I shall cheerfully receive and consider with the highest respect any further advice the Senate may think proper to give upon the subject.

It is desirable that such legislation as may be necessary to carry the treaty into effect should be enacted as soon as may comport with the convenience of Congress.

There was no time to convene them.

I am not aware that a dollar of the public funds thus confided without authority of law to unofficial persons was either lost or wasted, although apprehensions of such misdirection occurred to me as objections to those extraordinary proceedings, and were necessarily overruled.

Neither General Hunter nor any other commander or person has been authorized by the Government of the United States to make proclamations declaring the slaves of any State free

In accordance with the suggestion of the Secretary of the Treasury contained in the accompanying letter, I have the honor to transmit the inclosed petition and report thereon of the Third Auditor for the consideration of Congress.

That amendment is of so much importance that the adoption or rejection of it by the Government of Nicaragua should not be left to construction or inference.

For obvious reasons connected with our internal affairs, the subject has not sooner been submitted to the Senate.

This renders it desirable that the Senate should decide in regard to it as soon as this may be convenient

I commend to the particular attention of Congress those parts of it which show that further legislation is desirable for the public welfare in that quarter.

I recommend the appropriation of the amount of the award of the referees.

In the annual message last December I thought fit to say 'the Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable means must be employed.'

While the President, with the surviving members of the Cabinet, the legislative and judicial departments of the Government, will unite in every testimonial the sad occasion demands, it is fitting a similar respect should be shown to the memory of the distinguished deceased by the national arms of defense.

It is impossible to avoid this catastrophe unless we make provision this very day to meet the lawful demands on the public Treasury.

The urgency of the case not only justifies but demands that, if necessary, this shall be done by a separate bill.

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with accompanying paper, in obedience to the resolution of the Senate adopted 23d February.

Surely the present is the most unpropitious moment which could have been selected for the passage of this bill.

The aggregate expenditure, of whatsoever nature, including all salaries, whether special or by virtue of official position in the Army or Navy or otherwise, on account of the preparation and publication of the work known as Wilkes's Exploring Expedition;