osed to cultivate the friendship of the whites, have
recently committed several acts of hostility. As a large portion of the
reenforcements sent to the Mexican frontier were drawn from the Pacific,
the military force now stationed there is considered entirely inadequate
to its defense. It can not be increased, however, without an increase of
the Army, and I again recommend that measure as indispensable to the
protection of the frontier.

I invite your attention to the suggestions on this subject and on others
connected with his Department in the report of the Secretary of War.

The appropriations for the support of the Army during the current fiscal
year ending 30th June next were reduced far below the estimate submitted
by the Department. The consequence of this reduction is a considerable
deficiency, to which I invite your early attention.

The expenditures of that Department for the year ending 30th June last
were $9,060,268.58. The estimates for the year commencing 1st July next
and ending June 30, 1853, are $7,898,775.83, showing a reduction of
$1,161,492.75.

The board of commissioners to whom the management of the affairs of the
military asylum created by the act of 3d March last was intrusted have
selected a site for the establishment of an asylum in the vicinity of
this city, which has been approved by me subject to the production of
a satisfactory title.

The report of the Secretary of the Navy will exhibit the condition of
the public service under the supervision of that Department. Our naval
force afloat during the present year has been actively and usefully
employed in giving protection to our widely extended and increasing
commerce and interests in the various quarters of the globe, and our
flag has everywhere afforded the security and received the respect
inspired by the justice and liberality of our intercourse and the
dignity and power of the nation.

The expedition commanded by Lieutenant De Haven, dispatched in search
of the British commander Sir John Franklin and his companions in the
Arctic Seas, returned to New York in the month of October, after having
undergone great peril and suffering from an unknown and dangerous
navigation and the rigors of a northern climate, without any satisfactory
information of the objects of their search, but with new contributions
to science and navigation from the unfrequented polar regions. The
officers and men of the expedition having been all volunteers for t