The war with Mexico has developed most strikingly and conspicuously another feature in our institutions.  It is that without cost to the Government or danger to our liberties we have in the bosom of our society of freemen, available in a just and necessary war, virtually a standing army of 2,000,000 armed citizen soldiers, such as fought the battles of Mexico.  But our military strength does not consist alone in our capacity for extended and successful operations on land.  The Navy is an important arm of the national defense.  If the services of the Navy were not so brilliant as those of the Army in the late war with Mexico, it was because they had no enemy to meet on their own element.  While the Army had opportunity of performing more conspicuous service, the Navy largely participated in the conduct of the war.  Both branches of the service performed their whole duty to the country.  For the able and gallant services of the officers and men of the Navy, acting independently as well as in cooperation with our troops, in the conquest of the Californias, the capture of Vera Cruz, and the seizure and occupation of other important positions on the Gulf and Pacific coasts, the highest praise is due.  Their vigilance, energy, and skill rendered the most effective service in excluding munitions of war and other supplies from the enemy, while they secured a safe entrance for abundant supplies for our own Army.  Our extended commerce was nowhere interrupted, and for this immunity from the evils of war the country is indebted to the Navy.

High praise is due to the officers of the several executive bureaus, navy-yards, and stations connected with the service, all under the immediate direction of the Secretary of the Navy, for the industry, foresight, and energy with which everything was directed and furnished to give efficiency to that branch of the service.  The same vigilance existed in directing the operations of the Navy as of the Army.  There was concert of action and of purpose between the heads of the two arms of the service.  By the orders which were from time to time issued, our vessels of war on the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico were stationed in proper time and in proper positions to cooperate efficiently with the Army.  By this means their combined power was brought to bear successfully on the enemy.

The great results which have been developed and brought to light by this war will be of immeasurable importance in the future progress of our country.  They will tend powerfully to preserve us from foreign collisions, and to enable us to pursue uninterruptedly our cherished policy of “peace with all nations, entangling alliances with none.”

Occupying, as we do, a more commanding position among nations than at any former period, our duties and our responsibilities to ourselves and to posterity are correspondingly increased.  This will be the more obvious when we consider the vast additions which have been recently made to our territorial possessions and their great importance and value.