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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10879-0.txt b/10879-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aaa1245 --- /dev/null +++ b/10879-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8255 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10879 *** + +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 11, +1767. He enjoyed peculiar and rare advantages for education. In +childhood 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 Leyden, 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 Theophilus Parsons, of +Newburyport; 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 promotion from him because he was his son. He was accordingly +appointed minister to Berlin in 1797. He negotiated a treaty of amity +and commerce 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 Senatorial duties. He offended the Federalists by supporting +Jefferson's embargo act, which was passed in December, 1807, and thus +became connected with the Democratic party. He resigned his seat in the +Senate in March, 1808, declining to serve for the remainder of the term +rather than obey the instructions of the Federalists. In March, 1809, he +was appointed by President Madison minister to Russia. During his +residence in that country he was nominated to be an associate justice of +the Supreme Court of the United States, and confirmed February, 1811; +but he declined the appointment. In 1813 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 1817. 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 his 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 ELECTION. + + +Mr. Webster, from the committee appointed for that purpose yesterday, +reported that the committee had waited on John Quincy Adams, of +Massachusetts, and had notified him that in the recent election of a +President 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 duty the committee had +given the information of this election to the President. + +February 10, 1825. + + + + +Reply of the President Elect. + + +Washington, +_February 10, 1825_. + + +Gentlemen: + +In receiving this testimonial from the Representatives of the people and +States of this Union I am deeply sensible to the circumstances under +which it has been given. All my predecessors in the high 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 +honorable, 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 Constitution, 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 +delegated to me give an immediate opportunity to the people to form and +to express with a nearer approach to unanimity the object of their +preference, 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, signified 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. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +Letter from the President Elect. + + +City of Washington, +_March 1, 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 Constitution to +the President of the United States before he enters on the execution 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. + + + +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, protect, 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 Government instituted by it should be invariably and sacredly +devoted--to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure +domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the +general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of +this Union in their successive generations. 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 vicissitudes of peace and war +incidental to the condition of associated man, it has not disappointed +the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious benefactors 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 +conformity with its provisions has unfolded its powers and carried into +practical operation its effective energies. Subordinate departments have +distributed 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. + +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 +conquest, 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 our 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. Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the +purposes of human 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 Constitution +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 +freedom, 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 present lot and all our earthly hopes of the future. +The causes of these dissensions 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 Government, and that both have required a liberal +indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error. The revolutionary +wars 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 imbittered 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 relations with Europe constituted the +principal basis of our political divisions and the most arduous part of +the action of our Federal Government. With the catastrophe in which the +wars of the French Revolution terminated, 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 beneficence and +the best guaranty against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, +the purity, and the frequency of popular elections; that the General +Government of the Union and the separate governments of the States are +all sovereignties of limited powers, fellow-servants of the same +masters, uncontrolled within their respective spheres, uncontrollable by +encroachments 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 +aggravation and alleviate when possible the burden of taxation; that the +military 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 articles of faith upon which we are all now agreed. If there +have been those who doubted whether a confederated representative +democracy were a government 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 heretofore followed the standards of +political party. It is that of discarding 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 bore 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 +transitory. Those which are founded on geographical divisions, adverse +interests of soil, climate, 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 general 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 obligation to respect and +preserve the rights of the whole. The prejudices everywhere too commonly +entertained against distant strangers are worn away, and the jealousies +of jarring interests are allayed by the composition 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 +administration 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; 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 great 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 +indigent 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 +southern 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 traffic 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 common +condition instituted or recommended by him will embrace the whole sphere +of my obligations. To the topic of internal improvement, emphatically +urged by him at his inauguration, I recur with peculiar satisfaction. 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 swallowed +up in despotism or become the spoil of barbarians. Some diversity of +opinion has prevailed with regard to the powers of Congress for +legislation 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 construction 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 +Legislature have conciliated the sentiments and approximated the +opinions of enlightened 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 limitation 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. Less 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 heed of your +indulgence. Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted to the welfare +of our country, 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 Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain," with +fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I +commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future +destinies of my country. + +March 4, 1825. + + + + +FIRST ANNUAL 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 +sentiment which impresses itself upon the mind is of gratitude to the +Omnipotent 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 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 extensively 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 +exercise 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 Governments assurances have been given and received of the +continuance and increase of the mutual confidence and cordiality by +which the adjustment 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. Immediately after the close of the last war a proposal was fairly +made by the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1815, 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 commercial 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 willing to +abide in reciprocity by it. But all these regulations, whether +established by treaty or by municipal enactments, are still subject to +one important restriction. + +The removal of discriminating duties of tonnage and of impost is limited +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 +Congress whether even this remnant of restriction may not be safely +abandoned, 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 produce 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 maritime 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 understanding +and intent of both parties, as appears upon its face, only a temporary +arrangement of the points of difference between them of the most +immediate and pressing urgency. It was limited in the first instance to +two years from the 1st of October, 1822, but with a proviso that it +should further 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 common 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 Government. 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 1819 indemnity was, after many years of patient +forbearance, obtained; and those upon Sweden have been lately +compromised by a private settlement, in which the claimants themselves +have acquiesced. The Governments of Denmark and of Naples have been +recently reminded of those yet existing against them, nor will any of +them be forgotten while a hope may be indulged of obtaining justice by +the means within the constitutional power of the Executive, 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 Legislature. + +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 +documents 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 Legislature. The +negotiation 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 certain parts of Europe to the +acknowledgment of the Southern American Republics as independent States +will, it is believed, contribute more effectually 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 burdensome 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. + +Among the measures which have been suggested to them by the new +relations with one another, resulting from the recent changes in their +condition, 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 Central 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 deliberations, 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 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 +occupied 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 effective 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 nurture, 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 constituted 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 1st of January last was a +little short of $2,000,000, exclusive of two millions and a half, being +the moiety of the loan of five millions authorized by the act of 26th of +May, 1824. The receipts into the Treasury from the 1st of January to the +30th of September, 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 military and naval +establishments and all the occasional contingencies of a government +coextensive with the Union. + +The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported since the +commencement 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, estimated at less than seven millions, a sum exceeding +twenty-four millions will constitute the revenue of the year, and will +exceed the whole expenditures of the year. The entire amount of the +public debt remaining due on the 1st 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 4-1/2 per cent, or an exchange of stock to that amount of +4-1/2 per cent for a stock of 6 per cent, to create a fund for +extinguishing 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 +Delaware 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. +The latest accounts received of this important undertaking authorize the +belief 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 million and a half. The act of Congress of 18th +May, 1824, to provide for the extinguishment of the debt due to the +United States by the purchasers of public lands, was limited in its +operation of relief to the purchaser to the 10th of April last. Its +effect at the end of the quarter during which it expired was to reduce +that debt from ten to seven millions. By the operation of similar prior +laws of relief, from and since that of 2d March, 1821, 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 interests 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 advantageous 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 Treasury 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 current +year, will be exhibited in the report of the Secretary of War and the +accompanying documents herewith communicated. The organization and +discipline of the Army are effective and satisfactory. To counteract 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 +horsemanship as could scarcely fail to be found wanting on the possible +sudden eruption 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 more to the patronage of the nation, and the numbers of +meritorious officers which it forms and introduces to the public 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 heed 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 service, connected with the quartering, 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. + +Our 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 +appropriation 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 between said tribes. The first and the +last objects of these acts have been accomplished, and the second is yet +in a process of execution. The treaties which since the last session of +Congress have been concluded with the several tribes will be laid before +the Senate for their consideration conformably to the Constitution. They +comprise large and valuable acquisitions 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 12th 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 +advice 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 applied. Their +progress has been delayed by the want of suitable officers for +superintending 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 Engineers. The Military Academy at West Point will furnish from the +cadets annually graduated there officers well qualified for carrying +this measure into effect. + +The Board of Engineers for Internal Improvement, appointed for carrying +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 practicability 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 +improvement 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, +marking, or laying out roads in the Territories of Florida, Arkansas, +and Michigan, from Missouri to Mexico, and for the continuation of the +Cumberland 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 like number of +commissioners appointed on the part of each of those States. A meeting +of the commissioners has been postponed, to await the definitive report +of the board of engineers. The light-houses and monuments for the safety +of our commerce 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, 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 work. + +The operation of the laws relating to the Revolutionary pensioners may +deserve the renewed consideration of Congress. The act of the 18th 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 1st 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 liberal +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 +necessities? I submit to Congress the expediency of providing for +individual cases of this description by special enactment, or of +revising the act of the 1st 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 Labrador, and the first +service of a new frigate has been performed in restoring to his native +soil and domestic enjoyments the veteran hero whose youthful blood and +treasure had freely flowed in the cause of our country's independence, +and whose whole life has been a series of services and sacrifices to the +improvement of his fellow-men. The visit of General Lafayette, 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 +hereafter 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 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 liable to be violated. An additional motive for keeping a +respectable force stationed 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 +convulsive character of the war upon the shores has been extended to the +conflicts upon the ocean. An active warfare has been kept up for years +with alternate success, though generally to the advantage of the +American 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 complete +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 +territory 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 execution +the laws for the suppression of the African slave trade; for the +protection of our commerce against vessels of piratical character, +though bearing commissions from either of the belligerent parties; for +its protection 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 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 officers 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 immensely valuable commerce in those seas can +navigate in security without 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 military marine--the only arm by which the power +of this Confederacy can be estimated or felt by foreign nations, and the +only standing military force which can never be dangerous to our own +liberties 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 +commensurate 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 maritime 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 close 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 Military Academy at West Point, for +the formation of scientific and accomplished 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 +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 execution, 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 1st 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 1st 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 +judicious 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, till 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 corners of the Union, at a +charge scarcely perceptible to any individual, and without the cost of a +dollar to the public 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 promoting the internal improvement of our country, I can not +close the communication without recommending to their calm and +persevering consideration 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 government, 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 facilitating the communications and intercourse between +distant regions and multitudes 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 condition 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 improvement of the condition of men is +knowledge, and to the acquisition of much of the knowledge adapted to +the wants, the comforts, and enjoyments of human life public +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, living, 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 acquisition, +and particularly to geographical and astronomical science. Looking back +to the history only of the half century since the declaration of our +independence, and observing the generous emulation with which the +Governments 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 incumbent 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 for 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 La Pérouse 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 affectionate 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? + +In inviting the attention of Congress to the subject of internal +improvements 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 +investigation 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 establishment of a military post there or at +some other point of that coast, recommended by my predecessor and +already matured in the deliberations of the last Congress, I would +suggest the expediency of connecting the equipment of a public ship for +the exploration of the whole northwest 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 +Constitution, 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 speculations on the same subject since the existence of +our Constitution, and with them it has expanded into profound, +laborious, and expensive researches 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 experiments 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 our +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 periodical +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 +hemisphere there is not one. If we reflect a moment upon the discoveries +which in the last four centuries have been made in the physical +constitution of the universe by the means of these buildings and of +observers 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 +second 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 +inhabitants 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 +bordering 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 +prosperity rests not alone upon this indication. Our commerce, our +wealth, and the extent of our territories have increased in +corresponding proportions, and the number of independent communities +associated in our Federal Union has since that time nearly doubled. The +legislative representation 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 establishment of a Department +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 unquestionable detriment 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 inhabitants of the +earth, with whom our intercourse, commercial and political, would of +itself furnish occupation to an active and industrious department. The +constitution of the judiciary, experimental and imperfect as it was even +in the infancy of our existing Government, is yet more inadequate to the +administration of national justice at our present maturity. Nine years +have elapsed since a predecessor in this office, now not the last, the +citizen who, perhaps, of all others throughout the Union contributed +most to the formation and establishment of our Constitution, in his +valedictory address to Congress, immediately preceding his retirement +from public life, urgently recommended the revision of the judiciary and +the establishment of an additional executive department. The exigencies +of the public 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 deliberations 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 +deserving 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 securing for limited times to authors and inventors the +exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." If an +honest pride might be indulged 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 +military 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 +approaching 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 Revolution, and that a spot has been reserved within the +walls where you are deliberating 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 delight 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 deliberation upon all or any of the +objects which, urged by an irresistible sense of my own duty, I have +recommended 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 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 commerce with foreign nations and among the +several States and with the Indian tribes, to fix the standard of +weights and measures, to establish post-offices and post-roads, to +declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a +navy, to dispose of and make all heedful rules and regulations +respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United +States, and to make all laws which shall be necessary 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 public 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 ourselves to perpetual +inferiority? In the course 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 enterprise 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 Confederation, 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? + +Finally, fellow-citizens, I shall await with cheering hope and faithful +cooperation the result of your deliberations, assured that, without +encroaching upon the powers reserved to the authorities of the +respective States or to the people, you will, with a due sense of your +obligations 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 welfare of our country. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGES. + + + +Washington, +_December 14, 1825_. + + +_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 Little Osage +tribes of Indians, concluded at St. Louis, 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. Louis, in the State of Missouri, on the 3d 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 said nation, duly authorized and empowered by the same. + +3. A convention between the United States and the Shawnee Nation of +Indians residing within the State of Missouri, signed at St. Louis, in +the State of Missouri, on the 7th day of November last, by William +Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and the chiefs and headmen of +the said nation, duly authorized and empowered by the same. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 15, 1825_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration in reference +to its ratification, a general convention of peace, amity, commerce, and +navigation between the United States of America and the Federation of +the Centre of America, signed at this place on the 5th instant by the +Secretary of State and the minister plenipotentiary from the Republic of +Central America to the United States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 26, 1825_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement of the +session it was mentioned that the Governments of the Republics of +Colombia, of Mexico, and of Central America had severally invited the +Government of the United States to be represented at the Congress of +American nations to be assembled at Panama to deliberate upon objects of +peculiar concernment to this hemisphere, and that this invitation had +been accepted. + +Although this measure was deemed to be within the constitutional +competency of the Executive, I have not thought proper to take any step +in it before ascertaining that my opinion of its expediency will concur +with that of both branches of the Legislature, first, by the decision of +the Senate upon the nominations to be laid before them, and, secondly, +by the sanction of both Houses to the appropriations, without which it +can not be carried into effect. + +A report from the Secretary of State and copies of the correspondence +with the South American Governments on this subject since the invitation +given by them are herewith transmitted to the Senate. They will disclose +the objects of importance which are expected to form a subject of +discussion at this meeting, in which interests of high importance to +this Union are involved. It will be seen that the United States neither +intend nor are expected to take part in any deliberations of a +belligerent character; that the motive of their attendance is neither to +contract alliances nor to engage in any undertaking or project importing +hostility to any other nation. + +But the Southern American nations, in the infancy of their independence, +often find themselves in positions with reference to other countries +with the principles applicable to which, derivable from the state of +independence itself, they have not been familiarized by experience. The +result of this has been that sometimes in their intercourse with the +United States they have manifested dispositions to reserve a right of +granting special favors and privileges to the Spanish nation as the +price of their recognition. At others they have actually established +duties and impositions operating unfavorably to the United States to the +advantage of other European powers, and sometimes they have appeared to +consider that they might interchange among themselves mutual concessions +of exclusive favor, to which neither European powers nor the United +States should be admitted. In most of these cases their regulations +unfavorable to us have yielded to friendly expostulation and +remonstrance. But it is believed to be of infinite moment that the +principles of a liberal commercial intercourse should be exhibited to +them, and urged with disinterested and friendly persuasion upon them +when all assembled for the avowed purpose of consulting together upon +the establishment of such principles as may have an important bearing +upon their future welfare. + +The consentaneous adoption of principles of maritime neutrality, and +favorable to the navigation of peace, and commerce in time of war, will +also form a subject of consideration to this Congress. The doctrine that +free ships make free goods and the restrictions of reason upon the +extent of blockades may be established by general agreement with far +more ease, and perhaps with less danger, by the general engagement to +adhere to them concerted at such a meeting, than by partial treaties or +conventions with each of the nations separately. An agreement between +all the parties represented at the meeting that each will guard by its +own means against the establishment of any future European colony within +its borders may be found advisable. This was more than two years since +announced by my predecessor to the world as a principle resulting from +the emancipation of both the American continents. It may be so developed +to the new southern nations that they will all feel it as an essential +appendage to their independence. + +There is yet another subject upon which, without entering into any +treaty, the moral influence of the United States may perhaps be exerted +with beneficial consequences at such a meeting--the advancement of +religious liberty. Some of the southern nations are even yet so far +under the dominion of prejudice that they have incorporated with their +political constitutions an exclusive church, without toleration of any +other than the dominant sect. The abandonment of this last badge of +religious bigotry and oppression may be pressed more effectually by the +united exertions of those who concur in the principles of freedom of +conscience upon those who are yet to be convinced of their justice and +wisdom than by the solitary efforts of a minister to any one of the +separate Governments. + +The indirect influence which the United States may exercise upon any +projects or purposes originating in the war in which the southern +Republics are still engaged, which might seriously affect the interests +of this Union, and the good offices by which the United States may +ultimately contribute to bring that war to a speedier termination, +though among the motives which have convinced me of the propriety of +complying with this invitation, are so far contingent and eventual that +it would be improper to dwell upon them more at large. + +In fine, a decisive inducement with me for acceding to the measure is to +show by this token of respect to the southern Republics the interest +that we take in their welfare and our disposition to comply with their +wishes. Having been the first to recognize their independence, and +sympathized with them so far as was compatible with our neutral duties +in all their struggles and sufferings to acquire it, we have laid the +foundation of our future intercourse with them in the broadest +principles of reciprocity and the most cordial feelings of fraternal +friendship. To extend those principles to all our commercial relations +with them and to hand down that friendship to future ages is congenial +to the highest policy of the Union, as it will be to that of all those +nations and their posterity. In the confidence that these sentiments +will meet the approbation of the Senate, I nominate Richard C. Anderson, +of Kentucky, and John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, to be envoys +extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the assembly of American +nations at Panama, and William B. Rochester, of New York, to be +secretary to the mission. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 27, 1825_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +20th instant, I now transmit a copy of the message of President +Jefferson to both Houses of Congress on the 18th of January, 1803, +recommending an exploring expedition across this continent.[001] It will +be perceived on the perusal of this message that it was confidential, +for which reason the copy of it is now communicated in the same manner, +leaving to the judgment of the House to determine whether any adequate +reason yet remains for withholding it from publication. I possess no +other document or information in relation to the same subject which I +consider as coming within the scope of the resolution of the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 27, 1825_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +20th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +with copies of such portions of the correspondence between the United +States and Great Britain on the subject of the convention for +suppressing the slave trade as have not heretofore been, and which can +be communicated without detriment to the public interest. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 27, 1825_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +23d instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, +with the correspondence between the Department of War and Generals +Pinckney and Jackson, and all the instructions given to the said +Generals Pinckney and Jackson relating to the treaty with the Creek +Indians, afterwards made at Fort Jackson, so far as the same can be +communicated without prejudice to the public interest. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 3, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +23d of last month, I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of +War, with the documents touching the treaty with the Cherokee Indians, +ratified in 1819, by which the Cherokee title to a portion of lands +within the limits of North Carolina was extinguished. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 9, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, I +communicate herewith, in confidence, a report[002] from the Secretary of +State, with translations of the conventions and documents, containing +information of the nature referred to in the said resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 9, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice with regard +to the ratification, the following treaties: + +1. A treaty signed at the Poncar village at the mouth of White Point +Creek, the first below the Qui Carre River, on the 9th of June, 1825, by +Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson and Major Benjamin O'Fallon, +commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs, +headmen, and warriors of the Poncar tribe of Indians on the part of said +tribe. + +2. A treaty signed at Fort Look-out, near the Three Rivers of the Sioux +Pass, on the 22d June, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of +the United States and certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the +Teton, Yancton, and Yanctonies bands of the Sioux tribe of Indians on +the part of the said bands. + +3. A treaty signed at the mouth of the Teton River on the 5th of July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by +certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Sione and Ogalla bands of +Sioux Indians, and on the 12th of July, 1825, at Camp Hidden Creek, by +chiefs and warriors of the Siounes of the Fireheart's band on the part +of their respective bands. + +4. A treaty signed at the mouth of the Teton River on the 6th of July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by +certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Chayenne tribe of Indians +on the part of said tribe. + +5. A treaty signed at the Auricara village on the 16th July, 1825, by +the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain +chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Hunkpapas band of the Sioux tribe +of Indians on the part of said band. + +6. A treaty signed at the Ricara village on the 18th July, 1825, by the +same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain +chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Ricara tribe of Indians on the part +of said tribe. + +7. A treaty signed at the Mandan village on the 30th of July, 1825, by +the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain +chiefs and warriors of the Mandan tribe of Indians on the part of said +tribe. + +8. A treaty signed at the lower Mandan village on the 30th of July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by +certain chiefs and warriors of the Belantse Etea, or Minnetaree, tribe +of Indians on the part of said tribe. + +9. A treaty signed at the Mandan village on the 4th of August, 1825, by +the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain +chiefs and warriors of the Crow tribe of Indians on the part of said +tribe. + +10. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the 25th of +September, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United +States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Ottoe and +Missouri tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe. + +11. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the 30th of +September, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United +States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Pawnee tribe +of Indians on the part of said tribe. + +12. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the 6th of +October, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United +States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Maha tribe of +Indians on the part of said tribe. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 10, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a treaty signed at Prairie des Chiens, in the +Territory of Michigan, on the 19th of August, 1825, by William Clark and +Lewis Cass, commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain +chiefs and warriors of the Sioux, Chippeways, Socs, Foxes, Winnebagoes, +Menominies, Ottoways, Potawatamies, and Ioway tribes of Indians on the +part of said tribes, and I request the advice of the Senate with regard +to its ratification. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 20, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the +23d ultimo, I transmit herewith reports[003] from the Secretary of War +and the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with the statements +desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 23, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +27th December last, requesting a statement of moneys paid out of the +public Treasury to the late President of the United States as +compensation for his services in various other offices which he has +filled under the Government of the United States, and on other accounts, +and also of claims for allowances made by him upon the Government which +have been disallowed, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 24, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +12th December last, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +the Navy, with the documents and proceedings of the naval courts-martial +in the cases of Captain Charles Stewart and of Lieutenants Joshua R. +Sands and William M. Hunter. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 30, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration and advice +with regard to their ratification-- + +1. A treaty concluded on the 10th day of August, 1825, at Council Grove +by Benjamin H. Reeves, George C. Sibley, and Thomas Mather, +commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs and +headmen of the Great and Little Osage tribes of Indians on the part of +the said tribe. + +2. A treaty concluded on the 16th day of August, 1825, at the Sora +Kanzas Creek by the same commissioners on the part of the United States +and certain chiefs and headmen of the Kanzas tribe or nation of Indians +on the part of said tribe. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 31, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +18th instant, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with the +correspondence with the British Government, relating to the boundary of +the United States on the Pacific Ocean, desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 31, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration and advice +with regard to its ratification, a treaty concluded by the Secretary of +War, duly authorized thereto, with the chiefs and headmen of the Creek +Nation, deputed by them, and now in this city. + +It has been agreed upon, and is presented to the consideration of the +Senate as a substitute for the treaty signed at the Indian Springs on +the 12th of February last. The circumstances under which this received +on the 3d of March last your advice and consent to its ratification are +known to you. It was transmitted to me from the Senate on the 5th of +March, and ratified in full confidence yielded to the advice and consent +of the Senate, under a firm belief, founded on the journal of the +commissioners of the United States and on the express statements in the +letter of one of them of the 16th of February to the then Secretary of +War, that it had been concluded with a large majority of the chiefs of +the Creek Nation and with a reasonable prospect of immediate +acquiescence by the remainder. + +This expectation has not merely been disappointed. The first measures +for carrying the treaty into execution had scarcely been taken when the +two principal chiefs who had signed it fell victims to the exasperation +of the great mass of the nation, and their families and dependents, far +from being able to execute the engagements on their part, fled for life, +safety, and subsistence from the territories which they had assumed to +cede, to our own. Yet, in this fugitive condition, and while subsisting +on the bounty of the United States, they have been found advancing +pretensions to receive exclusively to themselves the whole of the sums +stipulated by the commissioners of the United States in payment _for +all_ the lands of the Creek Nation which were ceded by the terms of the +treaty. And they have claimed the stipulation of the eighth article, +that the United States would "_protect_ the emigrating party against the +encroachments, hostilities, and impositions of the whites and of all +others," as an engagement by which the United States were bound to +become the instruments of their vengeance and to inflict upon the +majority of the Creek Nation the punishment of Indian retribution to +gratify the vindictive fury of an impotent and helpless minority of +their own tribe. + +In this state of things the question is not whether the treaty of the +12th of February last shall or shall not be executed. So far as the +United States were or could be bound by it I have been anxiously +desirous of carrying it into execution. But, like other treaties, its +fulfillment depends upon the will not of one but of both the parties to +it. The parties on the face of the treaty are the United States and the +Creek Nation, and however desirous one of them may be to give it effect, +this wish must prove abortive while the other party refuses to perform +its stipulations and disavows its obligations. By the refusal of the +Creek Nation to perform their part of the treaty the United States are +absolved from all its engagements on their part, and the alternative +left them is either to resort to measures of war to secure by force the +advantages stipulated to them in the treaty or to attempt the adjustment +of the interest by a new compact. In the preference dictated by the +nature of our institutions and by the sentiments of justice and humanity +which the occasion requires for measures of peace the treaty herewith +transmitted has been concluded, and is submitted to the decision of the +Senate. After exhausting every effort in our power to obtain the +acquiescence of the Creek Nation to the treaty of the 12th of February, +I entertained for some time the hope that their assent might at least +have been given to a new treaty, by which all their lands within the +State of Georgia should have been ceded. This has also proved +impracticable, and although the excepted portion is of comparatively +small amount and importance, I have assented to its exception so far as +to place it before the Senate only from a conviction that between it and +a resort to the forcible expulsion of the Creeks from their habitations +and lands within the State of Georgia there was no middle term. + +The deputation with which this treaty has been concluded consists of the +principal chiefs of the nation--able not only to negotiate but to carry +into effect the stipulations to which they have agreed. There is a +deputation also here from the small party which undertook to contract +for the whole nation at the treaty of the 12th of February, but the +number of which, according to the information collected by General +Gaines, does not exceed 400. They represent themselves, indeed, to be +far more numerous, but whatever their number may be their interests have +been provided for in the treaty now submitted. Their subscriptions to it +would also have been received but for unreasonable pretensions raised by +them after all the arrangements of the treaty had been agreed upon and +it was actually signed. Whatever their merits may have been in the +facility with which they ceded all the lands of their nation within the +State of Georgia, their utter inability to perform the engagements which +they so readily contracted and the exorbitancy of their demands when +compared with the inefficiency of their own means of performance leave +them with no claims upon the United States other than of impartial and +rigorous justice. + +In referring to the impressions under which I ratified the treaty of the +12th of February last, I do not deem it necessary to decide upon the +propriety of the manner in which it was negotiated. Deeply regretting +the recriminations and recriminations to which these events have given +rise, I believe the public interest will best be consulted by discarding +them altogether from the discussion of the subject. The great body of +the Creek Nation inflexibly refuse to acknowledge or to execute that +treaty. Upon this ground it will be set aside, should the Senate advise +and consent to the ratification of that now communicated, without +looking back to the means by which the other was effected. And in the +adjustment of the terms of the present treaty I have been peculiarly +anxious to dispense a measure of great liberality to both parties of the +Creek Nation, rather than to extort from them a bargain of which the +advantages on our part could only be purchased by hardship on theirs. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 1, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 50th ultimo, I +communicate herewith, in confidence, a report[004] from the Secretary of +State, with the documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 7, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 15th of December +last, I communicate herewith reports from the Secretaries of the +Treasury and War and from the Commissioner of the General Land Office, +with documents, relating to the lead mines and salt springs, containing +the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 14, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +12th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the +Navy, with the statements relating to naval courts of inquiry and +courts-martial since the 1st January, 1824, requested by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 15, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the late +Secretary of War to the late President of the United States, with +documents, containing information requested by a resolution of the House +of April 10, 1824, relating to the purchases of real estate in behalf of +the United States within the territorial limits of any State since the +4th July, 1776. + +These papers were prepared during the last session of Congress, but by +some accident were not then communicated to the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 16, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In answer to the two resolutions of the Senate of the 15th instant, +marked executive, and which I have received, I state respectfully that +all the communications from me to the Senate relating to the congress at +Panama have been made, like all other communications upon executive +business, _in confidence_ and most of them in compliance with a +resolution of the Senate requesting them confidentially. Believing that +the established usage of free confidential communication between the +Executive and the Senate ought for the public interest to be preserved +unimpaired, I deem it my indispensable duty to leave to the Senate +itself the decision of a question involving a departure hitherto, so far +as I am informed, without example from that usage, and upon the motives +for which, not being informed of them, I do not feel myself competent to +decide. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 17, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with a +further document, prepared in compliance with a resolution of the House +of the 10th of April, 1824, and containing information relating to +purchasers of real estate in behalf of the United States within the +territorial limits of any State since the 4th of July, 1776. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 17, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to both Houses of Congress a letter from the +Secretary of War, with a report from the Ordnance Department, relating +to the site of the arsenal of the United States at Augusta, in Georgia, +and with regard to which the interposition of the legislative authority +is submitted to your consideration as desirable. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 1, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War, together +with a representation from Colonel Brooke, relating to the present +condition of the Indians in Florida, and which I recommend to the +favorable consideration of Congress. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 1, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +A resolution of the House of Representatives adopted at the first +session of the Eighteenth Congress, and bearing date the 6th of May, +1824, requested the President of the United States to lay before the +House at their then next session a detailed report of the system and +plan of fortifications then contemplated and recommended by the Board of +Engineers, with various particulars specified in the resolution; and on +the 5th of January last a further resolution was adopted requesting +similar information. I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +War, with a letter from the Chief Engineer, and documents, containing, +so far as it has been found practicable to obtain and compile it, the +information requested by these resolutions. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 5, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I now submit to the consideration of Congress the propriety of making +the appropriation for carrying into effect the appointment of a mission +to the congress at Panama. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 7, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to both Houses of Congress a letter from the Secretary of +War, together with copies of one to him from the Senators of the State +of Maryland, and several other documents, relating to a claim of that +State upon the Government of the United States for interest upon certain +expenditures during the late war, which I the more readily recommend to +the favorable and early consideration of Congress inasmuch as the +principle upon which the claim is advanced appears to have been settled +by the act of Congress of 3d March, 1825, authorizing the payment of +interest due to the State of Virginia. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 8, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of State, with the proceedings of the court and marshal of the United +States for the district of Alabama, and other documents, in relation to +the cargoes of certain slave ships, the _Constitution, Louisa_. and +_Marino_. containing the information requested by a resolution of the +House of February 16, 1825. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 8, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +10th ultimo, requesting information relating to the proceedings of the +joint commission of indemnities due under the award of the Emperor of +Russia for slaves and other private property carried away by the British +forces in violation of the treaty of Ghent, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of State and documents containing the information +desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 15, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War and copies +of a resolution of that legislature of the State of Georgia, with a +correspondence of the governor of that State, relating to the running +and establishing of the line between that State and Florida, which I +recommend to the favorable consideration of Congress. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 15, 1826_. +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: +In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 5th ultimo, +requesting me to cause to be laid before the House so much of the +correspondence between the Government of the United States and the new +States of America, or their ministers, respecting the proposed congress +or meeting of diplomatic agents at Panama, and such information +respecting the general character of that expected congress as may be in +my possession and as may, in my opinion, be communicated without +prejudice to the public interest, and also to inform the House, so far +as in my opinion the public interest may allow, in regard to what +objects the agents of the United States are expected to take part in the +deliberations of that congress, I now transmit to the House a report +from the Secretary of State, with the correspondence and information +requested by the resolution. + +With regard to the objects in which the agents of the United States are +expected to take part in the deliberations of that congress, I deem it +proper to premise that these objects did not form the only, nor even the +principal, motive for my acceptance of the invitation. My first and +greatest inducement was to meet in the spirit of kindness and friendship +an overture made in that spirit by three sister Republics of this +hemisphere. + +The great revolution in human affairs which has brought into existence, +nearly at the same time, eight sovereign and independent nations in our +own quarter of the globe has placed the United States in a situation not +less novel and scarcely less interesting than that in which they had +found themselves by their own transition from a cluster of colonies to a +nation of sovereign States. The deliverance of the Southern American +Republics from the oppression under which they had been so long +afflicted was hailed with great unanimity by the people of this Union as +among the most auspicious events of the age. On the 4th of May, 1822, an +act of Congress made an appropriation of $100,000 "for such missions to +the independent nations on the American continent as the President of +the United States might deem proper." In exercising the authority +recognized by this act my predecessor, by and with the advice and +consent of the Senate appointed successively ministers plenipotentiary +to the Republics of Colombia, Buenos Ayres, Chili, and Mexico. Unwilling +to raise among the fraternity of freedom questions of precedency and +etiquette, which even the European monarchs had of late found it +necessary in a great measure to discard, he dispatched these ministers +to Colombia, Buenos Ayres, and Chili without exacting from those +Republics, as by the ancient principles of political primogeniture he +might have done, that the compliment of a plenipotentiary mission should +have been paid _first_ by them to the United States. The instructions, +prepared under his direction, to Mr. Anderson, the first of our +ministers to the southern continent, contain at much length the general +principles upon which he thought it desirable that our relations, +political and commercial, with these our new neighbors should be +established for their benefit and ours and that of the future ages of +our posterity. A copy of so much of these instructions as relates to +these general subjects is among the papers now transmitted to the House. +Similar instructions were furnished to the ministers appointed to Buenos +Ayres, Chili, and Mexico, and the system of social intercourse which it +was the purpose of those missions to establish from the first opening of +our diplomatic relations with those rising nations is the most effective +exposition of the principles upon which the invitation to the congress +at Panama has been accepted by me, as well as of the objects of +negotiation at that meeting, in which, it was that our plenipotentiaries +should take part. + +The House will perceive that even at the date of these instructions the +first treaties between some of the southern Republics had been +concluded, by which they had stipulated among themselves this diplomatic +assembly at Panama. And it will be seen with what caution, so far as it +might concern the policy of the United States, and at the same time with +what frankness and good will toward those nations, he gave countenance +to their design of inviting the United States to this high assembly for +consultation upon _American interests_. It was not considered a +conclusive reason for declining this invitation that the proposal for +assembling such a Congress had not first been made by ourselves. It had +sprung from the urgent, immediate, and momentous common interests of the +great communities struggling for independence, and, as it were, +quickening into life. From them the proposition to us appeared +respectful and friendly; from us to them it could scarcely have been +made without exposing ourselves to suspicions of purposes of ambition, +if not of domination, more suited to rouse resistance and excite +distrust than to conciliate favor and friendship. The first and +paramount principle upon which it was deemed wise and just to lay the +corner stone of all our future relations with them was +_disinterestedness_; the next was cordial good will to them; the third +was a claim of fair and equal reciprocity. Under these impressions when +the invitation was formally and earnestly given, had it even been +doubtful whether _any_ of the objects proposed for consideration and +discussion at the Congress were such as that immediate and important +interests of the United States would be affected by the issue, I should, +nevertheless, have determined so far as it depended upon me to have +accepted the invitation and to have appointed ministers to attend the +meeting. The proposal itself implied that the Republics by whom it was +made _believed_ that important interests of ours or of theirs rendered +our attendance there desirable. They had given us notice that in the +novelty of their situation and in the spirit of deference to our +experience they would be pleased to have the benefit of our friendly +counsel. To meet the temper with which this proposal was made with a +cold repulse was not thought congenial to that warm interest in their +welfare with which the people and Government of the Union had hitherto +gone hand in hand through the whole progress of their revolution. To +insult them by a refusal of their overture, and then invite them to a +similar assembly to be called by ourselves, was an expedient which never +presented itself to the mind. I would have sent ministers to the meeting +had it been merely to give them such advice as they might have desired, +even with reference to _their own_ interests, not involving ours. I +would have sent them had it been merely to explain and set forth to them +our reasons for _declining_ any proposal of specific measures to which +they might desire our concurrence, but which we might deem incompatible +with our interests or our duties. In the intercourse between nations +temper is a missionary perhaps more powerful than talent. Nothing was +ever lost by kind treatment. Nothing can be gained by sullen repulses +and aspiring pretensions. + +But objects of the highest importance, not only to the future welfare of +the whole human race, but bearing directly upon the special interests of +this Union, _will_ engage the deliberations of the congress of Panama +whether we are represented there or not. Others, if we are represented, +may be offered by our plenipotentiaries for consideration having in view +both these great results--our own interests and the improvement of the +condition of man upon earth. It may be that in the lapse of many +centuries no other opportunity so favorable will be presented to the +Government of the United States to subserve the benevolent purposes of +Divine Providence; to dispense the promised blessings of the Redeemer of +Mankind; to promote the prevalence in future ages of peace on earth and +good will to man, as will now be placed in their power by participating +in the deliberations of this congress. + +Among the topics enumerated in official papers published by the Republic +of Colombia, and adverted to in the correspondence now communicated to +the House, as intended to be presented for discussion at Panama, there +is scarcely one in which the _result_ of the meeting will not deeply +affect the interests of the United States. Even those in which the +belligerent States alone will take an active part will have a powerful +effect upon the state of our relations with the American, and probably +with the principal European, States. Were it merely that we might be +correctly and speedily informed of the proceedings of the congress and +of the progress and issue of their negotiations, I should hold it +advisable that we should have an accredited agency with them, placed in +such confidential relations with the other members as would insure the +authenticity and the safe and early transmission of its reports. Of the +same enumerated topics are the preparation of a manifesto setting forth +to the world the justice of their cause and the relations they desire to +hold with other Christian powers, and to form a convention of navigation +and commerce applicable both to the confederated States and to their +allies. + +It will be within the recollection of the House that immediately after +the close of the war of our independence a measure closely analogous to +this congress of Panama was adopted by the Congress of our +Confederation, and for purposes of precisely the same character. Three +commissioners with plenipotentiary powers were appointed to negotiate +treaties of amity, navigation, and commerce with all the principal +powers of Europe. They met and resided for that purpose about one year +at Paris, and the only result of their negotiations at that time was the +first treaty between the United States and Prussia--memorable in the +diplomatic annals of the world, and precious as a monument of the +principles, in relation to commerce and maritime warfare, with which our +country entered upon her career as a member of the great family of +independent nations. This treaty, prepared in conformity with the +instructions of the American plenipotentiaries, consecrated three +fundamental principles of the foreign intercourse which the Congress of +that period were desirous of establishing: First, equal reciprocity and +the mutual stipulation of the privileges of the most favored nation in +the commercial exchanges of peace; secondly, the abolition of private +war upon the ocean, and thirdly, restrictions favorable to neutral +commerce upon belligerent practices with regard to contraband of war and +blockades. A painful, it may be said a calamitous, experience of more +than forty years has demonstrated the deep importance of these same +principles to the peace and prosperity of this nation and to the welfare +of all maritime States, and has illustrated the profound wisdom with +which they were assumed as cardinal points of the policy of the Union. + +At that time in the infancy of their political existence, under the +influence of those principles of liberty and of right so congenial to +the cause in which they had just fought and triumphed, they were able +but to obtain the sanction of one great and philosophical, though +absolute, sovereign in Europe to their liberal and enlightened +principles. They could obtain no more. Since then a political hurricane +has gone over three-fourths of the civilized portions of the earth, the +desolation of which it may with confidence be expected is passing away, +leaving at least the American atmosphere purified and refreshed. And now +at this propitious moment the new-born nations of this hemisphere, +assembling by their representatives at the isthmus between its two +continents to settle the principles of their future international +intercourse with other nations and with us, ask in this great exigency +for our advice upon those very fundamental maxims which we from our +cradle at first proclaimed and partially succeeded to introduce into the +code of national law. + +Without recurring to that total prostration of all neutral and +commercial rights which marked the progress of the late European wars, +and which finally involved the United States in them, and adverting only +to our political relations with these American nations, it is observable +that while in all other respects those relations have been uniformly and +without exception of the most friendly and mutually satisfactory +character, the only causes of difference and dissension between us and +them which ever have arisen originated in those never-failing fountains +of discord and irritation--discriminations of commercial favor to other +nations, licentious privateers, and paper blockades. I can not without +doing injustice to the Republics of Buenos Ayres and Colombia forbear to +acknowledge the candid and conciliatory spirit with which they have +repeatedly yielded to our friendly representations and remonstrances on +these subjects--in repealing discriminative laws which operated to our +disadvantage and in revoking the commissions of their privateers, to +which Colombia has added the magnanimity of making reparation for +unlawful captures by some of her cruisers and of assenting in the midst +of war to treaty stipulations favorable to neutral navigation. But the +recurrence of these occasions of complaint has rendered the renewal of +the discussions which result in the removal of them necessary, while in +the meantime injuries are sustained by merchants and other individuals +of the United States which can not be repaired, and the remedy lingers +in overtaking the pernicious operation of the mischief. The settlement +of general principles pervading with equal efficacy all the American +States can alone put an end to these evils, and can alone be +accomplished at the proposed assembly. + +If it be true that the noblest treaty of peace ever mentioned in history +is that by which the Carthagenians were bound to abolish the practice of +sacrificing their own children _because it was stipulated in favor of +human nature_. I can not exaggerate to myself the unfading glory with +which these United States will go forth in the memory of future ages if +by their friendly counsel, by their moral influence, by the power of +argument and persuasion alone they can prevail upon the American nations +at Panama to stipulate by general agreement among themselves, and so far +as any of them may be concerned, the perpetual abolition of private war +upon the ocean. And if we can not yet flatter ourselves that this may be +accomplished, as advances toward it the establishment of the principle +that the friendly flag shall cover the cargo, the curtailment of +contraband of war, and the proscription of fictitious paper blockades-- +engagements which we may reasonably hope will not prove impracticable-- +will, if successfully inculcated, redound proportionally to our honor +and drain the fountain of many a future sanguinary war. + +The late President of the United States, in his message to Congress of +the 2d December, 1823, while announcing the negotiation then pending +with Russia, relating to the northwest coast of this continent, observed +that the occasion of the discussions to which that incident had given +rise had been taken for asserting as a principle in which the rights and +interests of the United States were involved that the American +continents, by the free and independent condition which they had assumed +and maintained, were thenceforward not to be considered as subjects for +future colonization by any European power. The principle had first been +assumed in that negotiation with Russia. It rested upon a course of +reasoning equally simple and conclusive. With the exception of the +existing European colonies, which it was in nowise intended to disturb, +the two continents consisted of several sovereign and independent +nations, whose territories covered their whole surface. By this their +independent condition the United States enjoyed the right of commercial +intercourse with every part of their possessions. To attempt the +establishment of a colony in those possessions would be to usurp to the +exclusion of others a commercial intercourse which was the common +possession of all. It could not be done without encroaching upon +existing rights of the United States. The Government of Russia has never +disputed these positions nor manifested the slightest dissatisfaction at +their having been taken. Most of the new American Republics have +declared their entire assent to them, and they now propose, among the +subjects of consultation at Panama, to take into consideration the means +of making effectual the assertion of that principle, as well as the +means of resisting interference from abroad with the domestic concerns +of the American Governments. + +In alluding to these means it would obviously be premature at this time +to anticipate that which is offered merely as matter for consultation, +or to pronounce upon those measures which have been or may be suggested. +The purpose of this Government is to concur in none which would import +hostility to Europe or justly excite resentment in any of her States. +Should it be deemed advisable to contract any conventional engagement on +this topic, our views would extend no further than to a mutual pledge of +the parties to the compact to maintain the principle in application to +its own territory, and to permit no colonial lodgments or establishment +of European jurisdiction upon its own soil; and with respect to the +obtrusive interference from abroad--if its future character may be +inferred from that which has been and perhaps still is exercised in more +than one of the new States--a joint declaration of its character and +exposure of it to the world may be probably all that the occasion would +require. Whether the United States should or should not be parties to +such a declaration may justly form a part of the deliberation. That +there is an evil to be remedied heeds little insight into the secret +history of late years to know, and that this remedy may best be +concerted at the Panama meeting deserves at least the experiment of +consideration. A concert of measures having reference to the more +effectual abolition of the African slave trade and the consideration of +the light in which the political condition of the island of Hayti is to +be regarded are also among the subjects mentioned by the minister from +the Republic of Colombia as believed to be suitable for deliberation at +the congress. The failure of the negotiations with that Republic +undertaken during the late administration, for the suppression of that +trade, in compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives, +indicates the expediency of listening with respectful attention to +propositions which may contribute to the accomplishment of the great end +which was the purpose of that resolution, while the result of those +negotiations will serve as admonition to abstain from pledging this +Government to any arrangement which might be expected to fail of +obtaining the advice and consent of the Senate by a constitutional +majority to its ratification. + +Whether the political condition of the island of Hayti shall be brought +at all into discussion at the meeting may be a question for preliminary +advisement. There are in the political constitution of Government of +that people circumstances which have hitherto forbidden the +acknowledgment of them by the Government of the United States as +sovereign and independent. Additional reasons for withholding that +acknowledgment have recently been seen in their acceptance of a nominal +sovereignty by the _grant_ of a foreign prince under conditions +equivalent to the concession by them of exclusive commercial advantages +to one nation, adapted altogether to the state of colonial vassalage and +retaining little of independence but the name. Our plenipotentiaries +will be instructed to present these views to the assembly at Panama, and +should they not be concurred in to decline acceding to any arrangement +which may be proposed upon different principles. + +The condition of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico is of deeper import +and more immediate bearing upon the present interests and future +prospects of our Union. The correspondence herewith transmitted will +show how earnestly it has engaged the attention of this Government. The +invasion of both those islands by the united forces of Mexico and +Colombia is avowedly among the objects to be matured by the belligerent +States at Panama. The convulsions to which, from the peculiar +composition of their population, they would be liable in the event of +such an invasion, and the danger therefrom resulting of their falling +ultimately into the hands of some European power other than Spain, will +not admit of our looking at the consequences to which the congress at +Panama may lead with indifference. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon +this topic or to say more than that all our efforts in reference to this +interest will be to preserve the existing state of things, the +tranquillity of the islands, and the peace and security of their +inhabitants. + +And lastly, the congress of Panama is believed to present a fair +occasion for urging upon all the new nations of the south the just and +liberal principles of religious liberty; not by any interference +whatever in their internal concerns, but by claiming for our citizens +whose occupations or interests may call them to occasional residence in +their territories the inestimable privilege of worshipping their Creator +according to the dictates of their own consciences. This privilege, +sanctioned by the customary law of nations and secured by treaty +stipulations in numerous national compacts, secured even to our own +citizens in the treaties with Colombia and with the Federation of +Central America, is yet to be obtained in the other South American +States and Mexico. Existing prejudices are still struggling against it, +which may, perhaps, be more successfully combated at this general +meeting than at the separate seats of Government of each Republic. + +I can scarcely deem it otherwise than superfluous to observe that the +assembly will be in its nature diplomatic and not legislative; that +nothing can be transacted there obligatory upon any one of the States to +be represented at the meeting, unless with the express concurrence of +its own representatives, nor even then, but subject to the ratification +of its constitutional authority at home. The faith of the United States +to foreign powers can not otherwise be pledged. I shall, indeed, in the +first instance, consider the assembly as merely _consultative_; and +although the plenipotentiaries of the United States will be empowered to +receive and refer to the consideration of their Government any +proposition from the other parties to the meeting, they will be +authorized to conclude nothing unless subject to the definitive sanction +of this Government in all its constitutional forms. It has therefore +seemed to me unnecessary to insist that every object to be discussed at +the meeting should be specified with the precision of a judicial +sentence or enumerated with the exactness of a mathematical +demonstration. The purpose of the meeting itself is to deliberate upon +the great and common _interests_ of several new and neighbouring +nations. If the measure is new and without precedent, so is the +situation of the parties to it. That the purposes of the meeting are +somewhat indefinite, far from being an objection to it is among the +cogent reasons for its adoption. It is not the establishment of +principles of intercourse with one, but with seven or eight nations at +once. That before they have had the means of exchanging ideas and +communicating with one another in common upon these topics they should +have definitively settled and arranged them in concert is to require +that the effect should precede the cause; it is to exact as a +preliminary to the meeting that for the accomplishment of which the +meeting itself is designed. + +Among the inquiries which were thought entitled to consideration before +the determination was taken to accept the invitation was that whether +the measure might not have a tendency to change the policy, hitherto +invariably pursued by the United States, of avoiding all entangling +alliances and all unnecessary foreign connections. + +Mindful of the advice given by the father of our country in his Farewell +Address, that the great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign +nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as +little political connection as possible, and faithfully adhering to the +spirit of that admonition, I can not overlook the reflection that the +counsel of Washington in that instance, like all the counsels of wisdom, +was founded upon the circumstances in which our country and the world +around us were situated at the time when it was given; that the reasons +assigned by him for his advice were that Europe had a set of primary +interests which to us had none or a very remote relation; that hence she +must be engaged in frequent controversies, the, causes of which were +essentially foreign to our concerns; that our _detached_ and _distant_ +situation invited and enabled us to pursue a different course; that by +our union and rapid growth, with an efficient Government, the period was +not far distant when we might defy material injury from external +annoyance, when we might take such an attitude as would cause our +neutrality to be respected, and, with reference to belligerent nations, +might choose peace or war, as our interests, guided by justice, should +counsel. + +Compare our situation and the circumstances of that time with those of +the present day, and what, from the very words of Washington then, would +be his counsels to his countrymen now? Europe has still her set of +primary interests, with which we have little or a remote relation. Our +distant and detached situation with reference to Europe remains the +same. But we were then the only independent nation of this hemisphere, +and we were surrounded by European colonies, with the greater part of +which we had no more intercourse than with the inhabitants of another +planet. Those colonies have now been transformed into eight independent +nations, extending to our very borders, seven of them Republics like +ourselves, with whom we have an immensely growing commercial, and _must_ +have and have already important political, connections; with reference +to whom our situation is neither distant nor detached; whose political +principles and systems of government, congenial with our own, must and +will have an action and counteraction upon us and ours to which we can +not be indifferent if we would. + +The rapidity of our growth, and the consequent increase of our strength, +has more than realized the anticipations of this admirable political +legacy. Thirty years have nearly elapsed since it was written, and in +the interval our population, our wealth, our territorial extension, our +power--physical and moral--have nearly trebled. Reasoning upon this +state of things from the sound and judicious principles of Washington, +must we not say that the period which he predicted as then not far off +has arrived; that _America_ has a set of primary interests which have +none or a remote relation to Europe; that the interference of Europe, +therefore, in those concerns should be spontaneously withheld by her +upon the same principles that we have never interfered with hers, and +that if she should interfere, as she may, by measures which may have a +great and dangerous recoil upon ourselves, we might be called in defense +of our own altars and firesides to take an attitude which would cause +our neutrality to be respected, and choose peace or war, as our +interest, guided by justice, should counsel. + +The acceptance of this invitation, therefore, far from conflicting with +the counsel or the policy of Washington, is directly deducible from and +conformable to it. Nor is it less conformable to the views of my +immediate predecessor as declared in his annual message to Congress of +the 2d December, 1823, to which I have already adverted, and to an +important passage of which I invite the attention of the House: + + The citizens of the United States (said he) cherish sentiments + the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their + fellow-men on that (the European) side of the Atlantic. In the + wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we + have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so + to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously + menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our + defense. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of + necessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be + obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political + system of the allied powers is essentially different in this + respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that + which exists in their respective Governments. And to the defense + of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood + and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened + citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, + this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor and + to the amicable relations subsisting between the United States + and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt + on their part to extend their system to any portion of this + hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the + existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have + not interfered and shall not interfere; but with the Governments + who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose + independence we have on great consideration and on just + principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for + the purposes of oppressing them or controlling in any other + manner their destiny by any European power in any other light + than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the + United States. In the war between those new Governments and Spain + we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition, and + to this we have adhered and shall continue to adhere, provided no + change shall occur which in the judgment of the competent + authorities of this Government shall make a corresponding change + on the part of the United States indispensable to their security. + +To the question which may be asked, whether this meeting and the +principles which may be adjusted and settled by it as rules of +intercourse between the American nations may not give umbrage to the +holy league of European powers or offense to Spain, it is deemed a +sufficient answer that our attendance at Panama can give _no just cause_ +of umbrage or offense to either, and that the United States will +stipulate nothing there which can give such cause. Here the right of +inquiry into our purposes and measures must stop. The holy league of +Europe itself was formed without inquiring of the United States whether +it would or would not give umbrage to them. The fear of giving umbrage +to the holy league of Europe was urged as a motive for denying to the +American nations the acknowledgment of their independence. That it would +be viewed by Spain as hostility to her was not only urged, but directly +declared by herself. The Congress and administration of that day +consulted their rights and duties, and not their fears. Fully determined +to give no heedless displeasure to any foreign power, the United States +can estimate the probability of their giving it only by the right which +any foreign state could have to take it from their measures. Neither the +representation of the United States at Panama nor any measure to which +their assent may be yielded there will give to the holy league or any of +its members, nor to Spain, the right to take offense; for the rest the +United States must still, as heretofore, take counsel from their duties +rather than their fears. + +Such are the objects in which it is expected that the plenipotentiaries +of the United States, when commissioned to attend the meeting at the +Isthmus, will take part, and such are the motives and purposes with +which the invitation of the three Republics was accepted. It was, +however, as the House will perceive from the correspondence, accepted +only upon condition that the nomination of commissioners for the mission +should receive the advice and consent of the Senate. + +The concurrence of the House to the measure by the appropriations +necessary for carrying it into effect is alike subject to its free +determination and indispensable to the fulfillment of the intention. + +That the congress at Panama will accomplish all, or even any, of the +transcendent benefits to the human race which warmed the conceptions of +its first proposer it were perhaps indulging too sanguine a forecast of +events to promise. It is in its nature a measure speculative and +experimental. The blessing of Heaven may turn it to the account of human +improvement; accidents unforeseen and mischances not to be anticipated +may baffle all its high purposes and disappoint its fairest +expectations. But the design is great, is benevolent, is humane. + +It looks to the melioration of the condition of man. It is congenial +with that spirit which prompted the declaration of our independence, +which inspired the preamble of our first treaty with France, which +dictated our first treaty with Prussia and the instructions under which +it was negotiated, which filled the hearts and fired the souls of the +immortal founders of our Revolution. + +With this unrestricted exposition of the motives by which I have been +governed in this transaction, as well as of the objects to be discussed +and of the ends, if possible, to be attained by our representation at +the proposed congress, I submit the propriety of an appropriation to the +candid consideration and enlightened patriotism of the Legislature. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 16, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +Some additional documents having relation to the objects of the mission +to the congress at Panama, and received since the communication of those +heretofore sent, are now transmitted to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the +10th instant, requesting information in possession of the Government +relating to certain resolves of the Congress of the Confederation of the +21st of October, 1780, and the 21st March, 1783, concerning allowances +to the officers of the Revolutionary army, and to the manner of carrying +into effect those resolves, and other particulars appertaining thereto, +I transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, and +of War, with documents, comprising the information desired by the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +MARCH 22, 1826. + + + + +Washington, +_March 24, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of +the 14th ultimo, requesting statements of the amount of compensation +allowed to the paymaster and quartermaster of the Marine Corps for +the two years preceding the 1st of January, 1826, and of other particulars +relating to the same Corps, I communicate a report from the Secretary +of the Navy, with documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 24, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +16th ultimo, requesting statements of the net amount of revenue derived +from imports and tonnage received by the Treasury from the ports within +the bay of Delaware, the bay of Chesapeake, the harbor of New York, +and at Boston from the 1st of January, 1790, to the last of December, +1825, and of the amount of expenditures paid from the Treasury for forts, +light-houses, beacons, and other public works erected to aid commerce +or for the purposes of defense within the said bays and harbors during +the said time, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with several documents, containing the information desired by +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 29, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 227th instant, +requesting a copy of such parts of the answer of the Secretary of State +to Mr. Poinsett's letter to Mr. Clay, dated Mexico, 28th September, +1825, No. 22, as relates to the pledge of the United States therein +mentioned; and also requesting me to inform the House whether the United +States have in any manner made any pledge to the Governments of Mexico +and South America that the United States would not permit the +interference of any foreign power with the independence or form of +government of these nations, and, if so, when, in what manner, and to +what effect; and also to communicate to the House a copy of the +communication from our minister at Mexico in which he informed the +Government of the United States that the Mexican Government called upon +this Government to fulfill the memorable pledge of the President of the +United States in his message to Congress of December, 1823, I transmit +to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with the documents +containing the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 30, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By the second article of the general convention of peace, amity, +navigation, and commerce between the United States and the Republic of +Colombia, concluded at Bogota on 3d of October, 1824, it was stipulated +that the parties engaged mutually not to grant any particular favor to +other nations in respect of commerce and navigation which should not +immediately become common to the other party, who should enjoy the same +freely if the concession was freely made, or on allowing the same +compensation if the concession was conditional. And in the third article +of the same convention it was agreed that the citizens of the United +States might frequent all the coasts and countries of the Republic of +Colombia, and reside and trade there in all sorts of produce, +manufactures, and merchandise, and should pay no other or greater +duties, charges, or fees whatsoever than the most favored nation should +be obliged to pay, and should enjoy all the rights, privileges, and +exemptions in navigation and commerce which the most favored nations +should enjoy, submitting themselves, nevertheless, to the laws, decrees, +and usages there established, and to which were submitted the subjects +and citizens of the most favored nations; with a reciprocal stipulation +in favor of the citizens of the Republic of Colombia in the United +States. Subsequently to the conclusion of this convention a treaty was +negotiated between the Republic of Colombia and Great Britain, by which +it was stipulated that no other or higher duties on account of tonnage, +light, or harbor dues should be imposed in the ports of Colombia on +British vessels than those payable in the same ports by Colombian +vessels, and that the same duties should be paid on the importation into +the territories of Colombia of any article the growth, produce, or +manufacture of His Britannic Majesty's dominions, whether such +importations should be in Colombian or in British vessels, and that the +same duties should be paid and the same discount (drawbacks) and +bounties allowed on the exportation of any articles the growth, produce, +or manufacture of Colombia to His Britannic Majesty's dominions, whether +such exportations were in Colombian or in British vessels. + +The minister of the United States to the Republic of Colombia having +claimed, by virtue of the second and third articles of the convention +between the two Republics, that the benefit of these subsequent +stipulations should be alike extended to the citizens of the United +States upon the condition of reciprocity provided for by the convention, +the application of those engagements was readily acceded to by the +Colombian Government, and a decree was issued by the executive authority +of that Republic on the 30th of January last, a copy and translation of +which are herewith communicated, securing to the citizens of the United +States in the Republic of Colombia the same advantages in regard to +commerce and navigation which had been conceded to British subjects in +the Colombian treaty with Great Britain. + +It remains for the Government of the United States to secure to the +citizens of the Republic of Colombia the reciprocal advantages to which +they are entitled by the terms of the convention, to commence from the +30th of January last, for the accomplishment of which I invite the +favor-able consideration of the Legislature. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 31, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 21st instant, +requesting information whether any, and what, measures have been taken +to improve the navigation over the sand bars in the Ohio River according +to the provisions of the act of the 24th of May, 1824, to improve the +navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and also whether the +experiments mentioned in the proviso to the first section of the said +act have been made, and, if so, what success has attended them, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with documents, +containing the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 31, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I communicate to the Senate herewith a supplementary article to the +treaty with the chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation, in behalf of +that nation, which was transmitted to the Senate on the 31st of January +last, and which I submit, together with and as a part of that treaty, +for the constitutional advice of the Senate with regard to its +ratification. A report of the Secretary of War accompanies the article, +setting forth the reasons for which it has been concluded. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 1, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 13th ultimo, +requesting a statement of all the expenditures incident or relating to +internal improvement for the years 1824 and 1825, I transmit reports +from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, with documents, +containing the statement desired. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 1, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 7th ultimo, +requesting information relative to the execution of an act of Congress +of the 7th May, 1822, to authorize and empower the corporation of the +city of Washington, in the district of Columbia, to drain the low +grounds on and near the public reservations, and to improve and ornament +certain parts of such reservations, I transmit herewith a report from +the commissioners appointed by the corporation of the city to carry into +effect the provisions of the said act, together with sundry documents, +exhibiting the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 5, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 30th ultimo, I +transmit to the House a report[005] from the Secretary of State, with +the documents desired by the resolution; and also a copy of the letter +from the Secretary of State to Mr. Poinsett acknowledging the receipt of +his dispatch No. 22, accidentally overlooked in the answer to the +resolution of the House of the 27th ultimo. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 11, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +On the 16th of January last I sent to the Senate a nomination of Daniel +Bissell to be colonel of the Second Regiment of Artillery, and on the 3d +of February I received from the Secretary of the Senate an attested copy +of their proceedings in relation to that nomination, laid before me by +their order, and closing with a resolution in these words: + +_Resolved_. That in the opinion of the Senate Daniel Bissell is entitled +to the place of colonel in the Army of the United States, taking rank as +such from the 15th of August, 1812, with the brevet of brigadier-general +from the 9th of March, 1814, and that the President of the United States +may arrange him accordingly. + +In the discharge of my own duties I am under the necessity of stating +respectfully to the Senate-- + +First. That I can not concur in these opinions. + +Secondly. That the resolution of the Senate, having on its face no +reference either to the nomination or to the office for which it was +made, leaves me doubtful whether it was intended by the Senate as their +decision upon the nomination or not. If intended as their decision, it +imports that the Senate do not advise and consent to the appointment of +Daniel Bissell as colonel in the Second Regiment of Artillery. If +intended as a mere expression of their opinions, superseding in their +judgment the necessity of their immediate decision upon the nomination, +it leaves the Senate still in possession of the nomination and free to +act upon it when informed of my inability to carry those opinions into +effect. + +In this uncertainty I have thought it most respectful to the Senate to +refer the subject again to them for their consideration. The delay in +the transmission of this communication is attributable to the earnest +desire which I have entertained of acceding to the opinions and +complying with the wishes of the Senate, and to the long and repeated +reconsideration of my own impressions with the view to make them, if +possible, conform to theirs. A still higher duty now constrains me to +invite their definitive decision upon the nomination. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 15, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +11th instant, I transmit herewith a report[006] of the Secretary of +State, and documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 25, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I now transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of a treaty with the +Creek Nation of Indians, concluded on the 24th day of January last, with +a supplementary article, signed on the 31st of last month, which have +been, with the advice and consent of the Senate, duly ratified. I send +at the same time copies of the treaty superseded by them, signed at the +Indian Springs on the 12th of February, 1825. The treaty and +supplementary article now ratified will require the aid of the +Legislature for carrying them into effect. And I subjoin a letter from +the Secretary of War, proposing an additional appropriation for the +purpose of facilitating the removal of that portion of the Creek Nation +which may be disposed to remove west of the Mississippi, recommending +the whole subject to the favorable consideration of Congress. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 25, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 4th of January last, +I now transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, +and of War, and from the Postmaster-General, with the documents +containing the list of appointments of members of Congress and other +information relating thereto desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 28, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice concerning its +ratification, a general convention of friendship, commerce, and +navigation between the United States and His Majesty the King of +Denmark, signed by the Secretary of State and the Danish minister on the +26th instant. A copy of the convention and a note from the Secretary of +State, together with Mr. Pedersen's answer, respecting the claims of the +citizens of the United States upon the Danish Government, are likewise +communicated. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 29, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +26th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with a copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General[007] +referred to in the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 9, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: In compliance with a resolution of +the Senate of the 28th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of War, with a copy of the proceedings of the recent +court-martial for the trial of Colonel Talbot Chambers, and other +documents requested by the resolution or relating to the subject of it. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 15, 1826_. + + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: In compliance with a resolution of +the Senate of the 23d of March last, requesting information concerning +the official conduct of the collector and other revenue officers of the +port of Philadelphia, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 16, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +9th instant, I communicate herewith a report[007a] from the Secretary of +the Treasury, with the documents desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 17, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of treaties with Indian +tribes which have been, by and with the advice and consent of the +Senate, duly ratified during the present session of Congress: + +(1) With the Great and Little Osage tribes, concluded June 2, 1825; (2) +Kansas, June 3, 1825; (3) Poncar, June 9, 1825; (4) Teton, Yancton, and +Yanctonies, June 22, 1825; (5) Sioune and Ogallala, July 5 and 12, 1825; +(6) Chayenne, July 6, 1825; (7) Hunkpapas, July 16, 1825; (8) Ricara, +July 18, 1825; (9) Mandan, July 30, 1825; (10) Belantse-Etoa, or +Minnetaree, July 30, 1825; (11) Crow, August 4, 1825; (12) Great and +Little Osage, August 10, 1825; (13) Kansas, August 16, 1825; (14) Sioux, +Chippewa, Sac and Fox, Menomonee, Ioway, Sioux, Winnebago, and a portion +of the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Pottawatomie tribes, August 19, 1825; (15) +Ottoe and Missouri, September 26, 1825; (16) Pawnee, September 30, 1825; +(17) Maha, October 6, 1825; (18) Shawnee, November 7, 1825. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 19, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 16th instant, I +transmit a report[008] from the Secretary of State, containing the +information thereby requested. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 20, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 5th of March, 1824, +requesting copies of the several instructions to the ministers of the +United States to the Government of France and of the correspondence +between the said ministers and Government having reference to the +spoliations committed by that power on the commerce of the United States +anterior to the 30th of September, 1800, or so much thereof as can be +communicated without prejudice to the public interest; also how far, if +at all, the claim of indemnity from the Government of France for the +spoliations aforesaid was affected by the convention entered into +between the United States and France on the said 30th of September, +1800, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with the +documents desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +EXECUTIVE ORDER. + + +Adjutant-General's Office, + +Washington, +_July 11, 1826_ + + +General Orders. + + +The General in Chief has received from the Department of War the +following orders: + +The President with deep regret announces to the Army that it has pleased +the Disposer of All Human Events, in whose hands are the issues of life, +to remove from the scene of earthly existence our illustrious and +venerated fellow-citizen, Thomas Jefferson. + +This dispensation of Divine Providence, afflicting to us, but the +consummation of glory to him, occurred on the 4th of the present +month--- on the fiftieth anniversary of that Independence the +Declaration of which, emanating from his mind, at once proclaimed the +birth of a free nation and offered motives of hope and consolation to +the whole family of man. Sharing in the grief which every heart must +feel for so heavy and afflicting a public loss, and desirous to express +his high sense of the vast debt of gratitude which is due to the +virtues, talents, and ever-memorable services of the illustrious +deceased, the President directs that funeral honors be paid to him at +all the military stations, and that the officers of the Army wear crape +on the left arm, by way of mourning, for six months. + +Major-General Brown will give the necessary orders for carrying into +effect the foregoing directions. + +J. Barbour. + + + * * * * * + + +It has become the painful duty of the Secretary of War to announce to +the Army the death of another distinguished and venerated citizen. John +Adams departed this life on the 4th of this month. Like his compatriot +Jefferson, he aided in drawing and ably supporting the Declaration of +Independence. With a prophetic eye he looked through the impending +difficulties of the Revolution and foretold with what demonstrations of +joy the anniversary of the birth of American freedom would be hailed. He +was permitted to behold the verification of his prophecy, and died, as +did Jefferson, on the day of the jubilee. + +A coincidence of circumstances so wonderful gives confidence to the +belief that the patriotic efforts of these illustrious men were Heaven +directed, and furnishes a new seal to the hope that the prosperity of +these States is under the special protection of a kind Providence. + +The Secretary of War directs that the same funeral honors be paid by the +Army to the memory of the deceased as by the order of the 7th (11th?) +instant were directed to be paid to Thomas Jefferson, and the same token +of mourning be worn. + +Major-General Brown is charged with the execution of this order. + +J. Barbour. + + + * * * * * + + +Never has it fallen to the lot of any commander to announce to an army +such an event as now calls forth the mingled grief and astonishment of +this Republic; never since history first wrote the record of time has +one day thus mingled every triumphant with every tender emotion, and +consecrated a nation's joy by blending it with the most sacred of +sorrows. Yes, soldiers, in one day, almost in the same hour, have two of +the Founders of the Republic, the Patriarchs of Liberty, closed their +services to social man, after beholding them crowned with the richest +and most unlimited success. United in their end as they had been in +their highest aim, their toils completed, their hopes surpassed, their +honors full, and the dearest wish of their bosoms gratified in death, +they closed their eyes in patriot ecstasy, amidst the gratulations and +thanksgivings of a people on all, on every individual, of whom they had +conferred the best of all earthly benefits. + +Such men heed no trophies; they ask no splendid mausolea. We are their +monuments; their mausolea is their country, and her growing prosperity +the amaranthine wreath that Time shall place over their dust. Well may +the Genius of the Republic mourn. If she turns her eyes in one +direction, she beholds the hall where Jefferson wrote the charter of her +rights; if in another, she sees the city where Adams kindled the fires +of the Revolution. To no period of our history, to no department of our +affairs, can she direct her views and not meet the multiplied memorials +of her loss and of their glory. + +At the grave of such men envy dies, and party animosity blushes while +she quenches her fires. If Science and Philosophy lament their +enthusiastic votary in the halls of Monticello, Philanthropy and +Eloquence weep with no less reason in the retirement of Quincy. And when +hereafter the stranger performing his pilgrimage to the land of freedom +shall ask for the monument of Jefferson, his inquiring eye may be +directed to the dome of that temple of learning, the university of his +native State--- the last labor of his untiring mind, the latest and the +favorite gift of a patriot to his country. + +Bereaved yet happy America! Mourning yet highly favored country! Too +happy if every son whose loss shall demand thy tears can thus soothe thy +sorrow by a legacy of fame. + +The Army of the United States, devoted to the service of the country, +and honoring all who are alike devoted, whether in the Cabinet or the +field, will feel an honorable and a melancholy pride in obeying this +order. Let the officers, then, wear the badge of mourning, the poor +emblem of a sorrow which words can not express, but which freemen must +ever feel while contemplating the graves of the venerated Fathers of the +Republic. + +Tuesday succeeding the arrival of this order at each military station +shall be a day of rest. + +The National flag shall wave at half-mast. + +At early dawn thirteen guns shall be fired, and at intervals of thirty +minutes between the rising and setting sun a single cannon will be +discharged, and at the close of the day twenty-four rounds. + +By command of Major-General Brown: R. JONES, _Adjutant-General_ + + + * * * * * + + + + +SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE. + + + +Washington, +_December 5, 1826_. + + + +Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_: + +The assemblage of the representatives of our Union in both Houses of the +Congress at this time occurs under circumstances calling for the renewed +homage of our grateful acknowledgments to the Giver of All Good. With +the exceptions incidental to the most felicitous condition of human +existence, we continue to be highly favored in all the elements which +contribute to individual comfort and to national prosperity. In the +survey of our extensive country we have generally to observe abodes of +health and regions of plenty. In our civil and political relations we +have peace without and tranquillity within our borders. We are, as a +people, increasing with unabated rapidity in population, wealth, and +national resources, and whatever differences of opinion exist among us +with regard to the mode and the means by which we shall turn the +beneficence of Heaven to the improvement of our own condition, there is +yet a spirit animating us all which will not suffer the bounties of +Providence to be showered upon us in vain, but will receive them with +grateful hearts, and apply them with unwearied hands to the advancement +of the general good. + +Of the subjects recommended to Congress at their last session, some were +then definitively acted upon. Others, left unfinished, but partly +matured, will recur to your attention without heeding a renewal of +notice from me. The purpose of this communication will be to present to +your view the general aspect of our public affairs at this moment and +the measures which have been taken to carry into effect the intentions +of the Legislature as signified by the laws then and heretofore enacted. + +In our intercourse with the other nations of the earth we have still the +happiness of enjoying peace and a general good understanding, qualified, +however, in several important instances by collisions of interest and by +unsatisfied claims of justice, to the settlement of which the +constitutional interposition of the legislative authority may become +ultimately indispensable. + +By the decease of the Emperor Alexander, of Russia, which occurred +contemporaneously with the commencement of the last session of Congress, +the United States have been deprived of a long-tried, steady, and +faithful friend. Born to the inheritance of absolute power and trained +in the school of adversity, from which no power on earth, however +absolute, is exempt, that monarch from his youth had been taught to feel +the force and value of public opinion and to be sensible that the +interests of his own Government would best be promoted by a frank and +friendly intercourse with this Republic, as those of his people would be +advanced by a liberal commercial intercourse with our country. A candid +and confidential interchange of sentiments between him and the +Government of the United States upon the affairs of Southern America +took place at a period not long preceding his demise, and contributed to +fix that course of policy which left to the other Governments of Europe +no alternative but that of sooner or later recognizing the independence +of our southern neighbors, of which the example had by the United States +already been set. The ordinary diplomatic communications between his +successor, the Emperor Nicholas, and the United States have suffered +some interruption by the illness, departure, and subsequent decease of +his minister residing here, who enjoyed, as he merited, the entire +confidence of his new sovereign, as he had eminently responded to that +of his predecessor. But we have had the most satisfactory assurances +that the sentiments of the reigning Emperor toward the United States are +altogether conformable to those which had so long and constantly +animated his imperial brother, and we have reason to hope that they will +serve to cement that harmony and good understanding between the two +nations which, founded in congenial interests, can not but result in the +advancement of the welfare and prosperity of both. + +Our relations of commerce and navigation with France are, by the +operation of the convention of 24th of June, 1822, with that nation, in +a state of gradual and progressive improvement. Convinced by all our +experience, no less than by the principles of fair and liberal +reciprocity which the United States have constantly tendered to all the +nations of the earth as the rule of commercial intercourse which they +would universally prefer, that fair and equal competition is most +conducive to the interests of both parties, the United States in the +negotiation of that convention earnestly contended for a mutual +renunciation of discriminating duties and charges in the ports of the +two countries. Unable to obtain the immediate recognition of this +principle in its full extent, after reducing the duties of +discrimination so far as was found attainable it was agreed that at the +expiration of two years from the 1st of October, 1822, when the +convention was to go into effect, unless a notice of six months on +either side should be given to the other that the convention itself must +terminate, those duties should be reduced one-fourth, and that this +reduction should be yearly repeated, until all discrimination should +cease, while the convention itself should continue in force. By the +effect of this stipulation three-fourths of the discriminating duties +which had been levied by each party upon the vessels of the other in its +ports have already been removed; and on the 1st of next October, should +the convention be still in force, the remaining fourth will be +discontinued. French vessels laden with French produce will be received +in our ports on the same terms as our own, and ours in return will enjoy +the same advantages in the ports of France. + +By these approximations to an equality of duties and of charges not only +has the commerce between the two countries prospered, but friendly +dispositions have been on both sides encouraged and promoted. They will +continue to be cherished and cultivated on the part of the United +States. It would have been gratifying to have had it in my power to add +that the claims upon the justice of the French Government, involving the +property and the comfortable subsistence of many of our fellow-citizens, +and which have been so long and so earnestly urged, were in a more +promising train of adjustment than at your last meeting; but their +condition remains unaltered. + +With the Government of the Netherlands the mutual abandonment of +discriminating duties had been regulated by legislative acts on both +sides. The act of Congress of the 20th of April, 1818, abolished all +discriminating duties of impost and tonnage upon the vessels and produce +of the Netherlands in the ports of the United States upon the assurance +given by the Government of the Netherlands that all such duties +operating against the shipping and commerce of the United States in that +Kingdom had been abolished. These reciprocal regulations had continued +in force several years when the discriminating principle was resumed by +the Netherlands in a new and indirect form by a bounty of 10 per cent in +the shape of a return of duties to their national vessels, and in which +those of the United States are not permitted to participate. By the act +of Congress of 7th January, 1824, all discriminating duties in the +United States were again suspended, so far as related to the vessels and +produce of the Netherlands, so long as the reciprocal exemption should +be extended to the vessels and produce of the United States in the +Netherlands. But the same act provides that in the event of a +restoration of discriminating duties to operate against the shipping and +commerce of the United States in any of the foreign countries referred +to therein the suspension of discriminating duties in favor of the +navigation of such foreign country should cease and all the provisions +of the acts imposing discriminating foreign tonnage and impost duties in +the United States should revive and be in full force with regard to that +nation. + +In the correspondence with the Government of the Netherlands upon this +subject they have contended that the favor shown to their own shipping +by this bounty upon their tonnage is not to be considered as a +discriminating duty; but it can not be denied that it produces all the +same effects. Had the mutual abolition been stipulated by treaty, such a +bounty upon the national vessels could scarcely have been granted +consistently with good faith. Yet as the act of Congress of 7th January, +1824, has not expressly authorized the Executive authority to determine +what shall be considered as a revival of discriminating duties by a +foreign government to the disadvantage of the United States, and as the +retaliatory measure on our part, however just and necessary, may tend +rather to that conflict of legislation which we deprecate than to that +concert to which we invite all commercial nations, as most conducive to +their interest and our own, I have thought it more consistent with the +spirit of our institutions to refer the subject again to the paramount +authority of the Legislature to decide what measure the emergency may +require than abruptly by proclamation to carry into effect the minatory +provisions of the act of 1824. + +During the last session of Congress treaties of amity, navigation, and +commerce were negotiated and signed at this place with the Government of +Denmark, in Europe, and with the Federation of Central America, in this +hemisphere. These treaties then received the constitutional sanction of +the Senate, by the advice and consent to their ratification. They were +accordingly ratified on the part of the United States, and during the +recess of Congress have been also ratified by the other respective +contracting parties. The ratifications have been exchanged, and they +have been published by proclamations, copies of which are herewith +communicated to Congress. + +These treaties have established between the contracting parties the +principles of equality and reciprocity in their broadest and most +liberal extent, each party admitting the vessels of the other into its +ports, laden with cargoes the produce or manufacture of any quarter of +the globe, upon the payment of the same duties of tonnage and impost +that are chargeable upon their own. They have further stipulated that +the parties shall hereafter grant no favor of navigation or commerce to +any other nation which shall not upon the same terms be granted to each +other, and that neither party will impose upon articles of merchandise +the produce or manufacture of the other any other or higher duties than +upon the like articles being the produce or manufacture of any other +country. To these principles there is in the convention with Denmark an +exception with regard to the colonies of that Kingdom in the arctic +seas, but none with regard to her colonies in the West Indies. + +In the course of the last summer the term to which our last commercial +treaty with Sweden was limited has expired. A continuation of it is in +the contemplation of the Swedish Government, and is believed to be +desirable on the part of the United States. It has been proposed by the +King of Sweden that pending the negotiation of renewal the expired +treaty should be mutually considered as still in force, a measure which +will require the sanction of Congress to be carried into effect on our +part, and which I therefore recommend to your consideration. + +With Prussia, Spain, Portugal, and, in general, all the European powers +between whom and the United States relations of friendly intercourse +have existed their condition has not materially varied since the last +session of Congress. I regret not to be able to say the same of our +commercial intercourse with the colonial possessions of Great Britain in +America. Negotiations of the highest importance to our common interests +have been for several years in discussion between the two Governments, +and on the part of the United States have been invariably pursued in the +spirit of candor and conciliation. Interests of great magnitude and +delicacy had been adjusted by the conventions of 1815 and 1818, while +that of 1822, mediated by the late Emperor Alexander, had promised a +satisfactory compromise of claims which the Government of the United +States, in justice to the rights of a numerous class of their citizens, +was bound to sustain. But with regard to the commercial intercourse +between the United States and the British colonies in America, it has +been hitherto found impracticable to bring the parties to an +understanding satisfactory to both. The relative geographical position +and the respective products of nature cultivated by human industry had +constituted the elements of a commercial intercourse between the United +States and British America, insular and continental, important to the +inhabitants of both countries; but it had been interdicted by Great +Britain upon a principle heretofore practiced upon by the colonizing +nations of Europe, of holding the trade of their colonies each in +exclusive monopoly to herself. After the termination of the late war +this interdiction had been revived, and the British Government declined +including this portion of our intercourse with her possessions in the +negotiation of the convention of 1815. The trade was then carried on +exclusively in British vessels till the act of Congress, concerning +navigation, of 1818 and the supplemental act of 1820 met the interdict +by a corresponding measure on the part of the United States. These +measures, not of retaliation, but of necessary self-defense, were soon +succeeded by an act of Parliament opening certain colonial ports to the +vessels of the United States coming directly from them, and to the +importation from them of certain articles of our produce burdened with +heavy duties, and excluding some of the most valuable articles of our +exports. The United States opened their ports to British vessels from +the colonies upon terms as exactly corresponding with those of the act +of Parliament as in the relative position of the parties could be made, +and a negotiation was commenced by mutual consent, with the hope on our +part that a reciprocal spirit of accommodation and a common sentiment of +the importance of the trade to the interests of the inhabitants of the +two countries between whom it must be carried on would ultimately bring +the parties to a compromise with which both might be satisfied. With +this view the Government of the United States had determined to +sacrifice something of that entire reciprocity which in all commercial +arrangements with foreign powers they are entitled to demand, and to +acquiesce in some inequalities disadvantageous to ourselves rather than +to forego the benefit of a final and permanent adjustment of this +interest to the satisfaction of Great Britain herself. The negotiation, +repeatedly suspended by accidental circumstances, was, however, by +mutual agreement and express assent, considered as pending and to be +speedily resumed. In the meantime another act of Parliament, so doubtful +and ambiguous in its import as to have been misunderstood by the +officers in the colonies who were to carry it into execution, opens +again certain colonial ports upon new conditions and terms, with a +threat to close them against any nation which may not accept those terms +as prescribed by the British Government. This act, passed in July, 1825, +not communicated to the Government of the United States, not understood +by the British officers of the customs in the colonies where it was to +be enforced, was nevertheless submitted to the consideration of Congress +at their last session. With the knowledge that a negotiation upon the +subject had long been in progress and pledges given of its resumption at +an early day, it was deemed expedient to await the result of that +negotiation rather than to subscribe implicitly to terms the import of +which was not clear and which the British authorities themselves in this +hemisphere were not prepared to explain. + +Immediately after the close of the last session of Congress one of our +most distinguished citizens was dispatched as envoy extraordinary and +minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain, furnished with instructions +which we could not doubt would lead to a conclusion of this +long-controverted interest upon terms acceptable to Great Britain. Upon +his arrival, and before he had delivered his letters of credence, he was +met by an order of the British council excluding from and after the 1st +of December now current the vessels of the United States from all the +colonial British ports excepting those immediately bordering on our +territories. In answer to his expostulations upon a measure thus +unexpected he is informed that according to the ancient maxims of policy +of European nations having colonies their trade is an exclusive +possession of the mother country; that all participation in it by other +nations is a boon or favor not forming a subject of negotiation, but to +be regulated by the legislative acts of the power owning the colony; +that the British Government therefore declines negotiating concerning +it, and that as the United States did not forthwith accept purely and +simply the terms offered by the act of Parliament of July, 1825, Great +Britain would not now admit the vessels of the United States even upon +the terms on which she has opened them to the navigation of other +nations. + +We have been accustomed to consider the trade which we have enjoyed with +the British colonies rather as an interchange of mutual benefits than as +a mere favor received; that under every circumstance we have given an +ample equivalent. We have seen every other nation holding colonies +negotiate with other nations and grant them freely admission to the +colonies by treaty, and so far are the other colonizing nations of +Europe now from refusing to negotiate for trade with their colonies that +we ourselves have secured access to the colonies of more than one of +them by treaty. The refusal, however, of Great Britain to negotiate +leaves to the United States no other alternative than that of regulating +or interdicting altogether the trade on their part, according as either +measure may affect the interests of our own country, and with that +exclusive object I would recommend the whole subject to your calm and +candid deliberations. + +It is hoped that our unavailing exertions to accomplish a cordial good +understanding on this interest will not have an unpropitious effect +upon the other great topics of discussion between the two Governments. +Our northeastern and northwestern boundaries are still unadjusted. The +commissioners under the seventh article of the treaty of Ghent have +nearly come to the close of their labors; nor can we renounce the +expectation, enfeebled as it is, that they may agree upon their report +to the satisfaction or acquiescence of both parties. The commission for +liquidating the claims for indemnity for slaves carried away after the +close of the war has been sitting, with doubtful prospects of success. +Propositions of compromise have, however, passed between the two +Governments, the result of which we flatter ourselves may yet prove +satisfactory. Our own dispositions and purposes toward Great Britain are +all friendly and conciliatory; nor can we abandon but with strong +reluctance the belief that they will ultimately meet a return, not of +favors, which we neither ask nor desire, but of equal reciprocity and +good will. + +With the American Governments of this hemisphere we continue to maintain +an intercourse altogether friendly, and between their nations and ours +that commercial interchange of which mutual benefit is the source and +mutual comfort and harmony the result is in a continual state of +improvement. The war between Spain and them since the total expulsion of +the Spanish military force from their continental territories has been +little more than nominal, and their internal tranquillity, though +occasionally menaced by the agitations which civil wars never fail to +leave behind them, has not been affected by any serious calamity. + +The congress of ministers from several of those nations which assembled +at Panama, after a short session there, adjourned to meet again at a +more favorable season in the neighbourhood of Mexico. The decease of one +of our ministers on his way to the Isthmus, and the impediments of the +season, which delayed the departure of the other, deprived us of the +advantage of being represented at the first meeting of the congress. +There is, however, no reason to believe that any of the transactions of +the congress were of a nature to affect injuriously the interests of the +United States or to require the interposition of our ministers had they +been present. Their absence has, indeed, deprived us of the opportunity +of possessing precise and authentic information of the treaties which +were concluded at Panama; and the whole result has confirmed me in the +conviction of the expediency to the United States of being represented +at the congress. The surviving member of the mission, appointed during +your last session, has accordingly proceeded to his destination, and a +successor to his distinguished and lamented associate will be nominated +to the Senate. A treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce has in the +course of the last summer been concluded by our minister plenipotentiary +at Mexico with the united states of that Confederacy, which will also be +laid before the Senate for their advice with regard to its ratification. + +In adverting to the present condition of our fiscal concerns and to the +prospects of our revenue the first remark that calls our attention is +that they are less exuberantly prosperous than they were at the +corresponding period of the last year. The severe shock so extensively +sustained by the commercial and manufacturing interests in Great Britain +has not been without a perceptible recoil upon ourselves. A reduced +importation from abroad is necessarily succeeded by a reduced return to +the Treasury at home. The net revenue of the present year will not equal +that of the last, and the receipts of that which is to come will fall +short of those in the current year. The diminution, however, is in part +attributable to the flourishing condition of some of our domestic +manufactures, and so far is compensated by an equivalent more profitable +to the nation. It is also highly gratifying to perceive that the +deficiency in the revenue, while it scarcely exceeds the anticipations +of the last year's estimate from the Treasury, has not interrupted the +application of more than eleven millions during the present year to the +discharge of the principal and interest of the debt, nor the reduction +of upward of seven millions of the capital of the debt itself. The +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January last was $5,201,650.43; +the receipts from that time to the 30th of September last were +$19,585,932.50; the receipts of the current quarter, estimated at +$6,000,000. yield, with the sums already received, a revenue of about +twenty-five millions and a half for the year; the expenditures for the +three first quarters of the year have amounted to $18,714,226.66; the +expenditures of the current quarter are expected, including the two +millions of the principal of the debt to be paid, to balance the +receipts; so that the expenses of the year, amounting to upward of a +million less than its income, will leave a proportionally increased +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1827, over that of the +1st of January last; instead of $5,200,000 there will be $6,400,000. + +The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the +commencement of the year till September 30 is estimated at $21,250,000, +and the amount that will probably accrue during the present quarter is +estimated at $4,250,000, making for the whole year $25,500,000, from +which the drawbacks being deducted will leave a clear revenue from the +customs receivable in the year 1827 of about $20,400,000, which, with +the sums to be received from the proceeds of public lands, the bank +dividends, and other incidental receipts, will form an aggregate of +about $23,000,000, a sum falling short of the whole expenses of the +present year little more than the portion of those expenditures applied +to the discharge of the public debt beyond the annual appropriation of +$10,000,000 by the act of the 3d March, 1817. At the passage of that act +the public debt amounted to $123,500,000. On the 1st of January next it +will be short of $74,000,000. In the lapse of these ten years +$50,000,000 of public debt, with the annual charge of upward of +$3,000,000 of interest upon them, have been extinguished. At the passage +of that act, of the annual appropriation of ten millions seven were +absorbed in the payment of interest, and not more than three millions +went to reduce the capital of the debt. Of the same ten millions, at +this time scarcely four are applicable to the interest, and upward of +six are effective in melting down the capital. Yet our experience has +proved that a revenue consisting so largely of imposts and tonnage ebbs +and flows to an extraordinary extent, with all the fluctuations incident +to the general commerce of the world. It is within our recollection that +even in the compass of the same last ten years the receipts of the +Treasury were not adequate to the expenditures of the year, and that in +two successive years it was found necessary to resort to loans to meet +the engagements of the nation. The returning tides of the succeeding +years replenished the public coffers until they have again begun to feel +the vicissitude of a decline. To produce these alternations of fullness +and exhaustion the relative operation of abundant or unfruitful seasons, +the regulations of foreign governments, political revolutions, the +prosperous or decaying condition of manufactures, commercial +speculations, and many other causes, not always to be traced, variously +combine. We have found the alternate swells and diminutions embracing +periods of from two to three years. The last period of depression to us +was from 1819 to 1822. The corresponding revival was from 1823 to the +commencement of the present year. Still, we have no cause to apprehend a +depression comparable to that of the former period, or even to +anticipate a deficiency which will intrench upon the ability to apply +the annual ten millions to the reduction of the debt. It is well for us, +however, to be admonished of the necessity of abiding by the maxims of +the most vigilant economy, and of resorting to all honorable and useful +expedients for pursuing with steady and inflexible perseverance the +total discharge of the debt. + +Besides the seven millions of the loans of 1813 which will have been +discharged in the course of the present year, there are nine millions +which by the terms of the contracts would have been and are now +redeemable. Thirteen millions more of the loan of 1814 will become +redeemable from and after the expiration of the present month, and nine +other millions from and after the close of the ensuing year. They +constitute a mass of $31,000,000, all bearing an interest of 6 per cent, +more than twenty millions of which will be immediately redeemable, and +the rest within little more than a year. Leaving of this amount fifteen +millions to continue at the interest of 6 per cent, but to be paid off +as far as shall be found practicable in the years 1827 and 1828, there +is scarcely a doubt that the remaining sixteen millions might within a +few months be discharged by a loan at not exceeding 5 per cent, +redeemable in the years 1829 and 1830. By this operation a sum of nearly +half a million of dollars may be saved to the nation, and the discharge +of the whole thirty-one millions within the four years may be greatly +facilitated if not wholly accomplished. + +By an act of Congress of 3d March, 1835, a loan for the purpose now +referred to, or a subscription to stock, was authorized, at an interest +not exceeding 4-1/2 per cent. But at that time so large a portion of the +floating capital of the country was absorbed in commercial speculations +and so little was left for investment in the stocks that the measure was +but partially successful. At the last session of Congress the condition +of the funds was still unpropitious to the measure; but the change so +soon afterwards occurred that, had the authority existed to redeem the +nine millions now redeemable by an exchange of stocks or a loan at 5 per +cent, it is morally certain that it might have been effected, and with +it a yearly saving of $90,000. + +With regard to the collection of the revenue of imposts, certain +occurrences have within the last year been disclosed in one or two of +our principal ports, which engaged the attention of Congress at their +last session and may hereafter require further consideration. Until +within a very few years the execution of the laws for raising the +revenue, like that of all our other laws, has been insured more by the +moral sense of the community than by the rigors of a jealous precaution +or by penal sanctions. Confiding in the exemplary punctuality and +unsullied integrity of our importing merchants, a gradual relaxation +from the provisions of the collection laws, a close adherence to which +would have caused inconvenience and expense to them, had long become +habitual, and indulgences had been extended universally because they had +never been abused. It may be worthy of your serious consideration +whether some further legislative provision may not be necessary to come +in aid of this state of unguarded security. + +From the reports herewith communicated of the Secretaries of War and of +the Navy, with the subsidiary documents annexed to them, will be +discovered the present condition and administration of our military +establishment on the land and on the sea. The organization of the Army +having undergone no change since its reduction to the present peace +establishment in 1821, it remains only to observe that it is yet found +adequate to all the purposes for which a permanent armed force in time +of peace can be heeded or useful. It may be proper to add that, from a +difference of opinion between the late President of the United States +and the Senate with regard to the construction of the act of Congress of +2d March, 1821, to reduce and fix the military peace establishment of +the United States, it remains hitherto so far without execution that no +colonel has been appointed to command one of the regiments of artillery. +A supplementary or explanatory act of the Legislature appears to be the +only expedient practicable for removing the difficulty of this +appointment. + +In a period of profound peace the conduct of the mere military +establishment forms but a very inconsiderable portion of the duties +devolving upon the administration of the Department of War. It will be +seen by the returns from the subordinate departments of the Army that +every branch of the service is marked with order, regularity, and +discipline; that from the commanding general through all the gradations +of superintendence the officers feel themselves to have been citizens +before they were soldiers, and that the glory of a republican army must +consist in the spirit of freedom, by which it is animated, and of +patriotism, by which it is impelled. It may be confidently stated that +the moral character of the Army is in a state of continual improvement, +and that all the arrangements for the disposal of its parts have a +constant reference to that end. + +But to the War Department are attributed other duties, having, indeed, +relation to a future possible condition of war, but being purely +defensive, and in their tendency contributing rather to the security and +permanency of peace--the erection of the fortifications provided for by +Congress, and adapted to secure our shores from hostile invasion; the +distribution of the fund of public gratitude and justice to the +pensioners of the Revolutionary war; the maintenance of our relations of +peace and of protection with the Indian tribes, and the internal +improvements and surveys for the location of roads and canals, which +during the last three sessions of Congress have engaged so much of their +attention, and may engross so large a share of their future benefactions +to our country. + +By the act of the 30th of April, 1824, suggested and approved by my +predecessor, the sum of $30,000 was appropriated for the purpose of +causing to be made the necessary surveys, plans, and estimates of the +routes of such roads and canals as the President of the United States +might deem of national importance in a commercial or military point of +view, or necessary for the transportation of the public mail. The +surveys, plans, and estimates for each, when completed, will be laid +before Congress. + +In execution of this act a board of engineers was immediately +instituted, and have been since most assiduously and constantly occupied +in carrying it into effect. The first object to which their labors were +directed, by order of the late President, was the examination of the +country between the tide waters of the Potomac, the Ohio, and Lake Erie, +to ascertain the practicability of a communication between them, to +designate the most suitable route for the same, and to form plans and +estimates in detail of the expense of execution. + +On the 3d of February, 1825, they made their first report, which was +immediately communicated to Congress, and in which they declared that +having maturely considered the circumstances observed by them +personally, and carefully studied the results of such of the preliminary +surveys as were then completed, they were decidedly of opinion that the +communication was practicable. + +At the last session of Congress, before the board of engineers were +enabled to make up their second report containing a general plan and +preparatory estimate for the work, the Committee of the House of +Representatives upon Roads and Canals closed the session with a report +expressing the hope that the plan and estimate of the board of engineers +might at this time be prepared, and that the subject be referred to the +early and favorable consideration of Congress at their present session. +That expected report of the board of engineers is prepared, and will +forthwith be laid before you. + +Under the resolution of Congress authorizing the Secretary of War to +have prepared a complete system of cavalry tactics, and a system of +exercise and instruction of field artillery, for the use of the militia +of the United States, to be reported to Congress at the present session, +a board of distinguished officers of the Army and of the militia has +been convened, whose report will be submitted to you with that of the +Secretary of War. The occasion was thought favorable for consulting the +same board, aided by the results of a correspondence with the governors +of the several States and Territories and other citizens of intelligence +and experience, upon the acknowledged defective condition of our militia +system, and of the improvements of which it is susceptible. The report +of the board upon this subject is also submitted for your consideration. + +In the estimates of appropriations for the ensuing year upward of +$5,000,000 will be submitted for the expenditures to be paid from the +Department of War. Less than two-fifths of this will be applicable to +the maintenance and support of the Army. A million and a half, in the +form of pensions, goes as a scarcely adequate tribute to the services +and sacrifices of a former age, and a more than equal sum invested in +fortifications, or for the preparations of internal improvement, +provides for the quiet, the comfort, and happier existence of the ages +to come. The appropriations to indemnify those unfortunate remnants of +another race unable alike to share in the enjoyments and to exist in the +presence of civilization, though swelling in recent years to a magnitude +burdensome to the Treasury, are generally not without their equivalents +in profitable value, or serve to discharge the Union from engagements +more burdensome than debt. + +In like manner the estimate of appropriations for the Navy Department +will present an aggregate sum of upward of $3,000,000. About one-half of +these, however, covers the current expenditures of the Navy in actual +service, and one-half constitutes a fund of national property, the +pledge of our future glory and defense. It was scarcely one short year +after the close of the late war, and when the burden of its expenses and +charges was weighing heaviest upon the country, that Congress, by the +act of 29th April, 1816, appropriated $1,000,000 annually for eight +years to the _gradual increase of the Navy_. At a subsequent period this +annual appropriation was reduced to half a million for six years, of +which the present year is the last. A yet more recent appropriation the +last two years, for building ten sloops of war, has nearly restored the +original appropriation of 1816 of a million for every year. The result +is before us all. We have twelve line-of-battle ships, twenty frigates, +and sloops of war in proportion, which, with a few months of +preparation, may present a line of floating fortifications along the +whole range of our coast ready to meet any invader who might attempt to +set foot upon our shores. Combining with a system of fortifications upon +the shores themselves, commenced about the same time under the auspices +of my immediate predecessor, and hitherto systematically pursued, it has +placed in our possession the most effective sinews of war and has left +us at once an example and a lesson from which our own duties may be +inferred. The gradual increase of the Navy was the principle of which +the act of 29th April, 1816, was the first development. It was the +introduction of a system to act upon the character and history of our +country for an indefinite series of ages. It was a declaration of that +Congress to their constituents and to posterity that it was the destiny +and the duty of these confederated States to become in regular process +of time and by no petty advances a great naval power. That which they +proposed to accomplish in eight years is rather to be considered as the +measure of their means than the limitation of their design. They looked +forward for a term of years sufficient for the accomplishment of a +definite portion of their purpose, and they left to their successors to +fill up the canvas of which they had traced the large and prophetic +outline. The ships of the line and frigates which they had in +contemplation will be shortly completed. The time which they had +allotted for the accomplishment of the work has more than elapsed. It +remains for your consideration how their successors may contribute their +portion of toil and of treasure for the benefit of the succeeding age in +the gradual increase of our Navy. There is perhaps no part of the +exercise of the constitutional powers of the Federal Government which +has given more general satisfaction to the people of the Union than +this. The system has not been thus vigorously introduced and hitherto +sustained to be now departed from or abandoned. In continuing to provide +for the gradual increase of the Navy it may not be necessary or +expedient to add for the present any more to the number of our ships; +but should you deem it advisable to continue the yearly appropriation of +half a million to the same objects, it may be profitably expended in +providing a supply of timber to be seasoned and other materials for +future use in the construction of docks or in laying the foundations of +a school for naval education, as to the wisdom of Congress either of +those measures may appear to claim the preference. + +Of the small portions of this Navy engaged in actual service during the +peace, squadrons have continued to be maintained in the Pacific Ocean, +in the West India seas, and in the Mediterranean, to which has been +added a small armament to cruise on the eastern coast of South America. +In all they have afforded protection to our commerce, have contributed +to make our country advantageously known to foreign nations, have +honorably employed multitudes of our seamen in the service of their +country, and have inured numbers of youths of the rising generation to +lives of manly hardihood and of nautical experience and skill. The +piracies with which the West India seas were for several years infested +have been totally suppressed, but in the Mediterranean they have +increased in a manner afflictive to other nations, and but for the +continued presence of our squadron would probably have been distressing +to our own. The war which has unfortunately broken out between the +Republic of Buenos Ayres and the Brazilian Government has given rise to +very great irregularities among the naval officers of the latter, by +whom principles in relation to blockades and to neutral navigation have +been brought forward to which we can not subscribe and which our own +commanders have found it necessary to resist. From the friendly +disposition toward the United States constantly manifested by the +Emperor of Brazil, and the very useful and friendly commercial +intercourse between the United States and his dominions, we have reason +to believe that the just reparation demanded for the injuries sustained +by several of our citizens from some of his officers will not be +withheld. Abstracts from the recent dispatches of the commanders of our +several squadrons are communicated with the report of the Secretary of +the Navy to Congress. + +A report from the Postmaster-General is likewise communicated, +presenting in a highly satisfactory manner the result of a vigorous, +efficient, and economical administration of that Department. The revenue +of the office, even of the year including the latter half of 1824 and +the first half of 1825, had exceeded its expenditures by a sum of more +than $45,000. That of the succeeding year has been still more +productive. The increase of the receipts in the year preceding the 1st +of July last over that of the year before exceeds $136,000, and the +excess of the receipts over the expenditures of the year has swollen +from $45,000 to nearly $80,000. During the same period contracts for +additional transportation of the mail in stages for about 260,000 miles +have been made, and for 70,000 miles annually on horseback. Seven +hundred and fourteen new post-offices have been established within the +year, and the increase of revenue within the last three years, as well +as the augmentation of the transportation by mail, is more than equal to +the whole amount of receipts and of mail conveyance at the commencement +of the present century, when the seat of the General Government was +removed to this place. When we reflect that the objects effected by the +transportation of the mail are among the choicest comforts and +enjoyments of social life, it is pleasing to observe that the +dissemination of them to every corner of our country has outstripped in +their increase even the rapid march of our population. + +By the treaties with France and Spain, respectively ceding Louisiana and +the Floridas to the United States, provision was made for the security +of land titles derived from the Governments of those nations. Some +progress has been made under the authority of various acts of Congress +in the ascertainment and establishment of those titles, but claims to a +very large extent remain unadjusted. The public faith no less than the +just rights of individuals and the interest of the community itself +appears to require further provision for the speedy settlement of those +claims, which I therefore recommend to the care and attention of the +Legislature. + +In conformity with the provisions of the act of 20th May last, to +provide for erecting a penitentiary in the district of Columbia, and for +other purposes, three commissioners were appointed to select a site for +the erection of a penitentiary for the district, and also a site in the +county of Alexandria for a county jail, both of which objects have been +effected. The building of the penitentiary has been commenced, and is in +such a degree of forwardness as to promise that it will be completed +before the meeting of the next Congress. This consideration points to +the expediency of maturing at the present session a system for the +regulation and government of the penitentiary, and of defining the class +of offenses which shall be punishable by confinement in this edifice. + +In closing this communication I trust that it will not be deemed +inappropriate to the occasion and purposes upon which we are here +assembled to indulge a momentary retrospect, combining in a single +glance the period of our origin as a national confederation with that of +our present existence, at the precise interval of half a century from +each other. Since your last meeting at this place the fiftieth +anniversary of the day when our independence was declared has been +celebrated throughout our land, and on that day, while every heart was +bounding with joy and every voice was tuned to gratulation, amid the +blessings of freedom and independence which the sires of a former age +had handed down to their children, two of the principal actors in that +solemn scene--the hand that penned the ever-memorable Declaration and +the voice that sustained it in debate--were by one summons, at the +distance of 700 miles from each other, called before the Judge of All to +account for their deeds done upon earth. They departed cheered by the +benedictions of their country, to whom they left the inheritance of +their fame and the memory of their bright example. If we turn our +thoughts to the condition of their country, in the contrast of the first +and last day of that half century, how resplendent and sublime is the +transition from gloom to glory! Then, glancing through the same lapse of +time, in the condition of the individuals we see the first day marked +with the fullness and vigor of youth, in the pledge of their lives, +their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause of freedom and of +mankind; and on the last, extended on the bed of death, with but sense +and sensibility left to breathe a last aspiration to Heaven of blessing +upon their country, may we not humbly hope that to them too it was a +pledge of transition from gloom to glory, and that while their mortal +vestments were sinking into the clod of the valley their emancipated +spirits were ascending to the bosom of their God! + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGES. + + + +Washington, +_December 7, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I now transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with that of the +Board of Engineers of Internal Improvement, concerning the proposed +Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of War, with sundry documents, containing the information requested by a +resolution of the House of the 8th of May last, relating to the lead +mines belonging to the United States in Illinois and Missouri. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of War, with several documents, containing information required by a +resolution of the House of the 20th of May last, respecting certain +proposed donations of land by Indian tribes to any agent or commissioner +of the United States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 12, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice with regard to their +ratification, the following treaties with Indian tribes: + +1. A treaty made and concluded at the Fond du Lac of Lake Superior, +between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners on the part of +the United States, and the Chippewa tribe of Indians, on the 5th of +August, 1826. + +2. A treaty made and concluded near the mouth of the Mississinewa, upon +the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between Lewis Cass, James B. Ray, +and John Tipton, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the +chiefs and warriors of the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, on the 16th of +October, 1826. + +3. A treaty made and concluded near the mouth of the Mississinewa, upon +the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between Lewis Cass, James B. Ray, +and John Tipton, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the +chiefs and warriors of the Miami tribe of Indians, on the 23d of +October, 1826. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 18, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress extracts of a letter, received since the +commencement of their session, from the minister of the United States at +London, having relation to the late discussions with the Government of +Great Britain concerning the trade between the United States and the +British colonies in America. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 20, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement of their +present session it was intimated that the commission for liquidating the +claims of our fellow-citizens to indemnity for slaves and other property +carried away after the close of the late war with Great Britain in +contravention to the first article of the treaty of Ghent had been +sitting in this city with doubtful prospects of success, but that +propositions had recently passed between the two Governments which it +was hoped would lead to a satisfactory adjustment of that controversy. + +I now transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional consideration and +advice, a convention signed at London by the plenipotentiaries of the +two Governments on the 13th of the last month, relating to this object. +A copy of the convention is at the same time sent, together with a copy +of the instructions under which it was negotiated and the correspondence +relating to it. To avoid all delay these documents are now transmitted, +consisting chiefly of original papers, the return of which is requested. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 22, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +12th instant, requesting information of the measures taken to carry into +effect the act of Congress of 3d March, 1825, directing a road to be +made from Little Rock to Cantonment Gibson, in the Territory of +Arkansas, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with a letter +from the Quartermaster-General, containing the information desired by +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 22, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of State, with a copy of the three articles[009] (marked A) +requested by the resolution of the House of the 19th instant. The third +of those articles relating to a subject upon which the negotiation +between the two Governments is yet open, the communication of all the +other documents relating to it is reserved to a future period, when it +may be closed. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of State, with sundry documents, containing the information requested by +two resolutions of the House of the 15th instant, relating to the +proceedings of the congress of ministers which assembled last summer at +Panama. + +The occasion is taken to communicate at the same time two other +dispatches, from the minister of the United States to the Mexican +Confederation, one of which should have been communicated at the last +session of Congress but that it was then accidentally mislaid, and the +other having relation to the same subject. + +John Quincy Adams. +DECEMBER 26, 1826. + + + + +Washington, +_January 10, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +6th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +together with copies of the correspondence with the Government of the +Netherlands, relating to discriminating duties. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 10, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th of May last, +requesting a detailed statement of the expenditures for the construction +and repair of the Cumberland road, I now transmit a report from the +Secretary of the Treasury, with the statement requested by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 10, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to both Houses of Congress a report from the Secretary of the +Navy, together with that of the engineer by whom, conformably to a joint +resolution of the two Houses of the 22d May last, an examination and +survey has been made of a site for a dry dock at the navy-yard at +Portsmouth, N. H.; Charlestown, Mass.; Brooklyn, N. Y., and Gosport, Va. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 15, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +20th of May last, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +State, touching the impressment of seamen from on board American vessels +on the high seas or elsewhere by the commanders of British or other +foreign vessels or ships of war since 18th of February, 1815, together +with such correspondence on the subject as comes within the purview of +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 15, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 21st of last month, +I now transmit a letter from the Secretary of War, with a report from +the Chief Engineer and a statement of the Third Auditor, shewing the +amount disbursed of the appropriation made by the act of 24th May, 1824, +to improve the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the +state and progress of the work contemplated by the appropriation. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 15, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War, together +with a report of the Chief Engineer, and certain acts of the legislature +of the State of New York proposing to the Government of the United +States the purchase of the fortifications erected at the expense of the +State on Staten Island, with the ordnance and other apparatus belonging +to or connected with the same. These papers were prepared at the close +of the last session of Congress, at too late a period to be then acted +upon. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 16, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of a convention between +the United States and Great Britain, signed on the 13th of November last +at London by the respective plenipotentiaries of the two Governments, +for the final settlement and liquidation of certain claims of indemnity +of citizens of the United States which had arisen under the first +article of the treaty of Ghent. It having been stipulated by this +convention that the exchange of the ratifications of the same should be +made at London, the usual proclamation of it here can only be issued +when that event shall have taken place, the notice of which can scarcely +be expected before the close of the present session of Congress. But it +has been duly ratified on the part of the United States, and by the +report of the Secretary of State and the accompanying certificate +herewith also communicated it will be seen that the first half of the +stipulated payment has been made by the minister of His Britannic +Majesty residing here, and has been deposited in the office of the Bank +of the United States at this place to await the disposal of Congress. + +I recommend to their consideration the expediency of such legislative +measures as they may deem proper for the distribution of the sum already +paid, and of that hereafter to be received, among the claimants who may +be found entitled to the indemnity. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 17, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 10th of May last, I +transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with a letter from +the Director of the Mint, shewing the result of the assay of foreign +coins and the information otherwise relating thereto desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 23d instant, I +transmit herewith a report[010] from the Secretary of State, with the +accompanying documents. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +The report from the Commissioner of the General Land Office and the +accompanying documents herewith transmitted are laid before the Senate +in compliance with their resolution of the 4th of April last, relating +to the public lands of the United States in the States of Missouri and +Illinois which are unfit for cultivation. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 2, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 25th ultimo, +relative to the execution of the treaty of the 18th of October, 1820, of +Doaks Stand with the Choctaw tribe of Indians, I transmit a report from +the Secretary of War, with a statement from the Office of Indian +Affairs, comprising so far as it is possessed the information desired by +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 3, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +United States of the 9th ultimo, relating to the appointments of chargés +d'affaires and to the commissions and salaries of the ministers and +secretary to the mission to Panama, I transmit herewith a report from +the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 5, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +The report from the Secretary of War and accompanying documents herewith +transmitted have been prepared in compliance with a resolution of the +House of Representatives of the 20th of May last, requesting a statement +of expenditure and other particulars relating to the procurement and +properties of the patent rifle. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 5, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I submit to the consideration of Congress a letter from the agent of the +United States with the Creek Indians, who invoke the protection of the +Government of the United States in defense of the rights and territory +secured to that nation by the treaty concluded at Washington, and +ratified on the part of the United States on the 22d of April last. + +The complaint set forth in this letter that surveyors from Georgia have +been employed in surveying lands within the Indian Territory, as secured +by that treaty, is authenticated by the information inofficially +received from other quarters, and there is reason to believe that one or +more of the surveyors have been arrested in their progress by the +Indians. Their forbearance, and reliance upon the good faith of the +United States, will, it is hoped, avert scenes of violence and blood +which there is otherwise too much cause to apprehend will result from +these proceedings. + +By the fifth section of the act of Congress of the 30th of March, 1802, +to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes and to preserve +peace on the frontiers, it is provided that if any citizen of or other +person resident in the United States shall make a settlement on any +lands belonging or secured or granted by treaty with the United States +to any Indian tribe, or shall survey, or attempt to survey, such lands, +or designate any of the boundaries by marking trees or otherwise, such +offender shall forfeit a sum not exceeding $1,000 and suffer +imprisonment not exceeding twelve months. + +By the sixteenth and seventeenth sections of the same statute two +distinct processes are prescribed, by either or both of which the above +enactment may be carried into execution. By the first it is declared to +be lawful for the military force of the United States to apprehend every +person found in the Indian country over and beyond the boundary line +between the United States and the Indian tribes in violation of any of +the provisions or regulations of the act, and immediately to convey +them, in the nearest convenient and safe route, to the civil authority +of the United States in some of the three next adjoining States or +districts, to be proceeded against in due course of law. + +By the second it is directed that if any person charged with the +violation of any of the provisions or regulations of the act shall be +found within any of the United States or either of their territorial +districts such offender may be there apprehended and brought to trial in +the same manner as if such crime or offense had been committed within +such State or district; and that it shall be the duty of the military +force of the United States, when called upon by the civil magistrate or +any proper officer or other person duly authorized for that purpose and +having a lawful warrant, to aid and assist such magistrate, officer, or +other person so authorized in arresting such offender and committing him +to safe custody for trial according to law. + +The first of these processes is adapted to the arrest of the trespasser +upon Indian territories on the spot and in the act of committing the +offense; but as it applies the action of the Government of the United +States to places where the civil process of the law has no authorized +course, it is committed entirely to the functions of the military force +to arrest the person of the offender, and after bringing him within the +reach of the jurisdiction of the courts there to deliver him into +custody for trial. The second makes the violator of the law amenable +only after his offense has been consummated, and when he has returned +within the civil jurisdiction of the Union. This process, in the first +instance, is merely of a civil character, but may in like manner be +enforced by calling in, if necessary, the aid of the military force. + +Entertaining no doubt that in the present case the resort to either of +these modes of process, or to both, was within the discretion of the +Executive authority, and penetrated with the duty of maintaining the +rights of the Indians as secured both by the treaty and the law, I +concluded, after full deliberation, to have recourse on this occasion, +in the first instance, only to the civil process. Instructions have +accordingly been given by the Secretary of War to the attorney and +marshal of the United States in the district of Georgia to commence +prosecutions against the surveyors complained of as having violated the +law, while orders have at the same time been forwarded to the agent of +the United States at once to assure the Indians that their rights +founded upon the treaty and the law are recognized by this Government +and will be faithfully protected, and earnestly to exhort them, by the +forbearance of every act of hostility on their part, to preserve +unimpaired that right to protection secured to them by the sacred pledge +of the good faith of this nation. Copies of these instructions and +orders are herewith transmitted to Congress. + +In abstaining at this stage of the proceedings from the application of +any military force I have been governed by considerations which will, I +trust, meet the concurrence of the Legislature. Among them one of +paramount importance has been that these surveys have been attempted, +and partly effected, under color of legal authority from the State of +Georgia; that the surveyors are, therefore, not to be viewed in the +light of individual and solitary transgressors, but as the agents of a +sovereign State, acting in obedience to authority which they believed to +be binding upon them. Intimations had been given that should they meet +with interruption they would at all hazards be sustained by the military +force of the State, in which event, if the military force of the Union +should have been employed to enforce its violated law, a conflict _must_ +have ensued, which would itself have inflicted a wound upon the Union +and have presented the aspect of one of these confederated States at war +with the rest. Anxious, above all, to avert this state of things, yet at +the same time impressed with the deepest conviction of my own duty to +take care that the laws shall be executed and the faith of the nation +preserved, I have used of the means intrusted to the Executive for that +purpose only those which without resorting to military force may +vindicate the sanctity of the law by the ordinary agency of the judicial +tribunals. + +It ought not, however, to be disguised that the act of the legislature +of Georgia, under the construction given to it by the governor of that +State, and the surveys made or attempted by his authority beyond the +boundary secured by the treaty of Washington of April last to the Creek +Indians, are in direct violation of the supreme law of this land, set +forth in a treaty which has received all the sanctions provided by the +Constitution which we have been sworn to support and maintain. + +Happily distributed as the sovereign powers of the people of this Union +have been between their General and State Governments, their history has +already too often presented collisions between these divided authorities +with regard to the extent of their respective powers. No instance, +however, has hitherto occurred in which this collision has been urged +into a conflict of actual force. No other case is known to have happened +in which the application of military force by the Government of the +Union has been prescribed for the enforcement of a law the violation of +which has within any single State been prescribed by a legislative act +of the State. In the present instance it is my duty to say that if the +legislative and executive authorities of the State of Georgia should +persevere in acts of encroachment upon the territories secured by a +solemn treaty to the Indians, and the laws of the Union remain +unaltered, a superadded obligation even higher than that of human +authority will compel the Executive of the United States to enforce the +laws and fulfill the duties of the nation by all the force committed for +that purpose to his charge. That the arm of military force will be +resorted to only in the event of the failure of all other expedients +provided by the laws, a pledge has been given by the forbearance to +employ it at this time. It is submitted to the wisdom of Congress to +determine whether any further act of legislation may be necessary or +expedient to meet the emergency which these transactions may produce. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Washington, +_February 8, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty between the United States and the Mexican +Confederation, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the respective +Governments on the 10th of July last. It will be seen by its terms that +if ratified by both parties the ratifications are to be exchanged at +this city on or before the 10th day of next month. The ratification on +the part of the Government of Mexico has not yet been received, though +it has probably before this been effected. To avoid all unnecessary +delay the treaty is now communicated to the Senate, that it may receive +all the deliberation which, in their wisdom, it may require, without +pressing upon their time at a near approach to the close of their +session. Should they advise and consent to its ratification, that +measure will still be withheld until the ratification by the Mexican +Government shall have been ascertained. A copy of the treaty is likewise +transmitted, together with the documents appertaining to the +negotiation. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 8, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to Congress copies of a letter from the governor of the +State of Georgia, received since my message of the 5th instant, and of +inclosures received with it, further confirmative of the facts stated in +that message.[011] + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 16, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, +with statements prepared at the Register's and General Land Office, in +compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 10th of May last, in +relation to the purchase and sales of the public lands since the +declaration of independence. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 19, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of the following treaties, +which have been ratified by and with the consent of the Senate: + +1. A treaty with the Chippewa tribe of Indians, signed at the Fond du +Lac of Lake Superior on the 5th of August, 1826. + +2. A treaty with the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, signed on the 16th of +October, 1826, near the mouth of the Mississinawa, upon the Wabash, in +the State of Indiana. + +3. A treaty with the Miami tribe of Indians, signed at the same place on +the 23d of October, 1826. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 24, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration, a conveyance by +treaty from the Seneca tribe of Indians to Robert Troup, Thomas L. +Ogden, and Benjamin W. Rogers, in the presence of Oliver Forward, +commissioner of the United States for holding the said treaty, and of +Nathaniel Gorham, superintendent in behalf of the State of +Massachusetts. A letter from the grantees of this conveyance and a +report of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of War, +relating to this instrument, are also transmitted; and with regard to +the approval or ratification of the treaty itself, it is submitted to +the Senate for their advice and consent. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 28, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of War, with sundry documents, containing statements requested by a +resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th of January, +relating to the Artillery School of Practice at Fortress Monroe. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 2, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, +with sundry documents, containing the information requested by a +resolution of the Senate of the 20th of April last, relating to the +security taken of the late survey or-general of Illinois, Missouri, and +Arkansas, and of the late receiver of public moneys in the western +district of Missouri, and to the sums for which they were respectively +defaulters; also the sums due by each of the late directors of the Bank +of Missouri to the United States, and to the measures taken for +obtaining or enforcing payment of the same. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 2, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of communications received +yesterday by the Secretary of War from the governor of Georgia and from +Lieutenant Vinton.[012] + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + +PROCLAMATIONS. + + + +By the President of the United States. + +A PROCLAMATION. + +Whereas by the sixth section of an act of Congress entitled "An act to +regulate the commercial intercourse between the United States and +certain British colonial ports," which was approved on the 1st day of +March, A. D. 1823, it is enacted "that this act, unless repealed, +altered, or amended by Congress, shall be and continue in force so long +as the above-enumerated British colonial ports shall be open to the +admission of the vessels of the United States, conformably to the +provisions of the British act of Parliament of the 24th of June last, +being the forty-fourth chapter of the acts of the third year of George +IV; but if at any time the trade and intercourse between the United +States and all or any of the above enumerated British colonial ports +authorized by the said act of Parliament should be prohibited by a +British order in council or by act of Parliament, then, from the day of +the date of such order in council or act of Parliament, or from the time +that the same shall commence to be in force, proclamation to that effect +having been made by the President of the United States, each and every +provision of this act, so far as the same shall apply to the intercourse +between the United States and the above-enumerated British colonial +ports in British vessels, shall cease to operate in their favor, and +each and every provision of the 'Act concerning navigation,' approved on +the 18th of April, 1818, and of the act supplementary thereto, approved +on the 15th of May, 1820, shall revive and be in full force;" and + +Whereas by an act of the British Parliament which passed on the 5th day +of July, A. D. 1825, entitled "An act to repeal the several laws +relating to the customs," the said act of Parliament of the 24th of +June, 1822, was repealed; and by another act of the British Parliament, +passed on the 5th day of July, A. D. 1825, in the sixth year of the +reign of George IV, entitled "An act to regulate the trade of the +British possessions abroad;" and by an order of His Britannic Majesty in +council, bearing date the 27th of July, 1826, the trade and intercourse +authorized by the aforesaid act of Parliament of the 24th of June, 1822, +between the United States and the greater part of the said British +colonial ports therein enumerated, have been prohibited upon and from +the 1st day of December last past, and the contingency has thereby +arisen on which the President of the United States was authorized by the +sixth section aforesaid of the act of Congress of the 1st March, 1823, +to issue a proclamation to the effect therein mentioned: + +Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States of +America, do hereby declare and proclaim that the trade and intercourse +authorized by the said act of Parliament of the 24th of June, 1822, +between the United States and the British colonial ports enumerated in +the aforesaid act of Congress of the 1st of March, 1823, have been and +are, upon and from the 1st day of December, 1826, by the aforesaid two +several acts of Parliament of the 5th of July, 1825, and by the +aforesaid British order in council of the 27th day of July, 1826, +prohibited. + +Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 17th day of March, +A. D. 1827, and the fifty-first year of the Independence of the United +States. + + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +By the President: +H. Clay, +_Secretary of State_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +By the President of the United States. + +A PROCLAMATION. + + +Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of +January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of +tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence +being given to the President of the United States by the government of +any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost +are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels +wholly belonging to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise +the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President +is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the +foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United +States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as respects +the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or +manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said +suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given +to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the +reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United +States and merchandise as aforesaid therein laden shall be continued, +and no longer; and + +Whereas satisfactory evidence was given to the President of the United +States on the 30th day of May last by Count Lucchesi, consul-general of +His Holiness the Pope, that all foreign and discriminating duties of +tonnage and impost within the dominions of His Holiness, so far as +respected the vessels of the United States and the merchandise of their +produce or manufacture imported in the same, were suspended and +discontinued: + +Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States, +conformably to the fourth section of the act of Congress aforesaid, do +hereby proclaim and declare that the foreign discriminating duties of +tonnage and impost within the United States are and shall be suspended +and discontinued so far as respects the vessels of the subjects of His +Holiness the Pope and the merchandise of the produce or manufacture of +his dominions imported into the United States' in the same, the said +suspension to take effect from the 30th of May aforesaid and to continue +so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of +the United States and merchandise as aforesaid therein laden shall be +continued, and no longer. + +Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 7th day of June, A. +D. 1827, and of the Independence of the United States the fifty-first. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +By the President: +H. Clay, +_Secretary of State_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +By the President of the United States. + +A PROCLAMATION. + +Whereas Willis Anderson, of the County of Alexandria, in the district of +Columbia, is charged with having recently murdered Gerrard Arnold, late +of the said county; and + +Whereas it is represented to me that the said Willis Anderson has +absconded and secretes himself, so that he can not be apprehended and +brought to justice for the offense of which he is so charged; and + +Whereas the apprehension and trial of the said Willis Anderson is an +example due to justice and humanity, and would be every way salutary in +its influence: + +Now, therefore, I have thought fit to issue this my proclamation, hereby +exhorting the citizens of the United States, and particularly those of +this district, and requiring all officers, according to their respective +stations, to use their utmost endeavors to apprehend and bring the said +Willis Anderson to justice for the atrocious crime with which he stands +charged as aforesaid; and I do moreover offer a reward of $250 for the +apprehension of the said Willis Anderson and his delivery to an officer +or officers of justice in the county aforesaid, so that he may be +brought to trial for the murder aforesaid and be otherwise dealt with +according to law. + +In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal +of the United States to be affixed to these presents. + +(SEAL.) + +Done at Washington, this 10th day of September, A. D. 1827, and of the +Independence of the United States the fifty-second. + +J. Q. Adams. + + + + +By the President: +H. Clay, +_Secretary of State_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE. + + +Washington, +_December 4, 1827_ + + +_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_: + +A revolution of the seasons has nearly been completed since the +representatives of the people and States of this Union were last +assembled at this place to deliberate and to act upon the common +important interests of their constituents. In that interval the +never-slumbering eye of a wise and beneficent Providence has continued +its guardian care over the welfare of our beloved country; the blessing +of health has continued generally to prevail throughout the land; the +blessing of peace with our brethren of the human race has been enjoyed +without interruption; internal quiet has left our fellow-citizens in the +full enjoyment of all their rights and in the free exercise of all their +faculties, to pursue the impulse of their nature and the obligation of +their duty in the improvement of their own condition; the productions of +the soil, the exchanges of commerce, the vivifying labors of human +industry, have combined to mingle in our cup a portion of enjoyment as +large and liberal as the indulgence of Heaven has perhaps ever granted +to the imperfect state of man upon earth; and as the purest of human +felicity consists in its participation with others, it is no small +addition to the sum of our national happiness at this time that peace +and prosperity prevail to a degree seldom experienced over the whole +habitable globe, presenting, though as yet with painful exceptions, a +foretaste of that blessed period of promise when the lion shall lie down +with the lamb and wars shall be no more. To preserve, to improve, and to +perpetuate the sources and to direct in their most effective channels +the streams which contribute to the public weal is the purpose for which +Government was instituted. Objects of deep importance to the welfare of +the Union are constantly recurring to demand the attention of the +Federal Legislature, and they call with accumulated interest at the +first meeting of the two Houses after their periodical renovation. To +present to their consideration from time to time subjects in which the +interests of the nation are most deeply involved, and for the regulation +of which the legislative will is alone competent, is a duty prescribed +by the Constitution, to the performance of which the first meeting of +the new Congress is a period eminently appropriate, and which it is now +my purpose to discharge. + +Our relations of friendship with the other nations of the earth, +political and commercial, have been preserved unimpaired, and the +opportunities to improve them have been cultivated with anxious and +unremitting attention. A negotiation upon subjects of high and delicate +interest with the Government of Great Britain has terminated in the +adjustment of some of the questions at issue upon satisfactory terms and +the postponement of others for future discussion and agreement. The +purposes of the convention concluded at St. Petersburg on the 12th day +of July, 1822, under the mediation of the late Emperor Alexander, have +been carried into effect by a subsequent convention, concluded at London +on the 13th of November, 1826, the ratifications of which were exchanged +at that place on the 6th day of February last. A copy of the +proclamation issued on the 19th day of March last, publishing this +convention, is herewith communicated to Congress. The sum of $1,204,960, +therein stipulated to be paid to the claimants of indemnity under the +first article of the treaty of Ghent, has been duly received, and the +commission instituted, comformably to the act of Congress of the 2d of +March last, for the distribution of the indemnity to the persons +entitled to receive it are now in session and approaching the +consummation of their labors. This final disposal of one of the most +painful topics of collision between the United States and Great Britain +not only affords an occasion of gratulation to ourselves, but has had +the happiest effect in promoting a friendly disposition and in softening +asperities upon other objects of discussion; nor ought it to pass +without the tribute of a frank and cordial acknowledgment of the +magnanimity with which an honorable nation, by the reparation of their +own wrongs, achieves a triumph more glorious than any field of blood can +ever bestow. + +The conventions of 3d July, 1815, and of 20th October, 1818, will expire +by their own limitation on the 20th of October, 1828. These have +regulated the direct commercial intercourse between the United States +and Great Britain upon terms of the most perfect reciprocity; and they +effected a temporary compromise of the respective rights and claims to +territory westward of the Rocky Mountains. These arrangements have been +continued for an indefinite period of time after the expiration of the +above-mentioned conventions, leaving each party the liberty of +terminating them by giving twelve months' notice to the other. The +radical principle of all commercial intercourse between independent +nations is the mutual interest of both parties. It is the vital spirit +of trade itself; nor can it be reconciled to the nature of man or to the +primary laws of human society that any traffic should long be willingly +pursued of which all the advantages are on one side and all the burdens +on the other. Treaties of commerce have been found by experience to be +among the most effective instruments for promoting peace and harmony +between nations whose interests, exclusively considered on either side, +are brought into frequent collisions by competition. In framing such +treaties it is the duty of each party not simply to urge with unyielding +pertinacity that which suits its own interest, but to concede liberally +to that which is adapted to the interest of the other. To accomplish +this, little more is generally required than a simple observance of the +rule of reciprocity, and were it possible for the statesmen of one +nation by stratagem and management to obtain from the weakness or +ignorance of another an overreaching treaty, such a compact would prove +an incentive to war rather than a bond of peace. Our conventions with +Great Britain are founded upon the principles of reciprocity. The +commercial intercourse between the two countries is greater in magnitude +and amount than between any two other nations on the globe. It is for +all purposes of benefit or advantage to both as precious, and in all +probability far more extensive, than if the parties were still +constituent parts of one and the same nation. Treaties between such +States, regulating the intercourse of peace between them and adjusting +interests of such transcendent importance to both, which have been found +in a long experience of years mutually advantageous, should not be +lightly canceled or discontinued. Two conventions for continuing in +force those above mentioned have been concluded between the +plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 6th of August last, and +will be forthwith laid before the Senate for the exercise of their +constitutional authority concerning them. + +In the execution of the treaties of peace of November, 1782, and +September, 1783, between the United States and Great Britain, and which +terminated the war of our independence, a line of boundary was drawn as +the demarcation of territory between the two countries, extending over +near 20 degrees of latitude, and ranging over seas, lakes, and +mountains, then very imperfectly explored and scarcely opened to the +geographical knowledge of the age. In the progress of discovery and +settlement by both parties since that time several questions of boundary +between their respective territories have arisen, which have been found +of exceedingly difficult adjustment. At the close of the last war with +Great Britain four of these questions pressed themselves upon the +consideration of the negotiators of the treaty of Ghent, but without the +means of concluding a definitive arrangement concerning them. They were +referred to three separate commissions consisting of two commissioners, +one appointed by each party, to examine and decide upon their respective +claims. In the event of a disagreement between the commissioners it was +provided that they should make reports to their several Governments, and +that the reports should finally be referred to the decision of a +sovereign the common friend of both. Of these commissions two have +already terminated their sessions and investigations, one by entire and +the other by partial agreement. The commissioners of the fifth article +of the treaty of Ghent have finally disagreed, and made their +conflicting reports to their own Governments. But from these reports a +great difficulty has occurred in making up a question to be decided by +the arbitrator. This purpose has, however, been effected by a fourth +convention, concluded at London by the plenipotentiaries of the two +Governments on the 29th of September last. It will be submitted, +together with the others, to the consideration of the Senate. + +While these questions have been pending incidents have occurred of +conflicting pretensions and of dangerous character upon the territory +itself in dispute between the two nations. By a common understanding +between the Governments it was agreed that no exercise of exclusive +jurisdiction by either party while the negotiation was pending should +change the state of the question of right to be definitively settled. +Such collision has, nevertheless, recently taken place by occurrences +the precise character of which has not yet been ascertained. A +communication from the governor of the State of Maine, with accompanying +documents, and a correspondence between the Secretary of State and the +minister of Great Britain on this subject are now communicated. Measures +have been taken to ascertain the state of the facts more correctly by +the employment of a special agent to visit the spot where the alleged +outrages have occurred, the result of whose inquiries, when received, +will be transmitted to Congress. + +While so many of the subjects of high interest to the friendly relations +between the two countries have been so far adjusted, it is matter of +regret that their views respecting the commercial intercourse between +the United States and the British colonial possessions have not equally +approximated to a friendly agreement. + +At the commencement of the last session of Congress they were informed +of the sudden and unexpected exclusion by the British Government of +access in vessels of the United States to all their colonial ports, +except those immediately bordering upon our own territories. In the +amicable discussions which have succeeded the adoption of this measure, +which, as it affected harshly the interests of the United States, became +a subject of expostulation on our part, the principles upon which its +justification has been placed have been of a diversified character. It +has been at once ascribed to a mere recurrence to the old, +long-established principle of colonial monopoly and at the same time to +a feeling of resentment because the offers of an act of Parliament +opening the colonial ports upon certain conditions had not been grasped +at with sufficient eagerness by an instantaneous conformity to them. At +a subsequent period it has been intimated that the new exclusion was in +resentment because a prior act of Parliament, of 1822, opening certain +colonial ports, under heavy and burdensome restrictions, to vessels of +the United States, had not been reciprocated by an admission of British +vessels from the colonies, and their cargoes, without any restriction or +discrimination whatever. But be the motive for the interdiction what it +may, the British Government have manifested no disposition, either by +negotiation or by corresponding legislative enactments, to recede from +it, and we have been given distinctly to understand that neither of the +bills which were under the consideration of Congress at their last +session would have been deemed sufficient in their concessions to have +been rewarded by any relaxation from the British interdict. It is one of +the inconveniences inseparably connected with the attempt to adjust by +reciprocal legislation interests of this nature that neither party can +know what would be satisfactory to the other, and that after enacting a +statute for the avowed and sincere purpose of conciliation it will +generally be found utterly inadequate to the expectations of the other +party, and will terminate in mutual disappointment. + +The session of Congress having terminated without any act upon the +subject, a proclamation was issued on the 17th of March last, +conformably to the provisions of the sixth section of the act of 1st +March, 1823, declaring the fact that the trade and intercourse +authorized by the British act of Parliament of 24th June, 1822, between +the United States and the British enumerated colonial ports had been by +the subsequent acts of Parliament of 5th July, 1825, and the order of +council of 27th July, 1826, prohibited. The effect of this proclamation, +by the terms of the act under which it was issued, has been that each +and every provision of the act concerning navigation of 18th April, +1818, and of the act supplementary thereto of 15th May, 1820, revived +and is in full force. Such, then, is the present condition of the trade +that, useful as it is to both parties, it can, with a single momentary +exception, be carried on directly by the vessels of neither. That +exception itself is found in a proclamation of the governor of the +island of St. Christopher and of the Virgin Islands, inviting for three +months from the 28th of August last the importation of the articles of +the produce of the United States which constitute their export portion +of this trade in the vessels of all nations. That period having already +expired, the state of mutual interdiction has again taken place. The +British Government have not only declined negotiation upon this subject, +but by the principle they have assumed with reference to it have +precluded even the means of negotiation. It becomes not the self-respect +of the United States either to solicit gratuitous favors or to accept as +the grant of a favor that for which an ample equivalent is exacted. It +remains to be determined by the respective Governments whether the trade +shall be opened by acts of reciprocal legislation. It is, in the +meantime, satisfactory to know that apart from the inconveniences +resulting from a disturbance of the usual channels of trade no loss has +been sustained by the commerce, the navigation, or the revenue of the +United States, and none of magnitude is to be apprehended from this +existing state of mutual interdict. + +With the other maritime and commercial nations of Europe our intercourse +continues with little variation. Since the cessation by the convention +of 24th June, 1822, of all discriminating duties upon the vessels of the +United States and of France in either country our trade with that nation +has increased and is increasing. A disposition on the part of France has +been manifested to renew that negotiation, and in acceding to the +proposal we have expressed the wish that it might be extended to other +subjects upon which a good understanding between the parties would be +beneficial to the interests of both. The origin of the political +relations between the United States and France is coeval with the first +years of our independence. The memory of it is interwoven with that of +our arduous struggle for national existence. Weakened as it has +occasionally been since that time, it can by us never be forgotten, and +we should hail with exultation the moment which should indicate a +recollection equally friendly in spirit on the part of France. A fresh +effort has recently been made by the minister of the United States +residing at Paris to obtain a consideration of the just claims of +citizens of the United States to the reparation of wrongs long since +committed, many of them frankly acknowledged and all of them entitled +upon every principle of justice to a candid examination. The proposal +last made to the French Government has been to refer the subject which +has formed an obstacle to this consideration to the determination of a +sovereign the common friend of both. To this offer no definitive answer +has yet been received, but the gallant and honorable spirit which has at +all times been the pride and glory of France will not ultimately permit +the demands of innocent sufferers to be extinguished in the mere +consciousness of the power to reject them. + +A new treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce has been concluded with +the Kingdom of Sweden, which will be submitted to the Senate for their +advice with regard to its ratification. At a more recent date a minister +plenipotentiary from the Hanseatic Republics of Hamburg, Lubeck, and +Bremen has been received, charged with a special mission for the +negotiation of a treaty of amity and commerce between that ancient and +renowned league and the United States. This negotiation has accordingly +been commenced, and is now in progress, the result of which will, if +successful, be also submitted to the Senate for their consideration. + +Since the accession of the Emperor Nicholas to the imperial throne of +all the Russias the friendly dispositions toward the United States so +constantly manifested by his predecessor have continued unabated, and +have been recently testified by the appointment of a minister +plenipotentiary to reside at this place. From the interest taken by this +Sovereign in behalf of the suffering Greeks and from the spirit with +which others of the great European powers are cooperating with him the +friends of freedom and of humanity may indulge the hope that they will +obtain relief from that most unequal of conflicts which they have so +long and so gallantly sustained; that they will enjoy the blessing of +self-government, which by their sufferings in the cause of liberty they +have richly earned, and that their independence will be secured by those +liberal institutions of which their country furnished the earliest +examples in the history of mankind, and which have consecrated to +immortal remembrance the very soil for which they are now again +profusely pouring forth their blood. The sympathies which the people and +Government of the United States have so warmly indulged with their cause +have been acknowledged by their Government in a letter of thanks, which +I have received from their illustrious President, a translation of which +is now communicated to Congress, the representatives of that nation to +whom this tribute of gratitude was intended to be paid, and to whom it +was justly due. + +In the American hemisphere the cause of freedom and independence has +continued to prevail, and if signalized by none of those splendid +triumphs which had crowned with glory some of the preceding years it has +only been from the banishment of all external force against which the +struggle had been maintained. The shout of victory has been superseded +by the expulsion of the enemy over whom it could have been achieved. Our +friendly wishes and cordial good will, which have constantly followed +the southern nations of America in all the vicissitudes of their war of +independence, are succeeded by a solicitude equally ardent and cordial +that by the wisdom and purity of their institutions they may secure to +themselves the choicest blessings of social order and the best rewards +of virtuous liberty. Disclaiming alike all right and all intention of +interfering in those concerns which it is the prerogative of their +independence to regulate as to them shall seem fit, we hail with joy +every indication of their prosperity, of their harmony, of their +persevering and inflexible homage to those principles of freedom and of +equal rights which are alone suited to the genius and temper of the +American nations. It has been, therefore, with some concern that we have +observed indications of intestine divisions in some of the Republics of +the south, and appearances of less union with one another than we +believe to be the interest of all. Among the results of this state of +things has been that the treaties concluded at Panama do not appear to +have been ratified by the contracting parties, and that the meeting of +the congress at Tacubaya has been indefinitely postponed. In accepting +the invitations to be represented at this congress, while a +manifestation was intended on the part of the United States of the most +friendly disposition toward the southern Republics by whom it had been +proposed, it was hoped that it would furnish an opportunity for bringing +all the nations of this hemisphere to the common acknowledgment and +adoption of the principles in the regulation of their internal relations +which would have secured a lasting peace and harmony between them and +have promoted the cause of mutual benevolence throughout the globe. But +as obstacles appear to have arisen to the reassembling of the congress, +one of the two ministers commissioned on the part of the United States +has returned to the bosom of his country, while the minister charged +with the ordinary mission to Mexico remains authorized to attend at the +conferences of the congress whenever they may be resumed. + +A hope was for a short time entertained that a treaty of peace actually +signed between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of Brazil would +supersede all further occasion for those collisions between belligerent +pretensions and neutral rights which are so commonly the result of +maritime war, and which have unfortunately disturbed the harmony of the +relations between the United States and the Brazilian Governments. At +their last session Congress were informed that some of the naval +officers of that Empire had advanced and practiced upon principles in +relation to blockades and to neutral navigation which we could not +sanction, and which our commanders found it necessary to resist. It +appears that they have not been sustained by the Government of Brazil +itself. Some of the vessels captured under the assumed authority of +these erroneous principles have been restored, and we trust that our +just expectations will be realized that adequate indemnity will be made +to all the citizens of the United States who have suffered by the +unwarranted captures which the Brazilian tribunals themselves have +pronounced unlawful. + +In the diplomatic discussions at Rio de Janeiro of these wrongs +sustained by citizens of the United States and of others which seemed as +if emanating immediately from that Government itself the chargé +d'affaires of the United States, under an impression that his +representations in behalf of the rights and interests of his countrymen +were totally disregarded and useless, deemed it his duty, without +waiting for instructions, to terminate his official functions, to demand +his passports, and return to the United States. This movement, dictated +by an honest zeal for the honor and interests of his country--motives +which operated exclusively on the mind of the officer who resorted to +it--has not been disapproved by me. The Brazilian Government, however, +complained of it as a measure for which no adequate intentional cause +had been given by them, and upon an explicit assurance through their +chargé d'affaires residing here that a successor to the late +representative of the United States near that Government, the +appointment of whom they desired, should be received and treated with +the respect due to his character, and that indemnity should be promptly +made for all injuries inflicted on citizens of the United States or +their property contrary to the laws of nations, a temporary commission +as charge d'affaires to that country has been issued, which it is hoped +will entirety restore the ordinary diplomatic intercourse between the +two Governments and the friendly relations between their respective +nations. + +Turning from the momentous concerns of our Union in its intercourse with +foreign nations to those of the deepest interest in the administration +of our internal affairs, we find the revenues of the present year +corresponding as nearly as might be expected with the anticipations of +the last, and presenting an aspect still more favorable in the promise +of the next. The balance in the Treasury on January 1 last was +$6,358,686.18. The receipts from that day to the 30th of September last, +as near as the returns of them yet received can show, amount to +$16,886,581.32. The receipts of the present quarter, estimated at +$4,515,000, added to the above form an aggregate of $21,400,000 of +receipts. The expenditures of the year may perhaps amount to +$22,300,000, presenting a small excess over the receipts. But of these +twenty-two millions, upward of six have been applied to the discharge of +the principal of the public debt, the whole amount of which, approaching +seventy-four millions on the 1st of January last, will on the first day +of the next year fall short of sixty-seven millions and a half. The +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January next it is expected will +exceed $5,450,000, a sum exceeding that of the 1st of January, 1825, +though falling short of that exhibited on the 1st of January last. + +It was foreseen that the revenue of the present year would not equal +that of the last, which had itself been less than that of the next +preceding year. But the hope has been realized which was entertained, +that these deficiencies would in nowise interrupt the steady operation +of the discharge of the public debt by the annual ten millions devoted +to that object by the act of 3d March, 1817. + +The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the +commencement of the year until the 30th of September last is +$21,226,000, and the probable amount of that which will be secured +during the remainder of the year is $5,774,000, forming a sum total of +$27,000,000. With the allowances for drawbacks and contingent +deficiencies which may occur, though not specifically foreseen, we may +safely estimate the receipts of the ensuing year at $22,300,000--a +revenue for the next equal to the expenditure of the present year. + +The deep solicitude felt by our citizens of all classes throughout the +Union for the total discharge of the public debt will apologize for the +earnestness with which I deem it my duty to urge this topic upon the +consideration of Congress--of recommending to them again the observance +of the strictest economy in the application of the public funds. The +depression upon the receipts of the revenue which had commenced with the +year 1826 continued with increased severity during the two first +quarters of the present year. The returning tide began to flow with the +third quarter, and, so far as we can judge from experience, may be +expected to continue through the course of the ensuing year. In the +meantime an alleviation from the burden of the public debt will in the +three years have been effected to the amount of nearly sixteen millions, +and the charge of annual interest will have been reduced upward of one +million. But among the maxims of political economy which the stewards of +the public moneys should never suffer without urgent necessity to be +transcended is that of keeping the expenditures of the year within the +limits of its receipts. The appropriations of the two last years, +including the yearly ten millions of the sinking fund, have each equaled +the promised revenue of the ensuing year. While we foresee with +confidence that the public coffers will be replenished from the receipts +as fast as they will be drained by the expenditures, equal in amount to +those of the current year, it should not be forgotten that they could +ill suffer the exhaustion of larger disbursements. + +The condition of the Army and of all the branches of the public service +under the superintendence of the Secretary of War will be seen by the +report from that officer and the documents with which it is accompanied. + +During the last summer a detachment of the Army has been usefully and +successfully called to perform their appropriate duties. At the moment +when the commissioners appointed for carrying into execution certain +provisions of the treaty of August 19, 1825, with various tribes of the +Northwestern Indians were about to arrive at the appointed place of +meeting the unprovoked murder of several citizens and other acts of +unequivocal hostility committed by a party of the Winnebago tribe, one +of those associated in the treaty, followed by indications of a menacing +character among other tribes of the same region, rendered necessary an +immediate display of the defensive and protective force of the Union in +that quarter. It was accordingly exhibited by the immediate and +concerted movements of the governors of the State of Illinois and of the +Territory of Michigan, and competent levies of militia, under their +authority, with a corps of 700 men of United States troops, under the +command of General Atkinson, who, at the call of Governor Cass, +immediately repaired to the scene of danger from their station at St. +Louis. Their presence dispelled the alarms of our fellow-citizens on +those borders, and overawed the hostile purposes of the Indians. The +perpetrators of the murders were surrendered to the authority and +operation of our laws, and every appearance of purposed hostility from +those Indian tribes has subsided. + +Although the present organization of the Army and the administration of +its various branches of service are, upon the whole, satisfactory, they +are yet susceptible of much improvement in particulars, some of which +have been heretofore submitted to the consideration of Congress, and +others are now first presented in the report of the Secretary of War. + +The expediency of providing for additional numbers of officers in the +two corps of engineers will in some degree depend upon the number and +extent of the objects of national importance upon which Congress may +think it proper that surveys should be made conformably to the act of +the 30th of April, 1824. 'Of the surveys which before the last session +of Congress had been made under the authority of that act, reports were +made-- + +1. Of the Board of Internal Improvement, on the Chesapeake and Ohio +Canal. + +2. On the continuation of the national road from Cumberland to the tide +waters within the district of Columbia. + +3. On the continuation of the national road from Canton to Zanesville. + +4. On the location of the national road from Zanesville to Columbus. + +5. On the continuation of the same to the seat of government in +Missouri. + +6. On a post-road from Baltimore to Philadelphia. + +7. Of a survey of Kennebec River (in part). + +8. On a national road from Washington to Buffalo. + +9. On the survey of Saugatuck Harbor and River. + +10. On a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River. + +11. On surveys at Edgartown, Newburyport, and Hyannis Harbor. + +12. On survey of La Plaisance Bay, in the Territory of Michigan. + +And reports are now prepared and will be submitted to Congress-- + +On surveys of the peninsula of Florida, to ascertain the practicability +of a canal to connect the waters of the Atlantic with the Gulf of Mexico +across that peninsula; and also of the country between the bays of +Mobile and of Pensacola, with the view of connecting them together by a +canal. + +On surveys of a route for a canal to connect the waters of James and +Great Kenhawa rivers. + +On the survey of the Swash, in Pamlico Sound, and that of Cape Fear, +below the town of Wilmington, in North Carolina. + +On the survey of the Muscle Shoals, in the Tennessee River, and for a +route for a contemplated communication between the Hiwassee and Coosa +rivers, in the State of Alabama. + +Other reports of surveys upon objects pointed out by the several acts of +Congress of the last and preceding sessions are in the progress of +preparation, and most of them may be completed before the close of this +session. All the officers of both corps of engineers, with several other +persons duly qualified, have been constantly employed upon these +services from the passage of the act of 30th April, 1824, to this time. +Were no other advantage to accrue to the country from their labors than +the fund of topographical knowledge which they have collected and +communicated, that alone would have been a profit to the Union more than +adequate to all the expenditures which have been devoted to the object; +but the appropriations for the repair and continuation of the Cumberland +road, for the construction of various other roads, for the removal of +obstructions from the rivers and harbors, for the erection of +light-houses, beacons, piers, and buoys, and for the completion of +canals undertaken by individual associations, but heeding the assistance +of means and resources more comprehensive than individual enterprise can +command, may be considered rather as treasures laid up from the +contributions of the present age for the benefit of posterity than as +unrequited applications of the accruing revenues of the nation. To such +objects of permanent improvement to the condition of the country, of +real addition to the wealth as well as to the comfort of the people by +whose authority and resources they have been effected, from three to +four millions of the annual income of the nation have, by laws enacted +at the three most recent sessions of Congress, been applied, without +intrenching upon the necessities of the Treasury, without adding a +dollar to the taxes or debts of the community, without suspending even +the steady and regular discharge of the debts contracted in former days, +which within the same three years have been diminished by the amount of +nearly $16,000,000. + +The same observations are in a great degree applicable to the +appropriations made for fortifications upon the coasts and harbors of +the United States, for the maintenance of the Military Academy at West +Point, and for the various objects under the superintendence of the +Department of the Navy. The report from the Secretary of the Navy and +those from the subordinate branches of both the military departments +exhibit to Congress in minute detail the present condition of the public +establishments dependent upon them, the execution of the acts of +Congress relating to them, and the views of the officers engaged in the +several branches of the service concerning the improvements which may +tend to their perfection. The fortification of the coasts and the +gradual increase and improvement of the Navy are parts of a great system +of national defense which has been upward of ten years in progress, and +which for a series of years to come will continue to claim the constant +and persevering protection and superintendence of the legislative +authority. Among the measures which have emanated from these principles +the act of the last session of Congress for the gradual improvement of +the Navy holds a conspicuous place. The collection of timber for the +future construction of vessels of war, the preservation and reproduction +of the species of timber peculiarly adapted to that purpose, the +construction of dry docks for the use of the Navy, the erection of a +marine railway for the repair of the public ships, and the improvement +of the navy-yards for the preservation of the public property deposited +in them have all received from the Executive the attention required by +that act, and will continue to receive it, steadily proceeding toward +the execution of all its purposes. The establishment of a naval academy, +furnishing the means of theoretic instruction to the youths who devote +their lives to the service of their country upon the ocean, still +solicits the sanction of the Legislature. Practical seamanship and the +art of navigation may be acquired on the cruises of the squadrons which +from time to time are dispatched to distant seas, but a competent +knowledge even of the art of shipbuilding, the higher mathematics, and +astronomy; the literature which can place our officers on a level of +polished education with the officers of other maritime nations; the +knowledge of the laws, municipal and national, which in their +intercourse with foreign states and their governments are continually +called into operation, and, above all, that acquaintance with the +principles of honor and justice, with the higher obligations of morals +and of general laws, human and divine, which constitutes the great +distinction between the warrior-patriot and the licensed robber and +pirate--these can be systematically taught and eminently acquired only +in a permanent school, stationed upon the shore and provided with the +teachers, the instruments, and the books conversant with and adapted to +the communication of the principles of these respective sciences to the +youthful and inquiring mind. + +The report from the Postmaster-General exhibits the condition of that +Department as highly satisfactory for the present and still more +promising for the future. Its receipts for the year ending the 1st of +July last amounted to $1,473,551, and exceeded its expenditures by +upward of $100,000. It can not be an oversanguine estimate to predict +that in less than ten years, of which one-half have elapsed, the +receipts will have been more than doubled. In the meantime a reduced +expenditure upon established routes has kept pace with increased +facilities of public accommodation and additional services have been +obtained at reduced rates of compensation. Within the last year the +transportation of the mail in stages has been greatly augmented. The +number of post-offices has been increased to 7,000, and it may be +anticipated that while the facilities of intercourse between +fellow-citizens in person or by correspondence will soon be carried to +the door of every villager in the Union, a yearly surplus of revenue +will accrue which may be applied as the wisdom of Congress under the +exercise of their constitutional powers may devise for the further +establishment and improvement of the public roads, or by adding still +further to the facilities in the transportation of the mails. Of the +indications of the prosperous condition of our country, none can be more +pleasing than those presented by the multiplying relations of personal +and intimate intercourse between the citizens of the Union dwelling at +the remotest distances from each other. + +Among the subjects which have heretofore occupied the earnest solicitude +and attention of Congress is the management and disposal of that portion +of the property of the nation which consists of the public lands. The +acquisition of them, made at the expense of the whole Union, not only in +treasure but in blood, marks a right of property in them equally +extensive. By the report and statements from the General Land Office now +communicated it appears that under the present Government of the United +States a sum little short of $33,000,000 has been paid from the common +Treasury for that portion of this property which has been purchased from +France and Spain, and for the extinction of the aboriginal titles. The +amount of lands acquired is near 260,000,000 acres, of which on the 1st +of January, 1826, about 139,000,000 acres had been surveyed, and little +more than 19,000,000 acres had been sold. The amount paid into the +Treasury by the purchasers of the public lands sold is not yet equal to +the sums paid for the whole, but leaves a small balance to be refunded. +The proceeds of the sales of the lands have long been pledged to the +creditors of the nation, a pledge from which we have reason to hope that +they will in a very few years be redeemed. + +The system upon which this great national interest has been managed was +the result of long, anxious, and persevering deliberation. Matured and +modified by the progress of our population and the lessons of +experience, it has been hitherto eminently successful. More than +nine-tenths of the lands still remain the common property of the Union, +the appropriation and disposal of which are sacred trusts in the hands +of Congress. Of the lands sold, a considerable part were conveyed under +extended credits, which in the vicissitudes and fluctuations in the +value of lands and of their produce became oppressively burdensome to +the purchasers. It can never be the interest or the policy of the nation +to wring from its own citizens the reasonable profits of their industry +and enterprise by holding them to the rigorous import of disastrous +engagements. In March, 1821, a debt of $22,000,000, due by purchasers of +the public lands, had accumulated, which they were unable to pay. An act +of Congress of the 2d March, 1821, came to their relief, and has been +succeeded by others, the latest being the act of the 4th of May, 1826, +the indulgent provisions of which expired on the 4th July last. The +effect of these laws has been to reduce the debt from the purchasers to +a remaining balance of about $4,300,000 due, more than three-fifths of +which are for lands within the State of Alabama. I recommend to Congress +the revival and continuance for a further term of the beneficent +accommodations to the public debtors of that statute, and submit to +their consideration, in the same spirit of equity, the remission, under +proper discriminations, of the forfeitures of partial payments on +account of purchases of the public lands, so far as to allow of their +application to other payments. + +There are various other subjects of deep interest to the whole Union +which have heretofore been recommended to the consideration of Congress, +as well by my predecessors as, under the impression of the duties +devolving upon me, by myself. Among these are the debt, rather of +justice than gratitude, to the surviving warriors of the Revolutionary +war; the extension of the judicial administration of the Federal +Government to those extensive and important members of the Union which, +having risen into existence since the organization of the present +judiciary establishment, now constitute at least one-third of its +territory, power, and population; the formation of a more effective and +uniform system for the government of the militia, and the amelioration +in some form or modification of the diversified and often oppressive +codes relating to insolvency. Amidst the multiplicity of topics of great +national concernment which may recommend themselves to the calm and +patriotic deliberations of the Legislature, it may suffice to say that +on these and all other measures which may receive their sanction my +hearty cooperation will be given, conformably to the duties enjoined +upon me and under the sense of all the obligations prescribed by the +Constitution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGES. + + + +Washington, +_December 6, 1827_. +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 19th of February +last, requesting a statement of all the expenses annually incurred in +carrying into effect the act of March 2, 1819, for prohibiting the slave +trade, including the cost of keeping the ships of war on the coast of +Africa and all the incidental expenses growing out of the operation of +that act, I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with the +statement, so far as it can be made, required by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 11, 1827_. +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate-- + +1. A convention between the United States and Great Britain for the +continuance in force of the convention of 3d July, 1815, after the 20th +October, 1828, the term at which it would otherwise expire. + +2. A convention between the same parties for continuing in force after +the 20th October, 1828, the provisions of the third article of the +convention of 20th October, 1818, in relation to the territories +westward of the Rocky Mountains. + +3. A convention between the same parties for the reference to a friendly +sovereign of the points of difference between them relating to the +northeastern boundary of the United States. + +The first and second of these conventions were signed by the +plenipotentiaries of the respective parties at London on the 6th day of +August and the third on the 29th day of September last. + +Copies of them are also communicated, together with the correspondence +and documents illustrative of their negotiation. + +I request the advice of the Senate with regard to the ratification of +each of them. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 11, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United +States and the Kingdom of. Sweden and Norway, signed at Stockholm by the +plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 4th day of July last. + +A copy of the treaty, with a translation, and the instructions and +correspondence relating to the negotiation are also communicated. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 12, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to Congress copies of a report of the +surveyor-general of lands northwest of Ohio, with a plat of the northern +boundary line of the State of Indiana, surveyed in conformity to the act +of Congress to authorize the President of the United States to ascertain +and designate the northern boundary of the State of Indiana, passed the +2d of March, 1827. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 24, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant, +requesting a communication of the instructions to the American minister +at London for the negotiation of the convention of the 13th of November, +1826, with Great Britain, for indemnity to the claimants under the first +article of the treaty of Ghent, together with the letters of the +minister accompanying and explaining the said convention, I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of State, together with the +documents desired. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 4, 1828_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 19th of last month, +I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies +of the correspondence with the British Government relating to the +establishment of light-houses, light-vessels, buoys, and other +improvements to the navigation within their jurisdiction, opposite to +the coast of Florida, referred to in the resolution, + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 7, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +17th of last month, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary +of State and the correspondence with the Government of Great Britain +relative to the free navigation of the river St. Lawrence. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 9, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 7th instant, I +transmit herewith Mitchell's map and the map marked A,[013] as requested +by the resolution, desiring that when the Senate shall have no further +use for them they may be returned. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 15, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +2d instant, requesting information respecting the recovery of debts and +property in the Mexican States from persons absconding from the United +States, and also respecting the boundary between the State of Louisiana +and the Province of Texas, I now transmit a report from the Secretary of +State on the subject-matter of the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 22, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, articles +of agreement signed at the Creek Agency on the 15th of November last by +Thomas L. McKenney and John Crowell in behalf of the United States and +by the Little Prince and other chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation, +with a supplementary article concluded by the said John Crowell with the +chiefs and headmen of the nation in general council convened on the 3d +instant, embracing a cession by the Creek Nation of all the remnant of +their lands within the State of Georgia. Documents connected with the +negotiation of the treaty and the instructions under which it was +effected are also communicated to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 22, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By the report of the Secretary of War and the documents from that +Department exhibited to Congress at the commencement of their present +session they were advised of the measures taken for carrying into +execution the act of 4th May, 1826, to authorize the President of the +United States to run and mark a line dividing the Territory of Florida +from the State of Georgia, and of their unsuccessful result. I now +transmit to Congress copies of communications received from the governor +of Georgia relating to that subject. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 23, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +A resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant requested information +relative to the trade between the United States and the colonies of +France. A report from the Secretary of State, with a translation of the +ordinance of the King of France of the 5th of February, 1826, is +herewith transmitted, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 28, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate-- + +1. A treaty concluded at the Butte des Morts, on Fox River, in the +Territory of Michigan, on 11th of August, 1827, between Lewis Cass and +Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners of the United States, and the chiefs +and headmen of the Chippewa, Menomonie, and Winnebago tribes of Indians. + +2. A treaty concluded at St. Joseph, in the Territory of Michigan, on +the 19th of September, 1827, between Lewis Cass, commissioner of the +United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the Potawatamie tribe of +Indians. + +Upon which treaties I request the advice of the Senate. The instructions +and other documents relating to the negotiation of them are here-with +communicated. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +A report from the Secretary of State, with copies of a recent +correspondence between the chargé d'affaires from Brazil and him on the +subjects of discussion between this Government and that of Brazil,[014] +is transmitted to the House of Representatives, in compliance with a +resolution of the House of the 2d instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 6, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate herewith to Congress copies of a treaty of commerce and +navigation between the United States and His Majesty the King of Sweden +and Norway, concluded at Stockholm on the 4th of July, 1827, and the +ratifications of which were exchanged on the 18th ultimo at this city. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 14, 1828_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 11th instant, +requesting copies of the instructions to Andrew Ellicott, commissioner +for running the line between the United States and Spain, and of any +journal or report of the commissioners, I communicate herewith a report +from the Secretary of State, with the documents requested, so far as +they are found in the files of that Department. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 21, 1828_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In transmitting to Congress copies of a communication received from the +governor of Pennsylvania, with certain resolutions of the legislature of +that Commonwealth, relating to the Cumberland road, I deem it my duty to +recommend to the consideration of Congress an adequate provision for the +permanent preservation and repair of that great national work. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 3, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of State, with documents, containing the instructions of the Government +of the United States to Thomas Pinckney under which was negotiated the +treaty of San Lorenzo el Real, and relating to the boundary line between +the United States and the dominions, at that time, of Spain as requested +by a resolution of the House of the 18th ultimo. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 3, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d of January last, +requesting the communication of information in my possession relative to +alleged aggression on the rights of citizens of the United States by +persons claiming authority under the government of the Province of New +Brunswick, I communicate a report from the Secretary of State, with a +copy of that of the special agent mentioned in my message at the +commencement of the present session of Congress as having been sent to +visit the spot where the cause of complaint had occurred to ascertain +the state of the facts, and the result of whose inquiries I then +promised to communicate to Congress when it should be received. + +The Senate are requested to receive this communication as the +fulfillment of that engagement; and in making it I deem it proper to +notice with just acknowledgment the liberality with which the minister +of His Britannic Majesty residing here and the government of the +Province of New Brunswick have furnished the agent of the United States +with every facility for the attainment of the information which it was +the object of his mission to procure. + +Considering the exercise of exclusive territorial jurisdiction upon the +grounds in controversy by the government of New Brunswick in the arrest +and imprisonment of John Baker as incompatible with the mutual +understanding existing between the Governments of the United States and +of Great Britain on this subject, a demand has been addressed to the +provincial authorities through the minister of Great Britain for the +release of that individual from prison, and of indemnity to him for his +detention'. In doing this it has not been intended to maintain the +regularity of his own proceedings or of those with whom he was +associated, to which they were not authorized by any sovereign authority +of this country. + +The documents appended to the report of the agent being original papers +belonging to the files of the Department of State, a return of them is +requested when the Senate shall have no further use for them. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 7, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +The resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, requesting me to cause +to be laid before the Senate all papers which might be in the Department +of War relating to the treaty concluded at the Butte des Morts, on Fox +River, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners on the +part of the United States, and the Chippewa, Menomonie, and Winnebago +tribes of Indians, having been referred to the Secretary of War, the +report of that officer thereon is herewith inclosed. The papers therein +referred to were all transmitted to the Senate with the treaty. Before +that event, however, a petition and several other papers had been +addressed directly to me, in behalf of certain Indians originally and in +part still residing within the State of New York, objecting to the +ratification of the treaty, as affecting injuriously their rights and +interests. The treaty was itself withheld from the Senate until it was +understood at the War Department and by me that by the consent of the +persons representing the New York Indians their objections were +withdrawn, as by one of them, the Reverend Eleazer Williams, I was +personally assured. Those papers, however, addressed directly to me, and +which have not been upon the files of the War Department, are now +transmitted to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 14, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a treaty +concluded at the Wyandot village, near the Wabash, in the State of +Indiana, between John Tipton, commissioner on the part of the United +States, and the chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Eel River or +Thorntown party of Miami Indians, on the 11th day of February last. + +A letter from the commissioner to the Secretary of War, with a copy of +the journal of the proceedings which led to the conclusion of the +treaty, are communicated with it to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 15, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 21st ultimo, +requesting me to lay before the House correspondence not heretofore +communicated between the Government of the United States and that of +Great Britain on the subject of the claims of the two Governments to the +territory westward of the Rocky Mountains, I transmit herewith a report +of the Secretary of State, with the documents requested by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 21, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty concluded on the 15th day of +November, 1827, by commissioners of the United States and the chiefs and +headmen of the Creek Nation of Indians, which was duly ratified on the +4th instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 22, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +3d instant, touching the formation of a new government by the Cherokee +tribe of Indians within the States of North Carolina, Georgia, +Tennessee, and Alabama, and requesting copies of certain correspondence +relating thereto, I transmit to the House of Representatives a report +from the Secretary of War, together with the documents desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 25, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, prepared in +compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the +25th of February last, requesting copies of instructions and +correspondence relating to the settlement of the boundary lines of the +United States, or any one of them, under the Government of the +Confederated States and by the definitive treaty of peace of 3d +September, 1783, with Great Britain. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 8, 1828_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +22d ultimo, on the subject of the treaty with the Creek Nation of +Indians of the 15th November last, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of War, with the documents, containing the information desired +by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 15, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 9th instant, +requesting copies of the charges preferred against the agent of the +United States for the Creek tribe of Indians since the 1st of January, +1826, and of proceedings had thereon, I transmit herewith a report from +the Secretary of War, with documents, containing the information desired +by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 17, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In conformity with the practice of all my predecessors, I have during my +service in the office of President transmitted to the two Houses of +Congress from time to time, by the same private secretary, such messages +as a proper discharge of my constitutional duty appeared to me to +require. On Tuesday last he was charged with the delivery of a message +to each House. Having presented that which was intended for the House of +Representatives, whilst he was passing, within the Capitol, from their +Hall to the Chamber of the Senate, for the purpose of delivering the +other message, he was waylaid and assaulted in the Rotunda by a person, +in the presence of a member of the House, who interposed and separated +the parties. + +I have thought it my duty to communicate this occurrence to Congress, to +whose wisdom it belongs to consider whether it is of a nature requiring +from them any animadversion, and also whether any further laws or +regulations are necessary to insure security in the official intercourse +between the President and Congress, and to prevent disorders within the +Capitol itself. + +In the deliberations of Congress upon this subject it is neither +expected nor desired that any consequence shall be attached to the +private relation in which my secretary stands to me. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 21, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a treaty +of limits between the United States of America and the United Mexican +States, concluded by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the +12th of January last. A copy of the treaty and the protocols of +conference between the plenipotentiaries during the negotiation are +inclosed with it. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 22,1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +A copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General, dated 17th May, 1826, +upon the construction of the award of the Emperor of Russia under the +treaty of Ghent and upon certain questions propounded to him in relation +thereto, subjoined to a report from the Secretary of State, are herewith +communicated to the House, in compliance with their resolution of the +17th instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 24, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for the exercise of their constitutional +authority thereon, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between +the United States of America and the United Mexican States, signed by +their respective plenipotentiaries on the 14th of February last, with a +copy of the treaty and the protocols of conference during and subsequent +to the negotiation. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 28,1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +9th instant, requesting a communication of the correspondence between +this Government and that of Great Britain on the subject of the trade +between the United States and the British colonial possessions in the +West Indies and North America, not heretofore communicated, I transmit +to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with the +correspondence desired. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 30, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In the month of December last 121 African negroes were landed at Key +West from a Spanish slave-trading vessel stranded within the +jurisdiction of the United States while pursued by an armed schooner in +His Britannic Majesty's service. The collector of the customs at Key +West took possession of these persons, who were afterwards delivered +over to the marshal of the Territory of East Florida, by whom they were +conveyed to St. Augustine, where they still remain. + +Believing that the circumstances under which they have been cast upon +the compassion of the country are not embraced by the provisions of the +act of Congress of 3d March, 1819, or of the other acts prohibiting the +slave trade, I submit to the consideration of Congress the expediency of +a supplementary act directing and authorizing such measures as may be +necessary for removing them from the territory of the United States and +for fulfilling toward them the obligations of humanity. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 1, 1828_. +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 17th ultimo, +relating to the removal of the Indian agency from Fort Wayne, in the +State of Indiana, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with +the documents and information requested by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 5, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 30th ultimo, +requesting information concerning any regulation of the Government of +Brazil relative to the reduction of certain duties, I transmit herewith +a report from the Secretary of State, exhibiting the information +received at that Department on the subject. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 5,1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I communicate to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a +treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and His +Majesty the King of Prussia, signed on the 1st instant at this place by +the Secretary of State and the chargé d'affaires of Prussia residing +here. A copy of the treaty is also transmitted. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 9, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +The report of the Secretary of War herewith transmitted, with the +documents annexed, contains the information requested by a resolution of +the 3d of April last, relating to the payments made to the citizens of +Georgia under the fourth article of the treaty with the Creek Nation of +8th February, 1821, and to the disallowances of certain claims exhibited +under that treaty, and to the reasons for rejecting the same. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 12, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, the +articles of a convention concluded at this place on the 6th instant +between the Secretary of War and the chiefs and headmen of the Cherokee +Nation west of the Mississippi, duly authorized by their nation. A +report from the Secretary of War, with certain documents, and a map +illustrative of the convention are submitted with it to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 16, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By a communication received from the chargé d'affaires of Prussia, a +translation of which is herewith transmitted, it appears that in the +ports of that Kingdom all discriminating duties so far as they affected +the vessels of the United States and their cargoes have been abolished +since the 15th of April, 1826. I recommend to the consideration of +Congress a legislative provision whereby the reciprocal application of +the same principle may be extended to Prussian vessels and their cargoes +which may have arrived in the ports of the United States from and after +that day. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 19, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of three conventions concluded between the +United States of America and His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom +of Great Britain and Ireland, the ratifications of which were exchanged +at London on the 2d of last month: + +1. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in force the +provisions of the convention of 3d July, 1815. + +2. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in force the +provisions of the third article of the convention of 20th October, 1818. + +3. A convention concluded 29th September, 1827, for carrying into effect +the provisions of the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent in relation +to the northeastern boundary of the United States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 21, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House a report[015] from the Secretary of State, with +a copy of the note of the minister of the United States to Spain dated +20th January, 1826, requested by a resolution of the House of the 19th +instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 22, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +The inclosed report from the Secretary of State is accompanied by copies +of the correspondence between this Government and the minister of His +Britannic Majesty residing here relating to the arrest and imprisonment +of John Baker,[016] requested by a recent resolution of the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 22, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty between the United States of +America and the Eel River or Thornton party of Miami Indians, concluded +on the 11th of February last at the Wyandot village, near the Wabash, and +duly ratified on the 7th instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 23, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant, +relating to the accounts and official conduct of Thomas A. Smith, +receiver of public moneys at Franklin, Mo., I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of the Treasury, with documents, containing the +information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 23, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +30th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +with copies of the correspondence[017] with the Brazilian Government, +and shewing the measures taken by the Government of the United States in +relation to the several topics noticed in the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + +PROCLAMATION. + + +By the President of the United States of America. + +A PROCLAMATION. + + +Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of +January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of +tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence +being given to the President of the United States by the government of +any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost +are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels +belonging wholly to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise +the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President +is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the +foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United +States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as respects +the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or +manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said +suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given +to the President of the United States, and to continue so long as the +reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United +States and merchandise as aforesaid thereon laden shall be continued, +and no longer; and + +Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His Britannic +Majesty, as King of Hanover, through the Right Honorable Charles Richard +Vaughan, his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, that +vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States or merchandise +the produce or manufacture thereof imported in such vessels are not nor +shall be on their entering any Hanoverian port subject to the payment of +higher duties of tonnage or impost than are levied on Hanoverian ships +or merchandise the produce or manufacture of the United States imported +in such vessels: + +Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States of +America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts +imposing duties on the tonnage of ships and vessels and on goods, wares, +and merchandise imported into the United States as imposed a +discriminating duty of tonnage between the vessels of the Kingdom of +Hanover and vessels of the United States and between goods imported into +the United States in vessels of the Kingdom of Hanover and vessels of +the United States are suspended and discontinued so far as the same +respect the produce or manufacture of the said Kingdom of Hanover, the +said suspension to take effect this day and to continue henceforward so +long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the United States and +of the merchandise laden therein as aforesaid shall be continued in the +ports of the Kingdom of Hanover. + +Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 1st day of July, A. +D. 1828, and the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United +States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +By the President: + +H. Clay, +_Secretary of State_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +EXECUTIVE ORDER. + + + +Department of War, +_February 28, 1828_. + + +The Secretary of War, by direction of the President of the United +States, announces to the Army the painful intelligence of the decease +(the 24th of February) of Major-General Brown. + +To say that he was one of the men who have rendered most important +services to his country would fall far short of the tribute due to his +character. Uniting with the most unaffected simplicity the highest +degree of personal valor and of intellectual energy, he stands +preeminent before the world and for after ages in that band of heroic +spirits who upon the ocean and the land formed and sustained during the +second war with Great Britain the martial reputation of their country. +To this high and honorable purpose General Brown may be truly said to +have sacrificed his life, for the disease which abridged his days and +has terminated his career at a period scarcely beyond the meridian of +manhood undoubtedly originated in the hardships of his campaigns on the +Canada frontier, and in that glorious wound which, though desperate, +could not remove him from the field of battle till it was won. + +Quick to perceive, sagacious to anticipate, prompt to decide, and daring +in execution, he was born with the qualities which constitute a great +commander. His military _coup d'oeil_ his intuitive penetration, his +knowledge of men and his capacity to control them were known to all his +companions in arms, and commanded their respect; while the gentleness of +his disposition, the courtesy of his deportment, his scrupulous regard +to their rights, his constant attention to their wants, and his +affectionate attachment to their persons universally won their hearts +and bound them to him as a father. + +Calm and collected in the presence of the enemy, he was withal tender of +human life; in the hour of battle more sparing of the blood of the +soldier than his own. In the hour of victory the vanquished enemy found +in him a humane and compassionate friend. Not one drop of blood shed in +wantonness or cruelty sullies the purity of his fame. Defeat he was +never called to endure, but in the crisis of difficulty and danger he +displayed untiring patience and fortitude not to be overcome. + +Such was the great and accomplished captain whose loss the Army has now, +in common with their fellow-citizens of all classes, to deplore. While +indulging the kindly impulses of nature and yielding the tribute of a +tear upon his grave, let it not be permitted to close upon his bright +example as it must upon his mortal remains. Let him be more nobly +sepulchered in the hearts of his fellow-soldiers, and his imperishable +monument be found in their endeavors to emulate his virtues. + +The officers of the Army will wear the badge of mourning for six months +on the left arm and hilt of the sword. Guns will be fired at each +military post at intervals of thirty minutes from the rising to the +setting of the sun on the day succeeding the arrival of this order, +during which the National flag will be suspended at half-mast. + +James Barbour. + + + * * * * * + + + +FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE. + + +Washington, +_December 2, 1828_. + + +_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_: + +If the enjoyment in profusion of the bounties of Providence forms a +suitable subject of mutual gratulation and grateful acknowledgment, we +are admonished at this return of the season when the representatives of +the nation are assembled to deliberate upon their concerns to offer up +the tribute of fervent and grateful hearts for the never-failing mercies +of Him who ruleth over all. He has again favored us with healthful +seasons and abundant harvests; He has sustained us in peace with foreign +countries and in tranquillity within our borders; He has preserved us in +the quiet and undisturbed possession of civil and religious liberty; He +has crowned the year with His goodness, imposing on us no other +conditions than of improving for our own happiness the blessings +bestowed by His hands, and, in the fruition of all His favors, of +devoting the faculties with which we have been endowed by Him to His +glory and to our own temporal and eternal welfare. + +In the relations of our Federal Union with our brethren of the human +race the changes which have occurred since the close of your last +session have generally tended to the preservation of peace and to the +cultivation of harmony. Before your last separation a war had unhappily +been kindled between the Empire of Russia, one of those with which our +intercourse has been no other than a constant exchange of good offices, +and that of the Ottoman Porte, a nation from which geographical +distance, religious opinions and maxims of government on their part +little suited to the formation of those bonds of mutual benevolence +which result from the benefits of commerce had kept us in a state, +perhaps too much prolonged, of coldness and alienation. The extensive, +fertile, and populous dominions of the Sultan belong rather to the +Asiatic than the European division of the human family. They enter but +partially into the system of Europe, nor have their wars with Russia and +Austria, the European States upon which they border, for more than a +century past disturbed the pacific relations of those States with the +other great powers of Europe. Neither France nor Prussia nor Great +Britain has ever taken part in them, nor is it to be expected that they +will at this time. The declaration of war by Russia has received the +approbation or acquiescence of her allies, and we may indulge the hope +that its progress and termination will be signalized by the moderation +and forbearance no less than by the energy of the Emperor Nicholas, and +that it will afford the opportunity for such collateral agency in behalf +of the suffering Greeks as will secure to them ultimately the triumph of +humanity and of freedom. + +The state of our particular relations with France has scarcely varied in +the course of the present year. The commercial intercourse between the +two countries has continued to increase for the mutual benefit of both. +The claims of indemnity to numbers of our fellow-citizens for +depredations upon their property, heretofore committed during the +revolutionary governments, remain unadjusted, and still form the subject +of earnest representation and remonstrance. Recent advices from the +minister of the United States at Paris encourage the expectation that +the appeal to the justice of the French Government will ere long receive +a favorable consideration. + +The last friendly expedient has been resorted to for the decision of the +controversy with Great Britain relating to the northeastern boundary of +the United States. By an agreement with the British Government, carrying +into effect the provisions of the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, +and the convention of 29th September, 1827, His Majesty the King of the +Netherlands has by common consent been selected as the umpire between +the parties. The proposal to him to accept the designation for the +performance of this friendly office will be made at an early day, and +the United States, relying upon the justice of their cause, will +cheerfully commit the arbitrament of it to a prince equally +distinguished for the independence of his spirit, his indefatigable +assiduity to the duties of his station, and his inflexible personal +probity. + +Our commercial relations with Great Britain will deserve the serious +consideration of Congress and the exercise of a conciliatory and +forbearing spirit in the policy of both Governments. The state of them +has been materially changed by the act of Congress, passed at their last +session, in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on imports, +and by acts of more recent date of the British Parliament. The effect of +the interdiction of direct trade, commenced by Great Britain and +reciprocated by the United States, has been, as was to be foreseen, only +to substitute different channels for an exchange of commodities +indispensable to the colonies and profitable to a numerous class of our +fellow-citizens. The exports, the revenue, the navigation of the United +States have suffered no diminution by our exclusion from direct access +to the British colonies. The colonies pay more dearly for the +necessaries of life which their Government burdens with the charges of +double voyages, freight, insurance, and commission, and the profits of +our exports are somewhat impaired and more injuriously transferred from +one portion of our citizens to another. The resumption of this old and +otherwise exploded system of colonial exclusion has not secured to the +shipping interest of Great Britain the relief which, at the expense of +the distant colonies and of the United States, it was expected to +afford. Other measures have been resorted to more pointedly bearing upon +the navigation of the United States, and which, unless modified by the +construction given to the recent acts of Parliament, will be manifestly +incompatible with the positive stipulations of the commercial convention +existing between the two countries. That convention, however, may be +terminated with twelve months' notice, at the option of either party. + +A treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce between the United States +and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, has +been prepared for signature by the Secretary of State and by the Baron +de Lederer, intrusted with full powers of the Austrian Government. +Independently of the new and friendly relations which may be thus +commenced with one of the most eminent and powerful nations of the +earth, the occasion has been taken in it, as in other recent treaties +concluded by the United States, to extend those principles of liberal +intercourse and of fair reciprocity which intertwine with the exchanges +of commerce the principles of justice and the feelings of mutual +benevolence. This system, first proclaimed to the world in the first +commercial treaty ever concluded by the United States--that of 6th +February, 1778, with France--has been invariably the cherished policy of +our Union. It is by treaties of commerce alone that it can be made +ultimately to prevail as the established system of all civilized +nations. With this principle our fathers extended the hand of friendship +to every nation of the globe, and to this policy our country has ever +since adhered. Whatever of regulation in our laws has ever been adopted +unfavorable to the interest of any foreign nation has been essentially +defensive and counteracting to similar regulations of theirs operating +against us. + +Immediately after the close of the War of Independence commissioners +were appointed by the Congress of the Confederation authorized to +conclude treaties with every nation of Europe disposed to adopt them. +Before the wars of the French Revolution such treaties had been +consummated with the United Netherlands, Sweden, and Prussia. During +those wars treaties with Great Britain and Spain had been effected, and +those with Prussia and France renewed. In all these some concessions to +the liberal principles of intercourse proposed by the United States had +been obtained; but as in all the negotiations they came occasionally in +collision with previous internal regulations or exclusive and excluding +compacts of monopoly with which the other parties had been trammeled, +the advances made in them toward the freedom of trade were partial and +imperfect. Colonial establishments, chartered companies, and +shipbuilding influence pervaded and encumbered the legislation of all +the great commercial states; and the United States, in offering free +trade and equal privilege to all, were compelled to acquiesce in many +exceptions with each of the parties to their treaties, accommodated to +their existing laws and anterior engagements. + +The colonial system by which this whole hemisphere was bound has fallen +into ruins, totally abolished by revolutions converting colonies into +independent nations throughout the two American continents, excepting a +portion of territory chiefly at the northern extremity of our own, and +confined to the remnants of dominion retained by Great Britain over the +insular archipelago, geographically the appendages of our part of the +globe. With all the rest we have free trade, even with the insular +colonies of all the European nations, except Great Britain. Her +Government also had manifested approaches to the adoption of a free and +liberal intercourse between her colonies and other nations, though by a +sudden and scarcely explained revulsion the spirit of exclusion has been +revived for operation upon the United States alone. + +The conclusion of our last treaty of peace with Great Britain was +shortly afterwards followed by a commercial convention, placing the +direct intercourse between the two countries upon a footing of more +equal reciprocity than had ever before been admitted. The same principle +has since been much further extended by treaties with France, Sweden, +Denmark, the Hanseatic cities, Prussia, in Europe, and with the +Republics of Colombia and of Central America, in this hemisphere. The +mutual abolition of discriminating duties and charges upon the +navigation and commercial intercourse between the parties is the general +maxim which characterizes them all. There is reason to expect that it +will at no distant period be adopted by other nations, both of Europe +and America, and to hope that by its universal prevalence one of the +fruitful sources of wars of commercial competition will be extinguished. + +Among the nations upon whose Governments many of our fellow-citizens +have had long-pending claims of indemnity for depredations upon their +property during a period when the rights of neutral commerce were +disregarded was that of Denmark. They were soon after the events +occurred the subject of a special mission from the United States, at the +close of which the assurance was given by His Danish Majesty that at a +period of more tranquillity and of less distress they would be +considered, examined, and decided upon in a spirit of determined purpose +for the dispensation of justice. I have much pleasure in informing +Congress that the fulfillment of this honorable promise is now in +progress; that a small portion of the claims has already been settled to +the satisfaction of the claimants, and that we have reason to hope that +the remainder will shortly be placed in a train of equitable adjustment. +This result has always been confidently expected, from the character of +personal integrity and of benevolence which the Sovereign of the Danish +dominions has through every vicissitude of fortune maintained. + +The general aspect of the affairs of our highborn American nations of +the south has been rather of approaching than of settled tranquillity. +Internal disturbances have been more frequent among them than their +common friends would have desired. Our intercourse with all has +continued to be that of friendship and of mutual good will. Treaties of +commerce and of boundaries with the United Mexican States have been +negotiated, but, from various successive obstacles, not yet brought to a +final conclusion. + +The civil war which unfortunately still prevails in the Republics of +Central America has been unpropitious to the cultivation of our +commercial relations with them; and the dissensions and revolutionary +changes in the Republics of Colombia and of Peru have been seen with +cordial regret by us, who would gladly contribute to the happiness of +both. It is with great satisfaction, however, that we have witnessed the +recent conclusion of a peace between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and +of Brazil, and it is equally gratifying to observe that indemnity has +been obtained for some of the injuries which our fellow-citizens had +sustained in the latter of those countries. The rest are in a train of +negotiation, which we hope may terminate to mutual satisfaction, and +that it may be succeeded by a treaty of commerce and navigation, upon +liberal principles, propitious to a great and growing commerce, already +important to the interests of our country. + +The condition and prospects of the revenue are more favorable than our +most sanguine expectations had anticipated. The balance in the Treasury +on the 1st of January last, exclusive of the moneys received under the +convention of 13th of November, 1826, with Great Britain, was +$5,861,972.83. The receipts into the Treasury from the 1st of January to +the 30th of September last, so far as they have been ascertained to form +the basis of an estimate, amount to $18,633,580.27, which, with the +receipts of the present quarter, estimated at $5,461,283.40, form an +aggregate of receipts during the year of $24,094,863.67. The +expenditures of the year may probably amount to $25,637,111.63, and +leave in the Treasury on the 1st of January next the sum of +$5,125,638.14. + +The receipts of the present year have amounted to near two millions more +than was anticipated at the commencement of the last session of +Congress. + +The amount of duties secured on importations from the 1st of January to +the 30th of September was about $22,997,000, and that of the estimated +accruing revenue is five millions, forming an aggregate for the year of +near twenty-eight millions. This is one million more than the estimate +made last December for the accruing revenue of the present year, which, +with allowances for drawbacks and contingent deficiencies, was expected +to produce an actual revenue of $22,300,000. Had these only been +realized the expenditures of the year would have been also +proportionally reduced, for of these twenty-four millions received +upward of nine millions have been applied to the extinction of public +debt, bearing an interest of 6 per cent a year, and of course reducing +the burden of interest annually payable in future by the amount of more +than half a million. The payments on account of interest during the +current year exceed $3,000,000, presenting an aggregate of more than +twelve millions applied during the year to the discharge of the public +debt, the whole of which remaining due on the 1st of January next will +amount only to $58,362,135.78. + +That the revenue of the ensuing year will not fall short of that +received in the one now expiring there are indications which can +scarcely prove deceptive. In our country an uniform experience of forty +years has shown that whatever the tariff of duties upon articles +imported from abroad has been, the amount of importations has always +borne an average value nearly approaching to that of the exports, though +occasionally differing in the balance, sometimes being more and +sometimes less. It is, indeed, a general law of prosperous commerce that +the real value of exports should by a small, and only a small, balance +exceed that of imports, that balance being a permanent addition to the +wealth of the nation. The extent of the prosperous commerce of the +nation must be regulated by the amount of its exports, and an important +addition to the value of these will draw after it a corresponding +increase of importations. It has happened in the vicissitudes of the +seasons that the harvests of all Europe have in the late summer and +autumn fallen short of their usual average. A relaxation of the +interdict upon the importation of grain and flour from abroad has +ensued, a propitious market has been opened to the granaries of our +country, and a new prospect of reward presented to the labors of the +husbandman, which for several years has been denied. This accession to +the profits of agriculture in the middle and western portions of our +Union is accidental and temporary. It may continue only for a single +year. It may be, as has been often experienced in the revolutions of +time, but the first of several scanty harvests in succession. We may +consider it certain that for the approaching year it has added an item +of large amount to the value of our exports and that it will produce a +corresponding increase of importations. It may therefore confidently be +foreseen that the revenue of 1829 will equal and probably exceed that of +1828, and will afford the means of extinguishing ten millions more of +the principal of the public debt. + +This new element of prosperity to that part of our agricultural industry +which is occupied in producing the first article of human subsistence is +of the most cheering character to the feelings of patriotism. Proceeding +from a cause which humanity will view with concern, the sufferings of +scarcity in distant lands, it yields a consolatory reflection that this +scarcity is in no respect attributable to us; that it comes from the +dispensation of Him who ordains all in wisdom and goodness, and who +permits evil itself only as an instrument of good; that, far from +contributing to this scarcity, our agency will be applied only to the +alleviation of its severity, and that in pouring forth from the +abundance of our own garners the supplies which will partially restore +plenty to those who are in heed we shall ourselves reduce our stores and +add to the price of our own bread, so as in some degree to participate +in the wants which it will be the good fortune of our country to +relieve. + +The great interests of an agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing +nation are so linked in union together that no permanent cause of +prosperity to one of them can operate without extending its influence to +the others. All these interests are alike under the protecting power of +the legislative authority, and the duties of the representative bodies +are to conciliate them in harmony together. So far as the object of +taxation is to raise a revenue for discharging the debts and defraying +the expenses of the community, its operation should be adapted as much +as possible to suit the burden with equal hand upon all in proportion +with their ability of bearing it without oppression. But the legislation +of one nation is sometimes intentionally made to bear heavily upon the +interests of another. That legislation, adapted, as it is meant to be, +to the special interests of its own people, will often press most +unequally upon the several component interests of its neighbors. Thus +the legislation of Great Britain, when, as has recently been avowed, +adapted to the depression of a rival nation, will naturally abound with +regulations of interdict upon the productions of the soil or industry of +the other which come in competition with its own, and will present +encouragement, perhaps even bounty, to the raw material of the other +State which it can not produce itself, and which is essential for the +use of its manufactures, competitors in the markets of the world with +those of its commercial rival. Such is the state of the commercial +legislation of Great Britain as it bears upon our interests. It excludes +with interdicting duties all importation (except in time of approaching +famine) of the great staple of productions of our Middle and Western +States; it proscribes with equal rigor the bulkier lumber and live stock +of the same portion and also of the Northern and Eastern part of our +Union. It refuses even the rice of the South unless aggravated with a +charge of duty upon the Northern carrier who brings it to them. But the +cotton, indispensable for their looms, they will receive almost duty +free to weave it into a fabric for our own wear, to the destruction of +our own manufactures, which they are enabled thus to undersell. + +Is the self-protecting energy of this nation so helpless that there +exists in the political institutions of our country no power to +counteract the bias of this foreign legislation; that the growers of +grain must submit to this exclusion from the foreign markets of their +produce; that the shippers must dismantle their ships, the trade of the +North stagnate at the wharves, and the manufacturers starve at their +looms, while the whole people shall pay tribute to foreign industry to +be clad in a foreign garb; that the Congress of the Union are impotent +to restore the balance in favor of native industry destroyed by the +statutes of another realm? More just and more generous sentiments will, +I trust, prevail. If the tariff adopted at the last session of Congress +shall be found by experience to bear oppressively upon the interests of +any one section of the Union, it ought to be, and I can not doubt will +be, so modified as to alleviate its burden. To the voice of just +complaint from any portion of their constituents the representatives of +the States and of the people will never turn away their ears. But so +long as the duty of the foreign shall operate only as a bounty upon the +domestic article; while the planter and the merchant and the shepherd +and the husbandman shall be found thriving in their occupations under +the duties imposed for the protection of domestic manufactures, they +will not repine at the prosperity shared with themselves by their +fellow-citizens of other professions, nor denounce as violations of the +Constitution the deliberate acts of Congress to shield from the wrongs +of foreign laws the native industry of the Union. While the tariff of +the last session of Congress was a subject of legislative deliberation +it was foretold by some of its opposers that one of its necessary +consequences would be to impair the revenue. It is yet too soon to +pronounce with confidence that this prediction was erroneous. The +obstruction of one avenue of trade not unfrequently opens an issue to +another. The consequence of the tariff will be to increase the +exportation and to diminish the importation of some specific articles; +but by the general law of trade the increase of exportation of one +article will be followed by an increased importation of others, the +duties upon which will supply the deficiencies which the diminished +importation would otherwise occasion. The effect of taxation upon +revenue can seldom be foreseen with certainty. It must abide the test of +experience. As yet no symptom? of diminution are perceptible in the +receipts of the Treasury. As yet little addition of cost has even been +experienced upon the articles burdened with heavier duties by the last +tariff. The domestic manufacturer supplies the same or a kindred article +at a diminished price, and the consumer pays the same tribute to the +labor of his own countryman which he must otherwise have paid to foreign +industry and toil. + +The tariff of the last session was in its details not acceptable to the +great interests of any portion of the Union, not even to the interest +which it was specially intended to subserve. Its object was to balance +the burdens upon native industry imposed by the operation of foreign +laws, but not to aggravate the burdens of one section of the Union by +the relief afforded to another. To the great principle sanctioned by +that act--one of those upon which the Constitution itself was formed--I +hope and trust the authorities of the Union will adhere. But if any of +the duties imposed by the act only relieve the manufacturer by +aggravating the burden of the planter, let a careful revisal of its +provisions, enlightened by the practical experience of its effects, be +directed to retain those which impart protection to native industry and +remove or supply the place of those which only alleviate one great +national interest by the depression of another. + +The United States of America and the people of every State of which they +are composed are each of them sovereign powers. The legislative +authority of the whole is exercised by Congress under authority granted +them in the common Constitution. The legislative power of each State is +exercised by assemblies deriving their authority from the constitution +of the State. Each is sovereign within its own province. The +distribution of power between them presupposes that these authorities +will move in harmony with each other. The members of the State and +General Governments are all under oath to support both, and allegiance +is due to the one and to the other. The case of a conflict between these +two powers has not been supposed, nor has any provision been made for it +in our institutions; as a virtuous nation of ancient times existed more +than five centuries without a law for the punishment of parricide. + +More than once, however, in the progress of our history have the people +and the legislatures of one or more States, in moments of excitement, +been instigated to this conflict; and the means of effecting this +impulse have been allegations that the acts of Congress to be resisted +were _unconstitutional_. The people of no one State have ever delegated +to their legislature the power of pronouncing an act of Congress +unconstitutional, but they have delegated to them powers by the exercise +of which the execution of the laws of Congress within the State may be +resisted. If we suppose the case of such conflicting legislation +sustained by the corresponding executive and judicial authorities, +patriotism and philanthropy turn their eyes from the condition in which +the parties would be placed, and from that of the people of both, which +must be its victims. + +The reports from the Secretary of War and the various subordinate +offices of the resort of that Department present an exposition of the +public administration of affairs connected with them through the course +of the current year. The present state of the Army and the distribution +of the force of which it is composed will be seen from the report of the +Major-General. Several alterations in the disposal of the troops have +been found expedient in the course of the year, and the discipline of +the Army, though not entirely free from exception, has been generally +good. + +The attention of Congress is particularly invited to that part of the +report of the Secretary of War which concerns the existing system of our +relations with the Indian tribes. At the establishment of the Federal +Government under the present Constitution of the United States the +principle was adopted of considering them as foreign and independent +powers and also as proprietors of lands. They were, moreover, considered +as savages, whom it was our policy and our duty to use our influence in +converting to Christianity and in bringing within the pale of +civilization. + +As independent powers, we negotiated with them by treaties; as +proprietors, we purchased of them all the lands which we could prevail +upon them to sell; as brethren of the human race, rude and ignorant, we +endeavored to bring them to the knowledge of religion and of letters. +The ultimate design was to incorporate in our own institutions that +portion of them which could be converted to the state of civilization. +In the practice of European States, before our Revolution, they had been +considered _as children_ to be governed; as tenants at discretion, to be +dispossessed as occasion might require; as hunters to be indemnified by +trifling concessions for removal from the grounds from which their game +was extirpated. In changing the system it would seem as if a full +contemplation of the consequences of the change had not been taken. We +have been far more successful in the acquisition of their lands than in +imparting to them the principles or inspiring them with the spirit of +civilization. But in appropriating to ourselves their hunting grounds we +have brought upon ourselves the obligation of providing them with +subsistence; and when we have had the rare good fortune of teaching them +the arts of civilization and the doctrines of Christianity we have +unexpectedly found them forming in the midst of ourselves communities +claiming to be independent of ours and rivals of sovereignty within the +territories of the members of our Union. This state of things requires +that a remedy should be provided--a remedy which, while it shall do +justice to those unfortunate children of nature, may secure to the +members of our confederation their rights of sovereignty and of soil. As +the outline of a project to that effect, the views presented in the +report of the Secretary of War are recommended to the consideration of +Congress. + +The report from the Engineer Department presents a comprehensive view of +the progress which has been made in the great systems promotive of the +public interest, commenced and organized under authority of Congress, +and the effects of which have already contributed to the security, as +they will hereafter largely contribute to the honor and dignity, of the +nation. + +The first of these great systems is that of fortifications, commenced +immediately after the close of our last war, under the salutary +experience which the events of that war had impressed upon our +countrymen of its necessity. Introduced under the auspices of my +immediate predecessor, it has been continued with the persevering and +liberal encouragement of the Legislature, and, combined with +corresponding exertions for the gradual increase and improvement of the +Navy, prepares for our extensive country a condition of defense adapted +to any critical emergency which the varying course of events may bring +forth. Our advances in these concerted systems have for the last ten +years been steady and progressive, and in a few years more will be so +completed as to leave no cause for apprehension that our seacoast will +ever again offer a theater of hostile invasion. + +The next of these cardinal measures of policy is the preliminary to +great and lasting works of public improvement in the surveys of roads, +examination for the course of canals, and labors for the removal of the +obstructions of rivers and harbors, first commenced by the act of +Congress of 30th of April, 1824. + +The report exhibits in one table the funds appropriated at the last and +preceding sessions of Congress for all these fortifications, surveys, +and works of public improvement, the manner in which these funds have +been applied, the amount expended upon the several works under +construction, and the further sums which may be necessary to complete +them; in a second, the works projected by the Board of Engineers which +have not been commenced, and the estimate of their cost; in a third, the +report of the annual Board of Visitors at the Military Academy at West +Point. + +For thirteen fortifications erecting on various points of our Atlantic +coast, from Rhode Island to Louisiana, the aggregate expenditure of the +year has fallen little short of $1,000,000. For the preparation of five +additional reports of reconnaissances and surveys since the last session +of Congress, for the civil constructions upon thirty-seven different +public works commenced, eight others for which specific appropriations +have been made by acts of Congress, and twenty other incipient surveys +under the authority given by the act of 30th April, 1824, about one +million more of dollars has been drawn from the Treasury. + +To these $2,000,000 is to be added the appropriation of $250,000 to +commence the erection of a breakwater near the mouth of the Delaware +River, the subscriptions to the Delaware and Chesapeake, the Louisville +and Portland, the Dismal Swamp, and the Chesapeake and Ohio canals, the +large donations of lands to the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and +Alabama for objects of improvements within those States, and the sums +appropriated for light-houses, buoys, and piers on the coast; and a full +view will be taken of the munificence of the nation in the application +of its resources to the improvement of its own condition. + +Of these great national undertakings the Academy at West Point is among +the most important in itself and the most comprehensive in its +consequences. In that institution a part of the revenue of the nation is +applied to defray the expense of educating a competent portion of her +youth chiefly to the knowledge and the duties of military life. It is +the living armory of the nation. While the other works of improvement +enumerated in the reports now presented to the attention of Congress are +destined to ameliorate the face of nature, to multiply the facilities of +communication between the different parts of the Union, to assist the +labors, increase the comforts, and enhance the enjoyments of +individuals, the instruction acquired at West Point enlarges the +dominion and expands the capacities of the mind. Its beneficial results +are already experienced in the composition of the Army, and their +influence is felt in the intellectual progress of society. The +institution is susceptible still of great improvement from benefactions +proposed by several successive Boards of Visitors, to whose earnest and +repeated recommendations I cheerfully add my own. + +With the usual annual reports from the Secretary of the Navy and the +Board of Commissioners will be exhibited to the view of Congress the +execution of the laws relating to that department of the public service. +The repression of piracy in the West Indian and in the Grecian seas has +been effectually maintained, with scarcely any exception. During the war +between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of Brazil frequent +collisions between the belligerent acts of power and the rights of +neutral commerce occurred. Licentious blockades, irregularly enlisted or +impressed seamen, and the property of honest commerce seized with +violence, and even plundered under legal pretenses, are disorders never +separable from the conflicts of war upon the ocean. With a portion of +them the correspondence of our commanders on the eastern aspect of the +South American coast and among the islands of Greece discover how far we +have been involved. In these the honor of our country and the rights of +our citizens have been asserted and vindicated. The appearance of new +squadrons in the Mediterranean and the blockade of the Dardanelles +indicate the danger of other obstacles to the freedom of commerce and +the necessity of keeping our naval force in those seas. To the +suggestions repeated in the report of the Secretary of the Navy, and +tending to the permanent improvement of this institution, I invite the +favorable consideration of Congress. + +A resolution of the House of Representatives requesting that one of our +small public vessels should be sent to the Pacific Ocean and South Sea +to examine the coasts, islands, harbors, shoals, and reefs in those +seas, and to ascertain their true situation and description, has been +put in a train of execution. The vessel is nearly ready to depart. The +successful accomplishment of the expedition may be greatly facilitated +by suitable legislative provisions, and particularly by an appropriation +to defray its necessary expense. The addition of a second, and perhaps a +third, vessel, with a slight aggravation of the cost, would contribute +much to the safety of the citizens embarked on this undertaking, the +results of which may be of the deepest interest to our country. + +With the report of the Secretary of the Navy will be submitted, in +conformity to the act of Congress of 3d March, 1827, for the gradual +improvement of the Navy of the United States, statements of the +expenditures under that act and of the measures taken for carrying the +same into effect. Every section of that statute contains a distinct +provision looking to the great object of the whole--the gradual +improvement of the Navy. Under its salutary sanction stores of ship +timber have been procured and are in process of seasoning and +preservation for the future uses of the Navy. Arrangements have been +made for the preservation of the live-oak timber growing on the lands of +the United States, and for its reproduction, to supply at future and +distant days the waste of that most valuable material for shipbuilding +by the great consumption of it yearly for the commercial as well as for +the military marine of our country. The construction of the two dry +docks at Charlestown and at Norfolk is making satisfactory progress +toward a durable establishment. The examinations and inquiries to +ascertain the practicability and expediency of a marine railway at +Pensacola, though not yet accomplished, have been postponed but to be +more effectually made. The navy-yards of the United States have been +examined, and plans for their improvement and the preservation of the +public property therein at Portsmouth, Charlestown, Philadelphia, +Washington, and Gosport, and to which two others are to be added, have +been prepared and received my sanction; and no other portion of my +public duties has been performed with a more intimate conviction of its +importance to the future welfare and security of the Union. + +With the report from the Postmaster-General is exhibited a comparative +view of the gradual increase of that establishment, from five to five +years, since 1792 till this time in the number of post-offices, which +has grown from less than 200 to nearly 8,000; in the revenue yielded by +them, which from $67,000 has swollen to upward of a million and a half, +and in the number of miles of post-roads, which from 5,642 have +multiplied to 114,536. While in the same period of time the population +of the Union has about thrice doubled, the rate of increase of these +offices is nearly 40, and of the revenue and of traveled miles from 20 +to 25 for 1. The increase of revenue within the last five years has been +nearly equal to the whole revenue of the Department in 1812. + +The expenditures of the Department during the year which ended on the +1st of July last have exceeded the receipts by a sum of about $25,000. +The excess has been occasioned by the increase of mail conveyances and +facilities to the extent of near 800,000 miles. It has been supplied by +collections from the postmasters of the arrearages of preceding years. +While the correct principle seems to be that the income levied by the +Department should defray all its expenses, it has never been the policy +of this Government to raise from this establishment any revenue to be +applied to any other purposes. The suggestion of the Postmaster-General +that the insurance of the safe transmission of moneys by the mail might +be assumed by the Department for a moderate and competent remuneration +will deserve the consideration of Congress. + +A report from the commissioner of the public buildings in this city +exhibits the expenditures upon them in the course of the current year. +It will be seen that the humane and benevolent intentions of Congress in +providing, by the act of 20th May, 1826, for the erection of a +penitentiary in this district have been accomplished. The authority of +further legislation is now required for the removal to this tenement of +the offenders against the laws sentenced to atone by personal +confinement for their crimes, and to provide a code for their employment +and government while thus confined. + +The commissioners appointed, conformably to the act of 2d March, 1827, +to provide for the adjustment of claims of persons entitled to +indemnification under the first article of the treaty of Ghent, and for +the distribution among such claimants of the sum paid by the Government +of Great Britain under the convention of 13th of November, 1826, closed +their labors on the 30th of August last by awarding to the claimants the +sum of $1,197,422.18, leaving a balance of $7,537.82, which was +distributed ratably amongst all the claimants to whom awards had been +made, according to the directions of the act. + +The exhibits appended to the report from the Commissioner of the General +Land Office present the actual condition of that common property of the +Union. The amount paid into the Treasury from the proceeds of lands +during the year 1827 and the first half of 1828 falls little short of +$2,000,000. The propriety of further extending the time for the +extinguishment of the debt due to the United States by the purchasers of +the public lands, limited by the act of 21st March last to the 4th of +July next, will claim the consideration of Congress, to whose vigilance +and careful attention the regulation, disposal, and preservation of this +great national inheritance has by the people of the United States been +intrusted. + +Among the important subjects to which the attention of the present +Congress has already been invited, and which may occupy their further +and deliberate discussion, will be the provision to be made for taking +the fifth census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States. +The Constitution of the United States requires that this enumeration +should be made within every term of ten years, and the date from which +the last enumeration commenced was the first Monday of August of the +year 1820. The laws under which the former enumerations were taken were +enacted at the session of Congress immediately preceding the operation; +but considerable inconveniences were experienced from the delay of +legislation to so late a period. That law, like those of the preceding +enumerations, directed that the census should be taken by the marshals +of the several districts and Territories of the Union under instructions +from the Secretary of State. The preparation and transmission to the +marshals of those instructions required more time than was then allowed +between the passage of the law and the day when the enumeration was to +commence. The term of six months limited for the returns of the marshals +was also found even then too short, and must be more so now, when an +additional population of at least 3,000,000 must be presented upon the +returns. As they are to be made at the short session of Congress, it +would, as well as from other considerations, be more convenient to +commence the enumeration from an earlier period of the year than the 1st +of August. The most favorable season would be the spring. On a review of +the former enumerations it will be found that the plan for taking every +census has contained many improvements upon that of its predecessor. The +last is still susceptible of much improvement. The Third Census was the +first at which any account was taken of the manufactures of the country. +It was repeated at the last enumeration, but the returns in both cases +were necessarily very imperfect. They must always be so, resting, of +course, only upon the communications voluntarily made by individuals +interested in some of the manufacturing establishments. Yet they +contained much valuable information, and may by some supplementary +provision of the law be rendered more effective. The columns of age, +commencing from infancy, have hitherto been confined to a few periods, +all under the number of 45 years. Important knowledge would be obtained +by extending these columns, in intervals of ten years, to the utmost +boundaries of human life. The labor of taking them would be a trifling +addition to that already prescribed, and the result would exhibit +comparative tables of longevity highly interesting to the country. I +deem it my duty further to observe that much of the imperfections in the +returns of the last and perhaps of preceding enumerations proceeded from +the inadequateness of the compensations allowed to the marshals and +their assistants in taking them. + +In closing this communication it only remains for me to assure the +Legislature of my continued earnest wish for the adoption of measures +recommended by me heretofore and yet to be acted on by them, and of the +cordial concurrence on my part in every constitutional provision which +may receive their sanction during the session tending to the general +welfare. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGES. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +2d of April last, I transmit a copy of the letter from the Cherokee +Council to Colonel Hugh Montgomery, the agent, requested by the +resolution, with a report[018] from the Secretary of War. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +23d of May last, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with +documents, containing the information requested, relating to the +harbors, roads, and other works of internal improvements undertaken and +projected since the 30th April, 1824. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I communicate to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty made and concluded at the missionary +establishment upon the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan the 20th day of +September last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners of +the United States, and the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, the journal and +report of the commissioners accompanying the treaty. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of War, with +documents, prepared in compliance with their resolution of the 26th of +May last, concerning the practicability and probable cost of +constructing an artificial harbor, commonly called a "breakwater," at or +near the mouth of the Mississippi. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 9, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +The inclosed report from the Secretary of State and subjoined documents +are transmitted to the Senate in compliance with their resolution of +25th April last, requesting information concerning the number of free +taxable inhabitants _who are not freeholders_ in certain States and +Territories of the Union. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 15, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the +8th instant, referring to a negotiation of the British Government, by +virtue of a resolution of the House of the 10th of May last, relative to +the surrender of fugitive slaves, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of State, with copies of instructions and correspondence, +containing the desired information. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 15, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional advice, an additional +article, signed on the 4th day of June last, to the convention of +friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States and the +Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg concluded at this +place on the 20th December, 1827. A copy of the article is likewise +inclosed. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 16, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their advice, articles of agreement +concluded at Green Bay, in the Territory of Michigan, on the 20th of +August last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners on the +part of the United States, and the chiefs of the Winnebago tribe and of +the united tribes of the Potawatamies, Chippewas, and Ottawas, being a +temporary arrangement concerning the occupation of a certain portion of +the mining country which has not heretofore been ceded to the United +States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 22, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of War, with documents, reported in compliance with the resolution of +the House of the 10th instant, requesting a copy of the instructions +given for the government of the agent of the United States +superintendent of the lead mines in Missouri and Illinois. + +Also a report from the Secretary of War, in compliance with the +resolution of the House of the 15th instant, setting forth the reasons +upon which it has not been deemed expedient to nominate commissioners to +hold a treaty with the Choctaw Nation of Indians for the purchase of a +certain tract of land, as authorized by the act of Congress of the 24th +of May last. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 1, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +18th ultimo, I communicate to the House a report from the Secretary of +War, containing the information required in relation to the intended +frauds upon the revenue, which has rendered expedient the stationing +additional troops on the Niagara frontier. The other evidence embraced +by the resolution, and in possession of the Government, does not, in my +judgment, at present render any further employment of a regular armed +force for the enforcement of the revenue laws necessary. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 7, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +19th May last, requesting a copy of the correspondence between the +minister of the United States at the Court of Madrid and the Government +of Spain on the subject of claims of citizens of the United States +against the said Government, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of State, with the correspondence desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 14, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate a report from the Secretary of State, +with supplemental returns of free taxable inhabitants not freeholders in +certain States and Territories of the United States, which returns have +been received since my message to the Senate of the 9th December last. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 17, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +13th instant, I transmit herewith a report[019] from the Secretary of +War, with an application from the Creek Indians, through the agent of +the United States, and an opinion of counsel in behalf of the Indians, +having relation to the subject of the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 21, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with two resolutions of the House of Representatives of +the 5th instant, requesting information received not heretofore +communicated in relation to the arrest and trial in the British Province +of New Brunswick of John Baker, a citizen of the United States, and the +correspondence between the Government of the United States and that of +Great Britain in relation to the said arrest and to the usurpation of +jurisdiction by the British government of New Brunswick within the +limits of the State of Maine, I transmit a report from the Secretary of +State, with the information and correspondence requested by the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 21, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of two treaties with Indian tribes, which +have been ratified: + +1. Articles of agreement between the United States of America and the +Winnebago tribe and the united tribes of Potawatamie, Chippeways; and +Ottawa Indians, concluded at Green Bay 25th August, 1828. + +2. Treaty between the United States of America and the Potawatamie tribe +of Indians, concluded at the missionary establishment upon the St. +Joseph of Lake Michigan 20th September, 1828. + +Both by Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners on the part of the +United States, with certain chiefs and warriors of the respective +tribes. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 26, 1829_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +17th instant, requesting copies of the instructions to the commissioners +of the United States who made the treaty at the Indian Springs in 1821, +I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of War of the 22d +instant, with copies of those instructions. + +And in compliance with a resolution of the House of the 20th instant, +requesting a communication of the journal of the above-mentioned +commissioners, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War of the 24th +instant, with copies of the papers, which it is believed will supply the +information desired by the resolution, no regular journal having been +transmitted by the commissioners to the Department. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 26, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with +voluminous documents prepared and collected in compliance with a +resolution of the House of Representatives of the 13th January, 1825, +calling for a statement of convictions, executions, and pardons for +capital offenses under the authority of the Government of the United +States since the adoption of the Constitution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 26, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of a convention of friendship, commerce, +and navigation between the United States and the free Hanseatic +Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, the ratifications of which +were exchanged at this place on the 2d day of June last; and also of an +additional article to the same convention, signed on the 4th day of June +last, and the ratifications of which were exchanged at this city on the +14th of the present month. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29, 1829_ + + +_The President of the Senate of the United States_ + +Sir: + +I transmit herewith a letter which I have received from Mr. David, +member of the Institute of France, professor of the School of Painting +at Paris, and member of the Legion of Honor, the artist who presents to +Congress the bust of General Lafayette which has been received with it; +and I have to request the favor that after it has been communicated to +the Senate it may be transmitted to the Speaker of the House of +Representatives for similar communication to that body. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I nominate Stephen Clin, of Georgia, to be secretary of the legation of +the United States at the Court of Great Britain. + +Jesse H. Willis, of Florida, to be collector of the customs for the +recently established district of St. Marks and inspector of the revenue +for the port of Magnolia, in Florida. + +And I nominate for reappointment Callender Irvine, of Pennsylvania, to +be Commissary-General of Purchases. It is proper to apprise the Senate +that this office is one of those which by the act of Congress of 15th +May, 1820, is limited to the term of four years; that it was held by Mr. +Irvine at the time of the passage of that act, but that by some +inadvertence he has not hitherto been nominated for reappointment. The +fact having but just now been ascertained by me, I deem it my duty to +make the nomination. Mr. Irvine has hitherto performed the duties of the +office under his original appointment. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 30, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +13th instant, requesting information of the measures taken in execution +of the act of 9th May last, making an appropriation for carrying into +effect the articles of agreement and cession of 24th April, 1802, +between the State of Georgia and the United States, and also in +execution of certain provisions of the treaty of May last with the +Cherokee Indians, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of +War, with documents, comprising the desired information. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 2, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th ultimo, +requesting information received since the last session of Congress from +the Mexican Government respecting the recovery of debts in that country +due to American citizens, I transmit a report from the Secretary of +State, with copies of a letter of instructions to the minister of the +United States in Mexico, and of his answer, relating to the subject of +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 6, 1829_ + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 9th of December +last, requesting a detailed statement of the amount expended by the +Federal Government upon works of internal improvement within the limits +of the several States, with an estimate of the amount necessary to +complete any work begun and not yet completed, I transmit herewith +reports from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, with documents, +containing the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 6, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +4th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, +with that of the commissioner appointed to locate the national road from +Zanesville, in Ohio, to the seat of government of the State of Missouri. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 11, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By the act of Congress of the 23d of May last, "supplementary to the +several acts providing for the settlement and confirmation of private +land claims in Florida," provision was made for the final adjudication +of such claims by the judges of the superior courts of the districts +wherein the lands claimed respectively lie, and by appeal from them to +the Supreme Court of the United States; and the attorneys of the United +States in the several districts were charged with the duty, in every +case where the decision should be against the United States by the judge +of the superior court of the district, to make out and transmit to the +Attorney-General of the United States a statement containing the facts +of the case and the points of law on which the same was decided, and it +was made the duty of the Attorney-General in most of those cases to +direct an appeal to be made to the Supreme Court of the United States +and to appear for the United States and prosecute such appeals. By the +same act the President of the United States was authorized to appoint a +law agent to superintend the interests of the United States in the +premises, and to employ assistant counsel if in his opinion the public +interest should require the same. + +In the process of carrying into execution this law it was the opinion of +the Attorney-General of the United States that a translated complete +collection of all the Spanish and French ordinances, etc., affecting the +land titles in Florida and the other territories heretofore belonging to +France and Spain, would be indispensable to a just decision of those +claims by the Supreme Court. At his suggestion the task of preparing +this compilation was undertaken by Joseph M. White, of Florida, who was +employed as assistant counsel in behalf of the United States. The +collection has accordingly been made and is deposited in manuscript at +the Department of State, subject to such order as Congress may see fit +to take concerning it. The letter from Mr. White to the Secretary of +State, with a descriptive list of the documents collected and thus +deposited, is herewith transmitted to Congress. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 16, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 5th instant, +requesting detailed statements of the expenses incurred and of those +which may be necessary for the expedition proposed for exploring the +Pacific Ocean and South Seas, and also of the several amounts +transferred from the different heads of appropriation for the support of +the Navy to this object and the authority by which such transfers have +been made, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, +with documents, from which the Senate will perceive that no such +transfer has been made, and which contain the other information desired +by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 20, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 10th instant, +requesting copies of correspondence and communications from 20th +October, 1816, to 24th November, 1817, received at the Department of +State from the American commissioner under the fourth article of the +treaty of Ghent, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +State, with the copies of papers mentioned in the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 20, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, +with documents, prepared in pursuance of their resolution of the 31st of +December last, and showing the amount of expenses incurred in the +survey, sale, and management of the public lands for the year 1827. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 25,1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By the act of Congress of the 3d March, 1826, for the survey of a route +for a canal between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, the President +of the United States was authorized to cause to be made an accurate and +minute examination of the country south of the St. Marys River, and +including the same, with a view to ascertain the most eligible route for +a canal admitting the transit of boats to connect the Atlantic with the +Gulf of Mexico, and also with a view to ascertain the practicability of +a ship channel; that he cause particularly to be examined the route to +the Appalachicola River or Bay, with a view to both the above objects; +that he cause the necessary surveys, both by land and along the coast, +with estimates of the expense of each, accompanied with proper plans, +notes, observations, explanations, and opinions of the Board of +Engineers, and that he cause a full report of these proceedings to be +made to Congress. + +In execution of this law I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary +of War, with a copy of that of the Board of Engineers, upon this great +and most desirable national work. The time not having allowed a copy to +be taken of the map, one copy only of the whole report is transmitted to +the Senate, with the request that it may be communicated to the House of +Representatives, and that the map may be ultimately returned to the +Department of War. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 26, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th instant, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with the +inspection reports of Brevet Major-General Gaines for the years 1826 and +1827, relating to the organization of the Army and militia of the United +States, with the request that the original documents may be returned to +the Department of War at the convenience of the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 26,1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their constitutional advice with +regard to its ratification, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation +between the United States and His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, signed +by the plenipotentiaries of the respective Governments at Rio de Janeiro +on the 12th day of December last. A copy of the treaty is likewise +inclosed, with copies of the instructions under which it was negotiated +and a letter from Mr. Tudor elucidating some of its provisions. It is +requested that at the convenience of the Senate the original papers may +be returned to the Department of State. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 28, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of two Indian treaties, which have duly +ratified: + +1. A treaty with the Chippewa, Menominie, and Winnebago Indians, +concluded on the 11th of August, 1827, at the Butte des Morts, on Fox +River, in the Territory of Michigan, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. +McKenney, commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain +chiefs and warriors of the said tribes on their part. + +2. A treaty with the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, concluded the 19th of +September, 1827, at St. Joseph, in the Territory of Michigan, between +Lewis Cass, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the +chiefs and warriors of the said tribes, on their part. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 28, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +21st instant, requesting any information in my possession as to the +practical operation of the recent act of the British Parliament entitled +"The customs amendment act," purporting a discrimination of duties upon +the importation of cotton from the British North American colonies and +showing how far this discrimination may affect existing treaties, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of +the instructions and correspondence of the minister of the United States +at London, containing the information requested. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 3, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to Congress a copy of the instructions prepared by +the Secretary of State and furnished to the ministers of the United +States appointed to attend at the assembly of American plenipotentiaries +first held at Panama and thence transferred to Tacubaya. The occasion +upon which they were given has passed away, and there is no present +probability of the renewal of the negotiations; but the purposes for +which they were intended are still of the deepest interest to our +country and to the world, and may hereafter call again for the active +efforts and beneficent energies of the Government of the United States. +The motives for withholding them from general publication having ceased, +justice to the Government from which they emanated and to the people for +whose benefit it was instituted requires that they should be made known. +With this view, and from the consideration that the subjects embraced by +these instructions must probably engage hereafter the deliberations of +our successors, I deem it proper to make this communication to both +Houses of Congress. One copy only of the instructions being prepared, I +send it to the Senate, requesting that it may be transmitted to the +House of Representatives. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + +PROCLAMATION. + + +(From Senate Journal, Twentieth Congress, second session, p. 196.) + + +Washington, +_January 12, 1829_ + + +_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 Wednesday, 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. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + + +[Footnote 001: See Vol. I, pp. 352 to 354, inclusive.] + + +[Footnote 002: Relating to the proposed congress at Panama.] + + +[Footnote 003: Relating to land warrants issued to soldiers of the +Revolutionary war, etc.] + + +[Footnote 004: Relating to intervention of the Emperor of Russia with +Spain for a recognition of the independence of the South American +States.] + + +[Footnote 005: Relating to the proposed congress of the Spanish American +States.] + + +[Footnote 006: Relative to governments to be represented at the congress +at Panama.] + + +[Footnote 007 and 007a: Respecting the right of a foreign minister to +retain money advanced by the President as an outfit beyond the sum +appropriated by law.] + + +[Footnote 008: Relating to the negotiations with Great Britain for a +cession of certain keys on the Bahama Banks.] + + +[Footnote 009: Referred to in the protocol of the third conference of +the American and British plenipotentiaries on February 5, 1824, relating +to trade with Great Britain.] + + +[Footnote 010: Concerning the assembly of American ministers at +Tacubaya, Mexico] + + +[Footnote: 011 Relating to the conflicting claims of Georgia and the +Creek Indians to lands in Georgia.] + + +[Footnote 012: Relating to the conflicting claims of Georgia and the +Creek Indians to lands in Georgia.] + + +[Footnote 013: Relating to the northeastern boundary of the United +States.] + + +[Footnote 014: Relating to the detention of American vessels by the +naval forces of Brazil.] + + +[Footnote 015: Relating to the war between Spain and her colonies.] + + +[Footnote 016: By the authorities of the Province of New Brunswick.] + + +[Footnote 017: Relating to alleged blockade by the naval forces of +Brazil, imprisonment of American citizens by Brazil, etc.] + + +[Footnote 018: Relating to a survey for a canal through the Cherokee +country.] + + +[Footnote 019: Relating to claims of Georgia and the Creek Indians under +the treaty of 1821, held at Indian Springs.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Compilation of Messages and Letters +of the Presidents, by Editor: James D. Richardson + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10879 *** diff --git a/10879-h/10879-h.htm b/10879-h/10879-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..29c4d0d --- /dev/null +++ b/10879-h/10879-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7682 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content= +"text/html; charset=UTF-8"> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of TITLE, by AUTHOR.</title> +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + * { font-family: Times;} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + font-size: 14pt; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + HR { width: 33%; } + // --> + </style> +<style type="text/css"> + div.c5 {text-align: center;} + span.c4 {font-style: italic;} + hr.c3 {width: 45%;} + p.c2 {text-align: center;} + hr.c1 {width: 65%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10879 ***</div> + +<table width="80%" summary="Bookspace" align="center"> +<tr> +<td><br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2>John Quincy Adams</h2> +<p class="c2">March 4, 1828, to March 4, 1829</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>JOHN QUINCY ADAMS</h2> +<br> + +<p>John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States, +eldest son of John Adams, second President, was born at +Braintree, Mass., July 11, 1767. He enjoyed peculiar and rare +advantages for education. In childhood 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 +Leyden, 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 Theophilus Parsons, of +Newburyport; 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 promotion from him because he was +his son. He was accordingly appointed minister to Berlin in 1797. +He negotiated a treaty of amity and commerce 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 Senatorial duties. He offended the Federalists by +supporting Jefferson's embargo act, which was passed in December, +1807, and thus became connected with the Democratic party. He +resigned his seat in the Senate in March, 1808, declining to +serve for the remainder of the term rather than obey the +instructions of the Federalists. In March, 1809, he was appointed +by President Madison minister to Russia. During his residence in +that country he was nominated to be an associate justice of the +Supreme Court of the United States, and confirmed February, 1811; +but he declined the appointment. In 1813 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 1817. 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 +his 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.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>NOTIFICATION OF ELECTION.</h2> +<br> + +<p>Mr. Webster, from the committee appointed for that purpose +yesterday, reported that the committee had waited on John Quincy +Adams, of Massachusetts, and had notified him that in the recent +election of a President 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 duty the committee had given the +information of this election to the President.</p> +<p>February 10, 1825.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Reply of the President Elect.</h2> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 10, 1825</i>.</p> +<p>Gentlemen:</p> +<p>In receiving this testimonial from the Representatives of the +people and States of this Union I am deeply sensible to the +circumstances under which it has been given. All my predecessors +in the high 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 honorable, 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 Constitution, 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.</p> +<p>In this state of things, could my refusal to accept the trust +thus delegated to me give an immediate opportunity to the people +to form and to express with a nearer approach to unanimity the +object of their preference, 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, signified +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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Letter from the President Elect.</h2> +<p><br> + City of Washington,<br> + <i>March 1, 1825</i></p> +<p>The President of the Senate of the United States.</p> +<p>Sir:</p> +<p>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 +Constitution to the President of the United States before he +enters on the execution of his office, on Friday, the 4th +instant, at 12 o'clock, in the Hall of the House of +Representatives.</p> +<p>I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, sir, your +very humble and obedient servant,</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>INAUGURAL ADDRESS.</h2> +<br> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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, protect, 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 Government +instituted by it should be invariably and sacredly devoted-to +form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic +tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general +welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of +this Union in their successive generations. 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 +vicissitudes of peace and war incidental to the condition of +associated man, it has not disappointed the hopes and aspirations +of those illustrious benefactors 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.</p> +<p>In the compass of thirty-six years since this great national +covenant was instituted a body of laws enacted under its +authority and in conformity with its provisions has unfolded its +powers and carried into practical operation its effective +energies. Subordinate departments have distributed 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.</p> +<p>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 +conquest, 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 our 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. Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the +purposes of human 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.</p> +<p>Such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition under a +Constitution 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 freedom, 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 present lot and all our +earthly hopes of the future. The causes of these dissensions 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.</p> +<p>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 Government, and that both have required a +liberal indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error. +The revolutionary wars 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 +imbittered 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 relations with Europe constituted the +principal basis of our political divisions and the most arduous +part of the action of our Federal Government. With the +catastrophe in which the wars of the French Revolution +terminated, 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 beneficence and the best guaranty +against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, the purity, +and the frequency of popular elections; that the General +Government of the Union and the separate governments of the +States are all sovereignties of limited powers, fellow-servants +of the same masters, uncontrolled within their respective +spheres, uncontrollable by encroachments 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 aggravation and +alleviate when possible the burden of taxation; that the military +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 articles of faith upon which we are all +now agreed. If there have been those who doubted whether a +confederated representative democracy were a government 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 +heretofore followed the standards of political party. It is that +of discarding 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 bore the badge of +party communion.</p> +<p>The collisions of party spirit which originate in speculative +opinions or in different views of administrative policy are in +their nature transitory. Those which are founded on geographical +divisions, adverse interests of soil, climate, 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 +general 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 obligation to respect and preserve the +rights of the whole. The prejudices everywhere too commonly +entertained against distant strangers are worn away, and the +jealousies of jarring interests are allayed by the composition +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.</p> +<p>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 administration 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; 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 great 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 indigent 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 southern 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 traffic 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.</p> +<p>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 common condition instituted or +recommended by him will embrace the whole sphere of my +obligations. To the topic of internal improvement, emphatically +urged by him at his inauguration, I recur with peculiar +satisfaction. 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 swallowed up in despotism or become the spoil of barbarians. +Some diversity of opinion has prevailed with regard to the powers +of Congress for legislation 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 construction +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 Legislature have conciliated the sentiments and approximated +the opinions of enlightened 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 limitation 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.</p> +<p>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. Less 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 heed of your +indulgence. Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted to the +welfare of our country, 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 Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain," with +fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence +I commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the +future destinies of my country.</p> +<p>March 4, 1825.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.</h2> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 6, 1825</i>.</p> +<p><i>Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of +Representatives</i>:</p> +<p>In taking a general survey of the concerns of our beloved +country, with reference to subjects interesting to the common +welfare, the first sentiment which impresses itself upon the mind +is of gratitude to the Omnipotent 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 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 extensively +by peace and prosperity.</p> +<p>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 exercise of power among men can be +justified only by the blessings it confers upon those over whom +it is extended.</p> +<p>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 +Governments assurances have been given and received of the +continuance and increase of the mutual confidence and cordiality +by which the adjustment 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.</p> +<p>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. Immediately after the close of the last war +a proposal was fairly made by the act of Congress of the 3d of +March, 1815, 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 commercial 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 willing to abide in reciprocity by it. But all +these regulations, whether established by treaty or by municipal +enactments, are still subject to one important restriction.</p> +<p>The removal of discriminating duties of tonnage and of impost +is limited 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 Congress whether even this remnant +of restriction may not be safely abandoned, 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 produce 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 maritime state it would recommend itself +by the experience of its advantages to the general accession of +all.</p> +<p>The convention of commerce and navigation between the United +States and France, concluded on the 24th of June, 1822, was, in +the understanding and intent of both parties, as appears upon its +face, only a temporary arrangement of the points of difference +between them of the most immediate and pressing urgency. It was +limited in the first instance to two years from the 1st of +October, 1822, but with a proviso that it should further 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 common 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 Government. 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 1819 indemnity was, after many years of patient +forbearance, obtained; and those upon Sweden have been lately +compromised by a private settlement, in which the claimants +themselves have acquiesced. The Governments of Denmark and of +Naples have been recently reminded of those yet existing against +them, nor will any of them be forgotten while a hope may be +indulged of obtaining justice by the means within the +constitutional power of the Executive, 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 Legislature.</p> +<p>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 documents 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 Legislature. The negotiation 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 certain parts of Europe to the acknowledgment of the +Southern American Republics as independent States will, it is +believed, contribute more effectually 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 burdensome +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.</p> +<p>Among the measures which have been suggested to them by the +new relations with one another, resulting from the recent changes +in their condition, 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 Central 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 deliberations, 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.</p> +<p>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 expect that the commission will be +closed at their next session, appointed for the 22d of May of the +ensuing year.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 occupied +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 effective 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 nurture, 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 constituted +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.</p> +<p>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 1st +of January last was a little short of $2,000,000, exclusive of +two millions and a half, being the moiety of the loan of five +millions authorized by the act of 26th of May, 1824. The receipts +into the Treasury from the 1st of January to the 30th of +September, 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 military and naval +establishments and all the occasional contingencies of a +government coextensive with the Union.</p> +<p>The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported since the +commencement 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, estimated at less than seven +millions, a sum exceeding twenty-four millions will constitute +the revenue of the year, and will exceed the whole expenditures +of the year. The entire amount of the public debt remaining due +on the 1st of January next will be short of $81,000,000.</p> +<p>By an act of Congress of the 3d of March last a loan of +$12,000,000 was authorized at 4-1/2 per cent, or an exchange of +stock to that amount of 4-1/2 per cent for a stock of 6 per cent, +to create a fund for extinguishing 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.</p> +<p>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 Delaware 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. The latest +accounts received of this important undertaking authorize the +belief that it is in successful progress.</p> +<p>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 million and a half. The act of Congress of 18th May, 1824, +to provide for the extinguishment of the debt due to the United +States by the purchasers of public lands, was limited in its +operation of relief to the purchaser to the 10th of April last. +Its effect at the end of the quarter during which it expired was +to reduce that debt from ten to seven millions. By the operation +of similar prior laws of relief, from and since that of 2d March, +1821, 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 interests 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 advantageous 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 +Treasury may be made to reflow in unfailing streams of +improvement from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.</p> +<p>The condition of the various branches of the public service +resorting from the Department of War, and their administration +during the current year, will be exhibited in the report of the +Secretary of War and the accompanying documents herewith +communicated. The organization and discipline of the Army are +effective and satisfactory. To counteract 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 +horsemanship as could scarcely fail to be found wanting on the +possible sudden eruption 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 more to the patronage +of the nation, and the numbers of meritorious officers which it +forms and introduces to the public 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 heed 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 service, connected with the quartering, 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.</p> +<p>Our 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 appropriation 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 between said tribes. The first and +the last objects of these acts have been accomplished, and the +second is yet in a process of execution. The treaties which since +the last session of Congress have been concluded with the several +tribes will be laid before the Senate for their consideration +conformably to the Constitution. They comprise large and valuable +acquisitions 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.</p> +<p>On the 12th 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 advice 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.</p> +<p>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 applied. Their progress has been delayed by the want +of suitable officers for superintending 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 Engineers. The Military Academy at West Point will +furnish from the cadets annually graduated there officers well +qualified for carrying this measure into effect.</p> +<p>The Board of Engineers for Internal Improvement, appointed for +carrying 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 +practicability 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 improvement 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.</p> +<p>The acts of Congress of the last session relative to the +surveying, marking, or laying out roads in the Territories of +Florida, Arkansas, and Michigan, from Missouri to Mexico, and for +the continuation of the Cumberland 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 like number of commissioners appointed on the part +of each of those States. A meeting of the commissioners has been +postponed, to await the definitive report of the board of +engineers. The light-houses and monuments for the safety of our +commerce 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, 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 work.</p> +<p>The operation of the laws relating to the Revolutionary +pensioners may deserve the renewed consideration of Congress. The +act of the 18th 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 1st 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 liberal 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 +necessities? I submit to Congress the expediency of providing for +individual cases of this description by special enactment, or of +revising the act of the 1st 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.</p> +<p>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 Labrador, and the first service of a new frigate +has been performed in restoring to his native soil and domestic +enjoyments the veteran hero whose youthful blood and treasure had +freely flowed in the cause of our country's independence, and +whose whole life has been a series of services and sacrifices to +the improvement of his fellow-men. The visit of General +Lafayette, 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 hereafter 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.</p> +<p>The constant maintenance of a small squadron in the +Mediterranean 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 liable to be +violated. An additional motive for keeping a respectable force +stationed 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.</p> +<p>Similar motives have rendered expedient the keeping of a like +force on the coasts of Peru and Chile on the Pacific. The +irregular and convulsive character of the war upon the shores has +been extended to the conflicts upon the ocean. An active warfare +has been kept up for years with alternate success, though +generally to the advantage of the American 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 complete 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 territory 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.</p> +<p>The objects of the West India Squadron have been to carry into +execution the laws for the suppression of the African slave +trade; for the protection of our commerce against vessels of +piratical character, though bearing commissions from either of +the belligerent parties; for its protection 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 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 officers 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 immensely valuable commerce +in those seas can navigate in security without the steady +continuance of an armed force devoted to its protection.</p> +<p>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 military marine-the +only arm by which the power of this Confederacy can be estimated +or felt by foreign nations, and the only standing military force +which can never be dangerous to our own liberties 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 commensurate 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 +maritime powers of Europe.</p> +<p>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 close 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 Military Academy at West Point, for the +formation of scientific and accomplished officers, is felt with +daily increasing aggravation.</p> +<p>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 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 execution, 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.</p> +<p>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 1st 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 1st 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 judicious 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, till 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 corners of the Union, +at a charge scarcely perceptible to any individual, and without +the cost of a dollar to the public Treasury.</p> +<p>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 promoting the internal improvement of our +country, I can not close the communication without recommending +to their calm and persevering consideration 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 government, 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 facilitating the communications and intercourse +between distant regions and multitudes 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 condition 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 improvement of the condition of +men is knowledge, and to the acquisition of much of the knowledge +adapted to the wants, the comforts, and enjoyments of human life +public 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, living, 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.</p> +<p>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 acquisition, and particularly to +geographical and astronomical science. Looking back to the +history only of the half century since the declaration of our +independence, and observing the generous emulation with which the +Governments 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 incumbent 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 for +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 La Pérouse +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 +affectionate 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?</p> +<p>In inviting the attention of Congress to the subject of +internal improvements 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 investigation hearer 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 establishment +of a military post there or at some other point of that coast, +recommended by my predecessor and already matured in the +deliberations of the last Congress, I would suggest the +expediency of connecting the equipment of a public ship for the +exploration of the whole northwest coast of this continent.</p> +<p>The establishment of an uniform standard of weights and +measures was one of the specific objects contemplated in the +formation of our Constitution, 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 speculations on +the same subject since the existence of our Constitution, and +with them it has expanded into profound, laborious, and expensive +researches 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 experiments 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 our Government, as +they have hitherto been by those of France and Britain.</p> +<p>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 periodical 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 hemisphere there is not one. If we reflect a moment upon +the discoveries which in the last four centuries have been made +in the physical constitution of the universe by the means of +these buildings and of observers 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 second 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?</p> +<p>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 inhabitants 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 bordering 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 +prosperity rests not alone upon this indication. Our commerce, +our wealth, and the extent of our territories have increased in +corresponding proportions, and the number of independent +communities associated in our Federal Union has since that time +nearly doubled. The legislative representation 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.</p> +<p>The naval armaments, which at an early period forced +themselves upon the necessities of the Union, soon led to the +establishment of a Department 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 unquestionable detriment 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 +inhabitants of the earth, with whom our intercourse, commercial +and political, would of itself furnish occupation to an active +and industrious department. The constitution of the judiciary, +experimental and imperfect as it was even in the infancy of our +existing Government, is yet more inadequate to the administration +of national justice at our present maturity. Nine years have +elapsed since a predecessor in this office, now not the last, the +citizen who, perhaps, of all others throughout the Union +contributed most to the formation and establishment of our +Constitution, in his valedictory address to Congress, immediately +preceding his retirement from public life, urgently recommended +the revision of the judiciary and the establishment of an +additional executive department. The exigencies of the public +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 deliberations I am happy to have the +influence of his high authority in aid of the undoubting +convictions of my own experience.</p> +<p>The laws relating to the administration of the Patent Office +are deserving 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 securing for limited +times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their +respective writings and discoveries." If an honest pride might be +indulged 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?</p> +<p>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 military 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 approaching 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 Revolution, and that a spot has been +reserved within the walls where you are deliberating 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 +delight to every act of the representatives of his nation which +can tend to exalt and adorn his and their country.</p> +<p>The Constitution under which you are assembled is a charter of +limited powers. After full and solemn deliberation upon all or +any of the objects which, urged by an irresistible sense of my +own duty, I have recommended 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 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 commerce with foreign nations and among +the several States and with the Indian tribes, to fix the +standard of weights and measures, to establish post-offices and +post-roads, to declare war, to raise and support armies, to +provide and maintain a navy, to dispose of and make all heedful +rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property +belonging to the United States, and to make all laws which shall +be necessary 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.</p> +<p>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 public +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 ourselves to perpetual inferiority? In the +course 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 +enterprise 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 Confederation, 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?</p> +<p>Finally, fellow-citizens, I shall await with cheering hope and +faithful cooperation the result of your deliberations, assured +that, without encroaching upon the powers reserved to the +authorities of the respective States or to the people, you will, +with a due sense of your obligations 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 welfare +of our country.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>SPECIAL MESSAGES.</h2> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 14, 1825</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice +with regard to their ratification, the following treaties:</p> +<p>1. A treaty between the United States and the Great and Little +Osage tribes of Indians, concluded at St. Louis, 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.</p> +<p>2. A treaty between the United States and the Kanzas Nation of +Indians, concluded at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, on the +3d 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 said nation, duly authorized +and empowered by the same.</p> +<p>3. A convention between the United States and the Shawnee +Nation of Indians residing within the State of Missouri, signed +at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, on the 7th day of +November last, by William Clark, Superintendent of Indian +Affairs, and the chiefs and headmen of the said nation, duly +authorized and empowered by the same.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 15, 1825</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration in +reference to its ratification, a general convention of peace, +amity, commerce, and navigation between the United States of +America and the Federation of the Centre of America, signed at +this place on the 5th instant by the Secretary of State and the +minister plenipotentiary from the Republic of Central America to +the United States.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 26, 1825</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement +of the session it was mentioned that the Governments of the +Republics of Colombia, of Mexico, and of Central America had +severally invited the Government of the United States to be +represented at the Congress of American nations to be assembled +at Panama to deliberate upon objects of peculiar concernment to +this hemisphere, and that this invitation had been accepted.</p> +<p>Although this measure was deemed to be within the +constitutional competency of the Executive, I have not thought +proper to take any step in it before ascertaining that my opinion +of its expediency will concur with that of both branches of the +Legislature, first, by the decision of the Senate upon the +nominations to be laid before them, and, secondly, by the +sanction of both Houses to the appropriations, without which it +can not be carried into effect.</p> +<p>A report from the Secretary of State and copies of the +correspondence with the South American Governments on this +subject since the invitation given by them are herewith +transmitted to the Senate. They will disclose the objects of +importance which are expected to form a subject of discussion at +this meeting, in which interests of high importance to this Union +are involved. It will be seen that the United States neither +intend nor are expected to take part in any deliberations of a +belligerent character; that the motive of their attendance is +neither to contract alliances nor to engage in any undertaking or +project importing hostility to any other nation.</p> +<p>But the Southern American nations, in the infancy of their +independence, often find themselves in positions with reference +to other countries with the principles applicable to which, +derivable from the state of independence itself, they have not +been familiarized by experience. The result of this has been that +sometimes in their intercourse with the United States they have +manifested dispositions to reserve a right of granting special +favors and privileges to the Spanish nation as the price of their +recognition. At others they have actually established duties and +impositions operating unfavorably to the United States to the +advantage of other European powers, and sometimes they have +appeared to consider that they might interchange among themselves +mutual concessions of exclusive favor, to which neither European +powers nor the United States should be admitted. In most of these +cases their regulations unfavorable to us have yielded to +friendly expostulation and remonstrance. But it is believed to be +of infinite moment that the principles of a liberal commercial +intercourse should be exhibited to them, and urged with +disinterested and friendly persuasion upon them when all +assembled for the avowed purpose of consulting together upon the +establishment of such principles as may have an important bearing +upon their future welfare.</p> +<p>The consentaneous adoption of principles of maritime +neutrality, and favorable to the navigation of peace, and +commerce in time of war, will also form a subject of +consideration to this Congress. The doctrine that free ships make +free goods and the restrictions of reason upon the extent of +blockades may be established by general agreement with far more +ease, and perhaps with less danger, by the general engagement to +adhere to them concerted at such a meeting, than by partial +treaties or conventions with each of the nations separately. An +agreement between all the parties represented at the meeting that +each will guard by its own means against the establishment of any +future European colony within its borders may be found advisable. +This was more than two years since announced by my predecessor to +the world as a principle resulting from the emancipation of both +the American continents. It may be so developed to the new +southern nations that they will all feel it as an essential +appendage to their independence.</p> +<p>There is yet another subject upon which, without entering into +any treaty, the moral influence of the United States may perhaps +be exerted with beneficial consequences at such a meeting-the +advancement of religious liberty. Some of the southern nations +are even yet so far under the dominion of prejudice that they +have incorporated with their political constitutions an exclusive +church, without toleration of any other than the dominant sect. +The abandonment of this last badge of religious bigotry and +oppression may be pressed more effectually by the united +exertions of those who concur in the principles of freedom of +conscience upon those who are yet to be convinced of their +justice and wisdom than by the solitary efforts of a minister to +any one of the separate Governments.</p> +<p>The indirect influence which the United States may exercise +upon any projects or purposes originating in the war in which the +southern Republics are still engaged, which might seriously +affect the interests of this Union, and the good offices by which +the United States may ultimately contribute to bring that war to +a speedier termination, though among the motives which have +convinced me of the propriety of complying with this invitation, +are so far contingent and eventual that it would be improper to +dwell upon them more at large.</p> +<p>In fine, a decisive inducement with me for acceding to the +measure is to show by this token of respect to the southern +Republics the interest that we take in their welfare and our +disposition to comply with their wishes. Having been the first to +recognize their independence, and sympathized with them so far as +was compatible with our neutral duties in all their struggles and +sufferings to acquire it, we have laid the foundation of our +future intercourse with them in the broadest principles of +reciprocity and the most cordial feelings of fraternal +friendship. To extend those principles to all our commercial +relations with them and to hand down that friendship to future +ages is congenial to the highest policy of the Union, as it will +be to that of all those nations and their posterity. In the +confidence that these sentiments will meet the approbation of the +Senate, I nominate Richard C. Anderson, of Kentucky, and John +Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, to be envoys extraordinary and +ministers plenipotentiary to the assembly of American nations at +Panama, and William B. Rochester, of New York, to be secretary to +the mission.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 27, 1825</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 20th instant, I now transmit a copy of the +message of President Jefferson to both Houses of Congress on the +18th of January, 1803, recommending an exploring expedition +across this continent.<a name="FNanchor001"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_001"><sup>[001]</sup></a> It will be perceived on the +perusal of this message that it was confidential, for which +reason the copy of it is now communicated in the same manner, +leaving to the judgment of the House to determine whether any +adequate reason yet remains for withholding it from publication. +I possess no other document or information in relation to the +same subject which I consider as coming within the scope of the +resolution of the House.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 27, 1825</i> <i>To the House of Representatives of +the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 20th instant, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of State, with copies of such portions of the +correspondence between the United States and Great Britain on the +subject of the convention for suppressing the slave trade as have +not heretofore been, and which can be communicated without +detriment to the public interest.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 27, 1825</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 23d instant, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of War, with the correspondence between the +Department of War and Generals Pinckney and Jackson, and all the +instructions given to the said Generals Pinckney and Jackson +relating to the treaty with the Creek Indians, afterwards made at +Fort Jackson, so far as the same can be communicated without +prejudice to the public interest.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 3, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 23d of last month, I communicate herewith +a report from the Secretary of War, with the documents touching +the treaty with the Cherokee Indians, ratified in 1819, by which +the Cherokee title to a portion of lands within the limits of +North Carolina was extinguished.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 9, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d +instant, I communicate herewith, in confidence, a report<a name= +"FNanchor002"></a><a href="#Footnote_002"><sup>[002]</sup></a> +from the Secretary of State, with translations of the conventions +and documents, containing information of the nature referred to +in the said resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 9, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice +with regard to the ratification, the following treaties:</p> +<p>1. A treaty signed at the Poncar village at the mouth of White +Point Creek, the first below the Qui Carre River, on the 9th of +June, 1825, by Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson and Major +Benjamin O'Fallon, commissioners on the part of the United +States, and certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Poncar +tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>2. A treaty signed at Fort Look-out, hear the Three Rivers of +the Sioux Pass, on the 22d June, 1825, by the same commissioners +on the part of the United States and certain chiefs, headmen, and +warriors of the Teton, Yancton, and Yanctonies bands of the Sioux +tribe of Indians on the part of the said bands.</p> +<p>3. A treaty signed at the mouth of the Teton River on the 5th +of July, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the +United States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the +Sione and Ogalla bands of Sioux Indians, and on the 12th of July, +1825, at Camp Hidden Creek, by chiefs and warriors of the Siounes +of the Fireheart's band on the part of their respective +bands.</p> +<p>4. A treaty signed at the mouth of the Teton River on the 6th +of July, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the +United States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the +Chayenne tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>5. A treaty signed at the Auricara village on the 16th July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States +and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Hunkpapas +band of the Sioux tribe of Indians on the part of said band.</p> +<p>6. A treaty signed at the Ricara village on the 18th July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States +and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Ricara tribe +of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>7. A treaty signed at the Mandan village on the 30th of July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States +and by certain chiefs and warriors of the Mandan tribe of Indians +on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>8. A treaty signed at the lower Mandan village on the 30th of +July, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United +States and by certain chiefs and warriors of the Belantse Etea, +or Minnetaree, tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>9. A treaty signed at the Mandan village on the 4th of August, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States +and by certain chiefs and warriors of the Crow tribe of Indians +on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>10. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the +25th of September, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of +the United States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of +the Ottoe and Missouri tribe of Indians on the part of said +tribe.</p> +<p>11. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the +30th of September, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of +the United States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of +the Pawnee tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>12. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the +6th of October, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of +the United States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of +the Maha tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 10, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate a treaty signed at Prairie des +Chiens, in the Territory of Michigan, on the 19th of August, +1825, by William Clark and Lewis Cass, commissioners on the part +of the United States, and certain chiefs and warriors of the +Sioux, Chippeways, Socs, Foxes, Winnebagoes, Menominies, +Ottoways, Potawatamies, and Ioway tribes of Indians on the part +of said tribes, and I request the advice of the Senate with +regard to its ratification.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 20, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 23d ultimo, I transmit herewith reports<a +name="FNanchor003"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_003"><sup>[003]</sup></a> from the Secretary of War +and the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with the +statements desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 23, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 27th December last, requesting a statement +of moneys paid out of the public Treasury to the late President +of the United States as compensation for his services in various +other offices which he has filled under the Government of the +United States, and on other accounts, and also of claims for +allowances made by him upon the Government which have been +disallowed, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired +by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 24, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 12th December last, I transmit herewith a +report from the Secretary of the Navy, with the documents and +proceedings of the naval courts-martial in the cases of Captain +Charles Stewart and of Lieutenants Joshua R. Sands and William M. +Hunter.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 30, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration and +advice with regard to their ratification-</p> +<p>1. A treaty concluded on the 10th day of August, 1825, at +Council Grove by Benjamin H. Reeves, George C. Sibley, and Thomas +Mather, commissioners on the part of the United States, and +certain chiefs and headmen of the Great and Little Osage tribes +of Indians on the part of the said tribe.</p> +<p>2. A treaty concluded on the 16th day of August, 1825, at the +Sora Kanzas Creek by the same commissioners on the part of the +United States and certain chiefs and headmen of the Kanzas tribe +or nation of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 31, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 18th instant, I transmit a report from the +Secretary of State, with the correspondence with the British +Government, relating to the boundary of the United States on the +Pacific Ocean, desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 31, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration and +advice with regard to its ratification, a treaty concluded by the +Secretary of War, duly authorized thereto, with the chiefs and +headmen of the Creek Nation, deputed by them, and now in this +city.</p> +<p>It has been agreed upon, and is presented to the consideration +of the Senate as a substitute for the treaty signed at the Indian +Springs on the 12th of February last. The circumstances under +which this received on the 3d of March last your advice and +consent to its ratification are known to you. It was transmitted +to me from the Senate on the 5th of March, and ratified in full +confidence yielded to the advice and consent of the Senate, under +a firm belief, founded on the journal of the commissioners of the +United States and on the express statements in the letter of one +of them of the 16th of February to the then Secretary of War, +that it had been concluded with a large majority of the chiefs of +the Creek Nation and with a reasonable prospect of immediate +acquiescence by the remainder.</p> +<p>This expectation has not merely been disappointed. The first +measures for carrying the treaty into execution had scarcely been +taken when the two principal chiefs who had signed it fell +victims to the exasperation of the great mass of the nation, and +their families and dependents, far from being able to execute the +engagements on their part, fled for life, safety, and subsistence +from the territories which they had assumed to cede, to our own. +Yet, in this fugitive condition, and while subsisting on the +bounty of the United States, they have been found advancing +pretensions to receive exclusively to themselves the whole of the +sums stipulated by the commissioners of the United States in +payment <i>for all</i> the lands of the Creek Nation which were +ceded by the terms of the treaty. And they have claimed the +stipulation of the eighth article, that the United States would +"<i>protect</i> the emigrating party against the encroachments, +hostilities, and impositions of the whites and of all others," as +an engagement by which the United States were bound to become the +instruments of their vengeance and to inflict upon the majority +of the Creek Nation the punishment of Indian retribution to +gratify the vindictive fury of an impotent and helpless minority +of their own tribe.</p> +<p>In this state of things the question is not whether the treaty +of the 12th of February last shall or shall not be executed. So +far as the United States were or could be bound by it I have been +anxiously desirous of carrying it into execution. But, like other +treaties, its fulfillment depends upon the will not of one but of +both the parties to it. The parties on the face of the treaty are +the United States and the Creek Nation, and however desirous one +of them may be to give it effect, this wish must prove abortive +while the other party refuses to perform its stipulations and +disavows its obligations. By the refusal of the Creek Nation to +perform their part of the treaty the United States are absolved +from all its engagements on their part, and the alternative left +them is either to resort to measures of war to secure by force +the advantages stipulated to them in the treaty or to attempt the +adjustment of the interest by a new compact. In the preference +dictated by the nature of our institutions and by the sentiments +of justice and humanity which the occasion requires for measures +of peace the treaty herewith transmitted has been concluded, and +is submitted to the decision of the Senate. After exhausting +every effort in our power to obtain the acquiescence of the Creek +Nation to the treaty of the 12th of February, I entertained for +some time the hope that their assent might at least have been +given to a new treaty, by which all their lands within the State +of Georgia should have been ceded. This has also proved +impracticable, and although the excepted portion is of +comparatively small amount and importance, I have assented to its +exception so far as to place it before the Senate only from a +conviction that between it and a resort to the forcible expulsion +of the Creeks from their habitations and lands within the State +of Georgia there was no middle term.</p> +<p>The deputation with which this treaty has been concluded +consists of the principal chiefs of the nation-able not only to +negotiate but to carry into effect the stipulations to which they +have agreed. There is a deputation also here from the small party +which undertook to contract for the whole nation at the treaty of +the 12th of February, but the number of which, according to the +information collected by General Gaines, does not exceed 400. +They represent themselves, indeed, to be far more numerous, but +whatever their number may be their interests have been provided +for in the treaty now submitted. Their subscriptions to it would +also have been received but for unreasonable pretensions raised +by them after all the arrangements of the treaty had been agreed +upon and it was actually signed. Whatever their merits may have +been in the facility with which they ceded all the lands of their +nation within the State of Georgia, their utter inability to +perform the engagements which they so readily contracted and the +exorbitancy of their demands when compared with the inefficiency +of their own means of performance leave them with no claims upon +the United States other than of impartial and rigorous +justice.</p> +<p>In referring to the impressions under which I ratified the +treaty of the 12th of February last, I do not deem it necessary +to decide upon the propriety of the manner in which it was +negotiated. Deeply regretting the recriminations and +recriminations to which these events have given rise, I believe +the public interest will best be consulted by discarding them +altogether from the discussion of the subject. The great body of +the Creek Nation inflexibly refuse to acknowledge or to execute +that treaty. Upon this ground it will be set aside, should the +Senate advise and consent to the ratification of that now +communicated, without looking back to the means by which the +other was effected. And in the adjustment of the terms of the +present treaty I have been peculiarly anxious to dispense a +measure of great liberality to both parties of the Creek Nation, +rather than to extort from them a bargain of which the advantages +on our part could only be purchased by hardship on theirs.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 1, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 50th +ultimo, I communicate herewith, in confidence, a report<a name= +"FNanchor004"></a><a href="#Footnote_004"><sup>[004]</sup></a> +from the Secretary of State, with the documents, containing the +information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 7, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 15th of +December last, I communicate herewith reports from the +Secretaries of the Treasury and War and from the Commissioner of +the General Land Office, with documents, relating to the lead +mines and salt springs, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 14, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 12th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of the Navy, with the statements relating to +naval courts of inquiry and courts-martial since the 1st January, +1824, requested by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 15, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +late Secretary of War to the late President of the United States, +with documents, containing information requested by a resolution +of the House of April 10, 1824, relating to the purchases of real +estate in behalf of the United States within the territorial +limits of any State since the 4th July, 1776.</p> +<p>These papers were prepared during the last session of +Congress, but by some accident were not then communicated to the +House.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 16, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In answer to the two resolutions of the Senate of the 15th +instant, marked executive, and which I have received, I state +respectfully that all the communications from me to the Senate +relating to the congress at Panama have been made, like all other +communications upon executive business, <i>in confidence</i>. and +most of them in compliance with a resolution of the Senate +requesting them confidentially. Believing that the established +usage of free confidential communication between the Executive +and the Senate ought for the public interest to be preserved +unimpaired, I deem it my indispensable duty to leave to the +Senate itself the decision of a question involving a departure +hitherto, so far as I am informed, without example from that +usage, and upon the motives for which, not being informed of +them, I do not feel myself competent to decide.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 17, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, +with a further document, prepared in compliance with a resolution +of the House of the 10th of April, 1824, and containing +information relating to purchasers of real estate in behalf of +the United States within the territorial limits of any State +since the 4th of July, 1776.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 17, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to both Houses of Congress a letter from +the Secretary of War, with a report from the Ordnance Department, +relating to the site of the arsenal of the United States at +Augusta, in Georgia, and with regard to which the interposition +of the legislative authority is submitted to your consideration +as desirable.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 1, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War, +together with a representation from Colonel Brooke, relating to +the present condition of the Indians in Florida, and which I +recommend to the favorable consideration of Congress.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 1, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>A resolution of the House of Representatives adopted at the +first session of the Eighteenth Congress, and bearing date the +6th of May, 1824, requested the President of the United States to +lay before the House at their then next session a detailed report +of the system and plan of fortifications then contemplated and +recommended by the Board of Engineers, with various particulars +specified in the resolution; and on the 5th of January last a +further resolution was adopted requesting similar information. I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with a +letter from the Chief Engineer, and documents, containing, so far +as it has been found practicable to obtain and compile it, the +information requested by these resolutions.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 5, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I now submit to the consideration of Congress the propriety of +making the appropriation for carrying into effect the appointment +of a mission to the congress at Panama.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 7, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to both Houses of Congress a letter from the +Secretary of War, together with copies of one to him from the +Senators of the State of Maryland, and several other documents, +relating to a claim of that State upon the Government of the +United States for interest upon certain expenditures during the +late war, which I the more readily recommend to the favorable and +early consideration of Congress inasmuch as the principle upon +which the claim is advanced appears to have been settled by the +act of Congress of 3d March, 1825, authorizing the payment of +interest due to the State of Virginia.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 8, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of State, with the proceedings of the court and marshal +of the United States for the district of Alabama, and other +documents, in relation to the cargoes of certain slave ships, the +<i>Constitution, Louisa</i>. and <i>Marino</i>. containing the +information requested by a resolution of the House of February +16, 1825.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 8, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 10th ultimo, requesting information +relating to the proceedings of the joint commission of +indemnities due under the award of the Emperor of Russia for +slaves and other private property carried away by the British +forces in violation of the treaty of Ghent, I transmit herewith a +report from the Secretary of State and documents containing the +information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 15, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War +and copies of a resolution of that legislature of the State of +Georgia, with a correspondence of the governor of that State, +relating to the running and establishing of the line between that +State and Florida, which I recommend to the favorable +consideration of Congress.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 15, 1826</i>. <i>To the House of Representatives of the +United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 5th +ultimo, requesting me to cause to be laid before the House so +much of the correspondence between the Government of the United +States and the new States of America, or their ministers, +respecting the proposed congress or meeting of diplomatic agents +at Panama, and such information respecting the general character +of that expected congress as may be in my possession and as may, +in my opinion, be communicated without prejudice to the public +interest, and also to inform the House, so far as in my opinion +the public interest may allow, in regard to what objects the +agents of the United States are expected to take part in the +deliberations of that congress, I now transmit to the House a +report from the Secretary of State, with the correspondence and +information requested by the resolution.</p> +<p>With regard to the objects in which the agents of the United +States are expected to take part in the deliberations of that +congress, I deem it proper to premise that these objects did not +form the only, nor even the principal, motive for my acceptance +of the invitation. My first and greatest inducement was to meet +in the spirit of kindness and friendship an overture made in that +spirit by three sister Republics of this hemisphere.</p> +<p>The great revolution in human affairs which has brought into +existence, nearly at the same time, eight sovereign and +independent nations in our own quarter of the globe has placed +the United States in a situation not less novel and scarcely less +interesting than that in which they had found themselves by their +own transition from a cluster of colonies to a nation of +sovereign States. The deliverance of the Southern American +Republics from the oppression under which they had been so long +afflicted was hailed with great unanimity by the people of this +Union as among the most auspicious events of the age. On the 4th +of May, 1822, an act of Congress made an appropriation of +$100,000 "for such missions to the independent nations on the +American continent as the President of the United States might +deem proper." In exercising the authority recognized by this act +my predecessor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate +appointed successively ministers plenipotentiary to the Republics +of Colombia, Buenos Ayres, Chili, and Mexico. Unwilling to raise +among the fraternity of freedom questions of precedency and +etiquette, which even the European monarchs had of late found it +necessary in a great measure to discard, he dispatched these +ministers to Colombia, Buenos Ayres, and Chili without exacting +from those Republics, as by the ancient principles of political +primogeniture he might have done, that the compliment of a +plenipotentiary mission should have been paid <i>first</i> by +them to the United States. The instructions, prepared under his +direction, to Mr. Anderson, the first of our ministers to the +southern continent, contain at much length the general principles +upon which he thought it desirable that our relations, political +and commercial, with these our new neighbors should be +established for their benefit and ours and that of the future +ages of our posterity. A copy of so much of these instructions as +relates to these general subjects is among the papers now +transmitted to the House. Similar instructions were furnished to +the ministers appointed to Buenos Ayres, Chili, and Mexico, and +the system of social intercourse which it was the purpose of +those missions to establish from the first opening of our +diplomatic relations with those rising nations is the most +effective exposition of the principles upon which the invitation +to the congress at Panama has been accepted by me, as well as of +the objects of negotiation at that meeting, in which, it was that +our plenipotentiaries should take part.</p> +<p>The House will perceive that even at the date of these +instructions the first treaties between some of the southern +Republics had been concluded, by which they had stipulated among +themselves this diplomatic assembly at Panama. And it will be +seen with what caution, so far as it might concern the policy of +the United States, and at the same time with what frankness and +good will toward those nations, he gave countenance to their +design of inviting the United States to this high assembly for +consultation upon <i>American interests</i>. It was not +considered a conclusive reason for declining this invitation that +the proposal for assembling such a Congress had not first been +made by ourselves. It had sprung from the urgent, immediate, and +momentous common interests of the great communities struggling +for independence, and, as it were, quickening into life. From +them the proposition to us appeared respectful and friendly; from +us to them it could scarcely have been made without exposing +ourselves to suspicions of purposes of ambition, if not of +domination, more suited to rouse resistance and excite distrust +than to conciliate favor and friendship. The first and paramount +principle upon which it was deemed wise and just to lay the +corner stone of all our future relations with them was +<i>disinterestedness</i>; the next was cordial good will to them; +the third was a claim of fair and equal reciprocity. Under these +impressions when the invitation was formally and earnestly given, +had it even been doubtful whether <i>any</i> of the objects +proposed for consideration and discussion at the Congress were +such as that immediate and important interests of the United +States would be affected by the issue, I should, nevertheless, +have determined so far as it depended upon me to have accepted +the invitation and to have appointed ministers to attend the +meeting. The proposal itself implied that the Republics by whom +it was made <i>believed</i> that important interests of ours or +of theirs rendered our attendance there desirable. They had given +us notice that in the novelty of their situation and in the +spirit of deference to our experience they would be pleased to +have the benefit of our friendly counsel. To meet the temper with +which this proposal was made with a cold repulse was not thought +congenial to that warm interest in their welfare with which the +people and Government of the Union had hitherto gone hand in hand +through the whole progress of their revolution. To insult them by +a refusal of their overture, and then invite them to a similar +assembly to be called by ourselves, was an expedient which never +presented itself to the mind. I would have sent ministers to the +meeting had it been merely to give them such advice as they might +have desired, even with reference to <i>their own</i> interests, +not involving ours. I would have sent them had it been merely to +explain and set forth to them our reasons for <i>declining</i> +any proposal of specific measures to which they might desire our +concurrence, but which we might deem incompatible with our +interests or our duties. In the intercourse between nations +temper is a missionary perhaps more powerful than talent. Nothing +was ever lost by kind treatment. Nothing can be gained by sullen +repulses and aspiring pretensions.</p> +<p>But objects of the highest importance, not only to the future +welfare of the whole human race, but bearing directly upon the +special interests of this Union, <i>will</i> engage the +deliberations of the congress of Panama whether we are +represented there or not. Others, if we are represented, may be +offered by our plenipotentiaries for consideration having in view +both these great results-our own interests and the improvement of +the condition of man upon earth. It may be that in the lapse of +many centuries no other opportunity so favorable will be +presented to the Government of the United States to subserve the +benevolent purposes of Divine Providence; to dispense the +promised blessings of the Redeemer of Mankind; to promote the +prevalence in future ages of peace on earth and good will to man, +as will now be placed in their power by participating in the +deliberations of this congress.</p> +<p>Among the topics enumerated in official papers published by +the Republic of Colombia, and adverted to in the correspondence +now communicated to the House, as intended to be presented for +discussion at Panama, there is scarcely one in which the +<i>result</i> of the meeting will not deeply affect the interests +of the United States. Even those in which the belligerent States +alone will take an active part will have a powerful effect upon +the state of our relations with the American, and probably with +the principal European, States. Were it merely that we might be +correctly and speedily informed of the proceedings of the +congress and of the progress and issue of their negotiations, I +should hold it advisable that we should have an accredited agency +with them, placed in such confidential relations with the other +members as would insure the authenticity and the safe and early +transmission of its reports. Of the same enumerated topics are +the preparation of a manifesto setting forth to the world the +justice of their cause and the relations they desire to hold with +other Christian powers, and to form a convention of navigation +and commerce applicable both to the confederated States and to +their allies.</p> +<p>It will be within the recollection of the House that +immediately after the close of the war of our independence a +measure closely analogous to this congress of Panama was adopted +by the Congress of our Confederation, and for purposes of +precisely the same character. Three commissioners with +plenipotentiary powers were appointed to negotiate treaties of +amity, navigation, and commerce with all the principal powers of +Europe. They met and resided for that purpose about one year at +Paris, and the only result of their negotiations at that time was +the first treaty between the United States and Prussia-memorable +in the diplomatic annals of the world, and precious as a monument +of the principles, in relation to commerce and maritime warfare, +with which our country entered upon her career as a member of the +great family of independent nations. This treaty, prepared in +conformity with the instructions of the American +plenipotentiaries, consecrated three fundamental principles of +the foreign intercourse which the Congress of that period were +desirous of establishing: First, equal reciprocity and the mutual +stipulation of the privileges of the most favored nation in the +commercial exchanges of peace; secondly, the abolition of private +war upon the ocean, and thirdly, restrictions favorable to +neutral commerce upon belligerent practices with regard to +contraband of war and blockades. A painful, it may be said a +calamitous, experience of more than forty years has demonstrated +the deep importance of these same principles to the peace and +prosperity of this nation and to the welfare of all maritime +States, and has illustrated the profound wisdom with which they +were assumed as cardinal points of the policy of the Union.</p> +<p>At that time in the infancy of their political existence, +under the influence of those principles of liberty and of right +so congenial to the cause in which they had just fought and +triumphed, they were able but to obtain the sanction of one great +and philosophical, though absolute, sovereign in Europe to their +liberal and enlightened principles. They could obtain no more. +Since then a political hurricane has gone over three-fourths of +the civilized portions of the earth, the desolation of which it +may with confidence be expected is passing away, leaving at least +the American atmosphere purified and refreshed. And now at this +propitious moment the new-born nations of this hemisphere, +assembling by their representatives at the 1sthmus between its +two continents to settle the principles of their future +international intercourse with other nations and with us, ask in +this great exigency for our advice upon those very fundamental +maxims which we from our cradle at first proclaimed and partially +succeeded to introduce into the code of national law.</p> +<p>Without recurring to that total prostration of all neutral and +commercial rights which marked the progress of the late European +wars, and which finally involved the United States in them, and +adverting only to our political relations with these American +nations, it is observable that while in all other respects those +relations have been uniformly and without exception of the most +friendly and mutually satisfactory character, the only causes of +difference and dissension between us and them which ever have +arisen originated in those never-failing fountains of discord and +irritation-discriminations of commercial favor to other nations, +licentious privateers, and paper blockades. I can not without +doing injustice to the Republics of Buenos Ayres and Colombia +forbear to acknowledge the candid and conciliatory spirit with +which they have repeatedly yielded to our friendly +representations and remonstrances on these subjects-in repealing +discriminative laws which operated to our disadvantage and in +revoking the commissions of their privateers, to which Colombia +has added the magnanimity of making reparation for unlawful +captures by some of her cruisers and of assenting in the midst of +war to treaty stipulations favorable to neutral navigation. But +the recurrence of these occasions of complaint has rendered the +renewal of the discussions which result in the removal of them +necessary, while in the meantime injuries are sustained by +merchants and other individuals of the United States which can +not be repaired, and the remedy lingers in overtaking the +pernicious operation of the mischief. The settlement of general +principles pervading with equal efficacy all the American States +can alone put an end to these evils, and can alone be +accomplished at the proposed assembly.</p> +<p>If it be true that the noblest treaty of peace ever mentioned +in history is that by which the Carthagenians were bound to +abolish the practice of sacrificing their own children <i>because +it was stipulated in favor of human nature</i>. I can not +exaggerate to myself the unfading glory with which these United +States will go forth in the memory of future ages if by their +friendly counsel, by their moral influence, by the power of +argument and persuasion alone they can prevail upon the American +nations at Panama to stipulate by general agreement among +themselves, and so far as any of them may be concerned, the +perpetual abolition of private war upon the ocean. And if we can +not yet flatter ourselves that this may be accomplished, as +advances toward it the establishment of the principle that the +friendly flag shall cover the cargo, the curtailment of +contraband of war, and the proscription of fictitious paper +blockades-engagements which we may reasonably hope will not prove +impracticable-will, if successfully inculcated, redound +proportionally to our honor and drain the fountain of many a +future sanguinary war.</p> +<p>The late President of the United States, in his message to +Congress of the 2d December, 1823, while announcing the +negotiation then pending with Russia, relating to the northwest +coast of this continent, observed that the occasion of the +discussions to which that incident had given rise had been taken +for asserting as a principle in which the rights and interests of +the United States were involved that the American continents, by +the free and independent condition which they had assumed and +maintained, were thenceforward not to be considered as subjects +for future colonization by any European power. The principle had +first been assumed in that negotiation with Russia. It rested +upon a course of reasoning equally simple and conclusive. With +the exception of the existing European colonies, which it was in +nowise intended to disturb, the two continents consisted of +several sovereign and independent nations, whose territories +covered their whole surface. By this their independent condition +the United States enjoyed the right of commercial intercourse +with every part of their possessions. To attempt the +establishment of a colony in those possessions would be to usurp +to the exclusion of others a commercial intercourse which was the +common possession of all. It could not be done without +encroaching upon existing rights of the United States. The +Government of Russia has never disputed these positions nor +manifested the slightest dissatisfaction at their having been +taken. Most of the new American Republics have declared their +entire assent to them, and they now propose, among the subjects +of consultation at Panama, to take into consideration the means +of making effectual the assertion of that principle, as well as +the means of resisting interference from abroad with the domestic +concerns of the American Governments.</p> +<p>In alluding to these means it would obviously be premature at +this time to anticipate that which is offered merely as matter +for consultation, or to pronounce upon those measures which have +been or may be suggested. The purpose of this Government is to +concur in none which would import hostility to Europe or justly +excite resentment in any of her States. Should it be deemed +advisable to contract any conventional engagement on this topic, +our views would extend no further than to a mutual pledge of the +parties to the compact to maintain the principle in application +to its own territory, and to permit no colonial lodgments or +establishment of European jurisdiction upon its own soil; and +with respect to the obtrusive interference from abroad-if its +future character may be inferred from that which has been and +perhaps still is exercised in more than one of the new States-a +joint declaration of its character and exposure of it to the +world may be probably all that the occasion would require. +Whether the United States should or should not be parties to such +a declaration may justly form a part of the deliberation. That +there is an evil to be remedied heeds little insight into the +secret history of late years to know, and that this remedy may +best be concerted at the Panama meeting deserves at least the +experiment of consideration. A concert of measures having +reference to the more effectual abolition of the African slave +trade and the consideration of the light in which the political +condition of the island of Hayti is to be regarded are also among +the subjects mentioned by the minister from the Republic of +Colombia as believed to be suitable for deliberation at the +congress. The failure of the negotiations with that Republic +undertaken during the late administration, for the suppression of +that trade, in compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives, indicates the expediency of listening with +respectful attention to propositions which may contribute to the +accomplishment of the great end which was the purpose of that +resolution, while the result of those negotiations will serve as +admonition to abstain from pledging this Government to any +arrangement which might be expected to fail of obtaining the +advice and consent of the Senate by a constitutional majority to +its ratification.</p> +<p>Whether the political condition of the island of Hayti shall +be brought at all into discussion at the meeting may be a +question for preliminary advisement. There are in the political +constitution of Government of that people circumstances which +have hitherto forbidden the acknowledgment of them by the +Government of the United States as sovereign and independent. +Additional reasons for withholding that acknowledgment have +recently been seen in their acceptance of a nominal sovereignty +by the <i>grant</i> of a foreign prince under conditions +equivalent to the concession by them of exclusive commercial +advantages to one nation, adapted altogether to the state of +colonial vassalage and retaining little of independence but the +name. Our plenipotentiaries will be instructed to present these +views to the assembly at Panama, and should they not be concurred +in to decline acceding to any arrangement which may be proposed +upon different principles.</p> +<p>The condition of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico is of +deeper import and more immediate bearing upon the present +interests and future prospects of our Union. The correspondence +herewith transmitted will show how earnestly it has engaged the +attention of this Government. The invasion of both those islands +by the united forces of Mexico and Colombia is avowedly among the +objects to be matured by the belligerent States at Panama. The +convulsions to which, from the peculiar composition of their +population, they would be liable in the event of such an +invasion, and the danger therefrom resulting of their falling +ultimately into the hands of some European power other than +Spain, will not admit of our looking at the consequences to which +the congress at Panama may lead with indifference. It is +unnecessary to enlarge upon this topic or to say more than that +all our efforts in reference to this interest will be to preserve +the existing state of things, the tranquillity of the islands, +and the peace and security of their inhabitants.</p> +<p>And lastly, the congress of Panama is believed to present a +fair occasion for urging upon all the new nations of the south +the just and liberal principles of religious liberty; not by any +interference whatever in their internal concerns, but by claiming +for our citizens whose occupations or interests may call them to +occasional residence in their territories the inestimable +privilege of worshipping their Creator according to the dictates +of their own consciences. This privilege, sanctioned by the +customary law of nations and secured by treaty stipulations in +numerous national compacts, secured even to our own citizens in +the treaties with Colombia and with the Federation of Central +America, is yet to be obtained in the other South American States +and Mexico. Existing prejudices are still struggling against it, +which may, perhaps, be more successfully combated at this general +meeting than at the separate seats of Government of each +Republic.</p> +<p>I can scarcely deem it otherwise than superfluous to observe +that the assembly will be in its nature diplomatic and not +legislative; that nothing can be transacted there obligatory upon +any one of the States to be represented at the meeting, unless +with the express concurrence of its own representatives, nor even +then, but subject to the ratification of its constitutional +authority at home. The faith of the United States to foreign +powers can not otherwise be pledged. I shall, indeed, in the +first instance, consider the assembly as merely +<i>consultative</i>; and although the plenipotentiaries of the +United States will be empowered to receive and refer to the +consideration of their Government any proposition from the other +parties to the meeting, they will be authorized to conclude +nothing unless subject to the definitive sanction of this +Government in all its constitutional forms. It has therefore +seemed to me unnecessary to insist that every object to be +discussed at the meeting should be specified with the precision +of a judicial sentence or enumerated with the exactness of a +mathematical demonstration. The purpose of the meeting itself is +to deliberate upon the great and common <i>interests</i> of +several new and neighbouring nations. If the measure is new and +without precedent, so is the situation of the parties to it. That +the purposes of the meeting are somewhat indefinite, far from +being an objection to it is among the cogent reasons for its +adoption. It is not the establishment of principles of +intercourse with one, but with seven or eight nations at once. +That before they have had the means of exchanging ideas and +communicating with one another in common upon these topics they +should have definitively settled and arranged them in concert is +to require that the effect should precede the cause; it is to +exact as a preliminary to the meeting that for the accomplishment +of which the meeting itself is designed.</p> +<p>Among the inquiries which were thought entitled to +consideration before the determination was taken to accept the +invitation was that whether the measure might not have a tendency +to change the policy, hitherto invariably pursued by the United +States, of avoiding all entangling alliances and all unnecessary +foreign connections.</p> +<p>Mindful of the advice given by the father of our country in +his Farewell Address, that the great rule of conduct for us in +regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial +relations, to have with them as little political connection as +possible, and faithfully adhering to the spirit of that +admonition, I can not overlook the reflection that the counsel of +Washington in that instance, like all the counsels of wisdom, was +founded upon the circumstances in which our country and the world +around us were situated at the time when it was given; that the +reasons assigned by him for his advice were that Europe had a set +of primary interests which to us had none or a very remote +relation; that hence she must be engaged in frequent +controversies, the, causes of which were essentially foreign to +our concerns; that our <i>detached</i> and <i>distant</i> +situation invited and enabled us to pursue a different course; +that by our union and rapid growth, with an efficient Government, +the period was not far distant when we might defy material injury +from external annoyance, when we might take such an attitude as +would cause our neutrality to be respected, and, with reference +to belligerent nations, might choose peace or war, as our +interests, guided by justice, should counsel.</p> +<p>Compare our situation and the circumstances of that time with +those of the present day, and what, from the very words of +Washington then, would be his counsels to his countrymen now? +Europe has still her set of primary interests, with which we have +little or a remote relation. Our distant and detached situation +with reference to Europe remains the same. But we were then the +only independent nation of this hemisphere, and we were +surrounded by European colonies, with the greater part of which +we had no more intercourse than with the inhabitants of another +planet. Those colonies have now been transformed into eight +independent nations, extending to our very borders, seven of them +Republics like ourselves, with whom we have an immensely growing +commercial, and <i>must</i> have and have already important +political, connections; with reference to whom our situation is +neither distant nor detached; whose political principles and +systems of government, congenial with our own, must and will have +an action and counteraction upon us and ours to which we can not +be indifferent if we would.</p> +<p>The rapidity of our growth, and the consequent increase of our +strength, has more than realized the anticipations of this +admirable political legacy. Thirty years have nearly elapsed +since it was written, and in the interval our population, our +wealth, our territorial extension, our power-physical and +moral-have nearly trebled. Reasoning upon this state of things +from the sound and judicious principles of Washington, must we +not say that the period which he predicted as then not far off +has arrived; that <i>America</i> has a set of primary interests +which have none or a remote relation to Europe; that the +interference of Europe, therefore, in those concerns should be +spontaneously withheld by her upon the same principles that we +have never interfered with hers, and that if she should +interfere, as she may, by measures which may have a great and +dangerous recoil upon ourselves, we might be called in defense of +our own altars and firesides to take an attitude which would +cause our neutrality to be respected, and choose peace or war, as +our interest, guided by justice, should counsel.</p> +<p>The acceptance of this invitation, therefore, far from +conflicting with the counsel or the policy of Washington, is +directly deducible from and conformable to it. Nor is it less +conformable to the views of my immediate predecessor as declared +in his annual message to Congress of the 2d December, 1823, to +which I have already adverted, and to an important passage of +which I invite the attention of the House:</p> +<blockquote> +<p>The citizens of the United States (said he) cherish sentiments +the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their +fellow-men on that (the European) side of the Atlantic. In the +wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we +have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so +to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously +menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our +defense. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of +hecessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be +obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political +system of the allied powers is essentially different in this +respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that +which exists in their respective Governments. And to the defense +of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood +and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened +citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, +this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor and +to the amicable relations subsisting between the United States +and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt +on their part to extend their system to any portion of this +hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the +existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have +not interfered and shall not interfere; but with the Governments +who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose +independence we have on great consideration and on just +principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for +the purposes of oppressing them or controlling in any other +manner their destiny by any European power in any other light +than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the +United States. In the war between those new Governments and Spain +we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition, and +to this we have adhered and shall continue to adhere, provided no +change shall occur which in the judgment of the competent +authorities of this Government shall make a corresponding change +on the part of the United States indispensable to their +security.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>To the question which may be asked, whether this meeting and +the principles which may be adjusted and settled by it as rules +of intercourse between the American nations may not give umbrage +to the holy league of European powers or offense to Spain, it is +deemed a sufficient answer that our attendance at Panama can give +<i>no just cause</i> of umbrage or offense to either, and that +the United States will stipulate nothing there which can give +such cause. Here the right of inquiry into our purposes and +measures must stop. The holy league of Europe itself was formed +without inquiring of the United States whether it would or would +not give umbrage to them. The fear of giving umbrage to the holy +league of Europe was urged as a motive for denying to the +American nations the acknowledgment of their independence. That +it would be viewed by Spain as hostility to her was not only +urged, but directly declared by herself. The Congress and +administration of that day consulted their rights and duties, and +not their fears. Fully determined to give no heedless displeasure +to any foreign power, the United States can estimate the +probability of their giving it only by the right which any +foreign state could have to take it from their measures. Neither +the representation of the United States at Panama nor any measure +to which their assent may be yielded there will give to the holy +league or any of its members, nor to Spain, the right to take +offense; for the rest the United States must still, as +heretofore, take counsel from their duties rather than their +fears.</p> +<p>Such are the objects in which it is expected that the +plenipotentiaries of the United States, when commissioned to +attend the meeting at the Isthmus, will take part, and such are +the motives and purposes with which the invitation of the three +Republics was accepted. It was, however, as the House will +perceive from the correspondence, accepted only upon condition +that the nomination of commissioners for the mission should +receive the advice and consent of the Senate.</p> +<p>The concurrence of the House to the measure by the +appropriations necessary for carrying it into effect is alike +subject to its free determination and indispensable to the +fulfillment of the intention.</p> +<p>That the congress at Panama will accomplish all, or even any, +of the transcendent benefits to the human race which warmed the +conceptions of its first proposer it were perhaps indulging too +sanguine a forecast of events to promise. It is in its nature a +measure speculative and experimental. The blessing of Heaven may +turn it to the account of human improvement; accidents unforeseen +and mischances not to be anticipated may baffle all its high +purposes and disappoint its fairest expectations. But the design +is great, is benevolent, is humane.</p> +<p>It looks to the melioration of the condition of man. It is +congenial with that spirit which prompted the declaration of our +independence, which inspired the preamble of our first treaty +with France, which dictated our first treaty with Prussia and the +instructions under which it was negotiated, which filled the +hearts and fired the souls of the immortal founders of our +Revolution.</p> +<p>With this unrestricted exposition of the motives by which I +have been governed in this transaction, as well as of the objects +to be discussed and of the ends, if possible, to be attained by +our representation at the proposed congress, I submit the +propriety of an appropriation to the candid consideration and +enlightened patriotism of the Legislature.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 16, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>Some additional documents having relation to the objects of +the mission to the congress at Panama, and received since the +communication of those heretofore sent, are now transmitted to +the Senate.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name= +"<i>To_the_House_of_Representatives_of_the_United_States</i>:"> +</a> +<h2><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</h2> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 10th instant, requesting information in +possession of the Government relating to certain resolves of the +Congress of the Confederation of the 21st of October, 1780, and +the 21st March, 1783, concerning allowances to the officers of +the Revolutionary army, and to the manner of carrying into effect +those resolves, and other particulars appertaining thereto, I +transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, +and of War, with documents, comprising the information desired by +the House.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p>MARCH 22, 1826.</p> +<br> + +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 24, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 14th ultimo, requesting statements of the +amount of compensation allowed to the paymaster and quartermaster +of the Marine Corps for the two years preceding the 1st of +January, 1826, and of other particulars relating to the same +Corps, I communicate a report from the Secretary of the Navy, +with documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 24, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 16th ultimo, requesting statements of the +net amount of revenue derived from imports and tonnage received +by the Treasury from the ports within the bay of Delaware, the +bay of Chesapeake, the harbor of New York, and at Boston from the +1st of January, 1790, to the last of December, 1825, and of the +amount of expenditures paid from the Treasury for forts, +light-houses, beacons, and other public works erected to aid +commerce or for the purposes of defense within the said bays and +harbors during the said time, I transmit herewith a report from +the Secretary of the Treasury, with several documents, containing +the information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 29, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 227th +instant, requesting a copy of such parts of the answer of the +Secretary of State to Mr. Poinsett's letter to Mr. Clay, dated +Mexico, 28th September, 1825, No. 22, as relates to the pledge of +the United States therein mentioned; and also requesting me to +inform the House whether the United States have in any manner +made any pledge to the Governments of Mexico and South America +that the United States would not permit the interference of any +foreign power with the independence or form of government of +these nations, and, if so, when, in what manner, and to what +effect; and also to communicate to the House a copy of the +communication from our minister at Mexico in which he informed +the Government of the United States that the Mexican Government +called upon this Government to fulfill the memorable pledge of +the President of the United States in his message to Congress of +December, 1823, I transmit to the House a report from the +Secretary of State, with the documents containing the information +desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 30, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>By the second article of the general convention of peace, +amity, navigation, and commerce between the United States and the +Republic of Colombia, concluded at Bogota on 3d of October, 1824, +it was stipulated that the parties engaged mutually not to grant +any particular favor to other nations in respect of commerce and +navigation which should not immediately become common to the +other party, who should enjoy the same freely if the concession +was freely made, or on allowing the same compensation if the +concession was conditional. And in the third article of the same +convention it was agreed that the citizens of the United States +might frequent all the coasts and countries of the Republic of +Colombia, and reside and trade there in all sorts of produce, +manufactures, and merchandise, and should pay no other or greater +duties, charges, or fees whatsoever than the most favored nation +should be obliged to pay, and should enjoy all the rights, +privileges, and exemptions in navigation and commerce which the +most favored nations should enjoy, submitting themselves, +nevertheless, to the laws, decrees, and usages there established, +and to which were submitted the subjects and citizens of the most +favored nations; with a reciprocal stipulation in favor of the +citizens of the Republic of Colombia in the United States. +Subsequently to the conclusion of this convention a treaty was +negotiated between the Republic of Colombia and Great Britain, by +which it was stipulated that no other or higher duties on account +of tonnage, light, or harbor dues should be imposed in the ports +of Colombia on British vessels than those payable in the same +ports by Colombian vessels, and that the same duties should be +paid on the importation into the territories of Colombia of any +article the growth, produce, or manufacture of His Britannic +Majesty's dominions, whether such importations should be in +Colombian or in British vessels, and that the same duties should +be paid and the same discount (drawbacks) and bounties allowed on +the exportation of any articles the growth, produce, or +manufacture of Colombia to His Britannic Majesty's dominions, +whether such exportations were in Colombian or in British +vessels.</p> +<p>The minister of the United States to the Republic of Colombia +having claimed, by virtue of the second and third articles of the +convention between the two Republics, that the benefit of these +subsequent stipulations should be alike extended to the citizens +of the United States upon the condition of reciprocity provided +for by the convention, the application of those engagements was +readily acceded to by the Colombian Government, and a decree was +issued by the executive authority of that Republic on the 30th of +January last, a copy and translation of which are herewith +communicated, securing to the citizens of the United States in +the Republic of Colombia the same advantages in regard to +commerce and navigation which had been conceded to British +subjects in the Colombian treaty with Great Britain.</p> +<p>It remains for the Government of the United States to secure +to the citizens of the Republic of Colombia the reciprocal +advantages to which they are entitled by the terms of the +convention, to commence from the 30th of January last, for the +accomplishment of which I invite the favor-able consideration of +the Legislature.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 31, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 21st +instant, requesting information whether any, and what, measures +have been taken to improve the navigation over the sand bars in +the Ohio River according to the provisions of the act of the 24th +of May, 1824, to improve the navigation of the Ohio and +Mississippi rivers, and also whether the experiments mentioned in +the proviso to the first section of the said act have been made, +and, if so, what success has attended them, I transmit herewith a +report from the Secretary of War, with documents, containing the +information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 31, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to the Senate herewith a supplementary article +to the treaty with the chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation, in +behalf of that nation, which was transmitted to the Senate on the +31st of January last, and which I submit, together with and as a +part of that treaty, for the constitutional advice of the Senate +with regard to its ratification. A report of the Secretary of War +accompanies the article, setting forth the reasons for which it +has been concluded.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 1, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 13th +ultimo, requesting a statement of all the expenditures incident +or relating to internal improvement for the years 1824 and 1825, +I transmit reports from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of +War, with documents, containing the statement desired.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 1, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 7th +ultimo, requesting information relative to the execution of an +act of Congress of the 7th May, 1822, to authorize and empower +the corporation of the city of Washington, in the district of +Columbia, to drain the low grounds on and hear the public +reservations, and to improve and ornament certain parts of such +reservations, I transmit herewith a report from the commissioners +appointed by the corporation of the city to carry into effect the +provisions of the said act, together with sundry documents, +exhibiting the information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 5, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 30th +ultimo, I transmit to the House a report<a name= +"FNanchor005"></a><a href="#Footnote_005"><sup>[005]</sup></a> +from the Secretary of State, with the documents desired by the +resolution; and also a copy of the letter from the Secretary of +State to Mr. Poinsett acknowledging the receipt of his dispatch +No. 22, accidentally overlooked in the answer to the resolution +of the House of the 27th ultimo.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 11, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>On the 16th of January last I sent to the Senate a nomination +of Daniel Bissell to be colonel of the Second Regiment of +Artillery, and on the 3d of February I received from the +Secretary of the Senate an attested copy of their proceedings in +relation to that nomination, laid before me by their order, and +closing with a resolution in these words:</p> +<p><i>Resolved</i>. That in the opinion of the Senate Daniel +Bissell is entitled to the place of colonel in the Army of the +United States, taking rank as such from the 15th of August, 1812, +with the brevet of brigadier-general from the 9th of March, 1814, +and that the President of the United States may arrange him +accordingly.</p> +<p>In the discharge of my own duties I am under the hecessity of +stating respectfully to the Senate-</p> +<p>First. That I can not concur in these opinions.</p> +<p>Secondly. That the resolution of the Senate, having on its +face no reference either to the nomination or to the office for +which it was made, leaves me doubtful whether it was intended by +the Senate as their decision upon the nomination or not. If +intended as their decision, it imports that the Senate do not +advise and consent to the appointment of Daniel Bissell as +colonel in the Second Regiment of Artillery. If intended as a +mere expression of their opinions, superseding in their judgment +the hecessity of their immediate decision upon the nomination, it +leaves the Senate still in possession of the nomination and free +to act upon it when informed of my inability to carry those +opinions into effect.</p> +<p>In this uncertainty I have thought it most respectful to the +Senate to refer the subject again to them for their +consideration. The delay in the transmission of this +communication is attributable to the earnest desire which I have +entertained of acceding to the opinions and complying with the +wishes of the Senate, and to the long and repeated +reconsideration of my own impressions with the view to make them, +if possible, conform to theirs. A still higher duty now +constrains me to invite their definitive decision upon the +nomination.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 15, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 11th instant, I transmit herewith a +report<a name="FNanchor006"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_006"><sup>[006]</sup></a> of the Secretary of State, +and documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 25, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I now transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of a treaty +with the Creek Nation of Indians, concluded on the 24th day of +January last, with a supplementary article, signed on the 31st of +last month, which have been, with the advice and consent of the +Senate, duly ratified. I send at the same time copies of the +treaty superseded by them, signed at the Indian Springs on the +12th of February, 1825. The treaty and supplementary article now +ratified will require the aid of the Legislature for carrying +them into effect. And I subjoin a letter from the Secretary of +War, proposing an additional appropriation for the purpose of +facilitating the removal of that portion of the Creek Nation +which may be disposed to remove west of the Mississippi, +recommending the whole subject to the favorable consideration of +Congress.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 25, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 4th of +January last, I now transmit reports from the Secretaries of +State, of the Treasury, and of War, and from the +Postmaster-General, with the documents containing the list of +appointments of members of Congress and other information +relating thereto desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 28, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice concerning +its ratification, a general convention of friendship, commerce, +and navigation between the United States and His Majesty the King +of Denmark, signed by the Secretary of State and the Danish +minister on the 26th instant. A copy of the convention and a note +from the Secretary of State, together with Mr. Pedersen's answer, +respecting the claims of the citizens of the United States upon +the Danish Government, are likewise communicated.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 29, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 26th instant, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of the Treasury, with a copy of the opinion of +the Attorney-General<a name="FNanchor007"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_007"><sup>[007]</sup></a> referred to in the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 9, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>: In compliance with +a resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with a copy of the +proceedings of the recent court-martial for the trial of Colonel +Talbot Chambers, and other documents requested by the resolution +or relating to the subject of it.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 15, 1826</i>.</p> +<br> + +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>: In compliance with +a resolution of the Senate of the 23d of March last, requesting +information concerning the official conduct of the collector and +other revenue officers of the port of Philadelphia, I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with +documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 16, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 9th instant, I communicate herewith a +report<a name="FNanchor007a"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_007a"><sup>[007a]</sup></a> from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with the documents desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 17, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of treaties +with Indian tribes which have been, by and with the advice and +consent of the Senate, duly ratified during the present session +of Congress:</p> +<p>(1) With the Great and Little Osage tribes, concluded June 2, +1825; (2) Kansas, June 3, 1825; (3) Poncar, June 9, 1825; (4) +Teton, Yancton, and Yanctonies, June 22, 1825; (5) Sioune and +Ogallala, July 5 and 12, 1825; (6) Chayenne, July 6, 1825; (7) +Hunkpapas, July 16, 1825; (8) Ricara, July 18, 1825; (9) Mandan, +July 30, 1825; (10) Belantse-Etoa, or Minnetaree, July 30, 1825; +(11) Crow, August 4, 1825; (12) Great and Little Osage, August +10, 1825; (13) Kansas, August 16, 1825; (14) Sioux, Chippewa, Sac +and Fox, Menomenee, Ioway, Sioux, Winnebago, and a portion of the +Ottawa, Chippewa, and Pottawatomie tribes, August 19, 1825; (15) +Ottoe and Missouri, September 26, 1825; (16) Pawnee, September +30, 1825; (17) Maha, October 6, 1825; (18) Shawnee, November 7, +1825.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 19, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 16th +instant, I transmit a report<a name="FNanchor008"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_008"><sup>[008]</sup></a> from the Secretary of State, +containing the information thereby requested.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 20, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 5th of +March, 1824, requesting copies of the several instructions to the +ministers of the United States to the Government of France and of +the correspondence between the said ministers and Government +having reference to the spoliations committed by that power on +the commerce of the United States anterior to the 30th of +September, 1800, or so much thereof as can be communicated +without prejudice to the public interest; also how far, if at +all, the claim of indemnity from the Government of France for the +spoliations aforesaid was affected by the convention entered into +between the United States and France on the said 30th of +September, 1800, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary +of State, with the documents desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>EXECUTIVE ORDER.</h2> +<p><br> + Adjutant-General's Office,</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>July 11, 1826</i></p> +<br> +<br> + +<p>General Orders.</p> +<p>The General in Chief has received from the Department of War +the following orders:</p> +<p>The President with deep regret announces to the Army that it +has pleased the Disposer of All Human Events, in whose hands are +the issues of life, to remove from the scene of earthly existence +our illustrious and venerated fellow-citizen, Thomas +Jefferson.</p> +<p>This dispensation of Divine Providence, afflicting to us, but +the consummation of glory to him, occurred on the 4th of the +present month--- on the fiftieth anniversary of that Independence +the Declaration of which, emanating from his mind, at once +proclaimed the birth of a free nation and offered motives of hope +and consolation to the whole family of man. Sharing in the grief +which every heart must feel for so heavy and afflicting a public +loss, and desirous to express his high sense of the vast debt of +gratitude which is due to the virtues, talents, and +ever-memorable services of the illustrious deceased, the +President directs that funeral honors be paid to him at all the +military stations, and that the officers of the Army wear crape +on the left arm, by way of mourning, for six months.</p> +<p>Major-General Brown will give the necessary orders for +carrying into effect the foregoing directions.</p> +<p>J. Barbour.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> + +<p>It has become the painful duty of the Secretary of War to +announce to the Army the death of another distinguished and +venerated citizen. John Adams departed this life on the 4th of +this month. Like his compatriot Jefferson, he aided in drawing +and ably supporting the Declaration of Independence. With a +prophetic eye he looked through the impending difficulties of the +Revolution and foretold with what demonstrations of joy the +anniversary of the birth of American freedom would be hailed. He +was permitted to behold the verification of his prophecy, and +died, as did Jefferson, on the day of the jubilee.</p> +<p>A coincidence of circumstances so wonderful gives confidence +to the belief that the patriotic efforts of these illustrious men +were Heaven directed, and furnishes a new seal to the hope that +the prosperity of these States is under the special protection of +a kind Providence.</p> +<p>The Secretary of War directs that the same funeral honors be +paid by the Army to the memory of the deceased as by the order of +the 7th (11th?) instant were directed to be paid to Thomas +Jefferson, and the same token of mourning be worn.</p> +<p>Major-General Brown is charged with the execution of this +order.</p> +<p>J. Barbour.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> + +<p>Never has it fallen to the lot of any commander to announce to +an army such an event as now calls forth the mingled grief and +astonishment of this Republic; never since history first wrote +the record of time has one day thus mingled every triumphant with +every tender emotion, and consecrated a nation's joy by blending +it with the most sacred of sorrows. Yes, soldiers, in one day, +almost in the same hour, have two of the Founders of the +Republic, the Patriarchs of Liberty, closed their services to +social man, after beholding them crowned with the richest and +most unlimited success. United in their end as they had been in +their highest aim, their toils completed, their hopes surpassed, +their honors full, and the dearest wish of their bosoms gratified +in death, they closed their eyes in patriot ecstasy, amidst the +gratulations and thanksgivings of a people on all, on every +individual, of whom they had conferred the best of all earthly +benefits.</p> +<p>Such men heed no trophies; they ask no splendid mausolea. We +are their monuments; their mausolea is their country, and her +growing prosperity the amaranthine wreath that Time shall place +over their dust. Well may the Genius of the Republic mourn. If +she turns her eyes in one direction, she beholds the hall where +Jefferson wrote the charter of her rights; if in another, she +sees the city where Adams kindled the fires of the Revolution. To +no period of our history, to no department of our affairs, can +she direct her views and not meet the multiplied memorials of her +loss and of their glory.</p> +<p>At the grave of such men envy dies, and party animosity +blushes while she quenches her fires. If Science and Philosophy +lament their enthusiastic votary in the halls of Monticello, +Philanthropy and Eloquence weep with no less reason in the +retirement of Quincy. And when hereafter the stranger performing +his pilgrimage to the land of freedom shall ask for the monument +of Jefferson, his inquiring eye may be directed to the dome of +that temple of learning, the university of his native State--- +the last labor of his untiring mind, the latest and the favorite +gift of a patriot to his country.</p> +<p>Bereaved yet happy America! Mourning yet highly favored +country! Too happy if every son whose loss shall demand thy tears +can thus soothe thy sorrow by a legacy of fame.</p> +<p>The Army of the United States, devoted to the service of the +country, and honoring all who are alike devoted, whether in the +Cabihet or the field, will feel an honorable and a melancholy +pride in obeying this order. Let the officers, then, wear the +badge of mourning, the poor emblem of a sorrow which words can +not express, but which freemen must ever feel while contemplating +the graves of the venerated Fathers of the Republic.</p> +<p>Tuesday succeeding the arrival of this order at each military +station shall be a day of rest.</p> +<p>The National flag shall wave at half-mast.</p> +<p>At early dawn thirteen guns shall be fired, and at intervals +of thirty minutes between the rising and setting sun a single +cannon will be discharged, and at the close of the day +twenty-four rounds.</p> +<p>By command of Major-General Brown:<br> +  <br> + R. JONES,<br> + <i>Adjutant-General</i></p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p>SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 5, 1826</i>.<br> +</p> +<p><i>Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of +Representatives</i>:</p> +<p>The assemblage of the representatives of our Union in both +Houses of the Congress at this time occurs under circumstances +calling for the renewed homage of our grateful acknowledgments to +the Giver of All Good. With the exceptions incidental to the most +felicitous condition of human existence, we continue to be highly +favored in all the elements which contribute to individual +comfort and to national prosperity. In the survey of our +extensive country we have generally to observe abodes of health +and regions of plenty. In our civil and political relations we +have peace without and tranquillity within our borders. We are, +as a people, increasing with unabated rapidity in population, +wealth, and national resources, and whatever differences of +opinion exist among us with regard to the mode and the means by +which we shall turn the beneficence of Heaven to the improvement +of our own condition, there is yet a spirit animating us all +which will not suffer the bounties of Providence to be showered +upon us in vain, but will receive them with grateful hearts, and +apply them with unwearied hands to the advancement of the general +good.</p> +<p>Of the subjects recommended to Congress at their last session, +some were then definitively acted upon. Others, left unfinished, +but partly matured, will recur to your attention without heeding +a renewal of notice from me. The purpose of this communication +will be to present to your view the general aspect of our public +affairs at this moment and the measures which have been taken to +carry into effect the intentions of the Legislature as signified +by the laws then and heretofore enacted.</p> +<p>In our intercourse with the other nations of the earth we have +still the happiness of enjoying peace and a general good +understanding, qualified, however, in several important instances +by collisions of interest and by unsatisfied claims of justice, +to the settlement of which the constitutional interposition of +the legislative authority may become ultimately +indispensable.</p> +<p>By the decease of the Emperor Alexander, of Russia, which +occurred contemporaneously with the commencement of the last +session of Congress, the United States have been deprived of a +long-tried, steady, and faithful friend. Born to the inheritance +of absolute power and trained in the school of adversity, from +which no power on earth, however absolute, is exempt, that +monarch from his youth had been taught to feel the force and +value of public opinion and to be sensible that the interests of +his own Government would best be promoted by a frank and friendly +intercourse with this Republic, as those of his people would be +advanced by a liberal commercial intercourse with our country. A +candid and confidential interchange of sentiments between him and +the Government of the United States upon the affairs of Southern +America took place at a period not long preceding his demise, and +contributed to fix that course of policy which left to the other +Governments of Europe no alternative but that of sooner or later +recognizing the independence of our southern neighbors, of which +the example had by the United States already been set. The +ordinary diplomatic communications between his successor, the +Emperor Nicholas, and the United States have suffered some +interruption by the illness, departure, and subsequent decease of +his minister residing here, who enjoyed, as he merited, the +entire confidence of his new sovereign, as he had eminently +responded to that of his predecessor. But we have had the most +satisfactory assurances that the sentiments of the reigning +Emperor toward the United States are altogether conformable to +those which had so long and constantly animated his imperial +brother, and we have reason to hope that they will serve to +cement that harmony and good understanding between the two +nations which, founded in congenial interests, can not but result +in the advancement of the welfare and prosperity of both.</p> +<p>Our relations of commerce and navigation with France are, by +the operation of the convention of 24th of June, 1822, with that +nation, in a state of gradual and progressive improvement. +Convinced by all our experience, no less than by the principles +of fair and liberal reciprocity which the United States have +constantly tendered to all the nations of the earth as the rule +of commercial intercourse which they would universally prefer, +that fair and equal competition is most conducive to the +interests of both parties, the United States in the negotiation +of that convention earnestly contended for a mutual renunciation +of discriminating duties and charges in the ports of the two +countries. Unable to obtain the immediate recognition of this +principle in its full extent, after reducing the duties of +discrimination so far as was found attainable it was agreed that +at the expiration of two years from the 1st of October, 1822, +when the convention was to go into effect, unless a notice of six +months on either side should be given to the other that the +convention itself must terminate, those duties should be reduced +one-fourth, and that this reduction should be yearly repeated, +until all discrimination should cease, while the convention +itself should continue in force. By the effect of this +stipulation three-fourths of the discriminating duties which had +been levied by each party upon the vessels of the other in its +ports have already been removed; and on the 1st of next October, +should the convention be still in force, the remaining fourth +will be discontinued. French vessels laden with French produce +will be received in our ports on the same terms as our own, and +ours in return will enjoy the same advantages in the ports of +France.</p> +<p>By these approximations to an equality of duties and of +charges not only has the commerce between the two countries +prospered, but friendly dispositions have been on both sides +encouraged and promoted. They will continue to be cherished and +cultivated on the part of the United States. It would have been +gratifying to have had it in my power to add that the claims upon +the justice of the French Government, involving the property and +the comfortable subsistence of many of our fellow-citizens, and +which have been so long and so earnestly urged, were in a more +promising train of adjustment than at your last meeting; but +their condition remains unaltered.</p> +<p>With the Government of the Netherlands the mutual abandonment +of discriminating duties had been regulated by legislative acts +on both sides. The act of Congress of the 20th of April, 1818, +abolished all discriminating duties of impost and tonnage upon +the vessels and produce of the Netherlands in the ports of the +United States upon the assurance given by the Government of the +Netherlands that all such duties operating against the shipping +and commerce of the United States in that Kingdom had been +abolished. These reciprocal regulations had continued in force +several years when the discriminating principle was resumed by +the Netherlands in a new and indirect form by a bounty of 10 per +cent in the shape of a return of duties to their national +vessels, and in which those of the United States are not +permitted to participate. By the act of Congress of 7th January, +1824, all discriminating duties in the United States were again +suspended, so far as related to the vessels and produce of the +Netherlands, so long as the reciprocal exemption should be +extended to the vessels and produce of the United States in the +Netherlands. But the same act provides that in the event of a +restoration of discriminating duties to operate against the +shipping and commerce of the United States in any of the foreign +countries referred to therein the suspension of discriminating +duties in favor of the navigation of such foreign country should +cease and all the provisions of the acts imposing discriminating +foreign tonnage and impost duties in the United States should +revive and be in full force with regard to that nation.</p> +<p>In the correspondence with the Government of the Netherlands +upon this subject they have contended that the favor shown to +their own shipping by this bounty upon their tonnage is not to be +considered as a discriminating duty; but it can not be denied +that it produces all the same effects. Had the mutual abolition +been stipulated by treaty, such a bounty upon the national +vessels could scarcely have been granted consistently with good +faith. Yet as the act of Congress of 7th January, 1824, has not +expressly authorized the Executive authority to determine what +shall be considered as a revival of discriminating duties by a +foreign government to the disadvantage of the United States, and +as the retaliatory measure on our part, however just and +necessary, may tend rather to that conflict of legislation which +we deprecate than to that concert to which we invite all +commercial nations, as most conducive to their interest and our +own, I have thought it more consistent with the spirit of our +institutions to refer the subject again to the paramount +authority of the Legislature to decide what measure the emergency +may require than abruptly by proclamation to carry into effect +the minatory provisions of the act of 1824.</p> +<p>During the last session of Congress treaties of amity, +navigation, and commerce were negotiated and signed at this place +with the Government of Denmark, in Europe, and with the +Federation of Central America, in this hemisphere. These treaties +then received the constitutional sanction of the Senate, by the +advice and consent to their ratification. They were accordingly +ratified on the part of the United States, and during the recess +of Congress have been also ratified by the other respective +contracting parties. The ratifications have been exchanged, and +they have been published by proclamations, copies of which are +herewith communicated to Congress.</p> +<p>These treaties have established between the contracting +parties the principles of equality and reciprocity in their +broadest and most liberal extent, each party admitting the +vessels of the other into its ports, laden with cargoes the +produce or manufacture of any quarter of the globe, upon the +payment of the same duties of tonnage and impost that are +chargeable upon their own. They have further stipulated that the +parties shall hereafter grant no favor of navigation or commerce +to any other nation which shall not upon the same terms be +granted to each other, and that neither party will impose upon +articles of merchandise the produce or manufacture of the other +any other or higher duties than upon the like articles being the +produce or manufacture of any other country. To these principles +there is in the convention with Denmark an exception with regard +to the colonies of that Kingdom in the arctic seas, but none with +regard to her colonies in the West Indies.</p> +<p>In the course of the last summer the term to which our last +commercial treaty with Sweden was limited has expired. A +continuation of it is in the contemplation of the Swedish +Government, and is believed to be desirable on the part of the +United States. It has been proposed by the King of Sweden that +pending the negotiation of renewal the expired treaty should be +mutually considered as still in force, a measure which will +require the sanction of Congress to be carried into effect on our +part, and which I therefore recommend to your consideration.</p> +<p>With Prussia, Spain, Portugal, and, in general, all the +European powers between whom and the United States relations of +friendly intercourse have existed their condition has not +materially varied since the last session of Congress. I regret +not to be able to say the same of our commercial intercourse with +the colonial possessions of Great Britain in America. +Negotiations of the highest importance to our common interests +have been for several years in discussion between the two +Governments, and on the part of the United States have been +invariably pursued in the spirit of candor and conciliation. +Interests of great magnitude and delicacy had been adjusted by +the conventions of 1815 and 1818, while that of 1822, mediated by +the late Emperor Alexander, had promised a satisfactory +compromise of claims which the Government of the United States, +in justice to the rights of a numerous class of their citizens, +was bound to sustain. But with regard to the commercial +intercourse between the United States and the British colonies in +America, it has been hitherto found impracticable to bring the +parties to an understanding satisfactory to both. The relative +geographical position and the respective products of nature +cultivated by human industry had constituted the elements of a +commercial intercourse between the United States and British +America, insular and continental, important to the inhabitants of +both countries; but it had been interdicted by Great Britain upon +a principle heretofore practiced upon by the colonizing nations +of Europe, of holding the trade of their colonies each in +exclusive monopoly to herself. After the termination of the late +war this interdiction had been revived, and the British +Government declined including this portion of our intercourse +with her possessions in the negotiation of the convention of +1815. The trade was then carried on exclusively in British +vessels till the act of Congress, concerning navigation, of 1818 +and the supplemental act of 1820 met the interdict by a +corresponding measure on the part of the United States. These +measures, not of retaliation, but of necessary self-defense, were +soon succeeded by an act of Parliament opening certain colonial +ports to the vessels of the United States coming directly from +them, and to the importation from them of certain articles of our +produce burdened with heavy duties, and excluding some of the +most valuable articles of our exports. The United States opened +their ports to British vessels from the colonies upon terms as +exactly corresponding with those of the act of Parliament as in +the relative position of the parties could be made, and a +negotiation was commenced by mutual consent, with the hope on our +part that a reciprocal spirit of accommodation and a common +sentiment of the importance of the trade to the interests of the +inhabitants of the two countries between whom it must be carried +on would ultimately bring the parties to a compromise with which +both might be satisfied. With this view the Government of the +United States had determined to sacrifice something of that +entire reciprocity which in all commercial arrangements with +foreign powers they are entitled to demand, and to acquiesce in +some inequalities disadvantageous to ourselves rather than to +forego the benefit of a final and permanent adjustment of this +interest to the satisfaction of Great Britain herself. The +negotiation, repeatedly suspended by accidental circumstances, +was, however, by mutual agreement and express assent, considered +as pending and to be speedily resumed. In the meantime another +act of Parliament, so doubtful and ambiguous in its import as to +have been misunderstood by the officers in the colonies who were +to carry it into execution, opens again certain colonial ports +upon new conditions and terms, with a threat to close them +against any nation which may not accept those terms as prescribed +by the British Government. This act, passed in July, 1825, not +communicated to the Government of the United States, not +understood by the British officers of the customs in the colonies +where it was to be enforced, was nevertheless submitted to the +consideration of Congress at their last session. With the +knowledge that a negotiation upon the subject had long been in +progress and pledges given of its resumption at an early day, it +was deemed expedient to await the result of that negotiation +rather than to subscribe implicitly to terms the import of which +was not clear and which the British authorities themselves in +this hemisphere were not prepared to explain.</p> +<p>Immediately after the close of the last session of Congress +one of our most distinguished citizens was dispatched as envoy +extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain, +furnished with instructions which we could not doubt would lead +to a conclusion of this long-controverted interest upon terms +acceptable to Great Britain. Upon his arrival, and before he had +delivered his letters of credence, he was met by an order of the +British council excluding from and after the 1st of December now +current the vessels of the United States from all the colonial +British ports excepting those immediately bordering on our +territories. In answer to his expostulations upon a measure thus +unexpected he is informed that according to the ancient maxims of +policy of European nations having colonies their trade is an +exclusive possession of the mother country; that all +participation in it by other nations is a boon or favor not +forming a subject of negotiation, but to be regulated by the +legislative acts of the power owning the colony; that the British +Government therefore declines negotiating concerning it, and that +as the United States did not forthwith accept purely and simply +the terms offered by the act of Parliament of July, 1825, Great +Britain would not now admit the vessels of the United States even +upon the terms on which she has opened them to the navigation of +other nations.</p> +<p>We have been accustomed to consider the trade which we have +enjoyed with the British colonies rather as an interchange of +mutual benefits than as a mere favor received; that under every +circumstance we have given an ample equivalent. We have seen +every other nation holding colonies negotiate with other nations +and grant them freely admission to the colonies by treaty, and so +far are the other colonizing nations of Europe now from refusing +to negotiate for trade with their colonies that we ourselves have +secured access to the colonies of more than one of them by +treaty. The refusal, however, of Great Britain to negotiate +leaves to the United States no other alternative than that of +regulating or interdicting altogether the trade on their part, +according as either measure may affect the interests of our own +country, and with that exclusive object I would recommend the +whole subject to your calm and candid deliberations.</p> +<p>It is hoped that our unavailing exertions to accomplish a +cordial good understanding on this interest will not have an +unpropitious* effect upon the other great topics of discussion +between the two Governments. Our northeastern and northwestern +boundaries are still unadjusted. The commissioners under the +seventh article of the treaty of Ghent have nearly come to the +close of their labors; nor can we renounce the expectation, +enfeebled as it is, that they may agree upon their report to the +satisfaction or acquiescence of both parties. The commission for +liquidating the claims for indemnity for slaves carried away +after the close of the war has been sitting, with doubtful +prospects of success. Propositions of compromise have, however, +passed between the two Governments, the result of which we +flatter ourselves may yet prove satisfactory. Our own +dispositions and purposes toward Great Britain are all friendly +and conciliatory; nor can we abandon but with strong reluctance +the belief that they will ultimately meet a return, not of +favors, which we neither ask nor desire, but of equal reciprocity +and good will.</p> +<p>With the American Governments of this hemisphere we continue +to maintain an intercourse altogether friendly, and between their +nations and ours that commercial interchange of which mutual +benefit is the source and mutual comfort and harmony the result +is in a continual state of improvement. The war between Spain and +them since the total expulsion of the Spanish military force from +their continental territories has been little more than nominal, +and their internal tranquillity, though occasionally menaced by +the agitations which civil wars never fail to leave behind them, +has not been affected by any serious calamity.</p> +<p>The congress of ministers from several of those nations which +assembled at Panama, after a short session there, adjourned to +meet again at a more favorable season in the neighbourhood of +Mexico. The decease of one of our ministers on his way to the +Isthmus, and the impediments of the season, which delayed the +departure of the other, deprived us of the advantage of being +represented at the first meeting of the congress. There is, +however, no reason to believe that any of the transactions of the +congress were of a nature to affect injuriously the interests of +the United States or to require the interposition of our +ministers had they been present. Their absence has, indeed, +deprived us of the opportunity of possessing precise and +authentic information of the treaties which were concluded at +Panama; and the whole result has confirmed me in the conviction +of the expediency to the United States of being represented at +the congress. The surviving member of the mission, appointed +during your last session, has accordingly proceeded to his +destination, and a successor to his distinguished and lamented +associate will be nominated to the Senate. A treaty of amity, +navigation, and commerce has in the course of the last summer +been concluded by our minister plenipotentiary at Mexico with the +united states of that Confederacy, which will also be laid before +the Senate for their advice with regard to its ratification.</p> +<p>In adverting to the present condition of our fiscal concerns +and to the prospects of our revenue the first remark that calls +our attention is that they are less exuberantly prosperous than +they were at the corresponding period of the last year. The +severe shock so extensively sustained by the commercial and +manufacturing interests in Great Britain has not been without a +perceptible recoil upon ourselves. A reduced importation from +abroad is necessarily succeeded by a reduced return to the +Treasury at home. The net revenue of the present year will not +equal that of the last, and the receipts of that which is to come +will fall short of those in the current year. The diminution, +however, is in part attributable to the flourishing condition of +some of our domestic manufactures, and so far is compensated by +an equivalent more profitable to the nation. It is also highly +gratifying to perceive that the deficiency in the revenue, while +it scarcely exceeds the anticipations of the last year's estimate +from the Treasury, has not interrupted the application of more +than eleven millions during the present year to the discharge of +the principal and interest of the debt, nor the reduction of +upward of seven millions of the capital of the debt itself. The +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January last was +$5,201,650.43; the receipts from that time to the 30th of +September last were $19,585,932.50; the receipts of the current +quarter, estimated at $6,000,000. yield, with the sums already +received, a revenue of about twenty-five millions and a half for +the year; the expenditures for the three first quarters of the +year have amounted to $18,714,226.66; the expenditures of the +current quarter are expected, including the two millions of the +principal of the debt to be paid, to balance the receipts; so +that the expenses of the year, amounting to upward of a million +less than its income, will leave a proportionally increased +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1827, over that of +the 1st of January last; instead of $5,200,000 there will be +$6,400,000.</p> +<p>The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the +commencement of the year till September 30 is estimated at +$21,250,000, and the amount that will probably accrue during the +present quarter is estimated at $4,250,000, making for the whole +year $25,500,000, from which the drawbacks being deducted will +leave a clear revenue from the customs receivable in the year +1827 of about $20,400,000, which, with the sums to be received +from the proceeds of public lands, the bank dividends, and other +incidental receipts, will form an aggregate of about $23,000,000, +a sum falling short of the whole expenses of the present year +little more than the portion of those expenditures applied to the +discharge of the public debt beyond the annual appropriation of +$10,000,000 by the act of the 3d March, 1817. At the passage of +that act the public debt amounted to $123,500,000. On the 1st of +January next it will be short of $74,000,000. In the lapse of +these ten years $50,000,000 of public debt, with the annual +charge of upward of $3,000,000 of interest upon them, have been +extinguished. At the passage of that act, of the annual +appropriation of ten millions seven were absorbed in the payment +of interest, and not more than three millions went to reduce the +capital of the debt. Of the same ten millions, at this time +scarcely four are applicable to the interest, and upward of six +are effective in melting down the capital. Yet our experience has +proved that a revenue consisting so largely of imposts and +tonnage ebbs and flows to an extraordinary extent, with all the +fluctuations incident to the general commerce of the world. It is +within our recollection that even in the compass of the same last +ten years the receipts of the Treasury were not adequate to the +expenditures of the year, and that in two successive years it was +found necessary to resort to loans to meet the engagements of the +nation. The returning tides of the succeeding years replenished +the public coffers until they have again begun to feel the +vicissitude of a decline. To produce these alternations of +fullness and exhaustion the relative operation of abundant or +unfruitful seasons, the regulations of foreign governments, +political revolutions, the prosperous or decaying condition of +manufactures, commercial speculations, and many other causes, not +always to be traced, variously combine. We have found the +alternate swells and diminutions embracing periods of from two to +three years. The last period of depression to us was from 1819 to +1822. The corresponding revival was from 1823 to the commencement +of the present year. Still, we have no cause to apprehend a +depression comparable to that of the former period, or even to +anticipate a deficiency which will intrench upon the ability to +apply the annual ten millions to the reduction of the debt. It is +well for us, however, to be admonished of the hecessity of +abiding by the maxims of the most vigilant economy, and of +resorting to all honorable and useful expedients for pursuing +with steady and inflexible perseverance the total discharge of +the debt.</p> +<p>Besides the seven millions of the loans of 1813 which will +have been discharged in the course of the present year, there are +nine millions which by the terms of the contracts would have been +and are now redeemable. Thirteen millions more of the loan of +1814 will become redeemable from and after the expiration of the +present month, and nine other millions from and after the close +of the ensuing year. They constitute a mass of $31,000,000, all +bearing an interest of 6 per cent, more than twenty millions of +which will be immediately redeemable, and the rest within little +more than a year. Leaving of this amount fifteen millions to +continue at the interest of 6 per cent, but to be paid off as far +as shall be found practicable in the years 1827 and 1828, there +is scarcely a doubt that the remaining sixteen millions might +within a few months be discharged by a loan at not exceeding 5 +per cent, redeemable in the years 1829 and 1830. By this +operation a sum of nearly half a million of dollars may be saved +to the nation, and the discharge of the whole thirty-one millions +within the four years may be greatly facilitated if not wholly +accomplished.</p> +<p>By an act of Congress of 3d March, 1835,* a loan for the +purpose now referred to, or a subscription to stock, was +authorized, at an interest not exceeding 4-1/2 per cent. But at +that time so large a portion of the floating capital of the +country was absorbed in commercial speculations and so little was +left for investment in the stocks that the measure was but +partially successful. At the last session of Congress the +condition of the funds was still unpropitious to the measure; but +the change so soon afterwards occurred that, had the authority +existed to redeem the nine millions now redeemable by an exchange +of stocks or a loan at 5 per cent, it is morally certain that it +might have been effected, and with it a yearly saving of +$90,000.</p> +<p>With regard to the collection of the revenue of imposts, +certain occurrences have within the last year been disclosed in +one or two of our principal ports, which engaged the attention of +Congress at their last session and may hereafter require further +consideration. Until within a very few years the execution of the +laws for raising the revenue, like that of all our other laws, +has been insured more by the moral sense of the community than by +the rigors of a jealous precaution or by penal sanctions. +Confiding in the exemplary punctuality and unsullied integrity of +our importing merchants, a gradual relaxation from the provisions +of the collection laws, a close adherence to which would have +caused inconvenience and expense to them, had long become +habitual, and indulgences had been extended universally because +they had never been abused. It may be worthy of your serious +consideration whether some further legislative provision may not +be necessary to come in aid of this state of unguarded +security.</p> +<p>From the reports herewith communicated of the Secretaries of +War and of the Navy, with the subsidiary documents annexed to +them, will be discovered the present condition and administration +of our military establishment on the land and on the sea. The +organization of the Army having undergone no change since its +reduction to the present peace establishment in 1821, it remains +only to observe that it is yet found adequate to all the purposes +for which a permanent armed force in time of peace can be heeded +or useful. It may be proper to add that, from a difference of +opinion between the late President of the United States and the +Senate with regard to the construction of the act of Congress of +2d March, 1821, to reduce and fix the military peace +establishment of the United States, it remains hitherto so far +without execution that no colonel has been appointed to command +one of the regiments of artillery. A supplementary or explanatory +act of the Legislature appears to be the only expedient +practicable for removing the difficulty of this appointment.</p> +<p>In a period of profound peace the conduct of the mere military +establishment forms but a very inconsiderable portion of the +duties devolving upon the administration of the Department of +War. It will be seen by the returns from the subordinate +departments of the Army that every branch of the service is +marked with order, regularity, and discipline; that from the +commanding general through all the gradations of superintendence +the officers feel themselves to have been citizens before they +were soldiers, and that the glory of a republican army must +consist in the spirit of freedom, by which it is animated, and of +patriotism, by which it is impelled. It may be confidently stated +that the moral character of the Army is in a state of continual +improvement, and that all the arrangements for the disposal of +its parts have a constant reference to that end.</p> +<p>But to the War Department are attributed other duties, having, +indeed, relation to a future possible condition of war, but being +purely defensive, and in their tendency contributing rather to +the security and permanency of peace-the erection of the +fortifications provided for by Congress, and adapted to secure +our shores from hostile invasion; the distribution of the fund of +public gratitude and justice to the pensioners of the +Revolutionary war; the maintenance of our relations of peace and +of protection with the Indian tribes, and the internal +improvements and surveys for the location of roads and canals, +which during the last three sessions of Congress have engaged so +much of their attention, and may engross so large a share of +their future benefactions to our country.</p> +<p>By the act of the 30th of April, 1824, suggested and approved +by my predecessor, the sum of $30,000 was appropriated for the +purpose of causing to be made the necessary surveys, plans, and +estimates of the routes of such roads and canals as the President +of the United States might deem of national importance in a +commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the +transportation of the public mail. The surveys, plans, and +estimates for each, when completed, will be laid before +Congress.</p> +<p>In execution of this act a board of engineers was immediately +instituted, and have been since most assiduously and constantly +occupied in carrying it into effect. The first object to which +their labors were directed, by order of the late President, was +the examination of the country between the tide waters of the +Potomac, the Ohio, and Lake Erie, to ascertain the practicability +of a communication between them, to designate the most suitable +route for the same, and to form plans and estimates in detail of +the expense of execution.</p> +<p>On the 3d of February, 1825, they made their first report, +which was immediately communicated to Congress, and in which they +declared that having maturely considered the circumstances +observed by them personally, and carefully studied the results of +such of the preliminary surveys as were then completed, they were +decidedly of opinion that the communication was practicable.</p> +<p>At the last session of Congress, before the board of engineers +were enabled to make up their second report containing a general +plan and preparatory estimate for the work, the Committee of the +House of Representatives upon Roads and Canals closed the session +with a report expressing the hope that the plan and estimate of +the board of engineers might at this time be prepared, and that +the subject be referred to the early and favorable consideration +of Congress at their present session. That expected report of the +board of engineers is prepared, and will forthwith be laid before +you.</p> +<p>Under the resolution of Congress authorizing the Secretary of +War to have prepared a complete system of cavalry tactics, and a +system of exercise and instruction of field artillery, for the +use of the militia of the United States, to be reported to +Congress at the present session, a board of distinguished +officers of the Army and of the militia has been convened, whose +report will be submitted to you with that of the Secretary of +War. The occasion was thought favorable for consulting the same +board, aided by the results of a correspondence with the +governors of the several States and Territories and other +citizens of intelligence and experience, upon the acknowledged +defective condition of our militia system, and of the +improvements of which it is susceptible. The report of the board +upon this subject is also submitted for your consideration.</p> +<p>In the estimates of appropriations for the ensuing year upward +of $5,000,000 will be submitted for the expenditures to be paid +from the Department of War. Less than two-fifths of this will be +applicable to the maintenance and support of the Army. A million +and a half, in the form of pensions, goes as a scarcely adequate +tribute to the services and sacrifices of a former age, and a +more than equal sum invested in fortifications, or for the +preparations of internal improvement, provides for the quiet, the +comfort, and happier existence of the ages to come. The +appropriations to indemnify those unfortunate remnants of another +race unable alike to share in the enjoyments and to exist in the +presence of civilization, though swelling in recent years to a +magnitude burdensome to the Treasury, are generally not without +their equivalents in profitable value, or serve to discharge the +Union from engagements more burdensome than debt.</p> +<p>In like manner the estimate of appropriations for the Navy +Department will present an aggregate sum of upward of $3,000,000. +About one-half of these, however, covers the current expenditures +of the Navy in actual service, and one-half constitutes a fund of +national property, the pledge of our future glory and defense. It +was scarcely one short year after the close of the late war, and +when the burden of its expenses and charges was weighing heaviest +upon the country, that Congress, by the act of 29th April, 1816, +appropriated $1,000,000 annually for eight years to the +<i>gradual increase of the Navy</i>. At a subsequent period this +annual appropriation was reduced to half a million for six years, +of which the present year is the last. A yet more recent +appropriation the last two years, for building ten sloops of war, +has nearly restored the original appropriation of 1816 of a +million for every year. The result is before us all. We have +twelve line-of-battle ships, twenty frigates, and sloops of war +in proportion, which, with a few months of preparation, may +present a line of floating fortifications along the whole range +of our coast ready to meet any invader who might attempt to set +foot upon our shores. Combining with a system of fortifications +upon the shores themselves, commenced about the same time under +the auspices of my immediate predecessor, and hitherto +systematically pursued, it has placed in our possession the most +effective sinews of war and has left us at once an example and a +lesson from which our own duties may be inferred. The gradual +increase of the Navy was the principle of which the act of 29th +April, 1816, was the first development. It was the introduction +of a system to act upon the character and history of our country +for an indefinite series of ages. It was a declaration of that +Congress to their constituents and to posterity that it was the +destiny and the duty of these confederated States to become in +regular process of time and by no petty advances a great naval +power. That which they proposed to accomplish in eight years is +rather to be considered as the measure of their means than the +limitation of their design. They looked forward for a term of +years sufficient for the accomplishment of a definite portion of +their purpose, and they left to their successors to fill up the +canvas of which they had traced the large and prophetic outline. +The ships of the line and frigates which they had in +contemplation will be shortly completed. The time which they had +allotted for the accomplishment of the work has more than +elapsed. It remains for your consideration how their successors +may contribute their portion of toil and of treasure for the +benefit of the succeeding age in the gradual increase of our +Navy. There is perhaps no part of the exercise of the +constitutional powers of the Federal Government which has given +more general satisfaction to the people of the Union than this. +The system has not been thus vigorously introduced and hitherto +sustained to be now departed from or abandoned. In continuing to +provide for the gradual increase of the Navy it may not be +necessary or expedient to add for the present any more to the +number of our ships; but should you deem it advisable to continue +the yearly appropriation of half a million to the same objects, +it may be profitably expended in providing a supply of timber to +be seasoned and other materials for future use in the +construction of docks or in laying the foundations of a school +for naval education, as to the wisdom of Congress either of those +measures may appear to claim the preference.</p> +<p>Of the small portions of this Navy engaged in actual service +during the peace, squadrons have continued to be maintained in +the Pacific Ocean, in the West India seas, and in the +Mediterranean, to which has been added a small armament to cruise +on the eastern coast of South America. In all they have afforded +protection to our commerce, have contributed to make our country +advantageously known to foreign nations, have honorably employed +multitudes of our seamen in the service of their country, and +have inured numbers of youths of the rising generation to lives +of manly hardihood and of nautical experience and skill. The +piracies with which the West India seas were for several years +infested have been totally suppressed, but in the Mediterranean +they have increased in a manner afflictive to other nations, and +but for the continued presence of our squadron would probably +have been distressing to our own. The war which has unfortunately +broken out between the Republic of Buenos Ayres and the Brazilian +Government has given rise to very great irregularities among the +naval officers of the latter, by whom principles in relation to +blockades and to neutral navigation have been brought forward to +which we can not subscribe and which our own commanders have +found it necessary to resist. From the friendly disposition +toward the United States constantly manifested by the Emperor of +Brazil, and the very useful and friendly commercial intercourse +between the United States and his dominions, we have reason to +believe that the just reparation demanded for the injuries +sustained by several of our citizens from some of his officers +will not be withheld. Abstracts from the recent dispatches of the +commanders of our several squadrons are communicated with the +report of the Secretary of the Navy to Congress.</p> +<p>A report from the Postmaster-General is likewise communicated, +presenting in a highly satisfactory manner the result of a +vigorous, efficient, and economical administration of that +Department. The revenue of the office, even of the year including +the latter half of 1824 and the first half of 1825, had exceeded +its expenditures by a sum of more than $45,000. That of the +succeeding year has been still more productive. The increase of +the receipts in the year preceding the 1st of July last over that +of the year before exceeds $136,000, and the excess of the +receipts over the expenditures of the year has swollen from +$45,000 to nearly $80,000. During the same period contracts for +additional transportation of the mail in stages for about 260,000 +miles have been made, and for 70,000 miles annually on horseback. +Seven hundred and fourteen new post-offices have been established +within the year, and the increase of revenue within the last +three years, as well as the augmentation of the transportation by +mail, is more than equal to the whole amount of receipts and of +mail conveyance at the commencement of the present century, when +the seat of the General Government was removed to this place. +When we reflect that the objects effected by the transportation +of the mail are among the choicest comforts and enjoyments of +social life, it is pleasing to observe that the dissemination of +them to every corner of our country has outstripped in their +increase even the rapid march of our population.</p> +<p>By the treaties with France and Spain, respectively ceding +Louisiana and the Floridas to the United States, provision was +made for the security of land titles derived from the Governments +of those nations. Some progress has been made under the authority +of various acts of Congress in the ascertainment and +establishment of those titles, but claims to a very large extent +remain unadjusted. The public faith no less than the just rights +of individuals and the interest of the community itself appears +to require further provision for the speedy settlement of those +claims, which I therefore recommend to the care and attention of +the Legislature.</p> +<p>In conformity with the provisions of the act of 20th May last, +to provide for erecting a penitentiary in the district of +Columbia, and for other purposes, three commissioners were +appointed to select a site for the erection of a penitentiary for +the district, and also a site in the county of Alexandria for a +county jail, both of which objects have been effected. The +building of the penitentiary has been commenced, and is in such a +degree of forwardness as to promise that it will be completed +before the meeting of the next Congress. This consideration +points to the expediency of maturing at the present session a +system for the regulation and government of the penitentiary, and +of defining the class of offenses which shall be punishable by +confinement in this edifice.</p> +<p>In closing this communication I trust that it will not be +deemed inappropriate to the occasion and purposes upon which we +are here assembled to indulge a momentary retrospect, combining +in a single glance the period of our origin as a national +confederation with that of our present existence, at the precise +interval of half a century from each other. Since your last +meeting at this place the fiftieth anniversary of the day when +our independence was declared has been celebrated throughout our +land, and on that day, while every heart was bounding with joy +and every voice was tuned to gratulation, amid the blessings of +freedom and independence which the sires of a former age had +handed down to their children, two of the principal actors in +that solemn scene-the hand that penned the ever-memorable +Declaration and the voice that sustained it in debate-were by one +summons, at the distance of 700 miles from each other, called +before the Judge of All to account for their deeds done upon +earth. They departed cheered by the benedictions of their +country, to whom they left the inheritance of their fame and the +memory of their bright example. If we turn our thoughts to the +condition of their country, in the contrast of the first and last +day of that half century, how resplendent and sublime is the +transition from gloom to glory! Then, glancing through the same +lapse of time, in the condition of the individuals we see the +first day marked with the fullness and vigor of youth, in the +pledge of their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to +the cause of freedom and of mankind; and on the last, extended on +the bed of death, with but sense and sensibility left to breathe +a last aspiration to Heaven of blessing upon their country, may +we not humbly hope that to them too it was a pledge of transition +from gloom to glory, and that while their mortal vestments were +sinking into the clod of the valley their emancipated spirits +were ascending to the bosom of their God!</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p>SPECIAL MESSAGES.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 7, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I now transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with that +of the Board of Engineers of Internal Improvement, concerning the +proposed Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 8, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of War, with sundry documents, containing the +information requested by a resolution of the House of the 8th of +May last, relating to the lead mines belonging to the United +States in Illinois and Missouri.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 8, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of War, with several documents, containing information +required by a resolution of the House of the 20th of May last, +respecting certain proposed donations of land by Indian tribes to +any agent or commissioner of the United States.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 12, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice with +regard to their ratification, the following treaties with Indian +tribes:</p> +<p>1. A treaty made and concluded at the Fond du Lac of Lake +Superior, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, +commissioners on the part of the United States, and the Chippewa +tribe of Indians, on the 5th of August, 1826.</p> +<p>2. A treaty made and concluded hear the mouth of the +Mississinewa, upon the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between +Lewis Cass, James B. Ray, and John Tipton, commissioners on the +part of the United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the +Potawatamie tribe of Indians, on the 16th of October, 1826.</p> +<p>3. A treaty made and concluded hear the mouth of the +Mississinewa, upon the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between +Lewis Cass, James B. Ray, and John Tipton, commissioners on the +part of the United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the +Miami tribe of Indians, on the 23d of October, 1826.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 18, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress extracts of a letter, received since +the commencement of their session, from the minister of the +United States at London, having relation to the late discussions +with the Government of Great Britain concerning the trade between +the United States and the British colonies in America.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 20, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement +of their present session it was intimated that the commission for +liquidating the claims of our fellow-citizens to indemnity for +slaves and other property carried away after the close of the +late war with Great Britain in contravention to the first article +of the treaty of Ghent had been sitting in this city with +doubtful prospects of success, but that propositions had recently +passed between the two Governments which it was hoped would lead +to a satisfactory adjustment of that controversy.</p> +<p>I now transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional +consideration and advice, a convention signed at London by the +plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 13th of the last +month, relating to this object. A copy of the convention is at +the same time sent, together with a copy of the instructions +under which it was negotiated and the correspondence relating to +it. To avoid all delay these documents are now transmitted, +consisting chiefly of original papers, the return of which is +requested.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 22, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 12th instant, requesting information of +the measures taken to carry into effect the act of Congress of 3d +March, 1825, directing a road to be made from Little Rock to +Cantonment Gibson, in the Territory of Arkansas, I transmit a +report from the Secretary of War, with a letter from the +Quartermaster-General, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 22, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to the House of Representatives a report from +the Secretary of State, with a copy of the three articles<a name= +"FNanchor009"></a><a href="#Footnote_009"><sup>[009]</sup></a> +(marked A) requested by the resolution of the House of the 19th +instant. The third of those articles relating to a subject upon +which the negotiation between the two Governments is yet open, +the communication of all the other documents relating to it is +reserved to a future period, when it may be closed.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of State, with sundry documents, containing the +information requested by two resolutions of the House of the 15th +instant, relating to the proceedings of the congress of ministers +which assembled last summer at Panama.</p> +<p>The occasion is taken to communicate at the same time two +other dispatches, from the minister of the United States to the +Mexican Confederation, one of which should have been communicated +at the last session of Congress but that it was then accidentally +mislaid, and the other having relation to the same subject.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.<br> +  DECEMBER 26, 1826.</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 10, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 6th instant, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of State, together with copies of the +correspondence with the Government of the Netherlands, relating +to discriminating duties.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 10, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th of +May last, requesting a detailed statement of the expenditures for +the construction and repair of the Cumberland road, I now +transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with the +statement requested by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 10, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to both Houses of Congress a report from the +Secretary of the Navy, together with that of the engineer by +whom, conformably to a joint resolution of the two Houses of the +22d May last, an examination and survey has been made of a site +for a dry dock at the navy-yard at Portsmouth, N. H.; +Charlestown, Mass.; Brooklyn, N. Y., and Gosport, Va.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 15, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 20th of May last, I transmit herewith a +report from the Secretary of State, touching the impressment of +seamen from on board American vessels on the high seas or +elsewhere by the commanders of British or other foreign vessels +or ships of war since 18th of February, 1815, together with such +correspondence on the subject as comes within the purview of the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 15, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 21st of +last month, I now transmit a letter from the Secretary of War, +with a report from the Chief Engineer and a statement of the +Third Auditor, shewing the amount disbursed of the appropriation +made by the act of 24th May, 1824, to improve the navigation of +the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the state and progress of +the work contemplated by the appropriation.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 15, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War, +together with a report of the Chief Engineer, and certain acts of +the legislature of the State of New York proposing to the +Government of the United States the purchase of the +fortifications erected at the expense of the State on Staten +Island, with the ordnance and other apparatus belonging to or +connected with the same. These papers were prepared at the close +of the last session of Congress, at too late a period to be then +acted upon.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 16, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of a +convention between the United States and Great Britain, signed on +the 13th of November last at London by the respective +plenipotentiaries of the two Governments, for the final +settlement and liquidation of certain claims of indemnity of +citizens of the United States which had arisen under the first +article of the treaty of Ghent. It having been stipulated by this +convention that the exchange of the ratifications of the same +should be made at London, the usual proclamation of it here can +only be issued when that event shall have taken place, the notice +of which can scarcely be expected before the close of the present +session of Congress. But it has been duly ratified on the part of +the United States, and by the report of the Secretary of State +and the accompanying certificate herewith also communicated it +will be seen that the first half of the stipulated payment has +been made by the minister of His Britannic Majesty residing here, +and has been deposited in the office of the Bank of the United +States at this place to await the disposal of Congress.</p> +<p>I recommend to their consideration the expediency of such +legislative measures as they may deem proper for the distribution +of the sum already paid, and of that hereafter to be received, +among the claimants who may be found entitled to the +indemnity.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 17, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 10th of +May last, I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, +with a letter from the Director of the Mint, shewing the result +of the assay of foreign coins and the information otherwise +relating thereto desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 29, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 23d +instant, I transmit herewith a report<a name="FNanchor010"></a><a +href="#Footnote_010"><sup>[010]</sup></a> from the Secretary of +State, with the accompanying documents.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 29, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>The report from the Commissioner of the General Land Office +and the accompanying documents herewith transmitted are laid +before the Senate in compliance with their resolution of the 4th +of April last, relating to the public lands of the United States +in the States of Missouri and Illinois which are unfit for +cultivation.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 2, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 25th +ultimo, relative to the execution of the treaty of the 18th of +October, 1820, of Doaks Stand with the Choctaw tribe of Indians, +I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with a statement +from the Office of Indian Affairs, comprising so far as it is +possessed the information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 3, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the United States of the 9th ultimo, relating +to the appointments of chargés d'affaires and to the +commissions and salaries of the ministers and secretary to the +mission to Panama, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 5, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>The report from the Secretary of War and accompanying +documents herewith transmitted have been prepared in compliance +with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 20th of +May last, requesting a statement of expenditure and other +particulars relating to the procurement and properties of the +patent rifle.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 5, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I submit to the consideration of Congress a letter from the +agent of the United States with the Creek Indians, who invoke the +protection of the Government of the United States in defense of +the rights and territory secured to that nation by the treaty +concluded at Washington, and ratified on the part of the United +States on the 22d of April last.</p> +<p>The complaint set forth in this letter that surveyors from +Georgia have been employed in surveying lands within the Indian +Territory, as secured by that treaty, is authenticated by the +information inofficially received from other quarters, and there +is reason to believe that one or more of the surveyors have been +arrested in their progress by the Indians. Their forbearance, and +reliance upon the good faith of the United States, will, it is +hoped, avert scenes of violence and blood which there is +otherwise too much cause to apprehend will result from these +proceedings.</p> +<p>By the fifth section of the act of Congress of the 30th of +March, 1802, to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian +tribes and to preserve peace on the frontiers, it is provided +that if any citizen of or other person resident in the United +States shall make a settlement on any lands belonging or secured +or granted by treaty with the United States to any Indian tribe, +or shall survey, or attempt to survey, such lands, or designate +any of the boundaries by marking trees or otherwise, such +offender shall forfeit a sum not exceeding $1,000 and suffer +imprisonment not exceeding twelve months.</p> +<p>By the sixteenth and seventeenth sections of the same statute +two distinct processes are prescribed, by either or both of which +the above enactment may be carried into execution. By the first +it is declared to be lawful for the military force of the United +States to apprehend every person found in the Indian country over +and beyond the boundary line between the United States and the +Indian tribes in violation of any of the provisions or +regulations of the act, and immediately to convey them, in the +hearest convenient and safe route, to the civil authority of the +United States in some of the three next adjoining States or +districts, to be proceeded against in due course of law.</p> +<p>By the second it is directed that if any person charged with +the violation of any of the provisions or regulations of the act +shall be found within any of the United States or either of their +territorial districts such offender may be there apprehended and +brought to trial in the same manner as if such crime or offense +had been committed within such State or district; and that it +shall be the duty of the military force of the United States, +when called upon by the civil magistrate or any proper officer or +other person duly authorized for that purpose and having a lawful +warrant, to aid and assist such magistrate, officer, or other +person so authorized in arresting such offender and committing +him to safe custody for trial according to law.</p> +<p>The first of these processes is adapted to the arrest of the +trespasser upon Indian territories on the spot and in the act of +committing the offense; but as it applies the action of the +Government of the United States to places where the civil process +of the law has no authorized course, it is committed entirely to +the functions of the military force to arrest the person of the +offender, and after bringing him within the reach of the +jurisdiction of the courts there to deliver him into custody for +trial. The second makes the violator of the law amenable only +after his offense has been consummated, and when he has returned +within the civil jurisdiction of the Union. This process, in the +first instance, is merely of a civil character, but may in like +manner be enforced by calling in, if necessary, the aid of the +military force.</p> +<p>Entertaining no doubt that in the present case the resort to +either of these modes of process, or to both, was within the +discretion of the Executive authority, and penetrated with the +duty of maintaining the rights of the Indians as secured both by +the treaty and the law, I concluded, after full deliberation, to +have recourse on this occasion, in the first instance, only to +the civil process. Instructions have accordingly been given by +the Secretary of War to the attorney and marshal of the United +States in the district of Georgia to commence prosecutions +against the surveyors complained of as having violated the law, +while orders have at the same time been forwarded to the agent of +the United States at once to assure the Indians that their rights +founded upon the treaty and the law are recognized by this +Government and will be faithfully protected, and earnestly to +exhort them, by the forbearance of every act of hostility on +their part, to preserve unimpaired that right to protection +secured to them by the sacred pledge of the good faith of this +nation. Copies of these instructions and orders are herewith +transmitted to Congress.</p> +<p>In abstaining at this stage of the proceedings from the +application of any military force I have been governed by +considerations which will, I trust, meet the concurrence of the +Legislature. Among them one of paramount importance has been that +these surveys have been attempted, and partly effected, under +color of legal authority from the State of Georgia; that the +surveyors are, therefore, not to be viewed in the light of +individual and solitary transgressors, but as the agents of a +sovereign State, acting in obedience to authority which they +believed to be binding upon them. Intimations had been given that +should they meet with interruption they would at all hazards be +sustained by the military force of the State, in which event, if +the military force of the Union should have been employed to +enforce its violated law, a conflict <i>must</i> have ensued, +which would itself have inflicted a wound upon the Union and have +presented the aspect of one of these confederated States at war +with the rest. Anxious, above all, to avert this state of things, +yet at the same time impressed with the deepest conviction of my +own duty to take care that the laws shall be executed and the +faith of the nation preserved, I have used of the means intrusted +to the Executive for that purpose only those which without +resorting to military force may vindicate the sanctity of the law +by the ordinary agency of the judicial tribunals.</p> +<p>It ought not, however, to be disguised that the act of the +legislature of Georgia, under the construction given to it by the +governor of that State, and the surveys made or attempted by his +authority beyond the boundary secured by the treaty of Washington +of April last to the Creek Indians, are in direct violation of +the supreme law of this land, set forth in a treaty which has +received all the sanctions provided by the Constitution which we +have been sworn to support and maintain.</p> +<p>Happily distributed as the sovereign powers of the people of +this Union have been between their General and State Governments, +their history has already too often presented collisions between +these divided authorities with regard to the extent of their +respective powers. No instance, however, has hitherto occurred in +which this collision has been urged into a conflict of actual +force. No other case is known to have happened in which the +application of military force by the Government of the Union has +been prescribed for the enforcement of a law the violation of +which has within any single State been prescribed by a +legislative act of the State. In the present instance it is my +duty to say that if the legislative and executive authorities of +the State of Georgia should persevere in acts of encroachment +upon the territories secured by a solemn treaty to the Indians, +and the laws of the Union remain unaltered, a superadded +obligation even higher than that of human authority will compel +the Executive of the United States to enforce the laws and +fulfill the duties of the nation by all the force committed for +that purpose to his charge. That the arm of military force will +be resorted to only in the event of the failure of all other +expedients provided by the laws, a pledge has been given by the +forbearance to employ it at this time. It is submitted to the +wisdom of Congress to determine whether any further act of +legislation may be necessary or expedient to meet the emergency +which these transactions may produce.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> + +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 8, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty between the United States and the Mexican +Confederation, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the respective +Governments on the 10th of July last. It will be seen by its +terms that if ratified by both parties the ratifications are to +be exchanged at this city on or before the 10th day of next +month. The ratification on the part of the Government of Mexico +has not yet been received, though it has probably before this +been effected. To avoid all unnecessary delay the treaty is now +communicated to the Senate, that it may receive all the +deliberation which, in their wisdom, it may require, without +pressing upon their time at a hear approach to the close of their +session. Should they advise and consent to its ratification, that +measure will still be withheld until the ratification by the +Mexican Government shall have been ascertained. A copy of the +treaty is likewise transmitted, together with the documents +appertaining to the negotiation.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 8, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to Congress copies of a letter from the governor +of the State of Georgia, received since my message of the 5th +instant, and of inclosures received with it, further confirmative +of the facts stated in that message.<a name="FNanchor011"></a><a +href="#Footnote_011"><sup>[011]</sup></a></p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 16, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with statements prepared at the Register's and General +Land Office, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the +10th of May last, in relation to the purchase and sales of the +public lands since the declaration of independence.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 19, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of the following +treaties, which have been ratified by and with the consent of the +Senate:</p> +<p>i. A treaty with the Chippewa tribe of Indians, signed at the +Fond du Lac of Lake Superior on the 5th of August, 1826.</p> +<p>2. A treaty with the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, signed on +the 16th of October, 1826, hear the mouth of the Mississinawa, +upon the Wabash, in the State of Indiana.</p> +<p>3. A treaty with the Miami tribe of Indians, signed at the +same place on the 23d of October, 1826.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 24, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration, a +conveyance by treaty from the Seneca tribe of Indians to Robert +Troup, Thomas L. Ogden, and Benjamin W. Rogers, in the presence +of Oliver Forward, commissioner of the United States for holding +the said treaty, and of Nathaniel Gorham, superintendent in +behalf of the State of Massachusetts. A letter from the grantees +of this conveyance and a report of the Superintendent of Indian +Affairs to the Secretary of War, relating to this instrument, are +also transmitted; and with regard to the approval or ratification +of the treaty itself, it is submitted to the Senate for their +advice and consent.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 28, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of War, with sundry documents, containing statements +requested by a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +9th of January, relating to the Artillery School of Practice at +Fortress Monroe.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 2, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with sundry documents, containing the information +requested by a resolution of the Senate of the 20th of April +last, relating to the security taken of the late survey +or-general of Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas, and of the late +receiver of public moneys in the western district of Missouri, +and to the sums for which they were respectively defaulters; also +the sums due by each of the late directors of the Bank of +Missouri to the United States, and to the measures taken for +obtaining or enforcing payment of the same.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 2, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of communications +received yesterday by the Secretary of War from the governor of +Georgia and from Lieutenant Vinton.<a name="FNanchor012"></a><a +href="#Footnote_012"><sup>[012]</sup></a></p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p class="c2">PROCLAMATIONS.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>By the President of the United States.</h2> +<p>A PROCLAMATION.</p> +<p>Whereas by the sixth section of an act of Congress entitled +"An act to regulate the commercial intercourse between the United +States and certain British colonial ports," which was approved on +the 1st day of March, A. D. 1823, it is enacted "that this act, +unless repealed, altered, or amended by Congress, shall be and +continue in force so long as the above-enumerated British +colonial ports shall be open to the admission of the vessels of +the United States, conformably to the provisions of the British +act of Parliament of the 24th of June last, being the +forty-fourth chapter of the acts of the third year of George IV; +but if at any time the trade and intercourse between the United +States and all or any of the above enumerated British colonial +ports authorized by the said act of Parliament should be +prohibited by a British order in council or by act of Parliament, +then, from the day of the date of such order in council or act of +Parliament, or from the time that the same shall commence to be +in force, proclamation to that effect having been made by the +President of the United States, each and every provision of this +act, so far as the same shall apply to the intercourse between +the United States and the above-enumerated British colonial ports +in British vessels, shall cease to operate in their favor, and +each and every provision of the 'Act concerning navigation,' +approved on the 18th of April, 1818, and of the act supplementary +thereto, approved on the 15th of May, 1820, shall revive and be +in full force;" and</p> +<p>Whereas by an act of the British Parliament which passed on +the 5th day of July, A. D. 1825, entitled "An act to repeal the +several laws relating to the customs," the said act of Parliament +of the 24th of June, 1822, was repealed; and by another act of +the British Parliament, passed on the 5th day of July, A. D. +1825, in the sixth year of the reign of George IV, entitled "An +act to regulate the trade of the British possessions abroad;" and +by an order of His Britannic Majesty in council, bearing date the +27th of July, 1826, the trade and intercourse authorized by the +aforesaid act of Parliament of the 24th of June, 1822, between +the United States and the greater part of the said British +colonial ports therein enumerated, have been prohibited upon and +from the 1st day of December last past, and the contingency has +thereby arisen on which the President of the United States was +authorized by the sixth section aforesaid of the act of Congress +of the 1st March, 1823, to issue a proclamation to the effect +therein mentioned:</p> +<p>Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United +States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that the trade +and intercourse authorized by the said act of Parliament of the +24th of June, 1822, between the United States and the British +colonial ports enumerated in the aforesaid act of Congress of the +1st of March, 1823, have been and are, upon and from the 1st day +of December, 1826, by the aforesaid two several acts of +Parliament of the 5th of July, 1825, and by the aforesaid British +order in council of the 27th day of July, 1826, prohibited.</p> +<p>Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 17th day +of March, A. D. 1827, and the fifty-first year of the +Independence of the United States.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p>By the President:<br> + H. Clay,<br> + <i>Secretary of State</i>.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> + +<p>By the President of the United States.</p> +<p>A PROCLAMATION.</p> +<p>Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the +7th of January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating +duties of tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon +satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United +States by the government of any foreign nation that no +discriminating duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied +within the ports of the said nation upon vessels wholly belonging +to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise the produce +or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President is +thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the +foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the +United States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far +as respects the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of +its produce or manufacture imported into the United States in the +same, the said suspension to take effect from the time of such +notification being given to the President of the United States +and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels +belonging to citizens of the United States and merchandise as +aforesaid therein laden shall be continued, and no longer; +and</p> +<p>Whereas satisfactory evidence was given to the President of +the United States on the 30th day of May last by Count Lucchesi, +consul-general of His Holiness the Pope, that all foreign and +discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the dominions +of His Holiness, so far as respected the vessels of the United +States and the merchandise of their produce or manufacture +imported in the same, were suspended and discontinued:</p> +<p>Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United +States, conformably to the fourth section of the act of Congress +aforesaid, do hereby proclaim and declare that the foreign +discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United +States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as +respects the vessels of the subjects of His Holiness the Pope and +the merchandise of the produce or manufacture of his dominions +imported into the United States' in the same, the said suspension +to take effect from the 30th of May aforesaid and to continue so +long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens +of the United States and merchandise as aforesaid therein laden +shall be continued, and no longer.</p> +<p>Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 7th day +of June, A. D. 1827, and of the Independence of the United States +the fifty-first.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p>By the President:<br> + H. Clay,<br> + <i>Secretary of State</i>.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>By the President of the United States.</h2> +<p>A PROCLAMATION.</p> +<p>Whereas Willis Anderson, of the County of Alexandria, in the +district of Columbia, is charged with having recently murdered +Gerrard Arnold, late of the said county; and</p> +<p>Whereas it is represented to me that the said Willis Anderson +has absconded and secretes himself, so that he can not be +apprehended and brought to justice for the offense of which he is +so charged; and</p> +<p>Whereas the apprehension and trial of the said Willis Anderson +is an example due to justice and humanity, and would be every way +salutary in its influence:</p> +<p>Now, therefore, I have thought fit to issue this my +proclamation, hereby exhorting the citizens of the United States, +and particularly those of this district, and requiring all +officers, according to their respective stations, to use their +utmost endeavors to apprehend and bring the said Willis Anderson +to justice for the atrocious crime with which he stands charged +as aforesaid; and I do moreover offer a reward of $250 for the +apprehension of the said Willis Anderson and his delivery to an +officer or officers of justice in the county aforesaid, so that +he may be brought to trial for the murder aforesaid and be +otherwise dealt with according to law.</p> +<p>In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused +the seal of the United States to be affixed to these +presents.</p> +<p>(SEAL.)</p> +<p>Done at Washington, this 10th day of September, A. D. 1827, +and of the Independence of the United States the +fifty-second.</p> +<p>J. Q. Adams.</p> +<p>By the President:<br> + H. Clay,<br> + <i>Secretary of State</i>.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<h2>THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.</h2> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 4, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of +Representatives</i>:</p> +<p>A revolution of the seasons has nearly been completed since +the representatives of the people and States of this Union were +last assembled at this place to deliberate and to act upon the +common important interests of their constituents. In that +interval the never-slumbering eye of a wise and beneficent +Providence has continued its guardian care over the welfare of +our beloved country; the blessing of health has continued +generally to prevail throughout the land; the blessing of peace +with our brethren of the human race has been enjoyed without +interruption; internal quiet has left our fellow-citizens in the +full enjoyment of all their rights and in the free exercise of +all their faculties, to pursue the impulse of their nature and +the obligation of their duty in the improvement of their own +condition; the productions of the soil, the exchanges of +commerce, the vivifying labors of human industry, have combined +to mingle in our cup a portion of enjoyment as large and liberal +as the indulgence of Heaven has perhaps ever granted to the +imperfect state of man upon earth; and as the purest of human +felicity consists in its participation with others, it is no +small addition to the sum of our national happiness at this time +that peace and prosperity prevail to a degree seldom experienced +over the whole habitable globe, presenting, though as yet with +painful exceptions, a foretaste of that blessed period of promise +when the lion shall lie down with the lamb and wars shall be no +more. To preserve, to improve, and to perpetuate the sources and +to direct in their most effective channels the streams which +contribute to the public weal is the purpose for which Government +was instituted. Objects of deep importance to the welfare of the +Union are constantly recurring to demand the attention of the +Federal Legislature, and they call with accumulated interest at +the first meeting of the two Houses after their periodical +renovation. To present to their consideration from time to time +subjects in which the interests of the nation are most deeply +involved, and for the regulation of which the legislative will is +alone competent, is a duty prescribed by the Constitution, to the +performance of which the first meeting of the new Congress is a +period eminently appropriate, and which it is now my purpose to +discharge.</p> +<p>Our relations of friendship with the other nations of the +earth, political and commercial, have been preserved unimpaired, +and the opportunities to improve them have been cultivated with +anxious and unremitting attention. A negotiation upon subjects of +high and delicate interest with the Government of Great Britain +has terminated in the adjustment of some of the questions at +issue upon satisfactory terms and the postponement of others for +future discussion and agreement. The purposes of the convention +concluded at St. Petersburg on the 12th day of July, 1822, under +the mediation of the late Emperor Alexander, have been carried +into effect by a subsequent convention, concluded at London on +the 13th of November, 1826, the ratifications of which were +exchanged at that place on the 6th day of February last. A copy +of the proclamation issued on the 19th day of March last, +publishing this convention, is herewith communicated to Congress. +The sum of $1,204,960, therein stipulated to be paid to the +claimants of indemnity under the first article of the treaty of +Ghent, has been duly received, and the commission instituted, +comformably to the act of Congress of the 2d of March last, for +the distribution of the indemnity to the persons entitled to +receive it are now in session and approaching the consummation of +their labors. This final disposal of one of the most painful +topics of collision between the United States and Great Britain +not only affords an occasion of gratulation to ourselves, but has +had the happiest effect in promoting a friendly disposition and +in softening asperities upon other objects of discussion; nor +ought it to pass without the tribute of a frank and cordial +acknowledgment of the magnanimity with which an honorable nation, +by the reparation of their own wrongs, achieves a triumph more +glorious than any field of blood can ever bestow.</p> +<p>The conventions of 3d July, 1815, and of 20th October, 1818, +will expire by their own limitation on the 20th of October, 1828. +These have regulated the direct commercial intercourse between +the United States and Great Britain upon terms of the most +perfect reciprocity; and they effected a temporary compromise of +the respective rights and claims to territory westward of the +Rocky Mountains. These arrangements have been continued for an +indefinite period of time after the expiration of the +above-mentioned conventions, leaving each party the liberty of +terminating them by giving twelve months' notice to the other. +The radical principle of all commercial intercourse between +independent nations is the mutual interest of both parties. It is +the vital spirit of trade itself; nor can it be reconciled to the +nature of man or to the primary laws of human society that any +traffic should long be willingly pursued of which all the +advantages are on one side and all the burdens on the other. +Treaties of commerce have been found by experience to be among +the most effective instruments for promoting peace and harmony +between nations whose interests, exclusively considered on either +side, are brought into frequent collisions by competition. In +framing such treaties it is the duty of each party not simply to +urge with unyielding pertinacity that which suits its own +interest, but to concede liberally to that which is adapted to +the interest of the other. To accomplish this, little more is +generally required than a simple observance of the rule of +reciprocity, and were it possible for the statesmen of one nation +by stratagem and management to obtain from the weakness or +ignorance of another an overreaching treaty, such a compact would +prove an incentive to war rather than a bond of peace. Our +conventions with Great Britain are founded upon the principles of +reciprocity. The commercial intercourse between the two countries +is greater in magnitude and amount than between any two other +nations on the globe. It is for all purposes of benefit or +advantage to both as precious, and in all probability far more +extensive, than if the parties were still constituent parts of +one and the same nation. Treaties between such States, regulating +the intercourse of peace between them and adjusting interests of +such transcendent importance to both, which have been found in a +long experience of years mutually advantageous, should not be +lightly canceled or discontinued. Two conventions for continuing +in force those above mentioned have been concluded between the +plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 6th of August +last, and will be forthwith laid before the Senate for the +exercise of their constitutional authority concerning them.</p> +<p>In the execution of the treaties of peace of November, 1782, +and September, 1783, between the United States and Great Britain, +and which terminated the war of our independence, a line of +boundary was drawn as the demarcation of territory between the +two countries, extending over hear 20 degrees of latitude, and +ranging over seas, lakes, and mountains, then very imperfectly +explored and scarcely opened to the geographical knowledge of the +age. In the progress of discovery and settlement by both parties +since that time several questions of boundary between their +respective territories have arisen, which have been found of +exceedingly difficult adjustment. At the close of the last war +with Great Britain four of these questions pressed themselves +upon the consideration of the negotiators of the treaty of Ghent, +but without the means of concluding a definitive arrangement +concerning them. They were referred to three separate commissions +consisting of two commissioners, one appointed by each party, to +examine and decide upon their respective claims. In the event of +a disagreement between the commissioners it was provided that +they should make reports to their several Governments, and that +the reports should finally be referred to the decision of a +sovereign the common friend of both. Of these commissions two +have already terminated their sessions and investigations, one by +entire and the other by partial agreement. The commissioners of +the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent have finally disagreed, +and made their conflicting reports to their own Governments. But +from these reports a great difficulty has occurred in making up a +question to be decided by the arbitrator. This purpose has, +however, been effected by a fourth convention, concluded at +London by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the +29th of September last. It will be submitted, together with the +others, to the consideration of the Senate.</p> +<p>While these questions have been pending incidents have +occurred of conflicting pretensions and of dangerous character +upon the territory itself in dispute between the two nations. By +a common understanding between the Governments it was agreed that +no exercise of exclusive jurisdiction by either party while the +negotiation was pending should change the state of the question +of right to be definitively settled. Such collision has, +nevertheless, recently taken place by occurrences the precise +character of which has not yet been ascertained. A communication +from the governor of the State of Maine, with accompanying +documents, and a correspondence between the Secretary of State +and the minister of Great Britain on this subject are now +communicated. Measures have been taken to ascertain the state of +the facts more correctly by the employment of a special agent to +visit the spot where the alleged outrages have occurred, the +result of whose inquiries, when received, will be transmitted to +Congress.</p> +<p>While so many of the subjects of high interest to the friendly +relations between the two countries have been so far adjusted, it +is matter of regret that their views respecting the commercial +intercourse between the United States and the British colonial +possessions have not equally approximated to a friendly +agreement.</p> +<p>At the commencement of the last session of Congress they were +informed of the sudden and unexpected exclusion by the British +Government of access in vessels of the United States to all their +colonial ports, except those immediately bordering upon our own +territories. In the amicable discussions which have succeeded the +adoption of this measure, which, as it affected harshly the +interests of the United States, became a subject of expostulation +on our part, the principles upon which its justification has been +placed have been of a diversified character. It has been at once +ascribed to a mere recurrence to the old, long-established +principle of colonial monopoly and at the same time to a feeling +of resentment because the offers of an act of Parliament opening +the colonial ports upon certain conditions had not been grasped +at with sufficient eagerness by an instantaneous conformity to +them. At a subsequent period it has been intimated that the new +exclusion was in resentment because a prior act of Parliament, of +1822, opening certain colonial ports, under heavy and burdensome +restrictions, to vessels of the United States, had not been +reciprocated by an admission of British vessels from the +colonies, and their cargoes, without any restriction or +discrimination whatever. But be the motive for the interdiction +what it may, the British Government have manifested no +disposition, either by negotiation or by corresponding +legislative enactments, to recede from it, and we have been given +distinctly to understand that neither of the bills which were +under the consideration of Congress at their last session would +have been deemed sufficient in their concessions to have been +rewarded by any relaxation from the British interdict. It is one +of the inconveniences inseparably connected with the attempt to +adjust by reciprocal legislation interests of this nature that +neither party can know what would be satisfactory to the other, +and that after enacting a statute for the avowed and sincere +purpose of conciliation it will generally be found utterly +inadequate to the expectations of the other party, and will +terminate in mutual disappointment.</p> +<p>The session of Congress having terminated without any act upon +the subject, a proclamation was issued on the 17th of March last, +conformably to the provisions of the sixth section of the act of +1st March, 1823, declaring the fact that the trade and +intercourse authorized by the British act of Parliament of 24th +June, 1822, between the United States and the British enumerated +colonial ports had been by the subsequent acts of Parliament of +5th July, 1825, and the order of council of 27th July, 1826, +prohibited. The effect of this proclamation, by the terms of the +act under which it was issued, has been that each and every +provision of the act concerning navigation of 18th April, 1818, +and of the act supplementary thereto of 15th May, 1820, revived +and is in full force. Such, then, is the present condition of the +trade that, useful as it is to both parties, it can, with a +single momentary exception, be carried on directly by the vessels +of neither. That exception itself is found in a proclamation of +the governor of the island of St. Christopher and of the Virgin +Islands, inviting for three months from the 28th of August last +the importation of the articles of the produce of the United +States which constitute their export portion of this trade in the +vessels of all nations. That period having already expired, the +state of mutual interdiction has again taken place. The British +Government have not only declined negotiation upon this subject, +but by the principle they have assumed with reference to it have +precluded even the means of negotiation. It becomes not the +self-respect of the United States either to solicit gratuitous +favors or to accept as the grant of a favor that for which an +ample equivalent is exacted. It remains to be determined by the +respective Governments whether the trade shall be opened by acts +of reciprocal legislation. It is, in the meantime, satisfactory +to know that apart from the inconveniences resulting from a +disturbance of the usual channels of trade no loss has been +sustained by the commerce, the navigation, or the revenue of the +United States, and none of magnitude is to be apprehended from +this existing state of mutual interdict.</p> +<p>With the other maritime and commercial nations of Europe our +intercourse continues with little variation. Since the cessation +by the convention of 24th June, 1822, of all discriminating +duties upon the vessels of the United States and of France in +either country our trade with that nation has increased and is +increasing. A disposition on the part of France has been +manifested to renew that negotiation, and in acceding to the +proposal we have expressed the wish that it might be extended to +other subjects upon which a good understanding between the +parties would be beneficial to the interests of both. The origin +of the political relations between the United States and France +is coeval with the first years of our independence. The memory of +it is interwoven with that of our arduous struggle for national +existence. Weakened as it has occasionally been since that time, +it can by us never be forgotten, and we should hail with +exultation the moment which should indicate a recollection +equally friendly in spirit on the part of France. A fresh effort +has recently been made by the minister of the United States +residing at Paris to obtain a consideration of the just claims of +citizens of the United States to the reparation of wrongs long +since committed, many of them frankly acknowledged and all of +them entitled upon every principle of justice to a candid +examination. The proposal last made to the French Government has +been to refer the subject which has formed an obstacle to this +consideration to the determination of a sovereign the common +friend of both. To this offer no definitive answer has yet been +received, but the gallant and honorable spirit which has at all +times been the pride and glory of France will not ultimately +permit the demands of innocent sufferers to be extinguished in +the mere consciousness of the power to reject them.</p> +<p>A new treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce has been +concluded with the Kingdom of Sweden, which will be submitted to +the Senate for their advice with regard to its ratification. At a +more recent date a minister plenipotentiary from the Hanseatic +Republics of Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen has been received, +charged with a special mission for the negotiation of a treaty of +amity and commerce between that ancient and renowned league and +the United States. This negotiation has accordingly been +commenced, and is now in progress, the result of which will, if +successful, be also submitted to the Senate for their +consideration.</p> +<p>Since the accession of the Emperor Nicholas to the imperial +throne of all the Russias the friendly dispositions toward the +United States so constantly manifested by his predecessor have +continued unabated, and have been recently testified by the +appointment of a minister plenipotentiary to reside at this +place. From the interest taken by this Sovereign in behalf of the +suffering Greeks and from the spirit with which others of the +great European powers are cooperating with him the friends of +freedom and of humanity may indulge the hope that they will +obtain relief from that most unequal of conflicts which they have +so long and so gallantly sustained; that they will enjoy the +blessing of self-government, which by their sufferings in the +cause of liberty they have richly earned, and that their +independence will be secured by those liberal institutions of +which their country furnished the earliest examples in the +history of mankind, and which have consecrated to immortal +remembrance the very soil for which they are now again profusely +pouring forth their blood. The sympathies which the people and +Government of the United States have so warmly indulged with +their cause have been acknowledged by their Government in a +letter of thanks, which I have received from their illustrious +President, a translation of which is now communicated to +Congress, the representatives of that nation to whom this tribute +of gratitude was intended to be paid, and to whom it was justly +due.</p> +<p>In the American hemisphere the cause of freedom and +independence has continued to prevail, and if signalized by none +of those splendid triumphs which had crowned with glory some of +the preceding years it has only been from the banishment of all +external force against which the struggle had been maintained. +The shout of victory has been superseded by the expulsion of the +enemy over whom it could have been achieved. Our friendly wishes +and cordial good will, which have constantly followed the +southern nations of America in all the vicissitudes of their war +of independence, are succeeded by a solicitude equally ardent and +cordial that by the wisdom and purity of their institutions they +may secure to themselves the choicest blessings of social order +and the best rewards of virtuous liberty. Disclaiming alike all +right and all intention of interfering in those concerns which it +is the prerogative of their independence to regulate as to them +shall seem fit, we hail with joy every indication of their +prosperity, of their harmony, of their persevering and inflexible +homage to those principles of freedom and of equal rights which +are alone suited to the genius and temper of the American +nations. It has been, therefore, with some concern that we have +observed indications of intestine divisions in some of the +Republics of the south, and appearances of less union with one +another than we believe to be the interest of all. Among the +results of this state of things has been that the treaties +concluded at Panama do not appear to have been ratified by the +contracting parties, and that the meeting of the congress at +Tacubaya has been indefinitely postponed. In accepting the +invitations to be represented at this congress, while a +manifestation was intended on the part of the United States of +the most friendly disposition toward the southern Republics by +whom it had been proposed, it was hoped that it would furnish an +opportunity for bringing all the nations of this hemisphere to +the common acknowledgment and adoption of the principles in the +regulation of their internal relations which would have secured a +lasting peace and harmony between them and have promoted the +cause of mutual benevolence throughout the globe. But as +obstacles appear to have arisen to the reassembling of the +congress, one of the two ministers commissioned on the part of +the United States has returned to the bosom of his country, while +the minister charged with the ordinary mission to Mexico remains +authorized to attend at the conferences of the congress whenever +they may be resumed.</p> +<p>A hope was for a short time entertained that a treaty of peace +actually signed between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of +Brazil would supersede all further occasion for those collisions +between belligerent pretensions and neutral rights which are so +commonly the result of maritime war, and which have unfortunately +disturbed the harmony of the relations between the United States +and the Brazilian Governments. At their last session Congress +were informed that some of the naval officers of that Empire had +advanced and practiced upon principles in relation to blockades +and to neutral navigation which we could not sanction, and which +our commanders found it necessary to resist. It appears that they +have not been sustained by the Government of Brazil itself. Some +of the vessels captured under the assumed authority of these +erroneous principles have been restored, and we trust that our +just expectations will be realized that adequate indemnity will +be made to all the citizens of the United States who have +suffered by the unwarranted captures which the Brazilian +tribunals themselves have pronounced unlawful.</p> +<p>In the diplomatic discussions at Rio de Janeiro of these +wrongs sustained by citizens of the United States and of others +which seemed as if emanating immediately from that Government +itself the chargé d'affaires of the United States, under +an impression that his representations in behalf of the rights +and interests of his countrymen were totally disregarded and +useless, deemed it his duty, without waiting for instructions, to +terminate his official functions, to demand his passports, and +return to the United States. This movement, dictated by an honest +zeal for the honor and interests of his country-motives which +operated exclusively on the mind of the officer who resorted to +it-has not been disapproved by me. The Brazilian Government, +however, complained of it as a measure for which no adequate +intentional cause had been given by them, and upon an explicit +assurance through their chargé d'affaires residing here +that a successor to the late representative of the United States +hear that Government, the appointment of whom they desired, +should be received and treated with the respect due to his +character, and that indemnity should be promptly made for all +injuries inflicted on citizens of the United States or their +property contrary to the laws of nations, a temporary commission +as charge d'affaires to that country has been issued, which it is +hoped will entirety restore the ordinary diplomatic intercourse +between the two Governments and the friendly relations between +their respective nations.</p> +<p>Turning from the momentous concerns of our Union in its +intercourse with foreign nations to those of the deepest interest +in the administration of our internal affairs, we find the +revenues of the present year corresponding as nearly as might be +expected with the anticipations of the last, and presenting an +aspect still more favorable in the promise of the next. The +balance in the Treasury on January 1 last was $6,358,686.18. The +receipts from that day to the 30th of September last, as hear as +the returns of them yet received can show, amount to +$16,886,581.32. The receipts of the present quarter, estimated at +$4,515,000, added to the above form an aggregate of $21,400,000 +of receipts. The expenditures of the year may perhaps amount to +$22,300,000, presenting a small excess over the receipts. But of +these twenty-two millions, upward of six have been applied to the +discharge of the principal of the public debt, the whole amount +of which, approaching seventy-four millions on the 1st of January +last, will on the first day of the next year fall short of +sixty-seven millions and a half. The balance in the Treasury on +the 1st of January next it is expected will exceed $5,450,000, a +sum exceeding that of the 1st of January, 1825, though falling +short of that exhibited on the 1st of January last.</p> +<p>It was foreseen that the revenue of the present year would not +equal that of the last, which had itself been less than that of +the next preceding year. But the hope has been realized which was +entertained, that these deficiencies would in nowise interrupt +the steady operation of the discharge of the public debt by the +annual ten millions devoted to that object by the act of 3d +March, 1817.</p> +<p>The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the +commencement of the year until the 30th of September last is +$21,226,000, and the probable amount of that which will be +secured during the remainder of the year is $5,774,000, forming a +sum total of $27,000,000. With the allowances for drawbacks and +contingent deficiencies which may occur, though not specifically +foreseen, we may safely estimate the receipts of the ensuing year +at $22,300,000-a revenue for the next equal to the expenditure of +the present year.</p> +<p>The deep solicitude felt by our citizens of all classes +throughout the Union for the total discharge of the public debt +will apologize for the earnestness with which I deem it my duty +to urge this topic upon the consideration of Congress-of +recommending to them again the observance of the strictest +economy in the application of the public funds. The depression +upon the receipts of the revenue which had commenced with the +year 1826 continued with increased severity during the two first +quarters of the present year. The returning tide began to flow +with the third quarter, and, so far as we can judge from +experience, may be expected to continue through the course of the +ensuing year. In the meantime an alleviation from the burden of +the public debt will in the three years have been effected to the +amount of nearly sixteen millions, and the charge of annual +interest will have been reduced upward of one million. But among +the maxims of political economy which the stewards of the public +moneys should never suffer without urgent hecessity to be +transcended is that of keeping the expenditures of the year +within the limits of its receipts. The appropriations of the two +last years, including the yearly ten millions of the sinking +fund, have each equaled the promised revenue of the ensuing year. +While we foresee with confidence that the public coffers will be +replenished from the receipts as fast as they will be drained by +the expenditures, equal in amount to those of the current year, +it should not be forgotten that they could ill suffer the +exhaustion of larger disbursements.</p> +<p>The condition of the Army and of all the branches of the +public service under the superintendence of the Secretary of War +will be seen by the report from that officer and the documents +with which it is accompanied.</p> +<p>During the last summer a detachment of the Army has been +usefully and successfully called to perform their appropriate +duties. At the moment when the commissioners appointed for +carrying into execution certain provisions of the treaty of +August 19, 1825, with various tribes of the Northwestern Indians +were about to arrive at the appointed place of meeting the +unprovoked murder of several citizens and other acts of +unequivocal hostility committed by a party of the Winnebago +tribe, one of those associated in the treaty, followed by +indications of a menacing character among other tribes of the +same region, rendered necessary an immediate display of the +defensive and protective force of the Union in that quarter. It +was accordingly exhibited by the immediate and concerted +movements of the governors of the State of Illinois and of the +Territory of Michigan, and competent levies of militia, under +their authority, with a corps of 700 men of United States troops, +under the command of General Atkinson, who, at the call of +Governor Cass, immediately repaired to the scene of danger from +their station at St. Louis. Their presence dispelled the alarms +of our fellow-citizens on those borders, and overawed the hostile +purposes of the Indians. The perpetrators of the murders were +surrendered to the authority and operation of our laws, and every +appearance of purposed hostility from those Indian tribes has +subsided.</p> +<p>Although the present organization of the Army and the +administration of its various branches of service are, upon the +whole, satisfactory, they are yet susceptible of much improvement +in particulars, some of which have been heretofore submitted to +the consideration of Congress, and others are now first presented +in the report of the Secretary of War.</p> +<p>The expediency of providing for additional numbers of officers +in the two corps of engineers will in some degree depend upon the +number and extent of the objects of national importance upon +which Congress may think it proper that surveys should be made +conformably to the act of the 30th of April, 1824. 'Of the +surveys which before the last session of Congress had been made +under the authority of that act, reports were made-</p> +<p>1. Of the Board of Internal Improvement, on the Chesapeake and +Ohio Canal.</p> +<p>2. On the continuation of the national road from Cumberland to +the tide waters within the district of Columbia.</p> +<p>3. On the continuation of the national road from Canton to +Zanesville.</p> +<p>4. On the location of the national road from Zanesville to +Columbus.</p> +<p>5. On the continuation of the same to the seat of government +in Missouri.</p> +<p>6. On a post-road from Baltimore to Philadelphia.</p> +<p>7. Of a survey of Kennebec River (in part).</p> +<p>8. On a national road from Washington to Buffalo.</p> +<p>9. On the survey of Saugatuck Harbor and River.</p> +<p>10. On a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi +River.</p> +<p>11. On surveys at Edgartown, Newburyport, and Hyannis +Harbor.</p> +<p>12. On survey of La Plaisance Bay, in the Territory of +Michigan.</p> +<p>And reports are now prepared and will be submitted to +Congress-</p> +<p>On surveys of the peninsula of Florida, to ascertain the +practicability of a canal to connect the waters of the Atlantic +with the Gulf of Mexico across that peninsula; and also of the +country between the bays of Mobile and of Pensacola, with the +view of connecting them together by a canal.</p> +<p>On surveys of a route for a canal to connect the waters of +James and Great Kenhawa rivers.</p> +<p>On the survey of the Swash, in Pamlico Sound, and that of Cape +Fear, below the town of Wilmington, in North Carolina.</p> +<p>On the survey of the Muscle Shoals, in the Tennessee River, +and for a route for a contemplated communication between the +Hiwassee and Coosa rivers, in the State of Alabama.</p> +<p>Other reports of surveys upon objects pointed out by the +several acts of Congress of the last and preceding sessions are +in the progress of preparation, and most of them may be completed +before the close of this session. All the officers of both corps +of engineers, with several other persons duly qualified, have +been constantly employed upon these services from the passage of +the act of 30th April, 1824, to this time. Were no other +advantage to accrue to the country from their labors than the +fund of topographical knowledge which they have collected and +communicated, that alone would have been a profit to the Union +more than adequate to all the expenditures which have been +devoted to the object; but the appropriations for the repair and +continuation of the Cumberland road, for the construction of +various other roads, for the removal of obstructions from the +rivers and harbors, for the erection of light-houses, beacons, +piers, and buoys, and for the completion of canals undertaken by +individual associations, but heeding the assistance of means and +resources more comprehensive than individual enterprise can +command, may be considered rather as treasures laid up from the +contributions of the present age for the benefit of posterity +than as unrequited applications of the accruing revenues of the +nation. To such objects of permanent improvement to the condition +of the country, of real addition to the wealth as well as to the +comfort of the people by whose authority and resources they have +been effected, from three to four millions of the annual income +of the nation have, by laws enacted at the three most recent +sessions of Congress, been applied, without intrenching upon the +necessities of the Treasury, without adding a dollar to the taxes +or debts of the community, without suspending even the steady and +regular discharge of the debts contracted in former days, which +within the same three years have been diminished by the amount of +nearly $16,000,000.</p> +<p>The same observations are in a great degree applicable to the +appropriations made for fortifications upon the coasts and +harbors of the United States, for the maintenance of the Military +Academy at West Point, and for the various objects under the +superintendence of the Department of the Navy. The report from +the Secretary of the Navy and those from the subordinate branches +of both the military departments exhibit to Congress in minute +detail the present condition of the public establishments +dependent upon them, the execution of the acts of Congress +relating to them, and the views of the officers engaged in the +several branches of the service concerning the improvements which +may tend to their perfection. The fortification of the coasts and +the gradual increase and improvement of the Navy are parts of a +great system of national defense which has been upward of ten +years in progress, and which for a series of years to come will +continue to claim the constant and persevering protection and +superintendence of the legislative authority. Among the measures +which have emanated from these principles the act of the last +session of Congress for the gradual improvement of the Navy holds +a conspicuous place. The collection of timber for the future +construction of vessels of war, the preservation and reproduction +of the species of timber peculiarly adapted to that purpose, the +construction of dry docks for the use of the Navy, the erection +of a marine railway for the repair of the public ships, and the +improvement of the navy-yards for the preservation of the public +property deposited in them have all received from the Executive +the attention required by that act, and will continue to receive +it, steadily proceeding toward the execution of all its purposes. +The establishment of a naval academy, furnishing the means of +theoretic instruction to the youths who devote their lives to the +service of their country upon the ocean, still solicits the +sanction of the Legislature. Practical seamanship and the art of +navigation may be acquired on the cruises of the squadrons which +from time to time are dispatched to distant seas, but a competent +knowledge even of the art of shipbuilding, the higher +mathematics, and astronomy; the literature which can place our +officers on a level of polished education with the officers of +other maritime nations; the knowledge of the laws, municipal and +national, which in their intercourse with foreign states and +their governments are continually called into operation, and, +above all, that acquaintance with the principles of honor and +justice, with the higher obligations of morals and of general +laws, human and divine, which constitutes the great distinction +between the warrior-patriot and the licensed robber and +pirate-these can be systematically taught and eminently acquired +only in a permanent school, stationed upon the shore and provided +with the teachers, the instruments, and the books conversant with +and adapted to the communication of the principles of these +respective sciences to the youthful and inquiring mind.</p> +<p>The report from the Postmaster-General exhibits the condition +of that Department as highly satisfactory for the present and +still more promising for the future. Its receipts for the year +ending the 1st of July last amounted to $1,473,551, and exceeded +its expenditures by upward of $100,000. It can not be an +oversanguine estimate to predict that in less than ten years, of +which one-half have elapsed, the receipts will have been more +than doubled. In the meantime a reduced expenditure upon +established routes has kept pace with increased facilities of +public accommodation and additional services have been obtained +at reduced rates of compensation. Within the last year the +transportation of the mail in stages has been greatly augmented. +The number of post-offices has been increased to 7,000, and it +may be anticipated that while the facilities of intercourse +between fellow-citizens in person or by correspondence will soon +be carried to the door of every villager in the Union, a yearly +surplus of revenue will accrue which may be applied as the wisdom +of Congress under the exercise of their constitutional powers may +devise for the further establishment and improvement of the +public roads, or by adding still further to the facilities in the +transportation of the mails. Of the indications of the prosperous +condition of our country, none can be more pleasing than those +presented by the multiplying relations of personal and intimate +intercourse between the citizens of the Union dwelling at the +remotest distances from each other.</p> +<p>Among the subjects which have heretofore occupied the earnest +solicitude and attention of Congress is the management and +disposal of that portion of the property of the nation which +consists of the public lands. The acquisition of them, made at +the expense of the whole Union, not only in treasure but in +blood, marks a right of property in them equally extensive. By +the report and statements from the General Land Office now +communicated it appears that under the present Government of the +United States a sum little short of $33,000,000 has been paid +from the common Treasury for that portion of this property which +has been purchased from France and Spain, and for the extinction +of the aboriginal titles. The amount of lands acquired is hear +260,000,000 acres, of which on the 1st of January, 1826, about +139,000,000 acres had been surveyed, and little more than +19,000,000 acres had been sold. The amount paid into the Treasury +by the purchasers of the public lands sold is not yet equal to +the sums paid for the whole, but leaves a small balance to be +refunded. The proceeds of the sales of the lands have long been +pledged to the creditors of the nation, a pledge from which we +have reason to hope that they will in a very few years be +redeemed.</p> +<p>The system upon which this great national interest has been +managed was the result of long, anxious, and persevering +deliberation. Matured and modified by the progress of our +population and the lessons of experience, it has been hitherto +eminently successful. More than nine-tenths of the lands still +remain the common property of the Union, the appropriation and +disposal of which are sacred trusts in the hands of Congress. Of +the lands sold, a considerable part were conveyed under extended +credits, which in the vicissitudes and fluctuations in the value +of lands and of their produce became oppressively burdensome to +the purchasers. It can never be the interest or the policy of the +nation to wring from its own citizens the reasonable profits of +their industry and enterprise by holding them to the rigorous +import of disastrous engagements. In March, 1821, a debt of +$22,000,000, due by purchasers of the public lands, had +accumulated, which they were unable to pay. An act of Congress of +the 2d March, 1821, came to their relief, and has been succeeded +by others, the latest being the act of the 4th of May, 1826, the +indulgent provisions of which expired on the 4th July last. The +effect of these laws has been to reduce the debt from the +purchasers to a remaining balance of about $4,300,000 due, more +than three-fifths of which are for lands within the State of +Alabama. I recommend to Congress the revival and continuance for +a further term of the beneficent accommodations to the public +debtors of that statute, and submit to their consideration, in +the same spirit of equity, the remission, under proper +discriminations, of the forfeitures of partial payments on +account of purchases of the public lands, so far as to allow of +their application to other payments.</p> +<p>There are various other subjects of deep interest to the whole +Union which have heretofore been recommended to the consideration +of Congress, as well by my predecessors as, under the impression +of the duties devolving upon me, by myself. Among these are the +debt, rather of justice than gratitude, to the surviving warriors +of the Revolutionary war; the extension of the judicial +administration of the Federal Government to those extensive and +important members of the Union which, having risen into existence +since the organization of the present judiciary establishment, +now constitute at least one-third of its territory, power, and +population; the formation of a more effective and uniform system +for the government of the militia, and the amelioration in some +form or modification of the diversified and often oppressive +codes relating to insolvency. Amidst the multiplicity of topics +of great national concernment which may recommend themselves to +the calm and patriotic deliberations of the Legislature, it may +suffice to say that on these and all other measures which may +receive their sanction my hearty cooperation will be given, +conformably to the duties enjoined upon me and under the sense of +all the obligations prescribed by the Constitution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>SPECIAL MESSAGES.</h2> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 6, 1827</i>.<br> +</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 19th of +February last, requesting a statement of all the expenses +annually incurred in carrying into effect the act of March 2, +1819, for prohibiting the slave trade, including the cost of +keeping the ships of war on the coast of Africa and all the +incidental expenses growing out of the operation of that act, I +transmit a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with the +statement, so far as it can be made, required by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 11, 1827</i>.<span class="c4"><br> +</span></p> +<p><span class="c4"><br> +</span> <i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate-</p> +<p>1. A convention between the United States and Great Britain +for the continuance in force of the convention of 3d July, 1815, +after the 20th October, 1828, the term at which it would +otherwise expire.</p> +<p>2. A convention between the same parties for continuing in +force after the 20th October, 1828, the provisions of the third +article of the convention of 20th October, 1818, in relation to +the territories westward of the Rocky Mountains.</p> +<p>3. A convention between the same parties for the reference to +a friendly sovereign of the points of difference between them +relating to the northeastern boundary of the United States.</p> +<p>The first and second of these conventions were signed by the +plenipotentiaries of the respective parties at London on the 6th +day of August and the third on the 29th day of September +last.</p> +<p>Copies of them are also communicated, together with the +correspondence and documents illustrative of their +negotiation.</p> +<p>I request the advice of the Senate with regard to the +ratification of each of them.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 11, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the +United States and the Kingdom of. Sweden and Norway, signed at +Stockholm by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the +4th day of July last.</p> +<p>A copy of the treaty, with a translation, and the instructions +and correspondence relating to the negotiation are also +communicated.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 12, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to Congress copies of a report of the +surveyor-general of lands northwest of Ohio, with a plat of the +northern boundary line of the State of Indiana, surveyed in +conformity to the act of Congress to authorize the President of +the United States to ascertain and designate the northern +boundary of the State of Indiana, passed the 2d of March, +1827.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 24, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 14th +instant, requesting a communication of the instructions to the +American minister at London for the negotiation of the convention +of the 13th of November, 1826, with Great Britain, for indemnity +to the claimants under the first article of the treaty of Ghent, +together with the letters of the minister accompanying and +explaining the said convention, I transmit herewith a report from +the Secretary of State, together with the documents desired.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 4, 1828</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 19th of +last month, I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of +State, with copies of the correspondence with the British +Government relating to the establishment of light-houses, +light-vessels, buoys, and other improvements to the navigation +within their jurisdiction, opposite to the coast of Florida, +referred to in the resolution,</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 7, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 17th of last month, I transmit to the +House a report from the Secretary of State and the correspondence +with the Government of Great Britain relative to the free +navigation of the river St. Lawrence.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 9, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 7th +instant, I transmit herewith Mitchell's map and the map marked +A,<a name="FNanchor013"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_013"><sup>[013]</sup></a> as requested by the +resolution, desiring that when the Senate shall have no further +use for them they may be returned.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 15, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 2d instant, requesting information +respecting the recovery of debts and property in the Mexican +States from persons absconding from the United States, and also +respecting the boundary between the State of Louisiana and the +Province of Texas, I now transmit a report from the Secretary of +State on the subject-matter of the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 22, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, +articles of agreement signed at the Creek Agency on the 15th of +November last by Thomas L. McKenney and John Crowell in behalf of +the United States and by the Little Prince and other chiefs and +headmen of the Creek Nation, with a supplementary article +concluded by the said John Crowell with the chiefs and headmen of +the nation in general council convened on the 3d instant, +embracing a cession by the Creek Nation of all the remnant of +their lands within the State of Georgia. Documents connected with +the negotiation of the treaty and the instructions under which it +was effected are also communicated to the Senate.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 22, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>By the report of the Secretary of War and the documents from +that Department exhibited to Congress at the commencement of +their present session they were advised of the measures taken for +carrying into execution the act of 4th May, 1826, to authorize +the President of the United States to run and mark a line +dividing the Territory of Florida from the State of Georgia, and +of their unsuccessful result. I now transmit to Congress copies +of communications received from the governor of Georgia relating +to that subject.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 23, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>A resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant requested +information relative to the trade between the United States and +the colonies of France. A report from the Secretary of State, +with a translation of the ordinance of the King of France of the +5th of February, 1826, is herewith transmitted, containing the +information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 28, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate-</p> +<p>1. A treaty concluded at the Butte des Morts, on Fox River, in +the Territory of Michigan, on 11th of August, 1827, between Lewis +Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners of the United States, +and the chiefs and headmen of the Chippewa, Menomonie, and +Winnebago tribes of Indians.</p> +<p>2. A treaty concluded at St. Joseph, in the Territory of +Michigan, on the 19th of September, 1827, between Lewis Cass, +commissioner of the United States, and the chiefs and warriors of +the Potawatamie tribe of Indians.</p> +<p>Upon which treaties I request the advice of the Senate. The +instructions and other documents relating to the negotiation of +them are here-with communicated.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 29</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>A report from the Secretary of State, with copies of a recent +correspondence between the chargé d'affaires from Brazil +and him on the subjects of discussion between this Government and +that of Brazil,<a name="FNanchor014"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_014"><sup>[014]</sup></a> is transmitted to the House +of Representatives, in compliance with a resolution of the House +of the 2d instant.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 6, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate herewith to Congress copies of a treaty of +commerce and navigation between the United States and His Majesty +the King of Sweden and Norway, concluded at Stockholm on the 4th +of July, 1827, and the ratifications of which were exchanged on +the 18th ultimo at this city.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 14, 1828</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the nth +instant, requesting copies of the instructions to Andrew +Ellicott, commissioner for running the line between the United +States and Spain, and of any journal or report of the +commissioners, I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary +of State, with the documents requested, so far as they are found +in the files of that Department.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 21, 1828</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In transmitting to Congress copies of a communication received +from the governor of Pennsylvania, with certain resolutions of +the legislature of that Commonwealth, relating to the Cumberland +road, I deem it my duty to recommend to the consideration of +Congress an adequate provision for the permanent preservation and +repair of that great national work.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 3, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of State, with documents, containing the instructions +of the Government of the United States to Thomas Pinckney under +which was negotiated the treaty of San Lorenzo el Real, and +relating to the boundary line between the United States and the +dominions, at that time, of Spain as requested by a resolution of +the House of the 18th ultimo.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 3, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d of +January last, requesting the communication of information in my +possession relative to alleged aggression on the rights of +citizens of the United States by persons claiming authority under +the government of the Province of New Brunswick, I communicate a +report from the Secretary of State, with a copy of that of the +special agent mentioned in my message at the commencement of the +present session of Congress as having been sent to visit the spot +where the cause of complaint had occurred to ascertain the state +of the facts, and the result of whose inquiries I then promised +to communicate to Congress when it should be received.</p> +<p>The Senate are requested to receive this communication as the +fulfillment of that engagement; and in making it I deem it proper +to notice with just acknowledgment the liberality with which the +minister of His Britannic Majesty residing here and the +government of the Province of New Brunswick have furnished the +agent of the United States with every facility for the attainment +of the information which it was the object of his mission to +procure.</p> +<p>Considering the exercise of exclusive territorial jurisdiction +upon the grounds in controversy by the government of New +Brunswick in the arrest and imprisonment of John Baker as +incompatible with the mutual understanding existing between the +Governments of the United States and of Great Britain on this +subject, a demand has been addressed to the provincial +authorities through the minister of Great Britain for the release +of that individual from prison, and of indemnity to him for his +detention'. In doing this it has not been intended to maintain +the regularity of his own proceedings or of those with whom he +was associated, to which they were not authorized by any +sovereign authority of this country.</p> +<p>The documents appended to the report of the agent being +original papers belonging to the files of the Department of +State, a return of them is requested when the Senate shall have +no further use for them.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 7, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>The resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, requesting me +to cause to be laid before the Senate all papers which might be +in the Department of War relating to the treaty concluded at the +Butte des Morts, on Fox River, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. +McKenney, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the +Chippewa, Menomonie, and Winnebago tribes of Indians, having been +referred to the Secretary of War, the report of that officer +thereon is herewith inclosed. The papers therein referred to were +all transmitted to the Senate with the treaty. Before that event, +however, a petition and several other papers had been addressed +directly to me, in behalf of certain Indians originally and in +part still residing within the State of New York, objecting to +the ratification of the treaty, as affecting injuriously their +rights and interests. The treaty was itself withheld from the +Senate until it was understood at the War Department and by me +that by the consent of the persons representing the New York +Indians their objections were withdrawn, as by one of them, the +Reverend Eleazer Williams, I was personally assured. Those +papers, however, addressed directly to me, and which have not +been upon the files of the War Department, are now transmitted to +the Senate.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 14, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, +a treaty concluded at the Wyandot village, hear the Wabash, in +the State of Indiana, between John Tipton, commissioner on the +part of the United States, and the chiefs, headmen, and warriors +of the Eel River or Thorntown party of Miami Indians, on the nth +day of February last.</p> +<p>A letter from the commissioner to the Secretary of War, with a +copy of the journal of the proceedings which led to the +conclusion of the treaty, are communicated with it to the +Senate.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 15, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 21st +ultimo, requesting me to lay before the House correspondence not +heretofore communicated between the Government of the United +States and that of Great Britain on the subject of the claims of +the two Governments to the territory westward of the Rocky +Mountains, I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of +State, with the documents requested by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 21, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty concluded on the +15th day of November, 1827, by commissioners of the United States +and the chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation of Indians, which +was duly ratified on the 4th instant.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 22, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 3d instant, touching the formation of a +new government by the Cherokee tribe of Indians within the States +of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama, and +requesting copies of certain correspondence relating thereto, I +transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of War, together with the documents desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 25, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +prepared in compliance with the resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 25th of February last, requesting copies +of instructions and correspondence relating to the settlement of +the boundary lines of the United States, or any one of them, +under the Government of the Confederated States and by the +definitive treaty of peace of 3d September, 1783, with Great +Britain.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 8, 1828</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 22d ultimo, on the subject of the treaty +with the Creek Nation of Indians of the 15th November last, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with the +documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 15, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 9th +instant, requesting copies of the charges preferred against the +agent of the United States for the Creek tribe of Indians since +the 1st of January, 1826, and of proceedings had thereon, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with +documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 17, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In conformity with the practice of all my predecessors, I have +during my service in the office of President transmitted to the +two Houses of Congress from time to time, by the same private +secretary, such messages as a proper discharge of my +constitutional duty appeared to me to require. On Tuesday last he +was charged with the delivery of a message to each House. Having +presented that which was intended for the House of +Representatives, whilst he was passing, within the Capitol, from +their Hall to the Chamber of the Senate, for the purpose of +delivering the other message, he was waylaid and assaulted in the +Rotunda by a person, in the presence of a member of the House, +who interposed and separated the parties.</p> +<p>I have thought it my duty to communicate this occurrence to +Congress, to whose wisdom it belongs to consider whether it is of +a nature requiring from them any animadversion, and also whether +any further laws or regulations are necessary to insure security +in the official intercourse between the President and Congress, +and to prevent disorders within the Capitol itself.</p> +<p>In the deliberations of Congress upon this subject it is +neither expected nor desired that any consequence shall be +attached to the private relation in which my secretary stands to +me.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 21, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, +a treaty of limits between the United States of America and the +United Mexican States, concluded by the plenipotentiaries of the +two Governments on the 12th of January last. A copy of the treaty +and the protocols of conference between the plenipotentiaries +during the negotiation are inclosed with it.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 22,1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>A copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General, dated 17th May, +1826, upon the construction of the award of the Emperor of Russia +under the treaty of Ghent and upon certain questions propounded +to him in relation thereto, subjoined to a report from the +Secretary of State, are herewith communicated to the House, in +compliance with their resolution of the 17th instant.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 24, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for the exercise of their +constitutional authority thereon, a treaty of amity, commerce, +and navigation between the United States of America and the +United Mexican States, signed by their respective +plenipotentiaries on the 14th of February last, with a copy of +the treaty and the protocols of conference during and subsequent +to the negotiation.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 28,1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 9th instant, requesting a communication of +the correspondence between this Government and that of Great +Britain on the subject of the trade between the United States and +the British colonial possessions in the West Indies and North +America, not heretofore communicated, I transmit to the House a +report from the Secretary of State, with the correspondence +desired.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 30, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In the month of December last 121 African negroes were landed +at Key West from a Spanish slave-trading vessel stranded within +the jurisdiction of the United States while pursued by an armed +schooner in His Britannic Majesty's service. The collector of the +customs at Key West took possession of these persons, who were +afterwards delivered over to the marshal of the Territory of East +Florida, by whom they were conveyed to St. Augustine, where they +still remain.</p> +<p>Believing that the circumstances under which they have been +cast upon the compassion of the country are not embraced by the +provisions of the act of Congress of 3d March, 1819, or of the +other acts prohibiting the slave trade, I submit to the +consideration of Congress the expediency of a supplementary act +directing and authorizing such measures as may be necessary for +removing them from the territory of the United States and for +fulfilling toward them the obligations of humanity.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 1, 1828</i>. <i>To the Senate of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 17th +ultimo, relating to the removal of the Indian agency from Fort +Wayne, in the State of Indiana, I transmit a report from the +Secretary of War, with the documents and information requested by +the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 5, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 30th +ultimo, requesting information concerning any regulation of the +Government of Brazil relative to the reduction of certain duties, +I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +exhibiting the information received at that Department on the +subject.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 5,1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to the Senate, for their consideration and +advice, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United +States and His Majesty the King of Prussia, signed on the 1st +instant at this place by the Secretary of State and the +chargé d'affaires of Prussia residing here. A copy of the +treaty is also transmitted.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 9, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>The report of the Secretary of War herewith transmitted, with +the documents annexed, contains the information requested by a +resolution of the 3d of April last, relating to the payments made +to the citizens of Georgia under the fourth article of the treaty +with the Creek Nation of 8th February, 1821, and to the +disallowances of certain claims exhibited under that treaty, and +to the reasons for rejecting the same.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 12, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, +the articles of a convention concluded at this place on the 6th +instant between the Secretary of War and the chiefs and headmen +of the Cherokee Nation west of the Mississippi, duly authorized +by their nation. A report from the Secretary of War, with certain +documents, and a map illustrative of the convention are submitted +with it to the Senate.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 16, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>By a communication received from the chargé d'affaires +of Prussia, a translation of which is herewith transmitted, it +appears that in the ports of that Kingdom all discriminating +duties so far as they affected the vessels of the United States +and their cargoes have been abolished since the 15th of April, +1826. I recommend to the consideration of Congress a legislative +provision whereby the reciprocal application of the same +principle may be extended to Prussian vessels and their cargoes +which may have arrived in the ports of the United States from and +after that day.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 19, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress copies of three conventions concluded +between the United States of America and His Majesty the King of +the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the +ratifications of which were exchanged at London on the 2d of last +month:</p> +<p>1. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in +force the provisions of the convention of 3d July, 1815.</p> +<p>2. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in +force the provisions of the third article of the convention of +20th October, 1818.</p> +<p>3. A convention concluded 29th September, 1827, for carrying +into effect the provisions of the fifth article of the treaty of +Ghent in relation to the northeastern boundary of the United +States.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 21, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House a report<a name="FNanchor015"></a><a +href="#Footnote_015"><sup>[015]</sup></a> from the Secretary of +State, with a copy of the note of the minister of the United +States to Spain dated 20th January, 1826, requested by a +resolution of the House of the 19th instant.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 22, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>The inclosed report from the Secretary of State is accompanied +by copies of the correspondence between this Government and the +minister of His Britannic Majesty residing here relating to the +arrest and imprisonment of John Baker,<a name= +"FNanchor016"></a><a href="#Footnote_016"><sup>[016]</sup></a> +requested by a recent resolution of the House.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 22, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty between the United +States of America and the Eel River or Thornton party of Miami +Indians, concluded on the nth of February last at the Wyandot +village, hear the Wabash, and duly ratified on the 7th +instant.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 23, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 8th +instant, relating to the accounts and official conduct of Thomas +A. Smith, receiver of public moneys at Franklin, Mo., I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with +documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 23, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 30th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of State, with copies of the correspondence<a +name="FNanchor017"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_017"><sup>[017]</sup></a> with the Brazilian +Government, and shewing the measures taken by the Government of +the United States in relation to the several topics noticed in +the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2>PROCLAMATION.</h2> +<br> + +<p>By the President of the United States of America.</p> +<p>A PROCLAMATION.</p> +<br> + +<p>Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the +7th of January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating +duties of tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon +satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United +States by the government of any foreign nation that no +discriminating duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied +within the ports of the said nation upon vessels belonging wholly +to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise the produce +or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President is +thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the +foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the +United States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far +as respects the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of +its produce or manufacture imported into the United States in the +same, the said suspension to take effect from the time of such +notification being given to the President of the United States, +and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels +belonging to citizens of the United States and merchandise as +aforesaid thereon laden shall be continued, and no longer; +and</p> +<p>Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His +Britannic Majesty, as King of Hanover, through the Right +Honorable Charles Richard Vaughan, his envoy extraordinary and +minister plenipotentiary, that vessels wholly belonging to +citizens of the United States or merchandise the produce or +manufacture thereof imported in such vessels are not nor shall be +on their entering any Hanoverian port subject to the payment of +higher duties of tonnage or impost than are levied on Hanoverian +ships or merchandise the produce or manufacture of the United +States imported in such vessels:</p> +<p>Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United +States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of +the several acts imposing duties on the tonnage of ships and +vessels and on goods, wares, and merchandise imported into the +United States as imposed a discriminating duty of tonnage between +the vessels of the Kingdom of Hanover and vessels of the United +States and between goods imported into the United States in +vessels of the Kingdom of Hanover and vessels of the United +States are suspended and discontinued so far as the same respect +the produce or manufacture of the said Kingdom of Hanover, the +said suspension to take effect this day and to continue +henceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels +of the United States and of the merchandise laden therein as +aforesaid shall be continued in the ports of the Kingdom of +Hanover.</p> +<p>Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 1st day +of July, A. D. 1828, and the fifty-second year of the +Independence of the United States.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p>By the President:</p> +<p>H. Clay, <i><br> + Secretary of State</i>.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<h2>EXECUTIVE ORDER.</h2> +<p><br> + Department of War,<br> + <i>February 28, 1828</i>.</p> +<p>The Secretary of War, by direction of the President of the +United States, announces to the Army the painful intelligence of +the decease (the 24th of February) of Major-General Brown.</p> +<p>To say that he was one of the men who have rendered most +important services to his country would fall far short of the +tribute due to his character. Uniting with the most unaffected +simplicity the highest degree of personal valor and of +intellectual energy, he stands preeminent before the world and +for after ages in that band of heroic spirits who upon the ocean +and the land formed and sustained during the second war with +Great Britain the martial reputation of their country. To this +high and honorable purpose General Brown may be truly said to +have sacrificed his life, for the disease which abridged his days +and has terminated his career at a period scarcely beyond the +meridian of manhood undoubtedly originated in the hardships of +his campaigns on the Canada frontier, and in that glorious wound +which, though desperate, could not remove him from the field of +battle till it was won.</p> +<p>Quick to perceive, sagacious to anticipate, prompt to decide, +and daring in execution, he was born with the qualities which +constitute a great commander. His military <i>coup d'oeil</i>. +his intuitive penetration, his knowledge of men and his capacity +to control them were known to all his companions in arms, and +commanded their respect; while the gentleness of his disposition, +the courtesy of his deportment, his scrupulous regard to their +rights, his constant attention to their wants, and his +affectionate attachment to their persons universally won their +hearts and bound them to him as a father.</p> +<p>Calm and collected in the presence of the enemy, he was withal +tender of human life; in the hour of battle more sparing of the +blood of the soldier than his own. In the hour of victory the +vanquished enemy found in him a humane and compassionate friend. +Not one drop of blood shed in wantonness or cruelty sullies the +purity of his fame. Defeat he was never called to endure, but in +the crisis of difficulty and danger he displayed untiring +patience and fortitude not to be overcome.</p> +<p>Such was the great and accomplished captain whose loss the +Army has now, in common with their fellow-citizens of all +classes, to deplore. While indulging the kindly impulses of +nature and yielding the tribute of a tear upon his grave, let it +not be permitted to close upon his bright example as it must upon +his mortal remains. Let him be more nobly sepulchered in the +hearts of his fellow-soldiers, and his imperishable monument be +found in their endeavors to emulate his virtues.</p> +<p>The officers of the Army will wear the badge of mourning for +six months on the left arm and hilt of the sword. Guns will be +fired at each military post at intervals of thirty minutes from +the rising to the setting of the sun on the day succeeding the +arrival of this order, during which the National flag will be +suspended at half-mast.</p> +<p>James Barbour.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<h2>FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.</h2> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 2, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of +Representatives</i>:</p> +<p>If the enjoyment in profusion of the bounties of Providence +forms a suitable subject of mutual gratulation and grateful +acknowledgment, we are admonished at this return of the season +when the representatives of the nation are assembled to +deliberate upon their concerns to offer up the tribute of fervent +and grateful hearts for the never-failing mercies of Him who +ruleth over all. He has again favored us with healthful seasons +and abundant harvests; He has sustained us in peace with foreign +countries and in tranquillity within our borders; He has +preserved us in the quiet and undisturbed possession of civil and +religious liberty; He has crowned the year with His goodness, +imposing on us no other conditions than of improving for our own +happiness the blessings bestowed by His hands, and, in the +fruition of all His favors, of devoting the faculties with which +we have been endowed by Him to His glory and to our own temporal +and eternal welfare.</p> +<p>In the relations of our Federal Union with our brethren of the +human race the changes which have occurred since the close of +your last session have generally tended to the preservation of +peace and to the cultivation of harmony. Before your last +separation a war had unhappily been kindled between the Empire of +Russia, one of those with which our intercourse has been no other +than a constant exchange of good offices, and that of the Ottoman +Porte, a nation from which geographical distance, religious +opinions and maxims of government on their part little suited to +the formation of those bonds of mutual benevolence which result +from the benefits of commerce had kept us in a state, perhaps too +much prolonged, of coldness and alienation. The extensive, +fertile, and populous dominions of the Sultan belong rather to +the Asiatic than the European division of the human family. They +enter but partially into the system of Europe, nor have their +wars with Russia and Austria, the European States upon which they +border, for more than a century past disturbed the pacific +relations of those States with the other great powers of Europe. +Neither France nor Prussia nor Great Britain has ever taken part +in them, nor is it to be expected that they will at this time. +The declaration of war by Russia has received the approbation or +acquiescence of her allies, and we may indulge the hope that its +progress and termination will be signalized by the moderation and +forbearance no less than by the energy of the Emperor Nicholas, +and that it will afford the opportunity for such collateral +agency in behalf of the suffering Greeks as will secure to them +ultimately the triumph of humanity and of freedom.</p> +<p>The state of our particular relations with France has scarcely +varied in the course of the present year. The commercial +intercourse between the two countries has continued to increase +for the mutual benefit of both. The claims of indemnity to +numbers of our fellow-citizens for depredations upon their +property, heretofore committed during the revolutionary +governments, remain unadjusted, and still form the subject of +earnest representation and remonstrance. Recent advices from the +minister of the United States at Paris encourage the expectation +that the appeal to the justice of the French Government will ere +long receive a favorable consideration.</p> +<p>The last friendly expedient has been resorted to for the +decision of the controversy with Great Britain relating to the +northeastern boundary of the United States. By an agreement with +the British Government, carrying into effect the provisions of +the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, and the convention of +29th September, 1827, His Majesty the King of the Netherlands has +by common consent been selected as the umpire between the +parties. The proposal to him to accept the designation for the +performance of this friendly office will be made at an early day, +and the United States, relying upon the justice of their cause, +will cheerfully commit the arbitrament of it to a prince equally +distinguished for the independence of his spirit, his +indefatigable assiduity to the duties of his station, and his +inflexible personal probity.</p> +<p>Our commercial relations with Great Britain will deserve the +serious consideration of Congress and the exercise of a +conciliatory and forbearing spirit in the policy of both +Governments. The state of them has been materially changed by the +act of Congress, passed at their last session, in alteration of +the several acts imposing duties on imports, and by acts of more +recent date of the British Parliament. The effect of the +interdiction of direct trade, commenced by Great Britain and +reciprocated by the United States, has been, as was to be +foreseen, only to substitute different channels for an exchange +of commodities indispensable to the colonies and profitable to a +numerous class of our fellow-citizens. The exports, the revenue, +the navigation of the United States have suffered no diminution +by our exclusion from direct access to the British colonies. The +colonies pay more dearly for the necessaries of life which their +Government burdens with the charges of double voyages, freight, +insurance, and commission, and the profits of our exports are +somewhat impaired and more injuriously transferred from one +portion of our citizens to another. The resumption of this old +and otherwise exploded system of colonial exclusion has not +secured to the shipping interest of Great Britain the relief +which, at the expense of the distant colonies and of the United +States, it was expected to afford. Other measures have been +resorted to more pointedly bearing upon the navigation of the +United States, and which, unless modified by the construction +given to the recent acts of Parliament, will be manifestly +incompatible with the positive stipulations of the commercial +convention existing between the two countries. That convention, +however, may be terminated with twelve months' notice, at the +option of either party.</p> +<p>A treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce between the United +States and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary +and Bohemia, has been prepared for signature by the Secretary of +State and by the Baron de Lederer, intrusted with full powers of +the Austrian Government. Independently of the new and friendly +relations which may be thus commenced with one of the most +eminent and powerful nations of the earth, the occasion has been +taken in it, as in other recent treaties concluded by the United +States, to extend those principles of liberal intercourse and of +fair reciprocity which intertwine with the exchanges of commerce +the principles of justice and the feelings of mutual benevolence. +This system, first proclaimed to the world in the first +commercial treaty ever concluded by the United States-that of 6th +February, 1778, with France-has been invariably the cherished +policy of our Union. It is by treaties of commerce alone that it +can be made ultimately to prevail as the established system of +all civilized nations. With this principle our fathers extended +the hand of friendship to every nation of the globe, and to this +policy our country has ever since adhered. Whatever of regulation +in our laws has ever been adopted unfavorable to the interest of +any foreign nation has been essentially defensive and +counteracting to similar regulations of theirs operating against +us.</p> +<p>Immediately after the close of the War of Independence +commissioners were appointed by the Congress of the Confederation +authorized to conclude treaties with every nation of Europe +disposed to adopt them. Before the wars of the French Revolution +such treaties had been consummated with the United Netherlands, +Sweden, and Prussia. During those wars treaties with Great +Britain and Spain had been effected, and those with Prussia and +France renewed. In all these some concessions to the liberal +principles of intercourse proposed by the United States had been +obtained; but as in all the negotiations they came occasionally +in collision with previous internal regulations or exclusive and +excluding compacts of monopoly with which the other parties had +been trammeled, the advances made in them toward the freedom of +trade were partial and imperfect. Colonial establishments, +chartered companies, and shipbuilding influence pervaded and +encumbered the legislation of all the great commercial states; +and the United States, in offering free trade and equal privilege +to all, were compelled to acquiesce in many exceptions with each +of the parties to their treaties, accommodated to their existing +laws and anterior engagements.</p> +<p>The colonial system by which this whole hemisphere was bound +has fallen into ruins, totally abolished by revolutions +converting colonies into independent nations throughout the two +American continents, excepting a portion of territory chiefly at +the northern extremity of our own, and confined to the remnants +of dominion retained by Great Britain over the insular +archipelago, geographically the appendages of our part of the +globe. With all the rest we have free trade, even with the +insular colonies of all the European nations, except Great +Britain. Her Government also had manifested approaches to the +adoption of a free and liberal intercourse between her colonies +and other nations, though by a sudden and scarcely explained +revulsion the spirit of exclusion has been revived for operation +upon the United States alone.</p> +<p>The conclusion of our last treaty of peace with Great Britain +was shortly afterwards followed by a commercial convention, +placing the direct intercourse between the two countries upon a +footing of more equal reciprocity than had ever before been +admitted. The same principle has since been much further extended +by treaties with France, Sweden, Denmark, the Hanseatic cities, +Prussia, in Europe, and with the Republics of Colombia and of +Central America, in this hemisphere. The mutual abolition of +discriminating duties and charges upon the navigation and +commercial intercourse between the parties is the general maxim +which characterizes them all. There is reason to expect that it +will at no distant period be adopted by other nations, both of +Europe and America, and to hope that by its universal prevalence +one of the fruitful sources of wars of commercial competition +will be extinguished.</p> +<p>Among the nations upon whose Governments many of our +fellow-citizens have had long-pending claims of indemnity for +depredations upon their property during a period when the rights +of neutral commerce were disregarded was that of Denmark. They +were soon after the events occurred the subject of a special +mission from the United States, at the close of which the +assurance was given by His Danish Majesty that at a period of +more tranquillity and of less distress they would be considered, +examined, and decided upon in a spirit of determined purpose for +the dispensation of justice. I have much pleasure in informing +Congress that the fulfillment of this honorable promise is now in +progress; that a small portion of the claims has already been +settled to the satisfaction of the claimants, and that we have +reason to hope that the remainder will shortly be placed in a +train of equitable adjustment. This result has always been +confidently expected, from the character of personal integrity +and of benevolence which the Sovereign of the Danish dominions +has through every vicissitude of fortune maintained.</p> +<p>The general aspect of the affairs of our highborn American +nations of the south has been rather of approaching than of +settled tranquillity. Internal disturbances have been more +frequent among them than their common friends would have desired. +Our intercourse with all has continued to be that of friendship +and of mutual good will. Treaties of commerce and of boundaries +with the United Mexican States have been negotiated, but, from +various successive obstacles, not yet brought to a final +conclusion.</p> +<p>The civil war which unfortunately still prevails in the +Republics of Central America has been unpropitious to the +cultivation of our commercial relations with them; and the +dissensions and revolutionary changes in the Republics of +Colombia and of Peru have been seen with cordial regret by us, +who would gladly contribute to the happiness of both. It is with +great satisfaction, however, that we have witnessed the recent +conclusion of a peace between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and +of Brazil, and it is equally gratifying to observe that indemnity +has been obtained for some of the injuries which our +fellow-citizens had sustained in the latter of those countries. +The rest are in a train of negotiation, which we hope may +terminate to mutual satisfaction, and that it may be succeeded by +a treaty of commerce and navigation, upon liberal principles, +propitious to a great and growing commerce, already important to +the interests of our country.</p> +<p>The condition and prospects of the revenue are more favorable +than our most sanguine expectations had anticipated. The balance +in the Treasury on the 1st of January last, exclusive of the +moneys received under the convention of 13th of November, 1826, +with Great Britain, was $5,861,972.83. The receipts into the +Treasury from the 1st of January to the 30th of September last, +so far as they have been ascertained to form the basis of an +estimate, amount to $18,633,580.27, which, with the receipts of +the present quarter, estimated at $5,461,283.40, form an +aggregate of receipts during the year of $24,094,863.67. The +expenditures of the year may probably amount to $25,637,111.63, +and leave in the Treasury on the 1st of January next the sum of +$5,125,638.14.</p> +<p>The receipts of the present year have amounted to hear two +millions more than was anticipated at the commencement of the +last session of Congress.</p> +<p>The amount of duties secured on importations from the 1st of +January to the 30th of September was about $22,997,000, and that +of the estimated accruing revenue is five millions, forming an +aggregate for the year of hear twenty-eight millions. This is one +million more than the estimate made last December for the +accruing revenue of the present year, which, with allowances for +drawbacks and contingent deficiencies, was expected to produce an +actual revenue of $22,300,000. Had these only been realized the +expenditures of the year would have been also proportionally +reduced, for of these twenty-four millions received upward of +nine millions have been applied to the extinction of public debt, +bearing an interest of 6 per cent a year, and of course reducing +the burden of interest annually payable in future by the amount +of more than half a million. The payments on account of interest +during the current year exceed $3,000,000, presenting an +aggregate of more than twelve millions applied during the year to +the discharge of the public debt, the whole of which remaining +due on the 1st of January next will amount only to +$58,362,135.78.</p> +<p>That the revenue of the ensuing year will not fall short of +that received in the one now expiring there are indications which +can scarcely prove deceptive. In our country an uniform +experience of forty years has shown that whatever the tariff of +duties upon articles imported from abroad has been, the amount of +importations has always borne an average value nearly approaching +to that of the exports, though occasionally differing in the +balance, sometimes being more and sometimes less. It is, indeed, +a general law of prosperous commerce that the real value of +exports should by a small, and only a small, balance exceed that +of imports, that balance being a permanent addition to the wealth +of the nation. The extent of the prosperous commerce of the +nation must be regulated by the amount of its exports, and an +important addition to the value of these will draw after it a +corresponding increase of importations. It has happened in the +vicissitudes of the seasons that the harvests of all Europe have +in the late summer and autumn fallen short of their usual +average. A relaxation of the interdict upon the importation of +grain and flour from abroad has ensued, a propitious market has +been opened to the granaries of our country, and a new prospect +of reward presented to the labors of the husbandman, which for +several years has been denied. This accession to the profits of +agriculture in the middle and western portions of our Union is +accidental and temporary. It may continue only for a single year. +It may be, as has been often experienced in the revolutions of +time, but the first of several scanty harvests in succession. We +may consider it certain that for the approaching year it has +added an item of large amount to the value of our exports and +that it will produce a corresponding increase of importations. It +may therefore confidently be foreseen that the revenue of 1829 +will equal and probably exceed that of 1828, and will afford the +means of extinguishing ten millions more of the principal of the +public debt.</p> +<p>This new element of prosperity to that part of our +agricultural industry which is occupied in producing the first +article of human subsistence is of the most cheering character to +the feelings of patriotism. Proceeding from a cause which +humanity will view with concern, the sufferings of scarcity in +distant lands, it yields a consolatory reflection that this +scarcity is in no respect attributable to us; that it comes from +the dispensation of Him who ordains all in wisdom and goodness, +and who permits evil itself only as an instrument of good; that, +far from contributing to this scarcity, our agency will be +applied only to the alleviation of its severity, and that in +pouring forth from the abundance of our own garners the supplies +which will partially restore plenty to those who are in heed we +shall ourselves reduce our stores and add to the price of our own +bread, so as in some degree to participate in the wants which it +will be the good fortune of our country to relieve.</p> +<p>The great interests of an agricultural, commercial, and +manufacturing nation are so linked in union together that no +permanent cause of prosperity to one of them can operate without +extending its influence to the others. All these interests are +alike under the protecting power of the legislative authority, +and the duties of the representative bodies are to conciliate +them in harmony together. So far as the object of taxation is to +raise a revenue for discharging the debts and defraying the +expenses of the community, its operation should be adapted as +much as possible to suit the burden with equal hand upon all in +proportion with their ability of bearing it without oppression. +But the legislation of one nation is sometimes intentionally made +to bear heavily upon the interests of another. That legislation, +adapted, as it is meant to be, to the special interests of its +own people, will often press most unequally upon the several +component interests of its neighbors. Thus the legislation of +Great Britain, when, as has recently been avowed, adapted to the +depression of a rival nation, will naturally abound with +regulations of interdict upon the productions of the soil or +industry of the other which come in competition with its own, and +will present encouragement, perhaps even bounty, to the raw +material of the other State which it can not produce itself, and +which is essential for the use of its manufactures, competitors +in the markets of the world with those of its commercial rival. +Such is the state of the commercial legislation of Great Britain +as it bears upon our interests. It excludes with interdicting +duties all importation (except in time of approaching famine) of +the great staple of productions of our Middle and Western States; +it proscribes with equal rigor the bulkier lumber and live stock +of the same portion and also of the Northern and Eastern part of +our Union. It refuses even the rice of the South unless +aggravated with a charge of duty upon the Northern carrier who +brings it to them. But the cotton, indispensable for their looms, +they will receive almost duty free to weave it into a fabric for +our own wear, to the destruction of our own manufactures, which +they are enabled thus to undersell.</p> +<p>Is the self-protecting energy of this nation so helpless that +there exists in the political institutions of our country no +power to counteract the bias of this foreign legislation; that +the growers of grain must submit to this exclusion from the +foreign markets of their produce; that the shippers must +dismantle their ships, the trade of the North stagnate at the +wharves, and the manufacturers starve at their looms, while the +whole people shall pay tribute to foreign industry to be clad in +a foreign garb; that the Congress of the Union are impotent to +restore the balance in favor of native industry destroyed by the +statutes of another realm? More just and more generous sentiments +will, I trust, prevail. If the tariff adopted at the last session +of Congress shall be found by experience to bear oppressively +upon the interests of any one section of the Union, it ought to +be, and I can not doubt will be, so modified as to alleviate its +burden. To the voice of just complaint from any portion of their +constituents the representatives of the States and of the people +will never turn away their ears. But so long as the duty of the +foreign shall operate only as a bounty upon the domestic article; +while the planter and the merchant and the shepherd and the +husbandman shall be found thriving in their occupations under the +duties imposed for the protection of domestic manufactures, they +will not repine at the prosperity shared with themselves by their +fellow-citizens of other professions, nor denounce as violations +of the Constitution the deliberate acts of Congress to shield +from the wrongs of foreign laws the native industry of the Union. +While the tariff of the last session of Congress was a subject of +legislative deliberation it was foretold by some of its opposers +that one of its necessary consequences would be to impair the +revenue. It is yet too soon to pronounce with confidence that +this prediction was erroneous. The obstruction of one avenue of +trade not unfrequently opens an issue to another. The consequence +of the tariff will be to increase the exportation and to diminish +the importation of some specific articles; but by the general law +of trade the increase of exportation of one article will be +followed by an increased importation of others, the duties upon +which will supply the deficiencies which the diminished +importation would otherwise occasion. The effect of taxation upon +revenue can seldom be foreseen with certainty. It must abide the +test of experience. As yet no symptom? of diminution are +perceptible in the receipts of the Treasury. As yet little +addition of cost has even been experienced upon the articles +burdened with heavier duties by the last tariff. The domestic +manufacturer supplies the same or a kindred article at a +diminished price, and the consumer pays the same tribute to the +labor of his own countryman which he must otherwise have paid to +foreign industry and toil.</p> +<p>The tariff of the last session was in its details not +acceptable to the great interests of any portion of the Union, +not even to the interest which it was specially intended to +subserve. Its object was to balance the burdens upon native +industry imposed by the operation of foreign laws, but not to +aggravate the burdens of one section of the Union by the relief +afforded to another. To the great principle sanctioned by that +act-one of those upon which the Constitution itself was formed-I +hope and trust the authorities of the Union will adhere. But if +any of the duties imposed by the act only relieve the +manufacturer by aggravating the burden of the planter, let a +careful revisal of its provisions, enlightened by the practical +experience of its effects, be directed to retain those which +impart protection to native industry and remove or supply the +place of those which only alleviate one great national interest +by the depression of another.</p> +<p>The United States of America and the people of every State of +which they are composed are each of them sovereign powers. The +legislative authority of the whole is exercised by Congress under +authority granted them in the common Constitution. The +legislative power of each State is exercised by assemblies +deriving their authority from the constitution of the State. Each +is sovereign within its own province. The distribution of power +between them presupposes that these authorities will move in +harmony with each other. The members of the State and General +Governments are all under oath to support both, and allegiance is +due to the one and to the other. The case of a conflict between +these two powers has not been supposed, nor has any provision +been made for it in our institutions; as a virtuous nation of +ancient times existed more than five centuries without a law for +the punishment of parricide.</p> +<p>More than once, however, in the progress of our history have +the people and the legislatures of one or more States, in moments +of excitement, been instigated to this conflict; and the means of +effecting this impulse have been allegations that the acts of +Congress to be resisted were <i>unconstitutional</i>. The people +of no one State have ever delegated to their legislature the +power of pronouncing an act of Congress unconstitutional, but +they have delegated to them powers by the exercise of which the +execution of the laws of Congress within the State may be +resisted. If we suppose the case of such conflicting legislation +sustained by the corresponding executive and judicial +authorities, patriotism and philanthropy turn their eyes from the +condition in which the parties would be placed, and from that of +the people of both, which must be its victims.</p> +<p>The reports from the Secretary of War and the various +subordinate offices of the resort of that Department present an +exposition of the public administration of affairs connected with +them through the course of the current year. The present state of +the Army and the distribution of the force of which it is +composed will be seen from the report of the Major-General. +Several alterations in the disposal of the troops have been found +expedient in the course of the year, and the discipline of the +Army, though not entirely free from exception, has been generally +good.</p> +<p>The attention of Congress is particularly invited to that part +of the report of the Secretary of War which concerns the existing +system of our relations with the Indian tribes. At the +establishment of the Federal Government under the present +Constitution of the United States the principle was adopted of +considering them as foreign and independent powers and also as +proprietors of lands. They were, moreover, considered as savages, +whom it was our policy and our duty to use our influence in +converting to Christianity and in bringing within the pale of +civilization.</p> +<p>As independent powers, we negotiated with them by treaties; as +proprietors, we purchased of them all the lands which we could +prevail upon them to sell; as brethren of the human race, rude +and ignorant, we endeavored to bring them to the knowledge of +religion and of letters. The ultimate design was to incorporate +in our own institutions that portion of them which could be +converted to the state of civilization. In the practice of +European States, before our Revolution, they had been considered +<i>as children</i> to be governed; as tenants at discretion, to +be dispossessed as occasion might require; as hunters to be +indemnified by trifling concessions for removal from the grounds +from which their game was extirpated. In changing the system it +would seem as if a full contemplation of the consequences of the +change had not been taken. We have been far more successful in +the acquisition of their lands than in imparting to them the +principles or inspiring them with the spirit of civilization. But +in appropriating to ourselves their hunting grounds we have +brought upon ourselves the obligation of providing them with +subsistence; and when we have had the rare good fortune of +teaching them the arts of civilization and the doctrines of +Christianity we have unexpectedly found them forming in the midst +of ourselves communities claiming to be independent of ours and +rivals of sovereignty within the territories of the members of +our Union. This state of things requires that a remedy should be +provided-a remedy which, while it shall do justice to those +unfortunate children of nature, may secure to the members of our +confederation their rights of sovereignty and of soil. As the +outline of a project to that effect, the views presented in the +report of the Secretary of War are recommended to the +consideration of Congress.</p> +<p>The report from the Engineer Department presents a +comprehensive view of the progress which has been made in the +great systems promotive of the public interest, commenced and +organized under authority of Congress, and the effects of which +have already contributed to the security, as they will hereafter +largely contribute to the honor and dignity, of the nation.</p> +<p>The first of these great systems is that of fortifications, +commenced immediately after the close of our last war, under the +salutary experience which the events of that war had impressed +upon our countrymen of its hecessity. Introduced under the +auspices of my immediate predecessor, it has been continued with +the persevering and liberal encouragement of the Legislature, +and, combined with corresponding exertions for the gradual +increase and improvement of the Navy, prepares for our extensive +country a condition of defense adapted to any critical emergency +which the varying course of events may bring forth. Our advances +in these concerted systems have for the last ten years been +steady and progressive, and in a few years more will be so +completed as to leave no cause for apprehension that our seacoast +will ever again offer a theater of hostile invasion.</p> +<p>The next of these cardinal measures of policy is the +preliminary to great and lasting works of public improvement in +the surveys of roads, examination for the course of canals, and +labors for the removal of the obstructions of rivers and harbors, +first commenced by the act of Congress of 30th of April, +1824.</p> +<p>The report exhibits in one table the funds appropriated at the +last and preceding sessions of Congress for all these +fortifications, surveys, and works of public improvement, the +manner in which these funds have been applied, the amount +expended upon the several works under construction, and the +further sums which may be necessary to complete them; in a +second, the works projected by the Board of Engineers which have +not been commenced, and the estimate of their cost; in a third, +the report of the annual Board of Visitors at the Military +Academy at West Point.</p> +<p>For thirteen fortifications erecting on various points of our +Atlantic coast, from Rhode Island to Louisiana, the aggregate +expenditure of the year has fallen little short of $1,000,000. +For the preparation of five additional reports of reconnaissances +and surveys since the last session of Congress, for the civil +constructions upon thirty-seven different public works commenced, +eight others for which specific appropriations have been made by +acts of Congress, and twenty other incipient surveys under the +authority given by the act of 30th April, 1824, about one million +more of dollars has been drawn from the Treasury.</p> +<p>To these $2,000,000 is to be added the appropriation of +$250,000 to commence the erection of a breakwater hear the mouth +of the Delaware River, the subscriptions to the Delaware and +Chesapeake, the Louisville and Portland, the Dismal Swamp, and +the Chesapeake and Ohio canals, the large donations of lands to +the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Alabama for objects of +improvements within those States, and the sums appropriated for +light-houses, buoys, and piers on the coast; and a full view will +be taken of the munificence of the nation in the application of +its resources to the improvement of its own condition.</p> +<p>Of these great national undertakings the Academy at West Point +is among the most important in itself and the most comprehensive +in its consequences. In that institution a part of the revenue of +the nation is applied to defray the expense of educating a +competent portion of her youth chiefly to the knowledge and the +duties of military life. It is the living armory of the nation. +While the other works of improvement enumerated in the reports +now presented to the attention of Congress are destined to +ameliorate the face of nature, to multiply the facilities of +communication between the different parts of the Union, to assist +the labors, increase the comforts, and enhance the enjoyments of +individuals, the instruction acquired at West Point enlarges the +dominion and expands the capacities of the mind. Its beneficial +results are already experienced in the composition of the Army, +and their influence is felt in the intellectual progress of +society. The institution is susceptible still of great +improvement from benefactions proposed by several successive +Boards of Visitors, to whose earnest and repeated recommendations +I cheerfully add my own.</p> +<p>With the usual annual reports from the Secretary of the Navy +and the Board of Commissioners will be exhibited to the view of +Congress the execution of the laws relating to that department of +the public service. The repression of piracy in the West Indian +and in the Grecian seas has been effectually maintained, with +scarcely any exception. During the war between the Governments of +Buenos Ayres and of Brazil frequent collisions between the +belligerent acts of power and the rights of neutral commerce +occurred. Licentious blockades, irregularly enlisted or impressed +seamen, and the property of honest commerce seized with violence, +and even plundered under legal pretenses, are disorders never +separable from the conflicts of war upon the ocean. With a +portion of them the correspondence of our commanders on the +eastern aspect of the South American coast and among the islands +of Greece discover how far we have been involved. In these the +honor of our country and the rights of our citizens have been +asserted and vindicated. The appearance of new squadrons in the +Mediterranean and the blockade of the Dardanelles indicate the +danger of other obstacles to the freedom of commerce and the +hecessity of keeping our naval force in those seas. To the +suggestions repeated in the report of the Secretary of the Navy, +and tending to the permanent improvement of this institution, I +invite the favorable consideration of Congress.</p> +<p>A resolution of the House of Representatives requesting that +one of our small public vessels should be sent to the Pacific +Ocean and South Sea to examine the coasts, islands, harbors, +shoals, and reefs in those seas, and to ascertain their true +situation and description, has been put in a train of execution. +The vessel is nearly ready to depart. The successful +accomplishment of the expedition may be greatly facilitated by +suitable legislative provisions, and particularly by an +appropriation to defray its necessary expense. The addition of a +second, and perhaps a third, vessel, with a slight aggravation of +the cost, would contribute much to the safety of the citizens +embarked on this undertaking, the results of which may be of the +deepest interest to our country.</p> +<p>With the report of the Secretary of the Navy will be +submitted, in conformity to the act of Congress of 3d March, +1827, for the gradual improvement of the Navy of the United +States, statements of the expenditures under that act and of the +measures taken for carrying the same into effect. Every section +of that statute contains a distinct provision looking to the +great object of the whole-the gradual improvement of the Navy. +Under its salutary sanction stores of ship timber have been +procured and are in process of seasoning and preservation for the +future uses of the Navy. Arrangements have been made for the +preservation of the live-oak timber growing on the lands of the +United States, and for its reproduction, to supply at future and +distant days the waste of that most valuable material for +shipbuilding by the great consumption of it yearly for the +commercial as well as for the military marine of our country. The +construction of the two dry docks at Charlestown and at Norfolk +is making satisfactory progress toward a durable establishment. +The examinations and inquiries to ascertain the practicability +and expediency of a marine railway at Pensacola, though not yet +accomplished, have been postponed but to be more effectually +made. The navy-yards of the United States have been examined, and +plans for their improvement and the preservation of the public +property therein at Portsmouth, Charlestown, Philadelphia, +Washington, and Gosport, and to which two others are to be added, +have been prepared and received my sanction; and no other portion +of my public duties has been performed with a more intimate +conviction of its importance to the future welfare and security +of the Union.</p> +<p>With the report from the Postmaster-General is exhibited a +comparative view of the gradual increase of that establishment, +from five to five years, since 1792 till this time in the number +of post-offices, which has grown from less than 200 to nearly +8,000; in the revenue yielded by them, which from $67,000 has +swollen to upward of a million and a half, and in the number of +miles of post-roads, which from 5,642 have multiplied to 114,536. +While in the same period of time the population of the Union has +about thrice doubled, the rate of increase of these offices is +nearly 40, and of the revenue and of traveled miles from 20 to 25 +for 1. The increase of revenue within the last five years has +been nearly equal to the whole revenue of the Department in +1812.</p> +<p>The expenditures of the Department during the year which ended +on the 1st of July last have exceeded the receipts by a sum of +about $25,000. The excess has been occasioned by the increase of +mail conveyances and facilities to the extent of hear 800,000 +miles. It has been supplied by collections from the postmasters +of the arrearages of preceding years. While the correct principle +seems to be that the income levied by the Department should +defray all its expenses, it has never been the policy of this +Government to raise from this establishment any revenue to be +applied to any other purposes. The suggestion of the +Postmaster-General that the insurance of the safe transmission of +moneys by the mail might be assumed by the Department for a +moderate and competent remuneration will deserve the +consideration of Congress.</p> +<p>A report from the commissioner of the public buildings in this +city exhibits the expenditures upon them in the course of the +current year. It will be seen that the humane and benevolent +intentions of Congress in providing, by the act of 20th May, +1826, for the erection of a penitentiary in this district have +been accomplished. The authority of further legislation is now +required for the removal to this tenement of the offenders +against the laws sentenced to atone by personal confinement for +their crimes, and to provide a code for their employment and +government while thus confined.</p> +<p>The commissioners appointed, conformably to the act of 2d +March, 1827, to provide for the adjustment of claims of persons +entitled to indemnification under the first article of the treaty +of Ghent, and for the distribution among such claimants of the +sum paid by the Government of Great Britain under the convention +of 13th of November, 1826, closed their labors on the 30th of +August last by awarding to the claimants the sum of +$1,197,422.18, leaving a balance of $7,537.82, which was +distributed ratably amongst all the claimants to whom awards had +been made, according to the directions of the act.</p> +<p>The exhibits appended to the report from the Commissioner of +the General Land Office present the actual condition of that +common property of the Union. The amount paid into the Treasury +from the proceeds of lands during the year 1827 and the first +half of 1828 falls little short of $2,000,000. The propriety of +further extending the time for the extinguishment of the debt due +to the United States by the purchasers of the public lands, +limited by the act of 21st March last to the 4th of July next, +will claim the consideration of Congress, to whose vigilance and +careful attention the regulation, disposal, and preservation of +this great national inheritance has by the people of the United +States been intrusted.</p> +<p>Among the important subjects to which the attention of the +present Congress has already been invited, and which may occupy +their further and deliberate discussion, will be the provision to +be made for taking the fifth census or enumeration of the +inhabitants of the United States. The Constitution of the United +States requires that this enumeration should be made within every +term of ten years, and the date from which the last enumeration +commenced was the first Monday of August of the year 1820. The +laws under which the former enumerations were taken were enacted +at the session of Congress immediately preceding the operation; +but considerable inconveniences were experienced from the delay +of legislation to so late a period. That law, like those of the +preceding enumerations, directed that the census should be taken +by the marshals of the several districts and Territories of the +Union under instructions from the Secretary of State. The +preparation and transmission to the marshals of those +instructions required more time than was then allowed between the +passage of the law and the day when the enumeration was to +commence. The term of six months limited for the returns of the +marshals was also found even then too short, and must be more so +now, when an additional population of at least 3,000,000 must be +presented upon the returns. As they are to be made at the short +session of Congress, it would, as well as from other +considerations, be more convenient to commence the enumeration +from an earlier period of the year than the 1st of August. The +most favorable season would be the spring. On a review of the +former enumerations it will be found that the plan for taking +every census has contained many improvements upon that of its +predecessor. The last is still susceptible of much improvement. +The Third Census was the first at which any account was taken of +the manufactures of the country. It was repeated at the last +enumeration, but the returns in both cases were necessarily very +imperfect. They must always be so, resting, of course, only upon +the communications voluntarily made by individuals interested in +some of the manufacturing establishments. Yet they contained much +valuable information, and may by some supplementary provision of +the law be rendered more effective. The columns of age, +commencing from infancy, have hitherto been confined to a few +periods, all under the number of 45 years. Important knowledge +would be obtained by extending these columns, in intervals of ten +years, to the utmost boundaries of human life. The labor of +taking them would be a trifling addition to that already +prescribed, and the result would exhibit comparative tables of +longevity highly interesting to the country. I deem it my duty +further to observe that much of the imperfections in the returns +of the last and perhaps of preceding enumerations proceeded from +the inadequateness of the compensations allowed to the marshals +and their assistants in taking them.</p> +<p>In closing this communication it only remains for me to assure +the Legislature of my continued earnest wish for the adoption of +measures recommended by me heretofore and yet to be acted on by +them, and of the cordial concurrence on my part in every +constitutional provision which may receive their sanction during +the session tending to the general welfare.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> + +<div class="c5"> +<h2>SPECIAL MESSAGES.</h2> +</div> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 8, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 2d of April last, I transmit a copy of the +letter from the Cherokee Council to Colonel Hugh Montgomery, the +agent, requested by the resolution, with a report<a name= +"FNanchor018"></a><a href="#Footnote_018"><sup>[018]</sup></a> +from the Secretary of War.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 8, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 23d of May last, I transmit a report from +the Secretary of War, with documents, containing the information +requested, relating to the harbors, roads, and other works of +internal improvements undertaken and projected since the 30th +April, 1824.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p>Washington,<br> + <i>December 8, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to the Senate, for their advice with regard to +its ratification, a treaty made and concluded at the missionary +establishment upon the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan the 20th day +of September last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, +commissioners of the United States, and the Potawatamie tribe of +Indians, the journal and report of the commissioners accompanying +the treaty.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 8, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of War, +with documents, prepared in compliance with their resolution of +the 26th of May last, concerning the practicability and probable +cost of constructing an artificial harbor, commonly called a +"breakwater," at or hear the mouth of the Mississippi.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 9, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>The inclosed report from the Secretary of State and subjoined +documents are transmitted to the Senate in compliance with their +resolution of 25th April last, requesting information concerning +the number of free taxable inhabitants <i>who are not +freeholders</i> in certain States and Territories of the +Union.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 15, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 8th instant, referring to a negotiation of +the British Government, by virtue of a resolution of the House of +the 10th of May last, relative to the surrender of fugitive +slaves, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +with copies of instructions and correspondence, containing the +desired information.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 15, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional advice, an +additional article, signed on the 4th day of June last, to the +convention of friendship, commerce, and navigation between the +United States and the Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and +Hamburg concluded at this place on the 20th December, 1827. A +copy of the article is likewise inclosed.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 16, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their advice, articles of +agreement concluded at Green Bay, in the Territory of Michigan, +on the 20th of August last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, +commissioners on the part of the United States, and the chiefs of +the Winnebago tribe and of the united tribes of the Potawatamies, +Chippewas, and Ottawas, being a temporary arrangement concerning +the occupation of a certain portion of the mining country which +has not heretofore been ceded to the United States.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 22, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of War, with documents, reported in compliance with the +resolution of the House of the 10th instant, requesting a copy of +the instructions given for the government of the agent of the +United States superintendent of the lead mines in Missouri and +Illinois.</p> +<p>Also a report from the Secretary of War, in compliance with +the resolution of the House of the 15th instant, setting forth +the reasons upon which it has not been deemed expedient to +nominate commissioners to hold a treaty with the Choctaw Nation +of Indians for the purchase of a certain tract of land, as +authorized by the act of Congress of the 24th of May last.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 1, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 18th ultimo, I communicate to the House a +report from the Secretary of War, containing the information +required in relation to the intended frauds upon the revenue, +which has rendered expedient the stationing additional troops on +the Niagara frontier. The other evidence embraced by the +resolution, and in possession of the Government, does not, in my +judgment, at present render any further employment of a regular +armed force for the enforcement of the revenue laws +necessary.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 7, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 19th May last, requesting a copy of the +correspondence between the minister of the United States at the +Court of Madrid and the Government of Spain on the subject of +claims of citizens of the United States against the said +Government, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +State, with the correspondence desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 14, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate a report from the Secretary +of State, with supplemental returns of free taxable inhabitants +not freeholders in certain States and Territories of the United +States, which returns have been received since my message to the +Senate of the 9th December last.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 17, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 13th instant, I transmit herewith a +report<a name="FNanchor019"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_019"><sup>[019]</sup></a> from the Secretary of War, +with an application from the Creek Indians, through the agent of +the United States, and an opinion of counsel in behalf of the +Indians, having relation to the subject of the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 21, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with two resolutions of the House of +Representatives of the 5th instant, requesting information +received not heretofore communicated in relation to the arrest +and trial in the British Province of New Brunswick of John Baker, +a citizen of the United States, and the correspondence between +the Government of the United States and that of Great Britain in +relation to the said arrest and to the usurpation of jurisdiction +by the British government of New Brunswick within the limits of +the State of Maine, I transmit a report from the Secretary of +State, with the information and correspondence requested by the +House.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 21, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress copies of two treaties with Indian +tribes, which have been ratified:</p> +<p>1. Articles of agreement between the United States of America +and the Winnebago tribe and the united tribes of Potawatamie, +Chippeways; and Ottawa Indians, concluded at Green Bay 25th +August, 1828.</p> +<p>2. Treaty between the United States of America and the +Potawatamie tribe of Indians, concluded at the missionary +establishment upon the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan 20th +September, 1828.</p> +<p>Both by Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners on the +part of the United States, with certain chiefs and warriors of +the respective tribes.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 26, 1829</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 17th instant, requesting copies of the +instructions to the commissioners of the United States who made +the treaty at the Indian Springs in 1821, I transmit to the House +a report from the Secretary of War of the 22d instant, with +copies of those instructions.</p> +<p>And in compliance with a resolution of the House of the 20th +instant, requesting a communication of the journal of the +above-mentioned commissioners, I transmit a report from the +Secretary of War of the 24th instant, with copies of the papers, +which it is believed will supply the information desired by the +resolution, no regular journal having been transmitted by the +commissioners to the Department.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 26, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with +voluminous documents prepared and collected in compliance with a +resolution of the House of Representatives of the 13th January, +1825, calling for a statement of convictions, executions, and +pardons for capital offenses under the authority of the +Government of the United States since the adoption of the +Constitution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 26, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress copies of a convention of friendship, +commerce, and navigation between the United States and the free +Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, the +ratifications of which were exchanged at this place on the 2d day +of June last; and also of an additional article to the same +convention, signed on the 4th day of June last, and the +ratifications of which were exchanged at this city on the 14th of +the present month.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 29, 1829</i></p> +<p><i>The President of the Senate of the United States</i></p> +<p>SIR: I transmit herewith a letter which I have received from +Mr. David, member of the Institute of France, professor of the +School of Painting at Paris, and member of the Legion of Honor, +the artist who presents to Congress the bust of General Lafayette +which has been received with it; and I have to request the favor +that after it has been communicated to the Senate it may be +transmitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives for +similar communication to that body.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 29, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I nominate Stephen Clin, of Georgia, to be secretary of the +legation of the United States at the Court of Great Britain.</p> +<p>Jesse H. Willis, of Florida, to be collector of the customs +for the recently established district of St. Marks and inspector +of the revenue for the port of Magnolia, in Florida.</p> +<p>And I nominate for reappointment Callender Irvine, of +Pennsylvania, to be Commissary-General of Purchases. It is proper +to apprise the Senate that this office is one of those which by +the act of Congress of 15th May, 1820, is limited to the term of +four years; that it was held by Mr. Irvine at the time of the +passage of that act, but that by some inadvertence he has not +hitherto been nominated for reappointment. The fact having but +just now been ascertained by me, I deem it my duty to make the +nomination. Mr. Irvine has hitherto performed the duties of the +office under his original appointment.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 30, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 13th instant, requesting information of +the measures taken in execution of the act of 9th May last, +making an appropriation for carrying into effect the articles of +agreement and cession of 24th April, 1802, between the State of +Georgia and the United States, and also in execution of certain +provisions of the treaty of May last with the Cherokee Indians, I +transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of War, with +documents, comprising the desired information.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 2, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th +ultimo, requesting information received since the last session of +Congress from the Mexican Government respecting the recovery of +debts in that country due to American citizens, I transmit a +report from the Secretary of State, with copies of a letter of +instructions to the minister of the United States in Mexico, and +of his answer, relating to the subject of the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 6, 1829</i></p> +<i>To the Senate of the United States</i>: +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 9th of +December last, requesting a detailed statement of the amount +expended by the Federal Government upon works of internal +improvement within the limits of the several States, with an +estimate of the amount necessary to complete any work begun and +not yet completed, I transmit herewith reports from the +Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, with documents, +containing the information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 6, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 4th instant, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of War, with that of the commissioner +appointed to locate the national road from Zanesville, in Ohio, +to the seat of government of the State of Missouri.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 11, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>By the act of Congress of the 23d of May last, "supplementary +to the several acts providing for the settlement and confirmation +of private land claims in Florida," provision was made for the +final adjudication of such claims by the judges of the superior +courts of the districts wherein the lands claimed respectively +lie, and by appeal from them to the Supreme Court of the United +States; and the attorneys of the United States in the several +districts were charged with the duty, in every case where the +decision should be against the United States by the judge of the +superior court of the district, to make out and transmit to the +Attorney-General of the United States a statement containing the +facts of the case and the points of law on which the same was +decided, and it was made the duty of the Attorney-General in most +of those cases to direct an appeal to be made to the Supreme +Court of the United States and to appear for the United States +and prosecute such appeals. By the same act the President of the +United States was authorized to appoint a law agent to +superintend the interests of the United States in the premises, +and to employ assistant counsel if in his opinion the public +interest should require the same.</p> +<p>In the process of carrying into execution this law it was the +opinion of the Attorney-General of the United States that a +translated complete collection of all the Spanish and French +ordinances, etc., affecting the land titles in Florida and the +other territories heretofore belonging to France and Spain, would +be indispensable to a just decision of those claims by the +Supreme Court. At his suggestion the task of preparing this +compilation was undertaken by Joseph M. White, of Florida, who +was employed as assistant counsel in behalf of the United States. +The collection has accordingly been made and is deposited in +manuscript at the Department of State, subject to such order as +Congress may see fit to take concerning it. The letter from Mr. +White to the Secretary of State, with a descriptive list of the +documents collected and thus deposited, is herewith transmitted +to Congress.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 16, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 5th +instant, requesting detailed statements of the expenses incurred +and of those which may be necessary for the expedition proposed +for exploring the Pacific Ocean and South Seas, and also of the +several amounts transferred from the different heads of +appropriation for the support of the Navy to this object and the +authority by which such transfers have been made, I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with documents, +from which the Senate will perceive that no such transfer has +been made, and which contain the other information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 20, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 10th +instant, requesting copies of correspondence and communications +from 20th October, 1816, to 24th November, 1817, received at the +Department of State from the American commissioner under the +fourth article of the treaty of Ghent, I transmit herewith a +report from the Secretary of State, with the copies of papers +mentioned in the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 20, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with documents, prepared in pursuance of their +resolution of the 31st of December last, and showing the amount +of expenses incurred in the survey, sale, and management of the +public lands for the year 1827.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 25,1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>By the act of Congress of the 3d March, 1826, for the survey +of a route for a canal between the Atlantic and the Gulf of +Mexico, the President of the United States was authorized to +cause to be made an accurate and minute examination of the +country south of the St. Marys River, and including the same, +with a view to ascertain the most eligible route for a canal +admitting the transit of boats to connect the Atlantic with the +Gulf of Mexico, and also with a view to ascertain the +practicability of a ship channel; that he cause particularly to +be examined the route to the Appalachicola River or Bay, with a +view to both the above objects; that he cause the necessary +surveys, both by land and along the coast, with estimates of the +expense of each, accompanied with proper plans, notes, +observations, explanations, and opinions of the Board of +Engineers, and that he cause a full report of these proceedings +to be made to Congress.</p> +<p>In execution of this law I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of War, with a copy of that of the Board of Engineers, +upon this great and most desirable national work. The time not +having allowed a copy to be taken of the map, one copy only of +the whole report is transmitted to the Senate, with the request +that it may be communicated to the House of Representatives, and +that the map may be ultimately returned to the Department of +War.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 26, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th +instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, +with the inspection reports of Brevet Major-General Gaines for +the years 1826 and 1827, relating to the organization of the Army +and militia of the United States, with the request that the +original documents may be returned to the Department of War at +the convenience of the Senate.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 26,1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their constitutional +advice with regard to its ratification, a treaty of amity, +commerce, and navigation between the United States and His +Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, signed by the plenipotentiaries of +the respective Governments at Rio de Janeiro on the 12th day of +December last. A copy of the treaty is likewise inclosed, with +copies of the instructions under which it was negotiated and a +letter from Mr. Tudor elucidating some of its provisions. It is +requested that at the convenience of the Senate the original +papers may be returned to the Department of State.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 28, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress copies of two Indian treaties, which +have duly ratified:</p> +<p>1. A treaty with the Chippewa, Menominie, and Winnebago +Indians, concluded on the 11th of August, 1827, at the Butte des +Morts, on Fox River, in the Territory of Michigan, between Lewis +Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners on the part of the +United States, and certain chiefs and warriors of the said tribes +on their part.</p> +<p>2. A treaty with the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, concluded +the 19th of September, 1827, at St. Joseph, in the Territory of +Michigan, between Lewis Cass, commissioner on the part of the +United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the said tribes, on +their part.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 28, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 21st instant, requesting any information +in my possession as to the practical operation of the recent act +of the British Parliament entitled "The customs amendment act," +purporting a discrimination of duties upon the importation of +cotton from the British North American colonies and showing how +far this discrimination may affect existing treaties, I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of the +instructions and correspondence of the minister of the United +States at London, containing the information requested.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 3, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to Congress a copy of the instructions +prepared by the Secretary of State and furnished to the ministers +of the United States appointed to attend at the assembly of +American plenipotentiaries first held at Panama and thence +transferred to Tacubaya. The occasion upon which they were given +has passed away, and there is no present probability of the +renewal of the negotiations; but the purposes for which they were +intended are still of the deepest interest to our country and to +the world, and may hereafter call again for the active efforts +and beneficent energies of the Government of the United States. +The motives for withholding them from general publication having +ceased, justice to the Government from which they emanated and to +the people for whose benefit it was instituted requires that they +should be made known. With this view, and from the consideration +that the subjects embraced by these instructions must probably +engage hereafter the deliberations of our successors, I deem it +proper to make this communication to both Houses of Congress. One +copy only of the instructions being prepared, I send it to the +Senate, requesting that it may be transmitted to the House of +Representatives.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<h2>PROCLAMATION.</h2> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> + +<p>(From Senate Journal, Twentieth Congress, second session, p. +196.)<br> +</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 12, 1829</i></p> +<p><i>The President of the United States +to</i><i>-</i><i>-</i><i>, Senator for the State +of</i><i>-</i><i>-</i>:</p> +<p>Certain matters touching the public good requiring that the +Senate of the United States should be convened on Wednesday, 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.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>FOOTNOTES.</h2> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_001"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor001">[001]</a></p> +<blockquote>See Vol. I, pp. 352 to 354, inclusive.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_002"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor002">[002]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the proposed congress at +Panama.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_003"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor003">[003]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to land warrants issued to soldiers of the +Revolutionary war, etc.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_004"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor004">[004]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to intervention of the Emperor of Russia +with Spain for a recognition of the independence of the South +American States.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_005"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor005">[005]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the proposed congress of the Spanish +American States.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_006"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor006">[006]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relative to governments to be represented at the +congress at Panama.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_007"></a> <a href= +"#FNanchor007">[007]</a>and <a name="Footnote_007a"></a> <a href= +"#FNanchor007a">[007a]</a></p> +<blockquote>Respecting the right of a foreign minister to retain +money advanced by the President as an outfit beyond the sum +appropriated by law.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_008"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor008">[008]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the negotiations with Great Britain for a +cession of certain keys on the Bahama Banks.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_009"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor009">[009]</a></p> +<blockquote>Referred to in the protocol of the third conference +of the American and British plenipotentiaries on February 5, +1824, relating to trade with Great Britain.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_010"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor010">[010]</a></p> +<blockquote>Concerning the assembly of American ministers at +Tacubaya, Mexico</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_011"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor011">[011]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the conflicting claims of Georgia and the +Creek Indians to lands in Georgia.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_012"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor012">[012]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the conflicting claims of Georgia and the +Creek Indians to lands in Georgia.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_013"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor013">[013]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the northeastern boundary of the United +States.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_014"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor014">[014]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the detention of American vessels by the +naval forces of Brazil.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_015"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor015">[015]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the war between Spain and her +colonies.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_016"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor016">[016]</a></p> +<blockquote>By the authorities of the Province of New +Brunswick.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_017"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor017">[017]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to alleged blockade by the naval forces of +Brazil, imprisonment of American citizens by Brazil, +etc.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_018"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor018">[018]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to a survey for a canal through the Cherokee +country.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_019"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor019">[019]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to claims of Georgia and the Creek Indians +under the treaty of 1821, held at Indian Springs.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..34a18f2 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10879 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10879) diff --git a/old/10879-8.txt b/old/10879-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2d9be28 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10879-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8679 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Compilation of Messages and Letters of +the Presidents, by Editor: James D. Richardson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Compilation of Messages and Letters of the Presidents + 2nd section (of 3) of Volume 2: John Quincy Adams + +Author: Editor: James D. Richardson + +Release Date: January 30, 2004 [EBook #10879] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN QUINCY ADAMS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Gundry and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + +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 11, +1767. He enjoyed peculiar and rare advantages for education. In +childhood 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 Leyden, 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 Theophilus Parsons, of +Newburyport; 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 promotion from him because he was his son. He was accordingly +appointed minister to Berlin in 1797. He negotiated a treaty of amity +and commerce 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 Senatorial duties. He offended the Federalists by supporting +Jefferson's embargo act, which was passed in December, 1807, and thus +became connected with the Democratic party. He resigned his seat in the +Senate in March, 1808, declining to serve for the remainder of the term +rather than obey the instructions of the Federalists. In March, 1809, he +was appointed by President Madison minister to Russia. During his +residence in that country he was nominated to be an associate justice of +the Supreme Court of the United States, and confirmed February, 1811; +but he declined the appointment. In 1813 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 1817. 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 his 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 ELECTION. + + +Mr. Webster, from the committee appointed for that purpose yesterday, +reported that the committee had waited on John Quincy Adams, of +Massachusetts, and had notified him that in the recent election of a +President 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 duty the committee had +given the information of this election to the President. + +February 10, 1825. + + + + +Reply of the President Elect. + + +Washington, +_February 10, 1825_. + + +Gentlemen: + +In receiving this testimonial from the Representatives of the people and +States of this Union I am deeply sensible to the circumstances under +which it has been given. All my predecessors in the high 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 +honorable, 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 Constitution, 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 +delegated to me give an immediate opportunity to the people to form and +to express with a nearer approach to unanimity the object of their +preference, 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, signified 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. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +Letter from the President Elect. + + +City of Washington, +_March 1, 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 Constitution to +the President of the United States before he enters on the execution 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. + + + +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, protect, 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 Government instituted by it should be invariably and sacredly +devoted--to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure +domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the +general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of +this Union in their successive generations. 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 vicissitudes of peace and war +incidental to the condition of associated man, it has not disappointed +the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious benefactors 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 +conformity with its provisions has unfolded its powers and carried into +practical operation its effective energies. Subordinate departments have +distributed 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. + +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 +conquest, 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 our 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. Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the +purposes of human 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 Constitution +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 +freedom, 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 present lot and all our earthly hopes of the future. +The causes of these dissensions 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 Government, and that both have required a liberal +indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error. The revolutionary +wars 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 imbittered 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 relations with Europe constituted the +principal basis of our political divisions and the most arduous part of +the action of our Federal Government. With the catastrophe in which the +wars of the French Revolution terminated, 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 beneficence and +the best guaranty against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, +the purity, and the frequency of popular elections; that the General +Government of the Union and the separate governments of the States are +all sovereignties of limited powers, fellow-servants of the same +masters, uncontrolled within their respective spheres, uncontrollable by +encroachments 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 +aggravation and alleviate when possible the burden of taxation; that the +military 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 articles of faith upon which we are all now agreed. If there +have been those who doubted whether a confederated representative +democracy were a government 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 heretofore followed the standards of +political party. It is that of discarding 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 bore 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 +transitory. Those which are founded on geographical divisions, adverse +interests of soil, climate, 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 general 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 obligation to respect and +preserve the rights of the whole. The prejudices everywhere too commonly +entertained against distant strangers are worn away, and the jealousies +of jarring interests are allayed by the composition 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 +administration 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; 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 great 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 +indigent 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 +southern 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 traffic 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 common +condition instituted or recommended by him will embrace the whole sphere +of my obligations. To the topic of internal improvement, emphatically +urged by him at his inauguration, I recur with peculiar satisfaction. 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 swallowed +up in despotism or become the spoil of barbarians. Some diversity of +opinion has prevailed with regard to the powers of Congress for +legislation 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 construction 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 +Legislature have conciliated the sentiments and approximated the +opinions of enlightened 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 limitation 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. Less 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 heed of your +indulgence. Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted to the welfare +of our country, 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 Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain," with +fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I +commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future +destinies of my country. + +March 4, 1825. + + + + +FIRST ANNUAL 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 +sentiment which impresses itself upon the mind is of gratitude to the +Omnipotent 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 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 extensively 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 +exercise 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 Governments assurances have been given and received of the +continuance and increase of the mutual confidence and cordiality by +which the adjustment 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. Immediately after the close of the last war a proposal was fairly +made by the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1815, 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 commercial 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 willing to +abide in reciprocity by it. But all these regulations, whether +established by treaty or by municipal enactments, are still subject to +one important restriction. + +The removal of discriminating duties of tonnage and of impost is limited +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 +Congress whether even this remnant of restriction may not be safely +abandoned, 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 produce 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 maritime 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 understanding +and intent of both parties, as appears upon its face, only a temporary +arrangement of the points of difference between them of the most +immediate and pressing urgency. It was limited in the first instance to +two years from the 1st of October, 1822, but with a proviso that it +should further 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 common 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 Government. 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 1819 indemnity was, after many years of patient +forbearance, obtained; and those upon Sweden have been lately +compromised by a private settlement, in which the claimants themselves +have acquiesced. The Governments of Denmark and of Naples have been +recently reminded of those yet existing against them, nor will any of +them be forgotten while a hope may be indulged of obtaining justice by +the means within the constitutional power of the Executive, 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 Legislature. + +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 +documents 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 Legislature. The +negotiation 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 certain parts of Europe to the +acknowledgment of the Southern American Republics as independent States +will, it is believed, contribute more effectually 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 burdensome 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. + +Among the measures which have been suggested to them by the new +relations with one another, resulting from the recent changes in their +condition, 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 Central 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 deliberations, 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 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 +occupied 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 effective 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 nurture, 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 constituted 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 1st of January last was a +little short of $2,000,000, exclusive of two millions and a half, being +the moiety of the loan of five millions authorized by the act of 26th of +May, 1824. The receipts into the Treasury from the 1st of January to the +30th of September, 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 military and naval +establishments and all the occasional contingencies of a government +coextensive with the Union. + +The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported since the +commencement 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, estimated at less than seven millions, a sum exceeding +twenty-four millions will constitute the revenue of the year, and will +exceed the whole expenditures of the year. The entire amount of the +public debt remaining due on the 1st 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 4-1/2 per cent, or an exchange of stock to that amount of +4-1/2 per cent for a stock of 6 per cent, to create a fund for +extinguishing 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 +Delaware 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. +The latest accounts received of this important undertaking authorize the +belief 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 million and a half. The act of Congress of 18th +May, 1824, to provide for the extinguishment of the debt due to the +United States by the purchasers of public lands, was limited in its +operation of relief to the purchaser to the 10th of April last. Its +effect at the end of the quarter during which it expired was to reduce +that debt from ten to seven millions. By the operation of similar prior +laws of relief, from and since that of 2d March, 1821, 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 interests 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 advantageous 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 Treasury 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 current +year, will be exhibited in the report of the Secretary of War and the +accompanying documents herewith communicated. The organization and +discipline of the Army are effective and satisfactory. To counteract 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 +horsemanship as could scarcely fail to be found wanting on the possible +sudden eruption 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 more to the patronage of the nation, and the numbers of +meritorious officers which it forms and introduces to the public 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 heed 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 service, connected with the quartering, 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. + +Our 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 +appropriation 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 between said tribes. The first and the +last objects of these acts have been accomplished, and the second is yet +in a process of execution. The treaties which since the last session of +Congress have been concluded with the several tribes will be laid before +the Senate for their consideration conformably to the Constitution. They +comprise large and valuable acquisitions 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 12th 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 +advice 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 applied. Their +progress has been delayed by the want of suitable officers for +superintending 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 Engineers. The Military Academy at West Point will furnish from the +cadets annually graduated there officers well qualified for carrying +this measure into effect. + +The Board of Engineers for Internal Improvement, appointed for carrying +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 practicability 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 +improvement 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, +marking, or laying out roads in the Territories of Florida, Arkansas, +and Michigan, from Missouri to Mexico, and for the continuation of the +Cumberland 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 like number of +commissioners appointed on the part of each of those States. A meeting +of the commissioners has been postponed, to await the definitive report +of the board of engineers. The light-houses and monuments for the safety +of our commerce 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, 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 work. + +The operation of the laws relating to the Revolutionary pensioners may +deserve the renewed consideration of Congress. The act of the 18th 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 1st 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 liberal +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 +necessities? I submit to Congress the expediency of providing for +individual cases of this description by special enactment, or of +revising the act of the 1st 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 Labrador, and the first +service of a new frigate has been performed in restoring to his native +soil and domestic enjoyments the veteran hero whose youthful blood and +treasure had freely flowed in the cause of our country's independence, +and whose whole life has been a series of services and sacrifices to the +improvement of his fellow-men. The visit of General Lafayette, 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 +hereafter 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 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 liable to be violated. An additional motive for keeping a +respectable force stationed 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 +convulsive character of the war upon the shores has been extended to the +conflicts upon the ocean. An active warfare has been kept up for years +with alternate success, though generally to the advantage of the +American 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 complete +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 +territory 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 execution +the laws for the suppression of the African slave trade; for the +protection of our commerce against vessels of piratical character, +though bearing commissions from either of the belligerent parties; for +its protection 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 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 officers 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 immensely valuable commerce in those seas can +navigate in security without 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 military marine--the only arm by which the power +of this Confederacy can be estimated or felt by foreign nations, and the +only standing military force which can never be dangerous to our own +liberties 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 +commensurate 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 maritime 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 close 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 Military Academy at West Point, for +the formation of scientific and accomplished 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 +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 execution, 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 1st 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 1st 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 +judicious 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, till 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 corners of the Union, at a +charge scarcely perceptible to any individual, and without the cost of a +dollar to the public 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 promoting the internal improvement of our country, I can not +close the communication without recommending to their calm and +persevering consideration 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 government, 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 facilitating the communications and intercourse between +distant regions and multitudes 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 condition 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 improvement of the condition of men is +knowledge, and to the acquisition of much of the knowledge adapted to +the wants, the comforts, and enjoyments of human life public +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, living, 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 acquisition, +and particularly to geographical and astronomical science. Looking back +to the history only of the half century since the declaration of our +independence, and observing the generous emulation with which the +Governments 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 incumbent 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 for 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 La Pérouse 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 affectionate 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? + +In inviting the attention of Congress to the subject of internal +improvements 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 +investigation 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 establishment of a military post there or at +some other point of that coast, recommended by my predecessor and +already matured in the deliberations of the last Congress, I would +suggest the expediency of connecting the equipment of a public ship for +the exploration of the whole northwest 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 +Constitution, 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 speculations on the same subject since the existence of +our Constitution, and with them it has expanded into profound, +laborious, and expensive researches 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 experiments 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 our +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 periodical +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 +hemisphere there is not one. If we reflect a moment upon the discoveries +which in the last four centuries have been made in the physical +constitution of the universe by the means of these buildings and of +observers 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 +second 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 +inhabitants 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 +bordering 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 +prosperity rests not alone upon this indication. Our commerce, our +wealth, and the extent of our territories have increased in +corresponding proportions, and the number of independent communities +associated in our Federal Union has since that time nearly doubled. The +legislative representation 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 establishment of a Department +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 unquestionable detriment 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 inhabitants of the +earth, with whom our intercourse, commercial and political, would of +itself furnish occupation to an active and industrious department. The +constitution of the judiciary, experimental and imperfect as it was even +in the infancy of our existing Government, is yet more inadequate to the +administration of national justice at our present maturity. Nine years +have elapsed since a predecessor in this office, now not the last, the +citizen who, perhaps, of all others throughout the Union contributed +most to the formation and establishment of our Constitution, in his +valedictory address to Congress, immediately preceding his retirement +from public life, urgently recommended the revision of the judiciary and +the establishment of an additional executive department. The exigencies +of the public 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 deliberations 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 +deserving 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 securing for limited times to authors and inventors the +exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." If an +honest pride might be indulged 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 +military 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 +approaching 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 Revolution, and that a spot has been reserved within the +walls where you are deliberating 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 delight 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 deliberation upon all or any of the +objects which, urged by an irresistible sense of my own duty, I have +recommended 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 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 commerce with foreign nations and among the +several States and with the Indian tribes, to fix the standard of +weights and measures, to establish post-offices and post-roads, to +declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a +navy, to dispose of and make all heedful rules and regulations +respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United +States, and to make all laws which shall be necessary 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 public 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 ourselves to perpetual +inferiority? In the course 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 enterprise 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 Confederation, 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? + +Finally, fellow-citizens, I shall await with cheering hope and faithful +cooperation the result of your deliberations, assured that, without +encroaching upon the powers reserved to the authorities of the +respective States or to the people, you will, with a due sense of your +obligations 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 welfare of our country. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGES. + + + +Washington, +_December 14, 1825_. + + +_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 Little Osage +tribes of Indians, concluded at St. Louis, 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. Louis, in the State of Missouri, on the 3d 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 said nation, duly authorized and empowered by the same. + +3. A convention between the United States and the Shawnee Nation of +Indians residing within the State of Missouri, signed at St. Louis, in +the State of Missouri, on the 7th day of November last, by William +Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and the chiefs and headmen of +the said nation, duly authorized and empowered by the same. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 15, 1825_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration in reference +to its ratification, a general convention of peace, amity, commerce, and +navigation between the United States of America and the Federation of +the Centre of America, signed at this place on the 5th instant by the +Secretary of State and the minister plenipotentiary from the Republic of +Central America to the United States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 26, 1825_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement of the +session it was mentioned that the Governments of the Republics of +Colombia, of Mexico, and of Central America had severally invited the +Government of the United States to be represented at the Congress of +American nations to be assembled at Panama to deliberate upon objects of +peculiar concernment to this hemisphere, and that this invitation had +been accepted. + +Although this measure was deemed to be within the constitutional +competency of the Executive, I have not thought proper to take any step +in it before ascertaining that my opinion of its expediency will concur +with that of both branches of the Legislature, first, by the decision of +the Senate upon the nominations to be laid before them, and, secondly, +by the sanction of both Houses to the appropriations, without which it +can not be carried into effect. + +A report from the Secretary of State and copies of the correspondence +with the South American Governments on this subject since the invitation +given by them are herewith transmitted to the Senate. They will disclose +the objects of importance which are expected to form a subject of +discussion at this meeting, in which interests of high importance to +this Union are involved. It will be seen that the United States neither +intend nor are expected to take part in any deliberations of a +belligerent character; that the motive of their attendance is neither to +contract alliances nor to engage in any undertaking or project importing +hostility to any other nation. + +But the Southern American nations, in the infancy of their independence, +often find themselves in positions with reference to other countries +with the principles applicable to which, derivable from the state of +independence itself, they have not been familiarized by experience. The +result of this has been that sometimes in their intercourse with the +United States they have manifested dispositions to reserve a right of +granting special favors and privileges to the Spanish nation as the +price of their recognition. At others they have actually established +duties and impositions operating unfavorably to the United States to the +advantage of other European powers, and sometimes they have appeared to +consider that they might interchange among themselves mutual concessions +of exclusive favor, to which neither European powers nor the United +States should be admitted. In most of these cases their regulations +unfavorable to us have yielded to friendly expostulation and +remonstrance. But it is believed to be of infinite moment that the +principles of a liberal commercial intercourse should be exhibited to +them, and urged with disinterested and friendly persuasion upon them +when all assembled for the avowed purpose of consulting together upon +the establishment of such principles as may have an important bearing +upon their future welfare. + +The consentaneous adoption of principles of maritime neutrality, and +favorable to the navigation of peace, and commerce in time of war, will +also form a subject of consideration to this Congress. The doctrine that +free ships make free goods and the restrictions of reason upon the +extent of blockades may be established by general agreement with far +more ease, and perhaps with less danger, by the general engagement to +adhere to them concerted at such a meeting, than by partial treaties or +conventions with each of the nations separately. An agreement between +all the parties represented at the meeting that each will guard by its +own means against the establishment of any future European colony within +its borders may be found advisable. This was more than two years since +announced by my predecessor to the world as a principle resulting from +the emancipation of both the American continents. It may be so developed +to the new southern nations that they will all feel it as an essential +appendage to their independence. + +There is yet another subject upon which, without entering into any +treaty, the moral influence of the United States may perhaps be exerted +with beneficial consequences at such a meeting--the advancement of +religious liberty. Some of the southern nations are even yet so far +under the dominion of prejudice that they have incorporated with their +political constitutions an exclusive church, without toleration of any +other than the dominant sect. The abandonment of this last badge of +religious bigotry and oppression may be pressed more effectually by the +united exertions of those who concur in the principles of freedom of +conscience upon those who are yet to be convinced of their justice and +wisdom than by the solitary efforts of a minister to any one of the +separate Governments. + +The indirect influence which the United States may exercise upon any +projects or purposes originating in the war in which the southern +Republics are still engaged, which might seriously affect the interests +of this Union, and the good offices by which the United States may +ultimately contribute to bring that war to a speedier termination, +though among the motives which have convinced me of the propriety of +complying with this invitation, are so far contingent and eventual that +it would be improper to dwell upon them more at large. + +In fine, a decisive inducement with me for acceding to the measure is to +show by this token of respect to the southern Republics the interest +that we take in their welfare and our disposition to comply with their +wishes. Having been the first to recognize their independence, and +sympathized with them so far as was compatible with our neutral duties +in all their struggles and sufferings to acquire it, we have laid the +foundation of our future intercourse with them in the broadest +principles of reciprocity and the most cordial feelings of fraternal +friendship. To extend those principles to all our commercial relations +with them and to hand down that friendship to future ages is congenial +to the highest policy of the Union, as it will be to that of all those +nations and their posterity. In the confidence that these sentiments +will meet the approbation of the Senate, I nominate Richard C. Anderson, +of Kentucky, and John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, to be envoys +extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the assembly of American +nations at Panama, and William B. Rochester, of New York, to be +secretary to the mission. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 27, 1825_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +20th instant, I now transmit a copy of the message of President +Jefferson to both Houses of Congress on the 18th of January, 1803, +recommending an exploring expedition across this continent.[001] It will +be perceived on the perusal of this message that it was confidential, +for which reason the copy of it is now communicated in the same manner, +leaving to the judgment of the House to determine whether any adequate +reason yet remains for withholding it from publication. I possess no +other document or information in relation to the same subject which I +consider as coming within the scope of the resolution of the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 27, 1825_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +20th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +with copies of such portions of the correspondence between the United +States and Great Britain on the subject of the convention for +suppressing the slave trade as have not heretofore been, and which can +be communicated without detriment to the public interest. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 27, 1825_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +23d instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, +with the correspondence between the Department of War and Generals +Pinckney and Jackson, and all the instructions given to the said +Generals Pinckney and Jackson relating to the treaty with the Creek +Indians, afterwards made at Fort Jackson, so far as the same can be +communicated without prejudice to the public interest. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 3, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +23d of last month, I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of +War, with the documents touching the treaty with the Cherokee Indians, +ratified in 1819, by which the Cherokee title to a portion of lands +within the limits of North Carolina was extinguished. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 9, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, I +communicate herewith, in confidence, a report[002] from the Secretary of +State, with translations of the conventions and documents, containing +information of the nature referred to in the said resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 9, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice with regard +to the ratification, the following treaties: + +1. A treaty signed at the Poncar village at the mouth of White Point +Creek, the first below the Qui Carre River, on the 9th of June, 1825, by +Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson and Major Benjamin O'Fallon, +commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs, +headmen, and warriors of the Poncar tribe of Indians on the part of said +tribe. + +2. A treaty signed at Fort Look-out, near the Three Rivers of the Sioux +Pass, on the 22d June, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of +the United States and certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the +Teton, Yancton, and Yanctonies bands of the Sioux tribe of Indians on +the part of the said bands. + +3. A treaty signed at the mouth of the Teton River on the 5th of July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by +certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Sione and Ogalla bands of +Sioux Indians, and on the 12th of July, 1825, at Camp Hidden Creek, by +chiefs and warriors of the Siounes of the Fireheart's band on the part +of their respective bands. + +4. A treaty signed at the mouth of the Teton River on the 6th of July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by +certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Chayenne tribe of Indians +on the part of said tribe. + +5. A treaty signed at the Auricara village on the 16th July, 1825, by +the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain +chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Hunkpapas band of the Sioux tribe +of Indians on the part of said band. + +6. A treaty signed at the Ricara village on the 18th July, 1825, by the +same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain +chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Ricara tribe of Indians on the part +of said tribe. + +7. A treaty signed at the Mandan village on the 30th of July, 1825, by +the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain +chiefs and warriors of the Mandan tribe of Indians on the part of said +tribe. + +8. A treaty signed at the lower Mandan village on the 30th of July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by +certain chiefs and warriors of the Belantse Etea, or Minnetaree, tribe +of Indians on the part of said tribe. + +9. A treaty signed at the Mandan village on the 4th of August, 1825, by +the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain +chiefs and warriors of the Crow tribe of Indians on the part of said +tribe. + +10. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the 25th of +September, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United +States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Ottoe and +Missouri tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe. + +11. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the 30th of +September, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United +States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Pawnee tribe +of Indians on the part of said tribe. + +12. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the 6th of +October, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United +States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Maha tribe of +Indians on the part of said tribe. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 10, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a treaty signed at Prairie des Chiens, in the +Territory of Michigan, on the 19th of August, 1825, by William Clark and +Lewis Cass, commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain +chiefs and warriors of the Sioux, Chippeways, Socs, Foxes, Winnebagoes, +Menominies, Ottoways, Potawatamies, and Ioway tribes of Indians on the +part of said tribes, and I request the advice of the Senate with regard +to its ratification. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 20, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the +23d ultimo, I transmit herewith reports[003] from the Secretary of War +and the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with the statements +desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 23, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +27th December last, requesting a statement of moneys paid out of the +public Treasury to the late President of the United States as +compensation for his services in various other offices which he has +filled under the Government of the United States, and on other accounts, +and also of claims for allowances made by him upon the Government which +have been disallowed, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 24, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +12th December last, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +the Navy, with the documents and proceedings of the naval courts-martial +in the cases of Captain Charles Stewart and of Lieutenants Joshua R. +Sands and William M. Hunter. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 30, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration and advice +with regard to their ratification-- + +1. A treaty concluded on the 10th day of August, 1825, at Council Grove +by Benjamin H. Reeves, George C. Sibley, and Thomas Mather, +commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs and +headmen of the Great and Little Osage tribes of Indians on the part of +the said tribe. + +2. A treaty concluded on the 16th day of August, 1825, at the Sora +Kanzas Creek by the same commissioners on the part of the United States +and certain chiefs and headmen of the Kanzas tribe or nation of Indians +on the part of said tribe. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 31, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +18th instant, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with the +correspondence with the British Government, relating to the boundary of +the United States on the Pacific Ocean, desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 31, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration and advice +with regard to its ratification, a treaty concluded by the Secretary of +War, duly authorized thereto, with the chiefs and headmen of the Creek +Nation, deputed by them, and now in this city. + +It has been agreed upon, and is presented to the consideration of the +Senate as a substitute for the treaty signed at the Indian Springs on +the 12th of February last. The circumstances under which this received +on the 3d of March last your advice and consent to its ratification are +known to you. It was transmitted to me from the Senate on the 5th of +March, and ratified in full confidence yielded to the advice and consent +of the Senate, under a firm belief, founded on the journal of the +commissioners of the United States and on the express statements in the +letter of one of them of the 16th of February to the then Secretary of +War, that it had been concluded with a large majority of the chiefs of +the Creek Nation and with a reasonable prospect of immediate +acquiescence by the remainder. + +This expectation has not merely been disappointed. The first measures +for carrying the treaty into execution had scarcely been taken when the +two principal chiefs who had signed it fell victims to the exasperation +of the great mass of the nation, and their families and dependents, far +from being able to execute the engagements on their part, fled for life, +safety, and subsistence from the territories which they had assumed to +cede, to our own. Yet, in this fugitive condition, and while subsisting +on the bounty of the United States, they have been found advancing +pretensions to receive exclusively to themselves the whole of the sums +stipulated by the commissioners of the United States in payment _for +all_ the lands of the Creek Nation which were ceded by the terms of the +treaty. And they have claimed the stipulation of the eighth article, +that the United States would "_protect_ the emigrating party against the +encroachments, hostilities, and impositions of the whites and of all +others," as an engagement by which the United States were bound to +become the instruments of their vengeance and to inflict upon the +majority of the Creek Nation the punishment of Indian retribution to +gratify the vindictive fury of an impotent and helpless minority of +their own tribe. + +In this state of things the question is not whether the treaty of the +12th of February last shall or shall not be executed. So far as the +United States were or could be bound by it I have been anxiously +desirous of carrying it into execution. But, like other treaties, its +fulfillment depends upon the will not of one but of both the parties to +it. The parties on the face of the treaty are the United States and the +Creek Nation, and however desirous one of them may be to give it effect, +this wish must prove abortive while the other party refuses to perform +its stipulations and disavows its obligations. By the refusal of the +Creek Nation to perform their part of the treaty the United States are +absolved from all its engagements on their part, and the alternative +left them is either to resort to measures of war to secure by force the +advantages stipulated to them in the treaty or to attempt the adjustment +of the interest by a new compact. In the preference dictated by the +nature of our institutions and by the sentiments of justice and humanity +which the occasion requires for measures of peace the treaty herewith +transmitted has been concluded, and is submitted to the decision of the +Senate. After exhausting every effort in our power to obtain the +acquiescence of the Creek Nation to the treaty of the 12th of February, +I entertained for some time the hope that their assent might at least +have been given to a new treaty, by which all their lands within the +State of Georgia should have been ceded. This has also proved +impracticable, and although the excepted portion is of comparatively +small amount and importance, I have assented to its exception so far as +to place it before the Senate only from a conviction that between it and +a resort to the forcible expulsion of the Creeks from their habitations +and lands within the State of Georgia there was no middle term. + +The deputation with which this treaty has been concluded consists of the +principal chiefs of the nation--able not only to negotiate but to carry +into effect the stipulations to which they have agreed. There is a +deputation also here from the small party which undertook to contract +for the whole nation at the treaty of the 12th of February, but the +number of which, according to the information collected by General +Gaines, does not exceed 400. They represent themselves, indeed, to be +far more numerous, but whatever their number may be their interests have +been provided for in the treaty now submitted. Their subscriptions to it +would also have been received but for unreasonable pretensions raised by +them after all the arrangements of the treaty had been agreed upon and +it was actually signed. Whatever their merits may have been in the +facility with which they ceded all the lands of their nation within the +State of Georgia, their utter inability to perform the engagements which +they so readily contracted and the exorbitancy of their demands when +compared with the inefficiency of their own means of performance leave +them with no claims upon the United States other than of impartial and +rigorous justice. + +In referring to the impressions under which I ratified the treaty of the +12th of February last, I do not deem it necessary to decide upon the +propriety of the manner in which it was negotiated. Deeply regretting +the recriminations and recriminations to which these events have given +rise, I believe the public interest will best be consulted by discarding +them altogether from the discussion of the subject. The great body of +the Creek Nation inflexibly refuse to acknowledge or to execute that +treaty. Upon this ground it will be set aside, should the Senate advise +and consent to the ratification of that now communicated, without +looking back to the means by which the other was effected. And in the +adjustment of the terms of the present treaty I have been peculiarly +anxious to dispense a measure of great liberality to both parties of the +Creek Nation, rather than to extort from them a bargain of which the +advantages on our part could only be purchased by hardship on theirs. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 1, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 50th ultimo, I +communicate herewith, in confidence, a report[004] from the Secretary of +State, with the documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 7, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 15th of December +last, I communicate herewith reports from the Secretaries of the +Treasury and War and from the Commissioner of the General Land Office, +with documents, relating to the lead mines and salt springs, containing +the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 14, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +12th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the +Navy, with the statements relating to naval courts of inquiry and +courts-martial since the 1st January, 1824, requested by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 15, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the late +Secretary of War to the late President of the United States, with +documents, containing information requested by a resolution of the House +of April 10, 1824, relating to the purchases of real estate in behalf of +the United States within the territorial limits of any State since the +4th July, 1776. + +These papers were prepared during the last session of Congress, but by +some accident were not then communicated to the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 16, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In answer to the two resolutions of the Senate of the 15th instant, +marked executive, and which I have received, I state respectfully that +all the communications from me to the Senate relating to the congress at +Panama have been made, like all other communications upon executive +business, _in confidence_ and most of them in compliance with a +resolution of the Senate requesting them confidentially. Believing that +the established usage of free confidential communication between the +Executive and the Senate ought for the public interest to be preserved +unimpaired, I deem it my indispensable duty to leave to the Senate +itself the decision of a question involving a departure hitherto, so far +as I am informed, without example from that usage, and upon the motives +for which, not being informed of them, I do not feel myself competent to +decide. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 17, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with a +further document, prepared in compliance with a resolution of the House +of the 10th of April, 1824, and containing information relating to +purchasers of real estate in behalf of the United States within the +territorial limits of any State since the 4th of July, 1776. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 17, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to both Houses of Congress a letter from the +Secretary of War, with a report from the Ordnance Department, relating +to the site of the arsenal of the United States at Augusta, in Georgia, +and with regard to which the interposition of the legislative authority +is submitted to your consideration as desirable. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 1, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War, together +with a representation from Colonel Brooke, relating to the present +condition of the Indians in Florida, and which I recommend to the +favorable consideration of Congress. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 1, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +A resolution of the House of Representatives adopted at the first +session of the Eighteenth Congress, and bearing date the 6th of May, +1824, requested the President of the United States to lay before the +House at their then next session a detailed report of the system and +plan of fortifications then contemplated and recommended by the Board of +Engineers, with various particulars specified in the resolution; and on +the 5th of January last a further resolution was adopted requesting +similar information. I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +War, with a letter from the Chief Engineer, and documents, containing, +so far as it has been found practicable to obtain and compile it, the +information requested by these resolutions. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 5, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I now submit to the consideration of Congress the propriety of making +the appropriation for carrying into effect the appointment of a mission +to the congress at Panama. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 7, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to both Houses of Congress a letter from the Secretary of +War, together with copies of one to him from the Senators of the State +of Maryland, and several other documents, relating to a claim of that +State upon the Government of the United States for interest upon certain +expenditures during the late war, which I the more readily recommend to +the favorable and early consideration of Congress inasmuch as the +principle upon which the claim is advanced appears to have been settled +by the act of Congress of 3d March, 1825, authorizing the payment of +interest due to the State of Virginia. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 8, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of State, with the proceedings of the court and marshal of the United +States for the district of Alabama, and other documents, in relation to +the cargoes of certain slave ships, the _Constitution, Louisa_. and +_Marino_. containing the information requested by a resolution of the +House of February 16, 1825. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 8, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +10th ultimo, requesting information relating to the proceedings of the +joint commission of indemnities due under the award of the Emperor of +Russia for slaves and other private property carried away by the British +forces in violation of the treaty of Ghent, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of State and documents containing the information +desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 15, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War and copies +of a resolution of that legislature of the State of Georgia, with a +correspondence of the governor of that State, relating to the running +and establishing of the line between that State and Florida, which I +recommend to the favorable consideration of Congress. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 15, 1826_. +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: +In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 5th ultimo, +requesting me to cause to be laid before the House so much of the +correspondence between the Government of the United States and the new +States of America, or their ministers, respecting the proposed congress +or meeting of diplomatic agents at Panama, and such information +respecting the general character of that expected congress as may be in +my possession and as may, in my opinion, be communicated without +prejudice to the public interest, and also to inform the House, so far +as in my opinion the public interest may allow, in regard to what +objects the agents of the United States are expected to take part in the +deliberations of that congress, I now transmit to the House a report +from the Secretary of State, with the correspondence and information +requested by the resolution. + +With regard to the objects in which the agents of the United States are +expected to take part in the deliberations of that congress, I deem it +proper to premise that these objects did not form the only, nor even the +principal, motive for my acceptance of the invitation. My first and +greatest inducement was to meet in the spirit of kindness and friendship +an overture made in that spirit by three sister Republics of this +hemisphere. + +The great revolution in human affairs which has brought into existence, +nearly at the same time, eight sovereign and independent nations in our +own quarter of the globe has placed the United States in a situation not +less novel and scarcely less interesting than that in which they had +found themselves by their own transition from a cluster of colonies to a +nation of sovereign States. The deliverance of the Southern American +Republics from the oppression under which they had been so long +afflicted was hailed with great unanimity by the people of this Union as +among the most auspicious events of the age. On the 4th of May, 1822, an +act of Congress made an appropriation of $100,000 "for such missions to +the independent nations on the American continent as the President of +the United States might deem proper." In exercising the authority +recognized by this act my predecessor, by and with the advice and +consent of the Senate appointed successively ministers plenipotentiary +to the Republics of Colombia, Buenos Ayres, Chili, and Mexico. Unwilling +to raise among the fraternity of freedom questions of precedency and +etiquette, which even the European monarchs had of late found it +necessary in a great measure to discard, he dispatched these ministers +to Colombia, Buenos Ayres, and Chili without exacting from those +Republics, as by the ancient principles of political primogeniture he +might have done, that the compliment of a plenipotentiary mission should +have been paid _first_ by them to the United States. The instructions, +prepared under his direction, to Mr. Anderson, the first of our +ministers to the southern continent, contain at much length the general +principles upon which he thought it desirable that our relations, +political and commercial, with these our new neighbors should be +established for their benefit and ours and that of the future ages of +our posterity. A copy of so much of these instructions as relates to +these general subjects is among the papers now transmitted to the House. +Similar instructions were furnished to the ministers appointed to Buenos +Ayres, Chili, and Mexico, and the system of social intercourse which it +was the purpose of those missions to establish from the first opening of +our diplomatic relations with those rising nations is the most effective +exposition of the principles upon which the invitation to the congress +at Panama has been accepted by me, as well as of the objects of +negotiation at that meeting, in which, it was that our plenipotentiaries +should take part. + +The House will perceive that even at the date of these instructions the +first treaties between some of the southern Republics had been +concluded, by which they had stipulated among themselves this diplomatic +assembly at Panama. And it will be seen with what caution, so far as it +might concern the policy of the United States, and at the same time with +what frankness and good will toward those nations, he gave countenance +to their design of inviting the United States to this high assembly for +consultation upon _American interests_. It was not considered a +conclusive reason for declining this invitation that the proposal for +assembling such a Congress had not first been made by ourselves. It had +sprung from the urgent, immediate, and momentous common interests of the +great communities struggling for independence, and, as it were, +quickening into life. From them the proposition to us appeared +respectful and friendly; from us to them it could scarcely have been +made without exposing ourselves to suspicions of purposes of ambition, +if not of domination, more suited to rouse resistance and excite +distrust than to conciliate favor and friendship. The first and +paramount principle upon which it was deemed wise and just to lay the +corner stone of all our future relations with them was +_disinterestedness_; the next was cordial good will to them; the third +was a claim of fair and equal reciprocity. Under these impressions when +the invitation was formally and earnestly given, had it even been +doubtful whether _any_ of the objects proposed for consideration and +discussion at the Congress were such as that immediate and important +interests of the United States would be affected by the issue, I should, +nevertheless, have determined so far as it depended upon me to have +accepted the invitation and to have appointed ministers to attend the +meeting. The proposal itself implied that the Republics by whom it was +made _believed_ that important interests of ours or of theirs rendered +our attendance there desirable. They had given us notice that in the +novelty of their situation and in the spirit of deference to our +experience they would be pleased to have the benefit of our friendly +counsel. To meet the temper with which this proposal was made with a +cold repulse was not thought congenial to that warm interest in their +welfare with which the people and Government of the Union had hitherto +gone hand in hand through the whole progress of their revolution. To +insult them by a refusal of their overture, and then invite them to a +similar assembly to be called by ourselves, was an expedient which never +presented itself to the mind. I would have sent ministers to the meeting +had it been merely to give them such advice as they might have desired, +even with reference to _their own_ interests, not involving ours. I +would have sent them had it been merely to explain and set forth to them +our reasons for _declining_ any proposal of specific measures to which +they might desire our concurrence, but which we might deem incompatible +with our interests or our duties. In the intercourse between nations +temper is a missionary perhaps more powerful than talent. Nothing was +ever lost by kind treatment. Nothing can be gained by sullen repulses +and aspiring pretensions. + +But objects of the highest importance, not only to the future welfare of +the whole human race, but bearing directly upon the special interests of +this Union, _will_ engage the deliberations of the congress of Panama +whether we are represented there or not. Others, if we are represented, +may be offered by our plenipotentiaries for consideration having in view +both these great results--our own interests and the improvement of the +condition of man upon earth. It may be that in the lapse of many +centuries no other opportunity so favorable will be presented to the +Government of the United States to subserve the benevolent purposes of +Divine Providence; to dispense the promised blessings of the Redeemer of +Mankind; to promote the prevalence in future ages of peace on earth and +good will to man, as will now be placed in their power by participating +in the deliberations of this congress. + +Among the topics enumerated in official papers published by the Republic +of Colombia, and adverted to in the correspondence now communicated to +the House, as intended to be presented for discussion at Panama, there +is scarcely one in which the _result_ of the meeting will not deeply +affect the interests of the United States. Even those in which the +belligerent States alone will take an active part will have a powerful +effect upon the state of our relations with the American, and probably +with the principal European, States. Were it merely that we might be +correctly and speedily informed of the proceedings of the congress and +of the progress and issue of their negotiations, I should hold it +advisable that we should have an accredited agency with them, placed in +such confidential relations with the other members as would insure the +authenticity and the safe and early transmission of its reports. Of the +same enumerated topics are the preparation of a manifesto setting forth +to the world the justice of their cause and the relations they desire to +hold with other Christian powers, and to form a convention of navigation +and commerce applicable both to the confederated States and to their +allies. + +It will be within the recollection of the House that immediately after +the close of the war of our independence a measure closely analogous to +this congress of Panama was adopted by the Congress of our +Confederation, and for purposes of precisely the same character. Three +commissioners with plenipotentiary powers were appointed to negotiate +treaties of amity, navigation, and commerce with all the principal +powers of Europe. They met and resided for that purpose about one year +at Paris, and the only result of their negotiations at that time was the +first treaty between the United States and Prussia--memorable in the +diplomatic annals of the world, and precious as a monument of the +principles, in relation to commerce and maritime warfare, with which our +country entered upon her career as a member of the great family of +independent nations. This treaty, prepared in conformity with the +instructions of the American plenipotentiaries, consecrated three +fundamental principles of the foreign intercourse which the Congress of +that period were desirous of establishing: First, equal reciprocity and +the mutual stipulation of the privileges of the most favored nation in +the commercial exchanges of peace; secondly, the abolition of private +war upon the ocean, and thirdly, restrictions favorable to neutral +commerce upon belligerent practices with regard to contraband of war and +blockades. A painful, it may be said a calamitous, experience of more +than forty years has demonstrated the deep importance of these same +principles to the peace and prosperity of this nation and to the welfare +of all maritime States, and has illustrated the profound wisdom with +which they were assumed as cardinal points of the policy of the Union. + +At that time in the infancy of their political existence, under the +influence of those principles of liberty and of right so congenial to +the cause in which they had just fought and triumphed, they were able +but to obtain the sanction of one great and philosophical, though +absolute, sovereign in Europe to their liberal and enlightened +principles. They could obtain no more. Since then a political hurricane +has gone over three-fourths of the civilized portions of the earth, the +desolation of which it may with confidence be expected is passing away, +leaving at least the American atmosphere purified and refreshed. And now +at this propitious moment the new-born nations of this hemisphere, +assembling by their representatives at the isthmus between its two +continents to settle the principles of their future international +intercourse with other nations and with us, ask in this great exigency +for our advice upon those very fundamental maxims which we from our +cradle at first proclaimed and partially succeeded to introduce into the +code of national law. + +Without recurring to that total prostration of all neutral and +commercial rights which marked the progress of the late European wars, +and which finally involved the United States in them, and adverting only +to our political relations with these American nations, it is observable +that while in all other respects those relations have been uniformly and +without exception of the most friendly and mutually satisfactory +character, the only causes of difference and dissension between us and +them which ever have arisen originated in those never-failing fountains +of discord and irritation--discriminations of commercial favor to other +nations, licentious privateers, and paper blockades. I can not without +doing injustice to the Republics of Buenos Ayres and Colombia forbear to +acknowledge the candid and conciliatory spirit with which they have +repeatedly yielded to our friendly representations and remonstrances on +these subjects--in repealing discriminative laws which operated to our +disadvantage and in revoking the commissions of their privateers, to +which Colombia has added the magnanimity of making reparation for +unlawful captures by some of her cruisers and of assenting in the midst +of war to treaty stipulations favorable to neutral navigation. But the +recurrence of these occasions of complaint has rendered the renewal of +the discussions which result in the removal of them necessary, while in +the meantime injuries are sustained by merchants and other individuals +of the United States which can not be repaired, and the remedy lingers +in overtaking the pernicious operation of the mischief. The settlement +of general principles pervading with equal efficacy all the American +States can alone put an end to these evils, and can alone be +accomplished at the proposed assembly. + +If it be true that the noblest treaty of peace ever mentioned in history +is that by which the Carthagenians were bound to abolish the practice of +sacrificing their own children _because it was stipulated in favor of +human nature_. I can not exaggerate to myself the unfading glory with +which these United States will go forth in the memory of future ages if +by their friendly counsel, by their moral influence, by the power of +argument and persuasion alone they can prevail upon the American nations +at Panama to stipulate by general agreement among themselves, and so far +as any of them may be concerned, the perpetual abolition of private war +upon the ocean. And if we can not yet flatter ourselves that this may be +accomplished, as advances toward it the establishment of the principle +that the friendly flag shall cover the cargo, the curtailment of +contraband of war, and the proscription of fictitious paper blockades-- +engagements which we may reasonably hope will not prove impracticable-- +will, if successfully inculcated, redound proportionally to our honor +and drain the fountain of many a future sanguinary war. + +The late President of the United States, in his message to Congress of +the 2d December, 1823, while announcing the negotiation then pending +with Russia, relating to the northwest coast of this continent, observed +that the occasion of the discussions to which that incident had given +rise had been taken for asserting as a principle in which the rights and +interests of the United States were involved that the American +continents, by the free and independent condition which they had assumed +and maintained, were thenceforward not to be considered as subjects for +future colonization by any European power. The principle had first been +assumed in that negotiation with Russia. It rested upon a course of +reasoning equally simple and conclusive. With the exception of the +existing European colonies, which it was in nowise intended to disturb, +the two continents consisted of several sovereign and independent +nations, whose territories covered their whole surface. By this their +independent condition the United States enjoyed the right of commercial +intercourse with every part of their possessions. To attempt the +establishment of a colony in those possessions would be to usurp to the +exclusion of others a commercial intercourse which was the common +possession of all. It could not be done without encroaching upon +existing rights of the United States. The Government of Russia has never +disputed these positions nor manifested the slightest dissatisfaction at +their having been taken. Most of the new American Republics have +declared their entire assent to them, and they now propose, among the +subjects of consultation at Panama, to take into consideration the means +of making effectual the assertion of that principle, as well as the +means of resisting interference from abroad with the domestic concerns +of the American Governments. + +In alluding to these means it would obviously be premature at this time +to anticipate that which is offered merely as matter for consultation, +or to pronounce upon those measures which have been or may be suggested. +The purpose of this Government is to concur in none which would import +hostility to Europe or justly excite resentment in any of her States. +Should it be deemed advisable to contract any conventional engagement on +this topic, our views would extend no further than to a mutual pledge of +the parties to the compact to maintain the principle in application to +its own territory, and to permit no colonial lodgments or establishment +of European jurisdiction upon its own soil; and with respect to the +obtrusive interference from abroad--if its future character may be +inferred from that which has been and perhaps still is exercised in more +than one of the new States--a joint declaration of its character and +exposure of it to the world may be probably all that the occasion would +require. Whether the United States should or should not be parties to +such a declaration may justly form a part of the deliberation. That +there is an evil to be remedied heeds little insight into the secret +history of late years to know, and that this remedy may best be +concerted at the Panama meeting deserves at least the experiment of +consideration. A concert of measures having reference to the more +effectual abolition of the African slave trade and the consideration of +the light in which the political condition of the island of Hayti is to +be regarded are also among the subjects mentioned by the minister from +the Republic of Colombia as believed to be suitable for deliberation at +the congress. The failure of the negotiations with that Republic +undertaken during the late administration, for the suppression of that +trade, in compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives, +indicates the expediency of listening with respectful attention to +propositions which may contribute to the accomplishment of the great end +which was the purpose of that resolution, while the result of those +negotiations will serve as admonition to abstain from pledging this +Government to any arrangement which might be expected to fail of +obtaining the advice and consent of the Senate by a constitutional +majority to its ratification. + +Whether the political condition of the island of Hayti shall be brought +at all into discussion at the meeting may be a question for preliminary +advisement. There are in the political constitution of Government of +that people circumstances which have hitherto forbidden the +acknowledgment of them by the Government of the United States as +sovereign and independent. Additional reasons for withholding that +acknowledgment have recently been seen in their acceptance of a nominal +sovereignty by the _grant_ of a foreign prince under conditions +equivalent to the concession by them of exclusive commercial advantages +to one nation, adapted altogether to the state of colonial vassalage and +retaining little of independence but the name. Our plenipotentiaries +will be instructed to present these views to the assembly at Panama, and +should they not be concurred in to decline acceding to any arrangement +which may be proposed upon different principles. + +The condition of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico is of deeper import +and more immediate bearing upon the present interests and future +prospects of our Union. The correspondence herewith transmitted will +show how earnestly it has engaged the attention of this Government. The +invasion of both those islands by the united forces of Mexico and +Colombia is avowedly among the objects to be matured by the belligerent +States at Panama. The convulsions to which, from the peculiar +composition of their population, they would be liable in the event of +such an invasion, and the danger therefrom resulting of their falling +ultimately into the hands of some European power other than Spain, will +not admit of our looking at the consequences to which the congress at +Panama may lead with indifference. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon +this topic or to say more than that all our efforts in reference to this +interest will be to preserve the existing state of things, the +tranquillity of the islands, and the peace and security of their +inhabitants. + +And lastly, the congress of Panama is believed to present a fair +occasion for urging upon all the new nations of the south the just and +liberal principles of religious liberty; not by any interference +whatever in their internal concerns, but by claiming for our citizens +whose occupations or interests may call them to occasional residence in +their territories the inestimable privilege of worshipping their Creator +according to the dictates of their own consciences. This privilege, +sanctioned by the customary law of nations and secured by treaty +stipulations in numerous national compacts, secured even to our own +citizens in the treaties with Colombia and with the Federation of +Central America, is yet to be obtained in the other South American +States and Mexico. Existing prejudices are still struggling against it, +which may, perhaps, be more successfully combated at this general +meeting than at the separate seats of Government of each Republic. + +I can scarcely deem it otherwise than superfluous to observe that the +assembly will be in its nature diplomatic and not legislative; that +nothing can be transacted there obligatory upon any one of the States to +be represented at the meeting, unless with the express concurrence of +its own representatives, nor even then, but subject to the ratification +of its constitutional authority at home. The faith of the United States +to foreign powers can not otherwise be pledged. I shall, indeed, in the +first instance, consider the assembly as merely _consultative_; and +although the plenipotentiaries of the United States will be empowered to +receive and refer to the consideration of their Government any +proposition from the other parties to the meeting, they will be +authorized to conclude nothing unless subject to the definitive sanction +of this Government in all its constitutional forms. It has therefore +seemed to me unnecessary to insist that every object to be discussed at +the meeting should be specified with the precision of a judicial +sentence or enumerated with the exactness of a mathematical +demonstration. The purpose of the meeting itself is to deliberate upon +the great and common _interests_ of several new and neighbouring +nations. If the measure is new and without precedent, so is the +situation of the parties to it. That the purposes of the meeting are +somewhat indefinite, far from being an objection to it is among the +cogent reasons for its adoption. It is not the establishment of +principles of intercourse with one, but with seven or eight nations at +once. That before they have had the means of exchanging ideas and +communicating with one another in common upon these topics they should +have definitively settled and arranged them in concert is to require +that the effect should precede the cause; it is to exact as a +preliminary to the meeting that for the accomplishment of which the +meeting itself is designed. + +Among the inquiries which were thought entitled to consideration before +the determination was taken to accept the invitation was that whether +the measure might not have a tendency to change the policy, hitherto +invariably pursued by the United States, of avoiding all entangling +alliances and all unnecessary foreign connections. + +Mindful of the advice given by the father of our country in his Farewell +Address, that the great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign +nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as +little political connection as possible, and faithfully adhering to the +spirit of that admonition, I can not overlook the reflection that the +counsel of Washington in that instance, like all the counsels of wisdom, +was founded upon the circumstances in which our country and the world +around us were situated at the time when it was given; that the reasons +assigned by him for his advice were that Europe had a set of primary +interests which to us had none or a very remote relation; that hence she +must be engaged in frequent controversies, the, causes of which were +essentially foreign to our concerns; that our _detached_ and _distant_ +situation invited and enabled us to pursue a different course; that by +our union and rapid growth, with an efficient Government, the period was +not far distant when we might defy material injury from external +annoyance, when we might take such an attitude as would cause our +neutrality to be respected, and, with reference to belligerent nations, +might choose peace or war, as our interests, guided by justice, should +counsel. + +Compare our situation and the circumstances of that time with those of +the present day, and what, from the very words of Washington then, would +be his counsels to his countrymen now? Europe has still her set of +primary interests, with which we have little or a remote relation. Our +distant and detached situation with reference to Europe remains the +same. But we were then the only independent nation of this hemisphere, +and we were surrounded by European colonies, with the greater part of +which we had no more intercourse than with the inhabitants of another +planet. Those colonies have now been transformed into eight independent +nations, extending to our very borders, seven of them Republics like +ourselves, with whom we have an immensely growing commercial, and _must_ +have and have already important political, connections; with reference +to whom our situation is neither distant nor detached; whose political +principles and systems of government, congenial with our own, must and +will have an action and counteraction upon us and ours to which we can +not be indifferent if we would. + +The rapidity of our growth, and the consequent increase of our strength, +has more than realized the anticipations of this admirable political +legacy. Thirty years have nearly elapsed since it was written, and in +the interval our population, our wealth, our territorial extension, our +power--physical and moral--have nearly trebled. Reasoning upon this +state of things from the sound and judicious principles of Washington, +must we not say that the period which he predicted as then not far off +has arrived; that _America_ has a set of primary interests which have +none or a remote relation to Europe; that the interference of Europe, +therefore, in those concerns should be spontaneously withheld by her +upon the same principles that we have never interfered with hers, and +that if she should interfere, as she may, by measures which may have a +great and dangerous recoil upon ourselves, we might be called in defense +of our own altars and firesides to take an attitude which would cause +our neutrality to be respected, and choose peace or war, as our +interest, guided by justice, should counsel. + +The acceptance of this invitation, therefore, far from conflicting with +the counsel or the policy of Washington, is directly deducible from and +conformable to it. Nor is it less conformable to the views of my +immediate predecessor as declared in his annual message to Congress of +the 2d December, 1823, to which I have already adverted, and to an +important passage of which I invite the attention of the House: + + The citizens of the United States (said he) cherish sentiments + the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their + fellow-men on that (the European) side of the Atlantic. In the + wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we + have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so + to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously + menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our + defense. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of + necessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be + obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political + system of the allied powers is essentially different in this + respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that + which exists in their respective Governments. And to the defense + of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood + and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened + citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, + this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor and + to the amicable relations subsisting between the United States + and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt + on their part to extend their system to any portion of this + hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the + existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have + not interfered and shall not interfere; but with the Governments + who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose + independence we have on great consideration and on just + principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for + the purposes of oppressing them or controlling in any other + manner their destiny by any European power in any other light + than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the + United States. In the war between those new Governments and Spain + we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition, and + to this we have adhered and shall continue to adhere, provided no + change shall occur which in the judgment of the competent + authorities of this Government shall make a corresponding change + on the part of the United States indispensable to their security. + +To the question which may be asked, whether this meeting and the +principles which may be adjusted and settled by it as rules of +intercourse between the American nations may not give umbrage to the +holy league of European powers or offense to Spain, it is deemed a +sufficient answer that our attendance at Panama can give _no just cause_ +of umbrage or offense to either, and that the United States will +stipulate nothing there which can give such cause. Here the right of +inquiry into our purposes and measures must stop. The holy league of +Europe itself was formed without inquiring of the United States whether +it would or would not give umbrage to them. The fear of giving umbrage +to the holy league of Europe was urged as a motive for denying to the +American nations the acknowledgment of their independence. That it would +be viewed by Spain as hostility to her was not only urged, but directly +declared by herself. The Congress and administration of that day +consulted their rights and duties, and not their fears. Fully determined +to give no heedless displeasure to any foreign power, the United States +can estimate the probability of their giving it only by the right which +any foreign state could have to take it from their measures. Neither the +representation of the United States at Panama nor any measure to which +their assent may be yielded there will give to the holy league or any of +its members, nor to Spain, the right to take offense; for the rest the +United States must still, as heretofore, take counsel from their duties +rather than their fears. + +Such are the objects in which it is expected that the plenipotentiaries +of the United States, when commissioned to attend the meeting at the +Isthmus, will take part, and such are the motives and purposes with +which the invitation of the three Republics was accepted. It was, +however, as the House will perceive from the correspondence, accepted +only upon condition that the nomination of commissioners for the mission +should receive the advice and consent of the Senate. + +The concurrence of the House to the measure by the appropriations +necessary for carrying it into effect is alike subject to its free +determination and indispensable to the fulfillment of the intention. + +That the congress at Panama will accomplish all, or even any, of the +transcendent benefits to the human race which warmed the conceptions of +its first proposer it were perhaps indulging too sanguine a forecast of +events to promise. It is in its nature a measure speculative and +experimental. The blessing of Heaven may turn it to the account of human +improvement; accidents unforeseen and mischances not to be anticipated +may baffle all its high purposes and disappoint its fairest +expectations. But the design is great, is benevolent, is humane. + +It looks to the melioration of the condition of man. It is congenial +with that spirit which prompted the declaration of our independence, +which inspired the preamble of our first treaty with France, which +dictated our first treaty with Prussia and the instructions under which +it was negotiated, which filled the hearts and fired the souls of the +immortal founders of our Revolution. + +With this unrestricted exposition of the motives by which I have been +governed in this transaction, as well as of the objects to be discussed +and of the ends, if possible, to be attained by our representation at +the proposed congress, I submit the propriety of an appropriation to the +candid consideration and enlightened patriotism of the Legislature. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 16, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +Some additional documents having relation to the objects of the mission +to the congress at Panama, and received since the communication of those +heretofore sent, are now transmitted to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the +10th instant, requesting information in possession of the Government +relating to certain resolves of the Congress of the Confederation of the +21st of October, 1780, and the 21st March, 1783, concerning allowances +to the officers of the Revolutionary army, and to the manner of carrying +into effect those resolves, and other particulars appertaining thereto, +I transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, and +of War, with documents, comprising the information desired by the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +MARCH 22, 1826. + + + + +Washington, +_March 24, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of +the 14th ultimo, requesting statements of the amount of compensation +allowed to the paymaster and quartermaster of the Marine Corps for +the two years preceding the 1st of January, 1826, and of other particulars +relating to the same Corps, I communicate a report from the Secretary +of the Navy, with documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 24, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +16th ultimo, requesting statements of the net amount of revenue derived +from imports and tonnage received by the Treasury from the ports within +the bay of Delaware, the bay of Chesapeake, the harbor of New York, +and at Boston from the 1st of January, 1790, to the last of December, +1825, and of the amount of expenditures paid from the Treasury for forts, +light-houses, beacons, and other public works erected to aid commerce +or for the purposes of defense within the said bays and harbors during +the said time, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with several documents, containing the information desired by +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 29, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 227th instant, +requesting a copy of such parts of the answer of the Secretary of State +to Mr. Poinsett's letter to Mr. Clay, dated Mexico, 28th September, +1825, No. 22, as relates to the pledge of the United States therein +mentioned; and also requesting me to inform the House whether the United +States have in any manner made any pledge to the Governments of Mexico +and South America that the United States would not permit the +interference of any foreign power with the independence or form of +government of these nations, and, if so, when, in what manner, and to +what effect; and also to communicate to the House a copy of the +communication from our minister at Mexico in which he informed the +Government of the United States that the Mexican Government called upon +this Government to fulfill the memorable pledge of the President of the +United States in his message to Congress of December, 1823, I transmit +to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with the documents +containing the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 30, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By the second article of the general convention of peace, amity, +navigation, and commerce between the United States and the Republic of +Colombia, concluded at Bogota on 3d of October, 1824, it was stipulated +that the parties engaged mutually not to grant any particular favor to +other nations in respect of commerce and navigation which should not +immediately become common to the other party, who should enjoy the same +freely if the concession was freely made, or on allowing the same +compensation if the concession was conditional. And in the third article +of the same convention it was agreed that the citizens of the United +States might frequent all the coasts and countries of the Republic of +Colombia, and reside and trade there in all sorts of produce, +manufactures, and merchandise, and should pay no other or greater +duties, charges, or fees whatsoever than the most favored nation should +be obliged to pay, and should enjoy all the rights, privileges, and +exemptions in navigation and commerce which the most favored nations +should enjoy, submitting themselves, nevertheless, to the laws, decrees, +and usages there established, and to which were submitted the subjects +and citizens of the most favored nations; with a reciprocal stipulation +in favor of the citizens of the Republic of Colombia in the United +States. Subsequently to the conclusion of this convention a treaty was +negotiated between the Republic of Colombia and Great Britain, by which +it was stipulated that no other or higher duties on account of tonnage, +light, or harbor dues should be imposed in the ports of Colombia on +British vessels than those payable in the same ports by Colombian +vessels, and that the same duties should be paid on the importation into +the territories of Colombia of any article the growth, produce, or +manufacture of His Britannic Majesty's dominions, whether such +importations should be in Colombian or in British vessels, and that the +same duties should be paid and the same discount (drawbacks) and +bounties allowed on the exportation of any articles the growth, produce, +or manufacture of Colombia to His Britannic Majesty's dominions, whether +such exportations were in Colombian or in British vessels. + +The minister of the United States to the Republic of Colombia having +claimed, by virtue of the second and third articles of the convention +between the two Republics, that the benefit of these subsequent +stipulations should be alike extended to the citizens of the United +States upon the condition of reciprocity provided for by the convention, +the application of those engagements was readily acceded to by the +Colombian Government, and a decree was issued by the executive authority +of that Republic on the 30th of January last, a copy and translation of +which are herewith communicated, securing to the citizens of the United +States in the Republic of Colombia the same advantages in regard to +commerce and navigation which had been conceded to British subjects in +the Colombian treaty with Great Britain. + +It remains for the Government of the United States to secure to the +citizens of the Republic of Colombia the reciprocal advantages to which +they are entitled by the terms of the convention, to commence from the +30th of January last, for the accomplishment of which I invite the +favor-able consideration of the Legislature. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 31, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 21st instant, +requesting information whether any, and what, measures have been taken +to improve the navigation over the sand bars in the Ohio River according +to the provisions of the act of the 24th of May, 1824, to improve the +navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and also whether the +experiments mentioned in the proviso to the first section of the said +act have been made, and, if so, what success has attended them, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with documents, +containing the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 31, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I communicate to the Senate herewith a supplementary article to the +treaty with the chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation, in behalf of +that nation, which was transmitted to the Senate on the 31st of January +last, and which I submit, together with and as a part of that treaty, +for the constitutional advice of the Senate with regard to its +ratification. A report of the Secretary of War accompanies the article, +setting forth the reasons for which it has been concluded. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 1, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 13th ultimo, +requesting a statement of all the expenditures incident or relating to +internal improvement for the years 1824 and 1825, I transmit reports +from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, with documents, +containing the statement desired. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 1, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 7th ultimo, +requesting information relative to the execution of an act of Congress +of the 7th May, 1822, to authorize and empower the corporation of the +city of Washington, in the district of Columbia, to drain the low +grounds on and near the public reservations, and to improve and ornament +certain parts of such reservations, I transmit herewith a report from +the commissioners appointed by the corporation of the city to carry into +effect the provisions of the said act, together with sundry documents, +exhibiting the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 5, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 30th ultimo, I +transmit to the House a report[005] from the Secretary of State, with +the documents desired by the resolution; and also a copy of the letter +from the Secretary of State to Mr. Poinsett acknowledging the receipt of +his dispatch No. 22, accidentally overlooked in the answer to the +resolution of the House of the 27th ultimo. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 11, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +On the 16th of January last I sent to the Senate a nomination of Daniel +Bissell to be colonel of the Second Regiment of Artillery, and on the 3d +of February I received from the Secretary of the Senate an attested copy +of their proceedings in relation to that nomination, laid before me by +their order, and closing with a resolution in these words: + +_Resolved_. That in the opinion of the Senate Daniel Bissell is entitled +to the place of colonel in the Army of the United States, taking rank as +such from the 15th of August, 1812, with the brevet of brigadier-general +from the 9th of March, 1814, and that the President of the United States +may arrange him accordingly. + +In the discharge of my own duties I am under the necessity of stating +respectfully to the Senate-- + +First. That I can not concur in these opinions. + +Secondly. That the resolution of the Senate, having on its face no +reference either to the nomination or to the office for which it was +made, leaves me doubtful whether it was intended by the Senate as their +decision upon the nomination or not. If intended as their decision, it +imports that the Senate do not advise and consent to the appointment of +Daniel Bissell as colonel in the Second Regiment of Artillery. If +intended as a mere expression of their opinions, superseding in their +judgment the necessity of their immediate decision upon the nomination, +it leaves the Senate still in possession of the nomination and free to +act upon it when informed of my inability to carry those opinions into +effect. + +In this uncertainty I have thought it most respectful to the Senate to +refer the subject again to them for their consideration. The delay in +the transmission of this communication is attributable to the earnest +desire which I have entertained of acceding to the opinions and +complying with the wishes of the Senate, and to the long and repeated +reconsideration of my own impressions with the view to make them, if +possible, conform to theirs. A still higher duty now constrains me to +invite their definitive decision upon the nomination. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 15, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +11th instant, I transmit herewith a report[006] of the Secretary of +State, and documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 25, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I now transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of a treaty with the +Creek Nation of Indians, concluded on the 24th day of January last, with +a supplementary article, signed on the 31st of last month, which have +been, with the advice and consent of the Senate, duly ratified. I send +at the same time copies of the treaty superseded by them, signed at the +Indian Springs on the 12th of February, 1825. The treaty and +supplementary article now ratified will require the aid of the +Legislature for carrying them into effect. And I subjoin a letter from +the Secretary of War, proposing an additional appropriation for the +purpose of facilitating the removal of that portion of the Creek Nation +which may be disposed to remove west of the Mississippi, recommending +the whole subject to the favorable consideration of Congress. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 25, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 4th of January last, +I now transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, +and of War, and from the Postmaster-General, with the documents +containing the list of appointments of members of Congress and other +information relating thereto desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 28, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice concerning its +ratification, a general convention of friendship, commerce, and +navigation between the United States and His Majesty the King of +Denmark, signed by the Secretary of State and the Danish minister on the +26th instant. A copy of the convention and a note from the Secretary of +State, together with Mr. Pedersen's answer, respecting the claims of the +citizens of the United States upon the Danish Government, are likewise +communicated. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 29, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +26th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with a copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General[007] +referred to in the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 9, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: In compliance with a resolution of +the Senate of the 28th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of War, with a copy of the proceedings of the recent +court-martial for the trial of Colonel Talbot Chambers, and other +documents requested by the resolution or relating to the subject of it. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 15, 1826_. + + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: In compliance with a resolution of +the Senate of the 23d of March last, requesting information concerning +the official conduct of the collector and other revenue officers of the +port of Philadelphia, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 16, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +9th instant, I communicate herewith a report[007a] from the Secretary of +the Treasury, with the documents desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 17, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of treaties with Indian +tribes which have been, by and with the advice and consent of the +Senate, duly ratified during the present session of Congress: + +(1) With the Great and Little Osage tribes, concluded June 2, 1825; (2) +Kansas, June 3, 1825; (3) Poncar, June 9, 1825; (4) Teton, Yancton, and +Yanctonies, June 22, 1825; (5) Sioune and Ogallala, July 5 and 12, 1825; +(6) Chayenne, July 6, 1825; (7) Hunkpapas, July 16, 1825; (8) Ricara, +July 18, 1825; (9) Mandan, July 30, 1825; (10) Belantse-Etoa, or +Minnetaree, July 30, 1825; (11) Crow, August 4, 1825; (12) Great and +Little Osage, August 10, 1825; (13) Kansas, August 16, 1825; (14) Sioux, +Chippewa, Sac and Fox, Menomonee, Ioway, Sioux, Winnebago, and a portion +of the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Pottawatomie tribes, August 19, 1825; (15) +Ottoe and Missouri, September 26, 1825; (16) Pawnee, September 30, 1825; +(17) Maha, October 6, 1825; (18) Shawnee, November 7, 1825. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 19, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 16th instant, I +transmit a report[008] from the Secretary of State, containing the +information thereby requested. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 20, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 5th of March, 1824, +requesting copies of the several instructions to the ministers of the +United States to the Government of France and of the correspondence +between the said ministers and Government having reference to the +spoliations committed by that power on the commerce of the United States +anterior to the 30th of September, 1800, or so much thereof as can be +communicated without prejudice to the public interest; also how far, if +at all, the claim of indemnity from the Government of France for the +spoliations aforesaid was affected by the convention entered into +between the United States and France on the said 30th of September, +1800, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with the +documents desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +EXECUTIVE ORDER. + + +Adjutant-General's Office, + +Washington, +_July 11, 1826_ + + +General Orders. + + +The General in Chief has received from the Department of War the +following orders: + +The President with deep regret announces to the Army that it has pleased +the Disposer of All Human Events, in whose hands are the issues of life, +to remove from the scene of earthly existence our illustrious and +venerated fellow-citizen, Thomas Jefferson. + +This dispensation of Divine Providence, afflicting to us, but the +consummation of glory to him, occurred on the 4th of the present +month--- on the fiftieth anniversary of that Independence the +Declaration of which, emanating from his mind, at once proclaimed the +birth of a free nation and offered motives of hope and consolation to +the whole family of man. Sharing in the grief which every heart must +feel for so heavy and afflicting a public loss, and desirous to express +his high sense of the vast debt of gratitude which is due to the +virtues, talents, and ever-memorable services of the illustrious +deceased, the President directs that funeral honors be paid to him at +all the military stations, and that the officers of the Army wear crape +on the left arm, by way of mourning, for six months. + +Major-General Brown will give the necessary orders for carrying into +effect the foregoing directions. + +J. Barbour. + + + * * * * * + + +It has become the painful duty of the Secretary of War to announce to +the Army the death of another distinguished and venerated citizen. John +Adams departed this life on the 4th of this month. Like his compatriot +Jefferson, he aided in drawing and ably supporting the Declaration of +Independence. With a prophetic eye he looked through the impending +difficulties of the Revolution and foretold with what demonstrations of +joy the anniversary of the birth of American freedom would be hailed. He +was permitted to behold the verification of his prophecy, and died, as +did Jefferson, on the day of the jubilee. + +A coincidence of circumstances so wonderful gives confidence to the +belief that the patriotic efforts of these illustrious men were Heaven +directed, and furnishes a new seal to the hope that the prosperity of +these States is under the special protection of a kind Providence. + +The Secretary of War directs that the same funeral honors be paid by the +Army to the memory of the deceased as by the order of the 7th (11th?) +instant were directed to be paid to Thomas Jefferson, and the same token +of mourning be worn. + +Major-General Brown is charged with the execution of this order. + +J. Barbour. + + + * * * * * + + +Never has it fallen to the lot of any commander to announce to an army +such an event as now calls forth the mingled grief and astonishment of +this Republic; never since history first wrote the record of time has +one day thus mingled every triumphant with every tender emotion, and +consecrated a nation's joy by blending it with the most sacred of +sorrows. Yes, soldiers, in one day, almost in the same hour, have two of +the Founders of the Republic, the Patriarchs of Liberty, closed their +services to social man, after beholding them crowned with the richest +and most unlimited success. United in their end as they had been in +their highest aim, their toils completed, their hopes surpassed, their +honors full, and the dearest wish of their bosoms gratified in death, +they closed their eyes in patriot ecstasy, amidst the gratulations and +thanksgivings of a people on all, on every individual, of whom they had +conferred the best of all earthly benefits. + +Such men heed no trophies; they ask no splendid mausolea. We are their +monuments; their mausolea is their country, and her growing prosperity +the amaranthine wreath that Time shall place over their dust. Well may +the Genius of the Republic mourn. If she turns her eyes in one +direction, she beholds the hall where Jefferson wrote the charter of her +rights; if in another, she sees the city where Adams kindled the fires +of the Revolution. To no period of our history, to no department of our +affairs, can she direct her views and not meet the multiplied memorials +of her loss and of their glory. + +At the grave of such men envy dies, and party animosity blushes while +she quenches her fires. If Science and Philosophy lament their +enthusiastic votary in the halls of Monticello, Philanthropy and +Eloquence weep with no less reason in the retirement of Quincy. And when +hereafter the stranger performing his pilgrimage to the land of freedom +shall ask for the monument of Jefferson, his inquiring eye may be +directed to the dome of that temple of learning, the university of his +native State--- the last labor of his untiring mind, the latest and the +favorite gift of a patriot to his country. + +Bereaved yet happy America! Mourning yet highly favored country! Too +happy if every son whose loss shall demand thy tears can thus soothe thy +sorrow by a legacy of fame. + +The Army of the United States, devoted to the service of the country, +and honoring all who are alike devoted, whether in the Cabinet or the +field, will feel an honorable and a melancholy pride in obeying this +order. Let the officers, then, wear the badge of mourning, the poor +emblem of a sorrow which words can not express, but which freemen must +ever feel while contemplating the graves of the venerated Fathers of the +Republic. + +Tuesday succeeding the arrival of this order at each military station +shall be a day of rest. + +The National flag shall wave at half-mast. + +At early dawn thirteen guns shall be fired, and at intervals of thirty +minutes between the rising and setting sun a single cannon will be +discharged, and at the close of the day twenty-four rounds. + +By command of Major-General Brown: R. JONES, _Adjutant-General_ + + + * * * * * + + + + +SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE. + + + +Washington, +_December 5, 1826_. + + + +Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_: + +The assemblage of the representatives of our Union in both Houses of the +Congress at this time occurs under circumstances calling for the renewed +homage of our grateful acknowledgments to the Giver of All Good. With +the exceptions incidental to the most felicitous condition of human +existence, we continue to be highly favored in all the elements which +contribute to individual comfort and to national prosperity. In the +survey of our extensive country we have generally to observe abodes of +health and regions of plenty. In our civil and political relations we +have peace without and tranquillity within our borders. We are, as a +people, increasing with unabated rapidity in population, wealth, and +national resources, and whatever differences of opinion exist among us +with regard to the mode and the means by which we shall turn the +beneficence of Heaven to the improvement of our own condition, there is +yet a spirit animating us all which will not suffer the bounties of +Providence to be showered upon us in vain, but will receive them with +grateful hearts, and apply them with unwearied hands to the advancement +of the general good. + +Of the subjects recommended to Congress at their last session, some were +then definitively acted upon. Others, left unfinished, but partly +matured, will recur to your attention without heeding a renewal of +notice from me. The purpose of this communication will be to present to +your view the general aspect of our public affairs at this moment and +the measures which have been taken to carry into effect the intentions +of the Legislature as signified by the laws then and heretofore enacted. + +In our intercourse with the other nations of the earth we have still the +happiness of enjoying peace and a general good understanding, qualified, +however, in several important instances by collisions of interest and by +unsatisfied claims of justice, to the settlement of which the +constitutional interposition of the legislative authority may become +ultimately indispensable. + +By the decease of the Emperor Alexander, of Russia, which occurred +contemporaneously with the commencement of the last session of Congress, +the United States have been deprived of a long-tried, steady, and +faithful friend. Born to the inheritance of absolute power and trained +in the school of adversity, from which no power on earth, however +absolute, is exempt, that monarch from his youth had been taught to feel +the force and value of public opinion and to be sensible that the +interests of his own Government would best be promoted by a frank and +friendly intercourse with this Republic, as those of his people would be +advanced by a liberal commercial intercourse with our country. A candid +and confidential interchange of sentiments between him and the +Government of the United States upon the affairs of Southern America +took place at a period not long preceding his demise, and contributed to +fix that course of policy which left to the other Governments of Europe +no alternative but that of sooner or later recognizing the independence +of our southern neighbors, of which the example had by the United States +already been set. The ordinary diplomatic communications between his +successor, the Emperor Nicholas, and the United States have suffered +some interruption by the illness, departure, and subsequent decease of +his minister residing here, who enjoyed, as he merited, the entire +confidence of his new sovereign, as he had eminently responded to that +of his predecessor. But we have had the most satisfactory assurances +that the sentiments of the reigning Emperor toward the United States are +altogether conformable to those which had so long and constantly +animated his imperial brother, and we have reason to hope that they will +serve to cement that harmony and good understanding between the two +nations which, founded in congenial interests, can not but result in the +advancement of the welfare and prosperity of both. + +Our relations of commerce and navigation with France are, by the +operation of the convention of 24th of June, 1822, with that nation, in +a state of gradual and progressive improvement. Convinced by all our +experience, no less than by the principles of fair and liberal +reciprocity which the United States have constantly tendered to all the +nations of the earth as the rule of commercial intercourse which they +would universally prefer, that fair and equal competition is most +conducive to the interests of both parties, the United States in the +negotiation of that convention earnestly contended for a mutual +renunciation of discriminating duties and charges in the ports of the +two countries. Unable to obtain the immediate recognition of this +principle in its full extent, after reducing the duties of +discrimination so far as was found attainable it was agreed that at the +expiration of two years from the 1st of October, 1822, when the +convention was to go into effect, unless a notice of six months on +either side should be given to the other that the convention itself must +terminate, those duties should be reduced one-fourth, and that this +reduction should be yearly repeated, until all discrimination should +cease, while the convention itself should continue in force. By the +effect of this stipulation three-fourths of the discriminating duties +which had been levied by each party upon the vessels of the other in its +ports have already been removed; and on the 1st of next October, should +the convention be still in force, the remaining fourth will be +discontinued. French vessels laden with French produce will be received +in our ports on the same terms as our own, and ours in return will enjoy +the same advantages in the ports of France. + +By these approximations to an equality of duties and of charges not only +has the commerce between the two countries prospered, but friendly +dispositions have been on both sides encouraged and promoted. They will +continue to be cherished and cultivated on the part of the United +States. It would have been gratifying to have had it in my power to add +that the claims upon the justice of the French Government, involving the +property and the comfortable subsistence of many of our fellow-citizens, +and which have been so long and so earnestly urged, were in a more +promising train of adjustment than at your last meeting; but their +condition remains unaltered. + +With the Government of the Netherlands the mutual abandonment of +discriminating duties had been regulated by legislative acts on both +sides. The act of Congress of the 20th of April, 1818, abolished all +discriminating duties of impost and tonnage upon the vessels and produce +of the Netherlands in the ports of the United States upon the assurance +given by the Government of the Netherlands that all such duties +operating against the shipping and commerce of the United States in that +Kingdom had been abolished. These reciprocal regulations had continued +in force several years when the discriminating principle was resumed by +the Netherlands in a new and indirect form by a bounty of 10 per cent in +the shape of a return of duties to their national vessels, and in which +those of the United States are not permitted to participate. By the act +of Congress of 7th January, 1824, all discriminating duties in the +United States were again suspended, so far as related to the vessels and +produce of the Netherlands, so long as the reciprocal exemption should +be extended to the vessels and produce of the United States in the +Netherlands. But the same act provides that in the event of a +restoration of discriminating duties to operate against the shipping and +commerce of the United States in any of the foreign countries referred +to therein the suspension of discriminating duties in favor of the +navigation of such foreign country should cease and all the provisions +of the acts imposing discriminating foreign tonnage and impost duties in +the United States should revive and be in full force with regard to that +nation. + +In the correspondence with the Government of the Netherlands upon this +subject they have contended that the favor shown to their own shipping +by this bounty upon their tonnage is not to be considered as a +discriminating duty; but it can not be denied that it produces all the +same effects. Had the mutual abolition been stipulated by treaty, such a +bounty upon the national vessels could scarcely have been granted +consistently with good faith. Yet as the act of Congress of 7th January, +1824, has not expressly authorized the Executive authority to determine +what shall be considered as a revival of discriminating duties by a +foreign government to the disadvantage of the United States, and as the +retaliatory measure on our part, however just and necessary, may tend +rather to that conflict of legislation which we deprecate than to that +concert to which we invite all commercial nations, as most conducive to +their interest and our own, I have thought it more consistent with the +spirit of our institutions to refer the subject again to the paramount +authority of the Legislature to decide what measure the emergency may +require than abruptly by proclamation to carry into effect the minatory +provisions of the act of 1824. + +During the last session of Congress treaties of amity, navigation, and +commerce were negotiated and signed at this place with the Government of +Denmark, in Europe, and with the Federation of Central America, in this +hemisphere. These treaties then received the constitutional sanction of +the Senate, by the advice and consent to their ratification. They were +accordingly ratified on the part of the United States, and during the +recess of Congress have been also ratified by the other respective +contracting parties. The ratifications have been exchanged, and they +have been published by proclamations, copies of which are herewith +communicated to Congress. + +These treaties have established between the contracting parties the +principles of equality and reciprocity in their broadest and most +liberal extent, each party admitting the vessels of the other into its +ports, laden with cargoes the produce or manufacture of any quarter of +the globe, upon the payment of the same duties of tonnage and impost +that are chargeable upon their own. They have further stipulated that +the parties shall hereafter grant no favor of navigation or commerce to +any other nation which shall not upon the same terms be granted to each +other, and that neither party will impose upon articles of merchandise +the produce or manufacture of the other any other or higher duties than +upon the like articles being the produce or manufacture of any other +country. To these principles there is in the convention with Denmark an +exception with regard to the colonies of that Kingdom in the arctic +seas, but none with regard to her colonies in the West Indies. + +In the course of the last summer the term to which our last commercial +treaty with Sweden was limited has expired. A continuation of it is in +the contemplation of the Swedish Government, and is believed to be +desirable on the part of the United States. It has been proposed by the +King of Sweden that pending the negotiation of renewal the expired +treaty should be mutually considered as still in force, a measure which +will require the sanction of Congress to be carried into effect on our +part, and which I therefore recommend to your consideration. + +With Prussia, Spain, Portugal, and, in general, all the European powers +between whom and the United States relations of friendly intercourse +have existed their condition has not materially varied since the last +session of Congress. I regret not to be able to say the same of our +commercial intercourse with the colonial possessions of Great Britain in +America. Negotiations of the highest importance to our common interests +have been for several years in discussion between the two Governments, +and on the part of the United States have been invariably pursued in the +spirit of candor and conciliation. Interests of great magnitude and +delicacy had been adjusted by the conventions of 1815 and 1818, while +that of 1822, mediated by the late Emperor Alexander, had promised a +satisfactory compromise of claims which the Government of the United +States, in justice to the rights of a numerous class of their citizens, +was bound to sustain. But with regard to the commercial intercourse +between the United States and the British colonies in America, it has +been hitherto found impracticable to bring the parties to an +understanding satisfactory to both. The relative geographical position +and the respective products of nature cultivated by human industry had +constituted the elements of a commercial intercourse between the United +States and British America, insular and continental, important to the +inhabitants of both countries; but it had been interdicted by Great +Britain upon a principle heretofore practiced upon by the colonizing +nations of Europe, of holding the trade of their colonies each in +exclusive monopoly to herself. After the termination of the late war +this interdiction had been revived, and the British Government declined +including this portion of our intercourse with her possessions in the +negotiation of the convention of 1815. The trade was then carried on +exclusively in British vessels till the act of Congress, concerning +navigation, of 1818 and the supplemental act of 1820 met the interdict +by a corresponding measure on the part of the United States. These +measures, not of retaliation, but of necessary self-defense, were soon +succeeded by an act of Parliament opening certain colonial ports to the +vessels of the United States coming directly from them, and to the +importation from them of certain articles of our produce burdened with +heavy duties, and excluding some of the most valuable articles of our +exports. The United States opened their ports to British vessels from +the colonies upon terms as exactly corresponding with those of the act +of Parliament as in the relative position of the parties could be made, +and a negotiation was commenced by mutual consent, with the hope on our +part that a reciprocal spirit of accommodation and a common sentiment of +the importance of the trade to the interests of the inhabitants of the +two countries between whom it must be carried on would ultimately bring +the parties to a compromise with which both might be satisfied. With +this view the Government of the United States had determined to +sacrifice something of that entire reciprocity which in all commercial +arrangements with foreign powers they are entitled to demand, and to +acquiesce in some inequalities disadvantageous to ourselves rather than +to forego the benefit of a final and permanent adjustment of this +interest to the satisfaction of Great Britain herself. The negotiation, +repeatedly suspended by accidental circumstances, was, however, by +mutual agreement and express assent, considered as pending and to be +speedily resumed. In the meantime another act of Parliament, so doubtful +and ambiguous in its import as to have been misunderstood by the +officers in the colonies who were to carry it into execution, opens +again certain colonial ports upon new conditions and terms, with a +threat to close them against any nation which may not accept those terms +as prescribed by the British Government. This act, passed in July, 1825, +not communicated to the Government of the United States, not understood +by the British officers of the customs in the colonies where it was to +be enforced, was nevertheless submitted to the consideration of Congress +at their last session. With the knowledge that a negotiation upon the +subject had long been in progress and pledges given of its resumption at +an early day, it was deemed expedient to await the result of that +negotiation rather than to subscribe implicitly to terms the import of +which was not clear and which the British authorities themselves in this +hemisphere were not prepared to explain. + +Immediately after the close of the last session of Congress one of our +most distinguished citizens was dispatched as envoy extraordinary and +minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain, furnished with instructions +which we could not doubt would lead to a conclusion of this +long-controverted interest upon terms acceptable to Great Britain. Upon +his arrival, and before he had delivered his letters of credence, he was +met by an order of the British council excluding from and after the 1st +of December now current the vessels of the United States from all the +colonial British ports excepting those immediately bordering on our +territories. In answer to his expostulations upon a measure thus +unexpected he is informed that according to the ancient maxims of policy +of European nations having colonies their trade is an exclusive +possession of the mother country; that all participation in it by other +nations is a boon or favor not forming a subject of negotiation, but to +be regulated by the legislative acts of the power owning the colony; +that the British Government therefore declines negotiating concerning +it, and that as the United States did not forthwith accept purely and +simply the terms offered by the act of Parliament of July, 1825, Great +Britain would not now admit the vessels of the United States even upon +the terms on which she has opened them to the navigation of other +nations. + +We have been accustomed to consider the trade which we have enjoyed with +the British colonies rather as an interchange of mutual benefits than as +a mere favor received; that under every circumstance we have given an +ample equivalent. We have seen every other nation holding colonies +negotiate with other nations and grant them freely admission to the +colonies by treaty, and so far are the other colonizing nations of +Europe now from refusing to negotiate for trade with their colonies that +we ourselves have secured access to the colonies of more than one of +them by treaty. The refusal, however, of Great Britain to negotiate +leaves to the United States no other alternative than that of regulating +or interdicting altogether the trade on their part, according as either +measure may affect the interests of our own country, and with that +exclusive object I would recommend the whole subject to your calm and +candid deliberations. + +It is hoped that our unavailing exertions to accomplish a cordial good +understanding on this interest will not have an unpropitious effect +upon the other great topics of discussion between the two Governments. +Our northeastern and northwestern boundaries are still unadjusted. The +commissioners under the seventh article of the treaty of Ghent have +nearly come to the close of their labors; nor can we renounce the +expectation, enfeebled as it is, that they may agree upon their report +to the satisfaction or acquiescence of both parties. The commission for +liquidating the claims for indemnity for slaves carried away after the +close of the war has been sitting, with doubtful prospects of success. +Propositions of compromise have, however, passed between the two +Governments, the result of which we flatter ourselves may yet prove +satisfactory. Our own dispositions and purposes toward Great Britain are +all friendly and conciliatory; nor can we abandon but with strong +reluctance the belief that they will ultimately meet a return, not of +favors, which we neither ask nor desire, but of equal reciprocity and +good will. + +With the American Governments of this hemisphere we continue to maintain +an intercourse altogether friendly, and between their nations and ours +that commercial interchange of which mutual benefit is the source and +mutual comfort and harmony the result is in a continual state of +improvement. The war between Spain and them since the total expulsion of +the Spanish military force from their continental territories has been +little more than nominal, and their internal tranquillity, though +occasionally menaced by the agitations which civil wars never fail to +leave behind them, has not been affected by any serious calamity. + +The congress of ministers from several of those nations which assembled +at Panama, after a short session there, adjourned to meet again at a +more favorable season in the neighbourhood of Mexico. The decease of one +of our ministers on his way to the Isthmus, and the impediments of the +season, which delayed the departure of the other, deprived us of the +advantage of being represented at the first meeting of the congress. +There is, however, no reason to believe that any of the transactions of +the congress were of a nature to affect injuriously the interests of the +United States or to require the interposition of our ministers had they +been present. Their absence has, indeed, deprived us of the opportunity +of possessing precise and authentic information of the treaties which +were concluded at Panama; and the whole result has confirmed me in the +conviction of the expediency to the United States of being represented +at the congress. The surviving member of the mission, appointed during +your last session, has accordingly proceeded to his destination, and a +successor to his distinguished and lamented associate will be nominated +to the Senate. A treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce has in the +course of the last summer been concluded by our minister plenipotentiary +at Mexico with the united states of that Confederacy, which will also be +laid before the Senate for their advice with regard to its ratification. + +In adverting to the present condition of our fiscal concerns and to the +prospects of our revenue the first remark that calls our attention is +that they are less exuberantly prosperous than they were at the +corresponding period of the last year. The severe shock so extensively +sustained by the commercial and manufacturing interests in Great Britain +has not been without a perceptible recoil upon ourselves. A reduced +importation from abroad is necessarily succeeded by a reduced return to +the Treasury at home. The net revenue of the present year will not equal +that of the last, and the receipts of that which is to come will fall +short of those in the current year. The diminution, however, is in part +attributable to the flourishing condition of some of our domestic +manufactures, and so far is compensated by an equivalent more profitable +to the nation. It is also highly gratifying to perceive that the +deficiency in the revenue, while it scarcely exceeds the anticipations +of the last year's estimate from the Treasury, has not interrupted the +application of more than eleven millions during the present year to the +discharge of the principal and interest of the debt, nor the reduction +of upward of seven millions of the capital of the debt itself. The +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January last was $5,201,650.43; +the receipts from that time to the 30th of September last were +$19,585,932.50; the receipts of the current quarter, estimated at +$6,000,000. yield, with the sums already received, a revenue of about +twenty-five millions and a half for the year; the expenditures for the +three first quarters of the year have amounted to $18,714,226.66; the +expenditures of the current quarter are expected, including the two +millions of the principal of the debt to be paid, to balance the +receipts; so that the expenses of the year, amounting to upward of a +million less than its income, will leave a proportionally increased +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1827, over that of the +1st of January last; instead of $5,200,000 there will be $6,400,000. + +The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the +commencement of the year till September 30 is estimated at $21,250,000, +and the amount that will probably accrue during the present quarter is +estimated at $4,250,000, making for the whole year $25,500,000, from +which the drawbacks being deducted will leave a clear revenue from the +customs receivable in the year 1827 of about $20,400,000, which, with +the sums to be received from the proceeds of public lands, the bank +dividends, and other incidental receipts, will form an aggregate of +about $23,000,000, a sum falling short of the whole expenses of the +present year little more than the portion of those expenditures applied +to the discharge of the public debt beyond the annual appropriation of +$10,000,000 by the act of the 3d March, 1817. At the passage of that act +the public debt amounted to $123,500,000. On the 1st of January next it +will be short of $74,000,000. In the lapse of these ten years +$50,000,000 of public debt, with the annual charge of upward of +$3,000,000 of interest upon them, have been extinguished. At the passage +of that act, of the annual appropriation of ten millions seven were +absorbed in the payment of interest, and not more than three millions +went to reduce the capital of the debt. Of the same ten millions, at +this time scarcely four are applicable to the interest, and upward of +six are effective in melting down the capital. Yet our experience has +proved that a revenue consisting so largely of imposts and tonnage ebbs +and flows to an extraordinary extent, with all the fluctuations incident +to the general commerce of the world. It is within our recollection that +even in the compass of the same last ten years the receipts of the +Treasury were not adequate to the expenditures of the year, and that in +two successive years it was found necessary to resort to loans to meet +the engagements of the nation. The returning tides of the succeeding +years replenished the public coffers until they have again begun to feel +the vicissitude of a decline. To produce these alternations of fullness +and exhaustion the relative operation of abundant or unfruitful seasons, +the regulations of foreign governments, political revolutions, the +prosperous or decaying condition of manufactures, commercial +speculations, and many other causes, not always to be traced, variously +combine. We have found the alternate swells and diminutions embracing +periods of from two to three years. The last period of depression to us +was from 1819 to 1822. The corresponding revival was from 1823 to the +commencement of the present year. Still, we have no cause to apprehend a +depression comparable to that of the former period, or even to +anticipate a deficiency which will intrench upon the ability to apply +the annual ten millions to the reduction of the debt. It is well for us, +however, to be admonished of the necessity of abiding by the maxims of +the most vigilant economy, and of resorting to all honorable and useful +expedients for pursuing with steady and inflexible perseverance the +total discharge of the debt. + +Besides the seven millions of the loans of 1813 which will have been +discharged in the course of the present year, there are nine millions +which by the terms of the contracts would have been and are now +redeemable. Thirteen millions more of the loan of 1814 will become +redeemable from and after the expiration of the present month, and nine +other millions from and after the close of the ensuing year. They +constitute a mass of $31,000,000, all bearing an interest of 6 per cent, +more than twenty millions of which will be immediately redeemable, and +the rest within little more than a year. Leaving of this amount fifteen +millions to continue at the interest of 6 per cent, but to be paid off +as far as shall be found practicable in the years 1827 and 1828, there +is scarcely a doubt that the remaining sixteen millions might within a +few months be discharged by a loan at not exceeding 5 per cent, +redeemable in the years 1829 and 1830. By this operation a sum of nearly +half a million of dollars may be saved to the nation, and the discharge +of the whole thirty-one millions within the four years may be greatly +facilitated if not wholly accomplished. + +By an act of Congress of 3d March, 1835, a loan for the purpose now +referred to, or a subscription to stock, was authorized, at an interest +not exceeding 4-1/2 per cent. But at that time so large a portion of the +floating capital of the country was absorbed in commercial speculations +and so little was left for investment in the stocks that the measure was +but partially successful. At the last session of Congress the condition +of the funds was still unpropitious to the measure; but the change so +soon afterwards occurred that, had the authority existed to redeem the +nine millions now redeemable by an exchange of stocks or a loan at 5 per +cent, it is morally certain that it might have been effected, and with +it a yearly saving of $90,000. + +With regard to the collection of the revenue of imposts, certain +occurrences have within the last year been disclosed in one or two of +our principal ports, which engaged the attention of Congress at their +last session and may hereafter require further consideration. Until +within a very few years the execution of the laws for raising the +revenue, like that of all our other laws, has been insured more by the +moral sense of the community than by the rigors of a jealous precaution +or by penal sanctions. Confiding in the exemplary punctuality and +unsullied integrity of our importing merchants, a gradual relaxation +from the provisions of the collection laws, a close adherence to which +would have caused inconvenience and expense to them, had long become +habitual, and indulgences had been extended universally because they had +never been abused. It may be worthy of your serious consideration +whether some further legislative provision may not be necessary to come +in aid of this state of unguarded security. + +From the reports herewith communicated of the Secretaries of War and of +the Navy, with the subsidiary documents annexed to them, will be +discovered the present condition and administration of our military +establishment on the land and on the sea. The organization of the Army +having undergone no change since its reduction to the present peace +establishment in 1821, it remains only to observe that it is yet found +adequate to all the purposes for which a permanent armed force in time +of peace can be heeded or useful. It may be proper to add that, from a +difference of opinion between the late President of the United States +and the Senate with regard to the construction of the act of Congress of +2d March, 1821, to reduce and fix the military peace establishment of +the United States, it remains hitherto so far without execution that no +colonel has been appointed to command one of the regiments of artillery. +A supplementary or explanatory act of the Legislature appears to be the +only expedient practicable for removing the difficulty of this +appointment. + +In a period of profound peace the conduct of the mere military +establishment forms but a very inconsiderable portion of the duties +devolving upon the administration of the Department of War. It will be +seen by the returns from the subordinate departments of the Army that +every branch of the service is marked with order, regularity, and +discipline; that from the commanding general through all the gradations +of superintendence the officers feel themselves to have been citizens +before they were soldiers, and that the glory of a republican army must +consist in the spirit of freedom, by which it is animated, and of +patriotism, by which it is impelled. It may be confidently stated that +the moral character of the Army is in a state of continual improvement, +and that all the arrangements for the disposal of its parts have a +constant reference to that end. + +But to the War Department are attributed other duties, having, indeed, +relation to a future possible condition of war, but being purely +defensive, and in their tendency contributing rather to the security and +permanency of peace--the erection of the fortifications provided for by +Congress, and adapted to secure our shores from hostile invasion; the +distribution of the fund of public gratitude and justice to the +pensioners of the Revolutionary war; the maintenance of our relations of +peace and of protection with the Indian tribes, and the internal +improvements and surveys for the location of roads and canals, which +during the last three sessions of Congress have engaged so much of their +attention, and may engross so large a share of their future benefactions +to our country. + +By the act of the 30th of April, 1824, suggested and approved by my +predecessor, the sum of $30,000 was appropriated for the purpose of +causing to be made the necessary surveys, plans, and estimates of the +routes of such roads and canals as the President of the United States +might deem of national importance in a commercial or military point of +view, or necessary for the transportation of the public mail. The +surveys, plans, and estimates for each, when completed, will be laid +before Congress. + +In execution of this act a board of engineers was immediately +instituted, and have been since most assiduously and constantly occupied +in carrying it into effect. The first object to which their labors were +directed, by order of the late President, was the examination of the +country between the tide waters of the Potomac, the Ohio, and Lake Erie, +to ascertain the practicability of a communication between them, to +designate the most suitable route for the same, and to form plans and +estimates in detail of the expense of execution. + +On the 3d of February, 1825, they made their first report, which was +immediately communicated to Congress, and in which they declared that +having maturely considered the circumstances observed by them +personally, and carefully studied the results of such of the preliminary +surveys as were then completed, they were decidedly of opinion that the +communication was practicable. + +At the last session of Congress, before the board of engineers were +enabled to make up their second report containing a general plan and +preparatory estimate for the work, the Committee of the House of +Representatives upon Roads and Canals closed the session with a report +expressing the hope that the plan and estimate of the board of engineers +might at this time be prepared, and that the subject be referred to the +early and favorable consideration of Congress at their present session. +That expected report of the board of engineers is prepared, and will +forthwith be laid before you. + +Under the resolution of Congress authorizing the Secretary of War to +have prepared a complete system of cavalry tactics, and a system of +exercise and instruction of field artillery, for the use of the militia +of the United States, to be reported to Congress at the present session, +a board of distinguished officers of the Army and of the militia has +been convened, whose report will be submitted to you with that of the +Secretary of War. The occasion was thought favorable for consulting the +same board, aided by the results of a correspondence with the governors +of the several States and Territories and other citizens of intelligence +and experience, upon the acknowledged defective condition of our militia +system, and of the improvements of which it is susceptible. The report +of the board upon this subject is also submitted for your consideration. + +In the estimates of appropriations for the ensuing year upward of +$5,000,000 will be submitted for the expenditures to be paid from the +Department of War. Less than two-fifths of this will be applicable to +the maintenance and support of the Army. A million and a half, in the +form of pensions, goes as a scarcely adequate tribute to the services +and sacrifices of a former age, and a more than equal sum invested in +fortifications, or for the preparations of internal improvement, +provides for the quiet, the comfort, and happier existence of the ages +to come. The appropriations to indemnify those unfortunate remnants of +another race unable alike to share in the enjoyments and to exist in the +presence of civilization, though swelling in recent years to a magnitude +burdensome to the Treasury, are generally not without their equivalents +in profitable value, or serve to discharge the Union from engagements +more burdensome than debt. + +In like manner the estimate of appropriations for the Navy Department +will present an aggregate sum of upward of $3,000,000. About one-half of +these, however, covers the current expenditures of the Navy in actual +service, and one-half constitutes a fund of national property, the +pledge of our future glory and defense. It was scarcely one short year +after the close of the late war, and when the burden of its expenses and +charges was weighing heaviest upon the country, that Congress, by the +act of 29th April, 1816, appropriated $1,000,000 annually for eight +years to the _gradual increase of the Navy_. At a subsequent period this +annual appropriation was reduced to half a million for six years, of +which the present year is the last. A yet more recent appropriation the +last two years, for building ten sloops of war, has nearly restored the +original appropriation of 1816 of a million for every year. The result +is before us all. We have twelve line-of-battle ships, twenty frigates, +and sloops of war in proportion, which, with a few months of +preparation, may present a line of floating fortifications along the +whole range of our coast ready to meet any invader who might attempt to +set foot upon our shores. Combining with a system of fortifications upon +the shores themselves, commenced about the same time under the auspices +of my immediate predecessor, and hitherto systematically pursued, it has +placed in our possession the most effective sinews of war and has left +us at once an example and a lesson from which our own duties may be +inferred. The gradual increase of the Navy was the principle of which +the act of 29th April, 1816, was the first development. It was the +introduction of a system to act upon the character and history of our +country for an indefinite series of ages. It was a declaration of that +Congress to their constituents and to posterity that it was the destiny +and the duty of these confederated States to become in regular process +of time and by no petty advances a great naval power. That which they +proposed to accomplish in eight years is rather to be considered as the +measure of their means than the limitation of their design. They looked +forward for a term of years sufficient for the accomplishment of a +definite portion of their purpose, and they left to their successors to +fill up the canvas of which they had traced the large and prophetic +outline. The ships of the line and frigates which they had in +contemplation will be shortly completed. The time which they had +allotted for the accomplishment of the work has more than elapsed. It +remains for your consideration how their successors may contribute their +portion of toil and of treasure for the benefit of the succeeding age in +the gradual increase of our Navy. There is perhaps no part of the +exercise of the constitutional powers of the Federal Government which +has given more general satisfaction to the people of the Union than +this. The system has not been thus vigorously introduced and hitherto +sustained to be now departed from or abandoned. In continuing to provide +for the gradual increase of the Navy it may not be necessary or +expedient to add for the present any more to the number of our ships; +but should you deem it advisable to continue the yearly appropriation of +half a million to the same objects, it may be profitably expended in +providing a supply of timber to be seasoned and other materials for +future use in the construction of docks or in laying the foundations of +a school for naval education, as to the wisdom of Congress either of +those measures may appear to claim the preference. + +Of the small portions of this Navy engaged in actual service during the +peace, squadrons have continued to be maintained in the Pacific Ocean, +in the West India seas, and in the Mediterranean, to which has been +added a small armament to cruise on the eastern coast of South America. +In all they have afforded protection to our commerce, have contributed +to make our country advantageously known to foreign nations, have +honorably employed multitudes of our seamen in the service of their +country, and have inured numbers of youths of the rising generation to +lives of manly hardihood and of nautical experience and skill. The +piracies with which the West India seas were for several years infested +have been totally suppressed, but in the Mediterranean they have +increased in a manner afflictive to other nations, and but for the +continued presence of our squadron would probably have been distressing +to our own. The war which has unfortunately broken out between the +Republic of Buenos Ayres and the Brazilian Government has given rise to +very great irregularities among the naval officers of the latter, by +whom principles in relation to blockades and to neutral navigation have +been brought forward to which we can not subscribe and which our own +commanders have found it necessary to resist. From the friendly +disposition toward the United States constantly manifested by the +Emperor of Brazil, and the very useful and friendly commercial +intercourse between the United States and his dominions, we have reason +to believe that the just reparation demanded for the injuries sustained +by several of our citizens from some of his officers will not be +withheld. Abstracts from the recent dispatches of the commanders of our +several squadrons are communicated with the report of the Secretary of +the Navy to Congress. + +A report from the Postmaster-General is likewise communicated, +presenting in a highly satisfactory manner the result of a vigorous, +efficient, and economical administration of that Department. The revenue +of the office, even of the year including the latter half of 1824 and +the first half of 1825, had exceeded its expenditures by a sum of more +than $45,000. That of the succeeding year has been still more +productive. The increase of the receipts in the year preceding the 1st +of July last over that of the year before exceeds $136,000, and the +excess of the receipts over the expenditures of the year has swollen +from $45,000 to nearly $80,000. During the same period contracts for +additional transportation of the mail in stages for about 260,000 miles +have been made, and for 70,000 miles annually on horseback. Seven +hundred and fourteen new post-offices have been established within the +year, and the increase of revenue within the last three years, as well +as the augmentation of the transportation by mail, is more than equal to +the whole amount of receipts and of mail conveyance at the commencement +of the present century, when the seat of the General Government was +removed to this place. When we reflect that the objects effected by the +transportation of the mail are among the choicest comforts and +enjoyments of social life, it is pleasing to observe that the +dissemination of them to every corner of our country has outstripped in +their increase even the rapid march of our population. + +By the treaties with France and Spain, respectively ceding Louisiana and +the Floridas to the United States, provision was made for the security +of land titles derived from the Governments of those nations. Some +progress has been made under the authority of various acts of Congress +in the ascertainment and establishment of those titles, but claims to a +very large extent remain unadjusted. The public faith no less than the +just rights of individuals and the interest of the community itself +appears to require further provision for the speedy settlement of those +claims, which I therefore recommend to the care and attention of the +Legislature. + +In conformity with the provisions of the act of 20th May last, to +provide for erecting a penitentiary in the district of Columbia, and for +other purposes, three commissioners were appointed to select a site for +the erection of a penitentiary for the district, and also a site in the +county of Alexandria for a county jail, both of which objects have been +effected. The building of the penitentiary has been commenced, and is in +such a degree of forwardness as to promise that it will be completed +before the meeting of the next Congress. This consideration points to +the expediency of maturing at the present session a system for the +regulation and government of the penitentiary, and of defining the class +of offenses which shall be punishable by confinement in this edifice. + +In closing this communication I trust that it will not be deemed +inappropriate to the occasion and purposes upon which we are here +assembled to indulge a momentary retrospect, combining in a single +glance the period of our origin as a national confederation with that of +our present existence, at the precise interval of half a century from +each other. Since your last meeting at this place the fiftieth +anniversary of the day when our independence was declared has been +celebrated throughout our land, and on that day, while every heart was +bounding with joy and every voice was tuned to gratulation, amid the +blessings of freedom and independence which the sires of a former age +had handed down to their children, two of the principal actors in that +solemn scene--the hand that penned the ever-memorable Declaration and +the voice that sustained it in debate--were by one summons, at the +distance of 700 miles from each other, called before the Judge of All to +account for their deeds done upon earth. They departed cheered by the +benedictions of their country, to whom they left the inheritance of +their fame and the memory of their bright example. If we turn our +thoughts to the condition of their country, in the contrast of the first +and last day of that half century, how resplendent and sublime is the +transition from gloom to glory! Then, glancing through the same lapse of +time, in the condition of the individuals we see the first day marked +with the fullness and vigor of youth, in the pledge of their lives, +their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause of freedom and of +mankind; and on the last, extended on the bed of death, with but sense +and sensibility left to breathe a last aspiration to Heaven of blessing +upon their country, may we not humbly hope that to them too it was a +pledge of transition from gloom to glory, and that while their mortal +vestments were sinking into the clod of the valley their emancipated +spirits were ascending to the bosom of their God! + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGES. + + + +Washington, +_December 7, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I now transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with that of the +Board of Engineers of Internal Improvement, concerning the proposed +Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of War, with sundry documents, containing the information requested by a +resolution of the House of the 8th of May last, relating to the lead +mines belonging to the United States in Illinois and Missouri. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of War, with several documents, containing information required by a +resolution of the House of the 20th of May last, respecting certain +proposed donations of land by Indian tribes to any agent or commissioner +of the United States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 12, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice with regard to their +ratification, the following treaties with Indian tribes: + +1. A treaty made and concluded at the Fond du Lac of Lake Superior, +between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners on the part of +the United States, and the Chippewa tribe of Indians, on the 5th of +August, 1826. + +2. A treaty made and concluded near the mouth of the Mississinewa, upon +the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between Lewis Cass, James B. Ray, +and John Tipton, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the +chiefs and warriors of the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, on the 16th of +October, 1826. + +3. A treaty made and concluded near the mouth of the Mississinewa, upon +the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between Lewis Cass, James B. Ray, +and John Tipton, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the +chiefs and warriors of the Miami tribe of Indians, on the 23d of +October, 1826. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 18, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress extracts of a letter, received since the +commencement of their session, from the minister of the United States at +London, having relation to the late discussions with the Government of +Great Britain concerning the trade between the United States and the +British colonies in America. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 20, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement of their +present session it was intimated that the commission for liquidating the +claims of our fellow-citizens to indemnity for slaves and other property +carried away after the close of the late war with Great Britain in +contravention to the first article of the treaty of Ghent had been +sitting in this city with doubtful prospects of success, but that +propositions had recently passed between the two Governments which it +was hoped would lead to a satisfactory adjustment of that controversy. + +I now transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional consideration and +advice, a convention signed at London by the plenipotentiaries of the +two Governments on the 13th of the last month, relating to this object. +A copy of the convention is at the same time sent, together with a copy +of the instructions under which it was negotiated and the correspondence +relating to it. To avoid all delay these documents are now transmitted, +consisting chiefly of original papers, the return of which is requested. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 22, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +12th instant, requesting information of the measures taken to carry into +effect the act of Congress of 3d March, 1825, directing a road to be +made from Little Rock to Cantonment Gibson, in the Territory of +Arkansas, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with a letter +from the Quartermaster-General, containing the information desired by +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 22, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of State, with a copy of the three articles[009] (marked A) +requested by the resolution of the House of the 19th instant. The third +of those articles relating to a subject upon which the negotiation +between the two Governments is yet open, the communication of all the +other documents relating to it is reserved to a future period, when it +may be closed. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of State, with sundry documents, containing the information requested by +two resolutions of the House of the 15th instant, relating to the +proceedings of the congress of ministers which assembled last summer at +Panama. + +The occasion is taken to communicate at the same time two other +dispatches, from the minister of the United States to the Mexican +Confederation, one of which should have been communicated at the last +session of Congress but that it was then accidentally mislaid, and the +other having relation to the same subject. + +John Quincy Adams. +DECEMBER 26, 1826. + + + + +Washington, +_January 10, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +6th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +together with copies of the correspondence with the Government of the +Netherlands, relating to discriminating duties. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 10, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th of May last, +requesting a detailed statement of the expenditures for the construction +and repair of the Cumberland road, I now transmit a report from the +Secretary of the Treasury, with the statement requested by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 10, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to both Houses of Congress a report from the Secretary of the +Navy, together with that of the engineer by whom, conformably to a joint +resolution of the two Houses of the 22d May last, an examination and +survey has been made of a site for a dry dock at the navy-yard at +Portsmouth, N. H.; Charlestown, Mass.; Brooklyn, N. Y., and Gosport, Va. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 15, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +20th of May last, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +State, touching the impressment of seamen from on board American vessels +on the high seas or elsewhere by the commanders of British or other +foreign vessels or ships of war since 18th of February, 1815, together +with such correspondence on the subject as comes within the purview of +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 15, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 21st of last month, +I now transmit a letter from the Secretary of War, with a report from +the Chief Engineer and a statement of the Third Auditor, shewing the +amount disbursed of the appropriation made by the act of 24th May, 1824, +to improve the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the +state and progress of the work contemplated by the appropriation. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 15, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War, together +with a report of the Chief Engineer, and certain acts of the legislature +of the State of New York proposing to the Government of the United +States the purchase of the fortifications erected at the expense of the +State on Staten Island, with the ordnance and other apparatus belonging +to or connected with the same. These papers were prepared at the close +of the last session of Congress, at too late a period to be then acted +upon. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 16, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of a convention between +the United States and Great Britain, signed on the 13th of November last +at London by the respective plenipotentiaries of the two Governments, +for the final settlement and liquidation of certain claims of indemnity +of citizens of the United States which had arisen under the first +article of the treaty of Ghent. It having been stipulated by this +convention that the exchange of the ratifications of the same should be +made at London, the usual proclamation of it here can only be issued +when that event shall have taken place, the notice of which can scarcely +be expected before the close of the present session of Congress. But it +has been duly ratified on the part of the United States, and by the +report of the Secretary of State and the accompanying certificate +herewith also communicated it will be seen that the first half of the +stipulated payment has been made by the minister of His Britannic +Majesty residing here, and has been deposited in the office of the Bank +of the United States at this place to await the disposal of Congress. + +I recommend to their consideration the expediency of such legislative +measures as they may deem proper for the distribution of the sum already +paid, and of that hereafter to be received, among the claimants who may +be found entitled to the indemnity. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 17, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 10th of May last, I +transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with a letter from +the Director of the Mint, shewing the result of the assay of foreign +coins and the information otherwise relating thereto desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 23d instant, I +transmit herewith a report[010] from the Secretary of State, with the +accompanying documents. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +The report from the Commissioner of the General Land Office and the +accompanying documents herewith transmitted are laid before the Senate +in compliance with their resolution of the 4th of April last, relating +to the public lands of the United States in the States of Missouri and +Illinois which are unfit for cultivation. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 2, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 25th ultimo, +relative to the execution of the treaty of the 18th of October, 1820, of +Doaks Stand with the Choctaw tribe of Indians, I transmit a report from +the Secretary of War, with a statement from the Office of Indian +Affairs, comprising so far as it is possessed the information desired by +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 3, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +United States of the 9th ultimo, relating to the appointments of chargés +d'affaires and to the commissions and salaries of the ministers and +secretary to the mission to Panama, I transmit herewith a report from +the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 5, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +The report from the Secretary of War and accompanying documents herewith +transmitted have been prepared in compliance with a resolution of the +House of Representatives of the 20th of May last, requesting a statement +of expenditure and other particulars relating to the procurement and +properties of the patent rifle. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 5, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I submit to the consideration of Congress a letter from the agent of the +United States with the Creek Indians, who invoke the protection of the +Government of the United States in defense of the rights and territory +secured to that nation by the treaty concluded at Washington, and +ratified on the part of the United States on the 22d of April last. + +The complaint set forth in this letter that surveyors from Georgia have +been employed in surveying lands within the Indian Territory, as secured +by that treaty, is authenticated by the information inofficially +received from other quarters, and there is reason to believe that one or +more of the surveyors have been arrested in their progress by the +Indians. Their forbearance, and reliance upon the good faith of the +United States, will, it is hoped, avert scenes of violence and blood +which there is otherwise too much cause to apprehend will result from +these proceedings. + +By the fifth section of the act of Congress of the 30th of March, 1802, +to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes and to preserve +peace on the frontiers, it is provided that if any citizen of or other +person resident in the United States shall make a settlement on any +lands belonging or secured or granted by treaty with the United States +to any Indian tribe, or shall survey, or attempt to survey, such lands, +or designate any of the boundaries by marking trees or otherwise, such +offender shall forfeit a sum not exceeding $1,000 and suffer +imprisonment not exceeding twelve months. + +By the sixteenth and seventeenth sections of the same statute two +distinct processes are prescribed, by either or both of which the above +enactment may be carried into execution. By the first it is declared to +be lawful for the military force of the United States to apprehend every +person found in the Indian country over and beyond the boundary line +between the United States and the Indian tribes in violation of any of +the provisions or regulations of the act, and immediately to convey +them, in the nearest convenient and safe route, to the civil authority +of the United States in some of the three next adjoining States or +districts, to be proceeded against in due course of law. + +By the second it is directed that if any person charged with the +violation of any of the provisions or regulations of the act shall be +found within any of the United States or either of their territorial +districts such offender may be there apprehended and brought to trial in +the same manner as if such crime or offense had been committed within +such State or district; and that it shall be the duty of the military +force of the United States, when called upon by the civil magistrate or +any proper officer or other person duly authorized for that purpose and +having a lawful warrant, to aid and assist such magistrate, officer, or +other person so authorized in arresting such offender and committing him +to safe custody for trial according to law. + +The first of these processes is adapted to the arrest of the trespasser +upon Indian territories on the spot and in the act of committing the +offense; but as it applies the action of the Government of the United +States to places where the civil process of the law has no authorized +course, it is committed entirely to the functions of the military force +to arrest the person of the offender, and after bringing him within the +reach of the jurisdiction of the courts there to deliver him into +custody for trial. The second makes the violator of the law amenable +only after his offense has been consummated, and when he has returned +within the civil jurisdiction of the Union. This process, in the first +instance, is merely of a civil character, but may in like manner be +enforced by calling in, if necessary, the aid of the military force. + +Entertaining no doubt that in the present case the resort to either of +these modes of process, or to both, was within the discretion of the +Executive authority, and penetrated with the duty of maintaining the +rights of the Indians as secured both by the treaty and the law, I +concluded, after full deliberation, to have recourse on this occasion, +in the first instance, only to the civil process. Instructions have +accordingly been given by the Secretary of War to the attorney and +marshal of the United States in the district of Georgia to commence +prosecutions against the surveyors complained of as having violated the +law, while orders have at the same time been forwarded to the agent of +the United States at once to assure the Indians that their rights +founded upon the treaty and the law are recognized by this Government +and will be faithfully protected, and earnestly to exhort them, by the +forbearance of every act of hostility on their part, to preserve +unimpaired that right to protection secured to them by the sacred pledge +of the good faith of this nation. Copies of these instructions and +orders are herewith transmitted to Congress. + +In abstaining at this stage of the proceedings from the application of +any military force I have been governed by considerations which will, I +trust, meet the concurrence of the Legislature. Among them one of +paramount importance has been that these surveys have been attempted, +and partly effected, under color of legal authority from the State of +Georgia; that the surveyors are, therefore, not to be viewed in the +light of individual and solitary transgressors, but as the agents of a +sovereign State, acting in obedience to authority which they believed to +be binding upon them. Intimations had been given that should they meet +with interruption they would at all hazards be sustained by the military +force of the State, in which event, if the military force of the Union +should have been employed to enforce its violated law, a conflict _must_ +have ensued, which would itself have inflicted a wound upon the Union +and have presented the aspect of one of these confederated States at war +with the rest. Anxious, above all, to avert this state of things, yet at +the same time impressed with the deepest conviction of my own duty to +take care that the laws shall be executed and the faith of the nation +preserved, I have used of the means intrusted to the Executive for that +purpose only those which without resorting to military force may +vindicate the sanctity of the law by the ordinary agency of the judicial +tribunals. + +It ought not, however, to be disguised that the act of the legislature +of Georgia, under the construction given to it by the governor of that +State, and the surveys made or attempted by his authority beyond the +boundary secured by the treaty of Washington of April last to the Creek +Indians, are in direct violation of the supreme law of this land, set +forth in a treaty which has received all the sanctions provided by the +Constitution which we have been sworn to support and maintain. + +Happily distributed as the sovereign powers of the people of this Union +have been between their General and State Governments, their history has +already too often presented collisions between these divided authorities +with regard to the extent of their respective powers. No instance, +however, has hitherto occurred in which this collision has been urged +into a conflict of actual force. No other case is known to have happened +in which the application of military force by the Government of the +Union has been prescribed for the enforcement of a law the violation of +which has within any single State been prescribed by a legislative act +of the State. In the present instance it is my duty to say that if the +legislative and executive authorities of the State of Georgia should +persevere in acts of encroachment upon the territories secured by a +solemn treaty to the Indians, and the laws of the Union remain +unaltered, a superadded obligation even higher than that of human +authority will compel the Executive of the United States to enforce the +laws and fulfill the duties of the nation by all the force committed for +that purpose to his charge. That the arm of military force will be +resorted to only in the event of the failure of all other expedients +provided by the laws, a pledge has been given by the forbearance to +employ it at this time. It is submitted to the wisdom of Congress to +determine whether any further act of legislation may be necessary or +expedient to meet the emergency which these transactions may produce. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Washington, +_February 8, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty between the United States and the Mexican +Confederation, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the respective +Governments on the 10th of July last. It will be seen by its terms that +if ratified by both parties the ratifications are to be exchanged at +this city on or before the 10th day of next month. The ratification on +the part of the Government of Mexico has not yet been received, though +it has probably before this been effected. To avoid all unnecessary +delay the treaty is now communicated to the Senate, that it may receive +all the deliberation which, in their wisdom, it may require, without +pressing upon their time at a near approach to the close of their +session. Should they advise and consent to its ratification, that +measure will still be withheld until the ratification by the Mexican +Government shall have been ascertained. A copy of the treaty is likewise +transmitted, together with the documents appertaining to the +negotiation. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 8, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to Congress copies of a letter from the governor of the +State of Georgia, received since my message of the 5th instant, and of +inclosures received with it, further confirmative of the facts stated in +that message.[011] + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 16, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, +with statements prepared at the Register's and General Land Office, in +compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 10th of May last, in +relation to the purchase and sales of the public lands since the +declaration of independence. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 19, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of the following treaties, +which have been ratified by and with the consent of the Senate: + +1. A treaty with the Chippewa tribe of Indians, signed at the Fond du +Lac of Lake Superior on the 5th of August, 1826. + +2. A treaty with the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, signed on the 16th of +October, 1826, near the mouth of the Mississinawa, upon the Wabash, in +the State of Indiana. + +3. A treaty with the Miami tribe of Indians, signed at the same place on +the 23d of October, 1826. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 24, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration, a conveyance by +treaty from the Seneca tribe of Indians to Robert Troup, Thomas L. +Ogden, and Benjamin W. Rogers, in the presence of Oliver Forward, +commissioner of the United States for holding the said treaty, and of +Nathaniel Gorham, superintendent in behalf of the State of +Massachusetts. A letter from the grantees of this conveyance and a +report of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of War, +relating to this instrument, are also transmitted; and with regard to +the approval or ratification of the treaty itself, it is submitted to +the Senate for their advice and consent. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 28, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of War, with sundry documents, containing statements requested by a +resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th of January, +relating to the Artillery School of Practice at Fortress Monroe. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 2, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, +with sundry documents, containing the information requested by a +resolution of the Senate of the 20th of April last, relating to the +security taken of the late survey or-general of Illinois, Missouri, and +Arkansas, and of the late receiver of public moneys in the western +district of Missouri, and to the sums for which they were respectively +defaulters; also the sums due by each of the late directors of the Bank +of Missouri to the United States, and to the measures taken for +obtaining or enforcing payment of the same. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 2, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of communications received +yesterday by the Secretary of War from the governor of Georgia and from +Lieutenant Vinton.[012] + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + +PROCLAMATIONS. + + + +By the President of the United States. + +A PROCLAMATION. + +Whereas by the sixth section of an act of Congress entitled "An act to +regulate the commercial intercourse between the United States and +certain British colonial ports," which was approved on the 1st day of +March, A. D. 1823, it is enacted "that this act, unless repealed, +altered, or amended by Congress, shall be and continue in force so long +as the above-enumerated British colonial ports shall be open to the +admission of the vessels of the United States, conformably to the +provisions of the British act of Parliament of the 24th of June last, +being the forty-fourth chapter of the acts of the third year of George +IV; but if at any time the trade and intercourse between the United +States and all or any of the above enumerated British colonial ports +authorized by the said act of Parliament should be prohibited by a +British order in council or by act of Parliament, then, from the day of +the date of such order in council or act of Parliament, or from the time +that the same shall commence to be in force, proclamation to that effect +having been made by the President of the United States, each and every +provision of this act, so far as the same shall apply to the intercourse +between the United States and the above-enumerated British colonial +ports in British vessels, shall cease to operate in their favor, and +each and every provision of the 'Act concerning navigation,' approved on +the 18th of April, 1818, and of the act supplementary thereto, approved +on the 15th of May, 1820, shall revive and be in full force;" and + +Whereas by an act of the British Parliament which passed on the 5th day +of July, A. D. 1825, entitled "An act to repeal the several laws +relating to the customs," the said act of Parliament of the 24th of +June, 1822, was repealed; and by another act of the British Parliament, +passed on the 5th day of July, A. D. 1825, in the sixth year of the +reign of George IV, entitled "An act to regulate the trade of the +British possessions abroad;" and by an order of His Britannic Majesty in +council, bearing date the 27th of July, 1826, the trade and intercourse +authorized by the aforesaid act of Parliament of the 24th of June, 1822, +between the United States and the greater part of the said British +colonial ports therein enumerated, have been prohibited upon and from +the 1st day of December last past, and the contingency has thereby +arisen on which the President of the United States was authorized by the +sixth section aforesaid of the act of Congress of the 1st March, 1823, +to issue a proclamation to the effect therein mentioned: + +Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States of +America, do hereby declare and proclaim that the trade and intercourse +authorized by the said act of Parliament of the 24th of June, 1822, +between the United States and the British colonial ports enumerated in +the aforesaid act of Congress of the 1st of March, 1823, have been and +are, upon and from the 1st day of December, 1826, by the aforesaid two +several acts of Parliament of the 5th of July, 1825, and by the +aforesaid British order in council of the 27th day of July, 1826, +prohibited. + +Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 17th day of March, +A. D. 1827, and the fifty-first year of the Independence of the United +States. + + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +By the President: +H. Clay, +_Secretary of State_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +By the President of the United States. + +A PROCLAMATION. + + +Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of +January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of +tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence +being given to the President of the United States by the government of +any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost +are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels +wholly belonging to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise +the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President +is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the +foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United +States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as respects +the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or +manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said +suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given +to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the +reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United +States and merchandise as aforesaid therein laden shall be continued, +and no longer; and + +Whereas satisfactory evidence was given to the President of the United +States on the 30th day of May last by Count Lucchesi, consul-general of +His Holiness the Pope, that all foreign and discriminating duties of +tonnage and impost within the dominions of His Holiness, so far as +respected the vessels of the United States and the merchandise of their +produce or manufacture imported in the same, were suspended and +discontinued: + +Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States, +conformably to the fourth section of the act of Congress aforesaid, do +hereby proclaim and declare that the foreign discriminating duties of +tonnage and impost within the United States are and shall be suspended +and discontinued so far as respects the vessels of the subjects of His +Holiness the Pope and the merchandise of the produce or manufacture of +his dominions imported into the United States' in the same, the said +suspension to take effect from the 30th of May aforesaid and to continue +so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of +the United States and merchandise as aforesaid therein laden shall be +continued, and no longer. + +Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 7th day of June, A. +D. 1827, and of the Independence of the United States the fifty-first. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +By the President: +H. Clay, +_Secretary of State_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +By the President of the United States. + +A PROCLAMATION. + +Whereas Willis Anderson, of the County of Alexandria, in the district of +Columbia, is charged with having recently murdered Gerrard Arnold, late +of the said county; and + +Whereas it is represented to me that the said Willis Anderson has +absconded and secretes himself, so that he can not be apprehended and +brought to justice for the offense of which he is so charged; and + +Whereas the apprehension and trial of the said Willis Anderson is an +example due to justice and humanity, and would be every way salutary in +its influence: + +Now, therefore, I have thought fit to issue this my proclamation, hereby +exhorting the citizens of the United States, and particularly those of +this district, and requiring all officers, according to their respective +stations, to use their utmost endeavors to apprehend and bring the said +Willis Anderson to justice for the atrocious crime with which he stands +charged as aforesaid; and I do moreover offer a reward of $250 for the +apprehension of the said Willis Anderson and his delivery to an officer +or officers of justice in the county aforesaid, so that he may be +brought to trial for the murder aforesaid and be otherwise dealt with +according to law. + +In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal +of the United States to be affixed to these presents. + +(SEAL.) + +Done at Washington, this 10th day of September, A. D. 1827, and of the +Independence of the United States the fifty-second. + +J. Q. Adams. + + + + +By the President: +H. Clay, +_Secretary of State_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE. + + +Washington, +_December 4, 1827_ + + +_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_: + +A revolution of the seasons has nearly been completed since the +representatives of the people and States of this Union were last +assembled at this place to deliberate and to act upon the common +important interests of their constituents. In that interval the +never-slumbering eye of a wise and beneficent Providence has continued +its guardian care over the welfare of our beloved country; the blessing +of health has continued generally to prevail throughout the land; the +blessing of peace with our brethren of the human race has been enjoyed +without interruption; internal quiet has left our fellow-citizens in the +full enjoyment of all their rights and in the free exercise of all their +faculties, to pursue the impulse of their nature and the obligation of +their duty in the improvement of their own condition; the productions of +the soil, the exchanges of commerce, the vivifying labors of human +industry, have combined to mingle in our cup a portion of enjoyment as +large and liberal as the indulgence of Heaven has perhaps ever granted +to the imperfect state of man upon earth; and as the purest of human +felicity consists in its participation with others, it is no small +addition to the sum of our national happiness at this time that peace +and prosperity prevail to a degree seldom experienced over the whole +habitable globe, presenting, though as yet with painful exceptions, a +foretaste of that blessed period of promise when the lion shall lie down +with the lamb and wars shall be no more. To preserve, to improve, and to +perpetuate the sources and to direct in their most effective channels +the streams which contribute to the public weal is the purpose for which +Government was instituted. Objects of deep importance to the welfare of +the Union are constantly recurring to demand the attention of the +Federal Legislature, and they call with accumulated interest at the +first meeting of the two Houses after their periodical renovation. To +present to their consideration from time to time subjects in which the +interests of the nation are most deeply involved, and for the regulation +of which the legislative will is alone competent, is a duty prescribed +by the Constitution, to the performance of which the first meeting of +the new Congress is a period eminently appropriate, and which it is now +my purpose to discharge. + +Our relations of friendship with the other nations of the earth, +political and commercial, have been preserved unimpaired, and the +opportunities to improve them have been cultivated with anxious and +unremitting attention. A negotiation upon subjects of high and delicate +interest with the Government of Great Britain has terminated in the +adjustment of some of the questions at issue upon satisfactory terms and +the postponement of others for future discussion and agreement. The +purposes of the convention concluded at St. Petersburg on the 12th day +of July, 1822, under the mediation of the late Emperor Alexander, have +been carried into effect by a subsequent convention, concluded at London +on the 13th of November, 1826, the ratifications of which were exchanged +at that place on the 6th day of February last. A copy of the +proclamation issued on the 19th day of March last, publishing this +convention, is herewith communicated to Congress. The sum of $1,204,960, +therein stipulated to be paid to the claimants of indemnity under the +first article of the treaty of Ghent, has been duly received, and the +commission instituted, comformably to the act of Congress of the 2d of +March last, for the distribution of the indemnity to the persons +entitled to receive it are now in session and approaching the +consummation of their labors. This final disposal of one of the most +painful topics of collision between the United States and Great Britain +not only affords an occasion of gratulation to ourselves, but has had +the happiest effect in promoting a friendly disposition and in softening +asperities upon other objects of discussion; nor ought it to pass +without the tribute of a frank and cordial acknowledgment of the +magnanimity with which an honorable nation, by the reparation of their +own wrongs, achieves a triumph more glorious than any field of blood can +ever bestow. + +The conventions of 3d July, 1815, and of 20th October, 1818, will expire +by their own limitation on the 20th of October, 1828. These have +regulated the direct commercial intercourse between the United States +and Great Britain upon terms of the most perfect reciprocity; and they +effected a temporary compromise of the respective rights and claims to +territory westward of the Rocky Mountains. These arrangements have been +continued for an indefinite period of time after the expiration of the +above-mentioned conventions, leaving each party the liberty of +terminating them by giving twelve months' notice to the other. The +radical principle of all commercial intercourse between independent +nations is the mutual interest of both parties. It is the vital spirit +of trade itself; nor can it be reconciled to the nature of man or to the +primary laws of human society that any traffic should long be willingly +pursued of which all the advantages are on one side and all the burdens +on the other. Treaties of commerce have been found by experience to be +among the most effective instruments for promoting peace and harmony +between nations whose interests, exclusively considered on either side, +are brought into frequent collisions by competition. In framing such +treaties it is the duty of each party not simply to urge with unyielding +pertinacity that which suits its own interest, but to concede liberally +to that which is adapted to the interest of the other. To accomplish +this, little more is generally required than a simple observance of the +rule of reciprocity, and were it possible for the statesmen of one +nation by stratagem and management to obtain from the weakness or +ignorance of another an overreaching treaty, such a compact would prove +an incentive to war rather than a bond of peace. Our conventions with +Great Britain are founded upon the principles of reciprocity. The +commercial intercourse between the two countries is greater in magnitude +and amount than between any two other nations on the globe. It is for +all purposes of benefit or advantage to both as precious, and in all +probability far more extensive, than if the parties were still +constituent parts of one and the same nation. Treaties between such +States, regulating the intercourse of peace between them and adjusting +interests of such transcendent importance to both, which have been found +in a long experience of years mutually advantageous, should not be +lightly canceled or discontinued. Two conventions for continuing in +force those above mentioned have been concluded between the +plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 6th of August last, and +will be forthwith laid before the Senate for the exercise of their +constitutional authority concerning them. + +In the execution of the treaties of peace of November, 1782, and +September, 1783, between the United States and Great Britain, and which +terminated the war of our independence, a line of boundary was drawn as +the demarcation of territory between the two countries, extending over +near 20 degrees of latitude, and ranging over seas, lakes, and +mountains, then very imperfectly explored and scarcely opened to the +geographical knowledge of the age. In the progress of discovery and +settlement by both parties since that time several questions of boundary +between their respective territories have arisen, which have been found +of exceedingly difficult adjustment. At the close of the last war with +Great Britain four of these questions pressed themselves upon the +consideration of the negotiators of the treaty of Ghent, but without the +means of concluding a definitive arrangement concerning them. They were +referred to three separate commissions consisting of two commissioners, +one appointed by each party, to examine and decide upon their respective +claims. In the event of a disagreement between the commissioners it was +provided that they should make reports to their several Governments, and +that the reports should finally be referred to the decision of a +sovereign the common friend of both. Of these commissions two have +already terminated their sessions and investigations, one by entire and +the other by partial agreement. The commissioners of the fifth article +of the treaty of Ghent have finally disagreed, and made their +conflicting reports to their own Governments. But from these reports a +great difficulty has occurred in making up a question to be decided by +the arbitrator. This purpose has, however, been effected by a fourth +convention, concluded at London by the plenipotentiaries of the two +Governments on the 29th of September last. It will be submitted, +together with the others, to the consideration of the Senate. + +While these questions have been pending incidents have occurred of +conflicting pretensions and of dangerous character upon the territory +itself in dispute between the two nations. By a common understanding +between the Governments it was agreed that no exercise of exclusive +jurisdiction by either party while the negotiation was pending should +change the state of the question of right to be definitively settled. +Such collision has, nevertheless, recently taken place by occurrences +the precise character of which has not yet been ascertained. A +communication from the governor of the State of Maine, with accompanying +documents, and a correspondence between the Secretary of State and the +minister of Great Britain on this subject are now communicated. Measures +have been taken to ascertain the state of the facts more correctly by +the employment of a special agent to visit the spot where the alleged +outrages have occurred, the result of whose inquiries, when received, +will be transmitted to Congress. + +While so many of the subjects of high interest to the friendly relations +between the two countries have been so far adjusted, it is matter of +regret that their views respecting the commercial intercourse between +the United States and the British colonial possessions have not equally +approximated to a friendly agreement. + +At the commencement of the last session of Congress they were informed +of the sudden and unexpected exclusion by the British Government of +access in vessels of the United States to all their colonial ports, +except those immediately bordering upon our own territories. In the +amicable discussions which have succeeded the adoption of this measure, +which, as it affected harshly the interests of the United States, became +a subject of expostulation on our part, the principles upon which its +justification has been placed have been of a diversified character. It +has been at once ascribed to a mere recurrence to the old, +long-established principle of colonial monopoly and at the same time to +a feeling of resentment because the offers of an act of Parliament +opening the colonial ports upon certain conditions had not been grasped +at with sufficient eagerness by an instantaneous conformity to them. At +a subsequent period it has been intimated that the new exclusion was in +resentment because a prior act of Parliament, of 1822, opening certain +colonial ports, under heavy and burdensome restrictions, to vessels of +the United States, had not been reciprocated by an admission of British +vessels from the colonies, and their cargoes, without any restriction or +discrimination whatever. But be the motive for the interdiction what it +may, the British Government have manifested no disposition, either by +negotiation or by corresponding legislative enactments, to recede from +it, and we have been given distinctly to understand that neither of the +bills which were under the consideration of Congress at their last +session would have been deemed sufficient in their concessions to have +been rewarded by any relaxation from the British interdict. It is one of +the inconveniences inseparably connected with the attempt to adjust by +reciprocal legislation interests of this nature that neither party can +know what would be satisfactory to the other, and that after enacting a +statute for the avowed and sincere purpose of conciliation it will +generally be found utterly inadequate to the expectations of the other +party, and will terminate in mutual disappointment. + +The session of Congress having terminated without any act upon the +subject, a proclamation was issued on the 17th of March last, +conformably to the provisions of the sixth section of the act of 1st +March, 1823, declaring the fact that the trade and intercourse +authorized by the British act of Parliament of 24th June, 1822, between +the United States and the British enumerated colonial ports had been by +the subsequent acts of Parliament of 5th July, 1825, and the order of +council of 27th July, 1826, prohibited. The effect of this proclamation, +by the terms of the act under which it was issued, has been that each +and every provision of the act concerning navigation of 18th April, +1818, and of the act supplementary thereto of 15th May, 1820, revived +and is in full force. Such, then, is the present condition of the trade +that, useful as it is to both parties, it can, with a single momentary +exception, be carried on directly by the vessels of neither. That +exception itself is found in a proclamation of the governor of the +island of St. Christopher and of the Virgin Islands, inviting for three +months from the 28th of August last the importation of the articles of +the produce of the United States which constitute their export portion +of this trade in the vessels of all nations. That period having already +expired, the state of mutual interdiction has again taken place. The +British Government have not only declined negotiation upon this subject, +but by the principle they have assumed with reference to it have +precluded even the means of negotiation. It becomes not the self-respect +of the United States either to solicit gratuitous favors or to accept as +the grant of a favor that for which an ample equivalent is exacted. It +remains to be determined by the respective Governments whether the trade +shall be opened by acts of reciprocal legislation. It is, in the +meantime, satisfactory to know that apart from the inconveniences +resulting from a disturbance of the usual channels of trade no loss has +been sustained by the commerce, the navigation, or the revenue of the +United States, and none of magnitude is to be apprehended from this +existing state of mutual interdict. + +With the other maritime and commercial nations of Europe our intercourse +continues with little variation. Since the cessation by the convention +of 24th June, 1822, of all discriminating duties upon the vessels of the +United States and of France in either country our trade with that nation +has increased and is increasing. A disposition on the part of France has +been manifested to renew that negotiation, and in acceding to the +proposal we have expressed the wish that it might be extended to other +subjects upon which a good understanding between the parties would be +beneficial to the interests of both. The origin of the political +relations between the United States and France is coeval with the first +years of our independence. The memory of it is interwoven with that of +our arduous struggle for national existence. Weakened as it has +occasionally been since that time, it can by us never be forgotten, and +we should hail with exultation the moment which should indicate a +recollection equally friendly in spirit on the part of France. A fresh +effort has recently been made by the minister of the United States +residing at Paris to obtain a consideration of the just claims of +citizens of the United States to the reparation of wrongs long since +committed, many of them frankly acknowledged and all of them entitled +upon every principle of justice to a candid examination. The proposal +last made to the French Government has been to refer the subject which +has formed an obstacle to this consideration to the determination of a +sovereign the common friend of both. To this offer no definitive answer +has yet been received, but the gallant and honorable spirit which has at +all times been the pride and glory of France will not ultimately permit +the demands of innocent sufferers to be extinguished in the mere +consciousness of the power to reject them. + +A new treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce has been concluded with +the Kingdom of Sweden, which will be submitted to the Senate for their +advice with regard to its ratification. At a more recent date a minister +plenipotentiary from the Hanseatic Republics of Hamburg, Lubeck, and +Bremen has been received, charged with a special mission for the +negotiation of a treaty of amity and commerce between that ancient and +renowned league and the United States. This negotiation has accordingly +been commenced, and is now in progress, the result of which will, if +successful, be also submitted to the Senate for their consideration. + +Since the accession of the Emperor Nicholas to the imperial throne of +all the Russias the friendly dispositions toward the United States so +constantly manifested by his predecessor have continued unabated, and +have been recently testified by the appointment of a minister +plenipotentiary to reside at this place. From the interest taken by this +Sovereign in behalf of the suffering Greeks and from the spirit with +which others of the great European powers are cooperating with him the +friends of freedom and of humanity may indulge the hope that they will +obtain relief from that most unequal of conflicts which they have so +long and so gallantly sustained; that they will enjoy the blessing of +self-government, which by their sufferings in the cause of liberty they +have richly earned, and that their independence will be secured by those +liberal institutions of which their country furnished the earliest +examples in the history of mankind, and which have consecrated to +immortal remembrance the very soil for which they are now again +profusely pouring forth their blood. The sympathies which the people and +Government of the United States have so warmly indulged with their cause +have been acknowledged by their Government in a letter of thanks, which +I have received from their illustrious President, a translation of which +is now communicated to Congress, the representatives of that nation to +whom this tribute of gratitude was intended to be paid, and to whom it +was justly due. + +In the American hemisphere the cause of freedom and independence has +continued to prevail, and if signalized by none of those splendid +triumphs which had crowned with glory some of the preceding years it has +only been from the banishment of all external force against which the +struggle had been maintained. The shout of victory has been superseded +by the expulsion of the enemy over whom it could have been achieved. Our +friendly wishes and cordial good will, which have constantly followed +the southern nations of America in all the vicissitudes of their war of +independence, are succeeded by a solicitude equally ardent and cordial +that by the wisdom and purity of their institutions they may secure to +themselves the choicest blessings of social order and the best rewards +of virtuous liberty. Disclaiming alike all right and all intention of +interfering in those concerns which it is the prerogative of their +independence to regulate as to them shall seem fit, we hail with joy +every indication of their prosperity, of their harmony, of their +persevering and inflexible homage to those principles of freedom and of +equal rights which are alone suited to the genius and temper of the +American nations. It has been, therefore, with some concern that we have +observed indications of intestine divisions in some of the Republics of +the south, and appearances of less union with one another than we +believe to be the interest of all. Among the results of this state of +things has been that the treaties concluded at Panama do not appear to +have been ratified by the contracting parties, and that the meeting of +the congress at Tacubaya has been indefinitely postponed. In accepting +the invitations to be represented at this congress, while a +manifestation was intended on the part of the United States of the most +friendly disposition toward the southern Republics by whom it had been +proposed, it was hoped that it would furnish an opportunity for bringing +all the nations of this hemisphere to the common acknowledgment and +adoption of the principles in the regulation of their internal relations +which would have secured a lasting peace and harmony between them and +have promoted the cause of mutual benevolence throughout the globe. But +as obstacles appear to have arisen to the reassembling of the congress, +one of the two ministers commissioned on the part of the United States +has returned to the bosom of his country, while the minister charged +with the ordinary mission to Mexico remains authorized to attend at the +conferences of the congress whenever they may be resumed. + +A hope was for a short time entertained that a treaty of peace actually +signed between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of Brazil would +supersede all further occasion for those collisions between belligerent +pretensions and neutral rights which are so commonly the result of +maritime war, and which have unfortunately disturbed the harmony of the +relations between the United States and the Brazilian Governments. At +their last session Congress were informed that some of the naval +officers of that Empire had advanced and practiced upon principles in +relation to blockades and to neutral navigation which we could not +sanction, and which our commanders found it necessary to resist. It +appears that they have not been sustained by the Government of Brazil +itself. Some of the vessels captured under the assumed authority of +these erroneous principles have been restored, and we trust that our +just expectations will be realized that adequate indemnity will be made +to all the citizens of the United States who have suffered by the +unwarranted captures which the Brazilian tribunals themselves have +pronounced unlawful. + +In the diplomatic discussions at Rio de Janeiro of these wrongs +sustained by citizens of the United States and of others which seemed as +if emanating immediately from that Government itself the chargé +d'affaires of the United States, under an impression that his +representations in behalf of the rights and interests of his countrymen +were totally disregarded and useless, deemed it his duty, without +waiting for instructions, to terminate his official functions, to demand +his passports, and return to the United States. This movement, dictated +by an honest zeal for the honor and interests of his country--motives +which operated exclusively on the mind of the officer who resorted to +it--has not been disapproved by me. The Brazilian Government, however, +complained of it as a measure for which no adequate intentional cause +had been given by them, and upon an explicit assurance through their +chargé d'affaires residing here that a successor to the late +representative of the United States near that Government, the +appointment of whom they desired, should be received and treated with +the respect due to his character, and that indemnity should be promptly +made for all injuries inflicted on citizens of the United States or +their property contrary to the laws of nations, a temporary commission +as charge d'affaires to that country has been issued, which it is hoped +will entirety restore the ordinary diplomatic intercourse between the +two Governments and the friendly relations between their respective +nations. + +Turning from the momentous concerns of our Union in its intercourse with +foreign nations to those of the deepest interest in the administration +of our internal affairs, we find the revenues of the present year +corresponding as nearly as might be expected with the anticipations of +the last, and presenting an aspect still more favorable in the promise +of the next. The balance in the Treasury on January 1 last was +$6,358,686.18. The receipts from that day to the 30th of September last, +as near as the returns of them yet received can show, amount to +$16,886,581.32. The receipts of the present quarter, estimated at +$4,515,000, added to the above form an aggregate of $21,400,000 of +receipts. The expenditures of the year may perhaps amount to +$22,300,000, presenting a small excess over the receipts. But of these +twenty-two millions, upward of six have been applied to the discharge of +the principal of the public debt, the whole amount of which, approaching +seventy-four millions on the 1st of January last, will on the first day +of the next year fall short of sixty-seven millions and a half. The +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January next it is expected will +exceed $5,450,000, a sum exceeding that of the 1st of January, 1825, +though falling short of that exhibited on the 1st of January last. + +It was foreseen that the revenue of the present year would not equal +that of the last, which had itself been less than that of the next +preceding year. But the hope has been realized which was entertained, +that these deficiencies would in nowise interrupt the steady operation +of the discharge of the public debt by the annual ten millions devoted +to that object by the act of 3d March, 1817. + +The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the +commencement of the year until the 30th of September last is +$21,226,000, and the probable amount of that which will be secured +during the remainder of the year is $5,774,000, forming a sum total of +$27,000,000. With the allowances for drawbacks and contingent +deficiencies which may occur, though not specifically foreseen, we may +safely estimate the receipts of the ensuing year at $22,300,000--a +revenue for the next equal to the expenditure of the present year. + +The deep solicitude felt by our citizens of all classes throughout the +Union for the total discharge of the public debt will apologize for the +earnestness with which I deem it my duty to urge this topic upon the +consideration of Congress--of recommending to them again the observance +of the strictest economy in the application of the public funds. The +depression upon the receipts of the revenue which had commenced with the +year 1826 continued with increased severity during the two first +quarters of the present year. The returning tide began to flow with the +third quarter, and, so far as we can judge from experience, may be +expected to continue through the course of the ensuing year. In the +meantime an alleviation from the burden of the public debt will in the +three years have been effected to the amount of nearly sixteen millions, +and the charge of annual interest will have been reduced upward of one +million. But among the maxims of political economy which the stewards of +the public moneys should never suffer without urgent necessity to be +transcended is that of keeping the expenditures of the year within the +limits of its receipts. The appropriations of the two last years, +including the yearly ten millions of the sinking fund, have each equaled +the promised revenue of the ensuing year. While we foresee with +confidence that the public coffers will be replenished from the receipts +as fast as they will be drained by the expenditures, equal in amount to +those of the current year, it should not be forgotten that they could +ill suffer the exhaustion of larger disbursements. + +The condition of the Army and of all the branches of the public service +under the superintendence of the Secretary of War will be seen by the +report from that officer and the documents with which it is accompanied. + +During the last summer a detachment of the Army has been usefully and +successfully called to perform their appropriate duties. At the moment +when the commissioners appointed for carrying into execution certain +provisions of the treaty of August 19, 1825, with various tribes of the +Northwestern Indians were about to arrive at the appointed place of +meeting the unprovoked murder of several citizens and other acts of +unequivocal hostility committed by a party of the Winnebago tribe, one +of those associated in the treaty, followed by indications of a menacing +character among other tribes of the same region, rendered necessary an +immediate display of the defensive and protective force of the Union in +that quarter. It was accordingly exhibited by the immediate and +concerted movements of the governors of the State of Illinois and of the +Territory of Michigan, and competent levies of militia, under their +authority, with a corps of 700 men of United States troops, under the +command of General Atkinson, who, at the call of Governor Cass, +immediately repaired to the scene of danger from their station at St. +Louis. Their presence dispelled the alarms of our fellow-citizens on +those borders, and overawed the hostile purposes of the Indians. The +perpetrators of the murders were surrendered to the authority and +operation of our laws, and every appearance of purposed hostility from +those Indian tribes has subsided. + +Although the present organization of the Army and the administration of +its various branches of service are, upon the whole, satisfactory, they +are yet susceptible of much improvement in particulars, some of which +have been heretofore submitted to the consideration of Congress, and +others are now first presented in the report of the Secretary of War. + +The expediency of providing for additional numbers of officers in the +two corps of engineers will in some degree depend upon the number and +extent of the objects of national importance upon which Congress may +think it proper that surveys should be made conformably to the act of +the 30th of April, 1824. 'Of the surveys which before the last session +of Congress had been made under the authority of that act, reports were +made-- + +1. Of the Board of Internal Improvement, on the Chesapeake and Ohio +Canal. + +2. On the continuation of the national road from Cumberland to the tide +waters within the district of Columbia. + +3. On the continuation of the national road from Canton to Zanesville. + +4. On the location of the national road from Zanesville to Columbus. + +5. On the continuation of the same to the seat of government in +Missouri. + +6. On a post-road from Baltimore to Philadelphia. + +7. Of a survey of Kennebec River (in part). + +8. On a national road from Washington to Buffalo. + +9. On the survey of Saugatuck Harbor and River. + +10. On a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River. + +11. On surveys at Edgartown, Newburyport, and Hyannis Harbor. + +12. On survey of La Plaisance Bay, in the Territory of Michigan. + +And reports are now prepared and will be submitted to Congress-- + +On surveys of the peninsula of Florida, to ascertain the practicability +of a canal to connect the waters of the Atlantic with the Gulf of Mexico +across that peninsula; and also of the country between the bays of +Mobile and of Pensacola, with the view of connecting them together by a +canal. + +On surveys of a route for a canal to connect the waters of James and +Great Kenhawa rivers. + +On the survey of the Swash, in Pamlico Sound, and that of Cape Fear, +below the town of Wilmington, in North Carolina. + +On the survey of the Muscle Shoals, in the Tennessee River, and for a +route for a contemplated communication between the Hiwassee and Coosa +rivers, in the State of Alabama. + +Other reports of surveys upon objects pointed out by the several acts of +Congress of the last and preceding sessions are in the progress of +preparation, and most of them may be completed before the close of this +session. All the officers of both corps of engineers, with several other +persons duly qualified, have been constantly employed upon these +services from the passage of the act of 30th April, 1824, to this time. +Were no other advantage to accrue to the country from their labors than +the fund of topographical knowledge which they have collected and +communicated, that alone would have been a profit to the Union more than +adequate to all the expenditures which have been devoted to the object; +but the appropriations for the repair and continuation of the Cumberland +road, for the construction of various other roads, for the removal of +obstructions from the rivers and harbors, for the erection of +light-houses, beacons, piers, and buoys, and for the completion of +canals undertaken by individual associations, but heeding the assistance +of means and resources more comprehensive than individual enterprise can +command, may be considered rather as treasures laid up from the +contributions of the present age for the benefit of posterity than as +unrequited applications of the accruing revenues of the nation. To such +objects of permanent improvement to the condition of the country, of +real addition to the wealth as well as to the comfort of the people by +whose authority and resources they have been effected, from three to +four millions of the annual income of the nation have, by laws enacted +at the three most recent sessions of Congress, been applied, without +intrenching upon the necessities of the Treasury, without adding a +dollar to the taxes or debts of the community, without suspending even +the steady and regular discharge of the debts contracted in former days, +which within the same three years have been diminished by the amount of +nearly $16,000,000. + +The same observations are in a great degree applicable to the +appropriations made for fortifications upon the coasts and harbors of +the United States, for the maintenance of the Military Academy at West +Point, and for the various objects under the superintendence of the +Department of the Navy. The report from the Secretary of the Navy and +those from the subordinate branches of both the military departments +exhibit to Congress in minute detail the present condition of the public +establishments dependent upon them, the execution of the acts of +Congress relating to them, and the views of the officers engaged in the +several branches of the service concerning the improvements which may +tend to their perfection. The fortification of the coasts and the +gradual increase and improvement of the Navy are parts of a great system +of national defense which has been upward of ten years in progress, and +which for a series of years to come will continue to claim the constant +and persevering protection and superintendence of the legislative +authority. Among the measures which have emanated from these principles +the act of the last session of Congress for the gradual improvement of +the Navy holds a conspicuous place. The collection of timber for the +future construction of vessels of war, the preservation and reproduction +of the species of timber peculiarly adapted to that purpose, the +construction of dry docks for the use of the Navy, the erection of a +marine railway for the repair of the public ships, and the improvement +of the navy-yards for the preservation of the public property deposited +in them have all received from the Executive the attention required by +that act, and will continue to receive it, steadily proceeding toward +the execution of all its purposes. The establishment of a naval academy, +furnishing the means of theoretic instruction to the youths who devote +their lives to the service of their country upon the ocean, still +solicits the sanction of the Legislature. Practical seamanship and the +art of navigation may be acquired on the cruises of the squadrons which +from time to time are dispatched to distant seas, but a competent +knowledge even of the art of shipbuilding, the higher mathematics, and +astronomy; the literature which can place our officers on a level of +polished education with the officers of other maritime nations; the +knowledge of the laws, municipal and national, which in their +intercourse with foreign states and their governments are continually +called into operation, and, above all, that acquaintance with the +principles of honor and justice, with the higher obligations of morals +and of general laws, human and divine, which constitutes the great +distinction between the warrior-patriot and the licensed robber and +pirate--these can be systematically taught and eminently acquired only +in a permanent school, stationed upon the shore and provided with the +teachers, the instruments, and the books conversant with and adapted to +the communication of the principles of these respective sciences to the +youthful and inquiring mind. + +The report from the Postmaster-General exhibits the condition of that +Department as highly satisfactory for the present and still more +promising for the future. Its receipts for the year ending the 1st of +July last amounted to $1,473,551, and exceeded its expenditures by +upward of $100,000. It can not be an oversanguine estimate to predict +that in less than ten years, of which one-half have elapsed, the +receipts will have been more than doubled. In the meantime a reduced +expenditure upon established routes has kept pace with increased +facilities of public accommodation and additional services have been +obtained at reduced rates of compensation. Within the last year the +transportation of the mail in stages has been greatly augmented. The +number of post-offices has been increased to 7,000, and it may be +anticipated that while the facilities of intercourse between +fellow-citizens in person or by correspondence will soon be carried to +the door of every villager in the Union, a yearly surplus of revenue +will accrue which may be applied as the wisdom of Congress under the +exercise of their constitutional powers may devise for the further +establishment and improvement of the public roads, or by adding still +further to the facilities in the transportation of the mails. Of the +indications of the prosperous condition of our country, none can be more +pleasing than those presented by the multiplying relations of personal +and intimate intercourse between the citizens of the Union dwelling at +the remotest distances from each other. + +Among the subjects which have heretofore occupied the earnest solicitude +and attention of Congress is the management and disposal of that portion +of the property of the nation which consists of the public lands. The +acquisition of them, made at the expense of the whole Union, not only in +treasure but in blood, marks a right of property in them equally +extensive. By the report and statements from the General Land Office now +communicated it appears that under the present Government of the United +States a sum little short of $33,000,000 has been paid from the common +Treasury for that portion of this property which has been purchased from +France and Spain, and for the extinction of the aboriginal titles. The +amount of lands acquired is near 260,000,000 acres, of which on the 1st +of January, 1826, about 139,000,000 acres had been surveyed, and little +more than 19,000,000 acres had been sold. The amount paid into the +Treasury by the purchasers of the public lands sold is not yet equal to +the sums paid for the whole, but leaves a small balance to be refunded. +The proceeds of the sales of the lands have long been pledged to the +creditors of the nation, a pledge from which we have reason to hope that +they will in a very few years be redeemed. + +The system upon which this great national interest has been managed was +the result of long, anxious, and persevering deliberation. Matured and +modified by the progress of our population and the lessons of +experience, it has been hitherto eminently successful. More than +nine-tenths of the lands still remain the common property of the Union, +the appropriation and disposal of which are sacred trusts in the hands +of Congress. Of the lands sold, a considerable part were conveyed under +extended credits, which in the vicissitudes and fluctuations in the +value of lands and of their produce became oppressively burdensome to +the purchasers. It can never be the interest or the policy of the nation +to wring from its own citizens the reasonable profits of their industry +and enterprise by holding them to the rigorous import of disastrous +engagements. In March, 1821, a debt of $22,000,000, due by purchasers of +the public lands, had accumulated, which they were unable to pay. An act +of Congress of the 2d March, 1821, came to their relief, and has been +succeeded by others, the latest being the act of the 4th of May, 1826, +the indulgent provisions of which expired on the 4th July last. The +effect of these laws has been to reduce the debt from the purchasers to +a remaining balance of about $4,300,000 due, more than three-fifths of +which are for lands within the State of Alabama. I recommend to Congress +the revival and continuance for a further term of the beneficent +accommodations to the public debtors of that statute, and submit to +their consideration, in the same spirit of equity, the remission, under +proper discriminations, of the forfeitures of partial payments on +account of purchases of the public lands, so far as to allow of their +application to other payments. + +There are various other subjects of deep interest to the whole Union +which have heretofore been recommended to the consideration of Congress, +as well by my predecessors as, under the impression of the duties +devolving upon me, by myself. Among these are the debt, rather of +justice than gratitude, to the surviving warriors of the Revolutionary +war; the extension of the judicial administration of the Federal +Government to those extensive and important members of the Union which, +having risen into existence since the organization of the present +judiciary establishment, now constitute at least one-third of its +territory, power, and population; the formation of a more effective and +uniform system for the government of the militia, and the amelioration +in some form or modification of the diversified and often oppressive +codes relating to insolvency. Amidst the multiplicity of topics of great +national concernment which may recommend themselves to the calm and +patriotic deliberations of the Legislature, it may suffice to say that +on these and all other measures which may receive their sanction my +hearty cooperation will be given, conformably to the duties enjoined +upon me and under the sense of all the obligations prescribed by the +Constitution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGES. + + + +Washington, +_December 6, 1827_. +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 19th of February +last, requesting a statement of all the expenses annually incurred in +carrying into effect the act of March 2, 1819, for prohibiting the slave +trade, including the cost of keeping the ships of war on the coast of +Africa and all the incidental expenses growing out of the operation of +that act, I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with the +statement, so far as it can be made, required by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 11, 1827_. +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate-- + +1. A convention between the United States and Great Britain for the +continuance in force of the convention of 3d July, 1815, after the 20th +October, 1828, the term at which it would otherwise expire. + +2. A convention between the same parties for continuing in force after +the 20th October, 1828, the provisions of the third article of the +convention of 20th October, 1818, in relation to the territories +westward of the Rocky Mountains. + +3. A convention between the same parties for the reference to a friendly +sovereign of the points of difference between them relating to the +northeastern boundary of the United States. + +The first and second of these conventions were signed by the +plenipotentiaries of the respective parties at London on the 6th day of +August and the third on the 29th day of September last. + +Copies of them are also communicated, together with the correspondence +and documents illustrative of their negotiation. + +I request the advice of the Senate with regard to the ratification of +each of them. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 11, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United +States and the Kingdom of. Sweden and Norway, signed at Stockholm by the +plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 4th day of July last. + +A copy of the treaty, with a translation, and the instructions and +correspondence relating to the negotiation are also communicated. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 12, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to Congress copies of a report of the +surveyor-general of lands northwest of Ohio, with a plat of the northern +boundary line of the State of Indiana, surveyed in conformity to the act +of Congress to authorize the President of the United States to ascertain +and designate the northern boundary of the State of Indiana, passed the +2d of March, 1827. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 24, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant, +requesting a communication of the instructions to the American minister +at London for the negotiation of the convention of the 13th of November, +1826, with Great Britain, for indemnity to the claimants under the first +article of the treaty of Ghent, together with the letters of the +minister accompanying and explaining the said convention, I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of State, together with the +documents desired. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 4, 1828_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 19th of last month, +I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies +of the correspondence with the British Government relating to the +establishment of light-houses, light-vessels, buoys, and other +improvements to the navigation within their jurisdiction, opposite to +the coast of Florida, referred to in the resolution, + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 7, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +17th of last month, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary +of State and the correspondence with the Government of Great Britain +relative to the free navigation of the river St. Lawrence. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 9, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 7th instant, I +transmit herewith Mitchell's map and the map marked A,[013] as requested +by the resolution, desiring that when the Senate shall have no further +use for them they may be returned. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 15, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +2d instant, requesting information respecting the recovery of debts and +property in the Mexican States from persons absconding from the United +States, and also respecting the boundary between the State of Louisiana +and the Province of Texas, I now transmit a report from the Secretary of +State on the subject-matter of the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 22, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, articles +of agreement signed at the Creek Agency on the 15th of November last by +Thomas L. McKenney and John Crowell in behalf of the United States and +by the Little Prince and other chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation, +with a supplementary article concluded by the said John Crowell with the +chiefs and headmen of the nation in general council convened on the 3d +instant, embracing a cession by the Creek Nation of all the remnant of +their lands within the State of Georgia. Documents connected with the +negotiation of the treaty and the instructions under which it was +effected are also communicated to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 22, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By the report of the Secretary of War and the documents from that +Department exhibited to Congress at the commencement of their present +session they were advised of the measures taken for carrying into +execution the act of 4th May, 1826, to authorize the President of the +United States to run and mark a line dividing the Territory of Florida +from the State of Georgia, and of their unsuccessful result. I now +transmit to Congress copies of communications received from the governor +of Georgia relating to that subject. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 23, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +A resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant requested information +relative to the trade between the United States and the colonies of +France. A report from the Secretary of State, with a translation of the +ordinance of the King of France of the 5th of February, 1826, is +herewith transmitted, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 28, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate-- + +1. A treaty concluded at the Butte des Morts, on Fox River, in the +Territory of Michigan, on 11th of August, 1827, between Lewis Cass and +Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners of the United States, and the chiefs +and headmen of the Chippewa, Menomonie, and Winnebago tribes of Indians. + +2. A treaty concluded at St. Joseph, in the Territory of Michigan, on +the 19th of September, 1827, between Lewis Cass, commissioner of the +United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the Potawatamie tribe of +Indians. + +Upon which treaties I request the advice of the Senate. The instructions +and other documents relating to the negotiation of them are here-with +communicated. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +A report from the Secretary of State, with copies of a recent +correspondence between the chargé d'affaires from Brazil and him on the +subjects of discussion between this Government and that of Brazil,[014] +is transmitted to the House of Representatives, in compliance with a +resolution of the House of the 2d instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 6, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate herewith to Congress copies of a treaty of commerce and +navigation between the United States and His Majesty the King of Sweden +and Norway, concluded at Stockholm on the 4th of July, 1827, and the +ratifications of which were exchanged on the 18th ultimo at this city. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 14, 1828_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 11th instant, +requesting copies of the instructions to Andrew Ellicott, commissioner +for running the line between the United States and Spain, and of any +journal or report of the commissioners, I communicate herewith a report +from the Secretary of State, with the documents requested, so far as +they are found in the files of that Department. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 21, 1828_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In transmitting to Congress copies of a communication received from the +governor of Pennsylvania, with certain resolutions of the legislature of +that Commonwealth, relating to the Cumberland road, I deem it my duty to +recommend to the consideration of Congress an adequate provision for the +permanent preservation and repair of that great national work. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 3, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of State, with documents, containing the instructions of the Government +of the United States to Thomas Pinckney under which was negotiated the +treaty of San Lorenzo el Real, and relating to the boundary line between +the United States and the dominions, at that time, of Spain as requested +by a resolution of the House of the 18th ultimo. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 3, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d of January last, +requesting the communication of information in my possession relative to +alleged aggression on the rights of citizens of the United States by +persons claiming authority under the government of the Province of New +Brunswick, I communicate a report from the Secretary of State, with a +copy of that of the special agent mentioned in my message at the +commencement of the present session of Congress as having been sent to +visit the spot where the cause of complaint had occurred to ascertain +the state of the facts, and the result of whose inquiries I then +promised to communicate to Congress when it should be received. + +The Senate are requested to receive this communication as the +fulfillment of that engagement; and in making it I deem it proper to +notice with just acknowledgment the liberality with which the minister +of His Britannic Majesty residing here and the government of the +Province of New Brunswick have furnished the agent of the United States +with every facility for the attainment of the information which it was +the object of his mission to procure. + +Considering the exercise of exclusive territorial jurisdiction upon the +grounds in controversy by the government of New Brunswick in the arrest +and imprisonment of John Baker as incompatible with the mutual +understanding existing between the Governments of the United States and +of Great Britain on this subject, a demand has been addressed to the +provincial authorities through the minister of Great Britain for the +release of that individual from prison, and of indemnity to him for his +detention'. In doing this it has not been intended to maintain the +regularity of his own proceedings or of those with whom he was +associated, to which they were not authorized by any sovereign authority +of this country. + +The documents appended to the report of the agent being original papers +belonging to the files of the Department of State, a return of them is +requested when the Senate shall have no further use for them. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 7, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +The resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, requesting me to cause +to be laid before the Senate all papers which might be in the Department +of War relating to the treaty concluded at the Butte des Morts, on Fox +River, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners on the +part of the United States, and the Chippewa, Menomonie, and Winnebago +tribes of Indians, having been referred to the Secretary of War, the +report of that officer thereon is herewith inclosed. The papers therein +referred to were all transmitted to the Senate with the treaty. Before +that event, however, a petition and several other papers had been +addressed directly to me, in behalf of certain Indians originally and in +part still residing within the State of New York, objecting to the +ratification of the treaty, as affecting injuriously their rights and +interests. The treaty was itself withheld from the Senate until it was +understood at the War Department and by me that by the consent of the +persons representing the New York Indians their objections were +withdrawn, as by one of them, the Reverend Eleazer Williams, I was +personally assured. Those papers, however, addressed directly to me, and +which have not been upon the files of the War Department, are now +transmitted to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 14, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a treaty +concluded at the Wyandot village, near the Wabash, in the State of +Indiana, between John Tipton, commissioner on the part of the United +States, and the chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Eel River or +Thorntown party of Miami Indians, on the 11th day of February last. + +A letter from the commissioner to the Secretary of War, with a copy of +the journal of the proceedings which led to the conclusion of the +treaty, are communicated with it to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 15, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 21st ultimo, +requesting me to lay before the House correspondence not heretofore +communicated between the Government of the United States and that of +Great Britain on the subject of the claims of the two Governments to the +territory westward of the Rocky Mountains, I transmit herewith a report +of the Secretary of State, with the documents requested by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 21, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty concluded on the 15th day of +November, 1827, by commissioners of the United States and the chiefs and +headmen of the Creek Nation of Indians, which was duly ratified on the +4th instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 22, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +3d instant, touching the formation of a new government by the Cherokee +tribe of Indians within the States of North Carolina, Georgia, +Tennessee, and Alabama, and requesting copies of certain correspondence +relating thereto, I transmit to the House of Representatives a report +from the Secretary of War, together with the documents desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 25, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, prepared in +compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the +25th of February last, requesting copies of instructions and +correspondence relating to the settlement of the boundary lines of the +United States, or any one of them, under the Government of the +Confederated States and by the definitive treaty of peace of 3d +September, 1783, with Great Britain. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 8, 1828_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +22d ultimo, on the subject of the treaty with the Creek Nation of +Indians of the 15th November last, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of War, with the documents, containing the information desired +by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 15, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 9th instant, +requesting copies of the charges preferred against the agent of the +United States for the Creek tribe of Indians since the 1st of January, +1826, and of proceedings had thereon, I transmit herewith a report from +the Secretary of War, with documents, containing the information desired +by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 17, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In conformity with the practice of all my predecessors, I have during my +service in the office of President transmitted to the two Houses of +Congress from time to time, by the same private secretary, such messages +as a proper discharge of my constitutional duty appeared to me to +require. On Tuesday last he was charged with the delivery of a message +to each House. Having presented that which was intended for the House of +Representatives, whilst he was passing, within the Capitol, from their +Hall to the Chamber of the Senate, for the purpose of delivering the +other message, he was waylaid and assaulted in the Rotunda by a person, +in the presence of a member of the House, who interposed and separated +the parties. + +I have thought it my duty to communicate this occurrence to Congress, to +whose wisdom it belongs to consider whether it is of a nature requiring +from them any animadversion, and also whether any further laws or +regulations are necessary to insure security in the official intercourse +between the President and Congress, and to prevent disorders within the +Capitol itself. + +In the deliberations of Congress upon this subject it is neither +expected nor desired that any consequence shall be attached to the +private relation in which my secretary stands to me. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 21, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a treaty +of limits between the United States of America and the United Mexican +States, concluded by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the +12th of January last. A copy of the treaty and the protocols of +conference between the plenipotentiaries during the negotiation are +inclosed with it. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 22,1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +A copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General, dated 17th May, 1826, +upon the construction of the award of the Emperor of Russia under the +treaty of Ghent and upon certain questions propounded to him in relation +thereto, subjoined to a report from the Secretary of State, are herewith +communicated to the House, in compliance with their resolution of the +17th instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 24, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for the exercise of their constitutional +authority thereon, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between +the United States of America and the United Mexican States, signed by +their respective plenipotentiaries on the 14th of February last, with a +copy of the treaty and the protocols of conference during and subsequent +to the negotiation. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 28,1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +9th instant, requesting a communication of the correspondence between +this Government and that of Great Britain on the subject of the trade +between the United States and the British colonial possessions in the +West Indies and North America, not heretofore communicated, I transmit +to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with the +correspondence desired. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 30, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In the month of December last 121 African negroes were landed at Key +West from a Spanish slave-trading vessel stranded within the +jurisdiction of the United States while pursued by an armed schooner in +His Britannic Majesty's service. The collector of the customs at Key +West took possession of these persons, who were afterwards delivered +over to the marshal of the Territory of East Florida, by whom they were +conveyed to St. Augustine, where they still remain. + +Believing that the circumstances under which they have been cast upon +the compassion of the country are not embraced by the provisions of the +act of Congress of 3d March, 1819, or of the other acts prohibiting the +slave trade, I submit to the consideration of Congress the expediency of +a supplementary act directing and authorizing such measures as may be +necessary for removing them from the territory of the United States and +for fulfilling toward them the obligations of humanity. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 1, 1828_. +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 17th ultimo, +relating to the removal of the Indian agency from Fort Wayne, in the +State of Indiana, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with +the documents and information requested by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 5, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 30th ultimo, +requesting information concerning any regulation of the Government of +Brazil relative to the reduction of certain duties, I transmit herewith +a report from the Secretary of State, exhibiting the information +received at that Department on the subject. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 5,1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I communicate to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a +treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and His +Majesty the King of Prussia, signed on the 1st instant at this place by +the Secretary of State and the chargé d'affaires of Prussia residing +here. A copy of the treaty is also transmitted. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 9, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +The report of the Secretary of War herewith transmitted, with the +documents annexed, contains the information requested by a resolution of +the 3d of April last, relating to the payments made to the citizens of +Georgia under the fourth article of the treaty with the Creek Nation of +8th February, 1821, and to the disallowances of certain claims exhibited +under that treaty, and to the reasons for rejecting the same. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 12, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, the +articles of a convention concluded at this place on the 6th instant +between the Secretary of War and the chiefs and headmen of the Cherokee +Nation west of the Mississippi, duly authorized by their nation. A +report from the Secretary of War, with certain documents, and a map +illustrative of the convention are submitted with it to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 16, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By a communication received from the chargé d'affaires of Prussia, a +translation of which is herewith transmitted, it appears that in the +ports of that Kingdom all discriminating duties so far as they affected +the vessels of the United States and their cargoes have been abolished +since the 15th of April, 1826. I recommend to the consideration of +Congress a legislative provision whereby the reciprocal application of +the same principle may be extended to Prussian vessels and their cargoes +which may have arrived in the ports of the United States from and after +that day. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 19, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of three conventions concluded between the +United States of America and His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom +of Great Britain and Ireland, the ratifications of which were exchanged +at London on the 2d of last month: + +1. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in force the +provisions of the convention of 3d July, 1815. + +2. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in force the +provisions of the third article of the convention of 20th October, 1818. + +3. A convention concluded 29th September, 1827, for carrying into effect +the provisions of the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent in relation +to the northeastern boundary of the United States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 21, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House a report[015] from the Secretary of State, with +a copy of the note of the minister of the United States to Spain dated +20th January, 1826, requested by a resolution of the House of the 19th +instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 22, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +The inclosed report from the Secretary of State is accompanied by copies +of the correspondence between this Government and the minister of His +Britannic Majesty residing here relating to the arrest and imprisonment +of John Baker,[016] requested by a recent resolution of the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 22, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty between the United States of +America and the Eel River or Thornton party of Miami Indians, concluded +on the 11th of February last at the Wyandot village, near the Wabash, and +duly ratified on the 7th instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 23, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant, +relating to the accounts and official conduct of Thomas A. Smith, +receiver of public moneys at Franklin, Mo., I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of the Treasury, with documents, containing the +information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 23, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +30th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +with copies of the correspondence[017] with the Brazilian Government, +and shewing the measures taken by the Government of the United States in +relation to the several topics noticed in the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + +PROCLAMATION. + + +By the President of the United States of America. + +A PROCLAMATION. + + +Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of +January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of +tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence +being given to the President of the United States by the government of +any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost +are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels +belonging wholly to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise +the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President +is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the +foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United +States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as respects +the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or +manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said +suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given +to the President of the United States, and to continue so long as the +reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United +States and merchandise as aforesaid thereon laden shall be continued, +and no longer; and + +Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His Britannic +Majesty, as King of Hanover, through the Right Honorable Charles Richard +Vaughan, his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, that +vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States or merchandise +the produce or manufacture thereof imported in such vessels are not nor +shall be on their entering any Hanoverian port subject to the payment of +higher duties of tonnage or impost than are levied on Hanoverian ships +or merchandise the produce or manufacture of the United States imported +in such vessels: + +Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States of +America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts +imposing duties on the tonnage of ships and vessels and on goods, wares, +and merchandise imported into the United States as imposed a +discriminating duty of tonnage between the vessels of the Kingdom of +Hanover and vessels of the United States and between goods imported into +the United States in vessels of the Kingdom of Hanover and vessels of +the United States are suspended and discontinued so far as the same +respect the produce or manufacture of the said Kingdom of Hanover, the +said suspension to take effect this day and to continue henceforward so +long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the United States and +of the merchandise laden therein as aforesaid shall be continued in the +ports of the Kingdom of Hanover. + +Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 1st day of July, A. +D. 1828, and the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United +States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +By the President: + +H. Clay, +_Secretary of State_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +EXECUTIVE ORDER. + + + +Department of War, +_February 28, 1828_. + + +The Secretary of War, by direction of the President of the United +States, announces to the Army the painful intelligence of the decease +(the 24th of February) of Major-General Brown. + +To say that he was one of the men who have rendered most important +services to his country would fall far short of the tribute due to his +character. Uniting with the most unaffected simplicity the highest +degree of personal valor and of intellectual energy, he stands +preeminent before the world and for after ages in that band of heroic +spirits who upon the ocean and the land formed and sustained during the +second war with Great Britain the martial reputation of their country. +To this high and honorable purpose General Brown may be truly said to +have sacrificed his life, for the disease which abridged his days and +has terminated his career at a period scarcely beyond the meridian of +manhood undoubtedly originated in the hardships of his campaigns on the +Canada frontier, and in that glorious wound which, though desperate, +could not remove him from the field of battle till it was won. + +Quick to perceive, sagacious to anticipate, prompt to decide, and daring +in execution, he was born with the qualities which constitute a great +commander. His military _coup d'oeil_ his intuitive penetration, his +knowledge of men and his capacity to control them were known to all his +companions in arms, and commanded their respect; while the gentleness of +his disposition, the courtesy of his deportment, his scrupulous regard +to their rights, his constant attention to their wants, and his +affectionate attachment to their persons universally won their hearts +and bound them to him as a father. + +Calm and collected in the presence of the enemy, he was withal tender of +human life; in the hour of battle more sparing of the blood of the +soldier than his own. In the hour of victory the vanquished enemy found +in him a humane and compassionate friend. Not one drop of blood shed in +wantonness or cruelty sullies the purity of his fame. Defeat he was +never called to endure, but in the crisis of difficulty and danger he +displayed untiring patience and fortitude not to be overcome. + +Such was the great and accomplished captain whose loss the Army has now, +in common with their fellow-citizens of all classes, to deplore. While +indulging the kindly impulses of nature and yielding the tribute of a +tear upon his grave, let it not be permitted to close upon his bright +example as it must upon his mortal remains. Let him be more nobly +sepulchered in the hearts of his fellow-soldiers, and his imperishable +monument be found in their endeavors to emulate his virtues. + +The officers of the Army will wear the badge of mourning for six months +on the left arm and hilt of the sword. Guns will be fired at each +military post at intervals of thirty minutes from the rising to the +setting of the sun on the day succeeding the arrival of this order, +during which the National flag will be suspended at half-mast. + +James Barbour. + + + * * * * * + + + +FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE. + + +Washington, +_December 2, 1828_. + + +_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_: + +If the enjoyment in profusion of the bounties of Providence forms a +suitable subject of mutual gratulation and grateful acknowledgment, we +are admonished at this return of the season when the representatives of +the nation are assembled to deliberate upon their concerns to offer up +the tribute of fervent and grateful hearts for the never-failing mercies +of Him who ruleth over all. He has again favored us with healthful +seasons and abundant harvests; He has sustained us in peace with foreign +countries and in tranquillity within our borders; He has preserved us in +the quiet and undisturbed possession of civil and religious liberty; He +has crowned the year with His goodness, imposing on us no other +conditions than of improving for our own happiness the blessings +bestowed by His hands, and, in the fruition of all His favors, of +devoting the faculties with which we have been endowed by Him to His +glory and to our own temporal and eternal welfare. + +In the relations of our Federal Union with our brethren of the human +race the changes which have occurred since the close of your last +session have generally tended to the preservation of peace and to the +cultivation of harmony. Before your last separation a war had unhappily +been kindled between the Empire of Russia, one of those with which our +intercourse has been no other than a constant exchange of good offices, +and that of the Ottoman Porte, a nation from which geographical +distance, religious opinions and maxims of government on their part +little suited to the formation of those bonds of mutual benevolence +which result from the benefits of commerce had kept us in a state, +perhaps too much prolonged, of coldness and alienation. The extensive, +fertile, and populous dominions of the Sultan belong rather to the +Asiatic than the European division of the human family. They enter but +partially into the system of Europe, nor have their wars with Russia and +Austria, the European States upon which they border, for more than a +century past disturbed the pacific relations of those States with the +other great powers of Europe. Neither France nor Prussia nor Great +Britain has ever taken part in them, nor is it to be expected that they +will at this time. The declaration of war by Russia has received the +approbation or acquiescence of her allies, and we may indulge the hope +that its progress and termination will be signalized by the moderation +and forbearance no less than by the energy of the Emperor Nicholas, and +that it will afford the opportunity for such collateral agency in behalf +of the suffering Greeks as will secure to them ultimately the triumph of +humanity and of freedom. + +The state of our particular relations with France has scarcely varied in +the course of the present year. The commercial intercourse between the +two countries has continued to increase for the mutual benefit of both. +The claims of indemnity to numbers of our fellow-citizens for +depredations upon their property, heretofore committed during the +revolutionary governments, remain unadjusted, and still form the subject +of earnest representation and remonstrance. Recent advices from the +minister of the United States at Paris encourage the expectation that +the appeal to the justice of the French Government will ere long receive +a favorable consideration. + +The last friendly expedient has been resorted to for the decision of the +controversy with Great Britain relating to the northeastern boundary of +the United States. By an agreement with the British Government, carrying +into effect the provisions of the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, +and the convention of 29th September, 1827, His Majesty the King of the +Netherlands has by common consent been selected as the umpire between +the parties. The proposal to him to accept the designation for the +performance of this friendly office will be made at an early day, and +the United States, relying upon the justice of their cause, will +cheerfully commit the arbitrament of it to a prince equally +distinguished for the independence of his spirit, his indefatigable +assiduity to the duties of his station, and his inflexible personal +probity. + +Our commercial relations with Great Britain will deserve the serious +consideration of Congress and the exercise of a conciliatory and +forbearing spirit in the policy of both Governments. The state of them +has been materially changed by the act of Congress, passed at their last +session, in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on imports, +and by acts of more recent date of the British Parliament. The effect of +the interdiction of direct trade, commenced by Great Britain and +reciprocated by the United States, has been, as was to be foreseen, only +to substitute different channels for an exchange of commodities +indispensable to the colonies and profitable to a numerous class of our +fellow-citizens. The exports, the revenue, the navigation of the United +States have suffered no diminution by our exclusion from direct access +to the British colonies. The colonies pay more dearly for the +necessaries of life which their Government burdens with the charges of +double voyages, freight, insurance, and commission, and the profits of +our exports are somewhat impaired and more injuriously transferred from +one portion of our citizens to another. The resumption of this old and +otherwise exploded system of colonial exclusion has not secured to the +shipping interest of Great Britain the relief which, at the expense of +the distant colonies and of the United States, it was expected to +afford. Other measures have been resorted to more pointedly bearing upon +the navigation of the United States, and which, unless modified by the +construction given to the recent acts of Parliament, will be manifestly +incompatible with the positive stipulations of the commercial convention +existing between the two countries. That convention, however, may be +terminated with twelve months' notice, at the option of either party. + +A treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce between the United States +and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, has +been prepared for signature by the Secretary of State and by the Baron +de Lederer, intrusted with full powers of the Austrian Government. +Independently of the new and friendly relations which may be thus +commenced with one of the most eminent and powerful nations of the +earth, the occasion has been taken in it, as in other recent treaties +concluded by the United States, to extend those principles of liberal +intercourse and of fair reciprocity which intertwine with the exchanges +of commerce the principles of justice and the feelings of mutual +benevolence. This system, first proclaimed to the world in the first +commercial treaty ever concluded by the United States--that of 6th +February, 1778, with France--has been invariably the cherished policy of +our Union. It is by treaties of commerce alone that it can be made +ultimately to prevail as the established system of all civilized +nations. With this principle our fathers extended the hand of friendship +to every nation of the globe, and to this policy our country has ever +since adhered. Whatever of regulation in our laws has ever been adopted +unfavorable to the interest of any foreign nation has been essentially +defensive and counteracting to similar regulations of theirs operating +against us. + +Immediately after the close of the War of Independence commissioners +were appointed by the Congress of the Confederation authorized to +conclude treaties with every nation of Europe disposed to adopt them. +Before the wars of the French Revolution such treaties had been +consummated with the United Netherlands, Sweden, and Prussia. During +those wars treaties with Great Britain and Spain had been effected, and +those with Prussia and France renewed. In all these some concessions to +the liberal principles of intercourse proposed by the United States had +been obtained; but as in all the negotiations they came occasionally in +collision with previous internal regulations or exclusive and excluding +compacts of monopoly with which the other parties had been trammeled, +the advances made in them toward the freedom of trade were partial and +imperfect. Colonial establishments, chartered companies, and +shipbuilding influence pervaded and encumbered the legislation of all +the great commercial states; and the United States, in offering free +trade and equal privilege to all, were compelled to acquiesce in many +exceptions with each of the parties to their treaties, accommodated to +their existing laws and anterior engagements. + +The colonial system by which this whole hemisphere was bound has fallen +into ruins, totally abolished by revolutions converting colonies into +independent nations throughout the two American continents, excepting a +portion of territory chiefly at the northern extremity of our own, and +confined to the remnants of dominion retained by Great Britain over the +insular archipelago, geographically the appendages of our part of the +globe. With all the rest we have free trade, even with the insular +colonies of all the European nations, except Great Britain. Her +Government also had manifested approaches to the adoption of a free and +liberal intercourse between her colonies and other nations, though by a +sudden and scarcely explained revulsion the spirit of exclusion has been +revived for operation upon the United States alone. + +The conclusion of our last treaty of peace with Great Britain was +shortly afterwards followed by a commercial convention, placing the +direct intercourse between the two countries upon a footing of more +equal reciprocity than had ever before been admitted. The same principle +has since been much further extended by treaties with France, Sweden, +Denmark, the Hanseatic cities, Prussia, in Europe, and with the +Republics of Colombia and of Central America, in this hemisphere. The +mutual abolition of discriminating duties and charges upon the +navigation and commercial intercourse between the parties is the general +maxim which characterizes them all. There is reason to expect that it +will at no distant period be adopted by other nations, both of Europe +and America, and to hope that by its universal prevalence one of the +fruitful sources of wars of commercial competition will be extinguished. + +Among the nations upon whose Governments many of our fellow-citizens +have had long-pending claims of indemnity for depredations upon their +property during a period when the rights of neutral commerce were +disregarded was that of Denmark. They were soon after the events +occurred the subject of a special mission from the United States, at the +close of which the assurance was given by His Danish Majesty that at a +period of more tranquillity and of less distress they would be +considered, examined, and decided upon in a spirit of determined purpose +for the dispensation of justice. I have much pleasure in informing +Congress that the fulfillment of this honorable promise is now in +progress; that a small portion of the claims has already been settled to +the satisfaction of the claimants, and that we have reason to hope that +the remainder will shortly be placed in a train of equitable adjustment. +This result has always been confidently expected, from the character of +personal integrity and of benevolence which the Sovereign of the Danish +dominions has through every vicissitude of fortune maintained. + +The general aspect of the affairs of our highborn American nations of +the south has been rather of approaching than of settled tranquillity. +Internal disturbances have been more frequent among them than their +common friends would have desired. Our intercourse with all has +continued to be that of friendship and of mutual good will. Treaties of +commerce and of boundaries with the United Mexican States have been +negotiated, but, from various successive obstacles, not yet brought to a +final conclusion. + +The civil war which unfortunately still prevails in the Republics of +Central America has been unpropitious to the cultivation of our +commercial relations with them; and the dissensions and revolutionary +changes in the Republics of Colombia and of Peru have been seen with +cordial regret by us, who would gladly contribute to the happiness of +both. It is with great satisfaction, however, that we have witnessed the +recent conclusion of a peace between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and +of Brazil, and it is equally gratifying to observe that indemnity has +been obtained for some of the injuries which our fellow-citizens had +sustained in the latter of those countries. The rest are in a train of +negotiation, which we hope may terminate to mutual satisfaction, and +that it may be succeeded by a treaty of commerce and navigation, upon +liberal principles, propitious to a great and growing commerce, already +important to the interests of our country. + +The condition and prospects of the revenue are more favorable than our +most sanguine expectations had anticipated. The balance in the Treasury +on the 1st of January last, exclusive of the moneys received under the +convention of 13th of November, 1826, with Great Britain, was +$5,861,972.83. The receipts into the Treasury from the 1st of January to +the 30th of September last, so far as they have been ascertained to form +the basis of an estimate, amount to $18,633,580.27, which, with the +receipts of the present quarter, estimated at $5,461,283.40, form an +aggregate of receipts during the year of $24,094,863.67. The +expenditures of the year may probably amount to $25,637,111.63, and +leave in the Treasury on the 1st of January next the sum of +$5,125,638.14. + +The receipts of the present year have amounted to near two millions more +than was anticipated at the commencement of the last session of +Congress. + +The amount of duties secured on importations from the 1st of January to +the 30th of September was about $22,997,000, and that of the estimated +accruing revenue is five millions, forming an aggregate for the year of +near twenty-eight millions. This is one million more than the estimate +made last December for the accruing revenue of the present year, which, +with allowances for drawbacks and contingent deficiencies, was expected +to produce an actual revenue of $22,300,000. Had these only been +realized the expenditures of the year would have been also +proportionally reduced, for of these twenty-four millions received +upward of nine millions have been applied to the extinction of public +debt, bearing an interest of 6 per cent a year, and of course reducing +the burden of interest annually payable in future by the amount of more +than half a million. The payments on account of interest during the +current year exceed $3,000,000, presenting an aggregate of more than +twelve millions applied during the year to the discharge of the public +debt, the whole of which remaining due on the 1st of January next will +amount only to $58,362,135.78. + +That the revenue of the ensuing year will not fall short of that +received in the one now expiring there are indications which can +scarcely prove deceptive. In our country an uniform experience of forty +years has shown that whatever the tariff of duties upon articles +imported from abroad has been, the amount of importations has always +borne an average value nearly approaching to that of the exports, though +occasionally differing in the balance, sometimes being more and +sometimes less. It is, indeed, a general law of prosperous commerce that +the real value of exports should by a small, and only a small, balance +exceed that of imports, that balance being a permanent addition to the +wealth of the nation. The extent of the prosperous commerce of the +nation must be regulated by the amount of its exports, and an important +addition to the value of these will draw after it a corresponding +increase of importations. It has happened in the vicissitudes of the +seasons that the harvests of all Europe have in the late summer and +autumn fallen short of their usual average. A relaxation of the +interdict upon the importation of grain and flour from abroad has +ensued, a propitious market has been opened to the granaries of our +country, and a new prospect of reward presented to the labors of the +husbandman, which for several years has been denied. This accession to +the profits of agriculture in the middle and western portions of our +Union is accidental and temporary. It may continue only for a single +year. It may be, as has been often experienced in the revolutions of +time, but the first of several scanty harvests in succession. We may +consider it certain that for the approaching year it has added an item +of large amount to the value of our exports and that it will produce a +corresponding increase of importations. It may therefore confidently be +foreseen that the revenue of 1829 will equal and probably exceed that of +1828, and will afford the means of extinguishing ten millions more of +the principal of the public debt. + +This new element of prosperity to that part of our agricultural industry +which is occupied in producing the first article of human subsistence is +of the most cheering character to the feelings of patriotism. Proceeding +from a cause which humanity will view with concern, the sufferings of +scarcity in distant lands, it yields a consolatory reflection that this +scarcity is in no respect attributable to us; that it comes from the +dispensation of Him who ordains all in wisdom and goodness, and who +permits evil itself only as an instrument of good; that, far from +contributing to this scarcity, our agency will be applied only to the +alleviation of its severity, and that in pouring forth from the +abundance of our own garners the supplies which will partially restore +plenty to those who are in heed we shall ourselves reduce our stores and +add to the price of our own bread, so as in some degree to participate +in the wants which it will be the good fortune of our country to +relieve. + +The great interests of an agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing +nation are so linked in union together that no permanent cause of +prosperity to one of them can operate without extending its influence to +the others. All these interests are alike under the protecting power of +the legislative authority, and the duties of the representative bodies +are to conciliate them in harmony together. So far as the object of +taxation is to raise a revenue for discharging the debts and defraying +the expenses of the community, its operation should be adapted as much +as possible to suit the burden with equal hand upon all in proportion +with their ability of bearing it without oppression. But the legislation +of one nation is sometimes intentionally made to bear heavily upon the +interests of another. That legislation, adapted, as it is meant to be, +to the special interests of its own people, will often press most +unequally upon the several component interests of its neighbors. Thus +the legislation of Great Britain, when, as has recently been avowed, +adapted to the depression of a rival nation, will naturally abound with +regulations of interdict upon the productions of the soil or industry of +the other which come in competition with its own, and will present +encouragement, perhaps even bounty, to the raw material of the other +State which it can not produce itself, and which is essential for the +use of its manufactures, competitors in the markets of the world with +those of its commercial rival. Such is the state of the commercial +legislation of Great Britain as it bears upon our interests. It excludes +with interdicting duties all importation (except in time of approaching +famine) of the great staple of productions of our Middle and Western +States; it proscribes with equal rigor the bulkier lumber and live stock +of the same portion and also of the Northern and Eastern part of our +Union. It refuses even the rice of the South unless aggravated with a +charge of duty upon the Northern carrier who brings it to them. But the +cotton, indispensable for their looms, they will receive almost duty +free to weave it into a fabric for our own wear, to the destruction of +our own manufactures, which they are enabled thus to undersell. + +Is the self-protecting energy of this nation so helpless that there +exists in the political institutions of our country no power to +counteract the bias of this foreign legislation; that the growers of +grain must submit to this exclusion from the foreign markets of their +produce; that the shippers must dismantle their ships, the trade of the +North stagnate at the wharves, and the manufacturers starve at their +looms, while the whole people shall pay tribute to foreign industry to +be clad in a foreign garb; that the Congress of the Union are impotent +to restore the balance in favor of native industry destroyed by the +statutes of another realm? More just and more generous sentiments will, +I trust, prevail. If the tariff adopted at the last session of Congress +shall be found by experience to bear oppressively upon the interests of +any one section of the Union, it ought to be, and I can not doubt will +be, so modified as to alleviate its burden. To the voice of just +complaint from any portion of their constituents the representatives of +the States and of the people will never turn away their ears. But so +long as the duty of the foreign shall operate only as a bounty upon the +domestic article; while the planter and the merchant and the shepherd +and the husbandman shall be found thriving in their occupations under +the duties imposed for the protection of domestic manufactures, they +will not repine at the prosperity shared with themselves by their +fellow-citizens of other professions, nor denounce as violations of the +Constitution the deliberate acts of Congress to shield from the wrongs +of foreign laws the native industry of the Union. While the tariff of +the last session of Congress was a subject of legislative deliberation +it was foretold by some of its opposers that one of its necessary +consequences would be to impair the revenue. It is yet too soon to +pronounce with confidence that this prediction was erroneous. The +obstruction of one avenue of trade not unfrequently opens an issue to +another. The consequence of the tariff will be to increase the +exportation and to diminish the importation of some specific articles; +but by the general law of trade the increase of exportation of one +article will be followed by an increased importation of others, the +duties upon which will supply the deficiencies which the diminished +importation would otherwise occasion. The effect of taxation upon +revenue can seldom be foreseen with certainty. It must abide the test of +experience. As yet no symptom? of diminution are perceptible in the +receipts of the Treasury. As yet little addition of cost has even been +experienced upon the articles burdened with heavier duties by the last +tariff. The domestic manufacturer supplies the same or a kindred article +at a diminished price, and the consumer pays the same tribute to the +labor of his own countryman which he must otherwise have paid to foreign +industry and toil. + +The tariff of the last session was in its details not acceptable to the +great interests of any portion of the Union, not even to the interest +which it was specially intended to subserve. Its object was to balance +the burdens upon native industry imposed by the operation of foreign +laws, but not to aggravate the burdens of one section of the Union by +the relief afforded to another. To the great principle sanctioned by +that act--one of those upon which the Constitution itself was formed--I +hope and trust the authorities of the Union will adhere. But if any of +the duties imposed by the act only relieve the manufacturer by +aggravating the burden of the planter, let a careful revisal of its +provisions, enlightened by the practical experience of its effects, be +directed to retain those which impart protection to native industry and +remove or supply the place of those which only alleviate one great +national interest by the depression of another. + +The United States of America and the people of every State of which they +are composed are each of them sovereign powers. The legislative +authority of the whole is exercised by Congress under authority granted +them in the common Constitution. The legislative power of each State is +exercised by assemblies deriving their authority from the constitution +of the State. Each is sovereign within its own province. The +distribution of power between them presupposes that these authorities +will move in harmony with each other. The members of the State and +General Governments are all under oath to support both, and allegiance +is due to the one and to the other. The case of a conflict between these +two powers has not been supposed, nor has any provision been made for it +in our institutions; as a virtuous nation of ancient times existed more +than five centuries without a law for the punishment of parricide. + +More than once, however, in the progress of our history have the people +and the legislatures of one or more States, in moments of excitement, +been instigated to this conflict; and the means of effecting this +impulse have been allegations that the acts of Congress to be resisted +were _unconstitutional_. The people of no one State have ever delegated +to their legislature the power of pronouncing an act of Congress +unconstitutional, but they have delegated to them powers by the exercise +of which the execution of the laws of Congress within the State may be +resisted. If we suppose the case of such conflicting legislation +sustained by the corresponding executive and judicial authorities, +patriotism and philanthropy turn their eyes from the condition in which +the parties would be placed, and from that of the people of both, which +must be its victims. + +The reports from the Secretary of War and the various subordinate +offices of the resort of that Department present an exposition of the +public administration of affairs connected with them through the course +of the current year. The present state of the Army and the distribution +of the force of which it is composed will be seen from the report of the +Major-General. Several alterations in the disposal of the troops have +been found expedient in the course of the year, and the discipline of +the Army, though not entirely free from exception, has been generally +good. + +The attention of Congress is particularly invited to that part of the +report of the Secretary of War which concerns the existing system of our +relations with the Indian tribes. At the establishment of the Federal +Government under the present Constitution of the United States the +principle was adopted of considering them as foreign and independent +powers and also as proprietors of lands. They were, moreover, considered +as savages, whom it was our policy and our duty to use our influence in +converting to Christianity and in bringing within the pale of +civilization. + +As independent powers, we negotiated with them by treaties; as +proprietors, we purchased of them all the lands which we could prevail +upon them to sell; as brethren of the human race, rude and ignorant, we +endeavored to bring them to the knowledge of religion and of letters. +The ultimate design was to incorporate in our own institutions that +portion of them which could be converted to the state of civilization. +In the practice of European States, before our Revolution, they had been +considered _as children_ to be governed; as tenants at discretion, to be +dispossessed as occasion might require; as hunters to be indemnified by +trifling concessions for removal from the grounds from which their game +was extirpated. In changing the system it would seem as if a full +contemplation of the consequences of the change had not been taken. We +have been far more successful in the acquisition of their lands than in +imparting to them the principles or inspiring them with the spirit of +civilization. But in appropriating to ourselves their hunting grounds we +have brought upon ourselves the obligation of providing them with +subsistence; and when we have had the rare good fortune of teaching them +the arts of civilization and the doctrines of Christianity we have +unexpectedly found them forming in the midst of ourselves communities +claiming to be independent of ours and rivals of sovereignty within the +territories of the members of our Union. This state of things requires +that a remedy should be provided--a remedy which, while it shall do +justice to those unfortunate children of nature, may secure to the +members of our confederation their rights of sovereignty and of soil. As +the outline of a project to that effect, the views presented in the +report of the Secretary of War are recommended to the consideration of +Congress. + +The report from the Engineer Department presents a comprehensive view of +the progress which has been made in the great systems promotive of the +public interest, commenced and organized under authority of Congress, +and the effects of which have already contributed to the security, as +they will hereafter largely contribute to the honor and dignity, of the +nation. + +The first of these great systems is that of fortifications, commenced +immediately after the close of our last war, under the salutary +experience which the events of that war had impressed upon our +countrymen of its necessity. Introduced under the auspices of my +immediate predecessor, it has been continued with the persevering and +liberal encouragement of the Legislature, and, combined with +corresponding exertions for the gradual increase and improvement of the +Navy, prepares for our extensive country a condition of defense adapted +to any critical emergency which the varying course of events may bring +forth. Our advances in these concerted systems have for the last ten +years been steady and progressive, and in a few years more will be so +completed as to leave no cause for apprehension that our seacoast will +ever again offer a theater of hostile invasion. + +The next of these cardinal measures of policy is the preliminary to +great and lasting works of public improvement in the surveys of roads, +examination for the course of canals, and labors for the removal of the +obstructions of rivers and harbors, first commenced by the act of +Congress of 30th of April, 1824. + +The report exhibits in one table the funds appropriated at the last and +preceding sessions of Congress for all these fortifications, surveys, +and works of public improvement, the manner in which these funds have +been applied, the amount expended upon the several works under +construction, and the further sums which may be necessary to complete +them; in a second, the works projected by the Board of Engineers which +have not been commenced, and the estimate of their cost; in a third, the +report of the annual Board of Visitors at the Military Academy at West +Point. + +For thirteen fortifications erecting on various points of our Atlantic +coast, from Rhode Island to Louisiana, the aggregate expenditure of the +year has fallen little short of $1,000,000. For the preparation of five +additional reports of reconnaissances and surveys since the last session +of Congress, for the civil constructions upon thirty-seven different +public works commenced, eight others for which specific appropriations +have been made by acts of Congress, and twenty other incipient surveys +under the authority given by the act of 30th April, 1824, about one +million more of dollars has been drawn from the Treasury. + +To these $2,000,000 is to be added the appropriation of $250,000 to +commence the erection of a breakwater near the mouth of the Delaware +River, the subscriptions to the Delaware and Chesapeake, the Louisville +and Portland, the Dismal Swamp, and the Chesapeake and Ohio canals, the +large donations of lands to the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and +Alabama for objects of improvements within those States, and the sums +appropriated for light-houses, buoys, and piers on the coast; and a full +view will be taken of the munificence of the nation in the application +of its resources to the improvement of its own condition. + +Of these great national undertakings the Academy at West Point is among +the most important in itself and the most comprehensive in its +consequences. In that institution a part of the revenue of the nation is +applied to defray the expense of educating a competent portion of her +youth chiefly to the knowledge and the duties of military life. It is +the living armory of the nation. While the other works of improvement +enumerated in the reports now presented to the attention of Congress are +destined to ameliorate the face of nature, to multiply the facilities of +communication between the different parts of the Union, to assist the +labors, increase the comforts, and enhance the enjoyments of +individuals, the instruction acquired at West Point enlarges the +dominion and expands the capacities of the mind. Its beneficial results +are already experienced in the composition of the Army, and their +influence is felt in the intellectual progress of society. The +institution is susceptible still of great improvement from benefactions +proposed by several successive Boards of Visitors, to whose earnest and +repeated recommendations I cheerfully add my own. + +With the usual annual reports from the Secretary of the Navy and the +Board of Commissioners will be exhibited to the view of Congress the +execution of the laws relating to that department of the public service. +The repression of piracy in the West Indian and in the Grecian seas has +been effectually maintained, with scarcely any exception. During the war +between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of Brazil frequent +collisions between the belligerent acts of power and the rights of +neutral commerce occurred. Licentious blockades, irregularly enlisted or +impressed seamen, and the property of honest commerce seized with +violence, and even plundered under legal pretenses, are disorders never +separable from the conflicts of war upon the ocean. With a portion of +them the correspondence of our commanders on the eastern aspect of the +South American coast and among the islands of Greece discover how far we +have been involved. In these the honor of our country and the rights of +our citizens have been asserted and vindicated. The appearance of new +squadrons in the Mediterranean and the blockade of the Dardanelles +indicate the danger of other obstacles to the freedom of commerce and +the necessity of keeping our naval force in those seas. To the +suggestions repeated in the report of the Secretary of the Navy, and +tending to the permanent improvement of this institution, I invite the +favorable consideration of Congress. + +A resolution of the House of Representatives requesting that one of our +small public vessels should be sent to the Pacific Ocean and South Sea +to examine the coasts, islands, harbors, shoals, and reefs in those +seas, and to ascertain their true situation and description, has been +put in a train of execution. The vessel is nearly ready to depart. The +successful accomplishment of the expedition may be greatly facilitated +by suitable legislative provisions, and particularly by an appropriation +to defray its necessary expense. The addition of a second, and perhaps a +third, vessel, with a slight aggravation of the cost, would contribute +much to the safety of the citizens embarked on this undertaking, the +results of which may be of the deepest interest to our country. + +With the report of the Secretary of the Navy will be submitted, in +conformity to the act of Congress of 3d March, 1827, for the gradual +improvement of the Navy of the United States, statements of the +expenditures under that act and of the measures taken for carrying the +same into effect. Every section of that statute contains a distinct +provision looking to the great object of the whole--the gradual +improvement of the Navy. Under its salutary sanction stores of ship +timber have been procured and are in process of seasoning and +preservation for the future uses of the Navy. Arrangements have been +made for the preservation of the live-oak timber growing on the lands of +the United States, and for its reproduction, to supply at future and +distant days the waste of that most valuable material for shipbuilding +by the great consumption of it yearly for the commercial as well as for +the military marine of our country. The construction of the two dry +docks at Charlestown and at Norfolk is making satisfactory progress +toward a durable establishment. The examinations and inquiries to +ascertain the practicability and expediency of a marine railway at +Pensacola, though not yet accomplished, have been postponed but to be +more effectually made. The navy-yards of the United States have been +examined, and plans for their improvement and the preservation of the +public property therein at Portsmouth, Charlestown, Philadelphia, +Washington, and Gosport, and to which two others are to be added, have +been prepared and received my sanction; and no other portion of my +public duties has been performed with a more intimate conviction of its +importance to the future welfare and security of the Union. + +With the report from the Postmaster-General is exhibited a comparative +view of the gradual increase of that establishment, from five to five +years, since 1792 till this time in the number of post-offices, which +has grown from less than 200 to nearly 8,000; in the revenue yielded by +them, which from $67,000 has swollen to upward of a million and a half, +and in the number of miles of post-roads, which from 5,642 have +multiplied to 114,536. While in the same period of time the population +of the Union has about thrice doubled, the rate of increase of these +offices is nearly 40, and of the revenue and of traveled miles from 20 +to 25 for 1. The increase of revenue within the last five years has been +nearly equal to the whole revenue of the Department in 1812. + +The expenditures of the Department during the year which ended on the +1st of July last have exceeded the receipts by a sum of about $25,000. +The excess has been occasioned by the increase of mail conveyances and +facilities to the extent of near 800,000 miles. It has been supplied by +collections from the postmasters of the arrearages of preceding years. +While the correct principle seems to be that the income levied by the +Department should defray all its expenses, it has never been the policy +of this Government to raise from this establishment any revenue to be +applied to any other purposes. The suggestion of the Postmaster-General +that the insurance of the safe transmission of moneys by the mail might +be assumed by the Department for a moderate and competent remuneration +will deserve the consideration of Congress. + +A report from the commissioner of the public buildings in this city +exhibits the expenditures upon them in the course of the current year. +It will be seen that the humane and benevolent intentions of Congress in +providing, by the act of 20th May, 1826, for the erection of a +penitentiary in this district have been accomplished. The authority of +further legislation is now required for the removal to this tenement of +the offenders against the laws sentenced to atone by personal +confinement for their crimes, and to provide a code for their employment +and government while thus confined. + +The commissioners appointed, conformably to the act of 2d March, 1827, +to provide for the adjustment of claims of persons entitled to +indemnification under the first article of the treaty of Ghent, and for +the distribution among such claimants of the sum paid by the Government +of Great Britain under the convention of 13th of November, 1826, closed +their labors on the 30th of August last by awarding to the claimants the +sum of $1,197,422.18, leaving a balance of $7,537.82, which was +distributed ratably amongst all the claimants to whom awards had been +made, according to the directions of the act. + +The exhibits appended to the report from the Commissioner of the General +Land Office present the actual condition of that common property of the +Union. The amount paid into the Treasury from the proceeds of lands +during the year 1827 and the first half of 1828 falls little short of +$2,000,000. The propriety of further extending the time for the +extinguishment of the debt due to the United States by the purchasers of +the public lands, limited by the act of 21st March last to the 4th of +July next, will claim the consideration of Congress, to whose vigilance +and careful attention the regulation, disposal, and preservation of this +great national inheritance has by the people of the United States been +intrusted. + +Among the important subjects to which the attention of the present +Congress has already been invited, and which may occupy their further +and deliberate discussion, will be the provision to be made for taking +the fifth census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States. +The Constitution of the United States requires that this enumeration +should be made within every term of ten years, and the date from which +the last enumeration commenced was the first Monday of August of the +year 1820. The laws under which the former enumerations were taken were +enacted at the session of Congress immediately preceding the operation; +but considerable inconveniences were experienced from the delay of +legislation to so late a period. That law, like those of the preceding +enumerations, directed that the census should be taken by the marshals +of the several districts and Territories of the Union under instructions +from the Secretary of State. The preparation and transmission to the +marshals of those instructions required more time than was then allowed +between the passage of the law and the day when the enumeration was to +commence. The term of six months limited for the returns of the marshals +was also found even then too short, and must be more so now, when an +additional population of at least 3,000,000 must be presented upon the +returns. As they are to be made at the short session of Congress, it +would, as well as from other considerations, be more convenient to +commence the enumeration from an earlier period of the year than the 1st +of August. The most favorable season would be the spring. On a review of +the former enumerations it will be found that the plan for taking every +census has contained many improvements upon that of its predecessor. The +last is still susceptible of much improvement. The Third Census was the +first at which any account was taken of the manufactures of the country. +It was repeated at the last enumeration, but the returns in both cases +were necessarily very imperfect. They must always be so, resting, of +course, only upon the communications voluntarily made by individuals +interested in some of the manufacturing establishments. Yet they +contained much valuable information, and may by some supplementary +provision of the law be rendered more effective. The columns of age, +commencing from infancy, have hitherto been confined to a few periods, +all under the number of 45 years. Important knowledge would be obtained +by extending these columns, in intervals of ten years, to the utmost +boundaries of human life. The labor of taking them would be a trifling +addition to that already prescribed, and the result would exhibit +comparative tables of longevity highly interesting to the country. I +deem it my duty further to observe that much of the imperfections in the +returns of the last and perhaps of preceding enumerations proceeded from +the inadequateness of the compensations allowed to the marshals and +their assistants in taking them. + +In closing this communication it only remains for me to assure the +Legislature of my continued earnest wish for the adoption of measures +recommended by me heretofore and yet to be acted on by them, and of the +cordial concurrence on my part in every constitutional provision which +may receive their sanction during the session tending to the general +welfare. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGES. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +2d of April last, I transmit a copy of the letter from the Cherokee +Council to Colonel Hugh Montgomery, the agent, requested by the +resolution, with a report[018] from the Secretary of War. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +23d of May last, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with +documents, containing the information requested, relating to the +harbors, roads, and other works of internal improvements undertaken and +projected since the 30th April, 1824. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I communicate to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty made and concluded at the missionary +establishment upon the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan the 20th day of +September last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners of +the United States, and the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, the journal and +report of the commissioners accompanying the treaty. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of War, with +documents, prepared in compliance with their resolution of the 26th of +May last, concerning the practicability and probable cost of +constructing an artificial harbor, commonly called a "breakwater," at or +near the mouth of the Mississippi. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 9, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +The inclosed report from the Secretary of State and subjoined documents +are transmitted to the Senate in compliance with their resolution of +25th April last, requesting information concerning the number of free +taxable inhabitants _who are not freeholders_ in certain States and +Territories of the Union. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 15, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the +8th instant, referring to a negotiation of the British Government, by +virtue of a resolution of the House of the 10th of May last, relative to +the surrender of fugitive slaves, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of State, with copies of instructions and correspondence, +containing the desired information. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 15, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional advice, an additional +article, signed on the 4th day of June last, to the convention of +friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States and the +Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg concluded at this +place on the 20th December, 1827. A copy of the article is likewise +inclosed. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 16, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their advice, articles of agreement +concluded at Green Bay, in the Territory of Michigan, on the 20th of +August last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners on the +part of the United States, and the chiefs of the Winnebago tribe and of +the united tribes of the Potawatamies, Chippewas, and Ottawas, being a +temporary arrangement concerning the occupation of a certain portion of +the mining country which has not heretofore been ceded to the United +States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 22, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of War, with documents, reported in compliance with the resolution of +the House of the 10th instant, requesting a copy of the instructions +given for the government of the agent of the United States +superintendent of the lead mines in Missouri and Illinois. + +Also a report from the Secretary of War, in compliance with the +resolution of the House of the 15th instant, setting forth the reasons +upon which it has not been deemed expedient to nominate commissioners to +hold a treaty with the Choctaw Nation of Indians for the purchase of a +certain tract of land, as authorized by the act of Congress of the 24th +of May last. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 1, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +18th ultimo, I communicate to the House a report from the Secretary of +War, containing the information required in relation to the intended +frauds upon the revenue, which has rendered expedient the stationing +additional troops on the Niagara frontier. The other evidence embraced +by the resolution, and in possession of the Government, does not, in my +judgment, at present render any further employment of a regular armed +force for the enforcement of the revenue laws necessary. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 7, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +19th May last, requesting a copy of the correspondence between the +minister of the United States at the Court of Madrid and the Government +of Spain on the subject of claims of citizens of the United States +against the said Government, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of State, with the correspondence desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 14, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate a report from the Secretary of State, +with supplemental returns of free taxable inhabitants not freeholders in +certain States and Territories of the United States, which returns have +been received since my message to the Senate of the 9th December last. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 17, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +13th instant, I transmit herewith a report[019] from the Secretary of +War, with an application from the Creek Indians, through the agent of +the United States, and an opinion of counsel in behalf of the Indians, +having relation to the subject of the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 21, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with two resolutions of the House of Representatives of +the 5th instant, requesting information received not heretofore +communicated in relation to the arrest and trial in the British Province +of New Brunswick of John Baker, a citizen of the United States, and the +correspondence between the Government of the United States and that of +Great Britain in relation to the said arrest and to the usurpation of +jurisdiction by the British government of New Brunswick within the +limits of the State of Maine, I transmit a report from the Secretary of +State, with the information and correspondence requested by the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 21, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of two treaties with Indian tribes, which +have been ratified: + +1. Articles of agreement between the United States of America and the +Winnebago tribe and the united tribes of Potawatamie, Chippeways; and +Ottawa Indians, concluded at Green Bay 25th August, 1828. + +2. Treaty between the United States of America and the Potawatamie tribe +of Indians, concluded at the missionary establishment upon the St. +Joseph of Lake Michigan 20th September, 1828. + +Both by Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners on the part of the +United States, with certain chiefs and warriors of the respective +tribes. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 26, 1829_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +17th instant, requesting copies of the instructions to the commissioners +of the United States who made the treaty at the Indian Springs in 1821, +I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of War of the 22d +instant, with copies of those instructions. + +And in compliance with a resolution of the House of the 20th instant, +requesting a communication of the journal of the above-mentioned +commissioners, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War of the 24th +instant, with copies of the papers, which it is believed will supply the +information desired by the resolution, no regular journal having been +transmitted by the commissioners to the Department. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 26, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with +voluminous documents prepared and collected in compliance with a +resolution of the House of Representatives of the 13th January, 1825, +calling for a statement of convictions, executions, and pardons for +capital offenses under the authority of the Government of the United +States since the adoption of the Constitution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 26, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of a convention of friendship, commerce, +and navigation between the United States and the free Hanseatic +Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, the ratifications of which +were exchanged at this place on the 2d day of June last; and also of an +additional article to the same convention, signed on the 4th day of June +last, and the ratifications of which were exchanged at this city on the +14th of the present month. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29, 1829_ + + +_The President of the Senate of the United States_ + +Sir: + +I transmit herewith a letter which I have received from Mr. David, +member of the Institute of France, professor of the School of Painting +at Paris, and member of the Legion of Honor, the artist who presents to +Congress the bust of General Lafayette which has been received with it; +and I have to request the favor that after it has been communicated to +the Senate it may be transmitted to the Speaker of the House of +Representatives for similar communication to that body. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I nominate Stephen Clin, of Georgia, to be secretary of the legation of +the United States at the Court of Great Britain. + +Jesse H. Willis, of Florida, to be collector of the customs for the +recently established district of St. Marks and inspector of the revenue +for the port of Magnolia, in Florida. + +And I nominate for reappointment Callender Irvine, of Pennsylvania, to +be Commissary-General of Purchases. It is proper to apprise the Senate +that this office is one of those which by the act of Congress of 15th +May, 1820, is limited to the term of four years; that it was held by Mr. +Irvine at the time of the passage of that act, but that by some +inadvertence he has not hitherto been nominated for reappointment. The +fact having but just now been ascertained by me, I deem it my duty to +make the nomination. Mr. Irvine has hitherto performed the duties of the +office under his original appointment. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 30, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +13th instant, requesting information of the measures taken in execution +of the act of 9th May last, making an appropriation for carrying into +effect the articles of agreement and cession of 24th April, 1802, +between the State of Georgia and the United States, and also in +execution of certain provisions of the treaty of May last with the +Cherokee Indians, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of +War, with documents, comprising the desired information. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 2, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th ultimo, +requesting information received since the last session of Congress from +the Mexican Government respecting the recovery of debts in that country +due to American citizens, I transmit a report from the Secretary of +State, with copies of a letter of instructions to the minister of the +United States in Mexico, and of his answer, relating to the subject of +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 6, 1829_ + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 9th of December +last, requesting a detailed statement of the amount expended by the +Federal Government upon works of internal improvement within the limits +of the several States, with an estimate of the amount necessary to +complete any work begun and not yet completed, I transmit herewith +reports from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, with documents, +containing the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 6, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +4th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, +with that of the commissioner appointed to locate the national road from +Zanesville, in Ohio, to the seat of government of the State of Missouri. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 11, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By the act of Congress of the 23d of May last, "supplementary to the +several acts providing for the settlement and confirmation of private +land claims in Florida," provision was made for the final adjudication +of such claims by the judges of the superior courts of the districts +wherein the lands claimed respectively lie, and by appeal from them to +the Supreme Court of the United States; and the attorneys of the United +States in the several districts were charged with the duty, in every +case where the decision should be against the United States by the judge +of the superior court of the district, to make out and transmit to the +Attorney-General of the United States a statement containing the facts +of the case and the points of law on which the same was decided, and it +was made the duty of the Attorney-General in most of those cases to +direct an appeal to be made to the Supreme Court of the United States +and to appear for the United States and prosecute such appeals. By the +same act the President of the United States was authorized to appoint a +law agent to superintend the interests of the United States in the +premises, and to employ assistant counsel if in his opinion the public +interest should require the same. + +In the process of carrying into execution this law it was the opinion of +the Attorney-General of the United States that a translated complete +collection of all the Spanish and French ordinances, etc., affecting the +land titles in Florida and the other territories heretofore belonging to +France and Spain, would be indispensable to a just decision of those +claims by the Supreme Court. At his suggestion the task of preparing +this compilation was undertaken by Joseph M. White, of Florida, who was +employed as assistant counsel in behalf of the United States. The +collection has accordingly been made and is deposited in manuscript at +the Department of State, subject to such order as Congress may see fit +to take concerning it. The letter from Mr. White to the Secretary of +State, with a descriptive list of the documents collected and thus +deposited, is herewith transmitted to Congress. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 16, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 5th instant, +requesting detailed statements of the expenses incurred and of those +which may be necessary for the expedition proposed for exploring the +Pacific Ocean and South Seas, and also of the several amounts +transferred from the different heads of appropriation for the support of +the Navy to this object and the authority by which such transfers have +been made, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, +with documents, from which the Senate will perceive that no such +transfer has been made, and which contain the other information desired +by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 20, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 10th instant, +requesting copies of correspondence and communications from 20th +October, 1816, to 24th November, 1817, received at the Department of +State from the American commissioner under the fourth article of the +treaty of Ghent, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +State, with the copies of papers mentioned in the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 20, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, +with documents, prepared in pursuance of their resolution of the 31st of +December last, and showing the amount of expenses incurred in the +survey, sale, and management of the public lands for the year 1827. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 25,1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By the act of Congress of the 3d March, 1826, for the survey of a route +for a canal between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, the President +of the United States was authorized to cause to be made an accurate and +minute examination of the country south of the St. Marys River, and +including the same, with a view to ascertain the most eligible route for +a canal admitting the transit of boats to connect the Atlantic with the +Gulf of Mexico, and also with a view to ascertain the practicability of +a ship channel; that he cause particularly to be examined the route to +the Appalachicola River or Bay, with a view to both the above objects; +that he cause the necessary surveys, both by land and along the coast, +with estimates of the expense of each, accompanied with proper plans, +notes, observations, explanations, and opinions of the Board of +Engineers, and that he cause a full report of these proceedings to be +made to Congress. + +In execution of this law I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary +of War, with a copy of that of the Board of Engineers, upon this great +and most desirable national work. The time not having allowed a copy to +be taken of the map, one copy only of the whole report is transmitted to +the Senate, with the request that it may be communicated to the House of +Representatives, and that the map may be ultimately returned to the +Department of War. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 26, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th instant, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with the +inspection reports of Brevet Major-General Gaines for the years 1826 and +1827, relating to the organization of the Army and militia of the United +States, with the request that the original documents may be returned to +the Department of War at the convenience of the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 26,1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their constitutional advice with +regard to its ratification, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation +between the United States and His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, signed +by the plenipotentiaries of the respective Governments at Rio de Janeiro +on the 12th day of December last. A copy of the treaty is likewise +inclosed, with copies of the instructions under which it was negotiated +and a letter from Mr. Tudor elucidating some of its provisions. It is +requested that at the convenience of the Senate the original papers may +be returned to the Department of State. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 28, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of two Indian treaties, which have duly +ratified: + +1. A treaty with the Chippewa, Menominie, and Winnebago Indians, +concluded on the 11th of August, 1827, at the Butte des Morts, on Fox +River, in the Territory of Michigan, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. +McKenney, commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain +chiefs and warriors of the said tribes on their part. + +2. A treaty with the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, concluded the 19th of +September, 1827, at St. Joseph, in the Territory of Michigan, between +Lewis Cass, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the +chiefs and warriors of the said tribes, on their part. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 28, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +21st instant, requesting any information in my possession as to the +practical operation of the recent act of the British Parliament entitled +"The customs amendment act," purporting a discrimination of duties upon +the importation of cotton from the British North American colonies and +showing how far this discrimination may affect existing treaties, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of +the instructions and correspondence of the minister of the United States +at London, containing the information requested. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 3, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to Congress a copy of the instructions prepared by +the Secretary of State and furnished to the ministers of the United +States appointed to attend at the assembly of American plenipotentiaries +first held at Panama and thence transferred to Tacubaya. The occasion +upon which they were given has passed away, and there is no present +probability of the renewal of the negotiations; but the purposes for +which they were intended are still of the deepest interest to our +country and to the world, and may hereafter call again for the active +efforts and beneficent energies of the Government of the United States. +The motives for withholding them from general publication having ceased, +justice to the Government from which they emanated and to the people for +whose benefit it was instituted requires that they should be made known. +With this view, and from the consideration that the subjects embraced by +these instructions must probably engage hereafter the deliberations of +our successors, I deem it proper to make this communication to both +Houses of Congress. One copy only of the instructions being prepared, I +send it to the Senate, requesting that it may be transmitted to the +House of Representatives. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + +PROCLAMATION. + + +(From Senate Journal, Twentieth Congress, second session, p. 196.) + + +Washington, +_January 12, 1829_ + + +_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 Wednesday, 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. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + + +[Footnote 001: See Vol. I, pp. 352 to 354, inclusive.] + + +[Footnote 002: Relating to the proposed congress at Panama.] + + +[Footnote 003: Relating to land warrants issued to soldiers of the +Revolutionary war, etc.] + + +[Footnote 004: Relating to intervention of the Emperor of Russia with +Spain for a recognition of the independence of the South American +States.] + + +[Footnote 005: Relating to the proposed congress of the Spanish American +States.] + + +[Footnote 006: Relative to governments to be represented at the congress +at Panama.] + + +[Footnote 007 and 007a: Respecting the right of a foreign minister to +retain money advanced by the President as an outfit beyond the sum +appropriated by law.] + + +[Footnote 008: Relating to the negotiations with Great Britain for a +cession of certain keys on the Bahama Banks.] + + +[Footnote 009: Referred to in the protocol of the third conference of +the American and British plenipotentiaries on February 5, 1824, relating +to trade with Great Britain.] + + +[Footnote 010: Concerning the assembly of American ministers at +Tacubaya, Mexico] + + +[Footnote: 011 Relating to the conflicting claims of Georgia and the +Creek Indians to lands in Georgia.] + + +[Footnote 012: Relating to the conflicting claims of Georgia and the +Creek Indians to lands in Georgia.] + + +[Footnote 013: Relating to the northeastern boundary of the United +States.] + + +[Footnote 014: Relating to the detention of American vessels by the +naval forces of Brazil.] + + +[Footnote 015: Relating to the war between Spain and her colonies.] + + +[Footnote 016: By the authorities of the Province of New Brunswick.] + + +[Footnote 017: Relating to alleged blockade by the naval forces of +Brazil, imprisonment of American citizens by Brazil, etc.] + + +[Footnote 018: Relating to a survey for a canal through the Cherokee +country.] + + +[Footnote 019: Relating to claims of Georgia and the Creek Indians under +the treaty of 1821, held at Indian Springs.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Compilation of Messages and Letters +of the Presidents, by Editor: James D. 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Richardson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Compilation of Messages and Letters of the Presidents + 2nd section (of 3) of Volume 2: John Quincy Adams + +Author: Editor: James D. Richardson + +Release Date: January 30, 2004 [EBook #10879] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN QUINCY ADAMS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Gundry and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + + +</pre> + +<table width="80%" summary="Bookspace" align="center"> +<tr> +<td><br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2>John Quincy Adams</h2> +<p class="c2">March 4, 1828, to March 4, 1829</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>JOHN QUINCY ADAMS</h2> +<br> + +<p>John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States, +eldest son of John Adams, second President, was born at +Braintree, Mass., July 11, 1767. He enjoyed peculiar and rare +advantages for education. In childhood 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 +Leyden, 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 Theophilus Parsons, of +Newburyport; 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 promotion from him because he was +his son. He was accordingly appointed minister to Berlin in 1797. +He negotiated a treaty of amity and commerce 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 Senatorial duties. He offended the Federalists by +supporting Jefferson's embargo act, which was passed in December, +1807, and thus became connected with the Democratic party. He +resigned his seat in the Senate in March, 1808, declining to +serve for the remainder of the term rather than obey the +instructions of the Federalists. In March, 1809, he was appointed +by President Madison minister to Russia. During his residence in +that country he was nominated to be an associate justice of the +Supreme Court of the United States, and confirmed February, 1811; +but he declined the appointment. In 1813 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 1817. 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 +his 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.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>NOTIFICATION OF ELECTION.</h2> +<br> + +<p>Mr. Webster, from the committee appointed for that purpose +yesterday, reported that the committee had waited on John Quincy +Adams, of Massachusetts, and had notified him that in the recent +election of a President 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 duty the committee had given the +information of this election to the President.</p> +<p>February 10, 1825.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Reply of the President Elect.</h2> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 10, 1825</i>.</p> +<p>Gentlemen:</p> +<p>In receiving this testimonial from the Representatives of the +people and States of this Union I am deeply sensible to the +circumstances under which it has been given. All my predecessors +in the high 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 honorable, 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 Constitution, 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.</p> +<p>In this state of things, could my refusal to accept the trust +thus delegated to me give an immediate opportunity to the people +to form and to express with a nearer approach to unanimity the +object of their preference, 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, signified +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.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Letter from the President Elect.</h2> +<p><br> + City of Washington,<br> + <i>March 1, 1825</i></p> +<p>The President of the Senate of the United States.</p> +<p>Sir:</p> +<p>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 +Constitution to the President of the United States before he +enters on the execution of his office, on Friday, the 4th +instant, at 12 o'clock, in the Hall of the House of +Representatives.</p> +<p>I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, sir, your +very humble and obedient servant,</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>INAUGURAL ADDRESS.</h2> +<br> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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, protect, 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 Government +instituted by it should be invariably and sacredly devoted-to +form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic +tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general +welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of +this Union in their successive generations. 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 +vicissitudes of peace and war incidental to the condition of +associated man, it has not disappointed the hopes and aspirations +of those illustrious benefactors 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.</p> +<p>In the compass of thirty-six years since this great national +covenant was instituted a body of laws enacted under its +authority and in conformity with its provisions has unfolded its +powers and carried into practical operation its effective +energies. Subordinate departments have distributed 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.</p> +<p>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 +conquest, 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 our 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. Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the +purposes of human 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.</p> +<p>Such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition under a +Constitution 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 freedom, 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 present lot and all our +earthly hopes of the future. The causes of these dissensions 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.</p> +<p>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 Government, and that both have required a +liberal indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error. +The revolutionary wars 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 +imbittered 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 relations with Europe constituted the +principal basis of our political divisions and the most arduous +part of the action of our Federal Government. With the +catastrophe in which the wars of the French Revolution +terminated, 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 beneficence and the best guaranty +against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, the purity, +and the frequency of popular elections; that the General +Government of the Union and the separate governments of the +States are all sovereignties of limited powers, fellow-servants +of the same masters, uncontrolled within their respective +spheres, uncontrollable by encroachments 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 aggravation and +alleviate when possible the burden of taxation; that the military +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 articles of faith upon which we are all +now agreed. If there have been those who doubted whether a +confederated representative democracy were a government 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 +heretofore followed the standards of political party. It is that +of discarding 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 bore the badge of +party communion.</p> +<p>The collisions of party spirit which originate in speculative +opinions or in different views of administrative policy are in +their nature transitory. Those which are founded on geographical +divisions, adverse interests of soil, climate, 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 +general 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 obligation to respect and preserve the +rights of the whole. The prejudices everywhere too commonly +entertained against distant strangers are worn away, and the +jealousies of jarring interests are allayed by the composition +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.</p> +<p>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 administration 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; 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 great 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 indigent 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 southern 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 traffic 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.</p> +<p>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 common condition instituted or +recommended by him will embrace the whole sphere of my +obligations. To the topic of internal improvement, emphatically +urged by him at his inauguration, I recur with peculiar +satisfaction. 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 swallowed up in despotism or become the spoil of barbarians. +Some diversity of opinion has prevailed with regard to the powers +of Congress for legislation 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 construction +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 Legislature have conciliated the sentiments and approximated +the opinions of enlightened 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 limitation 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.</p> +<p>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. Less 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 heed of your +indulgence. Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted to the +welfare of our country, 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 Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain," with +fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence +I commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the +future destinies of my country.</p> +<p>March 4, 1825.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.</h2> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 6, 1825</i>.</p> +<p><i>Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of +Representatives</i>:</p> +<p>In taking a general survey of the concerns of our beloved +country, with reference to subjects interesting to the common +welfare, the first sentiment which impresses itself upon the mind +is of gratitude to the Omnipotent 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 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 extensively +by peace and prosperity.</p> +<p>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 exercise of power among men can be +justified only by the blessings it confers upon those over whom +it is extended.</p> +<p>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 +Governments assurances have been given and received of the +continuance and increase of the mutual confidence and cordiality +by which the adjustment 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.</p> +<p>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. Immediately after the close of the last war +a proposal was fairly made by the act of Congress of the 3d of +March, 1815, 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 commercial 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 willing to abide in reciprocity by it. But all +these regulations, whether established by treaty or by municipal +enactments, are still subject to one important restriction.</p> +<p>The removal of discriminating duties of tonnage and of impost +is limited 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 Congress whether even this remnant +of restriction may not be safely abandoned, 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 produce 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 maritime state it would recommend itself +by the experience of its advantages to the general accession of +all.</p> +<p>The convention of commerce and navigation between the United +States and France, concluded on the 24th of June, 1822, was, in +the understanding and intent of both parties, as appears upon its +face, only a temporary arrangement of the points of difference +between them of the most immediate and pressing urgency. It was +limited in the first instance to two years from the 1st of +October, 1822, but with a proviso that it should further 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 common 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 Government. 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 1819 indemnity was, after many years of patient +forbearance, obtained; and those upon Sweden have been lately +compromised by a private settlement, in which the claimants +themselves have acquiesced. The Governments of Denmark and of +Naples have been recently reminded of those yet existing against +them, nor will any of them be forgotten while a hope may be +indulged of obtaining justice by the means within the +constitutional power of the Executive, 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 Legislature.</p> +<p>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 documents 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 Legislature. The negotiation 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 certain parts of Europe to the acknowledgment of the +Southern American Republics as independent States will, it is +believed, contribute more effectually 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 burdensome +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.</p> +<p>Among the measures which have been suggested to them by the +new relations with one another, resulting from the recent changes +in their condition, 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 Central 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 deliberations, 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.</p> +<p>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 expect that the commission will be +closed at their next session, appointed for the 22d of May of the +ensuing year.</p> +<p>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.</p> +<p>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 occupied +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 effective 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 nurture, 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 constituted +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.</p> +<p>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 1st +of January last was a little short of $2,000,000, exclusive of +two millions and a half, being the moiety of the loan of five +millions authorized by the act of 26th of May, 1824. The receipts +into the Treasury from the 1st of January to the 30th of +September, 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 military and naval +establishments and all the occasional contingencies of a +government coextensive with the Union.</p> +<p>The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported since the +commencement 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, estimated at less than seven +millions, a sum exceeding twenty-four millions will constitute +the revenue of the year, and will exceed the whole expenditures +of the year. The entire amount of the public debt remaining due +on the 1st of January next will be short of $81,000,000.</p> +<p>By an act of Congress of the 3d of March last a loan of +$12,000,000 was authorized at 4-1/2 per cent, or an exchange of +stock to that amount of 4-1/2 per cent for a stock of 6 per cent, +to create a fund for extinguishing 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.</p> +<p>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 Delaware 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. The latest +accounts received of this important undertaking authorize the +belief that it is in successful progress.</p> +<p>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 million and a half. The act of Congress of 18th May, 1824, +to provide for the extinguishment of the debt due to the United +States by the purchasers of public lands, was limited in its +operation of relief to the purchaser to the 10th of April last. +Its effect at the end of the quarter during which it expired was +to reduce that debt from ten to seven millions. By the operation +of similar prior laws of relief, from and since that of 2d March, +1821, 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 interests 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 advantageous 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 +Treasury may be made to reflow in unfailing streams of +improvement from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.</p> +<p>The condition of the various branches of the public service +resorting from the Department of War, and their administration +during the current year, will be exhibited in the report of the +Secretary of War and the accompanying documents herewith +communicated. The organization and discipline of the Army are +effective and satisfactory. To counteract 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 +horsemanship as could scarcely fail to be found wanting on the +possible sudden eruption 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 more to the patronage +of the nation, and the numbers of meritorious officers which it +forms and introduces to the public 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 heed 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 service, connected with the quartering, 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.</p> +<p>Our 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 appropriation 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 between said tribes. The first and +the last objects of these acts have been accomplished, and the +second is yet in a process of execution. The treaties which since +the last session of Congress have been concluded with the several +tribes will be laid before the Senate for their consideration +conformably to the Constitution. They comprise large and valuable +acquisitions 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.</p> +<p>On the 12th 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 advice 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.</p> +<p>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 applied. Their progress has been delayed by the want +of suitable officers for superintending 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 Engineers. The Military Academy at West Point will +furnish from the cadets annually graduated there officers well +qualified for carrying this measure into effect.</p> +<p>The Board of Engineers for Internal Improvement, appointed for +carrying 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 +practicability 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 improvement 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.</p> +<p>The acts of Congress of the last session relative to the +surveying, marking, or laying out roads in the Territories of +Florida, Arkansas, and Michigan, from Missouri to Mexico, and for +the continuation of the Cumberland 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 like number of commissioners appointed on the part +of each of those States. A meeting of the commissioners has been +postponed, to await the definitive report of the board of +engineers. The light-houses and monuments for the safety of our +commerce 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, 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 work.</p> +<p>The operation of the laws relating to the Revolutionary +pensioners may deserve the renewed consideration of Congress. The +act of the 18th 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 1st 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 liberal 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 +necessities? I submit to Congress the expediency of providing for +individual cases of this description by special enactment, or of +revising the act of the 1st 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.</p> +<p>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 Labrador, and the first service of a new frigate +has been performed in restoring to his native soil and domestic +enjoyments the veteran hero whose youthful blood and treasure had +freely flowed in the cause of our country's independence, and +whose whole life has been a series of services and sacrifices to +the improvement of his fellow-men. The visit of General +Lafayette, 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 hereafter 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.</p> +<p>The constant maintenance of a small squadron in the +Mediterranean 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 liable to be +violated. An additional motive for keeping a respectable force +stationed 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.</p> +<p>Similar motives have rendered expedient the keeping of a like +force on the coasts of Peru and Chile on the Pacific. The +irregular and convulsive character of the war upon the shores has +been extended to the conflicts upon the ocean. An active warfare +has been kept up for years with alternate success, though +generally to the advantage of the American 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 complete 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 territory 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.</p> +<p>The objects of the West India Squadron have been to carry into +execution the laws for the suppression of the African slave +trade; for the protection of our commerce against vessels of +piratical character, though bearing commissions from either of +the belligerent parties; for its protection 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 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 officers 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 immensely valuable commerce +in those seas can navigate in security without the steady +continuance of an armed force devoted to its protection.</p> +<p>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 military marine-the +only arm by which the power of this Confederacy can be estimated +or felt by foreign nations, and the only standing military force +which can never be dangerous to our own liberties 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 commensurate 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 +maritime powers of Europe.</p> +<p>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 close 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 Military Academy at West Point, for the +formation of scientific and accomplished officers, is felt with +daily increasing aggravation.</p> +<p>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 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 execution, 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.</p> +<p>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 1st 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 1st 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 judicious 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, till 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 corners of the Union, +at a charge scarcely perceptible to any individual, and without +the cost of a dollar to the public Treasury.</p> +<p>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 promoting the internal improvement of our +country, I can not close the communication without recommending +to their calm and persevering consideration 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 government, 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 facilitating the communications and intercourse +between distant regions and multitudes 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 condition 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 improvement of the condition of +men is knowledge, and to the acquisition of much of the knowledge +adapted to the wants, the comforts, and enjoyments of human life +public 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, living, 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.</p> +<p>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 acquisition, and particularly to +geographical and astronomical science. Looking back to the +history only of the half century since the declaration of our +independence, and observing the generous emulation with which the +Governments 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 incumbent 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 for +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 La Pérouse +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 +affectionate 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?</p> +<p>In inviting the attention of Congress to the subject of +internal improvements 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 investigation hearer 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 establishment +of a military post there or at some other point of that coast, +recommended by my predecessor and already matured in the +deliberations of the last Congress, I would suggest the +expediency of connecting the equipment of a public ship for the +exploration of the whole northwest coast of this continent.</p> +<p>The establishment of an uniform standard of weights and +measures was one of the specific objects contemplated in the +formation of our Constitution, 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 speculations on +the same subject since the existence of our Constitution, and +with them it has expanded into profound, laborious, and expensive +researches 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 experiments 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 our Government, as +they have hitherto been by those of France and Britain.</p> +<p>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 periodical 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 hemisphere there is not one. If we reflect a moment upon +the discoveries which in the last four centuries have been made +in the physical constitution of the universe by the means of +these buildings and of observers 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 second 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?</p> +<p>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 inhabitants 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 bordering 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 +prosperity rests not alone upon this indication. Our commerce, +our wealth, and the extent of our territories have increased in +corresponding proportions, and the number of independent +communities associated in our Federal Union has since that time +nearly doubled. The legislative representation 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.</p> +<p>The naval armaments, which at an early period forced +themselves upon the necessities of the Union, soon led to the +establishment of a Department 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 unquestionable detriment 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 +inhabitants of the earth, with whom our intercourse, commercial +and political, would of itself furnish occupation to an active +and industrious department. The constitution of the judiciary, +experimental and imperfect as it was even in the infancy of our +existing Government, is yet more inadequate to the administration +of national justice at our present maturity. Nine years have +elapsed since a predecessor in this office, now not the last, the +citizen who, perhaps, of all others throughout the Union +contributed most to the formation and establishment of our +Constitution, in his valedictory address to Congress, immediately +preceding his retirement from public life, urgently recommended +the revision of the judiciary and the establishment of an +additional executive department. The exigencies of the public +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 deliberations I am happy to have the +influence of his high authority in aid of the undoubting +convictions of my own experience.</p> +<p>The laws relating to the administration of the Patent Office +are deserving 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 securing for limited +times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their +respective writings and discoveries." If an honest pride might be +indulged 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?</p> +<p>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 military 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 approaching 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 Revolution, and that a spot has been +reserved within the walls where you are deliberating 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 +delight to every act of the representatives of his nation which +can tend to exalt and adorn his and their country.</p> +<p>The Constitution under which you are assembled is a charter of +limited powers. After full and solemn deliberation upon all or +any of the objects which, urged by an irresistible sense of my +own duty, I have recommended 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 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 commerce with foreign nations and among +the several States and with the Indian tribes, to fix the +standard of weights and measures, to establish post-offices and +post-roads, to declare war, to raise and support armies, to +provide and maintain a navy, to dispose of and make all heedful +rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property +belonging to the United States, and to make all laws which shall +be necessary 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.</p> +<p>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 public +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 ourselves to perpetual inferiority? In the +course 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 +enterprise 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 Confederation, 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?</p> +<p>Finally, fellow-citizens, I shall await with cheering hope and +faithful cooperation the result of your deliberations, assured +that, without encroaching upon the powers reserved to the +authorities of the respective States or to the people, you will, +with a due sense of your obligations 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 welfare +of our country.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>SPECIAL MESSAGES.</h2> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 14, 1825</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice +with regard to their ratification, the following treaties:</p> +<p>1. A treaty between the United States and the Great and Little +Osage tribes of Indians, concluded at St. Louis, 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.</p> +<p>2. A treaty between the United States and the Kanzas Nation of +Indians, concluded at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, on the +3d 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 said nation, duly authorized +and empowered by the same.</p> +<p>3. A convention between the United States and the Shawnee +Nation of Indians residing within the State of Missouri, signed +at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, on the 7th day of +November last, by William Clark, Superintendent of Indian +Affairs, and the chiefs and headmen of the said nation, duly +authorized and empowered by the same.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 15, 1825</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration in +reference to its ratification, a general convention of peace, +amity, commerce, and navigation between the United States of +America and the Federation of the Centre of America, signed at +this place on the 5th instant by the Secretary of State and the +minister plenipotentiary from the Republic of Central America to +the United States.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 26, 1825</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement +of the session it was mentioned that the Governments of the +Republics of Colombia, of Mexico, and of Central America had +severally invited the Government of the United States to be +represented at the Congress of American nations to be assembled +at Panama to deliberate upon objects of peculiar concernment to +this hemisphere, and that this invitation had been accepted.</p> +<p>Although this measure was deemed to be within the +constitutional competency of the Executive, I have not thought +proper to take any step in it before ascertaining that my opinion +of its expediency will concur with that of both branches of the +Legislature, first, by the decision of the Senate upon the +nominations to be laid before them, and, secondly, by the +sanction of both Houses to the appropriations, without which it +can not be carried into effect.</p> +<p>A report from the Secretary of State and copies of the +correspondence with the South American Governments on this +subject since the invitation given by them are herewith +transmitted to the Senate. They will disclose the objects of +importance which are expected to form a subject of discussion at +this meeting, in which interests of high importance to this Union +are involved. It will be seen that the United States neither +intend nor are expected to take part in any deliberations of a +belligerent character; that the motive of their attendance is +neither to contract alliances nor to engage in any undertaking or +project importing hostility to any other nation.</p> +<p>But the Southern American nations, in the infancy of their +independence, often find themselves in positions with reference +to other countries with the principles applicable to which, +derivable from the state of independence itself, they have not +been familiarized by experience. The result of this has been that +sometimes in their intercourse with the United States they have +manifested dispositions to reserve a right of granting special +favors and privileges to the Spanish nation as the price of their +recognition. At others they have actually established duties and +impositions operating unfavorably to the United States to the +advantage of other European powers, and sometimes they have +appeared to consider that they might interchange among themselves +mutual concessions of exclusive favor, to which neither European +powers nor the United States should be admitted. In most of these +cases their regulations unfavorable to us have yielded to +friendly expostulation and remonstrance. But it is believed to be +of infinite moment that the principles of a liberal commercial +intercourse should be exhibited to them, and urged with +disinterested and friendly persuasion upon them when all +assembled for the avowed purpose of consulting together upon the +establishment of such principles as may have an important bearing +upon their future welfare.</p> +<p>The consentaneous adoption of principles of maritime +neutrality, and favorable to the navigation of peace, and +commerce in time of war, will also form a subject of +consideration to this Congress. The doctrine that free ships make +free goods and the restrictions of reason upon the extent of +blockades may be established by general agreement with far more +ease, and perhaps with less danger, by the general engagement to +adhere to them concerted at such a meeting, than by partial +treaties or conventions with each of the nations separately. An +agreement between all the parties represented at the meeting that +each will guard by its own means against the establishment of any +future European colony within its borders may be found advisable. +This was more than two years since announced by my predecessor to +the world as a principle resulting from the emancipation of both +the American continents. It may be so developed to the new +southern nations that they will all feel it as an essential +appendage to their independence.</p> +<p>There is yet another subject upon which, without entering into +any treaty, the moral influence of the United States may perhaps +be exerted with beneficial consequences at such a meeting-the +advancement of religious liberty. Some of the southern nations +are even yet so far under the dominion of prejudice that they +have incorporated with their political constitutions an exclusive +church, without toleration of any other than the dominant sect. +The abandonment of this last badge of religious bigotry and +oppression may be pressed more effectually by the united +exertions of those who concur in the principles of freedom of +conscience upon those who are yet to be convinced of their +justice and wisdom than by the solitary efforts of a minister to +any one of the separate Governments.</p> +<p>The indirect influence which the United States may exercise +upon any projects or purposes originating in the war in which the +southern Republics are still engaged, which might seriously +affect the interests of this Union, and the good offices by which +the United States may ultimately contribute to bring that war to +a speedier termination, though among the motives which have +convinced me of the propriety of complying with this invitation, +are so far contingent and eventual that it would be improper to +dwell upon them more at large.</p> +<p>In fine, a decisive inducement with me for acceding to the +measure is to show by this token of respect to the southern +Republics the interest that we take in their welfare and our +disposition to comply with their wishes. Having been the first to +recognize their independence, and sympathized with them so far as +was compatible with our neutral duties in all their struggles and +sufferings to acquire it, we have laid the foundation of our +future intercourse with them in the broadest principles of +reciprocity and the most cordial feelings of fraternal +friendship. To extend those principles to all our commercial +relations with them and to hand down that friendship to future +ages is congenial to the highest policy of the Union, as it will +be to that of all those nations and their posterity. In the +confidence that these sentiments will meet the approbation of the +Senate, I nominate Richard C. Anderson, of Kentucky, and John +Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, to be envoys extraordinary and +ministers plenipotentiary to the assembly of American nations at +Panama, and William B. Rochester, of New York, to be secretary to +the mission.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 27, 1825</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 20th instant, I now transmit a copy of the +message of President Jefferson to both Houses of Congress on the +18th of January, 1803, recommending an exploring expedition +across this continent.<a name="FNanchor001"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_001"><sup>[001]</sup></a> It will be perceived on the +perusal of this message that it was confidential, for which +reason the copy of it is now communicated in the same manner, +leaving to the judgment of the House to determine whether any +adequate reason yet remains for withholding it from publication. +I possess no other document or information in relation to the +same subject which I consider as coming within the scope of the +resolution of the House.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 27, 1825</i> <i>To the House of Representatives of +the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 20th instant, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of State, with copies of such portions of the +correspondence between the United States and Great Britain on the +subject of the convention for suppressing the slave trade as have +not heretofore been, and which can be communicated without +detriment to the public interest.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 27, 1825</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 23d instant, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of War, with the correspondence between the +Department of War and Generals Pinckney and Jackson, and all the +instructions given to the said Generals Pinckney and Jackson +relating to the treaty with the Creek Indians, afterwards made at +Fort Jackson, so far as the same can be communicated without +prejudice to the public interest.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 3, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 23d of last month, I communicate herewith +a report from the Secretary of War, with the documents touching +the treaty with the Cherokee Indians, ratified in 1819, by which +the Cherokee title to a portion of lands within the limits of +North Carolina was extinguished.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 9, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d +instant, I communicate herewith, in confidence, a report<a name= +"FNanchor002"></a><a href="#Footnote_002"><sup>[002]</sup></a> +from the Secretary of State, with translations of the conventions +and documents, containing information of the nature referred to +in the said resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 9, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice +with regard to the ratification, the following treaties:</p> +<p>1. A treaty signed at the Poncar village at the mouth of White +Point Creek, the first below the Qui Carre River, on the 9th of +June, 1825, by Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson and Major +Benjamin O'Fallon, commissioners on the part of the United +States, and certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Poncar +tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>2. A treaty signed at Fort Look-out, hear the Three Rivers of +the Sioux Pass, on the 22d June, 1825, by the same commissioners +on the part of the United States and certain chiefs, headmen, and +warriors of the Teton, Yancton, and Yanctonies bands of the Sioux +tribe of Indians on the part of the said bands.</p> +<p>3. A treaty signed at the mouth of the Teton River on the 5th +of July, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the +United States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the +Sione and Ogalla bands of Sioux Indians, and on the 12th of July, +1825, at Camp Hidden Creek, by chiefs and warriors of the Siounes +of the Fireheart's band on the part of their respective +bands.</p> +<p>4. A treaty signed at the mouth of the Teton River on the 6th +of July, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the +United States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the +Chayenne tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>5. A treaty signed at the Auricara village on the 16th July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States +and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Hunkpapas +band of the Sioux tribe of Indians on the part of said band.</p> +<p>6. A treaty signed at the Ricara village on the 18th July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States +and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Ricara tribe +of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>7. A treaty signed at the Mandan village on the 30th of July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States +and by certain chiefs and warriors of the Mandan tribe of Indians +on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>8. A treaty signed at the lower Mandan village on the 30th of +July, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United +States and by certain chiefs and warriors of the Belantse Etea, +or Minnetaree, tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>9. A treaty signed at the Mandan village on the 4th of August, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States +and by certain chiefs and warriors of the Crow tribe of Indians +on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>10. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the +25th of September, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of +the United States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of +the Ottoe and Missouri tribe of Indians on the part of said +tribe.</p> +<p>11. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the +30th of September, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of +the United States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of +the Pawnee tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>12. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the +6th of October, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of +the United States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of +the Maha tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 10, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate a treaty signed at Prairie des +Chiens, in the Territory of Michigan, on the 19th of August, +1825, by William Clark and Lewis Cass, commissioners on the part +of the United States, and certain chiefs and warriors of the +Sioux, Chippeways, Socs, Foxes, Winnebagoes, Menominies, +Ottoways, Potawatamies, and Ioway tribes of Indians on the part +of said tribes, and I request the advice of the Senate with +regard to its ratification.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 20, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 23d ultimo, I transmit herewith reports<a +name="FNanchor003"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_003"><sup>[003]</sup></a> from the Secretary of War +and the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with the +statements desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 23, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 27th December last, requesting a statement +of moneys paid out of the public Treasury to the late President +of the United States as compensation for his services in various +other offices which he has filled under the Government of the +United States, and on other accounts, and also of claims for +allowances made by him upon the Government which have been +disallowed, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired +by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 24, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 12th December last, I transmit herewith a +report from the Secretary of the Navy, with the documents and +proceedings of the naval courts-martial in the cases of Captain +Charles Stewart and of Lieutenants Joshua R. Sands and William M. +Hunter.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 30, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration and +advice with regard to their ratification-</p> +<p>1. A treaty concluded on the 10th day of August, 1825, at +Council Grove by Benjamin H. Reeves, George C. Sibley, and Thomas +Mather, commissioners on the part of the United States, and +certain chiefs and headmen of the Great and Little Osage tribes +of Indians on the part of the said tribe.</p> +<p>2. A treaty concluded on the 16th day of August, 1825, at the +Sora Kanzas Creek by the same commissioners on the part of the +United States and certain chiefs and headmen of the Kanzas tribe +or nation of Indians on the part of said tribe.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 31, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 18th instant, I transmit a report from the +Secretary of State, with the correspondence with the British +Government, relating to the boundary of the United States on the +Pacific Ocean, desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 31, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration and +advice with regard to its ratification, a treaty concluded by the +Secretary of War, duly authorized thereto, with the chiefs and +headmen of the Creek Nation, deputed by them, and now in this +city.</p> +<p>It has been agreed upon, and is presented to the consideration +of the Senate as a substitute for the treaty signed at the Indian +Springs on the 12th of February last. The circumstances under +which this received on the 3d of March last your advice and +consent to its ratification are known to you. It was transmitted +to me from the Senate on the 5th of March, and ratified in full +confidence yielded to the advice and consent of the Senate, under +a firm belief, founded on the journal of the commissioners of the +United States and on the express statements in the letter of one +of them of the 16th of February to the then Secretary of War, +that it had been concluded with a large majority of the chiefs of +the Creek Nation and with a reasonable prospect of immediate +acquiescence by the remainder.</p> +<p>This expectation has not merely been disappointed. The first +measures for carrying the treaty into execution had scarcely been +taken when the two principal chiefs who had signed it fell +victims to the exasperation of the great mass of the nation, and +their families and dependents, far from being able to execute the +engagements on their part, fled for life, safety, and subsistence +from the territories which they had assumed to cede, to our own. +Yet, in this fugitive condition, and while subsisting on the +bounty of the United States, they have been found advancing +pretensions to receive exclusively to themselves the whole of the +sums stipulated by the commissioners of the United States in +payment <i>for all</i> the lands of the Creek Nation which were +ceded by the terms of the treaty. And they have claimed the +stipulation of the eighth article, that the United States would +"<i>protect</i> the emigrating party against the encroachments, +hostilities, and impositions of the whites and of all others," as +an engagement by which the United States were bound to become the +instruments of their vengeance and to inflict upon the majority +of the Creek Nation the punishment of Indian retribution to +gratify the vindictive fury of an impotent and helpless minority +of their own tribe.</p> +<p>In this state of things the question is not whether the treaty +of the 12th of February last shall or shall not be executed. So +far as the United States were or could be bound by it I have been +anxiously desirous of carrying it into execution. But, like other +treaties, its fulfillment depends upon the will not of one but of +both the parties to it. The parties on the face of the treaty are +the United States and the Creek Nation, and however desirous one +of them may be to give it effect, this wish must prove abortive +while the other party refuses to perform its stipulations and +disavows its obligations. By the refusal of the Creek Nation to +perform their part of the treaty the United States are absolved +from all its engagements on their part, and the alternative left +them is either to resort to measures of war to secure by force +the advantages stipulated to them in the treaty or to attempt the +adjustment of the interest by a new compact. In the preference +dictated by the nature of our institutions and by the sentiments +of justice and humanity which the occasion requires for measures +of peace the treaty herewith transmitted has been concluded, and +is submitted to the decision of the Senate. After exhausting +every effort in our power to obtain the acquiescence of the Creek +Nation to the treaty of the 12th of February, I entertained for +some time the hope that their assent might at least have been +given to a new treaty, by which all their lands within the State +of Georgia should have been ceded. This has also proved +impracticable, and although the excepted portion is of +comparatively small amount and importance, I have assented to its +exception so far as to place it before the Senate only from a +conviction that between it and a resort to the forcible expulsion +of the Creeks from their habitations and lands within the State +of Georgia there was no middle term.</p> +<p>The deputation with which this treaty has been concluded +consists of the principal chiefs of the nation-able not only to +negotiate but to carry into effect the stipulations to which they +have agreed. There is a deputation also here from the small party +which undertook to contract for the whole nation at the treaty of +the 12th of February, but the number of which, according to the +information collected by General Gaines, does not exceed 400. +They represent themselves, indeed, to be far more numerous, but +whatever their number may be their interests have been provided +for in the treaty now submitted. Their subscriptions to it would +also have been received but for unreasonable pretensions raised +by them after all the arrangements of the treaty had been agreed +upon and it was actually signed. Whatever their merits may have +been in the facility with which they ceded all the lands of their +nation within the State of Georgia, their utter inability to +perform the engagements which they so readily contracted and the +exorbitancy of their demands when compared with the inefficiency +of their own means of performance leave them with no claims upon +the United States other than of impartial and rigorous +justice.</p> +<p>In referring to the impressions under which I ratified the +treaty of the 12th of February last, I do not deem it necessary +to decide upon the propriety of the manner in which it was +negotiated. Deeply regretting the recriminations and +recriminations to which these events have given rise, I believe +the public interest will best be consulted by discarding them +altogether from the discussion of the subject. The great body of +the Creek Nation inflexibly refuse to acknowledge or to execute +that treaty. Upon this ground it will be set aside, should the +Senate advise and consent to the ratification of that now +communicated, without looking back to the means by which the +other was effected. And in the adjustment of the terms of the +present treaty I have been peculiarly anxious to dispense a +measure of great liberality to both parties of the Creek Nation, +rather than to extort from them a bargain of which the advantages +on our part could only be purchased by hardship on theirs.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 1, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 50th +ultimo, I communicate herewith, in confidence, a report<a name= +"FNanchor004"></a><a href="#Footnote_004"><sup>[004]</sup></a> +from the Secretary of State, with the documents, containing the +information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 7, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 15th of +December last, I communicate herewith reports from the +Secretaries of the Treasury and War and from the Commissioner of +the General Land Office, with documents, relating to the lead +mines and salt springs, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 14, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 12th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of the Navy, with the statements relating to +naval courts of inquiry and courts-martial since the 1st January, +1824, requested by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 15, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +late Secretary of War to the late President of the United States, +with documents, containing information requested by a resolution +of the House of April 10, 1824, relating to the purchases of real +estate in behalf of the United States within the territorial +limits of any State since the 4th July, 1776.</p> +<p>These papers were prepared during the last session of +Congress, but by some accident were not then communicated to the +House.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 16, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In answer to the two resolutions of the Senate of the 15th +instant, marked executive, and which I have received, I state +respectfully that all the communications from me to the Senate +relating to the congress at Panama have been made, like all other +communications upon executive business, <i>in confidence</i>. and +most of them in compliance with a resolution of the Senate +requesting them confidentially. Believing that the established +usage of free confidential communication between the Executive +and the Senate ought for the public interest to be preserved +unimpaired, I deem it my indispensable duty to leave to the +Senate itself the decision of a question involving a departure +hitherto, so far as I am informed, without example from that +usage, and upon the motives for which, not being informed of +them, I do not feel myself competent to decide.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 17, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, +with a further document, prepared in compliance with a resolution +of the House of the 10th of April, 1824, and containing +information relating to purchasers of real estate in behalf of +the United States within the territorial limits of any State +since the 4th of July, 1776.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 17, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to both Houses of Congress a letter from +the Secretary of War, with a report from the Ordnance Department, +relating to the site of the arsenal of the United States at +Augusta, in Georgia, and with regard to which the interposition +of the legislative authority is submitted to your consideration +as desirable.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 1, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War, +together with a representation from Colonel Brooke, relating to +the present condition of the Indians in Florida, and which I +recommend to the favorable consideration of Congress.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 1, 1826</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>A resolution of the House of Representatives adopted at the +first session of the Eighteenth Congress, and bearing date the +6th of May, 1824, requested the President of the United States to +lay before the House at their then next session a detailed report +of the system and plan of fortifications then contemplated and +recommended by the Board of Engineers, with various particulars +specified in the resolution; and on the 5th of January last a +further resolution was adopted requesting similar information. I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with a +letter from the Chief Engineer, and documents, containing, so far +as it has been found practicable to obtain and compile it, the +information requested by these resolutions.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 5, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I now submit to the consideration of Congress the propriety of +making the appropriation for carrying into effect the appointment +of a mission to the congress at Panama.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 7, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to both Houses of Congress a letter from the +Secretary of War, together with copies of one to him from the +Senators of the State of Maryland, and several other documents, +relating to a claim of that State upon the Government of the +United States for interest upon certain expenditures during the +late war, which I the more readily recommend to the favorable and +early consideration of Congress inasmuch as the principle upon +which the claim is advanced appears to have been settled by the +act of Congress of 3d March, 1825, authorizing the payment of +interest due to the State of Virginia.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 8, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of State, with the proceedings of the court and marshal +of the United States for the district of Alabama, and other +documents, in relation to the cargoes of certain slave ships, the +<i>Constitution, Louisa</i>. and <i>Marino</i>. containing the +information requested by a resolution of the House of February +16, 1825.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 8, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 10th ultimo, requesting information +relating to the proceedings of the joint commission of +indemnities due under the award of the Emperor of Russia for +slaves and other private property carried away by the British +forces in violation of the treaty of Ghent, I transmit herewith a +report from the Secretary of State and documents containing the +information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 15, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War +and copies of a resolution of that legislature of the State of +Georgia, with a correspondence of the governor of that State, +relating to the running and establishing of the line between that +State and Florida, which I recommend to the favorable +consideration of Congress.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 15, 1826</i>. <i>To the House of Representatives of the +United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 5th +ultimo, requesting me to cause to be laid before the House so +much of the correspondence between the Government of the United +States and the new States of America, or their ministers, +respecting the proposed congress or meeting of diplomatic agents +at Panama, and such information respecting the general character +of that expected congress as may be in my possession and as may, +in my opinion, be communicated without prejudice to the public +interest, and also to inform the House, so far as in my opinion +the public interest may allow, in regard to what objects the +agents of the United States are expected to take part in the +deliberations of that congress, I now transmit to the House a +report from the Secretary of State, with the correspondence and +information requested by the resolution.</p> +<p>With regard to the objects in which the agents of the United +States are expected to take part in the deliberations of that +congress, I deem it proper to premise that these objects did not +form the only, nor even the principal, motive for my acceptance +of the invitation. My first and greatest inducement was to meet +in the spirit of kindness and friendship an overture made in that +spirit by three sister Republics of this hemisphere.</p> +<p>The great revolution in human affairs which has brought into +existence, nearly at the same time, eight sovereign and +independent nations in our own quarter of the globe has placed +the United States in a situation not less novel and scarcely less +interesting than that in which they had found themselves by their +own transition from a cluster of colonies to a nation of +sovereign States. The deliverance of the Southern American +Republics from the oppression under which they had been so long +afflicted was hailed with great unanimity by the people of this +Union as among the most auspicious events of the age. On the 4th +of May, 1822, an act of Congress made an appropriation of +$100,000 "for such missions to the independent nations on the +American continent as the President of the United States might +deem proper." In exercising the authority recognized by this act +my predecessor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate +appointed successively ministers plenipotentiary to the Republics +of Colombia, Buenos Ayres, Chili, and Mexico. Unwilling to raise +among the fraternity of freedom questions of precedency and +etiquette, which even the European monarchs had of late found it +necessary in a great measure to discard, he dispatched these +ministers to Colombia, Buenos Ayres, and Chili without exacting +from those Republics, as by the ancient principles of political +primogeniture he might have done, that the compliment of a +plenipotentiary mission should have been paid <i>first</i> by +them to the United States. The instructions, prepared under his +direction, to Mr. Anderson, the first of our ministers to the +southern continent, contain at much length the general principles +upon which he thought it desirable that our relations, political +and commercial, with these our new neighbors should be +established for their benefit and ours and that of the future +ages of our posterity. A copy of so much of these instructions as +relates to these general subjects is among the papers now +transmitted to the House. Similar instructions were furnished to +the ministers appointed to Buenos Ayres, Chili, and Mexico, and +the system of social intercourse which it was the purpose of +those missions to establish from the first opening of our +diplomatic relations with those rising nations is the most +effective exposition of the principles upon which the invitation +to the congress at Panama has been accepted by me, as well as of +the objects of negotiation at that meeting, in which, it was that +our plenipotentiaries should take part.</p> +<p>The House will perceive that even at the date of these +instructions the first treaties between some of the southern +Republics had been concluded, by which they had stipulated among +themselves this diplomatic assembly at Panama. And it will be +seen with what caution, so far as it might concern the policy of +the United States, and at the same time with what frankness and +good will toward those nations, he gave countenance to their +design of inviting the United States to this high assembly for +consultation upon <i>American interests</i>. It was not +considered a conclusive reason for declining this invitation that +the proposal for assembling such a Congress had not first been +made by ourselves. It had sprung from the urgent, immediate, and +momentous common interests of the great communities struggling +for independence, and, as it were, quickening into life. From +them the proposition to us appeared respectful and friendly; from +us to them it could scarcely have been made without exposing +ourselves to suspicions of purposes of ambition, if not of +domination, more suited to rouse resistance and excite distrust +than to conciliate favor and friendship. The first and paramount +principle upon which it was deemed wise and just to lay the +corner stone of all our future relations with them was +<i>disinterestedness</i>; the next was cordial good will to them; +the third was a claim of fair and equal reciprocity. Under these +impressions when the invitation was formally and earnestly given, +had it even been doubtful whether <i>any</i> of the objects +proposed for consideration and discussion at the Congress were +such as that immediate and important interests of the United +States would be affected by the issue, I should, nevertheless, +have determined so far as it depended upon me to have accepted +the invitation and to have appointed ministers to attend the +meeting. The proposal itself implied that the Republics by whom +it was made <i>believed</i> that important interests of ours or +of theirs rendered our attendance there desirable. They had given +us notice that in the novelty of their situation and in the +spirit of deference to our experience they would be pleased to +have the benefit of our friendly counsel. To meet the temper with +which this proposal was made with a cold repulse was not thought +congenial to that warm interest in their welfare with which the +people and Government of the Union had hitherto gone hand in hand +through the whole progress of their revolution. To insult them by +a refusal of their overture, and then invite them to a similar +assembly to be called by ourselves, was an expedient which never +presented itself to the mind. I would have sent ministers to the +meeting had it been merely to give them such advice as they might +have desired, even with reference to <i>their own</i> interests, +not involving ours. I would have sent them had it been merely to +explain and set forth to them our reasons for <i>declining</i> +any proposal of specific measures to which they might desire our +concurrence, but which we might deem incompatible with our +interests or our duties. In the intercourse between nations +temper is a missionary perhaps more powerful than talent. Nothing +was ever lost by kind treatment. Nothing can be gained by sullen +repulses and aspiring pretensions.</p> +<p>But objects of the highest importance, not only to the future +welfare of the whole human race, but bearing directly upon the +special interests of this Union, <i>will</i> engage the +deliberations of the congress of Panama whether we are +represented there or not. Others, if we are represented, may be +offered by our plenipotentiaries for consideration having in view +both these great results-our own interests and the improvement of +the condition of man upon earth. It may be that in the lapse of +many centuries no other opportunity so favorable will be +presented to the Government of the United States to subserve the +benevolent purposes of Divine Providence; to dispense the +promised blessings of the Redeemer of Mankind; to promote the +prevalence in future ages of peace on earth and good will to man, +as will now be placed in their power by participating in the +deliberations of this congress.</p> +<p>Among the topics enumerated in official papers published by +the Republic of Colombia, and adverted to in the correspondence +now communicated to the House, as intended to be presented for +discussion at Panama, there is scarcely one in which the +<i>result</i> of the meeting will not deeply affect the interests +of the United States. Even those in which the belligerent States +alone will take an active part will have a powerful effect upon +the state of our relations with the American, and probably with +the principal European, States. Were it merely that we might be +correctly and speedily informed of the proceedings of the +congress and of the progress and issue of their negotiations, I +should hold it advisable that we should have an accredited agency +with them, placed in such confidential relations with the other +members as would insure the authenticity and the safe and early +transmission of its reports. Of the same enumerated topics are +the preparation of a manifesto setting forth to the world the +justice of their cause and the relations they desire to hold with +other Christian powers, and to form a convention of navigation +and commerce applicable both to the confederated States and to +their allies.</p> +<p>It will be within the recollection of the House that +immediately after the close of the war of our independence a +measure closely analogous to this congress of Panama was adopted +by the Congress of our Confederation, and for purposes of +precisely the same character. Three commissioners with +plenipotentiary powers were appointed to negotiate treaties of +amity, navigation, and commerce with all the principal powers of +Europe. They met and resided for that purpose about one year at +Paris, and the only result of their negotiations at that time was +the first treaty between the United States and Prussia-memorable +in the diplomatic annals of the world, and precious as a monument +of the principles, in relation to commerce and maritime warfare, +with which our country entered upon her career as a member of the +great family of independent nations. This treaty, prepared in +conformity with the instructions of the American +plenipotentiaries, consecrated three fundamental principles of +the foreign intercourse which the Congress of that period were +desirous of establishing: First, equal reciprocity and the mutual +stipulation of the privileges of the most favored nation in the +commercial exchanges of peace; secondly, the abolition of private +war upon the ocean, and thirdly, restrictions favorable to +neutral commerce upon belligerent practices with regard to +contraband of war and blockades. A painful, it may be said a +calamitous, experience of more than forty years has demonstrated +the deep importance of these same principles to the peace and +prosperity of this nation and to the welfare of all maritime +States, and has illustrated the profound wisdom with which they +were assumed as cardinal points of the policy of the Union.</p> +<p>At that time in the infancy of their political existence, +under the influence of those principles of liberty and of right +so congenial to the cause in which they had just fought and +triumphed, they were able but to obtain the sanction of one great +and philosophical, though absolute, sovereign in Europe to their +liberal and enlightened principles. They could obtain no more. +Since then a political hurricane has gone over three-fourths of +the civilized portions of the earth, the desolation of which it +may with confidence be expected is passing away, leaving at least +the American atmosphere purified and refreshed. And now at this +propitious moment the new-born nations of this hemisphere, +assembling by their representatives at the 1sthmus between its +two continents to settle the principles of their future +international intercourse with other nations and with us, ask in +this great exigency for our advice upon those very fundamental +maxims which we from our cradle at first proclaimed and partially +succeeded to introduce into the code of national law.</p> +<p>Without recurring to that total prostration of all neutral and +commercial rights which marked the progress of the late European +wars, and which finally involved the United States in them, and +adverting only to our political relations with these American +nations, it is observable that while in all other respects those +relations have been uniformly and without exception of the most +friendly and mutually satisfactory character, the only causes of +difference and dissension between us and them which ever have +arisen originated in those never-failing fountains of discord and +irritation-discriminations of commercial favor to other nations, +licentious privateers, and paper blockades. I can not without +doing injustice to the Republics of Buenos Ayres and Colombia +forbear to acknowledge the candid and conciliatory spirit with +which they have repeatedly yielded to our friendly +representations and remonstrances on these subjects-in repealing +discriminative laws which operated to our disadvantage and in +revoking the commissions of their privateers, to which Colombia +has added the magnanimity of making reparation for unlawful +captures by some of her cruisers and of assenting in the midst of +war to treaty stipulations favorable to neutral navigation. But +the recurrence of these occasions of complaint has rendered the +renewal of the discussions which result in the removal of them +necessary, while in the meantime injuries are sustained by +merchants and other individuals of the United States which can +not be repaired, and the remedy lingers in overtaking the +pernicious operation of the mischief. The settlement of general +principles pervading with equal efficacy all the American States +can alone put an end to these evils, and can alone be +accomplished at the proposed assembly.</p> +<p>If it be true that the noblest treaty of peace ever mentioned +in history is that by which the Carthagenians were bound to +abolish the practice of sacrificing their own children <i>because +it was stipulated in favor of human nature</i>. I can not +exaggerate to myself the unfading glory with which these United +States will go forth in the memory of future ages if by their +friendly counsel, by their moral influence, by the power of +argument and persuasion alone they can prevail upon the American +nations at Panama to stipulate by general agreement among +themselves, and so far as any of them may be concerned, the +perpetual abolition of private war upon the ocean. And if we can +not yet flatter ourselves that this may be accomplished, as +advances toward it the establishment of the principle that the +friendly flag shall cover the cargo, the curtailment of +contraband of war, and the proscription of fictitious paper +blockades-engagements which we may reasonably hope will not prove +impracticable-will, if successfully inculcated, redound +proportionally to our honor and drain the fountain of many a +future sanguinary war.</p> +<p>The late President of the United States, in his message to +Congress of the 2d December, 1823, while announcing the +negotiation then pending with Russia, relating to the northwest +coast of this continent, observed that the occasion of the +discussions to which that incident had given rise had been taken +for asserting as a principle in which the rights and interests of +the United States were involved that the American continents, by +the free and independent condition which they had assumed and +maintained, were thenceforward not to be considered as subjects +for future colonization by any European power. The principle had +first been assumed in that negotiation with Russia. It rested +upon a course of reasoning equally simple and conclusive. With +the exception of the existing European colonies, which it was in +nowise intended to disturb, the two continents consisted of +several sovereign and independent nations, whose territories +covered their whole surface. By this their independent condition +the United States enjoyed the right of commercial intercourse +with every part of their possessions. To attempt the +establishment of a colony in those possessions would be to usurp +to the exclusion of others a commercial intercourse which was the +common possession of all. It could not be done without +encroaching upon existing rights of the United States. The +Government of Russia has never disputed these positions nor +manifested the slightest dissatisfaction at their having been +taken. Most of the new American Republics have declared their +entire assent to them, and they now propose, among the subjects +of consultation at Panama, to take into consideration the means +of making effectual the assertion of that principle, as well as +the means of resisting interference from abroad with the domestic +concerns of the American Governments.</p> +<p>In alluding to these means it would obviously be premature at +this time to anticipate that which is offered merely as matter +for consultation, or to pronounce upon those measures which have +been or may be suggested. The purpose of this Government is to +concur in none which would import hostility to Europe or justly +excite resentment in any of her States. Should it be deemed +advisable to contract any conventional engagement on this topic, +our views would extend no further than to a mutual pledge of the +parties to the compact to maintain the principle in application +to its own territory, and to permit no colonial lodgments or +establishment of European jurisdiction upon its own soil; and +with respect to the obtrusive interference from abroad-if its +future character may be inferred from that which has been and +perhaps still is exercised in more than one of the new States-a +joint declaration of its character and exposure of it to the +world may be probably all that the occasion would require. +Whether the United States should or should not be parties to such +a declaration may justly form a part of the deliberation. That +there is an evil to be remedied heeds little insight into the +secret history of late years to know, and that this remedy may +best be concerted at the Panama meeting deserves at least the +experiment of consideration. A concert of measures having +reference to the more effectual abolition of the African slave +trade and the consideration of the light in which the political +condition of the island of Hayti is to be regarded are also among +the subjects mentioned by the minister from the Republic of +Colombia as believed to be suitable for deliberation at the +congress. The failure of the negotiations with that Republic +undertaken during the late administration, for the suppression of +that trade, in compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives, indicates the expediency of listening with +respectful attention to propositions which may contribute to the +accomplishment of the great end which was the purpose of that +resolution, while the result of those negotiations will serve as +admonition to abstain from pledging this Government to any +arrangement which might be expected to fail of obtaining the +advice and consent of the Senate by a constitutional majority to +its ratification.</p> +<p>Whether the political condition of the island of Hayti shall +be brought at all into discussion at the meeting may be a +question for preliminary advisement. There are in the political +constitution of Government of that people circumstances which +have hitherto forbidden the acknowledgment of them by the +Government of the United States as sovereign and independent. +Additional reasons for withholding that acknowledgment have +recently been seen in their acceptance of a nominal sovereignty +by the <i>grant</i> of a foreign prince under conditions +equivalent to the concession by them of exclusive commercial +advantages to one nation, adapted altogether to the state of +colonial vassalage and retaining little of independence but the +name. Our plenipotentiaries will be instructed to present these +views to the assembly at Panama, and should they not be concurred +in to decline acceding to any arrangement which may be proposed +upon different principles.</p> +<p>The condition of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico is of +deeper import and more immediate bearing upon the present +interests and future prospects of our Union. The correspondence +herewith transmitted will show how earnestly it has engaged the +attention of this Government. The invasion of both those islands +by the united forces of Mexico and Colombia is avowedly among the +objects to be matured by the belligerent States at Panama. The +convulsions to which, from the peculiar composition of their +population, they would be liable in the event of such an +invasion, and the danger therefrom resulting of their falling +ultimately into the hands of some European power other than +Spain, will not admit of our looking at the consequences to which +the congress at Panama may lead with indifference. It is +unnecessary to enlarge upon this topic or to say more than that +all our efforts in reference to this interest will be to preserve +the existing state of things, the tranquillity of the islands, +and the peace and security of their inhabitants.</p> +<p>And lastly, the congress of Panama is believed to present a +fair occasion for urging upon all the new nations of the south +the just and liberal principles of religious liberty; not by any +interference whatever in their internal concerns, but by claiming +for our citizens whose occupations or interests may call them to +occasional residence in their territories the inestimable +privilege of worshipping their Creator according to the dictates +of their own consciences. This privilege, sanctioned by the +customary law of nations and secured by treaty stipulations in +numerous national compacts, secured even to our own citizens in +the treaties with Colombia and with the Federation of Central +America, is yet to be obtained in the other South American States +and Mexico. Existing prejudices are still struggling against it, +which may, perhaps, be more successfully combated at this general +meeting than at the separate seats of Government of each +Republic.</p> +<p>I can scarcely deem it otherwise than superfluous to observe +that the assembly will be in its nature diplomatic and not +legislative; that nothing can be transacted there obligatory upon +any one of the States to be represented at the meeting, unless +with the express concurrence of its own representatives, nor even +then, but subject to the ratification of its constitutional +authority at home. The faith of the United States to foreign +powers can not otherwise be pledged. I shall, indeed, in the +first instance, consider the assembly as merely +<i>consultative</i>; and although the plenipotentiaries of the +United States will be empowered to receive and refer to the +consideration of their Government any proposition from the other +parties to the meeting, they will be authorized to conclude +nothing unless subject to the definitive sanction of this +Government in all its constitutional forms. It has therefore +seemed to me unnecessary to insist that every object to be +discussed at the meeting should be specified with the precision +of a judicial sentence or enumerated with the exactness of a +mathematical demonstration. The purpose of the meeting itself is +to deliberate upon the great and common <i>interests</i> of +several new and neighbouring nations. If the measure is new and +without precedent, so is the situation of the parties to it. That +the purposes of the meeting are somewhat indefinite, far from +being an objection to it is among the cogent reasons for its +adoption. It is not the establishment of principles of +intercourse with one, but with seven or eight nations at once. +That before they have had the means of exchanging ideas and +communicating with one another in common upon these topics they +should have definitively settled and arranged them in concert is +to require that the effect should precede the cause; it is to +exact as a preliminary to the meeting that for the accomplishment +of which the meeting itself is designed.</p> +<p>Among the inquiries which were thought entitled to +consideration before the determination was taken to accept the +invitation was that whether the measure might not have a tendency +to change the policy, hitherto invariably pursued by the United +States, of avoiding all entangling alliances and all unnecessary +foreign connections.</p> +<p>Mindful of the advice given by the father of our country in +his Farewell Address, that the great rule of conduct for us in +regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial +relations, to have with them as little political connection as +possible, and faithfully adhering to the spirit of that +admonition, I can not overlook the reflection that the counsel of +Washington in that instance, like all the counsels of wisdom, was +founded upon the circumstances in which our country and the world +around us were situated at the time when it was given; that the +reasons assigned by him for his advice were that Europe had a set +of primary interests which to us had none or a very remote +relation; that hence she must be engaged in frequent +controversies, the, causes of which were essentially foreign to +our concerns; that our <i>detached</i> and <i>distant</i> +situation invited and enabled us to pursue a different course; +that by our union and rapid growth, with an efficient Government, +the period was not far distant when we might defy material injury +from external annoyance, when we might take such an attitude as +would cause our neutrality to be respected, and, with reference +to belligerent nations, might choose peace or war, as our +interests, guided by justice, should counsel.</p> +<p>Compare our situation and the circumstances of that time with +those of the present day, and what, from the very words of +Washington then, would be his counsels to his countrymen now? +Europe has still her set of primary interests, with which we have +little or a remote relation. Our distant and detached situation +with reference to Europe remains the same. But we were then the +only independent nation of this hemisphere, and we were +surrounded by European colonies, with the greater part of which +we had no more intercourse than with the inhabitants of another +planet. Those colonies have now been transformed into eight +independent nations, extending to our very borders, seven of them +Republics like ourselves, with whom we have an immensely growing +commercial, and <i>must</i> have and have already important +political, connections; with reference to whom our situation is +neither distant nor detached; whose political principles and +systems of government, congenial with our own, must and will have +an action and counteraction upon us and ours to which we can not +be indifferent if we would.</p> +<p>The rapidity of our growth, and the consequent increase of our +strength, has more than realized the anticipations of this +admirable political legacy. Thirty years have nearly elapsed +since it was written, and in the interval our population, our +wealth, our territorial extension, our power-physical and +moral-have nearly trebled. Reasoning upon this state of things +from the sound and judicious principles of Washington, must we +not say that the period which he predicted as then not far off +has arrived; that <i>America</i> has a set of primary interests +which have none or a remote relation to Europe; that the +interference of Europe, therefore, in those concerns should be +spontaneously withheld by her upon the same principles that we +have never interfered with hers, and that if she should +interfere, as she may, by measures which may have a great and +dangerous recoil upon ourselves, we might be called in defense of +our own altars and firesides to take an attitude which would +cause our neutrality to be respected, and choose peace or war, as +our interest, guided by justice, should counsel.</p> +<p>The acceptance of this invitation, therefore, far from +conflicting with the counsel or the policy of Washington, is +directly deducible from and conformable to it. Nor is it less +conformable to the views of my immediate predecessor as declared +in his annual message to Congress of the 2d December, 1823, to +which I have already adverted, and to an important passage of +which I invite the attention of the House:</p> +<blockquote> +<p>The citizens of the United States (said he) cherish sentiments +the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their +fellow-men on that (the European) side of the Atlantic. In the +wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we +have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so +to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously +menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our +defense. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of +hecessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be +obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political +system of the allied powers is essentially different in this +respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that +which exists in their respective Governments. And to the defense +of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood +and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened +citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, +this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor and +to the amicable relations subsisting between the United States +and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt +on their part to extend their system to any portion of this +hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the +existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have +not interfered and shall not interfere; but with the Governments +who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose +independence we have on great consideration and on just +principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for +the purposes of oppressing them or controlling in any other +manner their destiny by any European power in any other light +than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the +United States. In the war between those new Governments and Spain +we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition, and +to this we have adhered and shall continue to adhere, provided no +change shall occur which in the judgment of the competent +authorities of this Government shall make a corresponding change +on the part of the United States indispensable to their +security.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>To the question which may be asked, whether this meeting and +the principles which may be adjusted and settled by it as rules +of intercourse between the American nations may not give umbrage +to the holy league of European powers or offense to Spain, it is +deemed a sufficient answer that our attendance at Panama can give +<i>no just cause</i> of umbrage or offense to either, and that +the United States will stipulate nothing there which can give +such cause. Here the right of inquiry into our purposes and +measures must stop. The holy league of Europe itself was formed +without inquiring of the United States whether it would or would +not give umbrage to them. The fear of giving umbrage to the holy +league of Europe was urged as a motive for denying to the +American nations the acknowledgment of their independence. That +it would be viewed by Spain as hostility to her was not only +urged, but directly declared by herself. The Congress and +administration of that day consulted their rights and duties, and +not their fears. Fully determined to give no heedless displeasure +to any foreign power, the United States can estimate the +probability of their giving it only by the right which any +foreign state could have to take it from their measures. Neither +the representation of the United States at Panama nor any measure +to which their assent may be yielded there will give to the holy +league or any of its members, nor to Spain, the right to take +offense; for the rest the United States must still, as +heretofore, take counsel from their duties rather than their +fears.</p> +<p>Such are the objects in which it is expected that the +plenipotentiaries of the United States, when commissioned to +attend the meeting at the Isthmus, will take part, and such are +the motives and purposes with which the invitation of the three +Republics was accepted. It was, however, as the House will +perceive from the correspondence, accepted only upon condition +that the nomination of commissioners for the mission should +receive the advice and consent of the Senate.</p> +<p>The concurrence of the House to the measure by the +appropriations necessary for carrying it into effect is alike +subject to its free determination and indispensable to the +fulfillment of the intention.</p> +<p>That the congress at Panama will accomplish all, or even any, +of the transcendent benefits to the human race which warmed the +conceptions of its first proposer it were perhaps indulging too +sanguine a forecast of events to promise. It is in its nature a +measure speculative and experimental. The blessing of Heaven may +turn it to the account of human improvement; accidents unforeseen +and mischances not to be anticipated may baffle all its high +purposes and disappoint its fairest expectations. But the design +is great, is benevolent, is humane.</p> +<p>It looks to the melioration of the condition of man. It is +congenial with that spirit which prompted the declaration of our +independence, which inspired the preamble of our first treaty +with France, which dictated our first treaty with Prussia and the +instructions under which it was negotiated, which filled the +hearts and fired the souls of the immortal founders of our +Revolution.</p> +<p>With this unrestricted exposition of the motives by which I +have been governed in this transaction, as well as of the objects +to be discussed and of the ends, if possible, to be attained by +our representation at the proposed congress, I submit the +propriety of an appropriation to the candid consideration and +enlightened patriotism of the Legislature.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 16, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>Some additional documents having relation to the objects of +the mission to the congress at Panama, and received since the +communication of those heretofore sent, are now transmitted to +the Senate.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + <a name= +"<i>To_the_House_of_Representatives_of_the_United_States</i>:"> +</a> +<h2><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</h2> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 10th instant, requesting information in +possession of the Government relating to certain resolves of the +Congress of the Confederation of the 21st of October, 1780, and +the 21st March, 1783, concerning allowances to the officers of +the Revolutionary army, and to the manner of carrying into effect +those resolves, and other particulars appertaining thereto, I +transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, +and of War, with documents, comprising the information desired by +the House.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p>MARCH 22, 1826.</p> +<br> + +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 24, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 14th ultimo, requesting statements of the +amount of compensation allowed to the paymaster and quartermaster +of the Marine Corps for the two years preceding the 1st of +January, 1826, and of other particulars relating to the same +Corps, I communicate a report from the Secretary of the Navy, +with documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 24, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 16th ultimo, requesting statements of the +net amount of revenue derived from imports and tonnage received +by the Treasury from the ports within the bay of Delaware, the +bay of Chesapeake, the harbor of New York, and at Boston from the +1st of January, 1790, to the last of December, 1825, and of the +amount of expenditures paid from the Treasury for forts, +light-houses, beacons, and other public works erected to aid +commerce or for the purposes of defense within the said bays and +harbors during the said time, I transmit herewith a report from +the Secretary of the Treasury, with several documents, containing +the information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 29, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 227th +instant, requesting a copy of such parts of the answer of the +Secretary of State to Mr. Poinsett's letter to Mr. Clay, dated +Mexico, 28th September, 1825, No. 22, as relates to the pledge of +the United States therein mentioned; and also requesting me to +inform the House whether the United States have in any manner +made any pledge to the Governments of Mexico and South America +that the United States would not permit the interference of any +foreign power with the independence or form of government of +these nations, and, if so, when, in what manner, and to what +effect; and also to communicate to the House a copy of the +communication from our minister at Mexico in which he informed +the Government of the United States that the Mexican Government +called upon this Government to fulfill the memorable pledge of +the President of the United States in his message to Congress of +December, 1823, I transmit to the House a report from the +Secretary of State, with the documents containing the information +desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 30, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>By the second article of the general convention of peace, +amity, navigation, and commerce between the United States and the +Republic of Colombia, concluded at Bogota on 3d of October, 1824, +it was stipulated that the parties engaged mutually not to grant +any particular favor to other nations in respect of commerce and +navigation which should not immediately become common to the +other party, who should enjoy the same freely if the concession +was freely made, or on allowing the same compensation if the +concession was conditional. And in the third article of the same +convention it was agreed that the citizens of the United States +might frequent all the coasts and countries of the Republic of +Colombia, and reside and trade there in all sorts of produce, +manufactures, and merchandise, and should pay no other or greater +duties, charges, or fees whatsoever than the most favored nation +should be obliged to pay, and should enjoy all the rights, +privileges, and exemptions in navigation and commerce which the +most favored nations should enjoy, submitting themselves, +nevertheless, to the laws, decrees, and usages there established, +and to which were submitted the subjects and citizens of the most +favored nations; with a reciprocal stipulation in favor of the +citizens of the Republic of Colombia in the United States. +Subsequently to the conclusion of this convention a treaty was +negotiated between the Republic of Colombia and Great Britain, by +which it was stipulated that no other or higher duties on account +of tonnage, light, or harbor dues should be imposed in the ports +of Colombia on British vessels than those payable in the same +ports by Colombian vessels, and that the same duties should be +paid on the importation into the territories of Colombia of any +article the growth, produce, or manufacture of His Britannic +Majesty's dominions, whether such importations should be in +Colombian or in British vessels, and that the same duties should +be paid and the same discount (drawbacks) and bounties allowed on +the exportation of any articles the growth, produce, or +manufacture of Colombia to His Britannic Majesty's dominions, +whether such exportations were in Colombian or in British +vessels.</p> +<p>The minister of the United States to the Republic of Colombia +having claimed, by virtue of the second and third articles of the +convention between the two Republics, that the benefit of these +subsequent stipulations should be alike extended to the citizens +of the United States upon the condition of reciprocity provided +for by the convention, the application of those engagements was +readily acceded to by the Colombian Government, and a decree was +issued by the executive authority of that Republic on the 30th of +January last, a copy and translation of which are herewith +communicated, securing to the citizens of the United States in +the Republic of Colombia the same advantages in regard to +commerce and navigation which had been conceded to British +subjects in the Colombian treaty with Great Britain.</p> +<p>It remains for the Government of the United States to secure +to the citizens of the Republic of Colombia the reciprocal +advantages to which they are entitled by the terms of the +convention, to commence from the 30th of January last, for the +accomplishment of which I invite the favor-able consideration of +the Legislature.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 31, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 21st +instant, requesting information whether any, and what, measures +have been taken to improve the navigation over the sand bars in +the Ohio River according to the provisions of the act of the 24th +of May, 1824, to improve the navigation of the Ohio and +Mississippi rivers, and also whether the experiments mentioned in +the proviso to the first section of the said act have been made, +and, if so, what success has attended them, I transmit herewith a +report from the Secretary of War, with documents, containing the +information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 31, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to the Senate herewith a supplementary article +to the treaty with the chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation, in +behalf of that nation, which was transmitted to the Senate on the +31st of January last, and which I submit, together with and as a +part of that treaty, for the constitutional advice of the Senate +with regard to its ratification. A report of the Secretary of War +accompanies the article, setting forth the reasons for which it +has been concluded.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 1, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 13th +ultimo, requesting a statement of all the expenditures incident +or relating to internal improvement for the years 1824 and 1825, +I transmit reports from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of +War, with documents, containing the statement desired.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 1, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 7th +ultimo, requesting information relative to the execution of an +act of Congress of the 7th May, 1822, to authorize and empower +the corporation of the city of Washington, in the district of +Columbia, to drain the low grounds on and hear the public +reservations, and to improve and ornament certain parts of such +reservations, I transmit herewith a report from the commissioners +appointed by the corporation of the city to carry into effect the +provisions of the said act, together with sundry documents, +exhibiting the information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 5, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 30th +ultimo, I transmit to the House a report<a name= +"FNanchor005"></a><a href="#Footnote_005"><sup>[005]</sup></a> +from the Secretary of State, with the documents desired by the +resolution; and also a copy of the letter from the Secretary of +State to Mr. Poinsett acknowledging the receipt of his dispatch +No. 22, accidentally overlooked in the answer to the resolution +of the House of the 27th ultimo.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 11, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>On the 16th of January last I sent to the Senate a nomination +of Daniel Bissell to be colonel of the Second Regiment of +Artillery, and on the 3d of February I received from the +Secretary of the Senate an attested copy of their proceedings in +relation to that nomination, laid before me by their order, and +closing with a resolution in these words:</p> +<p><i>Resolved</i>. That in the opinion of the Senate Daniel +Bissell is entitled to the place of colonel in the Army of the +United States, taking rank as such from the 15th of August, 1812, +with the brevet of brigadier-general from the 9th of March, 1814, +and that the President of the United States may arrange him +accordingly.</p> +<p>In the discharge of my own duties I am under the hecessity of +stating respectfully to the Senate-</p> +<p>First. That I can not concur in these opinions.</p> +<p>Secondly. That the resolution of the Senate, having on its +face no reference either to the nomination or to the office for +which it was made, leaves me doubtful whether it was intended by +the Senate as their decision upon the nomination or not. If +intended as their decision, it imports that the Senate do not +advise and consent to the appointment of Daniel Bissell as +colonel in the Second Regiment of Artillery. If intended as a +mere expression of their opinions, superseding in their judgment +the hecessity of their immediate decision upon the nomination, it +leaves the Senate still in possession of the nomination and free +to act upon it when informed of my inability to carry those +opinions into effect.</p> +<p>In this uncertainty I have thought it most respectful to the +Senate to refer the subject again to them for their +consideration. The delay in the transmission of this +communication is attributable to the earnest desire which I have +entertained of acceding to the opinions and complying with the +wishes of the Senate, and to the long and repeated +reconsideration of my own impressions with the view to make them, +if possible, conform to theirs. A still higher duty now +constrains me to invite their definitive decision upon the +nomination.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 15, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 11th instant, I transmit herewith a +report<a name="FNanchor006"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_006"><sup>[006]</sup></a> of the Secretary of State, +and documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 25, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I now transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of a treaty +with the Creek Nation of Indians, concluded on the 24th day of +January last, with a supplementary article, signed on the 31st of +last month, which have been, with the advice and consent of the +Senate, duly ratified. I send at the same time copies of the +treaty superseded by them, signed at the Indian Springs on the +12th of February, 1825. The treaty and supplementary article now +ratified will require the aid of the Legislature for carrying +them into effect. And I subjoin a letter from the Secretary of +War, proposing an additional appropriation for the purpose of +facilitating the removal of that portion of the Creek Nation +which may be disposed to remove west of the Mississippi, +recommending the whole subject to the favorable consideration of +Congress.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 25, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 4th of +January last, I now transmit reports from the Secretaries of +State, of the Treasury, and of War, and from the +Postmaster-General, with the documents containing the list of +appointments of members of Congress and other information +relating thereto desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 28, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice concerning +its ratification, a general convention of friendship, commerce, +and navigation between the United States and His Majesty the King +of Denmark, signed by the Secretary of State and the Danish +minister on the 26th instant. A copy of the convention and a note +from the Secretary of State, together with Mr. Pedersen's answer, +respecting the claims of the citizens of the United States upon +the Danish Government, are likewise communicated.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 29, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 26th instant, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of the Treasury, with a copy of the opinion of +the Attorney-General<a name="FNanchor007"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_007"><sup>[007]</sup></a> referred to in the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 9, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>: In compliance with +a resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with a copy of the +proceedings of the recent court-martial for the trial of Colonel +Talbot Chambers, and other documents requested by the resolution +or relating to the subject of it.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 15, 1826</i>.</p> +<br> + +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>: In compliance with +a resolution of the Senate of the 23d of March last, requesting +information concerning the official conduct of the collector and +other revenue officers of the port of Philadelphia, I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with +documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 16, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 9th instant, I communicate herewith a +report<a name="FNanchor007a"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_007a"><sup>[007a]</sup></a> from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with the documents desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 17, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of treaties +with Indian tribes which have been, by and with the advice and +consent of the Senate, duly ratified during the present session +of Congress:</p> +<p>(1) With the Great and Little Osage tribes, concluded June 2, +1825; (2) Kansas, June 3, 1825; (3) Poncar, June 9, 1825; (4) +Teton, Yancton, and Yanctonies, June 22, 1825; (5) Sioune and +Ogallala, July 5 and 12, 1825; (6) Chayenne, July 6, 1825; (7) +Hunkpapas, July 16, 1825; (8) Ricara, July 18, 1825; (9) Mandan, +July 30, 1825; (10) Belantse-Etoa, or Minnetaree, July 30, 1825; +(11) Crow, August 4, 1825; (12) Great and Little Osage, August +10, 1825; (13) Kansas, August 16, 1825; (14) Sioux, Chippewa, Sac +and Fox, Menomenee, Ioway, Sioux, Winnebago, and a portion of the +Ottawa, Chippewa, and Pottawatomie tribes, August 19, 1825; (15) +Ottoe and Missouri, September 26, 1825; (16) Pawnee, September +30, 1825; (17) Maha, October 6, 1825; (18) Shawnee, November 7, +1825.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 19, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 16th +instant, I transmit a report<a name="FNanchor008"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_008"><sup>[008]</sup></a> from the Secretary of State, +containing the information thereby requested.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 20, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 5th of +March, 1824, requesting copies of the several instructions to the +ministers of the United States to the Government of France and of +the correspondence between the said ministers and Government +having reference to the spoliations committed by that power on +the commerce of the United States anterior to the 30th of +September, 1800, or so much thereof as can be communicated +without prejudice to the public interest; also how far, if at +all, the claim of indemnity from the Government of France for the +spoliations aforesaid was affected by the convention entered into +between the United States and France on the said 30th of +September, 1800, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary +of State, with the documents desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>EXECUTIVE ORDER.</h2> +<p><br> + Adjutant-General's Office,</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>July 11, 1826</i></p> +<br> +<br> + +<p>General Orders.</p> +<p>The General in Chief has received from the Department of War +the following orders:</p> +<p>The President with deep regret announces to the Army that it +has pleased the Disposer of All Human Events, in whose hands are +the issues of life, to remove from the scene of earthly existence +our illustrious and venerated fellow-citizen, Thomas +Jefferson.</p> +<p>This dispensation of Divine Providence, afflicting to us, but +the consummation of glory to him, occurred on the 4th of the +present month--- on the fiftieth anniversary of that Independence +the Declaration of which, emanating from his mind, at once +proclaimed the birth of a free nation and offered motives of hope +and consolation to the whole family of man. Sharing in the grief +which every heart must feel for so heavy and afflicting a public +loss, and desirous to express his high sense of the vast debt of +gratitude which is due to the virtues, talents, and +ever-memorable services of the illustrious deceased, the +President directs that funeral honors be paid to him at all the +military stations, and that the officers of the Army wear crape +on the left arm, by way of mourning, for six months.</p> +<p>Major-General Brown will give the necessary orders for +carrying into effect the foregoing directions.</p> +<p>J. Barbour.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> + +<p>It has become the painful duty of the Secretary of War to +announce to the Army the death of another distinguished and +venerated citizen. John Adams departed this life on the 4th of +this month. Like his compatriot Jefferson, he aided in drawing +and ably supporting the Declaration of Independence. With a +prophetic eye he looked through the impending difficulties of the +Revolution and foretold with what demonstrations of joy the +anniversary of the birth of American freedom would be hailed. He +was permitted to behold the verification of his prophecy, and +died, as did Jefferson, on the day of the jubilee.</p> +<p>A coincidence of circumstances so wonderful gives confidence +to the belief that the patriotic efforts of these illustrious men +were Heaven directed, and furnishes a new seal to the hope that +the prosperity of these States is under the special protection of +a kind Providence.</p> +<p>The Secretary of War directs that the same funeral honors be +paid by the Army to the memory of the deceased as by the order of +the 7th (11th?) instant were directed to be paid to Thomas +Jefferson, and the same token of mourning be worn.</p> +<p>Major-General Brown is charged with the execution of this +order.</p> +<p>J. Barbour.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> + +<p>Never has it fallen to the lot of any commander to announce to +an army such an event as now calls forth the mingled grief and +astonishment of this Republic; never since history first wrote +the record of time has one day thus mingled every triumphant with +every tender emotion, and consecrated a nation's joy by blending +it with the most sacred of sorrows. Yes, soldiers, in one day, +almost in the same hour, have two of the Founders of the +Republic, the Patriarchs of Liberty, closed their services to +social man, after beholding them crowned with the richest and +most unlimited success. United in their end as they had been in +their highest aim, their toils completed, their hopes surpassed, +their honors full, and the dearest wish of their bosoms gratified +in death, they closed their eyes in patriot ecstasy, amidst the +gratulations and thanksgivings of a people on all, on every +individual, of whom they had conferred the best of all earthly +benefits.</p> +<p>Such men heed no trophies; they ask no splendid mausolea. We +are their monuments; their mausolea is their country, and her +growing prosperity the amaranthine wreath that Time shall place +over their dust. Well may the Genius of the Republic mourn. If +she turns her eyes in one direction, she beholds the hall where +Jefferson wrote the charter of her rights; if in another, she +sees the city where Adams kindled the fires of the Revolution. To +no period of our history, to no department of our affairs, can +she direct her views and not meet the multiplied memorials of her +loss and of their glory.</p> +<p>At the grave of such men envy dies, and party animosity +blushes while she quenches her fires. If Science and Philosophy +lament their enthusiastic votary in the halls of Monticello, +Philanthropy and Eloquence weep with no less reason in the +retirement of Quincy. And when hereafter the stranger performing +his pilgrimage to the land of freedom shall ask for the monument +of Jefferson, his inquiring eye may be directed to the dome of +that temple of learning, the university of his native State--- +the last labor of his untiring mind, the latest and the favorite +gift of a patriot to his country.</p> +<p>Bereaved yet happy America! Mourning yet highly favored +country! Too happy if every son whose loss shall demand thy tears +can thus soothe thy sorrow by a legacy of fame.</p> +<p>The Army of the United States, devoted to the service of the +country, and honoring all who are alike devoted, whether in the +Cabihet or the field, will feel an honorable and a melancholy +pride in obeying this order. Let the officers, then, wear the +badge of mourning, the poor emblem of a sorrow which words can +not express, but which freemen must ever feel while contemplating +the graves of the venerated Fathers of the Republic.</p> +<p>Tuesday succeeding the arrival of this order at each military +station shall be a day of rest.</p> +<p>The National flag shall wave at half-mast.</p> +<p>At early dawn thirteen guns shall be fired, and at intervals +of thirty minutes between the rising and setting sun a single +cannon will be discharged, and at the close of the day +twenty-four rounds.</p> +<p>By command of Major-General Brown:<br> + <br> + R. JONES,<br> + <i>Adjutant-General</i></p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p>SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 5, 1826</i>.<br> +</p> +<p><i>Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of +Representatives</i>:</p> +<p>The assemblage of the representatives of our Union in both +Houses of the Congress at this time occurs under circumstances +calling for the renewed homage of our grateful acknowledgments to +the Giver of All Good. With the exceptions incidental to the most +felicitous condition of human existence, we continue to be highly +favored in all the elements which contribute to individual +comfort and to national prosperity. In the survey of our +extensive country we have generally to observe abodes of health +and regions of plenty. In our civil and political relations we +have peace without and tranquillity within our borders. We are, +as a people, increasing with unabated rapidity in population, +wealth, and national resources, and whatever differences of +opinion exist among us with regard to the mode and the means by +which we shall turn the beneficence of Heaven to the improvement +of our own condition, there is yet a spirit animating us all +which will not suffer the bounties of Providence to be showered +upon us in vain, but will receive them with grateful hearts, and +apply them with unwearied hands to the advancement of the general +good.</p> +<p>Of the subjects recommended to Congress at their last session, +some were then definitively acted upon. Others, left unfinished, +but partly matured, will recur to your attention without heeding +a renewal of notice from me. The purpose of this communication +will be to present to your view the general aspect of our public +affairs at this moment and the measures which have been taken to +carry into effect the intentions of the Legislature as signified +by the laws then and heretofore enacted.</p> +<p>In our intercourse with the other nations of the earth we have +still the happiness of enjoying peace and a general good +understanding, qualified, however, in several important instances +by collisions of interest and by unsatisfied claims of justice, +to the settlement of which the constitutional interposition of +the legislative authority may become ultimately +indispensable.</p> +<p>By the decease of the Emperor Alexander, of Russia, which +occurred contemporaneously with the commencement of the last +session of Congress, the United States have been deprived of a +long-tried, steady, and faithful friend. Born to the inheritance +of absolute power and trained in the school of adversity, from +which no power on earth, however absolute, is exempt, that +monarch from his youth had been taught to feel the force and +value of public opinion and to be sensible that the interests of +his own Government would best be promoted by a frank and friendly +intercourse with this Republic, as those of his people would be +advanced by a liberal commercial intercourse with our country. A +candid and confidential interchange of sentiments between him and +the Government of the United States upon the affairs of Southern +America took place at a period not long preceding his demise, and +contributed to fix that course of policy which left to the other +Governments of Europe no alternative but that of sooner or later +recognizing the independence of our southern neighbors, of which +the example had by the United States already been set. The +ordinary diplomatic communications between his successor, the +Emperor Nicholas, and the United States have suffered some +interruption by the illness, departure, and subsequent decease of +his minister residing here, who enjoyed, as he merited, the +entire confidence of his new sovereign, as he had eminently +responded to that of his predecessor. But we have had the most +satisfactory assurances that the sentiments of the reigning +Emperor toward the United States are altogether conformable to +those which had so long and constantly animated his imperial +brother, and we have reason to hope that they will serve to +cement that harmony and good understanding between the two +nations which, founded in congenial interests, can not but result +in the advancement of the welfare and prosperity of both.</p> +<p>Our relations of commerce and navigation with France are, by +the operation of the convention of 24th of June, 1822, with that +nation, in a state of gradual and progressive improvement. +Convinced by all our experience, no less than by the principles +of fair and liberal reciprocity which the United States have +constantly tendered to all the nations of the earth as the rule +of commercial intercourse which they would universally prefer, +that fair and equal competition is most conducive to the +interests of both parties, the United States in the negotiation +of that convention earnestly contended for a mutual renunciation +of discriminating duties and charges in the ports of the two +countries. Unable to obtain the immediate recognition of this +principle in its full extent, after reducing the duties of +discrimination so far as was found attainable it was agreed that +at the expiration of two years from the 1st of October, 1822, +when the convention was to go into effect, unless a notice of six +months on either side should be given to the other that the +convention itself must terminate, those duties should be reduced +one-fourth, and that this reduction should be yearly repeated, +until all discrimination should cease, while the convention +itself should continue in force. By the effect of this +stipulation three-fourths of the discriminating duties which had +been levied by each party upon the vessels of the other in its +ports have already been removed; and on the 1st of next October, +should the convention be still in force, the remaining fourth +will be discontinued. French vessels laden with French produce +will be received in our ports on the same terms as our own, and +ours in return will enjoy the same advantages in the ports of +France.</p> +<p>By these approximations to an equality of duties and of +charges not only has the commerce between the two countries +prospered, but friendly dispositions have been on both sides +encouraged and promoted. They will continue to be cherished and +cultivated on the part of the United States. It would have been +gratifying to have had it in my power to add that the claims upon +the justice of the French Government, involving the property and +the comfortable subsistence of many of our fellow-citizens, and +which have been so long and so earnestly urged, were in a more +promising train of adjustment than at your last meeting; but +their condition remains unaltered.</p> +<p>With the Government of the Netherlands the mutual abandonment +of discriminating duties had been regulated by legislative acts +on both sides. The act of Congress of the 20th of April, 1818, +abolished all discriminating duties of impost and tonnage upon +the vessels and produce of the Netherlands in the ports of the +United States upon the assurance given by the Government of the +Netherlands that all such duties operating against the shipping +and commerce of the United States in that Kingdom had been +abolished. These reciprocal regulations had continued in force +several years when the discriminating principle was resumed by +the Netherlands in a new and indirect form by a bounty of 10 per +cent in the shape of a return of duties to their national +vessels, and in which those of the United States are not +permitted to participate. By the act of Congress of 7th January, +1824, all discriminating duties in the United States were again +suspended, so far as related to the vessels and produce of the +Netherlands, so long as the reciprocal exemption should be +extended to the vessels and produce of the United States in the +Netherlands. But the same act provides that in the event of a +restoration of discriminating duties to operate against the +shipping and commerce of the United States in any of the foreign +countries referred to therein the suspension of discriminating +duties in favor of the navigation of such foreign country should +cease and all the provisions of the acts imposing discriminating +foreign tonnage and impost duties in the United States should +revive and be in full force with regard to that nation.</p> +<p>In the correspondence with the Government of the Netherlands +upon this subject they have contended that the favor shown to +their own shipping by this bounty upon their tonnage is not to be +considered as a discriminating duty; but it can not be denied +that it produces all the same effects. Had the mutual abolition +been stipulated by treaty, such a bounty upon the national +vessels could scarcely have been granted consistently with good +faith. Yet as the act of Congress of 7th January, 1824, has not +expressly authorized the Executive authority to determine what +shall be considered as a revival of discriminating duties by a +foreign government to the disadvantage of the United States, and +as the retaliatory measure on our part, however just and +necessary, may tend rather to that conflict of legislation which +we deprecate than to that concert to which we invite all +commercial nations, as most conducive to their interest and our +own, I have thought it more consistent with the spirit of our +institutions to refer the subject again to the paramount +authority of the Legislature to decide what measure the emergency +may require than abruptly by proclamation to carry into effect +the minatory provisions of the act of 1824.</p> +<p>During the last session of Congress treaties of amity, +navigation, and commerce were negotiated and signed at this place +with the Government of Denmark, in Europe, and with the +Federation of Central America, in this hemisphere. These treaties +then received the constitutional sanction of the Senate, by the +advice and consent to their ratification. They were accordingly +ratified on the part of the United States, and during the recess +of Congress have been also ratified by the other respective +contracting parties. The ratifications have been exchanged, and +they have been published by proclamations, copies of which are +herewith communicated to Congress.</p> +<p>These treaties have established between the contracting +parties the principles of equality and reciprocity in their +broadest and most liberal extent, each party admitting the +vessels of the other into its ports, laden with cargoes the +produce or manufacture of any quarter of the globe, upon the +payment of the same duties of tonnage and impost that are +chargeable upon their own. They have further stipulated that the +parties shall hereafter grant no favor of navigation or commerce +to any other nation which shall not upon the same terms be +granted to each other, and that neither party will impose upon +articles of merchandise the produce or manufacture of the other +any other or higher duties than upon the like articles being the +produce or manufacture of any other country. To these principles +there is in the convention with Denmark an exception with regard +to the colonies of that Kingdom in the arctic seas, but none with +regard to her colonies in the West Indies.</p> +<p>In the course of the last summer the term to which our last +commercial treaty with Sweden was limited has expired. A +continuation of it is in the contemplation of the Swedish +Government, and is believed to be desirable on the part of the +United States. It has been proposed by the King of Sweden that +pending the negotiation of renewal the expired treaty should be +mutually considered as still in force, a measure which will +require the sanction of Congress to be carried into effect on our +part, and which I therefore recommend to your consideration.</p> +<p>With Prussia, Spain, Portugal, and, in general, all the +European powers between whom and the United States relations of +friendly intercourse have existed their condition has not +materially varied since the last session of Congress. I regret +not to be able to say the same of our commercial intercourse with +the colonial possessions of Great Britain in America. +Negotiations of the highest importance to our common interests +have been for several years in discussion between the two +Governments, and on the part of the United States have been +invariably pursued in the spirit of candor and conciliation. +Interests of great magnitude and delicacy had been adjusted by +the conventions of 1815 and 1818, while that of 1822, mediated by +the late Emperor Alexander, had promised a satisfactory +compromise of claims which the Government of the United States, +in justice to the rights of a numerous class of their citizens, +was bound to sustain. But with regard to the commercial +intercourse between the United States and the British colonies in +America, it has been hitherto found impracticable to bring the +parties to an understanding satisfactory to both. The relative +geographical position and the respective products of nature +cultivated by human industry had constituted the elements of a +commercial intercourse between the United States and British +America, insular and continental, important to the inhabitants of +both countries; but it had been interdicted by Great Britain upon +a principle heretofore practiced upon by the colonizing nations +of Europe, of holding the trade of their colonies each in +exclusive monopoly to herself. After the termination of the late +war this interdiction had been revived, and the British +Government declined including this portion of our intercourse +with her possessions in the negotiation of the convention of +1815. The trade was then carried on exclusively in British +vessels till the act of Congress, concerning navigation, of 1818 +and the supplemental act of 1820 met the interdict by a +corresponding measure on the part of the United States. These +measures, not of retaliation, but of necessary self-defense, were +soon succeeded by an act of Parliament opening certain colonial +ports to the vessels of the United States coming directly from +them, and to the importation from them of certain articles of our +produce burdened with heavy duties, and excluding some of the +most valuable articles of our exports. The United States opened +their ports to British vessels from the colonies upon terms as +exactly corresponding with those of the act of Parliament as in +the relative position of the parties could be made, and a +negotiation was commenced by mutual consent, with the hope on our +part that a reciprocal spirit of accommodation and a common +sentiment of the importance of the trade to the interests of the +inhabitants of the two countries between whom it must be carried +on would ultimately bring the parties to a compromise with which +both might be satisfied. With this view the Government of the +United States had determined to sacrifice something of that +entire reciprocity which in all commercial arrangements with +foreign powers they are entitled to demand, and to acquiesce in +some inequalities disadvantageous to ourselves rather than to +forego the benefit of a final and permanent adjustment of this +interest to the satisfaction of Great Britain herself. The +negotiation, repeatedly suspended by accidental circumstances, +was, however, by mutual agreement and express assent, considered +as pending and to be speedily resumed. In the meantime another +act of Parliament, so doubtful and ambiguous in its import as to +have been misunderstood by the officers in the colonies who were +to carry it into execution, opens again certain colonial ports +upon new conditions and terms, with a threat to close them +against any nation which may not accept those terms as prescribed +by the British Government. This act, passed in July, 1825, not +communicated to the Government of the United States, not +understood by the British officers of the customs in the colonies +where it was to be enforced, was nevertheless submitted to the +consideration of Congress at their last session. With the +knowledge that a negotiation upon the subject had long been in +progress and pledges given of its resumption at an early day, it +was deemed expedient to await the result of that negotiation +rather than to subscribe implicitly to terms the import of which +was not clear and which the British authorities themselves in +this hemisphere were not prepared to explain.</p> +<p>Immediately after the close of the last session of Congress +one of our most distinguished citizens was dispatched as envoy +extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain, +furnished with instructions which we could not doubt would lead +to a conclusion of this long-controverted interest upon terms +acceptable to Great Britain. Upon his arrival, and before he had +delivered his letters of credence, he was met by an order of the +British council excluding from and after the 1st of December now +current the vessels of the United States from all the colonial +British ports excepting those immediately bordering on our +territories. In answer to his expostulations upon a measure thus +unexpected he is informed that according to the ancient maxims of +policy of European nations having colonies their trade is an +exclusive possession of the mother country; that all +participation in it by other nations is a boon or favor not +forming a subject of negotiation, but to be regulated by the +legislative acts of the power owning the colony; that the British +Government therefore declines negotiating concerning it, and that +as the United States did not forthwith accept purely and simply +the terms offered by the act of Parliament of July, 1825, Great +Britain would not now admit the vessels of the United States even +upon the terms on which she has opened them to the navigation of +other nations.</p> +<p>We have been accustomed to consider the trade which we have +enjoyed with the British colonies rather as an interchange of +mutual benefits than as a mere favor received; that under every +circumstance we have given an ample equivalent. We have seen +every other nation holding colonies negotiate with other nations +and grant them freely admission to the colonies by treaty, and so +far are the other colonizing nations of Europe now from refusing +to negotiate for trade with their colonies that we ourselves have +secured access to the colonies of more than one of them by +treaty. The refusal, however, of Great Britain to negotiate +leaves to the United States no other alternative than that of +regulating or interdicting altogether the trade on their part, +according as either measure may affect the interests of our own +country, and with that exclusive object I would recommend the +whole subject to your calm and candid deliberations.</p> +<p>It is hoped that our unavailing exertions to accomplish a +cordial good understanding on this interest will not have an +unpropitious* effect upon the other great topics of discussion +between the two Governments. Our northeastern and northwestern +boundaries are still unadjusted. The commissioners under the +seventh article of the treaty of Ghent have nearly come to the +close of their labors; nor can we renounce the expectation, +enfeebled as it is, that they may agree upon their report to the +satisfaction or acquiescence of both parties. The commission for +liquidating the claims for indemnity for slaves carried away +after the close of the war has been sitting, with doubtful +prospects of success. Propositions of compromise have, however, +passed between the two Governments, the result of which we +flatter ourselves may yet prove satisfactory. Our own +dispositions and purposes toward Great Britain are all friendly +and conciliatory; nor can we abandon but with strong reluctance +the belief that they will ultimately meet a return, not of +favors, which we neither ask nor desire, but of equal reciprocity +and good will.</p> +<p>With the American Governments of this hemisphere we continue +to maintain an intercourse altogether friendly, and between their +nations and ours that commercial interchange of which mutual +benefit is the source and mutual comfort and harmony the result +is in a continual state of improvement. The war between Spain and +them since the total expulsion of the Spanish military force from +their continental territories has been little more than nominal, +and their internal tranquillity, though occasionally menaced by +the agitations which civil wars never fail to leave behind them, +has not been affected by any serious calamity.</p> +<p>The congress of ministers from several of those nations which +assembled at Panama, after a short session there, adjourned to +meet again at a more favorable season in the neighbourhood of +Mexico. The decease of one of our ministers on his way to the +Isthmus, and the impediments of the season, which delayed the +departure of the other, deprived us of the advantage of being +represented at the first meeting of the congress. There is, +however, no reason to believe that any of the transactions of the +congress were of a nature to affect injuriously the interests of +the United States or to require the interposition of our +ministers had they been present. Their absence has, indeed, +deprived us of the opportunity of possessing precise and +authentic information of the treaties which were concluded at +Panama; and the whole result has confirmed me in the conviction +of the expediency to the United States of being represented at +the congress. The surviving member of the mission, appointed +during your last session, has accordingly proceeded to his +destination, and a successor to his distinguished and lamented +associate will be nominated to the Senate. A treaty of amity, +navigation, and commerce has in the course of the last summer +been concluded by our minister plenipotentiary at Mexico with the +united states of that Confederacy, which will also be laid before +the Senate for their advice with regard to its ratification.</p> +<p>In adverting to the present condition of our fiscal concerns +and to the prospects of our revenue the first remark that calls +our attention is that they are less exuberantly prosperous than +they were at the corresponding period of the last year. The +severe shock so extensively sustained by the commercial and +manufacturing interests in Great Britain has not been without a +perceptible recoil upon ourselves. A reduced importation from +abroad is necessarily succeeded by a reduced return to the +Treasury at home. The net revenue of the present year will not +equal that of the last, and the receipts of that which is to come +will fall short of those in the current year. The diminution, +however, is in part attributable to the flourishing condition of +some of our domestic manufactures, and so far is compensated by +an equivalent more profitable to the nation. It is also highly +gratifying to perceive that the deficiency in the revenue, while +it scarcely exceeds the anticipations of the last year's estimate +from the Treasury, has not interrupted the application of more +than eleven millions during the present year to the discharge of +the principal and interest of the debt, nor the reduction of +upward of seven millions of the capital of the debt itself. The +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January last was +$5,201,650.43; the receipts from that time to the 30th of +September last were $19,585,932.50; the receipts of the current +quarter, estimated at $6,000,000. yield, with the sums already +received, a revenue of about twenty-five millions and a half for +the year; the expenditures for the three first quarters of the +year have amounted to $18,714,226.66; the expenditures of the +current quarter are expected, including the two millions of the +principal of the debt to be paid, to balance the receipts; so +that the expenses of the year, amounting to upward of a million +less than its income, will leave a proportionally increased +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1827, over that of +the 1st of January last; instead of $5,200,000 there will be +$6,400,000.</p> +<p>The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the +commencement of the year till September 30 is estimated at +$21,250,000, and the amount that will probably accrue during the +present quarter is estimated at $4,250,000, making for the whole +year $25,500,000, from which the drawbacks being deducted will +leave a clear revenue from the customs receivable in the year +1827 of about $20,400,000, which, with the sums to be received +from the proceeds of public lands, the bank dividends, and other +incidental receipts, will form an aggregate of about $23,000,000, +a sum falling short of the whole expenses of the present year +little more than the portion of those expenditures applied to the +discharge of the public debt beyond the annual appropriation of +$10,000,000 by the act of the 3d March, 1817. At the passage of +that act the public debt amounted to $123,500,000. On the 1st of +January next it will be short of $74,000,000. In the lapse of +these ten years $50,000,000 of public debt, with the annual +charge of upward of $3,000,000 of interest upon them, have been +extinguished. At the passage of that act, of the annual +appropriation of ten millions seven were absorbed in the payment +of interest, and not more than three millions went to reduce the +capital of the debt. Of the same ten millions, at this time +scarcely four are applicable to the interest, and upward of six +are effective in melting down the capital. Yet our experience has +proved that a revenue consisting so largely of imposts and +tonnage ebbs and flows to an extraordinary extent, with all the +fluctuations incident to the general commerce of the world. It is +within our recollection that even in the compass of the same last +ten years the receipts of the Treasury were not adequate to the +expenditures of the year, and that in two successive years it was +found necessary to resort to loans to meet the engagements of the +nation. The returning tides of the succeeding years replenished +the public coffers until they have again begun to feel the +vicissitude of a decline. To produce these alternations of +fullness and exhaustion the relative operation of abundant or +unfruitful seasons, the regulations of foreign governments, +political revolutions, the prosperous or decaying condition of +manufactures, commercial speculations, and many other causes, not +always to be traced, variously combine. We have found the +alternate swells and diminutions embracing periods of from two to +three years. The last period of depression to us was from 1819 to +1822. The corresponding revival was from 1823 to the commencement +of the present year. Still, we have no cause to apprehend a +depression comparable to that of the former period, or even to +anticipate a deficiency which will intrench upon the ability to +apply the annual ten millions to the reduction of the debt. It is +well for us, however, to be admonished of the hecessity of +abiding by the maxims of the most vigilant economy, and of +resorting to all honorable and useful expedients for pursuing +with steady and inflexible perseverance the total discharge of +the debt.</p> +<p>Besides the seven millions of the loans of 1813 which will +have been discharged in the course of the present year, there are +nine millions which by the terms of the contracts would have been +and are now redeemable. Thirteen millions more of the loan of +1814 will become redeemable from and after the expiration of the +present month, and nine other millions from and after the close +of the ensuing year. They constitute a mass of $31,000,000, all +bearing an interest of 6 per cent, more than twenty millions of +which will be immediately redeemable, and the rest within little +more than a year. Leaving of this amount fifteen millions to +continue at the interest of 6 per cent, but to be paid off as far +as shall be found practicable in the years 1827 and 1828, there +is scarcely a doubt that the remaining sixteen millions might +within a few months be discharged by a loan at not exceeding 5 +per cent, redeemable in the years 1829 and 1830. By this +operation a sum of nearly half a million of dollars may be saved +to the nation, and the discharge of the whole thirty-one millions +within the four years may be greatly facilitated if not wholly +accomplished.</p> +<p>By an act of Congress of 3d March, 1835,* a loan for the +purpose now referred to, or a subscription to stock, was +authorized, at an interest not exceeding 4-1/2 per cent. But at +that time so large a portion of the floating capital of the +country was absorbed in commercial speculations and so little was +left for investment in the stocks that the measure was but +partially successful. At the last session of Congress the +condition of the funds was still unpropitious to the measure; but +the change so soon afterwards occurred that, had the authority +existed to redeem the nine millions now redeemable by an exchange +of stocks or a loan at 5 per cent, it is morally certain that it +might have been effected, and with it a yearly saving of +$90,000.</p> +<p>With regard to the collection of the revenue of imposts, +certain occurrences have within the last year been disclosed in +one or two of our principal ports, which engaged the attention of +Congress at their last session and may hereafter require further +consideration. Until within a very few years the execution of the +laws for raising the revenue, like that of all our other laws, +has been insured more by the moral sense of the community than by +the rigors of a jealous precaution or by penal sanctions. +Confiding in the exemplary punctuality and unsullied integrity of +our importing merchants, a gradual relaxation from the provisions +of the collection laws, a close adherence to which would have +caused inconvenience and expense to them, had long become +habitual, and indulgences had been extended universally because +they had never been abused. It may be worthy of your serious +consideration whether some further legislative provision may not +be necessary to come in aid of this state of unguarded +security.</p> +<p>From the reports herewith communicated of the Secretaries of +War and of the Navy, with the subsidiary documents annexed to +them, will be discovered the present condition and administration +of our military establishment on the land and on the sea. The +organization of the Army having undergone no change since its +reduction to the present peace establishment in 1821, it remains +only to observe that it is yet found adequate to all the purposes +for which a permanent armed force in time of peace can be heeded +or useful. It may be proper to add that, from a difference of +opinion between the late President of the United States and the +Senate with regard to the construction of the act of Congress of +2d March, 1821, to reduce and fix the military peace +establishment of the United States, it remains hitherto so far +without execution that no colonel has been appointed to command +one of the regiments of artillery. A supplementary or explanatory +act of the Legislature appears to be the only expedient +practicable for removing the difficulty of this appointment.</p> +<p>In a period of profound peace the conduct of the mere military +establishment forms but a very inconsiderable portion of the +duties devolving upon the administration of the Department of +War. It will be seen by the returns from the subordinate +departments of the Army that every branch of the service is +marked with order, regularity, and discipline; that from the +commanding general through all the gradations of superintendence +the officers feel themselves to have been citizens before they +were soldiers, and that the glory of a republican army must +consist in the spirit of freedom, by which it is animated, and of +patriotism, by which it is impelled. It may be confidently stated +that the moral character of the Army is in a state of continual +improvement, and that all the arrangements for the disposal of +its parts have a constant reference to that end.</p> +<p>But to the War Department are attributed other duties, having, +indeed, relation to a future possible condition of war, but being +purely defensive, and in their tendency contributing rather to +the security and permanency of peace-the erection of the +fortifications provided for by Congress, and adapted to secure +our shores from hostile invasion; the distribution of the fund of +public gratitude and justice to the pensioners of the +Revolutionary war; the maintenance of our relations of peace and +of protection with the Indian tribes, and the internal +improvements and surveys for the location of roads and canals, +which during the last three sessions of Congress have engaged so +much of their attention, and may engross so large a share of +their future benefactions to our country.</p> +<p>By the act of the 30th of April, 1824, suggested and approved +by my predecessor, the sum of $30,000 was appropriated for the +purpose of causing to be made the necessary surveys, plans, and +estimates of the routes of such roads and canals as the President +of the United States might deem of national importance in a +commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the +transportation of the public mail. The surveys, plans, and +estimates for each, when completed, will be laid before +Congress.</p> +<p>In execution of this act a board of engineers was immediately +instituted, and have been since most assiduously and constantly +occupied in carrying it into effect. The first object to which +their labors were directed, by order of the late President, was +the examination of the country between the tide waters of the +Potomac, the Ohio, and Lake Erie, to ascertain the practicability +of a communication between them, to designate the most suitable +route for the same, and to form plans and estimates in detail of +the expense of execution.</p> +<p>On the 3d of February, 1825, they made their first report, +which was immediately communicated to Congress, and in which they +declared that having maturely considered the circumstances +observed by them personally, and carefully studied the results of +such of the preliminary surveys as were then completed, they were +decidedly of opinion that the communication was practicable.</p> +<p>At the last session of Congress, before the board of engineers +were enabled to make up their second report containing a general +plan and preparatory estimate for the work, the Committee of the +House of Representatives upon Roads and Canals closed the session +with a report expressing the hope that the plan and estimate of +the board of engineers might at this time be prepared, and that +the subject be referred to the early and favorable consideration +of Congress at their present session. That expected report of the +board of engineers is prepared, and will forthwith be laid before +you.</p> +<p>Under the resolution of Congress authorizing the Secretary of +War to have prepared a complete system of cavalry tactics, and a +system of exercise and instruction of field artillery, for the +use of the militia of the United States, to be reported to +Congress at the present session, a board of distinguished +officers of the Army and of the militia has been convened, whose +report will be submitted to you with that of the Secretary of +War. The occasion was thought favorable for consulting the same +board, aided by the results of a correspondence with the +governors of the several States and Territories and other +citizens of intelligence and experience, upon the acknowledged +defective condition of our militia system, and of the +improvements of which it is susceptible. The report of the board +upon this subject is also submitted for your consideration.</p> +<p>In the estimates of appropriations for the ensuing year upward +of $5,000,000 will be submitted for the expenditures to be paid +from the Department of War. Less than two-fifths of this will be +applicable to the maintenance and support of the Army. A million +and a half, in the form of pensions, goes as a scarcely adequate +tribute to the services and sacrifices of a former age, and a +more than equal sum invested in fortifications, or for the +preparations of internal improvement, provides for the quiet, the +comfort, and happier existence of the ages to come. The +appropriations to indemnify those unfortunate remnants of another +race unable alike to share in the enjoyments and to exist in the +presence of civilization, though swelling in recent years to a +magnitude burdensome to the Treasury, are generally not without +their equivalents in profitable value, or serve to discharge the +Union from engagements more burdensome than debt.</p> +<p>In like manner the estimate of appropriations for the Navy +Department will present an aggregate sum of upward of $3,000,000. +About one-half of these, however, covers the current expenditures +of the Navy in actual service, and one-half constitutes a fund of +national property, the pledge of our future glory and defense. It +was scarcely one short year after the close of the late war, and +when the burden of its expenses and charges was weighing heaviest +upon the country, that Congress, by the act of 29th April, 1816, +appropriated $1,000,000 annually for eight years to the +<i>gradual increase of the Navy</i>. At a subsequent period this +annual appropriation was reduced to half a million for six years, +of which the present year is the last. A yet more recent +appropriation the last two years, for building ten sloops of war, +has nearly restored the original appropriation of 1816 of a +million for every year. The result is before us all. We have +twelve line-of-battle ships, twenty frigates, and sloops of war +in proportion, which, with a few months of preparation, may +present a line of floating fortifications along the whole range +of our coast ready to meet any invader who might attempt to set +foot upon our shores. Combining with a system of fortifications +upon the shores themselves, commenced about the same time under +the auspices of my immediate predecessor, and hitherto +systematically pursued, it has placed in our possession the most +effective sinews of war and has left us at once an example and a +lesson from which our own duties may be inferred. The gradual +increase of the Navy was the principle of which the act of 29th +April, 1816, was the first development. It was the introduction +of a system to act upon the character and history of our country +for an indefinite series of ages. It was a declaration of that +Congress to their constituents and to posterity that it was the +destiny and the duty of these confederated States to become in +regular process of time and by no petty advances a great naval +power. That which they proposed to accomplish in eight years is +rather to be considered as the measure of their means than the +limitation of their design. They looked forward for a term of +years sufficient for the accomplishment of a definite portion of +their purpose, and they left to their successors to fill up the +canvas of which they had traced the large and prophetic outline. +The ships of the line and frigates which they had in +contemplation will be shortly completed. The time which they had +allotted for the accomplishment of the work has more than +elapsed. It remains for your consideration how their successors +may contribute their portion of toil and of treasure for the +benefit of the succeeding age in the gradual increase of our +Navy. There is perhaps no part of the exercise of the +constitutional powers of the Federal Government which has given +more general satisfaction to the people of the Union than this. +The system has not been thus vigorously introduced and hitherto +sustained to be now departed from or abandoned. In continuing to +provide for the gradual increase of the Navy it may not be +necessary or expedient to add for the present any more to the +number of our ships; but should you deem it advisable to continue +the yearly appropriation of half a million to the same objects, +it may be profitably expended in providing a supply of timber to +be seasoned and other materials for future use in the +construction of docks or in laying the foundations of a school +for naval education, as to the wisdom of Congress either of those +measures may appear to claim the preference.</p> +<p>Of the small portions of this Navy engaged in actual service +during the peace, squadrons have continued to be maintained in +the Pacific Ocean, in the West India seas, and in the +Mediterranean, to which has been added a small armament to cruise +on the eastern coast of South America. In all they have afforded +protection to our commerce, have contributed to make our country +advantageously known to foreign nations, have honorably employed +multitudes of our seamen in the service of their country, and +have inured numbers of youths of the rising generation to lives +of manly hardihood and of nautical experience and skill. The +piracies with which the West India seas were for several years +infested have been totally suppressed, but in the Mediterranean +they have increased in a manner afflictive to other nations, and +but for the continued presence of our squadron would probably +have been distressing to our own. The war which has unfortunately +broken out between the Republic of Buenos Ayres and the Brazilian +Government has given rise to very great irregularities among the +naval officers of the latter, by whom principles in relation to +blockades and to neutral navigation have been brought forward to +which we can not subscribe and which our own commanders have +found it necessary to resist. From the friendly disposition +toward the United States constantly manifested by the Emperor of +Brazil, and the very useful and friendly commercial intercourse +between the United States and his dominions, we have reason to +believe that the just reparation demanded for the injuries +sustained by several of our citizens from some of his officers +will not be withheld. Abstracts from the recent dispatches of the +commanders of our several squadrons are communicated with the +report of the Secretary of the Navy to Congress.</p> +<p>A report from the Postmaster-General is likewise communicated, +presenting in a highly satisfactory manner the result of a +vigorous, efficient, and economical administration of that +Department. The revenue of the office, even of the year including +the latter half of 1824 and the first half of 1825, had exceeded +its expenditures by a sum of more than $45,000. That of the +succeeding year has been still more productive. The increase of +the receipts in the year preceding the 1st of July last over that +of the year before exceeds $136,000, and the excess of the +receipts over the expenditures of the year has swollen from +$45,000 to nearly $80,000. During the same period contracts for +additional transportation of the mail in stages for about 260,000 +miles have been made, and for 70,000 miles annually on horseback. +Seven hundred and fourteen new post-offices have been established +within the year, and the increase of revenue within the last +three years, as well as the augmentation of the transportation by +mail, is more than equal to the whole amount of receipts and of +mail conveyance at the commencement of the present century, when +the seat of the General Government was removed to this place. +When we reflect that the objects effected by the transportation +of the mail are among the choicest comforts and enjoyments of +social life, it is pleasing to observe that the dissemination of +them to every corner of our country has outstripped in their +increase even the rapid march of our population.</p> +<p>By the treaties with France and Spain, respectively ceding +Louisiana and the Floridas to the United States, provision was +made for the security of land titles derived from the Governments +of those nations. Some progress has been made under the authority +of various acts of Congress in the ascertainment and +establishment of those titles, but claims to a very large extent +remain unadjusted. The public faith no less than the just rights +of individuals and the interest of the community itself appears +to require further provision for the speedy settlement of those +claims, which I therefore recommend to the care and attention of +the Legislature.</p> +<p>In conformity with the provisions of the act of 20th May last, +to provide for erecting a penitentiary in the district of +Columbia, and for other purposes, three commissioners were +appointed to select a site for the erection of a penitentiary for +the district, and also a site in the county of Alexandria for a +county jail, both of which objects have been effected. The +building of the penitentiary has been commenced, and is in such a +degree of forwardness as to promise that it will be completed +before the meeting of the next Congress. This consideration +points to the expediency of maturing at the present session a +system for the regulation and government of the penitentiary, and +of defining the class of offenses which shall be punishable by +confinement in this edifice.</p> +<p>In closing this communication I trust that it will not be +deemed inappropriate to the occasion and purposes upon which we +are here assembled to indulge a momentary retrospect, combining +in a single glance the period of our origin as a national +confederation with that of our present existence, at the precise +interval of half a century from each other. Since your last +meeting at this place the fiftieth anniversary of the day when +our independence was declared has been celebrated throughout our +land, and on that day, while every heart was bounding with joy +and every voice was tuned to gratulation, amid the blessings of +freedom and independence which the sires of a former age had +handed down to their children, two of the principal actors in +that solemn scene-the hand that penned the ever-memorable +Declaration and the voice that sustained it in debate-were by one +summons, at the distance of 700 miles from each other, called +before the Judge of All to account for their deeds done upon +earth. They departed cheered by the benedictions of their +country, to whom they left the inheritance of their fame and the +memory of their bright example. If we turn our thoughts to the +condition of their country, in the contrast of the first and last +day of that half century, how resplendent and sublime is the +transition from gloom to glory! Then, glancing through the same +lapse of time, in the condition of the individuals we see the +first day marked with the fullness and vigor of youth, in the +pledge of their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to +the cause of freedom and of mankind; and on the last, extended on +the bed of death, with but sense and sensibility left to breathe +a last aspiration to Heaven of blessing upon their country, may +we not humbly hope that to them too it was a pledge of transition +from gloom to glory, and that while their mortal vestments were +sinking into the clod of the valley their emancipated spirits +were ascending to the bosom of their God!</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p>SPECIAL MESSAGES.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 7, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I now transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with that +of the Board of Engineers of Internal Improvement, concerning the +proposed Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 8, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of War, with sundry documents, containing the +information requested by a resolution of the House of the 8th of +May last, relating to the lead mines belonging to the United +States in Illinois and Missouri.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 8, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of War, with several documents, containing information +required by a resolution of the House of the 20th of May last, +respecting certain proposed donations of land by Indian tribes to +any agent or commissioner of the United States.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 12, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice with +regard to their ratification, the following treaties with Indian +tribes:</p> +<p>1. A treaty made and concluded at the Fond du Lac of Lake +Superior, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, +commissioners on the part of the United States, and the Chippewa +tribe of Indians, on the 5th of August, 1826.</p> +<p>2. A treaty made and concluded hear the mouth of the +Mississinewa, upon the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between +Lewis Cass, James B. Ray, and John Tipton, commissioners on the +part of the United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the +Potawatamie tribe of Indians, on the 16th of October, 1826.</p> +<p>3. A treaty made and concluded hear the mouth of the +Mississinewa, upon the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between +Lewis Cass, James B. Ray, and John Tipton, commissioners on the +part of the United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the +Miami tribe of Indians, on the 23d of October, 1826.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 18, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress extracts of a letter, received since +the commencement of their session, from the minister of the +United States at London, having relation to the late discussions +with the Government of Great Britain concerning the trade between +the United States and the British colonies in America.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 20, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement +of their present session it was intimated that the commission for +liquidating the claims of our fellow-citizens to indemnity for +slaves and other property carried away after the close of the +late war with Great Britain in contravention to the first article +of the treaty of Ghent had been sitting in this city with +doubtful prospects of success, but that propositions had recently +passed between the two Governments which it was hoped would lead +to a satisfactory adjustment of that controversy.</p> +<p>I now transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional +consideration and advice, a convention signed at London by the +plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 13th of the last +month, relating to this object. A copy of the convention is at +the same time sent, together with a copy of the instructions +under which it was negotiated and the correspondence relating to +it. To avoid all delay these documents are now transmitted, +consisting chiefly of original papers, the return of which is +requested.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 22, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 12th instant, requesting information of +the measures taken to carry into effect the act of Congress of 3d +March, 1825, directing a road to be made from Little Rock to +Cantonment Gibson, in the Territory of Arkansas, I transmit a +report from the Secretary of War, with a letter from the +Quartermaster-General, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 22, 1826</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to the House of Representatives a report from +the Secretary of State, with a copy of the three articles<a name= +"FNanchor009"></a><a href="#Footnote_009"><sup>[009]</sup></a> +(marked A) requested by the resolution of the House of the 19th +instant. The third of those articles relating to a subject upon +which the negotiation between the two Governments is yet open, +the communication of all the other documents relating to it is +reserved to a future period, when it may be closed.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of State, with sundry documents, containing the +information requested by two resolutions of the House of the 15th +instant, relating to the proceedings of the congress of ministers +which assembled last summer at Panama.</p> +<p>The occasion is taken to communicate at the same time two +other dispatches, from the minister of the United States to the +Mexican Confederation, one of which should have been communicated +at the last session of Congress but that it was then accidentally +mislaid, and the other having relation to the same subject.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.<br> + DECEMBER 26, 1826.</p> +<p><br> +</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 10, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 6th instant, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of State, together with copies of the +correspondence with the Government of the Netherlands, relating +to discriminating duties.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 10, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th of +May last, requesting a detailed statement of the expenditures for +the construction and repair of the Cumberland road, I now +transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with the +statement requested by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 10, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to both Houses of Congress a report from the +Secretary of the Navy, together with that of the engineer by +whom, conformably to a joint resolution of the two Houses of the +22d May last, an examination and survey has been made of a site +for a dry dock at the navy-yard at Portsmouth, N. H.; +Charlestown, Mass.; Brooklyn, N. Y., and Gosport, Va.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 15, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 20th of May last, I transmit herewith a +report from the Secretary of State, touching the impressment of +seamen from on board American vessels on the high seas or +elsewhere by the commanders of British or other foreign vessels +or ships of war since 18th of February, 1815, together with such +correspondence on the subject as comes within the purview of the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 15, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 21st of +last month, I now transmit a letter from the Secretary of War, +with a report from the Chief Engineer and a statement of the +Third Auditor, shewing the amount disbursed of the appropriation +made by the act of 24th May, 1824, to improve the navigation of +the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the state and progress of +the work contemplated by the appropriation.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 15, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War, +together with a report of the Chief Engineer, and certain acts of +the legislature of the State of New York proposing to the +Government of the United States the purchase of the +fortifications erected at the expense of the State on Staten +Island, with the ordnance and other apparatus belonging to or +connected with the same. These papers were prepared at the close +of the last session of Congress, at too late a period to be then +acted upon.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 16, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of a +convention between the United States and Great Britain, signed on +the 13th of November last at London by the respective +plenipotentiaries of the two Governments, for the final +settlement and liquidation of certain claims of indemnity of +citizens of the United States which had arisen under the first +article of the treaty of Ghent. It having been stipulated by this +convention that the exchange of the ratifications of the same +should be made at London, the usual proclamation of it here can +only be issued when that event shall have taken place, the notice +of which can scarcely be expected before the close of the present +session of Congress. But it has been duly ratified on the part of +the United States, and by the report of the Secretary of State +and the accompanying certificate herewith also communicated it +will be seen that the first half of the stipulated payment has +been made by the minister of His Britannic Majesty residing here, +and has been deposited in the office of the Bank of the United +States at this place to await the disposal of Congress.</p> +<p>I recommend to their consideration the expediency of such +legislative measures as they may deem proper for the distribution +of the sum already paid, and of that hereafter to be received, +among the claimants who may be found entitled to the +indemnity.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 17, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 10th of +May last, I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, +with a letter from the Director of the Mint, shewing the result +of the assay of foreign coins and the information otherwise +relating thereto desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 29, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 23d +instant, I transmit herewith a report<a name="FNanchor010"></a><a +href="#Footnote_010"><sup>[010]</sup></a> from the Secretary of +State, with the accompanying documents.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 29, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>The report from the Commissioner of the General Land Office +and the accompanying documents herewith transmitted are laid +before the Senate in compliance with their resolution of the 4th +of April last, relating to the public lands of the United States +in the States of Missouri and Illinois which are unfit for +cultivation.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 2, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 25th +ultimo, relative to the execution of the treaty of the 18th of +October, 1820, of Doaks Stand with the Choctaw tribe of Indians, +I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with a statement +from the Office of Indian Affairs, comprising so far as it is +possessed the information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 3, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the United States of the 9th ultimo, relating +to the appointments of chargés d'affaires and to the +commissions and salaries of the ministers and secretary to the +mission to Panama, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 5, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>The report from the Secretary of War and accompanying +documents herewith transmitted have been prepared in compliance +with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 20th of +May last, requesting a statement of expenditure and other +particulars relating to the procurement and properties of the +patent rifle.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 5, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I submit to the consideration of Congress a letter from the +agent of the United States with the Creek Indians, who invoke the +protection of the Government of the United States in defense of +the rights and territory secured to that nation by the treaty +concluded at Washington, and ratified on the part of the United +States on the 22d of April last.</p> +<p>The complaint set forth in this letter that surveyors from +Georgia have been employed in surveying lands within the Indian +Territory, as secured by that treaty, is authenticated by the +information inofficially received from other quarters, and there +is reason to believe that one or more of the surveyors have been +arrested in their progress by the Indians. Their forbearance, and +reliance upon the good faith of the United States, will, it is +hoped, avert scenes of violence and blood which there is +otherwise too much cause to apprehend will result from these +proceedings.</p> +<p>By the fifth section of the act of Congress of the 30th of +March, 1802, to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian +tribes and to preserve peace on the frontiers, it is provided +that if any citizen of or other person resident in the United +States shall make a settlement on any lands belonging or secured +or granted by treaty with the United States to any Indian tribe, +or shall survey, or attempt to survey, such lands, or designate +any of the boundaries by marking trees or otherwise, such +offender shall forfeit a sum not exceeding $1,000 and suffer +imprisonment not exceeding twelve months.</p> +<p>By the sixteenth and seventeenth sections of the same statute +two distinct processes are prescribed, by either or both of which +the above enactment may be carried into execution. By the first +it is declared to be lawful for the military force of the United +States to apprehend every person found in the Indian country over +and beyond the boundary line between the United States and the +Indian tribes in violation of any of the provisions or +regulations of the act, and immediately to convey them, in the +hearest convenient and safe route, to the civil authority of the +United States in some of the three next adjoining States or +districts, to be proceeded against in due course of law.</p> +<p>By the second it is directed that if any person charged with +the violation of any of the provisions or regulations of the act +shall be found within any of the United States or either of their +territorial districts such offender may be there apprehended and +brought to trial in the same manner as if such crime or offense +had been committed within such State or district; and that it +shall be the duty of the military force of the United States, +when called upon by the civil magistrate or any proper officer or +other person duly authorized for that purpose and having a lawful +warrant, to aid and assist such magistrate, officer, or other +person so authorized in arresting such offender and committing +him to safe custody for trial according to law.</p> +<p>The first of these processes is adapted to the arrest of the +trespasser upon Indian territories on the spot and in the act of +committing the offense; but as it applies the action of the +Government of the United States to places where the civil process +of the law has no authorized course, it is committed entirely to +the functions of the military force to arrest the person of the +offender, and after bringing him within the reach of the +jurisdiction of the courts there to deliver him into custody for +trial. The second makes the violator of the law amenable only +after his offense has been consummated, and when he has returned +within the civil jurisdiction of the Union. This process, in the +first instance, is merely of a civil character, but may in like +manner be enforced by calling in, if necessary, the aid of the +military force.</p> +<p>Entertaining no doubt that in the present case the resort to +either of these modes of process, or to both, was within the +discretion of the Executive authority, and penetrated with the +duty of maintaining the rights of the Indians as secured both by +the treaty and the law, I concluded, after full deliberation, to +have recourse on this occasion, in the first instance, only to +the civil process. Instructions have accordingly been given by +the Secretary of War to the attorney and marshal of the United +States in the district of Georgia to commence prosecutions +against the surveyors complained of as having violated the law, +while orders have at the same time been forwarded to the agent of +the United States at once to assure the Indians that their rights +founded upon the treaty and the law are recognized by this +Government and will be faithfully protected, and earnestly to +exhort them, by the forbearance of every act of hostility on +their part, to preserve unimpaired that right to protection +secured to them by the sacred pledge of the good faith of this +nation. Copies of these instructions and orders are herewith +transmitted to Congress.</p> +<p>In abstaining at this stage of the proceedings from the +application of any military force I have been governed by +considerations which will, I trust, meet the concurrence of the +Legislature. Among them one of paramount importance has been that +these surveys have been attempted, and partly effected, under +color of legal authority from the State of Georgia; that the +surveyors are, therefore, not to be viewed in the light of +individual and solitary transgressors, but as the agents of a +sovereign State, acting in obedience to authority which they +believed to be binding upon them. Intimations had been given that +should they meet with interruption they would at all hazards be +sustained by the military force of the State, in which event, if +the military force of the Union should have been employed to +enforce its violated law, a conflict <i>must</i> have ensued, +which would itself have inflicted a wound upon the Union and have +presented the aspect of one of these confederated States at war +with the rest. Anxious, above all, to avert this state of things, +yet at the same time impressed with the deepest conviction of my +own duty to take care that the laws shall be executed and the +faith of the nation preserved, I have used of the means intrusted +to the Executive for that purpose only those which without +resorting to military force may vindicate the sanctity of the law +by the ordinary agency of the judicial tribunals.</p> +<p>It ought not, however, to be disguised that the act of the +legislature of Georgia, under the construction given to it by the +governor of that State, and the surveys made or attempted by his +authority beyond the boundary secured by the treaty of Washington +of April last to the Creek Indians, are in direct violation of +the supreme law of this land, set forth in a treaty which has +received all the sanctions provided by the Constitution which we +have been sworn to support and maintain.</p> +<p>Happily distributed as the sovereign powers of the people of +this Union have been between their General and State Governments, +their history has already too often presented collisions between +these divided authorities with regard to the extent of their +respective powers. No instance, however, has hitherto occurred in +which this collision has been urged into a conflict of actual +force. No other case is known to have happened in which the +application of military force by the Government of the Union has +been prescribed for the enforcement of a law the violation of +which has within any single State been prescribed by a +legislative act of the State. In the present instance it is my +duty to say that if the legislative and executive authorities of +the State of Georgia should persevere in acts of encroachment +upon the territories secured by a solemn treaty to the Indians, +and the laws of the Union remain unaltered, a superadded +obligation even higher than that of human authority will compel +the Executive of the United States to enforce the laws and +fulfill the duties of the nation by all the force committed for +that purpose to his charge. That the arm of military force will +be resorted to only in the event of the failure of all other +expedients provided by the laws, a pledge has been given by the +forbearance to employ it at this time. It is submitted to the +wisdom of Congress to determine whether any further act of +legislation may be necessary or expedient to meet the emergency +which these transactions may produce.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> + +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 8, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty between the United States and the Mexican +Confederation, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the respective +Governments on the 10th of July last. It will be seen by its +terms that if ratified by both parties the ratifications are to +be exchanged at this city on or before the 10th day of next +month. The ratification on the part of the Government of Mexico +has not yet been received, though it has probably before this +been effected. To avoid all unnecessary delay the treaty is now +communicated to the Senate, that it may receive all the +deliberation which, in their wisdom, it may require, without +pressing upon their time at a hear approach to the close of their +session. Should they advise and consent to its ratification, that +measure will still be withheld until the ratification by the +Mexican Government shall have been ascertained. A copy of the +treaty is likewise transmitted, together with the documents +appertaining to the negotiation.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 8, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to Congress copies of a letter from the governor +of the State of Georgia, received since my message of the 5th +instant, and of inclosures received with it, further confirmative +of the facts stated in that message.<a name="FNanchor011"></a><a +href="#Footnote_011"><sup>[011]</sup></a></p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 16, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with statements prepared at the Register's and General +Land Office, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the +10th of May last, in relation to the purchase and sales of the +public lands since the declaration of independence.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 19, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of the following +treaties, which have been ratified by and with the consent of the +Senate:</p> +<p>i. A treaty with the Chippewa tribe of Indians, signed at the +Fond du Lac of Lake Superior on the 5th of August, 1826.</p> +<p>2. A treaty with the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, signed on +the 16th of October, 1826, hear the mouth of the Mississinawa, +upon the Wabash, in the State of Indiana.</p> +<p>3. A treaty with the Miami tribe of Indians, signed at the +same place on the 23d of October, 1826.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 24, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration, a +conveyance by treaty from the Seneca tribe of Indians to Robert +Troup, Thomas L. Ogden, and Benjamin W. Rogers, in the presence +of Oliver Forward, commissioner of the United States for holding +the said treaty, and of Nathaniel Gorham, superintendent in +behalf of the State of Massachusetts. A letter from the grantees +of this conveyance and a report of the Superintendent of Indian +Affairs to the Secretary of War, relating to this instrument, are +also transmitted; and with regard to the approval or ratification +of the treaty itself, it is submitted to the Senate for their +advice and consent.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 28, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of War, with sundry documents, containing statements +requested by a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +9th of January, relating to the Artillery School of Practice at +Fortress Monroe.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 2, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with sundry documents, containing the information +requested by a resolution of the Senate of the 20th of April +last, relating to the security taken of the late survey +or-general of Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas, and of the late +receiver of public moneys in the western district of Missouri, +and to the sums for which they were respectively defaulters; also +the sums due by each of the late directors of the Bank of +Missouri to the United States, and to the measures taken for +obtaining or enforcing payment of the same.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 2, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of communications +received yesterday by the Secretary of War from the governor of +Georgia and from Lieutenant Vinton.<a name="FNanchor012"></a><a +href="#Footnote_012"><sup>[012]</sup></a></p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p class="c2">PROCLAMATIONS.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>By the President of the United States.</h2> +<p>A PROCLAMATION.</p> +<p>Whereas by the sixth section of an act of Congress entitled +"An act to regulate the commercial intercourse between the United +States and certain British colonial ports," which was approved on +the 1st day of March, A. D. 1823, it is enacted "that this act, +unless repealed, altered, or amended by Congress, shall be and +continue in force so long as the above-enumerated British +colonial ports shall be open to the admission of the vessels of +the United States, conformably to the provisions of the British +act of Parliament of the 24th of June last, being the +forty-fourth chapter of the acts of the third year of George IV; +but if at any time the trade and intercourse between the United +States and all or any of the above enumerated British colonial +ports authorized by the said act of Parliament should be +prohibited by a British order in council or by act of Parliament, +then, from the day of the date of such order in council or act of +Parliament, or from the time that the same shall commence to be +in force, proclamation to that effect having been made by the +President of the United States, each and every provision of this +act, so far as the same shall apply to the intercourse between +the United States and the above-enumerated British colonial ports +in British vessels, shall cease to operate in their favor, and +each and every provision of the 'Act concerning navigation,' +approved on the 18th of April, 1818, and of the act supplementary +thereto, approved on the 15th of May, 1820, shall revive and be +in full force;" and</p> +<p>Whereas by an act of the British Parliament which passed on +the 5th day of July, A. D. 1825, entitled "An act to repeal the +several laws relating to the customs," the said act of Parliament +of the 24th of June, 1822, was repealed; and by another act of +the British Parliament, passed on the 5th day of July, A. D. +1825, in the sixth year of the reign of George IV, entitled "An +act to regulate the trade of the British possessions abroad;" and +by an order of His Britannic Majesty in council, bearing date the +27th of July, 1826, the trade and intercourse authorized by the +aforesaid act of Parliament of the 24th of June, 1822, between +the United States and the greater part of the said British +colonial ports therein enumerated, have been prohibited upon and +from the 1st day of December last past, and the contingency has +thereby arisen on which the President of the United States was +authorized by the sixth section aforesaid of the act of Congress +of the 1st March, 1823, to issue a proclamation to the effect +therein mentioned:</p> +<p>Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United +States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that the trade +and intercourse authorized by the said act of Parliament of the +24th of June, 1822, between the United States and the British +colonial ports enumerated in the aforesaid act of Congress of the +1st of March, 1823, have been and are, upon and from the 1st day +of December, 1826, by the aforesaid two several acts of +Parliament of the 5th of July, 1825, and by the aforesaid British +order in council of the 27th day of July, 1826, prohibited.</p> +<p>Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 17th day +of March, A. D. 1827, and the fifty-first year of the +Independence of the United States.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p>By the President:<br> + H. Clay,<br> + <i>Secretary of State</i>.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> + +<p>By the President of the United States.</p> +<p>A PROCLAMATION.</p> +<p>Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the +7th of January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating +duties of tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon +satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United +States by the government of any foreign nation that no +discriminating duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied +within the ports of the said nation upon vessels wholly belonging +to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise the produce +or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President is +thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the +foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the +United States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far +as respects the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of +its produce or manufacture imported into the United States in the +same, the said suspension to take effect from the time of such +notification being given to the President of the United States +and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels +belonging to citizens of the United States and merchandise as +aforesaid therein laden shall be continued, and no longer; +and</p> +<p>Whereas satisfactory evidence was given to the President of +the United States on the 30th day of May last by Count Lucchesi, +consul-general of His Holiness the Pope, that all foreign and +discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the dominions +of His Holiness, so far as respected the vessels of the United +States and the merchandise of their produce or manufacture +imported in the same, were suspended and discontinued:</p> +<p>Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United +States, conformably to the fourth section of the act of Congress +aforesaid, do hereby proclaim and declare that the foreign +discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United +States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as +respects the vessels of the subjects of His Holiness the Pope and +the merchandise of the produce or manufacture of his dominions +imported into the United States' in the same, the said suspension +to take effect from the 30th of May aforesaid and to continue so +long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens +of the United States and merchandise as aforesaid therein laden +shall be continued, and no longer.</p> +<p>Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 7th day +of June, A. D. 1827, and of the Independence of the United States +the fifty-first.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p>By the President:<br> + H. Clay,<br> + <i>Secretary of State</i>.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>By the President of the United States.</h2> +<p>A PROCLAMATION.</p> +<p>Whereas Willis Anderson, of the County of Alexandria, in the +district of Columbia, is charged with having recently murdered +Gerrard Arnold, late of the said county; and</p> +<p>Whereas it is represented to me that the said Willis Anderson +has absconded and secretes himself, so that he can not be +apprehended and brought to justice for the offense of which he is +so charged; and</p> +<p>Whereas the apprehension and trial of the said Willis Anderson +is an example due to justice and humanity, and would be every way +salutary in its influence:</p> +<p>Now, therefore, I have thought fit to issue this my +proclamation, hereby exhorting the citizens of the United States, +and particularly those of this district, and requiring all +officers, according to their respective stations, to use their +utmost endeavors to apprehend and bring the said Willis Anderson +to justice for the atrocious crime with which he stands charged +as aforesaid; and I do moreover offer a reward of $250 for the +apprehension of the said Willis Anderson and his delivery to an +officer or officers of justice in the county aforesaid, so that +he may be brought to trial for the murder aforesaid and be +otherwise dealt with according to law.</p> +<p>In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused +the seal of the United States to be affixed to these +presents.</p> +<p>(SEAL.)</p> +<p>Done at Washington, this 10th day of September, A. D. 1827, +and of the Independence of the United States the +fifty-second.</p> +<p>J. Q. Adams.</p> +<p>By the President:<br> + H. Clay,<br> + <i>Secretary of State</i>.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<h2>THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.</h2> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 4, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of +Representatives</i>:</p> +<p>A revolution of the seasons has nearly been completed since +the representatives of the people and States of this Union were +last assembled at this place to deliberate and to act upon the +common important interests of their constituents. In that +interval the never-slumbering eye of a wise and beneficent +Providence has continued its guardian care over the welfare of +our beloved country; the blessing of health has continued +generally to prevail throughout the land; the blessing of peace +with our brethren of the human race has been enjoyed without +interruption; internal quiet has left our fellow-citizens in the +full enjoyment of all their rights and in the free exercise of +all their faculties, to pursue the impulse of their nature and +the obligation of their duty in the improvement of their own +condition; the productions of the soil, the exchanges of +commerce, the vivifying labors of human industry, have combined +to mingle in our cup a portion of enjoyment as large and liberal +as the indulgence of Heaven has perhaps ever granted to the +imperfect state of man upon earth; and as the purest of human +felicity consists in its participation with others, it is no +small addition to the sum of our national happiness at this time +that peace and prosperity prevail to a degree seldom experienced +over the whole habitable globe, presenting, though as yet with +painful exceptions, a foretaste of that blessed period of promise +when the lion shall lie down with the lamb and wars shall be no +more. To preserve, to improve, and to perpetuate the sources and +to direct in their most effective channels the streams which +contribute to the public weal is the purpose for which Government +was instituted. Objects of deep importance to the welfare of the +Union are constantly recurring to demand the attention of the +Federal Legislature, and they call with accumulated interest at +the first meeting of the two Houses after their periodical +renovation. To present to their consideration from time to time +subjects in which the interests of the nation are most deeply +involved, and for the regulation of which the legislative will is +alone competent, is a duty prescribed by the Constitution, to the +performance of which the first meeting of the new Congress is a +period eminently appropriate, and which it is now my purpose to +discharge.</p> +<p>Our relations of friendship with the other nations of the +earth, political and commercial, have been preserved unimpaired, +and the opportunities to improve them have been cultivated with +anxious and unremitting attention. A negotiation upon subjects of +high and delicate interest with the Government of Great Britain +has terminated in the adjustment of some of the questions at +issue upon satisfactory terms and the postponement of others for +future discussion and agreement. The purposes of the convention +concluded at St. Petersburg on the 12th day of July, 1822, under +the mediation of the late Emperor Alexander, have been carried +into effect by a subsequent convention, concluded at London on +the 13th of November, 1826, the ratifications of which were +exchanged at that place on the 6th day of February last. A copy +of the proclamation issued on the 19th day of March last, +publishing this convention, is herewith communicated to Congress. +The sum of $1,204,960, therein stipulated to be paid to the +claimants of indemnity under the first article of the treaty of +Ghent, has been duly received, and the commission instituted, +comformably to the act of Congress of the 2d of March last, for +the distribution of the indemnity to the persons entitled to +receive it are now in session and approaching the consummation of +their labors. This final disposal of one of the most painful +topics of collision between the United States and Great Britain +not only affords an occasion of gratulation to ourselves, but has +had the happiest effect in promoting a friendly disposition and +in softening asperities upon other objects of discussion; nor +ought it to pass without the tribute of a frank and cordial +acknowledgment of the magnanimity with which an honorable nation, +by the reparation of their own wrongs, achieves a triumph more +glorious than any field of blood can ever bestow.</p> +<p>The conventions of 3d July, 1815, and of 20th October, 1818, +will expire by their own limitation on the 20th of October, 1828. +These have regulated the direct commercial intercourse between +the United States and Great Britain upon terms of the most +perfect reciprocity; and they effected a temporary compromise of +the respective rights and claims to territory westward of the +Rocky Mountains. These arrangements have been continued for an +indefinite period of time after the expiration of the +above-mentioned conventions, leaving each party the liberty of +terminating them by giving twelve months' notice to the other. +The radical principle of all commercial intercourse between +independent nations is the mutual interest of both parties. It is +the vital spirit of trade itself; nor can it be reconciled to the +nature of man or to the primary laws of human society that any +traffic should long be willingly pursued of which all the +advantages are on one side and all the burdens on the other. +Treaties of commerce have been found by experience to be among +the most effective instruments for promoting peace and harmony +between nations whose interests, exclusively considered on either +side, are brought into frequent collisions by competition. In +framing such treaties it is the duty of each party not simply to +urge with unyielding pertinacity that which suits its own +interest, but to concede liberally to that which is adapted to +the interest of the other. To accomplish this, little more is +generally required than a simple observance of the rule of +reciprocity, and were it possible for the statesmen of one nation +by stratagem and management to obtain from the weakness or +ignorance of another an overreaching treaty, such a compact would +prove an incentive to war rather than a bond of peace. Our +conventions with Great Britain are founded upon the principles of +reciprocity. The commercial intercourse between the two countries +is greater in magnitude and amount than between any two other +nations on the globe. It is for all purposes of benefit or +advantage to both as precious, and in all probability far more +extensive, than if the parties were still constituent parts of +one and the same nation. Treaties between such States, regulating +the intercourse of peace between them and adjusting interests of +such transcendent importance to both, which have been found in a +long experience of years mutually advantageous, should not be +lightly canceled or discontinued. Two conventions for continuing +in force those above mentioned have been concluded between the +plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 6th of August +last, and will be forthwith laid before the Senate for the +exercise of their constitutional authority concerning them.</p> +<p>In the execution of the treaties of peace of November, 1782, +and September, 1783, between the United States and Great Britain, +and which terminated the war of our independence, a line of +boundary was drawn as the demarcation of territory between the +two countries, extending over hear 20 degrees of latitude, and +ranging over seas, lakes, and mountains, then very imperfectly +explored and scarcely opened to the geographical knowledge of the +age. In the progress of discovery and settlement by both parties +since that time several questions of boundary between their +respective territories have arisen, which have been found of +exceedingly difficult adjustment. At the close of the last war +with Great Britain four of these questions pressed themselves +upon the consideration of the negotiators of the treaty of Ghent, +but without the means of concluding a definitive arrangement +concerning them. They were referred to three separate commissions +consisting of two commissioners, one appointed by each party, to +examine and decide upon their respective claims. In the event of +a disagreement between the commissioners it was provided that +they should make reports to their several Governments, and that +the reports should finally be referred to the decision of a +sovereign the common friend of both. Of these commissions two +have already terminated their sessions and investigations, one by +entire and the other by partial agreement. The commissioners of +the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent have finally disagreed, +and made their conflicting reports to their own Governments. But +from these reports a great difficulty has occurred in making up a +question to be decided by the arbitrator. This purpose has, +however, been effected by a fourth convention, concluded at +London by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the +29th of September last. It will be submitted, together with the +others, to the consideration of the Senate.</p> +<p>While these questions have been pending incidents have +occurred of conflicting pretensions and of dangerous character +upon the territory itself in dispute between the two nations. By +a common understanding between the Governments it was agreed that +no exercise of exclusive jurisdiction by either party while the +negotiation was pending should change the state of the question +of right to be definitively settled. Such collision has, +nevertheless, recently taken place by occurrences the precise +character of which has not yet been ascertained. A communication +from the governor of the State of Maine, with accompanying +documents, and a correspondence between the Secretary of State +and the minister of Great Britain on this subject are now +communicated. Measures have been taken to ascertain the state of +the facts more correctly by the employment of a special agent to +visit the spot where the alleged outrages have occurred, the +result of whose inquiries, when received, will be transmitted to +Congress.</p> +<p>While so many of the subjects of high interest to the friendly +relations between the two countries have been so far adjusted, it +is matter of regret that their views respecting the commercial +intercourse between the United States and the British colonial +possessions have not equally approximated to a friendly +agreement.</p> +<p>At the commencement of the last session of Congress they were +informed of the sudden and unexpected exclusion by the British +Government of access in vessels of the United States to all their +colonial ports, except those immediately bordering upon our own +territories. In the amicable discussions which have succeeded the +adoption of this measure, which, as it affected harshly the +interests of the United States, became a subject of expostulation +on our part, the principles upon which its justification has been +placed have been of a diversified character. It has been at once +ascribed to a mere recurrence to the old, long-established +principle of colonial monopoly and at the same time to a feeling +of resentment because the offers of an act of Parliament opening +the colonial ports upon certain conditions had not been grasped +at with sufficient eagerness by an instantaneous conformity to +them. At a subsequent period it has been intimated that the new +exclusion was in resentment because a prior act of Parliament, of +1822, opening certain colonial ports, under heavy and burdensome +restrictions, to vessels of the United States, had not been +reciprocated by an admission of British vessels from the +colonies, and their cargoes, without any restriction or +discrimination whatever. But be the motive for the interdiction +what it may, the British Government have manifested no +disposition, either by negotiation or by corresponding +legislative enactments, to recede from it, and we have been given +distinctly to understand that neither of the bills which were +under the consideration of Congress at their last session would +have been deemed sufficient in their concessions to have been +rewarded by any relaxation from the British interdict. It is one +of the inconveniences inseparably connected with the attempt to +adjust by reciprocal legislation interests of this nature that +neither party can know what would be satisfactory to the other, +and that after enacting a statute for the avowed and sincere +purpose of conciliation it will generally be found utterly +inadequate to the expectations of the other party, and will +terminate in mutual disappointment.</p> +<p>The session of Congress having terminated without any act upon +the subject, a proclamation was issued on the 17th of March last, +conformably to the provisions of the sixth section of the act of +1st March, 1823, declaring the fact that the trade and +intercourse authorized by the British act of Parliament of 24th +June, 1822, between the United States and the British enumerated +colonial ports had been by the subsequent acts of Parliament of +5th July, 1825, and the order of council of 27th July, 1826, +prohibited. The effect of this proclamation, by the terms of the +act under which it was issued, has been that each and every +provision of the act concerning navigation of 18th April, 1818, +and of the act supplementary thereto of 15th May, 1820, revived +and is in full force. Such, then, is the present condition of the +trade that, useful as it is to both parties, it can, with a +single momentary exception, be carried on directly by the vessels +of neither. That exception itself is found in a proclamation of +the governor of the island of St. Christopher and of the Virgin +Islands, inviting for three months from the 28th of August last +the importation of the articles of the produce of the United +States which constitute their export portion of this trade in the +vessels of all nations. That period having already expired, the +state of mutual interdiction has again taken place. The British +Government have not only declined negotiation upon this subject, +but by the principle they have assumed with reference to it have +precluded even the means of negotiation. It becomes not the +self-respect of the United States either to solicit gratuitous +favors or to accept as the grant of a favor that for which an +ample equivalent is exacted. It remains to be determined by the +respective Governments whether the trade shall be opened by acts +of reciprocal legislation. It is, in the meantime, satisfactory +to know that apart from the inconveniences resulting from a +disturbance of the usual channels of trade no loss has been +sustained by the commerce, the navigation, or the revenue of the +United States, and none of magnitude is to be apprehended from +this existing state of mutual interdict.</p> +<p>With the other maritime and commercial nations of Europe our +intercourse continues with little variation. Since the cessation +by the convention of 24th June, 1822, of all discriminating +duties upon the vessels of the United States and of France in +either country our trade with that nation has increased and is +increasing. A disposition on the part of France has been +manifested to renew that negotiation, and in acceding to the +proposal we have expressed the wish that it might be extended to +other subjects upon which a good understanding between the +parties would be beneficial to the interests of both. The origin +of the political relations between the United States and France +is coeval with the first years of our independence. The memory of +it is interwoven with that of our arduous struggle for national +existence. Weakened as it has occasionally been since that time, +it can by us never be forgotten, and we should hail with +exultation the moment which should indicate a recollection +equally friendly in spirit on the part of France. A fresh effort +has recently been made by the minister of the United States +residing at Paris to obtain a consideration of the just claims of +citizens of the United States to the reparation of wrongs long +since committed, many of them frankly acknowledged and all of +them entitled upon every principle of justice to a candid +examination. The proposal last made to the French Government has +been to refer the subject which has formed an obstacle to this +consideration to the determination of a sovereign the common +friend of both. To this offer no definitive answer has yet been +received, but the gallant and honorable spirit which has at all +times been the pride and glory of France will not ultimately +permit the demands of innocent sufferers to be extinguished in +the mere consciousness of the power to reject them.</p> +<p>A new treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce has been +concluded with the Kingdom of Sweden, which will be submitted to +the Senate for their advice with regard to its ratification. At a +more recent date a minister plenipotentiary from the Hanseatic +Republics of Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen has been received, +charged with a special mission for the negotiation of a treaty of +amity and commerce between that ancient and renowned league and +the United States. This negotiation has accordingly been +commenced, and is now in progress, the result of which will, if +successful, be also submitted to the Senate for their +consideration.</p> +<p>Since the accession of the Emperor Nicholas to the imperial +throne of all the Russias the friendly dispositions toward the +United States so constantly manifested by his predecessor have +continued unabated, and have been recently testified by the +appointment of a minister plenipotentiary to reside at this +place. From the interest taken by this Sovereign in behalf of the +suffering Greeks and from the spirit with which others of the +great European powers are cooperating with him the friends of +freedom and of humanity may indulge the hope that they will +obtain relief from that most unequal of conflicts which they have +so long and so gallantly sustained; that they will enjoy the +blessing of self-government, which by their sufferings in the +cause of liberty they have richly earned, and that their +independence will be secured by those liberal institutions of +which their country furnished the earliest examples in the +history of mankind, and which have consecrated to immortal +remembrance the very soil for which they are now again profusely +pouring forth their blood. The sympathies which the people and +Government of the United States have so warmly indulged with +their cause have been acknowledged by their Government in a +letter of thanks, which I have received from their illustrious +President, a translation of which is now communicated to +Congress, the representatives of that nation to whom this tribute +of gratitude was intended to be paid, and to whom it was justly +due.</p> +<p>In the American hemisphere the cause of freedom and +independence has continued to prevail, and if signalized by none +of those splendid triumphs which had crowned with glory some of +the preceding years it has only been from the banishment of all +external force against which the struggle had been maintained. +The shout of victory has been superseded by the expulsion of the +enemy over whom it could have been achieved. Our friendly wishes +and cordial good will, which have constantly followed the +southern nations of America in all the vicissitudes of their war +of independence, are succeeded by a solicitude equally ardent and +cordial that by the wisdom and purity of their institutions they +may secure to themselves the choicest blessings of social order +and the best rewards of virtuous liberty. Disclaiming alike all +right and all intention of interfering in those concerns which it +is the prerogative of their independence to regulate as to them +shall seem fit, we hail with joy every indication of their +prosperity, of their harmony, of their persevering and inflexible +homage to those principles of freedom and of equal rights which +are alone suited to the genius and temper of the American +nations. It has been, therefore, with some concern that we have +observed indications of intestine divisions in some of the +Republics of the south, and appearances of less union with one +another than we believe to be the interest of all. Among the +results of this state of things has been that the treaties +concluded at Panama do not appear to have been ratified by the +contracting parties, and that the meeting of the congress at +Tacubaya has been indefinitely postponed. In accepting the +invitations to be represented at this congress, while a +manifestation was intended on the part of the United States of +the most friendly disposition toward the southern Republics by +whom it had been proposed, it was hoped that it would furnish an +opportunity for bringing all the nations of this hemisphere to +the common acknowledgment and adoption of the principles in the +regulation of their internal relations which would have secured a +lasting peace and harmony between them and have promoted the +cause of mutual benevolence throughout the globe. But as +obstacles appear to have arisen to the reassembling of the +congress, one of the two ministers commissioned on the part of +the United States has returned to the bosom of his country, while +the minister charged with the ordinary mission to Mexico remains +authorized to attend at the conferences of the congress whenever +they may be resumed.</p> +<p>A hope was for a short time entertained that a treaty of peace +actually signed between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of +Brazil would supersede all further occasion for those collisions +between belligerent pretensions and neutral rights which are so +commonly the result of maritime war, and which have unfortunately +disturbed the harmony of the relations between the United States +and the Brazilian Governments. At their last session Congress +were informed that some of the naval officers of that Empire had +advanced and practiced upon principles in relation to blockades +and to neutral navigation which we could not sanction, and which +our commanders found it necessary to resist. It appears that they +have not been sustained by the Government of Brazil itself. Some +of the vessels captured under the assumed authority of these +erroneous principles have been restored, and we trust that our +just expectations will be realized that adequate indemnity will +be made to all the citizens of the United States who have +suffered by the unwarranted captures which the Brazilian +tribunals themselves have pronounced unlawful.</p> +<p>In the diplomatic discussions at Rio de Janeiro of these +wrongs sustained by citizens of the United States and of others +which seemed as if emanating immediately from that Government +itself the chargé d'affaires of the United States, under +an impression that his representations in behalf of the rights +and interests of his countrymen were totally disregarded and +useless, deemed it his duty, without waiting for instructions, to +terminate his official functions, to demand his passports, and +return to the United States. This movement, dictated by an honest +zeal for the honor and interests of his country-motives which +operated exclusively on the mind of the officer who resorted to +it-has not been disapproved by me. The Brazilian Government, +however, complained of it as a measure for which no adequate +intentional cause had been given by them, and upon an explicit +assurance through their chargé d'affaires residing here +that a successor to the late representative of the United States +hear that Government, the appointment of whom they desired, +should be received and treated with the respect due to his +character, and that indemnity should be promptly made for all +injuries inflicted on citizens of the United States or their +property contrary to the laws of nations, a temporary commission +as charge d'affaires to that country has been issued, which it is +hoped will entirety restore the ordinary diplomatic intercourse +between the two Governments and the friendly relations between +their respective nations.</p> +<p>Turning from the momentous concerns of our Union in its +intercourse with foreign nations to those of the deepest interest +in the administration of our internal affairs, we find the +revenues of the present year corresponding as nearly as might be +expected with the anticipations of the last, and presenting an +aspect still more favorable in the promise of the next. The +balance in the Treasury on January 1 last was $6,358,686.18. The +receipts from that day to the 30th of September last, as hear as +the returns of them yet received can show, amount to +$16,886,581.32. The receipts of the present quarter, estimated at +$4,515,000, added to the above form an aggregate of $21,400,000 +of receipts. The expenditures of the year may perhaps amount to +$22,300,000, presenting a small excess over the receipts. But of +these twenty-two millions, upward of six have been applied to the +discharge of the principal of the public debt, the whole amount +of which, approaching seventy-four millions on the 1st of January +last, will on the first day of the next year fall short of +sixty-seven millions and a half. The balance in the Treasury on +the 1st of January next it is expected will exceed $5,450,000, a +sum exceeding that of the 1st of January, 1825, though falling +short of that exhibited on the 1st of January last.</p> +<p>It was foreseen that the revenue of the present year would not +equal that of the last, which had itself been less than that of +the next preceding year. But the hope has been realized which was +entertained, that these deficiencies would in nowise interrupt +the steady operation of the discharge of the public debt by the +annual ten millions devoted to that object by the act of 3d +March, 1817.</p> +<p>The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the +commencement of the year until the 30th of September last is +$21,226,000, and the probable amount of that which will be +secured during the remainder of the year is $5,774,000, forming a +sum total of $27,000,000. With the allowances for drawbacks and +contingent deficiencies which may occur, though not specifically +foreseen, we may safely estimate the receipts of the ensuing year +at $22,300,000-a revenue for the next equal to the expenditure of +the present year.</p> +<p>The deep solicitude felt by our citizens of all classes +throughout the Union for the total discharge of the public debt +will apologize for the earnestness with which I deem it my duty +to urge this topic upon the consideration of Congress-of +recommending to them again the observance of the strictest +economy in the application of the public funds. The depression +upon the receipts of the revenue which had commenced with the +year 1826 continued with increased severity during the two first +quarters of the present year. The returning tide began to flow +with the third quarter, and, so far as we can judge from +experience, may be expected to continue through the course of the +ensuing year. In the meantime an alleviation from the burden of +the public debt will in the three years have been effected to the +amount of nearly sixteen millions, and the charge of annual +interest will have been reduced upward of one million. But among +the maxims of political economy which the stewards of the public +moneys should never suffer without urgent hecessity to be +transcended is that of keeping the expenditures of the year +within the limits of its receipts. The appropriations of the two +last years, including the yearly ten millions of the sinking +fund, have each equaled the promised revenue of the ensuing year. +While we foresee with confidence that the public coffers will be +replenished from the receipts as fast as they will be drained by +the expenditures, equal in amount to those of the current year, +it should not be forgotten that they could ill suffer the +exhaustion of larger disbursements.</p> +<p>The condition of the Army and of all the branches of the +public service under the superintendence of the Secretary of War +will be seen by the report from that officer and the documents +with which it is accompanied.</p> +<p>During the last summer a detachment of the Army has been +usefully and successfully called to perform their appropriate +duties. At the moment when the commissioners appointed for +carrying into execution certain provisions of the treaty of +August 19, 1825, with various tribes of the Northwestern Indians +were about to arrive at the appointed place of meeting the +unprovoked murder of several citizens and other acts of +unequivocal hostility committed by a party of the Winnebago +tribe, one of those associated in the treaty, followed by +indications of a menacing character among other tribes of the +same region, rendered necessary an immediate display of the +defensive and protective force of the Union in that quarter. It +was accordingly exhibited by the immediate and concerted +movements of the governors of the State of Illinois and of the +Territory of Michigan, and competent levies of militia, under +their authority, with a corps of 700 men of United States troops, +under the command of General Atkinson, who, at the call of +Governor Cass, immediately repaired to the scene of danger from +their station at St. Louis. Their presence dispelled the alarms +of our fellow-citizens on those borders, and overawed the hostile +purposes of the Indians. The perpetrators of the murders were +surrendered to the authority and operation of our laws, and every +appearance of purposed hostility from those Indian tribes has +subsided.</p> +<p>Although the present organization of the Army and the +administration of its various branches of service are, upon the +whole, satisfactory, they are yet susceptible of much improvement +in particulars, some of which have been heretofore submitted to +the consideration of Congress, and others are now first presented +in the report of the Secretary of War.</p> +<p>The expediency of providing for additional numbers of officers +in the two corps of engineers will in some degree depend upon the +number and extent of the objects of national importance upon +which Congress may think it proper that surveys should be made +conformably to the act of the 30th of April, 1824. 'Of the +surveys which before the last session of Congress had been made +under the authority of that act, reports were made-</p> +<p>1. Of the Board of Internal Improvement, on the Chesapeake and +Ohio Canal.</p> +<p>2. On the continuation of the national road from Cumberland to +the tide waters within the district of Columbia.</p> +<p>3. On the continuation of the national road from Canton to +Zanesville.</p> +<p>4. On the location of the national road from Zanesville to +Columbus.</p> +<p>5. On the continuation of the same to the seat of government +in Missouri.</p> +<p>6. On a post-road from Baltimore to Philadelphia.</p> +<p>7. Of a survey of Kennebec River (in part).</p> +<p>8. On a national road from Washington to Buffalo.</p> +<p>9. On the survey of Saugatuck Harbor and River.</p> +<p>10. On a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi +River.</p> +<p>11. On surveys at Edgartown, Newburyport, and Hyannis +Harbor.</p> +<p>12. On survey of La Plaisance Bay, in the Territory of +Michigan.</p> +<p>And reports are now prepared and will be submitted to +Congress-</p> +<p>On surveys of the peninsula of Florida, to ascertain the +practicability of a canal to connect the waters of the Atlantic +with the Gulf of Mexico across that peninsula; and also of the +country between the bays of Mobile and of Pensacola, with the +view of connecting them together by a canal.</p> +<p>On surveys of a route for a canal to connect the waters of +James and Great Kenhawa rivers.</p> +<p>On the survey of the Swash, in Pamlico Sound, and that of Cape +Fear, below the town of Wilmington, in North Carolina.</p> +<p>On the survey of the Muscle Shoals, in the Tennessee River, +and for a route for a contemplated communication between the +Hiwassee and Coosa rivers, in the State of Alabama.</p> +<p>Other reports of surveys upon objects pointed out by the +several acts of Congress of the last and preceding sessions are +in the progress of preparation, and most of them may be completed +before the close of this session. All the officers of both corps +of engineers, with several other persons duly qualified, have +been constantly employed upon these services from the passage of +the act of 30th April, 1824, to this time. Were no other +advantage to accrue to the country from their labors than the +fund of topographical knowledge which they have collected and +communicated, that alone would have been a profit to the Union +more than adequate to all the expenditures which have been +devoted to the object; but the appropriations for the repair and +continuation of the Cumberland road, for the construction of +various other roads, for the removal of obstructions from the +rivers and harbors, for the erection of light-houses, beacons, +piers, and buoys, and for the completion of canals undertaken by +individual associations, but heeding the assistance of means and +resources more comprehensive than individual enterprise can +command, may be considered rather as treasures laid up from the +contributions of the present age for the benefit of posterity +than as unrequited applications of the accruing revenues of the +nation. To such objects of permanent improvement to the condition +of the country, of real addition to the wealth as well as to the +comfort of the people by whose authority and resources they have +been effected, from three to four millions of the annual income +of the nation have, by laws enacted at the three most recent +sessions of Congress, been applied, without intrenching upon the +necessities of the Treasury, without adding a dollar to the taxes +or debts of the community, without suspending even the steady and +regular discharge of the debts contracted in former days, which +within the same three years have been diminished by the amount of +nearly $16,000,000.</p> +<p>The same observations are in a great degree applicable to the +appropriations made for fortifications upon the coasts and +harbors of the United States, for the maintenance of the Military +Academy at West Point, and for the various objects under the +superintendence of the Department of the Navy. The report from +the Secretary of the Navy and those from the subordinate branches +of both the military departments exhibit to Congress in minute +detail the present condition of the public establishments +dependent upon them, the execution of the acts of Congress +relating to them, and the views of the officers engaged in the +several branches of the service concerning the improvements which +may tend to their perfection. The fortification of the coasts and +the gradual increase and improvement of the Navy are parts of a +great system of national defense which has been upward of ten +years in progress, and which for a series of years to come will +continue to claim the constant and persevering protection and +superintendence of the legislative authority. Among the measures +which have emanated from these principles the act of the last +session of Congress for the gradual improvement of the Navy holds +a conspicuous place. The collection of timber for the future +construction of vessels of war, the preservation and reproduction +of the species of timber peculiarly adapted to that purpose, the +construction of dry docks for the use of the Navy, the erection +of a marine railway for the repair of the public ships, and the +improvement of the navy-yards for the preservation of the public +property deposited in them have all received from the Executive +the attention required by that act, and will continue to receive +it, steadily proceeding toward the execution of all its purposes. +The establishment of a naval academy, furnishing the means of +theoretic instruction to the youths who devote their lives to the +service of their country upon the ocean, still solicits the +sanction of the Legislature. Practical seamanship and the art of +navigation may be acquired on the cruises of the squadrons which +from time to time are dispatched to distant seas, but a competent +knowledge even of the art of shipbuilding, the higher +mathematics, and astronomy; the literature which can place our +officers on a level of polished education with the officers of +other maritime nations; the knowledge of the laws, municipal and +national, which in their intercourse with foreign states and +their governments are continually called into operation, and, +above all, that acquaintance with the principles of honor and +justice, with the higher obligations of morals and of general +laws, human and divine, which constitutes the great distinction +between the warrior-patriot and the licensed robber and +pirate-these can be systematically taught and eminently acquired +only in a permanent school, stationed upon the shore and provided +with the teachers, the instruments, and the books conversant with +and adapted to the communication of the principles of these +respective sciences to the youthful and inquiring mind.</p> +<p>The report from the Postmaster-General exhibits the condition +of that Department as highly satisfactory for the present and +still more promising for the future. Its receipts for the year +ending the 1st of July last amounted to $1,473,551, and exceeded +its expenditures by upward of $100,000. It can not be an +oversanguine estimate to predict that in less than ten years, of +which one-half have elapsed, the receipts will have been more +than doubled. In the meantime a reduced expenditure upon +established routes has kept pace with increased facilities of +public accommodation and additional services have been obtained +at reduced rates of compensation. Within the last year the +transportation of the mail in stages has been greatly augmented. +The number of post-offices has been increased to 7,000, and it +may be anticipated that while the facilities of intercourse +between fellow-citizens in person or by correspondence will soon +be carried to the door of every villager in the Union, a yearly +surplus of revenue will accrue which may be applied as the wisdom +of Congress under the exercise of their constitutional powers may +devise for the further establishment and improvement of the +public roads, or by adding still further to the facilities in the +transportation of the mails. Of the indications of the prosperous +condition of our country, none can be more pleasing than those +presented by the multiplying relations of personal and intimate +intercourse between the citizens of the Union dwelling at the +remotest distances from each other.</p> +<p>Among the subjects which have heretofore occupied the earnest +solicitude and attention of Congress is the management and +disposal of that portion of the property of the nation which +consists of the public lands. The acquisition of them, made at +the expense of the whole Union, not only in treasure but in +blood, marks a right of property in them equally extensive. By +the report and statements from the General Land Office now +communicated it appears that under the present Government of the +United States a sum little short of $33,000,000 has been paid +from the common Treasury for that portion of this property which +has been purchased from France and Spain, and for the extinction +of the aboriginal titles. The amount of lands acquired is hear +260,000,000 acres, of which on the 1st of January, 1826, about +139,000,000 acres had been surveyed, and little more than +19,000,000 acres had been sold. The amount paid into the Treasury +by the purchasers of the public lands sold is not yet equal to +the sums paid for the whole, but leaves a small balance to be +refunded. The proceeds of the sales of the lands have long been +pledged to the creditors of the nation, a pledge from which we +have reason to hope that they will in a very few years be +redeemed.</p> +<p>The system upon which this great national interest has been +managed was the result of long, anxious, and persevering +deliberation. Matured and modified by the progress of our +population and the lessons of experience, it has been hitherto +eminently successful. More than nine-tenths of the lands still +remain the common property of the Union, the appropriation and +disposal of which are sacred trusts in the hands of Congress. Of +the lands sold, a considerable part were conveyed under extended +credits, which in the vicissitudes and fluctuations in the value +of lands and of their produce became oppressively burdensome to +the purchasers. It can never be the interest or the policy of the +nation to wring from its own citizens the reasonable profits of +their industry and enterprise by holding them to the rigorous +import of disastrous engagements. In March, 1821, a debt of +$22,000,000, due by purchasers of the public lands, had +accumulated, which they were unable to pay. An act of Congress of +the 2d March, 1821, came to their relief, and has been succeeded +by others, the latest being the act of the 4th of May, 1826, the +indulgent provisions of which expired on the 4th July last. The +effect of these laws has been to reduce the debt from the +purchasers to a remaining balance of about $4,300,000 due, more +than three-fifths of which are for lands within the State of +Alabama. I recommend to Congress the revival and continuance for +a further term of the beneficent accommodations to the public +debtors of that statute, and submit to their consideration, in +the same spirit of equity, the remission, under proper +discriminations, of the forfeitures of partial payments on +account of purchases of the public lands, so far as to allow of +their application to other payments.</p> +<p>There are various other subjects of deep interest to the whole +Union which have heretofore been recommended to the consideration +of Congress, as well by my predecessors as, under the impression +of the duties devolving upon me, by myself. Among these are the +debt, rather of justice than gratitude, to the surviving warriors +of the Revolutionary war; the extension of the judicial +administration of the Federal Government to those extensive and +important members of the Union which, having risen into existence +since the organization of the present judiciary establishment, +now constitute at least one-third of its territory, power, and +population; the formation of a more effective and uniform system +for the government of the militia, and the amelioration in some +form or modification of the diversified and often oppressive +codes relating to insolvency. Amidst the multiplicity of topics +of great national concernment which may recommend themselves to +the calm and patriotic deliberations of the Legislature, it may +suffice to say that on these and all other measures which may +receive their sanction my hearty cooperation will be given, +conformably to the duties enjoined upon me and under the sense of +all the obligations prescribed by the Constitution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>SPECIAL MESSAGES.</h2> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 6, 1827</i>.<br> +</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 19th of +February last, requesting a statement of all the expenses +annually incurred in carrying into effect the act of March 2, +1819, for prohibiting the slave trade, including the cost of +keeping the ships of war on the coast of Africa and all the +incidental expenses growing out of the operation of that act, I +transmit a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with the +statement, so far as it can be made, required by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 11, 1827</i>.<span class="c4"><br> +</span></p> +<p><span class="c4"><br> +</span> <i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate-</p> +<p>1. A convention between the United States and Great Britain +for the continuance in force of the convention of 3d July, 1815, +after the 20th October, 1828, the term at which it would +otherwise expire.</p> +<p>2. A convention between the same parties for continuing in +force after the 20th October, 1828, the provisions of the third +article of the convention of 20th October, 1818, in relation to +the territories westward of the Rocky Mountains.</p> +<p>3. A convention between the same parties for the reference to +a friendly sovereign of the points of difference between them +relating to the northeastern boundary of the United States.</p> +<p>The first and second of these conventions were signed by the +plenipotentiaries of the respective parties at London on the 6th +day of August and the third on the 29th day of September +last.</p> +<p>Copies of them are also communicated, together with the +correspondence and documents illustrative of their +negotiation.</p> +<p>I request the advice of the Senate with regard to the +ratification of each of them.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 11, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the +United States and the Kingdom of. Sweden and Norway, signed at +Stockholm by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the +4th day of July last.</p> +<p>A copy of the treaty, with a translation, and the instructions +and correspondence relating to the negotiation are also +communicated.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 12, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to Congress copies of a report of the +surveyor-general of lands northwest of Ohio, with a plat of the +northern boundary line of the State of Indiana, surveyed in +conformity to the act of Congress to authorize the President of +the United States to ascertain and designate the northern +boundary of the State of Indiana, passed the 2d of March, +1827.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 24, 1827</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 14th +instant, requesting a communication of the instructions to the +American minister at London for the negotiation of the convention +of the 13th of November, 1826, with Great Britain, for indemnity +to the claimants under the first article of the treaty of Ghent, +together with the letters of the minister accompanying and +explaining the said convention, I transmit herewith a report from +the Secretary of State, together with the documents desired.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 4, 1828</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 19th of +last month, I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of +State, with copies of the correspondence with the British +Government relating to the establishment of light-houses, +light-vessels, buoys, and other improvements to the navigation +within their jurisdiction, opposite to the coast of Florida, +referred to in the resolution,</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 7, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 17th of last month, I transmit to the +House a report from the Secretary of State and the correspondence +with the Government of Great Britain relative to the free +navigation of the river St. Lawrence.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 9, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 7th +instant, I transmit herewith Mitchell's map and the map marked +A,<a name="FNanchor013"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_013"><sup>[013]</sup></a> as requested by the +resolution, desiring that when the Senate shall have no further +use for them they may be returned.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 15, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 2d instant, requesting information +respecting the recovery of debts and property in the Mexican +States from persons absconding from the United States, and also +respecting the boundary between the State of Louisiana and the +Province of Texas, I now transmit a report from the Secretary of +State on the subject-matter of the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 22, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, +articles of agreement signed at the Creek Agency on the 15th of +November last by Thomas L. McKenney and John Crowell in behalf of +the United States and by the Little Prince and other chiefs and +headmen of the Creek Nation, with a supplementary article +concluded by the said John Crowell with the chiefs and headmen of +the nation in general council convened on the 3d instant, +embracing a cession by the Creek Nation of all the remnant of +their lands within the State of Georgia. Documents connected with +the negotiation of the treaty and the instructions under which it +was effected are also communicated to the Senate.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 22, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>By the report of the Secretary of War and the documents from +that Department exhibited to Congress at the commencement of +their present session they were advised of the measures taken for +carrying into execution the act of 4th May, 1826, to authorize +the President of the United States to run and mark a line +dividing the Territory of Florida from the State of Georgia, and +of their unsuccessful result. I now transmit to Congress copies +of communications received from the governor of Georgia relating +to that subject.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 23, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>A resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant requested +information relative to the trade between the United States and +the colonies of France. A report from the Secretary of State, +with a translation of the ordinance of the King of France of the +5th of February, 1826, is herewith transmitted, containing the +information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 28, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate-</p> +<p>1. A treaty concluded at the Butte des Morts, on Fox River, in +the Territory of Michigan, on 11th of August, 1827, between Lewis +Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners of the United States, +and the chiefs and headmen of the Chippewa, Menomonie, and +Winnebago tribes of Indians.</p> +<p>2. A treaty concluded at St. Joseph, in the Territory of +Michigan, on the 19th of September, 1827, between Lewis Cass, +commissioner of the United States, and the chiefs and warriors of +the Potawatamie tribe of Indians.</p> +<p>Upon which treaties I request the advice of the Senate. The +instructions and other documents relating to the negotiation of +them are here-with communicated.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 29</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>A report from the Secretary of State, with copies of a recent +correspondence between the chargé d'affaires from Brazil +and him on the subjects of discussion between this Government and +that of Brazil,<a name="FNanchor014"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_014"><sup>[014]</sup></a> is transmitted to the House +of Representatives, in compliance with a resolution of the House +of the 2d instant.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 6, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate herewith to Congress copies of a treaty of +commerce and navigation between the United States and His Majesty +the King of Sweden and Norway, concluded at Stockholm on the 4th +of July, 1827, and the ratifications of which were exchanged on +the 18th ultimo at this city.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 14, 1828</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the nth +instant, requesting copies of the instructions to Andrew +Ellicott, commissioner for running the line between the United +States and Spain, and of any journal or report of the +commissioners, I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary +of State, with the documents requested, so far as they are found +in the files of that Department.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 21, 1828</i></p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In transmitting to Congress copies of a communication received +from the governor of Pennsylvania, with certain resolutions of +the legislature of that Commonwealth, relating to the Cumberland +road, I deem it my duty to recommend to the consideration of +Congress an adequate provision for the permanent preservation and +repair of that great national work.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 3, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of State, with documents, containing the instructions +of the Government of the United States to Thomas Pinckney under +which was negotiated the treaty of San Lorenzo el Real, and +relating to the boundary line between the United States and the +dominions, at that time, of Spain as requested by a resolution of +the House of the 18th ultimo.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 3, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d of +January last, requesting the communication of information in my +possession relative to alleged aggression on the rights of +citizens of the United States by persons claiming authority under +the government of the Province of New Brunswick, I communicate a +report from the Secretary of State, with a copy of that of the +special agent mentioned in my message at the commencement of the +present session of Congress as having been sent to visit the spot +where the cause of complaint had occurred to ascertain the state +of the facts, and the result of whose inquiries I then promised +to communicate to Congress when it should be received.</p> +<p>The Senate are requested to receive this communication as the +fulfillment of that engagement; and in making it I deem it proper +to notice with just acknowledgment the liberality with which the +minister of His Britannic Majesty residing here and the +government of the Province of New Brunswick have furnished the +agent of the United States with every facility for the attainment +of the information which it was the object of his mission to +procure.</p> +<p>Considering the exercise of exclusive territorial jurisdiction +upon the grounds in controversy by the government of New +Brunswick in the arrest and imprisonment of John Baker as +incompatible with the mutual understanding existing between the +Governments of the United States and of Great Britain on this +subject, a demand has been addressed to the provincial +authorities through the minister of Great Britain for the release +of that individual from prison, and of indemnity to him for his +detention'. In doing this it has not been intended to maintain +the regularity of his own proceedings or of those with whom he +was associated, to which they were not authorized by any +sovereign authority of this country.</p> +<p>The documents appended to the report of the agent being +original papers belonging to the files of the Department of +State, a return of them is requested when the Senate shall have +no further use for them.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 7, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>The resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, requesting me +to cause to be laid before the Senate all papers which might be +in the Department of War relating to the treaty concluded at the +Butte des Morts, on Fox River, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. +McKenney, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the +Chippewa, Menomonie, and Winnebago tribes of Indians, having been +referred to the Secretary of War, the report of that officer +thereon is herewith inclosed. The papers therein referred to were +all transmitted to the Senate with the treaty. Before that event, +however, a petition and several other papers had been addressed +directly to me, in behalf of certain Indians originally and in +part still residing within the State of New York, objecting to +the ratification of the treaty, as affecting injuriously their +rights and interests. The treaty was itself withheld from the +Senate until it was understood at the War Department and by me +that by the consent of the persons representing the New York +Indians their objections were withdrawn, as by one of them, the +Reverend Eleazer Williams, I was personally assured. Those +papers, however, addressed directly to me, and which have not +been upon the files of the War Department, are now transmitted to +the Senate.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 14, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, +a treaty concluded at the Wyandot village, hear the Wabash, in +the State of Indiana, between John Tipton, commissioner on the +part of the United States, and the chiefs, headmen, and warriors +of the Eel River or Thorntown party of Miami Indians, on the nth +day of February last.</p> +<p>A letter from the commissioner to the Secretary of War, with a +copy of the journal of the proceedings which led to the +conclusion of the treaty, are communicated with it to the +Senate.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 15, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 21st +ultimo, requesting me to lay before the House correspondence not +heretofore communicated between the Government of the United +States and that of Great Britain on the subject of the claims of +the two Governments to the territory westward of the Rocky +Mountains, I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of +State, with the documents requested by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 21, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty concluded on the +15th day of November, 1827, by commissioners of the United States +and the chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation of Indians, which +was duly ratified on the 4th instant.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 22, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 3d instant, touching the formation of a +new government by the Cherokee tribe of Indians within the States +of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama, and +requesting copies of certain correspondence relating thereto, I +transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of War, together with the documents desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 25, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +prepared in compliance with the resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 25th of February last, requesting copies +of instructions and correspondence relating to the settlement of +the boundary lines of the United States, or any one of them, +under the Government of the Confederated States and by the +definitive treaty of peace of 3d September, 1783, with Great +Britain.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 8, 1828</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 22d ultimo, on the subject of the treaty +with the Creek Nation of Indians of the 15th November last, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with the +documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 15, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 9th +instant, requesting copies of the charges preferred against the +agent of the United States for the Creek tribe of Indians since +the 1st of January, 1826, and of proceedings had thereon, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with +documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 17, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In conformity with the practice of all my predecessors, I have +during my service in the office of President transmitted to the +two Houses of Congress from time to time, by the same private +secretary, such messages as a proper discharge of my +constitutional duty appeared to me to require. On Tuesday last he +was charged with the delivery of a message to each House. Having +presented that which was intended for the House of +Representatives, whilst he was passing, within the Capitol, from +their Hall to the Chamber of the Senate, for the purpose of +delivering the other message, he was waylaid and assaulted in the +Rotunda by a person, in the presence of a member of the House, +who interposed and separated the parties.</p> +<p>I have thought it my duty to communicate this occurrence to +Congress, to whose wisdom it belongs to consider whether it is of +a nature requiring from them any animadversion, and also whether +any further laws or regulations are necessary to insure security +in the official intercourse between the President and Congress, +and to prevent disorders within the Capitol itself.</p> +<p>In the deliberations of Congress upon this subject it is +neither expected nor desired that any consequence shall be +attached to the private relation in which my secretary stands to +me.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 21, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, +a treaty of limits between the United States of America and the +United Mexican States, concluded by the plenipotentiaries of the +two Governments on the 12th of January last. A copy of the treaty +and the protocols of conference between the plenipotentiaries +during the negotiation are inclosed with it.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 22,1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>A copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General, dated 17th May, +1826, upon the construction of the award of the Emperor of Russia +under the treaty of Ghent and upon certain questions propounded +to him in relation thereto, subjoined to a report from the +Secretary of State, are herewith communicated to the House, in +compliance with their resolution of the 17th instant.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 24, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for the exercise of their +constitutional authority thereon, a treaty of amity, commerce, +and navigation between the United States of America and the +United Mexican States, signed by their respective +plenipotentiaries on the 14th of February last, with a copy of +the treaty and the protocols of conference during and subsequent +to the negotiation.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 28,1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 9th instant, requesting a communication of +the correspondence between this Government and that of Great +Britain on the subject of the trade between the United States and +the British colonial possessions in the West Indies and North +America, not heretofore communicated, I transmit to the House a +report from the Secretary of State, with the correspondence +desired.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>April 30, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In the month of December last 121 African negroes were landed +at Key West from a Spanish slave-trading vessel stranded within +the jurisdiction of the United States while pursued by an armed +schooner in His Britannic Majesty's service. The collector of the +customs at Key West took possession of these persons, who were +afterwards delivered over to the marshal of the Territory of East +Florida, by whom they were conveyed to St. Augustine, where they +still remain.</p> +<p>Believing that the circumstances under which they have been +cast upon the compassion of the country are not embraced by the +provisions of the act of Congress of 3d March, 1819, or of the +other acts prohibiting the slave trade, I submit to the +consideration of Congress the expediency of a supplementary act +directing and authorizing such measures as may be necessary for +removing them from the territory of the United States and for +fulfilling toward them the obligations of humanity.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 1, 1828</i>. <i>To the Senate of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 17th +ultimo, relating to the removal of the Indian agency from Fort +Wayne, in the State of Indiana, I transmit a report from the +Secretary of War, with the documents and information requested by +the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 5, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 30th +ultimo, requesting information concerning any regulation of the +Government of Brazil relative to the reduction of certain duties, +I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +exhibiting the information received at that Department on the +subject.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 5,1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to the Senate, for their consideration and +advice, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United +States and His Majesty the King of Prussia, signed on the 1st +instant at this place by the Secretary of State and the +chargé d'affaires of Prussia residing here. A copy of the +treaty is also transmitted.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 9, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>The report of the Secretary of War herewith transmitted, with +the documents annexed, contains the information requested by a +resolution of the 3d of April last, relating to the payments made +to the citizens of Georgia under the fourth article of the treaty +with the Creek Nation of 8th February, 1821, and to the +disallowances of certain claims exhibited under that treaty, and +to the reasons for rejecting the same.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 12, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, +the articles of a convention concluded at this place on the 6th +instant between the Secretary of War and the chiefs and headmen +of the Cherokee Nation west of the Mississippi, duly authorized +by their nation. A report from the Secretary of War, with certain +documents, and a map illustrative of the convention are submitted +with it to the Senate.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 16, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>By a communication received from the chargé d'affaires +of Prussia, a translation of which is herewith transmitted, it +appears that in the ports of that Kingdom all discriminating +duties so far as they affected the vessels of the United States +and their cargoes have been abolished since the 15th of April, +1826. I recommend to the consideration of Congress a legislative +provision whereby the reciprocal application of the same +principle may be extended to Prussian vessels and their cargoes +which may have arrived in the ports of the United States from and +after that day.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 19, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress copies of three conventions concluded +between the United States of America and His Majesty the King of +the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the +ratifications of which were exchanged at London on the 2d of last +month:</p> +<p>1. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in +force the provisions of the convention of 3d July, 1815.</p> +<p>2. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in +force the provisions of the third article of the convention of +20th October, 1818.</p> +<p>3. A convention concluded 29th September, 1827, for carrying +into effect the provisions of the fifth article of the treaty of +Ghent in relation to the northeastern boundary of the United +States.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 21, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House a report<a name="FNanchor015"></a><a +href="#Footnote_015"><sup>[015]</sup></a> from the Secretary of +State, with a copy of the note of the minister of the United +States to Spain dated 20th January, 1826, requested by a +resolution of the House of the 19th instant.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 22, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>The inclosed report from the Secretary of State is accompanied +by copies of the correspondence between this Government and the +minister of His Britannic Majesty residing here relating to the +arrest and imprisonment of John Baker,<a name= +"FNanchor016"></a><a href="#Footnote_016"><sup>[016]</sup></a> +requested by a recent resolution of the House.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 22, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty between the United +States of America and the Eel River or Thornton party of Miami +Indians, concluded on the nth of February last at the Wyandot +village, hear the Wabash, and duly ratified on the 7th +instant.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 23, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 8th +instant, relating to the accounts and official conduct of Thomas +A. Smith, receiver of public moneys at Franklin, Mo., I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with +documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>May 23, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 30th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of State, with copies of the correspondence<a +name="FNanchor017"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_017"><sup>[017]</sup></a> with the Brazilian +Government, and shewing the measures taken by the Government of +the United States in relation to the several topics noticed in +the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<h2>PROCLAMATION.</h2> +<br> + +<p>By the President of the United States of America.</p> +<p>A PROCLAMATION.</p> +<br> + +<p>Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the +7th of January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating +duties of tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon +satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United +States by the government of any foreign nation that no +discriminating duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied +within the ports of the said nation upon vessels belonging wholly +to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise the produce +or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President is +thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the +foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the +United States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far +as respects the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of +its produce or manufacture imported into the United States in the +same, the said suspension to take effect from the time of such +notification being given to the President of the United States, +and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels +belonging to citizens of the United States and merchandise as +aforesaid thereon laden shall be continued, and no longer; +and</p> +<p>Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His +Britannic Majesty, as King of Hanover, through the Right +Honorable Charles Richard Vaughan, his envoy extraordinary and +minister plenipotentiary, that vessels wholly belonging to +citizens of the United States or merchandise the produce or +manufacture thereof imported in such vessels are not nor shall be +on their entering any Hanoverian port subject to the payment of +higher duties of tonnage or impost than are levied on Hanoverian +ships or merchandise the produce or manufacture of the United +States imported in such vessels:</p> +<p>Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United +States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of +the several acts imposing duties on the tonnage of ships and +vessels and on goods, wares, and merchandise imported into the +United States as imposed a discriminating duty of tonnage between +the vessels of the Kingdom of Hanover and vessels of the United +States and between goods imported into the United States in +vessels of the Kingdom of Hanover and vessels of the United +States are suspended and discontinued so far as the same respect +the produce or manufacture of the said Kingdom of Hanover, the +said suspension to take effect this day and to continue +henceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels +of the United States and of the merchandise laden therein as +aforesaid shall be continued in the ports of the Kingdom of +Hanover.</p> +<p>Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 1st day +of July, A. D. 1828, and the fifty-second year of the +Independence of the United States.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p>By the President:</p> +<p>H. Clay, <i><br> + Secretary of State</i>.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<h2>EXECUTIVE ORDER.</h2> +<p><br> + Department of War,<br> + <i>February 28, 1828</i>.</p> +<p>The Secretary of War, by direction of the President of the +United States, announces to the Army the painful intelligence of +the decease (the 24th of February) of Major-General Brown.</p> +<p>To say that he was one of the men who have rendered most +important services to his country would fall far short of the +tribute due to his character. Uniting with the most unaffected +simplicity the highest degree of personal valor and of +intellectual energy, he stands preeminent before the world and +for after ages in that band of heroic spirits who upon the ocean +and the land formed and sustained during the second war with +Great Britain the martial reputation of their country. To this +high and honorable purpose General Brown may be truly said to +have sacrificed his life, for the disease which abridged his days +and has terminated his career at a period scarcely beyond the +meridian of manhood undoubtedly originated in the hardships of +his campaigns on the Canada frontier, and in that glorious wound +which, though desperate, could not remove him from the field of +battle till it was won.</p> +<p>Quick to perceive, sagacious to anticipate, prompt to decide, +and daring in execution, he was born with the qualities which +constitute a great commander. His military <i>coup d'oeil</i>. +his intuitive penetration, his knowledge of men and his capacity +to control them were known to all his companions in arms, and +commanded their respect; while the gentleness of his disposition, +the courtesy of his deportment, his scrupulous regard to their +rights, his constant attention to their wants, and his +affectionate attachment to their persons universally won their +hearts and bound them to him as a father.</p> +<p>Calm and collected in the presence of the enemy, he was withal +tender of human life; in the hour of battle more sparing of the +blood of the soldier than his own. In the hour of victory the +vanquished enemy found in him a humane and compassionate friend. +Not one drop of blood shed in wantonness or cruelty sullies the +purity of his fame. Defeat he was never called to endure, but in +the crisis of difficulty and danger he displayed untiring +patience and fortitude not to be overcome.</p> +<p>Such was the great and accomplished captain whose loss the +Army has now, in common with their fellow-citizens of all +classes, to deplore. While indulging the kindly impulses of +nature and yielding the tribute of a tear upon his grave, let it +not be permitted to close upon his bright example as it must upon +his mortal remains. Let him be more nobly sepulchered in the +hearts of his fellow-soldiers, and his imperishable monument be +found in their endeavors to emulate his virtues.</p> +<p>The officers of the Army will wear the badge of mourning for +six months on the left arm and hilt of the sword. Guns will be +fired at each military post at intervals of thirty minutes from +the rising to the setting of the sun on the day succeeding the +arrival of this order, during which the National flag will be +suspended at half-mast.</p> +<p>James Barbour.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<h2>FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.</h2> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 2, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of +Representatives</i>:</p> +<p>If the enjoyment in profusion of the bounties of Providence +forms a suitable subject of mutual gratulation and grateful +acknowledgment, we are admonished at this return of the season +when the representatives of the nation are assembled to +deliberate upon their concerns to offer up the tribute of fervent +and grateful hearts for the never-failing mercies of Him who +ruleth over all. He has again favored us with healthful seasons +and abundant harvests; He has sustained us in peace with foreign +countries and in tranquillity within our borders; He has +preserved us in the quiet and undisturbed possession of civil and +religious liberty; He has crowned the year with His goodness, +imposing on us no other conditions than of improving for our own +happiness the blessings bestowed by His hands, and, in the +fruition of all His favors, of devoting the faculties with which +we have been endowed by Him to His glory and to our own temporal +and eternal welfare.</p> +<p>In the relations of our Federal Union with our brethren of the +human race the changes which have occurred since the close of +your last session have generally tended to the preservation of +peace and to the cultivation of harmony. Before your last +separation a war had unhappily been kindled between the Empire of +Russia, one of those with which our intercourse has been no other +than a constant exchange of good offices, and that of the Ottoman +Porte, a nation from which geographical distance, religious +opinions and maxims of government on their part little suited to +the formation of those bonds of mutual benevolence which result +from the benefits of commerce had kept us in a state, perhaps too +much prolonged, of coldness and alienation. The extensive, +fertile, and populous dominions of the Sultan belong rather to +the Asiatic than the European division of the human family. They +enter but partially into the system of Europe, nor have their +wars with Russia and Austria, the European States upon which they +border, for more than a century past disturbed the pacific +relations of those States with the other great powers of Europe. +Neither France nor Prussia nor Great Britain has ever taken part +in them, nor is it to be expected that they will at this time. +The declaration of war by Russia has received the approbation or +acquiescence of her allies, and we may indulge the hope that its +progress and termination will be signalized by the moderation and +forbearance no less than by the energy of the Emperor Nicholas, +and that it will afford the opportunity for such collateral +agency in behalf of the suffering Greeks as will secure to them +ultimately the triumph of humanity and of freedom.</p> +<p>The state of our particular relations with France has scarcely +varied in the course of the present year. The commercial +intercourse between the two countries has continued to increase +for the mutual benefit of both. The claims of indemnity to +numbers of our fellow-citizens for depredations upon their +property, heretofore committed during the revolutionary +governments, remain unadjusted, and still form the subject of +earnest representation and remonstrance. Recent advices from the +minister of the United States at Paris encourage the expectation +that the appeal to the justice of the French Government will ere +long receive a favorable consideration.</p> +<p>The last friendly expedient has been resorted to for the +decision of the controversy with Great Britain relating to the +northeastern boundary of the United States. By an agreement with +the British Government, carrying into effect the provisions of +the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, and the convention of +29th September, 1827, His Majesty the King of the Netherlands has +by common consent been selected as the umpire between the +parties. The proposal to him to accept the designation for the +performance of this friendly office will be made at an early day, +and the United States, relying upon the justice of their cause, +will cheerfully commit the arbitrament of it to a prince equally +distinguished for the independence of his spirit, his +indefatigable assiduity to the duties of his station, and his +inflexible personal probity.</p> +<p>Our commercial relations with Great Britain will deserve the +serious consideration of Congress and the exercise of a +conciliatory and forbearing spirit in the policy of both +Governments. The state of them has been materially changed by the +act of Congress, passed at their last session, in alteration of +the several acts imposing duties on imports, and by acts of more +recent date of the British Parliament. The effect of the +interdiction of direct trade, commenced by Great Britain and +reciprocated by the United States, has been, as was to be +foreseen, only to substitute different channels for an exchange +of commodities indispensable to the colonies and profitable to a +numerous class of our fellow-citizens. The exports, the revenue, +the navigation of the United States have suffered no diminution +by our exclusion from direct access to the British colonies. The +colonies pay more dearly for the necessaries of life which their +Government burdens with the charges of double voyages, freight, +insurance, and commission, and the profits of our exports are +somewhat impaired and more injuriously transferred from one +portion of our citizens to another. The resumption of this old +and otherwise exploded system of colonial exclusion has not +secured to the shipping interest of Great Britain the relief +which, at the expense of the distant colonies and of the United +States, it was expected to afford. Other measures have been +resorted to more pointedly bearing upon the navigation of the +United States, and which, unless modified by the construction +given to the recent acts of Parliament, will be manifestly +incompatible with the positive stipulations of the commercial +convention existing between the two countries. That convention, +however, may be terminated with twelve months' notice, at the +option of either party.</p> +<p>A treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce between the United +States and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary +and Bohemia, has been prepared for signature by the Secretary of +State and by the Baron de Lederer, intrusted with full powers of +the Austrian Government. Independently of the new and friendly +relations which may be thus commenced with one of the most +eminent and powerful nations of the earth, the occasion has been +taken in it, as in other recent treaties concluded by the United +States, to extend those principles of liberal intercourse and of +fair reciprocity which intertwine with the exchanges of commerce +the principles of justice and the feelings of mutual benevolence. +This system, first proclaimed to the world in the first +commercial treaty ever concluded by the United States-that of 6th +February, 1778, with France-has been invariably the cherished +policy of our Union. It is by treaties of commerce alone that it +can be made ultimately to prevail as the established system of +all civilized nations. With this principle our fathers extended +the hand of friendship to every nation of the globe, and to this +policy our country has ever since adhered. Whatever of regulation +in our laws has ever been adopted unfavorable to the interest of +any foreign nation has been essentially defensive and +counteracting to similar regulations of theirs operating against +us.</p> +<p>Immediately after the close of the War of Independence +commissioners were appointed by the Congress of the Confederation +authorized to conclude treaties with every nation of Europe +disposed to adopt them. Before the wars of the French Revolution +such treaties had been consummated with the United Netherlands, +Sweden, and Prussia. During those wars treaties with Great +Britain and Spain had been effected, and those with Prussia and +France renewed. In all these some concessions to the liberal +principles of intercourse proposed by the United States had been +obtained; but as in all the negotiations they came occasionally +in collision with previous internal regulations or exclusive and +excluding compacts of monopoly with which the other parties had +been trammeled, the advances made in them toward the freedom of +trade were partial and imperfect. Colonial establishments, +chartered companies, and shipbuilding influence pervaded and +encumbered the legislation of all the great commercial states; +and the United States, in offering free trade and equal privilege +to all, were compelled to acquiesce in many exceptions with each +of the parties to their treaties, accommodated to their existing +laws and anterior engagements.</p> +<p>The colonial system by which this whole hemisphere was bound +has fallen into ruins, totally abolished by revolutions +converting colonies into independent nations throughout the two +American continents, excepting a portion of territory chiefly at +the northern extremity of our own, and confined to the remnants +of dominion retained by Great Britain over the insular +archipelago, geographically the appendages of our part of the +globe. With all the rest we have free trade, even with the +insular colonies of all the European nations, except Great +Britain. Her Government also had manifested approaches to the +adoption of a free and liberal intercourse between her colonies +and other nations, though by a sudden and scarcely explained +revulsion the spirit of exclusion has been revived for operation +upon the United States alone.</p> +<p>The conclusion of our last treaty of peace with Great Britain +was shortly afterwards followed by a commercial convention, +placing the direct intercourse between the two countries upon a +footing of more equal reciprocity than had ever before been +admitted. The same principle has since been much further extended +by treaties with France, Sweden, Denmark, the Hanseatic cities, +Prussia, in Europe, and with the Republics of Colombia and of +Central America, in this hemisphere. The mutual abolition of +discriminating duties and charges upon the navigation and +commercial intercourse between the parties is the general maxim +which characterizes them all. There is reason to expect that it +will at no distant period be adopted by other nations, both of +Europe and America, and to hope that by its universal prevalence +one of the fruitful sources of wars of commercial competition +will be extinguished.</p> +<p>Among the nations upon whose Governments many of our +fellow-citizens have had long-pending claims of indemnity for +depredations upon their property during a period when the rights +of neutral commerce were disregarded was that of Denmark. They +were soon after the events occurred the subject of a special +mission from the United States, at the close of which the +assurance was given by His Danish Majesty that at a period of +more tranquillity and of less distress they would be considered, +examined, and decided upon in a spirit of determined purpose for +the dispensation of justice. I have much pleasure in informing +Congress that the fulfillment of this honorable promise is now in +progress; that a small portion of the claims has already been +settled to the satisfaction of the claimants, and that we have +reason to hope that the remainder will shortly be placed in a +train of equitable adjustment. This result has always been +confidently expected, from the character of personal integrity +and of benevolence which the Sovereign of the Danish dominions +has through every vicissitude of fortune maintained.</p> +<p>The general aspect of the affairs of our highborn American +nations of the south has been rather of approaching than of +settled tranquillity. Internal disturbances have been more +frequent among them than their common friends would have desired. +Our intercourse with all has continued to be that of friendship +and of mutual good will. Treaties of commerce and of boundaries +with the United Mexican States have been negotiated, but, from +various successive obstacles, not yet brought to a final +conclusion.</p> +<p>The civil war which unfortunately still prevails in the +Republics of Central America has been unpropitious to the +cultivation of our commercial relations with them; and the +dissensions and revolutionary changes in the Republics of +Colombia and of Peru have been seen with cordial regret by us, +who would gladly contribute to the happiness of both. It is with +great satisfaction, however, that we have witnessed the recent +conclusion of a peace between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and +of Brazil, and it is equally gratifying to observe that indemnity +has been obtained for some of the injuries which our +fellow-citizens had sustained in the latter of those countries. +The rest are in a train of negotiation, which we hope may +terminate to mutual satisfaction, and that it may be succeeded by +a treaty of commerce and navigation, upon liberal principles, +propitious to a great and growing commerce, already important to +the interests of our country.</p> +<p>The condition and prospects of the revenue are more favorable +than our most sanguine expectations had anticipated. The balance +in the Treasury on the 1st of January last, exclusive of the +moneys received under the convention of 13th of November, 1826, +with Great Britain, was $5,861,972.83. The receipts into the +Treasury from the 1st of January to the 30th of September last, +so far as they have been ascertained to form the basis of an +estimate, amount to $18,633,580.27, which, with the receipts of +the present quarter, estimated at $5,461,283.40, form an +aggregate of receipts during the year of $24,094,863.67. The +expenditures of the year may probably amount to $25,637,111.63, +and leave in the Treasury on the 1st of January next the sum of +$5,125,638.14.</p> +<p>The receipts of the present year have amounted to hear two +millions more than was anticipated at the commencement of the +last session of Congress.</p> +<p>The amount of duties secured on importations from the 1st of +January to the 30th of September was about $22,997,000, and that +of the estimated accruing revenue is five millions, forming an +aggregate for the year of hear twenty-eight millions. This is one +million more than the estimate made last December for the +accruing revenue of the present year, which, with allowances for +drawbacks and contingent deficiencies, was expected to produce an +actual revenue of $22,300,000. Had these only been realized the +expenditures of the year would have been also proportionally +reduced, for of these twenty-four millions received upward of +nine millions have been applied to the extinction of public debt, +bearing an interest of 6 per cent a year, and of course reducing +the burden of interest annually payable in future by the amount +of more than half a million. The payments on account of interest +during the current year exceed $3,000,000, presenting an +aggregate of more than twelve millions applied during the year to +the discharge of the public debt, the whole of which remaining +due on the 1st of January next will amount only to +$58,362,135.78.</p> +<p>That the revenue of the ensuing year will not fall short of +that received in the one now expiring there are indications which +can scarcely prove deceptive. In our country an uniform +experience of forty years has shown that whatever the tariff of +duties upon articles imported from abroad has been, the amount of +importations has always borne an average value nearly approaching +to that of the exports, though occasionally differing in the +balance, sometimes being more and sometimes less. It is, indeed, +a general law of prosperous commerce that the real value of +exports should by a small, and only a small, balance exceed that +of imports, that balance being a permanent addition to the wealth +of the nation. The extent of the prosperous commerce of the +nation must be regulated by the amount of its exports, and an +important addition to the value of these will draw after it a +corresponding increase of importations. It has happened in the +vicissitudes of the seasons that the harvests of all Europe have +in the late summer and autumn fallen short of their usual +average. A relaxation of the interdict upon the importation of +grain and flour from abroad has ensued, a propitious market has +been opened to the granaries of our country, and a new prospect +of reward presented to the labors of the husbandman, which for +several years has been denied. This accession to the profits of +agriculture in the middle and western portions of our Union is +accidental and temporary. It may continue only for a single year. +It may be, as has been often experienced in the revolutions of +time, but the first of several scanty harvests in succession. We +may consider it certain that for the approaching year it has +added an item of large amount to the value of our exports and +that it will produce a corresponding increase of importations. It +may therefore confidently be foreseen that the revenue of 1829 +will equal and probably exceed that of 1828, and will afford the +means of extinguishing ten millions more of the principal of the +public debt.</p> +<p>This new element of prosperity to that part of our +agricultural industry which is occupied in producing the first +article of human subsistence is of the most cheering character to +the feelings of patriotism. Proceeding from a cause which +humanity will view with concern, the sufferings of scarcity in +distant lands, it yields a consolatory reflection that this +scarcity is in no respect attributable to us; that it comes from +the dispensation of Him who ordains all in wisdom and goodness, +and who permits evil itself only as an instrument of good; that, +far from contributing to this scarcity, our agency will be +applied only to the alleviation of its severity, and that in +pouring forth from the abundance of our own garners the supplies +which will partially restore plenty to those who are in heed we +shall ourselves reduce our stores and add to the price of our own +bread, so as in some degree to participate in the wants which it +will be the good fortune of our country to relieve.</p> +<p>The great interests of an agricultural, commercial, and +manufacturing nation are so linked in union together that no +permanent cause of prosperity to one of them can operate without +extending its influence to the others. All these interests are +alike under the protecting power of the legislative authority, +and the duties of the representative bodies are to conciliate +them in harmony together. So far as the object of taxation is to +raise a revenue for discharging the debts and defraying the +expenses of the community, its operation should be adapted as +much as possible to suit the burden with equal hand upon all in +proportion with their ability of bearing it without oppression. +But the legislation of one nation is sometimes intentionally made +to bear heavily upon the interests of another. That legislation, +adapted, as it is meant to be, to the special interests of its +own people, will often press most unequally upon the several +component interests of its neighbors. Thus the legislation of +Great Britain, when, as has recently been avowed, adapted to the +depression of a rival nation, will naturally abound with +regulations of interdict upon the productions of the soil or +industry of the other which come in competition with its own, and +will present encouragement, perhaps even bounty, to the raw +material of the other State which it can not produce itself, and +which is essential for the use of its manufactures, competitors +in the markets of the world with those of its commercial rival. +Such is the state of the commercial legislation of Great Britain +as it bears upon our interests. It excludes with interdicting +duties all importation (except in time of approaching famine) of +the great staple of productions of our Middle and Western States; +it proscribes with equal rigor the bulkier lumber and live stock +of the same portion and also of the Northern and Eastern part of +our Union. It refuses even the rice of the South unless +aggravated with a charge of duty upon the Northern carrier who +brings it to them. But the cotton, indispensable for their looms, +they will receive almost duty free to weave it into a fabric for +our own wear, to the destruction of our own manufactures, which +they are enabled thus to undersell.</p> +<p>Is the self-protecting energy of this nation so helpless that +there exists in the political institutions of our country no +power to counteract the bias of this foreign legislation; that +the growers of grain must submit to this exclusion from the +foreign markets of their produce; that the shippers must +dismantle their ships, the trade of the North stagnate at the +wharves, and the manufacturers starve at their looms, while the +whole people shall pay tribute to foreign industry to be clad in +a foreign garb; that the Congress of the Union are impotent to +restore the balance in favor of native industry destroyed by the +statutes of another realm? More just and more generous sentiments +will, I trust, prevail. If the tariff adopted at the last session +of Congress shall be found by experience to bear oppressively +upon the interests of any one section of the Union, it ought to +be, and I can not doubt will be, so modified as to alleviate its +burden. To the voice of just complaint from any portion of their +constituents the representatives of the States and of the people +will never turn away their ears. But so long as the duty of the +foreign shall operate only as a bounty upon the domestic article; +while the planter and the merchant and the shepherd and the +husbandman shall be found thriving in their occupations under the +duties imposed for the protection of domestic manufactures, they +will not repine at the prosperity shared with themselves by their +fellow-citizens of other professions, nor denounce as violations +of the Constitution the deliberate acts of Congress to shield +from the wrongs of foreign laws the native industry of the Union. +While the tariff of the last session of Congress was a subject of +legislative deliberation it was foretold by some of its opposers +that one of its necessary consequences would be to impair the +revenue. It is yet too soon to pronounce with confidence that +this prediction was erroneous. The obstruction of one avenue of +trade not unfrequently opens an issue to another. The consequence +of the tariff will be to increase the exportation and to diminish +the importation of some specific articles; but by the general law +of trade the increase of exportation of one article will be +followed by an increased importation of others, the duties upon +which will supply the deficiencies which the diminished +importation would otherwise occasion. The effect of taxation upon +revenue can seldom be foreseen with certainty. It must abide the +test of experience. As yet no symptom? of diminution are +perceptible in the receipts of the Treasury. As yet little +addition of cost has even been experienced upon the articles +burdened with heavier duties by the last tariff. The domestic +manufacturer supplies the same or a kindred article at a +diminished price, and the consumer pays the same tribute to the +labor of his own countryman which he must otherwise have paid to +foreign industry and toil.</p> +<p>The tariff of the last session was in its details not +acceptable to the great interests of any portion of the Union, +not even to the interest which it was specially intended to +subserve. Its object was to balance the burdens upon native +industry imposed by the operation of foreign laws, but not to +aggravate the burdens of one section of the Union by the relief +afforded to another. To the great principle sanctioned by that +act-one of those upon which the Constitution itself was formed-I +hope and trust the authorities of the Union will adhere. But if +any of the duties imposed by the act only relieve the +manufacturer by aggravating the burden of the planter, let a +careful revisal of its provisions, enlightened by the practical +experience of its effects, be directed to retain those which +impart protection to native industry and remove or supply the +place of those which only alleviate one great national interest +by the depression of another.</p> +<p>The United States of America and the people of every State of +which they are composed are each of them sovereign powers. The +legislative authority of the whole is exercised by Congress under +authority granted them in the common Constitution. The +legislative power of each State is exercised by assemblies +deriving their authority from the constitution of the State. Each +is sovereign within its own province. The distribution of power +between them presupposes that these authorities will move in +harmony with each other. The members of the State and General +Governments are all under oath to support both, and allegiance is +due to the one and to the other. The case of a conflict between +these two powers has not been supposed, nor has any provision +been made for it in our institutions; as a virtuous nation of +ancient times existed more than five centuries without a law for +the punishment of parricide.</p> +<p>More than once, however, in the progress of our history have +the people and the legislatures of one or more States, in moments +of excitement, been instigated to this conflict; and the means of +effecting this impulse have been allegations that the acts of +Congress to be resisted were <i>unconstitutional</i>. The people +of no one State have ever delegated to their legislature the +power of pronouncing an act of Congress unconstitutional, but +they have delegated to them powers by the exercise of which the +execution of the laws of Congress within the State may be +resisted. If we suppose the case of such conflicting legislation +sustained by the corresponding executive and judicial +authorities, patriotism and philanthropy turn their eyes from the +condition in which the parties would be placed, and from that of +the people of both, which must be its victims.</p> +<p>The reports from the Secretary of War and the various +subordinate offices of the resort of that Department present an +exposition of the public administration of affairs connected with +them through the course of the current year. The present state of +the Army and the distribution of the force of which it is +composed will be seen from the report of the Major-General. +Several alterations in the disposal of the troops have been found +expedient in the course of the year, and the discipline of the +Army, though not entirely free from exception, has been generally +good.</p> +<p>The attention of Congress is particularly invited to that part +of the report of the Secretary of War which concerns the existing +system of our relations with the Indian tribes. At the +establishment of the Federal Government under the present +Constitution of the United States the principle was adopted of +considering them as foreign and independent powers and also as +proprietors of lands. They were, moreover, considered as savages, +whom it was our policy and our duty to use our influence in +converting to Christianity and in bringing within the pale of +civilization.</p> +<p>As independent powers, we negotiated with them by treaties; as +proprietors, we purchased of them all the lands which we could +prevail upon them to sell; as brethren of the human race, rude +and ignorant, we endeavored to bring them to the knowledge of +religion and of letters. The ultimate design was to incorporate +in our own institutions that portion of them which could be +converted to the state of civilization. In the practice of +European States, before our Revolution, they had been considered +<i>as children</i> to be governed; as tenants at discretion, to +be dispossessed as occasion might require; as hunters to be +indemnified by trifling concessions for removal from the grounds +from which their game was extirpated. In changing the system it +would seem as if a full contemplation of the consequences of the +change had not been taken. We have been far more successful in +the acquisition of their lands than in imparting to them the +principles or inspiring them with the spirit of civilization. But +in appropriating to ourselves their hunting grounds we have +brought upon ourselves the obligation of providing them with +subsistence; and when we have had the rare good fortune of +teaching them the arts of civilization and the doctrines of +Christianity we have unexpectedly found them forming in the midst +of ourselves communities claiming to be independent of ours and +rivals of sovereignty within the territories of the members of +our Union. This state of things requires that a remedy should be +provided-a remedy which, while it shall do justice to those +unfortunate children of nature, may secure to the members of our +confederation their rights of sovereignty and of soil. As the +outline of a project to that effect, the views presented in the +report of the Secretary of War are recommended to the +consideration of Congress.</p> +<p>The report from the Engineer Department presents a +comprehensive view of the progress which has been made in the +great systems promotive of the public interest, commenced and +organized under authority of Congress, and the effects of which +have already contributed to the security, as they will hereafter +largely contribute to the honor and dignity, of the nation.</p> +<p>The first of these great systems is that of fortifications, +commenced immediately after the close of our last war, under the +salutary experience which the events of that war had impressed +upon our countrymen of its hecessity. Introduced under the +auspices of my immediate predecessor, it has been continued with +the persevering and liberal encouragement of the Legislature, +and, combined with corresponding exertions for the gradual +increase and improvement of the Navy, prepares for our extensive +country a condition of defense adapted to any critical emergency +which the varying course of events may bring forth. Our advances +in these concerted systems have for the last ten years been +steady and progressive, and in a few years more will be so +completed as to leave no cause for apprehension that our seacoast +will ever again offer a theater of hostile invasion.</p> +<p>The next of these cardinal measures of policy is the +preliminary to great and lasting works of public improvement in +the surveys of roads, examination for the course of canals, and +labors for the removal of the obstructions of rivers and harbors, +first commenced by the act of Congress of 30th of April, +1824.</p> +<p>The report exhibits in one table the funds appropriated at the +last and preceding sessions of Congress for all these +fortifications, surveys, and works of public improvement, the +manner in which these funds have been applied, the amount +expended upon the several works under construction, and the +further sums which may be necessary to complete them; in a +second, the works projected by the Board of Engineers which have +not been commenced, and the estimate of their cost; in a third, +the report of the annual Board of Visitors at the Military +Academy at West Point.</p> +<p>For thirteen fortifications erecting on various points of our +Atlantic coast, from Rhode Island to Louisiana, the aggregate +expenditure of the year has fallen little short of $1,000,000. +For the preparation of five additional reports of reconnaissances +and surveys since the last session of Congress, for the civil +constructions upon thirty-seven different public works commenced, +eight others for which specific appropriations have been made by +acts of Congress, and twenty other incipient surveys under the +authority given by the act of 30th April, 1824, about one million +more of dollars has been drawn from the Treasury.</p> +<p>To these $2,000,000 is to be added the appropriation of +$250,000 to commence the erection of a breakwater hear the mouth +of the Delaware River, the subscriptions to the Delaware and +Chesapeake, the Louisville and Portland, the Dismal Swamp, and +the Chesapeake and Ohio canals, the large donations of lands to +the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Alabama for objects of +improvements within those States, and the sums appropriated for +light-houses, buoys, and piers on the coast; and a full view will +be taken of the munificence of the nation in the application of +its resources to the improvement of its own condition.</p> +<p>Of these great national undertakings the Academy at West Point +is among the most important in itself and the most comprehensive +in its consequences. In that institution a part of the revenue of +the nation is applied to defray the expense of educating a +competent portion of her youth chiefly to the knowledge and the +duties of military life. It is the living armory of the nation. +While the other works of improvement enumerated in the reports +now presented to the attention of Congress are destined to +ameliorate the face of nature, to multiply the facilities of +communication between the different parts of the Union, to assist +the labors, increase the comforts, and enhance the enjoyments of +individuals, the instruction acquired at West Point enlarges the +dominion and expands the capacities of the mind. Its beneficial +results are already experienced in the composition of the Army, +and their influence is felt in the intellectual progress of +society. The institution is susceptible still of great +improvement from benefactions proposed by several successive +Boards of Visitors, to whose earnest and repeated recommendations +I cheerfully add my own.</p> +<p>With the usual annual reports from the Secretary of the Navy +and the Board of Commissioners will be exhibited to the view of +Congress the execution of the laws relating to that department of +the public service. The repression of piracy in the West Indian +and in the Grecian seas has been effectually maintained, with +scarcely any exception. During the war between the Governments of +Buenos Ayres and of Brazil frequent collisions between the +belligerent acts of power and the rights of neutral commerce +occurred. Licentious blockades, irregularly enlisted or impressed +seamen, and the property of honest commerce seized with violence, +and even plundered under legal pretenses, are disorders never +separable from the conflicts of war upon the ocean. With a +portion of them the correspondence of our commanders on the +eastern aspect of the South American coast and among the islands +of Greece discover how far we have been involved. In these the +honor of our country and the rights of our citizens have been +asserted and vindicated. The appearance of new squadrons in the +Mediterranean and the blockade of the Dardanelles indicate the +danger of other obstacles to the freedom of commerce and the +hecessity of keeping our naval force in those seas. To the +suggestions repeated in the report of the Secretary of the Navy, +and tending to the permanent improvement of this institution, I +invite the favorable consideration of Congress.</p> +<p>A resolution of the House of Representatives requesting that +one of our small public vessels should be sent to the Pacific +Ocean and South Sea to examine the coasts, islands, harbors, +shoals, and reefs in those seas, and to ascertain their true +situation and description, has been put in a train of execution. +The vessel is nearly ready to depart. The successful +accomplishment of the expedition may be greatly facilitated by +suitable legislative provisions, and particularly by an +appropriation to defray its necessary expense. The addition of a +second, and perhaps a third, vessel, with a slight aggravation of +the cost, would contribute much to the safety of the citizens +embarked on this undertaking, the results of which may be of the +deepest interest to our country.</p> +<p>With the report of the Secretary of the Navy will be +submitted, in conformity to the act of Congress of 3d March, +1827, for the gradual improvement of the Navy of the United +States, statements of the expenditures under that act and of the +measures taken for carrying the same into effect. Every section +of that statute contains a distinct provision looking to the +great object of the whole-the gradual improvement of the Navy. +Under its salutary sanction stores of ship timber have been +procured and are in process of seasoning and preservation for the +future uses of the Navy. Arrangements have been made for the +preservation of the live-oak timber growing on the lands of the +United States, and for its reproduction, to supply at future and +distant days the waste of that most valuable material for +shipbuilding by the great consumption of it yearly for the +commercial as well as for the military marine of our country. The +construction of the two dry docks at Charlestown and at Norfolk +is making satisfactory progress toward a durable establishment. +The examinations and inquiries to ascertain the practicability +and expediency of a marine railway at Pensacola, though not yet +accomplished, have been postponed but to be more effectually +made. The navy-yards of the United States have been examined, and +plans for their improvement and the preservation of the public +property therein at Portsmouth, Charlestown, Philadelphia, +Washington, and Gosport, and to which two others are to be added, +have been prepared and received my sanction; and no other portion +of my public duties has been performed with a more intimate +conviction of its importance to the future welfare and security +of the Union.</p> +<p>With the report from the Postmaster-General is exhibited a +comparative view of the gradual increase of that establishment, +from five to five years, since 1792 till this time in the number +of post-offices, which has grown from less than 200 to nearly +8,000; in the revenue yielded by them, which from $67,000 has +swollen to upward of a million and a half, and in the number of +miles of post-roads, which from 5,642 have multiplied to 114,536. +While in the same period of time the population of the Union has +about thrice doubled, the rate of increase of these offices is +nearly 40, and of the revenue and of traveled miles from 20 to 25 +for 1. The increase of revenue within the last five years has +been nearly equal to the whole revenue of the Department in +1812.</p> +<p>The expenditures of the Department during the year which ended +on the 1st of July last have exceeded the receipts by a sum of +about $25,000. The excess has been occasioned by the increase of +mail conveyances and facilities to the extent of hear 800,000 +miles. It has been supplied by collections from the postmasters +of the arrearages of preceding years. While the correct principle +seems to be that the income levied by the Department should +defray all its expenses, it has never been the policy of this +Government to raise from this establishment any revenue to be +applied to any other purposes. The suggestion of the +Postmaster-General that the insurance of the safe transmission of +moneys by the mail might be assumed by the Department for a +moderate and competent remuneration will deserve the +consideration of Congress.</p> +<p>A report from the commissioner of the public buildings in this +city exhibits the expenditures upon them in the course of the +current year. It will be seen that the humane and benevolent +intentions of Congress in providing, by the act of 20th May, +1826, for the erection of a penitentiary in this district have +been accomplished. The authority of further legislation is now +required for the removal to this tenement of the offenders +against the laws sentenced to atone by personal confinement for +their crimes, and to provide a code for their employment and +government while thus confined.</p> +<p>The commissioners appointed, conformably to the act of 2d +March, 1827, to provide for the adjustment of claims of persons +entitled to indemnification under the first article of the treaty +of Ghent, and for the distribution among such claimants of the +sum paid by the Government of Great Britain under the convention +of 13th of November, 1826, closed their labors on the 30th of +August last by awarding to the claimants the sum of +$1,197,422.18, leaving a balance of $7,537.82, which was +distributed ratably amongst all the claimants to whom awards had +been made, according to the directions of the act.</p> +<p>The exhibits appended to the report from the Commissioner of +the General Land Office present the actual condition of that +common property of the Union. The amount paid into the Treasury +from the proceeds of lands during the year 1827 and the first +half of 1828 falls little short of $2,000,000. The propriety of +further extending the time for the extinguishment of the debt due +to the United States by the purchasers of the public lands, +limited by the act of 21st March last to the 4th of July next, +will claim the consideration of Congress, to whose vigilance and +careful attention the regulation, disposal, and preservation of +this great national inheritance has by the people of the United +States been intrusted.</p> +<p>Among the important subjects to which the attention of the +present Congress has already been invited, and which may occupy +their further and deliberate discussion, will be the provision to +be made for taking the fifth census or enumeration of the +inhabitants of the United States. The Constitution of the United +States requires that this enumeration should be made within every +term of ten years, and the date from which the last enumeration +commenced was the first Monday of August of the year 1820. The +laws under which the former enumerations were taken were enacted +at the session of Congress immediately preceding the operation; +but considerable inconveniences were experienced from the delay +of legislation to so late a period. That law, like those of the +preceding enumerations, directed that the census should be taken +by the marshals of the several districts and Territories of the +Union under instructions from the Secretary of State. The +preparation and transmission to the marshals of those +instructions required more time than was then allowed between the +passage of the law and the day when the enumeration was to +commence. The term of six months limited for the returns of the +marshals was also found even then too short, and must be more so +now, when an additional population of at least 3,000,000 must be +presented upon the returns. As they are to be made at the short +session of Congress, it would, as well as from other +considerations, be more convenient to commence the enumeration +from an earlier period of the year than the 1st of August. The +most favorable season would be the spring. On a review of the +former enumerations it will be found that the plan for taking +every census has contained many improvements upon that of its +predecessor. The last is still susceptible of much improvement. +The Third Census was the first at which any account was taken of +the manufactures of the country. It was repeated at the last +enumeration, but the returns in both cases were necessarily very +imperfect. They must always be so, resting, of course, only upon +the communications voluntarily made by individuals interested in +some of the manufacturing establishments. Yet they contained much +valuable information, and may by some supplementary provision of +the law be rendered more effective. The columns of age, +commencing from infancy, have hitherto been confined to a few +periods, all under the number of 45 years. Important knowledge +would be obtained by extending these columns, in intervals of ten +years, to the utmost boundaries of human life. The labor of +taking them would be a trifling addition to that already +prescribed, and the result would exhibit comparative tables of +longevity highly interesting to the country. I deem it my duty +further to observe that much of the imperfections in the returns +of the last and perhaps of preceding enumerations proceeded from +the inadequateness of the compensations allowed to the marshals +and their assistants in taking them.</p> +<p>In closing this communication it only remains for me to assure +the Legislature of my continued earnest wish for the adoption of +measures recommended by me heretofore and yet to be acted on by +them, and of the cordial concurrence on my part in every +constitutional provision which may receive their sanction during +the session tending to the general welfare.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> + +<hr class="c3"> +<br> + +<div class="c5"> +<h2>SPECIAL MESSAGES.</h2> +</div> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 8, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 2d of April last, I transmit a copy of the +letter from the Cherokee Council to Colonel Hugh Montgomery, the +agent, requested by the resolution, with a report<a name= +"FNanchor018"></a><a href="#Footnote_018"><sup>[018]</sup></a> +from the Secretary of War.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 8, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 23d of May last, I transmit a report from +the Secretary of War, with documents, containing the information +requested, relating to the harbors, roads, and other works of +internal improvements undertaken and projected since the 30th +April, 1824.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p>Washington,<br> + <i>December 8, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I communicate to the Senate, for their advice with regard to +its ratification, a treaty made and concluded at the missionary +establishment upon the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan the 20th day +of September last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, +commissioners of the United States, and the Potawatamie tribe of +Indians, the journal and report of the commissioners accompanying +the treaty.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 8, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of War, +with documents, prepared in compliance with their resolution of +the 26th of May last, concerning the practicability and probable +cost of constructing an artificial harbor, commonly called a +"breakwater," at or hear the mouth of the Mississippi.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 9, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>The inclosed report from the Secretary of State and subjoined +documents are transmitted to the Senate in compliance with their +resolution of 25th April last, requesting information concerning +the number of free taxable inhabitants <i>who are not +freeholders</i> in certain States and Territories of the +Union.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 15, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 8th instant, referring to a negotiation of +the British Government, by virtue of a resolution of the House of +the 10th of May last, relative to the surrender of fugitive +slaves, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +with copies of instructions and correspondence, containing the +desired information.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 15, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional advice, an +additional article, signed on the 4th day of June last, to the +convention of friendship, commerce, and navigation between the +United States and the Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and +Hamburg concluded at this place on the 20th December, 1827. A +copy of the article is likewise inclosed.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 16, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate, for their advice, articles of +agreement concluded at Green Bay, in the Territory of Michigan, +on the 20th of August last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, +commissioners on the part of the United States, and the chiefs of +the Winnebago tribe and of the united tribes of the Potawatamies, +Chippewas, and Ottawas, being a temporary arrangement concerning +the occupation of a certain portion of the mining country which +has not heretofore been ceded to the United States.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>December 22, 1828</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of War, with documents, reported in compliance with the +resolution of the House of the 10th instant, requesting a copy of +the instructions given for the government of the agent of the +United States superintendent of the lead mines in Missouri and +Illinois.</p> +<p>Also a report from the Secretary of War, in compliance with +the resolution of the House of the 15th instant, setting forth +the reasons upon which it has not been deemed expedient to +nominate commissioners to hold a treaty with the Choctaw Nation +of Indians for the purchase of a certain tract of land, as +authorized by the act of Congress of the 24th of May last.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 1, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 18th ultimo, I communicate to the House a +report from the Secretary of War, containing the information +required in relation to the intended frauds upon the revenue, +which has rendered expedient the stationing additional troops on +the Niagara frontier. The other evidence embraced by the +resolution, and in possession of the Government, does not, in my +judgment, at present render any further employment of a regular +armed force for the enforcement of the revenue laws +necessary.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 7, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 19th May last, requesting a copy of the +correspondence between the minister of the United States at the +Court of Madrid and the Government of Spain on the subject of +claims of citizens of the United States against the said +Government, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +State, with the correspondence desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 14, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate a report from the Secretary +of State, with supplemental returns of free taxable inhabitants +not freeholders in certain States and Territories of the United +States, which returns have been received since my message to the +Senate of the 9th December last.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 17, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 13th instant, I transmit herewith a +report<a name="FNanchor019"></a><a href= +"#Footnote_019"><sup>[019]</sup></a> from the Secretary of War, +with an application from the Creek Indians, through the agent of +the United States, and an opinion of counsel in behalf of the +Indians, having relation to the subject of the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 21, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with two resolutions of the House of +Representatives of the 5th instant, requesting information +received not heretofore communicated in relation to the arrest +and trial in the British Province of New Brunswick of John Baker, +a citizen of the United States, and the correspondence between +the Government of the United States and that of Great Britain in +relation to the said arrest and to the usurpation of jurisdiction +by the British government of New Brunswick within the limits of +the State of Maine, I transmit a report from the Secretary of +State, with the information and correspondence requested by the +House.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 21, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress copies of two treaties with Indian +tribes, which have been ratified:</p> +<p>1. Articles of agreement between the United States of America +and the Winnebago tribe and the united tribes of Potawatamie, +Chippeways; and Ottawa Indians, concluded at Green Bay 25th +August, 1828.</p> +<p>2. Treaty between the United States of America and the +Potawatamie tribe of Indians, concluded at the missionary +establishment upon the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan 20th +September, 1828.</p> +<p>Both by Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners on the +part of the United States, with certain chiefs and warriors of +the respective tribes.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 26, 1829</i></p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 17th instant, requesting copies of the +instructions to the commissioners of the United States who made +the treaty at the Indian Springs in 1821, I transmit to the House +a report from the Secretary of War of the 22d instant, with +copies of those instructions.</p> +<p>And in compliance with a resolution of the House of the 20th +instant, requesting a communication of the journal of the +above-mentioned commissioners, I transmit a report from the +Secretary of War of the 24th instant, with copies of the papers, +which it is believed will supply the information desired by the +resolution, no regular journal having been transmitted by the +commissioners to the Department.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 26, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with +voluminous documents prepared and collected in compliance with a +resolution of the House of Representatives of the 13th January, +1825, calling for a statement of convictions, executions, and +pardons for capital offenses under the authority of the +Government of the United States since the adoption of the +Constitution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 26, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress copies of a convention of friendship, +commerce, and navigation between the United States and the free +Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, the +ratifications of which were exchanged at this place on the 2d day +of June last; and also of an additional article to the same +convention, signed on the 4th day of June last, and the +ratifications of which were exchanged at this city on the 14th of +the present month.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 29, 1829</i></p> +<p><i>The President of the Senate of the United States</i></p> +<p>SIR: I transmit herewith a letter which I have received from +Mr. David, member of the Institute of France, professor of the +School of Painting at Paris, and member of the Legion of Honor, +the artist who presents to Congress the bust of General Lafayette +which has been received with it; and I have to request the favor +that after it has been communicated to the Senate it may be +transmitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives for +similar communication to that body.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 29, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I nominate Stephen Clin, of Georgia, to be secretary of the +legation of the United States at the Court of Great Britain.</p> +<p>Jesse H. Willis, of Florida, to be collector of the customs +for the recently established district of St. Marks and inspector +of the revenue for the port of Magnolia, in Florida.</p> +<p>And I nominate for reappointment Callender Irvine, of +Pennsylvania, to be Commissary-General of Purchases. It is proper +to apprise the Senate that this office is one of those which by +the act of Congress of 15th May, 1820, is limited to the term of +four years; that it was held by Mr. Irvine at the time of the +passage of that act, but that by some inadvertence he has not +hitherto been nominated for reappointment. The fact having but +just now been ascertained by me, I deem it my duty to make the +nomination. Mr. Irvine has hitherto performed the duties of the +office under his original appointment.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 30, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 13th instant, requesting information of +the measures taken in execution of the act of 9th May last, +making an appropriation for carrying into effect the articles of +agreement and cession of 24th April, 1802, between the State of +Georgia and the United States, and also in execution of certain +provisions of the treaty of May last with the Cherokee Indians, I +transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of War, with +documents, comprising the desired information.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 2, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th +ultimo, requesting information received since the last session of +Congress from the Mexican Government respecting the recovery of +debts in that country due to American citizens, I transmit a +report from the Secretary of State, with copies of a letter of +instructions to the minister of the United States in Mexico, and +of his answer, relating to the subject of the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 6, 1829</i></p> +<i>To the Senate of the United States</i>: +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 9th of +December last, requesting a detailed statement of the amount +expended by the Federal Government upon works of internal +improvement within the limits of the several States, with an +estimate of the amount necessary to complete any work begun and +not yet completed, I transmit herewith reports from the +Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, with documents, +containing the information desired by the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 6, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 4th instant, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of War, with that of the commissioner +appointed to locate the national road from Zanesville, in Ohio, +to the seat of government of the State of Missouri.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 11, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>By the act of Congress of the 23d of May last, "supplementary +to the several acts providing for the settlement and confirmation +of private land claims in Florida," provision was made for the +final adjudication of such claims by the judges of the superior +courts of the districts wherein the lands claimed respectively +lie, and by appeal from them to the Supreme Court of the United +States; and the attorneys of the United States in the several +districts were charged with the duty, in every case where the +decision should be against the United States by the judge of the +superior court of the district, to make out and transmit to the +Attorney-General of the United States a statement containing the +facts of the case and the points of law on which the same was +decided, and it was made the duty of the Attorney-General in most +of those cases to direct an appeal to be made to the Supreme +Court of the United States and to appear for the United States +and prosecute such appeals. By the same act the President of the +United States was authorized to appoint a law agent to +superintend the interests of the United States in the premises, +and to employ assistant counsel if in his opinion the public +interest should require the same.</p> +<p>In the process of carrying into execution this law it was the +opinion of the Attorney-General of the United States that a +translated complete collection of all the Spanish and French +ordinances, etc., affecting the land titles in Florida and the +other territories heretofore belonging to France and Spain, would +be indispensable to a just decision of those claims by the +Supreme Court. At his suggestion the task of preparing this +compilation was undertaken by Joseph M. White, of Florida, who +was employed as assistant counsel in behalf of the United States. +The collection has accordingly been made and is deposited in +manuscript at the Department of State, subject to such order as +Congress may see fit to take concerning it. The letter from Mr. +White to the Secretary of State, with a descriptive list of the +documents collected and thus deposited, is herewith transmitted +to Congress.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 16, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 5th +instant, requesting detailed statements of the expenses incurred +and of those which may be necessary for the expedition proposed +for exploring the Pacific Ocean and South Seas, and also of the +several amounts transferred from the different heads of +appropriation for the support of the Navy to this object and the +authority by which such transfers have been made, I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with documents, +from which the Senate will perceive that no such transfer has +been made, and which contain the other information desired by the +resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 20, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 10th +instant, requesting copies of correspondence and communications +from 20th October, 1816, to 24th November, 1817, received at the +Department of State from the American commissioner under the +fourth article of the treaty of Ghent, I transmit herewith a +report from the Secretary of State, with the copies of papers +mentioned in the resolution.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 20, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with documents, prepared in pursuance of their +resolution of the 31st of December last, and showing the amount +of expenses incurred in the survey, sale, and management of the +public lands for the year 1827.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 25,1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>By the act of Congress of the 3d March, 1826, for the survey +of a route for a canal between the Atlantic and the Gulf of +Mexico, the President of the United States was authorized to +cause to be made an accurate and minute examination of the +country south of the St. Marys River, and including the same, +with a view to ascertain the most eligible route for a canal +admitting the transit of boats to connect the Atlantic with the +Gulf of Mexico, and also with a view to ascertain the +practicability of a ship channel; that he cause particularly to +be examined the route to the Appalachicola River or Bay, with a +view to both the above objects; that he cause the necessary +surveys, both by land and along the coast, with estimates of the +expense of each, accompanied with proper plans, notes, +observations, explanations, and opinions of the Board of +Engineers, and that he cause a full report of these proceedings +to be made to Congress.</p> +<p>In execution of this law I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of War, with a copy of that of the Board of Engineers, +upon this great and most desirable national work. The time not +having allowed a copy to be taken of the map, one copy only of +the whole report is transmitted to the Senate, with the request +that it may be communicated to the House of Representatives, and +that the map may be ultimately returned to the Department of +War.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 26, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th +instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, +with the inspection reports of Brevet Major-General Gaines for +the years 1826 and 1827, relating to the organization of the Army +and militia of the United States, with the request that the +original documents may be returned to the Department of War at +the convenience of the Senate.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 26,1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate of the United States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their constitutional +advice with regard to its ratification, a treaty of amity, +commerce, and navigation between the United States and His +Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, signed by the plenipotentiaries of +the respective Governments at Rio de Janeiro on the 12th day of +December last. A copy of the treaty is likewise inclosed, with +copies of the instructions under which it was negotiated and a +letter from Mr. Tudor elucidating some of its provisions. It is +requested that at the convenience of the Senate the original +papers may be returned to the Department of State.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 28, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit to Congress copies of two Indian treaties, which +have duly ratified:</p> +<p>1. A treaty with the Chippewa, Menominie, and Winnebago +Indians, concluded on the 11th of August, 1827, at the Butte des +Morts, on Fox River, in the Territory of Michigan, between Lewis +Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners on the part of the +United States, and certain chiefs and warriors of the said tribes +on their part.</p> +<p>2. A treaty with the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, concluded +the 19th of September, 1827, at St. Joseph, in the Territory of +Michigan, between Lewis Cass, commissioner on the part of the +United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the said tribes, on +their part.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>February 28, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>In compliance with a resolution of the House of +Representatives of the 21st instant, requesting any information +in my possession as to the practical operation of the recent act +of the British Parliament entitled "The customs amendment act," +purporting a discrimination of duties upon the importation of +cotton from the British North American colonies and showing how +far this discrimination may affect existing treaties, I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of the +instructions and correspondence of the minister of the United +States at London, containing the information requested.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>March 3, 1829</i>.</p> +<p><i>To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States</i>:</p> +<p>I transmit herewith to Congress a copy of the instructions +prepared by the Secretary of State and furnished to the ministers +of the United States appointed to attend at the assembly of +American plenipotentiaries first held at Panama and thence +transferred to Tacubaya. The occasion upon which they were given +has passed away, and there is no present probability of the +renewal of the negotiations; but the purposes for which they were +intended are still of the deepest interest to our country and to +the world, and may hereafter call again for the active efforts +and beneficent energies of the Government of the United States. +The motives for withholding them from general publication having +ceased, justice to the Government from which they emanated and to +the people for whose benefit it was instituted requires that they +should be made known. With this view, and from the consideration +that the subjects embraced by these instructions must probably +engage hereafter the deliberations of our successors, I deem it +proper to make this communication to both Houses of Congress. One +copy only of the instructions being prepared, I send it to the +Senate, requesting that it may be transmitted to the House of +Representatives.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<h2>PROCLAMATION.</h2> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> + +<p>(From Senate Journal, Twentieth Congress, second session, p. +196.)<br> +</p> +<p><br> + Washington,<br> + <i>January 12, 1829</i></p> +<p><i>The President of the United States +to</i><i>-</i><i>-</i><i>, Senator for the State +of</i><i>-</i><i>-</i>:</p> +<p>Certain matters touching the public good requiring that the +Senate of the United States should be convened on Wednesday, 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.</p> +<p>John Quincy Adams.</p> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +<h2>FOOTNOTES.</h2> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_001"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor001">[001]</a></p> +<blockquote>See Vol. I, pp. 352 to 354, inclusive.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_002"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor002">[002]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the proposed congress at +Panama.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_003"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor003">[003]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to land warrants issued to soldiers of the +Revolutionary war, etc.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_004"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor004">[004]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to intervention of the Emperor of Russia +with Spain for a recognition of the independence of the South +American States.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_005"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor005">[005]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the proposed congress of the Spanish +American States.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_006"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor006">[006]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relative to governments to be represented at the +congress at Panama.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_007"></a> <a href= +"#FNanchor007">[007]</a>and <a name="Footnote_007a"></a> <a href= +"#FNanchor007a">[007a]</a></p> +<blockquote>Respecting the right of a foreign minister to retain +money advanced by the President as an outfit beyond the sum +appropriated by law.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_008"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor008">[008]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the negotiations with Great Britain for a +cession of certain keys on the Bahama Banks.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_009"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor009">[009]</a></p> +<blockquote>Referred to in the protocol of the third conference +of the American and British plenipotentiaries on February 5, +1824, relating to trade with Great Britain.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_010"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor010">[010]</a></p> +<blockquote>Concerning the assembly of American ministers at +Tacubaya, Mexico</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_011"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor011">[011]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the conflicting claims of Georgia and the +Creek Indians to lands in Georgia.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_012"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor012">[012]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the conflicting claims of Georgia and the +Creek Indians to lands in Georgia.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_013"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor013">[013]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the northeastern boundary of the United +States.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_014"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor014">[014]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the detention of American vessels by the +naval forces of Brazil.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_015"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor015">[015]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to the war between Spain and her +colonies.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_016"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor016">[016]</a></p> +<blockquote>By the authorities of the Province of New +Brunswick.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_017"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor017">[017]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to alleged blockade by the naval forces of +Brazil, imprisonment of American citizens by Brazil, +etc.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_018"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor018">[018]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to a survey for a canal through the Cherokee +country.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<p><a name="Footnote_019"></a><a href= +"#FNanchor019">[019]</a></p> +<blockquote>Relating to claims of Georgia and the Creek Indians +under the treaty of 1821, held at Indian Springs.</blockquote> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + +<hr class="c1"> +<br> +<br> +</td> +</tr> +</table> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Compilation of Messages and Letters +of the Presidents, by Editor: James D. 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Richardson + +Release Date: January 30, 2004 [EBook #10879] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN QUINCY ADAMS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David Gundry and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + +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 11, +1767. He enjoyed peculiar and rare advantages for education. In +childhood 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 Leyden, 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 Theophilus Parsons, of +Newburyport; 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 promotion from him because he was his son. He was accordingly +appointed minister to Berlin in 1797. He negotiated a treaty of amity +and commerce 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 Senatorial duties. He offended the Federalists by supporting +Jefferson's embargo act, which was passed in December, 1807, and thus +became connected with the Democratic party. He resigned his seat in the +Senate in March, 1808, declining to serve for the remainder of the term +rather than obey the instructions of the Federalists. In March, 1809, he +was appointed by President Madison minister to Russia. During his +residence in that country he was nominated to be an associate justice of +the Supreme Court of the United States, and confirmed February, 1811; +but he declined the appointment. In 1813 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 1817. 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 his 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 ELECTION. + + +Mr. Webster, from the committee appointed for that purpose yesterday, +reported that the committee had waited on John Quincy Adams, of +Massachusetts, and had notified him that in the recent election of a +President 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 duty the committee had +given the information of this election to the President. + +February 10, 1825. + + + + +Reply of the President Elect. + + +Washington, +_February 10, 1825_. + + +Gentlemen: + +In receiving this testimonial from the Representatives of the people and +States of this Union I am deeply sensible to the circumstances under +which it has been given. All my predecessors in the high 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 +honorable, 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 Constitution, 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 +delegated to me give an immediate opportunity to the people to form and +to express with a nearer approach to unanimity the object of their +preference, 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, signified 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. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +Letter from the President Elect. + + +City of Washington, +_March 1, 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 Constitution to +the President of the United States before he enters on the execution 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. + + + +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, protect, 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 Government instituted by it should be invariably and sacredly +devoted--to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure +domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the +general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of +this Union in their successive generations. 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 vicissitudes of peace and war +incidental to the condition of associated man, it has not disappointed +the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious benefactors 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 +conformity with its provisions has unfolded its powers and carried into +practical operation its effective energies. Subordinate departments have +distributed 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. + +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 +conquest, 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 our 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. Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the +purposes of human 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 Constitution +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 +freedom, 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 present lot and all our earthly hopes of the future. +The causes of these dissensions 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 Government, and that both have required a liberal +indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error. The revolutionary +wars 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 imbittered 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 relations with Europe constituted the +principal basis of our political divisions and the most arduous part of +the action of our Federal Government. With the catastrophe in which the +wars of the French Revolution terminated, 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 beneficence and +the best guaranty against the abuse of power consists in the freedom, +the purity, and the frequency of popular elections; that the General +Government of the Union and the separate governments of the States are +all sovereignties of limited powers, fellow-servants of the same +masters, uncontrolled within their respective spheres, uncontrollable by +encroachments 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 +aggravation and alleviate when possible the burden of taxation; that the +military 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 articles of faith upon which we are all now agreed. If there +have been those who doubted whether a confederated representative +democracy were a government 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 heretofore followed the standards of +political party. It is that of discarding 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 bore 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 +transitory. Those which are founded on geographical divisions, adverse +interests of soil, climate, 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 general 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 obligation to respect and +preserve the rights of the whole. The prejudices everywhere too commonly +entertained against distant strangers are worn away, and the jealousies +of jarring interests are allayed by the composition 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 +administration 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; 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 great 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 +indigent 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 +southern 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 traffic 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 common +condition instituted or recommended by him will embrace the whole sphere +of my obligations. To the topic of internal improvement, emphatically +urged by him at his inauguration, I recur with peculiar satisfaction. 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 swallowed +up in despotism or become the spoil of barbarians. Some diversity of +opinion has prevailed with regard to the powers of Congress for +legislation 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 construction 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 +Legislature have conciliated the sentiments and approximated the +opinions of enlightened 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 limitation 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. Less 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 heed of your +indulgence. Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted to the welfare +of our country, 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 Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain," with +fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I +commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future +destinies of my country. + +March 4, 1825. + + + + +FIRST ANNUAL 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 +sentiment which impresses itself upon the mind is of gratitude to the +Omnipotent 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 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 extensively 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 +exercise 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 Governments assurances have been given and received of the +continuance and increase of the mutual confidence and cordiality by +which the adjustment 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. Immediately after the close of the last war a proposal was fairly +made by the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1815, 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 commercial 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 willing to +abide in reciprocity by it. But all these regulations, whether +established by treaty or by municipal enactments, are still subject to +one important restriction. + +The removal of discriminating duties of tonnage and of impost is limited +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 +Congress whether even this remnant of restriction may not be safely +abandoned, 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 produce 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 maritime 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 understanding +and intent of both parties, as appears upon its face, only a temporary +arrangement of the points of difference between them of the most +immediate and pressing urgency. It was limited in the first instance to +two years from the 1st of October, 1822, but with a proviso that it +should further 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 common 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 Government. 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 1819 indemnity was, after many years of patient +forbearance, obtained; and those upon Sweden have been lately +compromised by a private settlement, in which the claimants themselves +have acquiesced. The Governments of Denmark and of Naples have been +recently reminded of those yet existing against them, nor will any of +them be forgotten while a hope may be indulged of obtaining justice by +the means within the constitutional power of the Executive, 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 Legislature. + +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 +documents 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 Legislature. The +negotiation 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 certain parts of Europe to the +acknowledgment of the Southern American Republics as independent States +will, it is believed, contribute more effectually 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 burdensome 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. + +Among the measures which have been suggested to them by the new +relations with one another, resulting from the recent changes in their +condition, 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 Central 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 deliberations, 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 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 +occupied 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 effective 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 nurture, 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 constituted 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 1st of January last was a +little short of $2,000,000, exclusive of two millions and a half, being +the moiety of the loan of five millions authorized by the act of 26th of +May, 1824. The receipts into the Treasury from the 1st of January to the +30th of September, 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 military and naval +establishments and all the occasional contingencies of a government +coextensive with the Union. + +The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported since the +commencement 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, estimated at less than seven millions, a sum exceeding +twenty-four millions will constitute the revenue of the year, and will +exceed the whole expenditures of the year. The entire amount of the +public debt remaining due on the 1st 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 4-1/2 per cent, or an exchange of stock to that amount of +4-1/2 per cent for a stock of 6 per cent, to create a fund for +extinguishing 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 +Delaware 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. +The latest accounts received of this important undertaking authorize the +belief 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 million and a half. The act of Congress of 18th +May, 1824, to provide for the extinguishment of the debt due to the +United States by the purchasers of public lands, was limited in its +operation of relief to the purchaser to the 10th of April last. Its +effect at the end of the quarter during which it expired was to reduce +that debt from ten to seven millions. By the operation of similar prior +laws of relief, from and since that of 2d March, 1821, 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 interests 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 advantageous 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 Treasury 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 current +year, will be exhibited in the report of the Secretary of War and the +accompanying documents herewith communicated. The organization and +discipline of the Army are effective and satisfactory. To counteract 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 +horsemanship as could scarcely fail to be found wanting on the possible +sudden eruption 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 more to the patronage of the nation, and the numbers of +meritorious officers which it forms and introduces to the public 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 heed 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 service, connected with the quartering, 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. + +Our 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 +appropriation 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 between said tribes. The first and the +last objects of these acts have been accomplished, and the second is yet +in a process of execution. The treaties which since the last session of +Congress have been concluded with the several tribes will be laid before +the Senate for their consideration conformably to the Constitution. They +comprise large and valuable acquisitions 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 12th 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 +advice 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 applied. Their +progress has been delayed by the want of suitable officers for +superintending 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 Engineers. The Military Academy at West Point will furnish from the +cadets annually graduated there officers well qualified for carrying +this measure into effect. + +The Board of Engineers for Internal Improvement, appointed for carrying +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 practicability 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 +improvement 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, +marking, or laying out roads in the Territories of Florida, Arkansas, +and Michigan, from Missouri to Mexico, and for the continuation of the +Cumberland 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 like number of +commissioners appointed on the part of each of those States. A meeting +of the commissioners has been postponed, to await the definitive report +of the board of engineers. The light-houses and monuments for the safety +of our commerce 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, 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 work. + +The operation of the laws relating to the Revolutionary pensioners may +deserve the renewed consideration of Congress. The act of the 18th 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 1st 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 liberal +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 +necessities? I submit to Congress the expediency of providing for +individual cases of this description by special enactment, or of +revising the act of the 1st 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 Labrador, and the first +service of a new frigate has been performed in restoring to his native +soil and domestic enjoyments the veteran hero whose youthful blood and +treasure had freely flowed in the cause of our country's independence, +and whose whole life has been a series of services and sacrifices to the +improvement of his fellow-men. The visit of General Lafayette, 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 +hereafter 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 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 liable to be violated. An additional motive for keeping a +respectable force stationed 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 +convulsive character of the war upon the shores has been extended to the +conflicts upon the ocean. An active warfare has been kept up for years +with alternate success, though generally to the advantage of the +American 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 complete +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 +territory 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 execution +the laws for the suppression of the African slave trade; for the +protection of our commerce against vessels of piratical character, +though bearing commissions from either of the belligerent parties; for +its protection 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 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 officers 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 immensely valuable commerce in those seas can +navigate in security without 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 military marine--the only arm by which the power +of this Confederacy can be estimated or felt by foreign nations, and the +only standing military force which can never be dangerous to our own +liberties 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 +commensurate 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 maritime 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 close 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 Military Academy at West Point, for +the formation of scientific and accomplished 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 +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 execution, 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 1st 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 1st 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 +judicious 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, till 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 corners of the Union, at a +charge scarcely perceptible to any individual, and without the cost of a +dollar to the public 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 promoting the internal improvement of our country, I can not +close the communication without recommending to their calm and +persevering consideration 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 government, 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 facilitating the communications and intercourse between +distant regions and multitudes 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 condition 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 improvement of the condition of men is +knowledge, and to the acquisition of much of the knowledge adapted to +the wants, the comforts, and enjoyments of human life public +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, living, 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 acquisition, +and particularly to geographical and astronomical science. Looking back +to the history only of the half century since the declaration of our +independence, and observing the generous emulation with which the +Governments 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 incumbent 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 for 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 La 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 affectionate 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? + +In inviting the attention of Congress to the subject of internal +improvements 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 +investigation 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 establishment of a military post there or at +some other point of that coast, recommended by my predecessor and +already matured in the deliberations of the last Congress, I would +suggest the expediency of connecting the equipment of a public ship for +the exploration of the whole northwest 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 +Constitution, 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 speculations on the same subject since the existence of +our Constitution, and with them it has expanded into profound, +laborious, and expensive researches 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 experiments 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 our +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 periodical +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 +hemisphere there is not one. If we reflect a moment upon the discoveries +which in the last four centuries have been made in the physical +constitution of the universe by the means of these buildings and of +observers 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 +second 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 +inhabitants 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 +bordering 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 +prosperity rests not alone upon this indication. Our commerce, our +wealth, and the extent of our territories have increased in +corresponding proportions, and the number of independent communities +associated in our Federal Union has since that time nearly doubled. The +legislative representation 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 establishment of a Department +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 unquestionable detriment 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 inhabitants of the +earth, with whom our intercourse, commercial and political, would of +itself furnish occupation to an active and industrious department. The +constitution of the judiciary, experimental and imperfect as it was even +in the infancy of our existing Government, is yet more inadequate to the +administration of national justice at our present maturity. Nine years +have elapsed since a predecessor in this office, now not the last, the +citizen who, perhaps, of all others throughout the Union contributed +most to the formation and establishment of our Constitution, in his +valedictory address to Congress, immediately preceding his retirement +from public life, urgently recommended the revision of the judiciary and +the establishment of an additional executive department. The exigencies +of the public 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 deliberations 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 +deserving 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 securing for limited times to authors and inventors the +exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." If an +honest pride might be indulged 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 +military 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 +approaching 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 Revolution, and that a spot has been reserved within the +walls where you are deliberating 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 delight 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 deliberation upon all or any of the +objects which, urged by an irresistible sense of my own duty, I have +recommended 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 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 commerce with foreign nations and among the +several States and with the Indian tribes, to fix the standard of +weights and measures, to establish post-offices and post-roads, to +declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a +navy, to dispose of and make all heedful rules and regulations +respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United +States, and to make all laws which shall be necessary 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 public 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 ourselves to perpetual +inferiority? In the course 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 enterprise 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 Confederation, 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? + +Finally, fellow-citizens, I shall await with cheering hope and faithful +cooperation the result of your deliberations, assured that, without +encroaching upon the powers reserved to the authorities of the +respective States or to the people, you will, with a due sense of your +obligations 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 welfare of our country. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGES. + + + +Washington, +_December 14, 1825_. + + +_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 Little Osage +tribes of Indians, concluded at St. Louis, 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. Louis, in the State of Missouri, on the 3d 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 said nation, duly authorized and empowered by the same. + +3. A convention between the United States and the Shawnee Nation of +Indians residing within the State of Missouri, signed at St. Louis, in +the State of Missouri, on the 7th day of November last, by William +Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and the chiefs and headmen of +the said nation, duly authorized and empowered by the same. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 15, 1825_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration in reference +to its ratification, a general convention of peace, amity, commerce, and +navigation between the United States of America and the Federation of +the Centre of America, signed at this place on the 5th instant by the +Secretary of State and the minister plenipotentiary from the Republic of +Central America to the United States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 26, 1825_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement of the +session it was mentioned that the Governments of the Republics of +Colombia, of Mexico, and of Central America had severally invited the +Government of the United States to be represented at the Congress of +American nations to be assembled at Panama to deliberate upon objects of +peculiar concernment to this hemisphere, and that this invitation had +been accepted. + +Although this measure was deemed to be within the constitutional +competency of the Executive, I have not thought proper to take any step +in it before ascertaining that my opinion of its expediency will concur +with that of both branches of the Legislature, first, by the decision of +the Senate upon the nominations to be laid before them, and, secondly, +by the sanction of both Houses to the appropriations, without which it +can not be carried into effect. + +A report from the Secretary of State and copies of the correspondence +with the South American Governments on this subject since the invitation +given by them are herewith transmitted to the Senate. They will disclose +the objects of importance which are expected to form a subject of +discussion at this meeting, in which interests of high importance to +this Union are involved. It will be seen that the United States neither +intend nor are expected to take part in any deliberations of a +belligerent character; that the motive of their attendance is neither to +contract alliances nor to engage in any undertaking or project importing +hostility to any other nation. + +But the Southern American nations, in the infancy of their independence, +often find themselves in positions with reference to other countries +with the principles applicable to which, derivable from the state of +independence itself, they have not been familiarized by experience. The +result of this has been that sometimes in their intercourse with the +United States they have manifested dispositions to reserve a right of +granting special favors and privileges to the Spanish nation as the +price of their recognition. At others they have actually established +duties and impositions operating unfavorably to the United States to the +advantage of other European powers, and sometimes they have appeared to +consider that they might interchange among themselves mutual concessions +of exclusive favor, to which neither European powers nor the United +States should be admitted. In most of these cases their regulations +unfavorable to us have yielded to friendly expostulation and +remonstrance. But it is believed to be of infinite moment that the +principles of a liberal commercial intercourse should be exhibited to +them, and urged with disinterested and friendly persuasion upon them +when all assembled for the avowed purpose of consulting together upon +the establishment of such principles as may have an important bearing +upon their future welfare. + +The consentaneous adoption of principles of maritime neutrality, and +favorable to the navigation of peace, and commerce in time of war, will +also form a subject of consideration to this Congress. The doctrine that +free ships make free goods and the restrictions of reason upon the +extent of blockades may be established by general agreement with far +more ease, and perhaps with less danger, by the general engagement to +adhere to them concerted at such a meeting, than by partial treaties or +conventions with each of the nations separately. An agreement between +all the parties represented at the meeting that each will guard by its +own means against the establishment of any future European colony within +its borders may be found advisable. This was more than two years since +announced by my predecessor to the world as a principle resulting from +the emancipation of both the American continents. It may be so developed +to the new southern nations that they will all feel it as an essential +appendage to their independence. + +There is yet another subject upon which, without entering into any +treaty, the moral influence of the United States may perhaps be exerted +with beneficial consequences at such a meeting--the advancement of +religious liberty. Some of the southern nations are even yet so far +under the dominion of prejudice that they have incorporated with their +political constitutions an exclusive church, without toleration of any +other than the dominant sect. The abandonment of this last badge of +religious bigotry and oppression may be pressed more effectually by the +united exertions of those who concur in the principles of freedom of +conscience upon those who are yet to be convinced of their justice and +wisdom than by the solitary efforts of a minister to any one of the +separate Governments. + +The indirect influence which the United States may exercise upon any +projects or purposes originating in the war in which the southern +Republics are still engaged, which might seriously affect the interests +of this Union, and the good offices by which the United States may +ultimately contribute to bring that war to a speedier termination, +though among the motives which have convinced me of the propriety of +complying with this invitation, are so far contingent and eventual that +it would be improper to dwell upon them more at large. + +In fine, a decisive inducement with me for acceding to the measure is to +show by this token of respect to the southern Republics the interest +that we take in their welfare and our disposition to comply with their +wishes. Having been the first to recognize their independence, and +sympathized with them so far as was compatible with our neutral duties +in all their struggles and sufferings to acquire it, we have laid the +foundation of our future intercourse with them in the broadest +principles of reciprocity and the most cordial feelings of fraternal +friendship. To extend those principles to all our commercial relations +with them and to hand down that friendship to future ages is congenial +to the highest policy of the Union, as it will be to that of all those +nations and their posterity. In the confidence that these sentiments +will meet the approbation of the Senate, I nominate Richard C. Anderson, +of Kentucky, and John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, to be envoys +extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the assembly of American +nations at Panama, and William B. Rochester, of New York, to be +secretary to the mission. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 27, 1825_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +20th instant, I now transmit a copy of the message of President +Jefferson to both Houses of Congress on the 18th of January, 1803, +recommending an exploring expedition across this continent.[001] It will +be perceived on the perusal of this message that it was confidential, +for which reason the copy of it is now communicated in the same manner, +leaving to the judgment of the House to determine whether any adequate +reason yet remains for withholding it from publication. I possess no +other document or information in relation to the same subject which I +consider as coming within the scope of the resolution of the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 27, 1825_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +20th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +with copies of such portions of the correspondence between the United +States and Great Britain on the subject of the convention for +suppressing the slave trade as have not heretofore been, and which can +be communicated without detriment to the public interest. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 27, 1825_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +23d instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, +with the correspondence between the Department of War and Generals +Pinckney and Jackson, and all the instructions given to the said +Generals Pinckney and Jackson relating to the treaty with the Creek +Indians, afterwards made at Fort Jackson, so far as the same can be +communicated without prejudice to the public interest. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 3, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +23d of last month, I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of +War, with the documents touching the treaty with the Cherokee Indians, +ratified in 1819, by which the Cherokee title to a portion of lands +within the limits of North Carolina was extinguished. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 9, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, I +communicate herewith, in confidence, a report[002] from the Secretary of +State, with translations of the conventions and documents, containing +information of the nature referred to in the said resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 9, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice with regard +to the ratification, the following treaties: + +1. A treaty signed at the Poncar village at the mouth of White Point +Creek, the first below the Qui Carre River, on the 9th of June, 1825, by +Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson and Major Benjamin O'Fallon, +commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs, +headmen, and warriors of the Poncar tribe of Indians on the part of said +tribe. + +2. A treaty signed at Fort Look-out, near the Three Rivers of the Sioux +Pass, on the 22d June, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of +the United States and certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the +Teton, Yancton, and Yanctonies bands of the Sioux tribe of Indians on +the part of the said bands. + +3. A treaty signed at the mouth of the Teton River on the 5th of July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by +certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Sione and Ogalla bands of +Sioux Indians, and on the 12th of July, 1825, at Camp Hidden Creek, by +chiefs and warriors of the Siounes of the Fireheart's band on the part +of their respective bands. + +4. A treaty signed at the mouth of the Teton River on the 6th of July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by +certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Chayenne tribe of Indians +on the part of said tribe. + +5. A treaty signed at the Auricara village on the 16th July, 1825, by +the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain +chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Hunkpapas band of the Sioux tribe +of Indians on the part of said band. + +6. A treaty signed at the Ricara village on the 18th July, 1825, by the +same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain +chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Ricara tribe of Indians on the part +of said tribe. + +7. A treaty signed at the Mandan village on the 30th of July, 1825, by +the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain +chiefs and warriors of the Mandan tribe of Indians on the part of said +tribe. + +8. A treaty signed at the lower Mandan village on the 30th of July, +1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by +certain chiefs and warriors of the Belantse Etea, or Minnetaree, tribe +of Indians on the part of said tribe. + +9. A treaty signed at the Mandan village on the 4th of August, 1825, by +the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain +chiefs and warriors of the Crow tribe of Indians on the part of said +tribe. + +10. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the 25th of +September, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United +States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Ottoe and +Missouri tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe. + +11. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the 30th of +September, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United +States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Pawnee tribe +of Indians on the part of said tribe. + +12. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the 6th of +October, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United +States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Maha tribe of +Indians on the part of said tribe. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 10, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a treaty signed at Prairie des Chiens, in the +Territory of Michigan, on the 19th of August, 1825, by William Clark and +Lewis Cass, commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain +chiefs and warriors of the Sioux, Chippeways, Socs, Foxes, Winnebagoes, +Menominies, Ottoways, Potawatamies, and Ioway tribes of Indians on the +part of said tribes, and I request the advice of the Senate with regard +to its ratification. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 20, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the +23d ultimo, I transmit herewith reports[003] from the Secretary of War +and the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with the statements +desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 23, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +27th December last, requesting a statement of moneys paid out of the +public Treasury to the late President of the United States as +compensation for his services in various other offices which he has +filled under the Government of the United States, and on other accounts, +and also of claims for allowances made by him upon the Government which +have been disallowed, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 24, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +12th December last, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +the Navy, with the documents and proceedings of the naval courts-martial +in the cases of Captain Charles Stewart and of Lieutenants Joshua R. +Sands and William M. Hunter. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 30, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration and advice +with regard to their ratification-- + +1. A treaty concluded on the 10th day of August, 1825, at Council Grove +by Benjamin H. Reeves, George C. Sibley, and Thomas Mather, +commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs and +headmen of the Great and Little Osage tribes of Indians on the part of +the said tribe. + +2. A treaty concluded on the 16th day of August, 1825, at the Sora +Kanzas Creek by the same commissioners on the part of the United States +and certain chiefs and headmen of the Kanzas tribe or nation of Indians +on the part of said tribe. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 31, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +18th instant, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with the +correspondence with the British Government, relating to the boundary of +the United States on the Pacific Ocean, desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 31, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration and advice +with regard to its ratification, a treaty concluded by the Secretary of +War, duly authorized thereto, with the chiefs and headmen of the Creek +Nation, deputed by them, and now in this city. + +It has been agreed upon, and is presented to the consideration of the +Senate as a substitute for the treaty signed at the Indian Springs on +the 12th of February last. The circumstances under which this received +on the 3d of March last your advice and consent to its ratification are +known to you. It was transmitted to me from the Senate on the 5th of +March, and ratified in full confidence yielded to the advice and consent +of the Senate, under a firm belief, founded on the journal of the +commissioners of the United States and on the express statements in the +letter of one of them of the 16th of February to the then Secretary of +War, that it had been concluded with a large majority of the chiefs of +the Creek Nation and with a reasonable prospect of immediate +acquiescence by the remainder. + +This expectation has not merely been disappointed. The first measures +for carrying the treaty into execution had scarcely been taken when the +two principal chiefs who had signed it fell victims to the exasperation +of the great mass of the nation, and their families and dependents, far +from being able to execute the engagements on their part, fled for life, +safety, and subsistence from the territories which they had assumed to +cede, to our own. Yet, in this fugitive condition, and while subsisting +on the bounty of the United States, they have been found advancing +pretensions to receive exclusively to themselves the whole of the sums +stipulated by the commissioners of the United States in payment _for +all_ the lands of the Creek Nation which were ceded by the terms of the +treaty. And they have claimed the stipulation of the eighth article, +that the United States would "_protect_ the emigrating party against the +encroachments, hostilities, and impositions of the whites and of all +others," as an engagement by which the United States were bound to +become the instruments of their vengeance and to inflict upon the +majority of the Creek Nation the punishment of Indian retribution to +gratify the vindictive fury of an impotent and helpless minority of +their own tribe. + +In this state of things the question is not whether the treaty of the +12th of February last shall or shall not be executed. So far as the +United States were or could be bound by it I have been anxiously +desirous of carrying it into execution. But, like other treaties, its +fulfillment depends upon the will not of one but of both the parties to +it. The parties on the face of the treaty are the United States and the +Creek Nation, and however desirous one of them may be to give it effect, +this wish must prove abortive while the other party refuses to perform +its stipulations and disavows its obligations. By the refusal of the +Creek Nation to perform their part of the treaty the United States are +absolved from all its engagements on their part, and the alternative +left them is either to resort to measures of war to secure by force the +advantages stipulated to them in the treaty or to attempt the adjustment +of the interest by a new compact. In the preference dictated by the +nature of our institutions and by the sentiments of justice and humanity +which the occasion requires for measures of peace the treaty herewith +transmitted has been concluded, and is submitted to the decision of the +Senate. After exhausting every effort in our power to obtain the +acquiescence of the Creek Nation to the treaty of the 12th of February, +I entertained for some time the hope that their assent might at least +have been given to a new treaty, by which all their lands within the +State of Georgia should have been ceded. This has also proved +impracticable, and although the excepted portion is of comparatively +small amount and importance, I have assented to its exception so far as +to place it before the Senate only from a conviction that between it and +a resort to the forcible expulsion of the Creeks from their habitations +and lands within the State of Georgia there was no middle term. + +The deputation with which this treaty has been concluded consists of the +principal chiefs of the nation--able not only to negotiate but to carry +into effect the stipulations to which they have agreed. There is a +deputation also here from the small party which undertook to contract +for the whole nation at the treaty of the 12th of February, but the +number of which, according to the information collected by General +Gaines, does not exceed 400. They represent themselves, indeed, to be +far more numerous, but whatever their number may be their interests have +been provided for in the treaty now submitted. Their subscriptions to it +would also have been received but for unreasonable pretensions raised by +them after all the arrangements of the treaty had been agreed upon and +it was actually signed. Whatever their merits may have been in the +facility with which they ceded all the lands of their nation within the +State of Georgia, their utter inability to perform the engagements which +they so readily contracted and the exorbitancy of their demands when +compared with the inefficiency of their own means of performance leave +them with no claims upon the United States other than of impartial and +rigorous justice. + +In referring to the impressions under which I ratified the treaty of the +12th of February last, I do not deem it necessary to decide upon the +propriety of the manner in which it was negotiated. Deeply regretting +the recriminations and recriminations to which these events have given +rise, I believe the public interest will best be consulted by discarding +them altogether from the discussion of the subject. The great body of +the Creek Nation inflexibly refuse to acknowledge or to execute that +treaty. Upon this ground it will be set aside, should the Senate advise +and consent to the ratification of that now communicated, without +looking back to the means by which the other was effected. And in the +adjustment of the terms of the present treaty I have been peculiarly +anxious to dispense a measure of great liberality to both parties of the +Creek Nation, rather than to extort from them a bargain of which the +advantages on our part could only be purchased by hardship on theirs. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 1, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 50th ultimo, I +communicate herewith, in confidence, a report[004] from the Secretary of +State, with the documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 7, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 15th of December +last, I communicate herewith reports from the Secretaries of the +Treasury and War and from the Commissioner of the General Land Office, +with documents, relating to the lead mines and salt springs, containing +the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 14, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +12th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the +Navy, with the statements relating to naval courts of inquiry and +courts-martial since the 1st January, 1824, requested by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 15, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the late +Secretary of War to the late President of the United States, with +documents, containing information requested by a resolution of the House +of April 10, 1824, relating to the purchases of real estate in behalf of +the United States within the territorial limits of any State since the +4th July, 1776. + +These papers were prepared during the last session of Congress, but by +some accident were not then communicated to the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 16, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In answer to the two resolutions of the Senate of the 15th instant, +marked executive, and which I have received, I state respectfully that +all the communications from me to the Senate relating to the congress at +Panama have been made, like all other communications upon executive +business, _in confidence_ and most of them in compliance with a +resolution of the Senate requesting them confidentially. Believing that +the established usage of free confidential communication between the +Executive and the Senate ought for the public interest to be preserved +unimpaired, I deem it my indispensable duty to leave to the Senate +itself the decision of a question involving a departure hitherto, so far +as I am informed, without example from that usage, and upon the motives +for which, not being informed of them, I do not feel myself competent to +decide. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 17, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with a +further document, prepared in compliance with a resolution of the House +of the 10th of April, 1824, and containing information relating to +purchasers of real estate in behalf of the United States within the +territorial limits of any State since the 4th of July, 1776. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 17, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to both Houses of Congress a letter from the +Secretary of War, with a report from the Ordnance Department, relating +to the site of the arsenal of the United States at Augusta, in Georgia, +and with regard to which the interposition of the legislative authority +is submitted to your consideration as desirable. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 1, 1826_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War, together +with a representation from Colonel Brooke, relating to the present +condition of the Indians in Florida, and which I recommend to the +favorable consideration of Congress. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 1, 1826_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +A resolution of the House of Representatives adopted at the first +session of the Eighteenth Congress, and bearing date the 6th of May, +1824, requested the President of the United States to lay before the +House at their then next session a detailed report of the system and +plan of fortifications then contemplated and recommended by the Board of +Engineers, with various particulars specified in the resolution; and on +the 5th of January last a further resolution was adopted requesting +similar information. I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +War, with a letter from the Chief Engineer, and documents, containing, +so far as it has been found practicable to obtain and compile it, the +information requested by these resolutions. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 5, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I now submit to the consideration of Congress the propriety of making +the appropriation for carrying into effect the appointment of a mission +to the congress at Panama. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 7, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to both Houses of Congress a letter from the Secretary of +War, together with copies of one to him from the Senators of the State +of Maryland, and several other documents, relating to a claim of that +State upon the Government of the United States for interest upon certain +expenditures during the late war, which I the more readily recommend to +the favorable and early consideration of Congress inasmuch as the +principle upon which the claim is advanced appears to have been settled +by the act of Congress of 3d March, 1825, authorizing the payment of +interest due to the State of Virginia. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 8, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of State, with the proceedings of the court and marshal of the United +States for the district of Alabama, and other documents, in relation to +the cargoes of certain slave ships, the _Constitution, Louisa_. and +_Marino_. containing the information requested by a resolution of the +House of February 16, 1825. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 8, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +10th ultimo, requesting information relating to the proceedings of the +joint commission of indemnities due under the award of the Emperor of +Russia for slaves and other private property carried away by the British +forces in violation of the treaty of Ghent, I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of State and documents containing the information +desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 15, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War and copies +of a resolution of that legislature of the State of Georgia, with a +correspondence of the governor of that State, relating to the running +and establishing of the line between that State and Florida, which I +recommend to the favorable consideration of Congress. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 15, 1826_. +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: +In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 5th ultimo, +requesting me to cause to be laid before the House so much of the +correspondence between the Government of the United States and the new +States of America, or their ministers, respecting the proposed congress +or meeting of diplomatic agents at Panama, and such information +respecting the general character of that expected congress as may be in +my possession and as may, in my opinion, be communicated without +prejudice to the public interest, and also to inform the House, so far +as in my opinion the public interest may allow, in regard to what +objects the agents of the United States are expected to take part in the +deliberations of that congress, I now transmit to the House a report +from the Secretary of State, with the correspondence and information +requested by the resolution. + +With regard to the objects in which the agents of the United States are +expected to take part in the deliberations of that congress, I deem it +proper to premise that these objects did not form the only, nor even the +principal, motive for my acceptance of the invitation. My first and +greatest inducement was to meet in the spirit of kindness and friendship +an overture made in that spirit by three sister Republics of this +hemisphere. + +The great revolution in human affairs which has brought into existence, +nearly at the same time, eight sovereign and independent nations in our +own quarter of the globe has placed the United States in a situation not +less novel and scarcely less interesting than that in which they had +found themselves by their own transition from a cluster of colonies to a +nation of sovereign States. The deliverance of the Southern American +Republics from the oppression under which they had been so long +afflicted was hailed with great unanimity by the people of this Union as +among the most auspicious events of the age. On the 4th of May, 1822, an +act of Congress made an appropriation of $100,000 "for such missions to +the independent nations on the American continent as the President of +the United States might deem proper." In exercising the authority +recognized by this act my predecessor, by and with the advice and +consent of the Senate appointed successively ministers plenipotentiary +to the Republics of Colombia, Buenos Ayres, Chili, and Mexico. Unwilling +to raise among the fraternity of freedom questions of precedency and +etiquette, which even the European monarchs had of late found it +necessary in a great measure to discard, he dispatched these ministers +to Colombia, Buenos Ayres, and Chili without exacting from those +Republics, as by the ancient principles of political primogeniture he +might have done, that the compliment of a plenipotentiary mission should +have been paid _first_ by them to the United States. The instructions, +prepared under his direction, to Mr. Anderson, the first of our +ministers to the southern continent, contain at much length the general +principles upon which he thought it desirable that our relations, +political and commercial, with these our new neighbors should be +established for their benefit and ours and that of the future ages of +our posterity. A copy of so much of these instructions as relates to +these general subjects is among the papers now transmitted to the House. +Similar instructions were furnished to the ministers appointed to Buenos +Ayres, Chili, and Mexico, and the system of social intercourse which it +was the purpose of those missions to establish from the first opening of +our diplomatic relations with those rising nations is the most effective +exposition of the principles upon which the invitation to the congress +at Panama has been accepted by me, as well as of the objects of +negotiation at that meeting, in which, it was that our plenipotentiaries +should take part. + +The House will perceive that even at the date of these instructions the +first treaties between some of the southern Republics had been +concluded, by which they had stipulated among themselves this diplomatic +assembly at Panama. And it will be seen with what caution, so far as it +might concern the policy of the United States, and at the same time with +what frankness and good will toward those nations, he gave countenance +to their design of inviting the United States to this high assembly for +consultation upon _American interests_. It was not considered a +conclusive reason for declining this invitation that the proposal for +assembling such a Congress had not first been made by ourselves. It had +sprung from the urgent, immediate, and momentous common interests of the +great communities struggling for independence, and, as it were, +quickening into life. From them the proposition to us appeared +respectful and friendly; from us to them it could scarcely have been +made without exposing ourselves to suspicions of purposes of ambition, +if not of domination, more suited to rouse resistance and excite +distrust than to conciliate favor and friendship. The first and +paramount principle upon which it was deemed wise and just to lay the +corner stone of all our future relations with them was +_disinterestedness_; the next was cordial good will to them; the third +was a claim of fair and equal reciprocity. Under these impressions when +the invitation was formally and earnestly given, had it even been +doubtful whether _any_ of the objects proposed for consideration and +discussion at the Congress were such as that immediate and important +interests of the United States would be affected by the issue, I should, +nevertheless, have determined so far as it depended upon me to have +accepted the invitation and to have appointed ministers to attend the +meeting. The proposal itself implied that the Republics by whom it was +made _believed_ that important interests of ours or of theirs rendered +our attendance there desirable. They had given us notice that in the +novelty of their situation and in the spirit of deference to our +experience they would be pleased to have the benefit of our friendly +counsel. To meet the temper with which this proposal was made with a +cold repulse was not thought congenial to that warm interest in their +welfare with which the people and Government of the Union had hitherto +gone hand in hand through the whole progress of their revolution. To +insult them by a refusal of their overture, and then invite them to a +similar assembly to be called by ourselves, was an expedient which never +presented itself to the mind. I would have sent ministers to the meeting +had it been merely to give them such advice as they might have desired, +even with reference to _their own_ interests, not involving ours. I +would have sent them had it been merely to explain and set forth to them +our reasons for _declining_ any proposal of specific measures to which +they might desire our concurrence, but which we might deem incompatible +with our interests or our duties. In the intercourse between nations +temper is a missionary perhaps more powerful than talent. Nothing was +ever lost by kind treatment. Nothing can be gained by sullen repulses +and aspiring pretensions. + +But objects of the highest importance, not only to the future welfare of +the whole human race, but bearing directly upon the special interests of +this Union, _will_ engage the deliberations of the congress of Panama +whether we are represented there or not. Others, if we are represented, +may be offered by our plenipotentiaries for consideration having in view +both these great results--our own interests and the improvement of the +condition of man upon earth. It may be that in the lapse of many +centuries no other opportunity so favorable will be presented to the +Government of the United States to subserve the benevolent purposes of +Divine Providence; to dispense the promised blessings of the Redeemer of +Mankind; to promote the prevalence in future ages of peace on earth and +good will to man, as will now be placed in their power by participating +in the deliberations of this congress. + +Among the topics enumerated in official papers published by the Republic +of Colombia, and adverted to in the correspondence now communicated to +the House, as intended to be presented for discussion at Panama, there +is scarcely one in which the _result_ of the meeting will not deeply +affect the interests of the United States. Even those in which the +belligerent States alone will take an active part will have a powerful +effect upon the state of our relations with the American, and probably +with the principal European, States. Were it merely that we might be +correctly and speedily informed of the proceedings of the congress and +of the progress and issue of their negotiations, I should hold it +advisable that we should have an accredited agency with them, placed in +such confidential relations with the other members as would insure the +authenticity and the safe and early transmission of its reports. Of the +same enumerated topics are the preparation of a manifesto setting forth +to the world the justice of their cause and the relations they desire to +hold with other Christian powers, and to form a convention of navigation +and commerce applicable both to the confederated States and to their +allies. + +It will be within the recollection of the House that immediately after +the close of the war of our independence a measure closely analogous to +this congress of Panama was adopted by the Congress of our +Confederation, and for purposes of precisely the same character. Three +commissioners with plenipotentiary powers were appointed to negotiate +treaties of amity, navigation, and commerce with all the principal +powers of Europe. They met and resided for that purpose about one year +at Paris, and the only result of their negotiations at that time was the +first treaty between the United States and Prussia--memorable in the +diplomatic annals of the world, and precious as a monument of the +principles, in relation to commerce and maritime warfare, with which our +country entered upon her career as a member of the great family of +independent nations. This treaty, prepared in conformity with the +instructions of the American plenipotentiaries, consecrated three +fundamental principles of the foreign intercourse which the Congress of +that period were desirous of establishing: First, equal reciprocity and +the mutual stipulation of the privileges of the most favored nation in +the commercial exchanges of peace; secondly, the abolition of private +war upon the ocean, and thirdly, restrictions favorable to neutral +commerce upon belligerent practices with regard to contraband of war and +blockades. A painful, it may be said a calamitous, experience of more +than forty years has demonstrated the deep importance of these same +principles to the peace and prosperity of this nation and to the welfare +of all maritime States, and has illustrated the profound wisdom with +which they were assumed as cardinal points of the policy of the Union. + +At that time in the infancy of their political existence, under the +influence of those principles of liberty and of right so congenial to +the cause in which they had just fought and triumphed, they were able +but to obtain the sanction of one great and philosophical, though +absolute, sovereign in Europe to their liberal and enlightened +principles. They could obtain no more. Since then a political hurricane +has gone over three-fourths of the civilized portions of the earth, the +desolation of which it may with confidence be expected is passing away, +leaving at least the American atmosphere purified and refreshed. And now +at this propitious moment the new-born nations of this hemisphere, +assembling by their representatives at the isthmus between its two +continents to settle the principles of their future international +intercourse with other nations and with us, ask in this great exigency +for our advice upon those very fundamental maxims which we from our +cradle at first proclaimed and partially succeeded to introduce into the +code of national law. + +Without recurring to that total prostration of all neutral and +commercial rights which marked the progress of the late European wars, +and which finally involved the United States in them, and adverting only +to our political relations with these American nations, it is observable +that while in all other respects those relations have been uniformly and +without exception of the most friendly and mutually satisfactory +character, the only causes of difference and dissension between us and +them which ever have arisen originated in those never-failing fountains +of discord and irritation--discriminations of commercial favor to other +nations, licentious privateers, and paper blockades. I can not without +doing injustice to the Republics of Buenos Ayres and Colombia forbear to +acknowledge the candid and conciliatory spirit with which they have +repeatedly yielded to our friendly representations and remonstrances on +these subjects--in repealing discriminative laws which operated to our +disadvantage and in revoking the commissions of their privateers, to +which Colombia has added the magnanimity of making reparation for +unlawful captures by some of her cruisers and of assenting in the midst +of war to treaty stipulations favorable to neutral navigation. But the +recurrence of these occasions of complaint has rendered the renewal of +the discussions which result in the removal of them necessary, while in +the meantime injuries are sustained by merchants and other individuals +of the United States which can not be repaired, and the remedy lingers +in overtaking the pernicious operation of the mischief. The settlement +of general principles pervading with equal efficacy all the American +States can alone put an end to these evils, and can alone be +accomplished at the proposed assembly. + +If it be true that the noblest treaty of peace ever mentioned in history +is that by which the Carthagenians were bound to abolish the practice of +sacrificing their own children _because it was stipulated in favor of +human nature_. I can not exaggerate to myself the unfading glory with +which these United States will go forth in the memory of future ages if +by their friendly counsel, by their moral influence, by the power of +argument and persuasion alone they can prevail upon the American nations +at Panama to stipulate by general agreement among themselves, and so far +as any of them may be concerned, the perpetual abolition of private war +upon the ocean. And if we can not yet flatter ourselves that this may be +accomplished, as advances toward it the establishment of the principle +that the friendly flag shall cover the cargo, the curtailment of +contraband of war, and the proscription of fictitious paper blockades-- +engagements which we may reasonably hope will not prove impracticable-- +will, if successfully inculcated, redound proportionally to our honor +and drain the fountain of many a future sanguinary war. + +The late President of the United States, in his message to Congress of +the 2d December, 1823, while announcing the negotiation then pending +with Russia, relating to the northwest coast of this continent, observed +that the occasion of the discussions to which that incident had given +rise had been taken for asserting as a principle in which the rights and +interests of the United States were involved that the American +continents, by the free and independent condition which they had assumed +and maintained, were thenceforward not to be considered as subjects for +future colonization by any European power. The principle had first been +assumed in that negotiation with Russia. It rested upon a course of +reasoning equally simple and conclusive. With the exception of the +existing European colonies, which it was in nowise intended to disturb, +the two continents consisted of several sovereign and independent +nations, whose territories covered their whole surface. By this their +independent condition the United States enjoyed the right of commercial +intercourse with every part of their possessions. To attempt the +establishment of a colony in those possessions would be to usurp to the +exclusion of others a commercial intercourse which was the common +possession of all. It could not be done without encroaching upon +existing rights of the United States. The Government of Russia has never +disputed these positions nor manifested the slightest dissatisfaction at +their having been taken. Most of the new American Republics have +declared their entire assent to them, and they now propose, among the +subjects of consultation at Panama, to take into consideration the means +of making effectual the assertion of that principle, as well as the +means of resisting interference from abroad with the domestic concerns +of the American Governments. + +In alluding to these means it would obviously be premature at this time +to anticipate that which is offered merely as matter for consultation, +or to pronounce upon those measures which have been or may be suggested. +The purpose of this Government is to concur in none which would import +hostility to Europe or justly excite resentment in any of her States. +Should it be deemed advisable to contract any conventional engagement on +this topic, our views would extend no further than to a mutual pledge of +the parties to the compact to maintain the principle in application to +its own territory, and to permit no colonial lodgments or establishment +of European jurisdiction upon its own soil; and with respect to the +obtrusive interference from abroad--if its future character may be +inferred from that which has been and perhaps still is exercised in more +than one of the new States--a joint declaration of its character and +exposure of it to the world may be probably all that the occasion would +require. Whether the United States should or should not be parties to +such a declaration may justly form a part of the deliberation. That +there is an evil to be remedied heeds little insight into the secret +history of late years to know, and that this remedy may best be +concerted at the Panama meeting deserves at least the experiment of +consideration. A concert of measures having reference to the more +effectual abolition of the African slave trade and the consideration of +the light in which the political condition of the island of Hayti is to +be regarded are also among the subjects mentioned by the minister from +the Republic of Colombia as believed to be suitable for deliberation at +the congress. The failure of the negotiations with that Republic +undertaken during the late administration, for the suppression of that +trade, in compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives, +indicates the expediency of listening with respectful attention to +propositions which may contribute to the accomplishment of the great end +which was the purpose of that resolution, while the result of those +negotiations will serve as admonition to abstain from pledging this +Government to any arrangement which might be expected to fail of +obtaining the advice and consent of the Senate by a constitutional +majority to its ratification. + +Whether the political condition of the island of Hayti shall be brought +at all into discussion at the meeting may be a question for preliminary +advisement. There are in the political constitution of Government of +that people circumstances which have hitherto forbidden the +acknowledgment of them by the Government of the United States as +sovereign and independent. Additional reasons for withholding that +acknowledgment have recently been seen in their acceptance of a nominal +sovereignty by the _grant_ of a foreign prince under conditions +equivalent to the concession by them of exclusive commercial advantages +to one nation, adapted altogether to the state of colonial vassalage and +retaining little of independence but the name. Our plenipotentiaries +will be instructed to present these views to the assembly at Panama, and +should they not be concurred in to decline acceding to any arrangement +which may be proposed upon different principles. + +The condition of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico is of deeper import +and more immediate bearing upon the present interests and future +prospects of our Union. The correspondence herewith transmitted will +show how earnestly it has engaged the attention of this Government. The +invasion of both those islands by the united forces of Mexico and +Colombia is avowedly among the objects to be matured by the belligerent +States at Panama. The convulsions to which, from the peculiar +composition of their population, they would be liable in the event of +such an invasion, and the danger therefrom resulting of their falling +ultimately into the hands of some European power other than Spain, will +not admit of our looking at the consequences to which the congress at +Panama may lead with indifference. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon +this topic or to say more than that all our efforts in reference to this +interest will be to preserve the existing state of things, the +tranquillity of the islands, and the peace and security of their +inhabitants. + +And lastly, the congress of Panama is believed to present a fair +occasion for urging upon all the new nations of the south the just and +liberal principles of religious liberty; not by any interference +whatever in their internal concerns, but by claiming for our citizens +whose occupations or interests may call them to occasional residence in +their territories the inestimable privilege of worshipping their Creator +according to the dictates of their own consciences. This privilege, +sanctioned by the customary law of nations and secured by treaty +stipulations in numerous national compacts, secured even to our own +citizens in the treaties with Colombia and with the Federation of +Central America, is yet to be obtained in the other South American +States and Mexico. Existing prejudices are still struggling against it, +which may, perhaps, be more successfully combated at this general +meeting than at the separate seats of Government of each Republic. + +I can scarcely deem it otherwise than superfluous to observe that the +assembly will be in its nature diplomatic and not legislative; that +nothing can be transacted there obligatory upon any one of the States to +be represented at the meeting, unless with the express concurrence of +its own representatives, nor even then, but subject to the ratification +of its constitutional authority at home. The faith of the United States +to foreign powers can not otherwise be pledged. I shall, indeed, in the +first instance, consider the assembly as merely _consultative_; and +although the plenipotentiaries of the United States will be empowered to +receive and refer to the consideration of their Government any +proposition from the other parties to the meeting, they will be +authorized to conclude nothing unless subject to the definitive sanction +of this Government in all its constitutional forms. It has therefore +seemed to me unnecessary to insist that every object to be discussed at +the meeting should be specified with the precision of a judicial +sentence or enumerated with the exactness of a mathematical +demonstration. The purpose of the meeting itself is to deliberate upon +the great and common _interests_ of several new and neighbouring +nations. If the measure is new and without precedent, so is the +situation of the parties to it. That the purposes of the meeting are +somewhat indefinite, far from being an objection to it is among the +cogent reasons for its adoption. It is not the establishment of +principles of intercourse with one, but with seven or eight nations at +once. That before they have had the means of exchanging ideas and +communicating with one another in common upon these topics they should +have definitively settled and arranged them in concert is to require +that the effect should precede the cause; it is to exact as a +preliminary to the meeting that for the accomplishment of which the +meeting itself is designed. + +Among the inquiries which were thought entitled to consideration before +the determination was taken to accept the invitation was that whether +the measure might not have a tendency to change the policy, hitherto +invariably pursued by the United States, of avoiding all entangling +alliances and all unnecessary foreign connections. + +Mindful of the advice given by the father of our country in his Farewell +Address, that the great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign +nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as +little political connection as possible, and faithfully adhering to the +spirit of that admonition, I can not overlook the reflection that the +counsel of Washington in that instance, like all the counsels of wisdom, +was founded upon the circumstances in which our country and the world +around us were situated at the time when it was given; that the reasons +assigned by him for his advice were that Europe had a set of primary +interests which to us had none or a very remote relation; that hence she +must be engaged in frequent controversies, the, causes of which were +essentially foreign to our concerns; that our _detached_ and _distant_ +situation invited and enabled us to pursue a different course; that by +our union and rapid growth, with an efficient Government, the period was +not far distant when we might defy material injury from external +annoyance, when we might take such an attitude as would cause our +neutrality to be respected, and, with reference to belligerent nations, +might choose peace or war, as our interests, guided by justice, should +counsel. + +Compare our situation and the circumstances of that time with those of +the present day, and what, from the very words of Washington then, would +be his counsels to his countrymen now? Europe has still her set of +primary interests, with which we have little or a remote relation. Our +distant and detached situation with reference to Europe remains the +same. But we were then the only independent nation of this hemisphere, +and we were surrounded by European colonies, with the greater part of +which we had no more intercourse than with the inhabitants of another +planet. Those colonies have now been transformed into eight independent +nations, extending to our very borders, seven of them Republics like +ourselves, with whom we have an immensely growing commercial, and _must_ +have and have already important political, connections; with reference +to whom our situation is neither distant nor detached; whose political +principles and systems of government, congenial with our own, must and +will have an action and counteraction upon us and ours to which we can +not be indifferent if we would. + +The rapidity of our growth, and the consequent increase of our strength, +has more than realized the anticipations of this admirable political +legacy. Thirty years have nearly elapsed since it was written, and in +the interval our population, our wealth, our territorial extension, our +power--physical and moral--have nearly trebled. Reasoning upon this +state of things from the sound and judicious principles of Washington, +must we not say that the period which he predicted as then not far off +has arrived; that _America_ has a set of primary interests which have +none or a remote relation to Europe; that the interference of Europe, +therefore, in those concerns should be spontaneously withheld by her +upon the same principles that we have never interfered with hers, and +that if she should interfere, as she may, by measures which may have a +great and dangerous recoil upon ourselves, we might be called in defense +of our own altars and firesides to take an attitude which would cause +our neutrality to be respected, and choose peace or war, as our +interest, guided by justice, should counsel. + +The acceptance of this invitation, therefore, far from conflicting with +the counsel or the policy of Washington, is directly deducible from and +conformable to it. Nor is it less conformable to the views of my +immediate predecessor as declared in his annual message to Congress of +the 2d December, 1823, to which I have already adverted, and to an +important passage of which I invite the attention of the House: + + The citizens of the United States (said he) cherish sentiments + the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their + fellow-men on that (the European) side of the Atlantic. In the + wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we + have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so + to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously + menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our + defense. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of + necessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be + obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political + system of the allied powers is essentially different in this + respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that + which exists in their respective Governments. And to the defense + of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood + and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened + citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, + this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor and + to the amicable relations subsisting between the United States + and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt + on their part to extend their system to any portion of this + hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the + existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have + not interfered and shall not interfere; but with the Governments + who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose + independence we have on great consideration and on just + principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for + the purposes of oppressing them or controlling in any other + manner their destiny by any European power in any other light + than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the + United States. In the war between those new Governments and Spain + we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition, and + to this we have adhered and shall continue to adhere, provided no + change shall occur which in the judgment of the competent + authorities of this Government shall make a corresponding change + on the part of the United States indispensable to their security. + +To the question which may be asked, whether this meeting and the +principles which may be adjusted and settled by it as rules of +intercourse between the American nations may not give umbrage to the +holy league of European powers or offense to Spain, it is deemed a +sufficient answer that our attendance at Panama can give _no just cause_ +of umbrage or offense to either, and that the United States will +stipulate nothing there which can give such cause. Here the right of +inquiry into our purposes and measures must stop. The holy league of +Europe itself was formed without inquiring of the United States whether +it would or would not give umbrage to them. The fear of giving umbrage +to the holy league of Europe was urged as a motive for denying to the +American nations the acknowledgment of their independence. That it would +be viewed by Spain as hostility to her was not only urged, but directly +declared by herself. The Congress and administration of that day +consulted their rights and duties, and not their fears. Fully determined +to give no heedless displeasure to any foreign power, the United States +can estimate the probability of their giving it only by the right which +any foreign state could have to take it from their measures. Neither the +representation of the United States at Panama nor any measure to which +their assent may be yielded there will give to the holy league or any of +its members, nor to Spain, the right to take offense; for the rest the +United States must still, as heretofore, take counsel from their duties +rather than their fears. + +Such are the objects in which it is expected that the plenipotentiaries +of the United States, when commissioned to attend the meeting at the +Isthmus, will take part, and such are the motives and purposes with +which the invitation of the three Republics was accepted. It was, +however, as the House will perceive from the correspondence, accepted +only upon condition that the nomination of commissioners for the mission +should receive the advice and consent of the Senate. + +The concurrence of the House to the measure by the appropriations +necessary for carrying it into effect is alike subject to its free +determination and indispensable to the fulfillment of the intention. + +That the congress at Panama will accomplish all, or even any, of the +transcendent benefits to the human race which warmed the conceptions of +its first proposer it were perhaps indulging too sanguine a forecast of +events to promise. It is in its nature a measure speculative and +experimental. The blessing of Heaven may turn it to the account of human +improvement; accidents unforeseen and mischances not to be anticipated +may baffle all its high purposes and disappoint its fairest +expectations. But the design is great, is benevolent, is humane. + +It looks to the melioration of the condition of man. It is congenial +with that spirit which prompted the declaration of our independence, +which inspired the preamble of our first treaty with France, which +dictated our first treaty with Prussia and the instructions under which +it was negotiated, which filled the hearts and fired the souls of the +immortal founders of our Revolution. + +With this unrestricted exposition of the motives by which I have been +governed in this transaction, as well as of the objects to be discussed +and of the ends, if possible, to be attained by our representation at +the proposed congress, I submit the propriety of an appropriation to the +candid consideration and enlightened patriotism of the Legislature. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 16, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +Some additional documents having relation to the objects of the mission +to the congress at Panama, and received since the communication of those +heretofore sent, are now transmitted to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the +10th instant, requesting information in possession of the Government +relating to certain resolves of the Congress of the Confederation of the +21st of October, 1780, and the 21st March, 1783, concerning allowances +to the officers of the Revolutionary army, and to the manner of carrying +into effect those resolves, and other particulars appertaining thereto, +I transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, and +of War, with documents, comprising the information desired by the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +MARCH 22, 1826. + + + + +Washington, +_March 24, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of +the 14th ultimo, requesting statements of the amount of compensation +allowed to the paymaster and quartermaster of the Marine Corps for +the two years preceding the 1st of January, 1826, and of other particulars +relating to the same Corps, I communicate a report from the Secretary +of the Navy, with documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 24, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +16th ultimo, requesting statements of the net amount of revenue derived +from imports and tonnage received by the Treasury from the ports within +the bay of Delaware, the bay of Chesapeake, the harbor of New York, +and at Boston from the 1st of January, 1790, to the last of December, +1825, and of the amount of expenditures paid from the Treasury for forts, +light-houses, beacons, and other public works erected to aid commerce +or for the purposes of defense within the said bays and harbors during +the said time, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with several documents, containing the information desired by +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 29, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 227th instant, +requesting a copy of such parts of the answer of the Secretary of State +to Mr. Poinsett's letter to Mr. Clay, dated Mexico, 28th September, +1825, No. 22, as relates to the pledge of the United States therein +mentioned; and also requesting me to inform the House whether the United +States have in any manner made any pledge to the Governments of Mexico +and South America that the United States would not permit the +interference of any foreign power with the independence or form of +government of these nations, and, if so, when, in what manner, and to +what effect; and also to communicate to the House a copy of the +communication from our minister at Mexico in which he informed the +Government of the United States that the Mexican Government called upon +this Government to fulfill the memorable pledge of the President of the +United States in his message to Congress of December, 1823, I transmit +to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with the documents +containing the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 30, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By the second article of the general convention of peace, amity, +navigation, and commerce between the United States and the Republic of +Colombia, concluded at Bogota on 3d of October, 1824, it was stipulated +that the parties engaged mutually not to grant any particular favor to +other nations in respect of commerce and navigation which should not +immediately become common to the other party, who should enjoy the same +freely if the concession was freely made, or on allowing the same +compensation if the concession was conditional. And in the third article +of the same convention it was agreed that the citizens of the United +States might frequent all the coasts and countries of the Republic of +Colombia, and reside and trade there in all sorts of produce, +manufactures, and merchandise, and should pay no other or greater +duties, charges, or fees whatsoever than the most favored nation should +be obliged to pay, and should enjoy all the rights, privileges, and +exemptions in navigation and commerce which the most favored nations +should enjoy, submitting themselves, nevertheless, to the laws, decrees, +and usages there established, and to which were submitted the subjects +and citizens of the most favored nations; with a reciprocal stipulation +in favor of the citizens of the Republic of Colombia in the United +States. Subsequently to the conclusion of this convention a treaty was +negotiated between the Republic of Colombia and Great Britain, by which +it was stipulated that no other or higher duties on account of tonnage, +light, or harbor dues should be imposed in the ports of Colombia on +British vessels than those payable in the same ports by Colombian +vessels, and that the same duties should be paid on the importation into +the territories of Colombia of any article the growth, produce, or +manufacture of His Britannic Majesty's dominions, whether such +importations should be in Colombian or in British vessels, and that the +same duties should be paid and the same discount (drawbacks) and +bounties allowed on the exportation of any articles the growth, produce, +or manufacture of Colombia to His Britannic Majesty's dominions, whether +such exportations were in Colombian or in British vessels. + +The minister of the United States to the Republic of Colombia having +claimed, by virtue of the second and third articles of the convention +between the two Republics, that the benefit of these subsequent +stipulations should be alike extended to the citizens of the United +States upon the condition of reciprocity provided for by the convention, +the application of those engagements was readily acceded to by the +Colombian Government, and a decree was issued by the executive authority +of that Republic on the 30th of January last, a copy and translation of +which are herewith communicated, securing to the citizens of the United +States in the Republic of Colombia the same advantages in regard to +commerce and navigation which had been conceded to British subjects in +the Colombian treaty with Great Britain. + +It remains for the Government of the United States to secure to the +citizens of the Republic of Colombia the reciprocal advantages to which +they are entitled by the terms of the convention, to commence from the +30th of January last, for the accomplishment of which I invite the +favor-able consideration of the Legislature. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 31, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 21st instant, +requesting information whether any, and what, measures have been taken +to improve the navigation over the sand bars in the Ohio River according +to the provisions of the act of the 24th of May, 1824, to improve the +navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and also whether the +experiments mentioned in the proviso to the first section of the said +act have been made, and, if so, what success has attended them, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with documents, +containing the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 31, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I communicate to the Senate herewith a supplementary article to the +treaty with the chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation, in behalf of +that nation, which was transmitted to the Senate on the 31st of January +last, and which I submit, together with and as a part of that treaty, +for the constitutional advice of the Senate with regard to its +ratification. A report of the Secretary of War accompanies the article, +setting forth the reasons for which it has been concluded. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 1, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 13th ultimo, +requesting a statement of all the expenditures incident or relating to +internal improvement for the years 1824 and 1825, I transmit reports +from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, with documents, +containing the statement desired. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 1, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 7th ultimo, +requesting information relative to the execution of an act of Congress +of the 7th May, 1822, to authorize and empower the corporation of the +city of Washington, in the district of Columbia, to drain the low +grounds on and near the public reservations, and to improve and ornament +certain parts of such reservations, I transmit herewith a report from +the commissioners appointed by the corporation of the city to carry into +effect the provisions of the said act, together with sundry documents, +exhibiting the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 5, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 30th ultimo, I +transmit to the House a report[005] from the Secretary of State, with +the documents desired by the resolution; and also a copy of the letter +from the Secretary of State to Mr. Poinsett acknowledging the receipt of +his dispatch No. 22, accidentally overlooked in the answer to the +resolution of the House of the 27th ultimo. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 11, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +On the 16th of January last I sent to the Senate a nomination of Daniel +Bissell to be colonel of the Second Regiment of Artillery, and on the 3d +of February I received from the Secretary of the Senate an attested copy +of their proceedings in relation to that nomination, laid before me by +their order, and closing with a resolution in these words: + +_Resolved_. That in the opinion of the Senate Daniel Bissell is entitled +to the place of colonel in the Army of the United States, taking rank as +such from the 15th of August, 1812, with the brevet of brigadier-general +from the 9th of March, 1814, and that the President of the United States +may arrange him accordingly. + +In the discharge of my own duties I am under the necessity of stating +respectfully to the Senate-- + +First. That I can not concur in these opinions. + +Secondly. That the resolution of the Senate, having on its face no +reference either to the nomination or to the office for which it was +made, leaves me doubtful whether it was intended by the Senate as their +decision upon the nomination or not. If intended as their decision, it +imports that the Senate do not advise and consent to the appointment of +Daniel Bissell as colonel in the Second Regiment of Artillery. If +intended as a mere expression of their opinions, superseding in their +judgment the necessity of their immediate decision upon the nomination, +it leaves the Senate still in possession of the nomination and free to +act upon it when informed of my inability to carry those opinions into +effect. + +In this uncertainty I have thought it most respectful to the Senate to +refer the subject again to them for their consideration. The delay in +the transmission of this communication is attributable to the earnest +desire which I have entertained of acceding to the opinions and +complying with the wishes of the Senate, and to the long and repeated +reconsideration of my own impressions with the view to make them, if +possible, conform to theirs. A still higher duty now constrains me to +invite their definitive decision upon the nomination. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 15, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +11th instant, I transmit herewith a report[006] of the Secretary of +State, and documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 25, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I now transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of a treaty with the +Creek Nation of Indians, concluded on the 24th day of January last, with +a supplementary article, signed on the 31st of last month, which have +been, with the advice and consent of the Senate, duly ratified. I send +at the same time copies of the treaty superseded by them, signed at the +Indian Springs on the 12th of February, 1825. The treaty and +supplementary article now ratified will require the aid of the +Legislature for carrying them into effect. And I subjoin a letter from +the Secretary of War, proposing an additional appropriation for the +purpose of facilitating the removal of that portion of the Creek Nation +which may be disposed to remove west of the Mississippi, recommending +the whole subject to the favorable consideration of Congress. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 25, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 4th of January last, +I now transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, +and of War, and from the Postmaster-General, with the documents +containing the list of appointments of members of Congress and other +information relating thereto desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 28, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice concerning its +ratification, a general convention of friendship, commerce, and +navigation between the United States and His Majesty the King of +Denmark, signed by the Secretary of State and the Danish minister on the +26th instant. A copy of the convention and a note from the Secretary of +State, together with Mr. Pedersen's answer, respecting the claims of the +citizens of the United States upon the Danish Government, are likewise +communicated. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 29, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +26th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the +Treasury, with a copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General[007] +referred to in the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 9, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: In compliance with a resolution of +the Senate of the 28th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of War, with a copy of the proceedings of the recent +court-martial for the trial of Colonel Talbot Chambers, and other +documents requested by the resolution or relating to the subject of it. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 15, 1826_. + + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: In compliance with a resolution of +the Senate of the 23d of March last, requesting information concerning +the official conduct of the collector and other revenue officers of the +port of Philadelphia, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 16, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +9th instant, I communicate herewith a report[007a] from the Secretary of +the Treasury, with the documents desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 17, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of treaties with Indian +tribes which have been, by and with the advice and consent of the +Senate, duly ratified during the present session of Congress: + +(1) With the Great and Little Osage tribes, concluded June 2, 1825; (2) +Kansas, June 3, 1825; (3) Poncar, June 9, 1825; (4) Teton, Yancton, and +Yanctonies, June 22, 1825; (5) Sioune and Ogallala, July 5 and 12, 1825; +(6) Chayenne, July 6, 1825; (7) Hunkpapas, July 16, 1825; (8) Ricara, +July 18, 1825; (9) Mandan, July 30, 1825; (10) Belantse-Etoa, or +Minnetaree, July 30, 1825; (11) Crow, August 4, 1825; (12) Great and +Little Osage, August 10, 1825; (13) Kansas, August 16, 1825; (14) Sioux, +Chippewa, Sac and Fox, Menomonee, Ioway, Sioux, Winnebago, and a portion +of the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Pottawatomie tribes, August 19, 1825; (15) +Ottoe and Missouri, September 26, 1825; (16) Pawnee, September 30, 1825; +(17) Maha, October 6, 1825; (18) Shawnee, November 7, 1825. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 19, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 16th instant, I +transmit a report[008] from the Secretary of State, containing the +information thereby requested. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 20, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 5th of March, 1824, +requesting copies of the several instructions to the ministers of the +United States to the Government of France and of the correspondence +between the said ministers and Government having reference to the +spoliations committed by that power on the commerce of the United States +anterior to the 30th of September, 1800, or so much thereof as can be +communicated without prejudice to the public interest; also how far, if +at all, the claim of indemnity from the Government of France for the +spoliations aforesaid was affected by the convention entered into +between the United States and France on the said 30th of September, +1800, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with the +documents desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +EXECUTIVE ORDER. + + +Adjutant-General's Office, + +Washington, +_July 11, 1826_ + + +General Orders. + + +The General in Chief has received from the Department of War the +following orders: + +The President with deep regret announces to the Army that it has pleased +the Disposer of All Human Events, in whose hands are the issues of life, +to remove from the scene of earthly existence our illustrious and +venerated fellow-citizen, Thomas Jefferson. + +This dispensation of Divine Providence, afflicting to us, but the +consummation of glory to him, occurred on the 4th of the present +month--- on the fiftieth anniversary of that Independence the +Declaration of which, emanating from his mind, at once proclaimed the +birth of a free nation and offered motives of hope and consolation to +the whole family of man. Sharing in the grief which every heart must +feel for so heavy and afflicting a public loss, and desirous to express +his high sense of the vast debt of gratitude which is due to the +virtues, talents, and ever-memorable services of the illustrious +deceased, the President directs that funeral honors be paid to him at +all the military stations, and that the officers of the Army wear crape +on the left arm, by way of mourning, for six months. + +Major-General Brown will give the necessary orders for carrying into +effect the foregoing directions. + +J. Barbour. + + + * * * * * + + +It has become the painful duty of the Secretary of War to announce to +the Army the death of another distinguished and venerated citizen. John +Adams departed this life on the 4th of this month. Like his compatriot +Jefferson, he aided in drawing and ably supporting the Declaration of +Independence. With a prophetic eye he looked through the impending +difficulties of the Revolution and foretold with what demonstrations of +joy the anniversary of the birth of American freedom would be hailed. He +was permitted to behold the verification of his prophecy, and died, as +did Jefferson, on the day of the jubilee. + +A coincidence of circumstances so wonderful gives confidence to the +belief that the patriotic efforts of these illustrious men were Heaven +directed, and furnishes a new seal to the hope that the prosperity of +these States is under the special protection of a kind Providence. + +The Secretary of War directs that the same funeral honors be paid by the +Army to the memory of the deceased as by the order of the 7th (11th?) +instant were directed to be paid to Thomas Jefferson, and the same token +of mourning be worn. + +Major-General Brown is charged with the execution of this order. + +J. Barbour. + + + * * * * * + + +Never has it fallen to the lot of any commander to announce to an army +such an event as now calls forth the mingled grief and astonishment of +this Republic; never since history first wrote the record of time has +one day thus mingled every triumphant with every tender emotion, and +consecrated a nation's joy by blending it with the most sacred of +sorrows. Yes, soldiers, in one day, almost in the same hour, have two of +the Founders of the Republic, the Patriarchs of Liberty, closed their +services to social man, after beholding them crowned with the richest +and most unlimited success. United in their end as they had been in +their highest aim, their toils completed, their hopes surpassed, their +honors full, and the dearest wish of their bosoms gratified in death, +they closed their eyes in patriot ecstasy, amidst the gratulations and +thanksgivings of a people on all, on every individual, of whom they had +conferred the best of all earthly benefits. + +Such men heed no trophies; they ask no splendid mausolea. We are their +monuments; their mausolea is their country, and her growing prosperity +the amaranthine wreath that Time shall place over their dust. Well may +the Genius of the Republic mourn. If she turns her eyes in one +direction, she beholds the hall where Jefferson wrote the charter of her +rights; if in another, she sees the city where Adams kindled the fires +of the Revolution. To no period of our history, to no department of our +affairs, can she direct her views and not meet the multiplied memorials +of her loss and of their glory. + +At the grave of such men envy dies, and party animosity blushes while +she quenches her fires. If Science and Philosophy lament their +enthusiastic votary in the halls of Monticello, Philanthropy and +Eloquence weep with no less reason in the retirement of Quincy. And when +hereafter the stranger performing his pilgrimage to the land of freedom +shall ask for the monument of Jefferson, his inquiring eye may be +directed to the dome of that temple of learning, the university of his +native State--- the last labor of his untiring mind, the latest and the +favorite gift of a patriot to his country. + +Bereaved yet happy America! Mourning yet highly favored country! Too +happy if every son whose loss shall demand thy tears can thus soothe thy +sorrow by a legacy of fame. + +The Army of the United States, devoted to the service of the country, +and honoring all who are alike devoted, whether in the Cabinet or the +field, will feel an honorable and a melancholy pride in obeying this +order. Let the officers, then, wear the badge of mourning, the poor +emblem of a sorrow which words can not express, but which freemen must +ever feel while contemplating the graves of the venerated Fathers of the +Republic. + +Tuesday succeeding the arrival of this order at each military station +shall be a day of rest. + +The National flag shall wave at half-mast. + +At early dawn thirteen guns shall be fired, and at intervals of thirty +minutes between the rising and setting sun a single cannon will be +discharged, and at the close of the day twenty-four rounds. + +By command of Major-General Brown: R. JONES, _Adjutant-General_ + + + * * * * * + + + + +SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE. + + + +Washington, +_December 5, 1826_. + + + +Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_: + +The assemblage of the representatives of our Union in both Houses of the +Congress at this time occurs under circumstances calling for the renewed +homage of our grateful acknowledgments to the Giver of All Good. With +the exceptions incidental to the most felicitous condition of human +existence, we continue to be highly favored in all the elements which +contribute to individual comfort and to national prosperity. In the +survey of our extensive country we have generally to observe abodes of +health and regions of plenty. In our civil and political relations we +have peace without and tranquillity within our borders. We are, as a +people, increasing with unabated rapidity in population, wealth, and +national resources, and whatever differences of opinion exist among us +with regard to the mode and the means by which we shall turn the +beneficence of Heaven to the improvement of our own condition, there is +yet a spirit animating us all which will not suffer the bounties of +Providence to be showered upon us in vain, but will receive them with +grateful hearts, and apply them with unwearied hands to the advancement +of the general good. + +Of the subjects recommended to Congress at their last session, some were +then definitively acted upon. Others, left unfinished, but partly +matured, will recur to your attention without heeding a renewal of +notice from me. The purpose of this communication will be to present to +your view the general aspect of our public affairs at this moment and +the measures which have been taken to carry into effect the intentions +of the Legislature as signified by the laws then and heretofore enacted. + +In our intercourse with the other nations of the earth we have still the +happiness of enjoying peace and a general good understanding, qualified, +however, in several important instances by collisions of interest and by +unsatisfied claims of justice, to the settlement of which the +constitutional interposition of the legislative authority may become +ultimately indispensable. + +By the decease of the Emperor Alexander, of Russia, which occurred +contemporaneously with the commencement of the last session of Congress, +the United States have been deprived of a long-tried, steady, and +faithful friend. Born to the inheritance of absolute power and trained +in the school of adversity, from which no power on earth, however +absolute, is exempt, that monarch from his youth had been taught to feel +the force and value of public opinion and to be sensible that the +interests of his own Government would best be promoted by a frank and +friendly intercourse with this Republic, as those of his people would be +advanced by a liberal commercial intercourse with our country. A candid +and confidential interchange of sentiments between him and the +Government of the United States upon the affairs of Southern America +took place at a period not long preceding his demise, and contributed to +fix that course of policy which left to the other Governments of Europe +no alternative but that of sooner or later recognizing the independence +of our southern neighbors, of which the example had by the United States +already been set. The ordinary diplomatic communications between his +successor, the Emperor Nicholas, and the United States have suffered +some interruption by the illness, departure, and subsequent decease of +his minister residing here, who enjoyed, as he merited, the entire +confidence of his new sovereign, as he had eminently responded to that +of his predecessor. But we have had the most satisfactory assurances +that the sentiments of the reigning Emperor toward the United States are +altogether conformable to those which had so long and constantly +animated his imperial brother, and we have reason to hope that they will +serve to cement that harmony and good understanding between the two +nations which, founded in congenial interests, can not but result in the +advancement of the welfare and prosperity of both. + +Our relations of commerce and navigation with France are, by the +operation of the convention of 24th of June, 1822, with that nation, in +a state of gradual and progressive improvement. Convinced by all our +experience, no less than by the principles of fair and liberal +reciprocity which the United States have constantly tendered to all the +nations of the earth as the rule of commercial intercourse which they +would universally prefer, that fair and equal competition is most +conducive to the interests of both parties, the United States in the +negotiation of that convention earnestly contended for a mutual +renunciation of discriminating duties and charges in the ports of the +two countries. Unable to obtain the immediate recognition of this +principle in its full extent, after reducing the duties of +discrimination so far as was found attainable it was agreed that at the +expiration of two years from the 1st of October, 1822, when the +convention was to go into effect, unless a notice of six months on +either side should be given to the other that the convention itself must +terminate, those duties should be reduced one-fourth, and that this +reduction should be yearly repeated, until all discrimination should +cease, while the convention itself should continue in force. By the +effect of this stipulation three-fourths of the discriminating duties +which had been levied by each party upon the vessels of the other in its +ports have already been removed; and on the 1st of next October, should +the convention be still in force, the remaining fourth will be +discontinued. French vessels laden with French produce will be received +in our ports on the same terms as our own, and ours in return will enjoy +the same advantages in the ports of France. + +By these approximations to an equality of duties and of charges not only +has the commerce between the two countries prospered, but friendly +dispositions have been on both sides encouraged and promoted. They will +continue to be cherished and cultivated on the part of the United +States. It would have been gratifying to have had it in my power to add +that the claims upon the justice of the French Government, involving the +property and the comfortable subsistence of many of our fellow-citizens, +and which have been so long and so earnestly urged, were in a more +promising train of adjustment than at your last meeting; but their +condition remains unaltered. + +With the Government of the Netherlands the mutual abandonment of +discriminating duties had been regulated by legislative acts on both +sides. The act of Congress of the 20th of April, 1818, abolished all +discriminating duties of impost and tonnage upon the vessels and produce +of the Netherlands in the ports of the United States upon the assurance +given by the Government of the Netherlands that all such duties +operating against the shipping and commerce of the United States in that +Kingdom had been abolished. These reciprocal regulations had continued +in force several years when the discriminating principle was resumed by +the Netherlands in a new and indirect form by a bounty of 10 per cent in +the shape of a return of duties to their national vessels, and in which +those of the United States are not permitted to participate. By the act +of Congress of 7th January, 1824, all discriminating duties in the +United States were again suspended, so far as related to the vessels and +produce of the Netherlands, so long as the reciprocal exemption should +be extended to the vessels and produce of the United States in the +Netherlands. But the same act provides that in the event of a +restoration of discriminating duties to operate against the shipping and +commerce of the United States in any of the foreign countries referred +to therein the suspension of discriminating duties in favor of the +navigation of such foreign country should cease and all the provisions +of the acts imposing discriminating foreign tonnage and impost duties in +the United States should revive and be in full force with regard to that +nation. + +In the correspondence with the Government of the Netherlands upon this +subject they have contended that the favor shown to their own shipping +by this bounty upon their tonnage is not to be considered as a +discriminating duty; but it can not be denied that it produces all the +same effects. Had the mutual abolition been stipulated by treaty, such a +bounty upon the national vessels could scarcely have been granted +consistently with good faith. Yet as the act of Congress of 7th January, +1824, has not expressly authorized the Executive authority to determine +what shall be considered as a revival of discriminating duties by a +foreign government to the disadvantage of the United States, and as the +retaliatory measure on our part, however just and necessary, may tend +rather to that conflict of legislation which we deprecate than to that +concert to which we invite all commercial nations, as most conducive to +their interest and our own, I have thought it more consistent with the +spirit of our institutions to refer the subject again to the paramount +authority of the Legislature to decide what measure the emergency may +require than abruptly by proclamation to carry into effect the minatory +provisions of the act of 1824. + +During the last session of Congress treaties of amity, navigation, and +commerce were negotiated and signed at this place with the Government of +Denmark, in Europe, and with the Federation of Central America, in this +hemisphere. These treaties then received the constitutional sanction of +the Senate, by the advice and consent to their ratification. They were +accordingly ratified on the part of the United States, and during the +recess of Congress have been also ratified by the other respective +contracting parties. The ratifications have been exchanged, and they +have been published by proclamations, copies of which are herewith +communicated to Congress. + +These treaties have established between the contracting parties the +principles of equality and reciprocity in their broadest and most +liberal extent, each party admitting the vessels of the other into its +ports, laden with cargoes the produce or manufacture of any quarter of +the globe, upon the payment of the same duties of tonnage and impost +that are chargeable upon their own. They have further stipulated that +the parties shall hereafter grant no favor of navigation or commerce to +any other nation which shall not upon the same terms be granted to each +other, and that neither party will impose upon articles of merchandise +the produce or manufacture of the other any other or higher duties than +upon the like articles being the produce or manufacture of any other +country. To these principles there is in the convention with Denmark an +exception with regard to the colonies of that Kingdom in the arctic +seas, but none with regard to her colonies in the West Indies. + +In the course of the last summer the term to which our last commercial +treaty with Sweden was limited has expired. A continuation of it is in +the contemplation of the Swedish Government, and is believed to be +desirable on the part of the United States. It has been proposed by the +King of Sweden that pending the negotiation of renewal the expired +treaty should be mutually considered as still in force, a measure which +will require the sanction of Congress to be carried into effect on our +part, and which I therefore recommend to your consideration. + +With Prussia, Spain, Portugal, and, in general, all the European powers +between whom and the United States relations of friendly intercourse +have existed their condition has not materially varied since the last +session of Congress. I regret not to be able to say the same of our +commercial intercourse with the colonial possessions of Great Britain in +America. Negotiations of the highest importance to our common interests +have been for several years in discussion between the two Governments, +and on the part of the United States have been invariably pursued in the +spirit of candor and conciliation. Interests of great magnitude and +delicacy had been adjusted by the conventions of 1815 and 1818, while +that of 1822, mediated by the late Emperor Alexander, had promised a +satisfactory compromise of claims which the Government of the United +States, in justice to the rights of a numerous class of their citizens, +was bound to sustain. But with regard to the commercial intercourse +between the United States and the British colonies in America, it has +been hitherto found impracticable to bring the parties to an +understanding satisfactory to both. The relative geographical position +and the respective products of nature cultivated by human industry had +constituted the elements of a commercial intercourse between the United +States and British America, insular and continental, important to the +inhabitants of both countries; but it had been interdicted by Great +Britain upon a principle heretofore practiced upon by the colonizing +nations of Europe, of holding the trade of their colonies each in +exclusive monopoly to herself. After the termination of the late war +this interdiction had been revived, and the British Government declined +including this portion of our intercourse with her possessions in the +negotiation of the convention of 1815. The trade was then carried on +exclusively in British vessels till the act of Congress, concerning +navigation, of 1818 and the supplemental act of 1820 met the interdict +by a corresponding measure on the part of the United States. These +measures, not of retaliation, but of necessary self-defense, were soon +succeeded by an act of Parliament opening certain colonial ports to the +vessels of the United States coming directly from them, and to the +importation from them of certain articles of our produce burdened with +heavy duties, and excluding some of the most valuable articles of our +exports. The United States opened their ports to British vessels from +the colonies upon terms as exactly corresponding with those of the act +of Parliament as in the relative position of the parties could be made, +and a negotiation was commenced by mutual consent, with the hope on our +part that a reciprocal spirit of accommodation and a common sentiment of +the importance of the trade to the interests of the inhabitants of the +two countries between whom it must be carried on would ultimately bring +the parties to a compromise with which both might be satisfied. With +this view the Government of the United States had determined to +sacrifice something of that entire reciprocity which in all commercial +arrangements with foreign powers they are entitled to demand, and to +acquiesce in some inequalities disadvantageous to ourselves rather than +to forego the benefit of a final and permanent adjustment of this +interest to the satisfaction of Great Britain herself. The negotiation, +repeatedly suspended by accidental circumstances, was, however, by +mutual agreement and express assent, considered as pending and to be +speedily resumed. In the meantime another act of Parliament, so doubtful +and ambiguous in its import as to have been misunderstood by the +officers in the colonies who were to carry it into execution, opens +again certain colonial ports upon new conditions and terms, with a +threat to close them against any nation which may not accept those terms +as prescribed by the British Government. This act, passed in July, 1825, +not communicated to the Government of the United States, not understood +by the British officers of the customs in the colonies where it was to +be enforced, was nevertheless submitted to the consideration of Congress +at their last session. With the knowledge that a negotiation upon the +subject had long been in progress and pledges given of its resumption at +an early day, it was deemed expedient to await the result of that +negotiation rather than to subscribe implicitly to terms the import of +which was not clear and which the British authorities themselves in this +hemisphere were not prepared to explain. + +Immediately after the close of the last session of Congress one of our +most distinguished citizens was dispatched as envoy extraordinary and +minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain, furnished with instructions +which we could not doubt would lead to a conclusion of this +long-controverted interest upon terms acceptable to Great Britain. Upon +his arrival, and before he had delivered his letters of credence, he was +met by an order of the British council excluding from and after the 1st +of December now current the vessels of the United States from all the +colonial British ports excepting those immediately bordering on our +territories. In answer to his expostulations upon a measure thus +unexpected he is informed that according to the ancient maxims of policy +of European nations having colonies their trade is an exclusive +possession of the mother country; that all participation in it by other +nations is a boon or favor not forming a subject of negotiation, but to +be regulated by the legislative acts of the power owning the colony; +that the British Government therefore declines negotiating concerning +it, and that as the United States did not forthwith accept purely and +simply the terms offered by the act of Parliament of July, 1825, Great +Britain would not now admit the vessels of the United States even upon +the terms on which she has opened them to the navigation of other +nations. + +We have been accustomed to consider the trade which we have enjoyed with +the British colonies rather as an interchange of mutual benefits than as +a mere favor received; that under every circumstance we have given an +ample equivalent. We have seen every other nation holding colonies +negotiate with other nations and grant them freely admission to the +colonies by treaty, and so far are the other colonizing nations of +Europe now from refusing to negotiate for trade with their colonies that +we ourselves have secured access to the colonies of more than one of +them by treaty. The refusal, however, of Great Britain to negotiate +leaves to the United States no other alternative than that of regulating +or interdicting altogether the trade on their part, according as either +measure may affect the interests of our own country, and with that +exclusive object I would recommend the whole subject to your calm and +candid deliberations. + +It is hoped that our unavailing exertions to accomplish a cordial good +understanding on this interest will not have an unpropitious effect +upon the other great topics of discussion between the two Governments. +Our northeastern and northwestern boundaries are still unadjusted. The +commissioners under the seventh article of the treaty of Ghent have +nearly come to the close of their labors; nor can we renounce the +expectation, enfeebled as it is, that they may agree upon their report +to the satisfaction or acquiescence of both parties. The commission for +liquidating the claims for indemnity for slaves carried away after the +close of the war has been sitting, with doubtful prospects of success. +Propositions of compromise have, however, passed between the two +Governments, the result of which we flatter ourselves may yet prove +satisfactory. Our own dispositions and purposes toward Great Britain are +all friendly and conciliatory; nor can we abandon but with strong +reluctance the belief that they will ultimately meet a return, not of +favors, which we neither ask nor desire, but of equal reciprocity and +good will. + +With the American Governments of this hemisphere we continue to maintain +an intercourse altogether friendly, and between their nations and ours +that commercial interchange of which mutual benefit is the source and +mutual comfort and harmony the result is in a continual state of +improvement. The war between Spain and them since the total expulsion of +the Spanish military force from their continental territories has been +little more than nominal, and their internal tranquillity, though +occasionally menaced by the agitations which civil wars never fail to +leave behind them, has not been affected by any serious calamity. + +The congress of ministers from several of those nations which assembled +at Panama, after a short session there, adjourned to meet again at a +more favorable season in the neighbourhood of Mexico. The decease of one +of our ministers on his way to the Isthmus, and the impediments of the +season, which delayed the departure of the other, deprived us of the +advantage of being represented at the first meeting of the congress. +There is, however, no reason to believe that any of the transactions of +the congress were of a nature to affect injuriously the interests of the +United States or to require the interposition of our ministers had they +been present. Their absence has, indeed, deprived us of the opportunity +of possessing precise and authentic information of the treaties which +were concluded at Panama; and the whole result has confirmed me in the +conviction of the expediency to the United States of being represented +at the congress. The surviving member of the mission, appointed during +your last session, has accordingly proceeded to his destination, and a +successor to his distinguished and lamented associate will be nominated +to the Senate. A treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce has in the +course of the last summer been concluded by our minister plenipotentiary +at Mexico with the united states of that Confederacy, which will also be +laid before the Senate for their advice with regard to its ratification. + +In adverting to the present condition of our fiscal concerns and to the +prospects of our revenue the first remark that calls our attention is +that they are less exuberantly prosperous than they were at the +corresponding period of the last year. The severe shock so extensively +sustained by the commercial and manufacturing interests in Great Britain +has not been without a perceptible recoil upon ourselves. A reduced +importation from abroad is necessarily succeeded by a reduced return to +the Treasury at home. The net revenue of the present year will not equal +that of the last, and the receipts of that which is to come will fall +short of those in the current year. The diminution, however, is in part +attributable to the flourishing condition of some of our domestic +manufactures, and so far is compensated by an equivalent more profitable +to the nation. It is also highly gratifying to perceive that the +deficiency in the revenue, while it scarcely exceeds the anticipations +of the last year's estimate from the Treasury, has not interrupted the +application of more than eleven millions during the present year to the +discharge of the principal and interest of the debt, nor the reduction +of upward of seven millions of the capital of the debt itself. The +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January last was $5,201,650.43; +the receipts from that time to the 30th of September last were +$19,585,932.50; the receipts of the current quarter, estimated at +$6,000,000. yield, with the sums already received, a revenue of about +twenty-five millions and a half for the year; the expenditures for the +three first quarters of the year have amounted to $18,714,226.66; the +expenditures of the current quarter are expected, including the two +millions of the principal of the debt to be paid, to balance the +receipts; so that the expenses of the year, amounting to upward of a +million less than its income, will leave a proportionally increased +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1827, over that of the +1st of January last; instead of $5,200,000 there will be $6,400,000. + +The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the +commencement of the year till September 30 is estimated at $21,250,000, +and the amount that will probably accrue during the present quarter is +estimated at $4,250,000, making for the whole year $25,500,000, from +which the drawbacks being deducted will leave a clear revenue from the +customs receivable in the year 1827 of about $20,400,000, which, with +the sums to be received from the proceeds of public lands, the bank +dividends, and other incidental receipts, will form an aggregate of +about $23,000,000, a sum falling short of the whole expenses of the +present year little more than the portion of those expenditures applied +to the discharge of the public debt beyond the annual appropriation of +$10,000,000 by the act of the 3d March, 1817. At the passage of that act +the public debt amounted to $123,500,000. On the 1st of January next it +will be short of $74,000,000. In the lapse of these ten years +$50,000,000 of public debt, with the annual charge of upward of +$3,000,000 of interest upon them, have been extinguished. At the passage +of that act, of the annual appropriation of ten millions seven were +absorbed in the payment of interest, and not more than three millions +went to reduce the capital of the debt. Of the same ten millions, at +this time scarcely four are applicable to the interest, and upward of +six are effective in melting down the capital. Yet our experience has +proved that a revenue consisting so largely of imposts and tonnage ebbs +and flows to an extraordinary extent, with all the fluctuations incident +to the general commerce of the world. It is within our recollection that +even in the compass of the same last ten years the receipts of the +Treasury were not adequate to the expenditures of the year, and that in +two successive years it was found necessary to resort to loans to meet +the engagements of the nation. The returning tides of the succeeding +years replenished the public coffers until they have again begun to feel +the vicissitude of a decline. To produce these alternations of fullness +and exhaustion the relative operation of abundant or unfruitful seasons, +the regulations of foreign governments, political revolutions, the +prosperous or decaying condition of manufactures, commercial +speculations, and many other causes, not always to be traced, variously +combine. We have found the alternate swells and diminutions embracing +periods of from two to three years. The last period of depression to us +was from 1819 to 1822. The corresponding revival was from 1823 to the +commencement of the present year. Still, we have no cause to apprehend a +depression comparable to that of the former period, or even to +anticipate a deficiency which will intrench upon the ability to apply +the annual ten millions to the reduction of the debt. It is well for us, +however, to be admonished of the necessity of abiding by the maxims of +the most vigilant economy, and of resorting to all honorable and useful +expedients for pursuing with steady and inflexible perseverance the +total discharge of the debt. + +Besides the seven millions of the loans of 1813 which will have been +discharged in the course of the present year, there are nine millions +which by the terms of the contracts would have been and are now +redeemable. Thirteen millions more of the loan of 1814 will become +redeemable from and after the expiration of the present month, and nine +other millions from and after the close of the ensuing year. They +constitute a mass of $31,000,000, all bearing an interest of 6 per cent, +more than twenty millions of which will be immediately redeemable, and +the rest within little more than a year. Leaving of this amount fifteen +millions to continue at the interest of 6 per cent, but to be paid off +as far as shall be found practicable in the years 1827 and 1828, there +is scarcely a doubt that the remaining sixteen millions might within a +few months be discharged by a loan at not exceeding 5 per cent, +redeemable in the years 1829 and 1830. By this operation a sum of nearly +half a million of dollars may be saved to the nation, and the discharge +of the whole thirty-one millions within the four years may be greatly +facilitated if not wholly accomplished. + +By an act of Congress of 3d March, 1835, a loan for the purpose now +referred to, or a subscription to stock, was authorized, at an interest +not exceeding 4-1/2 per cent. But at that time so large a portion of the +floating capital of the country was absorbed in commercial speculations +and so little was left for investment in the stocks that the measure was +but partially successful. At the last session of Congress the condition +of the funds was still unpropitious to the measure; but the change so +soon afterwards occurred that, had the authority existed to redeem the +nine millions now redeemable by an exchange of stocks or a loan at 5 per +cent, it is morally certain that it might have been effected, and with +it a yearly saving of $90,000. + +With regard to the collection of the revenue of imposts, certain +occurrences have within the last year been disclosed in one or two of +our principal ports, which engaged the attention of Congress at their +last session and may hereafter require further consideration. Until +within a very few years the execution of the laws for raising the +revenue, like that of all our other laws, has been insured more by the +moral sense of the community than by the rigors of a jealous precaution +or by penal sanctions. Confiding in the exemplary punctuality and +unsullied integrity of our importing merchants, a gradual relaxation +from the provisions of the collection laws, a close adherence to which +would have caused inconvenience and expense to them, had long become +habitual, and indulgences had been extended universally because they had +never been abused. It may be worthy of your serious consideration +whether some further legislative provision may not be necessary to come +in aid of this state of unguarded security. + +From the reports herewith communicated of the Secretaries of War and of +the Navy, with the subsidiary documents annexed to them, will be +discovered the present condition and administration of our military +establishment on the land and on the sea. The organization of the Army +having undergone no change since its reduction to the present peace +establishment in 1821, it remains only to observe that it is yet found +adequate to all the purposes for which a permanent armed force in time +of peace can be heeded or useful. It may be proper to add that, from a +difference of opinion between the late President of the United States +and the Senate with regard to the construction of the act of Congress of +2d March, 1821, to reduce and fix the military peace establishment of +the United States, it remains hitherto so far without execution that no +colonel has been appointed to command one of the regiments of artillery. +A supplementary or explanatory act of the Legislature appears to be the +only expedient practicable for removing the difficulty of this +appointment. + +In a period of profound peace the conduct of the mere military +establishment forms but a very inconsiderable portion of the duties +devolving upon the administration of the Department of War. It will be +seen by the returns from the subordinate departments of the Army that +every branch of the service is marked with order, regularity, and +discipline; that from the commanding general through all the gradations +of superintendence the officers feel themselves to have been citizens +before they were soldiers, and that the glory of a republican army must +consist in the spirit of freedom, by which it is animated, and of +patriotism, by which it is impelled. It may be confidently stated that +the moral character of the Army is in a state of continual improvement, +and that all the arrangements for the disposal of its parts have a +constant reference to that end. + +But to the War Department are attributed other duties, having, indeed, +relation to a future possible condition of war, but being purely +defensive, and in their tendency contributing rather to the security and +permanency of peace--the erection of the fortifications provided for by +Congress, and adapted to secure our shores from hostile invasion; the +distribution of the fund of public gratitude and justice to the +pensioners of the Revolutionary war; the maintenance of our relations of +peace and of protection with the Indian tribes, and the internal +improvements and surveys for the location of roads and canals, which +during the last three sessions of Congress have engaged so much of their +attention, and may engross so large a share of their future benefactions +to our country. + +By the act of the 30th of April, 1824, suggested and approved by my +predecessor, the sum of $30,000 was appropriated for the purpose of +causing to be made the necessary surveys, plans, and estimates of the +routes of such roads and canals as the President of the United States +might deem of national importance in a commercial or military point of +view, or necessary for the transportation of the public mail. The +surveys, plans, and estimates for each, when completed, will be laid +before Congress. + +In execution of this act a board of engineers was immediately +instituted, and have been since most assiduously and constantly occupied +in carrying it into effect. The first object to which their labors were +directed, by order of the late President, was the examination of the +country between the tide waters of the Potomac, the Ohio, and Lake Erie, +to ascertain the practicability of a communication between them, to +designate the most suitable route for the same, and to form plans and +estimates in detail of the expense of execution. + +On the 3d of February, 1825, they made their first report, which was +immediately communicated to Congress, and in which they declared that +having maturely considered the circumstances observed by them +personally, and carefully studied the results of such of the preliminary +surveys as were then completed, they were decidedly of opinion that the +communication was practicable. + +At the last session of Congress, before the board of engineers were +enabled to make up their second report containing a general plan and +preparatory estimate for the work, the Committee of the House of +Representatives upon Roads and Canals closed the session with a report +expressing the hope that the plan and estimate of the board of engineers +might at this time be prepared, and that the subject be referred to the +early and favorable consideration of Congress at their present session. +That expected report of the board of engineers is prepared, and will +forthwith be laid before you. + +Under the resolution of Congress authorizing the Secretary of War to +have prepared a complete system of cavalry tactics, and a system of +exercise and instruction of field artillery, for the use of the militia +of the United States, to be reported to Congress at the present session, +a board of distinguished officers of the Army and of the militia has +been convened, whose report will be submitted to you with that of the +Secretary of War. The occasion was thought favorable for consulting the +same board, aided by the results of a correspondence with the governors +of the several States and Territories and other citizens of intelligence +and experience, upon the acknowledged defective condition of our militia +system, and of the improvements of which it is susceptible. The report +of the board upon this subject is also submitted for your consideration. + +In the estimates of appropriations for the ensuing year upward of +$5,000,000 will be submitted for the expenditures to be paid from the +Department of War. Less than two-fifths of this will be applicable to +the maintenance and support of the Army. A million and a half, in the +form of pensions, goes as a scarcely adequate tribute to the services +and sacrifices of a former age, and a more than equal sum invested in +fortifications, or for the preparations of internal improvement, +provides for the quiet, the comfort, and happier existence of the ages +to come. The appropriations to indemnify those unfortunate remnants of +another race unable alike to share in the enjoyments and to exist in the +presence of civilization, though swelling in recent years to a magnitude +burdensome to the Treasury, are generally not without their equivalents +in profitable value, or serve to discharge the Union from engagements +more burdensome than debt. + +In like manner the estimate of appropriations for the Navy Department +will present an aggregate sum of upward of $3,000,000. About one-half of +these, however, covers the current expenditures of the Navy in actual +service, and one-half constitutes a fund of national property, the +pledge of our future glory and defense. It was scarcely one short year +after the close of the late war, and when the burden of its expenses and +charges was weighing heaviest upon the country, that Congress, by the +act of 29th April, 1816, appropriated $1,000,000 annually for eight +years to the _gradual increase of the Navy_. At a subsequent period this +annual appropriation was reduced to half a million for six years, of +which the present year is the last. A yet more recent appropriation the +last two years, for building ten sloops of war, has nearly restored the +original appropriation of 1816 of a million for every year. The result +is before us all. We have twelve line-of-battle ships, twenty frigates, +and sloops of war in proportion, which, with a few months of +preparation, may present a line of floating fortifications along the +whole range of our coast ready to meet any invader who might attempt to +set foot upon our shores. Combining with a system of fortifications upon +the shores themselves, commenced about the same time under the auspices +of my immediate predecessor, and hitherto systematically pursued, it has +placed in our possession the most effective sinews of war and has left +us at once an example and a lesson from which our own duties may be +inferred. The gradual increase of the Navy was the principle of which +the act of 29th April, 1816, was the first development. It was the +introduction of a system to act upon the character and history of our +country for an indefinite series of ages. It was a declaration of that +Congress to their constituents and to posterity that it was the destiny +and the duty of these confederated States to become in regular process +of time and by no petty advances a great naval power. That which they +proposed to accomplish in eight years is rather to be considered as the +measure of their means than the limitation of their design. They looked +forward for a term of years sufficient for the accomplishment of a +definite portion of their purpose, and they left to their successors to +fill up the canvas of which they had traced the large and prophetic +outline. The ships of the line and frigates which they had in +contemplation will be shortly completed. The time which they had +allotted for the accomplishment of the work has more than elapsed. It +remains for your consideration how their successors may contribute their +portion of toil and of treasure for the benefit of the succeeding age in +the gradual increase of our Navy. There is perhaps no part of the +exercise of the constitutional powers of the Federal Government which +has given more general satisfaction to the people of the Union than +this. The system has not been thus vigorously introduced and hitherto +sustained to be now departed from or abandoned. In continuing to provide +for the gradual increase of the Navy it may not be necessary or +expedient to add for the present any more to the number of our ships; +but should you deem it advisable to continue the yearly appropriation of +half a million to the same objects, it may be profitably expended in +providing a supply of timber to be seasoned and other materials for +future use in the construction of docks or in laying the foundations of +a school for naval education, as to the wisdom of Congress either of +those measures may appear to claim the preference. + +Of the small portions of this Navy engaged in actual service during the +peace, squadrons have continued to be maintained in the Pacific Ocean, +in the West India seas, and in the Mediterranean, to which has been +added a small armament to cruise on the eastern coast of South America. +In all they have afforded protection to our commerce, have contributed +to make our country advantageously known to foreign nations, have +honorably employed multitudes of our seamen in the service of their +country, and have inured numbers of youths of the rising generation to +lives of manly hardihood and of nautical experience and skill. The +piracies with which the West India seas were for several years infested +have been totally suppressed, but in the Mediterranean they have +increased in a manner afflictive to other nations, and but for the +continued presence of our squadron would probably have been distressing +to our own. The war which has unfortunately broken out between the +Republic of Buenos Ayres and the Brazilian Government has given rise to +very great irregularities among the naval officers of the latter, by +whom principles in relation to blockades and to neutral navigation have +been brought forward to which we can not subscribe and which our own +commanders have found it necessary to resist. From the friendly +disposition toward the United States constantly manifested by the +Emperor of Brazil, and the very useful and friendly commercial +intercourse between the United States and his dominions, we have reason +to believe that the just reparation demanded for the injuries sustained +by several of our citizens from some of his officers will not be +withheld. Abstracts from the recent dispatches of the commanders of our +several squadrons are communicated with the report of the Secretary of +the Navy to Congress. + +A report from the Postmaster-General is likewise communicated, +presenting in a highly satisfactory manner the result of a vigorous, +efficient, and economical administration of that Department. The revenue +of the office, even of the year including the latter half of 1824 and +the first half of 1825, had exceeded its expenditures by a sum of more +than $45,000. That of the succeeding year has been still more +productive. The increase of the receipts in the year preceding the 1st +of July last over that of the year before exceeds $136,000, and the +excess of the receipts over the expenditures of the year has swollen +from $45,000 to nearly $80,000. During the same period contracts for +additional transportation of the mail in stages for about 260,000 miles +have been made, and for 70,000 miles annually on horseback. Seven +hundred and fourteen new post-offices have been established within the +year, and the increase of revenue within the last three years, as well +as the augmentation of the transportation by mail, is more than equal to +the whole amount of receipts and of mail conveyance at the commencement +of the present century, when the seat of the General Government was +removed to this place. When we reflect that the objects effected by the +transportation of the mail are among the choicest comforts and +enjoyments of social life, it is pleasing to observe that the +dissemination of them to every corner of our country has outstripped in +their increase even the rapid march of our population. + +By the treaties with France and Spain, respectively ceding Louisiana and +the Floridas to the United States, provision was made for the security +of land titles derived from the Governments of those nations. Some +progress has been made under the authority of various acts of Congress +in the ascertainment and establishment of those titles, but claims to a +very large extent remain unadjusted. The public faith no less than the +just rights of individuals and the interest of the community itself +appears to require further provision for the speedy settlement of those +claims, which I therefore recommend to the care and attention of the +Legislature. + +In conformity with the provisions of the act of 20th May last, to +provide for erecting a penitentiary in the district of Columbia, and for +other purposes, three commissioners were appointed to select a site for +the erection of a penitentiary for the district, and also a site in the +county of Alexandria for a county jail, both of which objects have been +effected. The building of the penitentiary has been commenced, and is in +such a degree of forwardness as to promise that it will be completed +before the meeting of the next Congress. This consideration points to +the expediency of maturing at the present session a system for the +regulation and government of the penitentiary, and of defining the class +of offenses which shall be punishable by confinement in this edifice. + +In closing this communication I trust that it will not be deemed +inappropriate to the occasion and purposes upon which we are here +assembled to indulge a momentary retrospect, combining in a single +glance the period of our origin as a national confederation with that of +our present existence, at the precise interval of half a century from +each other. Since your last meeting at this place the fiftieth +anniversary of the day when our independence was declared has been +celebrated throughout our land, and on that day, while every heart was +bounding with joy and every voice was tuned to gratulation, amid the +blessings of freedom and independence which the sires of a former age +had handed down to their children, two of the principal actors in that +solemn scene--the hand that penned the ever-memorable Declaration and +the voice that sustained it in debate--were by one summons, at the +distance of 700 miles from each other, called before the Judge of All to +account for their deeds done upon earth. They departed cheered by the +benedictions of their country, to whom they left the inheritance of +their fame and the memory of their bright example. If we turn our +thoughts to the condition of their country, in the contrast of the first +and last day of that half century, how resplendent and sublime is the +transition from gloom to glory! Then, glancing through the same lapse of +time, in the condition of the individuals we see the first day marked +with the fullness and vigor of youth, in the pledge of their lives, +their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause of freedom and of +mankind; and on the last, extended on the bed of death, with but sense +and sensibility left to breathe a last aspiration to Heaven of blessing +upon their country, may we not humbly hope that to them too it was a +pledge of transition from gloom to glory, and that while their mortal +vestments were sinking into the clod of the valley their emancipated +spirits were ascending to the bosom of their God! + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGES. + + + +Washington, +_December 7, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I now transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with that of the +Board of Engineers of Internal Improvement, concerning the proposed +Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of War, with sundry documents, containing the information requested by a +resolution of the House of the 8th of May last, relating to the lead +mines belonging to the United States in Illinois and Missouri. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of War, with several documents, containing information required by a +resolution of the House of the 20th of May last, respecting certain +proposed donations of land by Indian tribes to any agent or commissioner +of the United States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 12, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice with regard to their +ratification, the following treaties with Indian tribes: + +1. A treaty made and concluded at the Fond du Lac of Lake Superior, +between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners on the part of +the United States, and the Chippewa tribe of Indians, on the 5th of +August, 1826. + +2. A treaty made and concluded near the mouth of the Mississinewa, upon +the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between Lewis Cass, James B. Ray, +and John Tipton, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the +chiefs and warriors of the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, on the 16th of +October, 1826. + +3. A treaty made and concluded near the mouth of the Mississinewa, upon +the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between Lewis Cass, James B. Ray, +and John Tipton, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the +chiefs and warriors of the Miami tribe of Indians, on the 23d of +October, 1826. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 18, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress extracts of a letter, received since the +commencement of their session, from the minister of the United States at +London, having relation to the late discussions with the Government of +Great Britain concerning the trade between the United States and the +British colonies in America. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 20, 1826_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement of their +present session it was intimated that the commission for liquidating the +claims of our fellow-citizens to indemnity for slaves and other property +carried away after the close of the late war with Great Britain in +contravention to the first article of the treaty of Ghent had been +sitting in this city with doubtful prospects of success, but that +propositions had recently passed between the two Governments which it +was hoped would lead to a satisfactory adjustment of that controversy. + +I now transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional consideration and +advice, a convention signed at London by the plenipotentiaries of the +two Governments on the 13th of the last month, relating to this object. +A copy of the convention is at the same time sent, together with a copy +of the instructions under which it was negotiated and the correspondence +relating to it. To avoid all delay these documents are now transmitted, +consisting chiefly of original papers, the return of which is requested. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 22, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +12th instant, requesting information of the measures taken to carry into +effect the act of Congress of 3d March, 1825, directing a road to be +made from Little Rock to Cantonment Gibson, in the Territory of +Arkansas, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with a letter +from the Quartermaster-General, containing the information desired by +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 22, 1826_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to the House of Representatives a report from the +Secretary of State, with a copy of the three articles[009] (marked A) +requested by the resolution of the House of the 19th instant. The third +of those articles relating to a subject upon which the negotiation +between the two Governments is yet open, the communication of all the +other documents relating to it is reserved to a future period, when it +may be closed. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of State, with sundry documents, containing the information requested by +two resolutions of the House of the 15th instant, relating to the +proceedings of the congress of ministers which assembled last summer at +Panama. + +The occasion is taken to communicate at the same time two other +dispatches, from the minister of the United States to the Mexican +Confederation, one of which should have been communicated at the last +session of Congress but that it was then accidentally mislaid, and the +other having relation to the same subject. + +John Quincy Adams. +DECEMBER 26, 1826. + + + + +Washington, +_January 10, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +6th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +together with copies of the correspondence with the Government of the +Netherlands, relating to discriminating duties. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 10, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th of May last, +requesting a detailed statement of the expenditures for the construction +and repair of the Cumberland road, I now transmit a report from the +Secretary of the Treasury, with the statement requested by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 10, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to both Houses of Congress a report from the Secretary of the +Navy, together with that of the engineer by whom, conformably to a joint +resolution of the two Houses of the 22d May last, an examination and +survey has been made of a site for a dry dock at the navy-yard at +Portsmouth, N. H.; Charlestown, Mass.; Brooklyn, N. Y., and Gosport, Va. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 15, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +20th of May last, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +State, touching the impressment of seamen from on board American vessels +on the high seas or elsewhere by the commanders of British or other +foreign vessels or ships of war since 18th of February, 1815, together +with such correspondence on the subject as comes within the purview of +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 15, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 21st of last month, +I now transmit a letter from the Secretary of War, with a report from +the Chief Engineer and a statement of the Third Auditor, shewing the +amount disbursed of the appropriation made by the act of 24th May, 1824, +to improve the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the +state and progress of the work contemplated by the appropriation. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 15, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War, together +with a report of the Chief Engineer, and certain acts of the legislature +of the State of New York proposing to the Government of the United +States the purchase of the fortifications erected at the expense of the +State on Staten Island, with the ordnance and other apparatus belonging +to or connected with the same. These papers were prepared at the close +of the last session of Congress, at too late a period to be then acted +upon. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 16, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of a convention between +the United States and Great Britain, signed on the 13th of November last +at London by the respective plenipotentiaries of the two Governments, +for the final settlement and liquidation of certain claims of indemnity +of citizens of the United States which had arisen under the first +article of the treaty of Ghent. It having been stipulated by this +convention that the exchange of the ratifications of the same should be +made at London, the usual proclamation of it here can only be issued +when that event shall have taken place, the notice of which can scarcely +be expected before the close of the present session of Congress. But it +has been duly ratified on the part of the United States, and by the +report of the Secretary of State and the accompanying certificate +herewith also communicated it will be seen that the first half of the +stipulated payment has been made by the minister of His Britannic +Majesty residing here, and has been deposited in the office of the Bank +of the United States at this place to await the disposal of Congress. + +I recommend to their consideration the expediency of such legislative +measures as they may deem proper for the distribution of the sum already +paid, and of that hereafter to be received, among the claimants who may +be found entitled to the indemnity. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 17, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 10th of May last, I +transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with a letter from +the Director of the Mint, shewing the result of the assay of foreign +coins and the information otherwise relating thereto desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 23d instant, I +transmit herewith a report[010] from the Secretary of State, with the +accompanying documents. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +The report from the Commissioner of the General Land Office and the +accompanying documents herewith transmitted are laid before the Senate +in compliance with their resolution of the 4th of April last, relating +to the public lands of the United States in the States of Missouri and +Illinois which are unfit for cultivation. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 2, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 25th ultimo, +relative to the execution of the treaty of the 18th of October, 1820, of +Doaks Stand with the Choctaw tribe of Indians, I transmit a report from +the Secretary of War, with a statement from the Office of Indian +Affairs, comprising so far as it is possessed the information desired by +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 3, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +United States of the 9th ultimo, relating to the appointments of charges +d'affaires and to the commissions and salaries of the ministers and +secretary to the mission to Panama, I transmit herewith a report from +the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 5, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +The report from the Secretary of War and accompanying documents herewith +transmitted have been prepared in compliance with a resolution of the +House of Representatives of the 20th of May last, requesting a statement +of expenditure and other particulars relating to the procurement and +properties of the patent rifle. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 5, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I submit to the consideration of Congress a letter from the agent of the +United States with the Creek Indians, who invoke the protection of the +Government of the United States in defense of the rights and territory +secured to that nation by the treaty concluded at Washington, and +ratified on the part of the United States on the 22d of April last. + +The complaint set forth in this letter that surveyors from Georgia have +been employed in surveying lands within the Indian Territory, as secured +by that treaty, is authenticated by the information inofficially +received from other quarters, and there is reason to believe that one or +more of the surveyors have been arrested in their progress by the +Indians. Their forbearance, and reliance upon the good faith of the +United States, will, it is hoped, avert scenes of violence and blood +which there is otherwise too much cause to apprehend will result from +these proceedings. + +By the fifth section of the act of Congress of the 30th of March, 1802, +to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes and to preserve +peace on the frontiers, it is provided that if any citizen of or other +person resident in the United States shall make a settlement on any +lands belonging or secured or granted by treaty with the United States +to any Indian tribe, or shall survey, or attempt to survey, such lands, +or designate any of the boundaries by marking trees or otherwise, such +offender shall forfeit a sum not exceeding $1,000 and suffer +imprisonment not exceeding twelve months. + +By the sixteenth and seventeenth sections of the same statute two +distinct processes are prescribed, by either or both of which the above +enactment may be carried into execution. By the first it is declared to +be lawful for the military force of the United States to apprehend every +person found in the Indian country over and beyond the boundary line +between the United States and the Indian tribes in violation of any of +the provisions or regulations of the act, and immediately to convey +them, in the nearest convenient and safe route, to the civil authority +of the United States in some of the three next adjoining States or +districts, to be proceeded against in due course of law. + +By the second it is directed that if any person charged with the +violation of any of the provisions or regulations of the act shall be +found within any of the United States or either of their territorial +districts such offender may be there apprehended and brought to trial in +the same manner as if such crime or offense had been committed within +such State or district; and that it shall be the duty of the military +force of the United States, when called upon by the civil magistrate or +any proper officer or other person duly authorized for that purpose and +having a lawful warrant, to aid and assist such magistrate, officer, or +other person so authorized in arresting such offender and committing him +to safe custody for trial according to law. + +The first of these processes is adapted to the arrest of the trespasser +upon Indian territories on the spot and in the act of committing the +offense; but as it applies the action of the Government of the United +States to places where the civil process of the law has no authorized +course, it is committed entirely to the functions of the military force +to arrest the person of the offender, and after bringing him within the +reach of the jurisdiction of the courts there to deliver him into +custody for trial. The second makes the violator of the law amenable +only after his offense has been consummated, and when he has returned +within the civil jurisdiction of the Union. This process, in the first +instance, is merely of a civil character, but may in like manner be +enforced by calling in, if necessary, the aid of the military force. + +Entertaining no doubt that in the present case the resort to either of +these modes of process, or to both, was within the discretion of the +Executive authority, and penetrated with the duty of maintaining the +rights of the Indians as secured both by the treaty and the law, I +concluded, after full deliberation, to have recourse on this occasion, +in the first instance, only to the civil process. Instructions have +accordingly been given by the Secretary of War to the attorney and +marshal of the United States in the district of Georgia to commence +prosecutions against the surveyors complained of as having violated the +law, while orders have at the same time been forwarded to the agent of +the United States at once to assure the Indians that their rights +founded upon the treaty and the law are recognized by this Government +and will be faithfully protected, and earnestly to exhort them, by the +forbearance of every act of hostility on their part, to preserve +unimpaired that right to protection secured to them by the sacred pledge +of the good faith of this nation. Copies of these instructions and +orders are herewith transmitted to Congress. + +In abstaining at this stage of the proceedings from the application of +any military force I have been governed by considerations which will, I +trust, meet the concurrence of the Legislature. Among them one of +paramount importance has been that these surveys have been attempted, +and partly effected, under color of legal authority from the State of +Georgia; that the surveyors are, therefore, not to be viewed in the +light of individual and solitary transgressors, but as the agents of a +sovereign State, acting in obedience to authority which they believed to +be binding upon them. Intimations had been given that should they meet +with interruption they would at all hazards be sustained by the military +force of the State, in which event, if the military force of the Union +should have been employed to enforce its violated law, a conflict _must_ +have ensued, which would itself have inflicted a wound upon the Union +and have presented the aspect of one of these confederated States at war +with the rest. Anxious, above all, to avert this state of things, yet at +the same time impressed with the deepest conviction of my own duty to +take care that the laws shall be executed and the faith of the nation +preserved, I have used of the means intrusted to the Executive for that +purpose only those which without resorting to military force may +vindicate the sanctity of the law by the ordinary agency of the judicial +tribunals. + +It ought not, however, to be disguised that the act of the legislature +of Georgia, under the construction given to it by the governor of that +State, and the surveys made or attempted by his authority beyond the +boundary secured by the treaty of Washington of April last to the Creek +Indians, are in direct violation of the supreme law of this land, set +forth in a treaty which has received all the sanctions provided by the +Constitution which we have been sworn to support and maintain. + +Happily distributed as the sovereign powers of the people of this Union +have been between their General and State Governments, their history has +already too often presented collisions between these divided authorities +with regard to the extent of their respective powers. No instance, +however, has hitherto occurred in which this collision has been urged +into a conflict of actual force. No other case is known to have happened +in which the application of military force by the Government of the +Union has been prescribed for the enforcement of a law the violation of +which has within any single State been prescribed by a legislative act +of the State. In the present instance it is my duty to say that if the +legislative and executive authorities of the State of Georgia should +persevere in acts of encroachment upon the territories secured by a +solemn treaty to the Indians, and the laws of the Union remain +unaltered, a superadded obligation even higher than that of human +authority will compel the Executive of the United States to enforce the +laws and fulfill the duties of the nation by all the force committed for +that purpose to his charge. That the arm of military force will be +resorted to only in the event of the failure of all other expedients +provided by the laws, a pledge has been given by the forbearance to +employ it at this time. It is submitted to the wisdom of Congress to +determine whether any further act of legislation may be necessary or +expedient to meet the emergency which these transactions may produce. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + + +Washington, +_February 8, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty between the United States and the Mexican +Confederation, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the respective +Governments on the 10th of July last. It will be seen by its terms that +if ratified by both parties the ratifications are to be exchanged at +this city on or before the 10th day of next month. The ratification on +the part of the Government of Mexico has not yet been received, though +it has probably before this been effected. To avoid all unnecessary +delay the treaty is now communicated to the Senate, that it may receive +all the deliberation which, in their wisdom, it may require, without +pressing upon their time at a near approach to the close of their +session. Should they advise and consent to its ratification, that +measure will still be withheld until the ratification by the Mexican +Government shall have been ascertained. A copy of the treaty is likewise +transmitted, together with the documents appertaining to the +negotiation. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 8, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate to Congress copies of a letter from the governor of the +State of Georgia, received since my message of the 5th instant, and of +inclosures received with it, further confirmative of the facts stated in +that message.[011] + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 16, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, +with statements prepared at the Register's and General Land Office, in +compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 10th of May last, in +relation to the purchase and sales of the public lands since the +declaration of independence. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 19, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of the following treaties, +which have been ratified by and with the consent of the Senate: + +1. A treaty with the Chippewa tribe of Indians, signed at the Fond du +Lac of Lake Superior on the 5th of August, 1826. + +2. A treaty with the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, signed on the 16th of +October, 1826, near the mouth of the Mississinawa, upon the Wabash, in +the State of Indiana. + +3. A treaty with the Miami tribe of Indians, signed at the same place on +the 23d of October, 1826. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 24, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration, a conveyance by +treaty from the Seneca tribe of Indians to Robert Troup, Thomas L. +Ogden, and Benjamin W. Rogers, in the presence of Oliver Forward, +commissioner of the United States for holding the said treaty, and of +Nathaniel Gorham, superintendent in behalf of the State of +Massachusetts. A letter from the grantees of this conveyance and a +report of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of War, +relating to this instrument, are also transmitted; and with regard to +the approval or ratification of the treaty itself, it is submitted to +the Senate for their advice and consent. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 28, 1827_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of War, with sundry documents, containing statements requested by a +resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th of January, +relating to the Artillery School of Practice at Fortress Monroe. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 2, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, +with sundry documents, containing the information requested by a +resolution of the Senate of the 20th of April last, relating to the +security taken of the late survey or-general of Illinois, Missouri, and +Arkansas, and of the late receiver of public moneys in the western +district of Missouri, and to the sums for which they were respectively +defaulters; also the sums due by each of the late directors of the Bank +of Missouri to the United States, and to the measures taken for +obtaining or enforcing payment of the same. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 2, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of communications received +yesterday by the Secretary of War from the governor of Georgia and from +Lieutenant Vinton.[012] + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + +PROCLAMATIONS. + + + +By the President of the United States. + +A PROCLAMATION. + +Whereas by the sixth section of an act of Congress entitled "An act to +regulate the commercial intercourse between the United States and +certain British colonial ports," which was approved on the 1st day of +March, A. D. 1823, it is enacted "that this act, unless repealed, +altered, or amended by Congress, shall be and continue in force so long +as the above-enumerated British colonial ports shall be open to the +admission of the vessels of the United States, conformably to the +provisions of the British act of Parliament of the 24th of June last, +being the forty-fourth chapter of the acts of the third year of George +IV; but if at any time the trade and intercourse between the United +States and all or any of the above enumerated British colonial ports +authorized by the said act of Parliament should be prohibited by a +British order in council or by act of Parliament, then, from the day of +the date of such order in council or act of Parliament, or from the time +that the same shall commence to be in force, proclamation to that effect +having been made by the President of the United States, each and every +provision of this act, so far as the same shall apply to the intercourse +between the United States and the above-enumerated British colonial +ports in British vessels, shall cease to operate in their favor, and +each and every provision of the 'Act concerning navigation,' approved on +the 18th of April, 1818, and of the act supplementary thereto, approved +on the 15th of May, 1820, shall revive and be in full force;" and + +Whereas by an act of the British Parliament which passed on the 5th day +of July, A. D. 1825, entitled "An act to repeal the several laws +relating to the customs," the said act of Parliament of the 24th of +June, 1822, was repealed; and by another act of the British Parliament, +passed on the 5th day of July, A. D. 1825, in the sixth year of the +reign of George IV, entitled "An act to regulate the trade of the +British possessions abroad;" and by an order of His Britannic Majesty in +council, bearing date the 27th of July, 1826, the trade and intercourse +authorized by the aforesaid act of Parliament of the 24th of June, 1822, +between the United States and the greater part of the said British +colonial ports therein enumerated, have been prohibited upon and from +the 1st day of December last past, and the contingency has thereby +arisen on which the President of the United States was authorized by the +sixth section aforesaid of the act of Congress of the 1st March, 1823, +to issue a proclamation to the effect therein mentioned: + +Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States of +America, do hereby declare and proclaim that the trade and intercourse +authorized by the said act of Parliament of the 24th of June, 1822, +between the United States and the British colonial ports enumerated in +the aforesaid act of Congress of the 1st of March, 1823, have been and +are, upon and from the 1st day of December, 1826, by the aforesaid two +several acts of Parliament of the 5th of July, 1825, and by the +aforesaid British order in council of the 27th day of July, 1826, +prohibited. + +Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 17th day of March, +A. D. 1827, and the fifty-first year of the Independence of the United +States. + + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +By the President: +H. Clay, +_Secretary of State_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +By the President of the United States. + +A PROCLAMATION. + + +Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of +January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of +tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence +being given to the President of the United States by the government of +any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost +are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels +wholly belonging to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise +the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President +is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the +foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United +States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as respects +the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or +manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said +suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given +to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the +reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United +States and merchandise as aforesaid therein laden shall be continued, +and no longer; and + +Whereas satisfactory evidence was given to the President of the United +States on the 30th day of May last by Count Lucchesi, consul-general of +His Holiness the Pope, that all foreign and discriminating duties of +tonnage and impost within the dominions of His Holiness, so far as +respected the vessels of the United States and the merchandise of their +produce or manufacture imported in the same, were suspended and +discontinued: + +Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States, +conformably to the fourth section of the act of Congress aforesaid, do +hereby proclaim and declare that the foreign discriminating duties of +tonnage and impost within the United States are and shall be suspended +and discontinued so far as respects the vessels of the subjects of His +Holiness the Pope and the merchandise of the produce or manufacture of +his dominions imported into the United States' in the same, the said +suspension to take effect from the 30th of May aforesaid and to continue +so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of +the United States and merchandise as aforesaid therein laden shall be +continued, and no longer. + +Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 7th day of June, A. +D. 1827, and of the Independence of the United States the fifty-first. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +By the President: +H. Clay, +_Secretary of State_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +By the President of the United States. + +A PROCLAMATION. + +Whereas Willis Anderson, of the County of Alexandria, in the district of +Columbia, is charged with having recently murdered Gerrard Arnold, late +of the said county; and + +Whereas it is represented to me that the said Willis Anderson has +absconded and secretes himself, so that he can not be apprehended and +brought to justice for the offense of which he is so charged; and + +Whereas the apprehension and trial of the said Willis Anderson is an +example due to justice and humanity, and would be every way salutary in +its influence: + +Now, therefore, I have thought fit to issue this my proclamation, hereby +exhorting the citizens of the United States, and particularly those of +this district, and requiring all officers, according to their respective +stations, to use their utmost endeavors to apprehend and bring the said +Willis Anderson to justice for the atrocious crime with which he stands +charged as aforesaid; and I do moreover offer a reward of $250 for the +apprehension of the said Willis Anderson and his delivery to an officer +or officers of justice in the county aforesaid, so that he may be +brought to trial for the murder aforesaid and be otherwise dealt with +according to law. + +In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal +of the United States to be affixed to these presents. + +(SEAL.) + +Done at Washington, this 10th day of September, A. D. 1827, and of the +Independence of the United States the fifty-second. + +J. Q. Adams. + + + + +By the President: +H. Clay, +_Secretary of State_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE. + + +Washington, +_December 4, 1827_ + + +_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_: + +A revolution of the seasons has nearly been completed since the +representatives of the people and States of this Union were last +assembled at this place to deliberate and to act upon the common +important interests of their constituents. In that interval the +never-slumbering eye of a wise and beneficent Providence has continued +its guardian care over the welfare of our beloved country; the blessing +of health has continued generally to prevail throughout the land; the +blessing of peace with our brethren of the human race has been enjoyed +without interruption; internal quiet has left our fellow-citizens in the +full enjoyment of all their rights and in the free exercise of all their +faculties, to pursue the impulse of their nature and the obligation of +their duty in the improvement of their own condition; the productions of +the soil, the exchanges of commerce, the vivifying labors of human +industry, have combined to mingle in our cup a portion of enjoyment as +large and liberal as the indulgence of Heaven has perhaps ever granted +to the imperfect state of man upon earth; and as the purest of human +felicity consists in its participation with others, it is no small +addition to the sum of our national happiness at this time that peace +and prosperity prevail to a degree seldom experienced over the whole +habitable globe, presenting, though as yet with painful exceptions, a +foretaste of that blessed period of promise when the lion shall lie down +with the lamb and wars shall be no more. To preserve, to improve, and to +perpetuate the sources and to direct in their most effective channels +the streams which contribute to the public weal is the purpose for which +Government was instituted. Objects of deep importance to the welfare of +the Union are constantly recurring to demand the attention of the +Federal Legislature, and they call with accumulated interest at the +first meeting of the two Houses after their periodical renovation. To +present to their consideration from time to time subjects in which the +interests of the nation are most deeply involved, and for the regulation +of which the legislative will is alone competent, is a duty prescribed +by the Constitution, to the performance of which the first meeting of +the new Congress is a period eminently appropriate, and which it is now +my purpose to discharge. + +Our relations of friendship with the other nations of the earth, +political and commercial, have been preserved unimpaired, and the +opportunities to improve them have been cultivated with anxious and +unremitting attention. A negotiation upon subjects of high and delicate +interest with the Government of Great Britain has terminated in the +adjustment of some of the questions at issue upon satisfactory terms and +the postponement of others for future discussion and agreement. The +purposes of the convention concluded at St. Petersburg on the 12th day +of July, 1822, under the mediation of the late Emperor Alexander, have +been carried into effect by a subsequent convention, concluded at London +on the 13th of November, 1826, the ratifications of which were exchanged +at that place on the 6th day of February last. A copy of the +proclamation issued on the 19th day of March last, publishing this +convention, is herewith communicated to Congress. The sum of $1,204,960, +therein stipulated to be paid to the claimants of indemnity under the +first article of the treaty of Ghent, has been duly received, and the +commission instituted, comformably to the act of Congress of the 2d of +March last, for the distribution of the indemnity to the persons +entitled to receive it are now in session and approaching the +consummation of their labors. This final disposal of one of the most +painful topics of collision between the United States and Great Britain +not only affords an occasion of gratulation to ourselves, but has had +the happiest effect in promoting a friendly disposition and in softening +asperities upon other objects of discussion; nor ought it to pass +without the tribute of a frank and cordial acknowledgment of the +magnanimity with which an honorable nation, by the reparation of their +own wrongs, achieves a triumph more glorious than any field of blood can +ever bestow. + +The conventions of 3d July, 1815, and of 20th October, 1818, will expire +by their own limitation on the 20th of October, 1828. These have +regulated the direct commercial intercourse between the United States +and Great Britain upon terms of the most perfect reciprocity; and they +effected a temporary compromise of the respective rights and claims to +territory westward of the Rocky Mountains. These arrangements have been +continued for an indefinite period of time after the expiration of the +above-mentioned conventions, leaving each party the liberty of +terminating them by giving twelve months' notice to the other. The +radical principle of all commercial intercourse between independent +nations is the mutual interest of both parties. It is the vital spirit +of trade itself; nor can it be reconciled to the nature of man or to the +primary laws of human society that any traffic should long be willingly +pursued of which all the advantages are on one side and all the burdens +on the other. Treaties of commerce have been found by experience to be +among the most effective instruments for promoting peace and harmony +between nations whose interests, exclusively considered on either side, +are brought into frequent collisions by competition. In framing such +treaties it is the duty of each party not simply to urge with unyielding +pertinacity that which suits its own interest, but to concede liberally +to that which is adapted to the interest of the other. To accomplish +this, little more is generally required than a simple observance of the +rule of reciprocity, and were it possible for the statesmen of one +nation by stratagem and management to obtain from the weakness or +ignorance of another an overreaching treaty, such a compact would prove +an incentive to war rather than a bond of peace. Our conventions with +Great Britain are founded upon the principles of reciprocity. The +commercial intercourse between the two countries is greater in magnitude +and amount than between any two other nations on the globe. It is for +all purposes of benefit or advantage to both as precious, and in all +probability far more extensive, than if the parties were still +constituent parts of one and the same nation. Treaties between such +States, regulating the intercourse of peace between them and adjusting +interests of such transcendent importance to both, which have been found +in a long experience of years mutually advantageous, should not be +lightly canceled or discontinued. Two conventions for continuing in +force those above mentioned have been concluded between the +plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 6th of August last, and +will be forthwith laid before the Senate for the exercise of their +constitutional authority concerning them. + +In the execution of the treaties of peace of November, 1782, and +September, 1783, between the United States and Great Britain, and which +terminated the war of our independence, a line of boundary was drawn as +the demarcation of territory between the two countries, extending over +near 20 degrees of latitude, and ranging over seas, lakes, and +mountains, then very imperfectly explored and scarcely opened to the +geographical knowledge of the age. In the progress of discovery and +settlement by both parties since that time several questions of boundary +between their respective territories have arisen, which have been found +of exceedingly difficult adjustment. At the close of the last war with +Great Britain four of these questions pressed themselves upon the +consideration of the negotiators of the treaty of Ghent, but without the +means of concluding a definitive arrangement concerning them. They were +referred to three separate commissions consisting of two commissioners, +one appointed by each party, to examine and decide upon their respective +claims. In the event of a disagreement between the commissioners it was +provided that they should make reports to their several Governments, and +that the reports should finally be referred to the decision of a +sovereign the common friend of both. Of these commissions two have +already terminated their sessions and investigations, one by entire and +the other by partial agreement. The commissioners of the fifth article +of the treaty of Ghent have finally disagreed, and made their +conflicting reports to their own Governments. But from these reports a +great difficulty has occurred in making up a question to be decided by +the arbitrator. This purpose has, however, been effected by a fourth +convention, concluded at London by the plenipotentiaries of the two +Governments on the 29th of September last. It will be submitted, +together with the others, to the consideration of the Senate. + +While these questions have been pending incidents have occurred of +conflicting pretensions and of dangerous character upon the territory +itself in dispute between the two nations. By a common understanding +between the Governments it was agreed that no exercise of exclusive +jurisdiction by either party while the negotiation was pending should +change the state of the question of right to be definitively settled. +Such collision has, nevertheless, recently taken place by occurrences +the precise character of which has not yet been ascertained. A +communication from the governor of the State of Maine, with accompanying +documents, and a correspondence between the Secretary of State and the +minister of Great Britain on this subject are now communicated. Measures +have been taken to ascertain the state of the facts more correctly by +the employment of a special agent to visit the spot where the alleged +outrages have occurred, the result of whose inquiries, when received, +will be transmitted to Congress. + +While so many of the subjects of high interest to the friendly relations +between the two countries have been so far adjusted, it is matter of +regret that their views respecting the commercial intercourse between +the United States and the British colonial possessions have not equally +approximated to a friendly agreement. + +At the commencement of the last session of Congress they were informed +of the sudden and unexpected exclusion by the British Government of +access in vessels of the United States to all their colonial ports, +except those immediately bordering upon our own territories. In the +amicable discussions which have succeeded the adoption of this measure, +which, as it affected harshly the interests of the United States, became +a subject of expostulation on our part, the principles upon which its +justification has been placed have been of a diversified character. It +has been at once ascribed to a mere recurrence to the old, +long-established principle of colonial monopoly and at the same time to +a feeling of resentment because the offers of an act of Parliament +opening the colonial ports upon certain conditions had not been grasped +at with sufficient eagerness by an instantaneous conformity to them. At +a subsequent period it has been intimated that the new exclusion was in +resentment because a prior act of Parliament, of 1822, opening certain +colonial ports, under heavy and burdensome restrictions, to vessels of +the United States, had not been reciprocated by an admission of British +vessels from the colonies, and their cargoes, without any restriction or +discrimination whatever. But be the motive for the interdiction what it +may, the British Government have manifested no disposition, either by +negotiation or by corresponding legislative enactments, to recede from +it, and we have been given distinctly to understand that neither of the +bills which were under the consideration of Congress at their last +session would have been deemed sufficient in their concessions to have +been rewarded by any relaxation from the British interdict. It is one of +the inconveniences inseparably connected with the attempt to adjust by +reciprocal legislation interests of this nature that neither party can +know what would be satisfactory to the other, and that after enacting a +statute for the avowed and sincere purpose of conciliation it will +generally be found utterly inadequate to the expectations of the other +party, and will terminate in mutual disappointment. + +The session of Congress having terminated without any act upon the +subject, a proclamation was issued on the 17th of March last, +conformably to the provisions of the sixth section of the act of 1st +March, 1823, declaring the fact that the trade and intercourse +authorized by the British act of Parliament of 24th June, 1822, between +the United States and the British enumerated colonial ports had been by +the subsequent acts of Parliament of 5th July, 1825, and the order of +council of 27th July, 1826, prohibited. The effect of this proclamation, +by the terms of the act under which it was issued, has been that each +and every provision of the act concerning navigation of 18th April, +1818, and of the act supplementary thereto of 15th May, 1820, revived +and is in full force. Such, then, is the present condition of the trade +that, useful as it is to both parties, it can, with a single momentary +exception, be carried on directly by the vessels of neither. That +exception itself is found in a proclamation of the governor of the +island of St. Christopher and of the Virgin Islands, inviting for three +months from the 28th of August last the importation of the articles of +the produce of the United States which constitute their export portion +of this trade in the vessels of all nations. That period having already +expired, the state of mutual interdiction has again taken place. The +British Government have not only declined negotiation upon this subject, +but by the principle they have assumed with reference to it have +precluded even the means of negotiation. It becomes not the self-respect +of the United States either to solicit gratuitous favors or to accept as +the grant of a favor that for which an ample equivalent is exacted. It +remains to be determined by the respective Governments whether the trade +shall be opened by acts of reciprocal legislation. It is, in the +meantime, satisfactory to know that apart from the inconveniences +resulting from a disturbance of the usual channels of trade no loss has +been sustained by the commerce, the navigation, or the revenue of the +United States, and none of magnitude is to be apprehended from this +existing state of mutual interdict. + +With the other maritime and commercial nations of Europe our intercourse +continues with little variation. Since the cessation by the convention +of 24th June, 1822, of all discriminating duties upon the vessels of the +United States and of France in either country our trade with that nation +has increased and is increasing. A disposition on the part of France has +been manifested to renew that negotiation, and in acceding to the +proposal we have expressed the wish that it might be extended to other +subjects upon which a good understanding between the parties would be +beneficial to the interests of both. The origin of the political +relations between the United States and France is coeval with the first +years of our independence. The memory of it is interwoven with that of +our arduous struggle for national existence. Weakened as it has +occasionally been since that time, it can by us never be forgotten, and +we should hail with exultation the moment which should indicate a +recollection equally friendly in spirit on the part of France. A fresh +effort has recently been made by the minister of the United States +residing at Paris to obtain a consideration of the just claims of +citizens of the United States to the reparation of wrongs long since +committed, many of them frankly acknowledged and all of them entitled +upon every principle of justice to a candid examination. The proposal +last made to the French Government has been to refer the subject which +has formed an obstacle to this consideration to the determination of a +sovereign the common friend of both. To this offer no definitive answer +has yet been received, but the gallant and honorable spirit which has at +all times been the pride and glory of France will not ultimately permit +the demands of innocent sufferers to be extinguished in the mere +consciousness of the power to reject them. + +A new treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce has been concluded with +the Kingdom of Sweden, which will be submitted to the Senate for their +advice with regard to its ratification. At a more recent date a minister +plenipotentiary from the Hanseatic Republics of Hamburg, Lubeck, and +Bremen has been received, charged with a special mission for the +negotiation of a treaty of amity and commerce between that ancient and +renowned league and the United States. This negotiation has accordingly +been commenced, and is now in progress, the result of which will, if +successful, be also submitted to the Senate for their consideration. + +Since the accession of the Emperor Nicholas to the imperial throne of +all the Russias the friendly dispositions toward the United States so +constantly manifested by his predecessor have continued unabated, and +have been recently testified by the appointment of a minister +plenipotentiary to reside at this place. From the interest taken by this +Sovereign in behalf of the suffering Greeks and from the spirit with +which others of the great European powers are cooperating with him the +friends of freedom and of humanity may indulge the hope that they will +obtain relief from that most unequal of conflicts which they have so +long and so gallantly sustained; that they will enjoy the blessing of +self-government, which by their sufferings in the cause of liberty they +have richly earned, and that their independence will be secured by those +liberal institutions of which their country furnished the earliest +examples in the history of mankind, and which have consecrated to +immortal remembrance the very soil for which they are now again +profusely pouring forth their blood. The sympathies which the people and +Government of the United States have so warmly indulged with their cause +have been acknowledged by their Government in a letter of thanks, which +I have received from their illustrious President, a translation of which +is now communicated to Congress, the representatives of that nation to +whom this tribute of gratitude was intended to be paid, and to whom it +was justly due. + +In the American hemisphere the cause of freedom and independence has +continued to prevail, and if signalized by none of those splendid +triumphs which had crowned with glory some of the preceding years it has +only been from the banishment of all external force against which the +struggle had been maintained. The shout of victory has been superseded +by the expulsion of the enemy over whom it could have been achieved. Our +friendly wishes and cordial good will, which have constantly followed +the southern nations of America in all the vicissitudes of their war of +independence, are succeeded by a solicitude equally ardent and cordial +that by the wisdom and purity of their institutions they may secure to +themselves the choicest blessings of social order and the best rewards +of virtuous liberty. Disclaiming alike all right and all intention of +interfering in those concerns which it is the prerogative of their +independence to regulate as to them shall seem fit, we hail with joy +every indication of their prosperity, of their harmony, of their +persevering and inflexible homage to those principles of freedom and of +equal rights which are alone suited to the genius and temper of the +American nations. It has been, therefore, with some concern that we have +observed indications of intestine divisions in some of the Republics of +the south, and appearances of less union with one another than we +believe to be the interest of all. Among the results of this state of +things has been that the treaties concluded at Panama do not appear to +have been ratified by the contracting parties, and that the meeting of +the congress at Tacubaya has been indefinitely postponed. In accepting +the invitations to be represented at this congress, while a +manifestation was intended on the part of the United States of the most +friendly disposition toward the southern Republics by whom it had been +proposed, it was hoped that it would furnish an opportunity for bringing +all the nations of this hemisphere to the common acknowledgment and +adoption of the principles in the regulation of their internal relations +which would have secured a lasting peace and harmony between them and +have promoted the cause of mutual benevolence throughout the globe. But +as obstacles appear to have arisen to the reassembling of the congress, +one of the two ministers commissioned on the part of the United States +has returned to the bosom of his country, while the minister charged +with the ordinary mission to Mexico remains authorized to attend at the +conferences of the congress whenever they may be resumed. + +A hope was for a short time entertained that a treaty of peace actually +signed between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of Brazil would +supersede all further occasion for those collisions between belligerent +pretensions and neutral rights which are so commonly the result of +maritime war, and which have unfortunately disturbed the harmony of the +relations between the United States and the Brazilian Governments. At +their last session Congress were informed that some of the naval +officers of that Empire had advanced and practiced upon principles in +relation to blockades and to neutral navigation which we could not +sanction, and which our commanders found it necessary to resist. It +appears that they have not been sustained by the Government of Brazil +itself. Some of the vessels captured under the assumed authority of +these erroneous principles have been restored, and we trust that our +just expectations will be realized that adequate indemnity will be made +to all the citizens of the United States who have suffered by the +unwarranted captures which the Brazilian tribunals themselves have +pronounced unlawful. + +In the diplomatic discussions at Rio de Janeiro of these wrongs +sustained by citizens of the United States and of others which seemed as +if emanating immediately from that Government itself the charge +d'affaires of the United States, under an impression that his +representations in behalf of the rights and interests of his countrymen +were totally disregarded and useless, deemed it his duty, without +waiting for instructions, to terminate his official functions, to demand +his passports, and return to the United States. This movement, dictated +by an honest zeal for the honor and interests of his country--motives +which operated exclusively on the mind of the officer who resorted to +it--has not been disapproved by me. The Brazilian Government, however, +complained of it as a measure for which no adequate intentional cause +had been given by them, and upon an explicit assurance through their +charge d'affaires residing here that a successor to the late +representative of the United States near that Government, the +appointment of whom they desired, should be received and treated with +the respect due to his character, and that indemnity should be promptly +made for all injuries inflicted on citizens of the United States or +their property contrary to the laws of nations, a temporary commission +as charge d'affaires to that country has been issued, which it is hoped +will entirety restore the ordinary diplomatic intercourse between the +two Governments and the friendly relations between their respective +nations. + +Turning from the momentous concerns of our Union in its intercourse with +foreign nations to those of the deepest interest in the administration +of our internal affairs, we find the revenues of the present year +corresponding as nearly as might be expected with the anticipations of +the last, and presenting an aspect still more favorable in the promise +of the next. The balance in the Treasury on January 1 last was +$6,358,686.18. The receipts from that day to the 30th of September last, +as near as the returns of them yet received can show, amount to +$16,886,581.32. The receipts of the present quarter, estimated at +$4,515,000, added to the above form an aggregate of $21,400,000 of +receipts. The expenditures of the year may perhaps amount to +$22,300,000, presenting a small excess over the receipts. But of these +twenty-two millions, upward of six have been applied to the discharge of +the principal of the public debt, the whole amount of which, approaching +seventy-four millions on the 1st of January last, will on the first day +of the next year fall short of sixty-seven millions and a half. The +balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January next it is expected will +exceed $5,450,000, a sum exceeding that of the 1st of January, 1825, +though falling short of that exhibited on the 1st of January last. + +It was foreseen that the revenue of the present year would not equal +that of the last, which had itself been less than that of the next +preceding year. But the hope has been realized which was entertained, +that these deficiencies would in nowise interrupt the steady operation +of the discharge of the public debt by the annual ten millions devoted +to that object by the act of 3d March, 1817. + +The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the +commencement of the year until the 30th of September last is +$21,226,000, and the probable amount of that which will be secured +during the remainder of the year is $5,774,000, forming a sum total of +$27,000,000. With the allowances for drawbacks and contingent +deficiencies which may occur, though not specifically foreseen, we may +safely estimate the receipts of the ensuing year at $22,300,000--a +revenue for the next equal to the expenditure of the present year. + +The deep solicitude felt by our citizens of all classes throughout the +Union for the total discharge of the public debt will apologize for the +earnestness with which I deem it my duty to urge this topic upon the +consideration of Congress--of recommending to them again the observance +of the strictest economy in the application of the public funds. The +depression upon the receipts of the revenue which had commenced with the +year 1826 continued with increased severity during the two first +quarters of the present year. The returning tide began to flow with the +third quarter, and, so far as we can judge from experience, may be +expected to continue through the course of the ensuing year. In the +meantime an alleviation from the burden of the public debt will in the +three years have been effected to the amount of nearly sixteen millions, +and the charge of annual interest will have been reduced upward of one +million. But among the maxims of political economy which the stewards of +the public moneys should never suffer without urgent necessity to be +transcended is that of keeping the expenditures of the year within the +limits of its receipts. The appropriations of the two last years, +including the yearly ten millions of the sinking fund, have each equaled +the promised revenue of the ensuing year. While we foresee with +confidence that the public coffers will be replenished from the receipts +as fast as they will be drained by the expenditures, equal in amount to +those of the current year, it should not be forgotten that they could +ill suffer the exhaustion of larger disbursements. + +The condition of the Army and of all the branches of the public service +under the superintendence of the Secretary of War will be seen by the +report from that officer and the documents with which it is accompanied. + +During the last summer a detachment of the Army has been usefully and +successfully called to perform their appropriate duties. At the moment +when the commissioners appointed for carrying into execution certain +provisions of the treaty of August 19, 1825, with various tribes of the +Northwestern Indians were about to arrive at the appointed place of +meeting the unprovoked murder of several citizens and other acts of +unequivocal hostility committed by a party of the Winnebago tribe, one +of those associated in the treaty, followed by indications of a menacing +character among other tribes of the same region, rendered necessary an +immediate display of the defensive and protective force of the Union in +that quarter. It was accordingly exhibited by the immediate and +concerted movements of the governors of the State of Illinois and of the +Territory of Michigan, and competent levies of militia, under their +authority, with a corps of 700 men of United States troops, under the +command of General Atkinson, who, at the call of Governor Cass, +immediately repaired to the scene of danger from their station at St. +Louis. Their presence dispelled the alarms of our fellow-citizens on +those borders, and overawed the hostile purposes of the Indians. The +perpetrators of the murders were surrendered to the authority and +operation of our laws, and every appearance of purposed hostility from +those Indian tribes has subsided. + +Although the present organization of the Army and the administration of +its various branches of service are, upon the whole, satisfactory, they +are yet susceptible of much improvement in particulars, some of which +have been heretofore submitted to the consideration of Congress, and +others are now first presented in the report of the Secretary of War. + +The expediency of providing for additional numbers of officers in the +two corps of engineers will in some degree depend upon the number and +extent of the objects of national importance upon which Congress may +think it proper that surveys should be made conformably to the act of +the 30th of April, 1824. 'Of the surveys which before the last session +of Congress had been made under the authority of that act, reports were +made-- + +1. Of the Board of Internal Improvement, on the Chesapeake and Ohio +Canal. + +2. On the continuation of the national road from Cumberland to the tide +waters within the district of Columbia. + +3. On the continuation of the national road from Canton to Zanesville. + +4. On the location of the national road from Zanesville to Columbus. + +5. On the continuation of the same to the seat of government in +Missouri. + +6. On a post-road from Baltimore to Philadelphia. + +7. Of a survey of Kennebec River (in part). + +8. On a national road from Washington to Buffalo. + +9. On the survey of Saugatuck Harbor and River. + +10. On a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River. + +11. On surveys at Edgartown, Newburyport, and Hyannis Harbor. + +12. On survey of La Plaisance Bay, in the Territory of Michigan. + +And reports are now prepared and will be submitted to Congress-- + +On surveys of the peninsula of Florida, to ascertain the practicability +of a canal to connect the waters of the Atlantic with the Gulf of Mexico +across that peninsula; and also of the country between the bays of +Mobile and of Pensacola, with the view of connecting them together by a +canal. + +On surveys of a route for a canal to connect the waters of James and +Great Kenhawa rivers. + +On the survey of the Swash, in Pamlico Sound, and that of Cape Fear, +below the town of Wilmington, in North Carolina. + +On the survey of the Muscle Shoals, in the Tennessee River, and for a +route for a contemplated communication between the Hiwassee and Coosa +rivers, in the State of Alabama. + +Other reports of surveys upon objects pointed out by the several acts of +Congress of the last and preceding sessions are in the progress of +preparation, and most of them may be completed before the close of this +session. All the officers of both corps of engineers, with several other +persons duly qualified, have been constantly employed upon these +services from the passage of the act of 30th April, 1824, to this time. +Were no other advantage to accrue to the country from their labors than +the fund of topographical knowledge which they have collected and +communicated, that alone would have been a profit to the Union more than +adequate to all the expenditures which have been devoted to the object; +but the appropriations for the repair and continuation of the Cumberland +road, for the construction of various other roads, for the removal of +obstructions from the rivers and harbors, for the erection of +light-houses, beacons, piers, and buoys, and for the completion of +canals undertaken by individual associations, but heeding the assistance +of means and resources more comprehensive than individual enterprise can +command, may be considered rather as treasures laid up from the +contributions of the present age for the benefit of posterity than as +unrequited applications of the accruing revenues of the nation. To such +objects of permanent improvement to the condition of the country, of +real addition to the wealth as well as to the comfort of the people by +whose authority and resources they have been effected, from three to +four millions of the annual income of the nation have, by laws enacted +at the three most recent sessions of Congress, been applied, without +intrenching upon the necessities of the Treasury, without adding a +dollar to the taxes or debts of the community, without suspending even +the steady and regular discharge of the debts contracted in former days, +which within the same three years have been diminished by the amount of +nearly $16,000,000. + +The same observations are in a great degree applicable to the +appropriations made for fortifications upon the coasts and harbors of +the United States, for the maintenance of the Military Academy at West +Point, and for the various objects under the superintendence of the +Department of the Navy. The report from the Secretary of the Navy and +those from the subordinate branches of both the military departments +exhibit to Congress in minute detail the present condition of the public +establishments dependent upon them, the execution of the acts of +Congress relating to them, and the views of the officers engaged in the +several branches of the service concerning the improvements which may +tend to their perfection. The fortification of the coasts and the +gradual increase and improvement of the Navy are parts of a great system +of national defense which has been upward of ten years in progress, and +which for a series of years to come will continue to claim the constant +and persevering protection and superintendence of the legislative +authority. Among the measures which have emanated from these principles +the act of the last session of Congress for the gradual improvement of +the Navy holds a conspicuous place. The collection of timber for the +future construction of vessels of war, the preservation and reproduction +of the species of timber peculiarly adapted to that purpose, the +construction of dry docks for the use of the Navy, the erection of a +marine railway for the repair of the public ships, and the improvement +of the navy-yards for the preservation of the public property deposited +in them have all received from the Executive the attention required by +that act, and will continue to receive it, steadily proceeding toward +the execution of all its purposes. The establishment of a naval academy, +furnishing the means of theoretic instruction to the youths who devote +their lives to the service of their country upon the ocean, still +solicits the sanction of the Legislature. Practical seamanship and the +art of navigation may be acquired on the cruises of the squadrons which +from time to time are dispatched to distant seas, but a competent +knowledge even of the art of shipbuilding, the higher mathematics, and +astronomy; the literature which can place our officers on a level of +polished education with the officers of other maritime nations; the +knowledge of the laws, municipal and national, which in their +intercourse with foreign states and their governments are continually +called into operation, and, above all, that acquaintance with the +principles of honor and justice, with the higher obligations of morals +and of general laws, human and divine, which constitutes the great +distinction between the warrior-patriot and the licensed robber and +pirate--these can be systematically taught and eminently acquired only +in a permanent school, stationed upon the shore and provided with the +teachers, the instruments, and the books conversant with and adapted to +the communication of the principles of these respective sciences to the +youthful and inquiring mind. + +The report from the Postmaster-General exhibits the condition of that +Department as highly satisfactory for the present and still more +promising for the future. Its receipts for the year ending the 1st of +July last amounted to $1,473,551, and exceeded its expenditures by +upward of $100,000. It can not be an oversanguine estimate to predict +that in less than ten years, of which one-half have elapsed, the +receipts will have been more than doubled. In the meantime a reduced +expenditure upon established routes has kept pace with increased +facilities of public accommodation and additional services have been +obtained at reduced rates of compensation. Within the last year the +transportation of the mail in stages has been greatly augmented. The +number of post-offices has been increased to 7,000, and it may be +anticipated that while the facilities of intercourse between +fellow-citizens in person or by correspondence will soon be carried to +the door of every villager in the Union, a yearly surplus of revenue +will accrue which may be applied as the wisdom of Congress under the +exercise of their constitutional powers may devise for the further +establishment and improvement of the public roads, or by adding still +further to the facilities in the transportation of the mails. Of the +indications of the prosperous condition of our country, none can be more +pleasing than those presented by the multiplying relations of personal +and intimate intercourse between the citizens of the Union dwelling at +the remotest distances from each other. + +Among the subjects which have heretofore occupied the earnest solicitude +and attention of Congress is the management and disposal of that portion +of the property of the nation which consists of the public lands. The +acquisition of them, made at the expense of the whole Union, not only in +treasure but in blood, marks a right of property in them equally +extensive. By the report and statements from the General Land Office now +communicated it appears that under the present Government of the United +States a sum little short of $33,000,000 has been paid from the common +Treasury for that portion of this property which has been purchased from +France and Spain, and for the extinction of the aboriginal titles. The +amount of lands acquired is near 260,000,000 acres, of which on the 1st +of January, 1826, about 139,000,000 acres had been surveyed, and little +more than 19,000,000 acres had been sold. The amount paid into the +Treasury by the purchasers of the public lands sold is not yet equal to +the sums paid for the whole, but leaves a small balance to be refunded. +The proceeds of the sales of the lands have long been pledged to the +creditors of the nation, a pledge from which we have reason to hope that +they will in a very few years be redeemed. + +The system upon which this great national interest has been managed was +the result of long, anxious, and persevering deliberation. Matured and +modified by the progress of our population and the lessons of +experience, it has been hitherto eminently successful. More than +nine-tenths of the lands still remain the common property of the Union, +the appropriation and disposal of which are sacred trusts in the hands +of Congress. Of the lands sold, a considerable part were conveyed under +extended credits, which in the vicissitudes and fluctuations in the +value of lands and of their produce became oppressively burdensome to +the purchasers. It can never be the interest or the policy of the nation +to wring from its own citizens the reasonable profits of their industry +and enterprise by holding them to the rigorous import of disastrous +engagements. In March, 1821, a debt of $22,000,000, due by purchasers of +the public lands, had accumulated, which they were unable to pay. An act +of Congress of the 2d March, 1821, came to their relief, and has been +succeeded by others, the latest being the act of the 4th of May, 1826, +the indulgent provisions of which expired on the 4th July last. The +effect of these laws has been to reduce the debt from the purchasers to +a remaining balance of about $4,300,000 due, more than three-fifths of +which are for lands within the State of Alabama. I recommend to Congress +the revival and continuance for a further term of the beneficent +accommodations to the public debtors of that statute, and submit to +their consideration, in the same spirit of equity, the remission, under +proper discriminations, of the forfeitures of partial payments on +account of purchases of the public lands, so far as to allow of their +application to other payments. + +There are various other subjects of deep interest to the whole Union +which have heretofore been recommended to the consideration of Congress, +as well by my predecessors as, under the impression of the duties +devolving upon me, by myself. Among these are the debt, rather of +justice than gratitude, to the surviving warriors of the Revolutionary +war; the extension of the judicial administration of the Federal +Government to those extensive and important members of the Union which, +having risen into existence since the organization of the present +judiciary establishment, now constitute at least one-third of its +territory, power, and population; the formation of a more effective and +uniform system for the government of the militia, and the amelioration +in some form or modification of the diversified and often oppressive +codes relating to insolvency. Amidst the multiplicity of topics of great +national concernment which may recommend themselves to the calm and +patriotic deliberations of the Legislature, it may suffice to say that +on these and all other measures which may receive their sanction my +hearty cooperation will be given, conformably to the duties enjoined +upon me and under the sense of all the obligations prescribed by the +Constitution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGES. + + + +Washington, +_December 6, 1827_. +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 19th of February +last, requesting a statement of all the expenses annually incurred in +carrying into effect the act of March 2, 1819, for prohibiting the slave +trade, including the cost of keeping the ships of war on the coast of +Africa and all the incidental expenses growing out of the operation of +that act, I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with the +statement, so far as it can be made, required by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 11, 1827_. +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate-- + +1. A convention between the United States and Great Britain for the +continuance in force of the convention of 3d July, 1815, after the 20th +October, 1828, the term at which it would otherwise expire. + +2. A convention between the same parties for continuing in force after +the 20th October, 1828, the provisions of the third article of the +convention of 20th October, 1818, in relation to the territories +westward of the Rocky Mountains. + +3. A convention between the same parties for the reference to a friendly +sovereign of the points of difference between them relating to the +northeastern boundary of the United States. + +The first and second of these conventions were signed by the +plenipotentiaries of the respective parties at London on the 6th day of +August and the third on the 29th day of September last. + +Copies of them are also communicated, together with the correspondence +and documents illustrative of their negotiation. + +I request the advice of the Senate with regard to the ratification of +each of them. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 11, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United +States and the Kingdom of. Sweden and Norway, signed at Stockholm by the +plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 4th day of July last. + +A copy of the treaty, with a translation, and the instructions and +correspondence relating to the negotiation are also communicated. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 12, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to Congress copies of a report of the +surveyor-general of lands northwest of Ohio, with a plat of the northern +boundary line of the State of Indiana, surveyed in conformity to the act +of Congress to authorize the President of the United States to ascertain +and designate the northern boundary of the State of Indiana, passed the +2d of March, 1827. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 24, 1827_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant, +requesting a communication of the instructions to the American minister +at London for the negotiation of the convention of the 13th of November, +1826, with Great Britain, for indemnity to the claimants under the first +article of the treaty of Ghent, together with the letters of the +minister accompanying and explaining the said convention, I transmit +herewith a report from the Secretary of State, together with the +documents desired. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 4, 1828_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 19th of last month, +I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies +of the correspondence with the British Government relating to the +establishment of light-houses, light-vessels, buoys, and other +improvements to the navigation within their jurisdiction, opposite to +the coast of Florida, referred to in the resolution, + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 7, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +17th of last month, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary +of State and the correspondence with the Government of Great Britain +relative to the free navigation of the river St. Lawrence. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 9, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 7th instant, I +transmit herewith Mitchell's map and the map marked A,[013] as requested +by the resolution, desiring that when the Senate shall have no further +use for them they may be returned. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 15, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +2d instant, requesting information respecting the recovery of debts and +property in the Mexican States from persons absconding from the United +States, and also respecting the boundary between the State of Louisiana +and the Province of Texas, I now transmit a report from the Secretary of +State on the subject-matter of the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 22, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, articles +of agreement signed at the Creek Agency on the 15th of November last by +Thomas L. McKenney and John Crowell in behalf of the United States and +by the Little Prince and other chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation, +with a supplementary article concluded by the said John Crowell with the +chiefs and headmen of the nation in general council convened on the 3d +instant, embracing a cession by the Creek Nation of all the remnant of +their lands within the State of Georgia. Documents connected with the +negotiation of the treaty and the instructions under which it was +effected are also communicated to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 22, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By the report of the Secretary of War and the documents from that +Department exhibited to Congress at the commencement of their present +session they were advised of the measures taken for carrying into +execution the act of 4th May, 1826, to authorize the President of the +United States to run and mark a line dividing the Territory of Florida +from the State of Georgia, and of their unsuccessful result. I now +transmit to Congress copies of communications received from the governor +of Georgia relating to that subject. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 23, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +A resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant requested information +relative to the trade between the United States and the colonies of +France. A report from the Secretary of State, with a translation of the +ordinance of the King of France of the 5th of February, 1826, is +herewith transmitted, containing the information desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 28, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate-- + +1. A treaty concluded at the Butte des Morts, on Fox River, in the +Territory of Michigan, on 11th of August, 1827, between Lewis Cass and +Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners of the United States, and the chiefs +and headmen of the Chippewa, Menomonie, and Winnebago tribes of Indians. + +2. A treaty concluded at St. Joseph, in the Territory of Michigan, on +the 19th of September, 1827, between Lewis Cass, commissioner of the +United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the Potawatamie tribe of +Indians. + +Upon which treaties I request the advice of the Senate. The instructions +and other documents relating to the negotiation of them are here-with +communicated. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +A report from the Secretary of State, with copies of a recent +correspondence between the charge d'affaires from Brazil and him on the +subjects of discussion between this Government and that of Brazil,[014] +is transmitted to the House of Representatives, in compliance with a +resolution of the House of the 2d instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 6, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I communicate herewith to Congress copies of a treaty of commerce and +navigation between the United States and His Majesty the King of Sweden +and Norway, concluded at Stockholm on the 4th of July, 1827, and the +ratifications of which were exchanged on the 18th ultimo at this city. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 14, 1828_ + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 11th instant, +requesting copies of the instructions to Andrew Ellicott, commissioner +for running the line between the United States and Spain, and of any +journal or report of the commissioners, I communicate herewith a report +from the Secretary of State, with the documents requested, so far as +they are found in the files of that Department. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 21, 1828_ + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In transmitting to Congress copies of a communication received from the +governor of Pennsylvania, with certain resolutions of the legislature of +that Commonwealth, relating to the Cumberland road, I deem it my duty to +recommend to the consideration of Congress an adequate provision for the +permanent preservation and repair of that great national work. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 3, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of State, with documents, containing the instructions of the Government +of the United States to Thomas Pinckney under which was negotiated the +treaty of San Lorenzo el Real, and relating to the boundary line between +the United States and the dominions, at that time, of Spain as requested +by a resolution of the House of the 18th ultimo. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 3, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d of January last, +requesting the communication of information in my possession relative to +alleged aggression on the rights of citizens of the United States by +persons claiming authority under the government of the Province of New +Brunswick, I communicate a report from the Secretary of State, with a +copy of that of the special agent mentioned in my message at the +commencement of the present session of Congress as having been sent to +visit the spot where the cause of complaint had occurred to ascertain +the state of the facts, and the result of whose inquiries I then +promised to communicate to Congress when it should be received. + +The Senate are requested to receive this communication as the +fulfillment of that engagement; and in making it I deem it proper to +notice with just acknowledgment the liberality with which the minister +of His Britannic Majesty residing here and the government of the +Province of New Brunswick have furnished the agent of the United States +with every facility for the attainment of the information which it was +the object of his mission to procure. + +Considering the exercise of exclusive territorial jurisdiction upon the +grounds in controversy by the government of New Brunswick in the arrest +and imprisonment of John Baker as incompatible with the mutual +understanding existing between the Governments of the United States and +of Great Britain on this subject, a demand has been addressed to the +provincial authorities through the minister of Great Britain for the +release of that individual from prison, and of indemnity to him for his +detention'. In doing this it has not been intended to maintain the +regularity of his own proceedings or of those with whom he was +associated, to which they were not authorized by any sovereign authority +of this country. + +The documents appended to the report of the agent being original papers +belonging to the files of the Department of State, a return of them is +requested when the Senate shall have no further use for them. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 7, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +The resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, requesting me to cause +to be laid before the Senate all papers which might be in the Department +of War relating to the treaty concluded at the Butte des Morts, on Fox +River, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners on the +part of the United States, and the Chippewa, Menomonie, and Winnebago +tribes of Indians, having been referred to the Secretary of War, the +report of that officer thereon is herewith inclosed. The papers therein +referred to were all transmitted to the Senate with the treaty. Before +that event, however, a petition and several other papers had been +addressed directly to me, in behalf of certain Indians originally and in +part still residing within the State of New York, objecting to the +ratification of the treaty, as affecting injuriously their rights and +interests. The treaty was itself withheld from the Senate until it was +understood at the War Department and by me that by the consent of the +persons representing the New York Indians their objections were +withdrawn, as by one of them, the Reverend Eleazer Williams, I was +personally assured. Those papers, however, addressed directly to me, and +which have not been upon the files of the War Department, are now +transmitted to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 14, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a treaty +concluded at the Wyandot village, near the Wabash, in the State of +Indiana, between John Tipton, commissioner on the part of the United +States, and the chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Eel River or +Thorntown party of Miami Indians, on the 11th day of February last. + +A letter from the commissioner to the Secretary of War, with a copy of +the journal of the proceedings which led to the conclusion of the +treaty, are communicated with it to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 15, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 21st ultimo, +requesting me to lay before the House correspondence not heretofore +communicated between the Government of the United States and that of +Great Britain on the subject of the claims of the two Governments to the +territory westward of the Rocky Mountains, I transmit herewith a report +of the Secretary of State, with the documents requested by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 21, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty concluded on the 15th day of +November, 1827, by commissioners of the United States and the chiefs and +headmen of the Creek Nation of Indians, which was duly ratified on the +4th instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 22, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +3d instant, touching the formation of a new government by the Cherokee +tribe of Indians within the States of North Carolina, Georgia, +Tennessee, and Alabama, and requesting copies of certain correspondence +relating thereto, I transmit to the House of Representatives a report +from the Secretary of War, together with the documents desired by the +resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 25, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, prepared in +compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the +25th of February last, requesting copies of instructions and +correspondence relating to the settlement of the boundary lines of the +United States, or any one of them, under the Government of the +Confederated States and by the definitive treaty of peace of 3d +September, 1783, with Great Britain. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 8, 1828_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +22d ultimo, on the subject of the treaty with the Creek Nation of +Indians of the 15th November last, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of War, with the documents, containing the information desired +by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 15, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 9th instant, +requesting copies of the charges preferred against the agent of the +United States for the Creek tribe of Indians since the 1st of January, +1826, and of proceedings had thereon, I transmit herewith a report from +the Secretary of War, with documents, containing the information desired +by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 17, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In conformity with the practice of all my predecessors, I have during my +service in the office of President transmitted to the two Houses of +Congress from time to time, by the same private secretary, such messages +as a proper discharge of my constitutional duty appeared to me to +require. On Tuesday last he was charged with the delivery of a message +to each House. Having presented that which was intended for the House of +Representatives, whilst he was passing, within the Capitol, from their +Hall to the Chamber of the Senate, for the purpose of delivering the +other message, he was waylaid and assaulted in the Rotunda by a person, +in the presence of a member of the House, who interposed and separated +the parties. + +I have thought it my duty to communicate this occurrence to Congress, to +whose wisdom it belongs to consider whether it is of a nature requiring +from them any animadversion, and also whether any further laws or +regulations are necessary to insure security in the official intercourse +between the President and Congress, and to prevent disorders within the +Capitol itself. + +In the deliberations of Congress upon this subject it is neither +expected nor desired that any consequence shall be attached to the +private relation in which my secretary stands to me. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 21, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a treaty +of limits between the United States of America and the United Mexican +States, concluded by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the +12th of January last. A copy of the treaty and the protocols of +conference between the plenipotentiaries during the negotiation are +inclosed with it. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 22,1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +A copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General, dated 17th May, 1826, +upon the construction of the award of the Emperor of Russia under the +treaty of Ghent and upon certain questions propounded to him in relation +thereto, subjoined to a report from the Secretary of State, are herewith +communicated to the House, in compliance with their resolution of the +17th instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 24, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for the exercise of their constitutional +authority thereon, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between +the United States of America and the United Mexican States, signed by +their respective plenipotentiaries on the 14th of February last, with a +copy of the treaty and the protocols of conference during and subsequent +to the negotiation. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 28,1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +9th instant, requesting a communication of the correspondence between +this Government and that of Great Britain on the subject of the trade +between the United States and the British colonial possessions in the +West Indies and North America, not heretofore communicated, I transmit +to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with the +correspondence desired. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_April 30, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In the month of December last 121 African negroes were landed at Key +West from a Spanish slave-trading vessel stranded within the +jurisdiction of the United States while pursued by an armed schooner in +His Britannic Majesty's service. The collector of the customs at Key +West took possession of these persons, who were afterwards delivered +over to the marshal of the Territory of East Florida, by whom they were +conveyed to St. Augustine, where they still remain. + +Believing that the circumstances under which they have been cast upon +the compassion of the country are not embraced by the provisions of the +act of Congress of 3d March, 1819, or of the other acts prohibiting the +slave trade, I submit to the consideration of Congress the expediency of +a supplementary act directing and authorizing such measures as may be +necessary for removing them from the territory of the United States and +for fulfilling toward them the obligations of humanity. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 1, 1828_. +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 17th ultimo, +relating to the removal of the Indian agency from Fort Wayne, in the +State of Indiana, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with +the documents and information requested by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 5, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 30th ultimo, +requesting information concerning any regulation of the Government of +Brazil relative to the reduction of certain duties, I transmit herewith +a report from the Secretary of State, exhibiting the information +received at that Department on the subject. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 5,1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I communicate to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a +treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and His +Majesty the King of Prussia, signed on the 1st instant at this place by +the Secretary of State and the charge d'affaires of Prussia residing +here. A copy of the treaty is also transmitted. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 9, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +The report of the Secretary of War herewith transmitted, with the +documents annexed, contains the information requested by a resolution of +the 3d of April last, relating to the payments made to the citizens of +Georgia under the fourth article of the treaty with the Creek Nation of +8th February, 1821, and to the disallowances of certain claims exhibited +under that treaty, and to the reasons for rejecting the same. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 12, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, the +articles of a convention concluded at this place on the 6th instant +between the Secretary of War and the chiefs and headmen of the Cherokee +Nation west of the Mississippi, duly authorized by their nation. A +report from the Secretary of War, with certain documents, and a map +illustrative of the convention are submitted with it to the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 16, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By a communication received from the charge d'affaires of Prussia, a +translation of which is herewith transmitted, it appears that in the +ports of that Kingdom all discriminating duties so far as they affected +the vessels of the United States and their cargoes have been abolished +since the 15th of April, 1826. I recommend to the consideration of +Congress a legislative provision whereby the reciprocal application of +the same principle may be extended to Prussian vessels and their cargoes +which may have arrived in the ports of the United States from and after +that day. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 19, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of three conventions concluded between the +United States of America and His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom +of Great Britain and Ireland, the ratifications of which were exchanged +at London on the 2d of last month: + +1. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in force the +provisions of the convention of 3d July, 1815. + +2. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in force the +provisions of the third article of the convention of 20th October, 1818. + +3. A convention concluded 29th September, 1827, for carrying into effect +the provisions of the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent in relation +to the northeastern boundary of the United States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 21, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House a report[015] from the Secretary of State, with +a copy of the note of the minister of the United States to Spain dated +20th January, 1826, requested by a resolution of the House of the 19th +instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 22, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +The inclosed report from the Secretary of State is accompanied by copies +of the correspondence between this Government and the minister of His +Britannic Majesty residing here relating to the arrest and imprisonment +of John Baker,[016] requested by a recent resolution of the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 22, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty between the United States of +America and the Eel River or Thornton party of Miami Indians, concluded +on the 11th of February last at the Wyandot village, near the Wabash, and +duly ratified on the 7th instant. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 23, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant, +relating to the accounts and official conduct of Thomas A. Smith, +receiver of public moneys at Franklin, Mo., I transmit herewith a report +from the Secretary of the Treasury, with documents, containing the +information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_May 23, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +30th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, +with copies of the correspondence[017] with the Brazilian Government, +and shewing the measures taken by the Government of the United States in +relation to the several topics noticed in the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + +PROCLAMATION. + + +By the President of the United States of America. + +A PROCLAMATION. + + +Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of +January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of +tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence +being given to the President of the United States by the government of +any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost +are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels +belonging wholly to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise +the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President +is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the +foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United +States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as respects +the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or +manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said +suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given +to the President of the United States, and to continue so long as the +reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United +States and merchandise as aforesaid thereon laden shall be continued, +and no longer; and + +Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His Britannic +Majesty, as King of Hanover, through the Right Honorable Charles Richard +Vaughan, his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, that +vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States or merchandise +the produce or manufacture thereof imported in such vessels are not nor +shall be on their entering any Hanoverian port subject to the payment of +higher duties of tonnage or impost than are levied on Hanoverian ships +or merchandise the produce or manufacture of the United States imported +in such vessels: + +Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States of +America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts +imposing duties on the tonnage of ships and vessels and on goods, wares, +and merchandise imported into the United States as imposed a +discriminating duty of tonnage between the vessels of the Kingdom of +Hanover and vessels of the United States and between goods imported into +the United States in vessels of the Kingdom of Hanover and vessels of +the United States are suspended and discontinued so far as the same +respect the produce or manufacture of the said Kingdom of Hanover, the +said suspension to take effect this day and to continue henceforward so +long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the United States and +of the merchandise laden therein as aforesaid shall be continued in the +ports of the Kingdom of Hanover. + +Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 1st day of July, A. +D. 1828, and the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United +States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +By the President: + +H. Clay, +_Secretary of State_. + + + + * * * * * + + + +EXECUTIVE ORDER. + + + +Department of War, +_February 28, 1828_. + + +The Secretary of War, by direction of the President of the United +States, announces to the Army the painful intelligence of the decease +(the 24th of February) of Major-General Brown. + +To say that he was one of the men who have rendered most important +services to his country would fall far short of the tribute due to his +character. Uniting with the most unaffected simplicity the highest +degree of personal valor and of intellectual energy, he stands +preeminent before the world and for after ages in that band of heroic +spirits who upon the ocean and the land formed and sustained during the +second war with Great Britain the martial reputation of their country. +To this high and honorable purpose General Brown may be truly said to +have sacrificed his life, for the disease which abridged his days and +has terminated his career at a period scarcely beyond the meridian of +manhood undoubtedly originated in the hardships of his campaigns on the +Canada frontier, and in that glorious wound which, though desperate, +could not remove him from the field of battle till it was won. + +Quick to perceive, sagacious to anticipate, prompt to decide, and daring +in execution, he was born with the qualities which constitute a great +commander. His military _coup d'oeil_ his intuitive penetration, his +knowledge of men and his capacity to control them were known to all his +companions in arms, and commanded their respect; while the gentleness of +his disposition, the courtesy of his deportment, his scrupulous regard +to their rights, his constant attention to their wants, and his +affectionate attachment to their persons universally won their hearts +and bound them to him as a father. + +Calm and collected in the presence of the enemy, he was withal tender of +human life; in the hour of battle more sparing of the blood of the +soldier than his own. In the hour of victory the vanquished enemy found +in him a humane and compassionate friend. Not one drop of blood shed in +wantonness or cruelty sullies the purity of his fame. Defeat he was +never called to endure, but in the crisis of difficulty and danger he +displayed untiring patience and fortitude not to be overcome. + +Such was the great and accomplished captain whose loss the Army has now, +in common with their fellow-citizens of all classes, to deplore. While +indulging the kindly impulses of nature and yielding the tribute of a +tear upon his grave, let it not be permitted to close upon his bright +example as it must upon his mortal remains. Let him be more nobly +sepulchered in the hearts of his fellow-soldiers, and his imperishable +monument be found in their endeavors to emulate his virtues. + +The officers of the Army will wear the badge of mourning for six months +on the left arm and hilt of the sword. Guns will be fired at each +military post at intervals of thirty minutes from the rising to the +setting of the sun on the day succeeding the arrival of this order, +during which the National flag will be suspended at half-mast. + +James Barbour. + + + * * * * * + + + +FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE. + + +Washington, +_December 2, 1828_. + + +_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_: + +If the enjoyment in profusion of the bounties of Providence forms a +suitable subject of mutual gratulation and grateful acknowledgment, we +are admonished at this return of the season when the representatives of +the nation are assembled to deliberate upon their concerns to offer up +the tribute of fervent and grateful hearts for the never-failing mercies +of Him who ruleth over all. He has again favored us with healthful +seasons and abundant harvests; He has sustained us in peace with foreign +countries and in tranquillity within our borders; He has preserved us in +the quiet and undisturbed possession of civil and religious liberty; He +has crowned the year with His goodness, imposing on us no other +conditions than of improving for our own happiness the blessings +bestowed by His hands, and, in the fruition of all His favors, of +devoting the faculties with which we have been endowed by Him to His +glory and to our own temporal and eternal welfare. + +In the relations of our Federal Union with our brethren of the human +race the changes which have occurred since the close of your last +session have generally tended to the preservation of peace and to the +cultivation of harmony. Before your last separation a war had unhappily +been kindled between the Empire of Russia, one of those with which our +intercourse has been no other than a constant exchange of good offices, +and that of the Ottoman Porte, a nation from which geographical +distance, religious opinions and maxims of government on their part +little suited to the formation of those bonds of mutual benevolence +which result from the benefits of commerce had kept us in a state, +perhaps too much prolonged, of coldness and alienation. The extensive, +fertile, and populous dominions of the Sultan belong rather to the +Asiatic than the European division of the human family. They enter but +partially into the system of Europe, nor have their wars with Russia and +Austria, the European States upon which they border, for more than a +century past disturbed the pacific relations of those States with the +other great powers of Europe. Neither France nor Prussia nor Great +Britain has ever taken part in them, nor is it to be expected that they +will at this time. The declaration of war by Russia has received the +approbation or acquiescence of her allies, and we may indulge the hope +that its progress and termination will be signalized by the moderation +and forbearance no less than by the energy of the Emperor Nicholas, and +that it will afford the opportunity for such collateral agency in behalf +of the suffering Greeks as will secure to them ultimately the triumph of +humanity and of freedom. + +The state of our particular relations with France has scarcely varied in +the course of the present year. The commercial intercourse between the +two countries has continued to increase for the mutual benefit of both. +The claims of indemnity to numbers of our fellow-citizens for +depredations upon their property, heretofore committed during the +revolutionary governments, remain unadjusted, and still form the subject +of earnest representation and remonstrance. Recent advices from the +minister of the United States at Paris encourage the expectation that +the appeal to the justice of the French Government will ere long receive +a favorable consideration. + +The last friendly expedient has been resorted to for the decision of the +controversy with Great Britain relating to the northeastern boundary of +the United States. By an agreement with the British Government, carrying +into effect the provisions of the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, +and the convention of 29th September, 1827, His Majesty the King of the +Netherlands has by common consent been selected as the umpire between +the parties. The proposal to him to accept the designation for the +performance of this friendly office will be made at an early day, and +the United States, relying upon the justice of their cause, will +cheerfully commit the arbitrament of it to a prince equally +distinguished for the independence of his spirit, his indefatigable +assiduity to the duties of his station, and his inflexible personal +probity. + +Our commercial relations with Great Britain will deserve the serious +consideration of Congress and the exercise of a conciliatory and +forbearing spirit in the policy of both Governments. The state of them +has been materially changed by the act of Congress, passed at their last +session, in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on imports, +and by acts of more recent date of the British Parliament. The effect of +the interdiction of direct trade, commenced by Great Britain and +reciprocated by the United States, has been, as was to be foreseen, only +to substitute different channels for an exchange of commodities +indispensable to the colonies and profitable to a numerous class of our +fellow-citizens. The exports, the revenue, the navigation of the United +States have suffered no diminution by our exclusion from direct access +to the British colonies. The colonies pay more dearly for the +necessaries of life which their Government burdens with the charges of +double voyages, freight, insurance, and commission, and the profits of +our exports are somewhat impaired and more injuriously transferred from +one portion of our citizens to another. The resumption of this old and +otherwise exploded system of colonial exclusion has not secured to the +shipping interest of Great Britain the relief which, at the expense of +the distant colonies and of the United States, it was expected to +afford. Other measures have been resorted to more pointedly bearing upon +the navigation of the United States, and which, unless modified by the +construction given to the recent acts of Parliament, will be manifestly +incompatible with the positive stipulations of the commercial convention +existing between the two countries. That convention, however, may be +terminated with twelve months' notice, at the option of either party. + +A treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce between the United States +and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, has +been prepared for signature by the Secretary of State and by the Baron +de Lederer, intrusted with full powers of the Austrian Government. +Independently of the new and friendly relations which may be thus +commenced with one of the most eminent and powerful nations of the +earth, the occasion has been taken in it, as in other recent treaties +concluded by the United States, to extend those principles of liberal +intercourse and of fair reciprocity which intertwine with the exchanges +of commerce the principles of justice and the feelings of mutual +benevolence. This system, first proclaimed to the world in the first +commercial treaty ever concluded by the United States--that of 6th +February, 1778, with France--has been invariably the cherished policy of +our Union. It is by treaties of commerce alone that it can be made +ultimately to prevail as the established system of all civilized +nations. With this principle our fathers extended the hand of friendship +to every nation of the globe, and to this policy our country has ever +since adhered. Whatever of regulation in our laws has ever been adopted +unfavorable to the interest of any foreign nation has been essentially +defensive and counteracting to similar regulations of theirs operating +against us. + +Immediately after the close of the War of Independence commissioners +were appointed by the Congress of the Confederation authorized to +conclude treaties with every nation of Europe disposed to adopt them. +Before the wars of the French Revolution such treaties had been +consummated with the United Netherlands, Sweden, and Prussia. During +those wars treaties with Great Britain and Spain had been effected, and +those with Prussia and France renewed. In all these some concessions to +the liberal principles of intercourse proposed by the United States had +been obtained; but as in all the negotiations they came occasionally in +collision with previous internal regulations or exclusive and excluding +compacts of monopoly with which the other parties had been trammeled, +the advances made in them toward the freedom of trade were partial and +imperfect. Colonial establishments, chartered companies, and +shipbuilding influence pervaded and encumbered the legislation of all +the great commercial states; and the United States, in offering free +trade and equal privilege to all, were compelled to acquiesce in many +exceptions with each of the parties to their treaties, accommodated to +their existing laws and anterior engagements. + +The colonial system by which this whole hemisphere was bound has fallen +into ruins, totally abolished by revolutions converting colonies into +independent nations throughout the two American continents, excepting a +portion of territory chiefly at the northern extremity of our own, and +confined to the remnants of dominion retained by Great Britain over the +insular archipelago, geographically the appendages of our part of the +globe. With all the rest we have free trade, even with the insular +colonies of all the European nations, except Great Britain. Her +Government also had manifested approaches to the adoption of a free and +liberal intercourse between her colonies and other nations, though by a +sudden and scarcely explained revulsion the spirit of exclusion has been +revived for operation upon the United States alone. + +The conclusion of our last treaty of peace with Great Britain was +shortly afterwards followed by a commercial convention, placing the +direct intercourse between the two countries upon a footing of more +equal reciprocity than had ever before been admitted. The same principle +has since been much further extended by treaties with France, Sweden, +Denmark, the Hanseatic cities, Prussia, in Europe, and with the +Republics of Colombia and of Central America, in this hemisphere. The +mutual abolition of discriminating duties and charges upon the +navigation and commercial intercourse between the parties is the general +maxim which characterizes them all. There is reason to expect that it +will at no distant period be adopted by other nations, both of Europe +and America, and to hope that by its universal prevalence one of the +fruitful sources of wars of commercial competition will be extinguished. + +Among the nations upon whose Governments many of our fellow-citizens +have had long-pending claims of indemnity for depredations upon their +property during a period when the rights of neutral commerce were +disregarded was that of Denmark. They were soon after the events +occurred the subject of a special mission from the United States, at the +close of which the assurance was given by His Danish Majesty that at a +period of more tranquillity and of less distress they would be +considered, examined, and decided upon in a spirit of determined purpose +for the dispensation of justice. I have much pleasure in informing +Congress that the fulfillment of this honorable promise is now in +progress; that a small portion of the claims has already been settled to +the satisfaction of the claimants, and that we have reason to hope that +the remainder will shortly be placed in a train of equitable adjustment. +This result has always been confidently expected, from the character of +personal integrity and of benevolence which the Sovereign of the Danish +dominions has through every vicissitude of fortune maintained. + +The general aspect of the affairs of our highborn American nations of +the south has been rather of approaching than of settled tranquillity. +Internal disturbances have been more frequent among them than their +common friends would have desired. Our intercourse with all has +continued to be that of friendship and of mutual good will. Treaties of +commerce and of boundaries with the United Mexican States have been +negotiated, but, from various successive obstacles, not yet brought to a +final conclusion. + +The civil war which unfortunately still prevails in the Republics of +Central America has been unpropitious to the cultivation of our +commercial relations with them; and the dissensions and revolutionary +changes in the Republics of Colombia and of Peru have been seen with +cordial regret by us, who would gladly contribute to the happiness of +both. It is with great satisfaction, however, that we have witnessed the +recent conclusion of a peace between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and +of Brazil, and it is equally gratifying to observe that indemnity has +been obtained for some of the injuries which our fellow-citizens had +sustained in the latter of those countries. The rest are in a train of +negotiation, which we hope may terminate to mutual satisfaction, and +that it may be succeeded by a treaty of commerce and navigation, upon +liberal principles, propitious to a great and growing commerce, already +important to the interests of our country. + +The condition and prospects of the revenue are more favorable than our +most sanguine expectations had anticipated. The balance in the Treasury +on the 1st of January last, exclusive of the moneys received under the +convention of 13th of November, 1826, with Great Britain, was +$5,861,972.83. The receipts into the Treasury from the 1st of January to +the 30th of September last, so far as they have been ascertained to form +the basis of an estimate, amount to $18,633,580.27, which, with the +receipts of the present quarter, estimated at $5,461,283.40, form an +aggregate of receipts during the year of $24,094,863.67. The +expenditures of the year may probably amount to $25,637,111.63, and +leave in the Treasury on the 1st of January next the sum of +$5,125,638.14. + +The receipts of the present year have amounted to near two millions more +than was anticipated at the commencement of the last session of +Congress. + +The amount of duties secured on importations from the 1st of January to +the 30th of September was about $22,997,000, and that of the estimated +accruing revenue is five millions, forming an aggregate for the year of +near twenty-eight millions. This is one million more than the estimate +made last December for the accruing revenue of the present year, which, +with allowances for drawbacks and contingent deficiencies, was expected +to produce an actual revenue of $22,300,000. Had these only been +realized the expenditures of the year would have been also +proportionally reduced, for of these twenty-four millions received +upward of nine millions have been applied to the extinction of public +debt, bearing an interest of 6 per cent a year, and of course reducing +the burden of interest annually payable in future by the amount of more +than half a million. The payments on account of interest during the +current year exceed $3,000,000, presenting an aggregate of more than +twelve millions applied during the year to the discharge of the public +debt, the whole of which remaining due on the 1st of January next will +amount only to $58,362,135.78. + +That the revenue of the ensuing year will not fall short of that +received in the one now expiring there are indications which can +scarcely prove deceptive. In our country an uniform experience of forty +years has shown that whatever the tariff of duties upon articles +imported from abroad has been, the amount of importations has always +borne an average value nearly approaching to that of the exports, though +occasionally differing in the balance, sometimes being more and +sometimes less. It is, indeed, a general law of prosperous commerce that +the real value of exports should by a small, and only a small, balance +exceed that of imports, that balance being a permanent addition to the +wealth of the nation. The extent of the prosperous commerce of the +nation must be regulated by the amount of its exports, and an important +addition to the value of these will draw after it a corresponding +increase of importations. It has happened in the vicissitudes of the +seasons that the harvests of all Europe have in the late summer and +autumn fallen short of their usual average. A relaxation of the +interdict upon the importation of grain and flour from abroad has +ensued, a propitious market has been opened to the granaries of our +country, and a new prospect of reward presented to the labors of the +husbandman, which for several years has been denied. This accession to +the profits of agriculture in the middle and western portions of our +Union is accidental and temporary. It may continue only for a single +year. It may be, as has been often experienced in the revolutions of +time, but the first of several scanty harvests in succession. We may +consider it certain that for the approaching year it has added an item +of large amount to the value of our exports and that it will produce a +corresponding increase of importations. It may therefore confidently be +foreseen that the revenue of 1829 will equal and probably exceed that of +1828, and will afford the means of extinguishing ten millions more of +the principal of the public debt. + +This new element of prosperity to that part of our agricultural industry +which is occupied in producing the first article of human subsistence is +of the most cheering character to the feelings of patriotism. Proceeding +from a cause which humanity will view with concern, the sufferings of +scarcity in distant lands, it yields a consolatory reflection that this +scarcity is in no respect attributable to us; that it comes from the +dispensation of Him who ordains all in wisdom and goodness, and who +permits evil itself only as an instrument of good; that, far from +contributing to this scarcity, our agency will be applied only to the +alleviation of its severity, and that in pouring forth from the +abundance of our own garners the supplies which will partially restore +plenty to those who are in heed we shall ourselves reduce our stores and +add to the price of our own bread, so as in some degree to participate +in the wants which it will be the good fortune of our country to +relieve. + +The great interests of an agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing +nation are so linked in union together that no permanent cause of +prosperity to one of them can operate without extending its influence to +the others. All these interests are alike under the protecting power of +the legislative authority, and the duties of the representative bodies +are to conciliate them in harmony together. So far as the object of +taxation is to raise a revenue for discharging the debts and defraying +the expenses of the community, its operation should be adapted as much +as possible to suit the burden with equal hand upon all in proportion +with their ability of bearing it without oppression. But the legislation +of one nation is sometimes intentionally made to bear heavily upon the +interests of another. That legislation, adapted, as it is meant to be, +to the special interests of its own people, will often press most +unequally upon the several component interests of its neighbors. Thus +the legislation of Great Britain, when, as has recently been avowed, +adapted to the depression of a rival nation, will naturally abound with +regulations of interdict upon the productions of the soil or industry of +the other which come in competition with its own, and will present +encouragement, perhaps even bounty, to the raw material of the other +State which it can not produce itself, and which is essential for the +use of its manufactures, competitors in the markets of the world with +those of its commercial rival. Such is the state of the commercial +legislation of Great Britain as it bears upon our interests. It excludes +with interdicting duties all importation (except in time of approaching +famine) of the great staple of productions of our Middle and Western +States; it proscribes with equal rigor the bulkier lumber and live stock +of the same portion and also of the Northern and Eastern part of our +Union. It refuses even the rice of the South unless aggravated with a +charge of duty upon the Northern carrier who brings it to them. But the +cotton, indispensable for their looms, they will receive almost duty +free to weave it into a fabric for our own wear, to the destruction of +our own manufactures, which they are enabled thus to undersell. + +Is the self-protecting energy of this nation so helpless that there +exists in the political institutions of our country no power to +counteract the bias of this foreign legislation; that the growers of +grain must submit to this exclusion from the foreign markets of their +produce; that the shippers must dismantle their ships, the trade of the +North stagnate at the wharves, and the manufacturers starve at their +looms, while the whole people shall pay tribute to foreign industry to +be clad in a foreign garb; that the Congress of the Union are impotent +to restore the balance in favor of native industry destroyed by the +statutes of another realm? More just and more generous sentiments will, +I trust, prevail. If the tariff adopted at the last session of Congress +shall be found by experience to bear oppressively upon the interests of +any one section of the Union, it ought to be, and I can not doubt will +be, so modified as to alleviate its burden. To the voice of just +complaint from any portion of their constituents the representatives of +the States and of the people will never turn away their ears. But so +long as the duty of the foreign shall operate only as a bounty upon the +domestic article; while the planter and the merchant and the shepherd +and the husbandman shall be found thriving in their occupations under +the duties imposed for the protection of domestic manufactures, they +will not repine at the prosperity shared with themselves by their +fellow-citizens of other professions, nor denounce as violations of the +Constitution the deliberate acts of Congress to shield from the wrongs +of foreign laws the native industry of the Union. While the tariff of +the last session of Congress was a subject of legislative deliberation +it was foretold by some of its opposers that one of its necessary +consequences would be to impair the revenue. It is yet too soon to +pronounce with confidence that this prediction was erroneous. The +obstruction of one avenue of trade not unfrequently opens an issue to +another. The consequence of the tariff will be to increase the +exportation and to diminish the importation of some specific articles; +but by the general law of trade the increase of exportation of one +article will be followed by an increased importation of others, the +duties upon which will supply the deficiencies which the diminished +importation would otherwise occasion. The effect of taxation upon +revenue can seldom be foreseen with certainty. It must abide the test of +experience. As yet no symptom? of diminution are perceptible in the +receipts of the Treasury. As yet little addition of cost has even been +experienced upon the articles burdened with heavier duties by the last +tariff. The domestic manufacturer supplies the same or a kindred article +at a diminished price, and the consumer pays the same tribute to the +labor of his own countryman which he must otherwise have paid to foreign +industry and toil. + +The tariff of the last session was in its details not acceptable to the +great interests of any portion of the Union, not even to the interest +which it was specially intended to subserve. Its object was to balance +the burdens upon native industry imposed by the operation of foreign +laws, but not to aggravate the burdens of one section of the Union by +the relief afforded to another. To the great principle sanctioned by +that act--one of those upon which the Constitution itself was formed--I +hope and trust the authorities of the Union will adhere. But if any of +the duties imposed by the act only relieve the manufacturer by +aggravating the burden of the planter, let a careful revisal of its +provisions, enlightened by the practical experience of its effects, be +directed to retain those which impart protection to native industry and +remove or supply the place of those which only alleviate one great +national interest by the depression of another. + +The United States of America and the people of every State of which they +are composed are each of them sovereign powers. The legislative +authority of the whole is exercised by Congress under authority granted +them in the common Constitution. The legislative power of each State is +exercised by assemblies deriving their authority from the constitution +of the State. Each is sovereign within its own province. The +distribution of power between them presupposes that these authorities +will move in harmony with each other. The members of the State and +General Governments are all under oath to support both, and allegiance +is due to the one and to the other. The case of a conflict between these +two powers has not been supposed, nor has any provision been made for it +in our institutions; as a virtuous nation of ancient times existed more +than five centuries without a law for the punishment of parricide. + +More than once, however, in the progress of our history have the people +and the legislatures of one or more States, in moments of excitement, +been instigated to this conflict; and the means of effecting this +impulse have been allegations that the acts of Congress to be resisted +were _unconstitutional_. The people of no one State have ever delegated +to their legislature the power of pronouncing an act of Congress +unconstitutional, but they have delegated to them powers by the exercise +of which the execution of the laws of Congress within the State may be +resisted. If we suppose the case of such conflicting legislation +sustained by the corresponding executive and judicial authorities, +patriotism and philanthropy turn their eyes from the condition in which +the parties would be placed, and from that of the people of both, which +must be its victims. + +The reports from the Secretary of War and the various subordinate +offices of the resort of that Department present an exposition of the +public administration of affairs connected with them through the course +of the current year. The present state of the Army and the distribution +of the force of which it is composed will be seen from the report of the +Major-General. Several alterations in the disposal of the troops have +been found expedient in the course of the year, and the discipline of +the Army, though not entirely free from exception, has been generally +good. + +The attention of Congress is particularly invited to that part of the +report of the Secretary of War which concerns the existing system of our +relations with the Indian tribes. At the establishment of the Federal +Government under the present Constitution of the United States the +principle was adopted of considering them as foreign and independent +powers and also as proprietors of lands. They were, moreover, considered +as savages, whom it was our policy and our duty to use our influence in +converting to Christianity and in bringing within the pale of +civilization. + +As independent powers, we negotiated with them by treaties; as +proprietors, we purchased of them all the lands which we could prevail +upon them to sell; as brethren of the human race, rude and ignorant, we +endeavored to bring them to the knowledge of religion and of letters. +The ultimate design was to incorporate in our own institutions that +portion of them which could be converted to the state of civilization. +In the practice of European States, before our Revolution, they had been +considered _as children_ to be governed; as tenants at discretion, to be +dispossessed as occasion might require; as hunters to be indemnified by +trifling concessions for removal from the grounds from which their game +was extirpated. In changing the system it would seem as if a full +contemplation of the consequences of the change had not been taken. We +have been far more successful in the acquisition of their lands than in +imparting to them the principles or inspiring them with the spirit of +civilization. But in appropriating to ourselves their hunting grounds we +have brought upon ourselves the obligation of providing them with +subsistence; and when we have had the rare good fortune of teaching them +the arts of civilization and the doctrines of Christianity we have +unexpectedly found them forming in the midst of ourselves communities +claiming to be independent of ours and rivals of sovereignty within the +territories of the members of our Union. This state of things requires +that a remedy should be provided--a remedy which, while it shall do +justice to those unfortunate children of nature, may secure to the +members of our confederation their rights of sovereignty and of soil. As +the outline of a project to that effect, the views presented in the +report of the Secretary of War are recommended to the consideration of +Congress. + +The report from the Engineer Department presents a comprehensive view of +the progress which has been made in the great systems promotive of the +public interest, commenced and organized under authority of Congress, +and the effects of which have already contributed to the security, as +they will hereafter largely contribute to the honor and dignity, of the +nation. + +The first of these great systems is that of fortifications, commenced +immediately after the close of our last war, under the salutary +experience which the events of that war had impressed upon our +countrymen of its necessity. Introduced under the auspices of my +immediate predecessor, it has been continued with the persevering and +liberal encouragement of the Legislature, and, combined with +corresponding exertions for the gradual increase and improvement of the +Navy, prepares for our extensive country a condition of defense adapted +to any critical emergency which the varying course of events may bring +forth. Our advances in these concerted systems have for the last ten +years been steady and progressive, and in a few years more will be so +completed as to leave no cause for apprehension that our seacoast will +ever again offer a theater of hostile invasion. + +The next of these cardinal measures of policy is the preliminary to +great and lasting works of public improvement in the surveys of roads, +examination for the course of canals, and labors for the removal of the +obstructions of rivers and harbors, first commenced by the act of +Congress of 30th of April, 1824. + +The report exhibits in one table the funds appropriated at the last and +preceding sessions of Congress for all these fortifications, surveys, +and works of public improvement, the manner in which these funds have +been applied, the amount expended upon the several works under +construction, and the further sums which may be necessary to complete +them; in a second, the works projected by the Board of Engineers which +have not been commenced, and the estimate of their cost; in a third, the +report of the annual Board of Visitors at the Military Academy at West +Point. + +For thirteen fortifications erecting on various points of our Atlantic +coast, from Rhode Island to Louisiana, the aggregate expenditure of the +year has fallen little short of $1,000,000. For the preparation of five +additional reports of reconnaissances and surveys since the last session +of Congress, for the civil constructions upon thirty-seven different +public works commenced, eight others for which specific appropriations +have been made by acts of Congress, and twenty other incipient surveys +under the authority given by the act of 30th April, 1824, about one +million more of dollars has been drawn from the Treasury. + +To these $2,000,000 is to be added the appropriation of $250,000 to +commence the erection of a breakwater near the mouth of the Delaware +River, the subscriptions to the Delaware and Chesapeake, the Louisville +and Portland, the Dismal Swamp, and the Chesapeake and Ohio canals, the +large donations of lands to the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and +Alabama for objects of improvements within those States, and the sums +appropriated for light-houses, buoys, and piers on the coast; and a full +view will be taken of the munificence of the nation in the application +of its resources to the improvement of its own condition. + +Of these great national undertakings the Academy at West Point is among +the most important in itself and the most comprehensive in its +consequences. In that institution a part of the revenue of the nation is +applied to defray the expense of educating a competent portion of her +youth chiefly to the knowledge and the duties of military life. It is +the living armory of the nation. While the other works of improvement +enumerated in the reports now presented to the attention of Congress are +destined to ameliorate the face of nature, to multiply the facilities of +communication between the different parts of the Union, to assist the +labors, increase the comforts, and enhance the enjoyments of +individuals, the instruction acquired at West Point enlarges the +dominion and expands the capacities of the mind. Its beneficial results +are already experienced in the composition of the Army, and their +influence is felt in the intellectual progress of society. The +institution is susceptible still of great improvement from benefactions +proposed by several successive Boards of Visitors, to whose earnest and +repeated recommendations I cheerfully add my own. + +With the usual annual reports from the Secretary of the Navy and the +Board of Commissioners will be exhibited to the view of Congress the +execution of the laws relating to that department of the public service. +The repression of piracy in the West Indian and in the Grecian seas has +been effectually maintained, with scarcely any exception. During the war +between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of Brazil frequent +collisions between the belligerent acts of power and the rights of +neutral commerce occurred. Licentious blockades, irregularly enlisted or +impressed seamen, and the property of honest commerce seized with +violence, and even plundered under legal pretenses, are disorders never +separable from the conflicts of war upon the ocean. With a portion of +them the correspondence of our commanders on the eastern aspect of the +South American coast and among the islands of Greece discover how far we +have been involved. In these the honor of our country and the rights of +our citizens have been asserted and vindicated. The appearance of new +squadrons in the Mediterranean and the blockade of the Dardanelles +indicate the danger of other obstacles to the freedom of commerce and +the necessity of keeping our naval force in those seas. To the +suggestions repeated in the report of the Secretary of the Navy, and +tending to the permanent improvement of this institution, I invite the +favorable consideration of Congress. + +A resolution of the House of Representatives requesting that one of our +small public vessels should be sent to the Pacific Ocean and South Sea +to examine the coasts, islands, harbors, shoals, and reefs in those +seas, and to ascertain their true situation and description, has been +put in a train of execution. The vessel is nearly ready to depart. The +successful accomplishment of the expedition may be greatly facilitated +by suitable legislative provisions, and particularly by an appropriation +to defray its necessary expense. The addition of a second, and perhaps a +third, vessel, with a slight aggravation of the cost, would contribute +much to the safety of the citizens embarked on this undertaking, the +results of which may be of the deepest interest to our country. + +With the report of the Secretary of the Navy will be submitted, in +conformity to the act of Congress of 3d March, 1827, for the gradual +improvement of the Navy of the United States, statements of the +expenditures under that act and of the measures taken for carrying the +same into effect. Every section of that statute contains a distinct +provision looking to the great object of the whole--the gradual +improvement of the Navy. Under its salutary sanction stores of ship +timber have been procured and are in process of seasoning and +preservation for the future uses of the Navy. Arrangements have been +made for the preservation of the live-oak timber growing on the lands of +the United States, and for its reproduction, to supply at future and +distant days the waste of that most valuable material for shipbuilding +by the great consumption of it yearly for the commercial as well as for +the military marine of our country. The construction of the two dry +docks at Charlestown and at Norfolk is making satisfactory progress +toward a durable establishment. The examinations and inquiries to +ascertain the practicability and expediency of a marine railway at +Pensacola, though not yet accomplished, have been postponed but to be +more effectually made. The navy-yards of the United States have been +examined, and plans for their improvement and the preservation of the +public property therein at Portsmouth, Charlestown, Philadelphia, +Washington, and Gosport, and to which two others are to be added, have +been prepared and received my sanction; and no other portion of my +public duties has been performed with a more intimate conviction of its +importance to the future welfare and security of the Union. + +With the report from the Postmaster-General is exhibited a comparative +view of the gradual increase of that establishment, from five to five +years, since 1792 till this time in the number of post-offices, which +has grown from less than 200 to nearly 8,000; in the revenue yielded by +them, which from $67,000 has swollen to upward of a million and a half, +and in the number of miles of post-roads, which from 5,642 have +multiplied to 114,536. While in the same period of time the population +of the Union has about thrice doubled, the rate of increase of these +offices is nearly 40, and of the revenue and of traveled miles from 20 +to 25 for 1. The increase of revenue within the last five years has been +nearly equal to the whole revenue of the Department in 1812. + +The expenditures of the Department during the year which ended on the +1st of July last have exceeded the receipts by a sum of about $25,000. +The excess has been occasioned by the increase of mail conveyances and +facilities to the extent of near 800,000 miles. It has been supplied by +collections from the postmasters of the arrearages of preceding years. +While the correct principle seems to be that the income levied by the +Department should defray all its expenses, it has never been the policy +of this Government to raise from this establishment any revenue to be +applied to any other purposes. The suggestion of the Postmaster-General +that the insurance of the safe transmission of moneys by the mail might +be assumed by the Department for a moderate and competent remuneration +will deserve the consideration of Congress. + +A report from the commissioner of the public buildings in this city +exhibits the expenditures upon them in the course of the current year. +It will be seen that the humane and benevolent intentions of Congress in +providing, by the act of 20th May, 1826, for the erection of a +penitentiary in this district have been accomplished. The authority of +further legislation is now required for the removal to this tenement of +the offenders against the laws sentenced to atone by personal +confinement for their crimes, and to provide a code for their employment +and government while thus confined. + +The commissioners appointed, conformably to the act of 2d March, 1827, +to provide for the adjustment of claims of persons entitled to +indemnification under the first article of the treaty of Ghent, and for +the distribution among such claimants of the sum paid by the Government +of Great Britain under the convention of 13th of November, 1826, closed +their labors on the 30th of August last by awarding to the claimants the +sum of $1,197,422.18, leaving a balance of $7,537.82, which was +distributed ratably amongst all the claimants to whom awards had been +made, according to the directions of the act. + +The exhibits appended to the report from the Commissioner of the General +Land Office present the actual condition of that common property of the +Union. The amount paid into the Treasury from the proceeds of lands +during the year 1827 and the first half of 1828 falls little short of +$2,000,000. The propriety of further extending the time for the +extinguishment of the debt due to the United States by the purchasers of +the public lands, limited by the act of 21st March last to the 4th of +July next, will claim the consideration of Congress, to whose vigilance +and careful attention the regulation, disposal, and preservation of this +great national inheritance has by the people of the United States been +intrusted. + +Among the important subjects to which the attention of the present +Congress has already been invited, and which may occupy their further +and deliberate discussion, will be the provision to be made for taking +the fifth census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States. +The Constitution of the United States requires that this enumeration +should be made within every term of ten years, and the date from which +the last enumeration commenced was the first Monday of August of the +year 1820. The laws under which the former enumerations were taken were +enacted at the session of Congress immediately preceding the operation; +but considerable inconveniences were experienced from the delay of +legislation to so late a period. That law, like those of the preceding +enumerations, directed that the census should be taken by the marshals +of the several districts and Territories of the Union under instructions +from the Secretary of State. The preparation and transmission to the +marshals of those instructions required more time than was then allowed +between the passage of the law and the day when the enumeration was to +commence. The term of six months limited for the returns of the marshals +was also found even then too short, and must be more so now, when an +additional population of at least 3,000,000 must be presented upon the +returns. As they are to be made at the short session of Congress, it +would, as well as from other considerations, be more convenient to +commence the enumeration from an earlier period of the year than the 1st +of August. The most favorable season would be the spring. On a review of +the former enumerations it will be found that the plan for taking every +census has contained many improvements upon that of its predecessor. The +last is still susceptible of much improvement. The Third Census was the +first at which any account was taken of the manufactures of the country. +It was repeated at the last enumeration, but the returns in both cases +were necessarily very imperfect. They must always be so, resting, of +course, only upon the communications voluntarily made by individuals +interested in some of the manufacturing establishments. Yet they +contained much valuable information, and may by some supplementary +provision of the law be rendered more effective. The columns of age, +commencing from infancy, have hitherto been confined to a few periods, +all under the number of 45 years. Important knowledge would be obtained +by extending these columns, in intervals of ten years, to the utmost +boundaries of human life. The labor of taking them would be a trifling +addition to that already prescribed, and the result would exhibit +comparative tables of longevity highly interesting to the country. I +deem it my duty further to observe that much of the imperfections in the +returns of the last and perhaps of preceding enumerations proceeded from +the inadequateness of the compensations allowed to the marshals and +their assistants in taking them. + +In closing this communication it only remains for me to assure the +Legislature of my continued earnest wish for the adoption of measures +recommended by me heretofore and yet to be acted on by them, and of the +cordial concurrence on my part in every constitutional provision which +may receive their sanction during the session tending to the general +welfare. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGES. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +2d of April last, I transmit a copy of the letter from the Cherokee +Council to Colonel Hugh Montgomery, the agent, requested by the +resolution, with a report[018] from the Secretary of War. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +23d of May last, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with +documents, containing the information requested, relating to the +harbors, roads, and other works of internal improvements undertaken and +projected since the 30th April, 1824. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I communicate to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its +ratification, a treaty made and concluded at the missionary +establishment upon the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan the 20th day of +September last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners of +the United States, and the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, the journal and +report of the commissioners accompanying the treaty. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 8, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of War, with +documents, prepared in compliance with their resolution of the 26th of +May last, concerning the practicability and probable cost of +constructing an artificial harbor, commonly called a "breakwater," at or +near the mouth of the Mississippi. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 9, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +The inclosed report from the Secretary of State and subjoined documents +are transmitted to the Senate in compliance with their resolution of +25th April last, requesting information concerning the number of free +taxable inhabitants _who are not freeholders_ in certain States and +Territories of the Union. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 15, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the +8th instant, referring to a negotiation of the British Government, by +virtue of a resolution of the House of the 10th of May last, relative to +the surrender of fugitive slaves, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of State, with copies of instructions and correspondence, +containing the desired information. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 15, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional advice, an additional +article, signed on the 4th day of June last, to the convention of +friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States and the +Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg concluded at this +place on the 20th December, 1827. A copy of the article is likewise +inclosed. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 16, 1828_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate, for their advice, articles of agreement +concluded at Green Bay, in the Territory of Michigan, on the 20th of +August last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners on the +part of the United States, and the chiefs of the Winnebago tribe and of +the united tribes of the Potawatamies, Chippewas, and Ottawas, being a +temporary arrangement concerning the occupation of a certain portion of +the mining country which has not heretofore been ceded to the United +States. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_December 22, 1828_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary +of War, with documents, reported in compliance with the resolution of +the House of the 10th instant, requesting a copy of the instructions +given for the government of the agent of the United States +superintendent of the lead mines in Missouri and Illinois. + +Also a report from the Secretary of War, in compliance with the +resolution of the House of the 15th instant, setting forth the reasons +upon which it has not been deemed expedient to nominate commissioners to +hold a treaty with the Choctaw Nation of Indians for the purchase of a +certain tract of land, as authorized by the act of Congress of the 24th +of May last. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 1, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +18th ultimo, I communicate to the House a report from the Secretary of +War, containing the information required in relation to the intended +frauds upon the revenue, which has rendered expedient the stationing +additional troops on the Niagara frontier. The other evidence embraced +by the resolution, and in possession of the Government, does not, in my +judgment, at present render any further employment of a regular armed +force for the enforcement of the revenue laws necessary. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 7, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +19th May last, requesting a copy of the correspondence between the +minister of the United States at the Court of Madrid and the Government +of Spain on the subject of claims of citizens of the United States +against the said Government, I transmit herewith a report from the +Secretary of State, with the correspondence desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 14, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate a report from the Secretary of State, +with supplemental returns of free taxable inhabitants not freeholders in +certain States and Territories of the United States, which returns have +been received since my message to the Senate of the 9th December last. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 17, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +13th instant, I transmit herewith a report[019] from the Secretary of +War, with an application from the Creek Indians, through the agent of +the United States, and an opinion of counsel in behalf of the Indians, +having relation to the subject of the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 21, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with two resolutions of the House of Representatives of +the 5th instant, requesting information received not heretofore +communicated in relation to the arrest and trial in the British Province +of New Brunswick of John Baker, a citizen of the United States, and the +correspondence between the Government of the United States and that of +Great Britain in relation to the said arrest and to the usurpation of +jurisdiction by the British government of New Brunswick within the +limits of the State of Maine, I transmit a report from the Secretary of +State, with the information and correspondence requested by the House. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 21, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of two treaties with Indian tribes, which +have been ratified: + +1. Articles of agreement between the United States of America and the +Winnebago tribe and the united tribes of Potawatamie, Chippeways; and +Ottawa Indians, concluded at Green Bay 25th August, 1828. + +2. Treaty between the United States of America and the Potawatamie tribe +of Indians, concluded at the missionary establishment upon the St. +Joseph of Lake Michigan 20th September, 1828. + +Both by Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners on the part of the +United States, with certain chiefs and warriors of the respective +tribes. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 26, 1829_ + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +17th instant, requesting copies of the instructions to the commissioners +of the United States who made the treaty at the Indian Springs in 1821, +I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of War of the 22d +instant, with copies of those instructions. + +And in compliance with a resolution of the House of the 20th instant, +requesting a communication of the journal of the above-mentioned +commissioners, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War of the 24th +instant, with copies of the papers, which it is believed will supply the +information desired by the resolution, no regular journal having been +transmitted by the commissioners to the Department. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 26, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with +voluminous documents prepared and collected in compliance with a +resolution of the House of Representatives of the 13th January, 1825, +calling for a statement of convictions, executions, and pardons for +capital offenses under the authority of the Government of the United +States since the adoption of the Constitution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 26, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of a convention of friendship, commerce, +and navigation between the United States and the free Hanseatic +Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, the ratifications of which +were exchanged at this place on the 2d day of June last; and also of an +additional article to the same convention, signed on the 4th day of June +last, and the ratifications of which were exchanged at this city on the +14th of the present month. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29, 1829_ + + +_The President of the Senate of the United States_ + +Sir: + +I transmit herewith a letter which I have received from Mr. David, +member of the Institute of France, professor of the School of Painting +at Paris, and member of the Legion of Honor, the artist who presents to +Congress the bust of General Lafayette which has been received with it; +and I have to request the favor that after it has been communicated to +the Senate it may be transmitted to the Speaker of the House of +Representatives for similar communication to that body. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 29, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I nominate Stephen Clin, of Georgia, to be secretary of the legation of +the United States at the Court of Great Britain. + +Jesse H. Willis, of Florida, to be collector of the customs for the +recently established district of St. Marks and inspector of the revenue +for the port of Magnolia, in Florida. + +And I nominate for reappointment Callender Irvine, of Pennsylvania, to +be Commissary-General of Purchases. It is proper to apprise the Senate +that this office is one of those which by the act of Congress of 15th +May, 1820, is limited to the term of four years; that it was held by Mr. +Irvine at the time of the passage of that act, but that by some +inadvertence he has not hitherto been nominated for reappointment. The +fact having but just now been ascertained by me, I deem it my duty to +make the nomination. Mr. Irvine has hitherto performed the duties of the +office under his original appointment. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_January 30, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +13th instant, requesting information of the measures taken in execution +of the act of 9th May last, making an appropriation for carrying into +effect the articles of agreement and cession of 24th April, 1802, +between the State of Georgia and the United States, and also in +execution of certain provisions of the treaty of May last with the +Cherokee Indians, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of +War, with documents, comprising the desired information. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 2, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th ultimo, +requesting information received since the last session of Congress from +the Mexican Government respecting the recovery of debts in that country +due to American citizens, I transmit a report from the Secretary of +State, with copies of a letter of instructions to the minister of the +United States in Mexico, and of his answer, relating to the subject of +the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 6, 1829_ + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 9th of December +last, requesting a detailed statement of the amount expended by the +Federal Government upon works of internal improvement within the limits +of the several States, with an estimate of the amount necessary to +complete any work begun and not yet completed, I transmit herewith +reports from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, with documents, +containing the information desired by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 6, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +4th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, +with that of the commissioner appointed to locate the national road from +Zanesville, in Ohio, to the seat of government of the State of Missouri. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 11, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By the act of Congress of the 23d of May last, "supplementary to the +several acts providing for the settlement and confirmation of private +land claims in Florida," provision was made for the final adjudication +of such claims by the judges of the superior courts of the districts +wherein the lands claimed respectively lie, and by appeal from them to +the Supreme Court of the United States; and the attorneys of the United +States in the several districts were charged with the duty, in every +case where the decision should be against the United States by the judge +of the superior court of the district, to make out and transmit to the +Attorney-General of the United States a statement containing the facts +of the case and the points of law on which the same was decided, and it +was made the duty of the Attorney-General in most of those cases to +direct an appeal to be made to the Supreme Court of the United States +and to appear for the United States and prosecute such appeals. By the +same act the President of the United States was authorized to appoint a +law agent to superintend the interests of the United States in the +premises, and to employ assistant counsel if in his opinion the public +interest should require the same. + +In the process of carrying into execution this law it was the opinion of +the Attorney-General of the United States that a translated complete +collection of all the Spanish and French ordinances, etc., affecting the +land titles in Florida and the other territories heretofore belonging to +France and Spain, would be indispensable to a just decision of those +claims by the Supreme Court. At his suggestion the task of preparing +this compilation was undertaken by Joseph M. White, of Florida, who was +employed as assistant counsel in behalf of the United States. The +collection has accordingly been made and is deposited in manuscript at +the Department of State, subject to such order as Congress may see fit +to take concerning it. The letter from Mr. White to the Secretary of +State, with a descriptive list of the documents collected and thus +deposited, is herewith transmitted to Congress. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 16, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 5th instant, +requesting detailed statements of the expenses incurred and of those +which may be necessary for the expedition proposed for exploring the +Pacific Ocean and South Seas, and also of the several amounts +transferred from the different heads of appropriation for the support of +the Navy to this object and the authority by which such transfers have +been made, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, +with documents, from which the Senate will perceive that no such +transfer has been made, and which contain the other information desired +by the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 20, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 10th instant, +requesting copies of correspondence and communications from 20th +October, 1816, to 24th November, 1817, received at the Department of +State from the American commissioner under the fourth article of the +treaty of Ghent, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of +State, with the copies of papers mentioned in the resolution. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 20, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, +with documents, prepared in pursuance of their resolution of the 31st of +December last, and showing the amount of expenses incurred in the +survey, sale, and management of the public lands for the year 1827. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 25,1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +By the act of Congress of the 3d March, 1826, for the survey of a route +for a canal between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, the President +of the United States was authorized to cause to be made an accurate and +minute examination of the country south of the St. Marys River, and +including the same, with a view to ascertain the most eligible route for +a canal admitting the transit of boats to connect the Atlantic with the +Gulf of Mexico, and also with a view to ascertain the practicability of +a ship channel; that he cause particularly to be examined the route to +the Appalachicola River or Bay, with a view to both the above objects; +that he cause the necessary surveys, both by land and along the coast, +with estimates of the expense of each, accompanied with proper plans, +notes, observations, explanations, and opinions of the Board of +Engineers, and that he cause a full report of these proceedings to be +made to Congress. + +In execution of this law I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary +of War, with a copy of that of the Board of Engineers, upon this great +and most desirable national work. The time not having allowed a copy to +be taken of the map, one copy only of the whole report is transmitted to +the Senate, with the request that it may be communicated to the House of +Representatives, and that the map may be ultimately returned to the +Department of War. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 26, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th instant, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with the +inspection reports of Brevet Major-General Gaines for the years 1826 and +1827, relating to the organization of the Army and militia of the United +States, with the request that the original documents may be returned to +the Department of War at the convenience of the Senate. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 26,1829_. + + +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their constitutional advice with +regard to its ratification, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation +between the United States and His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, signed +by the plenipotentiaries of the respective Governments at Rio de Janeiro +on the 12th day of December last. A copy of the treaty is likewise +inclosed, with copies of the instructions under which it was negotiated +and a letter from Mr. Tudor elucidating some of its provisions. It is +requested that at the convenience of the Senate the original papers may +be returned to the Department of State. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 28, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit to Congress copies of two Indian treaties, which have duly +ratified: + +1. A treaty with the Chippewa, Menominie, and Winnebago Indians, +concluded on the 11th of August, 1827, at the Butte des Morts, on Fox +River, in the Territory of Michigan, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. +McKenney, commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain +chiefs and warriors of the said tribes on their part. + +2. A treaty with the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, concluded the 19th of +September, 1827, at St. Joseph, in the Territory of Michigan, between +Lewis Cass, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the +chiefs and warriors of the said tribes, on their part. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_February 28, 1829_. + + +_To the House of Representatives of the United States_: + +In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the +21st instant, requesting any information in my possession as to the +practical operation of the recent act of the British Parliament entitled +"The customs amendment act," purporting a discrimination of duties upon +the importation of cotton from the British North American colonies and +showing how far this discrimination may affect existing treaties, I +transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of +the instructions and correspondence of the minister of the United States +at London, containing the information requested. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + +Washington, +_March 3, 1829_. + + +_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: + +I transmit herewith to Congress a copy of the instructions prepared by +the Secretary of State and furnished to the ministers of the United +States appointed to attend at the assembly of American plenipotentiaries +first held at Panama and thence transferred to Tacubaya. The occasion +upon which they were given has passed away, and there is no present +probability of the renewal of the negotiations; but the purposes for +which they were intended are still of the deepest interest to our +country and to the world, and may hereafter call again for the active +efforts and beneficent energies of the Government of the United States. +The motives for withholding them from general publication having ceased, +justice to the Government from which they emanated and to the people for +whose benefit it was instituted requires that they should be made known. +With this view, and from the consideration that the subjects embraced by +these instructions must probably engage hereafter the deliberations of +our successors, I deem it proper to make this communication to both +Houses of Congress. One copy only of the instructions being prepared, I +send it to the Senate, requesting that it may be transmitted to the +House of Representatives. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + + * * * * * + + +PROCLAMATION. + + +(From Senate Journal, Twentieth Congress, second session, p. 196.) + + +Washington, +_January 12, 1829_ + + +_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 Wednesday, 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. + +John Quincy Adams. + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + + +[Footnote 001: See Vol. I, pp. 352 to 354, inclusive.] + + +[Footnote 002: Relating to the proposed congress at Panama.] + + +[Footnote 003: Relating to land warrants issued to soldiers of the +Revolutionary war, etc.] + + +[Footnote 004: Relating to intervention of the Emperor of Russia with +Spain for a recognition of the independence of the South American +States.] + + +[Footnote 005: Relating to the proposed congress of the Spanish American +States.] + + +[Footnote 006: Relative to governments to be represented at the congress +at Panama.] + + +[Footnote 007 and 007a: Respecting the right of a foreign minister to +retain money advanced by the President as an outfit beyond the sum +appropriated by law.] + + +[Footnote 008: Relating to the negotiations with Great Britain for a +cession of certain keys on the Bahama Banks.] + + +[Footnote 009: Referred to in the protocol of the third conference of +the American and British plenipotentiaries on February 5, 1824, relating +to trade with Great Britain.] + + +[Footnote 010: Concerning the assembly of American ministers at +Tacubaya, Mexico] + + +[Footnote: 011 Relating to the conflicting claims of Georgia and the +Creek Indians to lands in Georgia.] + + +[Footnote 012: Relating to the conflicting claims of Georgia and the +Creek Indians to lands in Georgia.] + + +[Footnote 013: Relating to the northeastern boundary of the United +States.] + + +[Footnote 014: Relating to the detention of American vessels by the +naval forces of Brazil.] + + +[Footnote 015: Relating to the war between Spain and her colonies.] + + +[Footnote 016: By the authorities of the Province of New Brunswick.] + + +[Footnote 017: Relating to alleged blockade by the naval forces of +Brazil, imprisonment of American citizens by Brazil, etc.] + + +[Footnote 018: Relating to a survey for a canal through the Cherokee +country.] + + +[Footnote 019: Relating to claims of Georgia and the Creek Indians under +the treaty of 1821, held at Indian Springs.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Compilation of Messages and Letters +of the Presidents, by Editor: James D. 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