32D CONG.....2D SESS. regulations to be read and explained to the several crews, and as far as may be necessary to every seaman before he signs the registry. 12. The Department to be authorized to make, alter, and modify all rules and regulations, so far as it may be found expedient for the due establishment and support of this purpose of creating a corps of registered seamen, in accordance with the general objects intended to be promoted in the above plan, and for the supplying of any defect which experience may show to exist in it. The term seamer, as used throughout this plan, is to be understood to embrace every class of mariners on board a public vessel, whether denominated seamen, ordinary seamen, or landsmen. 13. A limited number of boys to be received into the Navy upon obligations contracted according to law, to serve until they arrive at the age of twenty-one years. Their number, the quota to be allowed to each vessel, and all needful and proper rules for their government and duties to be regulated by the orders of the Navy Department. This system of providing for a more effective marine I respectfully submit to your consideration. There already exists power in the Executive to adopt nearly the whole of its details. It may be proper, however, to submit it to the approval of Congress, wh a view to obtain for it a legislative recognition, and especially to procure such enactments as may be necessary to give the sanction of law to the establishment of the registry, which constitutes the ground-work of the plan. INCREASE OF THE NAVY. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. tection of but two frigates and two sloops-of-war, composing a squadron whose utmost activity can but half perform the duty assigned to it. Our new relations with Asia and the intermediate islands, which are constantly multiplying the resources of trade, and with them the hazards of collision, and the consequent increase of numbers drawn from the population of every country to the competitions of this theater, all indicate the commencement of an era of great political significance, which will henceforth exact from the Government more than its accustomed vigilance in noting the progress of events, and more than its usual energy in the duty of guarding our citizens who may be connected with them. It is, therefore, more necessary than ever that we should have a respectable force always accessible to our countrymen in this field of action, and capable of giving them protection against the perils of war and popular outbreak and revolutionary commotion, which in future, even more than in the past, may be expected to characterize many of the States and communities to which their business invites them. A steamer of a large class, adapted to the general duties of a cruise, and a smaller one to be kept at hand at San Francisco, for use in California and Oregon, I regard as almost indispensable additions to the squadron assigned to that service. Looking to the Atlantic, we find motives equally strong for the increase of our naval armaments, and particularly for the enlargement of the number of our steamships. still we cannot fail to recognize the fact, that the respect due to the interests of our people requires the habitual and familiar presence of our flag in every region of commerce, sustained by such an amount of force, and of such a quality, as may give some significant token of the resources we command at home. A salutary conviction on this point is, to a great extent, inspired by the excellence of our armaments when brought into comparison with those of other nations. We cannot afford to lose or impair our reputation for producing the best ships and the best disciplined crews that navigate the ocean, however we may afford to exhibit them in smaller numbers. Whilst I am fully aware that the power of the In the activity and diversity of enterprise which United States happily consists more in their ability the busy spirit of this time has exacted from the to provide for the contingencies of invasion than Navy, it has now become manifest that the in- in the actual exhibition of an equipped force, and crease of the naval establishment of the country that we may dispense with much that is deemed is not only recommended by the most urgent pub-requisite in the relations of European Powers, lic considerations, but is also forced upon the attention of Congress as an absolute necessity. The honor as well as the successful venture of the nation, and I might even say the indispensable obligation of national defense, and the constant'y-recurring need for the exhibition of the national power, all combine to present this question to Congress as one of the first magnitude. During the past year this Department has been impelled, by a due regard for the great public interests committed to its charge, to put in requisition nearly the whole disposable force of the Navy: The details of this report will show that constant and various employment has been demanded of officers, ships, and crews. I trust that Congress will see in these requisitions how much the demands of necessary service engross the means provided to accomplish it, and will deduce from this fact an argument in favor of enlarging the naval resources for still larger naval operations. Whilst other great maritime Powers are strength-that there is a deep and earnest conviction of an ening and extending their capabilities for aggression and defense, and are bestowing a sedulous labor upon the creation of steam navies of singular efficiency, they have imposed upon us a new obligation, if not to track their progress with equal steps, in an effort to bring ourselves abreast with them in their advance, at least to maintain that position of relative strength which it has been our policy heretofore to assume. The principal maritime nations are now diligently intent upon the effort to build up powerful steam navies. Most of them are already far ahead of us in this species of force; and it is very obvious, from the urgency with which the new marine of Europe is pressed to assume this character, impending necessity in which the improved force will be mainly relied on as the efficient element of war. Are we so far removed from the occasion or the scene of apprehended conflict as to warrant any indifference on our part to the possible issues of a collision? Are our affairs so little exposed abroad, or so concentrated at home, as to exempt us from all necessity to consider the effects which may follow the recent changes in the naval organization of Europe? These considerations, and others which they suggest, induce me to ask the attention of Congress to the recommendations of the Bureau of Construction accompanying this report, and to invite them, with the most earnest solicitude, to provide for the building of three first-class screw The actual exigencies of our own service, so conspicuously multiplied by the rapid extension of our domain and the settlement of new marts of trade, and the establishment of new lines of commerce on the Pacific, cannot but present to every citizen of the United States an altogether irresistible argument to persuade the nation to a much larger provision of ships and men than we have hereto-propeller frigates, and the same number of profore kept in commission. The Pacific, during the next ten years, is likely to become the theater of the most interesting events of our time. A nation is growing up upon its shores, which will both attract and supply an amount of commercial enterprise in the rapid growth and activity of which the world has yet had no parallel. The discovery of America did not give such an impulse to this spirit as we now witness in the energy and occupations of these recent settlements. At this moment we are without a public steamship in that ocean. Our various commerce scattered along the whole coast from Oregon to Chili, and our citizens who are found in every port throughout that extended line, are left to the pro || peller sloops-of-war. To these might be added with advantage a few smaller steamers adapted to quick dispatch and coast navigation. Our navy-yards are abundantly supplied with large quantities of the best timber, in the best condition, which could not be better appropriated than to this object. There are two frigates, the Santee and the Sabine, which have been housed on the stocks in Portsmouth and New York for the last ten years. These might be launched and fitted for service, and their places might be occupied as well as the sheds now vacant in other yards by the new steamships proposed to be built. In connection with this subject, I would call the attention of Congress to the necessity of authoriz SENATE & HO. OF REPS. ing the establishment of one or more factories for the construction of all the machinery necessary to the complete equipment of the largest class of steamers. The great importance of such establishments to the Government is felt by this Department in the daily conviction that only by the command of such a resource may the Navy be promptly and surely supplied with the best machinery for the public vessels. The inspection and control of the work whilst it is in progress, the assurance of the best material, and the punctual compliance with the demands of the service, are advantages that may only be efficiently secured by having the workshop under the command of the Government. The experience of the past will also fully demonstrate that this mode of supplying the machinery of our public vessels must be, in its general result, more economical than any other, and will certainly secure much the most reliable kind of work. The plans would be more uniform, failure of machinery less frequent, and the improvement of the models of construction more certain. The mail contract law of 1847 contains a provision which authorizes the Government to appropriate any of the vessels built under it to the naval service. I would recommend that one of these, of the first class, be selected and equipped with the proper armament. I make this suggestion from a persuasion that it is a matter of importance to the Government practically to determine, by experiment, a question upon which much doubt is entertained, and which it is necessary to solve, whether these steamers are really adequate to the demands of the naval service, and may be usefully converted into ships of war. The determination of this question may settle a point of great moment touching the reliance to be placed upon these ships in any sudden emergency-a point much more safely to be settled in a time of peace than in moments of excitement and pressure, when no other resource may be at hand to meet the consequences of a failure. It is further necessary to make provision for an increase of seamen. The present limit of seven thousand five hundred men is insufficient even for the necessities of the service in its existing condition. If the full complement of men appropriated by the regulations of the Navy were now on board of the vessels in commission, more than the whole number allowed would be required. I think it therefore indispensable to the proper efficiency of the service that an addition of not less than fifteen hundred be authorized to be made to the establishment, and that a correspondent addition be made to the yearly estimates of naval pay. It is equally necessary that provision be made for an increase of wages, either in monthly pay or in the shape of a bounty, to be given after enlistment. The amount of this increase should be regulated by some reference to the wages given in the merchant service, which are now so much higher than the naval pay as to increase the difficulty, to which I have heretofore alluded, in the procurement of the best men. A reference to the report of the Bureau of Medicine will inform Congress of the condition of the medical service of the Navy and the pressing necessity that exists for an increase of officers in that department. Great relief would be afforded by an authority to appoint a number, not exceeding twenty assistant surgeons, and to make a correspondent promotion of an equal number, or of so many as by proper length of service may be qualified for it, into the upper grades. I beg leave also to call the attention of Congress to the report of the commanding officer of the Marine Corps, which will show how inadequate is the present limitation of that corps to the ordinary demands of the service. The opinion of General Henderson upon this point, of itself entitled to great weight, is reenforced by that of many of the most experienced officers of the Navy, as will be seen in the correspondence accompanying the report, to which I invite a careful attention. In conformity with these opinions, I respectfully recommend to Congress the passage of a law to authorize the enlargement of the corps by the addition of eighty sergeants, eighty corporals, thirty drummers and fifers, and one thousand privates, and that the four captains, four first and four second lieutenants, conditionally allowed to the service by the proviso to the naval appropria 32D CONG.....2D SESS. tion bill of March 3, 1849, be retained permanently in the corps. The same necessity which has led to this representation of the embarrassments of the service in those branches to which I have just alluded, compels me to ask for some addition to the corps of pursers. This important division of the naval organization is found to stand in need of more aid than the present allowance affords. The corps scarcely furnishes that proper rotation in service which the peculiar duties of the purser demands. It is necessary after every cruise to allow this officer a sufficient time on shore to settle his accounts-a period which will not always place him at the disposal of the Department for an early return to sea, if it were even proper to compel these officers to a repetition of duty without some time for such refreshment on shore as every officer requires. Report of the Secretary of the Navy. reaus of this Department will make Congress ac- I particularly commend to the notice of Con- If Congress should think proper, in considera-belonging to it has not yet been placed under the tion of this condition of the corps, to sanction an increase of its members, I would earnestly recommend the establishment of a grade of assistant pursers, to which only the new appointments should be made; that these assistants should undergo an examination as to their physical and mental abilities previous to their appointment; that the age of admission should be regulated by the Navy Department; and that no applicant should be nominated for the corps without a satisfactory conformity to the preliminary condition. Promotion and pay should be regulated by law, and no promotion should be made but upon full evidence of the capability of the individual to comply with all the demands of service; this evidence to be obtained by such course of examination as the Department may prescribe. With such conditions, I would recommend that Congress should at present authorize the appointment of twenty assistant pursers to be attached to the corps. exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, and is SENATE & HO. OF REPS. His full report will be made to this Department, and as soon as received will be transmitted to Congress. Professor Espy during the past year has been, as in the years before it, busy in the pursuit of his meteorological observations and his theory of storms, prosecuting his researches without abatement of zeal or assiduity. He promises soon to give the world another volume of facts and deductions, by which he hopes to bring the laws of the wind and the tempest into the category of an "exact science." His letter appended to this report will explain his progress, and commend his industry to the friendly recognition of Congress. By the enactment of the naval appropriation bill of August 31, 1852, this Department was authorized and directed "to select a site for a navy-yard and naval depôt in the bay of San Francisco, in California, or neighboring waters. The board of officers who were dispatched to make the necessary examinations for the selection of this site have performed the task intrusted to them, and have returned to this city. They have not yet entirely completed their report. It will be put in the possession of this Department in a few days, when I shall make it the subject of a special communication to Congress. I renew the recommendations heretofore made, and now again referred to in the report of the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing, in favor of such discretionary change in the Navy ration as recent scientific research has proved to be useful, through the process by which vegetables may be preserved for consumption at sea. And I also adopt, and renot,spectfully beg leave to urge upon the attention of the Legislature, the suggestions of the head of that bureau in reference to a prescribed limit on the commutation for stopped rations in money. As a subject of great interest to the efficiency of The floating dry-dock in California, contracted the Navy, I beg leave to renew the recommenda- for in obedience to the several acts of Congress tions heretofore made by this Department for the heretofore passed, has been completed, and delivgradual reduction of the number of officers who ered at San Francisco. No appropriation was made are incapable of useful service, by the adoption of for the basin and railway, without which the dock some suitable plan for retiring all of this character cannot be safely or usefully employed. I submit from the sphere of ordinary duty. A well-organ-it to the decision of Congress whether these strucized naval system requires that the officers charged tures should not be made without delay. with its administration should, as far as possible, The Naval Asylum at Philadelphia is well conbe maintained in a condition for whatever employ-ducted, and is found a valuable refuge to the infirm ment may be demanded of them, and should always exhibit the utmost alacrity in their obedience to orders. There is no better test of the spirit of the corps, nor no more commendable sign of a good officer, than his readiness to accept every call of his profession. This high character can only be maintained in the Navy by exempting from command all who obstruct the path of duty. Those whose disability has been the result of long and faithful toil in the national service should be provided with an honorable retreat, in which old age and infirmity may find repose. They who, without service to plead for their incapacity, only stand in the way of more willing and more capable men, should be consigned to a retirement on smaller pay, by the operation of a law which should render their retirement compulsory. It may be worth the consideration of Congress to make permanent provision for these two classes of officers. This might be advantageously accomplished, perhaps, by a law which should confer upon the first class a rate of retired pay, graduated from half pay up to that allowed to leave of absence, according to the amount of sea service they may have performed, and adding to this an honorary promotion of one degree in rank, and which should dispose of the second class by retiring them on half of leave of absence pay. The details necessary to such a system may be easily regulated whenever Congress shall find occasion to take the subject into their deliberations. I repeat also my concurrence in the views presented by my predecessor in his report of November, 1850, on the propriety of "recognizing by law the office of Commodore, and the creation of at least two officers of the rank of Rear Admiral." I can add nothing to the satisfactory arguments with which that recommendation is enforced, and therefore content myself with a reference to the report, and an earnest invocation to Congress to give it a favorable consideration. MISCELLANEOUS. The reports from the chiefs of the several bu and disabled seamen who have been admitted into The Naval Observatory continues to pursue its The first volume of the Nautical Almanac, in charge of Lieutenant Davis, is now in press, and will be given to the public. His report will explain the progress and condition of his work. Lieutenant Gilliss, who for more than three years past has been employed, in pursuance of the directions of Congress, in conducting in Chili the observations recommended to be made by the American Philosophical Society and the Academy of Arts and Sciences, has recently returned to the United States, bringing with him a rich contribution to science, in a series of observations amounting to nearly forty thousand, and embracing a most extensive catalogue of stars. He deserves great praise for his assiduity in this labor, which, in conjunction with similar observations in other quarters of the globe, will supply important aid towards the determination of the solar parallax, a problem of great interest to navigation and science. Upon the conclusion of his work at Santiago, he was enabled to make a judicious sale of his observatory and its apparatus to the Chilian Government, which has manifested a most friendly interest in his service, and afforded him .much useful assistance. Congress having at its last session made a retrospective provision for an increase of pay to the officers, petty officers, seamen, and marines of the Navy, and to the officers and men of the revenue service, who served in the Pacific ocean, on the coast of California and Mexico, since the 28th of September, 1850, it would seem to be but an equitable act, and strictly in accordance with the liberal design of this provision, to extend its operations so far back in point of time as to embrace the case of those who served on that coast from the origin of the war. Indeed, every consideration which could recommend the policy of the appropriation that was made will be found to apply with increased cogency to those to whom I have alluded. Their service is more severe, their hazards greater, and the expenses to which they were subject in that quarter, when the country was more unprovided than in the subsequent period, were still more onerous. An appropriation in their behalf of a similar character to that which was made in favor of their successors would be an acceptable and just tribute to a corps which has proved itself worthy of the high appreciation of the Government. The estimates for the support of the Navy and the Marine Corps for the year ending on the 30th day of June, 1854, and the statement of appropri ations required for all objects within the control of this Department, presentAn aggregate of.. Deduct for special objects.. Leaves for the support of the Navy .$11,501,593 67 4,031,921 98 7,469,671 69 It is proper to remark, that the large increase in some of the estimates made for the coming year over the actual amounts appropriated for the service of the last two or three years, which it will be found are required for the improvement of yards and docks, construction, equipment, and repair of vessels, the expenses of ordnance, and the encour agement and support of the mail service, has become necessary by the reduction which Congress has hitherto thought proper to make from the estimates submitted for the expenditures which were thought essential to the public service in most of these branches of the naval administration. The appropriations now asked for may, therefore, be regarded as the necessary consequence of such a subtraction from what was deemed but an adequate annual provision for the completion of works of indispensable use. And being viewed in the The estimate for the mail service also, being one with which the naval establishment has no proper connection, should not be brought into the account of the expenditures of the Navy. The total amount drawn from the Treasury during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1852, as shown by the statement of appropriations for the naval service prepared by the Second Comptroller of the Treasury, is.. .$9,726,251 42 Deduct repayments.. 813,132 70 Which shows the sum of.........$8,913,118 72 as the total expenditure on all objects under the control of the Navy Department, but of which amount there was expended for special objects the sum of $2,656,066 84, leaving as the true expenditure for the support of the Navy and Marine Corps $6,257,051 88 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1852. Report of the Secretary of the Interior. sion of the Capitol, for which object no estimate The expenses of the Penitentiary have been The estimate for agricultural statistics has been increased $2,200. This consists of two items, viz: for salary of a librarian $1,200, and for the purchase of additional books $1,000. No estimates have been submitted for the Census or Mexican boundary survey, because the sums which may be required will depend upon the action of Congress on the recommendations contained in other parts of this report. PUBLIC LANDS. The report of the Commissioner of the General Land Office exhibits much diligence and activity in that branch of the public service, and contains important recommendations suggested by experience, to all of which I invite your attention. The northern boundary of the State of Iowa has been run and marked with unprecedented dispatch, and a full report of the survey will be submitted at an early period of the session of Congress. The unexpended balances of appropriations for the naval service, marine corps, and special objects under the control of the Navy Department was, on the 30th of June, 1852, $3,119,644 50, all of which will be required to meet the outstanding obligations due from the appropriations to com- The quantity of land sold during the last fiscal plete the objects as provided for by the appropria- year is 1,553,071 acres, being 293,776 acres less tions for that year, in addition to the estimates for than the preceding year. The quantity located the fiscal years ending 30th June, 1853 and 1854. with bounty land warrants is 3,201,314 acres, beAccompanying the reports and documents willing an increase on the previous year of 747,314 be found the abstract or compendium of the reports of the chiefs of the bureaus required by the resolution of the Senate of the 26th August, 1852. I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JOHN P. KENNEDY. Report of the Secretary of the Interior. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, December 4, 1852. SIR: In anticipation of the approaching session of Congress, I respectfully submit the following report of the operations of the Department of the Interior. The general nature of the duties of this Department has been fully explained in my former reports, and, without repeating what has been said, I will proceed to exhibit, under appropriate heads, a condensed view of its condition and wants. ESTIMATES OF APPROPRIATION. To enable you to make a comparison of the estimates for the next fiscal year with those for the present, I submit the following tabular state ment: $5,695,328 04 $4,921,025 71 It will be seen from the foregoing table that the aggregate for the next year is less by $774,302 33 than that for the present. It is proper to remark, however, that the estimates for the land and Indian service are incomplete, for want of precise information, at the time they were prepared, of the amounts which will be required for those objects in California, Oregon, and other remote parts of the country. The variations in regard to the Department proper and judicial expenses are too small to require detailed explanations. Large balances of the appropriations for pensions will remain unexpended at the close of the present fiscal year. The amount estimated for that service during the next year is, therefore, less by $580,193 34 than for the present. The estimate for public buildings exceeds that of the present year $689,158 29. This is caused by the introduction of an item of $600,000 for the extenNEW SERIES.-No. 2. | acres. The quantity reported under the swampland grants is 5,219,188, and that selected for railroads, &c., is 3,025,920 acres. The aggregate of all the public lands disposed of during the last fiscal year is 13,115,175 acres, being an increase over the previous year of 3,342,372 acres. In consequence of the more advantageous terms upon which lands can be located with bounty land warrants, the sales for cash have been diminished; the quantity sold during the first quarter of the present fiscal year being but little over one half the quantity sold during the corresponding quarter of the present year. In the first quarter of the present fiscal year there were sold for cash.. 243,255 acres. Located with bounty land war rants. 1,387,116 Located with other certificates... 15,649 66 posed of during the quarter.... 4,131,253 The whole number of bounty land warrants A table accompanying the Commissioner's report presents a comprehensive view of the condition of the public lands in the several States. SENATE & HO. OF REPS. work itself, and the style of its publication, will be satisfactory to the public. The final report of Messrs. Foster and Whitney on the geology of the Lake Superior region will probably be submitted to Congress during its session. No progress has yet been made by the Department in the execution of the act of Congress of the last session providing for the redemption of Virginia land warrants with the United States scrip, receivable in payment for the public lands, the State of Virginia not having yet executed the deed of relinquishment, &c., required by the law. Shortly after the passage of the act I addressed the Governor of Virginia on the subject, and in reply was informed that it would be brought to the attention of the Legislature, which is now in session. As soon as the Department shall have been officially advised that the State of Virginia has complied with the terms of the law, prompt measures will be taken for its execution. In consequence of the allegations made in the year 1837 of errors and imperfections of the public surveys in the Greenburg district, in the State of Louisiana, the land office for that district has been virtually closed since that period. Many of the resurveys authorized by the act of 29th of August, 1842, having been completed, the necessary steps have been recently taken to bring these lands into market at as early a day as practicable. Sufficient progress having been made in the public surveys in California and Oregon, I respectfully recommend the extension of the present land system over the agricultural lands, and the establishment of land offices for their disposal. With regard to the mineral lands in California, I beg leave to repeat the recommendations contained in my last annual report, with the modification that the privilege of mining be restricted to citizens of the United States, or those persons who may have declared their intention to become such. PENSION OFFICE. The report of the Commissioner of Pensions contains full and exact information in regard to the transactions of that office, with many valuable suggestions of amendments of the laws, which deserve the serious consideration of the Legislative Department of the Government. This bureau has charge of the bounties conferred by Congress on those who have been engaged in the military service of the country, whether given in land or money. Pensions or pecuniary bounties have been granted to six classes of persons. First, to soldiers of the revolutionary war; second, to widows of revolutionary soldiers; third, to invalid soldiers; fourth, to widows and orphans of soldiers in the Mexican war; fifth, to certain classes of persons in the naval service; sixth, Vir ginia half pay and commutation claimants. The whole number of pensioners now on the rolls exclusive of Navy pensioners, is 18,868, being 743 less than the number reported in 1851. The number added to the rolls since the last annual report, is 2,011, of which a large proportion consists of invalid pensioners and the widows and orphans of those who died of wounds or disease contracted in the Mexican war. The deaths of 823 pensioners of various classes have been reported within the last year. The expenditure on account of pensions since the last report, as far as it can be ascertained from the Treasury Department, is about $1,500,000, embracing many claims allowed before the close of the last but paid within the present year. It shows the entire area in square miles of each State, the quantity of land surveyed, and the quantity which remains yet to be surveyed; the number of acres which have been offered for sale; the number sold; the quantity embraced in dona- The expense of the system continues nearly the tions; grants for schools, universities, asylums for same as in former years, nor is it likely to be the deaf and dumb; for internal improvements; to diminished until Congress shall by further legisindividuals and companies; for seats of govern-lation apply the corrective to many of its abuses. ment and public buildings; for military services; the quantity reserved for salines; for the benefit of Indians; for individuals, companies, and corporations; the area covered by confirmed private claims; the amount of swamp lands granted to each State; the quantity granted for railroad purposes; and the total area remaining unsold and unappropriated. The report of Dr. D. D. Owen, on the geology of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, is now in press, in accordance with the directions of Congress, and a large number of copies will be delivered early in the session. It is believed that the ll In my last report I called your attention to the propriety of amending the law so as to confine the benefits of the pension laws to those who rendered the service, and to the widows and minor children of such as were dead; and also to the necessity of adopting more efficient measures to prevent frauds under the various pension laws. As nothing was done by Congress in reference to either of these subjects, I respectfully present them again to your notice. There certainly can be no sufficient reason for giving to adult children or collateral relatives of a 32D CONG.....2D SESS. deceased soldier a bounty for his military services. The policy of the law should be to assume, to some extent, the natural obligations of the deceased soldier to support his wife and minor children in the event of his death in the public service; but there can be no valid claim on the justice or bounty of the Government to go further and make provision for those whom he was under no obligation to support. Report of the Secretary of the Interior. ceive $101,490, and 48 orphans, who receive $6,138. VIRGINIA HALF-PAY COMMUTATION CLAIMS. The half-pay claims examined and allowed under the act of 5th July, 1832, since the date of the last report, amount to $15,964 73. It is supposed that few valid claims of this character are now outstanding. Some, however, have been preThe enactment of more stringent laws to pre-sented, which, for various causes, have been susvent the perpetration of frauds on the Government also demands the prompt and serious attention of Congress. Scarcely a month elapses without the detection and exposure of the basest attempts at imposition by fraud, perjury, and forgery. In some parts of the country the business has been reduced to a system, and bodies of men have confederated for the purpose of carrying into effect their nefarious schemes, by means so artful as to render detection almost, impossible. No effort has been spared by the Department and the Pension Office to discover and frustrate the purposes of these miscreants, but in consequence of the defects in the law it is not always possible to bring them to justice. REVOLUTIONARY PENSIONERS. In my last report I stated that the whole number of persons who had been pensioned under the act of 18th March, 1818, was 20,485, of whom 1,383 remained on the rolls. Since that date no new pensioners have been added under that law, and the number now remaining on the list is 1,046, showing a reduction of 337 within the year, and of those whose names still continue on only 339 have received pensions during the first and second quarters of the current fiscal year. Under the act of 15th May, 1828, which was passed for the benefit of officers and soldiers of the Continental army who served to the end of the war, only 1,168 were pensioned; of that number 128 are still on the rolls, but 42 only have been paid during the first and second quarters of the present year. At The system of revolutionary pensions was greatly extended by the act of 7th June, 1832. the date of my last report 32,986 persons had received the benefits of that act, of whom 4,813 then continued on the rolls. Since that date 80 new pensioners have been added, making the aggregate number of persons who had been pensioned under that law 33,066. Of these 4,328 remain on the rolls, but only 1,495 have received payment in the first and second quarters of the year, from which it may be fairly inferred that a large number have died within the year. WIDOWS OF REVOLUTIONARY SOLdiers. Under the law of 4th July, 1836, 5,163 persons have been pensioned, of whom 978 remain on the rolls. The act of 7th July, 1838, extended the pension laws to widows of revolutionay soldiers who were married prior to 1794. Under it 11,400 have from time to time been enrolled, but only 162 have been paid during the 1st and 2d quarters of the year. The number pensioned under the act of 2d January, 1848, is 6,000; and under the act of 29th July, 1848, which extended the period of marriage to the year 1800, the number pensioned was 975. There are now on the rolls under both these acts 5,280 pensioners, of whom 4,209 were paid during the first and second quarters of the year. pended. All claims for commutation pay continue suspended by my order until the further pleasure of Congress shall be made known on the subject. This order by its terms will remain in force until the close of the next session of Congress. If, in the mean time, no action shall be taken by Congress, it may become the duty of the Department to make such disposition of them as justice may seem to require. MILITARY LAND BOUNTIES. During the year ending 25th October, 1852, land warrants have issued on account of revolutionary claims, as follows: ... 600 acres. .21,600 acres. 3 for lieutenants, of 200 acres each.. 12 for non-commissioned officers and soldiers, of 100 acres each........ 1,200 acres. 135 warrants of 160 acres each, issued under the acts of Congress, of December 24th, 1811, and January, 1812...... And 7 warrants of 320 acres each, issued under act of Congress of December 10, 1814, equal to........ There have been issued in the same period 39 new certificates of right to locate land warrants of 160 acres each, which issued under acts of 24th December, 1811, and 11th January, 1812, but for which no patents have been granted, 6,240 acres. Also, two new certificates of right to locate land warrants of 320 acres each, under act of December 10, 1814, upon which no patent had issued, 640 acres. 2,240 acres. Applications for land.. Warrants issued for land... Suspended claims..... .3,485 90 .2,307 61 ...... 3,575 2,368 1,207 The number of appropriations under the act of 11th February, 1847, has increased in consequence of the repeal of the last proviso of the 9th section, At the date of my last report the number on the rolls was 5,254. If, therefore, we assume the pay-by the passage of the act of 22d March, 1852. ments during the year as the basis for estimating the number who survive, it has been reduced to the extent of 1,045. SENATE & HO. OF REPS. mum price of $1 25 per acre, would be worth $12,419,150. Under the act of 22d March, 1852, there have been received and registered 7,655 cases, of which there have been admitted 2,341, leaving still to be acted on 5,314. To satisfy the claims issued under this act, 143,600 acres of land will be required. The report of the Commissioner contains some important suggestions in regard to proposed changes in the laws relating to pensions. In addition to those already alluded to, I would invite your particular attention to the propriety of reenacting a provision requiring biennial examinations, by competent medical officers, of all invalid pensioners, and a report as to the condition of their health. The law of 1819 contained a provision of this kind which was found to work well in practice, but it was incautiously repealed by the act of 4th July, 1832. Some such measure is indispensable to protect the Government against imposition. No material reduction has been made in the clerical force of the Pension Office since the date of my last report; but as the bounty land cases will soon be disposed of, the services of many of the clerks can be dispensed with at an early day. INDIAN AFFAIRS. For detailed information in regard to the condition of our Indian relations I respectfully refer to the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. In my last annual communication I explained somewhat at large my views of the policy which should regulate our intercourse with the Indian tribes. It was in substance that our efforts should be directed to their civilization, and the amelioration of their condition, rather than to measures of coercion. It is not only more just and humane, but more economical, to win them by kindness, and to encourage them to engage in pastoral and agricultural pursuits and relinquish their nomadic and predatory life, than to subdue and restrain them by military force. I still adhere to these opinions, and respectfully refer to my last report for a more detailed exposition of them. The amendments to the treaties with the Sioux Indians in Minnesota, which were proposed by the Senate, have been submitted to the proper authorities of the tribes and acceded to by them, and their title to a valuable district of country has thereby been extinguished. In consequence of the rejection of all the treaties which had been negotiated with the Indian tribes resident in California and Oregon, our relations with them are of a very unsettled and precarious character. It is believed that those treaties were rejected, not so much on account of objections to their details as to the leading principles embraced in them, which secured particular districts of country for the exclusive occupancy of the Indians. Until the Senate shall have announced some line of policy to be pursued on that subject, it would be worse than useless to attempt further negotiations. If the Indians are to be removed out of California and Oregon, it will be for Congress to say so, and to provide for them some place of refuge. Or if any particular districts of country within their limits, more remote from the settlements of the whites, are to be set apart for them, it is proper that Congress, which is alone invested with the power of disposing of the public domain, should make the necessary provisions on the subject. The Department has endeavored assiduously to conciliate the Indians by kindness, and to prevent those hostilities which we had just cause to apprehend. So far these efforts have been in a great measure successful. There is reason to fear, however, that if measures are not speedily adopted to declare by law what is to be the extent of the rights of the Indians, and to protect them from aggression, collisions and bloodshed will ensue. The removal of the remnant of the tribe of the Seminole Indians has long been a cherished object of the Government, and the Department has spared no pains to accomplish it. Admonished by experience of the cost of blood and treasure which must attend the repetition of the attempt to expel them by military force, it was thought to be more consistent with humanity and sound policy to try the effect of peaceful measures. A special agent was therefore employed to go among them and endeavor to induce them to emigrate volun 32D CONG.....2D SESS. tarily. To give greater force to his representations of the benefits likely to ensue from such a measure, he took with him a delegation of Seminole Indians who had previously removed to the country west of the Mississippi. Their united persuasions have had the effect which was anticipated, and recently several of the principal chiefs of the Florida tribe visited Washington, and while here acknowledged, in writing, their obligation to remove. Late advices from the special agent assures that they still adhere to their engagement; that a meeting of the tribe has been called to make the necessary preparations; and that their removal may be confidently expected at an early day. Such a result will be a matter of much interest to the people of Florida, as it will not only relieve them from apprehension of danger to their persons and property, but will open an extensive district of country for settlement and cultivation. CENSUS. The report of the Superintendent of the Census will show that the greater part of the labor of compiling and classifying the returns has been completed; and the publication can now be commenced, as the residue can be finished and placed in the hands of the publisher from time to time as he may require. It is estimated that an additional appropriation of fifty thousand dollars will be necessary to prepare the entire work, consisting of two large volumes, for the press. As some objections have been urged to that part of the plan which contemplates a condensed notice of the geographical features and history of each county, I beg leave to suggest one or two reasons which have led me to believe that it would be eminently useful. In the early settlement of our country, when the population was thinly scattered over a wide extent of territory, but few counties were established. As population increased, and the public convenience rendered it necessary, these counties were divided and subdivided, until at the present day many of them do not embrace one twentieth part of their original territory. This process must continue to go on for many years to come. When, therefore, an attempt is made to ascertain the progress in wealth and population of any county thus situated, by reference to its condition at each successive decennial census, the inquirer is involved in confusion, and will naturally lose all confidence in the accuracy of the returns, unless he has the means of ascertaining the subdivisions which have taken place, and the counties or parts of counties which have been taken from those which were originally established, and the dates of the successive divisions. Such a condensed history will also furnish great facilities in tracing the titles to lands. In the State of Virginia, for example, it would be easy to refer to counties, which have been recently formed, whose land titles are to be found scattered through the records of ten or more different counties, of which it has from time to time constituted a part. The laws of most of the States require conveyances to be recorded in the county in which, for the time being, the land lies. In the various changes which have taken place by the formation of new counties, a tract of land may have been embraced at different times by ten or more differ ent counties. Every successive conveyance of this land must consequently be recorded in the office of the county in which at that date the land was situated. In seeking, therefore, to investigate the title to a tract of land at the present day, it often becomes necessary not only to ascertain in what county the land was situated at the date of the patent, but to trace all its divisions and subdivisions through a long series of years, step by step, to the present time, in order to ascertain whether the intermediate conveyances have been properly executed and recorded. This information cannot readily be obtained, and the effort to procure it is sometimes attended with great labor and expense. The introductory notices of the counties which it is proposed to prefix to the census will furnish it at a glance; and I am persuaded that there is no portion of the work which will be more acceptable to the public at large. It will certainly rescue from oblivion, and perpetuate in a convenient and useful form, much Report of the Secretary of the Interior. valuable information bearing on the history and progress of our country. Great pains have been taken to secure perfect accuracy in this branch of the work. It is proposed that in every instance the notice of each county shall be transmitted not only to the clerk of the county, with a view to a comparison with his official records, but also that it shall be carefully revised by the proper executive officers of the State. Objections have also been taken to the publication of the census on the plan proposed, on the score of the large expense which it would involve. As great misapprehension seems to have prevailed on this subject, I have thought it expedient to institute inquiries to ascertain, first, what would be the actual cost of publishing the entire work in the comprehensive form proposed by the Superintendent, and in a style creditable to the Government; and, second, what would be its cost as compared with the publication in a greatly inferior style of the meager return of the sixth census. By reference to the Treasury Department, it has been ascertained that the cost of the publication of the sixth census was as follows: To amount paid Blair & Rives for publishing 10,000 copies of statisti To amount paid Blair & Rives, and .... 24,773 86 16,712 97 Aggregate cost of publication .....$178,803 47 Lippincott & Co. now propose to publish 10,000 copies of the statistics of the seventh census, in two folio volumes of 1,000 pages each, on fine type and paper, well bound with Russia backs, for the aggregate sum of $49,500, being less than one third of the amount paid for the publication of the sixth census. The objection, therefore, on the score of expense is proved to be unfounded. THE PATENT OFFICE. The report of the Commissioner of Patents, which is made directly to Congress, will contain full and detailed statements of the operations of that bureau. The eastern wing of the noble structure, erected and ultimately to be used for purposes connected with the industrial pursuits of our country, will soon be completed and ready for occupation. Some progress has also been made upon the basement of the western wing, and a large quantity of material has been collected with a view to the vigorous prosecution of the work next spring. The basement of the principal building has been greatly improved by dressing the rough stone of which it was built, so as to make it conform in its general appearance to similar portions of the newly-erected building. There is probably no bureau connected with the Government in whose operations the public at large feel a deeper interest than those of the Patent Office. It is inseparably associated with every interest of our country. The mechanic, the merchant, the manufacturer, and the farmer, are all concerned in everything which diminishes the labor of production in any of the departments of industry. Our people are eminently practical and ingenious. They are constantly employed in the discovery of new means of accomplishing important results at a diminished cost of time, labor, and money. The steam-engine, the cotton-gin, and the_magnetic telegraph, are striking and imperishable memorials of the success which has attended their efforts. In the early period of our history, when population was sparse and the prices of agricultural productions high, the labor of the country was directed mainly to the cultivation of the soil. But, as population progressively inmore attention is devoted to mechanical pursuits and the invention of machinery by which the work of many may be accomplished by a few. Not a day passes without furnishing some evidence of this fact in the form of applications for patents for important inventions and discoveries. The mechanical interest has therefore become one of great magnitude, and it is justly entitled to all the protection and assistance which can be bestowed by Congress consistently with the provisions of the Constitution. creases, The general principles of our patent system seem SENATE & HO. OF REPS. to have met with universal approbation, and to have been attended with beneficent results in practice. Since the organization of the office in 1836 it has advanced with rapid strides. At that date one "examining clerk" was enabled to make all the preliminary investigations which were required to ascertain whether the applicant was entitled to a patent; but such has been the increase of the business that six principal examiners and as many assistants are not now able to keep pace with it. The number of nodels in the office on the 1st day of January, 1836, was 1,069. In the beginning of the year 1851 they had increased to 17,257, and at the close of the present year they will fall but little short of 23,000. If they should continue to increase in this proportion, making no allowance for the augmentation consequent on the increase of population, by the close of the present century they will amount to 150,000, and the whole of the present Patent Office edifice will not be suffcient for their convenient display. To provide against this contingency, as well as to accomplish other important results, I respectfully propose that the Commissioner of Patents be required to have prepared for publication a careful analytical and descriptive index of all discoveries and inventions which have been patented, accompanied by accurate descriptions and drawings which will fully explain the principles and practical operation of the subject of the patent. The advantages of such a publication would be almost incalculable. It would not only perpetuate the invention or discovery by avoiding the casualties by fire and other causes, but it would multiply and diffuse among the people at large the specifications and descriptions, and substantially bring home to every neighborhood to which a copy of the work might be sent the benefits of the Patent Office. In much the larger number of cases the necessity for preserving and displaying the models would be obviated. The pages of the published report would be a safer and more convenient depository for them than the cabinets of the Patent Office, and they would be accessible to everybody. Inventors in remote parts of the country would be placed on an equal footing with those residing near the seat of Government. When their thoughts were turned to a particular class of machinery, instead of being compelled to make a journey to Washington to see what had already been done in that department of the arts, they could at once turn to the analytical index and ascertain what progress had been made by others. Under the present system it not unfrequently happens that ingenious persons having conceived what they believe to be a new idea, which, when carried into practice, will be of great value, employ much of their time, labor, and money, in perfecting their invention, and when it is finished they come to Washington filled with the hope of those rewards which crown the labors of the successful inventor. Their application for a patent is presented, and submitted to an experienced and skillful examiner, who promptly refers the anxious applicant to a drawing or a model, which shows him that his ideas have been anticipated by another, and reduced to practice many years before. None but those who have taken pains to inquire into the subject can form an adequate idea of the amount of time, money, and labor, which is uselessly expended under circumstances like these, to say nothing of the anxiety of mind and heart, sickening disappointment, all of which might be saved if such a descriptive index as I propose were readily accessible to the public. The publication of it would also tend to stimulate the inventive genius of the country, and lead not only to the development of new agents and processes, but to valuable improvements upon those which have already been brought into practical operation. It is hardly necessary to add that such a work would be of great value in the investigation by courts of justice of legal controversies involving the rights of paten tees. When the index is completed up to the close of the present year, it will be easy, by an annual publication of an appendix to the ordinary report from the Patent Office, to furnish a complete record of the inventions and discoveries of each successive year. To be of value, such an index should be prepared by a person fully competent to the task, |