The life and public services of Abraham Lincoln ... together with his state papers, including his speeches, addresses, messages, letters, and proclamations, and the closing scenes connected with his life and death. By Henry J. Raymond. To which are added anecdotes and personal reminiscences of President Lincoln, by Frank B. Carpenter.

452 THE LIFE, PUBLIC SERVICES, AND
The international conference of postal delegates from the principal
countries of Europe and America, which was called at the suggestion of
the Postmaster-General, met at Paris on the 11th of May last, and concluded its deliberations on the 8th of June. The principles established
by the conference as best adapted to facilitate postal intercourse between
nations, and as the basis of future postal conventions, inaugurates a general system of uniform international charges at reduced rates of postage,
and cannot fail to produce beneficial results. I refer you to the Report
of the Secretary of the Interior, which is herewith laid before you, for
useful anrd varied information in relation to Public Lands, Indian Affairs,
Patents, Pensions, and other matters of the public concern pertaining to
his department.
The quantity of land disposed of during the last and the first quarter
of the present fiscal year was three million eight hundred and fortyone thousand five hundred and forty-nine acres, of which one hundred
and sixty-one thousand nine hundred and eleven acres were sold for cash.
One million four hundred and fifty-six thousand five hundred and fourteen acres were taken up under the Homestead Law, and the residue disposed of under laws granting lands for military bounties, for railroad and
other purposes. It also appears that the sale of public lands is largely
on the increase.
It llas long been a cherished opinion of some of our wisest statesme1
that the people of the United States had a higher and more enduring interest in the early settlement and substantial cultivation of the public
lands thlan in the amount of direct revenue to be derived from the sale of
them. This opinion has had a controlling influence in shaping legislation
upon the subject of our national domain. I may cite, as evidence of this,
the liberal measures adopted in reference to actual settlers, the grant to
the States of the overflowed lands within their limits, in order to their
being reclaimed and rendered fit for cultivation, the grants to railway
companies of alternate sections of land upon the contemplated lines of
their roads, which, when completed, will so largely multiply the facilities
for reaching our distant possessions. This policy has received its most
signal and beneficent illustration in the recent enactment granting homesteads to actual settlers. Since the first day of January last, the beforementioned quantity of one million four hundred and fifty-six thousand five
hundred and fourteen acres of land have been taken up under its provisions. This fact, and the amount of sales, furnish gratifying evidence of
increasing settlement upon the public lands, notwithstanding the great
struggle in which the energies of the nation have been engaged, and which
has required so large a withdrawal of our citizens from their accustomed
pursuits. I cordially concur in the recommendation of the Secretary of
the Interior, suggesting a modification of the act in favor of those engaged
in the military and naval service of the United States.
I doubt not that Congress will cheerfully adopt such measures as will,
without essentially changing the general features of the system, secure to