The Exposition of Universal Industry at Paris has passed, and seems to have fully realized the high expectations of the French Government.  If due allowance be made for the recent political derangement of industry here, the part which the United States has borne in this exhibition of invention and art may be regarded with very high satisfaction.  During the exposition a conference was held of delegates from several nations, the United States being one, in which the inconveniences of commerce and social intercourse resulting from the diverse standards of money value were very fully discussed, and plans were developed for establishing by universal consent a common principle for the coinage of gold.  These conferences are expected to be renewed, with the attendance of many foreign states not hitherto represented.  A report of these interesting proceedings will be submitted to Congress, which will, no doubt, justly appreciate the great object and be ready to adopt any measure which may tend to facilitate its ultimate accomplishment.

On the 25th of February, 1862, Congress declared by law that Treasury notes, without interest, authorized by that act should be legal tender in payment of all debts, public and private, within the United States.  An annual remittance of $30,000, less stipulated expenses, accrues to claimants under the convention made with Spain in 1834.  These remittances, since the passage of that act, have been paid in such notes.  The claimants insist that the Government ought to require payment in coin.  The subject may be deemed worthy of your attention.

No arrangement has yet been reached for the settlement of our claims for British depredations upon the commerce of the United States.  I have felt it my duty to decline the proposition of arbitration made by Her Majesty’s Government, because it has hitherto been accompanied by reservations and limitations incompatible with the rights, interest, and honor of our country.  It is not to be apprehended that Great Britain will persist in her refusal to satisfy these just and reasonable claims, which involve the sacred principle of nonintervention—­a principle henceforth not more important to the United States than to all other commercial nations.

The West India islands were settled and colonized by European States simultaneously with the settlement and colonization of the American continent.  Most of the colonies planted here became independent nations in the close of the last and the beginning of the present century.  Our own country embraces communities which at one period were colonies of Great Britain, France, Spain, Holland, Sweden, and Russia.  The people in the West Indies, with the exception of those of the island of Hayti, have neither attained nor aspired to independence, nor have they become prepared for self-defense.  Although possessing considerable commercial value, they have been held by the several European States which colonized or at some time conquered