• T a/ 394 fB99 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARY DATE DUE JW^ 6 =t96§=* ^ 3Ui- ! dag j ^E^**^"ywiflij> PRINTED IN U.S.A. Cornell University Library J 81.B96 1899 V.2 A compilation of the messages and papers 3 1924 014 722 494 Cornell University Library The original of this bool< is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014722494 E T (6 P- ? en I^ " S" ! - o c o — ' '° ~~ J -c 'T o J M <» o^ i c *i o" D) A O C (D O ^ o o ^ o -a . (A 0) -f» : "a _a) J, c »*- c ?«^ o t ■" to © : B m "> ! g ra= . < E ■ X y- A COMPILATION MESSAGES AND PAPERS PRESIDENTS 1789-1897 BY JAMES D. RICHARDSON A Representative from the State of Tennessee VOLUME II PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF CONGRESS 1899 Copyright, 1897, by James B. Richardson. Prefatory Note The first volume of this compilation was given to Congress and the public about May i, 1896. I believe I am warranted in saying here that it met with much favor by all who examined it. The press of the country was unsparing in its praise. Congress, by a resolution passed on the 22d day of May, ordered the printing of 15,000 additional copies of the entire publication. I have inserted in this volume a steel engraving of the Treasury build- ing; the succeeding volumes will contain engravings of other important public buildings. The resolution authorizing this work required the publication of the annual, special, and veto messages, inaugural addresses, and proclama- tions of the Presidents. I have found in addition to these documents others which emanated from the Chief Magistrates, called Kxecutive orders; they are in the nature of proclamations, and have like force and effect. I have therefore included in this, and will include in the succeeding volumes, all such Kxecutive orders as may appear to have national importance or to possess more than ordinary interest. If this volume meets the same degree of favor as the first, I shall be greatly gratified. JAMKS D. RICHARDSON. Jui limitation, we must look for such limitation to other causes. Our attention is first drawn to the right to appropriate, and not finding it there we must then look to the general powers of the Government as designated by the specific grants and to the purposes contemplated by them, allowing to this (the right to raise money), the first and most important of the enumerated powers, a scope which will be competent to those purposes. The practice of the Government, as illustrated by numerous and strong examples directly applicable, ought surely to have great weight in fixing the construction of each grant. It ought, I presume, to settle it, especially where it is acquiesced in by the nation and produces a manifest and positive good. A practical construction, thus supported, shows that it has reason on its side and is called for by the interests of the Union. Hence, too, the presumption that it will be persevered in. It will surely be better to admit that the construction given by these examples has been just and proper than to deny that construction and still to practice on it — to say one thing and to do another. Wherein consists the danger of giving a liberal construction to the right of Con- gress to raise and appropriate the public money ? It has been shown that its obvious effect is to secure the rights of the States from encroachment and greater harmony in the political movement between the two governments, while it enlarges to a cer- tain extent in the most harmless way the useful agency of the General Government for all the purposes of its institution. Is not the responsibility of the representa- tive to his constituent in every branch of the General Government equally strong and as sensibly felt as in the State governments, and is not the security against abuse as effectual in the one as in the other government? The history of the Gen- eral Government in all its measures fully demonstrates that Congress will never venture to impose unnecessary burdens on the people or any that can be avoided. Duties and imposts have always been light, not greater, perhaps, than would have been imposed for the encouragement of our manufactiu-es had there been no occa- sion for the revenue arising from them; and taxes and excises have never been laid except in cases of necessity, and repealed as soon as the necessity ceased. Under this mild process and the sale of some hundreds of millions of acres of good land the Government will be possessed of money, which may be applied with great advantage to national purposes. Within the States only will it be applied, and, of course, for their benefit, it not being presumable that such appeals as were made to the benevo- lence of the country in the instances of the inhabitants of St. Domingo and Caracas will often occur. How, then, shall this revenue be applied? Should it be idle in the Treasury ? That our resources will be equal to such useful purposes I have no doubt, especially if by completing our fortifications and raising and maintaining our Navy at the point provided for immediately after the war we sustain our present altitude and preserve by means thereof for any length of time the peace of the Union. When we hear charges raised against other governments of breaches of their con- stitutions, or, rather, of their charters, we always anticipate the most serious conse- quences — communities deprived of privileges which they have long enjoyed, or individuals oppressed and punished in violation of the ordinary forms and guards of trial to which they were accustomed and entitled. How different is the situation of the United States ! Nor can anything mark more strongly the great characteristics of that difference than the grounds on which like charges are raised against this Gov- James Monroe 173 ernment. It is not alleged that any portion of the community or any individual has been oppressed or that money has been raised under a doubtful title. The principal charges are that a work of great utility to the Union and affecting immediately and with like advantage many of the States has been constructed; that pensions to the surviving patriots of our Revolution, to patriots who fought the battles and promoted the independence of their country, have been granted, by money, too, raised not only without oppression, but almost without being felt, and under an acknowledged constitutional power. From' this view of the right to appropriate and of the practice under it I think that I am authorized to conclude that the right to make internal improvements has not been granted by the power ' ' to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare," included in the first of the enumerated powers; that that grant conveys nothing more than a right to appropriate the public money, and stands on the same ground with the right to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, conveyed by the first branch of that power; that the Government itself being limited, both branches of the power to raise and appropriate the public money are also lim- ited, the extent of the Government as designated by the specific grants marking the extent of the power in both branches, extending, however, to every object embraced by the fair scope of those grants and not confined to a strict construction of their respective powers, it being safer to aid the purposes of those grants by the appropri- ation of money than to extend by a forced construction the grant itself; that although the right to appropriate the public money to such improvements affords a resource indispensably necessary to such a scheme, it is nevertheless deficient as a power in the great characteristics on which its execution depends. The substance of what has been urged on this subject may be expressed in a few words. My idea is that Congress have an unlimited power to raise money, and that in its appropriation they have a discretionary power, restricted only by the duty to appropriate it to purposes of common defense and of general, not local, national, not State, benefit. I will now proceed to the fifth source from which the power is said to be derived, viz, the power to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution all the powers vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States or in any department or officer thereof. This is the seventeenth and last of the enumerated powers granted to Congress. I have always considered this power as having been granted on a principle of greater caution to secure the complete execution of all the powers which had been vested in the General Government. It contains no distinct and specific power, as every other grant does, such as to lay and collect taxes, to declare war, to regulate commerce, and the like. Looking to the whole scheme of the General Government, it gives to Congress authority to make all laws which should be deemed necessary and proper for carrying all its powers into effect. My impression has been invari- ably that this power would have existed substantially if this grant had not been made; for why is any power granted unless it be to be executed when required, and how can it be executed under ova Government unless it be by laws necessary and proper for the pmrpose — that is, well adapted to the end? It is a principle universally admitted that a grant of a power conveys as a necessary consequence or incident to it the means of carrying it into effect by a fair construction of its import. In the formation, however, of the Constitution, which was to act directly upon the people and be paramount to the extent of its powers to the constitutions of the States, it was wise in its framers to leave nothing to implication which might be reduced to cer- tainty. It is known that all power which rests solely on that ground has been sys- tematically and zealously opposed under all governments with which we have any aoquaintance; and it was reasonable to presume that under our system, where there was a division of the sovereignty between the two independent governments, the 174 Messages and Papers of the Presidents measures of the General Governtaent would excite equal jealousy and produce an opposition not less systematic, though, perhaps, less violent. Hence the policy by the framers of our Government of securing by a fundamental declaration in the Con- stitution a principle which in all other governments had been left to implication only. The terms ' ' necessary ' ' and ' ' proper ' ' secure to the powers of all the grants to which the authority given in this is applicable a fair and sound construction, which is equally binding as a rule on both Governments and on all their departments. In examining the right of the General Government to adopt and execute under this grant a system of internal improvement the sole question to be decided is whether the power has been granted under any of the other grants. If it has, this power is applicable to it to the extent stated. If it has not, it does not exist at all, for it has not been hereby granted. I have already examined all the other grants (one only excepted, which will next claim attention) and shown, as I presume, on the most liberal construction of their powers that the right has not been granted by any of them; hence it follows that in regard to them it has not been granted by this. I come now to the last source from which this power is said to be derived, viz, the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the terri- tory or other property of the United States, which is contained in the second clause of the third section of the fourth article of the Constitution. To form a just opinion of the nature and extent of this power it will be necessary to bring into view the provisions contained in the first clause of the section of the article referred to, which makes an essential part of the policy in question. By this it is declared that new States shall be admitted into the Union, but that no new States shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any States be formed by the junction of two or more States or parts of States, vnthout the consent of the legislatm-es of the States concerned as well as of the United States. If we recur to the condition of our country at the commencement of the Revolution, we shall see the origin and cause of these provisions. By the charters of the several colonies limits by latitude and other descriptions were assigned to each. In com- mencing the Revolution the colonies, as has already been observed, claimed by those limits, although their population extended in many instances to a small portion of the territory lying within them. It was contended by some of the States after the declaration of independence that the vacant lands lying within any of the States should become the property of the Union, as by a common exertion they would be acquired. This claim was resisted by the others on the principle that all the States entered into the contest in the full extent of their chartered rights, and that they ought to have the full benefit of those rights in the event of success. Happily this controversy was settled, as all interfering claims and pretensions between the mem- bers of our Union and between the General Government and any of these members have been, in the most amicable manner and to the satisfaction of all parties. On the recommendation of Congress the individual States having such territory within their chartered limits ceded large portions thereof to the United States on condition that it should be laid off into districts of proper dimensions, the lands to be sold for the benefit of the United States, and that the districts be admitted into the Union when they should obtain such a population as it might be thought proper and reasonable to prescribe. This is the territory and this "the property referred to in the second clause of the fourth article of the Constitution. All the States which had made cessions of vacant territory except Georgia had made them before the adoption of the Constitution, and that State had made a prop- osition to Congress to that effect which was under consideration at the time the Constitution was adopted. The cession was completed after the adoption of the Con- stitution. It was made on the same principle and on similar conditions with those which had been already made by the other States. As differences might arise respect- ing the right or the policy in Congress to admit new States into the Union under the James Monroe 175 new Govenunent, or to make regulations for the government of the territory ceded in the intermediate state, or for the improvement and sale of the public lands, or to accept other cessions, it was thought proper to make special provisions for these objects, which was accordingly done by the above-recited clause in the Constitution. Thus the power of Congress over the ceded territory was not only limited to these special objects, but was also temporary. As soon as the territory became a State the jurisdiction over it as it had before existed ceased. It extended afterwards only to the unsold lands, and as soon as the whole were sold it ceased in that sense also altogether. From that moment the United States have no jurisdiction or power in the new States other than in the old, nor can it be obtained except by an amendment of the Constitution. Since, then, it is manifest that the power granted to Congress to dispose of and make all needful regulations respecting the territory and other property of the United States relates solely to the territory and property which had been ceded by individual States, and which after such cession lay without their respective limits, and for which special provision was deemed necessary, the main power of the Constitution operating internally, not being applicable or adequate thereto, it follows that this power gives no authority, and has even no bearing on the question of internal improvement. The authority to admit new States and to dispose of the property and regulate the terri- tory is not among the enumerated powers granted to Congress, because the duties to be performed under it are not among the ordinary duties of that body, like the imposition of taxes, the regulation of commerce, and the like. They are objects in their nature special, and for which special provision was more suitable and proper. Having now examined all tha powers of Co. 'ss under which the right to adopt and execute a system of internal improvement is claimed and the reasons in support of it in each instance, I think that it may fairly be concluded that such a right has not been granted. It appears and is admitted that much may be done in aid of such a system by the right which is derived from several of the existing grants, and more especially from that to appropriate the public money. But still it is manifest that as a system for the United States it can never be carried into effect under that grant nor tmder all of them united, the great and essential power being deficient, consist- ing of a right to take up the subject on principle; to cause our Union to be examined by men of science, with a view to such improvements; to authorize commissioners to lay off the roads and canals in all proper directions; to take the land at a valuation if necessary, and to construct the works; to pass laws with suitable penalties for their protection; and to raise a revenue from them, to keep them in repair, and make further improvement by the establishment of turnpikes and tolls, with gates to be placed at the proper distances. It need scarcely be remarked that this power will operate, like many others now existing, without affecting the sovereignty of the States except in the particular offices to be performed. The jurisdiction of the several States may still exist over the roads and canals within their respective limits, extending alike to persons and property, as if the right to make and protect such improvements had not been vested in Congress. The right, being made commensurate simply with the purposes indis- pensable to the system, may be strictly confined to them. The right of Cangress to protect the works by laws imposing penalties would operate on the same princi- ples as the right to protect the mail. The act being punishable only, a jurisdiction over the place would be altogether unnecessary and even absurd. In the preceding inquiry little has been said of the advantages which would attend the exercise of such a power by the General Government. I have made the inquiry under a deep conviction that they are almost incalculable, and that there was a gen- eral concurrence of opinion among our fellow-citizens to that effect. Still, it may not be improper for me to .state the grounds upon which my own impression is founded. If it sheds no additional light on this interesting part of the subject, it will at least 176 Messages and Papers of the Presidents show that I have had more than one powerful motive for making the inquiry. A. general idea is all that I shall attempt. The advantages of such a system must depend upon the interests to be affected by it and the extent to which they may be affected, and those must depend on the capacity of oiu: country for improvement and the means at its command applicable to that object. I think that I may venture to afiirm that there is no part of our globe comprehend- ing so many degrees of latitude on the main ocean and so many degrees of longitude into the interior that admits of such great improvement and at so little expense. The Atlantic on the one side, and the Lakes, forming almost inland seas, on the other, separated by high mountains, which rise in the valley of the St. Lawrence and determine in that of the Mississippi, traversing from north to south almost the whole interior, with innumerable rivers on every side of those mountains, some of vast extent, many of which take their sources near to each other, give the great outline. The details are to be seen on the valuable maps of our country. It appears by the light already before the public that it is practicable and easy to connect by canals the whole coast from its southern to its northern extremity in one continued inland navigation, and to connect in like manner in many parts the Western lakes and rivers with each other. It is equally practicable and easy to facil- itate the intercourse between the Atlantic and the Western country by improving the navigation of many of the rivers which have their sources near to each other in the mountains on each side, and by good roads across the mountains between the highest navigable points of those rivers. In addition to the example of the Cumber- land road, already noticed, another of this kind is now in train from the headwaters of the river James to those of the Kanawha; and in like manner may the Savannah be connected with the Tennessee. In some instances it is understood that the East- ern and Western waters may be connected together directly by canals. One great work of this kind is now in its progress and far advanced in the State of New York, and there is good reason to believe that two others may be formed, one at each extremity of the high mountains above mentioned, connecting in the one instance the waters of the St. Lawrence with Lake Champlain, and in the other some of the most important of the Western rivers with those emptying into the Gulf of Mexico, the advantage of which will be seen at the iirst glance by an enlightened observer. Great improvements may also be made by good roads in proper directions through the interior of the country. As these roads would be laid out on principle on a full view of the country, its mountains, rivers, etc. , it would be useless, if I had the knowl- edge, to go into detail respecting them. Much has been done by some of the States, but yet much remains to be done with a view to the Union. Under the colonial governments improvements of this kind were not thought of. There was, it is believed, not one canal and little communication from colony to colony. It was their policy to encourage the intercourse between each colony and the parent country only. The roads which were attended to were those which led from the interior of each colony to its principal towns on the navigable waters. By those routes the produce of the country was carried to the coast, and shipped thence to the mercantile houses in London, Liverpool, Glasgow, or other towns to which the trade was carried on. It is believed that there was but one connected route from North to South at the commencement of the Revolution, and that a very imperfect one. The existence and principle of our Union point out the necessity of a very different policy. The advantages which would be derived from such improvements are incalculable. The facility which would thereby be afforded to the transportation of the whole of the rich productions of our country to market would alone more than amply com- pensate for all the labor and expense attending them. Great, however, as is that advantage, it is one only of many and by no means the most important. Every James Monroe 177 power of the General Government and of the State governments connected with the strength and resources of the country would be made more eflScient for the purposes intended by them. In war they would facilitate the transportation of men, ordnance, and provisions, and munitions of war of every kind to every part of our extensive coast and interior on which an attack might be made or threatened. Those who have any knowledge of the occurrences of the late war must know the good effect which would result in the event of another war from the command of an interior navigation alone along the coast for all the purposes of war as well as of commerce between the different parts of our Union. The impediments to all military opera- tions which proceeded from the want of such a navigation and the reliance which was placed, notwithstanding those impediments, on such a commerce can not be for- gotten. In every other line their good effect would be most sensibly felt. Intelli- gence by means of the Post-Office Department would be more easily, extensively, and rapidly diffused. Parts the most remote from each other would be brought more closely together. Distant lands would be made more valuable, and the industry of our fellow-citizens on every portion of our soil be better rewarded. It is natural in so great a variety of climate that there should be a corresponding difference in the produce of the soil; that one part should raise what the other might want. It is equally natural that the pursuits of industry should vary in like manner; that labor should be cheaper and manufactures succeed better in one part than in another; that were the climate the most severe and the soil less productive, naviga- tion, the fisheries, and commerce should be 'most relied on. Hence the motive for an exchange for mutual accommodation and active intercourse between them. Each part would thus find for the surplus of its labor, in whatever article it consisted, an extensive market at home, which would be the most profitable because free from duty. There is another view in which these improvements are of still more vital impor- tance. The effect which they would have on the bond of union itself affords an in- ducement for them more powerful than any which have been urged or than all of them united. The only danger to which our system is exposed arises from its expansion over a vast territory. Our union is not held together by standing armies or by any ties other than the positive interests and powerful attractions of its parts toward each other. Ambitious men may hereafter grow up among us who may promise to them- selves advancement from a change, and by practicing upon the sectional interests, feelings, and prejudices endeavor under various pretexts to promote it. The history of the world is replete with examples of this kind — of military commanders and dem- agogues becoming usurpers and tyrants, and of their fellow-citizens becoming their instruments and slaves. I have little fear of this danger, knowing well how strong the bond which holds us together is and who the people are who are thus held together; but still, it is proper to look at and to provide against it, and it is not within the compass of human wisdom to make a more effectual provision than woidd be'made by the proposed improvements. With their aid and the intercourse which would grow out of them the parts would soon become so compacted and bound together that nothing could break it. The expansion of oiu: Union over a vast territory can not operate unfavorably to the States individually. On the contrary, it is believed that the greater the expan- sion within practicable limits — and it is not easy to say what are not so — the greater the advantage which the States individually will derive from it. With governments separate, vigorous, and efficient for all local purposes, their distance from each other can have no injurious effect upon their respective interests. It has already been shown that in some important circumstances, especially with the aid of these im- provements, they must derive great advantage from that cause alone — ^that is, from their distance from each other. In every other way the expansion of our system must operate favorably for every State in proportion as it operates favorably for the M P— vol, II— la 178 Messages and Papers of the Presidents Union. It is in that sense only that it can become a question with the States, or, rather, with the people who compose them. As States they can be affected by it only by their relation to each other through the General Government and by its effect on the operations of that Government. Manifest it is that to any extent to which the General Government can sustain and execute its functions with complete effect will the States — that is, the people who compose them — be benefited. It is only when the expansion shall be carried beyond the faculties of the General Govern- ment so as to enfeeble its operations to the injury of the whole that any of the parts can be injured. The tendency in that stage will be to dismemberment and not to consolidation. This danger should, therefore, be looked at with profound attention as one of a very serious character. I will remark here that as the operations of the National Government are of a general nature, the States having complete power for internal and local purposes, the expansion may be carried to very great extent and with perfect safety. It must be obvious to all that the further the expansion is car- ried, provided it be not beyond the just limit, the greater will be the freedom of action to both Governments and the more perfect their security, and in all other respects the better the effect will be to the whole American people. Extent of ter- ritory, whether it be great or small, gives to a nation many of its characteristics. It marks the extent of its resources, of its population, of its physical force. It marks, in short, the difference between a great and a small power. To what extent it may be proper to expand our system of government is a ques- tion which does not press for a decision at this time. At the end of the Revolution- ary war, in 1783, we had, as we contended and believed, a right to the free navigation of the Mississippi, but it was not until after the expiration of twelve years, in 1795, that that right was acknowledged and enjoyed. Further difficulties occurred in the bustling of a contentious world when, at the expiration of eight years more, the United States, sustaining the strength and energy of their character, acquired the Province of Louisiana, with the free navigation of the river from its source to the ocean and a liberal boundary on the western side. To this Florida has since been added, so that we now possess all the territory in which the original States had any interest; or in which the existing States can be said, either in a national or local point of view, to be in any way interested. A range of States on the western side of the Mississippi, which already is provided for, puts us essentially at ease. Whether it will be wise to go further will turn on other considerations than those which have dictated the course heretofore pursued. At whatever point we may stop, whether it be at a single range of States beyond the Mississippi or by taking a greater scope, the advantage of such improvements is deemed of the highest importance. It is so on the present scale. The further we go the greater will be the necessity for them. It can not be doubted that improvements for great national purposes would be bet- ter made by the National Government than by the governments of the several States. Our experience prior to the adoption of the Constitution demonstrated that in the exercise by the individual States of most of the powers granted to the United States a contracted rivalry of interest and misapplied jealousy of each other had an important influence on all their measures to the great 'injury of the whole. This was particu- larly exemplified by the regulations which they severally made of their commerce with foreign nations and with each other. It was this utter incapacity in the State governments, proceeding from these and other causes, to act as a nation and to per- form all the duties which the nation owed to itself under any system which left the General Government dependent on the States, which produced the transfer of these powers to the United States by the establishment of the present Constitution. The reasoning which was applicable to the grant of any of the powers now vested in Congress is likewise so, at least to a certain extent, to that in question. It is natural that the States individually in making improvements should look to their particular and local interests, The members composing their respective legislatures represent James Monroe 1 79 the people of each State only, and might not feel themselves at liberty to look to objects in these respects beyond that limit. If the resom-ces of the Union were to be brought into operation under the direction of the State assemblies, or in concert with them, it may be apprehended that every measure would become the object of negotiation, of bargain and barter, much to the disadvantage of the system, as well as discredit to both governments. But Congress would look to the whole and make improvements to promote the welfare of the whole. It is the peculiar felicity of the proposed amendment that while it will enable the United States to accomplish every national object, the improvements made with that view will eminently promote the welfare of the individual States, who may also add such others as their own particular interests may require. The situation of the Cumberland road requires the particular and early attention of Congress. Being formed over very lofty mountains and in many instances over deep and wide streams, across which valuable bridges have been erected, which are sustained by stone walls, as are many other parts of the road, all these works are subject to decay, have decayed, and will decay rapidly unless timely and effectual measures are adopted to prevent it. The declivities from the mountains and all the heights must suffer from the fre- quent and heavy falls of water and its descent to the valleys, as also from the deep congelations during our severe winters. Other injuries have also been experienced on this road, such as the displacing the capping of the walls and other works, com- mitted by worthless people either from a desire to render the road impassable or to have the transportation in another direction, or from a spirit of wantonness to create employment for idlers. These considerations show that an active and strict police ought to be established over the whole road, with power to make repairs when neces- sary, to establish turnpikes and tolls as the means of raising money to make them, and to prosecute and punish those who commit waste and other injuries. Should the United States be willing to abandon this road to the States through which it passes, would they take charge of it, each of that portion within its limits, and keep it in repair? It is not to be presumed that they would, since the advantages attending it are exclusively national, by connecting, as it does, the Atlantic with the Western States, and in a line with the seat of the National Government. The most expensive parts of this road lie within Pennsylvania and Virginia, very near the confines of each State and in a route not essentially connected with the commerce of either. If it is thought proper to vest this power in the United States, the only mode in which it can be done is by an amendment of the Constitution. The States individ- ually can not transfer the power to the United States, nor can the United States receive it. The Constitution , forms an equal and the sole relation between the General Government and the several States, and it recognizes no change in it which shall not in like manner apply to all. If it is once admitted that the General Gov- ernment may form compacts with individual States not common to the others, and which the others might even disapprove, into what pernicious consequences might it not lead? Such compacts are utterly repugnant to the principles of the Consti- tution and of the most dangerous tendency. The States through which this road passes have given their sanction only to the route and to the acquisition of the soil by the United States, a right very different from that of jurisdiction, which can not be granted without an amendment to the Constitution, and which need not be granted for the purposes of this system except in the limited manner heretofore stated. On full consideration, therefore, of the whole subject I am of opinion that such an amendment ought to be recommended to the several States for their adoption. I have now essentially executed that part of the task which I imposed on myself of examining the right of Congress to adopt and execute a system of internal improve- ment, and, I presume, have shown that it does not exist. It is, I think, equally i8o Messages and Papers of the Presidents manifest that sucii a power vested in Congress and wisely executed would have the happiest effect on all the great interests of our Union. It is, however, my opinion that the power should be confined to great national works only, since if it were unlimited it would be liable to abuse and might be productive of evil. For all minor improvements the resources of the States individually would be fully adequate, and by the States such improvements might be made with greater advantage than by the Union, as they would understand better such as their more immediate and local interests required. In the view above presented I have thought it proper to trace the origin of our institutions, and particularly of the State and National Governments, for although they have a common origin in the people, yet, as the point at issue turned on what were the powers granted to the one government and what were those which remained to the other, I was persuaded that an analysis which should mark distinctly the source of power in both governments, with its progress in each, would afford the best means for obtaining a sound result. In our political career there are, obviously, three great epochs. The colonial state forms the first; the Revolutionary move- ment from its commencement to the adoption of the Articles of Confederation the second, and the intervening space from that event to the present day the third. The first may be considered the infant state. It was the school of morality, of political science and just principles. The equality of rights enjoyed by the people of every colony under their original charters forms the basis of every existing institution, and it was owing to the creation by those charters of distinct communities that the power, when wrested from the Crown, passed directly and exclusively to the people of each colony. The Revolutionary struggle gave activity to those principles, and its suc- cess secured to them a permanent existence in the governments of our Union, State and National. The third epoch comprises the administration under the Articles of Confederation, with the adoption of the Constitution and administration under it. On the first and last of these epochs it is not necessary to enlarge for any purpose connected with the object of this inquiry. To the second, in which we were trans- ferred by a heroic exertion from the first to the third stage, and whose events give the true character to every institution, some further attention is due. In tracing in greater detail the prominent acts of a movement to which we owe so much I shall perform an oince which, if not useful, will be gratifying to my own feelings, and I hope not unacceptable to my readers. Of the Revolutionary movement itself sentiments too respectful, too exalted, can not be entertained. It is impossible for any citizen having a just idea of the dangers which we had to encounter to read the record of our early proceedings and to see the firmness with which they were met and the wisdom and patriotism which were displayed in every stage without being deeply affected by it. An attack on Massa- chusetts was considered an attack on every colony, and the people of each moved in her defense as in their own cause. The meeting of the General Congress in Phil- adelphia on the 6th of September, 1774, appears to have been the result of a sponta- neous impulse in every quarter at the same time. The first public act proposing it, according to the Journals of the First Congress, was passed by the house of represent- atives of Connecticut on the 3d of June of that year; but it is presumed that the first suggestion came from Massachusetts, the colony most oppressed, and in whose favor the general sympathy was much excited. The exposition which that Congress made of grievances, in the petition to the King, in the address to the people of Great Britain, and in that to the people of the several colonies, evinced a knowledge so profound of the English constitution and of the general principles of free govern- ment and of liberty, of our rights founded on that constitution and on the charters of the several colonies, and of the numerous and egregious violations which had been committed of them, as must have convinced all impartial minds that the talent on this side of the Atlantic was at least equal to that on the other, The spirit in James Monroe i8i which those papers were drawn, which was known to be in strict accord with the public sentiment, proved that, although the whole people cherished a connection with the parent country and were desirous of preserving it on just principles, they nevertheless stood embodied at the parting line, ready to separate forever if a redress of grievances, the alternative offered, was not promptly rendered. That alternative was rejected, and in consequence war and dismemberment followed. The powers granted to the delegates of each colony who composed the First Con- gress looked primarily to the support of rights and to a redress of grievances, and, in consequence, to the restoration of harmony, which was ardently desired. They justified, however, any extremity in case of necessity. They were ample for such purposes, and were executed in every circumstance with the utmost fidelity. It was not until after the meeting of the Second Congress, which took place on the lotli May, 1775, when full proof was laid before it of the commencement of hostilities in the preceding month by a deliberate attack of the British troops on the militia and inhabitants of Lexington and Concord, in Massachusetts, that war might be said to be decided on, and measures were taken to support it. The progress even then was slow and reluctant, as will be seen by their second petition to the King and their second address to the people of Great Britain, which were prepared and forwarded after that event. The arrival, however, of large bodies of troops and the pressure of war in every direction soon dispelled all hope of accommodation. On the 15th of June, 1775, a commander in chief of the forces raised and to be raised for the defense of American liberty was appointed by the unanimous vote of Congress, and his conduct in the discharge of the duties of that high trust, which he held through the whole of the war, has given an example to the world for talents as a military commander; for integrity, fortitude, and firmness under the severest trials; for respect to the civil authority and devotion to the rights and liberties of his coun- try, of which neither Rome nor Greece have exhibited the equal. I saw him in my earliest youth, in the retreat through Jersey, at the head of a small band, or rather in its rear, for he was always next the enemy, and his countenance and manner made an impression on me which time can never efface. A lieutenant then in the Third Virginia Regiment, I happened to be on the rear guard at Newark, and I counted the force under his immediate command by platoons as it passed me, which amounted to less than 3,000 men. A deportment so firm, so dignified, so exalted, but yet so modest and composed, I have never seen in any other person. On the 6th July, 1775, Congress published a declaration of the causes which com- pelled them to take up arms, and immediately afterwards took measures for augment- ing the Army and raising a navy; for organizing the militia and providing cannon and small arms and military stores of every kind; for raising a revenue and pushing the war offensively with all the means in their power. Nothing escaped the attention of that enlightened body. The people of Canada were invited to join the Union, and a force sent into the province to favor the Revolutionary party, which, however, was not capable of affording any essential aid. The people of Ireland were addressed in terms manifesting due respect for the sufferings, the talents, and patriotism of that portion of the British Empire, and a suitable acknowledgment was made to the assem- bly of Jamaica for the approbation it had expressed of our cause and the part it had taken in support of it with the British Government. On the 2d of June, 1775, the convention of Massachusetts, by a letter signed by their president, of May the loth, stated to Congress that they labored under difficul- ties for the want of a regular form of government, and requested to be favored with explicit advice respecting the taking up and exercising the powers of civil government, and declaring their readiness to submit to such a general plan as the Congress might direct for the colonies, or that they would make it their great study to establish such a form of government there as should not only promote their own advantage, but the union and interest of all America. To this application an answer was ^veu on the 1 83 Messages and Papers of the Presidents 9th, by whirli it was recommended to the convention "to write letters to the inhab- itants of the several places entitled to representation in assembly, requesting them to choose such representatives, and that the assembly, when chosen, should elect coun- cilors, and that said assembly or council should exercise the powers of government until a governor of His Majesty's appointment will consent to govern the colony according to its charter." On the i8th October of the same year the delegates from New Hampshire laid before Congress an instruction from their convention "to use their utmost endeavors to obtain the advice and direction of Congress with respect to a method for admin- istering justice and regulating their civil police." To this a reply was given on the 3d November, by which it was recommended to the convention "to call a full and free representation of the people, and that the representatives, if they thought it necessary, should establish such a form of government as in their judgment would best promote the happiness of the people and most effectually secure peace and good order in the Province during the continuance of the present dispute between Great Britain and the colonies." On the 4th November it was resolved by Congress "that if the convention of South Carolina shall find it necessary to establish a form of government in that col- ony it be recommended to that convention to call a full and free representation of the people; and the said representatives, if they think it necessary, shall establish such a form of government as in their judgment will best promote the happiness of the people and most effectually secure peace and good order in the colony during the continuance of the present dispute between Great Britain and the colonies." On the 4th December following a resolution passed recommending the same meas- ure, and precisely in the same words, to the convention of Virginia. On the loth May, 1776, it was recommended to the respective assemblies and conventions of the united colonies, where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs had been established, "to adopt such government as should, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular and America in general. ' ' On the 7th June resolutions respecting independence were moved and seconded, which were inferred to a committee of the whole on the 8th and loth, on which lat- ter day it was resolved to postpone a decision on the first resolution or main question until the ist July, but that no time might be lost in case the Congress agree thereto that a committee be appointed to prepare a declaration to the effect of that resolution. On the nth June, 1776, Congress appointed a cemmittee to prepare and digest a plan of confederation for the colonies. On the 12th July the committee reported a draft of articles, which were severally afterwards debated and amended until the 15th November, 1777, when they were adopted. These articles were then proposed to the legislatures of the several States, with a request that if approved by them they would authorize their delegates to ratify the same in Congress, and, which being done, to become conclusive. It was not until the 21st of March, 1781, as already observed, that they were ratified by the last State and carried into effect. On the 4th July, 1776, independence was declared by an act which arrested the attention of the civilized world and will bear the test of time. For force and con- densation of matter, strength of reason, sublimity of sentiment and expression, it is believed that no document of equal merit exists. It looked to everything, and with a reach, perspicuity, and energy of mind which seemed to be master of everything. Thus it appears, in addition to the very important charge of managing the war, that Congress had under consideration at the same time the Declaration of Independ- ence, the adoption of a confederation for the States, and the propriety of instituting State governments, with the nature of those governments, respecting which it had been consulted by the conventions of several of the colonies. So great a trust was never reposed before in a body thus constituted, and I am authorized to add, looking to the great result, that never were duties more ably or faithfully performed. James Monroe 183 The distinguishing characteristic of this movement is that although the connection which had existed between the people of the several colonies before their dismem- berment from the parent country was not only not dissolved but increased by that event, even before the adoption of the Articles of Confederation, yet the preservation and augmentation of that tie were the result of a new creation, and proceeded altogether from the people of each colony, into whose hands the whole power passed exclusively when wrested from the Crown. To the same cause the greater change which has since occurred by the adoption of the Constitution is to be traced. The establishment of our institutions forms the most important epoch that history hath recorded. They extend unexampled felicity to the whole body of our fellow- citizens, and are the admiration of other nations. To preserve and hand them down in their utmost purity to the remotest ages will require the existence and practice of virtues and talents equal to those which were displayed in acquiring them. It is ardently hoped and confidently believed that these will not be wanting. PROCLAMATIONS. By the President of the United States, a proclamation. Whereas by the second section of an act of Congress of the 6th of May last, entitled "An act in addition to the act concerning navigation, and also to authorize the appointment of deputy collectors," it is pro- vided that in the event of the signature of any treaty or convention concerning the navigation or commerce between the United States and France the President of the United States, if he should deem the same expedient, may suspend by proclamation until the end of the next ses- sion of Congress the operation of the act entitled "An act to impose a new tonnage duty on French ships and vessels, and for other purposes, ' ' and also to suspend, as aforesaid, all other duties on French vessels or the goods imported in the same which may exceed the duties on Ameri- can vessels and on similar goods imported in the same; and Whereas a convention of navigation and commerce between the United States of America and His Majesty the King of France and Navarre has this day been duly signed by John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State, on the part of the United States, and by the Baron Hyde de Neuville, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary from France, on the part of His Most Christian Majesty, which convention is in the words following: [Here follows the treaty.] Now, therefore, be it known that I, James Monroe, President of the United States, in pursuance of the authority aforesaid, do hereby suspend from and after the ist day of October next until the end of the next ses- sion of Congress, the operation of the act aforesaid, entitled "An act to impose a new tonnage duty on French ships and vessels, and for other 184 Messages and Papers of the Presidents purposes," and also all other duties on French vessels and the goods being the growth, produce, and manufacture of France imported in the same which may exceed the duties on American vessels and on similar goods imported in the same, saving only the discriminating duties paya- ble on French vessels and on articles the growth, produce, and manufac- ture of France imported in the same stipulated by the said convention to be paid. In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be afl&xed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand. [seal.] Done at Washington, the 24th day of June, A. D. 1822, and of the Independence of the United States the forty-sixth. JAMBS MONROE. By the President: John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State. By the President of the United States of America. A proclamation. Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States passed on the 6th day of May last it was provided that on satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United States that the ports in the islands or colonies in the West Indies under the dominion of Great Britain have been opened to the vessels of the United States the President should be, and thereby was, authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the ports of the United States should thereafter be open to the vessels of Great Britain employed in the trade and intercourse between the United States and such islands or colonies, subject to such reciprocal rules and restrictions as the President of the United States might by such procla- mation make and publish, anything in the laws entitled "An act con- cerning navigation" or an act entitled "An act supplementary to an act concerning navigation" to the contrary notwithstanding; and Whereas satisfactory evidence has been given to the President of the United States that the ports hereinafter named in the islands or colo- nies in the West Indies under the dominion of Great Britain have been opened to the vessels of the United States; that is to say, the ports of Kingston, Savannah le Mar, Montego Bay, Santa I^ucia, Antonio, St. Ann, Falmouth, Maria, Morant Bay, in Jamaica; St. George, Grenada; Roseau, Dominica; St. Johns, Antigua; San Josef , Trinidad; Scarborough, Tobago; Road Harbour, Tortola; Nassau, New Providence; Pittstown, Crooked Island; Kingston, St. Vincent; Port St. George and Port Hamilton, Ber- muda; any port where there is a custom-house, Bahamas; Bridgetown, Barbadoes; St. Johns, St. Andrews, New Brunswick; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Quebec, Canada; St. Johns, Newfoundland; Georgetown, Dem§rara; N^w James Monroe 185 Amsterdam, Berbice; Castries, St. I,ucia; Besseterre, St. Kitts; Charles- town, Nevis; and Plymouth, Montserrat: Now, therefore, I, James Monroe, President of the United States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that the ports of the United States shall hereafter, and until the end of the next session of the Congress of the United States, be open to the vessels of Great Britain employed in the trade and intercourse between the United States and the islands and colonies hereinbefore named, anything in the laws entitled "An act con- cerning navigation " or an act entitled ' 'An act supplementary to an act concerning navigation ' ' to the contrary notwithstanding, under the fol- lowing reciprocal rules and restrictions, namely: To vessels of Great Britain, bona fide British built, owned and the master and three-fourths of the mariners of which at least shall belong to Great Britain, or any United States built ship or vessel which has been sold to and become the property of British subjects, such ship or vessel being also navigated with a master and three-fourths of the mariners at least belonging to Great Britain: And provided always, That no articles shall be imported into the United States in any such British ship or vessel other than articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of the British islands and colonies in the West Indies when imported in British vessels coming from any such island or colony, and articles of the growth, prod- uce, or manufacture of the British colonies in North America or of the island of Newfoundland in vessels coming from the port of St. Johns, in that island, or from any of the aforesaid ports of the British colonies in North America. Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 24th day of August, A. D. 1822, and in the forty-seventh year of the Independence of the United States. JAMES MONROE. By the President: John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State. SIXTH ANNUAL MESSAGE. Washington, December j, 1822. Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives: Many causes unite to make your present meeting peculiarly interest- ing to our constituents. The operation of our laws on the various sub- jects to which they apply, with the amendments which they occasionally require, imposes annually an important duty on the representatives of a free people. Our system has happily advanced to such maturity that I am not aware that your cares in that respect will be augmented. Other causes exist which are highly interesting to the whole civilized world, and to no portion of it more so, in certain views, than to the Utii^e4 i86 Messages and Papers of the Presidents States. Of these causes and of their bearing on the interests of our Union I shall communicate the sentiments which I have formed with that freedom which a sense of duty dictates. It is proper, however, to invite your attention in the first instance to those concerns respecting which legislative provision is thought to be particularly urgent. On the 24th of June last a convention of navigation and commerce was concluded in this city between the United States and France by ministers duly authorized for the purpose. The sanction of the Execu- tive having been given to this convention under a conviction that, taking all its stipulations into view, it rested essentially on a basis of recipro- cal and equal advantage, I deemed it my duty, in compUance with the authority vested in the Executive by the second section of the act of the last session of the 6th of May, concerning navigation, to suspend by proc- lamation until the end of the next session of Congress the operation of the act entitled "An act to impose a new tonnage duty on French ships and vessels, and for other purposes, ' ' and to suspend likewise all other duties on French vessels or the goods imported in them which exceeded the duties on American vessels and on similar goods imported in them. I shall submit this convention forthwith to the Senate for its advice and consent as to the ratification. Since your last session the prohibition which had been imposed on the commerce between the United States and the British colonies in the West Indies and on this continent has likewise been removed. Satis- factory evidence having been adduced that the ports of those colonies had been opened to the vessels of the United States by an act of the British Parliament bearing date on the 24th of June last, on the condi- tions specified therein, I deemed it proper, in comphance with the pro- vision of the first section of the act of the last session above recited, to declare, by proclamation bearing date on the 24th of August last, that the ports of the United States should thenceforward and until the end of the next session of Congress be opened to the vessels of Great Britain em- ployed in that trade, under the limitation specified in that proclamation. A doubt was entertained whether the act of Congress applied to the British colonies on this continent as well as to those in the West Indies, but as the act of Parliament opened the intercourse equally with both, and it was the manifest intention of Congress, as well as the obvious policy of the United States, that the provisions of the act of Parliament should be met in equal extent on the part -of the United States, and as also the act of Congress was supposed to vest 'in the President some discretion in the execution of it, I thought it advisable to give it a corresponding construction. Should the constitutional sanction of the Senate be given to the rati- fication of the convention with France, legislative provisions will be nec- essary to carry it fully into effect, as it likewise will be to continue in force, on such conditions as may be deemed just and proper, the inter- James Monroe 187 course which has been opened between the United States and the Brit- ish colonies. Every Ught in the possession of the Executive will in due time be communicated on both subjects. Resting essentially on a basis of reciprocal and equal advantage, it has been the object of the Executive in transactions with other powers to meet the propositions of each with a liberal spirit, believing that thereby the interest of our country would be most effectually promoted. This course has been systematically pursued in the late occurrences with France and Great Britain, and in strict accord with the views of the Leg- islature. A confident hope is entertained that by the arrangement thus commenced with each all differences respecting navigation and commerce with the dominions in question will be adjusted, and a solid foundation be laid for an active and permanent intercourse which will prove equally advantageous to both parties. The decision of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia on the question submitted to him by the United States and Great Britain, con- cerning the construction of the first article of the treaty of Ghent, has been received. A convention has since been concluded between the par- ties, under the mediation of His Imperial Majesty, to prescribe the mode by which that article shall be carried into effect in conformity with that decision. I shall submit this convention to the Senate for its advice and consent as to the ratification, and, if obtained, shall immediately bring the subject before Congress for such provisions as may require the inter- position of the Legislature. In compliance with an act of the last session a Territorial government has been estabUshed in Florida on the principles of our system. By this act the inhabitants are secured in the full enjoyment of their rights and Uberties, and to admission into the Union, with equal participation in the Government with the original States on the conditions heretofore pre- scribed to other Territories. By a clause in the ninth article of the treaty with Spain, by which that Territory was ceded to the United States, it is stipulated that satisfaction shall be made for the injuries, if any, which by process of law shall be established to have been suffered by the Span- ish officers and individual Spanish inhabitants by the late operations of our troops in Florida. No provision having yet been made to carry that stipulation into effect, it is submitted to the consideration of Congress whether it will not be proper to vest the competent power in the district court at Pensacola, or in some tribunal to be specially organized for the purpose. The fiscal operations of the year have been more successful than had been anticipated at the commencement of the last session of Congress. The receipts into the Treasury during the three first quarters of the year have exceeded the sum of $14,745,000. The payments made at the Treasury during the same period have exceeded $12,279,000, leaving in the Treasury on the 30th day of September last, including $1,168,592.24 i88 ^Messages and Papers of the Presidents which were in the Treasury on the ist day of January last, a sum exceed- ing $4,128,000. Besides discharging all demands for the current service of the year, including the interest and reimbursement of the public debt, the 6 per cent stock of 1796, amounting to $80,000, has been redeemed. It is esti- mated that, after defraying the current expenses of the present quarter and redeeming the two millions of 6 per cent stock of 1820, there will remain in the Treasury on the ist of January next nearly $3,000,000. It is estimated that the gross amount of duties which have been secured from the ist of January to the 30th of September last has exceeded $19,500,000, and the amount for the whole year will 'probably not fall short of $23,000,000. Of the actual force in service under the present military establishment, the posts at which it is stationed, and the condition of each post, a report from the Secretary of War which is now communicated will give a dis- tinct idea. By like reports the state of the Academy at West Point will be seen, as will be the progress which has been made on the fortifications along the coast and at the national armories and arsenals. The position on the Red River and that at the Sault of St. Marie are the only new posts that have been taken. These posts, with those already occupied in the interior, are thought to be well adapted to the protection of our frontiers. All the force not placed in the garrisons along the coast and in the ordnance depots, and indispensably necessary there, is placed on the frontiers. The organization of the several corps composing the Army is such as to admit its expansion to a great extent in case of emergency, the oflScers carrying with them all the light which they possess to the new corps to which they might be appointed. With the organization of the staff there is equal cause to be satisfied. By the concentration of every branch with its chief in this city, in the presence of the Department, and with a grade in the chief military station to keep alive and cherish a military spirit, the greatest promptitude in the execution of orders, with the greatest economy and efficiency, are secured. The same view is taken of the Military Academy. Good order is preserved in it, and the youth are well instructed in every science con- nected with the great objects of the institution. They are also well trained and disciplined in the practical parts of the profession. It has been always found difficult to control the ardor inseparable from that early age in such manner as to give it a proper direction. The rights of manhood are too often claimed prematurely, in pressing which too far the respect which is due to age and the obedience necessary to a course of study and instruction in every such institution are sometimes lost sight of. The great object to be accomplished is the restraint of that ardor by such wise regulations and government as, by directing all the energies of the youthful mind to the attainment of useful knowledge. James Monroe 189 will keep it within a just subordination and at the same time elevate it to the highest purposes. This object seems to be essentially obtained in this institution, and with great advantage to the Union. The Military Academy forms the basis, in regard to science, on which the military estabhshment rests. It furnishes annually, after due exam- ination and on the report of the academic staff, many well-informed youths to fill the vacancies which occur in the several corps of the Army, while others who retire to private life carry with them such attainments as, under the right reserved to the several States to appoint the officers and to train the militia, will enable them, by affording a wider field for selec- tion, to promote the great object of the power vested in Congress of pro- viding for the organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia. Thus by the mutual and harmonious cooperation of the two governments in the execution of a power divided between them, an object always to be cherished, the attainment of a great result, on which our liberties may depend, can not fail to be secured. I have to add that in proportion as our regular force is small should the instruction and discipline of the miUtia, the great resource on which we rely, be pushed to the utmost extent that circumstances will admit. A report from the Secretary of the Navy will communicate the prog- ress which has been made in the construction of vessels of war, with other interesting details respecting the actual state of the affairs of that Department. It has been found necessary for the protection of our com- merce to maintain the usual squadrons on the Mediterranean, the Pacific, and along the Atlantic coast, extending the cruises of the latter into the West Indies, where piracy, organized into a system, has preyed on the commerce of every country trading thither. A cruise has also been main- tained on the coast of Africa, when the season would permit, for the sup- pression of the slave trade, and orders have been given to the commanders of all our public ships to seize our own vessels, should they find any engaged in that trade, and to bring them in for adjudication. In the West Indies piracy is of recent date, which may explain the cause why other powers have not combined against it. By the docu- ments communicated it will be seen that the efforts of the United States to suppress it have had a very salutary effect. The benevolent provision of the act under which the protection has been extended alike to the commerce of other nations can not fail to be duly appreciated by them. In compliance with the act of the last session entitled ' 'An act to abol- ish the United States trading establishments," agents were immediately appointed and instructed, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, to close the business of the trading houses among the Indian tribes and to settle the accounts of the factors and subf actors engaged in that trade, and to execute in all other respects the injunctions of that act in the mode prescribed therein. A final report of their proceedings shall be communicated to Congress as soon as it is received. IQO Messages and Papers of the Presidents It is with great regret I have to state that a serious malady has de- prived us of many valuable citizens at Pensacola and checked the prog- ress of some of those arrangements which are important to the Territory. This effect has been sensibly felt in respect to the Indians who inhabit that Territory, consisting of the remnants of several tribes who occupy the middle ground between St. Augustine and Pensacola, with extensive claims but undefined boundaries. Although peace is preserved with those Indians, yet their position and claims tend essentially to interrupt the intercourse between the eastern and western parts of the Territory, on which our inhabitants are principally settled. It is essential to the growth and prosperity of the Territory, as well as to the interests of the Union, that these Indians should be removed, by special compact with them, to some other position or concentrated within narrower hmits where they are. With the limited means in the power of the Executive, instructions were given to the governor to accomplish this object so far as it might be practicable, which was prevented by the distressing mal- ady referred to. To carry it fully into effect in either mode additional funds will be necessary, to the provision of which the powers of Con- gress alone are competent. With a view to such provision as may be deemed proper, the subject is submitted to your consideration, and in the interim further proceedings are suspended. It appearing that so much of the act entitled "An act regulating the staff of the Army," which passed on the 14th April, 1818, as relates to the commissariat will expire in April next, and the practical operation of that department having evinced its great utility, the propriety of its renewal is submitted to your consideration. The view which has been taken of the probable productiveness of the lead mines, connected with the importance of the material to the public defense, makes it expedient that they should be managed with peculiar care. It is therefore suggested whether it will not comport with the public interest to provide by law for the appointment of an agent skilled in mineralogy to superintend them, under the direction of the proper department. It is understood that the Cumberland road, which was constructed at a great expense, has already suffered from the want of that regular super- intendence and of those repairs which are indispensable to the preserva- tion of such a work. This road is of incalculable advantage in facilitating the intercourse between the Western and the Atlantic States. Through it the whole country from the northern extremity of I463,922.8i, will, after discharging the current disbursements of the year, the interest on the public debt, and upward of f 11,633,011.52 of the principal, leave a balance of more than $3,000,000 in the Treasury on the 1st day of January next. A larger amount of the debt contracted during the late war, bearing an interest of 6 per cent, becoming redeemable in the course of the ensuing year than could be discharged by the ordinary revenue, the act of the 26th of May authorized a loan of $5,000,000 at 4>^ per cent to meet the same. By this arrangement an annual saving will accrue to the public of $75,000. Under the act of the 24th of May last a loan of $5,000,000 was author- ized, in order to meet the awards under the Florida treaty, which was nego- tiated at par with the Bank of the United States at 4)^ percent, the limit of interest fixed by the act. By this provision the claims of our citizens who had sustained so great a loss by spoliations, and from whom indem- nity had been so long withheld, were promptly paid. For these advances the public will be amply repaid at no distant day by the sale of the lands in Florida. Of the great advantages resulting from the acquisition of the Territory in other respects too high an estimate can not be formed. It is estimated that the receipts into the Treasury during the year 1825 will be sufficient to meet the disbursements of the year, including the sum of $10,000,000, which is annually appropriated by the act constitut- ing the sinking fund to the payment of the principal and interest of the public debt. The whole amount of the public debt on the ist of January next may 254 Messages and Papers of the Presidents be estimated at $86,000,000, inclusive of $2,500,000 of tlie loan author- ized by the act of the 26th of May last. In this estimate is included a stock of $7,000,000, issued for the purchase of that amount of the capital stock of the Bank of the United States, and which, as the stock of the bank still held by the Government will at least be fully equal to its reimbursement, ought not to be considered as constituting a part of the public debt. Estimating, then, the whole amount of the public debt at $79,000,000 and regarding the annual receipts and expenditures of the Government, a well-founded hope may be entertained that, should no unexpected event occur, the whole of the public debt may be discharged in the course of ten years, and the Government be left at liberty thereafter to apply such portion of the revenue as may not be necessary for current expenses to such other objects as may be most conducive to the public security and welfare. That the sums applicable to these objects will be very considerable may be fairly concluded when it is recollected that a large amount of the public revenue has been applied since the late war to the construction of the public buildings in this city; to the erection of fortifications along the coast and of arsenals in difEerent parts of the Union; to the augmentation of the Navy; to the extinguishment of the Indian title to large tracts of fertile territory; to the acquisition of Flor- ida; to pensions to Revolutionary of&cers and soldiers, and to invalids of the late war. On many of these objects the expense will annually be diminished and cease at no distant period on most of them. On the ist of January, 18 17, the public debt amounted to $123,491,965. 16, and, not- withstanding the large sums which have been applied to these objects, it has been reduced since that period $37,446,961.78. The last portion of the public debt will be redeemable on the ist of January, 1835, and while there is the best reason to believe that the resources of the Government will be continually adequate to such portions of it as may become due in the interval, it is recommended to Congress to seize every opportunity which may present itself to reduce the rate of interest on every part thereof. The high state of the public credit and the great abundance of money are at this time very favorable to such a result. It must be very gratifying to our felloiy-citizens to witness this flourishing state of the public finances when it is recollected that no burthen whatever has been imposed upon them. The military establishment in all its branches, in the performance of the various duties assigned to each, justifies the favorable view which was presented of the efficiency of its organization at the last session. All the appropriations have been regularly applied to the objects intended by Con- gress, and so far as the disbursements have been made the accounts have been rendered and settled without loss to the public. The condition of the Army itself, as relates to the officers and men, in science and dis- cipline is highly respectable. The Military Academy, on which the Army essentially rests, and to which it is much indebted for this state of James Monroe 255 improvement, has attained, in comparison with any other institution of a like kind, a high degree of perfection. Experience, however, has shewn that the dispersed condition of the corps of artillery is unfavorable to the discipline of that important branch of the military establishment. To remedy this inconvenience, eleven companies have been assembled at the fortification erected at Old Point Comfort as a school for artillery instruc- tion, with intention as they shall be perfected in the various duties of that service to order them to other posts, and to supply their places with other companies for instruction in like manner. In this mode a complete knowledge of the science and duties of this arm will be extended through- out the whole corps of artillery. But to carry this object fully into effect will require the aid of Congress, to obtain which the subject is now sub- mitted to your consideration. Of the progress which has been made in the construction of fortifica- tions for the permanent defense of our maritime frontier, according to the plan decided on and to the extent of the existing appropriations, the report of the Secretary of War, which is herewith communicated, will give a detailed account. Their final completion can not fail to give great additional security to that frontier, and to diminish proportionably the expense of defending it in the event of war. The provisions in the several acts of Congress of the last session for the improvement of the navigation of the Mississippi and the Ohio, of the har- bor of Presqu'isle, on I^ake Erie, and the repair of the Plymouth beach are in a course of regular execution ; and there is reason to believe that the appropriation in each instance will be adequate to the object. To carry these improvements fully into effect, the superintendence of them has been assigned to officers of the Corps of Engineers. Under the act of 30th April last, authorizing the President to cause a survey to be made, with the necessary plans and estimates, of such roads and canals as he might deem of national importance in a commercial or military point of view, or for the transportation of the mail, a board has been instituted, consisting of two distinguished officers of the Corps of Engineers and a distinguished civil engineer, with assistants, who have been actively employed in carrying into effect the object of the act. They have carefully examined the route between the Potomac and the Ohio rivers; between the latter and Lake Erie; between the Alleghany and the Susquehannah; and the routes between the Delaware and the Raritan, Barnstable and Buzzards Bay, and between Boston Harbor and Narragan- set Bay. Such portion of the Corps of Topographical Engineers as could be spared from the survey of the coast has been employed in surveying the very important route between the Potomac and the Ohio. Consider- able progress has been made in it, but the survey can not be completed until the next season. It is gratifying to add, from the view already taken, that there is good cause to believe that this great national object may be fully accomplished. 256 Messages and Papers of the Presidents It is contemplated to commence early in the next season the execution of the other branch of the act— that which relates to roads — and with the survey of a route from this city, through the Southern States, to New Orleans, the importance of which can not be too highly estimated. All the officers of both the corps of engineers who could be spared from other services have been employed in exploring and surveying the routes for canals. To digest a plan for both objectsfor the great purposes specified will require a thorough knowledge of every part of our Union and of the relation of each part to the others and of all to the seat of the General Government. For such a digest it will be necessary that the information be full, minute, and precise. With a view to these important objects, I submit to the consideration of the Congress the propriety of enlarging both the corps of engineers — the military and topographical. It need scarcely be remarked that the more extensively these corps are engaged in the improvement of their country, in the execution of the powers of Congress, and in aid of the States in such improvements as lie beyond that limit, when such aid is desired, the happier the effect will be in many views of which the subject is susceptible. By profiting of their science the works will always be well executed, and by giving to the officers such employ- ment our Union will derive all the advantage, in peace as well as in war, from their talents and services which they can afford. In this mode, also, the military will be incorporated with the civil, and unfounded and injurious distinctions and prejudices of every kind be done away. To the corps themselves this service can not fail to be equally useful, since by the knowledge they would thus acquire they would be eminently better qualified in the event of war for the great purposes for which they were instituted. Our relations with the Indian tribes within our limits have not been materially changed during the year. The hostile disposition evinced by certain tribes on the Missouri during the last year still continues, and has extended in some degree to those on the Upper Mississippi and the Upper I,akes. Several parties of our citizens have been plundered and murdered by those tribes. In order to establish relations of friendship with them, Congress at the last session made an appropriation for treaties with them and for the employment of a suitable military escort to accompany and attend the commissioners at the places appointed for the negotiations. This object has not been effected. The season was too far advanced when the appropriation was made and the distance too great to permit it; but measures have been taken, and all the preparations will be com- pleted to accomplish it at an early period in the next season. Believing that the hostility of the tribes, particularly on the Upper Mis- sissippi and the I,akes, is in no small degree owing to the wars which are carried on between the tribes residing in that quarter, measures have been taken to bring about a general peace among them, which, if successful, will not only tend to the security of our citizens, but be of great advan- tage to the Indians themselves. James Monroe 257 With the exception of the tribes referred to, our relations with all the others are on the same friendly footing, and it affords me great satisfac- tion to add that they are making steady advances in civihzation and the improvement of their condition. Many of the tribes have already made great progress in the arts of civiUzed life. This desirable result has been brought about by the humane and persevering policy of the Government, and particularly by means of the appropriation for the civihzation of the Indians. There have been estabhshed under the provisions of this act 32 schools, containing 916 scholars, who are well instructed in several branches of hterature, and likewise in agriculture and the ordinary arts of life. Under the appropriation to authorize treaties with the Creeks and Quaupaw Indians commissioners have been appointed and negotiations are now pending, but the result is not yet known. For more full information respecting the principle which has been adopted for carrying into effect the act of Congress authorizing surveys, with plans and estimates for canals and roads, and on every other branch of duty incident to the Department of War, I refer you to the report of the Secretary. The squadron in the Mediterranean has been maintained in the extent which was proposed in the report of the Secretary of the Navy of the last year, and has afforded to our commerce the necessary protection in that sea. Apprehending, however, that the unfriendly relations which have existed between Algiers and some of the powers of Europe might be extended to us, it has been thought expedient to augment the force there, and in consequence the North Carolina, a ship of the line, has been prepared, and will sail in a few days to join it. The force employed in the Gulf of Mexico and in the neighboring seas for the suppression of piracy has likewise been preserved essentially in the state in which it was during the last year. A persevering effort has been made for the accomplishment of that object, and much protection has thereby been afforded to our commerce, but still the practice is far from being suppressed. From every view which has been taken of the subject it is thought that it will be necessary rather to augment than to diminish our force in that quarter. There is reason to believe that the piracies now complained of are committed by bands of robbers who in- habit the land, and who, by preserving good intelligence*with the towns and seizing favorable opportunities, rush forth and fall on unprotected merchant vessels, of which they make an easy prey. The pillage thus taken they carry to their lurking places, and dispose of afterwards at prices tending to seduce the neighboring population. This combination is under- stood to be of great extent, and is the more to be deprecated because the crime of piracy is often attended with the murder of the crews, these rob- bers knowing if any survived their lurking places would be exposed and they be caught and punished. That this atrocious practice should be M P — vol, II — 17 258 Messages, and Papers of the Presidents carried to such extent is cause of equal surprise and regret. It is presumed that it must be attributed to the relaxed and feeble state of the local gov- ernments, since it is not doubted, from the high character of the governor of Cuba, who is well known and much respected here, that if he had the power he would promptly suppress it. Whether those robbers should be pursued on the land, the local authorities be made responsible for these atrocities, or any other measure be resorted to to suppress them, is sub- mitted to the consideration of Congress. In execution of the laws for the suppression of the slave trade a vessel has been occasionally sent from that squadron to the coast of Africa with orders to return thence by the usual track of the slave ships, and to seize any of our vessels which might be engaged in that trade. None have been found, and it is believed that none are thus employed. It is well known, however, that the trade still exists under other flags. The health of our squadron while at Thompsons Island has been much better during the present than it was the last season. Some improve- ments have been made and others are contemplated there which, it is believed, will have a very salutary effect. On the Pacific our commerce has much increased, and on that coast, as well as on that sea, the United States have many important interests which require attention and protection. It is thought that all the con- siderations which suggested the expediency of placing a squadron on that sea operate with augmented force for maintaining it there, at least in equal extent. For detailed information respecting the state of our maritime force on each sea, the improvement necessary to be made on either in the organ- ization of the naval establishment generally, and of the laws for its better government I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the Navy, which is herewith communicated. The revenue of the Post-Office Department has received a considerable augmentation in the present year. The current receipts will exceed the expenditures, although the transportation of the mail within the year has been much increased. A report of the Postmaster-General, which is transmitted, will furnish in detail the necessary information respecting the administration and present state of this Department. In conformity with a resolution of Congress of the last session, an invi- tation was given to General Lafayette to visit the United States, with an assurance that a ship of war should attend at any port of Prance which he might designate, to receive and convey him across the Atlantic, whenever it might be convenient for him to sail. He declined the offer of the public ship from motives of delicacy, but assured me that he had long intended and would certainly visit our Union in the course of the present year. In August last he arrived at New York, where he was received with the warmth of affection and gratitude to which his very important and disin- terested services and sacrifices in our Revolutionary struggle so eminently James Monroe 259 entitled him. A corresponding sentiment has since been manifested in his favor throughout every portion of our Union, and affectionate invita- tions have been given him to extend his -visits to them. To these he has yielded all the accommodation in his power. At every designated point of rendezvous the whole population of the neighboring country has been assembled to greet him, among whom it has excited in a peculiar man- ner the sensibility of all to behold the surviving members of our Revo- lutionary contest, civil and military, who had shared with him in the toils and dangers of the war, many of them in a decrepit state. A more inter- esting spectacle, it is believed, was never witnessed, because none could be founded on purer principles, none proceed from higher or more disin- terested motives. That the feelings of those who had fought and bled with him in a common cause should have been much excited was natural. There are, however, circumstances attending these interviews which per- vaded the whole community and touched the breasts of every age, even the youngest among us. There was not an individual present who had not some relative who had not partaken in those scenes, nor an infant who had not heard the relation of them. But the circumstance which was most sensibly felt, and which his presence brought forcibly to the recollection of aU, was the great cause in which we were engaged and the blessings which we have derived from our success in it. The struggle was for independence and liberty, public and personal, and in this we suc- ceeded. The meeting with one who had borne so distinguished a part in that great struggle, and from such lofty and disinterested motives, could not fail to affect profoundly every individual and of every age. It is natural that we should all take a deep interest in his future welfare, as we do. His high claims on our Union are felt, and the sentiment tmiversal that they should be met in a generous spirit. Under these impressions I invite your attention to the subject, with a view that, regard- ing his very important services, losses, and sacrifices, a provision may be made and tendered to him which shall correspond with the sentiments and be worthy the character of the American people. In turning our attention to the condition of the civilized world, in which the United States have always taken a deep interest, it is gratifying to see how large a portion of it is blessed with peace. The only wars which now exist within that hmit are those between Turkey and Greece, in Europe, and between Spain and the new Governments, our neighbors, in this hemisphere. In both these wars the cause of independence, of lib- erty and humanity, continues to prevail. The success of Greece, when the relative population of the contending parties is considered, commands our admiration and applause, and that it has had a similar effect with the neighboring powers is obvious. The feeling of the whole civilized world is excited in a high degree in their favor. May we not hope that these sentiments, winning on the hearts of their respective Governments, may lead to a more decisive result; that they may produce an accord among 26o Messages and Papers of the Presidents them to replace Greece on the ground which she formerly held, and to which her heroic exertions at this day so eminently entitle her? With respect to the contest to which our neighbors are a party, it is evident that Spain as a power is scarcely felt in it. These new States had completely achieved their independence before it was acknowledged by the United States, and they have since maintained it with little foreign pressure. The disturbances which have appeared in certain portions of that vast territory have proceeded from internal causes, which had their origin in their former Governments and have not yet been thoroughly removed. It is manifest that these causes are daily losing their effect, and that these new States are settling down under Governments elective and representative in every branch, similar to our own. In this course we ardently wish them to persevere, under a firm conviction that it will promote their happiness. In this, their career, however, we have not interfered, believing that every people have a right to institute for them- selves the government which, in their judgment, may suit them best. Our example is before them, of the good effect of which, being our neigh- bors, they are competent judges, and to their judgment we leave it, in the expectation that other powers will pursue the same policy. The deep interest which we take in their independence, which we have acknowl; edged, and in their enjoyment of all the rights incident thereto, especially in the very important one of instituting their own Governments, has been declared, and is known to the world. Separated as we are from Europe by the great Atlantic Ocean, we can have no concern in the wars of the European Governments nor in the causes which produce them. The balance of power between them, into whichever scale it may turn in its various vibrations, can not affect us. It is the interest of the United States to preserve the most friendly relations with every power and on conditions fair, equal, and applicable to all. But in regard to our neigh- bors our situation is different. It is impossible for the European Govern- ments to interfere in their concerns, especially in those alluded to, which are vital, without affecting us; indeed, the motive which might induce such interference in the present state of the war between the parties, if a war it may be called, would appear to be equally applicable to us. It is gratifying to know that some of the powers with whom we enjoy a very friendly intercourse, and to whom these views have been communicated, have appeared to acquiesce in them. The augmentation of our population with the expansion of our Union and increased number of States have produced effects in certain branches of our system which merit the attention of Congress. Some of our arrangements, and particularly the judiciary establishment, were made with a view to the original thirteen States only. Since then the United States have acquired a vast extent of territory; eleven new States have been admitted into the Union, and Territories have been laid off for three others, which will likewise be admitted at no distant day. An James Monroe 261 organization of the Supreme Court which assigns to the judges any portion of the duties which belong to the inferior, requiring their passage over so vast a space under any distribution of the States that may now be made, if not impracticable in the execution, must render it impossible for them to discharge the duties of either branch with advantage to the Union. The duties of the Supreme Court would be of great importance if its deci- sions were confined to the ordinary limits of other tribunals, but when it is considered that this court decides, and in the last resort, on all the great questions which arise under our Constitution, involving those between the United States individually, between the States and the United States, and between the latter and foreign powers, too high an estimate of their importance can not be formed. The great interests of the nation seem to require that the judges of the Supreme Court should be exempted from every other duty than those which are incident to that high trust. The organization of the inferior courts would of course be adapted to cir- cumstances. It is presumed that such an one might be formed as would secure an able and faithful discharge of their duties, and without any material augmentation of expense. The condition of the aborigines within our limits, and especially those who are within the limits of any of the States, merits likewise particular attention. Experience has shown that unless the tribes be civilized they can never be incorporated into our system in any form whatever. It has likewise shown that in the regular augmentation of our population| with the extension of our settlements their situation will become deplorable, , if their extinction is not menaced. Some well-digested plan which will rescue them from such calamities is due to their rights, to the rights of humanity, and to the honor of the nation. Their civilization is indis- pensable to their safety, and this can be accomplished only by degrees. The process must commence witl; the infant state, through whom some effect may be wrought on the parental. Difficulties of the most serious character present themselves to the attainment of this very desirable result on the territory on which they now reside. To remove them from it by force, even with a view to their own security and happiness, would be revolting to humanity and utterly unjustifiable. Between the limits of our present States and Territories and the Rocky Mountains and Mexico there is a vast territory to which they might be invited with inducements which might be successful. It is thought if that territory should be* divided into districts by previous agreement with the tribes now resid- ing there and civil governments be established in each, with schools for every branch of instruction in literature and the arts of civilized life, that all the tribes now within our limits might gradually be drawn there. The execution of this "plan would necessarily be attended with expense, and that not inconsiderable, but it is doubted whether any other can be devised which would be less liable to that objection or more likely to succeed. 262 Messages and Papers of the Presidents In looking to the interests whicli the United States have on the Pacific Ocean and on the western coast of this continent, the propriety of estab- lishing a military post at the mouth of Columbia River, or at some other point in that quarter within our acknowledged limits, is submitted to the consideration of Congress. Our commerce and fisheries on that sea and along the coast have much increased and are increasing. It is thought that a military post, to which our ships of war might resort, would afford protection to every interest, and have a tendency to conciliate the tribes to the northwest, with whom our trade is extensive. It is thought also that by the establishment of such a post the intercourse between our Western States and Territories and the Pacific and our trade with the tribes residing in the interior on each side of the Rocky Mountains would be essentially promoted. To carry this object into effect the appropria- tion of an adequate sum to authorize the employment of a frigate, with an officer of the Corps of Engineers, to explore the mouth of the Columbia River and the coast contiguous thereto, to enable the Executive to make such establishment at the most suitable point, is recommended to Con- gress. It is thought that attention is also due to the improvement of this city. The communication between the public buildings and in various other parts and the grounds around those buildings reqture it. It is presumed also that the completion of the canal from the Tiber to the Eastern Branch would have a very salutary effect. Great exertions have been made and expenses incurred by the citizens in improvements of various kinds; but those which are suggested belong exclusively to the Government, or are of a nature to require expenditures beyond their resources. The public lots which are still for sale would, it is not doubted, be more than adequate to these purposes. From the view above presented it is manifest that the situation of the United States is in the highest degree prosperous and happy. There is no object which as a people we can desire which we do not possess or which is not within our reach. Blessed with governments the happiest which the world ever knew, with no distinct orders in society or divided interests in any portion of the vast territory over which their dominion extends, we have every motive to cling together which can animate a virtuous and enlightened people. The great object is to preserve these • blessings, and to hand them down to the latest posterity. Our experience ought to satisfy us that our progress under the most correct and provi- dent policy will not be exempt from danger. Our institutions form an important epoch in the history of the civilized world. On their preserva- tion and in their utmost purity everything will depend. Extending as our interests do to everj'- part of the inhabited globe and to every sea to which our citizens are carried by their industry and enterprise, to which they are invited by the wants of others, and have a right to go, we must either protect them in the enjoyment of their rights or abandon them in James Monroe 263 certain events to waste and desolation. Our attitude is highly interest- ing as relates to other powers, and particularly to our southern neigh- bors. We have duties to perform with respect to all to which we must be faithful. To every kind of danger we should pay the most vigilant and unceasing attention, remove the cause where it may be practicable, and be prepared to meet it when inevitable. Against foreign danger the policy of the Government seems to be already settled. The events of the late war admonished us to make our maritime frontier impregnable by a well-digested chain of fortifications, and to give efficient protection to our commerce by augmenting our Navy to a certain extent, which has been steadily pursued, and which it is incumbent upon us to complete as soon as circumstances will permit. In the event of war it is on the maritime frontier that we shall be assailed. It is in that quarter, therefore, that we should be prepared to meet the attack. It is there that our whole force will be called into action to pre- vent the destruction of our towns and the desolation and pillage of the interior. To give full effect to this policy great improvements will be indispensable. Access to those works by every practicable communi- cation should be made easy and in every direction. The intercourse between every part of our Union should also be promoted and facilitated by the exercise of those powers which may comport with a faithful regard to the great principles of our Constitution. With respect to inter- nal causes, those gfreat principles point out with equal certainty the policy to be pursued. Resting on the people as our Governments do. State and National, with well-defined powers, it is of the highest importance that they severally keep within the limits prescribed to them. Fulfilling that sacred duty, it is of equal importance that the movement between them be harmonious, and in case of any disagreement, should any such occur, a calm appeal be made to the people, and that their voice be heard and promptly obeyed. Both Governments being instituted for the common good, we can not fail to prosper while those who made them are attentive to the conduct of their representatives and control their measures. In the pursuit of these great objects let a generous spirit and national views and feelings be indulged, and let every part recollect that by cherishing that spirit and improving the condition of the others in what relates to their welfare the general interest will not only be promoted, but the local advantage be reciprocated by all. I can not conclude this communication, the last of the kind which I shall have to make, without recollecting with great sensibility and heartfelt gratitude the many instances of the public confidence and the generous support which I have received from my fellow-citizens in the various trusts with which I have been honored. Having commenced my serv- ice in early youth, and continued it since with few and short intervals, I have witnessed the great difficulties to which our Union has been exposed, and admired the virtue and intelligence with which they have 264 Messages and Papers of the Presidents been surmounted. From the present prosperous and happy state I derive a gratification which I can not express. That these blessings may be preserved and perpetuated will be the object of my fervent and unceas- ing prayers to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe. JAMES MONROE. SPBCIAIv MESSAGES. December 6, 1824. To the House of Representatives of the United States: Agreeably to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 13th of May last, requesting the President to cause to be made and submitted to the House on the first day of the next [present] session of Congress a full and complete statement of the exact number of lots belonging to the United States in the city of "Washington which have been sold by the public agents for that purpose; when sold, by whom, to whom, and for what price each lot was purchased; what part of the purchase money has been paid, the amount due, and by whom due, and when payable; whether the debts are well secured, and whether the money received has been applied, to what purposes, and by whom, I herewith transmit a report and statements from the Commissioner of Public Buildings, which will afford the information required. JAMES MONROE. December 13, 1824. To the House of Representatives of the United States: In compliance with an act of Congress which originated in the House of Representatives, passed the 26th of May, 1824, "to authorize the President of the United States to enter into certain negotiations relative to lands located under Virginia military land warrants, lying between Ludlow's and Roberts's lines, in the State of Ohio, ' ' I herewith transmit a report^ with accompanying documents, from the Commissioner of the General Land Office, shewing the measures which have been taken under the provisions of the aforesaid act. JAMES MONROE. Washington, December ij, 1824.. The President of the Senate pro tempore: I transmit to the Senate a convention, negotiated and signed by Samuel D. Heap, acting consul of the United States, on the part of the United States, and Mahmoud Bashaw, Bey of Tunis, on the 24th day of February James Monroe 265 last, together with copies of Mr. Heap's correspondence appertaining to the negotiation of the same, for the constitutional consideration of the Senate with regard to its ratification. ^^^^^ MONROE. Washington, December 13, 1824.. The Prbsidbnt of the Senate of the United States pro tempore: I transmit to the Senate the convention, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the United States and of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Rus- sia at St. Petersburg on the 5th (17th) of April last, referred to in my message to both Houses of Congress, together with the documents apper- taining to the negotiation of the same, for the constitutional consideration of the Senate with regard to its ratification. jamES MONROE. Washington, December pj, 1821}.. To the House of Representatives of the United States: Agreeably to a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 15th instant, requesting the President to lay before the House a copy of the instructions under which the articles of a treaty with the Cherokee Indians were formed by Daniel Smith and R. J. Meigs, acting as com- missioners of the United States, at Telico on the 24th October, 1804, with copies of all the correspondence or other documents relating to that instrument in either of the Executive Departments, with a statement of the causes which prevented an earlier decision upon it, I herewith trans- mit a report from the Secretary of War, with the documents referred to ^°^*" JAMES MONROE. Washington, December 2j, 1824. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I herewith transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of the correspondence with the Government of France re- quested by the resolution of the House of the 26th May last. JAMES MONROE. Department of State, Washington, December 23, 1824. The Secretary of State, to whom has been referred a resolution of the House oJ Representatives of the 26th of May last, requesting that the President of the United States would lay before that House at the then next session, as early as the public interest would permit, the correspondence which might be held with the Govern- ment of France prior to that time on the subject of injuries sustained by citizens of the United States since the year i8o5, has the honor of reporting to the President copies of the docxunents requested by that resolution. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 266 Messages and Papers of the Presidents [Extract of a letter from Mr. Adams (No. i) to Mr. Sheldon, dated Department of State, Washington, August 13, 1823.] I have had the honor of receiving your dispatches Nos. 1 and 2, the latter dated the loth of Jvine. Mr. Gallatin arrived with his family at New York on the 24th of that month. I inclose herewith copies of the recent correspondence between the Count de Menou, the charg^ d'affaires of France, and this Department on various subjects highly inter- esting to the relations between the two countries. With regard to the Count's note of the nth of July, the President received vnth great satisfaction the testimonial of the Viscount de Chateaubriand to the candor and ability with which Mr. Gallatin has performed the duties of his official station in France. The proposal to renew the negotiation in behalf of the well-founded claims of our citizens upon the French Government in connection with a claim on the part of France to special privileges in the ports of Louisiana, which, after a very full discussion, had in the views of this Government been proved utterly ground- less, could neither be accepted nor considered as evidence of the same conciliatory spirit. The claims of our citizens are for mere justice; they are for reparation of unquestionable wrongs — for indemnity or restitution of property taken from them or destroyed without shadow or color of right. The claim under the eighth article of the Louisiana convention has nothing to rest upon but a forced construction of the terms of the stipulation, which the American Government considered, and have invariably considered, as totally without foundation. These are elements not to be coupled together in the same negotiation, and while we yet trust to the final sense of justice of France for the adjustment of the righteous claims of our citizens, we still hope that their unquestionable character will ultimately secure to them a considera- tion unencumbered with other discussions. You will respectfully make this repre- sentation to the "Viscount de Chateaubriand, with the assurance of the readiness of this Government to discuss the question upon the Louisiana convention further if desired by France, but of our final conviction that it is not to be blended with the claims of our citizens for mere justice. Count de Menou to Mr. Adams. [Translation.] Legation op Prance to the United States, Washington, July 11, 1823. The Honorable Secretary op State: His Excellency the Viscount de Chateaubriand, in announcing to me that Mr. Gal- latin was about to leave France, expresses his regret at his departure in such terms that I should do him injustice were I not to use his own expressions. "My corre- spondence with this minister, ' ' he remarks to me, ' ' has caused me to appreciate his talents, his ability, and his attachment to the system of friendship that unites the two powers. It is with regret that I suspend my communications with him." I esteem myself happy, sir, in conveying to you such sentiments toward the repre- sentative of the United States in France, and I should have thought that I had but imperfectly apprehended the design of the Viscount de Chateaubriand had I neg- lected to communicate them to the Federal Government. The minister for foreign affairs reminds me also on this occasion that Mr. Gallatin having frequently laid b^efore him claims of Americans against the French Govern- ment, he had shown himself disposed to enter upon a general negotiation, in which they should be comprehended with claims of French citizens against the Federal Government at the same time with the arrangement relative to the execution of the eighth article of the treaty of Louisiana. The object of his excellency was to arrive James Monroe 267 at a speedy and friendly disposition of all difficulties that might subsist between the two powers, well assured that France and the United States would be found to have the same views of justice and conciliation. His excellency regrets that Mr. Gallatin, who, he says, "has convinced him how pleasing and advantageous it is to negotiate with a statesman who exhibits candor and ability in his discussions," did not receive from his Government during his stay in France the necessary powers for this double negotiation. But he informs me that the Government of His Majesty remains always disposed to open it, either with Mr. Gallatin should he return with these powers, or with Mr. Sheldon if the Federal Government should think proper to confer them on him. I greatly desire, sir, to see these propositions acceded to by the Federal Govern- ment and to be able to reply to his excellency, as he expresses his wish that an arrangement putting an end to every subject of discussion might soon be expected. I pray the Secretary of State to receive the renewed assurance of my high consid- eration. The charg^ d'affaires of France near the United States, MENOU. Mr. Adams to Count de Menou. Departmbnt op State, Washington, August 12, 1823. The Count de Menou, Chargk d'' Affaires from France. Sir: Yotir letter of the nth of last month has been submitted to the consideration of the President of the United States, by whom I am directed to express the high satisfaction that he has felt at the manner in which His Excellency the Viscount de Chateaubriand has noticed in his correspondence with you the temporary absence of Mr. Gallatin from France and the terms of regard and esteem with which he -notices the character and conduct of that minister. The anxious desire of the President for the promotion of the good understanding between the United States and France could not be more gratified than by the testimonial of His Most Christian Majesty's Gov- ernment to the good faith and ability with which the minister of the United States at his Court has performed his official duties. With regard to the assurance of His Excellency the Viscount de Chateaubriand's disposition to enter upon a negotiation vnth Mr. Gallatin in the event of his return to France, or with Mr. Sheldon during his absence, concerning the claims of citizens of the United States on the Government of France in connection with an arrange- ment concerning the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty, I am directed to observe that those subjects rest upon grounds so totally different that the Government of the United States can not consent to connect them together in negotiation. The claims of the citizens of the United States upon the French Government have been of many years' standing, often represented by successive ministers of the United States, and particularly by Mr. Gallatin during a residence of seven years, with a per- spicuity of statement and a force of evidence which could leave to the Government of the United States no desire but that they should have been received with friendly attention and no regret but that they should have proved ineffectual. The justice of these claims has never been denied by France, and while the United States are still compelled to wait for their adjustment, similar and less forceful claims of the sub- jects of other nations have been freely admitted and liquidated. A long and protracted discussion has already taken place between the two Govern- ments in relation to the claim of France under the eighth article of the Louisiana convention, the result of which has been a thorough conviction on the part of the American Government that the claim has no foundation in the treaty whatever. The 268 Messages and Papers of the Presidents reasons for this conviction have been so fully set forth in the discussion that it was not anticipated a further examination of it would be thought desirable. As a subject of discussion, however, the American Government is willing to resume it whenever it may suit the views of France to present further considerations relating to it; but while convinced that the claim is entirely without foundation, they can not place it on a footing of concurrent negotiation with claims of their citizens, the justice of which is so unequivocal that they have not even been made the subject of denial. From the attention which His Excellency the Viscount de Chateaubriand has inti- mated his willingness to give to the consideration of these claims the President indulges the hope that they will be taken into view upon their own merits, and in that hope the representative of the United States at Paris will at an early day be instructed to present them again to the undivided and unconditional sense of the justice of France. I pray you, sir, to accept the renewed assurance of my distinguished consideration. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [Extract of a letter from Mr. Sheldon (No. ii) to Mr. Adams, dated Paris, October i6, 1823.] I took an early occasion after the receipt of your dispatch No. i, of the loth August, to communicate the subjects of it in a conversation I had with Viscount de Chateau- briand. His observations in relation to that of the claims, as connected with the pretensions of France under the I,ouisiana treaty, were of a very general nature and amounted to little more than a repetition of his readiness to enter upon the consider- ation of whatever subjects of discussion might exist between the two countries and the expression of his satisfaction at the prospect of being soon relieved from the labor which the affairs of Spain had thrown upon him, and having thus more time to devote to those of the United States and others not of the same pressing nature. He avoided any intimation of a disposition to take up the claims by themselves, and it can hardly be expected that the French Government will at this time relax from the ground they have so lately taken upon that point. I informed him that I should communicate in writing an answer to the overture made by Count de Menou at Wash- ington for uniting in a new negotiation this subject with that of th(5 Louisiana treaty, in substance the same as that gentleman had already received there, and should again press upon the French Government the consideration of the claims by themselves; to which he replied that any communication I might make would be received and treated with all the attention to which it was entitled on his part. Mr. Sheldon to the Viscount de Chateaubriand. Paris, October it, 1823. Sir: Mr. Gallatin, during his residence as minister of the United States in France, had upon various occasions called the attention of His Majesty's Government to the claims of our citizens for the reparation of wrongs sustained by them from the unjust seizure, detention, and confiscation of their property by of&cers and agents acting under authority of the Government of France. During the past year His Majesty's ministers had consented to enter upon the consideration of these claims, but they proposed to couple with it another subject having no connection with those claims, either in its nature, its origin, or the principles on which it depended — a question of the disputed construction of one of the articles of the treaty of cession of Louisiana, by virtue of which France claimed certain commercial privileges in the ports of that Province. Mr. Gallatin had not received from his Government any authority to con- nect these two dissimilar subjects in the same negotiation, or, indeed, to treat upon the latter, which had already been very amply discussed at Washington between the Secretary of State of the United States and His Majesty's minister at that place, James Monroe 269 without producing any result except a conviction on the part of the Government of the United States that the privileges for French vessels, as claimed by the minister of France, never could have been, and were not in fact, conceded by the treaty in ques- tion. A stop was then put to the negotiations already commenced in relation to the claims, and with which had been united, on the proposition of the French Govern- ment, and as being naturally connected with it, the consideration of certain claims of French citizens on the Government of the United States. The charg6 d'affaires of France at Washington has lately, on behalf of his Govern- ment, expressed to that of the United States a wish that this double negotiation might be resumed and that a definitive arrangement might be made as well in relation to the disputed article of the Louisiana treaty as of the subject of the claims upon the one side and upon the other. The Government of the United States has nothing more at heart than to remove by friendly arrangements every subject of difference which may exist between the two countries, and to examine with the greatest impartiality and good faith as well the nature and extent of the stipulations into which they have entered as the appeals to their justice made by individuals claiming reparation for vprongs supposed to have been sustained at their hands. But these two subjects are essentially dissimilar; there are no points of connection between them; the principles upon which they depend are totally different; they have no bearing upon each other; and the justice which is due to individuals ought not to be delayed or made dependent upon the right or the wrong interpretation by one or the other party of a treaty having for its object the regulation of entirely dis- tinct and different interests. The reclamations of American citizens upon the Government of France eire for mere justice — for the reparation of unquestionable wrongs, indemnity or restitution of property taken from them or destroyed forcibly and without right. They are of ancient date, and justice has been long and anxiously waited for. They have been often represented to the Government of France, and their validity is not disputed. Similar reclamations without greater merit or sti'onger titles to admission presented by citizens of other nations have been favorably received, examined, and liquidated, and it seems to have been hitherto reserved to those of the United States alone to meet with impediments at every juncture and to seek in vain the moment in which the Government of France could consent to enter upon their consideration. Although the question arising under the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty has already been fully examined, the Government of the United States is ready, if it is desired by France, and if it is thought that any new light can be thrown upon it, to discuss the subject further whenever it shall be presented anew by France to their consideration. But they are convinced that by blending it with the claims not only will no progress be made toward its solution, but that these last, standing upon their own unquestion- able character, ought not to be trammeled wilii a subject to which they are wholly foreign. I am instructed to bring them anew before your excellency, and to express the hope of the President that His Majesty's Government will not continue to insist upon con- necting together two subjects of so different a nature, but that the claims may be taken up on their own merits and receive the consideration which they deserve, unencmnbered with other discussions. I request yom: excellency to accept the assurance, etc. D. SHELDON. [Extracts of a letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. Brown, dated Washington, December 23, 1823.] You will immediately after your reception earnestly call the attention of the French Government to the claims of our citizens for indemnity. 270 Messages and Papers of the Presidents You will at the same time explicitly make known that this Government can not consent to connect this discussion with that of the pretension raised by France on the construction given by her to the eighth article of the I^ouisiana cession treaty. The difference in the nature and character of the two interests is such that they can not with propriety be blended together. The claims are of reparation to individuals for their property taken from them by manifest and undisputed wrong. The ques- tion upon the Louisiana treaty is a question of right upon the meaning of a contract. It has been fully, deliberately, and thoroughly investigated, and the Government of the United States is under the entire and solemn conviction that the pretension of France is utterly unfounded. We are, nevertheless, willing to resume the discussion if desired by France; but to refuse justice to individuals unless the United States will accede to the construction of an article in a treaty contrary to what they believe to be its real meaning would be not only incompatible with the principles of equity, but submitting to a species of compulsion derogatory to the honor of the nation. [Extract of a letter (No. 2) from James Brown, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States, dated April 28, 1824.] I have in a letter to M. de Chateaubriand, copy of which I have now the honor to send, made an effort to separate the claims of our citizens from the Louisiana question. Mr. Brown to M. de Chateaubriand. Paris, April 28, 1S24.. His Excellency Viscount de Chateaubriand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, etc. Sir: In the conference with which your excellency honored me a. few days ago I mentioned a subject deeply interesting to many citizens of the United States, on which I have been instructed to address your excellency, and to which I earnestly wish to call yotu: immediate attention. It is well known to your excellency that my predecessor, Mr. Gallatin, during sev- eral years made repeated and urgent applications to His Majesty's Government for the adjustment of claims to a very large amount, affecting the interests of American citizens and originating in gross violations of the law of nations and of the rights of the United States, and that he never could obtain from France either a settlement of those claims or even an examination and discussion of their validity. To numerous letters addressed by him to His Majesty's ministers on that subject either no answers were given or answers which had for their only object to postpone the investigation of the subject. Whilst, however, he indulged the hope that these delays would be abandoned, and that the rights of our citizens, which had been urged for so many years, would at length be taken up^for examination, he learned with surprise and regret that His Majesty's Government had determined to insist that they should be discussed in connection with the question of the construction of the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty of cession. Against this determination he strongly but ineffec- tually remonstrated in a letter to Mr. De Villele, dated the 12th November, 1822. It is notorious that the Government of the United States, whenever requested by that of His Majesty, have uniformly agreed to discuss any subject presented for their consideration, whether the object has been to obtain the redress of public or private injuries. Acting upon this principle, the question of the eighth article of the Loui- siana treaty was, upon the suggestion of the minister of France, made the subject of a voluminous correspondence, in the course of which all the arguments of the par- ties respectively were fully made known to each other and examined. The result of this discussion has been a. thorough conviction on the part of the Government of the United States that the construction of that article of th'e treaty contended for by France is destitute of any solid foundation and wholly inadmissible. After a James Monroe 271 discussion so full as to exhaust every argument on that question, the attempt to renew it in connection with the question of the claims of our citizens appeared to the Government of the United States to be a measure so contrary to the fair and regular course of examining controverted points between nations that they instructed Mr. Sheldon, their charg^ d'affaires, to prepare and present a note explaining their views of the proceeding, which he delivered on the nth of October, 1823. To this note no answer has ever been received. I have the express instructions of the Government again to call the attention of that of His Majesty to this subject, and to insist that the claims of our citizens may continue to be discussed as a distinct question, without connecting it in any way with the construction of the Louisiana treaty. The two subjects are in every respect dis- similar. The difference in the nature and character of the two interests is such as to prevent them from being blended in the same discussion. The claims against France are of reparation to individuals for their property taken from them by undisputed wrong and injustice; the claim of France under the treaty is that of a right founded on a contract. In the examination of these questions the one can impart no light to the other; they are wholly unconnected, and ought on every principle to undergo a distinct and separate examination. To involve in the same investigation the indis- putable rights of American citizens to indemnity for losses and the doubtful construc- tion of a treaty can have no other effect than to occasion an indefinite postponement of the reparation due to individuals or a sacrifice on the part of the Government of the United States of a treaty stipulation in order to obtain that reparation. The United States would hope that such an alternative will not be pressed upon them by the Government of His Majesty. Whilst I indulge a hope that the course to which I have objected will no longer be insisted on by His Majesty's ministers, permit me to renew to your excellency the sincere assurance that the United States earnestly desire that every subject of differ- ence between the two countries should be amicably adjusted and all their relations placed upon the most friendly footing. Although they believe that any further dis- cussion of the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty would be wholly unprofitable, they will be at all times ready to renew the discussion of that article or to examine any question .which may remain to be adjusted between them and France. I request your excellency to accept, etc. JAMES BROWN. [Extract of a letter (No. 3) from James Brown to the Secretary of State, dated Paris, May 11, 1824.] I have the honor to inclose a copy of the answer of the minister of foreign affairs to the letter which I addressed to him on the 27th ultimo, upon the subject of the claims of our citizens against the French Government. You will perceive that no change has been made in the determination expressed to Mr. Gallatin of connecting in the same discussion the question on the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty of cession and the claims of the citizens of the United States against France. In express- ing this resolution it has not been considered necessary even to notice the arguments made use of to induce them to adopt a different opinion. Viscount Chateaubriand to Mr. Brown. [Translation.] Paris, May 7, 1824. Sir: The object of the letter which you did me the honor to address to me on the 28th of April is to recall the affair of American claims, already repeatedly called up by your predecessors, that they may be regulated by an arrangement between the two powers, and that in this negotiation the examination of the difficulties which 273 Messages and Papers of the Presidents were raised about the execution -of the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty should not be included. Although the claims made by France upon this last point be of a different nature from those of the Americans, yet no less attention ought to be paid to arrange both in a just and amicable manner. Our claims upon the eighth article had already been laid before the Federal Gov- ernment by His Majesty's plenipotentiary when he was negotiating the commercial convention of 24th June, 1S22. The negotiators not agreeing upon a subject so important, the King's Government did not wish this difficulty to suspend any longer the conclusion of an arrangement which might give more activity to commerce and multiply relations equally useful to the two powers. It reserves to itself the power of comprehending this object in another negotiation, and it does not renounce in any manner the claim which it urged. It is for this reason, sir, that my predecessors and myself have constantly insisted that the arrangements to be made upon the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty should be made a part of those which your Government were desirous of making upon other questions still at issue. It is the intention of His Majesty not to leave unsettled any subject of grave dis- cussion between the two States, and the King is too well convinced of the friendly sentiments of your Government not to believe that the United States will be disposed to agree with France on all the points. His Majesty authorizes me, sir, to declare to you that a negotiation will be opened with you iipon the American claims if this negotiation should also include the French claims, and particularly the arrangements to be concluded concerning the execution of the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty. Accept, sir, the assurances of the very distinguished consideration with which I have the honor to be, etc. , * CHATEAUBRIAND. [Extracts of a letter (No. 4) from the Secretary of State to Mr. Brown, dated Department of State, "Washington, August 14, 1824.] The subject which has first claimed the attention of the President has been the result of your correspondence with the Viscount de Chateaubriand in relation to the claims of numerous citizens of the United States upon the justice of the French Gov- ernment. I inclose herewith a copy of the report of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the House of Representatives upon several petitions addressed to that body at their last session by some of those claimants and a resolution of the House adopted there- upon. The President has deliberately considered the purport of M. de Chateaubriand's answer to your note of the 28th of April upon this subject, and he desires that you will renew with earnestness the application for indemnity to our citizens for claims notoriously just and resting upon the same principle with others which have been admitted and adjusted by the Government of France. In the note' of the Viscount de Chateaubriand to you of 7th May it is said that he is authorized to declare a negotiation will be opened with you upon the American claims if this negotiation should also include French claims, and particularly the arrangements to be concluded concerning the execution of the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty. You are authorized in reply to declare that any just claims which subjects of France may have upon the Government of the United States will readily be included in the negotiation, and to stipulate any suitable provision for the examination, adjustment, and satisfaction of them. James Monroe 275 But the question relating to the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty is not only of a different character — it can not be blended with that of indemnity for individual claims without a sacrifice on the part of the United States of a principle of right. The negotiation for indemnity presupposes that wrong has been done, that indem- nity ought to be made, and the object of any treaty stipulation concerning it can only be to ascertain what is justly due and to make provision for the payment of it. By consenting to connect with such a negotiation that relating to the eighth article of the Louisiana convention the United States would abandon the principle upon which the whole discussion concerning it depends. The situation of the parties to the nego- tiation would be unequal. The United States, asking reparation for admitted wrong, are told that France will not discuss it with them unless they will first renounce their own sense of right to admit and discuss with it a claim the justice of which they have constantly denied. The Government of the United States is prepared to renew the discussion with that of France relating to the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty in any manner which may be desired and by which they shall not be understcTod to admit that France has any claim under it whatever. Mr. Brown to Mr. Adams {JVo. 12). Paris, August 12, 1824. Sir: Some very unimportant changes have taken place in the composition of the ministry. The Baron de Damas, late minister of war, is now minister of foreign affairs; the Marquis de Clermont Tonnese is appointed to the department of war, and the Count Chabrol de Crousal to that of the marine. These appointments are believed to correspond with the wishes of the president of the Council of Ministers, and do not inspire a hope that our claims will be more favorably attended to than they have been under the former administrations. The interpretation of the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty contended for by France will, I apprehend, be persisted in and all indemnity refused until it shall have been discussed and decided. After the correspondence which has already passed upon that article, it would appear that any further discussion upon it would be wholly unprofitable. With a view, however, of ascertaining the opinions of the minister of foreign affairs, I shall at an early day solicit a conference with him, and inform you of the result. I have had the honor of receiving your letter recommending the claim of Mr. Kingston to my attention. The difficulties which that claim must experience, from its antiquity and from the operation of the treaty of 1803, can not have escaped your observation. It has also to encounter, in common with all our claims, the obstacle presented by the eighth article, which is found broad enough to be used as a shield to protect France, in the opinion of ministers, from the examination and adjustment of any claim which we can present. I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, your most obedient and humble servant, JAMES BROWN. Mr. Brown to Mr. Adams {No. 14). Paris, September 28, 1824. Sir: Little has occurred of importance during the present month, except the death of the King. This event had been anticipated for nearly a year; he had declined gradually, and the affairs of the Government have been for some time almost wholly directed by Monsieiir, who on his accession to the throne has declared that his reign would be only a continuation of that of the late King. No change in the policy of M P— vol, II— 18 274 Messages and Papers of the Presidents the Government is expected, and probably none in the composition of the ministry. The present King is satisfied with Mr. De Villele, who is at its head; and if any of its members should be changed the spirit in which public affairs are directed will not, it is believed, be affected by that circumstance. The ceremonies attending the change of the Crown have principally occupied the public attention for the last fortnight. It will, I presume, be officially announced by the French minister at Washington, and, according to the forms observed here, will, I understand, require fresh letters of credence for all foreign ministers at this Court, addressed to the new King. My health has not permitted me (having been confined for some weeks to the bed by a rheumatic affection) to confer with the Baron de Damas on our affairs since his appointment as minister of the foreign department. I should regret this the more if I were not satisfied that the same impulse will direct the decisions of the Govern- ment upon these points now as before he had this department in charge, and that no favorable change in those decisions can be expected from any personal influence which might be exerted by the new minister. I shall, however, take the earliest opportunity that my health will allow to mention the subject to him and ascertain what his views of it are. I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, your most obedient and humble servant, JAMES BROWN. [Extracts of a letter from Mr. James Brown to Mr. Adams (No. i6).] Paris, October 23, 1824. The packet ship which sailed from New York on the ist of September brought me the letter which you did me the honor to address to me on the 14th of August. In conformity with the instructions contained in that letter, I have addressed one to the Baron de Damas, minister of foreign affairs, a copy of which I now inclose. I expect to receive his answer in time to be sent by the packet which will sail from Havre on the ist of next month, in which event it may probably reach Washington about the 15th of December. The recent changes which have been made in the ministry, of which I have already informed you, do not justify any very strong expectation that a change of measures in relation to our affairs at this Court will follow. The same individuals fill differ- ent places in the ministry from those which they formerly held, but in all probabil- ity adhere to their former opinions in relation to the subjects of discussion between the United States and France. On the point to which my letter to the Baron de Damas particularly relates the Count de Villele has already given his deliberate views in his letters to Mr. Gallatin dated 6th and 15th November, 1822, and I have every reason to believe that they remain unchanged. Having bestowed much atten- tion on the subject, it is probable his opinion will be in a great measure decisive as to the answer which shall be given to my letter. It is the opinion of many well- informed men that in the coturse of a few months important changes will be made in the composition of the ministry. As these changes, however, will proceed from causes wholly unconnected with foreign affairs, I am by no means sanguine in my expectations that under any new composition of the ministry we may hope for a change of policy as it relates to our claims. The eighth article of the Louisiana treaty vnll be continually put forward as a bar to our claims and its adjustment urged as often as we renew our claim for indemnity. The Journal des D^bats of this morning states that at a superior council of com- merce and of the colonies at which His Majesty yesterday presided Mr. De St. Cricq, president of the bureau de commerce, made a report on the commercial convention of the 24th June, 1822, between the United States and France. James Monroe 275 Mr. Brown to Baron de Damas. Paris, October 22, 1824. His Excellency Baron de Damas, Minhter of Foreign Affairs, etc. Sir: I availed myself of the earliest opportunity to transmit to my Government a copy of the letter which I had the honor to address to the Viscount de Chateaubriand on the 28th day of April last, together with a copy of his answer to that letter, dated 7th of May. After a candid and deliberate consideration of the subject of that correspondence, my Government has sent me recent instructions to renew with earnestness the appli- cation, already so frequently and so ineffectually made, for indemnity to our citizens for claims notoriously just, and resting on the same principles with others which have been admitted and adjusted by the Government of France. In reply to that part of the Viscount de Chateaubriand's letter in which he offers to open with me a negotiation upon American claims if that negotiation should also include French claims, and particularly the arrangements to be concluded concern- ing the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty, I have been instructed to declare that any just claims which the subjects of France may have upon the Government of the United States will readily be embraced in the negotiation, and that I am authorized to stipulate any suitable provision for the examination, adjustment, and satisfaction of them. The question relating to the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty is viewed by my Government as one of a very different character. It can not be blended with that of indemnity for individual claims without a sacrifice on the part of the United States of a principle of right. Every negotiation for indemnity necessarily presupposes that some wrong has been done, and that indemnity ought to be made; and the object of every treaty stipulation respecting it can only be to ascertain the extent of the injury, and to make provision for its adequate reparation. This is precisely the nature of the negotiation for American claims- which has been for so many years the subject of discussion between the Governments of the United States and of France. The wrongs done to our citizens have never been denied, whilst their right to indem- nity has been established by acts done by the French Government in cases depend- ing upon the same principles under which they derive their claim. By consenting to connect with such a negotiation that relating to the eighth article of the Louisi- ana treaty the United States would abandon the principle upon which the whole dis- cussion depends. When asking for reparation for acknowledged wrong the United States have been told that France will not discuss it with them unless they will first renounce their own sense of right and admit and discuss in connection with it a claim the justice of which they have hitherto constantly denied. In any negotia- tion commenced under such circumstances the situation of the parties would be un- equal. By consenting to connect the pretensions of France under the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty with claims for indemnity for acknowledged injustice and injury the United States would be understood as admitting that those pretensions were well founded; that wrong had been done to France for which reparation ought to be made. The Government of the United States, not having yet been convinced that this is the case, can not consent to any arrangement which shall imply an admission so contrary to their deliberate sense of right. I am authorized and prepared on behalf of the United States to enter upon a fur- ther discussion of the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty in any manner which may be desired, and by which they shall not be understood previously to admit that the construction of that article claimed by France is well founded; and also to renew the separate negotiation for American claims, embracing at the same time all just claims which French subjects may have upon the Government of the United States. 276 Messages and Papers of the Presidents The change which has lately taken place in His Majesty's department of foreign affairs encourages the hope that this important subject will be candidly reconsid- ered; that the obstacles which have arrested the progress of the negotiation may be removed, and that the subjects of contestation between the two Governments may be ultimately adjusted upon such principles as may perpetuate the good understanding and harmony which have so long subsisted between the United States and France. Should I, however, be disappointed in the result of this application, it is to be seri- ously apprehended that as the United States have not hitherto seen in the course of the discussion any just claim of France arising from the eighth article of the Louisiana treaty, so in the persevering refusal of the French Government to discuss and adjust the well-founded claims of citizens of the United States to indemnity for wrongs unless in connection with one which they are satisfied is unfounded the United States will ultimately perceive only a determination to deny justice to the claimants. Permit me respectfully to request that at as early a day as your convenience will allow your excellency will favor me with an answer to this letter. I embrace with pleasure this occasion to offer to your excellency the renewed assurance, etc. JAMES BROWN. Washington, December 2^, 182^. To the House of Representatives of the United States: In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 23d December, 1823, requesting that a negotiation should be opened with the British Government ' ' for the cession of so much land on the island of Abaco at or near the Hole-in-the-Wall, and on such other places within the acknowledged dominions of that power on the islands, keys, or shoals of the Bahama Banks as may be necessary for the erection and support of light-houses, beacons, buoys, or floating lights for the security of naviga- tion over or near the said banks, and to be used solely for that purpose," directions were given to the minister of the United States at I^ondon on the ist of January, 1824, to communicate the purport of that resolution to the Government of Great Britain with a view to their acceding to the wish of this; and I transmit to the House copies of Mr. Rush's corre- spondence upon this subject, communicating the result of his application to the British Government. JAMES MONROE. Washington, December 28, 1824.. To the House of Representatives of the United States: In comphance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 27th instant, requesting information explanatory of the character and objects of the visit of the naval officer of the United States commanding in the West Indies to the town of Faxyardo, in the island of Porto Rico, on the day of November last, I herewith transmit a report of the Secretary of the Navy, with a letter from Commodore Porter, which con- tains all the information in possession of the Executive on the subject. James Monroe 277 Deeming the transactions adverted to of high importance, an order has been sent to Commodore Porter to repair hither without delay, that all the circumstances connected therewith may be fully investigated. JAMES MONROE. Washington, January 5, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: As the term of my service in this high trust will expire at the end of the present session of Congress, I think it proper to invite ydur attention to an object very interesting to me, and which in the movement of our Government is deemed on principle equally interesting to the public. I have been long in the service of my country and in its most difficult con- junctures, as well abroad as at home, in the course of which I have had a control over the public moneys to a vast amount. If in the course of my service it shall appear on the most severe scrutiny, which I invite, that the public have sustained any loss by any act of mine, or of others for which I ought to be held responsible, I am willing jio bear it. If, on the other hand, it shall appear on a view of the law and of precedents in other cases that justice has been withheld from me in any instance, as I have believed it to be in many, and greatly to my injury, it is submitted whether it ought not to be rendered. It is my wish that all matters of account and claims between my country and myself be settled with that strict regard to justice which is observed in settlements between individ- uals in private life. It would be gratifying to me, and it appears to be just, that the subject should be now examined in both respects with a view to a decision hereafter. No bill would, it is presumed, be presented for my signature which would operate, either for or against me, and I would certainly sanction none in my favor. While here I can furnish testimony, applicable to any case, in both views, which a full investiga- tion may require, and the committee to whom the subject may be referred, by reporting facts now with a view to a decision after my retirement, will allow time for further information and due consideration of all matters re- lating thereto. Settlements with a person in this trust, which could not be made with the accounting officers of the Government, should always be made by Congress and before the public. The cause of the delay in presenting these claims will be explained to the committee to whom the subject may be referred. It will, I presume, be made apparent that it was inevitable; that from the peculiar circumstances attending each case Con- gress alone could decide on it, and that from considerations of delicacy it would have been highly improper for me to have sought it from Congress at an earher period than that which is now proposed — the expiration of my term in this high trust. Other considerations appear to me to operate with great force in favor of the measure which I now propose. A citizen who has long served his country in its highest trusts has a right, if he has served with fidelity, to 278 Messages and Papers of the Presidents enjoy undisturbed tranquillity and peace in his retirement. This he can not expect to do unless his conduct in all pecuniary concerns shall be placed by severe scrutiny on a basis not to be shaken. This, therefore, forms a strong motive with me for the inquiry which I now invite. The public may also derive considerable advantage from the precedent in the future movement of the Government. It being known that such scrutiny was made in my case, it may form a new and .strong barrier against the abuse of the public confidence in future. JAMES MONROE. Washington, January 10, 1823. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I should hasten to communicate to you the documents called for by the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 4th instant, relating to the conduct of the officers of the Navy of the United States on the Pacific Ocean and of other public agents in South America, if such a communi- cation might now_be made consistently with the public interest or with justice to the parties concerned. In consequence of several charges which have been alleged against Commodore Stewart, touching his conduct while commanding the squadron of the United States on that sea, it has been deemed proper to suspend him from duty and to subject him to trial on these charges. It appearing also that some of those charges have been communicated to the Department by Mr. Prevost, political agent at this time of the United States at Peru, and heretofore at Buenos Ayres and Chile, and apparently with his sanction, and that charges have Uke- wise been made against him by citizens of the United States engaged in commerce in that quarter, it has been thought equally just and proper that he should attend here, as well to furnish the evidence in his posses- sion applicable to the charges exhibited against Commodore Stewart as to answer such as have been exhibited against himself. In this stage the publication of those documents might tend to excite prejudices which might operate to the injury of both. It is important that the public servants in every station should perform their duty with fidelity, according to the injunctions of the law and the orders of the Executive in fulfillment thereof. It is peculiarly so that this should be done by the commanders of our squadrons, especially on distant seas, and by political agents who represent the United States with foreign powers, for reasons that are obvious in both instances. It is due to their rights and to the character of the Government that they be not censured without just cause, which can not be ascertained until, on a view of the charges, they are heard in their defense, and after a thorough and impartial inves- tigation of their conduct. Under these circumstances it is thought that a communication at this time of those documents would not comport with the public interest nor with what is due to the parties concerned. JAMES MONROE. James Monroe 279 Washington, January ij, 1825. To the Senate of the United States: In compliance with two resolutions of the Senate, the first of the 21st and the second of the 23d December last, requesting information respect- ing the injuries which have been sustained by our citizens by piratical depredations, and other details connected therewith, and requesting also information of the measures which have been adopted for the suppression of piracy, and whether in the opinion of the Executive it will not be nec- essary to adopt other means for the accomplishment of the object, and, in that event, what other means it will be most advisable to recur to, I here- with transmit a report from the Secretary of State, and likewise a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with the documents referred to in each. On the very important question submitted to the Executive as to the necessity of recurring to other more effectual means for the suppression of a practice so destructive of the lives and property of our citizens, I have to observe that three expedients occur — one by the pursuit of the offenders to the settled as well as the unsettled parts of the island from whence they issue, another by reprisal on the property of the inhabitants, and a third by the blockade of the ports of those islands. It will be obvious that neither of these measures can be resorted to in a spirit of amity with Spain otherwise than in a firm belief that neither the Govern- ment of Spain nor the government of either of the islands has the power to suppress that atrocious practice, and that the United States interposed their aid for the accomplishment of an object which is of equal impor- tance to them as well as to us. Acting on this principle, the facts which justify the proceeding being universally known and felt by all engaged in commerce in that sea, it may fairly be presumed that neither will the Government of Spain nor the government of either of those islands com- plain of a resort to either of those measures, or to all of them, should such resort be necessary. It is therefore suggested that a power commen- surate with either resource be granted to the Executive, to be exercised according to his discretion and as circumstances may imperiously require. It is hoped that the manifestation of a policy so decisive will produce the happiest result; that it will rid these seas and this hemisphere of this practice. This hope is strengthened by the belief that the Government of Spain and the governments of the islands, particularly of Cuba, whose chief is known here, will faithfully cooperate in such measures as may be necessary for the accomplishment of this very important object. To secure such cooperation will be the earnest desire and, of course, the zealous and persevering effort of the Executive. JAMES MONROE. Washington, January tj, 1825. To the Senate of the United States: I transmit to the Senate, for its advice and consent as to the ratification, a treaty which has been concluded by a commissioner duly authorized for 28o Messages and Papers of the Presidents the purpose with the Quapaw Indians in Arkansas for the cession of their claim to the lands in that Territory. I transmit also a report from the Secretary of War, with other documents, relating to this subject. JAMES MONROE. Janxtary 17, 1825. To the Senate of the United States: Agreeably to the resolution of the Senate of 19th May last, requesting the President to cause to be laid before the Senate a report ' ' shewing the amount of duties which shall have accrued on importations into the United States for the three quarters of a year ending June 30, 1824; also the amount of duties which would have accrued on the same importations at such higher rates of duty as may be imposed by any act of the present session of Congress, ' ' I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, which contains the information required. JAMES MONROE. Washington, fanuary 18, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I communicate herewith to both Houses of Congress copies of the con- vention between the United States and His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, concluded at St. Petersburg on the 5th (17th) of April last, which has been duly ratified on both sides, and the ratifications of which were exchanged on the i ith instant. j^j^^g ^q^^^^ Washington, fanuary 20, 1823. To the House of Representatives of the United States: In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 19th bf December, 1822, requesting the President to communicate "what progress has been made in the execution of the act of the last session entitled 'An act to abolish the Indian trading estabUshments, ' with a report from the factories, respectively, as the same may be made to him, ' ' I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with documents, which contains the information requested. JAMES MONROE. Washington, fanuary 27, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: Being deeply impressed with the opinion that the removal of the Indian tribes from the lands which they now occupy within the limits of the sev- eral States and Territories to the country lying westward and northward thereof, within our acknowledged boundaries, is of very high importance to our Union, and may be accomplished on conditions and in a manner to James Monroe a8i promote the interest and happiness of those tribes, the attention of the Government has been long drawn with great soHcitude to the object. For the removal of the tribes within the limits of the State of Georgia the motive has been peculiarly strong, arising from the compact with that State whereby the United States are bound to extinguish the Indian title to the lands within it whenever it may be done peaceably and on reason- able conditions. In the fulfillment of this compact, I have thought that the United States should act with a generous spirit; that they should omit nothing which should comport with a liberal construction of the instru- ment and likewise be in accordance with the just rights of those tribes. From the view which I have taken of the subject I am satisfied that in the discharge of these important duties in regard to both the parties' alluded to the United States will have to encounter no conflicting inter- ests with either. On the contrary, that the removal of the tribes from the territory which they now inhabit to that which was desigfnated in the message at the commencement of the session, which would accomplish the object for Georgia, under a well-digested plan for their government and civiUzation, which should be agreeable to themselves, would not only shield them from impending ruin, but promote their welfare and happi- ness. Experience has clearly demonstrated that in their present state it is impossible to incorporate them in such masses, in any form whatever, into our system. It has also demonstrated with equal certainty that with- out a timely anticipation of and provision against the dangers to which they are exposed, under causes which it will be difficult, if not impos- sible, to control, their degradation and extermination will be inevitable. The great object to be accomplished is the removal of these tribes to the territory designated on conditions which shall be satisfactory to them- selves and honorable to the United States. This can be done only by conveying to each tribe a good title to an adequate portion of land to which it may consent to remove, and by providing for it there a system of internal government which shall protect their property from invasion, and, by the regular progress of improvement and civilization, prevent that degeneracy which has generally marked the transition from the one to the other state. I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, which presents the best estimate which can be formed, from the documents in that Depart- ment, of the number of Indians within our States and Territories and of the amount of lands held by the several tribes within each; of the state of the country lying northward and westward thereof, within our acknowl- edged boundaries; of the parts to which the Indian title has already been extinguished, and of the conditions on which other parts, in an amount which may be adequate to the object contemplated, may be obtained. By this report it appears that the Indian title has already been extinguished to extensive tracts in that .quarter, and that other portions maybe acquired to the extent desired on very moderate conditions. Satisfied I also am 283 Messages and Papers of the Presidents that the removal proposed is not only practicable, but that the advantages attending it to the Indians may be made so apparent to them that all the tribes, even those most opposed, may be induced to accede to it at no very distant day. The digest of such a government, with the consent of the Indians, which should be endowed with sufficient power to meet all the objects contem- plated — to connect the several tribes together in a bond of amity and preserve order in each; to prevent intrusions on their property; to teach them by regular instruction the arts of civilized life and make them a civilized people — is an object of very high importance. It is the powerful consideration which we have to ofEer to these tribes as an inducement to relinquish the lands on which they now reside and to remove to those which are designated. It is not doubted that this arrangement will pre- sent considerations of sufficient force to surmount all their prejudices in favor of the soil of their nativity, however strong they may be. Their elders have sufficient intelligence to discern the certain progress of events in the present train, and sufficient virtue, by yielding to momentary sac- rifices, to protect their families and posterity from inevitable destruction. They will also perceive that they may thus attain an elevation to which as communities they could not otherwise aspire. To the United States the proposed arrangement offers many important advantages in addition to those which have been already enumerated. By the establishment of such a government over these tribes with their con- sent we become in reality their benefactors. The relation of conflicting interests which has heretofore existed between them and our frontier set- tlements will cease. There will be no more wars between them and the United States. Adopting such a government, their movement will be in harmony with us, and its good effect be felt throughout the whole extent of our territory to the Pacific. It may fairly be presumed that, through the agency of such a government, the condition of all the tribes inhabiting that vast region may be essentially improved; that permanent peace may be preserved with them, and our commerce be much extended. With a view to this important object I recommend it to Congress to adopt, by solemn declaration, certain fundamental principles in accord with those above suggested, as the basis of such arrangements as may be entered into with the several tribes, to the strict observance of which the faith of the nation shall be pledged. I recommend it also to Congress to provide by law for the appointment of a suitable number of commissioners who shall, under the direction of the President, be authorized to visit and explain to the several tribes the objects of the Government, and to make with them, according to their instructions, such arrangements as shall be best calculated to carry those objects into effect. A negotiation is now depending with the Creek Nation for the cession of lands held by it within the limits of Georgia, and with a reasonable prospect of success. It is presumed, however, that the result will not be James Monroe 283 known during the present session of Congress. To give effect to this negotiation and to the negotiations which it is proposed to hold with all the other tribes within the limits of the several States and Territories on the principles and for the purposes stated, it is recommended that an adequate appropriation be now made by Congress. JAMES MONROE. Washington, January 27, 1823. To the Senate of the United States: I transmit to the Senate a treaty concluded in this city with a deputa- tion from the Choctaw Indians, accompanied with the report from the Secretary of War, with a copy of the correspondence connected with the negotiations, for the advice and consent of the Senate. JAMES MONROE. Washington, February 2, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I communicate herewith to both Houses of Congress copies of the alter- ations in the treaty of peace and friendship of August, 1797, between the United States and the Bashaw Bey of Tunis, concluded at the Palace of Bardo, near Tunis, on the 24th of February last, and of treaties between the United States and the Sock and Fox tribes of Indians and the loway tribe of Indians, concluded at the city of Washington on the 4th of August last, which have been duly ratified. JAMES MONROE Washington, February 4., 1825. The President pro tempore of the Senate: It appearing by certain provisions contained in a late act of the general assembly of Virginia, entitled "An act incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, ' ' that the assent of Congress will be necessary to carry the said act into effect, I herewith transmit a copy thereof, that it may be considered with a view to the object contemplated. JAMES MONROE. [The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.] Washington, February 7, 1825. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I transmit herewith to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of the correspondence relating to the claims of the citizens of the United States upon the Government of the Netherlands, requested by a resolution of the House of the i8th of January last. JAMES MONROE. 284 Messages and Papers of the Presidents Washington, February 11, 1825. To the House of Representatives of the United States: In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of January 5, I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with copies of the proceedings of the courts-martial in the cases of Lieu- tenants Weaver and Conner. JAMES MONROE. Washington, February 14., 1823. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with a report to him by the Chief Engineer, of the examination which has been made by the Board of Engineers for Internal Improvement, in obedience to their instructions, of the country between the Potomac and Ohio rivers, between the latter and I^ake Erie, between the Allegheny and Schuylkill rivers, the Delaware and the Raritan, between Buzzards and Barnstable bays, and the Narraganset roads and Boston Harbor, with explanatory observa- tions on each route. From the view which I have taken of these reports I contemplate results of incalculable advantage to our Union, because I see in them the most satisfactory proof that certain impediments which had a tendency to embarrass the intercourse between some of its most important sections may be removed without serious difficulty, and that facilities may be afforded in other quarters which will have the happiest effect. Of the right in Congress to promote these great results by the appropriation of the public money, in harmony with the States to be affected by them, having already communicated my sentiments fully and on mature consideration, I deem it unnecessary to enlarge at this time. JAMES MONROE. Washington, February 16, 1825. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary of State, containing the information called for by their resolution of the ist of this month, touching the capture and detention of American fish- ermen during the last season. JAMES MONROE. Washington, February ij, 1825. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I herewith transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of the correspondence with the Government of France, requested by the resolution of the House of the 25th of January last. JAMES MONROE. James Monroe 285 Washington, February ly, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I invite the attention of Congress to the pecuHar situation of this Dis- trict in regard to the exposure of its inhabitants to contagious diseases from abroad, against which it is thought that adequate provision should now be made. The exposure being common to the whole District, the regulation should apply to the whole, to make which Congress alone pos- sesses the adequate power. That the regulation should be made by Con- gress is the more necessary from the consideration that this being the seat of the Government, its protection against such diseases must form one of its principal objects. JAMES MONROE. Washington, February 21, 182J. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with a report to him from the Third Auditor, of the settlement in the amount stated of the claims of the State of Massachusetts for services rendered by the militia of that State in the late war, the payment of which has hitherto been prevented by causes which are well known to Congress. Having communicated my sentiments on this subject fully in a message bearing date on the 23d of February, 1824, it is unnecessary to repeat in detail here what I there advanced. By recurring to that message and to the documents referred to in it it will be seen that the conduct of the execu- tive of that State in refusing to place the militia thereof at that difficult conjuncture under the direction of the Executive of the United States, as it was bound to do by a fair construction of the Constitution, and as the other States did, is the great cause to which the difficulty adverted to is to be ascribed. It will also be seen on a view of those documents that the executive of the State was warned at the time if it persevered in the refusal that the consequences which have followed would be inevitable; that the attitude assumed by the State formed a case which was not con- templated by the existing laws of the United States relating to militia services; that the payment of the claims of the State for such services could be provided for by Congress only and by a special law for the pur- pose. Having made this communication while acting in the Department of War to the governor of Massachusetts, with the sanction and under the direction of my enlightened and virtuous predecessor, it would be im- proper in any view which may be taken of the subject for me to change the ground then assumed, to withdraw this great question from the con- sideration of Congress, and to act on it myself. Had the Executive been in error, it is entitled to censure, making a just allowance for the motive which guided it. If its conduct was correct, the ground then assumed ought to be maintained by it. It belongs to Congress alone to terminate 286 Messages and Papers of the Presidents this distressing incident on just principles, with a view to the highest interests of our Union. From the view which I have taken of the subject I am confirmed in the opinion that Congress should now decide on the claim and allow to the State such portions thereof as are founded on the principles laid down in the former message. If those principles are correct, as on great consid- eration I am satisfied they are, it appears to me to be just in itself and of high importance that the sums which may be due in conformity there- with should no longer be withheld from the State. JAMES MONROE. Washington, February 21, 1825. The Prbsident op the Senate pro tempore: I transmit to the Senate a convention, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the United States and of the Republic of Colombia at Bogota on the loth of December, 1824, together with the documents appertaining to the negotiation of the same, for the constitutional consideration of the Senate with regard to its ratification. JAMES MONROE. Washington, February 21, 1825. The President op the Senate pro tempore: I transmit to the Senate a convention of general peace, amity, naviga- tion, and commerce, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the United States and of the Republic of Colombia at Bogota on the 3d of October, 1824, together with the documents appertaining to the negotiation of the same, for the constitutional consideration of the Senate with regard to its rati- fication. JAMES MONROE. Washington, February 23, 1825. To the House of Representatives: I transmit to the House of Representatives a further report from the Secretary of State, in pursuance of their resolution of the ist instant, with the papers to which it refers, upon the subject of the capture and deten- tion of American fishermen the past season in the Bay of Fundy. JAMES MONROE. Washington, February 25, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I communicate herewith to both Houses of Congress copies of the trea- ties between the United States and the Quapaw Nation of Indians, con- cluded at Harringtons, in the Territory of Arkansas, on the 15th day of ' James Monroe 287 November last, and between the United States and the Choctaw Nation of Indians, concluded at the city of Washington on the 20th day of Jan- uary last, which have been duly ratified. JAMES MONROE. Washington, February 26, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: Just before the termination of the last session an act entitled "An act concerning wrecks on the coast of Florida, ' ' which then passed, was pre- sented to me with many others and approved, and, as I thought, signed. A report to that effect was then made to Congress. It appeared, how- ever, after the adjournment that the evidence of such approbation had not been attached to it. Whether the act may be considered in force under such circumstances is a point on which it belongs not to me to decide. To remove all doubt on the subject, I submit to the consider- ation of Congress the propriety of passing a declaratory act to that effect. JAMES MONROE, Washington, February 28, 1825. To the Senate of the United States: I transmit to the Senate, for the exercise of its constitutional power, a treaty lately concluded at the Indian Springs, by commissioners of the United States duly authorized, with the chiefs of the Creek Nation, assembled there in council, with the documents connected therewith. JAMES MONROE. PROCLAMATION. [From Senate Journal, Eighteenth Congress, second session, p. 269.] Washington, January ip, 1825. The President of the United States to , Senator for the State of Certain matters touching the public good requiring that the Senate of the United States should be convened on Friday, the 4th day of March next, you are desired to attend at the Senate Chamber, in the city of Washington, on that day, then and there to receive and deliberate on such communications as shall be made to you. JAMES MONROE. John Quiiicy Adams March 4, 1825, to March 4, 1829 M P— vol, II— 19 289 JOHN QUINCY ADAMS Engraved by special permission, from the original In the White House by Heaiy 3. f2. cALojhOi John Quincy Adams John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States, eldest son of John Adams, second President, was born at Braintree, Mass. , July 1 1 , 1 767. He enjoyed peculiar and rare advantages for education. In child- hood he was instructed by his mother, a granddaughter of Colonel John Quincy, and a woman of superior talents. In 1778, when only 11 years old, he accompanied his father to France; attended a school in Paris, and returned home in August, 1779. Having been taken again to Europe by his father in 1780, he pursued his studies at the University of L,eyden, where he learned Latin and Greek. In July, 1781, at the age of 14, he was appointed private secretary to Francis Dana, minister to Russia. He remained at St. Petersburg until October, 1782, after which he resumed his studies at The Hague. Was present at the signing of the definitive treaty of peace in Paris, September 3, 1783. He passed some months with his father in London, and returned to the United States to complete his education, entering Harvard College in 1786 and graduating in 1788. He studied law with the celebrated Thepphilus Parsons, of Newbury- port; was admitted to the bar in 1791, and began to practice in Boston. In 1791 he published in the Boston Centinel, under the signature of "Publicola," a series of able essays, in which he exposed the fallacies and vagaries of the French political reformers. These papers attracted much attention in Europe and the United States. Under the signature of "Marcellus" he wrote, in 1793, several articles, in which he argued that the United States should observe strict neutrality in the war between the French and the British. These writings commended him to the favor of Washington, and he was appointed minister to Holland in May, 1794. In July, 1797, he married Louisa Catherine Johnson, a daughter of Joshua Johnson, of Maryland, who was then American consul at London. In a letter dated February 20, 1797, Washington commended him highly to the elder Adams, and advised the President elect not to withhold promo- tion from him because he was his son. He was accordingly appointed minister to Berlin in 1797. He negotiated a treaty of amity and com- merce with the Prussian Government, and was recalled about February, 1801. He was elected a Senator of the United States by the Federalists of Massachusetts for the term beginning March, 1803. In 1805 he was appointed professor of rhetoric and belles-lettres at Harvard College, and accepted on condition that he should be permitted to attend to his Sen- atorial duties. He offended the Federalists by supporting Jefferson's embargo act, which was passed in December, 1807, and thus became con- nected with the Democratic party. He resigned his seat in the Senate 2qi 292 Messages and Papers of the Presidents in March, 1808, declining to serve for the remainder of the term rather than obey the instructions of the FederaUsts. In March, 1809, he was appointed by President Madison minister to Russia. During his resi- dence in that country he was nominated to be an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and confirmed February, 181 1; but he declined the appointment. In 18 13 Adams, Bayard, Clay, Russell, and Gallatin were appointed commissioners to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain. They met the British diplomatists at Ghent, and after a protracted negotiation of six months signed a treaty of peace December 24, 1814. In the spring of 1815 he was appointed minister to the Court of St. James, remaining there until he was appointed by Mr. Monroe Secretary of State in 18 17. In 1824 Adams, Jackson, Crawford, and Clay were candidates for the Presidency. Neither of the candidates having received a majority in the electoral colleges, the election devolved on the House of Representatives. Aided by the influence of Henry Clay, Mr. Adams received the votes of thirteen States, and was elected. He was defeated for reelection in 1828 by General Andrew Jackson. On the 4th of March, 1829, he retired to hife estate at Quincy. In 1830 he was elected to Congress, and took his seat in December, 1831. He continued to represent his native district for seventeen years, during which time he was constantly at his post. On the 21st of February, 1848, while in his seat at the Capitol, he was stricken with paralysis, and died on the 23d of that month. He was buried at Quincy, Mass. NOTIFICATION OF KlvKCTION. Mr. Webster, from the committee appointed for that purpose yesterday, reported that the committee had waited on John Quincy Adams, of Mas- sachusetts, and had notified him that in the recent election of a Presi- dent of the United States, no person having received a majority of the votes of all the electors appointed, and the choice having consequently devolved upon the House of Representatives, that House, proceeding in the manner prescribed by the Constitution, did yesterday choose him to be President of the United States for four years, commencing on the 4th day of March next, and that the committee had received a written answer, which he presented to the House. Mr. Webster also reported that in further performance of its ^uty the committee had given the information of this election to the President. February 10, 1825. REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT ELECT. Washington, February to, 1825. Gbntlembn: In receiving this testimonial from the Representatives of the people and States of this Union I am deeply sensible to the circum- stances under which it has been given. All my predecessors in the high John Quincy Adams 293 station to which the favor of the House now calls me have been honored with majorities of the electoral voices in their primary colleges. It has been my fortune to be placed by the divisions of sentiment prevailing among our countrymen on this occasion in competition, friendly and hon- orable, with three of my fellow-citizens, all justly enjoying in eminent degrees the public favor, and of whose worth, talents, and services no one entertains a higher and more respectful sense than myself. The names of two of them were, in the fulfillment of the provisions of the Consti- tution, presented to the selection of the House in concurrence with my own — names closely associated with the glory of the nation, and one of them further recommended by a larger minority of the primary electoral suffrages than mine. In this state of things, could my refusal to accept the trust thus dele- gated to me give an immediate opportunity to the people to form and to express with a nearer approach to unanimity the object of their prefer- ence, I should not hesitate to decline the acceptance of this eminent charge and to submit the decision of this momentous question again to their determination. But the Constitution itself has not so disposed of the contingency which would arise in the event of my refusal. I shall therefore repair to the post assigned me by the call of my country, signi- fied through her constitutional organs, oppressed with the magnitude of the task before me, but cheered with the hope of that generous support from my fellow-citizens which, in the vicissitudes of a life devoted to their service, has never failed to sustain me, confident in the trust that the wisdom of the legislative councils will guide and direct me in the path of my official duty, and relying above all upon the superintending providence of that Being in whose hands our breath is and whose are all our ways. Gentlemen, I pray you to make acceptable to the House the assurance of my profound gratitude for their confidence, and to accept yourselves my thanks for the friendly terms in which you have communicated to me their decision. jqjjI^ QUINCY ADAMS. LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT ELECT. City of Washington, March i, 1825. The President of the Senate of the United States. Sir: I ask the favor of you to inform the honorable Senate of the United States that I propose to take the oath prescribed by the Consti- tution to the President of the United States before he enters on the exe- cution of his office, on Friday, the 4th instant, at 12 o'clock, in the Hall of the House of Representatives. I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, sir, your very humble and obedient servant, JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 394 Messages and Papers of the Presidents INAUGURAL ADDRESS. In compliance with an usage coeval with the existence of our Federal Constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my predecessors in the career upon which I am about to enter, I appear, my fellow-citizens, in your presence and in that of Heaven to bind myself by the solemnities of religious obligation to the faithful performance of the duties allotted to me in the station to which I have been called. In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be governed in the fulfillment of those duties my first resort will be to that Constitution which I shall swear to the best of my ability to preserve, pro- tect, and defend. That revered instrument enumerates the powers and prescribes the duties of the Executive Magistrate, and in its first words declares the purposes to which these and the whole action of the Govern- ment instituted by it should be invariably and sacredly devoted— to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, pro- vide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of this Union in their successive genera- tions. Since the adoption of this social compact one of these generations has passed away. ' It is the work of our forefathers. Administered by some of the most eminent men who contributed to its formation, through a most eventful period in the annals of the world, and through all the vicissi- tudes of peace and war incidental to the condition of associated man, it has not disappointed the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious benefac- tors of their age and nation. It has promoted the lasting welfare of that country so dear to us all; it has to an extent far beyond the ordinary lot of humanity secured the freedom and happiness of this people. We now receive it as a precious inheritance from those to whom we are indebted for its establishment, doubly bound by the examples which they have left us and by the blessings which we have enjoyed as the fruits of their labors to transmit the same unimpaired to the succeeding generation. In the compass of thirty-six years since this great national covenant was instituted a body of laws enacted under its authority and in conform- ity with its provisions has unfolded its powers and carried into practical operation its efEective energies. Subordinate departments have distribu- ted the executive functions in their various relations to foreign affairs, to the revenue and expenditures, and to the military force of the Union by land and sea. A coordinate department of the judiciary has expounded the Constitution and the laws, settling in harmonious coincidence with the legislative will numerous weighty questions of construction which the imperfection of human language had rendered unavoidable. The year of jubilee since the first formation of our Union has just elapsed; that of the declaration of our independence is at hand. The consummation of both was effected by this Constitution. John Quincy Adams 295 Since that period a population of four millions has multiplied to twelve. A territory bounded by the Mississippi has been extended from sea to sea. New States have been admitted to the Union in numbers nearly equal to those of the first Confederation. Treaties of peace, amity, and commerce have been concluded with the principal dominions of the earth. The people of other nations, inhabitants of regions acquired not by con- quest, but by compact, have been united with us in the participation of our rights and duties, of our burdens and blessings. The forest has fallen by the ax of 9ur woodsmen; the soil has been made to teem by the tillage of our farmers; our commerce has whitened every ocean. The dominion of man over physical nature has been extended by the invention of our artists. I^iberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the purposes of hum'an association have been accomplished as effectively as under any other government on the globe, and at a cost little exceeding in a whole generation the expenditure of other nations in a single year. Such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition under a Constitu- tion founded upon the republican principle of equal rights. To admit that this picture has its shades is but to say that it is still the condition of men upon earth. From evil — physical, moral, and political — it is not our claim to be exempt. We have suffered sometimes by the visitation of Heaven through disease; often by the wrongs and injustice of other nations, even to the extremities of war; and, lastly, by dissensions among ourselves — dissensions perhaps inseparable from the enjoyment of free- dom, but which have more than once appeared to threaten the dissolution of the Union, and with it the overthrow of all the enjoyments of our pres- ent lot and all our earthly hopes of the future. The causes of these dis- sensions have been various, founded upon differences of speculation in the theory of republican government; upon conflicting views of policy in our relations with foreign nations; upon jealousies of partial and sectional interests, aggravated by prejudices and prepossessions which strangers to each other are ever apt to entertain. It is a source of gratification and of encouragement to me to observe that the great result of this experiment upon the theory of human rights has at the close of that generation by which it was formed been crowned with success equal to the most sanguine expectations of its founders. Union, justice, tranquillity, the common defense, the general welfare, and the blessings of liberty— all have been promoted by the Government under which we have lived. Standing at this point of time, looking back to that generation which has gone by and forward to that which is advancing, we may at once indulge in grateful exultation and in cheering hope. From the experience of the past we derive instructive lessons for the future. Of the two great political parties which have divided the opinions and feelings of our country, the candid and the just will now admit that both have contributed splendid talents, spotless integrity, ardent patriotism, and disinterested sacrifices to the formation and administration of this 296 Messages and Papers of the Presidents Government, and that both have required a Uberal indulgence for a por- tion of human infirmity and error. The revolutionary vicars of Europe, commencing precisely at the moment when the Government of the United States first went into operation under this Constitution, excited a collision of sentiments and of sympathies which kindled all the passions and im- bittered the conflict of parties till the nation was involved in war and the Union was shaken to its center. This time of trial embraced a period of five and twenty years, during which the policy of the Union in its rela- tions with Europe constituted the principal basis of our political divi- sions and the most arduous part of the action of our Federal Government. With the catastrophe in which the wars of the French Revolution ter- minated, and our own subsequent peace with Great Britain, this baneful weed of party strife was uprooted. From that time no difference of principle, connected either with the theory of government or with our intercourse with foreign nations, has existed or been called forth in force sufficient to sustain a continued combination of parties or to give more than wholesome animation to public sentiment or legislative debate. Our political creed is, without a dissenting voice that can be heard, that the will of the people is the source and the happiness of the people the end of all legitimate government upon earth; that the best security for the benefi- cence and the best guaranty against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, the purity, and the frequency of popular elections; that the Gen- eral Government of the Union and the separate governments of the States are all sovereignties of Umited powers, fellow-servants of the same mas- ters, uncontrolled within their respective spheres, uncontrollable by en- croachments upon each other; that the firmest security of peace is the preparation during peace of the defenses of war; that a rigorous economy and accountability of public expenditures should guard against the aggra- vation and alleviate when possible the burden of taxation; that the mili- tary should be kept in strict subordination to the civil power; that the freedom of the press and of religious opinion should be inviolate; that the policy of our country is peace and the ark of our salvation union are arti- cles of faith upon which we are all now agreed. If there have been those who doubted whether a confederated representative democracy were a gov- ernment competent to the wise and orderly management of the common concerns of a mighty nation, those doubts have been dispelled; if there have been projects of partial confederacies to be erected upon the ruins of the Union, they have been scattered to the winds; if there have been dangerous attachments to one foreign nation and antipathies against another, they have been extinguished. Ten years of peace, at home and abroad, have assuaged the animosities of political contention and blended into harmony the most discordant elements of public opinion. There still remains one effort of magnanimity, one sacrifice of prejudice and passion, to be made by the individuals throughout the nation who have hereto- fore followed the standards of political party. It is that of discarding John Quincy Adams 297 every remnant of rancor against each other, of embracing as countrymen and friends, and of yielding to talents and virtue alone that confidence which in times of contention for principle was bestowed only upon those who bpre the badge of party communion. The collisions of party spirit which originate in speculative opinions or in different views of administrative policy are in their nature transi- tory. Those which are founded on geographical divisions, adverse inter- ests of soil, cUmate, and modes of domestic life are more permanent, and therefore, perhaps, more dangerous. It is this which gives inestimable value to the character of our Government, at once federal and national. It holds out to us a perpetual admonition to preserve alike and with equal anxiety the rights of each individual State in its own government and the rights of the whole nation in that of the Union. Whatsoever is of domestic concernment, unconnected with the other members of the Union or with foreign lands, belongs exclusively to the administration of the State governments. Whatsoever directly involves the rights and interests of the federative fraternity or of foreign powers is of the resort of this General Government. The duties of both are obvious in the gen- eral principle, though sometimes perplexed with difficulties in the detail. To respect the rights of the State governments is the inviolable duty of that of the Union; the government of every State will feel its own obli- gation to respect and preserve the rights of the whole. The prejudices everjrwhere too commonly entertained against distant strangers are worn away, and the jealousies of jarring interests are allayed by the composi- tion and functions of the great national councils annually assembled from all quarters of the Union at this place. Here the distinguished men from every section of our country, while meeting to deliberate upon the great interests of those by whom they are deputed, learn to estimate the talents and do justice to the virtues of each other. The harmony of the nation is promoted and the whole Union is knit together by the sentiments of mutual respect, the habits of social intercourse, and the ties of personal friendship formed between the representatives of its several parts in the performance of their service at this metropolis. Passing from this general review of the purposes and injunctions of the Federal Constitution and their results as indicating the first traces of the path of duty in the discharge of my public trust, I turn to the Ad- ministration of my immediate predecessor as the second. It has passed away in a period of profound peace, how much to the satisfaction of our country and to the honor of our country ' s name is known to you all. The great features of its policy, in general concurrence with the will of the legislature, have been to cherish peace while preparing for defensive war; to yield exact justice to other nations and maintain the rights of our own; to cherish the principles of freedom and of equal rights wherever they were proclaimed; to discharge with all possible promptitude the national debt; to reduce within the narrowest limits of efficiency the military force; 298 Messages and Papers of the Presidents to improve the organization and discipline of the Army; to provide and sustain a school of military science; to extend equal protection to all the gfreat interests of the nation; to promote the civilization of the Indian tribes, and to proceed in the great system of internal improvements within the limits of the constitutional power of the Union. Under the pledge of these promises, made by that eminent citizen at the time of his first induction to this office, in his career of eight years the internal taxes have been repealed; sixty millions of the public debt have been discharged; provision has been made for the comfort and relief of the aged and indi- gent among the surviving warriors of the Revolution; the regular armed force has been reduced and its constitution revised and perfected; the accountability for the expenditure of public moneys has been made more effective; the Floridas have been peaceably acquired, and our boundary has been extended to the Pacific Ocean; the independence of the south- ern nations of this hemisphere has been recognized, and recommended by example and by counsel to the potentates of Europe; progress has been made in the defense of the country by fortifications and the increase of the Navy, toward the effectual suppression of the African trafiic in slaves, in alluring the aboriginal hunters of our land to the cultivation of the soil and of the mind, in exploring the interior regions of the Union, and in preparing by scientific researches and surveys for the further application of our national resources to the internal improvement of our country. In this brief outline of the promise and performance of my immediate predecessor the line of duty for his successor is clearly delineated. To pursue to their consummation those purposes of improvement in our com- mon condition instituted or recommended by him will embrace the whole sphere of my obligations. To the topic of internal improvement, emphat- ically urged by him at his inauguration, I recur with pecuhar satisfac- tion. It is that from which I am convinced that the unborn millions of our posterity who are in future ages to people this continent will derive their most fervent gratitude to the founders of the Union; that in which the beneficent action of its Government will be most deeply felt and acknowledged. The magnificence and splendor of their public works are among the imperishable glories of the ancient republics. The roads and aqueducts of Rome have been the admiration of all after ages, and have survived thousands of years after all her conquests have been swal- lowed up in despotism or become the spoil of barbarians. Some diversity of opinion has prevailed with regard to the powers of Congress for leg- islation upon objects of this nature. The most respectful deference is due to doubts originating in pure patriotism and sustained by venerated authority. But nearly twenty years have passed since the construction of the first national road was commenced. The authority for its construc- tion was then unquestioned. To how many thousands of our countrymen has it proved a benefit? To what single individual has it ever proved an injury? Repeated, liberal, and candid discussions in the I/egislature have John Quincy Adams 299 conciliated the sentiments and approximated the opinions of enhghtened minds upon the question of constitutional power. I can not but hope that by the same process of friendly, patient, and persevering deliberation all constitutional objections will ultimately be removed. The extent and Umitation of the powers of the General Government in relation to this transcendently important interest will be settled and acknowledged to the common satisfaction of all, and every speculative scruple will be solved by a practical public blessing. Fellow-citizens, you are acquainted with the peculiar circumstances of the recent election, which have resulted in affording me the opportunity of addressing you at this time. You have heard the exposition of the principles which will direct me in the fulfillment of the high and solemn trust imposed upon me in this station. I^ess possessed of your confidence in advance than any of my predecessors, I am deeply conscious of the prospect that I shall stand more and oftener in need of your indulgence. Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted to the welfare of our coun- try, and the unceasing application of all the faculties allotted to me to her service are all the pledges that I can give for the faithful performance of the arduous duties I am to undertake. To the guidance of the legislative councils, to the assistance of the executive and subordinate departments, to the friendly cooperation of the respective State governments, to the candid and liberal support of the people so far as it may be deserved by honest industry and zeal, I shall look for whatever success may attend my public service; and knowing that "except the lyord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain, ' ' with fervent silpphcations for His favor, to His overruling providence I commit with humble but fearless confi- dence my own fate and the future destinies of my country, March 4, 1825. FIRST ANNUAI. MESSAGE. Washington, December 6, 1825. Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: In taking a general survey of the concerns of our beloved country, with reference to subjects interesting to the common welfare, the first senti- ment which impresses itself upon the mind is of gratitude to the Omnip- otent Disposer of All Good for the continuance of the signal blessings of His providence, and especially for that health which to an unusual extent has prevailed within our borders, and for that abundance which in the vicissitudes of the seasons has been scattered with profusion over our land. Nor ought we less to ascribe to Him the glory that we are permitted to enjoy the bounties of His hand in peace and tranquillity — in peace with 300 Messages and Papers of the Presidents all the other nations of the earth, in tranquillity among ourselves. There has, indeed, rarely been a period in the history of civilized man in which the general condition of the Christian nations has been marked so exten- sively by peace and prosperity. Europe, with a few partial and unhappy exceptions, has enjoyed ten years of peace, during which all her Governments, whatever the theory of their constitutions may have been, are successively taught to feel that the end of their institution is the happiness of the people, and that the exer- cise of power among men can be justified only by the blessings it confers upon those over whom it is extended. During the same period our intercourse with all those nations has been pacific and friendly; it so continues. Since the close of your last session no material variation has occurred in our relations with any one of them. In the commercial and navigation system of Great Britain important changes of municipal regulation have recently been sanctioned by acts of Parliament, the effect of which upon the interests of other nations, and particularly upon ours, has not yet been fully developed. In the recent renewal of the diplomatic missions on both sides between the two Gov- ernments assurances have been given and received of the continuance and increase of the mutual confidence and cordiality by which the adjust- ment of many points of difference had already been effected, and which affords the surest pledge for the ultimate satisfactory adjustment of those which still remain open or may hereafter arise. The policy of the United States in their commercial intercourse with other nations has always been of the most liberal character. In the mutual exchange of their respective productions they have abstained altogether from prohibitions; they have interdicted themselves the power of laying taxes upon exports, and whenever they have favored their own shipping by special preferences or exclusive privileges in their own ports it has been only with a view to countervail similar favors and exclusions granted by the nations with whom we have been engaged in traffic to their own people or shipping, and to the disadvantage of ours. Immedi- ately after the close of the last war a proposal was fairly made by the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 18 15, to all the maritime nations to lay aside the system of retaliating restrictions and exclusions, and to place the shipping of both parties to the common trade on a footing of equality in respect to the duties of tonnage and impost. This offer was partially and successively accepted by Great Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands, the Hanseatic cities, Prussia, Sardinia, the Duke of Oldenburg, and Russia. It was also adopted, under certain modifications, in our late commei"cial convention with France, and by the act of Congress of the 8th January, 1824, it has received a new confirmation with all the nations who had acceded to it, and has been offered again to all those who are or may hereafter be wilUng to abide in reciprocity by it. But all these regula- tions, whether established by treaty or by municipal enactments, are still subject to one important restriction. John Quincy Adams 301 The removal of discriminating duties of tonnage and of impost is lim- ited to articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of the country to which the vessel belongs or to such articles as are most usually first shipped from her ports. It will deserve the serious consideration of Con- gress whether even this remnant of restriction may not be safely aban- doned, and whether the general tender of equal competition made in the act of 8th January, 1824, may not be extended to include all articles of merchandise not prohibited, of what country soever they may be the prod- uce or manufacture. Propositions to this effect have already been made to us by more than one European Government, and it is probable that if once established by legislation or compact with any distinguished mari- time state it would recommend itself by the experience of its advantages to the general accession of all. The convention of commerce and navigation between the United States and France, concluded on the 24th of June, 1822, was, in the understand- ing and intent of both parties, as appears upon its face, only a temporary arrangement of the points of difference between them of the most imme- diate and pressing urgency. It was limited in the first instance to two years from the ist of October, 1822, but with a proviso that it should fur- ther continue in force till the conclusion of a general and definitive treaty of commerce, unless terminated by a notice, six months in advance, of either of the parties to the other. Its operation so far as it extended has been mutually advantageous, and it still continues in force by com- mon consent. But it left unadjusted several objects of great interest to the citizens and subjects of both countries, and particularly a mass of claims to considerable amount of citizens of the United States upon the Government of France of indemnity for property taken or destroyed under circumstances of the most aggravated and outrageous character. In the long period during which continual and earnest appeals have been made to the equity and magnanimity of France in behalf of these claims their justice has not been, as it could not be, denied. It was hoped that the accession of a new Sovereign to the throne would have afforded a favorable opportunity for presenting them to the consideration of his Gov- ernment. They have been "presented and urged hitherto without effect. The repeated and earnest representations of our minister at the Court of France remain as yet even without an answer. Were the demands of nations upon the justice of each other susceptible of adjudication by the sentence of an impartial tribunal, those to which I now refer would long since have been settled and adequate indemnity would have been obtained. There are large amounts of similar claims upon the Netherlands, Naples and Denmark. For those upon Spain prior to 18 19 indemnity was, after many years of patient forbearance, obtained; and those upon Sweden have been lately compromised by a private settlement, in which the claim- ants themselves have acquiesced. The Governments of Denmark and of Naples have been recently reminded of those yet existing against them, 303 Messages and Papers of the Presidents nor will any of them be forgotten while a hope may be indulged of obtain- ing justice by the means within the constitutional power of the Execu- tive, and without resorting to those means of self-redress which, as well as the time, circumstances, and occasion which may require them, are within the exclusive competency of the l,egislature. It is with great satisfaction that I am enabled to bear witness to the liberal spirit with which the Republic of Colombia has made satisfaction for well-established claims of a similar character, and among the docu- ments now communicated to Congress will be distinguished a treaty of commerce and navigation with that Republic, the ratifications of which have been exchanged since the last recess of the I,eg^slature. The nego- tiation of similar treaties with all the independent South American States has been contemplated and may yet be accomplished. The basis of them all, as proposed by the United States, has been laid in two principles — the one of entire and unqualified reciprocity, the other the mutual obligation of the parties to place each other permanently upon the footing of the most favored nation. These principles are, indeed, indispensable to the effectual emancipation of the American hemisphere from the thraldom of colonizing monopolies and exclusions, an event rapidly realizing in the progress of human affairs, and which the resistance still opposed in cer- tain parts of Europe to the acknowledgment of the Southern American Republics as independent States will, it is believed, contribute more effec- tually to accomplish. The time has been, and that not remote, when some of those States might, in their anxious desire to obtain a nominal recognition, have accepted of a nominal independence, clogged with bur- densome conditions, and exclusive commercial privileges granted to the nation from which they have separated to the disadvantage of all others. They are all now aware that such concessions to any European nation would be incompatible with that independence which they have declared and maintained. i^ Among the measures which have been suggested to them by the new relations with one another, resulting from the recent changes in their con- dition, is that of assembling at the Isthmus of Panama a congress, at which each of them should be represented, to deliberate upon objects important to the welfare of all. The Republics of Colombia, of Mexico, and of Cen- tral America have already deputed plenipotentiaries to such a meeting, and they have invited the United States to be also represented there by their ministers. The invitation has been accepted, and ministers on the part of the United States will be commissioned to attend at those deliber- ations, and to take part in them so far as may be compatible with that neutrality from which it is neither our intention nor the desire of the other American States that we should depart. The commissioners under the seventh article of the treaty of Ghent have so nearly completed their arduous labors that,' by the report recently received from the agent on the part of the United States, there is reason to John Quincy Adams 303 expect that the commission will be closed at their next session, appointed for the 22d of May of the ensuing year. The other commission, appointed to ascertain the indemnities due for slaves carried away from the United States after the. close of the late war, have met with some difficulty, which has delayed their progress in the inquiry. A reference has been made to the British Government on the subject, which, it may be hoped, will tend to hasten the decision of the commissioners, or serve as a substitute for it. Among the powers specifically granted to Congress by the Constitution are those of establishing uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States and of providing for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States. The magnitude and complexity of the interests affected by legislation upon these subjects may account for the fact that, long and often as both of them have occu- pied the attention and animated the debates of Congress, no systems have yet been devised for fulfilling to the satisfaction of the community the duties prescribed by these grants of power. To conciliate the claim of the individual citizen to the enjoyment of personal liberty, with the eifective obligation of private contracts, is the difficult problem to be solved by a law of bankruptcy. These are objects of the deepest interest to society, affecting all that is precious in the existence of multitudes of persons, many of them in the classes essentially dependent and helpless, of the age requiring nurtiu'e, and of the sex entitled to protection from the free agency of the parent and the husband. The organization of the militia is yet more indispensable to the liberties of the country. It is only by an effective militia that we can at once enjoy the repose of peace and bid defiance to foreign aggression; it is by the militia that we are consti- tuted an armed nation, standing in perpetual panoply of defense in the presence of all the other nations of the earth. To this end it would be necessary, if possible, so to shape its organization as to give it a more united and active energy. There are laws for establishing an uniform militia throughout the United States and for arming and equipping its whole body. But it is a body of dislocated members, without the vigor of unity and having little of uniformity but the name. To infuse into this most important institution the power of which it is susceptible and to make it available for the defense of the Union at the shortest notice and at the smallest expense possible of time, of life, and of treasure are among the benefits to be expected from the persevering deliberations of Congress. Among the unequivocal indications of our national prosperity is the flourishing state of our finances. The revenues of the present year, from all their principal sources, will exceed the anticipations of the last. The balance in the Treasury on the ist of January last was a little short of $2,000,000, exclusive of two millions and a half, being the moiety of the 304 Messages and Papers of the Presidents loan of five millions authorized by the act of 26th of May, 1824. The receipts into the Treasury from the ist of January to the 30th of Sep- tember, exclusive of the other moiety of the same loan, are estimated at $16,500,000, and it is expected that those of the current quarter will exceed $5,000,000, forming an aggregate of receipts of nearly twenty-two millions, independent of the loan. The expenditures of the year will not exceed that sum more than two millions. By those expenditures nearly eight millions of the principal of the public debt have been discharged. More than a million and a half has been devoted to the debt of gratitude to the warriors of the Revolution; a nearly equal sum to the construction of fortifications and the acquisition of ordnance and other permanent preparations of national defense; half a million to the gradual increase of the Navy; an equal sum for purchases of territory from the Indians and payment of annuities to them; and upward of a million for objects of internal improvement authorized by special acts of the last Congress. If we add to these $4,000,000 for payment of interest upon the public debt, there remains a sum of about seven millions, which have defrayed the whole expense of the administration of Government in its legislative, executive, and judiciary departments, including the support of the mili- tary and naval cstabUshments and all the occasional contingencies of a government coextensive with the Union. The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported since the com- mencement of the year is about twenty-five millions and a half, and that which will accrue during the current quarter is estimated at five millions and a half; from these thirty-one millions, deducting the drawbacks, esti- mated at less than seven millions, a sum exceeding twenty-four millions will constitute the revenue of the year, and will exceed the whole expend- itures of the year. The entire amount of the public debt remaining due on the ist of January next will be short of $81,000,000. By an act of Congress of the 3d of March last a loan of $12,000,000 was authorized at 4^^ per cent, or an exchange of stock to that amount of 4}4 per cent for a stock of 6 per cent, to create a fund for extinguish- ing an equal amount of the public debt, bearing an interest of 6 per cent, redeemable in 1826. An account of the measures taken to give effect to this act will be laid before you by the Secretary of the Treasury. As the object which it had in view has been but partially accomplished, it will be for the consideration of Congress whether the power with which it clothed the Executive should not be renewed at an early day of the present session, and under what modifications. The act of Congress of the 3d of March last, directing the Secretary of the Treasury to subscribe, in the name and for the use of the United States, for 1,500 shares of the capital stock of the Chesapeake and Dela- ware Canal Company, has been executed by the actual subscription for the amount specified; and such other measures have been adopted by that officer, under the act, as the fulfillment of its intentions requires. John Quincy Adams 305 The latest accounts received of this important undertaking authorize the behef that it is in successful progress. The payments into the Treasury from the proceeds of the sales of the public lands during the present year were estimated at $1 ,000,000. The actual receipts of the first two quarters have fallen very little short of that sum; it is not expected that the second half of the year will be equally productive, but the income of the year from that source may now be safely estimated at a milUon and a half. The act of Congress of i8th May, 1824, to provide for the extinguishment of the debt due to the United States by the purchasers of public lands, was hmited in its operation of relief to the purchaser to the loth of April last. Its effect at the end of the quarter during which it expired was to reduce that debt from ten to seven mil- lions. By the operation of similar prior laws of reUef , from and since that of 2d March, 182 1, the debt had been reduced from upward of twenty-two millions to ten. It is exceedingly desirable that it should be extinguished altogether; and to facilitate that consummation I recommend to Congress the revival for one year more of the act of 18th May, 1824, with such provisional modification as may be necessary to guard the public inter- ests against fraudulent practices in the resale of the relinquished land. The purchasers of public lands are among the most useful of our fellow- citizens, and since the system of sales for cash alone has been introduced great indulgence has been justly extended to those who had previously purchased upon credit. The debt which had been contracted under the credit sales had become unwieldy, and its extinction was alike advanta- geous to the purchaser and to the public. Under the system of sales, matured as it has been by experience, and adapted to the exigencies of the times, the lands will continue as they have become, an abundant source of revenue; and when the pledge of them to the public creditor shall have been redeemed by the entire discharge of the national debt, the swelling tide of wealth with which they replenish the common Treas- ury may be made to reflow in unfailing streams of improvement from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. The condition of the various branches of the public service resorting from the Department of "War, and their administration during the cur- rent year, will be exhibited in the report of the Secretary of War and the accompanying documents herewith communicated. The organiza- tion and discipline of the Army are effective and satisfactory. To coun- teract the prevalence of desertion among the troops it has been suggested to withhold from the men a small portion of their monthly pay until the period of their discharge; and some expedient appears to be necessary to preserve and maintain among the officers so much of the art of horseman- ship as could scarcely fail to be found wanting on the possible sudden eraption of a war, which should take us unprovided with a single corps of cavalry. The Military Academy at "West Point, under the restrictions of a severe but paternal superintendence, recommends itself more and M P— vol, II — 20 3o6 Messages and Papers of the Presidents more to the patronage of the nation, and the numbers of meritorious offi- cers which it forms and introduces to the pubHc service furnishes the means of multiplying the undertakings of public improvements to which their acquirements at that institution are peculiarly adapted. The school of artillery practice established at Fortress Monroe is well suited to the same purpose, and may need the aid of further legislative provision to the same end. The reports of the various officers at the head of the administrative branches of the military servipe, connected with the quar- tering, clothing, subsistence, health, and pay of the Army, exhibit the assiduous vigilance of those officers in the performance of their respective duties, and the faithful accountability which has pervaded every part of the system. Otu" relations with the numerous tribes of aboriginal natives of this country, scattered over its extensive surface and so dependent even for their existence upon our power, have been during the present year highly interesting. An act of Congress of 25th of May, 1824, made an appropria- tion to defray the expenses of making treaties of trade and friendship with the Indian tribes beyond the Mississippi. An act of 3d of March, 1825, authorized treaties to be made with the Indians for their consent to the making of a road from the frontier of Missouri to that of New Mexico, and another act of the same date provided for defraying the expenses of holding treaties with the Sioux, Chippeways, Menomenees, Sauks, Foxes, etc. , for the purpose of establishing boundaries and promoting peace be- tween said tribes. The first and the last objects of these acts have been accomplished, and the second is j-^et in a process of execution. The trea- ties which since the last session of Congress have been concluded with the several tribes will be laid before the Senate for their consideration con- formably to the Constitution. They comprise large and valuable acqui- sitions of territory, and they secure an adjustment of boundaries and give pledges of permanent peace between several tribes which had been long waging bloody wars against each other. On the 1 2 th of February last a treaty was signed at the Indian Springs between commissioners appointed on the part of the United States and certain chiefs and individuals of the Creek Nation of Indians, which was received at the seat of Government only a very few days before the close of the last session of Congress and of the late Administration. The ad- vice and consent of the Senate was given to it on the 3d of March, too late for it to receive the ratification of the then President of the United States; it was ratified on the 7th of March, under the unsuspecting impression that it had been negotiated in good faith and in the confidence inspired by the recommendation of the Senate. The subsequent transactions in relation to this treaty will form the subject of a separate communication. The appropriations made by Congress for public works, as well in the construction of fortifications as for purposes of internal improvement, so far as they have been expended, have been faithfully appUed, Their John Quincy Adams 307 progress has been delayed by the want of suitable officers for superin- tending them. An increase of both the corps of engineers, military and topographical, was recommended by my predecessor at the last session of Congress. The reasons upon which that recommendation was founded subsist in all their force and have acquired additional urgency since that time. It may also be expedient to organize the topographical engineers into a corps similar to the present establishment of the Corps of Engi- neers. The Military Academy at West Point will furnish from the cadets annually graduated there officers well quaUfied for carrying this measure into effect. The Board of Engineers for Internal Improvement, appointed for carry- ing into execution the act of Congress of 30th of April, 1824, "to procure the necessary surveys, plans, and estimates on the subject of roads and canals," have been actively engaged in that service from the close of the last session of Congress. They have completed the surveys necessary for ascertaining the practicabihty of a canal from the Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio River, and are preparing a full report on that subject, which, when completed, will be laid before you. The same observation is to be made with regard to the two other objects of national importance upon which the Board have been occupied, namely, the accomplishment of a national road from this city to New Orleans, and the practicability of uniting the waters of Lake Memphramagog with Connecticut River and the improve- ment of the navigation of that river. The surveys have been made and are nearly completed. The report may be expected at an early period during the present session of Congress. The acts of Congress of the last session relative to the surveying, mark- ing, or laying out roads in the Territories of Florida, Arkansas, and Mich- igan, from Missouri to Mexico, and for the continuation of the Cumber- land road, are, some of them, fully executed, and others in the process of execution. Those for completing or commencing fortifications have been delayed only so far as the Corps of Engineers has been inadequate to furnish officers for the necessary superintendence of the works. Under the act confirming the statutes of Virginia and Maryland incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, three commissioners on the part of the United States have been appointed for opening books and receiving subscriptions, in concert with a hke number of commissioners appointed on the part of each of those States. A meeting of the commis- sioners has been postponed, to await the definitive report of the board of engineers. The light-houses and monuments for the safety of our com- merce and mariners, the works for the security of Plymouth Beach and for the preservation of the islands in Boston Harbor, have received the attention required by the laws relating to those objects respectively. The continuation of the Cumberland road, the most important of them all, after surmounting no inconsiderable difficulty in fixing upon the direction of the road, has commenced under the most promising auspices, 3o8 Messages and Papers of the Presidents with the improvements of recent invention in the mode of construction, and with the advantage of a great reduction in the, comparative cost of the worl?. The operation of the laws relating to the Revolutionary pensioners may- deserve the renewed consideration of Congress. The act of the i8th of March, 1818, while it made provision for many meritorious and indigent citizens who had served in the War of Independence, opened a door to numerous abuses and impositions. To remedy this the act of ist May, 1820, exacted proofs of absolute indigence, which many really in want were unable and all susceptible of that delicacy which is allied to many virtues must be deeply reluctant to give. The result has been that some among the least deserving have been retained, and some in whom the requisites both of worth and want were combined have been stricken from the list. As the numbers of these venerable relics of an age gone by diminish; as the decays of body, mind, and estate of those that survive must in the common course of nature increase, should not a more hberal portion of indulgence be dealt out to them ? May not the want in most instances be inferred from the demand when the service can be proved, and may not the last days of human infirmity be spared the mortification of purchasing a pittance of relief only by the exposure of its own neces- sities? I submit to Congress the expediency of providing for individual cases of this description by special enactment, or of revising the act of the ist of May, 1820, with a view to mitigate the rigor of its exclusions in favor of persons to whom charity now bestowed can scarcely discharge the debt of justice. The portion of the naval force of the Union in actual service has been chiefly employed on three stations — the Mediterranean, the coasts of South America bordering on the Pacific Ocean, and the West Indies. An occasional cruiser has been sent to range along the African shores most polluted by the traffic of slaves; one armed vessel has been stationed on the coast of our eastern boundary, to cruise along the fishing grounds in Hudsons Bay and on the coast of I,abrador, and the first service of a new frigate has been performed in restoring to his native soil and domes- tic enjoyments the veteran hero whose youthful blood and treasure had freely flowed in the cause of our country's independence, and whose whole hfe has been a series of services and sacrifices to the improve- ment of his fellow-men. The visit of General I^afayette, alike honorable to himself and to our country, closed, as it had commenced, with the most affecting testimonials of devoted attachment on his part, and of unbounded gratitude of this people to him in return. It will form here- after a pleasing incident in the annals of our Union, giving to real history the intense interest of romance and signally marking the unpurchasable tribute of a great nation's social affections to the disinterested champion of the liberties of human-kind. The constant maintenance of a small squadron in the Mediterranean John Quincy Adams 309 is a necessary substitute for the humiliating alternative of paying tribute for the security of our commerce in that sea, and for a precarious peace, at the mercy of every caprice of four Barbary States, by whom it was Uable to be violated. An additional motive for keeping a respectable force sta- tioned there at this time is found in the maritime war raging between the Greeks and the Turks, and in which the neutral navigation of this Union is always in danger of outrage and depredation. A few instances have occurred of such depredations upon our merchant vessels by privateers or pirates wearing the Grecian flag, but without real authority from the Greek or any other Government. The heroic struggles of the Greeks themselves, in which our warmest sympathies as freemen and Christians have been engaged, have continued to be maintained with vicissitudes of success adverse and favorable. Similar motives have rendered expedient the keeping of a like force on the coasts of Peru and Chile on the Pacific. The irregular and convul- sive character of the war upon the shores has been extended to the con- flicts upon the ocean. An active warfare has been kept up for years with alternate success, though generally to the advantage of the Ameri- can patriots. But their naval forces have not always been under the control of their own Governments. Blockades, unjustifiable upon any acknowledged principles of international law, have been proclaimed by officers in command, and though disavowed by the supreme authorities, the protection of our own commerce against them has been made cause of complaint and erroneous imputations against some of the most gallant officers of our Navy. Complaints equally groundless have been made by the commanders of the Spanish royal forces in those seas; but the most effective protection to our commerce has been the flag and the firmness of our own commanding officers. The cessation of the war by the com- plete triumph of the patriot cause has removed, it is hoped, all cause of dissension with one party and all vestige of force of the other. But an unsettled coast of many degrees of latitude forming a part of our own ter- ritory and a flourishing commerce and fishery extending to the islands of the Pacific and to China still require that the protecting power of the Union should be displayed under its flag as well upon the ocean as upon the land. The objects of the West India Squadron have been to carry into execu- tion the laws for the suppression of the African slave trade; for the pro- tection of our commerce against vessels of piratical character, though bearing commissions from either of the belUgerent parties; for its pro- tection against open and unequivocal pirates. These objects during the present year have been accomplished more effectually than at any former period. The African slave trade has long been excluded from the use of our flag, and if some few citizens of our country have continued to set the laws of the Union as well as those of nature and humanity at defiance by persevering in that abominable traffic, it has been only by 310 Messages and Papers of the Presidents sheltering themselves under the banners of other nations less earnest for the total extinction of the trade than ours. The irregular privateers have within the last year been in a great measure banished from those seas, and the pirates for months past appear to have been almost entirely- swept away from the borders and the shores of the two Spanish islands in those regions. The active, persevering, and unremitted energy of Captain Warrington and of the ofiBcers and men under his command on that trying and perilous service have been crowned with signal success, and are entitled to the approbation of their country. But experience has shown that not even a temporary suspension or relaxation from assiduity can be indulged on that station without reproducing piracy and murder in all their horrors; nor is it probable that for years to come our im- mensely valuable commerce in those seas can navigate in security with- out the steady continuance of an armed force devoted to its protection. It were, indeed, a vain and dangerous illusion to believe that in the present or probable condition of human society a commerce so extensive and so rich as ours could exist and be pursued in safety without the continual support of a miUtary marine — the only arm by which the power of this Confederacy can be estimated or felt by foreign nations, and the only standing mihtary force which can never be dangerous to our own Hberties at home. A permanent naval peace establishment, therefore, adapted to our present condition, and adaptable to that gigantic growth with which the nation is advancing in its career, is among the subjects which have already occupied the foresight of the last Congress, and which will deserve your serious deliberations. Our Navy, commenced at an early period of our present political organization upon a scale commensu- rate with the incipient energies, the scanty resources, and the comparative indigence of our infancy, was even then found adequate to cope with all the powers of Barbary, save the first, and with one of the principal mari- time powers of Europe. At a period of further advancement, but with little accession of strength, it not only sustained with honor the most unequal of conflicts, but covered itself and our country with unfading glory. But it is only since the dose of the late war that by the numbers and force of the ships of which it was composed it could deserve the name of a navy. Yet it retains nearly the same organization as when it consisted only of five frigates. The rules and regulations by which it is governed earnestly call for revision, and the want of a naval school of instruction, corresponding with the Mil- itary Academy at West Point, for the formation of scientific and accom- plished officers, is felt with daily increasing aggravation. The act of Congress of 26th of May, 1824, authorizing an examination and survey of the harbor of Charleston, in South Carolina, of St. Marys, in Georgia, and of the coast of Florida, and for other purposes, has been executed so far as the appropriation would admit. Those of the 3d of March last, authorizing the establishment of a navy-yard and depot on John Quincy Adams 311 the coast of Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico, and authorizing the building of ten sloops of war, and for other purposes, are in the course of execu- tion, for the particulars of which and other objects connected with this Department I refer to the report of the Secretary of the Navy, herewith communicated. A report from the Postmaster- General is also submitted, exhibiting the present flourishing condition of that Department. For the first time for many years the receipts for the year ending on the ist of July last exceeded the expenditures during the same period to the amount of more than $45,000. Other facts equally creditable to the administration of this Department are that in two years from the ist of July, 1823, an improvement of more than $185,000 in its pecuniary affairs has been realized; that in the same interval the increase of the transportation of the mail has exceeded 1,500,000 miles annually, and that 1,040 new post-offices have been established. It hence appears that under judi- cious management the income from this establishment may be relied on as fully adequate to defray its expenses, and that by the discontinuance of post-roads altogether unproductive others of more useful character may be opened, tiU the circulation of the mail shall keep pace with the spread of our population, and the comforts of friendly correspondence, the exchanges of internal traffic, and the lights of the periodical press shall be distributed to the remotest comers of the Union, at a charge scarcely perceptible to any individual, and without the cost of a dollar to the pubhc Treasury. Upon this first occasion of addressing the Legislature of the Union, with which I have been honored, in presenting to their view the execution so far as it has been effected of the measures sanctioned by them for pro- moting the internal improvement of our country, I can not close the communication without recommending to their calm and persevering con- sideration the general principle in a more enlarged extent. The great object of the institution of civil government is the improvement of the condition of those who are parties to the social compact, and no govern- ment, in whatever form constituted, can accomplish the lawful ends of its institution but in proportion as it improves the condition of those over whom it is established. Roads and canals, by multiplying and facilitat- ing the communications and intercourse between distant regions and mul- titudes of men, are among the most important means of improvement. But moral, political, intellectual improvement are duties assigned by the Author of Our Existence to social no less than to individual man. For the fulfillment of those duties governments are invested with power, and to the attainment of the end — the progressive improvement of the condi- tion of the governed — the exercise of delegated powers is a duty as sacred and indispensable as the usurpation of powers not granted is criminal and odious. Among the first, perhaps the very first, instrument for the im- provement of the condition of men is knowledge, and to the acquisition 313 Messages and Papers of the Presidents of much of the knowledge adapted to the wants, the comforts, and enjoy- ments of human life pubUc institutions and seminaries of learning are essential. So convinced of this was the first of my predecessors in this office, now first in the memory, as, Uving, he was first in the hearts, of our countrymen, that once and again in his addresses to the Congresses with whom he cooperated in the public service he earnestly recommended the establishment of seminaries of learning, to prepare for all the emergencies of peace and war — a national university and a military academy. With respect to the latter, had he lived to the present day, in turning his eyes to the institution at West Point he would have enjoyed the gratification of his most earnest wishes; but in surveying the city which has been honored with his name he would have seen the spot of earth which he had destined and bequeathed to the use and benefit of his country as the site for an university still bare and barren. In assuming her station among the civilized nations of the earth it would seem that our country had contracted the engagement to contribute her share of mind, of labor, and of expense to the improvement of those parts of knowledge which lie beyond the reach of individual acquisi- tion, and particularly to geographical and astronomical science. I/Ooking back to the history only of the half century since the declaration of our independence, and observing the generous emulation with which the Gov- ernments of France, Great Britain, and Russia have devoted the genius, the intelligence, the treasures of their respective nations to the common improvement of the species in these branches of science, is it not incum- bent upon us to inquire whether we are not bound by obligations of a high and honorable character to contribute our portion of energy and exertion to the common stock? The voyages of discovery prosecuted in the course of that time at the expense of those nations have not only redounded to their glory, but to the improvement of human knowledge. We have been partakers of that improvement and owe ior it a sacred debt, not only of gratitude, but of equal or proportional exertion in the same common cause. Of the cost of these undertakings, if the mere expenditures of outfit, equipment, and completion of the expeditions were to be considered the only charges, it would be unworthy of a great and generous nation to take a second thought. One hundred expeditions of circumnavigation like those of Cook and I,a Perouse would not burden the exchequer of the nation fitting them out so much as the ways and means of defraying a single campaign in war. But if we take into the account the lives of those benefactors of mankind of which their services in the cause of their species were the purchase, how shall the cost of those heroic enterprises be estimated, and what compensation can be made to them or to their countries for them? Is it not by bearing them in affec- tionate remembrance? Is it not still more by imitating their example — by enabling countrymen of our own to pursue the same career and to hazard their lives in the same cause? John Quincy Adams 313 In inviting the attention of Congress to the subject of internal improve- ments upon a view thus enlarged it is not my design to recommend the equipment of an expedition for circumnavigating the globe for purposes of scientific research and inquiry. We have objects of useful investiga- tion nearer home, and to which our cares may be more beneficially applied. The interior of our own territories has yet been very imperfectly explored. Our coasts along many degrees of latitude upon the shores of the Pacific Ocean, though much frequented by our spirited commercial navigators, have been barely visited by our public ships. The River of the West, first fully discovered and navigated by a countryman of our own, still bears the name of the ship in which he ascended its waters, and claims the protection of our armed national flag at its mouth. With the estab- hshment of a military post there or at some other point of that coast, recommended by my predecessor and already matured in the delibera- tions of the last Congress, I would suggest the expediency of connecting the equipment of a public ship for the exploration of the whole north- west coast of this continent. The establishment of an uniform standard of weights and measures was one of the specific objects contemplated in the formation of our Constitu- tion, and to fix that standard was one of the powers delegated by express terms in that instrument to Congress. The Governments of Great Britain and France have scarcely ceased to be occupied with inquiries and spec- ulations on the same subject since the existence of our Constitution, and with them it has expanded into profound, laborious, and expensive re- searches into the figure of the earth and the comparative length of the pendulum vibrating seconds in various latitudes from the equator to the pole. These researches have resulted in the composition and publication of several works highly interesting to the cause of science. The experi- ments are yet in the process of performance. Some of them have recently been made on our own shores, within the walls of one of our own colleges, and partly by one of our own fellow-citizens. It would be honorable to our country if the sequel of the same experiments should be countenanced by the patronage of otir Government, as they have hitherto been by those of France and Britain. Connected with the establishment of an university, or separate from it, might be undertaken the erection of an astronomical observatory, with provision for the support of an astronomer, to be in constant attendance of observation upon the phenomena of the heavens, and for the period- ical publication of his observations. It is with no feeling of pride as an American that the remark may be made that on the comparatively small territorial surface of Europe there are existing upward of 130 of these light-houses of the skies, while throughout the whole American hemi- sphere there is not one. If we reflect a moment upon the discoveries which in the last four centuries have been made in the physical constitu- tion of -the universe by the means of these buildings and of observers 314 Messages and Papers of the Presidents stationed in them, shall we doubt of their usefulness to every nation? And while scarcely a year passes over our heads without bringing some new astronomical discovery to light, which we must fain receive at sec- ond hand from Europe, are we not cutting ourselves off from the means of returning light for light while we have neither observatory nor observer upon our half of the globe and the earth revolves in perpetual darkness to our unsearching eyes? When, on the 25th of October, 1791, the first President of the United States announced to Congress the result of the first enumeration of the i-ihabitants of this Union, he informed them that the returns gave the pleasing assurance that the population of the United States bordered on 4,000,000 persons. At the distance of thirty years from that time the last enumeration, five years since completed, presented a population bor- dering upon 10,000,000. Perhaps of all the evidences of a prosperous and happy condition of human society the rapidity of the increase of population is the most unequivocal. But the demonstration of our pros- perity rests not alone upon this indication. Our commerce, our wealth, and the extent of our territories have increased in corresponding pro- portions, and the number of independent communities associated in our Federal Union has since that time nearly doubled. The legislative rep- resentation of the States and people in the two Houses of Congress has grown with the growth of their constituent bodies. The House, which then consisted of 65 members, now numbers upward of 200. The Senate, which consisted of 26 members, has now 48. But the executive and, still more, the judiciary departments are yet in a great measure confined to their primitive organization, and are now not adequate to the urgent wants of a still growing community. The naval armaments, which at an early period forced themselves upon the necessities of the Union, soon led to the estabUshment of a Depart- ment of the Navy. But the Departments of Foreign Affairs and of the Interior, which early after the formation of the Government had been united in one, continue so united to this time, to the unqiiestionable det- riment of the public service. The multiplication of our relations with the nations and Governments of the Old World has kept pace with that of our population and commerce, while within the last ten years a new family of nations in our own hemisphere has arisen among the inhab- itants of the earth, with whom our intercourse, commercial and political, would of itself furnish occupation to an active and industrious depart- ment. The constitution of the judiciary, experimental and imperfect as it was even in the infancy of our existing Government, is yet more inad- equate to the administration of national justice at our present maturity. Nine years have elapsed since a predecessor in this ofiice, now not the last, the citizen who, perhaps, of all others throughout the Union con- tributed most to the formation and establishment of our Constitution, in his valedictory address to Congress, immediately preceding his retirement John Quincy Adams 315 from public life, urgently recommended the revision of the judiciary and the establishment of an additional executive department. The exigencies of the pubUc service and its unavoidable deficiencies, as now in exercise, have added yearly cumulative weight to the considerations presented by him as persuasive to the measure, and in recommending it to your delib- erations I am happy to have the influence of his high authority in aid of the undoubting convictions of my own experience. The laws relating to the administration of the Patent Office are deserv- ing of much consideration and perhaps susceptible of some improvement. The grant of power to regulate the action of Congress upon this subject has specified both the end to be obtained and the means by which it is to be effected, ' ' to promote the progress of science and useful arts by secur- ing for Umited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." If an honest pride might be in- dulged in the reflection that on the records of that office are already found inventions the usefulness of which has scarcely been transcended in the annals of human ingenuity, would not its exultation be allayed by the inquiry whether the laws have effectively insured to the inventors the reward destined to them by the Constitution — even a limited term of exclusive right to their discoveries ? On the 24th of December, 1799, it was resolved by Congress that a marble monument should be erected by the United States in the Capitol at the city of Washington; that the family of General Washington should be requested to permit his body to be deposited under it, and that the monument be so designed as to commemorate the great events of his mil- itary and political life. In reminding Congress of this resolution and that the monument contemplated by it remains yet without execution, I shall indulge only the remarks that the works at the Capitol are approach- ing to completion; that the consent of the family, desired by the resolution, was requested and obtained; that a monument has been recently erected in this city over the remains of another distinguished patriot of the Revo- lution, and that a spot has been reserved within the walls where you are deUberating for the benefit of this and future ages, in which the mortal remains may be deposited of him whose spirit hovers over you and listens with dehght to every act of the representatives of his nation which can tend to exalt and adorn his and their country. The Constitution under which you are assembled is a charter of limited powers. After full and solemn deUberation upon all or any of the ob- jects which, urged by an irresistible sense of my own duty, I have recom- mended to your attention should you come to the conclusion that, however desirable in themselves, the enactment of laws for effecting them would transcend the powers committed to you by that venerable instrument which we are all bound to support, let no consideration induce you to assume the exercise of powers not granted to you by the people. But if the power to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever over 3i6 Messages and Papers of the Presidents the District of Columbia; if the power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; if the power to regulate com- merce with foreign nations and among the several States and with the Indian tribes, to fix the standard of weights and measures, to establish post-ofiices and post-roads, to declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a navy, to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United States, and to make all laws which shall be necessarj' and proper for carrying these powers into execution — ^if these powers and others enumerated in the Constitution may be effectually brought into action by laws promoting the improvement of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, the cultivation and encouragement of the mechanic and of the elegant arts, the advancement of literature, and the progress of the sciences, ornamental and profound, to refrain from exercising them for the benefit of the people themselves would be to hide in the earth the talent committed to our charge — would be treachery to the most sacred of trusts. The spirit of improvement is abroad upon the earth. It stimulates the hearts and sharpens the faculties not of our fellow-citizens alone, but of the nations of Europe and of their rulers. While dwelling with pleasing satisfaction upon the superior excellence of our political institutions, let us not be unmindful that liberty is power; that the nation blessed with the largest portion of liberty must in proportion to its numbers be the most powerful nation upon earth, and that the tenure of power by man is, in the moral purposes of his Creator, upon condition that it shall be exercised to ends of beneficence, to improve the condition of himself and his fellow- men. While foreign nations less blessed with that freedom which is power than ourselves are advancing with gigantic strides in the career of pubUc improvement, were we to slumber in indolence or fold up our arms and proclaim to the world that we are palsied by the will of our constituents, would it not be to cast away the bounties of Providence and doom our- selves to perpetual inferiority? In the coturse of the year now drawing to its close we have beheld, under the auspices and at the expense of one State of this Union, a new university unfolding its portals to the sons of science and holding up the torch of human improvement to eyes that seek the light. We have seen under the persevering and enlightened enter- prise of another State the waters of our Western lakes mingle with those of the ocean. If undertakings like these have been accomplished in the compass of a few years by the authority of single members of our Con- federation, can we, the representative authorities of the whole Union, fall behind our fellow-servants in the exercise of the trust committed to us for the benefit of our common sovereign by the accomplishment of works important to the whole and to which neither the authority nor the resources of any one State can be adequate? John Quincy Adams 317 Finally, fellow-citizens, I shall await with cheering hope and faithful cooperation the result of your deliberations, assured that, without en- croaching upon the powers reserved to the authorities of the respective States or to the people, you will, with a due sense of your obHgations to your country and of the high responsibilities weighing upon yourselves, give efficacy to the means committed to you for the common good. And may He who searches the hearts of the children of men prosper your exertions to secure the blessings of peace and promote the highest wel- fare of our country. ^^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^^^ SPECIAL MESSAGES. Washington, December i^, 182^. To the Senate of the United States: I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice with regard to their ratification, the following treaties: 1. A treaty between the United States and the Great and Ivittle Osage tribes of Indians, concluded at St. I^uis, in the State of Missouri, on the 2d_day of June last, by William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the same tribes, duly authorized and empowered by their respective tribes or nations. 2. A treaty between the United States and the Kanzas Nation of Indians, concluded at St. I