A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 2, part 2: John Quincy Adams
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Title: A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 2, part 2: John Quincy Adams
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS. VOLUME 2, PART 2: JOHN QUINCY ADAMS ***
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
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