country. The construction of the two dry docks at Charlestown and at Norfolk is making satisfactory progress toward a durable establishment. The examinations and inquiries to ascertain the practicability and expediency of a marine railway at Pensacola, though not yet accomplished, have been postponed but to be more effectually made. The navy-yards of the United States have been examined, and plans for their improvement and the preservation of the public property therein at Portsmouth, Charlestown, Philadelphia, Washington, and Gosport, and to which two others are to be added, have been prepared and received my sanction; and no other portion of my public duties has been performed with a more intimate conviction of its importance to the future welfare and security of the Union.

With the report from the Postmaster-General is exhibited a comparative view of the gradual increase of that establishment, from five to five years, since 1792 till this time in the number of post-offices, which has grown from less than 200 to nearly 8,000; in the revenue yielded by them, which from $67,000 has swollen to upward of a million and a half, and in the number of miles of post-roads, which from 5,642 have multiplied to 114,536. While in the same period of time the population of the Union has about thrice doubled, the rate of increase of these offices is nearly 40, and of the revenue and of traveled miles from 20 to 25 for 1. The increase of revenue within the last five years has been nearly equal to the whole revenue of the Department in 1812.

The expenditures of the Department during the year which ended on the 1st of July last have exceeded the receipts by a sum of about $25,000. The excess has been occasioned by the increase of mail conveyances and facilities to the extent of near 800,000 miles. It has been supplied by collections from the postmasters of the arrearages of preceding years. While the correct principle seems to be that the income levied by the Department should defray all its expenses, it has never been the policy of this Government to raise from this establishment any revenue to be applied to any other purposes. The suggestion of the PostmasterGeneral that the insurance of the safe transmission of moneys by the mail might be assumed by the Department for a moderate and competent remuneration will deserve the consideration of Congress.

A report from the commissioner of the public buildings in this city exhibits the expenditures upon them in the course of the current year. It will be seen that the humane and benevolent intentions of Congress in providing, by the act of 20th May, 1826, for the erection of a penitentiary in this District have been accomplished. The authority of further legislation is now required for the removal to this tenement of the offenders against the laws sentenced to atone by personal confinement for their crimes, and to provide a code for their employment and government while thus confined.

The commissioners appointed, conformably to the act of 2d March,

1827, to provide for the adjustment of claims of persons entitled to indemnification under the first article of the treaty of Ghent, and for the distribution among such claimants of the sum paid by the Government of Great Britain under the convention of 13th of November, 1826, closed their labors on the 30th of August last by awarding to the claimants the sum of $1,197,422. 18, leaving a balance of $7,537.82, which was distributed ratably amongst all the claimants to whom awards had been made, according to the directions of the act.

The exhibits appended to the report from the Commissioner of the General Land Office present the actual condition of that common property of the Union. The amount paid into the Treasury from the proceeds of lands during the year 1827 and the first half of 1828 falls little short of $2,000,000. The propriety of further extending the time for the extinguishment of the debt due to the United States by the purchasers of the public lands, limited by the act of 21st March last to the 4th of July next, will claim the consideration of Congress, to whose vigilance and careful attention the regulation, disposal, and preservation of this great national inheritance has by the people of the United States been intrusted.

Among the important subjects to which the attention of the present Congress has already been invited, and which may occupy their further and deliberate discussion, will be the provision to be made for taking the fifth census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States. The Constitution of the United States requires that this enumeration should be made within every term of ten years, and the date from which the last enumeration commenced was the first Monday of August of the year 1820. The laws under which the former enumerations were taken were enacted at the session of Congress immediately preceding the operation; but considerable inconveniences were experienced from the delay of legislation to so late a period. That law, like those of the preceding enumerations, directed that the census should be taken by the marshals of the several districts and Territories of the Union under instructions from the Secretary of State. The preparation and transmission to the marshals of those instructions required more time than was then allowed between the passage of the law and the day when the enumeration was to commence. The term of six months limited for the returns of the marshals was also found even then too short, and must be more so now, when an additional population of at least 3,000,000 must be presented upon the returns. As they are to be made at the short session of Congress, it would, as well as from other considerations, be more convenient to commence the enumeration from an earlier period of the year than the Ist of August. The most favorable season would be the spring. On a review of the former enumerations it will be found that the plan for taking every census has contained many improvements upon that of its predecessor. The last is still susceptible of much improvement. The

Third Census was the first at which any account was taken of the manufactures of the country. It was repeated at the last enumeration, but the returns in both cases were necessarily very imperfect. They must always be so, resting, of course, only upon the communications voluntarily made by individuals interested in some of the manufacturing establishments. Yet they contained much valuable information, and may by some supplementary provision of the law be rendered more effective. The columns of age, commencing from infancy, have hitherto been confined to a few periods, all under the number of 45 years. Important knowledge would be obtained by extending these columns, in intervals of ten years, to the utmost boundaries of human life. The labor of taking them would be a trifling addition to that already prescribed, and the result would exhibit comparative tables of longevity highly interesting to the country. I deem it my duty further to observe that much of the imperfections in the returns of the last and perhaps of preceding enumerations proceeded from the inadequateness of the compensations allowed to the marshals and their assistants in taking them.

In closing this communication it only remains for me to assure the Legislature of my continued earnest wish for the adoption of measures recommended by me heretofore and yet to be acted on by them, and of the cordial concurrence on my part in every constitutional provision which may receive their sanction during the session tending to the general welfare. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON, December 8, 1828.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 2d of April last, I transmit a copy of the letter from the Cherokee Council to Colonel Hugh Montgomery, the agent, requested by the resolution, with a report* from the Secretary of War.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

WASHINGTON, December 8, 1828.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 23d of May last, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with documents, containing the information requested, relating to the harbors, roads, and other works of internal improvements undertaken and projected since the 30th April, 1824.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

*Relating to a survey for a canal through the Cherokee country.

To the Senate of the United States:

WASHINGTON, December 8, 1828.

I communicate to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its ratification, a treaty made and concluded at the missionary establishment upon the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan the 20th day of September last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners of the United States, and the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, the journal and report of the commissioners accompanying the treaty.

To the Senate of the United States:

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

WASHINGTON, December 8, 1828.

I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of War, with documents, prepared in compliance with their resolution of the 26th of May last, concerning the practicability and probable cost of constructing an artificial harbor, commonly called a "breakwater," at or near the mouth of the Mississippi.

To the Senate of the United States:

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

WASHINGTON, December 9, 1828.

The inclosed report from the Secretary of State and subjoined documents are transmitted to the Senate in compliance with their resolution of 25th April last, requesting information concerning the number of free taxable inhabitants who are not freeholders in certain States and Territories of the Union.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

WASHINGTON, December 15, 1828.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 8th instant, referring to a negotiation of the British Government, by virtue of a resolution of the House of the 10th of May last, relative to the surrender of fugitive slaves, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of instructions and correspondence, containing the desired information.

To the Senate of the United States:

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

WASHINGTON, December 15, 1828.

I transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional advice, an additional article, signed on the 4th day of June last, to the convention of friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States and the Hanseatic

Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg concluded at this place on A copy of the article is likewise inclosed.

the 20th December, 1827.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

To the Senate of the United States:

WASHINGTON, December 16, 1828.

I transmit to the Senate, for their advice, articles of agreement concluded at Green Bay, in the Territory of Michigan, on the 20th of August last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the chiefs of the Winnebago tribe and of the united tribes of the Potawatamies, Chippewas, and Ottawas, being a temporary arrangement concerning the occupation of a certain portion of the mining country which has not heretofore been ceded to the United States.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

WASHINGTON, December 22, 1828.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary of War, with documents, reported in compliance with the resolution of the House of the 10th instant, requesting a copy of the instructions given for the government of the agent of the United States superintendent of the lead mines in Missouri and Illinois.

Also a report from the Secretary of War, in compliance with the resolution of the House of the 15th instant, setting forth the reasons upon which it has not been deemed expedient to nominate commissioners to hold a treaty with the Choctaw Nation of Indians for the purchase of a certain tract of land, as authorized by the act of Congress of the 24th of May last.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

WASHINGTON, January 1, 1829.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 18th ultimo, I communicate to the House a report from the Secretary of War, containing the information required in relation to the intended frauds upon the revenue, which has rendered expedient the stationing additional troops on the Niagara frontier. The other evidence embraced by the resolution, and in possession of the Government, does not, in my judgment, at present render any further employment of a regular armed force for the enforcement of the revenue laws necessary.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.