abandon their predatory habits and cultivate the soil. Authentic information, recently received at this Department, leads to the belief that these tribes are far less numerous than they are generally supposed to be, and I have no doubt (laying aside considerations of humanity) that it would be far less expensive to feed than to fight them.

During the last summer, the Florida Indians voluntarily surrendered up to the agent stationed among them, 3 of their people who had murdered the youth mentioned in my last report. The Secretary of the Interior, considering this act as an evidence of their desire to remain at peace with the whites, suggested that there was no longer any reason for their continuing under the charge of this Department; and upon his demand, they were placed in the charge of the Department over which he presides.

I took occasion, during the last summer, to visit the Military Academy, and am enabled, from personal observation, to bear testimony to the admirable method of instruction pursued, and the excellent discipline that prevails at this most useful institution. A building, in which lessons in horsemanship could be given, when the weather will not admit of this exercise in the open air, would greatly conduce both to the health and the improvement of the cadets.

I also visited the National Armories at Springfield and Harper's Ferry, and I cannot speak in terms of too high praise of the order and regularity that prevail at those establishments, and of the admirable economy with which they are conducted.

The operations of the Bureau of Topographical Engineers have been various and important during the last year.

The survey of the northern lakes, a work of which the importance can hardly be estimated, has been prosecuted with great activity, and it would have advanced still more rapidly had the appropriations for that object admitted it. With a view to hasten the completion of the work, the estimates for it for the next year have been increased.

The survey of the creek boundary from the frontiers of Arkansas to nearly the one-hundredth degree of longitude west, and that of a route for a road from St. Louis to the great bend of Red River, have been completed and are ready to be laid before Congress.

The expedition to the Salt Lake of the territory of Utah has also returned. The report which, by a resolution of the Senate at the last session, was ordered to be printed, will be ready for delivery during the approaching session.

The expedition under Brevet Captain Sitgreaves, mentioned in my last annual report, from Santa Fé to the head-waters of the Zuni, and down that river to its mouth, is still in the field.

The survey of the delta of the Mississippi, with a view to the prevention of overflows, for which an appropriation was made the session preceding the last, has been nearly completed. One of the gentlemen charged with this highly important work has made his report. That of the other has been delayed by his illness, but it is in course of preparation, and as soon as it is received, both reports will be laid before you.

In consequence of the numerous demands made on the corps of Topographical Engineers, not only for the duties that properly devolve on it, but to meet the demands of other Departments under whose charge surveys are made, the head of that corps strongly urges that the number of the officers of that corps be increased. The remarks on this subjet, contained in his report, which is hereto appended, are entitled to, and I hope will receive your attention.

I beg leave, also, to call your attention to the laws organizing the Subsistence Department. It was the intention of Congress that this branch of the staff should consist of a fixed number of officers, who should be regularly appointed by the President, and should give bonds before entering upon the discharge of their duties. This plan, however, has never been fully carried into effect. The number of assistant commissaries was limited by the Act of 1821 to 50, but this number being found insufficient, several laws, subsequently passed, were so construed as to dispense with the limitation, and occasionally thrice that number have been in service. Notwithstanding this great increase, it not unfrequently happens that, by changes in the distribution of the troops, a post or detachment is left without any assistant commissary, in which case it is the practice for the commanding officer to designate some subaltern officer as Acting Assistant Commissary.

As the posts where these officers are stationed are frequently very remote, it often happens that the assistant and acting assistant commissaries are in the actual discharge of their duties, and entrusted with money and property for a long time before they can receive regular appointments and furnish bonds. The consequences of this mode of transacting the business of the Subsistence Department are, that its highly important duties must often devolve on young and very inexperienced officers, that large sums of money and property of great value frequently pass into the hands of officers who have furnished no bonds, and finally great confusion in accounts, and consequent embarrassment and delay in their settlement. I know no other mode of remedying these evils than by appointing a few additional commissaries so as to enable the Department to send several to the different military departments on the frontier, and to assign to each one the charge of a certain number of posts. Some of the assistant commissaries could thus be dispensed with, and

the accounts and transactions of the remainder placed under more immediate and strict supervision. This plan would not be more expensive than that now pursued and would afford better guarantees for the faithful and efficient discharge of the duties of those officers.

The Board to whom the management of the military asylum for disabled and destitute soldiers, established at the last session of Congress, was committed, have devoted a great deal of time and attention to the selection of suitable sites. They have determined on one in the vicinity of this city, the terms of the purchase have been agreed on, and as soon as the titles shall have been examined and approved, the agreement will be carried into effect.

I beg leave, again, to suggest the expediency of creating a retired list of disabled officers. Further observation has confirmed me in the opinion that this measure would conduce both to the efficiency and the economy of the service.

By the Act of 28th September, 1850, making appropriations for the support of the army, a small additional pay was allowed to the officers and soldiers stationed in California and Oregon. That provision expires by its own limitation on the 1st March next. The reasons for its adoption still exist, and I recommend that it be continued in force, and that it include also New Mexico, where these reasons apply with at least equal force.

The Act of 1808, providing for arming and equipping the whole body of the militia, directs that the distribution of arms provided for by that Act among the states and territories, should be based upon the number of their "effective militia." As the Act specifies no mode in which this number shall be ascertained, each State and territory adopts a method of its own. The consequence is, that some States make very imperfect returns, and some no returns at all, whereby the law is rendered unequal in its operation. This inequality might be prevented and some unnecessary trouble and expense saved, by simply declaring that the number of free white male inhabitants over the age of- -years and under that of -years in the respective States and territories, as shown by the latest census, shall hereafter be the basis of distribution.

Respectfully submitted.

The President of The United States.

C. M. CONRAD.

REPORT of the Secretary of the Navy to the President of The United States.-November 29, 1851.

SIB,

Navy Department, November 29, 1851.

THE following is the annual report of the public service under the supervision of this Department.

The former organization of the vessels employed in active service on the ocean, into 6 separate squadrons, has still been continued.

The home squadron, yet under the command of Commodore Parker, consists of the steam-frigate Saranac, Commander Prendergast, bearing the broad pennant of the Commodore; the sloop-of-war Albany, Commander Platt; the sloop Decatur, Cominander Green ; the sloop Cyane, Commander Paine; and the steamer Vixen, Lieutenant-Commanding Smith. The vessels of this squadron have been engaged in cruising among the West India Islands, and along the coast of the Carribean sea and of the Gulf of Mexico.

The commander of this squadron having been ordered to the north on special service, was not in position to prevent the late illegal and disastrous expedition from the port of New Orleans against the Island of Cuba; but, hastening thither under the orders of the Department, he was commendably active in preventing any repetition of the offence, whilst at the same time affording protection to American interests in that quarter, and giving assurance that The United States would in good faith observe their Treaty obligations and the law of nations.

Commander Platt, commanding the Albany, which happened to be in the port of Havana when the expedition landed, deserves, also, the commendation of the Department for the propriety and delicacy with which he acquitted himself in the trying duties of his command; for his vigilance and industry in procuring and transmitting early and correct information of the progress of events in the island; and his humanity in visiting and interceding for the deluded persons, who, in violation of the laws of their country, had been induced to embark in an adventure of such serious consequence. These occurrences at the south detained the vessels of this squadron from a cruise to its northern limits, which was commenced and proceeded in, as far as Havana, when the invasion of Cuba took place.

The Mediterranean squadron, Commodore Morgan commanding, consisted of the flag-ship, the razee Independence, Captain Jamesson; the steam-frigate Mississippi, Captain Long; and the frigate Cumberland, Captain Latimer.

In June the latter vessel returned, by order of the Department, to The United States, and upon her arrival the officers were detached, and the crew discharged. Since that time the Independence, with the Commander-in-Chief on board, has visited Trieste, and other ports within his command, and the Mississippi has been generally employed in active cruising.

In compliance with a resolution of Congress to that effect, orders were in due season sent to the commander of the squadron, directing this vessel to be held in readiness to proceed to the coast of Turkey, and receive on board the distinguished Hungarian, Governor Kos

suth, and his associates in exile, and convey them to The United States so soon as information should be received from the American Minister at Constantinople that they had obtained the Sultan's permission to embark. She accordingly took on board at the Dardanelles, in September, the illustrious exile and his family and party, in number 60 persons, and brought them, on the homeward voyage, to Gibraltar. Here Governor Kossuth, having determined to visit England, took passage in a mail steamer for that country, intending to come thence, by a like conveyance, to The United States; and the Mississippi sailed, with the remainder of her passengers, direct to New York, where she arrived early in November.

The Independence being the only vessel remaining in the Mediterranean, and from her large draught unsuited for winter cruising in that sea, this consideration, together with the fact that the enlistment of her crew and the term of the Commander of the squadron will expire in the ensuing spring, induced the Department to recall her also; and orders to that effect were despatched in October.

The new steam-frigate San Jacinto, destined for the squadron on the coast of Brazil, is preparing with all practicable expedition for sea, and will sail in a few days for the Mediterranean to watch over our interests in that quarter, until the arrival of a new squadron early in the spring.

The squadron on the coast of Africa continued under the command of Commodore Gregory until the month of May, when, after an energetic and efficient service on that station, he was relieved, and it was transferred to Commodore Lavalette.

The squadron comprises the sloop-of-war Germantown, the flagship of the squadron, Commander Nicholas; the sloop Dale, Commander Pearson; the sloop John Adams, Commander Barron; the brig Perry, Lieutenant Commariding Foote; the brig Porpoise, Lieutenant-Commanding Lardner.

These vessels have been assiduously employed in the duties of their cruize; and the observation of another year justifies the conclusion expressed in my last annual report, that the vigilance and activity of this squadron, together with that of Great Britain, have suppressed the slave-trade on the west coast of Africa, and that it is now carried on only on the south coast, more than 1000 miles distant from the station at the Cape de Verd Islands, established and maintained since the conclusion of the Treaty of Washington, in the year 1842.

This result has led to the consideration of the expediency of removing the depot of supplies for the squadron down the coast, to St. Paul de Loando, or other point on the southern coast; but since the inhibition by Brazil of the African slave-trade among her sub