rveys had been made of 16,873,699 acres, a large proportion of
which is ready for market.

The suggestions in this report in regard to the complication and
progressive expansion of the business of the different bureaus of the
Department, to the pension system, to the colonization of Indian tribes,
and the recommendations in relation to various improvements in the
District of Columbia are especially commended to your consideration.

The report of the Postmaster-General presents fully the condition of
that Department of the Government. Its expenditures for the last fiscal
year were $10,407,868 and its gross receipts $7,620,801, making an
excess of expenditure over receipts of $2,787,046. The deficiency
of this Department is thus $744,000 greater than for the year ending
June 30, 1853. Of this deficiency $330,000 is to be attributed to the
additional compensation allowed to postmasters by the act of Congress
of June 22, 1854. The mail facilities in every part of the country have
been very much increased in that period, and the large addition of
railroad service, amounting to 7,908 miles, has added largely to the
cost of transportation.

The inconsiderable augmentation of the income of the Post-Office
Department under the reduced rates of postage and its increasing
expenditures must for the present make it dependent to some extent
upon the Treasury for support. The recommendations of the
Postmaster-General in relation to the abolition of the franking
privilege and his views on the establishment of mail steamship lines
deserve the consideration of Congress. I also call the special attention
of Congress to the statement of the Postmaster-General respecting the
sums now paid for the transportation of mails to the Panama Railroad
Company, and commend to their early and favorable consideration the
suggestions of that officer in relation to new contracts for mail
transportation upon that route, and also upon the Tehuantepec and
Nicaragua routes.

The United States continue in the enjoyment of amicable relations with
all foreign powers.

When my last annual message was transmitted to Congress two subjects of
controversy, one relating to the enlistment of soldiers in this country
for foreign service and the other to Central America, threatened to
disturb the good understanding between the United States and Great
Britain. Of the progress and termination of the former question you were
informed at the time, and the other is now