DECEMBER 1, 1834.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

In performing my duty at the opening of your present session it gives me

pleasure to congratulate you again upon the prosperous condition of our

beloved country. Divine Providence has favored us with general health,

with rich rewards in the fields of agriculture and in every branch of

labor, and with peace to cultivate and extend the various resources

which employ the virtue and enterprise of our citizens. Let us trust

that in surveying a scene so flattering to our free institutions our

joint deliberations to preserve them may be crowned with success.

Our foreign relations continue, with but few exceptions, to maintain the

favorable aspect which they bore in my last annual message, and promise

to extend those advantages which the principles that regulate our

intercourse with other nations are so well calculated to secure.

The question of the northeastern boundary is still pending with Great

Britain, and the proposition made in accordance with the resolution of

the Senate for the establishment of a line according to the treaty of

1783 has not been accepted by that Government. Believing that every

disposition is felt on both sides to adjust this perplexing question to

the satisfaction of all the parties interested in it, the hope is yet

indulged that it may be effected on the basis of that proposition.

With the Governments of Austria, Russia, Prussia, Holland, Sweden, and

Denmark the best understanding exists. Commerce with all is fostered and

protected by reciprocal good will under the sanction of liberal

conventional or legal provisions.

In the midst of her internal difficulties the Queen of Spain has

ratified the convention for the payment of the claims of our citizens

arising since 1819. It is in the course of execution on her part, and a

copy of it is now laid before you for such legislation as may be found

necessary to enable those interested to derive the benefits of it.

Yielding to the force of circumstances and to the wise counsels of time

and experience, that power has finally resolved no longer to occupy the

unnatural position in which she stood to the new Governments established

in this hemisphere. I have the great satisfaction of stating to you that

in preparing the way for the restoration of harmony between those who

have sprung from the same ancestors, who are allied by common interests,

profess the same religion, and speak the same language the United States

have been actively instrumental. Our efforts to effect this good work

will be persevered in while they are deemed useful to the parties and

our entire disinterestedness continues to be felt and understood. The

act of Congress to countervail the discriminating duties to the

prejudice of our navigation levied in Cuba and Puerto Rico has been

transmitted to the minister of the United States at Madrid, to be

communicated to the Government of the Queen. No intelligence of its

receipt has yet reached the Department of State. If the present

condition of the country permits the Government to make a careful and

enlarged examination of the true interests of these important portions

of its dominions, no doubt is entertained that their future intercourse

with the United States will be placed upon a more just and liberal

basis.

The Florida archives have not yet been selected and delivered. Recent

orders have been sent to the agent of the United States at Havana to

return with all that he can obtain, so that they may be in Washington

before the session of the Supreme Court, to be used in the legal

questions there pending to which the Government is a party.

Internal tranquillity is happily restored to Portugal. The distracted

state of the country rendered unavoidable the postponement of a final

payment of the just claims of our citizens. Our diplomatic relations

will be soon resumed, and the long-subsisting friendship with that power

affords the strongest guaranty that the balance due will receive prompt

attention.

The first installment due under the convention of indemnity with the

King of the Two Sicilies has been duly received, and an offer has been

made to extinguish the whole by a prompt payment--an offer I did not

consider myself authorized to accept, as the indemnification provided

is the exclusive property of individual citizens of the United States.

The original adjustment of our claims and the anxiety displayed to

fulfill at once the stipulations made for the payment of them are highly

honorable to the Government of the Two Sicilies. When it is recollected

that they were the result of the injustice of an intrusive power

temporarily dominant in its territory, a repugnance to acknowledge and

to pay which would have been neither unnatural nor unexpected, the

circumstances can not fail to exalt its character for justice and good

faith in the eyes of all nations.

The treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and Belgium,

brought to your notice in my last annual message as sanctioned by the

Senate, but the ratifications of which had not been exchanged owing

to a delay in its reception at Brussels and a subsequent absence

of the Belgian minister of foreign affairs, has been, after mature

deliberation, finally disavowed by that Government as inconsistent

with the powers and instructions given to their minister who negotiated

it. This disavowal was entirely unexpected, as the liberal principles

embodied in the convention, and which form the groundwork of the

objections to it, were perfectly satisfactory to the Belgian

representative, and were supposed to be not only within the powers

granted, but expressly conformable to the instructions given to him.

An offer, not yet accepted, has been made by Belgium to renew

negotiations for a treaty less liberal in its provisions on questions

of general maritime law.

Our newly established relations with the Sublime Porte promise to

be useful to our commerce and satisfactory in every respect to this

Government. Our intercourse with the Barbary Powers continues without

important change, except that the present political state of Algiers has

induced me to terminate the residence there of a salaried consul and

to substitute an ordinary consulate, to remain so long as the place

continues in the possession of France. Our first treaty with one of

these powers, the Emperor of Morocco, was formed in 1786, and was

limited to fifty years. That period has almost expired. I shall take

measures to renew it with the greater satisfaction as its stipulations

are just and liberal and have been, with mutual fidelity and reciprocal

advantage, scrupulously fulfilled.

Intestine dissensions have too frequently occurred to mar the

prosperity, interrupt the commerce, and distract the governments of most

of the nations of this hemisphere which have separated themselves from

Spain. When a firm and permanent understanding with the parent country

shall have produced a formal acknowledgment of their independence, and

the idea of danger from that quarter can be no longer entertained, the

friends of freedom expect that those countries, so favored by nature,

will be distinguished for their love of justice and their devotion

to those peaceful arts the assiduous cultivation of which confers

honor upon nations and gives value to human life. In the meantime

I confidently hope that the apprehensions entertained that some of

the people of these luxuriant regions may be tempted, in a moment of

unworthy distrust of their own capacity for the enjoyment of liberty, to

commit the too common error of purchasing present repose by bestowing

on some favorite leaders the fatal gift of irresponsible power will

not be realized. With all these Governments and with that of Brazil no

unexpected changes in our relations have occurred during the present

year. Frequent causes of just complaint have arisen upon the part of the

citizens of the United States, sometimes from the irregular action of

the constituted subordinate authorities of the maritime regions and

sometimes from the leaders or partisans of those in arms against the

established Governments. In all cases representations have been or

will be made, and as soon as their political affairs are in a settled

position it is expected that our friendly remonstrances will be

followed by adequate redress.

The Government of Mexico made known in December last the appointment

of commissioners and a surveyor on its part to run, in conjunction with

ours, the boundary line between its territories and the United States,

and excused the delay for the reasons anticipated--the prevalence of

civil war. The commissioners and surveyors not having met within the

time stipulated by the treaty, a new arrangement became necessary,

and our chargé d'affaires was instructed in January last to negotiate

in Mexico an article additional to the preexisting treaty. This

instruction was acknowledged, and no difficulty was apprehended in

the accomplishment of that object. By information just received that

additional article to the treaty will be obtained and transmitted to

this country as soon as it can receive the ratification of the Mexican

Congress.

The reunion of the three States of New Grenada, Venezuela, and Equador,

forming the Republic of Colombia, seems every day to become more

improbable. The commissioners of the two first are understood to be now

negotiating a just division of the obligations contracted by them when

united under one government. The civil war in Equador, it is believed,

has prevented even the appointment of a commissioner on its part.

I propose at an early day to submit, in the proper form, the appointment

of a diplomatic agent to Venezuela, the importance of the commerce of

that country to the United States and the large claims of our citizens

upon the Government arising before and since the division of Colombia

rendering it, in my judgment, improper longer to delay this step.

Our representatives to Central America, Peru, and Brazil are either at

or on their way to their respective posts.

From the Argentine Republic, from which a minister was expected to this

Government, nothing further has been heard. Occasion has been taken on

the departure of a new consul to Buenos Ayres to remind that Government

that its long-delayed minister, whose appointment had been made known to

us, had not arrived.

It becomes my unpleasant duty to inform you that this pacific and highly

gratifying picture of our foreign relations does not include those with

France at this time. It is not possible that any Government and people

could be more sincerely desirous of conciliating a just and friendly

intercourse with another nation than are those of the United States

with their ancient ally and friend. This disposition is founded as well

on the most grateful and honorable recollections associated with our

struggle for independence as upon a well-grounded conviction that it is

consonant with the true policy of both. The people of the United States

could not, therefore, see without the deepest regret even a temporary

interruption of the friendly relations between the two countries--a

regret which would, I am sure, be greatly aggravated if there should

turn out to be any reasonable ground for attributing such a result to

any act of omission or commission on our part. I derive, therefore, the

highest satisfaction from being able to assure you that the whole course

of this Government has been characterized by a spirit so conciliatory

and forbearing as to make it impossible that our justice and moderation

should be questioned, whatever may be the consequences of a longer

perseverance on the part of the French Government in her omission to

satisfy the conceded claims of our citizens.

The history of the accumulated and unprovoked aggressions upon our

commerce committed by authority of the existing Governments of France

between the years 1800 and 1817 has been rendered too painfully familiar

to Americans to make its repetition either necessary or desirable. It

will be sufficient here to remark that there has for many years been

scarcely a single administration of the French Government by whom the

justice and legality of the claims of our citizens to indemnity were

not to a very considerable extent admitted, and yet near a quarter of

a century has been wasted in ineffectual negotiations to secure it.

Deeply sensible of the injurious effects resulting from this state of

things upon the interests and character of both nations, I regarded it

as among my first duties to cause one more effort to be made to satisfy

France that a just and liberal settlement of our claims was as well due

to her own honor as to their incontestable validity. The negotiation for

this purpose was commenced with the late Government of France, and was

prosecuted with such success as to leave no reasonable ground to doubt

that a settlement of a character quite as liberal as that which was

subsequently made would have been effected had not the revolution by

which the negotiation was cut off taken place. The discussions were

resumed with the present Government, and the result showed that we

were not wrong in supposing that an event by which the two Governments

were made to approach each other so much nearer in their political

principles, and by which the motives for the most liberal and friendly

intercourse were so greatly multiplied, could exercise no other than a

salutary influence upon the negotiation. After the most deliberate and

thorough examination of the whole subject a treaty between the two

Governments was concluded and signed at Paris on the 4th of July, 1831,

by which it was stipulated that "the French Government, in order to

liberate itself from all the reclamations preferred against it by

citizens of the United States for unlawful seizures, captures,

sequestrations, confiscations, or destruction of their vessels, cargoes,

or other property, engages to pay a sum of 25,000,000 francs to the

United States, who shall distribute it among those entitled in the

manner and according to the rules it shall determine;" and it was also

stipulated on the part of the French Government that this 25,000,000

francs should "be paid at Paris, in six annual installments of 4,166,666

francs and 66 centimes each, into the hands of such person or persons as

shall be authorized by the Government of the United States to receive

it," the first installment to be paid "at the expiration of one year

next following the exchange of the ratifications of this convention and

the others at successive intervals of a year, one after another, till

the whole shall be paid. To the amount of each of the said installments

shall be added interest at 4 per cent thereupon, as upon the other

installments then remaining unpaid, the said interest to be computed

from the day of the exchange of the present convention."

It was also stipulated on the part of the United States, for the

purpose of being completely liberated from all the reclamations

presented by France on behalf of its citizens, that the sum of 1,500,000

francs should be paid to the Government of France in six annual

installments, to be deducted out of the annual sums which France had

agreed to pay, interest thereupon being in like manner computed from

the day of the exchange of the ratifications. In addition to this

stipulation, important advantages were secured to France by the

following article, viz:

The wines of France, from and after the exchange of the ratifications of

the present convention, shall be admitted to consumption in the States

of the Union at duties which shall not exceed the following rates by the

gallon (such as it is used at present for wines in the United States),

to wit: 6 cents for red wines in casks; 10 cents for white wines in

casks, and 22 cents for wines of all sorts in bottles. The proportions

existing between the duties on French wines thus reduced and the general

rates of the tariff which went into operation the 1st January, 1829,

shall be maintained in case the Government of the United States should

think proper to diminish those general rates in a new tariff.

In consideration of this stipulation, which shall be binding on

the United States for ten years, the French Government abandons the

reclamations which it had formed in relation to the eighth article of

the treaty of cession of Louisiana. It engages, moreover, to establish

on the _long-staple_ cottons of the United States which after the

exchange of the ratifications of the present convention shall be brought

directly thence to France by the vessels of the United States or by

French vessels the same duties as on _short-staple_ cottons.

This treaty was duly ratified in the manner prescribed by the

constitutions of both countries, and the ratification was exchanged

at the city of Washington on the 2d of February, 1832. On account of

its commercial stipulations it was in five days thereafter laid before

the Congress of the United States, which proceeded to enact such laws

favorable to the commerce of France as were necessary to carry it into

full execution, and France has from that period to the present been in

the unrestricted enjoyment of the valuable privileges that were thus

secured to her. The faith of the French nation having been thus solemnly

pledged through its constitutional organ for the liquidation and

ultimate payment of the long-deferred claims of our citizens, as also

for the adjustment of other points of great and reciprocal benefits

to both countries, and the United States having, with a fidelity

and promptitude by which their conduct will, I trust, be always

characterized, done everything that was necessary to carry the treaty

into full and fair effect on their part, counted with the most perfect

confidence on equal fidelity and promptitude on the part of the French

Government. In this reasonable expectation we have been, I regret to

inform you, wholly disappointed. No legislative provision has been made

by France for the execution of the treaty, either as it respects the

indemnity to be paid or the commercial benefits to be secured to the

United States, and the relations between the United States and that

power in consequence thereof are placed in a situation threatening to

interrupt the good understanding which has so long and so happily

existed between the two nations.

Not only has the French Government been thus wanting in the performance

of the stipulations it has so solemnly entered into with the United

States, but its omissions have been marked by circumstances which would

seem to leave us without satisfactory evidences that such performance

will certainly take place at a future period. Advice of the exchange of

ratifications reached Paris prior to the 8th April, 1832. The French

Chambers were then sitting, and continued in session until the 21st of

that month, and although one installment of the indemnity was payable on

the 2d of February, 1833, one year after the exchange of ratifications,

no application was made to the Chambers for the required appropriation,

and in consequence of no appropriation having then been made the draft

of the United States Government for that installment was dishonored by

the minister of finance, and the United States thereby involved in

much controversy. The next session of the Chambers commenced on

the 19th November, 1832, and continued until the 25th April, 1833.

Notwithstanding the omission to pay the first installment had been made

the subject of earnest remonstrance on our part, the treaty with the

United States and a bill making the necessary appropriations to execute

it were not laid before the Chamber of Deputies until the 6th of April,

nearly five months after its meeting, and only nineteen days before the

close of the session. The bill was read and referred to a committee, but

there was no further action upon it. The next session of the Chambers

commenced on the 26th of April, 1833, and continued until the 26th of

June following. A new bill was introduced on the 11th of June, but

nothing important was done in relation to it during the session. In the

month of April, 1834, nearly three years after the signature of the

treaty, the final action of the French Chambers upon the bill to carry

the treaty into effect was obtained, and resulted in a refusal of the

necessary appropriations. The avowed grounds upon which the bill was

rejected are to be found in the published debates of that body, and

no observations of mine can be necessary to satisfy Congress of their

utter insufficiency. Although the gross amount of the claims of our

citizens is probably greater than will be ultimately allowed by the

commissioners, sufficient is, nevertheless, shown to render it

absolutely certain that the indemnity falls far short of the actual

amount of our just claims, independently of the question of damages and

interest for the detention. That the settlement involved a sacrifice

in this respect was well known at the time--a sacrifice which was

cheerfully acquiesced in by the different branches of the Federal

Government, whose action upon the treaty was required from a sincere

desire to avoid further collision upon this old and disturbing subject

and in the confident expectation that the general relations between the

two countries would be improved thereby.

The refusal to vote the appropriation, the news of which was received

from our minister in Paris about the 15th day of May last, might have

been considered the final determination of the French Government not

to execute the stipulations of the treaty, and would have justified an

immediate communication of the facts to Congress, with a recommendation

of such ultimate measures as the interest and honor of the United States

might seem to require. But with the news of the refusal of the Chambers

to make the appropriation were conveyed the regrets of the King and a

declaration that a national vessel should be forthwith sent out with

instructions to the French minister to give the most ample explanations

of the past and the strongest assurances for the future. After a long

passage the promised dispatch vessel arrived. The pledges given by the

French minister upon receipt of his instructions were that as soon

after the election of the new members as the charter would permit

the legislative Chambers of France should be called together and

the proposition for an appropriation laid before them; that all the

constitutional powers of the King and his cabinet should be exerted to

accomplish the object, and that the result should be made known early

enough to be communicated to Congress at the commencement of the

present session. Relying upon these pledges, and not doubting that the

acknowledged justice of our claims, the promised exertions of the King

and his cabinet, and, above all, that sacred regard for the national

faith and honor for which the French character has been so distinguished

would secure an early execution of the treaty in all its parts, I did

not deem it necessary to call the attention of Congress to the subject

at the last session.

I regret to say that the pledges made through the minister of France

have not been redeemed. The new Chambers met on the 3its July last, and

although the subject of fulfilling treaties was alluded to in the speech

from the throne, no attempt was made by the King or his cabinet to

procure an appropriation to carry it into execution. The reasons given

for this omission, although they might be considered sufficient in an

ordinary case, are not consistent with the expectations founded upon the

assurances given here, for there is no constitutional obstacle to

entering into legislative business at the first meeting of the Chambers.

This point, however, might have been overlooked had not the Chambers,

instead of being called to meet at so early a day that the result of

their deliberations might be communicated to me before the meeting of

Congress, been prorogued to the 29th of the present month--a period so

late that their decision can scarcely be made known to the present

Congress prior to its dissolution. To avoid this delay our minister in

Paris, in virtue of the assurance given by the French minister in the

United States, strongly urged the convocation of the Chambers at an

earlier day, but without success. It is proper to remark, however, that

this refusal has been accompanied with the most positive assurances on

the part of the executive government of France of their intention to

press the appropriation at the ensuing session of the Chambers.

The executive branch of this Government has, as matters stand, exhausted

all the authority upon the subject with which it is invested and which

it had any reason to believe could be beneficially employed.

The idea of acquiescing in the refusal to execute the treaty will not,

I am confident, be for a moment entertained by any branch of this

Government, and further negotiation upon the subject is equally out of

the question.

If it shall be the pleasure of Congress to await the further action

of the French Chambers, no further consideration of the subject will

at this session probably be required at your hands. But if from the

original delay in asking for an appropriation, from the refusal of the

Chambers to grant it when asked, from the omission to bring the subject

before the Chambers at their last session, from the fact that, including

that session, there have been five different occasions when the

appropriation might have been made, and from the delay in convoking the

Chambers until some weeks after the meeting of Congress, when it was

well known that a communication of the whole subject to Congress at the

last session was prevented by assurances that it should be disposed of

before its present meeting, you should feel yourselves constrained to

doubt whether it be the intention of the French Government, in all its

branches, to carry the treaty into effect, and think that such measures

as the occasion may be deemed to call for should be now adopted, the

important question arises what those measures shall be.

Our institutions are essentially pacific. Peace and friendly intercourse

with all nations are as much the desire of our Government as they are

the interest of our people. But these objects are not to be permanently

secured by surrendering the rights of our citizens or permitting solemn

treaties for their indemnity, in cases of flagrant wrong, to be

abrogated or set aside.

It is undoubtedly in the power of Congress seriously to affect the

agricultural and manufacturing interests of France by the passage

of laws relating to her trade with the United States. Her products,

manufactures, and tonnage may be subjected to heavy duties in our ports,

or all commercial intercourse with her may be suspended. But there

are powerful and to my mind conclusive objections to this mode of

proceeding. We can not embarrass or cut off the trade of France without

at the same time in some degree embarrassing or cutting off our own

trade. The injury of such a warfare must fall, though unequally, upon

our own citizens, and could not but impair the means of the Government

and weaken that united sentiment in support of the rights and honor of

the nation which must now pervade every bosom. Nor is it impossible that

such a course of legislation would introduce once more into our national

councils those disturbing questions in relation to the tariff of duties

which have been so recently put to rest. Besides, by every measure

adopted by the Government of the United States with the view of injuring

France the clear perception of right which will induce our own people

and the rulers and people of all other nations, even of France herself,

to pronounce our quarrel just will be obscured and the support rendered

to us in a final resort to more decisive measures will be more limited

and equivocal. There is but one point in the controversy, and upon that

the whole civilized world must pronounce France to be in the wrong. We

insist that she shall pay us a sum of money which she has acknowledged

to be due, and of the justice of this demand there can be but one

opinion among mankind. True policy would seem to dictate that the

question at issue should be kept thus disencumbered and that not the

slightest pretense should be given to France to persist in her refusal

to make payment by any act on our part affecting the interests of her

people. The question should be left, as it is now, in such an attitude

that when France fulfills her treaty stipulations all controversy will

be at an end.

It is my conviction that the United States ought to insist on a prompt

execution of the treaty, and in case it be refused or longer delayed

take redress into their own hands. After the delay on the part of France

of a quarter of a century in acknowledging these claims by treaty, it is

not to be tolerated that another quarter of a century is to be wasted in

negotiating about the payment. The laws of nations provide a remedy for

such occasions. It is a well-settled principle of the international code

that where one nation owes another a liquidated debt which it refuses or

neglects to pay the aggrieved party may seize on the property belonging

to the other, its citizens or subjects, sufficient to pay the debt

without giving just cause of war. This remedy has been repeatedly

resorted to, and recently by France herself toward Portugal, under

circumstances less unquestionable.

The time at which resort should be had to this or any other mode of

redress is a point to be decided by Congress. If an appropriation shall

not be made by the French Chambers at their next session, it may justly

be concluded that the Government of France has finally determined to

disregard its own solemn undertaking and refuse to pay an acknowledged

debt. In that event every day's delay on our part will be a stain upon

our national honor, as well as a denial of justice to our injured

citizens. Prompt measures, when the refusal of France shall be complete,

will not only be most honorable and just, but will have the best effect

upon our national character.

Since France, in violation of the pledges given through her minister

here, has delayed her final action so long that her decision will

not probably be known in time to be communicated to this Congress,

I recommend that a law be passed authorizing reprisals upon French

property in case provision shall not be made for the payment of the debt

at the approaching session of the French Chambers. Such a measure ought

not to be considered by France as a menace. Her pride and power are too

well known to expect anything from her fears and preclude the necessity

of a declaration that nothing partaking of the character of intimidation

is intended by us. She ought to look upon it as the evidence only of an

inflexible determination on the part of the United States to insist

on their rights. That Government, by doing only what it has itself

acknowledged to be just, will be able to spare the United States the

necessity of taking redress into their own hands and save the property

of French citizens from that seizure and sequestration which American

citizens so long endured without retaliation or redress. If she should

continue to refuse that act of acknowledged justice and, in violation

of the law of nations, make reprisals on our part the occasion of

hostilities against the United States, she would but add violence to

injustice, and could not fail to expose herself to the just censure

of civilized nations and to the retributive judgments of Heaven.

Collision with France is the more to be regretted on account of the

position she occupies in Europe in relation to liberal institutions, but

in maintaining our national rights and honor all governments are alike

to us. If by a collision with France in a case where she is clearly

in the wrong the march of liberal principles shall be impeded, the

responsibility for that result as well as every other will rest on her

own head.

Having submitted these considerations, it belongs to Congress to decide

whether after what has taken place it will still await the further

action of the French Chambers or now adopt such provisional measures

as it may deem necessary and best adapted to protect the rights and

maintain the honor of the country. Whatever that decision may be, it

will be faithfully enforced by the Executive as far as he is authorized

so to do.

According to the estimate of the Treasury Department, the revenue

accruing from all sources during the present year will amount to

$20,624,717, which, with the balance remaining in the Treasury

on the 1st of January last of $11,702,905, produces an aggregate of

$32,327,623. The total expenditure during the year for all objects,

including the public debt, is estimated at $25,591,390, which will leave

a balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1835, of $6,736,232.

In this balance, however, will be included about $1,150,000 of what was

heretofore reported by the Department as not effective.

Of former appropriations it is estimated that there will remain

unexpended at the close of the year $8,002,925, and that of this sum

there will not be required more than $5,141,964 to accomplish the

objects of all the current appropriations. Thus it appears that after

satisfying all those appropriations and after discharging the last item

of our public debt, which will be done on the 1st of January next, there

will remain unexpended in the Treasury an effective balance of about

$440,000. That such should be the aspect of our finances is highly

flattering to the industry and enterprise of our population and

auspicious of the wealth and prosperity which await the future

cultivation of their growing resources. It is not deemed prudent,

however, to recommend any change for the present in our impost rates,

the effect of the gradual reduction now in progress in many of them not

being sufficiently tested to guide us in determining the precise amount

of revenue which they will produce.

Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no

complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign powers,

the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the most favorable

for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy which

shall be best calculated to give stability to our Republic and secure

the blessings of freedom to our citizens.

Among these principles, from our past experience, it can not be doubted

that simplicity in the character of the Federal Government and a rigid

economy in its administration should be regarded as fundamental and

sacred. All must be sensible that the existence of the public debt, by

rendering taxation necessary for its extinguishment, has increased the

difficulties which are inseparable from every exercise of the taxing

power, and that it was in this respect a remote agent in producing those

disturbing questions which grew out of the discussions relating to

the tariff. If such has been the tendency of a debt incurred in the

acquisition and maintenance of our national rights and liberties, the

obligations of which all portions of the Union cheerfully acknowledged,

it must be obvious that whatever is calculated to increase the burdens

of Government without necessity must be fatal to all our hopes of

preserving its true character. While we are felicitating ourselves,

therefore, upon the extinguishment of the national debt and the

prosperous state of our finances, let us not be tempted to depart from

those sound maxims of public policy which enjoin a just adaptation of

the revenue to the expenditures that are consistent with a rigid economy

and an entire abstinence from all topics of legislation that are not

clearly within the constitutional powers of the Government and suggested

by the wants of the country. Properly regarded under such a policy,

every diminution of the public burdens arising from taxation gives to

individual enterprise increased power and furnishes to all the members

of our happy Confederacy new motives for patriotic affection and

support. But above all, its most important effect will be found in its

influence upon the character of the Government by confining its action

to those objects which will be sure to secure to it the attachment and

support of our fellow-citizens.

Circumstances make it my duty to call the attention of Congress to

the Bank of the United States. Created for the convenience of the

Government, that institution has become the scourge of the people. Its

interference to postpone the payment of a portion of the national debt

that it might retain the public money appropriated for that purpose to

strengthen it in a political contest, the extraordinary extension and

contraction of its accommodations to the community, its corrupt and

partisan loans, its exclusion of the public directors from a knowledge

of its most important proceedings, the unlimited authority conferred on

the president to expend its funds in hiring writers and procuring the

execution of printing, and the use made of that authority, the retention

of the pension money and books after the selection of new agents, the

groundless claim to heavy damages in consequence of the protest of the

bill drawn on the French Government, have through various channels been

laid before Congress. Immediately after the close of the last session

the bank, through its president, announced its ability and readiness to

abandon the system of unparalleled curtailment and the interruption of

domestic exchanges which it had practiced upon from the 1st of August,

1833, to the 30th of June, 1834, and to extend its accommodations to

the community. The grounds assumed in this annunciation amounted to an

acknowledgment that the curtailment, in the extent to which it had been

carried, was not necessary to the safety of the bank, and had been

persisted in merely to induce Congress to grant the prayer of the bank

in its memorial relative to the removal of the deposits and to give it

a new charter. They were substantially a confession that all the real

distresses which individuals and the country had endured for the

preceding six or eight months had been needlessly produced by it,

with the view of affecting through the sufferings of the people the

legislative action of Congress. It is a subject of congratulation

that Congress and the country had the virtue and firmness to bear the

infliction, that the energies of our people soon found relief from this

wanton tyranny in vast importations of the precious metals from almost

every part of the world, and that at the close of this tremendous effort

to control our Government the bank found itself powerless and no longer

able to loan out its surplus means. The community had learned to manage

its affairs without its assistance, and trade had already found new

auxiliaries, so that on the 1st of October last the extraordinary

spectacle was presented of a national bank more than one-half of whose

capital was either lying unproductive in its vaults or in the hands of

foreign bankers.

To the needless distresses brought on the country during the last

session of Congress has since been added the open seizure of the

dividends on the public stock to the amount of $170,041, under pretense

of paying damages, cost, and interest upon the protested French bill.

This sum constituted a portion of the estimated revenues for the year

1834, upon which the appropriations made by Congress were based. It

would as soon have been expected that our collectors would seize on the

customs or the receivers of our land offices on the moneys arising from

the sale of public lands under pretenses of claims against the United

States as that the bank would have retained the dividends. Indeed, if

the principle be established that anyone who chooses to set up a claim

against the United States may without authority of law seize on the

public property or money wherever he can find it to pay such claim,

there will remain no assurance that our revenue will reach the Treasury

or that it will be applied after the appropriation to the purposes

designated in the law. The paymasters of our Army and the pursers of our

Navy may under like pretenses apply to their own use moneys appropriated

to set in motion the public force, and in time of war leave the country

without defense. This measure resorted to by the bank is disorganizing

and revolutionary, and if generally resorted to by private citizens in

like cases would fill the land with anarchy and violence.

It is a constitutional provision "that no money shall be drawn from

the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law." The

palpable object of this provision is to prevent the expenditure of the

public money for any purpose whatsoever which shall not have been first

approved by the representatives of the people and the States in Congress

assembled. It vests the power of declaring for what purposes the public

money shall be expended in the legislative department of the Government,

to the exclusion of the executive and judicial, and it is not within

the constitutional authority of either of those departments to pay it

away without law or to sanction its payment. According to this plain

constitutional provision, the claim of the bank can never be paid

without an appropriation by act of Congress. But the bank has never

asked for an appropriation. It attempts to defeat the provision of the

Constitution and obtain payment without an act of Congress. Instead of

awaiting an appropriation passed by both Houses and approved by the

President, it makes an appropriation for itself and invites an appeal

to the judiciary to sanction it. That the money had not technically

been paid into the Treasury does not affect the principle intended to

be established by the Constitution. The Executive and the judiciary

have as little right to appropriate and expend the public money without

authority of law before it is placed to the credit of the Treasury as to

take it from the Treasury. In the annual report of the Secretary of the

Treasury, and in his correspondence with the president of the bank, and

the opinions of the Attorney-General accompanying it, you will find a

further examination of the claims of the bank and the course it has

pursued.

It seems due to the safety of the public funds remaining in that bank

and to the honor of the American people that measures be taken to

separate the Government entirely from an institution so mischievous to

the public prosperity and so regardless of the Constitution and laws. By

transferring the public deposits, by appointing other pension agents as

far as it had the power, by ordering the discontinuance of the receipt

of bank checks in the payment of the public dues after the 1st day of

January, the Executive has exerted all its lawful authority to sever the

connection between the Government and this faithless corporation.

The high-handed career of this institution imposes upon the

constitutional functionaries of this Government duties of the gravest

and most imperative character--duties which they can not avoid and from

which I trust there will be no inclination on the part of any of them

to shrink. My own sense of them is most clear, as is also my readiness

to discharge those which may rightfully fall on me. To continue any

business relations with the Bank of the United States that may be

avoided without a violation of the national faith after that institution

has set at open defiance the conceded right of the Government to examine

its affairs, after it has done all in its power to deride the public

authority in other respects and to bring it into disrepute at home and

abroad, after it has attempted to defeat the clearly expressed will of

the people by turning against them the immense power intrusted to its

hands and by involving a country otherwise peaceful, flourishing, and

happy, in dissension, embarrassment, and distress, would make the nation

itself a party to the degradation so sedulously prepared for its public

agents and do much to destroy the confidence of mankind in popular

governments and to bring into contempt their authority and efficiency.

In guarding against an evil of such magnitude considerations of

temporary convenience should be thrown out of the question, and we

should be influenced by such motives only as look to the honor and

preservation of the republican system. Deeply and solemnly impressed

with the justice of these views, I feel it to be my duty to recommend to

you that a law be passed authorizing the sale of the public stock: that

the provision of the charter requiring the receipt of notes of the bank

in payment of public dues shall, in accordance with the power reserved

to Congress in the fourteenth section of the charter, be suspended until

the bank pays to the Treasury the dividends withheld, and that all laws

connecting the Government or its officers with the bank, directly or

indirectly, be repealed, and that the institution be left hereafter

to its own resources and means.

Events have satisfied my mind, and I think the minds of the American

people, that the mischiefs and dangers which flow from a national bank

far overbalance all its advantages. The bold effort the present bank has

made to control the Government, the distresses it has wantonly produced,

the violence of which it has been the occasion in one of our cities

famed for its observance of law and order, are but premonitions of the

fate which awaits the American people should they be deluded into a

perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like

it. It is fervently hoped that thus admonished those who have heretofore

favored the establishment of a substitute for the present bank will

be induced to abandon it, as it is evidently better to incur any

inconvenience that may be reasonably expected than to concentrate the

whole moneyed power of the Republic in any form whatsoever or under

any restrictions.

Happily it is already illustrated that the agency of such an institution

is not necessary to the fiscal operations of the Government. The State

banks are found fully adequate to the performance of all services which

were required of the Bank of the United States, quite as promptly and

with the same cheapness. They have maintained themselves and discharged

all these duties while the Bank of the United States was still powerful

and in the field as an open enemy, and it is not possible to conceive

that they will find greater difficulties in their operations when that

enemy shall cease to exist.

The attention of Congress is earnestly invited to the regulation of the

deposits in the State banks by law. Although the power now exercised by

the executive department in this behalf is only such as was uniformly

exerted through every Administration from the origin of the Government

up to the establishment of the present bank, yet it is one which

is susceptible of regulation by law, and therefore ought so to be

regulated. The power of Congress to direct in what places the Treasurer

shall keep the moneys in the Treasury and to impose restrictions upon

the Executive authority in relation to their custody and removal is

unlimited, and its exercise will rather be courted than discouraged by

those public officers and agents on whom rests the responsibility for

their safety. It is desirable that as little power as possible should

be left to the President or the Secretary of the Treasury over those

institutions, which, being thus freed from Executive influence, and

without a common head to direct their operations, would have neither the

temptation nor the ability to interfere in the political conflicts of

the country. Not deriving their charters from the national authorities,

they would never have those inducements to meddle in general elections

which have led the Bank of the United States to agitate and convulse the

country for upward of two years.

The progress of our gold coinage is creditable to the officers of

the Mint, and promises in a short period to furnish the country with a

sound and portable currency, which will much diminish the inconvenience

to travelers of the want of a general paper currency should the State

banks be incapable of furnishing it. Those institutions have already

shown themselves competent to purchase and furnish domestic exchange

for the convenience of trade at reasonable rates, and not a doubt is

entertained that in a short period all the wants of the country in bank

accommodations and exchange will be supplied as promptly and as cheaply

as they have heretofore been by the Bank of the United States. If the

several States shall be induced gradually to reform their banking

systems and prohibit the issue of all small notes, we shall in a few

years have a currency as sound and as little liable to fluctuations

as any other commercial country.

The report of the Secretary of War, together with the accompanying

documents from the several bureaus of that Department, will exhibit

the situation of the various objects committed to its administration.

No event has occurred since your last session rendering necessary any

movements of the Army, with the exception of the expedition of the

regiment of dragoons into the territory of the wandering and predatory

tribes inhabiting the western frontier and living adjacent to the

Mexican boundary. These tribes have been heretofore known to us

principally by their attacks upon our own citizens and upon other

Indians entitled to the protection of the United States. It became

necessary for the peace of the frontiers to check these habitual

inroads, and I am happy to inform you that the object has been effected

without the commission of any act of hostility. Colonel Dodge and the

troops under his command have acted with equal firmness and humanity,

and an arrangement has been made with those Indians which it is hoped

will assure their permanent pacific relations with the United States and

the other tribes of Indians upon that border. It is to be regretted that

the prevalence of sickness in that quarter has deprived the country of a

number of valuable lives, and particularly that General Leavenworth, an

officer well known, and esteemed for his gallant services in the late

war and for his subsequent good conduct, has fallen a victim to his zeal

and exertions in the discharge of his duty.

The Army is in a high state of discipline. Its moral condition, so far

as that is known here, is good, and the various branches of the public

service are carefully attended to. It is amply sufficient under its

present organization for providing the necessary garrisons for the

seaboard and for the defense of the internal frontier, and also for

preserving the elements of military knowledge and for keeping pace

with those improvements which modern experience is continually making.

And these objects appear to me to embrace all the legitimate purposes

for which a permanent military force should be maintained in our

country. The lessons of history teach us its danger and the tendency

which exists to an increase. This can be best met and averted by a just

caution on the part of the public itself, and of those who represent

them in Congress.

From the duties which devolve on the Engineer Department and upon

the topographical engineers, a different organization seems to be

demanded by the public interest, and I recommend the subject to

your consideration.

No important change has during this season taken place in the condition

of the Indians. Arrangements are in progress for the removal of the

Creeks, and will soon be for the removal of the Seminoles. I regret that

the Cherokees east of the Mississippi have not yet determined as a

community to remove. How long the personal causes which have heretofore

retarded that ultimately inevitable measure will continue to operate

I am unable to conjecture. It is certain, however, that delay will bring

with it accumulated evils which will render their condition more and

more unpleasant. The experience of every year adds to the conviction

that emigration, and that alone, can preserve from destruction the

remnant of the tribes yet living amongst us. The facility with which the

necessaries of life are procured and the treaty stipulations providing

aid for the emigrant Indians in their agricultural pursuits and in the

important concern of education, and their removal from those causes

which have heretofore depressed all and destroyed many of the tribes,

can not fail to stimulate their exertions and to reward their industry.

The two laws passed at the last session of Congress on the subject of

Indian affairs have been carried into effect, and detailed instructions

for their administration have been given. It will be seen by the

estimates for the present session that a great reduction will take place

in the expenditures of the Department in consequence of these laws, and

there is reason to believe that their operation will be salutary and

that the colonization of the Indians on the western frontier, together

with a judicious system of administration, will still further reduce

the expenses of this branch of the public service and at the same time

promote its usefulness and efficiency.

Circumstances have been recently developed showing the existence of

extensive frauds under the various laws granting pensions and gratuities

for Revolutionary services. It is impossible to estimate the amount

which may have been thus fraudulently obtained from the National

Treasury. I am satisfied, however, it has been such as to justify a

reexamination of the system and the adoption of the necessary checks in

its administration. All will agree that the services and sufferings of

the remnant of our Revolutionary band should be fully compensated; but

while this is done, every proper precaution should be taken to prevent

the admission of fabricated and fraudulent claims. In the present mode

of proceeding the attestations and certificates of the judicial officers

of the various States form a considerable portion of the checks which

are interposed against the commission of frauds. These, however, have

been and may be fabricated, and in such a way as to elude detection at

the examining offices. And independently of this practical difficulty,

it is ascertained that these documents are often loosely granted;

sometimes even blank certificates have been issued; sometimes prepared

papers have been signed without inquiry, and in one instance, at least,

the seal of the court has been within reach of a person most interested

in its improper application. It is obvious that under such circumstances

no severity of administration can check the abuse of the law. And

information has from time to time been communicated to the Pension

Office questioning or denying the right of persons placed upon the

pension list to the bounty of the country. Such cautions are always

attended to and examined, but a far more general investigation is called

for, and I therefore recommend, in conformity with the suggestion of the

Secretary of War, that an actual inspection should be made in each State

into the circumstances and claims of every person now drawing a pension.

The honest veteran has nothing to fear from such a scrutiny, while the

fraudulent claimant will be detected and the public Treasury relieved to

an amount, I have reason to believe, far greater than has heretofore

been suspected. The details of such a plan could be so regulated as to

interpose the necessary checks without any burdensome operation upon the

pensioners. The object should be twofold:

1. To look into the original justice of the claims, so far as this can

be done under a proper system of regulations, by an examination of the

claimants themselves and by inquiring in the vicinity of their residence

into their history and into the opinion entertained of their

Revolutionary services.

2. To ascertain in all cases whether the original claimant is living,

and this by actual personal inspection.

This measure will, if adopted, be productive, I think, of the desired

results, and I therefore recommend it to your consideration, with the

further suggestion that all payments should be suspended till the

necessary reports are received.

It will be seen by a tabular statement annexed to the documents

transmitted to Congress that the appropriations for objects connected

with the War Department, made at the last session, for the service of

the year 1834, excluding the permanent appropriation for the payment of

military gratuities under the act of June 7, 1832, the appropriation of

$200,000 for arming and equipping the militia, and the appropriation of

$10,000 for the civilization of the Indians, which are not annually

renewed, amounted to the sum of $9,003,261, and that the estimates of

appropriations necessary for the same branches of service for the year

1835 amount to the sum of $5,778,964, making a difference in the

appropriations of the current year over the estimates of the

appropriations for the next of $3,224,297.

The principal causes which have operated at this time to produce this

great difference are shown in the reports and documents and in the

detailed estimates. Some of these causes are accidental and temporary;

while others are permanent, and, aided by a just course of

administration, may continue to operate beneficially upon the public

expenditures.

A just economy, expending where the public service requires and

withholding where it does not, is among the indispensable duties of

the Government.

I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy

and to the documents with it for a full view of the operations of that

important branch of our service during the present year. It will be

seen that the wisdom and liberality with which Congress has provided

for the gradual increase of our navy material have been seconded by a

corresponding zeal and fidelity on the part of those to whom has been

confided the execution of the laws on the subject, and that but a short

period would be now required to put in commission a force large enough

for any exigency into which the country may be thrown.

When we reflect upon our position in relation to other nations, it

must be apparent that in the event of conflicts with them we must look

chiefly to our Navy for the protection of our national rights. The wide

seas which separate us from other Governments must of necessity be the

theater on which an enemy will aim to assail us, and unless we are

prepared to meet him on this element we can not be said to possess the

power requisite to repel or prevent aggressions. We can not, therefore,

watch with too much attention this arm of our defense, or cherish with

too much care the means by which it can possess the necessary efficiency

and extension. To this end our policy has been heretofore wisely

directed to the constant employment of a force sufficient to guard our

commerce, and to the rapid accumulation of the materials which are

necessary to repair our vessels and construct with ease such new ones

as may be required in a state of war.

In accordance with this policy, I recommend to your consideration the

erection of the additional dry dock described by the Secretary of the

Navy, and also the construction of the steam batteries to which he has

referred, for the purpose of testing their efficacy as auxiliaries to

the system of defense now in use.

The report of the Postmaster-General herewith submitted exhibits the

condition and prospects of that Department. From that document it

appears that there was a deficit in the funds of the Department at

the commencement of the present year beyond its available means of

$315,599.98, which on the 1st July last had been reduced to $268,092.74.

It appears also that the revenues for the coming year will exceed the

expenditures about $270,000, which, with the excess of revenue which

will result from the operations of the current half year, may be

expected, independently of any increase in the gross amount of postages,

to supply the entire deficit before the end of 1835. But as this

calculation is based on the gross amount of postages which had accrued

within the period embraced by the times of striking the balances, it is

obvious that without a progressive increase in the amount of postages

the existing retrenchments must be persevered in through the year 1836

that the Department may accumulate a surplus fund sufficient to place

it in a condition of perfect ease.

It will be observed that the revenues of the Post-Office Department,

though they have increased, and their amount is above that of any former

year, have yet fallen short of the estimates more than $100,000. This is

attributed in a great degree to the increase of free letters growing out

of the extension and abuse of the franking privilege. There has been a

gradual increase in the number of executive offices to which it has been

granted, and by an act passed in March, 1833, it was extended to members

of Congress throughout the whole year. It is believed that a revision of

the laws relative to the franking privilege, with some enactments to

enforce more rigidly the restrictions under which it is granted, would

operate beneficially to the country, by enabling the Department at an

earlier period to restore the mail facilities that have been withdrawn,

and to extend them more widely, as the growing settlements of the

country may require.

To a measure so important to the Government and so just to our

constituents, who ask no exclusive privileges for themselves and are not

willing to concede them to others, I earnestly recommend the serious

attention of Congress.

The importance of the Post-Office Department and the magnitude to which

it has grown, both in its revenues and in its operations, seem to demand

its reorganization by law. The whole of its receipts and disbursements

have hitherto been left entirely to Executive control and individual

discretion. The principle is as sound in relation to this as to any

other Department of the Government, that as little discretion should be

confided to the executive officer who controls it as is compatible with

its efficiency. It is therefore earnestly recommended that it be

organized with an auditor and treasurer of its own, appointed by the

President and Senate, who shall be branches of the Treasury Department.

Your attention is again respectfully invited to the defect which exists

in the judicial system of the United States. Nothing can be more

desirable than the uniform operation of the Federal judiciary throughout

the several States, all of which, standing on the same footing as

members of the Union, have equal rights to the advantages and benefits

resulting from its laws. This object is not attained by the judicial

acts now in force, because they leave one-fourth of the States without

circuit courts.

It is undoubtedly the duty of Congress to place all the States on the

same footing in this respect, either by the creation of an additional

number of associate judges or by an enlargement of the circuits assigned

to those already appointed so as to include the new States. Whatever may

be the difficulty in a proper organization of the judicial system so as

to secure its efficiency and uniformity in all parts of the Union and at

the same time to avoid such an increase of judges as would encumber the

supreme appellate tribunal, it should not be allowed to weigh against

the great injustice which the present operation of the system produces.

I trust that I may be also pardoned for renewing the recommendation

I have so often submitted to your attention in regard to the mode of

electing the President and Vice-President of the United States. All the

reflection I have been able to bestow upon the subject increases my

conviction that the best interests of the country will be promoted by

the adoption of some plan which will secure in all contingencies that

important right of sovereignty to the direct control of the people.

Could this be attained, and the terms of those officers be limited to a

single period of either four or six years, I think our liberties would

possess an additional safeguard.

At your last session I called the attention of Congress to the

destruction of the public building occupied by the Treasury Department.

As the public interest requires that another building should be erected

with as little delay as possible, it is hoped that the means will be

seasonably provided and that they will be ample enough to authorize such

an enlargement and improvement in the plan of the building as will more

effectually accommodate the public officers and secure the public

documents deposited in it from the casualties of fire.

I have not been able to satisfy myself that the bill entitled "An act to

improve the navigation of the Wabash River," which was sent to me at the

close of your last session, ought to pass, and I have therefore withheld

from it my approval and now return it to the Senate, the body in which

it originated.

There can be no question connected with the administration of public

affairs more important or more difficult to be satisfactorily dealt with

than that which relates to the rightful authority and proper action of

the Federal Government upon the subject of internal improvements. To

inherent embarrassments have been added others resulting from the course

of our legislation concerning it.

I have heretofore communicated freely with Congress upon this subject,

and in adverting to it again I can not refrain from expressing my

increased conviction of its extreme importance as well in regard to

its bearing upon the maintenance of the Constitution and the prudent

management of the public revenue as on account of its disturbing effect

upon the harmony of the Union.

We are in no danger from violations of the Constitution by which

encroachments are made upon the personal rights of the citizen. The

sentence of condemnation long since pronounced by the American people

upon acts of that character will, I doubt not, continue to prove as

salutary in its effects as it is irreversible in its nature. But against

the dangers of unconstitutional acts which, instead of menacing the

vengeance of offended authority, proffer local advantages and bring

in their train the patronage of the Government, we are, I fear, not so

safe. To suppose that because our Government has been instituted for the

benefit of the people it must therefore have the power to do whatever

may seem to conduce to the public good is an error into which even

honest minds are too apt to fall. In yielding themselves to this fallacy

they overlook the great considerations in which the Federal Constitution

was founded. They forget that in consequence of the conceded diversities

in the interest and condition of the different States it was foreseen at

the period of its adoption that although a particular measure of the

Government might be beneficial and proper in one State it might be the

reverse in another; that it was for this reason the States would not

consent to make a grant to the Federal Government of the general and

usual powers of government, but of such only as were specifically

enumerated, and the probable effects of which they could, as they

thought, safely anticipate; and they forget also the paramount

obligation upon all to abide by the compact then so solemnly and, as

it was hoped, so firmly established. In addition to the dangers to the

Constitution springing from the sources I have stated, there has been

one which was perhaps greater than all. I allude to the materials which

this subject has afforded for sinister appeals to selfish feelings, and

the opinion heretofore so extensively entertained of its adaptation to

the purposes of personal ambition. With such stimulants it is not

surprising that the acts and pretensions of the Federal Government in

this behalf should sometimes have been carried to an alarming extent.

The questions which have arisen upon this subject have related--

First. To the power of making internal improvements within the limits of

a State, with the right of territorial jurisdiction, sufficient at least

for their preservation and use.

Second. To the right of appropriating money in aid of such works when

carried on by a State or by a company in virtue of State authority,

surrendering the claim of jurisdiction; and

Third. To the propriety of appropriation for improvements of a

particular class, viz, for light-houses, beacons, buoys, public piers,

and for the removal of sand bars, sawyers, and other temporary and

partial impediments in our navigable rivers and harbors.

The claims of power for the General Government upon each of these

points certainly present matter of the deepest interest. The first is,

however, of much the greatest importance, inasmuch as, in addition to

the dangers of unequal and improvident expenditures of public moneys

common to all, there is superadded to that the conflicting jurisdictions

of the respective governments. Federal jurisdiction, at least to the

extent I have stated, has been justly regarded by its advocates as

necessarily appurtenant to the power in question, if that exists by

the Constitution. That the most injurious conflicts would unavoidably

arise between the respective jurisdictions of the State and Federal

Governments in the absence of a constitutional provision marking out

their respective boundaries can not be doubted. The local advantages to

be obtained would induce the States to overlook in the beginning the

dangers and difficulties to which they might ultimately be exposed. The

powers exercised by the Federal Government would soon be regarded with

jealousy by the State authorities, and originating as they must from

implication or assumption, it would be impossible to affix to them

certain and safe limits. Opportunities and temptations to the assumption

of power incompatible with State sovereignty would be increased and

those barriers which resist the tendency of our system toward

consolidation greatly weakened. The officers and agents of the General

Government might not always have the discretion to abstain from

intermeddling with State concerns, and if they did they would not always

escape the suspicion of having done so. Collisions and consequent

irritations would spring up; that harmony which should ever exist

between the General Government and each member of the Confederacy would

be frequently interrupted; a spirit of contention would be engendered

and the dangers of disunion greatly multiplied.

Yet we all know that notwithstanding these grave objections this

dangerous doctrine was at one time apparently proceeding to its final

establishment with fearful rapidity. The desire to embark the Federal

Government in works of internal improvement prevailed in the highest

degree during the first session of the first Congress that I had the

honor to meet in my present situation. When the bill authorizing a

subscription on the part of the United States for stock in the Maysville

and Lexington Turnpike Company passed the two Houses, there had been

reported by the Committees of Internal Improvements bills containing

appropriations for such objects, inclusive of those for the Cumberland

road and for harbors and light-houses, to the amount of $106,000,000. In

this amount was included authority to the Secretary of the Treasury to

subscribe for the stock of different companies to a great extent, and

the residue was principally for the direct construction of roads by this

Government. In addition to these projects, which had been presented to

the two Houses under the sanction and recommendation of their respective

Committees on Internal Improvements, there were then still pending

before the committees, and in memorials to Congress presented but not

referred, different projects for works of a similar character, the

expense of which can not be estimated with certainty, but must have

exceeded $100,000,000.

Regarding the bill authorizing a subscription to the stock of the

Maysville and Lexington Turnpike Company as the entering wedge of a

system which, however weak at first, might soon become strong enough to

rive the bands of the Union asunder, and believing that if its passage

was acquiesced in by the Executive and the people there would no longer

be any limitation upon the authority of the General Government in

respect to the appropriation of money for such objects, I deemed it an

imperative duty to withhold from it the Executive approval. Although

from the obviously local character of that work I might well have

contented myself with a refusal to approve the bill upon that ground,

yet sensible of the vital importance of the subject, and anxious that

my views and opinions in regard to the whole matter should be fully

understood by Congress and by my constituents, I felt it my duty to go

further. I therefore embraced that early occasion to apprise Congress

that in my opinion the Constitution did not confer upon it the power

to authorize the construction of ordinary roads and canals within the

limits of a State and to say, respectfully, that no bill admitting such

a power could receive my official sanction. I did so in the confident

expectation that the speedy settlement of the public mind upon the whole

subject would be greatly facilitated by the difference between the two

Houses and myself, and that the harmonious action of the several

departments of the Federal Government in regard to it would be

ultimately secured.

So far, at least, as it regards this branch of the subject, my best

hopes have been realized. Nearly four years have elapsed, and several

sessions of Congress have intervened, and no attempt within my

recollection has been made to induce Congress to exercise this power.

The applications for the construction of roads and canals which were

formerly multiplied upon your files are no longer presented, and we have

good reason to infer that the current of public sentiment has become

so decided against the pretension as effectually to discourage its

reassertion. So thinking, I derive the greatest satisfaction from the

conviction that thus much at least has been secured upon this important

and embarrassing subject.

From attempts to appropriate the national funds to objects which are

confessedly of a local character we can not, I trust, have anything

further to apprehend. My views in regard to the expediency of making

appropriations for works which are claimed to be of a national character

and prosecuted under State authority--assuming that Congress have the

right to do so--were stated in my annual message to Congress in 1830,

and also in that containing my objections to the Maysville road bill.

So thoroughly convinced am I that no such appropriations ought to

be made by Congress until a suitable constitutional provision is

made upon the subject, and so essential do I regard the point to the

highest interests of our country, that I could not consider myself as

discharging my duty to my constituents in giving the Executive sanction

to any bill containing such an appropriation. If the people of the

United States desire that the public Treasury shall be resorted to for

the means to prosecute such works, they will concur in an amendment of

the Constitution prescribing a rule by which the national character

of the works is to be tested, and by which the greatest practicable

equality of benefits may be secured to each member of the Confederacy.

The effects of such a regulation would be most salutary in preventing

unprofitable expenditures, in securing our legislation from the

pernicious consequences of a scramble for the favors of Government,

and in repressing the spirit of discontent which must inevitably arise

from an unequal distribution of treasures which belong alike to all.

There is another class of appropriations for what may be called, without

impropriety, internal improvements, which have always been regarded as

standing upon different grounds from those to which I have referred. I

allude to such as have for their object the improvement of our harbors,

the removal of partial and temporary obstructions in our navigable

rivers, for the facility and security of our foreign commerce. The

grounds upon which I distinguished appropriations of this character from

others have already been stated to Congress. I will now only add that at

the first session of Congress under the new Constitution it was provided

by law that all expenses which should accrue from and after the 15th day

of August, 1789, in the necessary support and maintenance and repairs of

all light-houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers erected, placed, or

sunk before the passage of the act within any bay, inlet, harbor, or

port of the United States, for rendering the navigation thereof easy and

safe, should be defrayed out of the Treasury of the United States, and,

further, that it should be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury

to provide by contracts, with the approbation of the President, for

rebuilding when necessary and keeping in good repair the light-houses,

beacons, buoys, and public piers in the several States, and for

furnishing them with supplies. Appropriations for similar objects have

been continued from that time to the present without interruption or

dispute. As a natural consequence of the increase and extension of our

foreign commerce, ports of entry and delivery have been multiplied and

established, not only upon our seaboard, but in the interior of the

country upon our lakes and navigable rivers. The convenience and

safety of this commerce have led to the gradual extension of these

expenditures; to the erection of light-houses, the placing, planting,

and sinking of buoys, beacons, and piers, and to the removal of partial

and temporary obstructions in our navigable rivers and in the harbors

upon our Great Lakes as well as on the seaboard. Although I have

expressed to Congress my apprehension that these expenditures have

sometimes been extravagant and disproportionate to the advantages to be

derived from them, I have not felt it to be my duty to refuse my assent

to bills containing them, and have contented myself to follow in this

respect in the footsteps of all my predecessors. Sensible, however, from

experience and observation of the great abuses to which the unrestricted

exercise of this authority by Congress was exposed, I have prescribed a

limitation for the government of my own conduct by which expenditures of

this character are confined to places below the ports of entry or

delivery established by law. I am very sensible that this restriction is

not as satisfactory as could be desired, and that much embarrassment may

be caused to the executive department in its execution by appropriations

for remote and not well-understood objects. But as neither my own

reflections nor the lights which I may properly derive from other

sources have supplied me with a better, I shall continue to apply my

best exertions to a faithful application of the rule upon which it is

founded. I sincerely regret that I could not give my assent to the bill

entitled "An act to improve the navigation of the Wabash River;" but

I could not have done so without receding from the ground which I have,

upon the fullest consideration, taken upon this subject, and of which

Congress has been heretofore apprised, and without throwing the subject

again open to abuses which no good citizen entertaining my opinions

could desire.

I rely upon the intelligence and candor of my fellow-citizens, in whose

liberal indulgence I have already so largely participated, for a correct

appreciation of my motives in interposing as I have done on this and

other occasions checks to a course of legislation which, without in the

slightest degree calling in question the motives of others, I consider

as sanctioning improper and unconstitutional expenditures of public

treasure.

I am not hostile to internal improvements, and wish to see them extended

to every part of the country. But I am fully persuaded, if they are not

commenced in a proper manner, confined to proper objects, and conducted

under an authority generally conceded to be rightful, that a successful

prosecution of them can not be reasonably expected. The attempt will

meet with resistance where it might otherwise receive support, and

instead of strengthening the bonds of our Confederacy it will only

multiply and aggravate the causes of disunion.