which has been received from that Government until Congress shall have acted on the subject. The massacres of French and Russian residents at Tien-Tsin, under circumstances of great barbarity, was supposed by some to have been premeditated, and to indicate a purpose among the populace to exterminate foreigners in the Chinese Empire. The evidence fails to establish such a supposition, but shows a complicity between the local authorities and the mob. The Government at Peking, however, seems to have been disposed to fulfill its treaty obligations so far as it was able to do so. Unfortunately, the news of the war between the German States and France reached China soon after the massacre. It would appear that the popular mind became possessed with the idea that this contest, extending to Chinese waters, would neutralize the Christian influence and power, and that the time was coming when the superstitious masses might expel all foreigners and restore mandarin influence. Anticipating trouble from this cause, I invited France and North Germany to make an authorized suspension of hostilities in the East (where they were temporarily suspended by act of the commanders), and to act together for the future protection in China of the lives and properties of Americans and Europeans. Since the adjournment of Congress the ratifications of the treaty with Great Britain for abolishing the mixed courts for the suppression of the slave trade have been exchanged. It is believed that the slave trade is now confined to the eastern coast of Africa, whence the slaves are taken to Arabian markets. The ratifications of the naturalization convention between Great Britain and the United States have also been exchanged during the recess, and thus a long-standing dispute between the two Governments has been settled in accordance with the principles always contended for by the United States. In April last, while engaged in locating a military reservation near Pembina, a corps of engineers discovered that the commonly received boundary line between the United States and the British possessions at that place is about 4,700 feet south of the true position of the forty-ninth parallel, and that the line, when run on what is now supposed to be the true position of that parallel, would leave the fort of the Hudsons Bay Company at Pembina within the territory of the United States. This information being communicated to the British Government, I was requested to consent, and did consent, that the British occupation of the fort of the Hudsons Bay Company should continue for the present. I deem it important, however, that this part of the boundary line should be definitely fixed by a joint commission of the two Governments, and I submit herewith estimates of the expense of such a commission on the part of the United States and recommend that an appropriation be made for that purpose. The land boundary has already been fixed and marked from the summit of the Rocky Mountains to the Georgian Bay. It should now be in like manner marked from the Lake of the Woods to the summit of the Rocky Mountains. I regret to say that no conclusion has been reached for the adjustment of the claims against Great Britain growing out of the course adopted by that Government during the rebellion. The cabinet of London, so far as its views have been expressed, does not appear to be willing to concede that Her Majesty's Government was guilty of any negligence, or did or permitted any act during the war by which the United States has just cause of complaint. Our firm and unalterable convictions are directly the reverse. I therefore recommend to Congress to authorize the appointment of a commission to take proof of the amount and the ownership of these several claims, on notice to the representative of Her Majesty at Washington, and that authority be given for the settlement of these claims by the United States, so that the Government shall have the ownership of the private claims, as well as the responsible control of all the demands against Great Britain. It can not be necessary to add that whenever Her Majesty's Government shall entertain a desire for a full and friendly adjustment of these claims the United States will enter upon their consideration with an earnest desire for a conclusion consistent with the honor and dignity of both nations. The course pursued by the Canadian authorities toward the fishermen of the United States during the past season has not been marked by a friendly feeling. By the first article of the convention of 1818 between Great Britain and the United States it was agreed that the inhabitants of the United States should have forever, in common with British subjects, the right of taking fish in certain waters therein defined. In the waters not included in the limits named in the convention (within 3 miles of parts of the British coast) it has been the custom for many years to give to intruding fishermen of the United States a reasonable warning of their violation of the technical rights of Great Britain. The Imperial Government is understood to have delegated the whole or a share of its jurisdiction or control of these inshore fishing grounds to the colonial authority known as the Dominion of Canada, and this semi-independent but irresponsible agent has exercised its delegated powers in an unfriendly way. Vessels have been seized without notice or warning, in violation of the custom previously prevailing, and have been taken into the colonial ports, their voyages broken up, and the vessels condemned. There is reason to believe that this unfriendly and vexatious treatment was designed to bear harshly upon the hardy fishermen of the United States, with a view to political effect upon this Government. The statutes of the Dominion of Canada assume a still broader and more untenable jurisdiction over the vessels of the United States. They authorize officers or persons to bring vessels hovering within 3 marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbors of Canada into port, to search the cargo, to examine the master on oath touching the cargo and voyage, and to inflict upon him a heavy pecuniary penalty if true answers are not given; and if such a vessel is found "preparing to fish" within 3 marine miles of any of such coasts, bays, creeks, or harbors without a license, or after the expiration of the period named in the last license granted to it, they provide that the vessel, with her tackle, etc., shall be forfeited. It is not known that any condemnations have been made under this statute. Should the authorities of Canada attempt to enforce it, it will become my duty to take such steps as may be necessary to protect the rights of the citizens of the United States. It has been claimed by Her Majesty's officers that the fishing vessels of the United States have no right to enter the open ports of the British possessions in North America, except for the purposes of shelter and repairing damages, of purchasing wood and obtaining water; that they have no right to enter at the British custom-houses or to trade there except in the purchase of wood and water, and that they must depart within twenty-four hours after notice to leave. It is not known that any seizure of a fishing vessel carrying the flag of the United States has been made under this claim. So far as the claim is founded on an alleged construction of he convention of 1818, it can not be acquiesced in by the United States. It is hoped that it will not be insisted on by Her Majesty's Government. During the conferences which preceded the negotiation of the convention of 1818 the British commissioners proposed to expressly exclude the fishermen of the United States from "the privilege of carrying on trade with any of His Britannic Majesty's subjects residing within the limits assigned for their use;" and also that it should not be "lawful for the vessels of the United States engaged in said fishery to have on board any goods, wares, or merchandise whatever, except such as may be necessary for the prosecution of their voyages to and from the said fishing grounds: and any vessel of the United States which shall contravene this regulation may be seized, condemned, and confiscated, with her cargo." This proposition, which is identical with the construction now put upon the language of the convention, was emphatically rejected by the American commissioners, and thereupon was abandoned by the British plenipotentiaries, and Article I, as it stands in the convention, was substituted. If, however, it be said that this claim is founded on provincial or colonial statutes, and not upon the convention, this Government can not but regard them as unfriendly, and in contravention of the spirit, if not of the letter, of the treaty, for the faithful execution of which the Imperial Government is alone responsible. Anticipating that an attempt may possibly be made by the Canadian authorities in the coming season to repeat their unneighborly acts toward our fishermen, I recommend you to confer upon the Executive the power to suspend by proclamation the operation of the laws authorizing the transit of goods, wares, and merchandise in bond across the territory of the United States to Canada, and, further, should such an extreme measure become necessary, to suspend the operation of any laws whereby the vessels of the Dominion of Canada are permitted to enter the waters of the United States. A like unfriendly disposition has been manifested on the part of Canada in the maintenance of a claim of right to exclude the citizens of the United States from the navigation of the St. Lawrence. This river constitutes a natural outlet to the ocean for eight States, with an aggregate population of about 17,600,000 inhabitants, and with an aggregate tonnage of 661,367 tons upon the waters which discharge into it. The foreign commerce of our ports on these waters is open to British competition, and the major part of it is done in British bottoms. If the American seamen be excluded from this natural avenue to the ocean, the monopoly of the direct commerce of the lake ports with the Atlantic would be in foreign hands, their vessels on transatlantic voyages having an access to our lake ports which would be denied to American vessels on similar voyages. To state such a proposition is to refute its justice. During the Administration of Mr. John Quincy Adams Mr. Clay unanswerably demonstrated the natural right of the citizens of the United States to the navigation of this river, claiming that the act of the congress of Vienna in opening the Rhine and other rivers to all nations showed the judgment of European jurists and statesmen that the inhabitants of a country through which a navigable river passes have a natural right to enjoy the navigation of that river to and into the sea, even though passing through the territories of another power. This right does not exclude the coequal right of the sovereign possessing the territory through which the river debouches into the sea to make such regulations relative to the police of the navigation as may be reasonably necessary; but those regulations should be framed in a liberal spirit of comity, and should not impose needless burdens upon the commerce which has the right of transit. It has been found in practice more advantageous to arrange these regulations by mutual agreement. The United States are ready to make any reasonable arrangement as to the police of the St. Lawrence which may be suggested by Great Britain. If the claim made by Mr. Clay was just when the population of States bordering on the shores of the Lakes was only 3,400,000, it now derives greater force and equity from the increased population, wealth, production, and tonnage of the States on the Canadian frontier. Since Mr. Clay advanced his argument in behalf of our right the principle for which he contended has been frequently, and by various nations, recognized by law or by treaty, and has been extended to several other great rivers. By the treaty concluded at Mayence in 1831 the Rhine was declared free from the point where it is first navigable into the sea. By the convention between Spain and Portugal concluded in 1835 the navigation of the Douro throughout its whole extent was made free for the subjects of both Crowns. In 1853 the Argentine Confederation by treaty threw open the free navigation of the Parana and the Uruguay to the merchant vessels of all nations. In 1856 the Crimean War was closed by a treaty which provided for the free navigation of the Danube. In 1858 Bolivia by treaty declared that it regarded the rivers Amazon and La Plata, in accordance with fixed principles of national law, as highways or channels opened by nature for the commerce of all nations. In 1859 the Paraguay was made free by treaty, and in December, 1866, the Emperor of Brazil by imperial decree declared the Amazon to be open to the frontier of Brazil to the merchant ships of all nations. The greatest living British authority on this subject, while asserting the abstract right of the British claim, says: 
  It seems difficult to deny that Great Britain may ground her refusal upon strict law, but it is equally difficult to deny, first, that in so doing she exercises harshly an extreme and hard law; secondly, that her conduct with respect to the navigation of the St. Lawrence is in glaring and discreditable inconsistency with her conduct with respect to the navigation of the Mississippi. On the ground that she possessed a small domain in which the Mississippi took its rise, she insisted on the right to navigate the entire volume of its waters. On the ground that she possesses both banks of the St. Lawrence, where it disembogues itself into the sea, she denies to the United States the right of navigation, though about one-half of the waters of Lakes Ontario. Erie, Huron, and Superior, and the whole of Lake Michigan, through which the river flows, are the property of the United States.
 The whole nation is interested in securing cheap transportation from the agricultural States of the West to the Atlantic Seaboard. To the citizens of those States it secures a greater return for their labor; to the inhabitants of the seaboard it affords cheaper food; to the nation, an increase in the annual surplus of wealth. It is hoped that the Government of Great Britain will see the justice of abandoning the narrow and inconsistent claim to which her Canadian Provinces have urged her adherence. Our depressed commerce is a subject to which I called your special attention at the last session, and suggested that we will in the future have to look more to the countries south of us, and to China and Japan, for its revival. Our representatives to all these Governments have exerted their influence to encourage trade between the United States and the countries to which they are accredited. But the fact exists that the carrying is done almost entirely in foreign bottoms, and while this state of affairs exists we can not control our due share of the commerce of the world; that between the Pacific States and China and Japan is about all the carrying trade now conducted in American vessels. I would recommend a liberal policy toward that line of American steamers--one that will insure its success, and even increased usefulness. The cost of building iron vessels, the only ones that can compete with foreign ships in the carrying trade, is so much greater in the United States than in foreign countries that without some assistance from the Government they can not be successfully built here. There will be several propositions laid before Congress in the course of the present session looking to a remedy for this evil. Even if it should be at some cost to the National Treasury, I hope such encouragement will be given as will secure American shipping on the high seas and American shipbuilding at home. The condition of the archives at the Department of State calls for the early action of Congress. The building now rented by that Department is a frail structure, at an inconvenient distance from the Executive Mansion and from the other Departments, is ill adapted to the purpose for which it is used, has not capacity to accommodate the archives, and is not fireproof. Its remote situation, its slender construction, and the absence of a supply of water in the neighborhood leave but little hope of safety for either the building or its contents in case of the accident of a fire. Its destruction would involve the loss of the rolls containing the original acts and resolutions of Congress, of the historic records of the Revolution and of the Confederation, of the whole series of diplomatic and consular archives since the adoption of the Constitution, and of the many other valuable records and papers left with that Department when it was the principal depository of the governmental archives. I recommend an appropriation for the construction of a building for the Department of State. I recommend to your consideration the propriety of transferring to the Department of the Interior, to which they seem more appropriately to belong, all powers and duties in relation to the Territories with which the Department of State is now charged by law or usage; and from the Interior Department to the War Department the Pension Bureau, so far as it regulates the payment of soldiers' pensions. I would further recommend that the payment of naval pensions be transferred to one of the bureaus of the Navy Department. The estimates for the expenses of the Government for the next fiscal year are $18,244,346.01 less than for the current one, but exceed the appropriations for the present year for the same items $8,972,127.56. In this estimate, however, is included $22,338,278.37 for public works heretofore begun under Congressional provision, and of which only so much is asked as Congress may choose to give. The appropriation for the same works for the present fiscal year was $11,984,518.08. The average value of gold, as compared with national currency, for the whole of the year 1869 was about 134, and for eleven months of 1870 the same relative value has been about 115. The approach to a specie basis is very gratifying, but the fact can not be denied that the instability of the value of our currency is prejudicial to our prosperity, and tends to keep up prices, to the detriment of trade. The evils of a depreciated and fluctuating currency are so great that now, when the premium on gold has fallen so much, it would seem that the time has arrived when by wise and prudent legislation Congress should look to a policy which would place our currency at par with gold at no distant day. The tax collected from the people has been reduced more than $80,000,000 per annum. By steadiness in our present course there is no reason why in a few short years the national tax gatherer may not disappear from the door of the citizen almost entirely. With the revenue stamp dispensed by postmasters in every community, a tax upon liquors of all sorts and tobacco in all its forms, and by a wise adjustment of the tariff, which will put a duty only upon those articles which we could dispense with, known as luxuries, and on those which we use more of than we produce, revenue enough may be raised after a few years of peace and consequent reduction of indebtedness to fulfill all our obligations. A further reduction of expenses, in addition to a reduction of interest account, may be relied on to make this practicable. Revenue reform, if it means this, has my hearty support. If it implies a collection of all the revenue for the support of the Government, for the payment of principal and interest of the public debt, pensions, etc., by directly taxing the people, then I am against revenue reform, and confidently believe the people are with me. If it means failure to provide the necessary means to defray all the expenses of Government, and thereby repudiation of the public debt and pensions, then I am still more opposed to such kind of revenue reform. Revenue reform has not been defined by any of its advocates to my knowledge, but seems to be accepted as something which is to supply every man's wants without any cost or effort on his part. A true revenue reform can not be made in a day, but must be the work of national legislation and of time. As soon as the revenue can be dispensed with, all duty should be removed from coffee, tea and other articles of universal use not produced by ourselves. The necessities of the country compel us to collect revenue from our imports. An army of assessors and collectors is not a pleasant sight to the citizen, but that of a tariff for revenue is necessary. Such a tariff, so far as it acts as an encouragement to home production, affords employment to labor at living wages, in contrast to the pauper labor of the Old World, and also in the development of home resources. Under the act of Congress of the 15th day of July, 1870, the Army has gradually been reduced, so that on the 1st day of January, 1871, the number of commissioned officers and men will not exceed the number contemplated by that law. The War Department building is an old structure, not fireproof, and entirely inadequate in dimensions to our present wants. Many thousands of dollars are now paid annually for rent of private buildings to accommodate the various bureaus of the Department. I recommend an appropriation for a new War Department building, suited to the present and growing wants of the nation. The report of the Secretary of War shows a very satisfactory reduction in the expenses of the Army for the last fiscal year. For details you are referred to his accompanying report. The expenses of the Navy for the whole of the last year--i.e.., from December 1, 1869, the date of the last report--are less than $19,000,000, or about $1,000,000 less than they were the previous year. The expenses since the commencement of this fiscal year--i.e.., since July 1--show for the five months a decrease of over $2,400,000 from those of the corresponding months last year. The estimates for the current year were $28,205,671.37. Those for next year are $20,683,317, with $955,100 additional for necessary permanent improvements. These estimates are made closely for the mere maintenance of the naval establishment as now is, without much in the nature of permanent improvement. The appropriations made for the last and current years were evidently intended by Congress, and are sufficient only, to keep the Navy on its present footing by the repairing and refitting of our old ships. This policy must, of course, gradually but surely destroy the Navy, and it is in itself far from economical, as each year that it is pursued the necessity for mere repairs in ships and navy-yards becomes more imperative and more costly, and our current expenses are annually increased for the mere repair of ships, many of which must soon become unsafe and useless. I hope during the present session of Congress to be able to submit to it a plan by which naval vessels can be built and repairs made with great saving upon the present cost. It can hardly be wise statesmanship in a Government which represents a country with over 5,000 miles of coast line on both oceans, exclusive of Alaska, and containing 40,000,000 progressive people, with relations of every nature with almost every foreign country, to rest with such inadequate means of enforcing any foreign policy, either of protection or redress. Separated by the ocean from the nations of the Eastern Continent, our Navy is our only means of direct protection to our citizens abroad or for the enforcement of any foreign policy. The accompanying report of the Postmaster-General shows a most satisfactory working of that Department. With the adoption of the recommendations contained therein, particularly those relating to a reform in the franking privilege and the adoption of the "correspondence cards," a self-sustaining postal system may speedily be looked for, and at no distant day a further reduction of the rate of postage be attained. I recommend authorization by Congress to the Postmaster-General and Attorney-General to issue all commissions to officials appointed through their respective Departments. At present these commissions, where appointments are Presidential, are issued by the State Department. The law in all the Departments of Government, except those of the Post-Office and of Justice, authorizes each to issue its own commissions. Always favoring practical reforms, I respectfully call your attention to one abuse of long standing which I would like to see remedied by this Congress. It is a reform in the civil service of the country. I would have it go beyond the mere fixing of the tenure of office of clerks and employees who do not require "the advice and consent of the Senate" to make their appointments complete. I would have it govern, not the tenure, but the manner of making all appointments. There is no duty which so much embarrasses the Executive and heads of Departments as that of appointments, nor is there any such arduous and thankless labor imposed on Senators and Representatives as that of finding places for constituents. The present system does not secure the best men, and often not even fit men, for public place. The elevation and purification of the civil service of the Government will be hailed with approval by the whole people of the United States. Reform in the management of Indian affairs has received the special attention of the Administration from its inauguration to the present day. The experiment of making it a missionary work was tried with a few agencies given to the denomination of Friends, and has been found to work most advantageously. All agencies and superintendencies not so disposed of were given to officers of the Army. The act of Congress reducing the Army renders army officers ineligible for civil positions. Indian agencies being civil offices, I determined to give all the agencies to such religious denominations as had heretofore established missionaries among the Indians, and perhaps to some other denominations who would undertake the work on the same terms--i.e., as a missionary work. The societies selected are allowed to name their own agents, subject to the approval of the Executive, and are expected to watch over them and aid them as missionaries, to Christianize and civilize the Indian, and to train him in the arts of peace. The Government watches over the official acts of these agents, and requires of them as strict an accountability as if they were appointed in any other manner. I entertain the confident hope that the policy now pursued will in a few years bring all the Indians upon reservations, where they will live in houses, and have schoolhouses and churches, and will be pursuing peaceful and self-sustaining avocations, and where they may be visited by the law-abiding white man with the same impunity that he now visits the civilized white settlements. I call your special attention to the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for full information on this subject. During the last fiscal year 8,095,413 acres of public land were disposed of. Of this quantity 3,698,910.05 acres were taken under the homestead law and 2,159,515.81 acres sold for cash. The remainder was located with military warrants, college or Indian scrip, or applied in satisfaction of grants to railroads or for other public uses. The entries under the homestead law during the last year covered 961,545 acres more than those during the preceding year. Surveys have been vigorously prosecuted to the full extent of the means applicable to the purpose. The quantity of land in market will amply supply the present demand. The claim of the settler under the homestead or the preemption laws is not, however, limited to lands subject to sale at private entry. Any unappropriated surveyed public land may, to a limited amount, be acquired under the former laws if the party entitled to enter under them will comply with the requirements they prescribe in regard to the residence and cultivation. The actual settler's preference right of purchase is even broader, and extends to lands which were unsurveyed at the time of his settlement. His right was formerly confined within much narrower limits, and at one period of our history was conferred only by special statutes. They were enacted from time to time to legalize what was then regarded as an unauthorized intrusion upon the national domain. The opinion that the public lands should be regarded chiefly as a source of revenue is no longer maintained. The rapid settlement and successful cultivation of them are now justly considered of more importance to our well-being than is the fund which the sale of them would produce. The remarkable growth and prosperity of our new States and Territories attest the wisdom of the legislation which invites the tiller of the soil to secure a permanent home on terms within the reach of all. The pioneer who incurs the dangers and privations of a frontier life, and thus aids in laying the foundation of new commonwealths, renders a signal service to his country, and is entitled to its special favor and protection. These laws secure that object and largely promote the general welfare. They should therefore be cherished as a permanent feature of our land system. Good faith requires us to give full effect to existing grants. The time-honored and beneficent policy of setting apart certain sections of public land for educational purposes in the new States should be continued. When ample provision shall have been made for these objects, I submit as a question worthy of serious consideration whether the residue of our national domain should not be wholly disposed of under the provisions the homestead and preemption laws. In addition to the swamp and overflowed lands granted to the States in which they are situated, the lands taken under the agricultural-college acts and for internal-improvement purposes under the act of September, 1841, and the acts supplemental thereto, there had been conveyed up to the close of the last fiscal year, by patent or other equivalent title, to States and corporations 27,836,257.63 acres for railways, canals, and wagon roads. It is estimated that an additional quantity of 174,735,523 acres is still due under grants for like uses. The policy of thus aiding the States in building works of internal improvement was inaugurated more than forty years since in the grants to Indiana and Illinois, to aid those States in opening canals to connect the waters of the Wabash with those of Lake Erie and the waters of the Illinois with those of Lake Michigan. It was followed, with some modifications, in the grant to Illinois of alternate sections of public land within certain limits of the Illinois Central Railway. Fourteen States and sundry corporations have received similar subsidies in connection with railways completed or in process of construction. As the reserved sections are rated at the double minimum, the sale of them at the enhanced price has thus in many instances indemnified the Treasury for the granted lands. The construction of some of these thoroughfares has undoubtedly given a vigorous impulse to the development of our resources and the settlement of the more distant portions of the country. It may, however, be well insisted that much of our legislation in this regard has been characterized by indiscriminate and profuse liberality. The United States should not loan their credit in aid of any enterprise undertaken by States or corporations, nor grant lands in any instance, unless the projected work is of acknowledged national importance. I am strongly inclined to the opinion that it is inexpedient and unnecessary to bestow subsidies of either description; but should Congress determine otherwise I earnestly recommend that the right of settlers and of the public be more effectually secured and protected by appropriate legislation. During the year ending September 30, 1870, there were filed in the Patent Office 19,411 applications for patents, 3,374 caveats, and 160 applications for the extension of patents. Thirteen thousand six hundred and twenty-two patents, including reissues and designs, were issued, 1,010 extended, and 1,089 allowed, but not issued by reason of the nonpayment of the final fees. The receipts of the office during the year were $136,304.29 in excess of its expenditures. The work of the Census Bureau has been energetically prosecuted. The preliminary report, containing much information of special value and interest, will be ready for delivery during the present session. The remaining volumes will be completed with all the dispatch consistent with perfect accuracy in arranging and classifying the returns. We shall thus at no distant day be furnished with an authentic record of our condition and resources. It will, I doubt not, attest the growing prosperity of the country, although during the decade which has just closed it was so severely tried by the great war waged to maintain its integrity and to secure and perpetuate our free institutions. During the last fiscal year the sum paid to pensioners, including the cost of disbursement, was $27,780,811.11, and 1,758 bounty-land warrants were issued. At its close 198,686 names were on the pension rolls. The labors of the Pension Office have been directed to the severe scrutiny of the evidence submitted in favor of new claims and to the discovery of fictitious claims which have been heretofore allowed. The appropriation for the employment of special agents for the investigation of frauds has been judiciously used, and the results obtained have been of unquestionable benefit to the service. The subjects of education and agriculture are of great interest to the success of our republican institutions, happiness, and grandeur as a nation. In the interest of one a bureau has been established in the Interior Department--the Bureau of Education; and in the interest of the other, a separate Department, that of Agriculture. I believe great general good is to flow from the operations of both these Bureaus if properly fostered. I can not commend to your careful consideration too highly the reports of the Commissioners of Education and of Agriculture, nor urge too strongly such liberal legislation as to secure their efficiency. In conclusion I would sum up the policy of the Administration to be a thorough enforcement of every law; a faithful collection of every tax provided for; economy in the disbursement of the same; a prompt payment of every debt of the nation; a reduction of taxes as rapidly as the requirements of the country will admit; reductions of taxation and tariff, to be so arranged as to afford the greatest relief to the greatest number; honest and fair dealings with all other peoples, to the end that war, with all its blighting consequences, may be avoided, but without surrendering any right or obligation due to us; a reform in the treatment of Indians and in the whole civil service of the country; and, finally, in securing a pure, untrammeled ballot, where every man entitled to cast a vote may do so, just once at each election, without fear of molestation or proscription on account of his political faith, nativity, of color.
A year of peace and general prosperity to this nation has passed since the last assembling of Congress. We have, through a kind Providence, been blessed with abundant crops, and have been spared from complications and war with foreign nations. In our midst comparative harmony has been restored. It is to be regretted, however, that a free exercise of the elective franchise has by violence and intimidation been denied to citizens in exceptional cases in several of the States lately in rebellion, and the verdict of the people has thereby been reversed. The States of Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas have been restored to representation in our national councils. Georgia, the only State now without representation, may confidently be expected to take her place there also at the beginning of the new year, and then, let us hope, will be completed the work of reconstruction. With an acquiescence on the part of the whole people in the national obligation to pay the public debt created as the price of our Union, the pensions to our disabled soldiers and sailors and their widows and orphans, and in the changes to the Constitution which have been made necessary by a great rebellion, there is no reason why we should not advance in material prosperity and happiness as no other nation ever did after so protracted and devastating a war. Soon after the existing war broke out in Europe the protection of the United States minister in Paris was invoked in favor of North Germans domiciled in French territory. Instructions were issued to grant the protection. This has been followed by an extension of American protection to citizens of Saxony, Hesse and Saxe-Coburg, Gotha, Colombia, Portugal, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Chile, Paraguay, and Venezuela in Paris. The charge was an onerous one, requiring constant and severe labor, as well as the exercise of patience, prudence, and good judgment. It has been performed to the entire satisfaction of this Government, and, as I am officially informed, equally so to the satisfaction of the Government of North Germany. As soon as I learned that a republic had been proclaimed at Paris and that the people of France had acquiesced in the change, the minister of the United States was directed by telegraph to recognize it and to tender my congratulations and those of the people of the United States. The reestablishment in France of a system of government disconnected with the dynastic traditions of Europe appeared to be a proper subject for the felicitations of Americans. Should the present struggle result in attaching the hearts of the French to our simpler forms of representative government, it will be a subject of still further satisfaction to our people. While we make no effort to impose our institutions upon the inhabitants of other countries, and while we adhere to our traditional neutrality in civil contests elsewhere, we can not be indifferent to the spread of American political ideas in a great and highly civilized country like France. We were asked by the new Government to use our good offices, jointly with those of European powers, in the interests of peace. Answer was made that the established policy and the true interests of the United States forbade them to interfere in European questions jointly with European powers. I ascertained, informally and unofficially, that the Government of North Germany was not then disposed to listen to such representations from any power, and though earnestly wishing to see the blessings of peace restored to the belligerents, with all of whom the United States are on terms of friendship, I declined on the part of this Government to take a step which could only result in injury to our true interests without advancing the object for which our intervention was invoked. Should the time come when the action of the United States can hasten the return of peace by a single hour, that action will be heartily taken. I deemed it prudent, in view of the number of persons of German and French birth living in the United States, to issue, soon after official notice of a state of war had been received from both belligerents, a proclamation defining the duties of the United States as a neutral and the obligations of persons residing within their territory to observe their laws and the laws of nations. This proclamation was followed by others, as circumstances seemed to call for them. The people, thus acquainted in advance of their duties and obligations, have assisted in preventing violations of the neutrality of the United States. It is not understood that the condition of the insurrection in Cuba has materially changed since the close of the last session of Congress. In an early stage of the contest the authorities of Spain inaugurated a system of arbitrary arrests, of close confinement, and of military trial and execution of persons suspected of complicity with the insurgents, and of summary embargo of their properties, and sequestration of their revenues by executive warrant. Such proceedings, so far as they affected the persons or property of citizens of the United States, were in violation of the provisions of the treaty of 1795 between the United States and Spain. Representations of injuries resulting to several persons claiming to be citizens of the United States by reason of such violations were made to the Spanish Government. From April, 1869, to June last the Spanish minister at Washington had been clothed with a limited power to aid in redressing such wrongs. That power was found to be withdrawn, "in view," as it was said, "of the favorable situation in which the island of Cuba" then "was," which, however, did not lead to a revocation or suspension of the extraordinary and arbitrary functions exercised by the executive power in Cuba, and we were obliged to make our complaints at Madrid. In the negotiations thus opened, and still pending there, the United States only claimed that for the future the rights secured to their citizens by treaty should be respected in Cuba, and that as to the past a joint tribunal should be established in the United States with full jurisdiction over all such claims. Before such an impartial tribunal each claimant would be required to prove his case. On the other hand, Spain would be at liberty to traverse every material fact, and thus complete equity would be done. A case which at one time threatened seriously to affect the relations between the United States and Spain has already been disposed of in this way. The claim of the owners of the Colonel Lloyd Aspinwall for the illegal seizure and detention of that vessel was referred to arbitration by mutual consent, and has resulted in an award to the United States, for the owners, of the sum of $19,702.50 in gold. Another and long-pending claim of like nature, that of the whaleship Canada, has been disposed of by friendly arbitrament during the present year. It was referred, by the joint consent of Brazil and the United States, to the decision of Sir Edward Thornton, Her Britannic Majesty's minister at Washington, who kindly undertook the laborious task of examining the voluminous mass of correspondence and testimony submitted by the two Governments, and awarded to the United States the sum of $100,740.09 in gold, which has since been paid by the Imperial Government. These recent examples show that the mode which the United States have proposed to Spain for adjusting the pending claims is just and feasible, and that it may be agreed to by either nation without dishonor. It is to be hoped that this moderate demand may be acceded to by Spain without further delay. Should the pending negotiations, unfortunately and unexpectedly, be without result, it will then become my duty to communicate that fact to Congress and invite its action on the subject. The long-deferred peace conference between Spain and the allied South American Republics has been inaugurated in Washington under the auspices of the United States. Pursuant to the recommendation contained in the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th of December, 1866, the executive department of the Government offered its friendly offices for the promotion of peace and harmony between Spain and the allied Republics. Hesitations and obstacles occurred to the acceptance of the offer. Ultimately, however, a conference was arranged, and was opened in this city on the 29th of October last, at which I authorized the Secretary of State to preside. It was attended by the ministers of Spain, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. In consequence of the absence of a representative from Bolivia, the conference was adjourned until the attendance of a plenipotentiary from that Republic could be secured or other measures could be adopted toward compassing its objects. The allied and other Republics of Spanish origin on this continent may see in this fact a new proof of our sincere interest in their welfare, of our desire to see them blessed with good governments, capable of maintaining order and of preserving their respective territorial integrity, and of our sincere wish to extend our own commercial and social relations with them. The time is not probably far distant when, in the natural course of events, the European political connection with this continent will cease. Our policy should be shaped, in view of this probability, so as to ally the commercial interests of the Spanish American States more closely to our own, and thus give the United States all the preeminence and all the advantage which Mr. Monroe, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Clay contemplated when they proposed to join in the congress of Panama. During the last session of Congress a treaty for the annexation of the Republic of San Domingo to the United States failed to receive the requisite two-thirds vote of the Senate. I was thoroughly convinced then that the best interests of this country, commercially and materially, demanded its ratification. Time has only confirmed me in this view. I now firmly believe that the moment it is known that the United States have entirely abandoned the project of accepting as a part of its territory the island of San Domingo a free port will be negotiated for by European nations in the Bay of Samana. A large commercial city will spring up, to which we will be tributary without receiving corresponding benefits, and then will be seen the folly of our rejecting so great a prize. The Government of San Domingo has voluntarily sought this annexation. It is a weak power, numbering probably less than 120,000 souls, and yet possessing one of the richest territories under the sun, capable of supporting a population of 10,000,000 people in luxury. The people of San Domingo are not capable of maintaining themselves in their present condition, and must look for outside support. They yearn for the protection of our free institutions and laws, our progress and civilization. Shall we refuse them? The acquisition of San Domingo is desirable because of its geographical position. It commands the entrance to the Caribbean Sea and the Isthmus transit of commerce. It possesses the richest soil, best and most capacious harbors, most salubrious climate, and the most valuable products of the forests, mine, and soil of any of the West India Islands. Its possession by us will in a few years build up a coastwise commerce of immense magnitude, which will go far toward restoring to us our lost merchant marine. It will give to us those articles which we consume so largely and do not produce, thus equalizing our exports and imports. In case of foreign war it will give us command of all the islands referred to, and thus prevent an enemy from ever again possessing himself of rendezvous upon our very coast. At present our coast trade between the States bordering on the Atlantic and those bordering on the Gulf of Mexico is cut into by the Bahamas and the Antilies. Twice we must, as it were, pass through foreign countries to get by sea from Georgia to the west coast of Florida. San Domingo, with a stable government, under which her immense resources can be developed, will give remunerative wages to tens of thousands of laborers not now upon the island. This labor will take advantage of every available means of transportation to abandon the adjacent islands and seek the blessings of freedom and its sequence--each inhabitant receiving the reward of his own labor. Porto Rico and Cuba will have to abolish slavery, as a measure of self-preservation, to retain their laborers. San Domingo will become a large consumer of the products of Northern farms and manufactories. The cheap rate at which her citizens can be furnished with food, tools, and machinery will make it necessary that contiguous islands should have the same advantages in order to compete in the production of sugar, coffee, tobacco, tropical fruits, etc. This will open to us a still wider market for our products. The production of our own supply of these articles will cut off more than one hundred millions of our annual imports, besides largely increasing our exports. With such a picture it is easy to see how our large debt abroad is ultimately to be extinguished. With a balance of trade against us (including interest on bonds held by foreigners and money spent by our citizens traveling in foreign lands) equal to the entire yield of the precious metals in this country, it is not so easy to see how this result is to be otherwise accomplished. The acquisition of San Domingo is an adherence to the "Monroe doctrine;" it is a measure of national protection; it is asserting our just claim to a controlling influence over the great commercial traffic soon to flow from west to east by way of the Isthmus of Darien; it is to build up our merchant marine; it is to furnish new markets for the products of our farms, shops, and manufactories; it is to make slavery insupportable in Cuba and Porto Rico at once, and ultimately so in Brazil; it is to settle the unhappy condition of Cuba and end an exterminating conflict; it is to provide honest means of paying our honest debts without overtaxing the people; it is to furnish our citizens with the necessaries of everyday life at cheaper rates than ever before; and it is, in fine, a rapid stride toward that greatness which the intelligence, industry, and enterprise of the citizens of the United States entitle this country to assume among nations. In view of the importance of this question, I earnestly urge upon Congress early action expressive of its views as to the best means of acquiring San Domingo. My suggestion is that by joint resolution of the two Houses of Congress the Executive be authorized to appoint a commission to negotiate a treaty with the authorities of San Domingo for the acquisition of that island, and that an appropriation be made to defray the expenses of such a commission. The question may then be determined, either by the action of the Senate upon the treaty or the joint action of the two Houses of Congress upon a resolution of annexation, as in the case of the acquisition of Texas. So convinced am I of the advantages to flow from the acquisition of San Domingo, and of the great disadvantages--I might almost say calamities--to flow from nonacquisition, that I believe the subject has only to be investigated to be approved. It is to be regretted that our representations in regard to the injurious effects, especially upon the revenue of the United States, of the policy of the Mexican Government in exempting from impost duties a large tract of its territory on our borders have not only been fruitless, but that it is even proposed in that country to extend the limits within which the privilege adverted to has hitherto been enjoyed. The expediency of taking into your serious consideration proper measures for countervailing the policy referred to will, it is presumed, engage your earnest attention. It is the obvious interest, especially of neighboring nations, to provide against impunity to those who may have committed high crimes within their borders and who may have sought refuge abroad. For this purpose extradition treaties have been concluded with several of the Central American Republics, and others are in progress. The sense of Congress is desired, as early as may be convenient, upon the proceedings of the commission on claims against Venezuela, as communicated in my messages of March 16, 1869, March 1, 1870, and March 31, 1870. It has not been deemed advisable to distribute any of the money which has been received from that Government until Congress shall have acted on the subject. The massacres of French and Russian residents at Tien-Tsin, under circumstances of great barbarity, was supposed by some to have been premeditated, and to indicate a purpose among the populace to exterminate foreigners in the Chinese Empire. The evidence fails to establish such a supposition, but shows a complicity between the local authorities and the mob. The Government at Peking, however, seems to have been disposed to fulfill its treaty obligations so far as it was able to do so. Unfortunately, the news of the war between the German States and France reached China soon after the massacre. It would appear that the popular mind became possessed with the idea that this contest, extending to Chinese waters, would neutralize the Christian influence and power, and that the time was coming when the superstitious masses might expel all foreigners and restore mandarin influence. Anticipating trouble from this because, I invited France and North Germany to make an authorized suspension of hostilities in the East (where they were temporarily suspended by act of the commanders), and to act together for the future protection in China of the lives and properties of Americans and Europeans. Since the adjournment of Congress the ratifications of the treaty with Great Britain for abolishing the mixed courts for the suppression of the slave trade have been exchanged. It is believed that the slave trade is now confined to the eastern coast of Africa, whence the slaves are taken to Arabian markets. The ratifications of the naturalization convention between Great Britain and the United States have also been exchanged during the recess, and thus a long-standing dispute between the two Governments has been settled in accordance with the principles always contended for by the United States. In April last, while engaged in locating a military reservation near Pembina, a corps of engineers discovered that the commonly received boundary line between the United States and the British possessions at that place is about 4,700 feet south of the true position of the forty-ninth parallel, and that the line, when run on what is now supposed to be the true position of that parallel, would leave the fort of the Hudsons Bay Company at Pembina within the territory of the United States. This information being communicated to the British Government, I was requested to consent, and did consent, that the British occupation of the fort of the Hudsons Bay Company should continue for the present. I deem it important, however, that this part of the boundary line should be definitely fixed by a joint commission of the two Governments, and I submit herewith estimates of the expense of such a commission on the part of the United States and recommend that an appropriation be made for that purpose. The land boundary has already been fixed and marked from the summit of the Rocky Mountains to the Georgian Bay. It should now be in like manner marked from the Lake of the Woods to the summit of the Rocky Mountains. I regret to say that no conclusion has been reached for the adjustment of the claims against Great Britain growing out of the course adopted by that Government during the rebellion. The cabinet of London, so far as its views have been expressed, does not appear to be willing to concede that Her Majesty's Government was guilty of any negligence, or did or permitted any act during the war by which the United States has just because of complaint. Our firm and unalterable convictions are directly the reverse. I therefore recommend to Congress to authorize the appointment of a commission to take proof of the amount and the ownership of these several claims, on notice to the representative of Her Majesty at Washington, and that authority be given for the settlement of these claims by the United States, so that the Government shall have the ownership of the private claims, as well as the responsible control of all the demands against Great Britain. It can not be necessary to add that whenever Her Majesty's Government shall entertain a desire for a full and friendly adjustment of these claims the United States will enter upon their consideration with an earnest desire for a conclusion consistent with the honor and dignity of both nations. The course pursued by the Canadian authorities toward the fishermen of the United States during the past season has not been marked by a friendly feeling. By the first article of the convention of 1818 between Great Britain and the United States it was agreed that the inhabitants of the United States should have forever, in common with British subjects, the right of taking fish in certain waters therein defined. In the waters not included in the limits named in the convention (within 3 miles of parts of the British coast) it has been the custom for many years to give to intruding fishermen of the United States a reasonable warning of their violation of the technical rights of Great Britain. The Imperial Government is understood to have delegated the whole or a share of its jurisdiction or control of these inshore fishing grounds to the colonial authority known as the Dominion of Canada, and this semi-independent but irresponsible agent has exercised its delegated powers in an unfriendly way. Vessels have been seized without notice or warning, in violation of the custom previously prevailing, and have been taken into the colonial ports, their voyages broken up, and the vessels condemned. There is reason to believe that this unfriendly and vexatious treatment was designed to bear harshly upon the hardy fishermen of the United States, with a view to political effect upon this Government. The statutes of the Dominion of Canada assume a still broader and more untenable jurisdiction over the vessels of the United States. They authorize officers or persons to bring vessels hovering within 3 marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or harbors of Canada into port, to search the cargo, to examine the master on oath touching the cargo and voyage, and to inflict upon him a heavy pecuniary penalty if true answers are not given; and if such a vessel is found "preparing to fish" within 3 marine miles of any of such coasts, bays, creeks, or harbors without a license, or after the expiration of the period named in the last license granted to it, they provide that the vessel, with her tackle, etc., shall be forfeited. It is not known that any condemnations have been made under this statute. Should the authorities of Canada attempt to enforce it, it will become my duty to take such steps as may be necessary to protect the rights of the citizens of the United States. It has been claimed by Her Majesty's officers that the fishing vessels of the United States have no right to enter the open ports of the British possessions in North America, except for the purposes of shelter and repairing damages, of purchasing wood and obtaining water; that they have no right to enter at the British custom-houses or to trade there except in the purchase of wood and water, and that they must depart within twenty-four hours after notice to leave. It is not known that any seizure of a fishing vessel carrying the flag of the United States has been made under this claim. So far as the claim is founded on an alleged construction of he convention of 1818, it can not be acquiesced in by the United States. It is hoped that it will not be insisted on by Her Majesty's Government. During the conferences which preceded the negotiation of the convention of 1818 the British commissioners proposed to expressly exclude the fishermen of the United States from "the privilege of carrying on trade with any of His Britannic Majesty's subjects residing within the limits assigned for their use;" and also that it should not be "lawful for the vessels of the United States engaged in said fishery to have on board any goods, wares, or merchandise whatever, except such as may be necessary for the prosecution of their voyages to and from the said fishing grounds: and any vessel of the United States which shall contravene this regulation may be seized, condemned, and confiscated, with her cargo." This proposition, which is identical with the construction now put upon the language of the convention, was emphatically rejected by the American commissioners, and thereupon was abandoned by the British plenipotentiaries, and Article I, as it stands in the convention, was substituted. If, however, it be said that this claim is founded on provincial or colonial statutes, and not upon the convention, this Government can not but regard them as unfriendly, and in contravention of the spirit, if not of the letter, of the treaty, for the faithful execution of which the Imperial Government is alone responsible. Anticipating that an attempt may possibly be made by the Canadian authorities in the coming season to repeat their unneighborly acts toward our fishermen, I recommend you to confer upon the Executive the power to suspend by proclamation the operation of the laws authorizing the transit of goods, wares, and merchandise in bond across the territory of the United States to Canada, and, further, should such an extreme measure become necessary, to suspend the operation of any laws whereby the vessels of the Dominion of Canada are permitted to enter the waters of the United States. A like unfriendly disposition has been manifested on the part of Canada in the maintenance of a claim of right to exclude the citizens of the United States from the navigation of the St. Lawrence. This river constitutes a natural outlet to the ocean for eight States, with an aggregate population of about 17,600,000 inhabitants, and with an aggregate tonnage of 661,367 tons upon the waters which discharge into it. The foreign commerce of our ports on these waters is open to British competition, and the major part of it is done in British bottoms. If the American seamen be excluded from this natural avenue to the ocean, the monopoly of the direct commerce of the lake ports with the Atlantic would be in foreign hands, their vessels on transatlantic voyages having an access to our lake ports which would be denied to American vessels on similar voyages. To state such a proposition is to refute its justice. During the Administration of Mr. John Quincy Adams Mr. Clay unanswerably demonstrated the natural right of the citizens of the United States to the navigation of this river, claiming that the act of the congress of Vienna in opening the Rhine and other rivers to all nations showed the judgment of European jurists and statesmen that the inhabitants of a country through which a navigable river passes have a natural right to enjoy the navigation of that river to and into the sea, even though passing through the territories of another power. This right does not exclude the coequal right of the sovereign possessing the territory through which the river debouches into the sea to make such regulations relative to the police of the navigation as may be reasonably necessary; but those regulations should be framed in a liberal spirit of comity, and should not impose needless burdens upon the commerce which has the right of transit. It has been found in practice more advantageous to arrange these regulations by mutual agreement. The United States are ready to make any reasonable arrangement as to the police of the St. Lawrence which may be suggested by Great Britain. If the claim made by Mr. Clay was just when the population of States bordering on the shores of the Lakes was only 3,400,000, it now derives greater force and equity from the increased population, wealth, production, and tonnage of the States on the Canadian frontier. Since Mr. Clay advanced his argument in behalf of our right the principle for which he contended has been frequently, and by various nations, recognized by law or by treaty, and has been extended to several other great rivers. By the treaty concluded at Mayence in 1831 the Rhine was declared free from the point where it is first navigable into the sea. By the convention between Spain and Portugal concluded in 1835 the navigation of the Douro throughout its whole extent was made free for the subjects of both Crowns. In 1853 the Argentine Confederation by treaty threw open the free navigation of the Parana and the Uruguay to the merchant vessels of all nations. In 1856 the Crimean War was closed by a treaty which provided for the free navigation of the Danube. In 1858 Bolivia by treaty declared that it regarded the rivers Amazon and La Plata, in accordance with fixed principles of national law, as highways or channels opened by nature for the commerce of all nations. In 1859 the Paraguay was made free by treaty, and in December, 1866, the Emperor of Brazil by imperial decree declared the Amazon to be open to the frontier of Brazil to the merchant ships of all nations. The greatest living British authority on this subject, while asserting the abstract right of the British claim, says: It seems difficult to deny that Great Britain may ground her refusal upon strict law, but it is equally difficult to deny, first, that in so doing she exercises harshly an extreme and hard law; secondly, that her conduct with respect to the navigation of the St. Lawrence is in glaring and discreditable inconsistency with her conduct with respect to the navigation of the Mississippi. On the ground that she possessed a small domain in which the Mississippi took its rise, she insisted on the right to navigate the entire volume of its waters. On the ground that she possesses both banks of the St. Lawrence, where it disembogues itself into the sea, she denies to the United States the right of navigation, though about one-half of the waters of Lakes Ontario. Erie, Huron, and Superior, and the whole of Lake Michigan, through which the river flows, are the property of the United States. The whole nation is interested in securing cheap transportation from the agricultural States of the West to the Atlantic Seaboard. To the citizens of those States it secures a greater return for their labor; to the inhabitants of the seaboard it affords cheaper food; to the nation, an increase in the annual surplus of wealth. It is hoped that the Government of Great Britain will see the justice of abandoning the narrow and inconsistent claim to which her Canadian Provinces have urged her adherence. Our depressed commerce is a subject to which I called your special attention at the last session, and suggested that we will in the future have to look more to the countries south of us, and to China and Japan, for its revival. Our representatives to all these Governments have exerted their influence to encourage trade between the United States and the countries to which they are accredited. But the fact exists that the carrying is done almost entirely in foreign bottoms, and while this state of affairs exists we can not control our due share of the commerce of the world; that between the Pacific States and China and Japan is about all the carrying trade now conducted in American vessels. I would recommend a liberal policy toward that line of American steamers--one that will insure its success, and even increased usefulness. The cost of building iron vessels, the only ones that can compete with foreign ships in the carrying trade, is so much greater in the United States than in foreign countries that without some assistance from the Government they can not be successfully built here. There will be several propositions laid before Congress in the course of the present session looking to a remedy for this evil. Even if it should be at some cost to the National Treasury, I hope such encouragement will be given as will secure American shipping on the high seas and American shipbuilding at home. The condition of the archives at the Department of State calls for the early action of Congress. The building now rented by that Department is a frail structure, at an inconvenient distance from the Executive Mansion and from the other Departments, is ill adapted to the purpose for which it is used, has not capacity to accommodate the archives, and is not fireproof. Its remote situation, its slender construction, and the absence of a supply of water in the neighborhood leave but little hope of safety for either the building or its contents in case of the accident of a fire. Its destruction would involve the loss of the rolls containing the original acts and resolutions of Congress, of the historic records of the Revolution and of the Confederation, of the whole series of diplomatic and consular archives since the adoption of the Constitution, and of the many other valuable records and papers left with that Department when it was the principal depository of the governmental archives. I recommend an appropriation for the construction of a building for the Department of State. I recommend to your consideration the propriety of transferring to the Department of the Interior, to which they seem more appropriately to belong, all powers and duties in relation to the Territories with which the Department of State is now charged by law or usage; and from the Interior Department to the War Department the Pension Bureau, so far as it regulates the payment of soldiers' pensions. I would further recommend that the payment of naval pensions be transferred to one of the bureaus of the Navy Department. The estimates for the expenses of the Government for the next fiscal year are $18,244,346.01 less than for the current one, but exceed the appropriations for the present year for the same items $8,972,127.56. In this estimate, however, is included $22,338,278.37 for public works heretofore begun under Congressional provision, and of which only so much is asked as Congress may choose to give. The appropriation for the same works for the present fiscal year was $11,984,518.08. The average value of gold, as compared with national currency, for the whole of the year 1869 was about 134, and for eleven months of 1870 the same relative value has been about 115. The approach to a specie basis is very gratifying, but the fact can not be denied that the instability of the value of our currency is prejudicial to our prosperity, and tends to keep up prices, to the detriment of trade. The evils of a depreciated and fluctuating currency are so great that now, when the premium on gold has fallen so much, it would seem that the time has arrived when by wise and prudent legislation Congress should look to a policy which would place our currency at par with gold at no distant day. The tax collected from the people has been reduced more than $80,000,000 per annum. By steadiness in our present course there is no reason why in a few short years the national tax gatherer may not disappear from the door of the citizen almost entirely. With the revenue stamp dispensed by postmasters in every community, a tax upon liquors of all sorts and tobacco in all its forms, and by a wise adjustment of the tariff, which will put a duty only upon those articles which we could dispense with, known as luxuries, and on those which we use more of than we produce, revenue enough may be raised after a few years of peace and consequent reduction of indebtedness to fulfill all our obligations. A further reduction of expenses, in addition to a reduction of interest account, may be relied on to make this practicable. Revenue reform, if it means this, has my hearty support. If it implies a collection of all the revenue for the support of the Government, for the payment of principal and interest of the public debt, pensions, etc., by directly taxing the people, then I am against revenue reform, and confidently believe the people are with me. If it means failure to provide the necessary means to defray all the expenses of Government, and thereby repudiation of the public debt and pensions, then I am still more opposed to such kind of revenue reform. Revenue reform has not been defined by any of its advocates to my knowledge, but seems to be accepted as something which is to supply every man's wants without any cost or effort on his part. A true revenue reform can not be made in a day, but must be the work of national legislation and of time. As soon as the revenue can be dispensed with, all duty should be removed from coffee, tea and other articles of universal use not produced by ourselves. The necessities of the country compel us to collect revenue from our imports. An army of assessors and collectors is not a pleasant sight to the citizen, but that of a tariff for revenue is necessary. Such a tariff, so far as it acts as an encouragement to home production, affords employment to labor at living wages, in contrast to the pauper labor of the Old World, and also in the development of home resources. Under the act of Congress of the 15th day of July, 1870, the Army has gradually been reduced, so that on the 1st day of January, 1871, the number of commissioned officers and men will not exceed the number contemplated by that law. The War Department building is an old structure, not fireproof, and entirely inadequate in dimensions to our present wants. Many thousands of dollars are now paid annually for rent of private buildings to accommodate the various bureaus of the Department. I recommend an appropriation for a new War Department building, suited to the present and growing wants of the nation. The report of the Secretary of War shows a very satisfactory reduction in the expenses of the Army for the last fiscal year. For details you are referred to his accompanying report. The expenses of the Navy for the whole of the last year--i.e.., from December 1, 1869, the date of the last report--are less than $19,000,000, or about $1,000,000 less than they were the previous year. The expenses since the commencement of this fiscal year--i.e.., since July 1--show for the five months a decrease of over $2,400,000 from those of the corresponding months last year. The estimates for the current year were $28,205,671.37. Those for next year are $20,683,317, with $955,100 additional for necessary permanent improvements. These estimates are made closely for the mere maintenance of the naval establishment as now is, without much in the nature of permanent improvement. The appropriations made for the last and current years were evidently intended by Congress, and are sufficient only, to keep the Navy on its present footing by the repairing and refitting of our old ships. This policy must, of course, gradually but surely destroy the Navy, and it is in itself far from economical, as each year that it is pursued the necessity for mere repairs in ships and navy-yards becomes more imperative and more costly, and our current expenses are annually increased for the mere repair of ships, many of which must soon become unsafe and useless. I hope during the present session of Congress to be able to submit to it a plan by which naval vessels can be built and repairs made with great saving upon the present cost. It can hardly be wise statesmanship in a Government which represents a country with over 5,000 miles of coast line on both oceans, exclusive of Alaska, and containing 40,000,000 progressive people, with relations of every nature with almost every foreign country, to rest with such inadequate means of enforcing any foreign policy, either of protection or redress. Separated by the ocean from the nations of the Eastern Continent, our Navy is our only means of direct protection to our citizens abroad or for the enforcement of any foreign policy. The accompanying report of the Postmaster-General shows a most satisfactory working of that Department. With the adoption of the recommendations contained therein, particularly those relating to a reform in the franking privilege and the adoption of the "correspondence cards," a self-sustaining postal system may speedily be looked for, and at no distant day a further reduction of the rate of postage be attained. I recommend authorization by Congress to the Postmaster-General and Attorney-General to issue all commissions to officials appointed through their respective Departments. At present these commissions, where appointments are Presidential, are issued by the State Department. The law in all the Departments of Government, except those of the Post-Office and of Justice, authorizes each to issue its own commissions. Always favoring practical reforms, I respectfully call your attention to one abuse of long standing which I would like to see remedied by this Congress. It is a reform in the civil service of the country. I would have it go beyond the mere fixing of the tenure of office of clerks and employees who do not require "the advice and consent of the Senate" to make their appointments complete. I would have it govern, not the tenure, but the manner of making all appointments. There is no duty which so much embarrasses the Executive and heads of Departments as that of appointments, nor is there any such arduous and thankless labor imposed on Senators and Representatives as that of finding places for constituents. The present system does not secure the best men, and often not even fit men, for public place. The elevation and purification of the civil service of the Government will be hailed with approval by the whole people of the United States. Reform in the management of Indian affairs has received the special attention of the Administration from its inauguration to the present day. The experiment of making it a missionary work was tried with a few agencies given to the denomination of Friends, and has been found to work most advantageously. All agencies and superintendencies not so disposed of were given to officers of the Army. The act of Congress reducing the Army renders army officers ineligible for civil positions. Indian agencies being civil offices, I determined to give all the agencies to such religious denominations as had heretofore established missionaries among the Indians, and perhaps to some other denominations who would undertake the work on the same terms--i.e., as a missionary work. The societies selected are allowed to name their own agents, subject to the approval of the Executive, and are expected to watch over them and aid them as missionaries, to Christianize and civilize the Indian, and to train him in the arts of peace. The Government watches over the official acts of these agents, and requires of them as strict an accountability as if they were appointed in any other manner. I entertain the confident hope that the policy now pursued will in a few years bring all the Indians upon reservations, where they will live in houses, and have schoolhouses and churches, and will be pursuing peaceful and self-sustaining avocations, and where they may be visited by the law-abiding white man with the same impunity that he now visits the civilized white settlements. I call your special attention to the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs for full information on this subject. During the last fiscal year 8,095,413 acres of public land were disposed of. Of this quantity 3,698,910.05 acres were taken under the homestead law and 2,159,515.81 acres sold for cash. The remainder was located with military warrants, college or Indian scrip, or applied in satisfaction of grants to railroads or for other public uses. The entries under the homestead law during the last year covered 961,545 acres more than those during the preceding year. Surveys have been vigorously prosecuted to the full extent of the means applicable to the purpose. The quantity of land in market will amply supply the present demand. The claim of the settler under the homestead or the preemption laws is not, however, limited to lands subject to sale at private entry. Any unappropriated surveyed public land may, to a limited amount, be acquired under the former laws if the party entitled to enter under them will comply with the requirements they prescribe in regard to the residence and cultivation. The actual settler's preference right of purchase is even broader, and extends to lands which were unsurveyed at the time of his settlement. His right was formerly confined within much narrower limits, and at one period of our history was conferred only by special statutes. They were enacted from time to time to legalize what was then regarded as an unauthorized intrusion upon the national domain. The opinion that the public lands should be regarded chiefly as a source of revenue is no longer maintained. The rapid settlement and successful cultivation of them are now justly considered of more importance to our well-being than is the fund which the sale of them would produce. The remarkable growth and prosperity of our new States and Territories attest the wisdom of the legislation which invites the tiller of the soil to secure a permanent home on terms within the reach of all. The pioneer who incurs the dangers and privations of a frontier life, and thus aids in laying the foundation of new commonwealths, renders a signal service to his country, and is entitled to its special favor and protection. These laws secure that object and largely promote the general welfare. They should therefore be cherished as a permanent feature of our land system. Good faith requires us to give full effect to existing grants. The time-honored and beneficent policy of setting apart certain sections of public land for educational purposes in the new States should be continued. When ample provision shall have been made for these objects, I submit as a question worthy of serious consideration whether the residue of our national domain should not be wholly disposed of under the provisions the homestead and preemption laws. In addition to the swamp and overflowed lands granted to the States in which they are situated, the lands taken under the agricultural-college acts and for internal-improvement purposes under the act of September, 1841, and the acts supplemental thereto, there had been conveyed up to the close of the last fiscal year, by patent or other equivalent title, to States and corporations 27,836,257.63 acres for railways, canals, and wagon roads. It is estimated that an additional quantity of 174,735,523 acres is still due under grants for like uses. The policy of thus aiding the States in building works of internal improvement was inaugurated more than forty years since in the grants to Indiana and Illinois, to aid those States in opening canals to connect the waters of the Wabash with those of Lake Erie and the waters of the Illinois with those of Lake Michigan. It was followed, with some modifications, in the grant to Illinois of alternate sections of public land within certain limits of the Illinois Central Railway. Fourteen States and sundry corporations have received similar subsidies in connection with railways completed or in process of construction. As the reserved sections are rated at the double minimum, the sale of them at the enhanced price has thus in many instances indemnified the Treasury for the granted lands. The construction of some of these thoroughfares has undoubtedly given a vigorous impulse to the development of our resources and the settlement of the more distant portions of the country. It may, however, be well insisted that much of our legislation in this regard has been characterized by indiscriminate and profuse liberality. The United States should not loan their credit in aid of any enterprise undertaken by States or corporations, nor grant lands in any instance, unless the projected work is of acknowledged national importance. I am strongly inclined to the opinion that it is inexpedient and unnecessary to bestow subsidies of either description; but should Congress determine otherwise I earnestly recommend that the right of settlers and of the public be more effectually secured and protected by appropriate legislation. During the year ending September 30, 1870, there were filed in the Patent Office 19,411 applications for patents, 3,374 caveats, and 160 applications for the extension of patents. Thirteen thousand six hundred and twenty-two patents, including reissues and designs, were issued, 1,010 extended, and 1,089 allowed, but not issued by reason of the nonpayment of the final fees. The receipts of the office during the year were $136,304.29 in excess of its expenditures. The work of the Census Bureau has been energetically prosecuted. The preliminary report, containing much information of special value and interest, will be ready for delivery during the present session. The remaining volumes will be completed with all the dispatch consistent with perfect accuracy in arranging and classifying the returns. We shall thus at no distant day be furnished with an authentic record of our condition and resources. It will, I doubt not, attest the growing prosperity of the country, although during the decade which has just closed it was so severely tried by the great war waged to maintain its integrity and to secure and perpetuate our free institutions. During the last fiscal year the sum paid to pensioners, including the cost of disbursement, was $27,780,811.11, and 1,758 bounty-land warrants were issued. At its close 198,686 names were on the pension rolls. The labors of the Pension Office have been directed to the severe scrutiny of the evidence submitted in favor of new claims and to the discovery of fictitious claims which have been heretofore allowed. The appropriation for the employment of special agents for the investigation of frauds has been judiciously used, and the results obtained have been of unquestionable benefit to the service. The subjects of education and agriculture are of great interest to the success of our republican institutions, happiness, and grandeur as a nation. In the interest of one a bureau has been established in the Interior Department--the Bureau of Education; and in the interest of the other, a separate Department, that of Agriculture. I believe great general good is to flow from the operations of both these Bureaus if properly fostered. I can not commend to your careful consideration too highly the reports of the Commissioners of Education and of Agriculture, nor urge too strongly such liberal legislation as to secure their efficiency. In conclusion I would sum up the policy of the Administration to be a thorough enforcement of every law; a faithful collection of every tax provided for; economy in the disbursement of the same; a prompt payment of every debt of the nation; a reduction of taxes as rapidly as the requirements of the country will admit; reductions of taxation and tariff, to be so arranged as to afford the greatest relief to the greatest number; honest and fair dealings with all other peoples, to the end that war, with all its blighting consequences, may be avoided, but without surrendering any right or obligation due to us; a reform in the treatment of Indians and in the whole civil service of the country; and, finally, in securing a pure, untrammeled ballot, where every man entitled to cast a vote may do so, just once at each election, without fear of molestation or proscription on account of his political faith, nativity, of color.
a year of peace and general prosperity to this nation has passed since the last assembling of congress we have through a kind providence been blessed with abundant crops and have been spared from complications and war with foreign nations in our midst comparative harmony has been restored it is to be regretted however that a free exercise of the elective franchise has by violence and intimidation been denied to citizens in exceptional cases in several of the states lately in rebellion and the verdict of the people has thereby been reversed the states of virginia mississippi and texas have been restored to representation in our national councils georgia the only state now without representation may confidently be expected to take her place there also at the beginning of the new year and then let us hope will be completed the work of reconstruction with an acquiescence on the part of the whole people in the national obligation to pay the public debt created as the price of our union the pensions to our disabled soldiers and sailors and their widows and orphans and in the changes to the constitution which have been made necessary by a great rebellion there is no reason why we should not advance in material prosperity and happiness as no other nation ever did after so protracted and devastating a war soon after the existing war broke out in europe the protection of the united states minister in paris was invoked in favor of north germans domiciled in french territory instructions were issued to grant the protection this has been followed by an extension of american protection to citizens of saxony hesse and gotha colombia portugal uruguay the dominican republic ecuador chile paraguay and venezuela in paris the charge was an onerous one requiring constant and severe labor as well as the exercise of patience prudence and good judgment it has been performed to the entire satisfaction of this government and as i am officially informed equally so to the satisfaction of the government of north germany as soon as i learned that a republic had been proclaimed at paris and that the people of france had acquiesced in the change the minister of the united states was directed by telegraph to recognize it and to tender my congratulations and those of the people of the united states the reestablishment in france of a system of government disconnected with the dynastic traditions of europe appeared to be a proper subject for the felicitations of americans should the present struggle result in attaching the hearts of the french to our simpler forms of representative government it will be a subject of still further satisfaction to our people while we make no effort to impose our institutions upon the inhabitants of other countries and while we adhere to our traditional neutrality in civil contests elsewhere we can not be indifferent to the spread of american political ideas in a great and highly civilized country like france we were asked by the new government to use our good offices jointly with those of european powers in the interests of peace answer was made that the established policy and the true interests of the united states forbade them to interfere in european questions jointly with european powers i ascertained informally and unofficially that the government of north germany was not then disposed to listen to such representations from any power and though earnestly wishing to see the blessings of peace restored to the belligerents with all of whom the united states are on terms of friendship i declined on the part of this government to take a step which could only result in injury to our true interests without advancing the object for which our intervention was invoked should the time come when the action of the united states can hasten the return of peace by a single hour that action will be heartily taken i deemed it prudent in view of the number of persons of german and french birth living in the united states to issue soon after official notice of a state of war had been received from both belligerents a proclamation defining the duties of the united states as a neutral and the obligations of persons residing within their territory to observe their laws and the laws of nations this proclamation was followed by others as circumstances seemed to call for them the people thus acquainted in advance of their duties and obligations have assisted in preventing violations of the neutrality of the united states it is not understood that the condition of the insurrection in cuba has materially changed since the close of the last session of congress in an early stage of the contest the authorities of spain inaugurated a system of arbitrary arrests of close confinement and of military trial and execution of persons suspected of complicity with the insurgents and of summary embargo of their properties and sequestration of their revenues by executive warrant such proceedings so far as they affected the persons or property of citizens of the united states were in violation of the provisions of the treaty of 1795 between the united states and spain representations of injuries resulting to several persons claiming to be citizens of the united states by reason of such violations were made to the spanish government from april 1869 to june last the spanish minister at washington had been clothed with a limited power to aid in redressing such wrongs that power was found to be withdrawn in view as it was said of the favorable situation in which the island of cuba then was which however did not lead to a revocation or suspension of the extraordinary and arbitrary functions exercised by the executive power in cuba and we were obliged to make our complaints at madrid in the negotiations thus opened and still pending there the united states only claimed that for the future the rights secured to their citizens by treaty should be respected in cuba and that as to the past a joint tribunal should be established in the united states with full jurisdiction over all such claims before such an impartial tribunal each claimant would be required to prove his case on the other hand spain would be at liberty to traverse every material fact and thus complete equity would be done a case which at one time threatened seriously to affect the relations between the united states and spain has already been disposed of in this way the claim of the owners of the colonel lloyd aspinwall for the illegal seizure and detention of that vessel was referred to arbitration by mutual consent and has resulted in an award to the united states for the owners of the sum of in gold another and claim of like nature that of the whaleship canada has been disposed of by friendly arbitrament during the present year it was referred by the joint consent of brazil and the united states to the decision of sir edward thornton her britannic majesty minister at washington who kindly undertook the laborious task of examining the voluminous mass of correspondence and testimony submitted by the two governments and awarded to the united states the sum of in gold which has since been paid by the imperial government these recent examples show that the mode which the united states have proposed to spain for adjusting the pending claims is just and feasible and that it may be agreed to by either nation without dishonor it is to be hoped that this moderate demand may be acceded to by spain without further delay should the pending negotiations unfortunately and unexpectedly be without result it will then become my duty to communicate that fact to congress and invite its action on the subject the peace conference between spain and the allied south american republics has been inaugurated in washington under the auspices of the united states pursuant to the recommendation contained in the resolution of the house of representatives of the 17th of december 1866 the executive department of the government offered its friendly offices for the promotion of peace and harmony between spain and the allied republics hesitations and obstacles occurred to the acceptance of the offer ultimately however a conference was arranged and was opened in this city on the 29th of october last at which i authorized the secretary of state to preside it was attended by the ministers of spain peru chile and ecuador in consequence of the absence of a representative from bolivia the conference was adjourned until the attendance of a plenipotentiary from that republic could be secured or other measures could be adopted toward compassing its objects the allied and other republics of spanish origin on this continent may see in this fact a new proof of our sincere interest in their welfare of our desire to see them blessed with good governments capable of maintaining order and of preserving their respective territorial integrity and of our sincere wish to extend our own commercial and social relations with them the time is not probably far distant when in the natural course of events the european political connection with this continent will cease our policy should be shaped in view of this probability so as to ally the commercial interests of the spanish american states more closely to our own and thus give the united states all the preeminence and all the advantage which monroe adams and clay contemplated when they proposed to join in the congress of panama during the last session of congress a treaty for the annexation of the republic of san domingo to the united states failed to receive the requisite vote of the senate i was thoroughly convinced then that the best interests of this country commercially and materially demanded its ratification time has only confirmed me in this view i now firmly believe that the moment it is known that the united states have entirely abandoned the project of accepting as a part of its territory the island of san domingo a free port will be negotiated for by european nations in the bay of samana a large commercial city will spring up to which we will be tributary without receiving corresponding benefits and then will be seen the folly of our rejecting so great a prize the government of san domingo has voluntarily sought this annexation it is a weak power numbering probably less than souls and yet possessing one of the richest territories under the sun capable of supporting a population of people in luxury the people of san domingo are not capable of maintaining themselves in their present condition and must look for outside support they yearn for the protection of our free institutions and laws our progress and civilization shall we refuse them the acquisition of san domingo is desirable because of its geographical position it commands the entrance to the caribbean sea and the isthmus transit of commerce it possesses the richest soil best and most capacious harbors most salubrious climate and the most valuable products of the forests mine and soil of any of the west india islands its possession by us will in a few years build up a coastwise commerce of immense magnitude which will go far toward restoring to us our lost merchant marine it will give to us those articles which we consume so largely and do not produce thus equalizing our exports and imports in case of foreign war it will give us command of all the islands referred to and thus prevent an enemy from ever again possessing himself of rendezvous upon our very coast at present our coast trade between the states bordering on the atlantic and those bordering on the gulf of mexico is cut into by the bahamas and the antilies twice we must as it were pass through foreign countries to get by sea from georgia to the west coast of florida san domingo with a stable government under which her immense resources can be developed will give remunerative wages to tens of thousands of laborers not now upon the island this labor will take advantage of every available means of transportation to abandon the adjacent islands and seek the blessings of freedom and its sequence each inhabitant receiving the reward of his own labor porto rico and cuba will have to abolish slavery as a measure of to retain their laborers san domingo will become a large consumer of the products of northern farms and manufactories the cheap rate at which her citizens can be furnished with food tools and machinery will make it necessary that contiguous islands should have the same advantages in order to compete in the production of sugar coffee tobacco tropical fruits etc this will open to us a still wider market for our products the production of our own supply of these articles will cut off more than one hundred millions of our annual imports besides largely increasing our exports with such a picture it is easy to see how our large debt abroad is ultimately to be extinguished with a balance of trade against us including interest on bonds held by foreigners and money spent by our citizens traveling in foreign lands equal to the entire yield of the precious metals in this country it is not so easy to see how this result is to be otherwise accomplished the acquisition of san domingo is an adherence to the monroe doctrine it is a measure of national protection it is asserting our just claim to a controlling influence over the great commercial traffic soon to flow from west to east by way of the isthmus of darien it is to build up our merchant marine it is to furnish new markets for the products of our farms shops and manufactories it is to make slavery insupportable in cuba and porto rico at once and ultimately so in brazil it is to settle the unhappy condition of cuba and end an exterminating conflict it is to provide honest means of paying our honest debts without overtaxing the people it is to furnish our citizens with the necessaries of everyday life at cheaper rates than ever before and it is in fine a rapid stride toward that greatness which the intelligence industry and enterprise of the citizens of the united states entitle this country to assume among nations in view of the importance of this question i earnestly urge upon congress early action expressive of its views as to the best means of acquiring san domingo my suggestion is that by joint resolution of the two houses of congress the executive be authorized to appoint a commission to negotiate a treaty with the authorities of san domingo for the acquisition of that island and that an appropriation be made to defray the expenses of such a commission the question may then be determined either by the action of the senate upon the treaty or the joint action of the two houses of congress upon a resolution of annexation as in the case of the acquisition of texas so convinced am i of the advantages to flow from the acquisition of san domingo and of the great disadvantages i might almost say calamities to flow from nonacquisition that i believe the subject has only to be investigated to be approved it is to be regretted that our representations in regard to the injurious effects especially upon the revenue of the united states of the policy of the mexican government in exempting from impost duties a large tract of its territory on our borders have not only been fruitless but that it is even proposed in that country to extend the limits within which the privilege adverted to has hitherto been enjoyed the expediency of taking into your serious consideration proper measures for countervailing the policy referred to will it is presumed engage your earnest attention it is the obvious interest especially of neighboring nations to provide against impunity to those who may have committed high crimes within their borders and who may have sought refuge abroad for this purpose extradition treaties have been concluded with several of the central american republics and others are in progress the sense of congress is desired as early as may be convenient upon the proceedings of the commission on claims against venezuela as communicated in my messages of march 16 1869 march 1 1870 and march 31 1870 it has not been deemed advisable to distribute any of the money which has been received from that government until congress shall have acted on the subject the massacres of french and russian residents at under circumstances of great barbarity was supposed by some to have been premeditated and to indicate a purpose among the populace to exterminate foreigners in the chinese empire the evidence fails to establish such a supposition but shows a complicity between the local authorities and the mob the government at peking however seems to have been disposed to fulfill its treaty obligations so far as it was able to do so unfortunately the news of the war between the german states and france reached china soon after the massacre it would appear that the popular mind became possessed with the idea that this contest extending to chinese waters would neutralize the christian influence and power and that the time was coming when the superstitious masses might expel all foreigners and restore mandarin influence anticipating trouble from this because i invited france and north germany to make an authorized suspension of hostilities in the east where they were temporarily suspended by act of the commanders and to act together for the future protection in china of the lives and properties of americans and europeans since the adjournment of congress the ratifications of the treaty with great britain for abolishing the mixed courts for the suppression of the slave trade have been exchanged it is believed that the slave trade is now confined to the eastern coast of africa whence the slaves are taken to arabian markets the ratifications of the naturalization convention between great britain and the united states have also been exchanged during the recess and thus a dispute between the two governments has been settled in accordance with the principles always contended for by the united states in april last while engaged in locating a military reservation near pembina a corps of engineers discovered that the commonly received boundary line between the united states and the british possessions at that place is about feet south of the true position of the parallel and that the line when run on what is now supposed to be the true position of that parallel would leave the fort of the hudsons bay company at pembina within the territory of the united states this information being communicated to the british government i was requested to consent and did consent that the british occupation of the fort of the hudsons bay company should continue for the present i deem it important however that this part of the boundary line should be definitely fixed by a joint commission of the two governments and i submit herewith estimates of the expense of such a commission on the part of the united states and recommend that an appropriation be made for that purpose the land boundary has already been fixed and marked from the summit of the rocky mountains to the georgian bay it should now be in like manner marked from the lake of the woods to the summit of the rocky mountains i regret to say that no conclusion has been reached for the adjustment of the claims against great britain growing out of the course adopted by that government during the rebellion the cabinet of london so far as its views have been expressed does not appear to be willing to concede that her majesty government was guilty of any negligence or did or permitted any act during the war by which the united states has just because of complaint our firm and unalterable convictions are directly the reverse i therefore recommend to congress to authorize the appointment of a commission to take proof of the amount and the ownership of these several claims on notice to the representative of her majesty at washington and that authority be given for the settlement of these claims by the united states so that the government shall have the ownership of the private claims as well as the responsible control of all the demands against great britain it can not be necessary to add that whenever her majesty government shall entertain a desire for a full and friendly adjustment of these claims the united states will enter upon their consideration with an earnest desire for a conclusion consistent with the honor and dignity of both nations the course pursued by the canadian authorities toward the fishermen of the united states during the past season has not been marked by a friendly feeling by the first article of the convention of 1818 between great britain and the united states it was agreed that the inhabitants of the united states should have forever in common with british subjects the right of taking fish in certain waters therein defined in the waters not included in the limits named in the convention within 3 miles of parts of the british coast it has been the custom for many years to give to intruding fishermen of the united states a reasonable warning of their violation of the technical rights of great britain the imperial government is understood to have delegated the whole or a share of its jurisdiction or control of these inshore fishing grounds to the colonial authority known as the dominion of canada and this but irresponsible agent has exercised its delegated powers in an unfriendly way vessels have been seized without notice or warning in violation of the custom previously prevailing and have been taken into the colonial ports their voyages broken up and the vessels condemned there is reason to believe that this unfriendly and vexatious treatment was designed to bear harshly upon the hardy fishermen of the united states with a view to political effect upon this government the statutes of the dominion of canada assume a still broader and more untenable jurisdiction over the vessels of the united states they authorize officers or persons to bring vessels hovering within 3 marine miles of any of the coasts bays creeks or harbors of canada into port to search the cargo to examine the master on oath touching the cargo and voyage and to inflict upon him a heavy pecuniary penalty if true answers are not given and if such a vessel is found preparing to fish within 3 marine miles of any of such coasts bays creeks or harbors without a license or after the expiration of the period named in the last license granted to it they provide that the vessel with her tackle shall be forfeited it is not known that any condemnations have been made under this statute should the authorities of canada attempt to enforce it it will become my duty to take such steps as may be necessary to protect the rights of the citizens of the united states it has been claimed by her majesty officers that the fishing vessels of the united states have no right to enter the open ports of the british possessions in north america except for the purposes of shelter and repairing damages of purchasing wood and obtaining water that they have no right to enter at the british or to trade there except in the purchase of wood and water and that they must depart within hours after notice to leave it is not known that any seizure of a fishing vessel carrying the flag of the united states has been made under this claim so far as the claim is founded on an alleged construction of he convention of 1818 it can not be acquiesced in by the united states it is hoped that it will not be insisted on by her majesty government during the conferences which preceded the negotiation of the convention of 1818 the british commissioners proposed to expressly exclude the fishermen of the united states from the privilege of carrying on trade with any of his britannic majesty subjects residing within the limits assigned for their use and also that it should not be lawful for the vessels of the united states engaged in said fishery to have on board any goods wares or merchandise whatever except such as may be necessary for the prosecution of their voyages to and from the said fishing grounds and any vessel of the united states which shall contravene this regulation may be seized condemned and confiscated with her cargo this proposition which is identical with the construction now put upon the language of the convention was emphatically rejected by the american commissioners and thereupon was abandoned by the british plenipotentiaries and article i as it stands in the convention was substituted if however it be said that this claim is founded on provincial or colonial statutes and not upon the convention this government can not but regard them as unfriendly and in contravention of the spirit if not of the letter of the treaty for the faithful execution of which the imperial government is alone responsible anticipating that an attempt may possibly be made by the canadian authorities in the coming season to repeat their unneighborly acts toward our fishermen i recommend you to confer upon the executive the power to suspend by proclamation the operation of the laws authorizing the transit of goods wares and merchandise in bond across the territory of the united states to canada and further should such an extreme measure become necessary to suspend the operation of any laws whereby the vessels of the dominion of canada are permitted to enter the waters of the united states a like unfriendly disposition has been manifested on the part of canada in the maintenance of a claim of right to exclude the citizens of the united states from the navigation of the lawrence this river constitutes a natural outlet to the ocean for eight states with an aggregate population of about inhabitants and with an aggregate tonnage of tons upon the waters which discharge into it the foreign commerce of our ports on these waters is open to british competition and the major part of it is done in british bottoms if the american seamen be excluded from this natural avenue to the ocean the monopoly of the direct commerce of the lake ports with the atlantic would be in foreign hands their vessels on transatlantic voyages having an access to our lake ports which would be denied to american vessels on similar voyages to state such a proposition is to refute its justice during the administration of john quincy adams clay unanswerably demonstrated the natural right of the citizens of the united states to the navigation of this river claiming that the act of the congress of vienna in opening the rhine and other rivers to all nations showed the judgment of european jurists and statesmen that the inhabitants of a country through which a navigable river passes have a natural right to enjoy the navigation of that river to and into the sea even though passing through the territories of another power this right does not exclude the coequal right of the sovereign possessing the territory through which the river debouches into the sea to make such regulations relative to the police of the navigation as may be reasonably necessary but those regulations should be framed in a liberal spirit of comity and should not impose needless burdens upon the commerce which has the right of transit it has been found in practice more advantageous to arrange these regulations by mutual agreement the united states are ready to make any reasonable arrangement as to the police of the lawrence which may be suggested by great britain if the claim made by clay was just when the population of states bordering on the shores of the lakes was only it now derives greater force and equity from the increased population wealth production and tonnage of the states on the canadian frontier since clay advanced his argument in behalf of our right the principle for which he contended has been frequently and by various nations recognized by law or by treaty and has been extended to several other great rivers by the treaty concluded at mayence in 1831 the rhine was declared free from the point where it is first navigable into the sea by the convention between spain and portugal concluded in 1835 the navigation of the douro throughout its whole extent was made free for the subjects of both crowns in 1853 the argentine confederation by treaty threw open the free navigation of the parana and the uruguay to the merchant vessels of all nations in 1856 the crimean war was closed by a treaty which provided for the free navigation of the danube in 1858 bolivia by treaty declared that it regarded the rivers amazon and la plata in accordance with fixed principles of national law as highways or channels opened by nature for the commerce of all nations in 1859 the paraguay was made free by treaty and in december 1866 the emperor of brazil by imperial decree declared the amazon to be open to the frontier of brazil to the merchant ships of all nations the greatest living british authority on this subject while asserting the abstract right of the british claim says it seems difficult to deny that great britain may ground her refusal upon strict law but it is equally difficult to deny first that in so doing she exercises harshly an extreme and hard law secondly that her conduct with respect to the navigation of the lawrence is in glaring and discreditable inconsistency with her conduct with respect to the navigation of the mississippi on the ground that she possessed a small domain in which the mississippi took its rise she insisted on the right to navigate the entire volume of its waters on the ground that she possesses both banks of the lawrence where it disembogues itself into the sea she denies to the united states the right of navigation though about of the waters of lakes ontario erie huron and superior and the whole of lake michigan through which the river flows are the property of the united states the whole nation is interested in securing cheap transportation from the agricultural states of the west to the atlantic seaboard to the citizens of those states it secures a greater return for their labor to the inhabitants of the seaboard it affords cheaper food to the nation an increase in the annual surplus of wealth it is hoped that the government of great britain will see the justice of abandoning the narrow and inconsistent claim to which her canadian provinces have urged her adherence our depressed commerce is a subject to which i called your special attention at the last session and suggested that we will in the future have to look more to the countries south of us and to china and japan for its revival our representatives to all these governments have exerted their influence to encourage trade between the united states and the countries to which they are accredited but the fact exists that the carrying is done almost entirely in foreign bottoms and while this state of affairs exists we can not control our due share of the commerce of the world that between the pacific states and china and japan is about all the carrying trade now conducted in american vessels i would recommend a liberal policy toward that line of american steamers one that will insure its success and even increased usefulness the cost of building iron vessels the only ones that can compete with foreign ships in the carrying trade is so much greater in the united states than in foreign countries that without some assistance from the government they can not be successfully built here there will be several propositions laid before congress in the course of the present session looking to a remedy for this evil even if it should be at some cost to the national treasury i hope such encouragement will be given as will secure american shipping on the high seas and american shipbuilding at home the condition of the archives at the department of state calls for the early action of congress the building now rented by that department is a frail structure at an inconvenient distance from the executive mansion and from the other departments is ill adapted to the purpose for which it is used has not capacity to accommodate the archives and is not fireproof its remote situation its slender construction and the absence of a supply of water in the neighborhood leave but little hope of safety for either the building or its contents in case of the accident of a fire its destruction would involve the loss of the rolls containing the original acts and resolutions of congress of the historic records of the revolution and of the confederation of the whole series of diplomatic and consular archives since the adoption of the constitution and of the many other valuable records and papers left with that department when it was the principal depository of the governmental archives i recommend an appropriation for the construction of a building for the department of state i recommend to your consideration the propriety of transferring to the department of the interior to which they seem more appropriately to belong all powers and duties in relation to the territories with which the department of state is now charged by law or usage and from the interior department to the war department the pension bureau so far as it regulates the payment of soldiers pensions i would further recommend that the payment of naval pensions be transferred to one of the bureaus of the navy department the estimates for the expenses of the government for the next fiscal year are less than for the current one but exceed the appropriations for the present year for the same items in this estimate however is included for public works heretofore begun under congressional provision and of which only so much is asked as congress may choose to give the appropriation for the same works for the present fiscal year was the average value of gold as compared with national currency for the whole of the year 1869 was about 134 and for eleven months of 1870 the same relative value has been about 115 the approach to a specie basis is very gratifying but the fact can not be denied that the instability of the value of our currency is prejudicial to our prosperity and tends to keep up prices to the detriment of trade the evils of a depreciated and fluctuating currency are so great that now when the premium on gold has fallen so much it would seem that the time has arrived when by wise and prudent legislation congress should look to a policy which would place our currency at par with gold at no distant day the tax collected from the people has been reduced more than per annum by steadiness in our present course there is no reason why in a few short years the national tax gatherer may not disappear from the door of the citizen almost entirely with the revenue stamp dispensed by postmasters in every community a tax upon liquors of all sorts and tobacco in all its forms and by a wise adjustment of the tariff which will put a duty only upon those articles which we could dispense with known as luxuries and on those which we use more of than we produce revenue enough may be raised after a few years of peace and consequent reduction of indebtedness to fulfill all our obligations a further reduction of expenses in addition to a reduction of interest account may be relied on to make this practicable revenue reform if it means this has my hearty support if it implies a collection of all the revenue for the support of the government for the payment of principal and interest of the public debt pensions by directly taxing the people then i am against revenue reform and confidently believe the people are with me if it means failure to provide the necessary means to defray all the expenses of government and thereby repudiation of the public debt and pensions then i am still more opposed to such kind of revenue reform revenue reform has not been defined by any of its advocates to my knowledge but seems to be accepted as something which is to supply every man wants without any cost or effort on his part a true revenue reform can not be made in a day but must be the work of national legislation and of time as soon as the revenue can be dispensed with all duty should be removed from coffee tea and other articles of universal use not produced by ourselves the necessities of the country compel us to collect revenue from our imports an army of assessors and collectors is not a pleasant sight to the citizen but that of a tariff for revenue is necessary such a tariff so far as it acts as an encouragement to home production affords employment to labor at living wages in contrast to the pauper labor of the old world and also in the development of home resources under the act of congress of the 15th day of july 1870 the army has gradually been reduced so that on the 1st day of january 1871 the number of commissioned officers and men will not exceed the number contemplated by that law the war department building is an old structure not fireproof and entirely inadequate in dimensions to our present wants many thousands of dollars are now paid annually for rent of private buildings to accommodate the various bureaus of the department i recommend an appropriation for a new war department building suited to the present and growing wants of the nation the report of the secretary of war shows a very satisfactory reduction in the expenses of the army for the last fiscal year for details you are referred to his accompanying report the expenses of the navy for the whole of the last year from december 1 1869 the date of the last report are less than or about less than they were the previous year the expenses since the commencement of this fiscal year since july 1 show for the five months a decrease of over from those of the corresponding months last year the estimates for the current year were those for next year are with additional for necessary permanent improvements these estimates are made closely for the mere maintenance of the naval establishment as now is without much in the nature of permanent improvement the appropriations made for the last and current years were evidently intended by congress and are sufficient only to keep the navy on its present footing by the repairing and refitting of our old ships this policy must of course gradually but surely destroy the navy and it is in itself far from economical as each year that it is pursued the necessity for mere repairs in ships and becomes more imperative and more costly and our current expenses are annually increased for the mere repair of ships many of which must soon become unsafe and useless i hope during the present session of congress to be able to submit to it a plan by which naval vessels can be built and repairs made with great saving upon the present cost it can hardly be wise statesmanship in a government which represents a country with over miles of coast line on both oceans exclusive of alaska and containing progressive people with relations of every nature with almost every foreign country to rest with such inadequate means of enforcing any foreign policy either of protection or redress separated by the ocean from the nations of the eastern continent our navy is our only means of direct protection to our citizens abroad or for the enforcement of any foreign policy the accompanying report of the shows a most satisfactory working of that department with the adoption of the recommendations contained therein particularly those relating to a reform in the franking privilege and the adoption of the correspondence cards a postal system may speedily be looked for and at no distant day a further reduction of the rate of postage be attained i recommend authorization by congress to the and to issue all commissions to officials appointed through their respective departments at present these commissions where appointments are presidential are issued by the state department the law in all the departments of government except those of the and of justice authorizes each to issue its own commissions always favoring practical reforms i respectfully call your attention to one abuse of long standing which i would like to see remedied by this congress it is a reform in the civil service of the country i would have it go beyond the mere fixing of the tenure of office of clerks and employees who do not require the advice and consent of the senate to make their appointments complete i would have it govern not the tenure but the manner of making all appointments there is no duty which so much embarrasses the executive and heads of departments as that of appointments nor is there any such arduous and thankless labor imposed on senators and representatives as that of finding places for constituents the present system does not secure the best men and often not even fit men for public place the elevation and purification of the civil service of the government will be hailed with approval by the whole people of the united states reform in the management of indian affairs has received the special attention of the administration from its inauguration to the present day the experiment of making it a missionary work was tried with a few agencies given to the denomination of friends and has been found to work most advantageously all agencies and superintendencies not so disposed of were given to officers of the army the act of congress reducing the army renders army officers ineligible for civil positions indian agencies being civil offices i determined to give all the agencies to such religious denominations as had heretofore established missionaries among the indians and perhaps to some other denominations who would undertake the work on the same terms as a missionary work the societies selected are allowed to name their own agents subject to the approval of the executive and are expected to watch over them and aid them as missionaries to christianize and civilize the indian and to train him in the arts of peace the government watches over the official acts of these agents and requires of them as strict an accountability as if they were appointed in any other manner i entertain the confident hope that the policy now pursued will in a few years bring all the indians upon reservations where they will live in houses and have schoolhouses and churches and will be pursuing peaceful and avocations and where they may be visited by the white man with the same impunity that he now visits the civilized white settlements i call your special attention to the report of the commissioner of indian affairs for full information on this subject during the last fiscal year acres of public land were disposed of of this quantity acres were taken under the homestead law and acres sold for cash the remainder was located with military warrants college or indian scrip or applied in satisfaction of grants to railroads or for other public uses the entries under the homestead law during the last year covered acres more than those during the preceding year surveys have been vigorously prosecuted to the full extent of the means applicable to the purpose the quantity of land in market will amply supply the present demand the claim of the settler under the homestead or the preemption laws is not however limited to lands subject to sale at private entry any unappropriated surveyed public land may to a limited amount be acquired under the former laws if the party entitled to enter under them will comply with the requirements they prescribe in regard to the residence and cultivation the actual settler preference right of purchase is even broader and extends to lands which were unsurveyed at the time of his settlement his right was formerly confined within much narrower limits and at one period of our history was conferred only by special statutes they were enacted from time to time to legalize what was then regarded as an unauthorized intrusion upon the national domain the opinion that the public lands should be regarded chiefly as a source of revenue is no longer maintained the rapid settlement and successful cultivation of them are now justly considered of more importance to our than is the fund which the sale of them would produce the remarkable growth and prosperity of our new states and territories attest the wisdom of the legislation which invites the tiller of the soil to secure a permanent home on terms within the reach of all the pioneer who incurs the dangers and privations of a frontier life and thus aids in laying the foundation of new commonwealths renders a signal service to his country and is entitled to its special favor and protection these laws secure that object and largely promote the general welfare they should therefore be cherished as a permanent feature of our land system good faith requires us to give full effect to existing grants the and beneficent policy of setting apart certain sections of public land for educational purposes in the new states should be continued when ample provision shall have been made for these objects i submit as a question worthy of serious consideration whether the residue of our national domain should not be wholly disposed of under the provisions the homestead and preemption laws in addition to the swamp and overflowed lands granted to the states in which they are situated the lands taken under the acts and for purposes under the act of september 1841 and the acts supplemental thereto there had been conveyed up to the close of the last fiscal year by patent or other equivalent title to states and corporations acres for railways canals and wagon roads it is estimated that an additional quantity of acres is still due under grants for like uses the policy of thus aiding the states in building works of internal improvement was inaugurated more than forty years since in the grants to indiana and illinois to aid those states in opening canals to connect the waters of the wabash with those of lake erie and the waters of the illinois with those of lake michigan it was followed with some modifications in the grant to illinois of alternate sections of public land within certain limits of the illinois central railway fourteen states and sundry corporations have received similar subsidies in connection with railways completed or in process of construction as the reserved sections are rated at the double minimum the sale of them at the enhanced price has thus in many instances indemnified the treasury for the granted lands the construction of some of these thoroughfares has undoubtedly given a vigorous impulse to the development of our resources and the settlement of the more distant portions of the country it may however be well insisted that much of our legislation in this regard has been characterized by indiscriminate and profuse liberality the united states should not loan their credit in aid of any enterprise undertaken by states or corporations nor grant lands in any instance unless the projected work is of acknowledged national importance i am strongly inclined to the opinion that it is inexpedient and unnecessary to bestow subsidies of either description but should congress determine otherwise i earnestly recommend that the right of settlers and of the public be more effectually secured and protected by appropriate legislation during the year ending september 30 1870 there were filed in the patent office applications for patents caveats and 160 applications for the extension of patents thirteen thousand six hundred and patents including reissues and designs were issued extended and allowed but not issued by reason of the nonpayment of the final fees the receipts of the office during the year were in excess of its expenditures the work of the census bureau has been energetically prosecuted the preliminary report containing much information of special value and interest will be ready for delivery during the present session the remaining volumes will be completed with all the dispatch consistent with perfect accuracy in arranging and classifying the returns we shall thus at no distant day be furnished with an authentic record of our condition and resources it will i doubt not attest the growing prosperity of the country although during the decade which has just closed it was so severely tried by the great war waged to maintain its integrity and to secure and perpetuate our free institutions during the last fiscal year the sum paid to pensioners including the cost of disbursement was and warrants were issued at its close names were on the pension rolls the labors of the pension office have been directed to the severe scrutiny of the evidence submitted in favor of new claims and to the discovery of fictitious claims which have been heretofore allowed the appropriation for the employment of special agents for the investigation of frauds has been judiciously used and the results obtained have been of unquestionable benefit to the service the subjects of education and agriculture are of great interest to the success of our republican institutions happiness and grandeur as a nation in the interest of one a bureau has been established in the interior department the bureau of education and in the interest of the other a separate department that of agriculture i believe great general good is to flow from the operations of both these bureaus if properly fostered i can not commend to your careful consideration too highly the reports of the commissioners of education and of agriculture nor urge too strongly such liberal legislation as to secure their efficiency in conclusion i would sum up the policy of the administration to be a thorough enforcement of every law a faithful collection of every tax provided for economy in the disbursement of the same a prompt payment of every debt of the nation a reduction of taxes as rapidly as the requirements of the country will admit reductions of taxation and tariff to be so arranged as to afford the greatest relief to the greatest number honest and fair dealings with all other peoples to the end that war with all its blighting consequences may be avoided but without surrendering any right or obligation due to us a reform in the treatment of indians and in the whole civil service of the country and finally in securing a pure untrammeled ballot where every man entitled to cast a vote may do so just once at each election without fear of molestation or proscription on account of his political faith nativity of color
year peace general prosperity nation passed since last assembling congress kind providence blessed abundant crops spared complications war foreign nations midst comparative harmony restored regretted however free exercise elective franchise violence intimidation denied citizens exceptional cases several states lately rebellion verdict people thereby reversed states virginia mississippi texas restored representation national councils georgia state without representation may confidently expected take place also beginning new year let us hope completed work reconstruction acquiescence part whole people national obligation pay public debt created price union pensions disabled soldiers sailors widows orphans changes constitution made necessary great rebellion reason advance material prosperity happiness nation ever protracted devastating war soon existing war broke europe protection united states minister paris invoked favor north germans domiciled french territory instructions issued grant protection followed extension american protection citizens saxony hesse gotha colombia portugal uruguay dominican republic ecuador chile paraguay venezuela paris charge onerous one requiring constant severe labor well exercise patience prudence good judgment performed entire satisfaction government officially informed equally satisfaction government north germany soon learned republic proclaimed paris people france acquiesced change minister united states directed telegraph recognize tender congratulations people united states reestablishment france system government disconnected dynastic traditions europe appeared proper subject felicitations americans present struggle result attaching hearts french simpler forms representative government subject still satisfaction people make effort impose institutions upon inhabitants countries adhere traditional neutrality civil contests elsewhere indifferent spread american political ideas great highly civilized country like france asked new government use good offices jointly european powers interests peace answer made established policy true interests united states forbade interfere european questions jointly european powers ascertained informally unofficially government north germany disposed listen representations power though earnestly wishing see blessings peace restored belligerents united states terms friendship declined part government take step could result injury true interests without advancing object intervention invoked time come action united states hasten return peace single hour action heartily taken deemed prudent view number persons german french birth living united states issue soon official notice state war received belligerents proclamation defining duties united states neutral obligations persons residing within territory observe laws laws nations proclamation followed others circumstances seemed call people thus acquainted advance duties obligations assisted preventing violations neutrality united states understood condition insurrection cuba materially changed since close last session congress early stage contest authorities spain inaugurated system arbitrary arrests close confinement military trial execution persons suspected complicity insurgents summary embargo properties sequestration revenues executive warrant proceedings far affected persons property citizens united states violation provisions treaty 1795 united states spain representations injuries resulting several persons claiming citizens united states reason violations made spanish government april 1869 june last spanish minister washington clothed limited power aid redressing wrongs power found withdrawn view said favorable situation island cuba however lead revocation suspension extraordinary arbitrary functions exercised executive power cuba obliged make complaints madrid negotiations thus opened still pending united states claimed future rights secured citizens treaty respected cuba past joint tribunal established united states full jurisdiction claims impartial tribunal claimant would required prove case hand spain would liberty traverse every material fact thus complete equity would done case one time threatened seriously affect relations united states spain already disposed way claim owners colonel lloyd aspinwall illegal seizure detention vessel referred arbitration mutual consent resulted award united states owners sum gold another claim like nature whaleship canada disposed friendly arbitrament present year referred joint consent brazil united states decision sir edward thornton britannic majesty minister washington kindly undertook laborious task examining voluminous mass correspondence testimony submitted two governments awarded united states sum gold since paid imperial government recent examples show mode united states proposed spain adjusting pending claims feasible may agreed either nation without dishonor hoped moderate demand may acceded spain without delay pending negotiations unfortunately unexpectedly without result become duty communicate fact congress invite action subject peace conference spain allied south american republics inaugurated washington auspices united states pursuant recommendation contained resolution house representatives 17th december 1866 executive department government offered friendly offices promotion peace harmony spain allied republics hesitations obstacles occurred acceptance offer ultimately however conference arranged opened city 29th october last authorized secretary state preside attended ministers spain peru chile ecuador consequence absence representative bolivia conference adjourned attendance plenipotentiary republic could secured measures could adopted toward compassing objects allied republics spanish origin continent may see fact new proof sincere interest welfare desire see blessed good governments capable maintaining order preserving respective territorial integrity sincere wish extend commercial social relations time probably far distant natural course events european political connection continent cease policy shaped view probability ally commercial interests spanish american states closely thus give united states preeminence advantage monroe adams clay contemplated proposed join congress panama last session congress treaty annexation republic san domingo united states failed receive requisite vote senate thoroughly convinced best interests country commercially materially demanded ratification time confirmed view firmly believe moment known united states entirely abandoned project accepting part territory island san domingo free port negotiated european nations bay samana large commercial city spring tributary without receiving corresponding benefits seen folly rejecting great prize government san domingo voluntarily sought annexation weak power numbering probably less souls yet possessing one richest territories sun capable supporting population people luxury people san domingo capable maintaining present condition must look outside support yearn protection free institutions laws progress civilization shall refuse acquisition san domingo desirable geographical position commands entrance caribbean sea isthmus transit commerce possesses richest soil best capacious harbors salubrious climate valuable products forests mine soil west india islands possession us years build coastwise commerce immense magnitude go far toward restoring us lost merchant marine give us articles consume largely produce thus equalizing exports imports case foreign war give us command islands referred thus prevent enemy ever possessing rendezvous upon coast present coast trade states bordering atlantic bordering gulf mexico cut bahamas antilies twice must pass foreign countries get sea georgia west coast florida san domingo stable government immense resources developed give remunerative wages tens thousands laborers upon island labor take advantage every available means transportation abandon adjacent islands seek blessings freedom sequence inhabitant receiving reward labor porto rico cuba abolish slavery measure retain laborers san domingo become large consumer products northern farms manufactories cheap rate citizens furnished food tools machinery make necessary contiguous islands advantages order compete production sugar coffee tobacco tropical fruits etc open us still wider market products production supply articles cut one hundred millions annual imports besides largely increasing exports picture easy see large debt abroad ultimately extinguished balance trade us including interest bonds held foreigners money spent citizens traveling foreign lands equal entire yield precious metals country easy see result otherwise accomplished acquisition san domingo adherence monroe doctrine measure national protection asserting claim controlling influence great commercial traffic soon flow west east way isthmus darien build merchant marine furnish new markets products farms shops manufactories make slavery insupportable cuba porto rico ultimately brazil settle unhappy condition cuba end exterminating conflict provide honest means paying honest debts without overtaxing people furnish citizens necessaries everyday life cheaper rates ever fine rapid stride toward greatness intelligence industry enterprise citizens united states entitle country assume among nations view importance question earnestly urge upon congress early action expressive views best means acquiring san domingo suggestion joint resolution two houses congress executive authorized appoint commission negotiate treaty authorities san domingo acquisition island appropriation made defray expenses commission question may determined either action senate upon treaty joint action two houses congress upon resolution annexation case acquisition texas convinced advantages flow acquisition san domingo great disadvantages might almost say calamities flow nonacquisition believe subject investigated approved regretted representations regard injurious effects especially upon revenue united states policy mexican government exempting impost duties large tract territory borders fruitless even proposed country extend limits within privilege adverted hitherto enjoyed expediency taking serious consideration proper measures countervailing policy referred presumed engage earnest attention obvious interest especially neighboring nations provide impunity may committed high crimes within borders may sought refuge abroad purpose extradition treaties concluded several central american republics others progress sense congress desired early may convenient upon proceedings commission claims venezuela communicated messages march 16 1869 march 1 1870 march 31 1870 deemed advisable distribute money received government congress shall acted subject massacres french russian residents circumstances great barbarity supposed premeditated indicate purpose among populace exterminate foreigners chinese empire evidence fails establish supposition shows complicity local authorities mob government peking however seems disposed fulfill treaty obligations far able unfortunately news war german states france reached china soon massacre would appear popular mind became possessed idea contest extending chinese waters would neutralize christian influence power time coming superstitious masses might expel foreigners restore mandarin influence anticipating trouble invited france north germany make authorized suspension hostilities east temporarily suspended act commanders act together future protection china lives properties americans europeans since adjournment congress ratifications treaty great britain abolishing mixed courts suppression slave trade exchanged believed slave trade confined eastern coast africa whence slaves taken arabian markets ratifications naturalization convention great britain united states also exchanged recess thus dispute two governments settled accordance principles always contended united states april last engaged locating military reservation near pembina corps engineers discovered commonly received boundary line united states british possessions place feet south true position parallel line run supposed true position parallel would leave fort hudsons bay company pembina within territory united states information communicated british government requested consent consent british occupation fort hudsons bay company continue present deem important however part boundary line definitely fixed joint commission two governments submit herewith estimates expense commission part united states recommend appropriation made purpose land boundary already fixed marked summit rocky mountains georgian bay like manner marked lake woods summit rocky mountains regret say conclusion reached adjustment claims great britain growing course adopted government rebellion cabinet london far views expressed appear willing concede majesty government guilty negligence permitted act war united states complaint firm unalterable convictions directly reverse therefore recommend congress authorize appointment commission take proof amount ownership several claims notice representative majesty washington authority given settlement claims united states government shall ownership private claims well responsible control demands great britain necessary add whenever majesty government shall entertain desire full friendly adjustment claims united states enter upon consideration earnest desire conclusion consistent honor dignity nations course pursued canadian authorities toward fishermen united states past season marked friendly feeling first article convention 1818 great britain united states agreed inhabitants united states forever common british subjects right taking fish certain waters therein defined waters included limits named convention within 3 miles parts british coast custom many years give intruding fishermen united states reasonable warning violation technical rights great britain imperial government understood delegated whole share jurisdiction control inshore fishing grounds colonial authority known dominion canada irresponsible agent exercised delegated powers unfriendly way vessels seized without notice warning violation custom previously prevailing taken colonial ports voyages broken vessels condemned reason believe unfriendly vexatious treatment designed bear harshly upon hardy fishermen united states view political effect upon government statutes dominion canada assume still broader untenable jurisdiction vessels united states authorize officers persons bring vessels hovering within 3 marine miles coasts bays creeks harbors canada port search cargo examine master oath touching cargo voyage inflict upon heavy pecuniary penalty true answers given vessel found preparing fish within 3 marine miles coasts bays creeks harbors without license expiration period named last license granted provide vessel tackle shall forfeited known condemnations made statute authorities canada attempt enforce become duty take steps may necessary protect rights citizens united states claimed majesty officers fishing vessels united states right enter open ports british possessions north america except purposes shelter repairing damages purchasing wood obtaining water right enter british trade except purchase wood water must depart within hours notice leave known seizure fishing vessel carrying flag united states made claim far claim founded alleged construction convention 1818 acquiesced united states hoped insisted majesty government conferences preceded negotiation convention 1818 british commissioners proposed expressly exclude fishermen united states privilege carrying trade britannic majesty subjects residing within limits assigned use also lawful vessels united states engaged said fishery board goods wares merchandise whatever except may necessary prosecution voyages said fishing grounds vessel united states shall contravene regulation may seized condemned confiscated cargo proposition identical construction put upon language convention emphatically rejected american commissioners thereupon abandoned british plenipotentiaries article stands convention substituted however said claim founded provincial colonial statutes upon convention government regard unfriendly contravention spirit letter treaty faithful execution imperial government alone responsible anticipating attempt may possibly made canadian authorities coming season repeat unneighborly acts toward fishermen recommend confer upon executive power suspend proclamation operation laws authorizing transit goods wares merchandise bond across territory united states canada extreme measure become necessary suspend operation laws whereby vessels dominion canada permitted enter waters united states like unfriendly disposition manifested part canada maintenance claim right exclude citizens united states navigation lawrence river constitutes natural outlet ocean eight states aggregate population inhabitants aggregate tonnage tons upon waters discharge foreign commerce ports waters open british competition major part done british bottoms american seamen excluded natural avenue ocean monopoly direct commerce lake ports atlantic would foreign hands vessels transatlantic voyages access lake ports would denied american vessels similar voyages state proposition refute justice administration john quincy adams clay unanswerably demonstrated natural right citizens united states navigation river claiming act congress vienna opening rhine rivers nations showed judgment european jurists statesmen inhabitants country navigable river passes natural right enjoy navigation river sea even though passing territories another power right exclude coequal right sovereign possessing territory river debouches sea make regulations relative police navigation may reasonably necessary regulations framed liberal spirit comity impose needless burdens upon commerce right transit found practice advantageous arrange regulations mutual agreement united states ready make reasonable arrangement police lawrence may suggested great britain claim made clay population states bordering shores lakes derives greater force equity increased population wealth production tonnage states canadian frontier since clay advanced argument behalf right principle contended frequently various nations recognized law treaty extended several great rivers treaty concluded mayence 1831 rhine declared free point first navigable sea convention spain portugal concluded 1835 navigation douro throughout whole extent made free subjects crowns 1853 argentine confederation treaty threw open free navigation parana uruguay merchant vessels nations 1856 crimean war closed treaty provided free navigation danube 1858 bolivia treaty declared regarded rivers amazon la plata accordance fixed principles national law highways channels opened nature commerce nations 1859 paraguay made free treaty december 1866 emperor brazil imperial decree declared amazon open frontier brazil merchant ships nations greatest living british authority subject asserting abstract right british claim says seems difficult deny great britain may ground refusal upon strict law equally difficult deny first exercises harshly extreme hard law secondly conduct respect navigation lawrence glaring discreditable inconsistency conduct respect navigation mississippi ground possessed small domain mississippi took rise insisted right navigate entire volume waters ground possesses banks lawrence disembogues sea denies united states right navigation though waters lakes ontario erie huron superior whole lake michigan river flows property united states whole nation interested securing cheap transportation agricultural states west atlantic seaboard citizens states secures greater return labor inhabitants seaboard affords cheaper food nation increase annual surplus wealth hoped government great britain see justice abandoning narrow inconsistent claim canadian provinces urged adherence depressed commerce subject called special attention last session suggested future look countries south us china japan revival representatives governments exerted influence encourage trade united states countries accredited fact exists carrying done almost entirely foreign bottoms state affairs exists control due share commerce world pacific states china japan carrying trade conducted american vessels would recommend liberal policy toward line american steamers one insure success even increased usefulness cost building iron vessels ones compete foreign ships carrying trade much greater united states foreign countries without assistance government successfully built several propositions laid congress course present session looking remedy evil even cost national treasury hope encouragement given secure american shipping high seas american shipbuilding home condition archives department state calls early action congress building rented department frail structure inconvenient distance executive mansion departments ill adapted purpose used capacity accommodate archives fireproof remote situation slender construction absence supply water neighborhood leave little hope safety either building contents case accident fire destruction would involve loss rolls containing original acts resolutions congress historic records revolution confederation whole series diplomatic consular archives since adoption constitution many valuable records papers left department principal depository governmental archives recommend appropriation construction building department state recommend consideration propriety transferring department interior seem appropriately belong powers duties relation territories department state charged law usage interior department war department pension bureau far regulates payment soldiers pensions would recommend payment naval pensions transferred one bureaus navy department estimates expenses government next fiscal year less current one exceed appropriations present year items estimate however included public works heretofore begun congressional provision much asked congress may choose give appropriation works present fiscal year average value gold compared national currency whole year 1869 134 eleven months 1870 relative value 115 approach specie basis gratifying fact denied instability value currency prejudicial prosperity tends keep prices detriment trade evils depreciated fluctuating currency great premium gold fallen much would seem time arrived wise prudent legislation congress look policy would place currency par gold distant day tax collected people reduced per annum steadiness present course reason short years national tax gatherer may disappear door citizen almost entirely revenue stamp dispensed postmasters every community tax upon liquors sorts tobacco forms wise adjustment tariff put duty upon articles could dispense known luxuries use produce revenue enough may raised years peace consequent reduction indebtedness fulfill obligations reduction expenses addition reduction interest account may relied make practicable revenue reform means hearty support implies collection revenue support government payment principal interest public debt pensions directly taxing people revenue reform confidently believe people means failure provide necessary means defray expenses government thereby repudiation public debt pensions still opposed kind revenue reform revenue reform defined advocates knowledge seems accepted something supply every man wants without cost effort part true revenue reform made day must work national legislation time soon revenue dispensed duty removed coffee tea articles universal use produced necessities country compel us collect revenue imports army assessors collectors pleasant sight citizen tariff revenue necessary tariff far acts encouragement home production affords employment labor living wages contrast pauper labor old world also development home resources act congress 15th day july 1870 army gradually reduced 1st day january 1871 number commissioned officers men exceed number contemplated law war department building old structure fireproof entirely inadequate dimensions present wants many thousands dollars paid annually rent private buildings accommodate various bureaus department recommend appropriation new war department building suited present growing wants nation report secretary war shows satisfactory reduction expenses army last fiscal year details referred accompanying report expenses navy whole last year december 1 1869 date last report less less previous year expenses since commencement fiscal year since july 1 show five months decrease corresponding months last year estimates current year next year additional necessary permanent improvements estimates made closely mere maintenance naval establishment without much nature permanent improvement appropriations made last current years evidently intended congress sufficient keep navy present footing repairing refitting old ships policy must course gradually surely destroy navy far economical year pursued necessity mere repairs ships becomes imperative costly current expenses annually increased mere repair ships many must soon become unsafe useless hope present session congress able submit plan naval vessels built repairs made great saving upon present cost hardly wise statesmanship government represents country miles coast line oceans exclusive alaska containing progressive people relations every nature almost every foreign country rest inadequate means enforcing foreign policy either protection redress separated ocean nations eastern continent navy means direct protection citizens abroad enforcement foreign policy accompanying report shows satisfactory working department adoption recommendations contained therein particularly relating reform franking privilege adoption correspondence cards postal system may speedily looked distant day reduction rate postage attained recommend authorization congress issue commissions officials appointed respective departments present commissions appointments presidential issued state department law departments government except justice authorizes issue commissions always favoring practical reforms respectfully call attention one abuse long standing would like see remedied congress reform civil service country would go beyond mere fixing tenure office clerks employees require advice consent senate make appointments complete would govern tenure manner making appointments duty much embarrasses executive heads departments appointments arduous thankless labor imposed senators representatives finding places constituents present system secure best men often even fit men public place elevation purification civil service government hailed approval whole people united states reform management indian affairs received special attention administration inauguration present day experiment making missionary work tried agencies given denomination friends found work advantageously agencies superintendencies disposed given officers army act congress reducing army renders army officers ineligible civil positions indian agencies civil offices determined give agencies religious denominations heretofore established missionaries among indians perhaps denominations would undertake work terms missionary work societies selected allowed name agents subject approval executive expected watch aid missionaries christianize civilize indian train arts peace government watches official acts agents requires strict accountability appointed manner entertain confident hope policy pursued years bring indians upon reservations live houses schoolhouses churches pursuing peaceful avocations may visited white man impunity visits civilized white settlements call special attention report commissioner indian affairs full information subject last fiscal year acres public land disposed quantity acres taken homestead law acres sold cash remainder located military warrants college indian scrip applied satisfaction grants railroads public uses entries homestead law last year covered acres preceding year surveys vigorously prosecuted full extent means applicable purpose quantity land market amply supply present demand claim settler homestead preemption laws however limited lands subject sale private entry unappropriated surveyed public land may limited amount acquired former laws party entitled enter comply requirements prescribe regard residence cultivation actual settler preference right purchase even broader extends lands unsurveyed time settlement right formerly confined within much narrower limits one period history conferred special statutes enacted time time legalize regarded unauthorized intrusion upon national domain opinion public lands regarded chiefly source revenue longer maintained rapid settlement successful cultivation justly considered importance fund sale would produce remarkable growth prosperity new states territories attest wisdom legislation invites tiller soil secure permanent home terms within reach pioneer incurs dangers privations frontier life thus aids laying foundation new commonwealths renders signal service country entitled special favor protection laws secure object largely promote general welfare therefore cherished permanent feature land system good faith requires us give full effect existing grants beneficent policy setting apart certain sections public land educational purposes new states continued ample provision shall made objects submit question worthy serious consideration whether residue national domain wholly disposed provisions homestead preemption laws addition swamp overflowed lands granted states situated lands taken acts purposes act september 1841 acts supplemental thereto conveyed close last fiscal year patent equivalent title states corporations acres railways canals wagon roads estimated additional quantity acres still due grants like uses policy thus aiding states building works internal improvement inaugurated forty years since grants indiana illinois aid states opening canals connect waters wabash lake erie waters illinois lake michigan followed modifications grant illinois alternate sections public land within certain limits illinois central railway fourteen states sundry corporations received similar subsidies connection railways completed process construction reserved sections rated double minimum sale enhanced price thus many instances indemnified treasury granted lands construction thoroughfares undoubtedly given vigorous impulse development resources settlement distant portions country may however well insisted much legislation regard characterized indiscriminate profuse liberality united states loan credit aid enterprise undertaken states corporations grant lands instance unless projected work acknowledged national importance strongly inclined opinion inexpedient unnecessary bestow subsidies either description congress determine otherwise earnestly recommend right settlers public effectually secured protected appropriate legislation year ending september 30 1870 filed patent office applications patents caveats 160 applications extension patents thirteen thousand six hundred patents including reissues designs issued extended allowed issued reason nonpayment final fees receipts office year excess expenditures work census bureau energetically prosecuted preliminary report containing much information special value interest ready delivery present session remaining volumes completed dispatch consistent perfect accuracy arranging classifying returns shall thus distant day furnished authentic record condition resources doubt attest growing prosperity country although decade closed severely tried great war waged maintain integrity secure perpetuate free institutions last fiscal year sum paid pensioners including cost disbursement warrants issued close names pension rolls labors pension office directed severe scrutiny evidence submitted favor new claims discovery fictitious claims heretofore allowed appropriation employment special agents investigation frauds judiciously used results obtained unquestionable benefit service subjects education agriculture great interest success republican institutions happiness grandeur nation interest one bureau established interior department bureau education interest separate department agriculture believe great general good flow operations bureaus properly fostered commend careful consideration highly reports commissioners education agriculture urge strongly liberal legislation secure efficiency conclusion would sum policy administration thorough enforcement every law faithful collection every tax provided economy disbursement prompt payment every debt nation reduction taxes rapidly requirements country admit reductions taxation tariff arranged afford greatest relief greatest number honest fair dealings peoples end war blighting consequences may avoided without surrendering right obligation due us reform treatment indians whole civil service country finally securing pure untrammeled ballot every man entitled cast vote may election without fear molestation proscription account political faith nativity color
year peace general prosperity nation pass since last assembling congress kind providence bless abundant crop spar complication war foreign nation midst comparative harmony restore regret however free exercise elective franchise violence intimidation deny citizen exceptional case several state lately rebellion verdict people thereby reverse state virginia mississippi texas restore representation national council georgia state without representation may confidently expect take place also begin new year let u hope complete work reconstruction acquiescence part whole people national obligation pay public debt create price union pension disable soldier sailor widow orphan change constitution make necessary great rebellion reason advance material prosperity happiness nation ever protract devastate war soon exist war break europe protection unite state minister paris invoke favor north german domicile french territory instruction issue grant protection follow extension american protection citizen saxony hesse gotha colombia portugal uruguay dominican republic ecuador chile paraguay venezuela paris charge onerous one require constant severe labor well exercise patience prudence good judgment perform entire satisfaction government officially inform equally satisfaction government north germany soon learn republic proclaim paris people france acquiesce change minister united state direct telegraph recognize tender congratulation people united state reestablishment france system government disconnect dynastic tradition europe appear proper subject felicitation american present struggle result attach heart french simpler form representative government subject still satisfaction people make effort impose institution upon inhabitant country adhere traditional neutrality civil contest elsewhere indifferent spread american political idea great highly civilized country like france ask new government use good office jointly european power interest peace answer make establish policy true interest unite state forbid interfere european question jointly european power ascertain informally unofficially government north germany disposed listen representation power though earnestly wish see blessing peace restore belligerent united state term friendship decline part government take step could result injury true interest without advance object intervention invoke time come action united state hasten return peace single hour action heartily take deemed prudent view number person german french birth live united state issue soon official notice state war receive belligerent proclamation define duty united state neutral obligation person reside within territory observe law law nation proclamation follow others circumstance seem call people thus acquaint advance duty obligation assist prevent violation neutrality united state understood condition insurrection cuba materially change since close last session congress early stage contest authority spain inaugurated system arbitrary arrest close confinement military trial execution person suspect complicity insurgent summary embargo property sequestration revenue executive warrant proceeding far affect person property citizen united state violation provision treaty 1795 united state spain representation injury result several person claim citizen united state reason violation make spanish government april 1869 june last spanish minister washington clothe limited power aid redressing wrong power find withdrawn view say favorable situation island cuba however lead revocation suspension extraordinary arbitrary function exercise executive power cuba oblige make complaint madrid negotiation thus open still pending united state claim future right secure citizen treaty respect cuba past joint tribunal establish united state full jurisdiction claim impartial tribunal claimant would require prove case hand spain would liberty traverse every material fact thus complete equity would do case one time threaten seriously affect relation united state spain already disposed way claim owner colonel lloyd aspinwall illegal seizure detention vessel refer arbitration mutual consent result award united state owner sum gold another claim like nature whaleship canada dispose friendly arbitrament present year refer joint consent brazil united state decision sir edward thornton britannic majesty minister washington kindly undertook laborious task examine voluminous mass correspondence testimony submit two government award united state sum gold since pay imperial government recent examples show mode united state propose spain adjust pending claim feasible may agree either nation without dishonor hop moderate demand may accede spain without delay pending negotiation unfortunately unexpectedly without result become duty communicate fact congress invite action subject peace conference spain ally south american republic inaugurate washington auspex united state pursuant recommendation contain resolution house representative 17th december 1866 executive department government offer friendly office promotion peace harmony spain ally republic hesitation obstacle occur acceptance offer ultimately however conference arrange open city 29th october last authorized secretary state preside attend minister spain peru chile ecuador consequence absence representative bolivia conference adjourn attendance plenipotentiary republic could secure measure could adopt toward compass object ally republic spanish origin continent may see fact new proof sincere interest welfare desire see bless good government capable maintain order preserve respective territorial integrity sincere wish extend commercial social relation time probably far distant natural course event european political connection continent cease policy shape view probability ally commercial interest spanish american state closely thus give united state preeminence advantage monroe adam clay contemplate propose join congress panama last session congress treaty annexation republic san domingo united state fail receive requisite vote senate thoroughly convinced best interest country commercially materially demand ratification time confirm view firmly believe moment know united state entirely abandon project accept part territory island san domingo free port negotiate european nation bay samana large commercial city spring tributary without receive correspond benefit see folly reject great prize government san domingo voluntarily seek annexation weak power number probably less souls yet possess one rich territory sun capable support population people luxury people san domingo capable maintain present condition must look outside support yearn protection free institution law progress civilization shall refuse acquisition san domingo desirable geographical position command entrance caribbean sea isthmus transit commerce possess rich soil best capacious harbor salubrious climate valuable product forest mine soil west india island possession u year build coastwise commerce immense magnitude go far toward restore u lose merchant marine give u article consume largely produce thus equalize export import case foreign war give u command island refer thus prevent enemy ever possess rendezvous upon coast present coast trade state border atlantic bordering gulf mexico cut bahamas antilies twice must pass foreign country get sea georgia west coast florida san domingo stable government immense resource develop give remunerative wage ten thousand laborer upon island labor take advantage every available mean transportation abandon adjacent island seek blessing freedom sequence inhabitant receive reward labor porto rico cuba abolish slavery measure retain laborer san domingo become large consumer product northern farm manufactory cheap rate citizen furnish food tool machinery make necessary contiguous island advantage order compete production sugar coffee tobacco tropical fruit etc open u still wider market product production supply article cut one hundred million annual import besides largely increase export picture easy see large debt abroad ultimately extinguished balance trade u include interest bond hold foreigner money spend citizen travel foreign land equal entire yield precious metal country easy see result otherwise accomplished acquisition san domingo adherence monroe doctrine measure national protection assert claim control influence great commercial traffic soon flow west east way isthmus darien build merchant marine furnish new market product farm shop manufactory make slavery insupportable cuba porto rico ultimately brazil settle unhappy condition cuba end exterminate conflict provide honest mean pay honest debt without overtax people furnish citizen necessary everyday life cheaper rate ever fine rapid stride toward greatness intelligence industry enterprise citizen united state entitle country assume among nation view importance question earnestly urge upon congress early action expressive view best mean acquire san domingo suggestion joint resolution two house congress executive authorize appoint commission negotiate treaty authority san domingo acquisition island appropriation make defray expense commission question may determine either action senate upon treaty joint action two house congress upon resolution annexation case acquisition texas convince advantage flow acquisition san domingo great disadvantage might almost say calamity flow nonacquisition believe subject investigate approve regretted representation regard injurious effect especially upon revenue united state policy mexican government exempt impost duty large tract territory border fruitless even proposed country extend limit within privilege advert hitherto enjoyed expediency take serious consideration proper measure countervail policy refer presumed engage earnest attention obvious interest especially neighboring nation provide impunity may commit high crime within border may seek refuge abroad purpose extradition treaty conclude several central american republic others progress sense congress desire early may convenient upon proceeding commission claim venezuela communicated message march 16 1869 march 1 1870 march 31 1870 deem advisable distribute money receive government congress shall act subject massacre french russian resident circumstance great barbarity suppose premeditated indicate purpose among populace exterminate foreigner chinese empire evidence fails establish supposition show complicity local authority mob government peking however seem disposed fulfill treaty obligation far able unfortunately news war german state france reach china soon massacre would appear popular mind become possessed idea contest extend chinese water would neutralize christian influence power time come superstitious mass might expel foreigner restore mandarin influence anticipate trouble invite france north germany make authorize suspension hostility east temporarily suspend act commander act together future protection china live property american european since adjournment congress ratification treaty great britain abolish mixed court suppression slave trade exchange believe slave trade confine eastern coast africa whence slave take arabian market ratification naturalization convention great britain united state also exchange recess thus dispute two government settle accordance principle always contend united state april last engage locate military reservation near pembina corp engineer discover commonly receive boundary line unite state british possession place foot south true position parallel line run suppose true position parallel would leave fort hudson bay company pembina within territory united state information communicate british government request consent consent british occupation fort hudson bay company continue present deem important however part boundary line definitely fix joint commission two government submit herewith estimate expense commission part united state recommend appropriation make purpose land boundary already fix marked summit rocky mountain georgian bay like manner mark lake wood summit rocky mountain regret say conclusion reach adjustment claim great britain grow course adopted government rebellion cabinet london far view express appear willing concede majesty government guilty negligence permit act war united state complaint firm unalterable conviction directly reverse therefore recommend congress authorize appointment commission take proof amount ownership several claim notice representative majesty washington authority give settlement claim united state government shall ownership private claim well responsible control demand great britain necessary add whenever majesty government shall entertain desire full friendly adjustment claim unite state enter upon consideration earnest desire conclusion consistent honor dignity nation course pursue canadian authority toward fisherman united state past season mark friendly feel first article convention 1818 great britain united state agree inhabitant united state forever common british subject right take fish certain water therein defined water include limit name convention within 3 mile part british coast custom many year give intrude fisherman united state reasonable warn violation technical right great britain imperial government understood delegate whole share jurisdiction control inshore fish ground colonial authority know dominion canada irresponsible agent exercise delegated power unfriendly way vessel seize without notice warn violation custom previously prevail take colonial port voyage break vessel condemn reason believe unfriendly vexatious treatment design bear harshly upon hardy fisherman united state view political effect upon government statute dominion canada assume still broader untenable jurisdiction vessel united state authorize officer person bring vessel hover within 3 marine mile coast bay creeks harbor canada port search cargo examine master oath touch cargo voyage inflict upon heavy pecuniary penalty true answer give vessel find prepare fish within 3 marine mile coast bay creek harbor without license expiration period name last license grant provide vessel tackle shall forfeit known condemnation make statute authority canada attempt enforce become duty take step may necessary protect right citizen united state claim majesty officer fish vessel unite state right enter open port british possession north america except purpose shelter repair damage purchase wood obtain water right enter british trade except purchase wood water must depart within hour notice leave know seizure fish vessel carry flag united state make claim far claim found allege construction convention 1818 acquiesce united state hop insist majesty government conference precede negotiation convention 1818 british commissioner propose expressly exclude fisherman united state privilege carry trade britannic majesty subject reside within limit assign use also lawful vessel unite state engage say fishery board good war merchandise whatever except may necessary prosecution voyage say fishing ground vessel united state shall contravene regulation may seize condemn confiscate cargo proposition identical construction put upon language convention emphatically reject american commissioner thereupon abandon british plenipotentiary article stand convention substitute however say claim found provincial colonial statute upon convention government regard unfriendly contravention spirit letter treaty faithful execution imperial government alone responsible anticipate attempt may possibly make canadian authority come season repeat unneighborly act toward fisherman recommend confer upon executive power suspend proclamation operation law authorize transit good war merchandise bond across territory united state canada extreme measure become necessary suspend operation law whereby vessel dominion canada permit enter water united state like unfriendly disposition manifest part canada maintenance claim right exclude citizen united state navigation lawrence river constitute natural outlet ocean eight state aggregate population inhabitant aggregate tonnage ton upon water discharge foreign commerce port water open british competition major part do british bottom american seaman exclude natural avenue ocean monopoly direct commerce lake port atlantic would foreign hand vessel transatlantic voyage access lake port would deny american vessel similar voyage state proposition refute justice administration john quincy adam clay unanswerably demonstrate natural right citizen united state navigation river claim act congress vienna open rhine river nation show judgment european jurist statesmen inhabitant country navigable river pass natural right enjoy navigation river sea even though pass territory another power right exclude coequal right sovereign possess territory river debouches sea make regulation relative police navigation may reasonably necessary regulation frame liberal spirit comity impose needless burden upon commerce right transit find practice advantageous arrange regulation mutual agreement united state ready make reasonable arrangement police lawrence may suggest great britain claim make clay population state border shore lakes derives great force equity increase population wealth production tonnage state canadian frontier since clay advance argument behalf right principle contend frequently various nation recognize law treaty extend several great river treaty conclude mayence 1831 rhine declare free point first navigable sea convention spain portugal conclude 1835 navigation douro throughout whole extent make free subject crown 1853 argentine confederation treaty throw open free navigation parana uruguay merchant vessel nation 1856 crimean war close treaty provide free navigation danube 1858 bolivia treaty declare regarded river amazon la plata accordance fix principle national law highway channel open nature commerce nation 1859 paraguay make free treaty december 1866 emperor brazil imperial decree declare amazon open frontier brazil merchant ship nation greatest live british authority subject assert abstract right british claim say seem difficult deny great britain may grind refusal upon strict law equally difficult deny first exercise harshly extreme hard law secondly conduct respect navigation lawrence glare discreditable inconsistency conduct respect navigation mississippi ground possess small domain mississippi take rise insist right navigate entire volume water ground possess bank lawrence disembogues sea denies unite state right navigation though water lakes ontario erie huron superior whole lake michigan river flow property united state whole nation interested securing cheap transportation agricultural state west atlantic seaboard citizen state secures great return labor inhabitant seaboard affords cheap food nation increase annual surplus wealth hop government great britain see justice abandon narrow inconsistent claim canadian province urge adherence depress commerce subject call special attention last session suggest future look country south u china japan revival representative government exert influence encourage trade united state country accredit fact exists carry do almost entirely foreign bottom state affair exist control due share commerce world pacific state china japan carry trade conduct american vessel would recommend liberal policy toward line american steamer one insure success even increase usefulness cost building iron vessel one compete foreign ship carry trade much great united state foreign country without assistance government successfully build several proposition lay congress course present session look remedy evil even cost national treasury hope encouragement give secure american shipping high sea american shipbuilding home condition archive department state call early action congress building rent department frail structure inconvenient distance executive mansion department ill adapt purpose use capacity accommodate archive fireproof remote situation slender construction absence supply water neighborhood leave little hope safety either building content case accident fire destruction would involve loss roll contain original act resolution congress historic record revolution confederation whole series diplomatic consular archive since adoption constitution many valuable record paper leave department principal depository governmental archive recommend appropriation construction building department state recommend consideration propriety transfer department interior seem appropriately belong power duty relation territory department state charge law usage interior department war department pension bureau far regulate payment soldier pension would recommend payment naval pension transfer one bureau navy department estimate expense government next fiscal year less current one exceed appropriation present year item estimate however include public work heretofore begin congressional provision much ask congress may choose give appropriation work present fiscal year average value gold compare national currency whole year 1869 134 eleven month 1870 relative value 115 approach specie basis gratify fact deny instability value currency prejudicial prosperity tend keep price detriment trade evil depreciate fluctuating currency great premium gold fall much would seem time arrive wise prudent legislation congress look policy would place currency par gold distant day tax collect people reduce per annum steadiness present course reason short year national tax gatherer may disappear door citizen almost entirely revenue stamp dispense postmaster every community tax upon liquor sort tobacco form wise adjustment tariff put duty upon article could dispense know luxury use produce revenue enough may raise year peace consequent reduction indebtedness fulfill obligation reduction expense addition reduction interest account may rely make practicable revenue reform mean hearty support implies collection revenue support government payment principal interest public debt pension directly tax people revenue reform confidently believe people mean failure provide necessary mean defray expense government thereby repudiation public debt pension still oppose kind revenue reform revenue reform define advocate knowledge seem accepted something supply every man want without cost effort part true revenue reform make day must work national legislation time soon revenue dispense duty remove coffee tea article universal use produce necessity country compel u collect revenue import army assessor collector pleasant sight citizen tariff revenue necessary tariff far act encouragement home production affords employment labor living wage contrast pauper labor old world also development home resource act congress 15th day july 1870 army gradually reduce 1st day january 1871 number commission officer men exceed number contemplate law war department build old structure fireproof entirely inadequate dimension present want many thousand dollar pay annually rent private building accommodate various bureaus department recommend appropriation new war department building suit present grow want nation report secretary war show satisfactory reduction expense army last fiscal year detail refer accompany report expense navy whole last year december 1 1869 date last report less less previous year expense since commencement fiscal year since july 1 show five month decrease correspond month last year estimate current year next year additional necessary permanent improvement estimate make closely mere maintenance naval establishment without much nature permanent improvement appropriation make last current year evidently intend congress sufficient keep navy present footing repair refit old ships policy must course gradually surely destroy navy far economical year pursue necessity mere repair ship becomes imperative costly current expense annually increase mere repair ship many must soon become unsafe useless hope present session congress able submit plan naval vessel build repair make great save upon present cost hardly wise statesmanship government represent country mile coast line ocean exclusive alaska contain progressive people relation every nature almost every foreign country rest inadequate mean enforce foreign policy either protection redress separate ocean nation eastern continent navy mean direct protection citizen abroad enforcement foreign policy accompany report show satisfactory work department adoption recommendation contain therein particularly relate reform frank privilege adoption correspondence card postal system may speedily look distant day reduction rate postage attain recommend authorization congress issue commission official appoint respective department present commission appointment presidential issue state department law department government except justice authorizes issue commission always favor practical reform respectfully call attention one abuse long stand would like see remedied congress reform civil service country would go beyond mere fix tenure office clerk employee require advice consent senate make appointment complete would govern tenure manner make appointment duty much embarrasses executive head department appointment arduous thankless labor impose senator representative find place constituent present system secure best men often even fit men public place elevation purification civil service government hail approval whole people united state reform management indian affair receive special attention administration inauguration present day experiment make missionary work tried agency give denomination friend find work advantageously agency superintendencies dispose give officer army act congress reduce army render army officer ineligible civil position indian agency civil office determine give agency religious denomination heretofore establish missionary among indian perhaps denomination would undertake work term missionary work society select allow name agent subject approval executive expect watch aid missionary christianize civilize indian train art peace government watch official act agent require strict accountability appoint manner entertain confident hope policy pursue year bring indian upon reservation live house schoolhouse church pursue peaceful avocation may visit white man impunity visit civilize white settlement call special attention report commissioner indian affair full information subject last fiscal year acres public land dispose quantity acres take homestead law acre sell cash remainder locate military warrant college indian scrip apply satisfaction grant railroad public us entry homestead law last year cover acre precede year survey vigorously prosecute full extent mean applicable purpose quantity land market amply supply present demand claim settler homestead preemption law however limit land subject sale private entry unappropriated survey public land may limit amount acquire former law party entitle enter comply requirement prescribe regard residence cultivation actual settler preference right purchase even broad extend land unsurveyed time settlement right formerly confine within much narrow limit one period history confer special statute enact time time legalize regarded unauthorized intrusion upon national domain opinion public land regarded chiefly source revenue longer maintain rapid settlement successful cultivation justly consider importance fund sale would produce remarkable growth prosperity new state territory attest wisdom legislation invite tiller soil secure permanent home term within reach pioneer incurs danger privation frontier life thus aid lay foundation new commonwealth render signal service country entitle special favor protection law secure object largely promote general welfare therefore cherish permanent feature land system good faith require u give full effect exist grant beneficent policy set apart certain section public land educational purpose new state continue ample provision shall make object submit question worthy serious consideration whether residue national domain wholly disposed provision homestead preemption law addition swamp overflow land grant state situate land take act purpose act september 1841 act supplemental thereto convey close last fiscal year patent equivalent title state corporation acre railways canal wagon road estimate additional quantity acre still due grant like us policy thus aid state build work internal improvement inaugurate forty year since grant indiana illinois aid state open canal connect water wabash lake erie water illinois lake michigan follow modification grant illinois alternate section public land within certain limit illinois central railway fourteen state sundry corporation receive similar subsidy connection railway complete process construction reserve section rat double minimum sale enhance price thus many instance indemnified treasury grant lands construction thoroughfares undoubtedly give vigorous impulse development resource settlement distant portion country may however well insisted much legislation regard characterize indiscriminate profuse liberality united state loan credit aid enterprise undertaken state corporation grant land instance unless project work acknowledge national importance strongly inclined opinion inexpedient unnecessary bestow subsidy either description congress determine otherwise earnestly recommend right settler public effectually secure protected appropriate legislation year end september 30 1870 file patent office application patent caveat 160 application extension patent thirteen thousand six hundred patent include reissue design issue extended allow issued reason nonpayment final fee receipt office year excess expenditures work census bureau energetically prosecute preliminary report contain much information special value interest ready delivery present session remain volume complete dispatch consistent perfect accuracy arrange classify return shall thus distant day furnish authentic record condition resource doubt attest grow prosperity country although decade close severely tried great war wag maintain integrity secure perpetuate free institution last fiscal year sum pay pensioner include cost disbursement warrant issue close names pension roll labor pension office direct severe scrutiny evidence submit favor new claim discovery fictitious claim heretofore allow appropriation employment special agent investigation frauds judiciously use result obtain unquestionable benefit service subject education agriculture great interest success republican institution happiness grandeur nation interest one bureau establish interior department bureau education interest separate department agriculture believe great general good flow operation bureaus properly foster commend careful consideration highly report commissioner education agriculture urge strongly liberal legislation secure efficiency conclusion would sum policy administration thorough enforcement every law faithful collection every tax provide economy disbursement prompt payment every debt nation reduction tax rapidly requirement country admit reduction taxation tariff arrange afford great relief great number honest fair dealing people end war blighting consequence may avoid without surrender right obligation due u reform treatment indian whole civil service country finally secure pure untrammeled ballot every man entitle cast vote may election without fear molestation proscription account political faith nativity color