If the Government of the United States shall observe a proper economy in its expenditures, and be confined in its action to the conduct of our foreign relations and to the few general objects of its care enumerated in the Constitution, leaving all municipal and local legislation to the States, our greatness as a nation, in moral and physical power and in wealth and resources, can not be calculated.

By pursuing this policy oppressive measures, operating unequally and unjustly upon sections and classes, will be avoided, and the people, having no cause of complaint, will pursue their own interests under the blessings of equal laws and the protection of a just and paternal Government.  By abstaining from the exercise of all powers not clearly conferred, the current of our glorious Union, now numbering thirty States, will be strengthened as we grow in age and increase in population, and our future destiny will be without a parallel or example in the history of nations.

JAMES K. POLK.

WASHINGTON, July 7, 1848.

To the Senate of the United States: 

For the reasons mentioned in the accompanying letter of the Secretary of War, I ask that the date in the promotion of Captain W.J.  Hardee, Second Dragoons, to be major by brevet for gallant and meritorious conduct in the affair at Madellin, Mexico, be changed to the 25th of March, 1847, the day on which the action occurred.

JAMES K. POLK.

WAR DEPARTMENT,

Washington, July 7, 1848.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR:  Captain W.J.  Hardee, Second Dragoons, has been promoted to be major by brevet for gallant and meritorious conduct in the affair at Madellin, Mexico, to date from the 26th of March, 1847.  As this affair took place on the 25th of that month, I respectfully recommend that the Senate be asked to change the date of Captain Hardee’s brevet rank so as to correspond with the date of the action, to wit, the 25th of March, 1847.  Brevets which have been conferred upon other officers in the same affair take the latter date.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W.L.  MARCY,
  Secretary of War.

WASHINGTON, July 12, 1848.

To the Senate of the United States: 

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, of the 21st June, 1848, I herewith communicate to the Senate a report of the Secretary of War, with the accompanying documents, containing the proceedings of a court of inquiry which convened at Saltillo, Mexico, January 12, 1848, and which was instituted for the purpose of obtaining full information relative to an alleged mutiny in the camp of Buena Vista, Mexico, on or about the 15th of August, 1847.

JAMES K. POLK.

WASHINGTON, July 14, 1848.

To the Senate of the United States: