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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> + Â <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> + Â 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 EBOOK 10879 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |