ble to bestow upon the subject increases my
conviction that the best interests of the country will be promoted by
the adoption of some plan which will secure in all contingencies that
important right of sovereignty to the direct control of the people.
Could this be attained, and the terms of those officers be limited to a
single period of either four or six years, I think our liberties would
possess an additional safeguard.

At your last session I called the attention of Congress to the
destruction of the public building occupied by the Treasury Department.
As the public interest requires that another building should be erected
with as little delay as possible, it is hoped that the means will be
seasonably provided and that they will be ample enough to authorize such
an enlargement and improvement in the plan of the building as will more
effectually accommodate the public officers and secure the public
documents deposited in it from the casualties of fire.

I have not been able to satisfy myself that the bill entitled "An act to
improve the navigation of the Wabash River," which was sent to me at the
close of your last session, ought to pass, and I have therefore withheld
from it my approval and now return it to the Senate, the body in which
it originated.

There can be no question connected with the administration of public
affairs more important or more difficult to be satisfactorily dealt with
than that which relates to the rightful authority and proper action of
the Federal Government upon the subject of internal improvements. To
inherent embarrassments have been added others resulting from the course
of our legislation concerning it.

I have heretofore communicated freely with Congress upon this subject,
and in adverting to it again I can not refrain from expressing my
increased conviction of its extreme importance as well in regard to
its bearing upon the maintenance of the Constitution and the prudent
management of the public revenue as on account of its disturbing effect
upon the harmony of the Union.

We are in no danger from violations of the Constitution by which
encroachments are made upon the personal rights of the citizen. The
sentence of condemnation long since pronounced by the American people
upon acts of that character will, I doubt not, continue to prove as
salutary in its effects as it is irreversible in its nature. But against
the dangers of unconstitutional acts which, instead of menacing the