35TH CONGRESS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. (Ex. Doc. No. 2. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, TO THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE THIRTY-FIFTH CONGRESS. DECEMBER 8, 1857.-Read, and committed to the Committee of the Whole on the state DECEMBER 16, 1856.-Resolved, That there be printed, for the use of the members of the Vol. III. WASHINGTON: CORNELIUS WENDELL, PRINTER. REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. NAVY DEPARTMENT, December 3, 1857. SIR: The naval force which has been employed during the past year has been sufficient to give adequate security to our commerce, and to the persons and property of American citizens in all parts of the world. The Home squadron, under the command of its Flag Officer, Hiram Paulding, has consisted of the steam frigates Wabash and Roanoke, the sloops-of-war Saratoga and Cyane, and the war steamers Susquehanna and Fulton. The unsatisfactory state of affairs in New Granada and portions of Central America required the increase of this squadron, and the almost constant presence of a considerable force in the neighborhood, both on the Atlantic and the Pacific. In January the Wabash returned from Aspinwall to New York with the officers and crew of the St. Mary's; in April sailed for Aspinwall; in June returned again to New York with 138 of the destitute and suffering American citizens who had been involved in the troubles of Central America and on the 29th of July sailed again for Aspinwall, where she still remains. In May the Cyane sailed from Aspinwall upon a short cruise, touching at Carthagena, thence to San Juan del Norte; in June received on board, and transported to Aspinwall, the men who where brought home by the Wabash, and proceeded herself to Boston with 53 of the sick and wounded. On the 2d of September she sailed on a cruise to the eastward, returned to Hampton Roads October 30, and on the 19th of November sailed for Cape Haytien to the relief of an American vessel and two American seamen, seized upon suspicion by order of the Haytien government. The Roanoke, while making her six months trial trip at sea, was, under the command of Capt. Montgomery, temporarily attached to this squadron. On the 30th of May she sailed for Aspinwall, and returned on the 4th of August, with 205 of Walker's men. It being necessary to put her in dock, she was sent from New York to Boston, and put out of commission. All these men were brought home without previous orders; but such was their deplorable condition, that it was an act of humanity, which could not, and ought not to be dispensed with; and the department approved it. The expense of providing for them necessary food, clothing, and medicine while on shipboard amounted to $7,376 16, for which an appropriation is recommended, The Saratoga having returned to Norfolk in December, proceeded on the 16th of January on a cruise, visiting St. Domingo, St. Thomas, Venezuela, Curaçoa, Aspinwall, and San Juan del Norte; thence, by way of Aspinwall, the island of Grand Cayman, Havana, and Key West, she returned to Norfolk, where she arrived on the 29th of April. On the 23d of May she left Norfolk for Aspinwall, and will soon be relieved by the Susquehanna. The Fulton was put in commission in September, and sailed from Washington on the 14th of October for Mobile, New Orleans, and Chiriqui, in New Granada, for the purpose of intercepting and preventing unlawful expeditions from the United States, against Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Mexico. Instructions, having the same object in view, were given to Commodore Paulding at Aspinwall, and Commander Chatard at San Juan del Norte. The Susquehanna, having been ordered from the Mediterranean to the Home squadron, has doubtless arrived at Key West, and proceeded to San Juan del Norte with similar instructions. If any unlawful expedition from the United States against Nicaragua, Costa Rica, or Mexico, shall succeed in effecting a landing, it will be because it has been able to elude the vigilance of this squadron. The Jamestown is now preparing at Philadelphia to join it, and will soon be ready for sea. The force in the Pacific, under the command of the Flag Officer, William Mervine, has consisted of the frigate Independence, the sloops-of-war St. Mary's, John Adams, and Decatur, and the war steamer Massachusetts. A large part of this squadron has been much and usefully employed at Panama and on the coast of Central America, where its presence was deemed indispensable. The Independence sailed, August 3, from Panama to San Francisco, to be stationed at the navy yard as a Receiving Ship, and for the general purposes of the yard, under the command of Commander Fairfax. During her long stay at Panama, her officers, at intervals of leisure, were engaged in surveys and expeditions of much interest. A party was dispatched, in charge of Lieutenant James B. McCauley, to explore the timber resources about the Gulf of San Miguel, the mouth of the Darien, one hundred miles from Panama. The expedition was eminently successful. The John Adams was ordered home, in September, to Norfolk. The Massachusetts, having been stationed in Puget Sound to aid in preventing Indian disturbances, when her presence was no longer required, was ordered to San Francisco; and, arriving there in April, was, in June, put out of commission. The Decatur was also employed on the northwest coast in suppressing Indian hostilities, from which she proceeded to San Francisco, thence to Panama, and arrived there March 9. On the 1st of April the officers and crew were relieved by others, sent across the Isthmus. In June she sailed from Panama for Punta Arenas and San Juan del Sur; August 5 she returned to Panama, with twenty-five of Walker's men. The St. Mary's sailed from Panama, in January last, with orders to touch on the coast of Central America, and thence proceed to Jarvis and New Nantucket islands, which were supposed to possess valuable deposits of guano. She was detained on the coast of Central America by the condition of affairs there, and did not continue her course to those islands until June. Commander Davis had instructions to visit them, to make soundings, to ascertain their location, and the quantity |