doubt that our people will succeed in getting possession of these homes of the Indians. If Congress shall fail to act, and thus open no door by which the Indians can divest themselves of their titles, it may be apprehended that unscrupulous men will, without law, obtain possession of their lands for a trifling consideration, and stand the chances of an ultimate title. The interest of the reservee requires the passage of a law regulating the alienation of his right to his land, and securing him the payment of a fair equivalent for the same.

For their numbers, the income of most of these tribes, in the way of annuity, is large; but experience has shown that the system heretofore pursued, of paying them in money at stated periods, has been productive of evil rather than good. It represses industry and selfreliance; it encourages idleness and extravagance, and draws around them a swarm of unprincipled traders. In many of the treaties which have lately been negotiated with these tribes, this provision has been inserted:

"The object of this instrument being to advance the interests of said Indians, it is agreed" that "Congress may hereafter make such provision by law as experience shall prove to be necessary."

If Congress, in the exercise of this power, should clothe this department with some discretion in the payment of annuities, so that the same could be used as a means of their moral reform and elevation, instead of the injurious system now prevailing, of distributing money per capita, decided advantages may be reasonably anticipated.

The plan which has suggested itself as the most likely to arrest the demoralization now rapidly increasing, and, at the same time, lay a solid foundation for their ultimate civilization, may be briefly outlined thus:

They should be gathered on smaller reservations and in denser settlements. They must be familiarized with the idea of separate property, by encouraging them to erect houses as homes for themselves and their families. For this purpose the reservations should be divided into farms of suitable size, and distributed among the individuals of the tribes, to hold, in severalty, as their separate and private estate, but without the power of selling, mortgaging, leasing, or in any manner alienating the same, except to members of the same tribe with themselves. Settlements by white men within the reserves should be prohibited, and the prohibition rigidly enforced; and increased efforts should be made to suppress the sale of ardent spirits, to effect which the co-operation of the Indian authorities should be secured. Farms should be established in central positions, at which all the children of the tribe should be collected and required to labor, and where they could be taught the rudiments of an education. A certain portion of them should be apprenticed to useful trades, and the surplus of the proceeds of their labor, whether on the farm or in the workshop, should be divided among their parents. Here they would be taught the great truths-that labor is honorable, and that want and suffering inevitably follow in the train of improvidence and idleness. Implements of husbandry, blankets and clothing, useful articles of furniture, books, and, indeed, everything which promises

to give comfort to their homes, should be purchased and divided per capita.

Should their income be more than sufficient to meet the outlay required for these purposes, then the remainder might be paid in money. Now the annual indiscriminate distribution of their national funds among the Indians is gradually working their ruin; whereas a wise policy, such as any parental government should adopt, would necessarily produce the happiest results.

The details of the system should, of course, be modified to suit the varied conditions of the several, tribes; but the uniform application of its leading ideas to the government of the tribes in the central and northern superintendencies is, I conceive, indispensable.

The condition of affairs in the southern superintendency presents a gratifying spectacle. The four great tribes of Choctaws, Chickasaws, Cherokees, and Creeks, with the kindred band of Seminoles occupying the territory west of Arkansas, have steadily improved in morals, in education, in the comprehension of, and respect for, the rights of persons and of property, and in a knowledge of the theory and principles of government. They have regularly organized governments, constructed upon the model of our own, State constitutions, governors, legislatures, codes of laws, and judicial magistracies to expound them. There the path of duty is plain. Every encouragement should be held out to them to persevere in well doing, until the period arrives when, ripe for citizenship, they shall be admitted to the full enjoyment of all its rights and privileges.

One grievance, however, to which they are subjected, and of which they justly complain, deserves the consideration of Congress. While the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States are in force over this territory, there is no local tribunal empowered to take cognizance of the causes which arise under them; which, therefore, are sent for trial to the United States district courts in the State of Arkansas. This not only causes great expense and inconvenience to the suitors, but, in criminal cases especially, interferes with the impartial administration of justice. A Choctaw or Chickasaw, accused of an offence against the laws of the United States, is hurried away from his friends, to be tried at a remote point, in a community which has no sympathy with him. Unable to compel the attendance of his witnesses, and deprived of the aid and comfort extended to the white man similarly situated, he defends himself under great disadvantages. There is a manifest injustice in this which should be remedied at once; and I would suggest the establishment, by Congress, of a district court of the United States for this territory, to hold at least one term annually for each of the four tribes of Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. Among these tribes there are educated, well read lawyers, and the holding of a court in their country would create, in the minds of the people, respect for the laws, and give dignity to the administration of justice.

The Indians of the Territories of Washington and Oregon are still restive and belligerent. This disposition on their part evidently springs from disbelief in the strength and ability of this government to punish them for trespasses committed upon our settlements. It is

the duty of the government to disabuse their minds. This can best be done by peaceful means. Let an appropriation be made to defray the expenses of a delegation from each of the large tribes in those distant Territories, to Washington and other eastern cities. Let them know, by personal observation, our numbers, see our improvements, and estimate our strength. They would readily conclude that further hostility would be absurd; and when they carried the story of our greatness and power to their people, a change would come over their minds, and we might then reasonably hope for the establishment, by treaties, of good understanding and perpetual peace between us. Such an appropriation would be, in my judgment, an act of true economy. During the past year a large amount was paid into the treasury of the United States on account of moneys belonging to certain Indian tribes. The several treaties under which this amount was derived devolved upon the President the duty of causing it to be invested in some "safe and profitable stocks," to be held by the Secretary of the Interior in trust for the respective tribes. In pursuance of your directions, these Indian trust funds were invested in State stocks which were deemed safe and profitable. The amount of bonds purchased was $1,496,477 03, costing $1,303,932 49.

The investment having been made at a time of unusual financial embarrassment, we were enabled to make a profit of $192,544 54 for the Indian tribes, and at the same time to afford relief, to some extent, to the business community.

The report of the Commissioner of Pensions presents a satisfactory view of the operations of that bureau during the last year. The business of the office has been brought up to date, as nearly as it is practicable; and the large clerical force, required to despatch the heavy labors devolved upon it by the recent laws granting bounty land, has been reduced, so as to conform to the present exigencies of the office. For some years past the practice has prevailed of paying to the children, and sometimes to the administrators, of deceased revolutionary soldiers and their deceased widows, the amount of pension to which such soldiers or widows would have been entitled had they succeeded in making good their claims during their lifetime, but never to grandchildren, as such. At the last term of the Supreme Court it was decided, in a case involving the distribution of certain pension moneys which had been paid to an administrator for the exclusive benefit of the children of a deceased widow of a revolutionary soldier, that grandchildren, per stirpes, stood in the same relation to such claims as children; and it was subsequently contended that the effect of that decision was not only to affirm the legal correctness of the practice alluded to, but to enlarge it, so as to embrace a class of claimants not previously recognized by it.

Seeing that a large amount of money had already been drawn from the treasury under the practice of the office, and doubting whether the court had gone beyond the mere question of distribution involved in the cause before it, and decided as to the law on which that practice was founded, I availed myself of the first case that arose to elicit the views of the Attorney General, both as to the effect of the decision of the court and the legality of the previous ruling of the office. He

thoroughly investigated the whole subject, and gave a most lucid and convincing opinion on the law of the case; in which he came to the conclusion, that soldiers or widows who might have been entitled to pensions in their lifetime, but died without establishing their right or receiving the same, left no estate in their claims which could be inherited either by grandchildren or children; that arrears of pension, which alone, by the statute, were inheritable, only existed in cases where a pension had once been received, and, at the death of the pensioner, a portion was left unpaid; and that the Supreme Court, in the decision referred to, had not passed upon that question. In this opinion I concurred; and as there was no law for the payment of pensions in such cases, and as no money could be drawn from the treasury without a previous appropriation, any payment ordered by me would have been against law, and would have amounted to a naked act of legislation by an executive officer. I felt no hesitation, therefore, in ordering a discontinuance of the practice in question, and all the cases coming within it will be indefinitely suspended, unless Congress shall pass a law, giving to children and grandchildren the pensions their deceased ancestors would have received had the proper proof been made out during their lifetime.

A pension is a bounty given by government for meritorious personal service, and the first law granting pensions for revolutionary services confined the bounty to the indigent soldiers. But, whether this restriction be correct or not, it is self-evident that the great inducement, in all pension laws, is to relieve and compensate, in his own proper person, the self-sacrificing soldier, who risked his life, wasted his energies, and neglected his private affairs in the service of his country. The law has extended its beneficence from the soldier to his widow, and there it has stopped. If Congress shall take one step further, and provide for children and grandchildren on account of the services of their ancestors, the question arises, why take care of the children and grandchildren of those whose fortune it was to live till Congress had passed a pension act, and not of those, equally meritorious, who died in the service, or who dragged out a miserable existence uncared for and unrecognized by the government?

The children and grandchildren and great grandchildren should be contented in the rich inheritance derived from a glorious ancestry, in the liberties they enjoy, and in the institutions which give them protection. Congress has not been unmindful of our revolutionary heroes. It has dealt out to them with no sparing hand. Up to the 30th June, 1857, under the pension laws of 1818, 1828, and 1832, $43,011,960 had been paid to revolutionary soldiers; and under the acts of 1836, 1838, 1848, and 1853, $18,302,660 had been paid to the widows of our revolutionary soldiers-making an aggregate, in money, of sixty-one millions three hundred and fourteen thousand six hundred and twenty dollars, besides large donations of land and disbursements of money, under other laws, on account of revolutionary services.

The discriminations pointed out by the Commissioner of Pensions as existing between the invalid and half-pay pensions for the army and the navy, would seem to demand revision and correction by Con

gress. Some reorganization of the systems upon which those pensions are granted is desirable, not only because of the inadequacy of the lower rates to relieve the wants of those intended to be benefitted, but because of the manifest propriety of making like provision for those of corresponding grades in the two arms of the service who may become disabled while in the faithful discharge of duty.

During the past year 41,483 warrants for bounty land have been issued, requiring, to satisfy them, five millions nine hundred and fiftytwo thousand one hundred and sixty acres of the public domain; and the number issued under all the bounty land acts of Congress from the revolutionary war to the present time is 547,250, requiring, to satisfy them, sixty millions seven hundred and four thousand nine hundred and forty-two acres of land.

The frauds practised upon the Pension Office in attempts to procure, and in the actual procurement of land warrants, are numerous; but, owing to the short statutory limit of two years, the frauds are not discovered, and many guilty persons escape. I would, therefore, recommend an extension of the limit now made by the law for the prosecution of offences of this kind.

The Commissioner of Pensions has called my attention, also, to the fact, that the forging of land warrants is rendered penal by no existing law. The extent to which this evil practice exists is not known, but the importance of some legislative action upon the subject is obvious, and I would respectfully recommend that Congress provide some law which may serve as a protection to the government.

The report of the Commissioner of Public Buildings furnishes a detailed and satisfactory statement of the application of the appropriations placed under his more immediate direction.

The west wing of the Patent Office building is nearly completed throughout, and presents an elegant and tasteful appearance. The north front of the building is in the process of erection. Satisfactory contracts have been entered into for the granite and marble work; the sub-basement has been finished; and the contractors are pressing forward their operations with a commendable zeal. This portion of the building will be completed by the appropriations already made, and no estimate is now deemed necessary for the improvement and enclosure of the grounds around it.

An extraordinary flood, during the last winter, swept away several sections of the bridge across the Potomac. The authorities of the city of Washington repaired the breach, and the bridge has been otherwise placed in such condition as to make its passage safe. This, however, is a temporary arrangement, but it is the only one by which a convenient connexion between the city of Washington and the shore of Virginia can be had at present. A permanent bridge . across the Potomac is a necessity, and it is for Congress to determine its location and its character.

The District of Columbia has been set apart for the capital of the nation, and the relations of its people to the general government are altogether anomalous. Without a representative in Congress, and with no voice in the election of their chief magistrate, so far as political rights are concerned, its inhabitants occupy the attitude of a dependent people.