mountain or passed them in the
chase. Submitting to the laws of the States, and receiving, like other
citizens, protection in their persons and property, they will ere long
become merged in the mass of our population.

The accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy will make you
acquainted with the condition and useful employment of that branch of
our service during the present year. Constituting as it does the best
standing security of this country against foreign aggression, it claims
the especial attention of Government. In this spirit the measures which
since the termination of the last war have been in operation for its
gradual enlargement were adopted, and it should continue to be cherished
as the offspring of our national experience. It will be seen, however,
that notwithstanding the great solicitude which has been manifested for
the perfect organization of this arm and the liberality of the
appropriations which that solicitude has suggested, this object has in
many important respects not been secured.

In time of peace we have need of no more ships of war than are requisite
to the protection of our commerce. Those not wanted for this object must
lay in the harbors, where without proper covering they rapidly decay,
and even under the best precautions for their preservation must soon
become useless. Such is already the case with many of our finest
vessels, which, though unfinished, will now require immense sums of
money to be restored to the condition in which they were when committed
to their proper element. On this subject there can be but little doubt
that our best policy would be to discontinue the building of ships of
the first and second class, and look rather to the possession of ample
materials, prepared for the emergencies of war, than to the number of
vessels which we can float in a season of peace, as the index of our
naval power. Judicious deposits in navy-yards of timber and other
materials, fashioned under the hands of skillful workmen and fitted for
prompt application to their various purposes, would enable us at all
times to construct vessels as fast as they can be manned, and save the
heavy expense of repairs, except to such vessels as must be employed in
guarding our commerce. The proper points for the establishment of these
yards are indicated with so much force in the report of the Navy Board
that in recommending it to your attention I deem it unnecessary to do
more than express my hear