WASHINGTON, D.C., _February 10, 1852_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit herewith the annual report of the Director of the Mint at
Philadelphia, showing the operations of the Mint and its branches for
the year 1851.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _April 2, 1852_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I transmit herewith the report of the inspector of the penitentiary of
the United States in the District of Columbia for the year ending the
31st of December last.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _February 8, 1853_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
I herewith communicate, for the information of Congress, a copy of the
report of the Director of the Mint for the past year.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON CITY, _February 10, 1853_.
The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
I transmit to the House of Representatives herewith a communication from
the Secretary of the Interior, accompanied by the annual report of the
board of inspectors of the penitentiary of the District of Columbia for
the year ending 31st December, 1852, as required by law.
MILLARD FILLMORE.
WASHINGTON, _February 1, 1854_.
The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
I transmit herewith the annual report of the Director of the Mint at
Philadelphia, showing the operation of the Mint and branch mints for the
year 1853.
FRANKLIN PIERCE.
WASHINGTON, _March 3, 1854_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit herewith the annual report of the board of inspectors of the
penitentiary for the District of Columbia for the year ending December
31, 1853.
FRANKLIN PIERCE.
WASHINGTON, _February 8, 1855_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I transmit herewith the report of the Director of the Mint, showing the
operations of the Mint and its branches for the past year.
FRANKLIN PIERCE.
WASHINGTON, _March 27, 1856_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit herewith a report of the operations of the Mint of the United
States and its branches, including the assay office, for the year 1855.
FRANKLIN PIERCE.
WASHINGTON, _February 3, 1857_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit herewith the report of the Director of the Mint, showing the
operations of the Mint and its branches for the last year.
FRANKLIN PIERCE.
PROCLAMATIONS.
[From Laws of the United States of America (John Bioren and W. John
Duane, Philadelphia, and R.C. Weightman, Washington City, 1815),
Vol. V, p. 511.]
BY GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas by an act supplementary to the act entitled "An act establishing
a mint and regulating the coins of the United States," passed on the 3d
day of March, 1795, "the President of the United States is authorized,
whenever he shall think it for the benefit of the United States, to
reduce the weight of the copper coin of the United States, provided such
reduction shall not in the whole exceed 2 pennyweights in each cent and
in like proportion in a half cent; of which he shall give notice by
proclamation;" and
Whereas, on account of the increased price of copper and expense of
coinage, I have thought it would be for the benefit of the United
States to reduce the weight of the copper coin of the United States
1 pennyweight and 16 grains in each cent and in like proportion in each
half cent, and the same has since the 27th day of December last been
reduced accordingly:
I hereby give notice thereof and that all cents and half cents coined
and to be coined at the Mint of the United States from and after the
said 27th day of December are to weigh, the cents each 7 pennyweights
and the half cents each 3 pennyweights and 12 grains.
In testimony whereof I, the said George Washington, President of the
United States, have caused the seal of the United States to be hereto
affixed and signed the same with my hand.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Philadelphia on the 26th day of January, A.D. 1796,
and of the Independence of the United States the twentieth.
Go. WASHINGTON.
By the President:
TIMOTHY PICKERING,
_Secretary of State_.
[From Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser, Philadelphia, December 28,
1799.]
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas the Congress of the United States, "in honor of the memory of
General George Washington," have this day "_Resolved_, That it be
recommended to the people of the United States to wear crape on the left
arm as mourning for thirty days," and "that the President of the United
States be requested to issue a proclamation notifying to the people
throughout the United States the said recommendation:"
Now, therefore, I, John Adams, President of the United States, do hereby
proclaim the same accordingly.
[SEAL.]
Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, at Philadelphia,
the 24th day of December, A.D. 1799, and of the Independence of the
United States the twenty-fourth.
JOHN ADAMS.
By the President:
TIMOTHY PICKERING,
_Secretary of State_.
[From the Daily National Intelligencer, December 15, 1860.]
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES.
A RECOMMENDATION.
WASHINGTON, _December 14, 1860_.
Numerous appeals have been made to me by pious and patriotic
associations and citizens, in view of the present distracted and
dangerous condition of our country, to recommend that a day be set apart
for humiliation, fasting, and prayer throughout the Union.
In compliance with their request and my own sense of duty, I designate
Friday, the 4th day of January, 1861, for this purpose, and recommend
that the people assemble on that day, according to their several forms
of worship, to keep it as a solemn fast.
The Union of the States is at the present moment threatened with
alarming and immediate danger; panic and distress of a fearful character
prevail throughout the land; our laboring population are without
employment, and consequently deprived of the means of earning their
bread. Indeed, hope seems to have deserted the minds of men. All classes
are in a state of confusion and dismay, and the wisest counsels of our
best and purest men are wholly disregarded.
In this the hour of our calamity and peril to whom shall we resort for
relief but to the God of our fathers? His omnipotent arm only can save
us from the awful effects of our own crimes and follies--our own
ingratitude and guilt toward our Heavenly Father.
Let us, then, with deep contrition and penitent sorrow unite in humbling
ourselves before the Most High, in confessing our individual and
national sins, and in acknowledging the justice of our punishment. Let
us implore Him to remove from our hearts that false pride of opinion
which would impel us to persevere in wrong for the sake of consistency
rather than yield a just submission to the unforeseen exigencies by
which we are now surrounded. Let us with deep reverence beseech Him to
restore the friendship and good will which prevailed in former days
among the people of the several States, and, above all, to save us from
the horrors of civil war and "blood guiltiness." Let our fervent prayers
ascend to His throne that He would not desert us in this hour of extreme
peril, but remember us as He did our fathers in the darkest days of the
Revolution, and preserve our Constitution and our Union, the work of
their hands, for ages yet to come.
An omnipotent Providence may overrule existing evils for permanent good.
He can make the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of wrath
He can restrain. Let me invoke every individual, in whatever sphere of
life he may be placed, to feel a personal responsibility to God and his
country for keeping this day holy and for contributing all in his power
to remove our actual and impending calamities.
JAMES BUCHANAN.
EXECUTIVE ORDERS.
[From Sparks's Washington, Vol. X, pp. 11-12.]
NEW YORK, _June 8, 1789_.
SIR:[177] Although in the present unsettled state of the Executive
Departments under the Government of the Union I do not conceive it
expedient to call upon you for information officially, yet I have
supposed that some informal communications from the Office of Foreign
Affairs might neither be improper nor unprofitable. Finding myself at
this moment less occupied with the duties of my office than I shall
probably be at almost any time hereafter, I am desirous of employing
myself in obtaining an acquaintance with the real situation of the
several great Departments at the period of my acceding to the
administration of the General Government. For this purpose I wish to
receive in writing such a clear account of the Department at the head of
which you have been for some years past as may be sufficient (without
overburthening or confusing the mind, which has very many objects to
claim its attention at the same instant) to impress me with a full,
precise, and distinct general idea of the affairs of the United States
so far as they are comprehended in or connected with that Department.
As I am now at leisure to inspect such papers and documents as may be
necessary to be acted upon hereafter or as may be calculated to give me
an insight into the business and duties of that Department, I have
thought fit to address this notification to you accordingly.
I am, etc.,
GO. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 177: Addressed to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, the
Secretary of War, the Board of the Treasury, and the Postmaster-General.]
[From American State Papers, Indian Affairs, Vol. I, pp. 96-97.]
INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES TO THE GOVERNOR OF
THE WESTERN TERRITORY--6TH OCTOBER, 1789.
ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, Esq.,
_Governor of the Territory of the United States Northwest of the Ohio
and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Northern District_.
SIR: Congress having by their act of the 29th of September last
empowered me to call forth the militia of the States, respectively, for
the protection of the frontiers from the incursions of the hostile
Indians, I have thought proper to make this communication to you,
together with the instructions herein contained.
It is highly necessary that I should as soon as possible possess full
information whether the Wabash and Illinois Indians are most inclined
for war or peace. If for the former, it is proper that I should be
informed of the means which will most probably induce them to peace.
If a peace can be established with the said Indians on reasonable terms,
the interests of the United States dictate that it should be effected as
soon as possible.
You will therefore inform the said Indians of the dispositions of the
General Government on this subject and of their reasonable desire that
there should be a cessation of hostilities as a prelude to a treaty. If,
however, notwithstanding your intimations to them, they should continue
their hostilities or meditate any incursions against the frontiers of
Virginia and Pennsylvania or against any of the troops or posts of the
United States, and it should appear to you that the time of execution
would be so near as to forbid your transmitting the information to me
and receiving my further orders thereon, then you are hereby authorized
and empowered in my name to call on the lieutenants of the nearest
counties of Virginia and Pennsylvania for such detachments of militia as
you may judge proper, not exceeding, however, 1,000 from Virginia and
500 from Pennsylvania.
I have directed letters to be written to the executives of Virginia and
Pennsylvania informing them of the before-recited act of Congress and
that I have given you these conditional directions, so that there may
not be any obstructions to such measures as shall be necessary to be
taken by you for calling forth the militia agreeably to the instructions
herein contained.
The said militia to act in conjunction with the Federal troops in such
operations, offensive or defensive, as you and the commanding officer of
the troops conjointly shall judge necessary for the public service and
the protection of the inhabitants and the posts.
The said militia while in actual service to be on the continental
establishment of pay and rations. They are to arm and equip themselves,
but to be furnished with public ammunition if necessary; and no charge
for the pay of said militia will be valid unless supported by regular
musters, made by a field or other officer of the Federal troops, to be
appointed by the commanding officer of the troops.
I would have it observed forcibly that a war with the Wabash Indians
ought to be avoided by all means consistently with the security of the
frontier inhabitants, the security of the troops, and the national
dignity. In the exercise of the present indiscriminate hostilities it
is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to say that a war without
further measures would be just on the part of the United States.
But if, after manifesting clearly to the Indians the dispositions of
the General Government for the preservation of peace and the extension
of a just protection to the said Indians, they should continue their
incursions, the United States will be constrained to punish them with
severity.
You will also proceed, as soon as you can with safety, to execute the
orders of the late Congress respecting the inhabitants at St. Vincennes
and at the Kaskaskias and the other villages on the Mississippi. It is a
circumstance of some importance that the said inhabitants should as soon
as possible possess the lands to which they are entitled by some known
and fixed principles.
I have directed a number of copies of the treaty made by you at Fort
Harmar with the Wyandots, etc., on the 9th of January last to be printed
and forwarded to you, together with the ratification and my proclamation
enjoining the observance thereof.
As it may be of high importance to obtain a precise and accurate
knowledge of the several waters which empty into the Ohio on the
northwest and of those which discharge themselves in the Lakes Erie and
Michigan, the length of the portages between, and nature of the ground,
an early and pointed attention thereto is earnestly recommended.
Given under my hand, in the city of New York, this 6th day of October,
A.D. 1789, and in the thirteenth year of the Sovereignty and
Independence of the United States.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[From The Freeman's Journal; or, The North American Intelligencer,
Philadelphia, October 21, 1789.]
CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.
AN ACT providing for the payment of the invalid pensioners of the United
States.
_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled_, That the military
pensions which have been granted and paid by the States, respectively,
in pursuance of the acts of the United States in Congress assembled, to
the invalids who were wounded and disabled during the late war shall be
continued and paid by the United States from the 4th day of March last
for the space of one year under such regulations as the President of the
United States may direct.
FREDERICK AUGUSTUS MUHLENBERG,
_Speaker of the House of Representatives._
JOHN ADAMS,
_Vice-President of the United States and President of the Senate._
Approved, September 29, 1789.
Go. WASHINGTON,
_President of the United States._
WAR OFFICE, _October 13, 1789._
In pursuance of the above-recited law, information is hereby given to
all the invalid pensioners of the United States that the amount of one
year's pension from the 4th day of March last will be paid to them or
their attorneys, respectively, in two equal payments, the first of which
will be made on the 5th day of March, 1790, and the second on the 5th
day of June following, at such places in each State and by such persons
as shall hereafter in due season be publicly made known.
The payments will be made according to the following regulations, to
wit:
The returns which have been or shall be made to the Secretary for the
Department of War by the several States of the pensions which have been
granted and paid by them, respectively, will, together with the vouchers
herein required, be considered as the evidence whereon the payments are
to be made.
Every application for payment must be accompanied by the following
vouchers:
First. The certificate given by the State, specifying that the person
possessing it is in fact an invalid and ascertaining the sum to which as
such he is annually entitled.
Secondly. An affidavit agreeably to the following form, to wit:
A.B. came before me, one of the justices for the county of ----, in
the State of ----, and made oath that he is the same A.B. to whom the
original certificate in his possession was given, of which the following
is a copy: [The certificate given by the State to be recited.]
That he served in ---- [regiment or vessel] at the time he was disabled,
and that he now resides in the ---- and county of ----, and has resided
there for the last ---- years, previous to which he resided in ----.
In case an invalid should apply for payment by an attorney the said
attorney must, besides the certificate and oath before recited, produce a
special letter of attorney agreeably to the following form:
I, A.B., of ----, county of ----, State of ----, do hereby constitute
and appoint C.D., of ----, my lawful attorney to receive in my behalf
---- [the first or second moiety] of my annual pension as an invalid of
the United States from the 4th day of March, 1789.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this ----.
Signed and sealed in the presence of ---- ----.
Acknowledged before me ---- ----.
Applications of executors or administrators must be accompanied with
legal evidence of their respective offices and also the time the invalid
died whose pension they may claim.
By command of the President of the United States of America:
H. KNOX,
_Secretary for the Department of War._
[From Annals of Congress, Second Congress, 1247-1248.]
_George Washington, President of the United States of America, to the
Secretary of the Treasury for the time being_:
By virtue of the several acts, the one entitled "An act making provision
for the debt of the United States" and the other entitled "An act making
provision for the reduction of the public debt," I do hereby authorize
and empower you, by yourself or any other person or persons, to borrow
on behalf of the United States, within the said States or elsewhere,
a sum or sums not exceeding in the whole $14,000,000, and to make or
cause to be made for that purpose such contract or contracts as shall
be necessary and for the interest of the said States, subject to the
restrictions and limitations in the said several acts contained; and
for so doing this shall be your sufficient warrant.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
hereunto affixed.
[SEAL.]
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, this 28th day of August,
A.D. 1790.
Go. WASHINGTON.
By the President:
TH: JEFFERSON.
[From Annals of Congress, Second Congress, 1249-1250.]
_George Washington, President of the United States of America, to the
Secretary of the Treasury for the time being_:
Having thought fit to commit to you the charge of borrowing on behalf of
the United States a sum or sums not exceeding in the whole $14,000,000,
pursuant to the several acts, the one entitled "An act making provision
for the debt of the United States," the other entitled "An act making
provision for the reduction of the public debt"--
I do hereby make known to you that in the execution of the said trust
you are to observe and follow the orders and directions following, viz:
Except where otherwise especially directed by me you shall employ in
the negotiation of any loan or loans which may be made in any foreign
country William Short, esq. You shall borrow or cause to be borrowed,
on the best terms which shall be found practicable (and within the
limitations prescribed by law as to time of repayment and rate of
interest), such sum or sums as shall be sufficient to discharge as well
all installments or parts of the principal of the foreign debt which
now are due or shall become payable to the end of the year 1791 as all
interest and arrears of interest which now are or shall become due in
respect to the said debt to the same end of the year 1791; and you shall
apply or cause to be applied the moneys which shall be so borrowed with
all convenient dispatch to the payment of the said installments and
parts of the principal and interest and arrears of the interest of
the said debt. You shall not extend the amount of the loan which you
shall make or cause to be made beyond the sum which shall be necessary
for completing such payment unless it can be done upon terms more
advantageous to the United States than those upon which the residue of
the said debt shall stand or be; but if the said residue or any part of
the same can be paid off by new loans upon terms of advantage to the
United States you shall cause such further loans as may be requisite to
that end to be made and the proceeds thereof to be applied accordingly.
And for carrying into effect the objects and purposes aforesaid I do
hereby further empower you to make or cause to be made with whomsoever
it may concern such contract or contracts, being of a nature relative
thereto, as shall be found needful and conducive to the interest of the
United States.
If any negotiation with any prince or state to whom any part of the
said debt may be due should be requisite, the same shall be carried on
through the person who in capacity of minister, chargé d'affaires, or
otherwise now is or hereafter shall be charged with transacting the
affairs of the United States with such prince or state, for which
purpose I shall direct the Secretary of State, with whom you are in
this behalf to consult and concert, to cooperate with you.
Given under my hand, at the city of New York, this 28th day of August,
A.D. 1790.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[From Annals of Congress, Second Congress, 1046.]
UNITED STATES, _January 16, 1792._
The SECRETARY FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR.
SIR: As the circumstances which have engaged the United States in
the present Indian war[178] may some of them be out of the public
recollection and others perhaps be unknown, it may appear advisable that
you prepare and publish from authentic documents a statement of those
circumstances, as well as of the measures which have been taken from
time to time for the reestablishment of peace and friendship.
When the community are called upon for considerable exertions to relieve
a part which is suffering under the hand of an enemy, it is desirable to
manifest that due pains have been taken by those intrusted with the
administration of their affairs to avoid the evil.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 178: With certain tribes of Indians northwest of the Ohio.]
[From Annals of Congress, Sixth Congress, 1335.]
SEPTEMBER 29, 1792.
The President of the United States doth hereby order and direct that
any lot or lots in the city of Washington may, after the public sale
to commence on the 8th day of October, be sold and agreed for by the
commissioners, or any two of them, at private sale for such price and
on such terms as they may think proper.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[From Sparks's Washington, Vol. X, pp. 546-548.]
RULES ADOPTED BY THE CABINET AS TO THE EQUIPMENT OF VESSELS IN THE PORTS
OF THE UNITED STATES BY BELLIGERENT POWERS, AND PROCEEDINGS ON THE
CONDUCT OF THE FRENCH MINISTER.
AUGUST 3, 1793.
1. The original arming and equipping of vessels in the ports of the
United States by any of the belligerent parties for military service,
offensive or defensive, is deemed unlawful.
2. Equipments of merchant vessels by either of the belligerent parties
in the ports of the United States purely for the accommodation of them
as such is deemed lawful.