The important subjects of a survey of the coast, and the manufacture of a standard of weights and measures for the different custom-houses, have been in progress for some years, under the general direction of the Executive, and the immediate superintendence of a gentleman possessing high scientific attainments. At the last session of Congress, the making of a set of weights and. measures for each State in the Union was added to the others by a joint resolution.

The care and correspondence, as to all these subjects, have been devolved on the Treasury Department during the last year. A special report from the Secretary of the Treasury will soon be communicated to Congress, which will show what has been accomplished as to the wholethe number and compensation of the persons now employed in these duties, and the progress expected to be made during the ensuing year-with a copy of the various correspondence deemed necessary to throw light on the subjects which seem to require additional legislation. Claims have been made for retrospective allowances in behalf of the superintendent and some of his assistants, which I did not feel justified in granting; other claims have been made for large increases in compensation, which, under all the circumstances of the several cases, I declined making without the express sanction of Congress. In order to obtain that sanction, the subject was, at the last session, on my suggestion, and by request of the immediate superintendent, submitted by the Treasury Department to the Committee of Commerce of the House of Representatives. But no legislative action having taken place, the early attention of Congress is now invited to the enactment of some express and detailed provisions in relation to the various claims made for the past, and to the compensation and allowances deemed proper for the future.

It is further respectfully recommended, that, such being the inconvenience of attention to these duties by the Chief Magistrate, and such the great pressure of business on the Treasury Department, the general supervision of the coast survey, and the completion of the weights

and measures, if the works are kept united, should be devolved on a board of officers, organized especially for that purpose, or on the Navy Board attached to the Navy Department.

All my experience and reflection confirm the conviction I have so often expressed to Congress in favor of an amendment of the Constitution which will prevent, in any event, the election of the President and Vice President of the United States devolving on the House of Representatives and the Senate; and I therefore beg leave again to solicit your attention to the subject. There were various other suggestions in my last annual message not acted upon, particularly that relating to the want of uniformity in the laws of the District of Columbia, that are deemed worthy of your favorable consideration.

Before concluding this paper, I think it due to the various executive departments to bear testimony to their prosperous condition, and to the ability and integrity with which they have been conducted. It has been my aim to enforce in all of them a vigilant and faithful discharge of the public business, and it is gratifying to me to believe that there is no just cause of complaint from any quarter, at the manner in which they have fulfilled the objects of their creation.

Having now finished the observations deemed proper on this, the last occasion I shall have of communicating with the two Houses of Congress at their meeting, I cannot omit an expression of the gratitude which is due to the great body of my fellow-citizens, in whose partiality and indulgence I have found encouragement and support in the many difficult and trying scenes through which it has been my lot to pass during my public career. Though deeply sensible that my exertions have not been crowned with a success corresponding to the degree of favor bestowed upon me, I am sure that they will be considered as having been directed by an earnest desire to promote the good of my country; and I am consoled by the persuasion, that whatever errors have been committed, will find a corrective in the intelligence and patriotism of those who will succeed us. All that has occurred dur

ing my administration is calculated to inspire me with increased confidence in the stability of our institutions; and should I be spared to enter upon that retirement which is so suitable to my age and infirm health, and so much desired by me in other respects, I shall not cease to invoke that beneficent Being, to whose providence we are already so signally indebted, for the continuance of his blessings on our beloved country.

MESSAGE IN RELATION TO TEXAS.

DECEMBER 21, 1836.

To the Senate of the United States

During the last session information was given to Congress by the Executive, that measures had been taken to ascertain "the political, military, and civil condition of Texas." I now submit, for your consideration, extracts from the report of the agent who had been appointed to collect it, relative to the condition of that country.

No steps have been taken by the Executive towards the acknowledgement of the independence of Texas; and the whole subject would have been left without further remark, on the information now given to Congress, were it not that the two Houses, at their last session, acting separately, passed resolutions "that the independence of Texas ought to be acknowledged by the United States, whenever satisfactory information should be received that it had in successful operation a civil Government, capable of performing the duties, and fulfilling the obligations of an independent Power." This mark of interest in the question of the independence of Texas, and indication of the views of Congress,make it proper that I should, somewhat in detail, present the considerations that have governed the Executive in continuing to occupy the ground previously taken in the contest between Mexico and Texas.