injustice. Thus shall conservatism and progress blend
their harmonious action in preserving the form and spirit of the
Constitution and at the same time carry forward the great improvements
of the country with a rapidity and energy which freemen only can
display.

In closing this my last annual communication, permit me,
fellow-citizens, to congratulate you on the prosperous condition of
our beloved country. Abroad its relations with all foreign powers are
friendly, its rights are respected, and its high place in the family of
nations cheerfully recognized. At home we enjoy an amount of happiness,
public and private, which has probably never fallen to the lot of
any other people. Besides affording to our own citizens a degree of
prosperity of which on so large a scale I know of no other instance,
our country is annually affording a refuge and a home to multitudes,
altogether without example, from the Old World.

We owe these blessings, under Heaven, to the happy Constitution and
Government which were bequeathed to us by our fathers, and which it is
our sacred duty to transmit in all their integrity to our children. We
must all consider it a great distinction and privilege to have been
chosen by the people to bear a part in the administration of such a
Government. Called by an unexpected dispensation to its highest trust at
a season of embarrassment and alarm, I entered upon its arduous duties
with extreme diffidence. I claim only to have discharged them to the
best of an humble ability, with a single eye to the public good, and
it is with devout gratitude in retiring from office that I leave the
country in a state of peace and prosperity.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON, _December 7, 1852_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, a treaty of friendship, commerce, and navigation, between
the United States and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, signed at
Montevideo on the 28th of August last.

MILLARD FILLMORE.

WASHINGTON, _December 8, 1852_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to
ratification, an additional article, signed in this city on the 16th
ultimo, to the convention for the mutual delivery of criminals fugitives
from justice in certain cases between the United States on the one part
and Prussia and other States of the Germanic Confe