nds will be extended and the difficulty of
restoring order and security greatly magnified. On the other hand,
without a permanent military force of sufficient strength to control
the unfriendly Indians, it may be expected that hostilities will soon
be renewed and that years of border warfare will afflict the country,
retarding the progress of settlement, exposing emigrant trains to savage
barbarities and consuming millions of the public money.

The state of things made known in various letters recently received
at the War Department, extracts from a portion of which are herewith
inclosed, is calculated to augment the deep solicitude which this matter
has for some time past awakened, and which has been earnestly expressed
in previous messages and in the annual reports of the Secretary of War.

I respectfully submit that the facts now communicated urgently call for
immediate action on the part of Congress.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _January 17, 1855_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In further compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 5th
of December last, requesting copies of correspondence[36] between
Major-General Wool and the different Departments of the Government,
I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by
which it was accompanied.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 36: Relating to affairs on the Pacific Coast.]

WASHINGTON, _January 19, 1855_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In further compliance with the resolution of the House of
Representatives of the 27th of July last, upon the subject of the case
of Walter M. Gibson, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _January 19, 1855_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate to the Senate herewith a letter from the Secretary of the
Interior, dated the 18th instant, covering a communication from the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs, with accompanying papers, and asking
that certain appropriations be made for the service of the Indian
Department.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

WASHINGTON, _January 22, 1855_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to Congress herewith a communication of this date from the
Secretary of the Interior, with accompanying papers, and recommend that
the appropriation[37] therein asked for be made.

FRANKLIN PIERCE.

[Footnote 37: For payment of interest due the Cherokee Ind