Title: A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - Volume 2, part 2: John Quincy Adams
Author: Richardson, James D. (James Daniel), 1843-1914 [Editor]
Language: English
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JOHN QUINCY ADAMS


John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States, eldest son of
John Adams, second President, was born at Braintree, Mass., July 11,
1767. He enjoyed peculiar and rare advantages for education. In
childhood he was instructed by his mother, a granddaughter of Colonel
John Quincy, and a woman of superior talents. In 1778, when only 11
years old, he accompanied his father to France; attended a school in
Paris, and returned home in August, 1779. Having been taken again to
Europe by his father in 1780, he pursued his studies at the University
of Leyden, where he learned Latin and Greek. In July, 1781, at the age
of 14, he was appointed private secretary to Francis Dana, minister to
Russia. He remained at St. Petersburg until October, 1782, after which
he resumed his studies at The Hague. Was present at the signing of the
definitive treaty of peace in Paris, September 3, 1783. He passed some
months with his father in London, and returned to the United States to
complete his education, entering Harvard College in 1786 and graduating
in 1788. He studied law with the celebrated Theophilus Parsons, of
Newburyport; was admitted to the bar in 1791, and began to practice in
Boston. In 1791 he published in the Boston Centinel, under the signature
of "Publicola," a series of able essays, in which he exposed the
fallacies and vagaries of the French political reformers. These papers
attracted much attention in Europe and the United States. Under the
signature of "Marcellus" he wrote, in 1793, several articles, in which
he argued that the United States should observe strict neutrality in the
war between the French and the British. These writings commended him to
the favor of Washington, and he was appointed minister to Holland in
May, 1794. In July, 1797, he married Louisa Catherine Johnson, a
daughter of Joshua Johnson, of Maryland, who was then American consul at
London. In a letter dated February 20, 1797, Washington commended him
highly to the elder Adams, and advised the President elect not to
withhold promotion from him because he was his son. He was accordingly
appointed minister to Berlin in 1797. He negotiated a treaty of amity
and commerce with the Prussian Government, and was recalled about
February, 1801. He was elected a Senator of the United States by the
Federalists of Massachusetts for the term beginning March, 1803. In 1805
he was appointed professor of rhetoric and belles-lettres at Harvard
College, and accepted on condition that he should be permitted to attend
to his Senatorial duties. He offended the Federalists by supporting
Jefferson's embargo act, which was passed in December, 1807, and thus
became connected with the Democratic party. He resigned his seat in the
Senate in March, 1808, declining to serve for the remainder of the term
rather than obey the instructions of the Federalists. In March, 1809, he
was appointed by President Madison minister to Russia. During his
residence in that country he was nominated to be an associate justice of
the Supreme Court of the United States, and confirmed February, 1811;
but he declined the appointment. In 1813 Adams, Bayard, Clay, Russell,
and Gallatin were appointed commissioners to negotiate a treaty of peace
with Great Britain. They met the British diplomatists at Ghent, and
after a protracted negotiation of six months signed a treaty of peace
December 24, 1814. In the spring of 1815 he was appointed minister to
the Court of St. James, remaining there until he was appointed by Mr.
Monroe Secretary of State in 1817. In 1824 Adams, Jackson, Crawford, and
Clay were candidates for the Presidency. Neither of the candidates
having received a majority in the electoral colleges, the election
devolved on the House of Representatives. Aided by the influence of
Henry Clay, Mr. Adams received the votes of thirteen States, and was
elected. He was defeated for reelection in 1828 by General Andrew
Jackson. On the 4th of March, 1829, he retired to his estate at Quincy.
In 1830 he was elected to Congress, and took his seat in December, 1831.
He continued to represent his native district for seventeen years,
during which time he was constantly at his post. On the 21st of
February, 1848, while in his seat at the Capitol, he was stricken with
paralysis, and died on the 23d of that month. He was buried at Quincy,
Mass.



NOTIFICATION OF ELECTION.


Mr. Webster, from the committee appointed for that purpose yesterday,
reported that the committee had waited on John Quincy Adams, of
Massachusetts, and had notified him that in the recent election of a
President of the United States, no person having received a majority of
the votes of all the electors appointed, and the choice having
consequently devolved upon the House of Representatives, that House,
proceeding in the manner prescribed by the Constitution, did yesterday
choose him to be President of the United States for four years,
commencing on the 4th day of March next, and that the committee had
received a written answer, which he presented to the House. Mr. Webster
also reported that in further performance of its duty the committee had
given the information of this election to the President.

February 10, 1825.



Reply of the President Elect.


Washington,
_February 10, 1825_.


Gentlemen:

In receiving this testimonial from the Representatives of the people and
States of this Union I am deeply sensible to the circumstances under
which it has been given. All my predecessors in the high station to
which the favor of the House now calls me have been honored with
majorities of the electoral voices in their primary colleges. It has
been my fortune to be placed by the divisions of sentiment prevailing
among our countrymen on this occasion in competition, friendly and
honorable, with three of my fellow-citizens, all justly enjoying in
eminent degrees the public favor, and of whose worth, talents, and
services no one entertains a higher and more respectful sense than
myself. The names of two of them were, in the fulfillment of the
provisions of the Constitution, presented to the selection of the House
in concurrence with my own--names closely associated with the glory of
the nation, and one of them further recommended by a larger minority of
the primary electoral suffrages than mine.

In this state of things, could my refusal to accept the trust thus
delegated to me give an immediate opportunity to the people to form and
to express with a nearer approach to unanimity the object of their
preference, I should not hesitate to decline the acceptance of this
eminent charge and to submit the decision of this momentous question
again to their determination. But the Constitution itself has not so
disposed of the contingency which would arise in the event of my
refusal. I shall therefore repair to the post assigned me by the call of
my country, signified through her constitutional organs, oppressed with
the magnitude of the task before me, but cheered with the hope of that
generous support from my fellow-citizens which, in the vicissitudes of a
life devoted to their service, has never failed to sustain me, confident
in the trust that the wisdom of the legislative councils will guide and
direct me in the path of my official duty, and relying above all upon
the superintending providence of that Being in whose hands our breath is
and whose are all our ways.

Gentlemen, I pray you to make acceptable to the House the assurance of
my profound gratitude for their confidence, and to accept yourselves my
thanks for the friendly terms in which you have communicated to me their
decision.

John Quincy Adams.



Letter from the President Elect.


City of Washington,
_March 1, 1825_


The President of the Senate of the United States.



Sir:

I ask the favor of you to inform the honorable Senate of the United
States that I propose to take the oath prescribed by the Constitution to
the President of the United States before he enters on the execution of
his office, on Friday, the 4th instant, at 12 o'clock, in the Hall of
the House of Representatives.

I have the honor to be, with the highest respect, sir, your very humble
and obedient servant,

John Quincy Adams.



INAUGURAL ADDRESS.


In compliance with an usage coeval with the existence of our Federal
Constitution, and sanctioned by the example of my predecessors in the
career upon which I am about to enter, I appear, my fellow-citizens, in
your presence and in that of Heaven to bind myself by the solemnities of
religious obligation to the faithful performance of the duties allotted
to me in the station to which I have been called.

In unfolding to my countrymen the principles by which I shall be
governed in the fulfillment of those duties my first resort will be to
that Constitution which I shall swear to the best of my ability to
preserve, protect, and defend. That revered instrument enumerates the
powers and prescribes the duties of the Executive Magistrate, and in its
first words declares the purposes to which these and the whole action of
the Government instituted by it should be invariably and sacredly
devoted--to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure
domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to the people of
this Union in their successive generations. Since the adoption of this
social compact one of these generations has passed away. It is the work
of our forefathers. Administered by some of the most eminent men who
contributed to its formation, through a most eventful period in the
annals of the world, and through all the vicissitudes of peace and war
incidental to the condition of associated man, it has not disappointed
the hopes and aspirations of those illustrious benefactors of their age
and nation. It has promoted the lasting welfare of that country so dear
to us all; it has to an extent far beyond the ordinary lot of humanity
secured the freedom and happiness of this people. We now receive it as a
precious inheritance from those to whom we are indebted for its
establishment, doubly bound by the examples which they have left us and
by the blessings which we have enjoyed as the fruits of their labors to
transmit the same unimpaired to the succeeding generation.

In the compass of thirty-six years since this great national covenant
was instituted a body of laws enacted under its authority and in
conformity with its provisions has unfolded its powers and carried into
practical operation its effective energies. Subordinate departments have
distributed the executive functions in their various relations to
foreign affairs, to the revenue and expenditures, and to the military
force of the Union by land and sea. A coordinate department of the
judiciary has expounded the Constitution and the laws, settling in
harmonious coincidence with the legislative will numerous weighty
questions of construction which the imperfection of human language had
rendered unavoidable. The year of jubilee since the first formation of
our Union has just elapsed; that of the declaration of our independence
is at hand. The consummation of both was effected by this Constitution.

Since that period a population of four millions has multiplied to
twelve. A territory bounded by the Mississippi has been extended from
sea to sea. New States have been admitted to the Union in numbers nearly
equal to those of the first Confederation. Treaties of peace, amity, and
commerce have been concluded with the principal dominions of the earth.
The people of other nations, inhabitants of regions acquired not by
conquest, but by compact, have been united with us in the participation
of our rights and duties, of our burdens and blessings. The forest has
fallen by the ax of our woodsmen; the soil has been made to teem by the
tillage of our farmers; our commerce has whitened every ocean. The
dominion of man over physical nature has been extended by the invention
of our artists. Liberty and law have marched hand in hand. All the
purposes of human association have been accomplished as effectively as
under any other government on the globe, and at a cost little exceeding
in a whole generation the expenditure of other nations in a single year.

Such is the unexaggerated picture of our condition under a Constitution
founded upon the republican principle of equal rights. To admit that
this picture has its shades is but to say that it is still the condition
of men upon earth. From evil--physical, moral, and political--it is not
our claim to be exempt. We have suffered sometimes by the visitation of
Heaven through disease; often by the wrongs and injustice of other
nations, even to the extremities of war; and, lastly, by dissensions
among ourselves--dissensions perhaps inseparable from the enjoyment of
freedom, but which have more than once appeared to threaten the
dissolution of the Union, and with it the overthrow of all the
enjoyments of our present lot and all our earthly hopes of the future.
The causes of these dissensions have been various, founded upon
differences of speculation in the theory of republican government; upon
conflicting views of policy in our relations with foreign nations; upon
jealousies of partial and sectional interests, aggravated by prejudices
and prepossessions which strangers to each other are ever apt to
entertain.

It is a source of gratification and of encouragement to me to observe
that the great result of this experiment upon the theory of human rights
has at the close of that generation by which it was formed been crowned
with success equal to the most sanguine expectations of its founders.
Union, justice, tranquillity, the common defense, the general welfare,
and the blessings of liberty--all have been promoted by the Government
under which we have lived. Standing at this point of time, looking back
to that generation which has gone by and forward to that which is
advancing, we may at once indulge in grateful exultation and in cheering
hope. From the experience of the past we derive instructive lessons for
the future. Of the two great political parties which have divided the
opinions and feelings of our country, the candid and the just will now
admit that both have contributed splendid talents, spotless integrity,
ardent patriotism, and disinterested sacrifices to the formation and
administration of this Government, and that both have required a liberal
indulgence for a portion of human infirmity and error. The revolutionary
wars of Europe, commencing precisely at the moment when the Government
of the United States first went into operation under this Constitution,
excited a collision of sentiments and of sympathies which kindled all
the passions and imbittered the conflict of parties till the nation was
involved in war and the Union was shaken to its center. This time of
trial embraced a period of five and twenty years, during which the
policy of the Union in its relations with Europe constituted the
principal basis of our political divisions and the most arduous part of
the action of our Federal Government. With the catastrophe in which the
wars of the French Revolution terminated, and our own subsequent peace
with Great Britain, this baneful weed of party strife was uprooted. From
that time no difference of principle, connected either with the theory
of government or with our intercourse with foreign nations, has existed
or been called forth in force sufficient to sustain a continued
combination of parties or to give more than wholesome animation to
public sentiment or legislative debate. Our political creed is, without
a dissenting voice that can be heard, that the will of the people is the
source and the happiness of the people the end of all legitimate
government upon earth; that the best security for the beneficence and
the best guaranty against the abuse of power consists in the freedom,
the purity, and the frequency of popular elections; that the General
Government of the Union and the separate governments of the States are
all sovereignties of limited powers, fellow-servants of the same
masters, uncontrolled within their respective spheres, uncontrollable by
encroachments upon each other; that the firmest security of peace is the
preparation during peace of the defenses of war; that a rigorous economy
and accountability of public expenditures should guard against the
aggravation and alleviate when possible the burden of taxation; that the
military should be kept in strict subordination to the civil power; that
the freedom of the press and of religious opinion should be inviolate;
that the policy of our country is peace and the ark of our salvation
union are articles of faith upon which we are all now agreed. If there
have been those who doubted whether a confederated representative
democracy were a government competent to the wise and orderly management
of the common concerns of a mighty nation, those doubts have been
dispelled; if there have been projects of partial confederacies to be
erected upon the ruins of the Union, they have been scattered to the
winds; if there have been dangerous attachments to one foreign nation
and antipathies against another, they have been extinguished. Ten years
of peace, at home and abroad, have assuaged the animosities of political
contention and blended into harmony the most discordant elements of
public opinion. There still remains one effort of magnanimity, one
sacrifice of prejudice and passion, to be made by the individuals
throughout the nation who have heretofore followed the standards of
political party. It is that of discarding every remnant of rancor
against each other, of embracing as countrymen and friends, and of
yielding to talents and virtue alone that confidence which in times of
contention for principle was bestowed only upon those who bore the badge
of party communion.

The collisions of party spirit which originate in speculative opinions
or in different views of administrative policy are in their nature
transitory. Those which are founded on geographical divisions, adverse
interests of soil, climate, and modes of domestic life are more
permanent, and therefore, perhaps, more dangerous. It is this which
gives inestimable value to the character of our Government, at once
federal and national. It holds out to us a perpetual admonition to
preserve alike and with equal anxiety the rights of each individual
State in its own government and the rights of the whole nation in that
of the Union. Whatsoever is of domestic concernment, unconnected with
the other members of the Union or with foreign lands, belongs
exclusively to the administration of the State governments. Whatsoever
directly involves the rights and interests of the federative fraternity
or of foreign powers is of the resort of this General Government. The
duties of both are obvious in the general principle, though sometimes
perplexed with difficulties in the detail. To respect the rights of the
State governments is the inviolable duty of that of the Union; the
government of every State will feel its own obligation to respect and
preserve the rights of the whole. The prejudices everywhere too commonly
entertained against distant strangers are worn away, and the jealousies
of jarring interests are allayed by the composition and functions of the
great national councils annually assembled from all quarters of the
Union at this place. Here the distinguished men from every section of
our country, while meeting to deliberate upon the great interests of
those by whom they are deputed, learn to estimate the talents and do
justice to the virtues of each other. The harmony of the nation is
promoted and the whole Union is knit together by the sentiments of
mutual respect, the habits of social intercourse, and the ties of
personal friendship formed between the representatives of its several
parts in the performance of their service at this metropolis.

Passing from this general review of the purposes and injunctions of the
Federal Constitution and their results as indicating the first traces of
the path of duty in the discharge of my public trust, I turn to the
administration of my immediate predecessor as the second. It has passed
away in a period of profound peace, how much to the satisfaction of our
country and to the honor of our country's name is known to you all. The
great features of its policy, in general concurrence with the will of
the Legislature, have been to cherish peace while preparing for
defensive war; to yield exact justice to other nations and maintain the
rights of our own; to cherish the principles of freedom and of equal
rights wherever they were proclaimed; to discharge with all possible
promptitude the national debt; to reduce within the narrowest limits of
efficiency the military force; to improve the organization and
discipline of the Army; to provide and sustain a school of military
science; to extend equal protection to all the great interests of the
nation; to promote the civilization of the Indian tribes, and to proceed
in the great system of internal improvements within the limits of the
constitutional power of the Union. Under the pledge of these promises,
made by that eminent citizen at the time of his first induction to this
office, in his career of eight years the internal taxes have been
repealed; sixty millions of the public debt have been discharged;
provision has been made for the comfort and relief of the aged and
indigent among the surviving warriors of the Revolution; the regular
armed force has been reduced and its constitution revised and perfected;
the accountability for the expenditure of public moneys has been made
more effective; the Floridas have been peaceably acquired, and our
boundary has been extended to the Pacific Ocean; the independence of the
southern nations of this hemisphere has been recognized, and recommended
by example and by counsel to the potentates of Europe; progress has been
made in the defense of the country by fortifications and the increase of
the Navy, toward the effectual suppression of the African traffic in
slaves, in alluring the aboriginal hunters of our land to the
cultivation of the soil and of the mind, in exploring the interior
regions of the Union, and in preparing by scientific researches and
surveys for the further application of our national resources to the
internal improvement of our country.

In this brief outline of the promise and performance of my immediate
predecessor the line of duty for his successor is clearly delineated. To
pursue to their consummation those purposes of improvement in our common
condition instituted or recommended by him will embrace the whole sphere
of my obligations. To the topic of internal improvement, emphatically
urged by him at his inauguration, I recur with peculiar satisfaction. It
is that from which I am convinced that the unborn millions of our
posterity who are in future ages to people this continent will derive
their most fervent gratitude to the founders of the Union; that in which
the beneficent action of its Government will be most deeply felt and
acknowledged. The magnificence and splendor of their public works are
among the imperishable glories of the ancient republics. The roads and
aqueducts of Rome have been the admiration of all after ages, and have
survived thousands of years after all her conquests have been swallowed
up in despotism or become the spoil of barbarians. Some diversity of
opinion has prevailed with regard to the powers of Congress for
legislation upon objects of this nature. The most respectful deference
is due to doubts originating in pure patriotism and sustained by
venerated authority. But nearly twenty years have passed since the
construction of the first national road was commenced. The authority for
its construction was then unquestioned. To how many thousands of our
countrymen has it proved a benefit? To what single individual has it
ever proved an injury? Repeated, liberal, and candid discussions in the
Legislature have conciliated the sentiments and approximated the
opinions of enlightened minds upon the question of constitutional power.
I can not but hope that by the same process of friendly, patient, and
persevering deliberation all constitutional objections will ultimately
be removed. The extent and limitation of the powers of the General
Government in relation to this transcendently important interest will be
settled and acknowledged to the common satisfaction of all, and every
speculative scruple will be solved by a practical public blessing.

Fellow-citizens, you are acquainted with the peculiar circumstances of
the recent election, which have resulted in affording me the opportunity
of addressing you at this time. You have heard the exposition of the
principles which will direct me in the fulfillment of the high and
solemn trust imposed upon me in this station. Less possessed of your
confidence in advance than any of my predecessors, I am deeply conscious
of the prospect that I shall stand more and oftener in heed of your
indulgence. Intentions upright and pure, a heart devoted to the welfare
of our country, and the unceasing application of all the faculties
allotted to me to her service are all the pledges that I can give for
the faithful performance of the arduous duties I am to undertake. To the
guidance of the legislative councils, to the assistance of the executive
and subordinate departments, to the friendly cooperation of the
respective State governments, to the candid and liberal support of the
people so far as it may be deserved by honest industry and zeal, I shall
look for whatever success may attend my public service; and knowing that
"except the Lord keep the city the watchman waketh but in vain," with
fervent supplications for His favor, to His overruling providence I
commit with humble but fearless confidence my own fate and the future
destinies of my country.

March 4, 1825.



FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE.



Washington,
_December 6, 1825_.


_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:

In taking a general survey of the concerns of our beloved country, with
reference to subjects interesting to the common welfare, the first
sentiment which impresses itself upon the mind is of gratitude to the
Omnipotent Disposer of All Good for the continuance of the signal
blessings of His providence, and especially for that health which to an
unusual extent has prevailed within our borders, and for that abundance
which in the vicissitudes of the seasons has been scattered with
profusion over our land. Nor ought we less to ascribe to Him the glory
that we are permitted to enjoy the bounties of His hand in peace and
tranquillity--in peace with all the other nations of the earth, in
tranquillity among ourselves. There has, indeed, rarely been a period in
the history of civilized man in which the general condition of the
Christian nations has been marked so extensively by peace and
prosperity.

Europe, with a few partial and unhappy exceptions, has enjoyed ten years
of peace, during which all her Governments, whatever the theory of their
constitutions may have been, are successively taught to feel that the
end of their institution is the happiness of the people, and that the
exercise of power among men can be justified only by the blessings it
confers upon those over whom it is extended.

During the same period our intercourse with all those nations has been
pacific and friendly; it so continues. Since the close of your last
session no material variation has occurred in our relations with any one
of them. In the commercial and navigation system of Great Britain
important changes of municipal regulation have recently been sanctioned
by acts of Parliament, the effect of which upon the interests of other
nations, and particularly upon ours, has not yet been fully developed.
In the recent renewal of the diplomatic missions on both sides between
the two Governments assurances have been given and received of the
continuance and increase of the mutual confidence and cordiality by
which the adjustment of many points of difference had already been
effected, and which affords the surest pledge for the ultimate
satisfactory adjustment of those which still remain open or may
hereafter arise.

The policy of the United States in their commercial intercourse with
other nations has always been of the most liberal character. In the
mutual exchange of their respective productions they have abstained
altogether from prohibitions; they have interdicted themselves the power
of laying taxes upon exports, and whenever they have favored their own
shipping by special preferences or exclusive privileges in their own
ports it has been only with a view to countervail similar favors and
exclusions granted by the nations with whom we have been engaged in
traffic to their own people or shipping, and to the disadvantage of
ours. Immediately after the close of the last war a proposal was fairly
made by the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1815, to all the
maritime nations to lay aside the system of retaliating restrictions and
exclusions, and to place the shipping of both parties to the common
trade on a footing of equality in respect to the duties of tonnage and
impost. This offer was partially and successively accepted by Great
Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands, the Hanseatic cities, Prussia,
Sardinia, the Duke of Oldenburg, and Russia. It was also adopted, under
certain modifications, in our late commercial convention with France,
and by the act of Congress of the 8th January, 1824, it has received a
new confirmation with all the nations who had acceded to it, and has
been offered again to all those who are or may hereafter be willing to
abide in reciprocity by it. But all these regulations, whether
established by treaty or by municipal enactments, are still subject to
one important restriction.

The removal of discriminating duties of tonnage and of impost is limited
to articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of the country to
which the vessel belongs or to such articles as are most usually first
shipped from her ports. It will deserve the serious consideration of
Congress whether even this remnant of restriction may not be safely
abandoned, and whether the general tender of equal competition made in
the act of 8th January, 1824, may not be extended to include all
articles of merchandise not prohibited, of what country soever they may
be the produce or manufacture. Propositions to this effect have already
been made to us by more than one European Government, and it is probable
that if once established by legislation or compact with any
distinguished maritime state it would recommend itself by the experience
of its advantages to the general accession of all.

The convention of commerce and navigation between the United States and
France, concluded on the 24th of June, 1822, was, in the understanding
and intent of both parties, as appears upon its face, only a temporary
arrangement of the points of difference between them of the most
immediate and pressing urgency. It was limited in the first instance to
two years from the 1st of October, 1822, but with a proviso that it
should further continue in force till the conclusion of a general and
definitive treaty of commerce, unless terminated by a notice, six months
in advance, of either of the parties to the other. Its operation so far
as it extended has been mutually advantageous, and it still continues in
force by common consent. But it left unadjusted several objects of great
interest to the citizens and subjects of both countries, and
particularly a mass of claims to considerable amount of citizens of the
United States upon the Government of France of indemnity for property
taken or destroyed under circumstances of the most aggravated and
outrageous character. In the long period during which continual and
earnest appeals have been made to the equity and magnanimity of France
in behalf of these claims their justice has not been, as it could not
be, denied. It was hoped that the accession of a new Sovereign to the
throne would have afforded a favorable opportunity for presenting them
to the consideration of his Government. They have been presented and
urged hitherto without effect. The repeated and earnest representations
of our minister at the Court of France remain as yet even without an
answer. Were the demands of nations upon the justice of each other
susceptible of adjudication by the sentence of an impartial tribunal,
those to which I now refer would long since have been settled and
adequate indemnity would have been obtained. There are large amounts of
similar claims upon the Netherlands, Naples and Denmark. For those upon
Spain prior to 1819 indemnity was, after many years of patient
forbearance, obtained; and those upon Sweden have been lately
compromised by a private settlement, in which the claimants themselves
have acquiesced. The Governments of Denmark and of Naples have been
recently reminded of those yet existing against them, nor will any of
them be forgotten while a hope may be indulged of obtaining justice by
the means within the constitutional power of the Executive, and without
resorting to those means of self-redress which, as well as the time,
circumstances, and occasion which may require them, are within the
exclusive competency of the Legislature.

It is with great satisfaction that I am enabled to bear witness to the
liberal spirit with which the Republic of Colombia has made satisfaction
for well-established claims of a similar character, and among the
documents now communicated to Congress will be distinguished a treaty of
commerce and navigation with that Republic, the ratifications of which
have been exchanged since the last recess of the Legislature. The
negotiation of similar treaties with all the independent South American
States has been contemplated and may yet be accomplished. The basis of
them all, as proposed by the United States, has been laid in two
principles--the one of entire and unqualified reciprocity, the other the
mutual obligation of the parties to place each other permanently upon
the footing of the most favored nation. These principles are, indeed,
indispensable to the effectual emancipation of the American hemisphere
from the thraldom of colonizing monopolies and exclusions, an event
rapidly realizing in the progress of human affairs, and which the
resistance still opposed in certain parts of Europe to the
acknowledgment of the Southern American Republics as independent States
will, it is believed, contribute more effectually to accomplish. The
time has been, and that not remote, when some of those States might, in
their anxious desire to obtain a nominal recognition, have accepted of a
nominal independence, clogged with burdensome conditions, and exclusive
commercial privileges granted to the nation from which they have
separated to the disadvantage of all others. They are all now aware that
such concessions to any European nation would be incompatible with that
independence which they have declared and maintained.

Among the measures which have been suggested to them by the new
relations with one another, resulting from the recent changes in their
condition, is that of assembling at the Isthmus of Panama a congress, at
which each of them should be represented, to deliberate upon objects
important to the welfare of all. The Republics of Colombia, of Mexico,
and of Central America have already deputed plenipotentiaries to such a
meeting, and they have invited the United States to be also represented
there by their ministers. The invitation has been accepted, and
ministers on the part of the United States will be commissioned to
attend at those deliberations, and to take part in them so far as may be
compatible with that neutrality from which it is neither our intention
nor the desire of the other American States that we should depart.

The commissioners under the seventh article of the treaty of Ghent have
so nearly completed their arduous labors that, by the report recently
received from the agent on the part of the United States, there is
reason to expect that the commission will be closed at their next
session, appointed for the 22d of May of the ensuing year.

The other commission, appointed to ascertain the indemnities due for
slaves carried away from the United States after the close of the late
war, have met with some difficulty, which has delayed their progress in
the inquiry. A reference has been made to the British Government on the
subject, which, it may be hoped, will tend to hasten the decision of the
commissioners, or serve as a substitute for it.

Among the powers specifically granted to Congress by the Constitution
are those of establishing uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies
throughout the United States and of providing for organizing, arming,
and disciplining the militia and for governing such part of them as may
be employed in the service of the United States. The magnitude and
complexity of the interests affected by legislation upon these subjects
may account for the fact that, long and often as both of them have
occupied the attention and animated the debates of Congress, no systems
have yet been devised for fulfilling to the satisfaction of the
community the duties prescribed by these grants of power. To conciliate
the claim of the individual citizen to the enjoyment of personal
liberty, with the effective obligation of private contracts, is the
difficult problem to be solved by a law of bankruptcy. These are objects
of the deepest interest to society, affecting all that is precious in
the existence of multitudes of persons, many of them in the classes
essentially dependent and helpless, of the age requiring nurture, and of
the sex entitled to protection from the free agency of the parent and
the husband. The organization of the militia is yet more indispensable
to the liberties of the country. It is only by an effective militia that
we can at once enjoy the repose of peace and bid defiance to foreign
aggression; it is by the militia that we are constituted an armed
nation, standing in perpetual panoply of defense in the presence of all
the other nations of the earth. To this end it would be necessary, if
possible, so to shape its organization as to give it a more united and
active energy. There are laws for establishing an uniform militia
throughout the United States and for arming and equipping its whole
body. But it is a body of dislocated members, without the vigor of unity
and having little of uniformity but the name. To infuse into this most
important institution the power of which it is susceptible and to make
it available for the defense of the Union at the shortest notice and at
the smallest expense possible of time, of life, and of treasure are
among the benefits to be expected from the persevering deliberations of
Congress.

Among the unequivocal indications of our national prosperity is the
flourishing state of our finances. The revenues of the present year,
from all their principal sources, will exceed the anticipations of the
last. The balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January last was a
little short of $2,000,000, exclusive of two millions and a half, being
the moiety of the loan of five millions authorized by the act of 26th of
May, 1824. The receipts into the Treasury from the 1st of January to the
30th of September, exclusive of the other moiety of the same loan, are
estimated at $16,500,000, and it is expected that those of the current
quarter will exceed $5,000,000, forming an aggregate of receipts of
nearly twenty-two millions, independent of the loan. The expenditures of
the year will not exceed that sum more than two millions. By those
expenditures nearly eight millions of the principal of the public debt
have been discharged. More than a million and a half has been devoted to
the debt of gratitude to the warriors of the Revolution; a nearly equal
sum to the construction of fortifications and the acquisition of
ordnance and other permanent preparations of national defense; half a
million to the gradual increase of the Navy; an equal sum for purchases
of territory from the Indians and payment of annuities to them; and
upward of a million for objects of internal improvement authorized by
special acts of the last Congress. If we add to these $4,000,000 for
payment of interest upon the public debt, there remains a sum of about
seven millions, which have defrayed the whole expense of the
administration of Government in its legislative, executive, and
judiciary departments, including the support of the military and naval
establishments and all the occasional contingencies of a government
coextensive with the Union.

The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported since the
commencement of the year is about twenty-five millions and a half, and
that which will accrue during the current quarter is estimated at five
millions and a half; from these thirty-one millions, deducting the
drawbacks, estimated at less than seven millions, a sum exceeding
twenty-four millions will constitute the revenue of the year, and will
exceed the whole expenditures of the year. The entire amount of the
public debt remaining due on the 1st of January next will be short of
$81,000,000.

By an act of Congress of the 3d of March last a loan of $12,000,000 was
authorized at 4-1/2 per cent, or an exchange of stock to that amount of
4-1/2 per cent for a stock of 6 per cent, to create a fund for
extinguishing an equal amount of the public debt, bearing an interest of
6 per cent, redeemable in 1826. An account of the measures taken to give
effect to this act will be laid before you by the Secretary of the
Treasury. As the object which it had in view has been but partially
accomplished, it will be for the consideration of Congress whether the
power with which it clothed the Executive should not be renewed at an
early day of the present session, and under what modifications.

The act of Congress of the 3d of March last, directing the Secretary of
the Treasury to subscribe, in the name and for the use of the United
States, for 1,500 shares of the capital stock of the Chesapeake and
Delaware Canal Company, has been executed by the actual subscription for
the amount specified; and such other measures have been adopted by that
officer, under the act, as the fulfillment of its intentions requires.
The latest accounts received of this important undertaking authorize the
belief that it is in successful progress.

The payments into the Treasury from the proceeds of the sales of the
public lands during the present year were estimated at $1,000,000. The
actual receipts of the first two quarters have fallen very little short
of that sum; it is not expected that the second half of the year will be
equally productive, but the income of the year from that source may now
be safely estimated at a million and a half. The act of Congress of 18th
May, 1824, to provide for the extinguishment of the debt due to the
United States by the purchasers of public lands, was limited in its
operation of relief to the purchaser to the 10th of April last. Its
effect at the end of the quarter during which it expired was to reduce
that debt from ten to seven millions. By the operation of similar prior
laws of relief, from and since that of 2d March, 1821, the debt had been
reduced from upward of twenty-two millions to ten. It is exceedingly
desirable that it should be extinguished altogether; and to facilitate
that consummation I recommend to Congress the revival for one year more
of the act of 18th May, 1824, with such provisional modification as may
be necessary to guard the public interests against fraudulent practices
in the resale of the relinquished land. The purchasers of public lands
are among the most useful of our fellow-citizens, and since the system
of sales for cash alone has been introduced great indulgence has been
justly extended to those who had previously purchased upon credit. The
debt which had been contracted under the credit sales had become
unwieldy, and its extinction was alike advantageous to the purchaser and
to the public. Under the system of sales, matured as it has been by
experience, and adapted to the exigencies of the times, the lands will
continue as they have become, an abundant source of revenue; and when
the pledge of them to the public creditor shall have been redeemed by
the entire discharge of the national debt, the swelling tide of wealth
with which they replenish the common Treasury may be made to reflow in
unfailing streams of improvement from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.

The condition of the various branches of the public service resorting
from the Department of War, and their administration during the current
year, will be exhibited in the report of the Secretary of War and the
accompanying documents herewith communicated. The organization and
discipline of the Army are effective and satisfactory. To counteract the
prevalence of desertion among the troops it has been suggested to
withhold from the men a small portion of their monthly pay until the
period of their discharge; and some expedient appears to be necessary to
preserve and maintain among the officers so much of the art of
horsemanship as could scarcely fail to be found wanting on the possible
sudden eruption of a war, which should take us unprovided with a single
corps of cavalry. The Military Academy at West Point, under the
restrictions of a severe but paternal superintendence, recommends itself
more and more to the patronage of the nation, and the numbers of
meritorious officers which it forms and introduces to the public service
furnishes the means of multiplying the undertakings of public
improvements to which their acquirements at that institution are
peculiarly adapted. The school of artillery practice established at
Fortress Monroe is well suited to the same purpose, and may heed the aid
of further legislative provision to the same end. The reports of the
various officers at the head of the administrative branches of the
military service, connected with the quartering, clothing, subsistence,
health, and pay of the Army, exhibit the assiduous vigilance of those
officers in the performance of their respective duties, and the faithful
accountability which has pervaded every part of the system.

Our relations with the numerous tribes of aboriginal natives of this
country, scattered over its extensive surface and so dependent even for
their existence upon our power, have been during the present year highly
interesting. An act of Congress of 25th of May, 1824, made an
appropriation to defray the expenses of making treaties of trade and
friendship with the Indian tribes beyond the Mississippi. An act of 3d
of March, 1825, authorized treaties to be made with the Indians for
their consent to the making of a road from the frontier of Missouri to
that of New Mexico, and another act of the same date provided for
defraying the expenses of holding treaties with the Sioux, Chippeways,
Menomenees, Sauks, Foxes, etc., for the purpose of establishing
boundaries and promoting peace between said tribes. The first and the
last objects of these acts have been accomplished, and the second is yet
in a process of execution. The treaties which since the last session of
Congress have been concluded with the several tribes will be laid before
the Senate for their consideration conformably to the Constitution. They
comprise large and valuable acquisitions of territory, and they secure
an adjustment of boundaries and give pledges of permanent peace between
several tribes which had been long waging bloody wars against each
other.

On the 12th of February last a treaty was signed at the Indian Springs
between commissioners appointed on the part of the United States and
certain chiefs and individuals of the Creek Nation of Indians, which was
received at the seat of Government only a very few days before the close
of the last session of Congress and of the late administration. The
advice and consent of the Senate was given to it on the 3d of March, too
late for it to receive the ratification of the then President of the
United States; it was ratified on the 7th of March, under the
unsuspecting impression that it had been negotiated in good faith and in
the confidence inspired by the recommendation of the Senate. The
subsequent transactions in relation to this treaty will form the subject
of a separate communication.

The appropriations made by Congress for public works, as well in the
construction of fortifications as for purposes of internal improvement,
so far as they have been expended, have been faithfully applied. Their
progress has been delayed by the want of suitable officers for
superintending them. An increase of both the corps of engineers,
military and topographical, was recommended by my predecessor at the
last session of Congress. The reasons upon which that recommendation was
founded subsist in all their force and have acquired additional urgency
since that time. It may also be expedient to organize the topographical
engineers into a corps similar to the present establishment of the Corps
of Engineers. The Military Academy at West Point will furnish from the
cadets annually graduated there officers well qualified for carrying
this measure into effect.

The Board of Engineers for Internal Improvement, appointed for carrying
into execution the act of Congress of 30th of April, 1824, "to procure
the necessary surveys, plans, and estimates on the subject of roads and
canals," have been actively engaged in that service from the close of
the last session of Congress. They have completed the surveys necessary
for ascertaining the practicability of a canal from the Chesapeake Bay
to the Ohio River, and are preparing a full report on that subject,
which, when completed, will be laid before you. The same observation is
to be made with regard to the two other objects of national importance
upon which the Board have been occupied, namely, the accomplishment of a
national road from this city to New Orleans, and the practicability of
uniting the waters of Lake Memphramagog with Connecticut River and the
improvement of the navigation of that river. The surveys have been made
and are nearly completed. The report may be expected at an early period
during the present session of Congress.

The acts of Congress of the last session relative to the surveying,
marking, or laying out roads in the Territories of Florida, Arkansas,
and Michigan, from Missouri to Mexico, and for the continuation of the
Cumberland road, are, some of them, fully executed, and others in the
process of execution. Those for completing or commencing fortifications
have been delayed only so far as the Corps of Engineers has been
inadequate to furnish officers for the necessary superintendence of the
works. Under the act confirming the statutes of Virginia and Maryland
incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, three commissioners
on the part of the United States have been appointed for opening books
and receiving subscriptions, in concert with a like number of
commissioners appointed on the part of each of those States. A meeting
of the commissioners has been postponed, to await the definitive report
of the board of engineers. The light-houses and monuments for the safety
of our commerce and mariners, the works for the security of Plymouth
Beach and for the preservation of the islands in Boston Harbor, have
received the attention required by the laws relating to those objects
respectively. The continuation of the Cumberland road, the most
important of them all, after surmounting no inconsiderable difficulty in
fixing upon the direction of the road, has commenced under the most
promising auspices, with the improvements of recent invention in the
mode of construction, and with the advantage of a great reduction in the
comparative cost of the work.

The operation of the laws relating to the Revolutionary pensioners may
deserve the renewed consideration of Congress. The act of the 18th of
March, 1818, while it made provision for many meritorious and indigent
citizens who had served in the War of Independence, opened a door to
numerous abuses and impositions. To remedy this the act of 1st May,
1820, exacted proofs of absolute indigence, which many really in want
were unable and all susceptible of that delicacy which is allied to many
virtues must be deeply reluctant to give. The result has been that some
among the least deserving have been retained, and some in whom the
requisites both of worth and want were combined have been stricken from
the list. As the numbers of these venerable relics of an age gone by
diminish; as the decays of body, mind, and estate of those that survive
must in the common course of nature increase, should not a more liberal
portion of indulgence be dealt out to them? May not the want in most
instances be inferred from the demand when the service can be proved,
and may not the last days of human infirmity be spared the mortification
of purchasing a pittance of relief only by the exposure of its own
necessities? I submit to Congress the expediency of providing for
individual cases of this description by special enactment, or of
revising the act of the 1st of May, 1820, with a view to mitigate the
rigor of its exclusions in favor of persons to whom charity now bestowed
can scarcely discharge the debt of justice.

The portion of the naval force of the Union in actual service has been
chiefly employed on three stations--the Mediterranean, the coasts of
South America bordering on the Pacific Ocean, and the West Indies. An
occasional cruiser has been sent to range along the African shores most
polluted by the traffic of slaves; one armed vessel has been stationed
on the coast of our eastern boundary, to cruise along the fishing
grounds in Hudsons Bay and on the coast of Labrador, and the first
service of a new frigate has been performed in restoring to his native
soil and domestic enjoyments the veteran hero whose youthful blood and
treasure had freely flowed in the cause of our country's independence,
and whose whole life has been a series of services and sacrifices to the
improvement of his fellow-men. The visit of General Lafayette, alike
honorable to himself and to our country, closed, as it had commenced,
with the most affecting testimonials of devoted attachment on his part,
and of unbounded gratitude of this people to him in return. It will form
hereafter a pleasing incident in the annals of our Union, giving to real
history the intense interest of romance and signally marking the
unpurchasable tribute of a great nation's social affections to the
disinterested champion of the liberties of human-kind.

The constant maintenance of a small squadron in the Mediterranean is a
necessary substitute for the humiliating alternative of paying tribute
for the security of our commerce in that sea, and for a precarious
peace, at the mercy of every caprice of four Barbary States, by whom it
was liable to be violated. An additional motive for keeping a
respectable force stationed there at this time is found in the maritime
war raging between the Greeks and the Turks, and in which the neutral
navigation of this Union is always in danger of outrage and depredation.
A few instances have occurred of such depredations upon our merchant
vessels by privateers or pirates wearing the Grecian flag, but without
real authority from the Greek or any other Government. The heroic
struggles of the Greeks themselves, in which our warmest sympathies as
freemen and Christians have been engaged, have continued to be
maintained with vicissitudes of success adverse and favorable.

Similar motives have rendered expedient the keeping of a like force on
the coasts of Peru and Chile on the Pacific. The irregular and
convulsive character of the war upon the shores has been extended to the
conflicts upon the ocean. An active warfare has been kept up for years
with alternate success, though generally to the advantage of the
American patriots. But their naval forces have not always been under the
control of their own Governments. Blockades, unjustifiable upon any
acknowledged principles of international law, have been proclaimed by
officers in command, and though disavowed by the supreme authorities,
the protection of our own commerce against them has been made cause of
complaint and erroneous imputations against some of the most gallant
officers of our Navy. Complaints equally groundless have been made by
the commanders of the Spanish royal forces in those seas; but the most
effective protection to our commerce has been the flag and the firmness
of our own commanding officers. The cessation of the war by the complete
triumph of the patriot cause has removed, it is hoped, all cause of
dissension with one party and all vestige of force of the other. But an
unsettled coast of many degrees of latitude forming a part of our own
territory and a flourishing commerce and fishery extending to the
islands of the Pacific and to China still require that the protecting
power of the Union should be displayed under its flag as well upon the
ocean as upon the land.

The objects of the West India Squadron have been to carry into execution
the laws for the suppression of the African slave trade; for the
protection of our commerce against vessels of piratical character,
though bearing commissions from either of the belligerent parties; for
its protection against open and unequivocal pirates. These objects
during the present year have been accomplished more effectually than at
any former period. The African slave trade has long been excluded from
the use of our flag, and if some few citizens of our country have
continued to set the laws of the Union as well as those of nature and
humanity at defiance by persevering in that abominable traffic, it has
been only by sheltering themselves under the banners of other nations
less earnest for the total extinction of the trade than ours. The
irregular privateers have within the last year been in a great measure
banished from those seas, and the pirates for months past appear to have
been almost entirely swept away from the borders and the shores of the
two Spanish islands in those regions. The active, persevering, and
unremitted energy of Captain Warrington and of the officers and men
under his command on that trying and perilous service have been crowned
with signal success, and are entitled to the approbation of their
country. But experience has shown that not even a temporary suspension
or relaxation from assiduity can be indulged on that station without
reproducing piracy and murder in all their horrors; nor is it probable
that for years to come our immensely valuable commerce in those seas can
navigate in security without the steady continuance of an armed force
devoted to its protection.

It were, indeed, a vain and dangerous illusion to believe that in the
present or probable condition of human society a commerce so extensive
and so rich as ours could exist and be pursued in safety without the
continual support of a military marine--the only arm by which the power
of this Confederacy can be estimated or felt by foreign nations, and the
only standing military force which can never be dangerous to our own
liberties at home. A permanent naval peace establishment, therefore,
adapted to our present condition, and adaptable to that gigantic growth
with which the nation is advancing in its career, is among the subjects
which have already occupied the foresight of the last Congress, and
which will deserve your serious deliberations. Our Navy, commenced at an
early period of our present political organization upon a scale
commensurate with the incipient energies, the scanty resources, and the
comparative indigence of our infancy, was even then found adequate to
cope with all the powers of Barbary, save the first, and with one of the
principal maritime powers of Europe.

At a period of further advancement, but with little accession of
strength, it not only sustained with honor the most unequal of
conflicts, but covered itself and our country with unfading glory. But
it is only since the close of the late war that by the numbers and force
of the ships of which it was composed it could deserve the name of a
navy. Yet it retains nearly the same organization as when it consisted
only of five frigates. The rules and regulations by which it is governed
earnestly call for revision, and the want of a naval school of
instruction, corresponding with the Military Academy at West Point, for
the formation of scientific and accomplished officers, is felt with
daily increasing aggravation.

The act of Congress of 26th of May, 1824, authorizing an examination and
survey of the harbor of Charleston, in South Carolina, of St. Marys, in
Georgia, and of the coast of Florida, and for other purposes, has been
executed so far as the appropriation would admit. Those of the 3d of
March last, authorizing the establishment of a navy-yard and depot on
the coast of Florida, in the Gulf of Mexico, and authorizing the
building of ten sloops of war, and for other purposes, are in the course
of execution, for the particulars of which and other objects connected
with this Department I refer to the report of the Secretary of the Navy,
herewith communicated.

A report from the Postmaster-General is also submitted, exhibiting the
present flourishing condition of that Department. For the first time for
many years the receipts for the year ending on the 1st of July last
exceeded the expenditures during the same period to the amount of more
than $45,000. Other facts equally creditable to the administration of
this Department are that in two years from the 1st of July, 1823, an
improvement of more than $185,000 in its pecuniary affairs has been
realized; that in the same interval the increase of the transportation
of the mail has exceeded 1,500,000 miles annually, and that 1,040 new
post-offices have been established. It hence appears that under
judicious management the income from this establishment may be relied on
as fully adequate to defray its expenses, and that by the discontinuance
of post-roads altogether unproductive others of more useful character
may be opened, till the circulation of the mail shall keep pace with the
spread of our population, and the comforts of friendly correspondence,
the exchanges of internal traffic, and the lights of the periodical
press shall be distributed to the remotest corners of the Union, at a
charge scarcely perceptible to any individual, and without the cost of a
dollar to the public Treasury.

Upon this first occasion of addressing the Legislature of the Union,
with which I have been honored, in presenting to their view the
execution so far as it has been effected of the measures sanctioned by
them for promoting the internal improvement of our country, I can not
close the communication without recommending to their calm and
persevering consideration the general principle in a more enlarged
extent. The great object of the institution of civil government is the
improvement of the condition of those who are parties to the social
compact, and no government, in whatever form constituted, can accomplish
the lawful ends of its institution but in proportion as it improves the
condition of those over whom it is established. Roads and canals, by
multiplying and facilitating the communications and intercourse between
distant regions and multitudes of men, are among the most important
means of improvement. But moral, political, intellectual improvement are
duties assigned by the Author of Our existence to social no less than to
individual man. For the fulfillment of those duties governments are
invested with power, and to the attainment of the end--the progressive
improvement of the condition of the governed--the exercise of delegated
powers is a duty as sacred and indispensable as the usurpation of powers
not granted is criminal and odious. Among the first, perhaps the very
first, instrument for the improvement of the condition of men is
knowledge, and to the acquisition of much of the knowledge adapted to
the wants, the comforts, and enjoyments of human life public
institutions and seminaries of learning are essential. So convinced of
this was the first of my predecessors in this office, now first in the
memory, as, living, he was first in the hearts, of our countrymen, that
once and again in his addresses to the Congresses with whom he
cooperated in the public service he earnestly recommended the
establishment of seminaries of learning, to prepare for all the
emergencies of peace and war--a national university and a military
academy. With respect to the latter, had he lived to the present day, in
turning his eyes to the institution at West Point he would have enjoyed
the gratification of his most earnest wishes; but in surveying the city
which has been honored with his name he would have seen the spot of
earth which he had destined and bequeathed to the use and benefit of his
country as the site for an university still bare and barren.

In assuming her station among the civilized nations of the earth it
would seem that our country had contracted the engagement to contribute
her share of mind, of labor, and of expense to the improvement of those
parts of knowledge which lie beyond the reach of individual acquisition,
and particularly to geographical and astronomical science. Looking back
to the history only of the half century since the declaration of our
independence, and observing the generous emulation with which the
Governments of France, Great Britain, and Russia have devoted the
genius, the intelligence, the treasures of their respective nations to
the common improvement of the species in these branches of science, is
it not incumbent upon us to inquire whether we are not bound by
obligations of a high and honorable character to contribute our portion
of energy and exertion to the common stock? The voyages of discovery
prosecuted in the course of that time at the expense of those nations
have not only redounded to their glory, but to the improvement of human
knowledge. We have been partakers of that improvement and owe for it a
sacred debt, not only of gratitude, but of equal or proportional
exertion in the same common cause. Of the cost of these undertakings, if
the mere expenditures of outfit, equipment, and completion of the
expeditions were to be considered the only charges, it would be unworthy
of a great and generous nation to take a second thought. One hundred
expeditions of circumnavigation like those of Cook and La Pérouse would
not burden the exchequer of the nation fitting them out so much as the
ways and means of defraying a single campaign in war. But if we take
into the account the lives of those benefactors of mankind of which
their services in the cause of their species were the purchase, how
shall the cost of those heroic enterprises be estimated, and what
compensation can be made to them or to their countries for them? Is it
not by bearing them in affectionate remembrance? Is it not still more by
imitating their example--by enabling countrymen of our own to pursue the
same career and to hazard their lives in the same cause?

In inviting the attention of Congress to the subject of internal
improvements upon a view thus enlarged it is not my design to recommend
the equipment of an expedition for circumnavigating the globe for
purposes of scientific research and inquiry. We have objects of useful
investigation nearer home, and to which our cares may be more
beneficially applied. The interior of our own territories has yet been
very imperfectly explored. Our coasts along many degrees of latitude
upon the shores of the Pacific Ocean, though much frequented by our
spirited commercial navigators, have been barely visited by our public
ships. The River of the West, first fully discovered and navigated by a
countryman of our own, still bears the name of the ship in which he
ascended its waters, and claims the protection of our armed national
flag at its mouth. With the establishment of a military post there or at
some other point of that coast, recommended by my predecessor and
already matured in the deliberations of the last Congress, I would
suggest the expediency of connecting the equipment of a public ship for
the exploration of the whole northwest coast of this continent.

The establishment of an uniform standard of weights and measures was one
of the specific objects contemplated in the formation of our
Constitution, and to fix that standard was one of the powers delegated
by express terms in that instrument to Congress. The Governments of
Great Britain and France have scarcely ceased to be occupied with
inquiries and speculations on the same subject since the existence of
our Constitution, and with them it has expanded into profound,
laborious, and expensive researches into the figure of the earth and the
comparative length of the pendulum vibrating seconds in various
latitudes from the equator to the pole. These researches have resulted
in the composition and publication of several works highly interesting
to the cause of science. The experiments are yet in the process of
performance. Some of them have recently been made on our own shores,
within the walls of one of our own colleges, and partly by one of our
own fellow-citizens. It would be honorable to our country if the sequel
of the same experiments should be countenanced by the patronage of our
Government, as they have hitherto been by those of France and Britain.

Connected with the establishment of an university, or separate from it,
might be undertaken the erection of an astronomical observatory, with
provision for the support of an astronomer, to be in constant attendance
of observation upon the phenomena of the heavens, and for the periodical
publication of his observations. It is with no feeling of pride as an
American that the remark may be made that on the comparatively small
territorial surface of Europe there are existing upward of 130 of these
light-houses of the skies, while throughout the whole American
hemisphere there is not one. If we reflect a moment upon the discoveries
which in the last four centuries have been made in the physical
constitution of the universe by the means of these buildings and of
observers stationed in them, shall we doubt of their usefulness to every
nation? And while scarcely a year passes over our heads without bringing
some new astronomical discovery to light, which we must fain receive at
second hand from Europe, are we not cutting ourselves off from the means
of returning light for light while we have neither observatory nor
observer upon our half of the globe and the earth revolves in perpetual
darkness to our unsearching eyes?

When, on the 25th of October, 1791, the first President of the United
States announced to Congress the result of the first enumeration of the
inhabitants of this Union, he informed them that the returns gave the
pleasing assurance that the population of the United States bordered on
4,000,000 persons. At the distance of thirty years from that time the
last enumeration, five years since completed, presented a population
bordering upon 10,000,000. Perhaps of all the evidences of a prosperous
and happy condition of human society the rapidity of the increase of
population is the most unequivocal. But the demonstration of our
prosperity rests not alone upon this indication. Our commerce, our
wealth, and the extent of our territories have increased in
corresponding proportions, and the number of independent communities
associated in our Federal Union has since that time nearly doubled. The
legislative representation of the States and people in the two Houses of
Congress has grown with the growth of their constituent bodies. The
House, which then consisted of 65 members, now numbers upward of 200.
The Senate, which consisted of 26 members, has now 48. But the executive
and, still more, the judiciary departments are yet in a great measure
confined to their primitive organization, and are now not adequate to
the urgent wants of a still growing community.

The naval armaments, which at an early period forced themselves upon the
necessities of the Union, soon led to the establishment of a Department
of the Navy. But the Departments of Foreign Affairs and of the Interior,
which early after the formation of the Government had been united in
one, continue so united to this time, to the unquestionable detriment of
the public service. The multiplication of our relations with the nations
and Governments of the Old World has kept pace with that of our
population and commerce, while within the last ten years a new family of
nations in our own hemisphere has arisen among the inhabitants of the
earth, with whom our intercourse, commercial and political, would of
itself furnish occupation to an active and industrious department. The
constitution of the judiciary, experimental and imperfect as it was even
in the infancy of our existing Government, is yet more inadequate to the
administration of national justice at our present maturity. Nine years
have elapsed since a predecessor in this office, now not the last, the
citizen who, perhaps, of all others throughout the Union contributed
most to the formation and establishment of our Constitution, in his
valedictory address to Congress, immediately preceding his retirement
from public life, urgently recommended the revision of the judiciary and
the establishment of an additional executive department. The exigencies
of the public service and its unavoidable deficiencies, as now in
exercise, have added yearly cumulative weight to the considerations
presented by him as persuasive to the measure, and in recommending it to
your deliberations I am happy to have the influence of his high
authority in aid of the undoubting convictions of my own experience.

The laws relating to the administration of the Patent Office are
deserving of much consideration and perhaps susceptible of some
improvement. The grant of power to regulate the action of Congress upon
this subject has specified both the end to be obtained and the means by
which it is to be effected, "to promote the progress of science and
useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the
exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries." If an
honest pride might be indulged in the reflection that on the records of
that office are already found inventions the usefulness of which has
scarcely been transcended in the annals of human ingenuity, would not
its exultation be allayed by the inquiry whether the laws have
effectively insured to the inventors the reward destined to them by the
Constitution--even a limited term of exclusive right to their
discoveries?

On the 24th of December, 1799, it was resolved by Congress that a marble
monument should be erected by the United States in the Capitol at the
city of Washington; that the family of General Washington should be
requested to permit his body to be deposited under it, and that the
monument be so designed as to commemorate the great events of his
military and political life. In reminding Congress of this resolution
and that the monument contemplated by it remains yet without execution,
I shall indulge only the remarks that the works at the Capitol are
approaching to completion; that the consent of the family, desired by
the resolution, was requested and obtained; that a monument has been
recently erected in this city over the remains of another distinguished
patriot of the Revolution, and that a spot has been reserved within the
walls where you are deliberating for the benefit of this and future
ages, in which the mortal remains may be deposited of him whose spirit
hovers over you and listens with delight to every act of the
representatives of his nation which can tend to exalt and adorn his and
their country.

The Constitution under which you are assembled is a charter of limited
powers. After full and solemn deliberation upon all or any of the
objects which, urged by an irresistible sense of my own duty, I have
recommended to your attention should you come to the conclusion that,
however desirable in themselves, the enactment of laws for effecting
them would transcend the powers committed to you by that venerable
instrument which we are all bound to support, let no consideration
induce you to assume the exercise of powers not granted to you by the
people. But if the power to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases
whatsoever over the district of Columbia; if the power to lay and
collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to pay the debts and
provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States;
if the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the
several States and with the Indian tribes, to fix the standard of
weights and measures, to establish post-offices and post-roads, to
declare war, to raise and support armies, to provide and maintain a
navy, to dispose of and make all heedful rules and regulations
respecting the territory or other property belonging to the United
States, and to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for
carrying these powers into execution--if these powers and others
enumerated in the Constitution may be effectually brought into action by
laws promoting the improvement of agriculture, commerce, and
manufactures, the cultivation and encouragement of the mechanic and of
the elegant arts, the advancement of literature, and the progress of the
sciences, ornamental and profound, to refrain from exercising them for
the benefit of the people themselves would be to hide in the earth the
talent committed to our charge--would be treachery to the most sacred of
trusts.

The spirit of improvement is abroad upon the earth. It stimulates the
hearts and sharpens the faculties not of our fellow-citizens alone, but
of the nations of Europe and of their rulers. While dwelling with
pleasing satisfaction upon the superior excellence of our political
institutions, let us not be unmindful that liberty is power; that the
nation blessed with the largest portion of liberty must in proportion to
its numbers be the most powerful nation upon earth, and that the tenure
of power by man is, in the moral purposes of his Creator, upon condition
that it shall be exercised to ends of beneficence, to improve the
condition of himself and his fellow-men. While foreign nations less
blessed with that freedom which is power than ourselves are advancing
with gigantic strides in the career of public improvement, were we to
slumber in indolence or fold up our arms and proclaim to the world that
we are palsied by the will of our constituents, would it not be to cast
away the bounties of Providence and doom ourselves to perpetual
inferiority? In the course of the year now drawing to its close we have
beheld, under the auspices and at the expense of one State of this
Union, a new university unfolding its portals to the sons of science and
holding up the torch of human improvement to eyes that seek the light.
We have seen under the persevering and enlightened enterprise of another
State the waters of our Western lakes mingle with those of the ocean. If
undertakings like these have been accomplished in the compass of a few
years by the authority of single members of our Confederation, can we,
the representative authorities of the whole Union, fall behind our
fellow-servants in the exercise of the trust committed to us for the
benefit of our common sovereign by the accomplishment of works important
to the whole and to which neither the authority nor the resources of any
one State can be adequate?

Finally, fellow-citizens, I shall await with cheering hope and faithful
cooperation the result of your deliberations, assured that, without
encroaching upon the powers reserved to the authorities of the
respective States or to the people, you will, with a due sense of your
obligations to your country and of the high responsibilities weighing
upon yourselves, give efficacy to the means committed to you for the
common good. And may He who searches the hearts of the children of men
prosper your exertions to secure the blessings of peace and promote the
highest welfare of our country.

John Quincy Adams.



SPECIAL MESSAGES.



Washington,
_December 14, 1825_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice with regard
to their ratification, the following treaties:

1. A treaty between the United States and the Great and Little Osage
tribes of Indians, concluded at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, on
the 2d day of June last, by William Clark, Superintendent of Indian
Affairs, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the chiefs,
headmen, and warriors of the same tribes, duly authorized and empowered
by their respective tribes or nations.

2. A treaty between the United States and the Kanzas Nation of Indians,
concluded at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, on the 3d day of June
last, by William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, commissioner
on the part of the United States, and the chiefs, headmen, and warriors
of the said nation, duly authorized and empowered by the same.

3. A convention between the United States and the Shawnee Nation of
Indians residing within the State of Missouri, signed at St. Louis, in
the State of Missouri, on the 7th day of November last, by William
Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and the chiefs and headmen of
the said nation, duly authorized and empowered by the same.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 15, 1825_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration in reference
to its ratification, a general convention of peace, amity, commerce, and
navigation between the United States of America and the Federation of
the Centre of America, signed at this place on the 5th instant by the
Secretary of State and the minister plenipotentiary from the Republic of
Central America to the United States.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 26, 1825_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement of the
session it was mentioned that the Governments of the Republics of
Colombia, of Mexico, and of Central America had severally invited the
Government of the United States to be represented at the Congress of
American nations to be assembled at Panama to deliberate upon objects of
peculiar concernment to this hemisphere, and that this invitation had
been accepted.

Although this measure was deemed to be within the constitutional
competency of the Executive, I have not thought proper to take any step
in it before ascertaining that my opinion of its expediency will concur
with that of both branches of the Legislature, first, by the decision of
the Senate upon the nominations to be laid before them, and, secondly,
by the sanction of both Houses to the appropriations, without which it
can not be carried into effect.

A report from the Secretary of State and copies of the correspondence
with the South American Governments on this subject since the invitation
given by them are herewith transmitted to the Senate. They will disclose
the objects of importance which are expected to form a subject of
discussion at this meeting, in which interests of high importance to
this Union are involved. It will be seen that the United States neither
intend nor are expected to take part in any deliberations of a
belligerent character; that the motive of their attendance is neither to
contract alliances nor to engage in any undertaking or project importing
hostility to any other nation.

But the Southern American nations, in the infancy of their independence,
often find themselves in positions with reference to other countries
with the principles applicable to which, derivable from the state of
independence itself, they have not been familiarized by experience. The
result of this has been that sometimes in their intercourse with the
United States they have manifested dispositions to reserve a right of
granting special favors and privileges to the Spanish nation as the
price of their recognition. At others they have actually established
duties and impositions operating unfavorably to the United States to the
advantage of other European powers, and sometimes they have appeared to
consider that they might interchange among themselves mutual concessions
of exclusive favor, to which neither European powers nor the United
States should be admitted. In most of these cases their regulations
unfavorable to us have yielded to friendly expostulation and
remonstrance. But it is believed to be of infinite moment that the
principles of a liberal commercial intercourse should be exhibited to
them, and urged with disinterested and friendly persuasion upon them
when all assembled for the avowed purpose of consulting together upon
the establishment of such principles as may have an important bearing
upon their future welfare.

The consentaneous adoption of principles of maritime neutrality, and
favorable to the navigation of peace, and commerce in time of war, will
also form a subject of consideration to this Congress. The doctrine that
free ships make free goods and the restrictions of reason upon the
extent of blockades may be established by general agreement with far
more ease, and perhaps with less danger, by the general engagement to
adhere to them concerted at such a meeting, than by partial treaties or
conventions with each of the nations separately. An agreement between
all the parties represented at the meeting that each will guard by its
own means against the establishment of any future European colony within
its borders may be found advisable. This was more than two years since
announced by my predecessor to the world as a principle resulting from
the emancipation of both the American continents. It may be so developed
to the new southern nations that they will all feel it as an essential
appendage to their independence.

There is yet another subject upon which, without entering into any
treaty, the moral influence of the United States may perhaps be exerted
with beneficial consequences at such a meeting--the advancement of
religious liberty. Some of the southern nations are even yet so far
under the dominion of prejudice that they have incorporated with their
political constitutions an exclusive church, without toleration of any
other than the dominant sect. The abandonment of this last badge of
religious bigotry and oppression may be pressed more effectually by the
united exertions of those who concur in the principles of freedom of
conscience upon those who are yet to be convinced of their justice and
wisdom than by the solitary efforts of a minister to any one of the
separate Governments.

The indirect influence which the United States may exercise upon any
projects or purposes originating in the war in which the southern
Republics are still engaged, which might seriously affect the interests
of this Union, and the good offices by which the United States may
ultimately contribute to bring that war to a speedier termination,
though among the motives which have convinced me of the propriety of
complying with this invitation, are so far contingent and eventual that
it would be improper to dwell upon them more at large.

In fine, a decisive inducement with me for acceding to the measure is to
show by this token of respect to the southern Republics the interest
that we take in their welfare and our disposition to comply with their
wishes. Having been the first to recognize their independence, and
sympathized with them so far as was compatible with our neutral duties
in all their struggles and sufferings to acquire it, we have laid the
foundation of our future intercourse with them in the broadest
principles of reciprocity and the most cordial feelings of fraternal
friendship. To extend those principles to all our commercial relations
with them and to hand down that friendship to future ages is congenial
to the highest policy of the Union, as it will be to that of all those
nations and their posterity. In the confidence that these sentiments
will meet the approbation of the Senate, I nominate Richard C. Anderson,
of Kentucky, and John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, to be envoys
extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the assembly of American
nations at Panama, and William B. Rochester, of New York, to be
secretary to the mission.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 27, 1825_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
20th instant, I now transmit a copy of the message of President
Jefferson to both Houses of Congress on the 18th of January, 1803,
recommending an exploring expedition across this continent.[001] It will
be perceived on the perusal of this message that it was confidential,
for which reason the copy of it is now communicated in the same manner,
leaving to the judgment of the House to determine whether any adequate
reason yet remains for withholding it from publication. I possess no
other document or information in relation to the same subject which I
consider as coming within the scope of the resolution of the House.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 27, 1825_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
20th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State,
with copies of such portions of the correspondence between the United
States and Great Britain on the subject of the convention for
suppressing the slave trade as have not heretofore been, and which can
be communicated without detriment to the public interest.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 27, 1825_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
23d instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War,
with the correspondence between the Department of War and Generals
Pinckney and Jackson, and all the instructions given to the said
Generals Pinckney and Jackson relating to the treaty with the Creek
Indians, afterwards made at Fort Jackson, so far as the same can be
communicated without prejudice to the public interest.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 3, 1826_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
23d of last month, I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of
War, with the documents touching the treaty with the Cherokee Indians,
ratified in 1819, by which the Cherokee title to a portion of lands
within the limits of North Carolina was extinguished.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 9, 1826_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d instant, I
communicate herewith, in confidence, a report[002] from the Secretary of
State, with translations of the conventions and documents, containing
information of the nature referred to in the said resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 9, 1826_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice with regard
to the ratification, the following treaties:

1. A treaty signed at the Poncar village at the mouth of White Point
Creek, the first below the Qui Carre River, on the 9th of June, 1825, by
Brigadier-General Henry Atkinson and Major Benjamin O'Fallon,
commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs,
headmen, and warriors of the Poncar tribe of Indians on the part of said
tribe.

2. A treaty signed at Fort Look-out, near the Three Rivers of the Sioux
Pass, on the 22d June, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of
the United States and certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the
Teton, Yancton, and Yanctonies bands of the Sioux tribe of Indians on
the part of the said bands.

3. A treaty signed at the mouth of the Teton River on the 5th of July,
1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by
certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Sione and Ogalla bands of
Sioux Indians, and on the 12th of July, 1825, at Camp Hidden Creek, by
chiefs and warriors of the Siounes of the Fireheart's band on the part
of their respective bands.

4. A treaty signed at the mouth of the Teton River on the 6th of July,
1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by
certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Chayenne tribe of Indians
on the part of said tribe.

5. A treaty signed at the Auricara village on the 16th July, 1825, by
the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain
chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Hunkpapas band of the Sioux tribe
of Indians on the part of said band.

6. A treaty signed at the Ricara village on the 18th July, 1825, by the
same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain
chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Ricara tribe of Indians on the part
of said tribe.

7. A treaty signed at the Mandan village on the 30th of July, 1825, by
the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain
chiefs and warriors of the Mandan tribe of Indians on the part of said
tribe.

8. A treaty signed at the lower Mandan village on the 30th of July,
1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by
certain chiefs and warriors of the Belantse Etea, or Minnetaree, tribe
of Indians on the part of said tribe.

9. A treaty signed at the Mandan village on the 4th of August, 1825, by
the same commissioners on the part of the United States and by certain
chiefs and warriors of the Crow tribe of Indians on the part of said
tribe.

10. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the 25th of
September, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United
States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Ottoe and
Missouri tribe of Indians on the part of said tribe.

11. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the 30th of
September, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United
States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Pawnee tribe
of Indians on the part of said tribe.

12. A treaty signed at Fort Atkinson, Council Bluffs, on the 6th of
October, 1825, by the same commissioners on the part of the United
States and by certain chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Maha tribe of
Indians on the part of said tribe.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 10, 1826_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate a treaty signed at Prairie des Chiens, in the
Territory of Michigan, on the 19th of August, 1825, by William Clark and
Lewis Cass, commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain
chiefs and warriors of the Sioux, Chippeways, Socs, Foxes, Winnebagoes,
Menominies, Ottoways, Potawatamies, and Ioway tribes of Indians on the
part of said tribes, and I request the advice of the Senate with regard
to its ratification.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 20, 1826_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
23d ultimo, I transmit herewith reports[003] from the Secretary of War
and the Commissioner of the General Land Office, with the statements
desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 23, 1826_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
27th December last, requesting a statement of moneys paid out of the
public Treasury to the late President of the United States as
compensation for his services in various other offices which he has
filled under the Government of the United States, and on other accounts,
and also of claims for allowances made by him upon the Government which
have been disallowed, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of
the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired by the
resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 24, 1826_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
12th December last, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of
the Navy, with the documents and proceedings of the naval courts-martial
in the cases of Captain Charles Stewart and of Lieutenants Joshua R.
Sands and William M. Hunter.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 30, 1826_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration and advice
with regard to their ratification--

1. A treaty concluded on the 10th day of August, 1825, at Council Grove
by Benjamin H. Reeves, George C. Sibley, and Thomas Mather,
commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs and
headmen of the Great and Little Osage tribes of Indians on the part of
the said tribe.

2. A treaty concluded on the 16th day of August, 1825, at the Sora
Kanzas Creek by the same commissioners on the part of the United States
and certain chiefs and headmen of the Kanzas tribe or nation of Indians
on the part of said tribe.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 31, 1826_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
18th instant, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State, with the
correspondence with the British Government, relating to the boundary of
the United States on the Pacific Ocean, desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 31, 1826_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their consideration and advice
with regard to its ratification, a treaty concluded by the Secretary of
War, duly authorized thereto, with the chiefs and headmen of the Creek
Nation, deputed by them, and now in this city.

It has been agreed upon, and is presented to the consideration of the
Senate as a substitute for the treaty signed at the Indian Springs on
the 12th of February last. The circumstances under which this received
on the 3d of March last your advice and consent to its ratification are
known to you. It was transmitted to me from the Senate on the 5th of
March, and ratified in full confidence yielded to the advice and consent
of the Senate, under a firm belief, founded on the journal of the
commissioners of the United States and on the express statements in the
letter of one of them of the 16th of February to the then Secretary of
War, that it had been concluded with a large majority of the chiefs of
the Creek Nation and with a reasonable prospect of immediate
acquiescence by the remainder.

This expectation has not merely been disappointed. The first measures
for carrying the treaty into execution had scarcely been taken when the
two principal chiefs who had signed it fell victims to the exasperation
of the great mass of the nation, and their families and dependents, far
from being able to execute the engagements on their part, fled for life,
safety, and subsistence from the territories which they had assumed to
cede, to our own. Yet, in this fugitive condition, and while subsisting
on the bounty of the United States, they have been found advancing
pretensions to receive exclusively to themselves the whole of the sums
stipulated by the commissioners of the United States in payment _for
all_ the lands of the Creek Nation which were ceded by the terms of the
treaty. And they have claimed the stipulation of the eighth article,
that the United States would "_protect_ the emigrating party against the
encroachments, hostilities, and impositions of the whites and of all
others," as an engagement by which the United States were bound to
become the instruments of their vengeance and to inflict upon the
majority of the Creek Nation the punishment of Indian retribution to
gratify the vindictive fury of an impotent and helpless minority of
their own tribe.

In this state of things the question is not whether the treaty of the
12th of February last shall or shall not be executed. So far as the
United States were or could be bound by it I have been anxiously
desirous of carrying it into execution. But, like other treaties, its
fulfillment depends upon the will not of one but of both the parties to
it. The parties on the face of the treaty are the United States and the
Creek Nation, and however desirous one of them may be to give it effect,
this wish must prove abortive while the other party refuses to perform
its stipulations and disavows its obligations. By the refusal of the
Creek Nation to perform their part of the treaty the United States are
absolved from all its engagements on their part, and the alternative
left them is either to resort to measures of war to secure by force the
advantages stipulated to them in the treaty or to attempt the adjustment
of the interest by a new compact. In the preference dictated by the
nature of our institutions and by the sentiments of justice and humanity
which the occasion requires for measures of peace the treaty herewith
transmitted has been concluded, and is submitted to the decision of the
Senate. After exhausting every effort in our power to obtain the
acquiescence of the Creek Nation to the treaty of the 12th of February,
I entertained for some time the hope that their assent might at least
have been given to a new treaty, by which all their lands within the
State of Georgia should have been ceded. This has also proved
impracticable, and although the excepted portion is of comparatively
small amount and importance, I have assented to its exception so far as
to place it before the Senate only from a conviction that between it and
a resort to the forcible expulsion of the Creeks from their habitations
and lands within the State of Georgia there was no middle term.

The deputation with which this treaty has been concluded consists of the
principal chiefs of the nation--able not only to negotiate but to carry
into effect the stipulations to which they have agreed. There is a
deputation also here from the small party which undertook to contract
for the whole nation at the treaty of the 12th of February, but the
number of which, according to the information collected by General
Gaines, does not exceed 400. They represent themselves, indeed, to be
far more numerous, but whatever their number may be their interests have
been provided for in the treaty now submitted. Their subscriptions to it
would also have been received but for unreasonable pretensions raised by
them after all the arrangements of the treaty had been agreed upon and
it was actually signed. Whatever their merits may have been in the
facility with which they ceded all the lands of their nation within the
State of Georgia, their utter inability to perform the engagements which
they so readily contracted and the exorbitancy of their demands when
compared with the inefficiency of their own means of performance leave
them with no claims upon the United States other than of impartial and
rigorous justice.

In referring to the impressions under which I ratified the treaty of the
12th of February last, I do not deem it necessary to decide upon the
propriety of the manner in which it was negotiated. Deeply regretting
the recriminations and recriminations to which these events have given
rise, I believe the public interest will best be consulted by discarding
them altogether from the discussion of the subject. The great body of
the Creek Nation inflexibly refuse to acknowledge or to execute that
treaty. Upon this ground it will be set aside, should the Senate advise
and consent to the ratification of that now communicated, without
looking back to the means by which the other was effected. And in the
adjustment of the terms of the present treaty I have been peculiarly
anxious to dispense a measure of great liberality to both parties of the
Creek Nation, rather than to extort from them a bargain of which the
advantages on our part could only be purchased by hardship on theirs.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 1, 1826_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 50th ultimo, I
communicate herewith, in confidence, a report[004] from the Secretary of
State, with the documents, containing the information desired by the
resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 7, 1826_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 15th of December
last, I communicate herewith reports from the Secretaries of the
Treasury and War and from the Commissioner of the General Land Office,
with documents, relating to the lead mines and salt springs, containing
the information desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 14, 1826_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
12th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the
Navy, with the statements relating to naval courts of inquiry and
courts-martial since the 1st January, 1824, requested by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 15, 1826_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the late
Secretary of War to the late President of the United States, with
documents, containing information requested by a resolution of the House
of April 10, 1824, relating to the purchases of real estate in behalf of
the United States within the territorial limits of any State since the
4th July, 1776.

These papers were prepared during the last session of Congress, but by
some accident were not then communicated to the House.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 16, 1826_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In answer to the two resolutions of the Senate of the 15th instant,
marked executive, and which I have received, I state respectfully that
all the communications from me to the Senate relating to the congress at
Panama have been made, like all other communications upon executive
business, _in confidence_ and most of them in compliance with a
resolution of the Senate requesting them confidentially. Believing that
the established usage of free confidential communication between the
Executive and the Senate ought for the public interest to be preserved
unimpaired, I deem it my indispensable duty to leave to the Senate
itself the decision of a question involving a departure hitherto, so far
as I am informed, without example from that usage, and upon the motives
for which, not being informed of them, I do not feel myself competent to
decide.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 17, 1826_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with a
further document, prepared in compliance with a resolution of the House
of the 10th of April, 1824, and containing information relating to
purchasers of real estate in behalf of the United States within the
territorial limits of any State since the 4th of July, 1776.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 17, 1826_


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to both Houses of Congress a letter from the
Secretary of War, with a report from the Ordnance Department, relating
to the site of the arsenal of the United States at Augusta, in Georgia,
and with regard to which the interposition of the legislative authority
is submitted to your consideration as desirable.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 1, 1826_


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War, together
with a representation from Colonel Brooke, relating to the present
condition of the Indians in Florida, and which I recommend to the
favorable consideration of Congress.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 1, 1826_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

A resolution of the House of Representatives adopted at the first
session of the Eighteenth Congress, and bearing date the 6th of May,
1824, requested the President of the United States to lay before the
House at their then next session a detailed report of the system and
plan of fortifications then contemplated and recommended by the Board of
Engineers, with various particulars specified in the resolution; and on
the 5th of January last a further resolution was adopted requesting
similar information. I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of
War, with a letter from the Chief Engineer, and documents, containing,
so far as it has been found practicable to obtain and compile it, the
information requested by these resolutions.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 5, 1826_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I now submit to the consideration of Congress the propriety of making
the appropriation for carrying into effect the appointment of a mission
to the congress at Panama.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 7, 1826_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to both Houses of Congress a letter from the Secretary of
War, together with copies of one to him from the Senators of the State
of Maryland, and several other documents, relating to a claim of that
State upon the Government of the United States for interest upon certain
expenditures during the late war, which I the more readily recommend to
the favorable and early consideration of Congress inasmuch as the
principle upon which the claim is advanced appears to have been settled
by the act of Congress of 3d March, 1825, authorizing the payment of
interest due to the State of Virginia.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 8, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary
of State, with the proceedings of the court and marshal of the United
States for the district of Alabama, and other documents, in relation to
the cargoes of certain slave ships, the _Constitution, Louisa_. and
_Marino_. containing the information requested by a resolution of the
House of February 16, 1825.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 8, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
10th ultimo, requesting information relating to the proceedings of the
joint commission of indemnities due under the award of the Emperor of
Russia for slaves and other private property carried away by the British
forces in violation of the treaty of Ghent, I transmit herewith a report
from the Secretary of State and documents containing the information
desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 15, 1826_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War and copies
of a resolution of that legislature of the State of Georgia, with a
correspondence of the governor of that State, relating to the running
and establishing of the line between that State and Florida, which I
recommend to the favorable consideration of Congress.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 15, 1826_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 5th ultimo,
requesting me to cause to be laid before the House so much of the
correspondence between the Government of the United States and the new
States of America, or their ministers, respecting the proposed congress
or meeting of diplomatic agents at Panama, and such information
respecting the general character of that expected congress as may be in
my possession and as may, in my opinion, be communicated without
prejudice to the public interest, and also to inform the House, so far
as in my opinion the public interest may allow, in regard to what
objects the agents of the United States are expected to take part in the
deliberations of that congress, I now transmit to the House a report
from the Secretary of State, with the correspondence and information
requested by the resolution.

With regard to the objects in which the agents of the United States are
expected to take part in the deliberations of that congress, I deem it
proper to premise that these objects did not form the only, nor even the
principal, motive for my acceptance of the invitation. My first and
greatest inducement was to meet in the spirit of kindness and friendship
an overture made in that spirit by three sister Republics of this
hemisphere.

The great revolution in human affairs which has brought into existence,
nearly at the same time, eight sovereign and independent nations in our
own quarter of the globe has placed the United States in a situation not
less novel and scarcely less interesting than that in which they had
found themselves by their own transition from a cluster of colonies to a
nation of sovereign States. The deliverance of the Southern American
Republics from the oppression under which they had been so long
afflicted was hailed with great unanimity by the people of this Union as
among the most auspicious events of the age. On the 4th of May, 1822, an
act of Congress made an appropriation of $100,000 "for such missions to
the independent nations on the American continent as the President of
the United States might deem proper." In exercising the authority
recognized by this act my predecessor, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate appointed successively ministers plenipotentiary
to the Republics of Colombia, Buenos Ayres, Chili, and Mexico. Unwilling
to raise among the fraternity of freedom questions of precedency and
etiquette, which even the European monarchs had of late found it
necessary in a great measure to discard, he dispatched these ministers
to Colombia, Buenos Ayres, and Chili without exacting from those
Republics, as by the ancient principles of political primogeniture he
might have done, that the compliment of a plenipotentiary mission should
have been paid _first_ by them to the United States. The instructions,
prepared under his direction, to Mr. Anderson, the first of our
ministers to the southern continent, contain at much length the general
principles upon which he thought it desirable that our relations,
political and commercial, with these our new neighbors should be
established for their benefit and ours and that of the future ages of
our posterity. A copy of so much of these instructions as relates to
these general subjects is among the papers now transmitted to the House.
Similar instructions were furnished to the ministers appointed to Buenos
Ayres, Chili, and Mexico, and the system of social intercourse which it
was the purpose of those missions to establish from the first opening of
our diplomatic relations with those rising nations is the most effective
exposition of the principles upon which the invitation to the congress
at Panama has been accepted by me, as well as of the objects of
negotiation at that meeting, in which, it was that our plenipotentiaries
should take part.

The House will perceive that even at the date of these instructions the
first treaties between some of the southern Republics had been
concluded, by which they had stipulated among themselves this diplomatic
assembly at Panama. And it will be seen with what caution, so far as it
might concern the policy of the United States, and at the same time with
what frankness and good will toward those nations, he gave countenance
to their design of inviting the United States to this high assembly for
consultation upon _American interests_. It was not considered a
conclusive reason for declining this invitation that the proposal for
assembling such a Congress had not first been made by ourselves. It had
sprung from the urgent, immediate, and momentous common interests of the
great communities struggling for independence, and, as it were,
quickening into life. From them the proposition to us appeared
respectful and friendly; from us to them it could scarcely have been
made without exposing ourselves to suspicions of purposes of ambition,
if not of domination, more suited to rouse resistance and excite
distrust than to conciliate favor and friendship. The first and
paramount principle upon which it was deemed wise and just to lay the
corner stone of all our future relations with them was
_disinterestedness_; the next was cordial good will to them; the third
was a claim of fair and equal reciprocity. Under these impressions when
the invitation was formally and earnestly given, had it even been
doubtful whether _any_ of the objects proposed for consideration and
discussion at the Congress were such as that immediate and important
interests of the United States would be affected by the issue, I should,
nevertheless, have determined so far as it depended upon me to have
accepted the invitation and to have appointed ministers to attend the
meeting. The proposal itself implied that the Republics by whom it was
made _believed_ that important interests of ours or of theirs rendered
our attendance there desirable. They had given us notice that in the
novelty of their situation and in the spirit of deference to our
experience they would be pleased to have the benefit of our friendly
counsel. To meet the temper with which this proposal was made with a
cold repulse was not thought congenial to that warm interest in their
welfare with which the people and Government of the Union had hitherto
gone hand in hand through the whole progress of their revolution. To
insult them by a refusal of their overture, and then invite them to a
similar assembly to be called by ourselves, was an expedient which never
presented itself to the mind. I would have sent ministers to the meeting
had it been merely to give them such advice as they might have desired,
even with reference to _their own_ interests, not involving ours. I
would have sent them had it been merely to explain and set forth to them
our reasons for _declining_ any proposal of specific measures to which
they might desire our concurrence, but which we might deem incompatible
with our interests or our duties. In the intercourse between nations
temper is a missionary perhaps more powerful than talent. Nothing was
ever lost by kind treatment. Nothing can be gained by sullen repulses
and aspiring pretensions.

But objects of the highest importance, not only to the future welfare of
the whole human race, but bearing directly upon the special interests of
this Union, _will_ engage the deliberations of the congress of Panama
whether we are represented there or not. Others, if we are represented,
may be offered by our plenipotentiaries for consideration having in view
both these great results--our own interests and the improvement of the
condition of man upon earth. It may be that in the lapse of many
centuries no other opportunity so favorable will be presented to the
Government of the United States to subserve the benevolent purposes of
Divine Providence; to dispense the promised blessings of the Redeemer of
Mankind; to promote the prevalence in future ages of peace on earth and
good will to man, as will now be placed in their power by participating
in the deliberations of this congress.

Among the topics enumerated in official papers published by the Republic
of Colombia, and adverted to in the correspondence now communicated to
the House, as intended to be presented for discussion at Panama, there
is scarcely one in which the _result_ of the meeting will not deeply
affect the interests of the United States. Even those in which the
belligerent States alone will take an active part will have a powerful
effect upon the state of our relations with the American, and probably
with the principal European, States. Were it merely that we might be
correctly and speedily informed of the proceedings of the congress and
of the progress and issue of their negotiations, I should hold it
advisable that we should have an accredited agency with them, placed in
such confidential relations with the other members as would insure the
authenticity and the safe and early transmission of its reports. Of the
same enumerated topics are the preparation of a manifesto setting forth
to the world the justice of their cause and the relations they desire to
hold with other Christian powers, and to form a convention of navigation
and commerce applicable both to the confederated States and to their
allies.

It will be within the recollection of the House that immediately after
the close of the war of our independence a measure closely analogous to
this congress of Panama was adopted by the Congress of our
Confederation, and for purposes of precisely the same character. Three
commissioners with plenipotentiary powers were appointed to negotiate
treaties of amity, navigation, and commerce with all the principal
powers of Europe. They met and resided for that purpose about one year
at Paris, and the only result of their negotiations at that time was the
first treaty between the United States and Prussia--memorable in the
diplomatic annals of the world, and precious as a monument of the
principles, in relation to commerce and maritime warfare, with which our
country entered upon her career as a member of the great family of
independent nations. This treaty, prepared in conformity with the
instructions of the American plenipotentiaries, consecrated three
fundamental principles of the foreign intercourse which the Congress of
that period were desirous of establishing: First, equal reciprocity and
the mutual stipulation of the privileges of the most favored nation in
the commercial exchanges of peace; secondly, the abolition of private
war upon the ocean, and thirdly, restrictions favorable to neutral
commerce upon belligerent practices with regard to contraband of war and
blockades. A painful, it may be said a calamitous, experience of more
than forty years has demonstrated the deep importance of these same
principles to the peace and prosperity of this nation and to the welfare
of all maritime States, and has illustrated the profound wisdom with
which they were assumed as cardinal points of the policy of the Union.

At that time in the infancy of their political existence, under the
influence of those principles of liberty and of right so congenial to
the cause in which they had just fought and triumphed, they were able
but to obtain the sanction of one great and philosophical, though
absolute, sovereign in Europe to their liberal and enlightened
principles. They could obtain no more. Since then a political hurricane
has gone over three-fourths of the civilized portions of the earth, the
desolation of which it may with confidence be expected is passing away,
leaving at least the American atmosphere purified and refreshed. And now
at this propitious moment the new-born nations of this hemisphere,
assembling by their representatives at the isthmus between its two
continents to settle the principles of their future international
intercourse with other nations and with us, ask in this great exigency
for our advice upon those very fundamental maxims which we from our
cradle at first proclaimed and partially succeeded to introduce into the
code of national law.

Without recurring to that total prostration of all neutral and
commercial rights which marked the progress of the late European wars,
and which finally involved the United States in them, and adverting only
to our political relations with these American nations, it is observable
that while in all other respects those relations have been uniformly and
without exception of the most friendly and mutually satisfactory
character, the only causes of difference and dissension between us and
them which ever have arisen originated in those never-failing fountains
of discord and irritation--discriminations of commercial favor to other
nations, licentious privateers, and paper blockades. I can not without
doing injustice to the Republics of Buenos Ayres and Colombia forbear to
acknowledge the candid and conciliatory spirit with which they have
repeatedly yielded to our friendly representations and remonstrances on
these subjects--in repealing discriminative laws which operated to our
disadvantage and in revoking the commissions of their privateers, to
which Colombia has added the magnanimity of making reparation for
unlawful captures by some of her cruisers and of assenting in the midst
of war to treaty stipulations favorable to neutral navigation. But the
recurrence of these occasions of complaint has rendered the renewal of
the discussions which result in the removal of them necessary, while in
the meantime injuries are sustained by merchants and other individuals
of the United States which can not be repaired, and the remedy lingers
in overtaking the pernicious operation of the mischief. The settlement
of general principles pervading with equal efficacy all the American
States can alone put an end to these evils, and can alone be
accomplished at the proposed assembly.

If it be true that the noblest treaty of peace ever mentioned in history
is that by which the Carthagenians were bound to abolish the practice of
sacrificing their own children _because it was stipulated in favor of
human nature_. I can not exaggerate to myself the unfading glory with
which these United States will go forth in the memory of future ages if
by their friendly counsel, by their moral influence, by the power of
argument and persuasion alone they can prevail upon the American nations
at Panama to stipulate by general agreement among themselves, and so far
as any of them may be concerned, the perpetual abolition of private war
upon the ocean. And if we can not yet flatter ourselves that this may be
accomplished, as advances toward it the establishment of the principle
that the friendly flag shall cover the cargo, the curtailment of
contraband of war, and the proscription of fictitious paper blockades--
engagements which we may reasonably hope will not prove impracticable--
will, if successfully inculcated, redound proportionally to our honor
and drain the fountain of many a future sanguinary war.

The late President of the United States, in his message to Congress of
the 2d December, 1823, while announcing the negotiation then pending
with Russia, relating to the northwest coast of this continent, observed
that the occasion of the discussions to which that incident had given
rise had been taken for asserting as a principle in which the rights and
interests of the United States were involved that the American
continents, by the free and independent condition which they had assumed
and maintained, were thenceforward not to be considered as subjects for
future colonization by any European power. The principle had first been
assumed in that negotiation with Russia. It rested upon a course of
reasoning equally simple and conclusive. With the exception of the
existing European colonies, which it was in nowise intended to disturb,
the two continents consisted of several sovereign and independent
nations, whose territories covered their whole surface. By this their
independent condition the United States enjoyed the right of commercial
intercourse with every part of their possessions. To attempt the
establishment of a colony in those possessions would be to usurp to the
exclusion of others a commercial intercourse which was the common
possession of all. It could not be done without encroaching upon
existing rights of the United States. The Government of Russia has never
disputed these positions nor manifested the slightest dissatisfaction at
their having been taken. Most of the new American Republics have
declared their entire assent to them, and they now propose, among the
subjects of consultation at Panama, to take into consideration the means
of making effectual the assertion of that principle, as well as the
means of resisting interference from abroad with the domestic concerns
of the American Governments.

In alluding to these means it would obviously be premature at this time
to anticipate that which is offered merely as matter for consultation,
or to pronounce upon those measures which have been or may be suggested.
The purpose of this Government is to concur in none which would import
hostility to Europe or justly excite resentment in any of her States.
Should it be deemed advisable to contract any conventional engagement on
this topic, our views would extend no further than to a mutual pledge of
the parties to the compact to maintain the principle in application to
its own territory, and to permit no colonial lodgments or establishment
of European jurisdiction upon its own soil; and with respect to the
obtrusive interference from abroad--if its future character may be
inferred from that which has been and perhaps still is exercised in more
than one of the new States--a joint declaration of its character and
exposure of it to the world may be probably all that the occasion would
require. Whether the United States should or should not be parties to
such a declaration may justly form a part of the deliberation. That
there is an evil to be remedied heeds little insight into the secret
history of late years to know, and that this remedy may best be
concerted at the Panama meeting deserves at least the experiment of
consideration. A concert of measures having reference to the more
effectual abolition of the African slave trade and the consideration of
the light in which the political condition of the island of Hayti is to
be regarded are also among the subjects mentioned by the minister from
the Republic of Colombia as believed to be suitable for deliberation at
the congress. The failure of the negotiations with that Republic
undertaken during the late administration, for the suppression of that
trade, in compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives,
indicates the expediency of listening with respectful attention to
propositions which may contribute to the accomplishment of the great end
which was the purpose of that resolution, while the result of those
negotiations will serve as admonition to abstain from pledging this
Government to any arrangement which might be expected to fail of
obtaining the advice and consent of the Senate by a constitutional
majority to its ratification.

Whether the political condition of the island of Hayti shall be brought
at all into discussion at the meeting may be a question for preliminary
advisement. There are in the political constitution of Government of
that people circumstances which have hitherto forbidden the
acknowledgment of them by the Government of the United States as
sovereign and independent. Additional reasons for withholding that
acknowledgment have recently been seen in their acceptance of a nominal
sovereignty by the _grant_ of a foreign prince under conditions
equivalent to the concession by them of exclusive commercial advantages
to one nation, adapted altogether to the state of colonial vassalage and
retaining little of independence but the name. Our plenipotentiaries
will be instructed to present these views to the assembly at Panama, and
should they not be concurred in to decline acceding to any arrangement
which may be proposed upon different principles.

The condition of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico is of deeper import
and more immediate bearing upon the present interests and future
prospects of our Union. The correspondence herewith transmitted will
show how earnestly it has engaged the attention of this Government. The
invasion of both those islands by the united forces of Mexico and
Colombia is avowedly among the objects to be matured by the belligerent
States at Panama. The convulsions to which, from the peculiar
composition of their population, they would be liable in the event of
such an invasion, and the danger therefrom resulting of their falling
ultimately into the hands of some European power other than Spain, will
not admit of our looking at the consequences to which the congress at
Panama may lead with indifference. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon
this topic or to say more than that all our efforts in reference to this
interest will be to preserve the existing state of things, the
tranquillity of the islands, and the peace and security of their
inhabitants.

And lastly, the congress of Panama is believed to present a fair
occasion for urging upon all the new nations of the south the just and
liberal principles of religious liberty; not by any interference
whatever in their internal concerns, but by claiming for our citizens
whose occupations or interests may call them to occasional residence in
their territories the inestimable privilege of worshipping their Creator
according to the dictates of their own consciences. This privilege,
sanctioned by the customary law of nations and secured by treaty
stipulations in numerous national compacts, secured even to our own
citizens in the treaties with Colombia and with the Federation of
Central America, is yet to be obtained in the other South American
States and Mexico. Existing prejudices are still struggling against it,
which may, perhaps, be more successfully combated at this general
meeting than at the separate seats of Government of each Republic.

I can scarcely deem it otherwise than superfluous to observe that the
assembly will be in its nature diplomatic and not legislative; that
nothing can be transacted there obligatory upon any one of the States to
be represented at the meeting, unless with the express concurrence of
its own representatives, nor even then, but subject to the ratification
of its constitutional authority at home. The faith of the United States
to foreign powers can not otherwise be pledged. I shall, indeed, in the
first instance, consider the assembly as merely _consultative_; and
although the plenipotentiaries of the United States will be empowered to
receive and refer to the consideration of their Government any
proposition from the other parties to the meeting, they will be
authorized to conclude nothing unless subject to the definitive sanction
of this Government in all its constitutional forms. It has therefore
seemed to me unnecessary to insist that every object to be discussed at
the meeting should be specified with the precision of a judicial
sentence or enumerated with the exactness of a mathematical
demonstration. The purpose of the meeting itself is to deliberate upon
the great and common _interests_ of several new and neighbouring
nations. If the measure is new and without precedent, so is the
situation of the parties to it. That the purposes of the meeting are
somewhat indefinite, far from being an objection to it is among the
cogent reasons for its adoption. It is not the establishment of
principles of intercourse with one, but with seven or eight nations at
once. That before they have had the means of exchanging ideas and
communicating with one another in common upon these topics they should
have definitively settled and arranged them in concert is to require
that the effect should precede the cause; it is to exact as a
preliminary to the meeting that for the accomplishment of which the
meeting itself is designed.

Among the inquiries which were thought entitled to consideration before
the determination was taken to accept the invitation was that whether
the measure might not have a tendency to change the policy, hitherto
invariably pursued by the United States, of avoiding all entangling
alliances and all unnecessary foreign connections.

Mindful of the advice given by the father of our country in his Farewell
Address, that the great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign
nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as
little political connection as possible, and faithfully adhering to the
spirit of that admonition, I can not overlook the reflection that the
counsel of Washington in that instance, like all the counsels of wisdom,
was founded upon the circumstances in which our country and the world
around us were situated at the time when it was given; that the reasons
assigned by him for his advice were that Europe had a set of primary
interests which to us had none or a very remote relation; that hence she
must be engaged in frequent controversies, the, causes of which were
essentially foreign to our concerns; that our _detached_ and _distant_
situation invited and enabled us to pursue a different course; that by
our union and rapid growth, with an efficient Government, the period was
not far distant when we might defy material injury from external
annoyance, when we might take such an attitude as would cause our
neutrality to be respected, and, with reference to belligerent nations,
might choose peace or war, as our interests, guided by justice, should
counsel.

Compare our situation and the circumstances of that time with those of
the present day, and what, from the very words of Washington then, would
be his counsels to his countrymen now? Europe has still her set of
primary interests, with which we have little or a remote relation. Our
distant and detached situation with reference to Europe remains the
same. But we were then the only independent nation of this hemisphere,
and we were surrounded by European colonies, with the greater part of
which we had no more intercourse than with the inhabitants of another
planet. Those colonies have now been transformed into eight independent
nations, extending to our very borders, seven of them Republics like
ourselves, with whom we have an immensely growing commercial, and _must_
have and have already important political, connections; with reference
to whom our situation is neither distant nor detached; whose political
principles and systems of government, congenial with our own, must and
will have an action and counteraction upon us and ours to which we can
not be indifferent if we would.

The rapidity of our growth, and the consequent increase of our strength,
has more than realized the anticipations of this admirable political
legacy. Thirty years have nearly elapsed since it was written, and in
the interval our population, our wealth, our territorial extension, our
power--physical and moral--have nearly trebled. Reasoning upon this
state of things from the sound and judicious principles of Washington,
must we not say that the period which he predicted as then not far off
has arrived; that _America_ has a set of primary interests which have
none or a remote relation to Europe; that the interference of Europe,
therefore, in those concerns should be spontaneously withheld by her
upon the same principles that we have never interfered with hers, and
that if she should interfere, as she may, by measures which may have a
great and dangerous recoil upon ourselves, we might be called in defense
of our own altars and firesides to take an attitude which would cause
our neutrality to be respected, and choose peace or war, as our
interest, guided by justice, should counsel.

The acceptance of this invitation, therefore, far from conflicting with
the counsel or the policy of Washington, is directly deducible from and
conformable to it. Nor is it less conformable to the views of my
immediate predecessor as declared in his annual message to Congress of
the 2d December, 1823, to which I have already adverted, and to an
important passage of which I invite the attention of the House:

    The citizens of the United States (said he) cherish sentiments
    the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their
    fellow-men on that (the European) side of the Atlantic. In the
    wars of the European powers in matters relating to themselves we
    have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so
    to do. It is only when our rights are invaded or seriously
    menaced that we resent injuries or make preparation for our
    defense. With the movements in this hemisphere we are of
    necessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be
    obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political
    system of the allied powers is essentially different in this
    respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that
    which exists in their respective Governments. And to the defense
    of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood
    and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened
    citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity,
    this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor and
    to the amicable relations subsisting between the United States
    and those powers to declare that we should consider any attempt
    on their part to extend their system to any portion of this
    hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the
    existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have
    not interfered and shall not interfere; but with the Governments
    who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose
    independence we have on great consideration and on just
    principles acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for
    the purposes of oppressing them or controlling in any other
    manner their destiny by any European power in any other light
    than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the
    United States. In the war between those new Governments and Spain
    we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition, and
    to this we have adhered and shall continue to adhere, provided no
    change shall occur which in the judgment of the competent
    authorities of this Government shall make a corresponding change
    on the part of the United States indispensable to their security.

To the question which may be asked, whether this meeting and the
principles which may be adjusted and settled by it as rules of
intercourse between the American nations may not give umbrage to the
holy league of European powers or offense to Spain, it is deemed a
sufficient answer that our attendance at Panama can give _no just cause_
of umbrage or offense to either, and that the United States will
stipulate nothing there which can give such cause. Here the right of
inquiry into our purposes and measures must stop. The holy league of
Europe itself was formed without inquiring of the United States whether
it would or would not give umbrage to them. The fear of giving umbrage
to the holy league of Europe was urged as a motive for denying to the
American nations the acknowledgment of their independence. That it would
be viewed by Spain as hostility to her was not only urged, but directly
declared by herself. The Congress and administration of that day
consulted their rights and duties, and not their fears. Fully determined
to give no heedless displeasure to any foreign power, the United States
can estimate the probability of their giving it only by the right which
any foreign state could have to take it from their measures. Neither the
representation of the United States at Panama nor any measure to which
their assent may be yielded there will give to the holy league or any of
its members, nor to Spain, the right to take offense; for the rest the
United States must still, as heretofore, take counsel from their duties
rather than their fears.

Such are the objects in which it is expected that the plenipotentiaries
of the United States, when commissioned to attend the meeting at the
Isthmus, will take part, and such are the motives and purposes with
which the invitation of the three Republics was accepted. It was,
however, as the House will perceive from the correspondence, accepted
only upon condition that the nomination of commissioners for the mission
should receive the advice and consent of the Senate.

The concurrence of the House to the measure by the appropriations
necessary for carrying it into effect is alike subject to its free
determination and indispensable to the fulfillment of the intention.

That the congress at Panama will accomplish all, or even any, of the
transcendent benefits to the human race which warmed the conceptions of
its first proposer it were perhaps indulging too sanguine a forecast of
events to promise. It is in its nature a measure speculative and
experimental. The blessing of Heaven may turn it to the account of human
improvement; accidents unforeseen and mischances not to be anticipated
may baffle all its high purposes and disappoint its fairest
expectations. But the design is great, is benevolent, is humane.

It looks to the melioration of the condition of man. It is congenial
with that spirit which prompted the declaration of our independence,
which inspired the preamble of our first treaty with France, which
dictated our first treaty with Prussia and the instructions under which
it was negotiated, which filled the hearts and fired the souls of the
immortal founders of our Revolution.

With this unrestricted exposition of the motives by which I have been
governed in this transaction, as well as of the objects to be discussed
and of the ends, if possible, to be attained by our representation at
the proposed congress, I submit the propriety of an appropriation to the
candid consideration and enlightened patriotism of the Legislature.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 16, 1826_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

Some additional documents having relation to the objects of the mission
to the congress at Panama, and received since the communication of those
heretofore sent, are now transmitted to the Senate.

John Quincy Adams.



_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
10th instant, requesting information in possession of the Government
relating to certain resolves of the Congress of the Confederation of the
21st of October, 1780, and the 21st March, 1783, concerning allowances
to the officers of the Revolutionary army, and to the manner of carrying
into effect those resolves, and other particulars appertaining thereto,
I transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, and
of War, with documents, comprising the information desired by the House.

John Quincy Adams.



MARCH 22, 1826.



Washington,
_March 24, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of
the 14th ultimo, requesting statements of the amount of compensation
allowed to the paymaster and quartermaster of the Marine Corps for
the two years preceding the 1st of January, 1826, and of other particulars
relating to the same Corps, I communicate a report from the Secretary
of the Navy, with documents, containing the information desired by the
resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 24, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
16th ultimo, requesting statements of the net amount of revenue derived
from imports and tonnage received by the Treasury from the ports within
the bay of Delaware, the bay of Chesapeake, the harbor of New York,
and at Boston from the 1st of January, 1790, to the last of December,
1825, and of the amount of expenditures paid from the Treasury for forts,
light-houses, beacons, and other public works erected to aid commerce
or for the purposes of defense within the said bays and harbors during
the said time, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the
Treasury, with several documents, containing the information desired by
the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 29, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 227th instant,
requesting a copy of such parts of the answer of the Secretary of State
to Mr. Poinsett's letter to Mr. Clay, dated Mexico, 28th September,
1825, No. 22, as relates to the pledge of the United States therein
mentioned; and also requesting me to inform the House whether the United
States have in any manner made any pledge to the Governments of Mexico
and South America that the United States would not permit the
interference of any foreign power with the independence or form of
government of these nations, and, if so, when, in what manner, and to
what effect; and also to communicate to the House a copy of the
communication from our minister at Mexico in which he informed the
Government of the United States that the Mexican Government called upon
this Government to fulfill the memorable pledge of the President of the
United States in his message to Congress of December, 1823, I transmit
to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with the documents
containing the information desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 30, 1826_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

By the second article of the general convention of peace, amity,
navigation, and commerce between the United States and the Republic of
Colombia, concluded at Bogota on 3d of October, 1824, it was stipulated
that the parties engaged mutually not to grant any particular favor to
other nations in respect of commerce and navigation which should not
immediately become common to the other party, who should enjoy the same
freely if the concession was freely made, or on allowing the same
compensation if the concession was conditional. And in the third article
of the same convention it was agreed that the citizens of the United
States might frequent all the coasts and countries of the Republic of
Colombia, and reside and trade there in all sorts of produce,
manufactures, and merchandise, and should pay no other or greater
duties, charges, or fees whatsoever than the most favored nation should
be obliged to pay, and should enjoy all the rights, privileges, and
exemptions in navigation and commerce which the most favored nations
should enjoy, submitting themselves, nevertheless, to the laws, decrees,
and usages there established, and to which were submitted the subjects
and citizens of the most favored nations; with a reciprocal stipulation
in favor of the citizens of the Republic of Colombia in the United
States. Subsequently to the conclusion of this convention a treaty was
negotiated between the Republic of Colombia and Great Britain, by which
it was stipulated that no other or higher duties on account of tonnage,
light, or harbor dues should be imposed in the ports of Colombia on
British vessels than those payable in the same ports by Colombian
vessels, and that the same duties should be paid on the importation into
the territories of Colombia of any article the growth, produce, or
manufacture of His Britannic Majesty's dominions, whether such
importations should be in Colombian or in British vessels, and that the
same duties should be paid and the same discount (drawbacks) and
bounties allowed on the exportation of any articles the growth, produce,
or manufacture of Colombia to His Britannic Majesty's dominions, whether
such exportations were in Colombian or in British vessels.

The minister of the United States to the Republic of Colombia having
claimed, by virtue of the second and third articles of the convention
between the two Republics, that the benefit of these subsequent
stipulations should be alike extended to the citizens of the United
States upon the condition of reciprocity provided for by the convention,
the application of those engagements was readily acceded to by the
Colombian Government, and a decree was issued by the executive authority
of that Republic on the 30th of January last, a copy and translation of
which are herewith communicated, securing to the citizens of the United
States in the Republic of Colombia the same advantages in regard to
commerce and navigation which had been conceded to British subjects in
the Colombian treaty with Great Britain.

It remains for the Government of the United States to secure to the
citizens of the Republic of Colombia the reciprocal advantages to which
they are entitled by the terms of the convention, to commence from the
30th of January last, for the accomplishment of which I invite the
favor-able consideration of the Legislature.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 31, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 21st instant,
requesting information whether any, and what, measures have been taken
to improve the navigation over the sand bars in the Ohio River according
to the provisions of the act of the 24th of May, 1824, to improve the
navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and also whether the
experiments mentioned in the proviso to the first section of the said
act have been made, and, if so, what success has attended them, I
transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with documents,
containing the information desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 31, 1826_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate to the Senate herewith a supplementary article to the
treaty with the chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation, in behalf of
that nation, which was transmitted to the Senate on the 31st of January
last, and which I submit, together with and as a part of that treaty,
for the constitutional advice of the Senate with regard to its
ratification. A report of the Secretary of War accompanies the article,
setting forth the reasons for which it has been concluded.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 1, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 13th ultimo,
requesting a statement of all the expenditures incident or relating to
internal improvement for the years 1824 and 1825, I transmit reports
from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, with documents,
containing the statement desired.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 1, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 7th ultimo,
requesting information relative to the execution of an act of Congress
of the 7th May, 1822, to authorize and empower the corporation of the
city of Washington, in the district of Columbia, to drain the low
grounds on and near the public reservations, and to improve and ornament
certain parts of such reservations, I transmit herewith a report from
the commissioners appointed by the corporation of the city to carry into
effect the provisions of the said act, together with sundry documents,
exhibiting the information desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 5, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 30th ultimo, I
transmit to the House a report[005] from the Secretary of State, with
the documents desired by the resolution; and also a copy of the letter
from the Secretary of State to Mr. Poinsett acknowledging the receipt of
his dispatch No. 22, accidentally overlooked in the answer to the
resolution of the House of the 27th ultimo.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 11, 1826_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

On the 16th of January last I sent to the Senate a nomination of Daniel
Bissell to be colonel of the Second Regiment of Artillery, and on the 3d
of February I received from the Secretary of the Senate an attested copy
of their proceedings in relation to that nomination, laid before me by
their order, and closing with a resolution in these words:

_Resolved_. That in the opinion of the Senate Daniel Bissell is entitled
to the place of colonel in the Army of the United States, taking rank as
such from the 15th of August, 1812, with the brevet of brigadier-general
from the 9th of March, 1814, and that the President of the United States
may arrange him accordingly.

In the discharge of my own duties I am under the necessity of stating
respectfully to the Senate--

First. That I can not concur in these opinions.

Secondly. That the resolution of the Senate, having on its face no
reference either to the nomination or to the office for which it was
made, leaves me doubtful whether it was intended by the Senate as their
decision upon the nomination or not. If intended as their decision, it
imports that the Senate do not advise and consent to the appointment of
Daniel Bissell as colonel in the Second Regiment of Artillery. If
intended as a mere expression of their opinions, superseding in their
judgment the necessity of their immediate decision upon the nomination,
it leaves the Senate still in possession of the nomination and free to
act upon it when informed of my inability to carry those opinions into
effect.

In this uncertainty I have thought it most respectful to the Senate to
refer the subject again to them for their consideration. The delay in
the transmission of this communication is attributable to the earnest
desire which I have entertained of acceding to the opinions and
complying with the wishes of the Senate, and to the long and repeated
reconsideration of my own impressions with the view to make them, if
possible, conform to theirs. A still higher duty now constrains me to
invite their definitive decision upon the nomination.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 15, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
11th instant, I transmit herewith a report[006] of the Secretary of
State, and documents, containing the information desired by the
resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 25, 1826_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I now transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of a treaty with the
Creek Nation of Indians, concluded on the 24th day of January last, with
a supplementary article, signed on the 31st of last month, which have
been, with the advice and consent of the Senate, duly ratified. I send
at the same time copies of the treaty superseded by them, signed at the
Indian Springs on the 12th of February, 1825. The treaty and
supplementary article now ratified will require the aid of the
Legislature for carrying them into effect. And I subjoin a letter from
the Secretary of War, proposing an additional appropriation for the
purpose of facilitating the removal of that portion of the Creek Nation
which may be disposed to remove west of the Mississippi, recommending
the whole subject to the favorable consideration of Congress.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 25, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 4th of January last,
I now transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury,
and of War, and from the Postmaster-General, with the documents
containing the list of appointments of members of Congress and other
information relating thereto desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 28, 1826_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice concerning its
ratification, a general convention of friendship, commerce, and
navigation between the United States and His Majesty the King of
Denmark, signed by the Secretary of State and the Danish minister on the
26th instant. A copy of the convention and a note from the Secretary of
State, together with Mr. Pedersen's answer, respecting the claims of the
citizens of the United States upon the Danish Government, are likewise
communicated.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 29, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
26th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the
Treasury, with a copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General[007]
referred to in the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 9, 1826_.


_To the Senate of the United States_: In compliance with a resolution of
the Senate of the 28th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the
Secretary of War, with a copy of the proceedings of the recent
court-martial for the trial of Colonel Talbot Chambers, and other
documents requested by the resolution or relating to the subject of it.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 15, 1826_.



_To the Senate of the United States_: In compliance with a resolution of
the Senate of the 23d of March last, requesting information concerning
the official conduct of the collector and other revenue officers of the
port of Philadelphia, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of
the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired by the
resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 16, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
9th instant, I communicate herewith a report[007a] from the Secretary of
the Treasury, with the documents desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 17, 1826_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of treaties with Indian
tribes which have been, by and with the advice and consent of the
Senate, duly ratified during the present session of Congress:

(1) With the Great and Little Osage tribes, concluded June 2, 1825; (2)
Kansas, June 3, 1825; (3) Poncar, June 9, 1825; (4) Teton, Yancton, and
Yanctonies, June 22, 1825; (5) Sioune and Ogallala, July 5 and 12, 1825;
(6) Chayenne, July 6, 1825; (7) Hunkpapas, July 16, 1825; (8) Ricara,
July 18, 1825; (9) Mandan, July 30, 1825; (10) Belantse-Etoa, or
Minnetaree, July 30, 1825; (11) Crow, August 4, 1825; (12) Great and
Little Osage, August 10, 1825; (13) Kansas, August 16, 1825; (14) Sioux,
Chippewa, Sac and Fox, Menomonee, Ioway, Sioux, Winnebago, and a portion
of the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Pottawatomie tribes, August 19, 1825; (15)
Ottoe and Missouri, September 26, 1825; (16) Pawnee, September 30, 1825;
(17) Maha, October 6, 1825; (18) Shawnee, November 7, 1825.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 19, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 16th instant, I
transmit a report[008] from the Secretary of State, containing the
information thereby requested.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 20, 1826_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 5th of March, 1824,
requesting copies of the several instructions to the ministers of the
United States to the Government of France and of the correspondence
between the said ministers and Government having reference to the
spoliations committed by that power on the commerce of the United States
anterior to the 30th of September, 1800, or so much thereof as can be
communicated without prejudice to the public interest; also how far, if
at all, the claim of indemnity from the Government of France for the
spoliations aforesaid was affected by the convention entered into
between the United States and France on the said 30th of September,
1800, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with the
documents desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



EXECUTIVE ORDER.


Adjutant-General's Office,

Washington,
_July 11, 1826_


General Orders.


The General in Chief has received from the Department of War the
following orders:

The President with deep regret announces to the Army that it has pleased
the Disposer of All Human Events, in whose hands are the issues of life,
to remove from the scene of earthly existence our illustrious and
venerated fellow-citizen, Thomas Jefferson.

This dispensation of Divine Providence, afflicting to us, but the
consummation of glory to him, occurred on the 4th of the present
month--- on the fiftieth anniversary of that Independence the
Declaration of which, emanating from his mind, at once proclaimed the
birth of a free nation and offered motives of hope and consolation to
the whole family of man. Sharing in the grief which every heart must
feel for so heavy and afflicting a public loss, and desirous to express
his high sense of the vast debt of gratitude which is due to the
virtues, talents, and ever-memorable services of the illustrious
deceased, the President directs that funeral honors be paid to him at
all the military stations, and that the officers of the Army wear crape
on the left arm, by way of mourning, for six months.

Major-General Brown will give the necessary orders for carrying into
effect the foregoing directions.

J. Barbour.


       *       *       *       *       *


It has become the painful duty of the Secretary of War to announce to
the Army the death of another distinguished and venerated citizen. John
Adams departed this life on the 4th of this month. Like his compatriot
Jefferson, he aided in drawing and ably supporting the Declaration of
Independence. With a prophetic eye he looked through the impending
difficulties of the Revolution and foretold with what demonstrations of
joy the anniversary of the birth of American freedom would be hailed. He
was permitted to behold the verification of his prophecy, and died, as
did Jefferson, on the day of the jubilee.

A coincidence of circumstances so wonderful gives confidence to the
belief that the patriotic efforts of these illustrious men were Heaven
directed, and furnishes a new seal to the hope that the prosperity of
these States is under the special protection of a kind Providence.

The Secretary of War directs that the same funeral honors be paid by the
Army to the memory of the deceased as by the order of the 7th (11th?)
instant were directed to be paid to Thomas Jefferson, and the same token
of mourning be worn.

Major-General Brown is charged with the execution of this order.

J. Barbour.


       *       *       *       *       *


Never has it fallen to the lot of any commander to announce to an army
such an event as now calls forth the mingled grief and astonishment of
this Republic; never since history first wrote the record of time has
one day thus mingled every triumphant with every tender emotion, and
consecrated a nation's joy by blending it with the most sacred of
sorrows. Yes, soldiers, in one day, almost in the same hour, have two of
the Founders of the Republic, the Patriarchs of Liberty, closed their
services to social man, after beholding them crowned with the richest
and most unlimited success. United in their end as they had been in
their highest aim, their toils completed, their hopes surpassed, their
honors full, and the dearest wish of their bosoms gratified in death,
they closed their eyes in patriot ecstasy, amidst the gratulations and
thanksgivings of a people on all, on every individual, of whom they had
conferred the best of all earthly benefits.

Such men heed no trophies; they ask no splendid mausolea. We are their
monuments; their mausolea is their country, and her growing prosperity
the amaranthine wreath that Time shall place over their dust. Well may
the Genius of the Republic mourn. If she turns her eyes in one
direction, she beholds the hall where Jefferson wrote the charter of her
rights; if in another, she sees the city where Adams kindled the fires
of the Revolution. To no period of our history, to no department of our
affairs, can she direct her views and not meet the multiplied memorials
of her loss and of their glory.

At the grave of such men envy dies, and party animosity blushes while
she quenches her fires. If Science and Philosophy lament their
enthusiastic votary in the halls of Monticello, Philanthropy and
Eloquence weep with no less reason in the retirement of Quincy. And when
hereafter the stranger performing his pilgrimage to the land of freedom
shall ask for the monument of Jefferson, his inquiring eye may be
directed to the dome of that temple of learning, the university of his
native State--- the last labor of his untiring mind, the latest and the
favorite gift of a patriot to his country.

Bereaved yet happy America! Mourning yet highly favored country! Too
happy if every son whose loss shall demand thy tears can thus soothe thy
sorrow by a legacy of fame.

The Army of the United States, devoted to the service of the country,
and honoring all who are alike devoted, whether in the Cabinet or the
field, will feel an honorable and a melancholy pride in obeying this
order. Let the officers, then, wear the badge of mourning, the poor
emblem of a sorrow which words can not express, but which freemen must
ever feel while contemplating the graves of the venerated Fathers of the
Republic.

Tuesday succeeding the arrival of this order at each military station
shall be a day of rest.

The National flag shall wave at half-mast.

At early dawn thirteen guns shall be fired, and at intervals of thirty
minutes between the rising and setting sun a single cannon will be
discharged, and at the close of the day twenty-four rounds.

By command of Major-General Brown: R. JONES, _Adjutant-General_


       *       *       *       *       *



SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE.



Washington,
_December 5, 1826_.



Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:

The assemblage of the representatives of our Union in both Houses of the
Congress at this time occurs under circumstances calling for the renewed
homage of our grateful acknowledgments to the Giver of All Good. With
the exceptions incidental to the most felicitous condition of human
existence, we continue to be highly favored in all the elements which
contribute to individual comfort and to national prosperity. In the
survey of our extensive country we have generally to observe abodes of
health and regions of plenty. In our civil and political relations we
have peace without and tranquillity within our borders. We are, as a
people, increasing with unabated rapidity in population, wealth, and
national resources, and whatever differences of opinion exist among us
with regard to the mode and the means by which we shall turn the
beneficence of Heaven to the improvement of our own condition, there is
yet a spirit animating us all which will not suffer the bounties of
Providence to be showered upon us in vain, but will receive them with
grateful hearts, and apply them with unwearied hands to the advancement
of the general good.

Of the subjects recommended to Congress at their last session, some were
then definitively acted upon. Others, left unfinished, but partly
matured, will recur to your attention without heeding a renewal of
notice from me. The purpose of this communication will be to present to
your view the general aspect of our public affairs at this moment and
the measures which have been taken to carry into effect the intentions
of the Legislature as signified by the laws then and heretofore enacted.

In our intercourse with the other nations of the earth we have still the
happiness of enjoying peace and a general good understanding, qualified,
however, in several important instances by collisions of interest and by
unsatisfied claims of justice, to the settlement of which the
constitutional interposition of the legislative authority may become
ultimately indispensable.

By the decease of the Emperor Alexander, of Russia, which occurred
contemporaneously with the commencement of the last session of Congress,
the United States have been deprived of a long-tried, steady, and
faithful friend. Born to the inheritance of absolute power and trained
in the school of adversity, from which no power on earth, however
absolute, is exempt, that monarch from his youth had been taught to feel
the force and value of public opinion and to be sensible that the
interests of his own Government would best be promoted by a frank and
friendly intercourse with this Republic, as those of his people would be
advanced by a liberal commercial intercourse with our country. A candid
and confidential interchange of sentiments between him and the
Government of the United States upon the affairs of Southern America
took place at a period not long preceding his demise, and contributed to
fix that course of policy which left to the other Governments of Europe
no alternative but that of sooner or later recognizing the independence
of our southern neighbors, of which the example had by the United States
already been set. The ordinary diplomatic communications between his
successor, the Emperor Nicholas, and the United States have suffered
some interruption by the illness, departure, and subsequent decease of
his minister residing here, who enjoyed, as he merited, the entire
confidence of his new sovereign, as he had eminently responded to that
of his predecessor. But we have had the most satisfactory assurances
that the sentiments of the reigning Emperor toward the United States are
altogether conformable to those which had so long and constantly
animated his imperial brother, and we have reason to hope that they will
serve to cement that harmony and good understanding between the two
nations which, founded in congenial interests, can not but result in the
advancement of the welfare and prosperity of both.

Our relations of commerce and navigation with France are, by the
operation of the convention of 24th of June, 1822, with that nation, in
a state of gradual and progressive improvement. Convinced by all our
experience, no less than by the principles of fair and liberal
reciprocity which the United States have constantly tendered to all the
nations of the earth as the rule of commercial intercourse which they
would universally prefer, that fair and equal competition is most
conducive to the interests of both parties, the United States in the
negotiation of that convention earnestly contended for a mutual
renunciation of discriminating duties and charges in the ports of the
two countries. Unable to obtain the immediate recognition of this
principle in its full extent, after reducing the duties of
discrimination so far as was found attainable it was agreed that at the
expiration of two years from the 1st of October, 1822, when the
convention was to go into effect, unless a notice of six months on
either side should be given to the other that the convention itself must
terminate, those duties should be reduced one-fourth, and that this
reduction should be yearly repeated, until all discrimination should
cease, while the convention itself should continue in force. By the
effect of this stipulation three-fourths of the discriminating duties
which had been levied by each party upon the vessels of the other in its
ports have already been removed; and on the 1st of next October, should
the convention be still in force, the remaining fourth will be
discontinued. French vessels laden with French produce will be received
in our ports on the same terms as our own, and ours in return will enjoy
the same advantages in the ports of France.

By these approximations to an equality of duties and of charges not only
has the commerce between the two countries prospered, but friendly
dispositions have been on both sides encouraged and promoted. They will
continue to be cherished and cultivated on the part of the United
States. It would have been gratifying to have had it in my power to add
that the claims upon the justice of the French Government, involving the
property and the comfortable subsistence of many of our fellow-citizens,
and which have been so long and so earnestly urged, were in a more
promising train of adjustment than at your last meeting; but their
condition remains unaltered.

With the Government of the Netherlands the mutual abandonment of
discriminating duties had been regulated by legislative acts on both
sides. The act of Congress of the 20th of April, 1818, abolished all
discriminating duties of impost and tonnage upon the vessels and produce
of the Netherlands in the ports of the United States upon the assurance
given by the Government of the Netherlands that all such duties
operating against the shipping and commerce of the United States in that
Kingdom had been abolished. These reciprocal regulations had continued
in force several years when the discriminating principle was resumed by
the Netherlands in a new and indirect form by a bounty of 10 per cent in
the shape of a return of duties to their national vessels, and in which
those of the United States are not permitted to participate. By the act
of Congress of 7th January, 1824, all discriminating duties in the
United States were again suspended, so far as related to the vessels and
produce of the Netherlands, so long as the reciprocal exemption should
be extended to the vessels and produce of the United States in the
Netherlands. But the same act provides that in the event of a
restoration of discriminating duties to operate against the shipping and
commerce of the United States in any of the foreign countries referred
to therein the suspension of discriminating duties in favor of the
navigation of such foreign country should cease and all the provisions
of the acts imposing discriminating foreign tonnage and impost duties in
the United States should revive and be in full force with regard to that
nation.

In the correspondence with the Government of the Netherlands upon this
subject they have contended that the favor shown to their own shipping
by this bounty upon their tonnage is not to be considered as a
discriminating duty; but it can not be denied that it produces all the
same effects. Had the mutual abolition been stipulated by treaty, such a
bounty upon the national vessels could scarcely have been granted
consistently with good faith. Yet as the act of Congress of 7th January,
1824, has not expressly authorized the Executive authority to determine
what shall be considered as a revival of discriminating duties by a
foreign government to the disadvantage of the United States, and as the
retaliatory measure on our part, however just and necessary, may tend
rather to that conflict of legislation which we deprecate than to that
concert to which we invite all commercial nations, as most conducive to
their interest and our own, I have thought it more consistent with the
spirit of our institutions to refer the subject again to the paramount
authority of the Legislature to decide what measure the emergency may
require than abruptly by proclamation to carry into effect the minatory
provisions of the act of 1824.

During the last session of Congress treaties of amity, navigation, and
commerce were negotiated and signed at this place with the Government of
Denmark, in Europe, and with the Federation of Central America, in this
hemisphere. These treaties then received the constitutional sanction of
the Senate, by the advice and consent to their ratification. They were
accordingly ratified on the part of the United States, and during the
recess of Congress have been also ratified by the other respective
contracting parties. The ratifications have been exchanged, and they
have been published by proclamations, copies of which are herewith
communicated to Congress.

These treaties have established between the contracting parties the
principles of equality and reciprocity in their broadest and most
liberal extent, each party admitting the vessels of the other into its
ports, laden with cargoes the produce or manufacture of any quarter of
the globe, upon the payment of the same duties of tonnage and impost
that are chargeable upon their own. They have further stipulated that
the parties shall hereafter grant no favor of navigation or commerce to
any other nation which shall not upon the same terms be granted to each
other, and that neither party will impose upon articles of merchandise
the produce or manufacture of the other any other or higher duties than
upon the like articles being the produce or manufacture of any other
country. To these principles there is in the convention with Denmark an
exception with regard to the colonies of that Kingdom in the arctic
seas, but none with regard to her colonies in the West Indies.

In the course of the last summer the term to which our last commercial
treaty with Sweden was limited has expired. A continuation of it is in
the contemplation of the Swedish Government, and is believed to be
desirable on the part of the United States. It has been proposed by the
King of Sweden that pending the negotiation of renewal the expired
treaty should be mutually considered as still in force, a measure which
will require the sanction of Congress to be carried into effect on our
part, and which I therefore recommend to your consideration.

With Prussia, Spain, Portugal, and, in general, all the European powers
between whom and the United States relations of friendly intercourse
have existed their condition has not materially varied since the last
session of Congress. I regret not to be able to say the same of our
commercial intercourse with the colonial possessions of Great Britain in
America. Negotiations of the highest importance to our common interests
have been for several years in discussion between the two Governments,
and on the part of the United States have been invariably pursued in the
spirit of candor and conciliation. Interests of great magnitude and
delicacy had been adjusted by the conventions of 1815 and 1818, while
that of 1822, mediated by the late Emperor Alexander, had promised a
satisfactory compromise of claims which the Government of the United
States, in justice to the rights of a numerous class of their citizens,
was bound to sustain. But with regard to the commercial intercourse
between the United States and the British colonies in America, it has
been hitherto found impracticable to bring the parties to an
understanding satisfactory to both. The relative geographical position
and the respective products of nature cultivated by human industry had
constituted the elements of a commercial intercourse between the United
States and British America, insular and continental, important to the
inhabitants of both countries; but it had been interdicted by Great
Britain upon a principle heretofore practiced upon by the colonizing
nations of Europe, of holding the trade of their colonies each in
exclusive monopoly to herself. After the termination of the late war
this interdiction had been revived, and the British Government declined
including this portion of our intercourse with her possessions in the
negotiation of the convention of 1815. The trade was then carried on
exclusively in British vessels till the act of Congress, concerning
navigation, of 1818 and the supplemental act of 1820 met the interdict
by a corresponding measure on the part of the United States. These
measures, not of retaliation, but of necessary self-defense, were soon
succeeded by an act of Parliament opening certain colonial ports to the
vessels of the United States coming directly from them, and to the
importation from them of certain articles of our produce burdened with
heavy duties, and excluding some of the most valuable articles of our
exports. The United States opened their ports to British vessels from
the colonies upon terms as exactly corresponding with those of the act
of Parliament as in the relative position of the parties could be made,
and a negotiation was commenced by mutual consent, with the hope on our
part that a reciprocal spirit of accommodation and a common sentiment of
the importance of the trade to the interests of the inhabitants of the
two countries between whom it must be carried on would ultimately bring
the parties to a compromise with which both might be satisfied. With
this view the Government of the United States had determined to
sacrifice something of that entire reciprocity which in all commercial
arrangements with foreign powers they are entitled to demand, and to
acquiesce in some inequalities disadvantageous to ourselves rather than
to forego the benefit of a final and permanent adjustment of this
interest to the satisfaction of Great Britain herself. The negotiation,
repeatedly suspended by accidental circumstances, was, however, by
mutual agreement and express assent, considered as pending and to be
speedily resumed. In the meantime another act of Parliament, so doubtful
and ambiguous in its import as to have been misunderstood by the
officers in the colonies who were to carry it into execution, opens
again certain colonial ports upon new conditions and terms, with a
threat to close them against any nation which may not accept those terms
as prescribed by the British Government. This act, passed in July, 1825,
not communicated to the Government of the United States, not understood
by the British officers of the customs in the colonies where it was to
be enforced, was nevertheless submitted to the consideration of Congress
at their last session. With the knowledge that a negotiation upon the
subject had long been in progress and pledges given of its resumption at
an early day, it was deemed expedient to await the result of that
negotiation rather than to subscribe implicitly to terms the import of
which was not clear and which the British authorities themselves in this
hemisphere were not prepared to explain.

Immediately after the close of the last session of Congress one of our
most distinguished citizens was dispatched as envoy extraordinary and
minister plenipotentiary to Great Britain, furnished with instructions
which we could not doubt would lead to a conclusion of this
long-controverted interest upon terms acceptable to Great Britain. Upon
his arrival, and before he had delivered his letters of credence, he was
met by an order of the British council excluding from and after the 1st
of December now current the vessels of the United States from all the
colonial British ports excepting those immediately bordering on our
territories. In answer to his expostulations upon a measure thus
unexpected he is informed that according to the ancient maxims of policy
of European nations having colonies their trade is an exclusive
possession of the mother country; that all participation in it by other
nations is a boon or favor not forming a subject of negotiation, but to
be regulated by the legislative acts of the power owning the colony;
that the British Government therefore declines negotiating concerning
it, and that as the United States did not forthwith accept purely and
simply the terms offered by the act of Parliament of July, 1825, Great
Britain would not now admit the vessels of the United States even upon
the terms on which she has opened them to the navigation of other
nations.

We have been accustomed to consider the trade which we have enjoyed with
the British colonies rather as an interchange of mutual benefits than as
a mere favor received; that under every circumstance we have given an
ample equivalent. We have seen every other nation holding colonies
negotiate with other nations and grant them freely admission to the
colonies by treaty, and so far are the other colonizing nations of
Europe now from refusing to negotiate for trade with their colonies that
we ourselves have secured access to the colonies of more than one of
them by treaty. The refusal, however, of Great Britain to negotiate
leaves to the United States no other alternative than that of regulating
or interdicting altogether the trade on their part, according as either
measure may affect the interests of our own country, and with that
exclusive object I would recommend the whole subject to your calm and
candid deliberations.

It is hoped that our unavailing exertions to accomplish a cordial good
understanding on this interest will not have an unpropitious effect
upon the other great topics of discussion between the two Governments.
Our northeastern and northwestern boundaries are still unadjusted. The
commissioners under the seventh article of the treaty of Ghent have
nearly come to the close of their labors; nor can we renounce the
expectation, enfeebled as it is, that they may agree upon their report
to the satisfaction or acquiescence of both parties. The commission for
liquidating the claims for indemnity for slaves carried away after the
close of the war has been sitting, with doubtful prospects of success.
Propositions of compromise have, however, passed between the two
Governments, the result of which we flatter ourselves may yet prove
satisfactory. Our own dispositions and purposes toward Great Britain are
all friendly and conciliatory; nor can we abandon but with strong
reluctance the belief that they will ultimately meet a return, not of
favors, which we neither ask nor desire, but of equal reciprocity and
good will.

With the American Governments of this hemisphere we continue to maintain
an intercourse altogether friendly, and between their nations and ours
that commercial interchange of which mutual benefit is the source and
mutual comfort and harmony the result is in a continual state of
improvement. The war between Spain and them since the total expulsion of
the Spanish military force from their continental territories has been
little more than nominal, and their internal tranquillity, though
occasionally menaced by the agitations which civil wars never fail to
leave behind them, has not been affected by any serious calamity.

The congress of ministers from several of those nations which assembled
at Panama, after a short session there, adjourned to meet again at a
more favorable season in the neighbourhood of Mexico. The decease of one
of our ministers on his way to the Isthmus, and the impediments of the
season, which delayed the departure of the other, deprived us of the
advantage of being represented at the first meeting of the congress.
There is, however, no reason to believe that any of the transactions of
the congress were of a nature to affect injuriously the interests of the
United States or to require the interposition of our ministers had they
been present. Their absence has, indeed, deprived us of the opportunity
of possessing precise and authentic information of the treaties which
were concluded at Panama; and the whole result has confirmed me in the
conviction of the expediency to the United States of being represented
at the congress. The surviving member of the mission, appointed during
your last session, has accordingly proceeded to his destination, and a
successor to his distinguished and lamented associate will be nominated
to the Senate. A treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce has in the
course of the last summer been concluded by our minister plenipotentiary
at Mexico with the united states of that Confederacy, which will also be
laid before the Senate for their advice with regard to its ratification.

In adverting to the present condition of our fiscal concerns and to the
prospects of our revenue the first remark that calls our attention is
that they are less exuberantly prosperous than they were at the
corresponding period of the last year. The severe shock so extensively
sustained by the commercial and manufacturing interests in Great Britain
has not been without a perceptible recoil upon ourselves. A reduced
importation from abroad is necessarily succeeded by a reduced return to
the Treasury at home. The net revenue of the present year will not equal
that of the last, and the receipts of that which is to come will fall
short of those in the current year. The diminution, however, is in part
attributable to the flourishing condition of some of our domestic
manufactures, and so far is compensated by an equivalent more profitable
to the nation. It is also highly gratifying to perceive that the
deficiency in the revenue, while it scarcely exceeds the anticipations
of the last year's estimate from the Treasury, has not interrupted the
application of more than eleven millions during the present year to the
discharge of the principal and interest of the debt, nor the reduction
of upward of seven millions of the capital of the debt itself. The
balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January last was $5,201,650.43;
the receipts from that time to the 30th of September last were
$19,585,932.50; the receipts of the current quarter, estimated at
$6,000,000. yield, with the sums already received, a revenue of about
twenty-five millions and a half for the year; the expenditures for the
three first quarters of the year have amounted to $18,714,226.66; the
expenditures of the current quarter are expected, including the two
millions of the principal of the debt to be paid, to balance the
receipts; so that the expenses of the year, amounting to upward of a
million less than its income, will leave a proportionally increased
balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1827, over that of the
1st of January last; instead of $5,200,000 there will be $6,400,000.

The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the
commencement of the year till September 30 is estimated at $21,250,000,
and the amount that will probably accrue during the present quarter is
estimated at $4,250,000, making for the whole year $25,500,000, from
which the drawbacks being deducted will leave a clear revenue from the
customs receivable in the year 1827 of about $20,400,000, which, with
the sums to be received from the proceeds of public lands, the bank
dividends, and other incidental receipts, will form an aggregate of
about $23,000,000, a sum falling short of the whole expenses of the
present year little more than the portion of those expenditures applied
to the discharge of the public debt beyond the annual appropriation of
$10,000,000 by the act of the 3d March, 1817. At the passage of that act
the public debt amounted to $123,500,000. On the 1st of January next it
will be short of $74,000,000. In the lapse of these ten years
$50,000,000 of public debt, with the annual charge of upward of
$3,000,000 of interest upon them, have been extinguished. At the passage
of that act, of the annual appropriation of ten millions seven were
absorbed in the payment of interest, and not more than three millions
went to reduce the capital of the debt. Of the same ten millions, at
this time scarcely four are applicable to the interest, and upward of
six are effective in melting down the capital. Yet our experience has
proved that a revenue consisting so largely of imposts and tonnage ebbs
and flows to an extraordinary extent, with all the fluctuations incident
to the general commerce of the world. It is within our recollection that
even in the compass of the same last ten years the receipts of the
Treasury were not adequate to the expenditures of the year, and that in
two successive years it was found necessary to resort to loans to meet
the engagements of the nation. The returning tides of the succeeding
years replenished the public coffers until they have again begun to feel
the vicissitude of a decline. To produce these alternations of fullness
and exhaustion the relative operation of abundant or unfruitful seasons,
the regulations of foreign governments, political revolutions, the
prosperous or decaying condition of manufactures, commercial
speculations, and many other causes, not always to be traced, variously
combine. We have found the alternate swells and diminutions embracing
periods of from two to three years. The last period of depression to us
was from 1819 to 1822. The corresponding revival was from 1823 to the
commencement of the present year. Still, we have no cause to apprehend a
depression comparable to that of the former period, or even to
anticipate a deficiency which will intrench upon the ability to apply
the annual ten millions to the reduction of the debt. It is well for us,
however, to be admonished of the necessity of abiding by the maxims of
the most vigilant economy, and of resorting to all honorable and useful
expedients for pursuing with steady and inflexible perseverance the
total discharge of the debt.

Besides the seven millions of the loans of 1813 which will have been
discharged in the course of the present year, there are nine millions
which by the terms of the contracts would have been and are now
redeemable. Thirteen millions more of the loan of 1814 will become
redeemable from and after the expiration of the present month, and nine
other millions from and after the close of the ensuing year. They
constitute a mass of $31,000,000, all bearing an interest of 6 per cent,
more than twenty millions of which will be immediately redeemable, and
the rest within little more than a year. Leaving of this amount fifteen
millions to continue at the interest of 6 per cent, but to be paid off
as far as shall be found practicable in the years 1827 and 1828, there
is scarcely a doubt that the remaining sixteen millions might within a
few months be discharged by a loan at not exceeding 5 per cent,
redeemable in the years 1829 and 1830. By this operation a sum of nearly
half a million of dollars may be saved to the nation, and the discharge
of the whole thirty-one millions within the four years may be greatly
facilitated if not wholly accomplished.

By an act of Congress of 3d March, 1835, a loan for the purpose now
referred to, or a subscription to stock, was authorized, at an interest
not exceeding 4-1/2 per cent. But at that time so large a portion of the
floating capital of the country was absorbed in commercial speculations
and so little was left for investment in the stocks that the measure was
but partially successful. At the last session of Congress the condition
of the funds was still unpropitious to the measure; but the change so
soon afterwards occurred that, had the authority existed to redeem the
nine millions now redeemable by an exchange of stocks or a loan at 5 per
cent, it is morally certain that it might have been effected, and with
it a yearly saving of $90,000.

With regard to the collection of the revenue of imposts, certain
occurrences have within the last year been disclosed in one or two of
our principal ports, which engaged the attention of Congress at their
last session and may hereafter require further consideration. Until
within a very few years the execution of the laws for raising the
revenue, like that of all our other laws, has been insured more by the
moral sense of the community than by the rigors of a jealous precaution
or by penal sanctions. Confiding in the exemplary punctuality and
unsullied integrity of our importing merchants, a gradual relaxation
from the provisions of the collection laws, a close adherence to which
would have caused inconvenience and expense to them, had long become
habitual, and indulgences had been extended universally because they had
never been abused. It may be worthy of your serious consideration
whether some further legislative provision may not be necessary to come
in aid of this state of unguarded security.

From the reports herewith communicated of the Secretaries of War and of
the Navy, with the subsidiary documents annexed to them, will be
discovered the present condition and administration of our military
establishment on the land and on the sea. The organization of the Army
having undergone no change since its reduction to the present peace
establishment in 1821, it remains only to observe that it is yet found
adequate to all the purposes for which a permanent armed force in time
of peace can be heeded or useful. It may be proper to add that, from a
difference of opinion between the late President of the United States
and the Senate with regard to the construction of the act of Congress of
2d March, 1821, to reduce and fix the military peace establishment of
the United States, it remains hitherto so far without execution that no
colonel has been appointed to command one of the regiments of artillery.
A supplementary or explanatory act of the Legislature appears to be the
only expedient practicable for removing the difficulty of this
appointment.

In a period of profound peace the conduct of the mere military
establishment forms but a very inconsiderable portion of the duties
devolving upon the administration of the Department of War. It will be
seen by the returns from the subordinate departments of the Army that
every branch of the service is marked with order, regularity, and
discipline; that from the commanding general through all the gradations
of superintendence the officers feel themselves to have been citizens
before they were soldiers, and that the glory of a republican army must
consist in the spirit of freedom, by which it is animated, and of
patriotism, by which it is impelled. It may be confidently stated that
the moral character of the Army is in a state of continual improvement,
and that all the arrangements for the disposal of its parts have a
constant reference to that end.

But to the War Department are attributed other duties, having, indeed,
relation to a future possible condition of war, but being purely
defensive, and in their tendency contributing rather to the security and
permanency of peace--the erection of the fortifications provided for by
Congress, and adapted to secure our shores from hostile invasion; the
distribution of the fund of public gratitude and justice to the
pensioners of the Revolutionary war; the maintenance of our relations of
peace and of protection with the Indian tribes, and the internal
improvements and surveys for the location of roads and canals, which
during the last three sessions of Congress have engaged so much of their
attention, and may engross so large a share of their future benefactions
to our country.

By the act of the 30th of April, 1824, suggested and approved by my
predecessor, the sum of $30,000 was appropriated for the purpose of
causing to be made the necessary surveys, plans, and estimates of the
routes of such roads and canals as the President of the United States
might deem of national importance in a commercial or military point of
view, or necessary for the transportation of the public mail. The
surveys, plans, and estimates for each, when completed, will be laid
before Congress.

In execution of this act a board of engineers was immediately
instituted, and have been since most assiduously and constantly occupied
in carrying it into effect. The first object to which their labors were
directed, by order of the late President, was the examination of the
country between the tide waters of the Potomac, the Ohio, and Lake Erie,
to ascertain the practicability of a communication between them, to
designate the most suitable route for the same, and to form plans and
estimates in detail of the expense of execution.

On the 3d of February, 1825, they made their first report, which was
immediately communicated to Congress, and in which they declared that
having maturely considered the circumstances observed by them
personally, and carefully studied the results of such of the preliminary
surveys as were then completed, they were decidedly of opinion that the
communication was practicable.

At the last session of Congress, before the board of engineers were
enabled to make up their second report containing a general plan and
preparatory estimate for the work, the Committee of the House of
Representatives upon Roads and Canals closed the session with a report
expressing the hope that the plan and estimate of the board of engineers
might at this time be prepared, and that the subject be referred to the
early and favorable consideration of Congress at their present session.
That expected report of the board of engineers is prepared, and will
forthwith be laid before you.

Under the resolution of Congress authorizing the Secretary of War to
have prepared a complete system of cavalry tactics, and a system of
exercise and instruction of field artillery, for the use of the militia
of the United States, to be reported to Congress at the present session,
a board of distinguished officers of the Army and of the militia has
been convened, whose report will be submitted to you with that of the
Secretary of War. The occasion was thought favorable for consulting the
same board, aided by the results of a correspondence with the governors
of the several States and Territories and other citizens of intelligence
and experience, upon the acknowledged defective condition of our militia
system, and of the improvements of which it is susceptible. The report
of the board upon this subject is also submitted for your consideration.

In the estimates of appropriations for the ensuing year upward of
$5,000,000 will be submitted for the expenditures to be paid from the
Department of War. Less than two-fifths of this will be applicable to
the maintenance and support of the Army. A million and a half, in the
form of pensions, goes as a scarcely adequate tribute to the services
and sacrifices of a former age, and a more than equal sum invested in
fortifications, or for the preparations of internal improvement,
provides for the quiet, the comfort, and happier existence of the ages
to come. The appropriations to indemnify those unfortunate remnants of
another race unable alike to share in the enjoyments and to exist in the
presence of civilization, though swelling in recent years to a magnitude
burdensome to the Treasury, are generally not without their equivalents
in profitable value, or serve to discharge the Union from engagements
more burdensome than debt.

In like manner the estimate of appropriations for the Navy Department
will present an aggregate sum of upward of $3,000,000. About one-half of
these, however, covers the current expenditures of the Navy in actual
service, and one-half constitutes a fund of national property, the
pledge of our future glory and defense. It was scarcely one short year
after the close of the late war, and when the burden of its expenses and
charges was weighing heaviest upon the country, that Congress, by the
act of 29th April, 1816, appropriated $1,000,000 annually for eight
years to the _gradual increase of the Navy_. At a subsequent period this
annual appropriation was reduced to half a million for six years, of
which the present year is the last. A yet more recent appropriation the
last two years, for building ten sloops of war, has nearly restored the
original appropriation of 1816 of a million for every year. The result
is before us all. We have twelve line-of-battle ships, twenty frigates,
and sloops of war in proportion, which, with a few months of
preparation, may present a line of floating fortifications along the
whole range of our coast ready to meet any invader who might attempt to
set foot upon our shores. Combining with a system of fortifications upon
the shores themselves, commenced about the same time under the auspices
of my immediate predecessor, and hitherto systematically pursued, it has
placed in our possession the most effective sinews of war and has left
us at once an example and a lesson from which our own duties may be
inferred. The gradual increase of the Navy was the principle of which
the act of 29th April, 1816, was the first development. It was the
introduction of a system to act upon the character and history of our
country for an indefinite series of ages. It was a declaration of that
Congress to their constituents and to posterity that it was the destiny
and the duty of these confederated States to become in regular process
of time and by no petty advances a great naval power. That which they
proposed to accomplish in eight years is rather to be considered as the
measure of their means than the limitation of their design. They looked
forward for a term of years sufficient for the accomplishment of a
definite portion of their purpose, and they left to their successors to
fill up the canvas of which they had traced the large and prophetic
outline. The ships of the line and frigates which they had in
contemplation will be shortly completed. The time which they had
allotted for the accomplishment of the work has more than elapsed. It
remains for your consideration how their successors may contribute their
portion of toil and of treasure for the benefit of the succeeding age in
the gradual increase of our Navy. There is perhaps no part of the
exercise of the constitutional powers of the Federal Government which
has given more general satisfaction to the people of the Union than
this. The system has not been thus vigorously introduced and hitherto
sustained to be now departed from or abandoned. In continuing to provide
for the gradual increase of the Navy it may not be necessary or
expedient to add for the present any more to the number of our ships;
but should you deem it advisable to continue the yearly appropriation of
half a million to the same objects, it may be profitably expended in
providing a supply of timber to be seasoned and other materials for
future use in the construction of docks or in laying the foundations of
a school for naval education, as to the wisdom of Congress either of
those measures may appear to claim the preference.

Of the small portions of this Navy engaged in actual service during the
peace, squadrons have continued to be maintained in the Pacific Ocean,
in the West India seas, and in the Mediterranean, to which has been
added a small armament to cruise on the eastern coast of South America.
In all they have afforded protection to our commerce, have contributed
to make our country advantageously known to foreign nations, have
honorably employed multitudes of our seamen in the service of their
country, and have inured numbers of youths of the rising generation to
lives of manly hardihood and of nautical experience and skill. The
piracies with which the West India seas were for several years infested
have been totally suppressed, but in the Mediterranean they have
increased in a manner afflictive to other nations, and but for the
continued presence of our squadron would probably have been distressing
to our own. The war which has unfortunately broken out between the
Republic of Buenos Ayres and the Brazilian Government has given rise to
very great irregularities among the naval officers of the latter, by
whom principles in relation to blockades and to neutral navigation have
been brought forward to which we can not subscribe and which our own
commanders have found it necessary to resist. From the friendly
disposition toward the United States constantly manifested by the
Emperor of Brazil, and the very useful and friendly commercial
intercourse between the United States and his dominions, we have reason
to believe that the just reparation demanded for the injuries sustained
by several of our citizens from some of his officers will not be
withheld. Abstracts from the recent dispatches of the commanders of our
several squadrons are communicated with the report of the Secretary of
the Navy to Congress.

A report from the Postmaster-General is likewise communicated,
presenting in a highly satisfactory manner the result of a vigorous,
efficient, and economical administration of that Department. The revenue
of the office, even of the year including the latter half of 1824 and
the first half of 1825, had exceeded its expenditures by a sum of more
than $45,000. That of the succeeding year has been still more
productive. The increase of the receipts in the year preceding the 1st
of July last over that of the year before exceeds $136,000, and the
excess of the receipts over the expenditures of the year has swollen
from $45,000 to nearly $80,000. During the same period contracts for
additional transportation of the mail in stages for about 260,000 miles
have been made, and for 70,000 miles annually on horseback. Seven
hundred and fourteen new post-offices have been established within the
year, and the increase of revenue within the last three years, as well
as the augmentation of the transportation by mail, is more than equal to
the whole amount of receipts and of mail conveyance at the commencement
of the present century, when the seat of the General Government was
removed to this place. When we reflect that the objects effected by the
transportation of the mail are among the choicest comforts and
enjoyments of social life, it is pleasing to observe that the
dissemination of them to every corner of our country has outstripped in
their increase even the rapid march of our population.

By the treaties with France and Spain, respectively ceding Louisiana and
the Floridas to the United States, provision was made for the security
of land titles derived from the Governments of those nations. Some
progress has been made under the authority of various acts of Congress
in the ascertainment and establishment of those titles, but claims to a
very large extent remain unadjusted. The public faith no less than the
just rights of individuals and the interest of the community itself
appears to require further provision for the speedy settlement of those
claims, which I therefore recommend to the care and attention of the
Legislature.

In conformity with the provisions of the act of 20th May last, to
provide for erecting a penitentiary in the district of Columbia, and for
other purposes, three commissioners were appointed to select a site for
the erection of a penitentiary for the district, and also a site in the
county of Alexandria for a county jail, both of which objects have been
effected. The building of the penitentiary has been commenced, and is in
such a degree of forwardness as to promise that it will be completed
before the meeting of the next Congress. This consideration points to
the expediency of maturing at the present session a system for the
regulation and government of the penitentiary, and of defining the class
of offenses which shall be punishable by confinement in this edifice.

In closing this communication I trust that it will not be deemed
inappropriate to the occasion and purposes upon which we are here
assembled to indulge a momentary retrospect, combining in a single
glance the period of our origin as a national confederation with that of
our present existence, at the precise interval of half a century from
each other. Since your last meeting at this place the fiftieth
anniversary of the day when our independence was declared has been
celebrated throughout our land, and on that day, while every heart was
bounding with joy and every voice was tuned to gratulation, amid the
blessings of freedom and independence which the sires of a former age
had handed down to their children, two of the principal actors in that
solemn scene--the hand that penned the ever-memorable Declaration and
the voice that sustained it in debate--were by one summons, at the
distance of 700 miles from each other, called before the Judge of All to
account for their deeds done upon earth. They departed cheered by the
benedictions of their country, to whom they left the inheritance of
their fame and the memory of their bright example. If we turn our
thoughts to the condition of their country, in the contrast of the first
and last day of that half century, how resplendent and sublime is the
transition from gloom to glory! Then, glancing through the same lapse of
time, in the condition of the individuals we see the first day marked
with the fullness and vigor of youth, in the pledge of their lives,
their fortunes, and their sacred honor to the cause of freedom and of
mankind; and on the last, extended on the bed of death, with but sense
and sensibility left to breathe a last aspiration to Heaven of blessing
upon their country, may we not humbly hope that to them too it was a
pledge of transition from gloom to glory, and that while their mortal
vestments were sinking into the clod of the valley their emancipated
spirits were ascending to the bosom of their God!

John Quincy Adams.



       *       *       *       *       *



SPECIAL MESSAGES.



Washington,
_December 7, 1826_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I now transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with that of the
Board of Engineers of Internal Improvement, concerning the proposed
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 8, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary
of War, with sundry documents, containing the information requested by a
resolution of the House of the 8th of May last, relating to the lead
mines belonging to the United States in Illinois and Missouri.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 8, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary
of War, with several documents, containing information required by a
resolution of the House of the 20th of May last, respecting certain
proposed donations of land by Indian tribes to any agent or commissioner
of the United States.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 12, 1826_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice with regard to their
ratification, the following treaties with Indian tribes:

1. A treaty made and concluded at the Fond du Lac of Lake Superior,
between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners on the part of
the United States, and the Chippewa tribe of Indians, on the 5th of
August, 1826.

2. A treaty made and concluded near the mouth of the Mississinewa, upon
the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between Lewis Cass, James B. Ray,
and John Tipton, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the
chiefs and warriors of the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, on the 16th of
October, 1826.

3. A treaty made and concluded near the mouth of the Mississinewa, upon
the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between Lewis Cass, James B. Ray,
and John Tipton, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the
chiefs and warriors of the Miami tribe of Indians, on the 23d of
October, 1826.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 18, 1826_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress extracts of a letter, received since the
commencement of their session, from the minister of the United States at
London, having relation to the late discussions with the Government of
Great Britain concerning the trade between the United States and the
British colonies in America.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 20, 1826_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement of their
present session it was intimated that the commission for liquidating the
claims of our fellow-citizens to indemnity for slaves and other property
carried away after the close of the late war with Great Britain in
contravention to the first article of the treaty of Ghent had been
sitting in this city with doubtful prospects of success, but that
propositions had recently passed between the two Governments which it
was hoped would lead to a satisfactory adjustment of that controversy.

I now transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional consideration and
advice, a convention signed at London by the plenipotentiaries of the
two Governments on the 13th of the last month, relating to this object.
A copy of the convention is at the same time sent, together with a copy
of the instructions under which it was negotiated and the correspondence
relating to it. To avoid all delay these documents are now transmitted,
consisting chiefly of original papers, the return of which is requested.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 22, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
12th instant, requesting information of the measures taken to carry into
effect the act of Congress of 3d March, 1825, directing a road to be
made from Little Rock to Cantonment Gibson, in the Territory of
Arkansas, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with a letter
from the Quartermaster-General, containing the information desired by
the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 22, 1826_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to the House of Representatives a report from the
Secretary of State, with a copy of the three articles[009] (marked A)
requested by the resolution of the House of the 19th instant. The third
of those articles relating to a subject upon which the negotiation
between the two Governments is yet open, the communication of all the
other documents relating to it is reserved to a future period, when it
may be closed.

John Quincy Adams.



_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary
of State, with sundry documents, containing the information requested by
two resolutions of the House of the 15th instant, relating to the
proceedings of the congress of ministers which assembled last summer at
Panama.

The occasion is taken to communicate at the same time two other
dispatches, from the minister of the United States to the Mexican
Confederation, one of which should have been communicated at the last
session of Congress but that it was then accidentally mislaid, and the
other having relation to the same subject.

John Quincy Adams.
DECEMBER 26, 1826.



Washington,
_January 10, 1827_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
6th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State,
together with copies of the correspondence with the Government of the
Netherlands, relating to discriminating duties.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 10, 1827_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th of May last,
requesting a detailed statement of the expenditures for the construction
and repair of the Cumberland road, I now transmit a report from the
Secretary of the Treasury, with the statement requested by the
resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 10, 1827_


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to both Houses of Congress a report from the Secretary of the
Navy, together with that of the engineer by whom, conformably to a joint
resolution of the two Houses of the 22d May last, an examination and
survey has been made of a site for a dry dock at the navy-yard at
Portsmouth, N. H.; Charlestown, Mass.; Brooklyn, N. Y., and Gosport, Va.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 15, 1827_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
20th of May last, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of
State, touching the impressment of seamen from on board American vessels
on the high seas or elsewhere by the commanders of British or other
foreign vessels or ships of war since 18th of February, 1815, together
with such correspondence on the subject as comes within the purview of
the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 15, 1827_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 21st of last month,
I now transmit a letter from the Secretary of War, with a report from
the Chief Engineer and a statement of the Third Auditor, shewing the
amount disbursed of the appropriation made by the act of 24th May, 1824,
to improve the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the
state and progress of the work contemplated by the appropriation.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 15, 1827_


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of War, together
with a report of the Chief Engineer, and certain acts of the legislature
of the State of New York proposing to the Government of the United
States the purchase of the fortifications erected at the expense of the
State on Staten Island, with the ordnance and other apparatus belonging
to or connected with the same. These papers were prepared at the close
of the last session of Congress, at too late a period to be then acted
upon.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 16, 1827_


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of a convention between
the United States and Great Britain, signed on the 13th of November last
at London by the respective plenipotentiaries of the two Governments,
for the final settlement and liquidation of certain claims of indemnity
of citizens of the United States which had arisen under the first
article of the treaty of Ghent. It having been stipulated by this
convention that the exchange of the ratifications of the same should be
made at London, the usual proclamation of it here can only be issued
when that event shall have taken place, the notice of which can scarcely
be expected before the close of the present session of Congress. But it
has been duly ratified on the part of the United States, and by the
report of the Secretary of State and the accompanying certificate
herewith also communicated it will be seen that the first half of the
stipulated payment has been made by the minister of His Britannic
Majesty residing here, and has been deposited in the office of the Bank
of the United States at this place to await the disposal of Congress.

I recommend to their consideration the expediency of such legislative
measures as they may deem proper for the distribution of the sum already
paid, and of that hereafter to be received, among the claimants who may
be found entitled to the indemnity.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 17, 1827_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 10th of May last, I
transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with a letter from
the Director of the Mint, shewing the result of the assay of foreign
coins and the information otherwise relating thereto desired by the
resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 29, 1827_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 23d instant, I
transmit herewith a report[010] from the Secretary of State, with the
accompanying documents.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 29, 1827_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

The report from the Commissioner of the General Land Office and the
accompanying documents herewith transmitted are laid before the Senate
in compliance with their resolution of the 4th of April last, relating
to the public lands of the United States in the States of Missouri and
Illinois which are unfit for cultivation.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 2, 1827_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 25th ultimo,
relative to the execution of the treaty of the 18th of October, 1820, of
Doaks Stand with the Choctaw tribe of Indians, I transmit a report from
the Secretary of War, with a statement from the Office of Indian
Affairs, comprising so far as it is possessed the information desired by
the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 3, 1827_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
United States of the 9th ultimo, relating to the appointments of chargés
d'affaires and to the commissions and salaries of the ministers and
secretary to the mission to Panama, I transmit herewith a report from
the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 5, 1827_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

The report from the Secretary of War and accompanying documents herewith
transmitted have been prepared in compliance with a resolution of the
House of Representatives of the 20th of May last, requesting a statement
of expenditure and other particulars relating to the procurement and
properties of the patent rifle.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 5, 1827_


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I submit to the consideration of Congress a letter from the agent of the
United States with the Creek Indians, who invoke the protection of the
Government of the United States in defense of the rights and territory
secured to that nation by the treaty concluded at Washington, and
ratified on the part of the United States on the 22d of April last.

The complaint set forth in this letter that surveyors from Georgia have
been employed in surveying lands within the Indian Territory, as secured
by that treaty, is authenticated by the information inofficially
received from other quarters, and there is reason to believe that one or
more of the surveyors have been arrested in their progress by the
Indians. Their forbearance, and reliance upon the good faith of the
United States, will, it is hoped, avert scenes of violence and blood
which there is otherwise too much cause to apprehend will result from
these proceedings.

By the fifth section of the act of Congress of the 30th of March, 1802,
to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes and to preserve
peace on the frontiers, it is provided that if any citizen of or other
person resident in the United States shall make a settlement on any
lands belonging or secured or granted by treaty with the United States
to any Indian tribe, or shall survey, or attempt to survey, such lands,
or designate any of the boundaries by marking trees or otherwise, such
offender shall forfeit a sum not exceeding $1,000 and suffer
imprisonment not exceeding twelve months.

By the sixteenth and seventeenth sections of the same statute two
distinct processes are prescribed, by either or both of which the above
enactment may be carried into execution. By the first it is declared to
be lawful for the military force of the United States to apprehend every
person found in the Indian country over and beyond the boundary line
between the United States and the Indian tribes in violation of any of
the provisions or regulations of the act, and immediately to convey
them, in the nearest convenient and safe route, to the civil authority
of the United States in some of the three next adjoining States or
districts, to be proceeded against in due course of law.

By the second it is directed that if any person charged with the
violation of any of the provisions or regulations of the act shall be
found within any of the United States or either of their territorial
districts such offender may be there apprehended and brought to trial in
the same manner as if such crime or offense had been committed within
such State or district; and that it shall be the duty of the military
force of the United States, when called upon by the civil magistrate or
any proper officer or other person duly authorized for that purpose and
having a lawful warrant, to aid and assist such magistrate, officer, or
other person so authorized in arresting such offender and committing him
to safe custody for trial according to law.

The first of these processes is adapted to the arrest of the trespasser
upon Indian territories on the spot and in the act of committing the
offense; but as it applies the action of the Government of the United
States to places where the civil process of the law has no authorized
course, it is committed entirely to the functions of the military force
to arrest the person of the offender, and after bringing him within the
reach of the jurisdiction of the courts there to deliver him into
custody for trial. The second makes the violator of the law amenable
only after his offense has been consummated, and when he has returned
within the civil jurisdiction of the Union. This process, in the first
instance, is merely of a civil character, but may in like manner be
enforced by calling in, if necessary, the aid of the military force.

Entertaining no doubt that in the present case the resort to either of
these modes of process, or to both, was within the discretion of the
Executive authority, and penetrated with the duty of maintaining the
rights of the Indians as secured both by the treaty and the law, I
concluded, after full deliberation, to have recourse on this occasion,
in the first instance, only to the civil process. Instructions have
accordingly been given by the Secretary of War to the attorney and
marshal of the United States in the district of Georgia to commence
prosecutions against the surveyors complained of as having violated the
law, while orders have at the same time been forwarded to the agent of
the United States at once to assure the Indians that their rights
founded upon the treaty and the law are recognized by this Government
and will be faithfully protected, and earnestly to exhort them, by the
forbearance of every act of hostility on their part, to preserve
unimpaired that right to protection secured to them by the sacred pledge
of the good faith of this nation. Copies of these instructions and
orders are herewith transmitted to Congress.

In abstaining at this stage of the proceedings from the application of
any military force I have been governed by considerations which will, I
trust, meet the concurrence of the Legislature. Among them one of
paramount importance has been that these surveys have been attempted,
and partly effected, under color of legal authority from the State of
Georgia; that the surveyors are, therefore, not to be viewed in the
light of individual and solitary transgressors, but as the agents of a
sovereign State, acting in obedience to authority which they believed to
be binding upon them. Intimations had been given that should they meet
with interruption they would at all hazards be sustained by the military
force of the State, in which event, if the military force of the Union
should have been employed to enforce its violated law, a conflict _must_
have ensued, which would itself have inflicted a wound upon the Union
and have presented the aspect of one of these confederated States at war
with the rest. Anxious, above all, to avert this state of things, yet at
the same time impressed with the deepest conviction of my own duty to
take care that the laws shall be executed and the faith of the nation
preserved, I have used of the means intrusted to the Executive for that
purpose only those which without resorting to military force may
vindicate the sanctity of the law by the ordinary agency of the judicial
tribunals.

It ought not, however, to be disguised that the act of the legislature
of Georgia, under the construction given to it by the governor of that
State, and the surveys made or attempted by his authority beyond the
boundary secured by the treaty of Washington of April last to the Creek
Indians, are in direct violation of the supreme law of this land, set
forth in a treaty which has received all the sanctions provided by the
Constitution which we have been sworn to support and maintain.

Happily distributed as the sovereign powers of the people of this Union
have been between their General and State Governments, their history has
already too often presented collisions between these divided authorities
with regard to the extent of their respective powers. No instance,
however, has hitherto occurred in which this collision has been urged
into a conflict of actual force. No other case is known to have happened
in which the application of military force by the Government of the
Union has been prescribed for the enforcement of a law the violation of
which has within any single State been prescribed by a legislative act
of the State. In the present instance it is my duty to say that if the
legislative and executive authorities of the State of Georgia should
persevere in acts of encroachment upon the territories secured by a
solemn treaty to the Indians, and the laws of the Union remain
unaltered, a superadded obligation even higher than that of human
authority will compel the Executive of the United States to enforce the
laws and fulfill the duties of the nation by all the force committed for
that purpose to his charge. That the arm of military force will be
resorted to only in the event of the failure of all other expedients
provided by the laws, a pledge has been given by the forbearance to
employ it at this time. It is submitted to the wisdom of Congress to
determine whether any further act of legislation may be necessary or
expedient to meet the emergency which these transactions may produce.

John Quincy Adams.



       *       *       *       *       *



Washington,
_February 8, 1827_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its
ratification, a treaty between the United States and the Mexican
Confederation, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the respective
Governments on the 10th of July last. It will be seen by its terms that
if ratified by both parties the ratifications are to be exchanged at
this city on or before the 10th day of next month. The ratification on
the part of the Government of Mexico has not yet been received, though
it has probably before this been effected. To avoid all unnecessary
delay the treaty is now communicated to the Senate, that it may receive
all the deliberation which, in their wisdom, it may require, without
pressing upon their time at a near approach to the close of their
session. Should they advise and consent to its ratification, that
measure will still be withheld until the ratification by the Mexican
Government shall have been ascertained. A copy of the treaty is likewise
transmitted, together with the documents appertaining to the
negotiation.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 8, 1827_


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate to Congress copies of a letter from the governor of the
State of Georgia, received since my message of the 5th instant, and of
inclosures received with it, further confirmative of the facts stated in
that message.[011]

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 16, 1827_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury,
with statements prepared at the Register's and General Land Office, in
compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 10th of May last, in
relation to the purchase and sales of the public lands since the
declaration of independence.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 19, 1827_


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of the following treaties,
which have been ratified by and with the consent of the Senate:

1. A treaty with the Chippewa tribe of Indians, signed at the Fond du
Lac of Lake Superior on the 5th of August, 1826.

2. A treaty with the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, signed on the 16th of
October, 1826, near the mouth of the Mississinawa, upon the Wabash, in
the State of Indiana.

3. A treaty with the Miami tribe of Indians, signed at the same place on
the 23d of October, 1826.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 24, 1827_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration, a conveyance by
treaty from the Seneca tribe of Indians to Robert Troup, Thomas L.
Ogden, and Benjamin W. Rogers, in the presence of Oliver Forward,
commissioner of the United States for holding the said treaty, and of
Nathaniel Gorham, superintendent in behalf of the State of
Massachusetts. A letter from the grantees of this conveyance and a
report of the Superintendent of Indian Affairs to the Secretary of War,
relating to this instrument, are also transmitted; and with regard to
the approval or ratification of the treaty itself, it is submitted to
the Senate for their advice and consent.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 28, 1827_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary
of War, with sundry documents, containing statements requested by a
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th of January,
relating to the Artillery School of Practice at Fortress Monroe.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 2, 1827_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury,
with sundry documents, containing the information requested by a
resolution of the Senate of the 20th of April last, relating to the
security taken of the late survey or-general of Illinois, Missouri, and
Arkansas, and of the late receiver of public moneys in the western
district of Missouri, and to the sums for which they were respectively
defaulters; also the sums due by each of the late directors of the Bank
of Missouri to the United States, and to the measures taken for
obtaining or enforcing payment of the same.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 2, 1827_


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of communications received
yesterday by the Secretary of War from the governor of Georgia and from
Lieutenant Vinton.[012]

John Quincy Adams.



       *       *       *       *       *



PROCLAMATIONS.



By the President of the United States.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by the sixth section of an act of Congress entitled "An act to
regulate the commercial intercourse between the United States and
certain British colonial ports," which was approved on the 1st day of
March, A. D. 1823, it is enacted "that this act, unless repealed,
altered, or amended by Congress, shall be and continue in force so long
as the above-enumerated British colonial ports shall be open to the
admission of the vessels of the United States, conformably to the
provisions of the British act of Parliament of the 24th of June last,
being the forty-fourth chapter of the acts of the third year of George
IV; but if at any time the trade and intercourse between the United
States and all or any of the above enumerated British colonial ports
authorized by the said act of Parliament should be prohibited by a
British order in council or by act of Parliament, then, from the day of
the date of such order in council or act of Parliament, or from the time
that the same shall commence to be in force, proclamation to that effect
having been made by the President of the United States, each and every
provision of this act, so far as the same shall apply to the intercourse
between the United States and the above-enumerated British colonial
ports in British vessels, shall cease to operate in their favor, and
each and every provision of the 'Act concerning navigation,' approved on
the 18th of April, 1818, and of the act supplementary thereto, approved
on the 15th of May, 1820, shall revive and be in full force;" and

Whereas by an act of the British Parliament which passed on the 5th day
of July, A. D. 1825, entitled "An act to repeal the several laws
relating to the customs," the said act of Parliament of the 24th of
June, 1822, was repealed; and by another act of the British Parliament,
passed on the 5th day of July, A. D. 1825, in the sixth year of the
reign of George IV, entitled "An act to regulate the trade of the
British possessions abroad;" and by an order of His Britannic Majesty in
council, bearing date the 27th of July, 1826, the trade and intercourse
authorized by the aforesaid act of Parliament of the 24th of June, 1822,
between the United States and the greater part of the said British
colonial ports therein enumerated, have been prohibited upon and from
the 1st day of December last past, and the contingency has thereby
arisen on which the President of the United States was authorized by the
sixth section aforesaid of the act of Congress of the 1st March, 1823,
to issue a proclamation to the effect therein mentioned:

Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that the trade and intercourse
authorized by the said act of Parliament of the 24th of June, 1822,
between the United States and the British colonial ports enumerated in
the aforesaid act of Congress of the 1st of March, 1823, have been and
are, upon and from the 1st day of December, 1826, by the aforesaid two
several acts of Parliament of the 5th of July, 1825, and by the
aforesaid British order in council of the 27th day of July, 1826,
prohibited.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 17th day of March,
A. D. 1827, and the fifty-first year of the Independence of the United
States.


John Quincy Adams.



By the President:
H. Clay,
_Secretary of State_.



       *       *       *       *       *



By the President of the United States.

A PROCLAMATION.


Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of
January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of
tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence
being given to the President of the United States by the government of
any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost
are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels
wholly belonging to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise
the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President
is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the
foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United
States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as respects
the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or
manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said
suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given
to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the
reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States and merchandise as aforesaid therein laden shall be continued,
and no longer; and

Whereas satisfactory evidence was given to the President of the United
States on the 30th day of May last by Count Lucchesi, consul-general of
His Holiness the Pope, that all foreign and discriminating duties of
tonnage and impost within the dominions of His Holiness, so far as
respected the vessels of the United States and the merchandise of their
produce or manufacture imported in the same, were suspended and
discontinued:

Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States,
conformably to the fourth section of the act of Congress aforesaid, do
hereby proclaim and declare that the foreign discriminating duties of
tonnage and impost within the United States are and shall be suspended
and discontinued so far as respects the vessels of the subjects of His
Holiness the Pope and the merchandise of the produce or manufacture of
his dominions imported into the United States' in the same, the said
suspension to take effect from the 30th of May aforesaid and to continue
so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of
the United States and merchandise as aforesaid therein laden shall be
continued, and no longer.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 7th day of June, A.
D. 1827, and of the Independence of the United States the fifty-first.

John Quincy Adams.



By the President:
H. Clay,
_Secretary of State_.



       *       *       *       *       *



By the President of the United States.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas Willis Anderson, of the County of Alexandria, in the district of
Columbia, is charged with having recently murdered Gerrard Arnold, late
of the said county; and

Whereas it is represented to me that the said Willis Anderson has
absconded and secretes himself, so that he can not be apprehended and
brought to justice for the offense of which he is so charged; and

Whereas the apprehension and trial of the said Willis Anderson is an
example due to justice and humanity, and would be every way salutary in
its influence:

Now, therefore, I have thought fit to issue this my proclamation, hereby
exhorting the citizens of the United States, and particularly those of
this district, and requiring all officers, according to their respective
stations, to use their utmost endeavors to apprehend and bring the said
Willis Anderson to justice for the atrocious crime with which he stands
charged as aforesaid; and I do moreover offer a reward of $250 for the
apprehension of the said Willis Anderson and his delivery to an officer
or officers of justice in the county aforesaid, so that he may be
brought to trial for the murder aforesaid and be otherwise dealt with
according to law.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name and caused the seal
of the United States to be affixed to these presents.

(SEAL.)

Done at Washington, this 10th day of September, A. D. 1827, and of the
Independence of the United States the fifty-second.

J. Q. Adams.



By the President:
H. Clay,
_Secretary of State_.



       *       *       *       *       *



THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.


Washington,
_December 4, 1827_


_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:

A revolution of the seasons has nearly been completed since the
representatives of the people and States of this Union were last
assembled at this place to deliberate and to act upon the common
important interests of their constituents. In that interval the
never-slumbering eye of a wise and beneficent Providence has continued
its guardian care over the welfare of our beloved country; the blessing
of health has continued generally to prevail throughout the land; the
blessing of peace with our brethren of the human race has been enjoyed
without interruption; internal quiet has left our fellow-citizens in the
full enjoyment of all their rights and in the free exercise of all their
faculties, to pursue the impulse of their nature and the obligation of
their duty in the improvement of their own condition; the productions of
the soil, the exchanges of commerce, the vivifying labors of human
industry, have combined to mingle in our cup a portion of enjoyment as
large and liberal as the indulgence of Heaven has perhaps ever granted
to the imperfect state of man upon earth; and as the purest of human
felicity consists in its participation with others, it is no small
addition to the sum of our national happiness at this time that peace
and prosperity prevail to a degree seldom experienced over the whole
habitable globe, presenting, though as yet with painful exceptions, a
foretaste of that blessed period of promise when the lion shall lie down
with the lamb and wars shall be no more. To preserve, to improve, and to
perpetuate the sources and to direct in their most effective channels
the streams which contribute to the public weal is the purpose for which
Government was instituted. Objects of deep importance to the welfare of
the Union are constantly recurring to demand the attention of the
Federal Legislature, and they call with accumulated interest at the
first meeting of the two Houses after their periodical renovation. To
present to their consideration from time to time subjects in which the
interests of the nation are most deeply involved, and for the regulation
of which the legislative will is alone competent, is a duty prescribed
by the Constitution, to the performance of which the first meeting of
the new Congress is a period eminently appropriate, and which it is now
my purpose to discharge.

Our relations of friendship with the other nations of the earth,
political and commercial, have been preserved unimpaired, and the
opportunities to improve them have been cultivated with anxious and
unremitting attention. A negotiation upon subjects of high and delicate
interest with the Government of Great Britain has terminated in the
adjustment of some of the questions at issue upon satisfactory terms and
the postponement of others for future discussion and agreement. The
purposes of the convention concluded at St. Petersburg on the 12th day
of July, 1822, under the mediation of the late Emperor Alexander, have
been carried into effect by a subsequent convention, concluded at London
on the 13th of November, 1826, the ratifications of which were exchanged
at that place on the 6th day of February last. A copy of the
proclamation issued on the 19th day of March last, publishing this
convention, is herewith communicated to Congress. The sum of $1,204,960,
therein stipulated to be paid to the claimants of indemnity under the
first article of the treaty of Ghent, has been duly received, and the
commission instituted, comformably to the act of Congress of the 2d of
March last, for the distribution of the indemnity to the persons
entitled to receive it are now in session and approaching the
consummation of their labors. This final disposal of one of the most
painful topics of collision between the United States and Great Britain
not only affords an occasion of gratulation to ourselves, but has had
the happiest effect in promoting a friendly disposition and in softening
asperities upon other objects of discussion; nor ought it to pass
without the tribute of a frank and cordial acknowledgment of the
magnanimity with which an honorable nation, by the reparation of their
own wrongs, achieves a triumph more glorious than any field of blood can
ever bestow.

The conventions of 3d July, 1815, and of 20th October, 1818, will expire
by their own limitation on the 20th of October, 1828. These have
regulated the direct commercial intercourse between the United States
and Great Britain upon terms of the most perfect reciprocity; and they
effected a temporary compromise of the respective rights and claims to
territory westward of the Rocky Mountains. These arrangements have been
continued for an indefinite period of time after the expiration of the
above-mentioned conventions, leaving each party the liberty of
terminating them by giving twelve months' notice to the other. The
radical principle of all commercial intercourse between independent
nations is the mutual interest of both parties. It is the vital spirit
of trade itself; nor can it be reconciled to the nature of man or to the
primary laws of human society that any traffic should long be willingly
pursued of which all the advantages are on one side and all the burdens
on the other. Treaties of commerce have been found by experience to be
among the most effective instruments for promoting peace and harmony
between nations whose interests, exclusively considered on either side,
are brought into frequent collisions by competition. In framing such
treaties it is the duty of each party not simply to urge with unyielding
pertinacity that which suits its own interest, but to concede liberally
to that which is adapted to the interest of the other. To accomplish
this, little more is generally required than a simple observance of the
rule of reciprocity, and were it possible for the statesmen of one
nation by stratagem and management to obtain from the weakness or
ignorance of another an overreaching treaty, such a compact would prove
an incentive to war rather than a bond of peace. Our conventions with
Great Britain are founded upon the principles of reciprocity. The
commercial intercourse between the two countries is greater in magnitude
and amount than between any two other nations on the globe. It is for
all purposes of benefit or advantage to both as precious, and in all
probability far more extensive, than if the parties were still
constituent parts of one and the same nation. Treaties between such
States, regulating the intercourse of peace between them and adjusting
interests of such transcendent importance to both, which have been found
in a long experience of years mutually advantageous, should not be
lightly canceled or discontinued. Two conventions for continuing in
force those above mentioned have been concluded between the
plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 6th of August last, and
will be forthwith laid before the Senate for the exercise of their
constitutional authority concerning them.

In the execution of the treaties of peace of November, 1782, and
September, 1783, between the United States and Great Britain, and which
terminated the war of our independence, a line of boundary was drawn as
the demarcation of territory between the two countries, extending over
near 20 degrees of latitude, and ranging over seas, lakes, and
mountains, then very imperfectly explored and scarcely opened to the
geographical knowledge of the age. In the progress of discovery and
settlement by both parties since that time several questions of boundary
between their respective territories have arisen, which have been found
of exceedingly difficult adjustment. At the close of the last war with
Great Britain four of these questions pressed themselves upon the
consideration of the negotiators of the treaty of Ghent, but without the
means of concluding a definitive arrangement concerning them. They were
referred to three separate commissions consisting of two commissioners,
one appointed by each party, to examine and decide upon their respective
claims. In the event of a disagreement between the commissioners it was
provided that they should make reports to their several Governments, and
that the reports should finally be referred to the decision of a
sovereign the common friend of both. Of these commissions two have
already terminated their sessions and investigations, one by entire and
the other by partial agreement. The commissioners of the fifth article
of the treaty of Ghent have finally disagreed, and made their
conflicting reports to their own Governments. But from these reports a
great difficulty has occurred in making up a question to be decided by
the arbitrator. This purpose has, however, been effected by a fourth
convention, concluded at London by the plenipotentiaries of the two
Governments on the 29th of September last. It will be submitted,
together with the others, to the consideration of the Senate.

While these questions have been pending incidents have occurred of
conflicting pretensions and of dangerous character upon the territory
itself in dispute between the two nations. By a common understanding
between the Governments it was agreed that no exercise of exclusive
jurisdiction by either party while the negotiation was pending should
change the state of the question of right to be definitively settled.
Such collision has, nevertheless, recently taken place by occurrences
the precise character of which has not yet been ascertained. A
communication from the governor of the State of Maine, with accompanying
documents, and a correspondence between the Secretary of State and the
minister of Great Britain on this subject are now communicated. Measures
have been taken to ascertain the state of the facts more correctly by
the employment of a special agent to visit the spot where the alleged
outrages have occurred, the result of whose inquiries, when received,
will be transmitted to Congress.

While so many of the subjects of high interest to the friendly relations
between the two countries have been so far adjusted, it is matter of
regret that their views respecting the commercial intercourse between
the United States and the British colonial possessions have not equally
approximated to a friendly agreement.

At the commencement of the last session of Congress they were informed
of the sudden and unexpected exclusion by the British Government of
access in vessels of the United States to all their colonial ports,
except those immediately bordering upon our own territories. In the
amicable discussions which have succeeded the adoption of this measure,
which, as it affected harshly the interests of the United States, became
a subject of expostulation on our part, the principles upon which its
justification has been placed have been of a diversified character. It
has been at once ascribed to a mere recurrence to the old,
long-established principle of colonial monopoly and at the same time to
a feeling of resentment because the offers of an act of Parliament
opening the colonial ports upon certain conditions had not been grasped
at with sufficient eagerness by an instantaneous conformity to them. At
a subsequent period it has been intimated that the new exclusion was in
resentment because a prior act of Parliament, of 1822, opening certain
colonial ports, under heavy and burdensome restrictions, to vessels of
the United States, had not been reciprocated by an admission of British
vessels from the colonies, and their cargoes, without any restriction or
discrimination whatever. But be the motive for the interdiction what it
may, the British Government have manifested no disposition, either by
negotiation or by corresponding legislative enactments, to recede from
it, and we have been given distinctly to understand that neither of the
bills which were under the consideration of Congress at their last
session would have been deemed sufficient in their concessions to have
been rewarded by any relaxation from the British interdict. It is one of
the inconveniences inseparably connected with the attempt to adjust by
reciprocal legislation interests of this nature that neither party can
know what would be satisfactory to the other, and that after enacting a
statute for the avowed and sincere purpose of conciliation it will
generally be found utterly inadequate to the expectations of the other
party, and will terminate in mutual disappointment.

The session of Congress having terminated without any act upon the
subject, a proclamation was issued on the 17th of March last,
conformably to the provisions of the sixth section of the act of 1st
March, 1823, declaring the fact that the trade and intercourse
authorized by the British act of Parliament of 24th June, 1822, between
the United States and the British enumerated colonial ports had been by
the subsequent acts of Parliament of 5th July, 1825, and the order of
council of 27th July, 1826, prohibited. The effect of this proclamation,
by the terms of the act under which it was issued, has been that each
and every provision of the act concerning navigation of 18th April,
1818, and of the act supplementary thereto of 15th May, 1820, revived
and is in full force. Such, then, is the present condition of the trade
that, useful as it is to both parties, it can, with a single momentary
exception, be carried on directly by the vessels of neither. That
exception itself is found in a proclamation of the governor of the
island of St. Christopher and of the Virgin Islands, inviting for three
months from the 28th of August last the importation of the articles of
the produce of the United States which constitute their export portion
of this trade in the vessels of all nations. That period having already
expired, the state of mutual interdiction has again taken place. The
British Government have not only declined negotiation upon this subject,
but by the principle they have assumed with reference to it have
precluded even the means of negotiation. It becomes not the self-respect
of the United States either to solicit gratuitous favors or to accept as
the grant of a favor that for which an ample equivalent is exacted. It
remains to be determined by the respective Governments whether the trade
shall be opened by acts of reciprocal legislation. It is, in the
meantime, satisfactory to know that apart from the inconveniences
resulting from a disturbance of the usual channels of trade no loss has
been sustained by the commerce, the navigation, or the revenue of the
United States, and none of magnitude is to be apprehended from this
existing state of mutual interdict.

With the other maritime and commercial nations of Europe our intercourse
continues with little variation. Since the cessation by the convention
of 24th June, 1822, of all discriminating duties upon the vessels of the
United States and of France in either country our trade with that nation
has increased and is increasing. A disposition on the part of France has
been manifested to renew that negotiation, and in acceding to the
proposal we have expressed the wish that it might be extended to other
subjects upon which a good understanding between the parties would be
beneficial to the interests of both. The origin of the political
relations between the United States and France is coeval with the first
years of our independence. The memory of it is interwoven with that of
our arduous struggle for national existence. Weakened as it has
occasionally been since that time, it can by us never be forgotten, and
we should hail with exultation the moment which should indicate a
recollection equally friendly in spirit on the part of France. A fresh
effort has recently been made by the minister of the United States
residing at Paris to obtain a consideration of the just claims of
citizens of the United States to the reparation of wrongs long since
committed, many of them frankly acknowledged and all of them entitled
upon every principle of justice to a candid examination. The proposal
last made to the French Government has been to refer the subject which
has formed an obstacle to this consideration to the determination of a
sovereign the common friend of both. To this offer no definitive answer
has yet been received, but the gallant and honorable spirit which has at
all times been the pride and glory of France will not ultimately permit
the demands of innocent sufferers to be extinguished in the mere
consciousness of the power to reject them.

A new treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce has been concluded with
the Kingdom of Sweden, which will be submitted to the Senate for their
advice with regard to its ratification. At a more recent date a minister
plenipotentiary from the Hanseatic Republics of Hamburg, Lubeck, and
Bremen has been received, charged with a special mission for the
negotiation of a treaty of amity and commerce between that ancient and
renowned league and the United States. This negotiation has accordingly
been commenced, and is now in progress, the result of which will, if
successful, be also submitted to the Senate for their consideration.

Since the accession of the Emperor Nicholas to the imperial throne of
all the Russias the friendly dispositions toward the United States so
constantly manifested by his predecessor have continued unabated, and
have been recently testified by the appointment of a minister
plenipotentiary to reside at this place. From the interest taken by this
Sovereign in behalf of the suffering Greeks and from the spirit with
which others of the great European powers are cooperating with him the
friends of freedom and of humanity may indulge the hope that they will
obtain relief from that most unequal of conflicts which they have so
long and so gallantly sustained; that they will enjoy the blessing of
self-government, which by their sufferings in the cause of liberty they
have richly earned, and that their independence will be secured by those
liberal institutions of which their country furnished the earliest
examples in the history of mankind, and which have consecrated to
immortal remembrance the very soil for which they are now again
profusely pouring forth their blood. The sympathies which the people and
Government of the United States have so warmly indulged with their cause
have been acknowledged by their Government in a letter of thanks, which
I have received from their illustrious President, a translation of which
is now communicated to Congress, the representatives of that nation to
whom this tribute of gratitude was intended to be paid, and to whom it
was justly due.

In the American hemisphere the cause of freedom and independence has
continued to prevail, and if signalized by none of those splendid
triumphs which had crowned with glory some of the preceding years it has
only been from the banishment of all external force against which the
struggle had been maintained. The shout of victory has been superseded
by the expulsion of the enemy over whom it could have been achieved. Our
friendly wishes and cordial good will, which have constantly followed
the southern nations of America in all the vicissitudes of their war of
independence, are succeeded by a solicitude equally ardent and cordial
that by the wisdom and purity of their institutions they may secure to
themselves the choicest blessings of social order and the best rewards
of virtuous liberty. Disclaiming alike all right and all intention of
interfering in those concerns which it is the prerogative of their
independence to regulate as to them shall seem fit, we hail with joy
every indication of their prosperity, of their harmony, of their
persevering and inflexible homage to those principles of freedom and of
equal rights which are alone suited to the genius and temper of the
American nations. It has been, therefore, with some concern that we have
observed indications of intestine divisions in some of the Republics of
the south, and appearances of less union with one another than we
believe to be the interest of all. Among the results of this state of
things has been that the treaties concluded at Panama do not appear to
have been ratified by the contracting parties, and that the meeting of
the congress at Tacubaya has been indefinitely postponed. In accepting
the invitations to be represented at this congress, while a
manifestation was intended on the part of the United States of the most
friendly disposition toward the southern Republics by whom it had been
proposed, it was hoped that it would furnish an opportunity for bringing
all the nations of this hemisphere to the common acknowledgment and
adoption of the principles in the regulation of their internal relations
which would have secured a lasting peace and harmony between them and
have promoted the cause of mutual benevolence throughout the globe. But
as obstacles appear to have arisen to the reassembling of the congress,
one of the two ministers commissioned on the part of the United States
has returned to the bosom of his country, while the minister charged
with the ordinary mission to Mexico remains authorized to attend at the
conferences of the congress whenever they may be resumed.

A hope was for a short time entertained that a treaty of peace actually
signed between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of Brazil would
supersede all further occasion for those collisions between belligerent
pretensions and neutral rights which are so commonly the result of
maritime war, and which have unfortunately disturbed the harmony of the
relations between the United States and the Brazilian Governments. At
their last session Congress were informed that some of the naval
officers of that Empire had advanced and practiced upon principles in
relation to blockades and to neutral navigation which we could not
sanction, and which our commanders found it necessary to resist. It
appears that they have not been sustained by the Government of Brazil
itself. Some of the vessels captured under the assumed authority of
these erroneous principles have been restored, and we trust that our
just expectations will be realized that adequate indemnity will be made
to all the citizens of the United States who have suffered by the
unwarranted captures which the Brazilian tribunals themselves have
pronounced unlawful.

In the diplomatic discussions at Rio de Janeiro of these wrongs
sustained by citizens of the United States and of others which seemed as
if emanating immediately from that Government itself the chargé
d'affaires of the United States, under an impression that his
representations in behalf of the rights and interests of his countrymen
were totally disregarded and useless, deemed it his duty, without
waiting for instructions, to terminate his official functions, to demand
his passports, and return to the United States. This movement, dictated
by an honest zeal for the honor and interests of his country--motives
which operated exclusively on the mind of the officer who resorted to
it--has not been disapproved by me. The Brazilian Government, however,
complained of it as a measure for which no adequate intentional cause
had been given by them, and upon an explicit assurance through their
chargé d'affaires residing here that a successor to the late
representative of the United States near that Government, the
appointment of whom they desired, should be received and treated with
the respect due to his character, and that indemnity should be promptly
made for all injuries inflicted on citizens of the United States or
their property contrary to the laws of nations, a temporary commission
as charge d'affaires to that country has been issued, which it is hoped
will entirety restore the ordinary diplomatic intercourse between the
two Governments and the friendly relations between their respective
nations.

Turning from the momentous concerns of our Union in its intercourse with
foreign nations to those of the deepest interest in the administration
of our internal affairs, we find the revenues of the present year
corresponding as nearly as might be expected with the anticipations of
the last, and presenting an aspect still more favorable in the promise
of the next. The balance in the Treasury on January 1 last was
$6,358,686.18. The receipts from that day to the 30th of September last,
as near as the returns of them yet received can show, amount to
$16,886,581.32. The receipts of the present quarter, estimated at
$4,515,000, added to the above form an aggregate of $21,400,000 of
receipts. The expenditures of the year may perhaps amount to
$22,300,000, presenting a small excess over the receipts. But of these
twenty-two millions, upward of six have been applied to the discharge of
the principal of the public debt, the whole amount of which, approaching
seventy-four millions on the 1st of January last, will on the first day
of the next year fall short of sixty-seven millions and a half. The
balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January next it is expected will
exceed $5,450,000, a sum exceeding that of the 1st of January, 1825,
though falling short of that exhibited on the 1st of January last.

It was foreseen that the revenue of the present year would not equal
that of the last, which had itself been less than that of the next
preceding year. But the hope has been realized which was entertained,
that these deficiencies would in nowise interrupt the steady operation
of the discharge of the public debt by the annual ten millions devoted
to that object by the act of 3d March, 1817.

The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the
commencement of the year until the 30th of September last is
$21,226,000, and the probable amount of that which will be secured
during the remainder of the year is $5,774,000, forming a sum total of
$27,000,000. With the allowances for drawbacks and contingent
deficiencies which may occur, though not specifically foreseen, we may
safely estimate the receipts of the ensuing year at $22,300,000--a
revenue for the next equal to the expenditure of the present year.

The deep solicitude felt by our citizens of all classes throughout the
Union for the total discharge of the public debt will apologize for the
earnestness with which I deem it my duty to urge this topic upon the
consideration of Congress--of recommending to them again the observance
of the strictest economy in the application of the public funds. The
depression upon the receipts of the revenue which had commenced with the
year 1826 continued with increased severity during the two first
quarters of the present year. The returning tide began to flow with the
third quarter, and, so far as we can judge from experience, may be
expected to continue through the course of the ensuing year. In the
meantime an alleviation from the burden of the public debt will in the
three years have been effected to the amount of nearly sixteen millions,
and the charge of annual interest will have been reduced upward of one
million. But among the maxims of political economy which the stewards of
the public moneys should never suffer without urgent necessity to be
transcended is that of keeping the expenditures of the year within the
limits of its receipts. The appropriations of the two last years,
including the yearly ten millions of the sinking fund, have each equaled
the promised revenue of the ensuing year. While we foresee with
confidence that the public coffers will be replenished from the receipts
as fast as they will be drained by the expenditures, equal in amount to
those of the current year, it should not be forgotten that they could
ill suffer the exhaustion of larger disbursements.

The condition of the Army and of all the branches of the public service
under the superintendence of the Secretary of War will be seen by the
report from that officer and the documents with which it is accompanied.

During the last summer a detachment of the Army has been usefully and
successfully called to perform their appropriate duties. At the moment
when the commissioners appointed for carrying into execution certain
provisions of the treaty of August 19, 1825, with various tribes of the
Northwestern Indians were about to arrive at the appointed place of
meeting the unprovoked murder of several citizens and other acts of
unequivocal hostility committed by a party of the Winnebago tribe, one
of those associated in the treaty, followed by indications of a menacing
character among other tribes of the same region, rendered necessary an
immediate display of the defensive and protective force of the Union in
that quarter. It was accordingly exhibited by the immediate and
concerted movements of the governors of the State of Illinois and of the
Territory of Michigan, and competent levies of militia, under their
authority, with a corps of 700 men of United States troops, under the
command of General Atkinson, who, at the call of Governor Cass,
immediately repaired to the scene of danger from their station at St.
Louis. Their presence dispelled the alarms of our fellow-citizens on
those borders, and overawed the hostile purposes of the Indians. The
perpetrators of the murders were surrendered to the authority and
operation of our laws, and every appearance of purposed hostility from
those Indian tribes has subsided.

Although the present organization of the Army and the administration of
its various branches of service are, upon the whole, satisfactory, they
are yet susceptible of much improvement in particulars, some of which
have been heretofore submitted to the consideration of Congress, and
others are now first presented in the report of the Secretary of War.

The expediency of providing for additional numbers of officers in the
two corps of engineers will in some degree depend upon the number and
extent of the objects of national importance upon which Congress may
think it proper that surveys should be made conformably to the act of
the 30th of April, 1824. 'Of the surveys which before the last session
of Congress had been made under the authority of that act, reports were
made--

1. Of the Board of Internal Improvement, on the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal.

2. On the continuation of the national road from Cumberland to the tide
waters within the district of Columbia.

3. On the continuation of the national road from Canton to Zanesville.

4. On the location of the national road from Zanesville to Columbus.

5. On the continuation of the same to the seat of government in
Missouri.

6. On a post-road from Baltimore to Philadelphia.

7. Of a survey of Kennebec River (in part).

8. On a national road from Washington to Buffalo.

9. On the survey of Saugatuck Harbor and River.

10. On a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi River.

11. On surveys at Edgartown, Newburyport, and Hyannis Harbor.

12. On survey of La Plaisance Bay, in the Territory of Michigan.

And reports are now prepared and will be submitted to Congress--

On surveys of the peninsula of Florida, to ascertain the practicability
of a canal to connect the waters of the Atlantic with the Gulf of Mexico
across that peninsula; and also of the country between the bays of
Mobile and of Pensacola, with the view of connecting them together by a
canal.

On surveys of a route for a canal to connect the waters of James and
Great Kenhawa rivers.

On the survey of the Swash, in Pamlico Sound, and that of Cape Fear,
below the town of Wilmington, in North Carolina.

On the survey of the Muscle Shoals, in the Tennessee River, and for a
route for a contemplated communication between the Hiwassee and Coosa
rivers, in the State of Alabama.

Other reports of surveys upon objects pointed out by the several acts of
Congress of the last and preceding sessions are in the progress of
preparation, and most of them may be completed before the close of this
session. All the officers of both corps of engineers, with several other
persons duly qualified, have been constantly employed upon these
services from the passage of the act of 30th April, 1824, to this time.
Were no other advantage to accrue to the country from their labors than
the fund of topographical knowledge which they have collected and
communicated, that alone would have been a profit to the Union more than
adequate to all the expenditures which have been devoted to the object;
but the appropriations for the repair and continuation of the Cumberland
road, for the construction of various other roads, for the removal of
obstructions from the rivers and harbors, for the erection of
light-houses, beacons, piers, and buoys, and for the completion of
canals undertaken by individual associations, but heeding the assistance
of means and resources more comprehensive than individual enterprise can
command, may be considered rather as treasures laid up from the
contributions of the present age for the benefit of posterity than as
unrequited applications of the accruing revenues of the nation. To such
objects of permanent improvement to the condition of the country, of
real addition to the wealth as well as to the comfort of the people by
whose authority and resources they have been effected, from three to
four millions of the annual income of the nation have, by laws enacted
at the three most recent sessions of Congress, been applied, without
intrenching upon the necessities of the Treasury, without adding a
dollar to the taxes or debts of the community, without suspending even
the steady and regular discharge of the debts contracted in former days,
which within the same three years have been diminished by the amount of
nearly $16,000,000.

The same observations are in a great degree applicable to the
appropriations made for fortifications upon the coasts and harbors of
the United States, for the maintenance of the Military Academy at West
Point, and for the various objects under the superintendence of the
Department of the Navy. The report from the Secretary of the Navy and
those from the subordinate branches of both the military departments
exhibit to Congress in minute detail the present condition of the public
establishments dependent upon them, the execution of the acts of
Congress relating to them, and the views of the officers engaged in the
several branches of the service concerning the improvements which may
tend to their perfection. The fortification of the coasts and the
gradual increase and improvement of the Navy are parts of a great system
of national defense which has been upward of ten years in progress, and
which for a series of years to come will continue to claim the constant
and persevering protection and superintendence of the legislative
authority. Among the measures which have emanated from these principles
the act of the last session of Congress for the gradual improvement of
the Navy holds a conspicuous place. The collection of timber for the
future construction of vessels of war, the preservation and reproduction
of the species of timber peculiarly adapted to that purpose, the
construction of dry docks for the use of the Navy, the erection of a
marine railway for the repair of the public ships, and the improvement
of the navy-yards for the preservation of the public property deposited
in them have all received from the Executive the attention required by
that act, and will continue to receive it, steadily proceeding toward
the execution of all its purposes. The establishment of a naval academy,
furnishing the means of theoretic instruction to the youths who devote
their lives to the service of their country upon the ocean, still
solicits the sanction of the Legislature. Practical seamanship and the
art of navigation may be acquired on the cruises of the squadrons which
from time to time are dispatched to distant seas, but a competent
knowledge even of the art of shipbuilding, the higher mathematics, and
astronomy; the literature which can place our officers on a level of
polished education with the officers of other maritime nations; the
knowledge of the laws, municipal and national, which in their
intercourse with foreign states and their governments are continually
called into operation, and, above all, that acquaintance with the
principles of honor and justice, with the higher obligations of morals
and of general laws, human and divine, which constitutes the great
distinction between the warrior-patriot and the licensed robber and
pirate--these can be systematically taught and eminently acquired only
in a permanent school, stationed upon the shore and provided with the
teachers, the instruments, and the books conversant with and adapted to
the communication of the principles of these respective sciences to the
youthful and inquiring mind.

The report from the Postmaster-General exhibits the condition of that
Department as highly satisfactory for the present and still more
promising for the future. Its receipts for the year ending the 1st of
July last amounted to $1,473,551, and exceeded its expenditures by
upward of $100,000. It can not be an oversanguine estimate to predict
that in less than ten years, of which one-half have elapsed, the
receipts will have been more than doubled. In the meantime a reduced
expenditure upon established routes has kept pace with increased
facilities of public accommodation and additional services have been
obtained at reduced rates of compensation. Within the last year the
transportation of the mail in stages has been greatly augmented. The
number of post-offices has been increased to 7,000, and it may be
anticipated that while the facilities of intercourse between
fellow-citizens in person or by correspondence will soon be carried to
the door of every villager in the Union, a yearly surplus of revenue
will accrue which may be applied as the wisdom of Congress under the
exercise of their constitutional powers may devise for the further
establishment and improvement of the public roads, or by adding still
further to the facilities in the transportation of the mails. Of the
indications of the prosperous condition of our country, none can be more
pleasing than those presented by the multiplying relations of personal
and intimate intercourse between the citizens of the Union dwelling at
the remotest distances from each other.

Among the subjects which have heretofore occupied the earnest solicitude
and attention of Congress is the management and disposal of that portion
of the property of the nation which consists of the public lands. The
acquisition of them, made at the expense of the whole Union, not only in
treasure but in blood, marks a right of property in them equally
extensive. By the report and statements from the General Land Office now
communicated it appears that under the present Government of the United
States a sum little short of $33,000,000 has been paid from the common
Treasury for that portion of this property which has been purchased from
France and Spain, and for the extinction of the aboriginal titles. The
amount of lands acquired is near 260,000,000 acres, of which on the 1st
of January, 1826, about 139,000,000 acres had been surveyed, and little
more than 19,000,000 acres had been sold. The amount paid into the
Treasury by the purchasers of the public lands sold is not yet equal to
the sums paid for the whole, but leaves a small balance to be refunded.
The proceeds of the sales of the lands have long been pledged to the
creditors of the nation, a pledge from which we have reason to hope that
they will in a very few years be redeemed.

The system upon which this great national interest has been managed was
the result of long, anxious, and persevering deliberation. Matured and
modified by the progress of our population and the lessons of
experience, it has been hitherto eminently successful. More than
nine-tenths of the lands still remain the common property of the Union,
the appropriation and disposal of which are sacred trusts in the hands
of Congress. Of the lands sold, a considerable part were conveyed under
extended credits, which in the vicissitudes and fluctuations in the
value of lands and of their produce became oppressively burdensome to
the purchasers. It can never be the interest or the policy of the nation
to wring from its own citizens the reasonable profits of their industry
and enterprise by holding them to the rigorous import of disastrous
engagements. In March, 1821, a debt of $22,000,000, due by purchasers of
the public lands, had accumulated, which they were unable to pay. An act
of Congress of the 2d March, 1821, came to their relief, and has been
succeeded by others, the latest being the act of the 4th of May, 1826,
the indulgent provisions of which expired on the 4th July last. The
effect of these laws has been to reduce the debt from the purchasers to
a remaining balance of about $4,300,000 due, more than three-fifths of
which are for lands within the State of Alabama. I recommend to Congress
the revival and continuance for a further term of the beneficent
accommodations to the public debtors of that statute, and submit to
their consideration, in the same spirit of equity, the remission, under
proper discriminations, of the forfeitures of partial payments on
account of purchases of the public lands, so far as to allow of their
application to other payments.

There are various other subjects of deep interest to the whole Union
which have heretofore been recommended to the consideration of Congress,
as well by my predecessors as, under the impression of the duties
devolving upon me, by myself. Among these are the debt, rather of
justice than gratitude, to the surviving warriors of the Revolutionary
war; the extension of the judicial administration of the Federal
Government to those extensive and important members of the Union which,
having risen into existence since the organization of the present
judiciary establishment, now constitute at least one-third of its
territory, power, and population; the formation of a more effective and
uniform system for the government of the militia, and the amelioration
in some form or modification of the diversified and often oppressive
codes relating to insolvency. Amidst the multiplicity of topics of great
national concernment which may recommend themselves to the calm and
patriotic deliberations of the Legislature, it may suffice to say that
on these and all other measures which may receive their sanction my
hearty cooperation will be given, conformably to the duties enjoined
upon me and under the sense of all the obligations prescribed by the
Constitution.

John Quincy Adams.



       *       *       *       *       *



SPECIAL MESSAGES.



Washington,
_December 6, 1827_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 19th of February
last, requesting a statement of all the expenses annually incurred in
carrying into effect the act of March 2, 1819, for prohibiting the slave
trade, including the cost of keeping the ships of war on the coast of
Africa and all the incidental expenses growing out of the operation of
that act, I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with the
statement, so far as it can be made, required by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 11, 1827_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate--

1. A convention between the United States and Great Britain for the
continuance in force of the convention of 3d July, 1815, after the 20th
October, 1828, the term at which it would otherwise expire.

2. A convention between the same parties for continuing in force after
the 20th October, 1828, the provisions of the third article of the
convention of 20th October, 1818, in relation to the territories
westward of the Rocky Mountains.

3. A convention between the same parties for the reference to a friendly
sovereign of the points of difference between them relating to the
northeastern boundary of the United States.

The first and second of these conventions were signed by the
plenipotentiaries of the respective parties at London on the 6th day of
August and the third on the 29th day of September last.

Copies of them are also communicated, together with the correspondence
and documents illustrative of their negotiation.

I request the advice of the Senate with regard to the ratification of
each of them.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 11, 1827_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its
ratification, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United
States and the Kingdom of. Sweden and Norway, signed at Stockholm by the
plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 4th day of July last.

A copy of the treaty, with a translation, and the instructions and
correspondence relating to the negotiation are also communicated.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 12, 1827_


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to Congress copies of a report of the
surveyor-general of lands northwest of Ohio, with a plat of the northern
boundary line of the State of Indiana, surveyed in conformity to the act
of Congress to authorize the President of the United States to ascertain
and designate the northern boundary of the State of Indiana, passed the
2d of March, 1827.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 24, 1827_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant,
requesting a communication of the instructions to the American minister
at London for the negotiation of the convention of the 13th of November,
1826, with Great Britain, for indemnity to the claimants under the first
article of the treaty of Ghent, together with the letters of the
minister accompanying and explaining the said convention, I transmit
herewith a report from the Secretary of State, together with the
documents desired.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 4, 1828_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 19th of last month,
I communicate herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies
of the correspondence with the British Government relating to the
establishment of light-houses, light-vessels, buoys, and other
improvements to the navigation within their jurisdiction, opposite to
the coast of Florida, referred to in the resolution,

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 7, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
17th of last month, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary
of State and the correspondence with the Government of Great Britain
relative to the free navigation of the river St. Lawrence.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 9, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 7th instant, I
transmit herewith Mitchell's map and the map marked A,[013] as requested
by the resolution, desiring that when the Senate shall have no further
use for them they may be returned.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 15, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
2d instant, requesting information respecting the recovery of debts and
property in the Mexican States from persons absconding from the United
States, and also respecting the boundary between the State of Louisiana
and the Province of Texas, I now transmit a report from the Secretary of
State on the subject-matter of the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 22, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, articles
of agreement signed at the Creek Agency on the 15th of November last by
Thomas L. McKenney and John Crowell in behalf of the United States and
by the Little Prince and other chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation,
with a supplementary article concluded by the said John Crowell with the
chiefs and headmen of the nation in general council convened on the 3d
instant, embracing a cession by the Creek Nation of all the remnant of
their lands within the State of Georgia. Documents connected with the
negotiation of the treaty and the instructions under which it was
effected are also communicated to the Senate.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 22, 1828_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

By the report of the Secretary of War and the documents from that
Department exhibited to Congress at the commencement of their present
session they were advised of the measures taken for carrying into
execution the act of 4th May, 1826, to authorize the President of the
United States to run and mark a line dividing the Territory of Florida
from the State of Georgia, and of their unsuccessful result. I now
transmit to Congress copies of communications received from the governor
of Georgia relating to that subject.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 23, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

A resolution of the Senate of the 9th instant requested information
relative to the trade between the United States and the colonies of
France. A report from the Secretary of State, with a translation of the
ordinance of the King of France of the 5th of February, 1826, is
herewith transmitted, containing the information desired by the
resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 28, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate--

1. A treaty concluded at the Butte des Morts, on Fox River, in the
Territory of Michigan, on 11th of August, 1827, between Lewis Cass and
Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners of the United States, and the chiefs
and headmen of the Chippewa, Menomonie, and Winnebago tribes of Indians.

2. A treaty concluded at St. Joseph, in the Territory of Michigan, on
the 19th of September, 1827, between Lewis Cass, commissioner of the
United States, and the chiefs and warriors of the Potawatamie tribe of
Indians.

Upon which treaties I request the advice of the Senate. The instructions
and other documents relating to the negotiation of them are here-with
communicated.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 29_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

A report from the Secretary of State, with copies of a recent
correspondence between the chargé d'affaires from Brazil and him on the
subjects of discussion between this Government and that of Brazil,[014]
is transmitted to the House of Representatives, in compliance with a
resolution of the House of the 2d instant.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 6, 1828_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I communicate herewith to Congress copies of a treaty of commerce and
navigation between the United States and His Majesty the King of Sweden
and Norway, concluded at Stockholm on the 4th of July, 1827, and the
ratifications of which were exchanged on the 18th ultimo at this city.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 14, 1828_


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 11th instant,
requesting copies of the instructions to Andrew Ellicott, commissioner
for running the line between the United States and Spain, and of any
journal or report of the commissioners, I communicate herewith a report
from the Secretary of State, with the documents requested, so far as
they are found in the files of that Department.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 21, 1828_


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

In transmitting to Congress copies of a communication received from the
governor of Pennsylvania, with certain resolutions of the legislature of
that Commonwealth, relating to the Cumberland road, I deem it my duty to
recommend to the consideration of Congress an adequate provision for the
permanent preservation and repair of that great national work.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 3, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary
of State, with documents, containing the instructions of the Government
of the United States to Thomas Pinckney under which was negotiated the
treaty of San Lorenzo el Real, and relating to the boundary line between
the United States and the dominions, at that time, of Spain as requested
by a resolution of the House of the 18th ultimo.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 3, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d of January last,
requesting the communication of information in my possession relative to
alleged aggression on the rights of citizens of the United States by
persons claiming authority under the government of the Province of New
Brunswick, I communicate a report from the Secretary of State, with a
copy of that of the special agent mentioned in my message at the
commencement of the present session of Congress as having been sent to
visit the spot where the cause of complaint had occurred to ascertain
the state of the facts, and the result of whose inquiries I then
promised to communicate to Congress when it should be received.

The Senate are requested to receive this communication as the
fulfillment of that engagement; and in making it I deem it proper to
notice with just acknowledgment the liberality with which the minister
of His Britannic Majesty residing here and the government of the
Province of New Brunswick have furnished the agent of the United States
with every facility for the attainment of the information which it was
the object of his mission to procure.

Considering the exercise of exclusive territorial jurisdiction upon the
grounds in controversy by the government of New Brunswick in the arrest
and imprisonment of John Baker as incompatible with the mutual
understanding existing between the Governments of the United States and
of Great Britain on this subject, a demand has been addressed to the
provincial authorities through the minister of Great Britain for the
release of that individual from prison, and of indemnity to him for his
detention'. In doing this it has not been intended to maintain the
regularity of his own proceedings or of those with whom he was
associated, to which they were not authorized by any sovereign authority
of this country.

The documents appended to the report of the agent being original papers
belonging to the files of the Department of State, a return of them is
requested when the Senate shall have no further use for them.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 7, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

The resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, requesting me to cause
to be laid before the Senate all papers which might be in the Department
of War relating to the treaty concluded at the Butte des Morts, on Fox
River, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners on the
part of the United States, and the Chippewa, Menomonie, and Winnebago
tribes of Indians, having been referred to the Secretary of War, the
report of that officer thereon is herewith inclosed. The papers therein
referred to were all transmitted to the Senate with the treaty. Before
that event, however, a petition and several other papers had been
addressed directly to me, in behalf of certain Indians originally and in
part still residing within the State of New York, objecting to the
ratification of the treaty, as affecting injuriously their rights and
interests. The treaty was itself withheld from the Senate until it was
understood at the War Department and by me that by the consent of the
persons representing the New York Indians their objections were
withdrawn, as by one of them, the Reverend Eleazer Williams, I was
personally assured. Those papers, however, addressed directly to me, and
which have not been upon the files of the War Department, are now
transmitted to the Senate.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 14, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a treaty
concluded at the Wyandot village, near the Wabash, in the State of
Indiana, between John Tipton, commissioner on the part of the United
States, and the chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Eel River or
Thorntown party of Miami Indians, on the 11th day of February last.

A letter from the commissioner to the Secretary of War, with a copy of
the journal of the proceedings which led to the conclusion of the
treaty, are communicated with it to the Senate.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 15, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 21st ultimo,
requesting me to lay before the House correspondence not heretofore
communicated between the Government of the United States and that of
Great Britain on the subject of the claims of the two Governments to the
territory westward of the Rocky Mountains, I transmit herewith a report
of the Secretary of State, with the documents requested by the
resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 21, 1828_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty concluded on the 15th day of
November, 1827, by commissioners of the United States and the chiefs and
headmen of the Creek Nation of Indians, which was duly ratified on the
4th instant.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 22, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
3d instant, touching the formation of a new government by the Cherokee
tribe of Indians within the States of North Carolina, Georgia,
Tennessee, and Alabama, and requesting copies of certain correspondence
relating thereto, I transmit to the House of Representatives a report
from the Secretary of War, together with the documents desired by the
resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 25, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, prepared in
compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
25th of February last, requesting copies of instructions and
correspondence relating to the settlement of the boundary lines of the
United States, or any one of them, under the Government of the
Confederated States and by the definitive treaty of peace of 3d
September, 1783, with Great Britain.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 8, 1828_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
22d ultimo, on the subject of the treaty with the Creek Nation of
Indians of the 15th November last, I transmit herewith a report from the
Secretary of War, with the documents, containing the information desired
by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 15, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 9th instant,
requesting copies of the charges preferred against the agent of the
United States for the Creek tribe of Indians since the 1st of January,
1826, and of proceedings had thereon, I transmit herewith a report from
the Secretary of War, with documents, containing the information desired
by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 17, 1828_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

In conformity with the practice of all my predecessors, I have during my
service in the office of President transmitted to the two Houses of
Congress from time to time, by the same private secretary, such messages
as a proper discharge of my constitutional duty appeared to me to
require. On Tuesday last he was charged with the delivery of a message
to each House. Having presented that which was intended for the House of
Representatives, whilst he was passing, within the Capitol, from their
Hall to the Chamber of the Senate, for the purpose of delivering the
other message, he was waylaid and assaulted in the Rotunda by a person,
in the presence of a member of the House, who interposed and separated
the parties.

I have thought it my duty to communicate this occurrence to Congress, to
whose wisdom it belongs to consider whether it is of a nature requiring
from them any animadversion, and also whether any further laws or
regulations are necessary to insure security in the official intercourse
between the President and Congress, and to prevent disorders within the
Capitol itself.

In the deliberations of Congress upon this subject it is neither
expected nor desired that any consequence shall be attached to the
private relation in which my secretary stands to me.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 21, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a treaty
of limits between the United States of America and the United Mexican
States, concluded by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the
12th of January last. A copy of the treaty and the protocols of
conference between the plenipotentiaries during the negotiation are
inclosed with it.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 22,1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

A copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General, dated 17th May, 1826,
upon the construction of the award of the Emperor of Russia under the
treaty of Ghent and upon certain questions propounded to him in relation
thereto, subjoined to a report from the Secretary of State, are herewith
communicated to the House, in compliance with their resolution of the
17th instant.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 24, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for the exercise of their constitutional
authority thereon, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between
the United States of America and the United Mexican States, signed by
their respective plenipotentiaries on the 14th of February last, with a
copy of the treaty and the protocols of conference during and subsequent
to the negotiation.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 28,1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
9th instant, requesting a communication of the correspondence between
this Government and that of Great Britain on the subject of the trade
between the United States and the British colonial possessions in the
West Indies and North America, not heretofore communicated, I transmit
to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with the
correspondence desired.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_April 30, 1828_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

In the month of December last 121 African negroes were landed at Key
West from a Spanish slave-trading vessel stranded within the
jurisdiction of the United States while pursued by an armed schooner in
His Britannic Majesty's service. The collector of the customs at Key
West took possession of these persons, who were afterwards delivered
over to the marshal of the Territory of East Florida, by whom they were
conveyed to St. Augustine, where they still remain.

Believing that the circumstances under which they have been cast upon
the compassion of the country are not embraced by the provisions of the
act of Congress of 3d March, 1819, or of the other acts prohibiting the
slave trade, I submit to the consideration of Congress the expediency of
a supplementary act directing and authorizing such measures as may be
necessary for removing them from the territory of the United States and
for fulfilling toward them the obligations of humanity.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 1, 1828_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 17th ultimo,
relating to the removal of the Indian agency from Fort Wayne, in the
State of Indiana, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with
the documents and information requested by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 5, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 30th ultimo,
requesting information concerning any regulation of the Government of
Brazil relative to the reduction of certain duties, I transmit herewith
a report from the Secretary of State, exhibiting the information
received at that Department on the subject.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 5,1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a
treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and His
Majesty the King of Prussia, signed on the 1st instant at this place by
the Secretary of State and the chargé d'affaires of Prussia residing
here. A copy of the treaty is also transmitted.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 9, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

The report of the Secretary of War herewith transmitted, with the
documents annexed, contains the information requested by a resolution of
the 3d of April last, relating to the payments made to the citizens of
Georgia under the fourth article of the treaty with the Creek Nation of
8th February, 1821, and to the disallowances of certain claims exhibited
under that treaty, and to the reasons for rejecting the same.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 12, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, the
articles of a convention concluded at this place on the 6th instant
between the Secretary of War and the chiefs and headmen of the Cherokee
Nation west of the Mississippi, duly authorized by their nation. A
report from the Secretary of War, with certain documents, and a map
illustrative of the convention are submitted with it to the Senate.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 16, 1828_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

By a communication received from the chargé d'affaires of Prussia, a
translation of which is herewith transmitted, it appears that in the
ports of that Kingdom all discriminating duties so far as they affected
the vessels of the United States and their cargoes have been abolished
since the 15th of April, 1826. I recommend to the consideration of
Congress a legislative provision whereby the reciprocal application of
the same principle may be extended to Prussian vessels and their cargoes
which may have arrived in the ports of the United States from and after
that day.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 19, 1828_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress copies of three conventions concluded between the
United States of America and His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the ratifications of which were exchanged
at London on the 2d of last month:

1. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in force the
provisions of the convention of 3d July, 1815.

2. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in force the
provisions of the third article of the convention of 20th October, 1818.

3. A convention concluded 29th September, 1827, for carrying into effect
the provisions of the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent in relation
to the northeastern boundary of the United States.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 21, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to the House a report[015] from the Secretary of State, with
a copy of the note of the minister of the United States to Spain dated
20th January, 1826, requested by a resolution of the House of the 19th
instant.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 22, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

The inclosed report from the Secretary of State is accompanied by copies
of the correspondence between this Government and the minister of His
Britannic Majesty residing here relating to the arrest and imprisonment
of John Baker,[016] requested by a recent resolution of the House.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 22, 1828_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty between the United States of
America and the Eel River or Thornton party of Miami Indians, concluded
on the 11th of February last at the Wyandot village, near the Wabash, and
duly ratified on the 7th instant.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 23, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant,
relating to the accounts and official conduct of Thomas A. Smith,
receiver of public moneys at Franklin, Mo., I transmit herewith a report
from the Secretary of the Treasury, with documents, containing the
information desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_May 23, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
30th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State,
with copies of the correspondence[017] with the Brazilian Government,
and shewing the measures taken by the Government of the United States in
relation to the several topics noticed in the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



       *       *       *       *       *



PROCLAMATION.


By the President of the United States of America.

A PROCLAMATION.


Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of
January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of
tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence
being given to the President of the United States by the government of
any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost
are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels
belonging wholly to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise
the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President
is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the
foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United
States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as respects
the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or
manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said
suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given
to the President of the United States, and to continue so long as the
reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United
States and merchandise as aforesaid thereon laden shall be continued,
and no longer; and

Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His Britannic
Majesty, as King of Hanover, through the Right Honorable Charles Richard
Vaughan, his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, that
vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States or merchandise
the produce or manufacture thereof imported in such vessels are not nor
shall be on their entering any Hanoverian port subject to the payment of
higher duties of tonnage or impost than are levied on Hanoverian ships
or merchandise the produce or manufacture of the United States imported
in such vessels:

Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States of
America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts
imposing duties on the tonnage of ships and vessels and on goods, wares,
and merchandise imported into the United States as imposed a
discriminating duty of tonnage between the vessels of the Kingdom of
Hanover and vessels of the United States and between goods imported into
the United States in vessels of the Kingdom of Hanover and vessels of
the United States are suspended and discontinued so far as the same
respect the produce or manufacture of the said Kingdom of Hanover, the
said suspension to take effect this day and to continue henceforward so
long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the United States and
of the merchandise laden therein as aforesaid shall be continued in the
ports of the Kingdom of Hanover.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 1st day of July, A.
D. 1828, and the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United
States.

John Quincy Adams.



By the President:

H. Clay,
_Secretary of State_.



       *       *       *       *       *



EXECUTIVE ORDER.



Department of War,
_February 28, 1828_.


The Secretary of War, by direction of the President of the United
States, announces to the Army the painful intelligence of the decease
(the 24th of February) of Major-General Brown.

To say that he was one of the men who have rendered most important
services to his country would fall far short of the tribute due to his
character. Uniting with the most unaffected simplicity the highest
degree of personal valor and of intellectual energy, he stands
preeminent before the world and for after ages in that band of heroic
spirits who upon the ocean and the land formed and sustained during the
second war with Great Britain the martial reputation of their country.
To this high and honorable purpose General Brown may be truly said to
have sacrificed his life, for the disease which abridged his days and
has terminated his career at a period scarcely beyond the meridian of
manhood undoubtedly originated in the hardships of his campaigns on the
Canada frontier, and in that glorious wound which, though desperate,
could not remove him from the field of battle till it was won.

Quick to perceive, sagacious to anticipate, prompt to decide, and daring
in execution, he was born with the qualities which constitute a great
commander. His military _coup d'oeil_ his intuitive penetration, his
knowledge of men and his capacity to control them were known to all his
companions in arms, and commanded their respect; while the gentleness of
his disposition, the courtesy of his deportment, his scrupulous regard
to their rights, his constant attention to their wants, and his
affectionate attachment to their persons universally won their hearts
and bound them to him as a father.

Calm and collected in the presence of the enemy, he was withal tender of
human life; in the hour of battle more sparing of the blood of the
soldier than his own. In the hour of victory the vanquished enemy found
in him a humane and compassionate friend. Not one drop of blood shed in
wantonness or cruelty sullies the purity of his fame. Defeat he was
never called to endure, but in the crisis of difficulty and danger he
displayed untiring patience and fortitude not to be overcome.

Such was the great and accomplished captain whose loss the Army has now,
in common with their fellow-citizens of all classes, to deplore. While
indulging the kindly impulses of nature and yielding the tribute of a
tear upon his grave, let it not be permitted to close upon his bright
example as it must upon his mortal remains. Let him be more nobly
sepulchered in the hearts of his fellow-soldiers, and his imperishable
monument be found in their endeavors to emulate his virtues.

The officers of the Army will wear the badge of mourning for six months
on the left arm and hilt of the sword. Guns will be fired at each
military post at intervals of thirty minutes from the rising to the
setting of the sun on the day succeeding the arrival of this order,
during which the National flag will be suspended at half-mast.

James Barbour.


       *       *       *       *       *



FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.


Washington,
_December 2, 1828_.


_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:

If the enjoyment in profusion of the bounties of Providence forms a
suitable subject of mutual gratulation and grateful acknowledgment, we
are admonished at this return of the season when the representatives of
the nation are assembled to deliberate upon their concerns to offer up
the tribute of fervent and grateful hearts for the never-failing mercies
of Him who ruleth over all. He has again favored us with healthful
seasons and abundant harvests; He has sustained us in peace with foreign
countries and in tranquillity within our borders; He has preserved us in
the quiet and undisturbed possession of civil and religious liberty; He
has crowned the year with His goodness, imposing on us no other
conditions than of improving for our own happiness the blessings
bestowed by His hands, and, in the fruition of all His favors, of
devoting the faculties with which we have been endowed by Him to His
glory and to our own temporal and eternal welfare.

In the relations of our Federal Union with our brethren of the human
race the changes which have occurred since the close of your last
session have generally tended to the preservation of peace and to the
cultivation of harmony. Before your last separation a war had unhappily
been kindled between the Empire of Russia, one of those with which our
intercourse has been no other than a constant exchange of good offices,
and that of the Ottoman Porte, a nation from which geographical
distance, religious opinions and maxims of government on their part
little suited to the formation of those bonds of mutual benevolence
which result from the benefits of commerce had kept us in a state,
perhaps too much prolonged, of coldness and alienation. The extensive,
fertile, and populous dominions of the Sultan belong rather to the
Asiatic than the European division of the human family. They enter but
partially into the system of Europe, nor have their wars with Russia and
Austria, the European States upon which they border, for more than a
century past disturbed the pacific relations of those States with the
other great powers of Europe. Neither France nor Prussia nor Great
Britain has ever taken part in them, nor is it to be expected that they
will at this time. The declaration of war by Russia has received the
approbation or acquiescence of her allies, and we may indulge the hope
that its progress and termination will be signalized by the moderation
and forbearance no less than by the energy of the Emperor Nicholas, and
that it will afford the opportunity for such collateral agency in behalf
of the suffering Greeks as will secure to them ultimately the triumph of
humanity and of freedom.

The state of our particular relations with France has scarcely varied in
the course of the present year. The commercial intercourse between the
two countries has continued to increase for the mutual benefit of both.
The claims of indemnity to numbers of our fellow-citizens for
depredations upon their property, heretofore committed during the
revolutionary governments, remain unadjusted, and still form the subject
of earnest representation and remonstrance. Recent advices from the
minister of the United States at Paris encourage the expectation that
the appeal to the justice of the French Government will ere long receive
a favorable consideration.

The last friendly expedient has been resorted to for the decision of the
controversy with Great Britain relating to the northeastern boundary of
the United States. By an agreement with the British Government, carrying
into effect the provisions of the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent,
and the convention of 29th September, 1827, His Majesty the King of the
Netherlands has by common consent been selected as the umpire between
the parties. The proposal to him to accept the designation for the
performance of this friendly office will be made at an early day, and
the United States, relying upon the justice of their cause, will
cheerfully commit the arbitrament of it to a prince equally
distinguished for the independence of his spirit, his indefatigable
assiduity to the duties of his station, and his inflexible personal
probity.

Our commercial relations with Great Britain will deserve the serious
consideration of Congress and the exercise of a conciliatory and
forbearing spirit in the policy of both Governments. The state of them
has been materially changed by the act of Congress, passed at their last
session, in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on imports,
and by acts of more recent date of the British Parliament. The effect of
the interdiction of direct trade, commenced by Great Britain and
reciprocated by the United States, has been, as was to be foreseen, only
to substitute different channels for an exchange of commodities
indispensable to the colonies and profitable to a numerous class of our
fellow-citizens. The exports, the revenue, the navigation of the United
States have suffered no diminution by our exclusion from direct access
to the British colonies. The colonies pay more dearly for the
necessaries of life which their Government burdens with the charges of
double voyages, freight, insurance, and commission, and the profits of
our exports are somewhat impaired and more injuriously transferred from
one portion of our citizens to another. The resumption of this old and
otherwise exploded system of colonial exclusion has not secured to the
shipping interest of Great Britain the relief which, at the expense of
the distant colonies and of the United States, it was expected to
afford. Other measures have been resorted to more pointedly bearing upon
the navigation of the United States, and which, unless modified by the
construction given to the recent acts of Parliament, will be manifestly
incompatible with the positive stipulations of the commercial convention
existing between the two countries. That convention, however, may be
terminated with twelve months' notice, at the option of either party.

A treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce between the United States
and His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia, has
been prepared for signature by the Secretary of State and by the Baron
de Lederer, intrusted with full powers of the Austrian Government.
Independently of the new and friendly relations which may be thus
commenced with one of the most eminent and powerful nations of the
earth, the occasion has been taken in it, as in other recent treaties
concluded by the United States, to extend those principles of liberal
intercourse and of fair reciprocity which intertwine with the exchanges
of commerce the principles of justice and the feelings of mutual
benevolence. This system, first proclaimed to the world in the first
commercial treaty ever concluded by the United States--that of 6th
February, 1778, with France--has been invariably the cherished policy of
our Union. It is by treaties of commerce alone that it can be made
ultimately to prevail as the established system of all civilized
nations. With this principle our fathers extended the hand of friendship
to every nation of the globe, and to this policy our country has ever
since adhered. Whatever of regulation in our laws has ever been adopted
unfavorable to the interest of any foreign nation has been essentially
defensive and counteracting to similar regulations of theirs operating
against us.

Immediately after the close of the War of Independence commissioners
were appointed by the Congress of the Confederation authorized to
conclude treaties with every nation of Europe disposed to adopt them.
Before the wars of the French Revolution such treaties had been
consummated with the United Netherlands, Sweden, and Prussia. During
those wars treaties with Great Britain and Spain had been effected, and
those with Prussia and France renewed. In all these some concessions to
the liberal principles of intercourse proposed by the United States had
been obtained; but as in all the negotiations they came occasionally in
collision with previous internal regulations or exclusive and excluding
compacts of monopoly with which the other parties had been trammeled,
the advances made in them toward the freedom of trade were partial and
imperfect. Colonial establishments, chartered companies, and
shipbuilding influence pervaded and encumbered the legislation of all
the great commercial states; and the United States, in offering free
trade and equal privilege to all, were compelled to acquiesce in many
exceptions with each of the parties to their treaties, accommodated to
their existing laws and anterior engagements.

The colonial system by which this whole hemisphere was bound has fallen
into ruins, totally abolished by revolutions converting colonies into
independent nations throughout the two American continents, excepting a
portion of territory chiefly at the northern extremity of our own, and
confined to the remnants of dominion retained by Great Britain over the
insular archipelago, geographically the appendages of our part of the
globe. With all the rest we have free trade, even with the insular
colonies of all the European nations, except Great Britain. Her
Government also had manifested approaches to the adoption of a free and
liberal intercourse between her colonies and other nations, though by a
sudden and scarcely explained revulsion the spirit of exclusion has been
revived for operation upon the United States alone.

The conclusion of our last treaty of peace with Great Britain was
shortly afterwards followed by a commercial convention, placing the
direct intercourse between the two countries upon a footing of more
equal reciprocity than had ever before been admitted. The same principle
has since been much further extended by treaties with France, Sweden,
Denmark, the Hanseatic cities, Prussia, in Europe, and with the
Republics of Colombia and of Central America, in this hemisphere. The
mutual abolition of discriminating duties and charges upon the
navigation and commercial intercourse between the parties is the general
maxim which characterizes them all. There is reason to expect that it
will at no distant period be adopted by other nations, both of Europe
and America, and to hope that by its universal prevalence one of the
fruitful sources of wars of commercial competition will be extinguished.

Among the nations upon whose Governments many of our fellow-citizens
have had long-pending claims of indemnity for depredations upon their
property during a period when the rights of neutral commerce were
disregarded was that of Denmark. They were soon after the events
occurred the subject of a special mission from the United States, at the
close of which the assurance was given by His Danish Majesty that at a
period of more tranquillity and of less distress they would be
considered, examined, and decided upon in a spirit of determined purpose
for the dispensation of justice. I have much pleasure in informing
Congress that the fulfillment of this honorable promise is now in
progress; that a small portion of the claims has already been settled to
the satisfaction of the claimants, and that we have reason to hope that
the remainder will shortly be placed in a train of equitable adjustment.
This result has always been confidently expected, from the character of
personal integrity and of benevolence which the Sovereign of the Danish
dominions has through every vicissitude of fortune maintained.

The general aspect of the affairs of our highborn American nations of
the south has been rather of approaching than of settled tranquillity.
Internal disturbances have been more frequent among them than their
common friends would have desired. Our intercourse with all has
continued to be that of friendship and of mutual good will. Treaties of
commerce and of boundaries with the United Mexican States have been
negotiated, but, from various successive obstacles, not yet brought to a
final conclusion.

The civil war which unfortunately still prevails in the Republics of
Central America has been unpropitious to the cultivation of our
commercial relations with them; and the dissensions and revolutionary
changes in the Republics of Colombia and of Peru have been seen with
cordial regret by us, who would gladly contribute to the happiness of
both. It is with great satisfaction, however, that we have witnessed the
recent conclusion of a peace between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and
of Brazil, and it is equally gratifying to observe that indemnity has
been obtained for some of the injuries which our fellow-citizens had
sustained in the latter of those countries. The rest are in a train of
negotiation, which we hope may terminate to mutual satisfaction, and
that it may be succeeded by a treaty of commerce and navigation, upon
liberal principles, propitious to a great and growing commerce, already
important to the interests of our country.

The condition and prospects of the revenue are more favorable than our
most sanguine expectations had anticipated. The balance in the Treasury
on the 1st of January last, exclusive of the moneys received under the
convention of 13th of November, 1826, with Great Britain, was
$5,861,972.83. The receipts into the Treasury from the 1st of January to
the 30th of September last, so far as they have been ascertained to form
the basis of an estimate, amount to $18,633,580.27, which, with the
receipts of the present quarter, estimated at $5,461,283.40, form an
aggregate of receipts during the year of $24,094,863.67. The
expenditures of the year may probably amount to $25,637,111.63, and
leave in the Treasury on the 1st of January next the sum of
$5,125,638.14.

The receipts of the present year have amounted to near two millions more
than was anticipated at the commencement of the last session of
Congress.

The amount of duties secured on importations from the 1st of January to
the 30th of September was about $22,997,000, and that of the estimated
accruing revenue is five millions, forming an aggregate for the year of
near twenty-eight millions. This is one million more than the estimate
made last December for the accruing revenue of the present year, which,
with allowances for drawbacks and contingent deficiencies, was expected
to produce an actual revenue of $22,300,000. Had these only been
realized the expenditures of the year would have been also
proportionally reduced, for of these twenty-four millions received
upward of nine millions have been applied to the extinction of public
debt, bearing an interest of 6 per cent a year, and of course reducing
the burden of interest annually payable in future by the amount of more
than half a million. The payments on account of interest during the
current year exceed $3,000,000, presenting an aggregate of more than
twelve millions applied during the year to the discharge of the public
debt, the whole of which remaining due on the 1st of January next will
amount only to $58,362,135.78.

That the revenue of the ensuing year will not fall short of that
received in the one now expiring there are indications which can
scarcely prove deceptive. In our country an uniform experience of forty
years has shown that whatever the tariff of duties upon articles
imported from abroad has been, the amount of importations has always
borne an average value nearly approaching to that of the exports, though
occasionally differing in the balance, sometimes being more and
sometimes less. It is, indeed, a general law of prosperous commerce that
the real value of exports should by a small, and only a small, balance
exceed that of imports, that balance being a permanent addition to the
wealth of the nation. The extent of the prosperous commerce of the
nation must be regulated by the amount of its exports, and an important
addition to the value of these will draw after it a corresponding
increase of importations. It has happened in the vicissitudes of the
seasons that the harvests of all Europe have in the late summer and
autumn fallen short of their usual average. A relaxation of the
interdict upon the importation of grain and flour from abroad has
ensued, a propitious market has been opened to the granaries of our
country, and a new prospect of reward presented to the labors of the
husbandman, which for several years has been denied. This accession to
the profits of agriculture in the middle and western portions of our
Union is accidental and temporary. It may continue only for a single
year. It may be, as has been often experienced in the revolutions of
time, but the first of several scanty harvests in succession. We may
consider it certain that for the approaching year it has added an item
of large amount to the value of our exports and that it will produce a
corresponding increase of importations. It may therefore confidently be
foreseen that the revenue of 1829 will equal and probably exceed that of
1828, and will afford the means of extinguishing ten millions more of
the principal of the public debt.

This new element of prosperity to that part of our agricultural industry
which is occupied in producing the first article of human subsistence is
of the most cheering character to the feelings of patriotism. Proceeding
from a cause which humanity will view with concern, the sufferings of
scarcity in distant lands, it yields a consolatory reflection that this
scarcity is in no respect attributable to us; that it comes from the
dispensation of Him who ordains all in wisdom and goodness, and who
permits evil itself only as an instrument of good; that, far from
contributing to this scarcity, our agency will be applied only to the
alleviation of its severity, and that in pouring forth from the
abundance of our own garners the supplies which will partially restore
plenty to those who are in heed we shall ourselves reduce our stores and
add to the price of our own bread, so as in some degree to participate
in the wants which it will be the good fortune of our country to
relieve.

The great interests of an agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing
nation are so linked in union together that no permanent cause of
prosperity to one of them can operate without extending its influence to
the others. All these interests are alike under the protecting power of
the legislative authority, and the duties of the representative bodies
are to conciliate them in harmony together. So far as the object of
taxation is to raise a revenue for discharging the debts and defraying
the expenses of the community, its operation should be adapted as much
as possible to suit the burden with equal hand upon all in proportion
with their ability of bearing it without oppression. But the legislation
of one nation is sometimes intentionally made to bear heavily upon the
interests of another. That legislation, adapted, as it is meant to be,
to the special interests of its own people, will often press most
unequally upon the several component interests of its neighbors. Thus
the legislation of Great Britain, when, as has recently been avowed,
adapted to the depression of a rival nation, will naturally abound with
regulations of interdict upon the productions of the soil or industry of
the other which come in competition with its own, and will present
encouragement, perhaps even bounty, to the raw material of the other
State which it can not produce itself, and which is essential for the
use of its manufactures, competitors in the markets of the world with
those of its commercial rival. Such is the state of the commercial
legislation of Great Britain as it bears upon our interests. It excludes
with interdicting duties all importation (except in time of approaching
famine) of the great staple of productions of our Middle and Western
States; it proscribes with equal rigor the bulkier lumber and live stock
of the same portion and also of the Northern and Eastern part of our
Union. It refuses even the rice of the South unless aggravated with a
charge of duty upon the Northern carrier who brings it to them. But the
cotton, indispensable for their looms, they will receive almost duty
free to weave it into a fabric for our own wear, to the destruction of
our own manufactures, which they are enabled thus to undersell.

Is the self-protecting energy of this nation so helpless that there
exists in the political institutions of our country no power to
counteract the bias of this foreign legislation; that the growers of
grain must submit to this exclusion from the foreign markets of their
produce; that the shippers must dismantle their ships, the trade of the
North stagnate at the wharves, and the manufacturers starve at their
looms, while the whole people shall pay tribute to foreign industry to
be clad in a foreign garb; that the Congress of the Union are impotent
to restore the balance in favor of native industry destroyed by the
statutes of another realm? More just and more generous sentiments will,
I trust, prevail. If the tariff adopted at the last session of Congress
shall be found by experience to bear oppressively upon the interests of
any one section of the Union, it ought to be, and I can not doubt will
be, so modified as to alleviate its burden. To the voice of just
complaint from any portion of their constituents the representatives of
the States and of the people will never turn away their ears. But so
long as the duty of the foreign shall operate only as a bounty upon the
domestic article; while the planter and the merchant and the shepherd
and the husbandman shall be found thriving in their occupations under
the duties imposed for the protection of domestic manufactures, they
will not repine at the prosperity shared with themselves by their
fellow-citizens of other professions, nor denounce as violations of the
Constitution the deliberate acts of Congress to shield from the wrongs
of foreign laws the native industry of the Union. While the tariff of
the last session of Congress was a subject of legislative deliberation
it was foretold by some of its opposers that one of its necessary
consequences would be to impair the revenue. It is yet too soon to
pronounce with confidence that this prediction was erroneous. The
obstruction of one avenue of trade not unfrequently opens an issue to
another. The consequence of the tariff will be to increase the
exportation and to diminish the importation of some specific articles;
but by the general law of trade the increase of exportation of one
article will be followed by an increased importation of others, the
duties upon which will supply the deficiencies which the diminished
importation would otherwise occasion. The effect of taxation upon
revenue can seldom be foreseen with certainty. It must abide the test of
experience. As yet no symptom? of diminution are perceptible in the
receipts of the Treasury. As yet little addition of cost has even been
experienced upon the articles burdened with heavier duties by the last
tariff. The domestic manufacturer supplies the same or a kindred article
at a diminished price, and the consumer pays the same tribute to the
labor of his own countryman which he must otherwise have paid to foreign
industry and toil.

The tariff of the last session was in its details not acceptable to the
great interests of any portion of the Union, not even to the interest
which it was specially intended to subserve. Its object was to balance
the burdens upon native industry imposed by the operation of foreign
laws, but not to aggravate the burdens of one section of the Union by
the relief afforded to another. To the great principle sanctioned by
that act--one of those upon which the Constitution itself was formed--I
hope and trust the authorities of the Union will adhere. But if any of
the duties imposed by the act only relieve the manufacturer by
aggravating the burden of the planter, let a careful revisal of its
provisions, enlightened by the practical experience of its effects, be
directed to retain those which impart protection to native industry and
remove or supply the place of those which only alleviate one great
national interest by the depression of another.

The United States of America and the people of every State of which they
are composed are each of them sovereign powers. The legislative
authority of the whole is exercised by Congress under authority granted
them in the common Constitution. The legislative power of each State is
exercised by assemblies deriving their authority from the constitution
of the State. Each is sovereign within its own province. The
distribution of power between them presupposes that these authorities
will move in harmony with each other. The members of the State and
General Governments are all under oath to support both, and allegiance
is due to the one and to the other. The case of a conflict between these
two powers has not been supposed, nor has any provision been made for it
in our institutions; as a virtuous nation of ancient times existed more
than five centuries without a law for the punishment of parricide.

More than once, however, in the progress of our history have the people
and the legislatures of one or more States, in moments of excitement,
been instigated to this conflict; and the means of effecting this
impulse have been allegations that the acts of Congress to be resisted
were _unconstitutional_. The people of no one State have ever delegated
to their legislature the power of pronouncing an act of Congress
unconstitutional, but they have delegated to them powers by the exercise
of which the execution of the laws of Congress within the State may be
resisted. If we suppose the case of such conflicting legislation
sustained by the corresponding executive and judicial authorities,
patriotism and philanthropy turn their eyes from the condition in which
the parties would be placed, and from that of the people of both, which
must be its victims.

The reports from the Secretary of War and the various subordinate
offices of the resort of that Department present an exposition of the
public administration of affairs connected with them through the course
of the current year. The present state of the Army and the distribution
of the force of which it is composed will be seen from the report of the
Major-General. Several alterations in the disposal of the troops have
been found expedient in the course of the year, and the discipline of
the Army, though not entirely free from exception, has been generally
good.

The attention of Congress is particularly invited to that part of the
report of the Secretary of War which concerns the existing system of our
relations with the Indian tribes. At the establishment of the Federal
Government under the present Constitution of the United States the
principle was adopted of considering them as foreign and independent
powers and also as proprietors of lands. They were, moreover, considered
as savages, whom it was our policy and our duty to use our influence in
converting to Christianity and in bringing within the pale of
civilization.

As independent powers, we negotiated with them by treaties; as
proprietors, we purchased of them all the lands which we could prevail
upon them to sell; as brethren of the human race, rude and ignorant, we
endeavored to bring them to the knowledge of religion and of letters.
The ultimate design was to incorporate in our own institutions that
portion of them which could be converted to the state of civilization.
In the practice of European States, before our Revolution, they had been
considered _as children_ to be governed; as tenants at discretion, to be
dispossessed as occasion might require; as hunters to be indemnified by
trifling concessions for removal from the grounds from which their game
was extirpated. In changing the system it would seem as if a full
contemplation of the consequences of the change had not been taken. We
have been far more successful in the acquisition of their lands than in
imparting to them the principles or inspiring them with the spirit of
civilization. But in appropriating to ourselves their hunting grounds we
have brought upon ourselves the obligation of providing them with
subsistence; and when we have had the rare good fortune of teaching them
the arts of civilization and the doctrines of Christianity we have
unexpectedly found them forming in the midst of ourselves communities
claiming to be independent of ours and rivals of sovereignty within the
territories of the members of our Union. This state of things requires
that a remedy should be provided--a remedy which, while it shall do
justice to those unfortunate children of nature, may secure to the
members of our confederation their rights of sovereignty and of soil. As
the outline of a project to that effect, the views presented in the
report of the Secretary of War are recommended to the consideration of
Congress.

The report from the Engineer Department presents a comprehensive view of
the progress which has been made in the great systems promotive of the
public interest, commenced and organized under authority of Congress,
and the effects of which have already contributed to the security, as
they will hereafter largely contribute to the honor and dignity, of the
nation.

The first of these great systems is that of fortifications, commenced
immediately after the close of our last war, under the salutary
experience which the events of that war had impressed upon our
countrymen of its necessity. Introduced under the auspices of my
immediate predecessor, it has been continued with the persevering and
liberal encouragement of the Legislature, and, combined with
corresponding exertions for the gradual increase and improvement of the
Navy, prepares for our extensive country a condition of defense adapted
to any critical emergency which the varying course of events may bring
forth. Our advances in these concerted systems have for the last ten
years been steady and progressive, and in a few years more will be so
completed as to leave no cause for apprehension that our seacoast will
ever again offer a theater of hostile invasion.

The next of these cardinal measures of policy is the preliminary to
great and lasting works of public improvement in the surveys of roads,
examination for the course of canals, and labors for the removal of the
obstructions of rivers and harbors, first commenced by the act of
Congress of 30th of April, 1824.

The report exhibits in one table the funds appropriated at the last and
preceding sessions of Congress for all these fortifications, surveys,
and works of public improvement, the manner in which these funds have
been applied, the amount expended upon the several works under
construction, and the further sums which may be necessary to complete
them; in a second, the works projected by the Board of Engineers which
have not been commenced, and the estimate of their cost; in a third, the
report of the annual Board of Visitors at the Military Academy at West
Point.

For thirteen fortifications erecting on various points of our Atlantic
coast, from Rhode Island to Louisiana, the aggregate expenditure of the
year has fallen little short of $1,000,000. For the preparation of five
additional reports of reconnaissances and surveys since the last session
of Congress, for the civil constructions upon thirty-seven different
public works commenced, eight others for which specific appropriations
have been made by acts of Congress, and twenty other incipient surveys
under the authority given by the act of 30th April, 1824, about one
million more of dollars has been drawn from the Treasury.

To these $2,000,000 is to be added the appropriation of $250,000 to
commence the erection of a breakwater near the mouth of the Delaware
River, the subscriptions to the Delaware and Chesapeake, the Louisville
and Portland, the Dismal Swamp, and the Chesapeake and Ohio canals, the
large donations of lands to the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and
Alabama for objects of improvements within those States, and the sums
appropriated for light-houses, buoys, and piers on the coast; and a full
view will be taken of the munificence of the nation in the application
of its resources to the improvement of its own condition.

Of these great national undertakings the Academy at West Point is among
the most important in itself and the most comprehensive in its
consequences. In that institution a part of the revenue of the nation is
applied to defray the expense of educating a competent portion of her
youth chiefly to the knowledge and the duties of military life. It is
the living armory of the nation. While the other works of improvement
enumerated in the reports now presented to the attention of Congress are
destined to ameliorate the face of nature, to multiply the facilities of
communication between the different parts of the Union, to assist the
labors, increase the comforts, and enhance the enjoyments of
individuals, the instruction acquired at West Point enlarges the
dominion and expands the capacities of the mind. Its beneficial results
are already experienced in the composition of the Army, and their
influence is felt in the intellectual progress of society. The
institution is susceptible still of great improvement from benefactions
proposed by several successive Boards of Visitors, to whose earnest and
repeated recommendations I cheerfully add my own.

With the usual annual reports from the Secretary of the Navy and the
Board of Commissioners will be exhibited to the view of Congress the
execution of the laws relating to that department of the public service.
The repression of piracy in the West Indian and in the Grecian seas has
been effectually maintained, with scarcely any exception. During the war
between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of Brazil frequent
collisions between the belligerent acts of power and the rights of
neutral commerce occurred. Licentious blockades, irregularly enlisted or
impressed seamen, and the property of honest commerce seized with
violence, and even plundered under legal pretenses, are disorders never
separable from the conflicts of war upon the ocean. With a portion of
them the correspondence of our commanders on the eastern aspect of the
South American coast and among the islands of Greece discover how far we
have been involved. In these the honor of our country and the rights of
our citizens have been asserted and vindicated. The appearance of new
squadrons in the Mediterranean and the blockade of the Dardanelles
indicate the danger of other obstacles to the freedom of commerce and
the necessity of keeping our naval force in those seas. To the
suggestions repeated in the report of the Secretary of the Navy, and
tending to the permanent improvement of this institution, I invite the
favorable consideration of Congress.

A resolution of the House of Representatives requesting that one of our
small public vessels should be sent to the Pacific Ocean and South Sea
to examine the coasts, islands, harbors, shoals, and reefs in those
seas, and to ascertain their true situation and description, has been
put in a train of execution. The vessel is nearly ready to depart. The
successful accomplishment of the expedition may be greatly facilitated
by suitable legislative provisions, and particularly by an appropriation
to defray its necessary expense. The addition of a second, and perhaps a
third, vessel, with a slight aggravation of the cost, would contribute
much to the safety of the citizens embarked on this undertaking, the
results of which may be of the deepest interest to our country.

With the report of the Secretary of the Navy will be submitted, in
conformity to the act of Congress of 3d March, 1827, for the gradual
improvement of the Navy of the United States, statements of the
expenditures under that act and of the measures taken for carrying the
same into effect. Every section of that statute contains a distinct
provision looking to the great object of the whole--the gradual
improvement of the Navy. Under its salutary sanction stores of ship
timber have been procured and are in process of seasoning and
preservation for the future uses of the Navy. Arrangements have been
made for the preservation of the live-oak timber growing on the lands of
the United States, and for its reproduction, to supply at future and
distant days the waste of that most valuable material for shipbuilding
by the great consumption of it yearly for the commercial as well as for
the military marine of our country. The construction of the two dry
docks at Charlestown and at Norfolk is making satisfactory progress
toward a durable establishment. The examinations and inquiries to
ascertain the practicability and expediency of a marine railway at
Pensacola, though not yet accomplished, have been postponed but to be
more effectually made. The navy-yards of the United States have been
examined, and plans for their improvement and the preservation of the
public property therein at Portsmouth, Charlestown, Philadelphia,
Washington, and Gosport, and to which two others are to be added, have
been prepared and received my sanction; and no other portion of my
public duties has been performed with a more intimate conviction of its
importance to the future welfare and security of the Union.

With the report from the Postmaster-General is exhibited a comparative
view of the gradual increase of that establishment, from five to five
years, since 1792 till this time in the number of post-offices, which
has grown from less than 200 to nearly 8,000; in the revenue yielded by
them, which from $67,000 has swollen to upward of a million and a half,
and in the number of miles of post-roads, which from 5,642 have
multiplied to 114,536. While in the same period of time the population
of the Union has about thrice doubled, the rate of increase of these
offices is nearly 40, and of the revenue and of traveled miles from 20
to 25 for 1. The increase of revenue within the last five years has been
nearly equal to the whole revenue of the Department in 1812.

The expenditures of the Department during the year which ended on the
1st of July last have exceeded the receipts by a sum of about $25,000.
The excess has been occasioned by the increase of mail conveyances and
facilities to the extent of near 800,000 miles. It has been supplied by
collections from the postmasters of the arrearages of preceding years.
While the correct principle seems to be that the income levied by the
Department should defray all its expenses, it has never been the policy
of this Government to raise from this establishment any revenue to be
applied to any other purposes. The suggestion of the Postmaster-General
that the insurance of the safe transmission of moneys by the mail might
be assumed by the Department for a moderate and competent remuneration
will deserve the consideration of Congress.

A report from the commissioner of the public buildings in this city
exhibits the expenditures upon them in the course of the current year.
It will be seen that the humane and benevolent intentions of Congress in
providing, by the act of 20th May, 1826, for the erection of a
penitentiary in this district have been accomplished. The authority of
further legislation is now required for the removal to this tenement of
the offenders against the laws sentenced to atone by personal
confinement for their crimes, and to provide a code for their employment
and government while thus confined.

The commissioners appointed, conformably to the act of 2d March, 1827,
to provide for the adjustment of claims of persons entitled to
indemnification under the first article of the treaty of Ghent, and for
the distribution among such claimants of the sum paid by the Government
of Great Britain under the convention of 13th of November, 1826, closed
their labors on the 30th of August last by awarding to the claimants the
sum of $1,197,422.18, leaving a balance of $7,537.82, which was
distributed ratably amongst all the claimants to whom awards had been
made, according to the directions of the act.

The exhibits appended to the report from the Commissioner of the General
Land Office present the actual condition of that common property of the
Union. The amount paid into the Treasury from the proceeds of lands
during the year 1827 and the first half of 1828 falls little short of
$2,000,000. The propriety of further extending the time for the
extinguishment of the debt due to the United States by the purchasers of
the public lands, limited by the act of 21st March last to the 4th of
July next, will claim the consideration of Congress, to whose vigilance
and careful attention the regulation, disposal, and preservation of this
great national inheritance has by the people of the United States been
intrusted.

Among the important subjects to which the attention of the present
Congress has already been invited, and which may occupy their further
and deliberate discussion, will be the provision to be made for taking
the fifth census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States.
The Constitution of the United States requires that this enumeration
should be made within every term of ten years, and the date from which
the last enumeration commenced was the first Monday of August of the
year 1820. The laws under which the former enumerations were taken were
enacted at the session of Congress immediately preceding the operation;
but considerable inconveniences were experienced from the delay of
legislation to so late a period. That law, like those of the preceding
enumerations, directed that the census should be taken by the marshals
of the several districts and Territories of the Union under instructions
from the Secretary of State. The preparation and transmission to the
marshals of those instructions required more time than was then allowed
between the passage of the law and the day when the enumeration was to
commence. The term of six months limited for the returns of the marshals
was also found even then too short, and must be more so now, when an
additional population of at least 3,000,000 must be presented upon the
returns. As they are to be made at the short session of Congress, it
would, as well as from other considerations, be more convenient to
commence the enumeration from an earlier period of the year than the 1st
of August. The most favorable season would be the spring. On a review of
the former enumerations it will be found that the plan for taking every
census has contained many improvements upon that of its predecessor. The
last is still susceptible of much improvement. The Third Census was the
first at which any account was taken of the manufactures of the country.
It was repeated at the last enumeration, but the returns in both cases
were necessarily very imperfect. They must always be so, resting, of
course, only upon the communications voluntarily made by individuals
interested in some of the manufacturing establishments. Yet they
contained much valuable information, and may by some supplementary
provision of the law be rendered more effective. The columns of age,
commencing from infancy, have hitherto been confined to a few periods,
all under the number of 45 years. Important knowledge would be obtained
by extending these columns, in intervals of ten years, to the utmost
boundaries of human life. The labor of taking them would be a trifling
addition to that already prescribed, and the result would exhibit
comparative tables of longevity highly interesting to the country. I
deem it my duty further to observe that much of the imperfections in the
returns of the last and perhaps of preceding enumerations proceeded from
the inadequateness of the compensations allowed to the marshals and
their assistants in taking them.

In closing this communication it only remains for me to assure the
Legislature of my continued earnest wish for the adoption of measures
recommended by me heretofore and yet to be acted on by them, and of the
cordial concurrence on my part in every constitutional provision which
may receive their sanction during the session tending to the general
welfare.

John Quincy Adams.



       *       *       *       *       *



SPECIAL MESSAGES.



Washington,
_December 8, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
2d of April last, I transmit a copy of the letter from the Cherokee
Council to Colonel Hugh Montgomery, the agent, requested by the
resolution, with a report[018] from the Secretary of War.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 8, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
23d of May last, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with
documents, containing the information requested, relating to the
harbors, roads, and other works of internal improvements undertaken and
projected since the 30th April, 1824.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 8, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its
ratification, a treaty made and concluded at the missionary
establishment upon the St. Joseph of Lake Michigan the 20th day of
September last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners of
the United States, and the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, the journal and
report of the commissioners accompanying the treaty.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 8, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of War, with
documents, prepared in compliance with their resolution of the 26th of
May last, concerning the practicability and probable cost of
constructing an artificial harbor, commonly called a "breakwater," at or
near the mouth of the Mississippi.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 9, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

The inclosed report from the Secretary of State and subjoined documents
are transmitted to the Senate in compliance with their resolution of
25th April last, requesting information concerning the number of free
taxable inhabitants _who are not freeholders_ in certain States and
Territories of the Union.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 15, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the
8th instant, referring to a negotiation of the British Government, by
virtue of a resolution of the House of the 10th of May last, relative to
the surrender of fugitive slaves, I transmit herewith a report from the
Secretary of State, with copies of instructions and correspondence,
containing the desired information.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 15, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their constitutional advice, an additional
article, signed on the 4th day of June last, to the convention of
friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States and the
Hanseatic Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg concluded at this
place on the 20th December, 1827. A copy of the article is likewise
inclosed.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 16, 1828_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their advice, articles of agreement
concluded at Green Bay, in the Territory of Michigan, on the 20th of
August last, between Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners on the
part of the United States, and the chiefs of the Winnebago tribe and of
the united tribes of the Potawatamies, Chippewas, and Ottawas, being a
temporary arrangement concerning the occupation of a certain portion of
the mining country which has not heretofore been ceded to the United
States.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_December 22, 1828_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary
of War, with documents, reported in compliance with the resolution of
the House of the 10th instant, requesting a copy of the instructions
given for the government of the agent of the United States
superintendent of the lead mines in Missouri and Illinois.

Also a report from the Secretary of War, in compliance with the
resolution of the House of the 15th instant, setting forth the reasons
upon which it has not been deemed expedient to nominate commissioners to
hold a treaty with the Choctaw Nation of Indians for the purchase of a
certain tract of land, as authorized by the act of Congress of the 24th
of May last.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 1, 1829_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
18th ultimo, I communicate to the House a report from the Secretary of
War, containing the information required in relation to the intended
frauds upon the revenue, which has rendered expedient the stationing
additional troops on the Niagara frontier. The other evidence embraced
by the resolution, and in possession of the Government, does not, in my
judgment, at present render any further employment of a regular armed
force for the enforcement of the revenue laws necessary.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 7, 1829_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
19th May last, requesting a copy of the correspondence between the
minister of the United States at the Court of Madrid and the Government
of Spain on the subject of claims of citizens of the United States
against the said Government, I transmit herewith a report from the
Secretary of State, with the correspondence desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 14, 1829_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate a report from the Secretary of State,
with supplemental returns of free taxable inhabitants not freeholders in
certain States and Territories of the United States, which returns have
been received since my message to the Senate of the 9th December last.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 17, 1829_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
13th instant, I transmit herewith a report[019] from the Secretary of
War, with an application from the Creek Indians, through the agent of
the United States, and an opinion of counsel in behalf of the Indians,
having relation to the subject of the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 21, 1829_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with two resolutions of the House of Representatives of
the 5th instant, requesting information received not heretofore
communicated in relation to the arrest and trial in the British Province
of New Brunswick of John Baker, a citizen of the United States, and the
correspondence between the Government of the United States and that of
Great Britain in relation to the said arrest and to the usurpation of
jurisdiction by the British government of New Brunswick within the
limits of the State of Maine, I transmit a report from the Secretary of
State, with the information and correspondence requested by the House.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 21, 1829_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress copies of two treaties with Indian tribes, which
have been ratified:

1. Articles of agreement between the United States of America and the
Winnebago tribe and the united tribes of Potawatamie, Chippeways; and
Ottawa Indians, concluded at Green Bay 25th August, 1828.

2. Treaty between the United States of America and the Potawatamie tribe
of Indians, concluded at the missionary establishment upon the St.
Joseph of Lake Michigan 20th September, 1828.

Both by Lewis Cass and Pierre Menard, commissioners on the part of the
United States, with certain chiefs and warriors of the respective
tribes.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 26, 1829_


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
17th instant, requesting copies of the instructions to the commissioners
of the United States who made the treaty at the Indian Springs in 1821,
I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of War of the 22d
instant, with copies of those instructions.

And in compliance with a resolution of the House of the 20th instant,
requesting a communication of the journal of the above-mentioned
commissioners, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War of the 24th
instant, with copies of the papers, which it is believed will supply the
information desired by the resolution, no regular journal having been
transmitted by the commissioners to the Department.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 26, 1829_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with
voluminous documents prepared and collected in compliance with a
resolution of the House of Representatives of the 13th January, 1825,
calling for a statement of convictions, executions, and pardons for
capital offenses under the authority of the Government of the United
States since the adoption of the Constitution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 26, 1829_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress copies of a convention of friendship, commerce,
and navigation between the United States and the free Hanseatic
Republics of Lubeck, Bremen, and Hamburg, the ratifications of which
were exchanged at this place on the 2d day of June last; and also of an
additional article to the same convention, signed on the 4th day of June
last, and the ratifications of which were exchanged at this city on the
14th of the present month.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 29, 1829_


_The President of the Senate of the United States_

Sir:

I transmit herewith a letter which I have received from Mr. David,
member of the Institute of France, professor of the School of Painting
at Paris, and member of the Legion of Honor, the artist who presents to
Congress the bust of General Lafayette which has been received with it;
and I have to request the favor that after it has been communicated to
the Senate it may be transmitted to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives for similar communication to that body.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 29, 1829_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I nominate Stephen Clin, of Georgia, to be secretary of the legation of
the United States at the Court of Great Britain.

Jesse H. Willis, of Florida, to be collector of the customs for the
recently established district of St. Marks and inspector of the revenue
for the port of Magnolia, in Florida.

And I nominate for reappointment Callender Irvine, of Pennsylvania, to
be Commissary-General of Purchases. It is proper to apprise the Senate
that this office is one of those which by the act of Congress of 15th
May, 1820, is limited to the term of four years; that it was held by Mr.
Irvine at the time of the passage of that act, but that by some
inadvertence he has not hitherto been nominated for reappointment. The
fact having but just now been ascertained by me, I deem it my duty to
make the nomination. Mr. Irvine has hitherto performed the duties of the
office under his original appointment.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_January 30, 1829_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
13th instant, requesting information of the measures taken in execution
of the act of 9th May last, making an appropriation for carrying into
effect the articles of agreement and cession of 24th April, 1802,
between the State of Georgia and the United States, and also in
execution of certain provisions of the treaty of May last with the
Cherokee Indians, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of
War, with documents, comprising the desired information.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 2, 1829_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th ultimo,
requesting information received since the last session of Congress from
the Mexican Government respecting the recovery of debts in that country
due to American citizens, I transmit a report from the Secretary of
State, with copies of a letter of instructions to the minister of the
United States in Mexico, and of his answer, relating to the subject of
the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 6, 1829_

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 9th of December
last, requesting a detailed statement of the amount expended by the
Federal Government upon works of internal improvement within the limits
of the several States, with an estimate of the amount necessary to
complete any work begun and not yet completed, I transmit herewith
reports from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, with documents,
containing the information desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 6, 1829_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
4th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War,
with that of the commissioner appointed to locate the national road from
Zanesville, in Ohio, to the seat of government of the State of Missouri.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 11, 1829_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

By the act of Congress of the 23d of May last, "supplementary to the
several acts providing for the settlement and confirmation of private
land claims in Florida," provision was made for the final adjudication
of such claims by the judges of the superior courts of the districts
wherein the lands claimed respectively lie, and by appeal from them to
the Supreme Court of the United States; and the attorneys of the United
States in the several districts were charged with the duty, in every
case where the decision should be against the United States by the judge
of the superior court of the district, to make out and transmit to the
Attorney-General of the United States a statement containing the facts
of the case and the points of law on which the same was decided, and it
was made the duty of the Attorney-General in most of those cases to
direct an appeal to be made to the Supreme Court of the United States
and to appear for the United States and prosecute such appeals. By the
same act the President of the United States was authorized to appoint a
law agent to superintend the interests of the United States in the
premises, and to employ assistant counsel if in his opinion the public
interest should require the same.

In the process of carrying into execution this law it was the opinion of
the Attorney-General of the United States that a translated complete
collection of all the Spanish and French ordinances, etc., affecting the
land titles in Florida and the other territories heretofore belonging to
France and Spain, would be indispensable to a just decision of those
claims by the Supreme Court. At his suggestion the task of preparing
this compilation was undertaken by Joseph M. White, of Florida, who was
employed as assistant counsel in behalf of the United States. The
collection has accordingly been made and is deposited in manuscript at
the Department of State, subject to such order as Congress may see fit
to take concerning it. The letter from Mr. White to the Secretary of
State, with a descriptive list of the documents collected and thus
deposited, is herewith transmitted to Congress.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 16, 1829_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 5th instant,
requesting detailed statements of the expenses incurred and of those
which may be necessary for the expedition proposed for exploring the
Pacific Ocean and South Seas, and also of the several amounts
transferred from the different heads of appropriation for the support of
the Navy to this object and the authority by which such transfers have
been made, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Navy,
with documents, from which the Senate will perceive that no such
transfer has been made, and which contain the other information desired
by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 20, 1829_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 10th instant,
requesting copies of correspondence and communications from 20th
October, 1816, to 24th November, 1817, received at the Department of
State from the American commissioner under the fourth article of the
treaty of Ghent, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of
State, with the copies of papers mentioned in the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 20, 1829_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury,
with documents, prepared in pursuance of their resolution of the 31st of
December last, and showing the amount of expenses incurred in the
survey, sale, and management of the public lands for the year 1827.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 25,1829_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

By the act of Congress of the 3d March, 1826, for the survey of a route
for a canal between the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, the President
of the United States was authorized to cause to be made an accurate and
minute examination of the country south of the St. Marys River, and
including the same, with a view to ascertain the most eligible route for
a canal admitting the transit of boats to connect the Atlantic with the
Gulf of Mexico, and also with a view to ascertain the practicability of
a ship channel; that he cause particularly to be examined the route to
the Appalachicola River or Bay, with a view to both the above objects;
that he cause the necessary surveys, both by land and along the coast,
with estimates of the expense of each, accompanied with proper plans,
notes, observations, explanations, and opinions of the Board of
Engineers, and that he cause a full report of these proceedings to be
made to Congress.

In execution of this law I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary
of War, with a copy of that of the Board of Engineers, upon this great
and most desirable national work. The time not having allowed a copy to
be taken of the map, one copy only of the whole report is transmitted to
the Senate, with the request that it may be communicated to the House of
Representatives, and that the map may be ultimately returned to the
Department of War.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 26, 1829_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th instant, I
transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with the
inspection reports of Brevet Major-General Gaines for the years 1826 and
1827, relating to the organization of the Army and militia of the United
States, with the request that the original documents may be returned to
the Department of War at the convenience of the Senate.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 26,1829_.


_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their constitutional advice with
regard to its ratification, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation
between the United States and His Majesty the Emperor of Brazil, signed
by the plenipotentiaries of the respective Governments at Rio de Janeiro
on the 12th day of December last. A copy of the treaty is likewise
inclosed, with copies of the instructions under which it was negotiated
and a letter from Mr. Tudor elucidating some of its provisions. It is
requested that at the convenience of the Senate the original papers may
be returned to the Department of State.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 28, 1829_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress copies of two Indian treaties, which have duly
ratified:

1. A treaty with the Chippewa, Menominie, and Winnebago Indians,
concluded on the 11th of August, 1827, at the Butte des Morts, on Fox
River, in the Territory of Michigan, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L.
McKenney, commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain
chiefs and warriors of the said tribes on their part.

2. A treaty with the Potawatamie tribe of Indians, concluded the 19th of
September, 1827, at St. Joseph, in the Territory of Michigan, between
Lewis Cass, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the
chiefs and warriors of the said tribes, on their part.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_February 28, 1829_.


_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the
21st instant, requesting any information in my possession as to the
practical operation of the recent act of the British Parliament entitled
"The customs amendment act," purporting a discrimination of duties upon
the importation of cotton from the British North American colonies and
showing how far this discrimination may affect existing treaties, I
transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of
the instructions and correspondence of the minister of the United States
at London, containing the information requested.

John Quincy Adams.



Washington,
_March 3, 1829_.


_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith to Congress a copy of the instructions prepared by
the Secretary of State and furnished to the ministers of the United
States appointed to attend at the assembly of American plenipotentiaries
first held at Panama and thence transferred to Tacubaya. The occasion
upon which they were given has passed away, and there is no present
probability of the renewal of the negotiations; but the purposes for
which they were intended are still of the deepest interest to our
country and to the world, and may hereafter call again for the active
efforts and beneficent energies of the Government of the United States.
The motives for withholding them from general publication having ceased,
justice to the Government from which they emanated and to the people for
whose benefit it was instituted requires that they should be made known.
With this view, and from the consideration that the subjects embraced by
these instructions must probably engage hereafter the deliberations of
our successors, I deem it proper to make this communication to both
Houses of Congress. One copy only of the instructions being prepared, I
send it to the Senate, requesting that it may be transmitted to the
House of Representatives.

John Quincy Adams.



       *       *       *       *       *


PROCLAMATION.


(From Senate Journal, Twentieth Congress, second session, p. 196.)


Washington,
_January 12, 1829_


_The President of the United States to--, Senator for the State of--_:

Certain matters touching the public good requiring that the Senate of
the United States should be convened on Wednesday, the 4th day of March
next, you are desired to attend at the Senate Chamber, in the city of
Washington, on that day, then and there to receive and deliberate on
such communications as shall be made to you.

John Quincy Adams.



FOOTNOTES:



[Footnote 001: See Vol. I, pp. 352 to 354, inclusive.]


[Footnote 002: Relating to the proposed congress at Panama.]


[Footnote 003: Relating to land warrants issued to soldiers of the
Revolutionary war, etc.]


[Footnote 004: Relating to intervention of the Emperor of Russia with
Spain for a recognition of the independence of the South American
States.]


[Footnote 005: Relating to the proposed congress of the Spanish American
States.]


[Footnote 006: Relative to governments to be represented at the congress
at Panama.]


[Footnote 007 and 007a: Respecting the right of a foreign minister to
retain money advanced by the President as an outfit beyond the sum
appropriated by law.]


[Footnote 008: Relating to the negotiations with Great Britain for a
cession of certain keys on the Bahama Banks.]


[Footnote 009: Referred to in the protocol of the third conference of
the American and British plenipotentiaries on February 5, 1824, relating
to trade with Great Britain.]


[Footnote 010: Concerning the assembly of American ministers at
Tacubaya, Mexico]


[Footnote: 011 Relating to the conflicting claims of Georgia and the
Creek Indians to lands in Georgia.]


[Footnote 012: Relating to the conflicting claims of Georgia and the
Creek Indians to lands in Georgia.]


[Footnote 013: Relating to the northeastern boundary of the United
States.]


[Footnote 014: Relating to the detention of American vessels by the
naval forces of Brazil.]


[Footnote 015: Relating to the war between Spain and her colonies.]


[Footnote 016: By the authorities of the Province of New Brunswick.]


[Footnote 017: Relating to alleged blockade by the naval forces of
Brazil, imprisonment of American citizens by Brazil, etc.]


[Footnote 018: Relating to a survey for a canal through the Cherokee
country.]


[Footnote 019: Relating to claims of Georgia and the Creek Indians under
the treaty of 1821, held at Indian Springs.]





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