COMMENCEMENT OF TWENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS--PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.
The following was the list of the members:
SENATORS:
MAINE--Ether Shepley, John Ruggles.
NEW HAMPSHIRE--Isaac Hill, Henry Hubbard.
MASSACHUSETTS--Daniel Webster, John Davis.
RHODE ISLAND--Nehemiah R. Knight, Asher Robbins.
CONNECTICUT--Gideon Tomlinson, Nathan Smith.
VERMONT--Samuel Prentiss, Benjamin Swift.
NEW-YORK--Nathaniel P. Tallmadge, Silas Wright, jun.
NEW JERSEY--Samuel L. Southard, Garret D. Wall.
PENNSYLVANIA--James Buchanan, Samuel McKean.
DELAWARE--John M. Clayton, Arnold Naudain.
MARYLAND--Robert H. Goldsborough, Jos. Kent.
VIRGINIA--Benjamin Watkins Leigh, John Tyler.
NORTH CAROLINA--Bedford Brown, Willie P. Mangum.
SOUTH CAROLINA--J. C. Calhoun, William C. Preston.
GEORGIA--Alfred Cuthbert, John P. King.
KENTUCKY--Henry Clay, John J. Crittenden.
TENNESSEE--Felix Grundy, Hugh L. White.
OHIO--Thomas Ewing, Thomas Morris.
LOUISIANA--Alexander Porter, Robert C. Nicholas.
INDIANA--Wm. Hendricks, John Tipton.
MISSISSIPPI--John Black, Robert J. Walker.
ILLINOIS--Elias K. Kane, John M. Robinson.
ALABAMA--Wm. R. King, Gabriel P. Moore.
MISSOURI--Lewis F. Linn, Thomas H. Benton.
REPRESENTATIVES:
MAINE--Jeremiah Bailey, George Evans, John Fairfield, Joseph
Hall, Leonard Jarvis, Moses Mason, Gorham Parks, Francis O. J.
Smith--8.
NEW HAMPSHIRE--Benning M. Bean, Robert Burns, Samuel Cushman,
Franklin Pierce, Jos. Weeks--5.
MASSACHUSETTS--John Quincy Adams, Nathaniel B. Borden, George
N. Briggs, William B. Calhoun, Caleb Cushing, George Grennell,
jr., Samuel Hoar, William Jackson, Abbot Lawrence, Levi Lincoln,
Stephen C. Phillips, John Reed--12.
RHODE ISLAND--Dutee J. Pearce, W. Sprague--2.
CONNECTICUT--Elisha Haley, Samuel Ingham, Andrew T. Judson,
Lancelot Phelps, Isaac Toucey, Zalmon Wildman--6.
VERMONT--Heman Allen, Horace Everett, Hiland Hall, Henry F.
Janes, William Slade--5.
NEW-YORK--Samuel Barton, Saml. Beardsley, Abraham Bockee,
Matthias J. Bovee, John W. Brown, C. C. Cambreleng, Graham H.
Chapin, Timothy Childs, John Cramer, Ulysses F. Doubleday,
Valentine Efner, Dudley Farlin, Philo C. Fuller, William K.
Fuller, Ransom H. Gillet, Francis Granger, Gideon Hard, Abner
Hazeltine, Hiram P. Hunt, Abel Huntington, Gerrit Y. Lansing,
George W. Lay, Gideon Lee, Joshua Lee, Stephen B. Leonard,
Thomas C. Love, Abijah Mann, jr., William Mason, John McKeon,
Ely Moore, Sherman Page, Joseph Reynolds, David Russell, William
Seymour, Nicholas Sickles, William Taylor, Joel Turrill, Aaron
Vanderpoel, Aaron Ward, Daniel Wardwell--40.
NEW JERSEY--Philemon Dickerson, Samuel Fowler, Thomas Lee, James
Parker, Ferdinand S. Schenck, William N. Shinn--6.
PENNSYLVANIA--Joseph B. Anthony, Michael W. Ash, John Banks,
Andrew Beaumont, Andrew Buchanan, George Chambers, William P.
Clark, Edward Darlington, Harmar Denny, Jacob Fry, jr., John
Galbraith, James Harper, Samuel S. Harrison, Joseph Henderson,
William Hiester, Edward B. Hubley, Joseph R. Ingersoll, John
Klingensmith, jr., John Laporte, Henry Logan, Job Mann,
Thomas M. T. McKennan, Jesse Miller, Matthias Morris, Henry
A. Muhlenberg, David Potts, jr., Joel B. Sutherland, David D.
Wagener.--28.
DELAWARE.--John J. Milligan.--1.
MARYLAND.--Benjamin C. Howard, Daniel Jenifer, Isaac McKim,
James A. Pearce, John N. Steele, Francis Thomas, James Turner,
George C. Washington.--8.
VIRGINIA.--James M. H. Beale, James W. Bouldin, Nathaniel H.
Claiborne, Walter Coles, Robert Craig, George C. Dromgoole,
James Garland, G. W. Hopkins, Joseph Johnson, John W. Jones,
George Loyall, Edward Lucas, John Y. Mason, William McComas,
Charles F. Mercer, William S. Morgan, John M. Patton, John
Roane, John Robertson, John Taliaferro, Henry A. Wise.--21.
NORTH CAROLINA.--Jesse A. Bynum, Henry W. Connor, Edmund
Deberry, James Graham, Micajah T. Hawkins, James J. McKay,
William Montgomery, Ebenezer Pettigrew, Abraham Rencher,
William B. Shepard, Augustine H. Shepperd, Jesse Speight, Lewis
Williams.--13.
SOUTH CAROLINA.--Robert B. Campbell, William J. Grayson, John
K. Griffin, James H. Hammond, Richard J. Manning, Francis W.
Pickens, Henry L. Pinckney, James Rogers, Waddy Thompson, jr.--9.
GEORGIA.--Jesse F. Cleveland, John Coffee, Thomas Glasscock,
Seaton Grantland, Charles E. Haynes, Hopkins Holsey, Jabez
Jackson, George W. Owens, George W. B. Towns.--9.
ALABAMA.--Reuben Chapman, Joab Lawler, Dixon H. Lewis, Francis
S. Lyon, Joshua L. Martin.--5.
MISSISSIPPI.--David Dickson, J. F. H. Claiborne.--2.
LOUISIANA.--Rice Garland, Henry Johnson, Eleazer W. Ripley.--3.
TENNESSEE.--John Bell, Samuel Bunch, William B. Carter, William
C. Dunlap, John B. Forester, Adam Huntsman, Cave Johnson, Luke
Lea, Abram P. Maury, Balie Peyton, James K. Polk, E. J. Shields,
James Standefer.--13.
KENTUCKY.--Chilton Allan, Lynn Boyd, John Calhoun, John
Chambers, Richard French, Wm. J. Graves, Benjamin Hardin,
James Harlan, Albert G. Hawes, Richard M. Johnson, Joseph R.
Underwood, John White, Sherrod Williams.--13.
MISSOURI.--Wm. H. Ashley, Albert G. Harrison.--2.
ILLINOIS.--Zadok Casey, William L. May, John Reynolds.--3.
INDIANA.--Ratliff Boon, John Carr, John W. Davis, Edward A.
Hannegan, George L. Kinnard, Amos Lane, Jonathan McCarty.--7.
OHIO.--William K. Bond, John Chaney, Thomas Corwin, Joseph H.
Crane, Thomas L. Hamer, Elias Howell, Benjamin Jones, William
Kennon, Daniel Kilgore, Sampson Mason, Jeremiah McLene, William
Patterson, Jonathan Sloane, David Spangler, Bellamy Storer,
John Thompson, Samuel F. Vinton, Taylor Webster, Elisha
Whittlesey.--19.
DELEGATES.
ARKANSAS TERRITORY.--Ambrose H. Sevier.
FLORIDA TERRITORY.--Joseph M. White.
MICHIGAN TERRITORY.--George W. Jones.
Mr. James K. Polk of Tennessee, was elected speaker of the House,
and by a large majority over the late speaker, Mr. John Bell of
the same State. The vote stood one hundred and thirty-two to
eighty-four, and was considered a test of the administration
strength, Mr. Polk being supported by that party, and Mr. Bell
having become identified with those who, in siding with Mr. Hugh L.
White as a candidate for the presidency, were considered as having
divided from the democratic party. Among the eminent names missed
from the list of the House of Representatives, were: Mr. Wayne of
Georgia, appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of the United
States; and Mr. Edward Everett of Massachusetts, who declined a
re-election.
The state of our relations with France, in the continued non-payment
of the stipulated indemnity, was the prominent feature in the
President's message; and the subject itself becoming more serious
in the apparent indisposition in Congress to sustain his views,
manifested in the loss of the fortification bill, through the
disagreement of the two Houses. The obligation to pay was admitted,
and the money even voted for that purpose; but offence was taken at
the President's message, and payment refused until an apology should
be made. The President had already shown, on its first intimation,
that no offence was intended, nor any disrespect justly deducible
from the language that he had used; and he was now peremptory in
refusing to make the required apology; and had instructed the United
States' _chargé d'affaires_ to demand the money; and, if not paid,
to leave France immediately. The ministers of both countries had
previously withdrawn, and the last link in the chain of diplomatic
communication was upon the point of being broken. The question
having narrowed down to this small point, the President deemed
it proper to give a retrospective view of it, to justify his
determination, neither to apologize nor to negotiate further. He
said:
"On entering upon the duties of my station, I found the United
States an unsuccessful applicant to the justice of France, for
the satisfaction of claims, the validity of which was never
questionable, and has now been most solemnly admitted by France
herself. The antiquity of these claims, their high justice, and
the aggravating circumstances out of which they arose, are too
familiar to the American people to require description. It is
sufficient to say, that, for a period of ten years and upwards,
our commerce was, with but little interruption, the subject of
constant aggressions, on the part of France--aggressions, the
ordinary features of which were condemnations of vessels and
cargoes, under arbitrary decrees, adopted in contravention, as
well of the laws of nations as of treaty stipulations, burnings
on the high seas, and seizures and confiscations, under special
imperial rescripts, in the ports of other nations occupied by
the armies, or under the control of France. Such, it is now
conceded, is the character of the wrongs we suffered; wrongs,
in many cases, so flagrant that even their authors never denied
our right to reparation. Of the extent of these injuries, some
conception may be formed from the fact that, after the burning
of a large amount at sea, and the necessary deterioration in
other cases, by long detention, the American property so seized
and sacrificed at forced sales, excluding what was adjudged
to privateers, before or without condemnation, brought into
the French treasury upwards of twenty-four millions of francs,
besides large custom-house duties.
"The subject had already been an affair of twenty years'
uninterrupted negotiation, except for a short time, when France
was overwhelmed by the military power of united Europe. During
this period, whilst other nations were extorting from her
payment of their claims at the point of the bayonet, the United
States intermitted their demand for justice, out of respect to
the oppressed condition of a gallant people, to whom they felt
under obligations for fraternal assistance in their own days of
suffering and of peril. The bad effects of these protracted and
unavailing discussions, as well upon our relations with France
as upon our national character, were obvious; and the line of
duty was, to my mind, equally so. This was, either to insist
upon the adjustment of our claims, within a reasonable period,
or to abandon them altogether. I could not doubt that, by this
course, the interest and honor of both countries would be best
consulted. Instructions were, therefore, given in this spirit to
the minister, who was sent out once more to demand reparation.
Upon the meeting of Congress, in December, 1829, I felt it my
duty to speak of these claims; and the delays of France, in
terms calculated to call the serious attention of both countries
to the subject. The then French Ministry took exception to the
message, on the ground of its containing a menace, under which
it was not agreeable to the French government to negotiate. The
American minister, of his own accord, refuted the construction
which was attempted to be put upon the message, and, at the
same time, called to the recollection of the French ministry,
that the President's message was a communication addressed,
not to foreign governments, but to the Congress of the United
States, in which it was enjoined upon him, by the constitution,
to lay before that body information of the state of the Union,
comprehending its foreign as well as its domestic relations; and
that if, in the discharge of this duty, he felt it incumbent
upon him to summon the attention of Congress in due time to what
might be the possible consequences of existing difficulties with
any foreign government, he might fairly be supposed to do so,
under a sense of what was due from him in a frank communication
with another branch of his own government, and not from any
intention of holding a menace over a foreign power. The views
taken by him received my approbation, the French government was
satisfied, and the negotiation was continued. It terminated
in the treaty of July 4, 1831, recognizing the justice of
our claims, in part, and promising payment to the amount of
twenty-five millions of francs, in six annual instalments.
"The ratifications of this treaty were exchanged at Washington,
on the 2d of February, 1832; and, in five days thereafter,
it was laid before Congress, who immediately passed the acts
necessary, on our part, to secure to France the commercial
advantages conceded to her in the compact. The treaty had
previously been solemnly ratified by the King of the French,
in terms which are certainly not mere matters of form, and of
which the translation is as follows: 'We, approving the above
convention, in all and each of the depositions which are
contained in it, do declare by ourselves, as well as by our
heirs and successors, that it is accepted, approved, ratified,
and confirmed; and by these presents, signed by our hand, we
do accept, approve, ratify, and confirm it; promising, on the
faith and word of a king, to observe it, and to cause it to be
observed inviolably, without ever contravening it, or suffering
it to be contravened, directly or indirectly, for any cause, or
under any pretence whatsoever.'
"Official information of the exchange of ratifications in
the United States reached Paris, whilst the Chambers were
in session. The extraordinary, and, to us, injurious delays
of the French government, in their action upon the subject
of its fulfilment, have been heretofore stated to Congress,
and I have no disposition to enlarge upon them here. It is
sufficient to observe that the then pending session was allowed
to expire, without even an effort to obtain the necessary
appropriations--that the two succeeding ones were also suffered
to pass away without any thing like a serious attempt to
obtain a decision upon the subject; and that it was not until
the fourth session--almost three years after the conclusion
of the treaty, and more than two years after the exchange of
ratifications--that the bill for the execution of the treaty
was pressed to a vote, and rejected. In the mean time, the
government of the United States, having full confidence that
a treaty entered into and so solemnly ratified by the French
king, would be executed in good faith, and not doubting that
provision would be made for the payment of the first instalment,
which was to become due on the second day of February, 1833,
negotiated a draft for the amount through the Bank of the
United States. When this draft was presented by the holder,
with the credentials required by the treaty to authorize him
to receive the money, the government of France allowed it to
be protested. In addition to the injury in the non-payment of
the money by France, conformably to her engagement, the United
States were exposed to a heavy claim on the part of the bank,
under pretence of damages, in satisfaction of which, that
institution seized upon, and still retains, an equal amount of
the public moneys. Congress was in session when the decision of
the Chambers reached Washington; and an immediate communication
of this apparently final decision of France not to fulfil the
stipulations of the treaty, was the course naturally to be
expected from the President. The deep tone of dissatisfaction
which pervaded the public mind, and the correspondent excitement
produced in Congress by only a general knowledge of the result,
rendered it more than probable, that a resort to immediate
measures of redress would be the consequence of calling the
attention of that body to the subject. Sincerely desirous of
preserving the pacific relations which had so long existed
between the two countries, I was anxious to avoid this course if
I could be satisfied that, by doing so, neither the interests
nor the honor of my country would be compromitted. Without
the fullest assurances upon that point, I could not hope to
acquit myself of the responsibility to be incurred in suffering
Congress to adjourn without laying the subject before them.
Those received by me were believed to be of that character.
"The expectations justly founded upon the promises thus solemnly
made to this government by that of France, were not realized.
The French Chambers met on the 31st of July, 1834, soon after
the election, and although our minister in Paris urged the
French ministry to press the subject before them, they declined
doing so. He next insisted that the Chambers, if prorogued
without acting on the subject, should be reassembled at a period
so early that their action on the treaty might be known in
Washington prior to the meeting of Congress. This reasonable
request was not only declined, but the Chambers were prorogued
on the 29th of December; a day so late, that their decision,
however urgently pressed, could not, in all probability, be
obtained in time to reach Washington before the necessary
adjournment of Congress by the constitution. The reasons given
by the ministry for refusing to convoke the Chambers, at an
earlier period, were afterwards shown not to be insuperable,
by their actual convocation, on the first of December, under a
special call for domestic purposes, which fact, however, did not
become known to this Government until after the commencement of
the last session of Congress.
"Thus disappointed in our just expectations, it became my
imperative duty to consult with Congress in regard to the
expediency of a resort to retaliatory measures, in case the
stipulations of the treaty should not be speedily complied with;
and to recommend such as, in my judgment, the occasion called
for. To this end, an unreserved communication of the case,
in all its aspects, became indispensable. To have shrunk, in
making it, from saying all that was necessary to its correct
understanding, and that the truth would justify, for fear of
giving offence to others, would have been unworthy of us.
To have gone, on the other hand, a single step further, for
the purpose of wounding the pride of a government and people
with whom we had so many motives of cultivating relations of
amity and reciprocal advantage, would have been unwise and
improper. Admonished by the past of the difficulty of making
even the simplest statement of our wrongs, without disturbing
the sensibilities of those who had, by their position, become
responsible for their redress, and earnestly desirous of
preventing further obstacles from that source, I went out of
my way to preclude a construction of the message, by which the
recommendation that was made to Congress might be regarded as a
menace to France, in not only disavowing such a design, but in
declaring that her pride and her power were too well known to
expect any thing from her fears. The message did not reach Paris
until more than a month after the Chambers had been in session;
and such was the insensibility of the ministry to our rightful
claims and just expectations, that our minister had been
informed that the matter, when introduced, would not be pressed
as a cabinet measure.
"Although the message was not officially communicated to the
French government, and notwithstanding the declaration to the
contrary which it contained, the French ministry decided to
consider the conditional recommendation of reprisals a menace
and an insult, which the honor of the nation made it incumbent
on them to resent. The measures resorted to by them to evince
their sense of the supposed indignity were, the immediate
recall of their minister at Washington, the offer of passports
to the American minister at Paris, and a public notice to the
legislative chambers that all diplomatic intercourse with the
United States had been suspended.
"Having, in this manner, vindicated the dignity of France,
they next proceeded to illustrate her justice. To this end a
bill was immediately introduced into the Chamber of Deputies,
proposing to make the appropriations necessary to carry into
effect the treaty. As this bill subsequently passed into a law,
the provisions of which now constitute the main subject of
difficulty between the two nations, it becomes my duty, in order
to place the subject before you in a clear light, to trace the
history of its passage, and to refer, with some particularity,
to the proceedings and discussions in regard to it. The Minister
of Finance, in his opening speech, alluded to the measures
which had been adopted to resent the supposed indignity, and
recommended the execution of the treaty as a measure required
by the honor and justice of France. He, as the organ of the
ministry, declared the message, so long as it had not received
the sanction of Congress, a mere expression of the personal
opinion of the President, for which neither the government
nor people of the United States were responsible; and that an
engagement had been entered into, for the fulfilment of which
the honor of France was pledged. Entertaining these views, the
single condition which the French ministry proposed to annex to
the payment of the money was, that it should not be made until
it was ascertained that the government of the United States
had done nothing to injure the interests of France; or, in
other words, that no steps had been authorized by Congress of a
hostile character towards France.
"What the disposition or action of Congress might be, was then
unknown to the French Cabinet. But, on the 14th of January,
the Senate resolved that it was, at that time inexpedient
to adopt any legislative measures in regard to the state of
affairs between the United States and France, and no action
on the subject had occurred in the House of Representatives.
These facts were known in Paris prior to the 28th of March,
1835, when the committee, to whom the bill of indemnification
had been referred, reported it to the Chamber of Deputies.
That committee substantially re-echoed the sentiments of the
ministry, declared that Congress had set aside the proposition
of the President, and recommended the passage of the bill,
without any other restriction than that originally proposed.
Thus was it known to the French ministry and chambers that if
the position assumed by them, and which had been so frequently
and solemnly announced as the only one compatible with the honor
of France, was maintained, and the bill passed as originally
proposed, the money would be paid, and there would be an end of
this unfortunate controversy.
"But this cheering prospect was soon destroyed by an amendment
introduced into the bill at the moment of its passage, providing
that the money should not be paid until the French government
had received satisfactory explanations of the President's
message of the 2d December, 1834; and, what is still more
extraordinary, the president of the council of ministers adopted
this amendment, and consented to its incorporation in the
bill. In regard to a supposed insult which had been formally
resented by the recall of their minister, and the offer of
passports to ours, they now, for the first time, proposed to
ask explanations. Sentiments and propositions, which they had
declared could not justly be imputed to the government or
people of the United States, are set up as obstacles to the
performance of an act of conceded justice to that government and
people. They had declared that the honor of France required the
fulfilment of the engagement into which the King had entered,
unless Congress adopted the recommendations of the message.
They ascertained that Congress did not adopt them, and yet
that fulfilment is refused, unless they first obtain from the
President explanations of an opinion characterized by themselves
as personal and inoperative."
Having thus traced the controversy down to the point on which it
hung--no payment without an apology first made--the President took
up this condition as a new feature in the case--presenting national
degradation on one side, and twenty-five millions of francs on the
other--and declared his determination to submit to no dishonor, and
repulsed the apology as a stain upon the national character; and
concluded this head of his message with saying:
"In any event, however, the principle involved in the new aspect
which has been given to the controversy is so vitally important
to the independent administration of the government, that it
can neither be surrendered nor compromitted without national
degradation. I hope it is unnecessary for me to say that such a
sacrifice will not be made through any agency of mine. The honor
of my country shall never be stained by an apology from me for
the statement of truth and the performance of duty; nor can I
give any explanation of my official acts, except such as is due
to integrity and justice, and consistent with the principles
on which our institutions have been framed. This determination
will, I am confident, be approved by my constituents. I have
indeed studied their character to but little purpose, if the
sum of twenty-five millions of francs will have the weight of a
feather in the estimation of what appertains to their national
independence: and if, unhappily, a different impression should
at any time obtain, in any quarter, they will, I am sure,
rally round the government of their choice with alacrity and
unanimity, and silence for ever the degrading imputation."
The loss of the fortification bill at the previous session, had been
a serious interruption to our system of defences, and an injury
to the country in that point of view, independently of its effect
upon our relations with France. A system of general and permanent
fortification of the coasts and harbors had been adopted at the
close of the war of 1812; and throughout our extended frontier
were many works in different degrees of completion, the stoppage
of which involved loss and destruction, as well as delay, in this
indispensable work. Looking at the loss of the bill in this point of
view, the President said:
"Much loss and inconvenience have been experienced, in
consequence of the failure of the bill containing the ordinary
appropriations for fortifications which passed one branch of the
national legislature at the last session, but was lost in the
other. This failure was the more regretted, not only because it
necessarily interrupted and delayed the progress of a system
of national defence, projected immediately after the last war,
and since steadily pursued, but also because it contained a
contingent appropriation, inserted in accordance with the views
of the Executive, in aid of this important object, and other
branches of the national defence, some portions of which might
have been most usefully applied during the past season. I
invite your early attention to that part of the report of the
Secretary of War which relates to this subject, and recommend an
appropriation sufficiently liberal to accelerate the armament
of the fortifications agreeably to the proposition submitted
by him, and to place our whole Atlantic seaboard in a complete
state of defence. A just regard to the permanent interests of
the country evidently requires this measure. But there are also
other reasons which at the present juncture give it peculiar
force, and make it my duty to call the subject to your special
consideration."
The plan for the removal of the Indians to the west of the
Mississippi being now in successful progress and having well nigh
reached its consummation, the President took the occasion, while
communicating that gratifying fact, to make an authentic exposition
of the humane policy which had governed the United States in
adopting this policy. He showed that it was still more for the
benefit of the Indians than that of the white population who were
relieved of their presence--that besides being fully paid for all
the lands they abandoned, and receiving annuities often amounting
to thirty dollars a head, and being inducted into the arts of
civilized life, they also received in every instance more land than
they abandoned, of better quality, better situated for them from
its frontier situation, and in the same parallels of latitude. This
portion of his message will be read with particular gratification
by all persons of humane dispositions, and especially so by all
candid persons who had been deluded into the belief of injustice and
oppression practised upon these people. He said:
"The plan of removing the aboriginal people who yet remain
within the settled portions of the United States, to the country
west of the Mississippi River, approaches its consummation. It
was adopted on the most mature consideration of the condition
of this race, and ought to be persisted in till the object
is accomplished, and prosecuted with as much vigor as a just
regard to their circumstances will permit, and as fast as
their consent can be obtained. All preceding experiments for
the improvement of the Indians have failed. It seems now to be
an established fact, that they cannot live in contact with a
civilized community and prosper. Ages of fruitless endeavors
have, at length, brought us to a knowledge of this principle
of intercommunication with them. The past we cannot recall,
but the future we can provide for. Independently of the treaty
stipulations into which we have entered with the various tribes,
for the usufructuary rights they have ceded to us, no one can
doubt the moral duty of the government of the United States
to protect, and, if possible, to preserve and perpetuate, the
scattered remnants of this race, which are left within our
borders. In the discharge of this duty, an extensive region in
the West has been assigned for their permanent residence. It has
been divided into districts, and allotted among them. Many have
already removed, and others are preparing to go; and with the
exception of two small bands, living in Ohio and Indiana, not
exceeding 1,500 persons, and of the Cherokees, all the tribes
on the east side of the Mississippi, and extending from Lake
Michigan to Florida, have entered into engagements which will
lead to their transplantation.
"The plan for their removal and re-establishment is founded upon
the knowledge we have gained of their character and habits,
and has been dictated by a spirit of enlarged liberality. A
territory exceeding in extent that relinquished, has been
granted to each tribe. Of its climate, fertility, and capacity
to support an Indian population, the representations are highly
favorable. To these districts the Indians are removed at the
expense of the United States, and with certain supplies of
clothing, arms, ammunition, and other indispensable articles,
they are also furnished gratuitously with provisions for the
period of a year after their arrival at their new homes. In that
time, from the nature of the country, and of the products raised
by them, they can subsist themselves by agricultural labor, if
they choose to resort to that mode of life. If they do not, they
are upon the skirts of the great prairies, where countless herds
of buffalo roam, and a short time suffices to adapt their own
habits to the changes which a change of the animals destined for
their food may require. Ample arrangements have also been made
for the support of schools. In some instances, council-houses
and churches are to be erected, dwellings constructed for the
chiefs, and mills for common use. Funds have been set apart for
the maintenance of the poor. The most necessary mechanical arts
have been introduced, and blacksmiths, gunsmiths, wheelwrights,
millwrights, &c. are supported among them. Steel and iron, and
sometimes salt, are purchased for them, and ploughs and other
farming utensils, domestic animals, looms, spinning-wheels,
cars, &c., are presented to them. And besides these beneficial
arrangements, annuities are in all cases paid, amounting in
some instances to more than thirty dollars for each individual
of the tribe; and in all cases sufficiently great, if justly
divided, and prudently expended, to enable them, in addition to
their own exertions, to live comfortably. And as a stimulus for
exertion, it is now provided by law, that, 'in all cases of the
appointment of interpreters, or other persons employed for the
benefit of the Indian, a preference shall be given to persons of
Indian descent, if such can be found who are properly qualified
for the discharge of the duties.'"
The effect of the revival of the gold currency was a subject of
great congratulation with the President, and its influence was felt
in every department of industry. Near twenty millions of dollars had
entered the country--a sum far above the average circulation of the
Bank of the United States in its best days, and a currency of a kind
to diffuse itself over the country, and remain where there was a
demand for it, and for which, different from a bank paper currency,
no interest was paid for its use, and no danger incurred of its
becoming useless. He thus referred to this gratifying circumstance:
"Connected with the condition of the finances, and the
flourishing state of the country in all its branches of
industry, it is pleasing to witness the advantages which have
been already derived from the recent laws regulating the value
of the gold coinage. These advantages will be more apparent in
the course of the next year, when the branch mints authorized to
be established in North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana, shall
have gone into operation. Aided, as it is hoped they will be,
by further reforms in the banking systems of the States, and by
judicious regulations on the part of Congress in relation to the
custody of the public moneys, it may be confidently anticipated
that the use of gold and silver as a circulating medium will
become general in the ordinary transactions connected with the
labor of the country. The great desideratum, in modern times,
is an efficient check upon the power of banks, preventing that
excessive issue of paper whence arise those fluctuations in
the standard of value which render uncertain the rewards of
labor. It was supposed by those who established the Bank of
the United States, that, from the credit given to it by the
custody of the public moneys, and other privileges, and the
precautions taken to guard against the evils which the country
had suffered in the bankruptcy of many of the State institutions
of that period, we should derive from that institution all the
security and benefits of a sound currency, and every good end
that was attainable under that provision of the constitution
which authorizes Congress alone to coin money and regulate the
value thereof. But it is scarcely necessary now to say that
these anticipations have not been realized. After the extensive
embarrassment and distress recently produced by the Bank of
the United States, from which the country is now recovering,
aggravated as they were by pretensions to power which defied the
public authority, and which, if acquiesced in by the people,
would have changed the whole character of our government, every
candid and intelligent individual must admit that, for the
attainment of the great advantages of a sound currency, we must
look to a course of legislation radically different from that
which created such an institution."
Railroads were at this time still in their infancy in the United
States; they were but few in number and comparatively feeble; but
the nature of a monopoly is the same under all circumstances and
the United States, in their post-office department, had begun to
feel the effects of the extortion and overbearing of monopolizing
companies, clothed with chartered privileges intended to be for
the public as well as private advantage, but usually perverted to
purposes of self-enrichment, and of oppression. The evil had already
become so serious as to require the attention of Congress; and the
President thus recommended the subject to its consideration:
"Particular attention is solicited to that portion of the
report of the postmaster-general which relates to the carriage
of the mails of the United States upon railroads constructed
by private corporations under the authority of the several
States. The reliance which the general government can place
on those roads as a means of carrying on its operations, and
the principles on which the use of them is to be obtained,
cannot too soon be considered and settled. Already does the
spirit of monopoly begin to exhibit its natural propensities
in attempts to exact from the public, for services which it
supposes cannot be obtained on other terms, the most extravagant
compensation. If these claims be persisted in, the question may
arise whether a combination of citizens, acting under charters
of incorporation from the States, can, by a direct refusal or
the demand of an exorbitant price, exclude the United States
from the use of the established channels of communication
between the different sections of the country; and whether the
United States cannot, without transcending their constitutional
powers, secure to the post-office department the use of those
roads, by an act of Congress which shall provide within itself
some equitable mode of adjusting the amount of compensation.
To obviate, if possible, the necessity of considering this
question, it is suggested whether it be not expedient to
fix, by law, the amounts which shall be offered to railroad
companies for the conveyance of the mails, graduated according
to their average weight, to be ascertained and declared by the
postmaster-general. It is probable that a liberal proposition of
that sort would be accepted."
The subject of slavery took a new turn of disturbance between the
North and South about this time. The particular form of annoyance
which it now wore was that of the transmission into the slave
States, through the United States mail, of incendiary publications,
tending to excite servile insurrections. Societies, individuals and
foreigners were engaged in this diabolical work--as injurious to the
slaves by the further restrictions which it brought upon them, as to
the owners whose lives and property were endangered. The President
brought this practice to the notice of Congress, with a view to its
remedy. He said:
"In connection with these provisions in relation to the
post-office department, I must also invite your attention to
the painful excitement produced in the South by attempts to
circulate through the mails inflammatory appeals addressed to
the passions of the slaves, in prints, and in various sorts of
publications, calculated to stimulate them to insurrection, and
to produce all the horrors of a servile war. There is doubtless
no respectable portion of our countrymen who can be so far
misled, as to feel any other sentiment than that of indignant
regret at conduct so destructive of the harmony and peace of
the country, and so repugnant to the principles of our national
compact and to the dictates of humanity and religion. Our
happiness and prosperity essentially depend upon peace within
our borders: and peace depends upon the maintenance, in good
faith, of those compromises of the constitution upon which the
Union is founded. It is fortunate for the country that the good
sense, the generous feeling, and the deep-rooted attachment
of the people of the non-slaveholding States, to the Union,
and to their fellow-citizens of the same blood in the South,
have given so strong and impressive a tone to the sentiments
entertained against the proceedings of the misguided persons
who have engaged in these unconstitutional and wicked attempts,
and especially against the emissaries from foreign parts, who
have dared to interfere in this matter, as to authorize the
hope that those attempts will no longer be persisted in. But if
these expressions of the public will, shall not be sufficient
to effect so desirable a result, not a doubt can be entertained
that the non-slaveholding States, so far from countenancing
the slightest interference with the constitutional rights
of the South, will be prompt to exercise their authority in
suppressing, so far as in them lies, whatever is calculated
to produce this evil. In leaving the care of other branches
of this interesting subject to the State authorities, to whom
they properly belong, it is nevertheless proper for Congress to
take such measures as will prevent the post-office department,
which was designed to foster an amicable intercourse and
correspondence between all the members of the confederacy,
from being used as an instrument of an opposite character. The
general government, to which the great trust is confided of
preserving inviolate the relations created among the States, by
the constitution, is especially bound to avoid in its own action
any thing that may disturb them. I would, therefore, call the
special attention of Congress to the subject, and respectfully
suggest the propriety of passing such a law as will prohibit,
under severe penalties, the circulation in the Southern States,
through the mail, of incendiary publications intended to
instigate the slaves to insurrection."
The President in this impressive paragraph makes a just distinction
between the conduct of misguided men, and of wicked emissaries,
engaged in disturbing the harmony of the Union, and the patriotic
people of the non-slaveholding States who discountenance their
work and repress their labors. The former receive the brand of
reprobation, and are pointed out for criminal legislation: the
latter receive the applause due to good citizens.
The President concludes this message, as he had done many others,
with a recurrence to the necessity of reform in the mode of electing
the two first officers of the Republic. His convictions must have
been deep and strong thus to bring him back so many times to the
fundamental point of direct elections by the people, and total
suppression of all intermediate agencies. He says:
"I felt it to be my duty in the first message which I
communicated to Congress, to urge upon its attention
the propriety of amending that part of the constitution
which provides for the election of the President and the
Vice-President of the United States. The leading object which
I had in view was the adoption of some new provision, which
would secure to the people the performance of this high duty,
without any intermediate agency. In my annual communications
since, I have enforced the same views, from a sincere conviction
that the best interests of the country would be promoted by
their adoption. If the subject were an ordinary one, I should
have regarded the failure of Congress to act upon it, as an
indication of their judgment, that the disadvantages which
belong to the present system were not so great as those which
would result from any attainable substitute that had been
submitted to their consideration. Recollecting, however, that
propositions to introduce a new feature in our fundamental laws
cannot be too patiently examined, and ought not to be received
with favor, until the great body of the people are thoroughly
impressed with their necessity and value, as a remedy for
real evils, I feel that in renewing the recommendation I have
heretofore made on this subject, I am not transcending the
bounds of a just deference to the sense of Congress, or to the
disposition of the people. However much we may differ in the
choice of the measures which should guide the administration
of the government, there can be but little doubt in the minds
of those who are really friendly to the republican features of
our system, that one of its most important securities consists
in the separation of the legislative and executive powers, at
the same time that each is held responsible to the great source
of authority, which is acknowledged to be supreme, in the will
of the people constitutionally expressed. My reflection and
experience satisfy me, that the framers of the constitution,
although they were anxious to mark this feature as a settled
and fixed principle in the structure of the government, did not
adopt all the precautions that were necessary to secure its
practical observance, and that we cannot be said to have carried
into complete effect their intentions until the evils which
arise from this organic defect are remedied. All history tells
us that a free people should be watchful of delegated power,
and should never acquiesce in a practice which will diminish
their control over it. This obligation, so universal in its
application to all the principles of a Republic, is peculiarly
so in ours, where the formation of parties, founded on sectional
interests, is so much fostered by the extent of our territory.
These interests, represented by candidates for the Presidency,
are constantly prone, in the zeal of party and selfish objects,
to generate influences, unmindful of the general good, and
forgetful of the restraints which the great body of the people
would enforce, if they were, in no contingency, to lose the
right of expressing their will. The experience of our country
from the formation of the government to the present day,
demonstrates that the people cannot too soon adopt some stronger
safeguard for their right to elect the highest officers known to
the constitution, than is contained in that sacred instrument as
it now stands."