_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:
I herewith communicate to Congress a letter from the Secretary of the
Treasury, in respect to the Florida claims under the treaty of 1819 and
the subsequent acts of Congress passed to enforce it.
The propriety of some additional legislation on this subject seems
obvious. The period when the evidence on the claims shall be closed
ought, in my opinion, to be limited, as they are already of long
standing, and, as a general consequence, the proof of their justice
every day becoming more and more unsatisfactory.
It seems also that the task of making the final examination into the
justice of the awards might advantageously be devolved upon some other
officer or tribunal than the Secretary of the Treasury, considering the
other responsible, laborious, and numerous duties imposed on him at the
present juncture.