From miscellaneous and From Treasury Notes, per 14,260,830,35 112,967,17 1,060,206,05 Act 15th Feb. 1841, 1842, The receipts of the fourth incidental sources, 2,296,129,67 20,000,00 Namely: From Customs, 4,000,000,00 for the year the Treasury on the 1st foreign affairs. He alluded to the ques- From Customs, The Message concluded with recommending the reimbursement to General Jackson, of the fine imposed on him in 1815, for a contempt of Court, in imprisoning a Judge of a District Court of the United States, under color of military authority. The President also gave some information as to the state of the different departments, which will be found more in detail in the abstract of their reports, which we proceed to give. The Secretary of the Treasury stated in his report, that the receipts into the Treasury during the three first quarters of the present year, amount to $26,616,593,78, namely: Army, fortifications, pen- Naval Service, 11,000,000,00 26,264,882,20 4,371,933,93 7,065,035,95 Treasury Notes redeem- terest on the loan, 254,427,80 7,883,000,00 31,502,593,78 34,733,077,46 8,238,278,15 568 ed that the maintenance of public credit At a contract cost of At a contract cost of 34,996.525 miles. $3,159,375 The service now performed requiring the labors of 13,633 postmasters, with their clerks, and 2,343 contractors, with their agents. The expenditures had been reduced, by a reduction of unproductive routes, and the institution of a system for the preservation of the public property used by the department. As an illustration of the efficacy of this system, it was mentioned that a saving of nearly $30,000 had been effected in the single article of mail-bags. $4,546,246 The revenue for the year end- Of the appropriation made by Congress in Sept. 1841, to meet the then existing debts of the Post-Office Department, $392,664 have been expended; $89,992 yet remain to satisfy such other demands as may be proved to have been due in March, 1841. This sum of $392,664 is not included in the revenue mentioned above, but is included in the expenditures, so that the apparent surplus on the 1st of July last, was $311,194. This surplus will be considerably diminished by accounts yet to be audited. It appears probable, however, that henceforth the Post-Office may, under proper management, meet its own expenses. Every demand on the Department has been promptly paid. Postmasters who have not paid their balances at sight of the drafts of the General Post-Office, "have been relieved from the burdens of official duty." After these statements, the Postmaster proceeded to some recommendations on the modification of the franking privilege; on the reduction of the rates of postage, on which he promised a specific report; on the extra-mail carriage of mail matter; on the purchasing from railroads the perpetual right to send the mails by them; and some statements with regard to the city despatch post in New York. An agent has been employed in England and France during the last year to collect statistics concerning the rates of postage and the establishment of steampackets between Havre and New York. The Secretary of War estimated all the demands of his Department for the first six months of 1843 at $620,949. This is a great reduction on the requisitions of previous years, arising partly from the termination of the Florida war, and partly from the use of balances, unexpended during the past year, from fear that the state of the treasury would not permit heavy drafts at that time. The demands for this department for the year commencing July 1, 1843, were $4,144,154 It appears from the Secretary's report Men enlisted for the Ordnance, 717 17 250 7,590 20 8,594 Besides this number of men, the law authorizes as many ordnance sergeants as there are military posts, and clerks, forage-masters, and wagon-masters, according to the exigencies of the service. The act of August last reduces the rank and file of the army 3,920 men. This reduc tion is gradually proceeding in the manner proposed by the act, and will probably reach the proposed limit by the beginning of the year 1844. The last return showed an excess of 1,970 men. The Secretary supposed the Florida war to be at an end; 450 Indians had been shipped for the West during the past year, and 200 more had surrendered. A force of 1,644 men is still retained, however, in that territory. A considerable force has also been maintained on the southwest frontier, from fear of Indian incursions in that quarter. The Secretary, in this connexion, suggested a reconsideration of the act passed at the last session, by which the second regiment of dragoons will be disbanded in the ensuing spring. He called the attention of Congress to the law respecting the enlistment of aliens. Judicial authorities having decided that aliens were not bound by enlistment, a larger number of discharges of recruits have ensued than were ever known before. He asked for some means to enforce the col lection of militia statistics. He repeated of 1810, (Mon. Chron. Vol. II. p. 384.) On his suggestion for a small national foun- the 8th of December, Mr. Benton introdry. He went at length into an examina- duced a bill into the Senate for this purtion of the present tenure of the mineral pose, which passed to its second reading. lands owned by Government, the man- The Senate then referred it to the Judiagement of which pertains to his depart- ciary Committee, and did not act upon it ment; and suggested, that the gradual definitely at any time in the course of the sale of these lands would be a system month, although some debate arose upon much preferable to the present, by which it. This repeal bill proposed that cases they are let on long leases. He called the now pending should, under certain condiattention of Congress to the fortifications tions, be prosecuted to a conclusion. on the new northern frontier, and to sev eral other points of defence. A renewal of the project for a chain of posts to the Pacific Ocean, was the most important of the other subjects, to which, in a very long report, the Secretary alluded. The Secretary of the Navy stated, in detail, the stations on which the different vessels of the Navy had been acting. The cruising ground of the " Home Squadron" had been enlarged so as to include the "West India Station." He hoped that Congress would take such measures as should allow him to enlarge the squadrons in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. He asked for appropriations to permit him to fit out a squadron for the African coast. He suggested that the public vessels ought to be kept more at sea than they have hitherto been, believing that in this manner the efficiency of the Navy would be greatly increased. In this report appeared the following statement of a difficulty which took place last summer, of which no official information has hitherto been given: "Our relations with the countries of the Mediterranean have been preserved on the most friendly footing, with the single exception of the empire of Morocco. In consequence of an outrage, offered by a subordinate officer of that Government, to the late consul of the United States, Mr. Carr, it was deemed necessary to call on the higher authorities to disavow the act, and to punish the aggressor. This was promptly done by Commodore Morgan; and after many delays and much unnecessary formality on the part of the Emperor, ample redress was afforded by the public disavowal of the offence, and dismissal of the offending officer. The friendly relations between the two countries are now restored." The earliest movement of importance made in Congress, was a renewal of the attempt of the last session to repeal the Baukrupt Law, passed at the extra session On the 13th, Mr. Everett introduced a bill with the same general object in the House. It was simply provided in it, that no proceedings commenced before Dec. 5, 1842, should be affected by the repeal. The House debated this bill with a good deal of zeal at different times through the month, but came to no final action upon it. An attempt was made in the House, at the earliest possible period of the session, on motion of Mr. Adams, to rescind the rule of the House, by which all abolition petitions and memorials are laid on the table unread. This motion was, after some discussion, laid on the table on the 12th, by a vote of 106 to 102. By an act passed at the last session of this Congress, the beginning of the fiscal year was changed from January to July. In order to carry this change into effect, it became necessary to pass an appropriation bill, for the different services required in the first six months of 1843. Such a bill for the civil appropriation was reported on the 14th in the House, and after some amendment, it passed that body on the 21st. The Senate passed it without debate or amendment on the 23d, and it became a law. It will be observed, that he Heads of Departments, in the reports of which we have given abstracts above, prepared their estimates with a view to this new arrangement of the fiscal year. On the 31st of the month, two communications were received from the President by the House of Representatives. One of them suggested the propriety of the appointment of an agent of Government in China, to act in a diplomatic capacity, if necessary. The other called attention to the importance of our trade and friendly relations with the Sandwich Islands, and suggested the propriety of establishing an United States' consul there. This message stated that the President had informed the King of these Islands, that the United States recognized their independence. |