und less
than the expenditures of 1839 by over $5,000,000.

The precautionary measures which will be recommended by the Secretary
of the Treasury to protect faithfully the public credit under the
fluctuations and contingencies to which our receipts and expenditures
are exposed, and especially in a commercial crisis like the present,
are commended to your early attention.

On a former occasion your attention was invited to various
considerations in support of a preemption law in behalf of the settlers
on the public lands, and also of a law graduating the prices for such
lands as had long been in the market unsold in consequence of their
inferior quality. The execution of the act which was passed on the first
subject has been attended with the happiest consequences in quieting
titles and securing improvements to the industrious, and it has also
to a very gratifying extent been exempt from the frauds which were
practiced under previous preemption laws. It has at the same time, as
was anticipated, contributed liberally during the present year to the
receipts of the Treasury.

The passage of a graduation law, with the guards before recommended,
would also, I am persuaded, add considerably to the revenue for several
years, and prove in other respects just and beneficial.

Your early consideration of the subject is therefore once more earnestly
requested.

The present condition of the defenses of our principal seaports and
navy-yards, as represented by the accompanying report of the Secretary
of War, calls for the early and serious attention of Congress; and, as
connecting itself intimately with this subject, I can not recommend too
strongly to your consideration the plan submitted by that officer for
the organization of the militia of the United States.

In conformity with the expressed wishes of Congress, an attempt was
made in the spring to terminate the Florida war by negotiation. It is
to be regretted that these humane intentions should have been frustrated
and that the effort to bring these unhappy difficulties to a
satisfactory conclusion should have failed; but after entering into
solemn engagements with the commanding general, the Indians, without any
provocation, recommenced their acts of treachery and murder. The renewal
of hostilities in that Territory renders it necessary that I should
recommend to your favorable consideration the plan which will be
submitted to you by the Secretary of War, in order to enab