the present by the regular troops which have not yet been
withdrawn from its limits.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

WASHINGTON, _June 11, 1858_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the resolution of the Senate of the 19th ultimo, respecting
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, I transmit herewith a report from the
Secretary of State, with the documents by which it is accompanied,
together with the copy of a letter from the Postmaster-General of the
21st ultimo to the Department of State.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

WASHINGTON CITY, _June 11, 1858_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with the
accompanying papers,[8] in obedience to the resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 2d of June, 1858.

JAMES BUCHANAN.

[Footnote 8: Copies of contracts for deepening the channels of the
Southwest Pass and Pass a l'Outre, at the mouth of the Mississippi
River, etc.]

WASHINGTON CITY, _June 12, 1858_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I feel it to be an indispensable duty to call your attention to the
condition of the Treasury. On the 19th day of May last the Secretary of
the Treasury submitted a report to Congress "on the present condition of
the finances of the Government." In this report he states that after a
call upon the heads of Departments he had received official information
that the sum of $37,000,000 would probably be required during the first
two quarters of the next fiscal year, from the 1st of July until the
1st of January. "This sum," the Secretary says, "does not include such
amounts as may be appropriated by Congress over and above the estimates
submitted to them by the Departments, and I have no data on which to
estimate for such expenditures. Upon this point Congress is better able
to form a correct opinion than I am."

The Secretary then estimates that the receipts into the Treasury from
all sources between the 1st of July and the 1st of January would amount
to $25,000,000, leaving a deficit of $15,000,000, inclusive of the sum
of about $3,000,000, the least amount required to be in the Treasury
at all times to secure its successful operation. For this amount he
recommends a loan. This loan, it will be observed, was required, after a
close calculation, to meet the estimates from the different Departments,
and not such appropriations as might be made by Congress over and above
these estimates.

There was embraced in