ed by the Treasury Department
to the Committee on 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 specially 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 can not 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