greatness, and felicity which the United States now possess and enjoy. To point you to the state of the various Departments of the Government and of all the great branches of the public service, civil and military, in order to speak of the intelligence and the integrity which pervades the whole, would be to indicate but imperfectly the administrative condition of the country and the beneficial effects of that on the general welfare. Nor would it suffice to say that the nation is actually at peace at home and abroad; that its industrial interests are prosperous; that the canvas of its mariners whitens every sea, and the plow of its husbandmen is marching steadily onward to the bloodless conquest of the continent; that cities and populous States are springing up, as if by enchantment, from the bosom of our Western wilds, and that the courageous energy of our people is making of these United States the great Republic of the world. These results have not been attained without passing through trials and perils, by experience of which, and thus only, nations can harden into manhood. Our forefathers were trained to the wisdom which conceived and the courage which achieved independence by the circumstances which surrounded them, and they were thus made capable of the creation of the Republic. It devolved on the next generation to consolidate the work of the Revolution, to deliver the country entirely from the influences of conflicting transatlantic partialities or antipathies which attached to our colonial and Revolutionary history, and to organize the practical operation of the constitutional and legal institutions of the Union. To us of this generation remains the not less noble task of maintaining and extending the national power. We have at length reached that stage of our country's career in which the dangers to be encountered and the exertions to be made are the incidents, not of weakness, but of strength. In foreign relations we have to attemper our power to the less happy condition of other Republics in America and to place ourselves in the calmness and conscious dignity of right by the side of the greatest and wealthiest of the Empires of Europe. In domestic relations we have to guard against the shock of the discontents, the ambitions, the interests, and the exuberant, and therefore sometimes irregular, impulses of opinion or of action which are the natural product of the present political elevation, the self-reliance, and the restless spirit of enterprise of the people of the United States. I shall prepare to surrender the Executive trust to my successor and retire to private life with sentiments of profound gratitude to the good Providence which during the period of my Administration has vouchsafed to carry the country through many difficulties, domestic and foreign, and which enables me to contemplate the spectacle of amicable and respectful relations between ours and all other governments and the establishment of constitutional order and tranquillity throughout the Union. M P-VOL V-27 FRANKLIN PIERCE. SPECIAL MESSAGES. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, December 2, 1856. I transmit herewith a report* from the Secretary of State, in compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 7th of August last. To the Senate of the United States: FRANKLIN PIERCE WASHINGTON, December 8, 1856. I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty between the United States and Siam, concluded at Bangkok on the 29th day of May last. To the Senate of the United States: FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, December 10, 1856. I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a treaty for the settlement of the questions which have come into discussion between the United States and Great Britain relative to Central America, concluded and signed at London on the 17th day of October last between the United States and Great Britain. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, December 12, 1856. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit a copy of a letter of the 20th of May last from the commissioner of the United States in China, and of the decree and regulations† which accompanied it, for such revision thereof as Congress may deem expedient, pursuant to the sixth section of the act approved 11th August, 1848. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, December 15, 1856. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit to Congress an extract from a letter of the 22d ultimo from the governor of the Territory of Kansas to the Secretary of State, with a copy of the executive minutes to which it refers. These documents have been received since the date of my message at the opening of the present session. FRANKLIN PIERCE. *Stating that the correspondence in the Departments of State and of the Navy relative to Hamet Caramally had been transmitted to Congress. +For judicial jurisdiction by acting consuls or vice-consuls of the United States in China. Containing a history of Kansas affairs. WASHINGTON, December 29, 1856. To the Senate of the United States: In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 23d instant, requesting the President "to communicate to the Senate, if not incompatible with the public interest, such information as he may have concerning the present condition and prospects of a proposed plan for connecting by submarine wires the magnetic telegraph lines on this continent and Europe," I transmit the accompanying report from the Secretary of State. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, January 6, 1857. I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with accompanying papers,* in answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 2d instant. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, January 12, 1857. In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 4th August, 1856, and 9th January instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, together with the documents† therein referred to. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, January 12, 1857. I again transmit to the Senate, for its advice and consent with a view to ratification, the convention between the United States and His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, for the mutual delivery of criminals fugitives from justice in certain cases, and for other purposes, which was concluded at The Hague on the 29th day of May, 1856. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, January 12, 1857. To the Senate of the United States: *Relating to the refusal of the minister to the United States from the Netherlands to testify before the criminal court of the District of Columbia. + Relating to the claims of certain American citizens for losses consequent upon their expulsion by Venezuelan authorities from one of the Aves Islands, while collecting guano. Correspondence and documents connected with the treaty concluded at London between the United States and Great Britain October 17, 1856, relative to Central America. WASHINGTON, January 12, 1857. The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 22d ultimo, in relation to information with regard to expenditures and liabilities for persons called into the service of the United States in the Territory of Kansas, I transmit the accompanying report of the Secretary of War. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, January 13, 1857. I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to ratification, a convention between the United States and the Republic of Peru relative to the rights of neutrals at sea, signed at Lima by the plenipotentiaries of the parties on the 22d of July last. To the Senate of the United States: FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, January 16, 1857. I communicate to the Senate herewith, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty made and concluded at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas Territory, on the 16th day of December, 1856, between Indian Agent Benjamin F. Robinson, commissioner on the part of the United States, the principal men of the Christian Indians, and Gottleib F. Oehler, on behalf of the board of elders of the northern diocese of the Church of the United Brethren in the United States of America. Among the papers which accompany the treaty is a communication from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, containing a recommendation, concurred in by the Secretary of the Interior, that the treaty be ratified with an amendment which is therein explained. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, January 19, 1857. To the Senate and House of Representatives: Soon after the close of the last session of Congress I directed steps to be taken to carry into effect the joint resolution of August 28, 1856, relative to the restoration of the ship Resolute to Her Britannic Majesty's service. The ship was purchased of the salvors at the sum appropriated for the purchase, and "after being fully repaired and equipped" was sent to England under control of the Secretary of the Navy. The letter from Her Majesty's minister for foreign affairs, now communicated to Congress in conformity with his request, and copies of correspondence from the files of the Departments of State and of the Navy, also trans mitted herewith, will apprise you of the manner in which the joint resolution has been fully executed and show how agreeable the proceeding has been to Her Majesty's Government. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, January, 1857. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit to Congress copies of a communication from His Excellency Andrew Johnson, governor of the State of Tennessee, tendering to the Government of the United States "500 acres of the late residence of Andrew Jackson, deceased, including the mansion, tomb, and other improvements, known as the Hermitage," upon the terms and conditions of an act of the legislature of said State, a copy of which is also herewith communicated. FRANKLIN PIERCE. To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, January 20, 1857. In response to a resolution of January 5, 1857, requesting the President to inform the House of Representatives "by what authority a Government architect is employed and paid for designing and erecting all public buildings, and also for placing said buildings under the supervision of military engineers," I submit the accompanying reports from the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of War. To the House of Representatives: FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, January 21, 1857. In further compliance with resolution of the House of Representatives of the 22d ultimo, calling upon me for "statements of the amounts of money paid and liabilities incurred for the pay, support, and other expenses of persons called into the service of the United States in the Territory of Kansas, either under the designation of the militia of Kansas or of posses summoned by the civil officers in that Territory, since the date of its establishment; also statements of the amounts paid to marshals, sheriffs, and other deputies, and to witnesses and for other expenses in the arrest, detention, and trial of persons charged in said Territory with treason against the United States or with violations of the alleged laws of said Territory," I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with accompanying documents. To the Senate of the United States: FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON, January 28, 1857. I communicate to the Senate herewith, for its constitutional action thereon, a treaty made and concluded at Grand Portage, in the Territory |