Columbia, and deem it only necessary to remind you, that although its inhabitants have no voice in the choice of representatives in Congress, they are not the less entitled to a just and liberal consideration in your legislation. My opinions on this subject were more fully expressed in my last

annual communication.

Other subjects were brought to the attention of Congress in my last annual message, to which I would respectfully refer. But there was one of more than ordinary interest, to which I again invite your special attention. I allude to the recommendation for the appointment of a commission to settle private claims against the United States. Justice to individuals, as well as to the Government, imperatively demands that some more convenient and expeditious mode than an appeal to Congress should be adopted. It is deeply to be regretted that in several instances officers of the Government, in attempting to execute the law for the return of fugitives from labor, have been openly resisted, and their efforts frustrated and defeated by lawless and violent mobs; that in one case such resistance resulted in the death of an estimable citizen, and in others, serious injury ensued to those officers and to individuals who were using their endeavors to sustain the laws. Prosecutions have been instituted against the alleged offenders, so far as they could be identified, and are still pending. I have regarded it as my duty, in these cases, to give all aid legally in my power to the enforcement of the laws, and I shall continue to do so wherever and whenever their execution may be resisted.

The act of Congress for the return of fugitives from labor is one required and demanded by the express words of the Constitution.

The constitution declares, "That no person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." This constitutional provision is equally obligatory upon the legislative, the executive, and judicial departments of the Government, and upon every citizen of the United States.

Congress, however, must, from necessity, first act upon the subject, by prescribing the proceedings necessary to ascertain that the person is a fugitive, and the means to be used for his restoration to the claimant. This was done by an act passed during the first term of President Washington, which was amended by that enacted by the last Congress, and it now remains for the executive and judicial departments to take care that these laws be faithfully executed. This injunction of the constitution is as peremptory and as binding as any other; it stands exactly on the same. foundation as that clause which provides for the return of fugitives from justice, or that which declares that no bill of attainder, or ex post facto law shall be passed, or that which provides for an equality of taxation according to the census, or the clause declaring that all duties shall be uniform throughout the United States, or the important provision, that the trial of all crimes shall be by jury. These several articles and clauses of the constitution, all resting on the same authority, must stand or fall together. Some objections have been urged against the details of the act for the return of fugitives from labor; but it is worthy of remark, that the main opposition is aimed against the constitution itself, and proceeds from persons, and classes of persons, many of whom declare their wish to see that constitution overturned. They avow their hostility to any law which

shall give full and practical effect to this requirement of the constitution. Fortunately, the number of these persons is comparatively small, and is believed to be daily diminishing, but the issue which they present is one which involves the supremacy, and even the existence of the constitution. Cases have heretofore arisen in which individuals have denied the binding authority of acts of Congress, and even States have proposed to nullify such acts upon the ground that the Constitution was the supreme law of the land, and that those acts of Congress were repugnant to that instrument; but nullification is now aimed, not so much against particular laws as being inconsistent with the Constitution, as against the Constitution itself; and it is not to be disguised that a spirit exists, and has been actively at work to rend asunder this Union, which is our cherished inheritance from our revolutionary fathers.

In my last annual message I stated that I considered the series of measures, which had been adopted at the previous session, in reference to the agitation growing out of the territorial and slavery questions, as a final settlement in principle and substance of the dangerous and exciting subjects which they embraced; and I recommended adherence to the adjustment established by those measures, until time and experience should demonstrate the necessity of further legislation to guard against evasion or abuse. I was not induced to make this recommendation because I thought those measures perfect, for no human legislation can be perfect. Wide differences and jarring opinions can only be reconciled by yielding something on all sides, and this result had been reached after an angry conflict of many months, in which one part of the country was arrayed against another, and violent convulsion seemed to be imuninent. Looking at the interests of the whole country, I felt it to be my duty to seize upon this compromise as the best that could be obtained amid conflicting interests, and to insist upon it as a final settlement, to be adhered to by all who value the peace and welfare of the country. A year has now elapsed since that recommendation was made. To that recommendation I still adhere, and I congratulate you and the country upon the general acquiescence in these measures of peace which has been exhibited in all parts of the republic. And not only is there this general acquiescence in these measures, but the spirit of conciliation which has been manifested in regard to them in all parts of the country has removed doubts and uncertainties in the minds of thousands of good men concerning the durability of our popular institutions, and given renewed assurance that our Liberty and our Union may subsist together for the benefit of this and all succeeding generations.

WASHINGTON, December 2, 1851,

The message was read.

On motion by Mr. Pearce,

MILLARD FILLMORE.

Ordered, That the message and accompanying documents be printed; and that ten thousand copies thereof, in addition to the usual number, be furnished for the use of the Senate.

Agreeably to notice, Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, asked and obtained leave to bring in a joint resolution (S. 1) in relation to the reception and entertainment of Louis Kossuth, Governor of Hungary, in the United States; which was read and passed to a second reading.

On motion by Mr. Underwood,

The Senate adjourned.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1851.

The Honorable Robert F. Stockton, from the State of New Jersey, attended, and the oath prescribed by law having been administered to him, he took his seat in the Senate.

On motion by Mr. Seward,

Ordered, That Nancy King have leave to withdraw her petition.

Agreeably to notice, Mr. Atchison asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill (S. 3) granting the right of way to the State of Missouri, and a portion of the public lands to aid in the construction of a railroad from Hannibal to St. Joseph, in said State; which was read, and passed to a second reading.

Agreeably to notice, Mr. Morton asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill (S. 4) granting the right of way to the Florida, Atlantic, and Gulf Central Railroad Company through the public lands of the United States, and appropriating lands to the State of Florida in aid of the construction of said railroad and branches; which was read, and passed to a second reading.

Ordered, That it lie on the table, and be printed.

The bill (S. 1) granting the right of way and making a grant of land to the State of Iowa, in aid of the construction of a railroad in said State, was read the second time, and considered as in Committee of the Whole.

On motion by Mr. Jones, of Iowa,

Ordered, That it lie on the table.

The bill (S. 2) to grant to the State of Ohio the unsold and unappropriated public lands remaining in said State was read the second time, and considered as in Committee of the Whole.

On motion by Mr. Chase,

Ordered, That it lie on the table.

The joint resolution (S. 1) in relation to the reception and entertainment of Louis Kossuth, Governor of Hungary, in the United States, was read the second time, and considered as in Committee of the Whole.

A motion being made by Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, to fill the blanks, A debate ensued; and,

On motion by Mr. Hale,

The Senate adjourned.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1851.

The Honorable George E. Badger, from the State of North Carolina, and the Honorable Stephen A. Douglas, from the State of Illinois, attended. The President pro tempore laid before the Senate a report of the Secretary of the Interior, made agreeably to law, communicating lists of the names of the invalids, widows and orphans, now on the navy pension rolls of the United States; which was read.

Ordered, That it be printed.

The President pro tempore laid before the Senate a letter from the Treasurer of the United States, communicating copies of his accounts for the third and fourth quarters of the year 1850, and the first and second

quarters of 1851, as adjusted by the accounting officers of the treasury;

which was read.

Ordered, That it lie on the table.

The President pro tempore laid before the Senate a report of the Secretary of the Treasury, communicating, agreeably to law, a report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey, showing the progress of that work during the year ending November, 1851; which was read.

Ordered, That it lie on the table, and be printed.

The President pro tempore laid before the Senate a letter from Ira P. Gaines, Governor of Oregon Territory, communicating, agreeably to law, information respecting the application of moneys appropriated for public uses in that Territory; which was read.

Mr. Seward presented the petition of B. Foster Pratt, praying compensation for the services and sufferings of his father in the revolutionary war. Ordered, That it lie on the table.

Mr. Cass presented the memorial of J. A. Ragan, praying permission to execute a plan invented by him for draining the lands overflowed by the Mississippi and its tributaries, and to be allowed a portion of the lands reclaimed as a compensation for his services.

Ordered, That it lie on the table.

Mr. Cass presented a memorial of citizens of the city and county of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, praying that the officers and soldiers of the war of 1812 may be allowed the same bounty land that was granted to the officers and soldiers in the Mexican war.

Ordered, That it lie on the table.

Mr. Chase presented a petition of the late and present officers of the land office at Defiance, Ohio, praying additional compensation for services in locating military bounty land warrants.

Ordered, That it lie on the table.

Agreeably to notice, Mr. Gwin asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill (S. 5) to authorize and direct the payment of certain moneys into the treasury of the State of California, which were collected in the ports of said State, as a revenue upon imports, since the ratification of the treaty of peace between the United States and the Republic of Mexico, and prior to the admission of said State into the Union; which was read, and passed to a second reading.

Agreeably to notice, Mr. Gwin asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill (S. 6) to establish a branch of the mint of the United States in California; which was read, and passed to a second reading.

Agreeably to notice, Mr. Gwin asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill (S. 7) to provide for the survey of the public lands in California, the granting of donation privileges therein, and for other purposes; which was read, and passed to a second reading.

Agreeably to notice, Mr. Gwin asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill (S. 8) to create a board of commissioners for the examination and payment of claims against the United States, growing out of the conquest of California; which was read, and passed to a second reading.

Agreeably to notice, Mr. Geyer asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill (S. 9) to grant to the State of Missouri the right of way and a portion of the public lands, for the purpose of aiding in making a railroad from St. Louis to the western limits of said State; which was read, and passed to a second reading.

Agreeably to notice, Mr. Morton asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill (S. 10) granting the right of way and making a grant of land to the States of Florida and Alabama, in aid of the construction of a railroad from the waters of the Pensacola bay, in Florida, to Montgomery, in the State of Alabama, and for other purposes; which was read, and passed to a second reading.

Ordered, That it lie on the table, and be printed.

Agreeably to notice, Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, asked and obtained leave to bring in a joint resolution (S. 2) expressive of the sympathy of Congress for the exiled Irish patriots Smith O'Brien and Thomas T. Meagher and their associates; which was read, and passed to a second reading.

Agreeably to notice, Mr. Underwood asked and obtained leave to bring in a joint resolution (S. 3) explanatory of the act approved September 28, 1850, entitled "An act granting bounty land to certain officers and soldiers who have been'engaged in the military service of the United States;" which was read, and passed to a second reading.

Mr. Foote, of Mississippi, submitted the following resolution for consideration:

Resolved, That the series of measures embraced in the acts entitled "An act proposing to the State of Texas the establishment of her northern and western boundaries, the relinquishment by the said State of all territory claimed by her exterior to said boundaries, and of all her claims upon the United States, and to establish a territorial government for New Mexico," approved September 9, 1850; "An act for the admission of the State of California into the Union," approved September 9, 1850; “An act to establish a territorial government for Utah," approved September 9, 1850; "An act to amend and supplementary to the act entitled 'An act respecting fugitives from justice and persons escaping from the service of their masters,' approved February 12, 1793," approved September 18, 1850; and "An act to suppress the slave trade in the District of Columbia," approved September 20, 1850, commonly known as the "Compromise Acts," are, in the judgment of this body, entitled to be recognised as a definitive adjustment and settlement of the distracting questions growing out of the system of domestic slavery, and, as such, that said measures should be acquiesced in and respected by all good citizens.

The Senate proceeded to consider the said resolution by unanimous con

sent.

On motion by Mr. Foote, of Mississippi,

Ordered, That the further consideration thereof be postponed to Monday next, and be the order of the day.

Mr. Hale submitted the following resolution for consideration:

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Navy be instructed to inform the Senate if the Navy Department has been informed of any violations of the law of the United States abolishing flogging in the naval service by any officers of the navy; and, if so, what measures, if any, has the Secretary taken to vindicate the law.

On motion by Mr. Pearce, that five thousand and five hundred additional copies of the report of the Secretary of the Treasury and the accompanying report of the Superintendent of the Coast Survey be printed for the use of the Senate; and that five hundred copies from this number be supplied to the Superintendent of the Coast Survey,