JAMES K. POLK.
WASHINGTON, _December 29, 1846_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
In order to prosecute the war against Mexico with vigor and success,
it is necessary that authority should be promptly given by Congress
to increase the Regular Army and to remedy existing defects in its
organization. With this view your favorable attention is invited to the
annual report of the Secretary of War, which accompanied my message of
the 8th instant, in which he recommends that ten additional regiments
of regular troops shall be raised, to serve during the war.
Of the additional regiments of volunteers which have been called for
from several of the States, some have been promptly raised; but this
has not been the case in regard to all. The existing law, requiring
that they should be organized by the independent action of the State
governments, has in some instances occasioned considerable delay, and it
is yet uncertain when the troops required can be ready for service in
the field.
It is our settled policy to maintain in time of peace as small a Regular
Army as the exigencies of the public service will permit.
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