the knife, devoted to indiscriminate massacre, but they have let loose
the savages armed with these cruel instruments; have allured them into
their service, and carried them to battle by their sides, eager to glut
their savage thirst with the blood of the vanquished and to finish the
work of torture and death on maimed and defenseless captives. And, what
was never before seen, British commanders have extorted victory over the
unconquerable valor of our troops by presenting to the sympathy of their
chief captives awaiting massacre from their savage associates. And now
we find them, in further contempt of the modes of honorable warfare,
supplying the place of a conquering force by attempts to disorganize our
political society, to dismember our confederated Republic. Happily, like
others, these will recoil on the authors; but they mark the degenerate
counsels from which they emanate, and if they did not belong to a
series of unexampled inconsistencies might excite the greater wonder as
proceeding from a Government which founded the very war in which it has
been so long engaged on a charge against the disorganizing and
insurrectional policy of its adversary.
To render the justice of the war on our part the more conspicuous, the
reluctance to commence it was followed by the earliest and strongest
manifestations of a disposition to arrest its progress. The sword was
scarcely out of the scabbard before the enemy was apprised of the
reasonable terms on which it would be resheathed. Still more precise
advances were repeated, and have been received in a spirit forbidding
every reliance not placed on the military resources of the nation.
These resources are amply sufficient to bring the war to an honorable
issue. Our nation is in number more than half that of the British Isles.
It is composed of a brave, a free, a virtuous, and an intelligent
people. Our country abounds in the necessaries, the arts, and the
comforts of life. A general prosperity is visible in the public
countenance. The means employed by the British cabinet to undermine it
have recoiled on themselves; have given to our national faculties a more
rapid development, and, draining or diverting the precious metals from
British circulation and British vaults, have poured them into those of
the United States. It is a propitious consideration that an unavoidable
war should have found this seasonable facility for the contributions
required to support it. When the public voice called for war, all knew,
and still know, that without them it could not be carried on through the
period which it might last, and the patriotism, the good sense, and the
manly spirit of our fellow-citizens are pledges for the cheerfulness
with which they will bear each his share of the common burden. To render
the war short and its success sure, animated and systematic exertions
alone are necessary, and the success of our arms now may long preserve
our country from the necessity of another resort to them. Already
have the gallant exploits of our naval heroes proved to the world
our inherent capacity to maintain our rights on one element. If the
reputation of our arms has been thrown under clouds on the other,
presaging flashes of heroic enterprise assure us that nothing is wanting
to correspondent triumphs there also but die discipline and habits which
are in daily progress.
MARCH 4, 1813.
SPECIAL SESSION MESSAGE.
WASHINGTON, _May 25, 1813_.
_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
At an early day after the close of the last session of Congress an offer
was formally communicated from His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of
Russia of his mediation, as the common friend of the United States and
Great Britain, for the purpose of facilitating a peace between them. The
high character of the Emperor Alexander being a satisfactory pledge for
the sincerity and impartiality of his offer, it was immediately
accepted, and as a further proof of the disposition on the part of the
United States, to meet their adversary in honorable experiments for
terminating the war it was determined to avoid intermediate delays
incident to the distance of the parties by a definitive provision for
the contemplated negotiation. Three of our eminent citizens were
accordingly commissioned with the requisite powers to conclude a treaty
of peace with persons clothed with like powers on the part of Great
Britain. They are authorized also to enter into such conventional
regulations of the commerce between the two countries as may be mutually
advantageous. The two envoys who, were in the United States at the time
of their appointment have proceeded to join their colleague already at
St. Petersburg.
The envoys have received another commission authorizing them to conclude
with Russia a treaty of commerce with a view to strengthen the amicable
relations and improve the beneficial intercourse between the two
countries.
The issue of this friendly interposition of the Russian Emperor and this
pacific manifestation on the part of the United States time only can
decide. That the sentiments of Great Britain toward that Sovereign will
have produced an acceptance of his offered mediation must be presumed.
That no adequate motives exist to prefer a continuance of war with the
United States to the terms on which they are willing to close it is
certain. The British cabinet also must be sensible that, with respect to
the important question of impressment, on which the war so essentially
turns, a search for or seizure of British persons or property on board
neutral vessels on the high seas is not a belligerent right derived from
the law of nations, and it is obvious that no visit or search or use of
force for any purpose on board the vessels of one independent power on
the high seas can in war or peace be sanctioned by the laws or authority
of another power. It is equally obvious that, for the purpose of
preserving to each State its seafaring members, by excluding them from
the vessels of the other, the mode heretofore proposed by the United
States and now enacted by them as an article of municipal policy, can
not for a moment be compared with the mode practiced by Great Britain
without a conviction of its title to preference, inasmuch as the latter
leaves the discrimination between the mariners of the two nations to
officers exposed by unavoidable bias as well as by a defect of evidence
to a wrong decision, under circumstances precluding for the most part
the enforcement of controlling penalties, and where a wrong decision,
besides the irreparable violation of the sacred rights of persons, might
frustrate the plans and profits of entire voyages; whereas the mode
assumed by the United States guards with studied fairness and efficacy
against errors in such cases and avoids the effect of casual errors on
the safety of navigation and the success of mercantile expeditions.
If the reasonableness of expectations drawn from these considerations
could guarantee their fulfillment a just peace would not be distant. But
it becomes the wisdom of the National Legislature to keep in mind the
true policy, or rather the indispensable obligation, of adapting its
measures to the supposition that the only course to that happy event is
in the vigorous employment of the resources of war. And painful as the
reflection is, this duty is particularly enforced by the spirit and
manner in which the war continues to be waged by the enemy, who,
uninfluenced by the unvaried examples of humanity set them, are adding
to the savage fury of it on one frontier a system of plunder and
conflagration on the other, equally forbidden by respect for national
character and by the established rules of civilized warfare.
As an encouragement to persevering and invigorated exertions to bring
the contest to a happy result, I have the satisfaction of being able to
appeal to the auspicious progress of our arms both by land and on the
water.
In continuation of the brilliant achievements of our infant Navy, a
signal triumph has been gained by Captain Lawrence and his companions in
the _Hornet_ sloop of war, which destroyed a British sloop of war
with a celerity so unexampled and with a slaughter of the enemy so
disproportionate to the loss in the _Hornet_ as to claim for the
conquerors the highest praise and the full recompense provided by
Congress in preceding cases. Our public ships of war in general, as well
as the private armed vessels, have continued also their activity and
success against the commerce of the enemy, and by their vigilance and
address have greatly frustrated the efforts of the hostile squadrons
distributed along our coasts to intercept them in returning into port
and resuming their cruises.
The augmentation of our naval force, as authorized at the last session
of Congress, is in progress. On the Lakes our superiority is near at
hand where it is not already established.
The events of the campaign, so far as they are known to us, furnish
matter of congratulation, and show that under a wise organization and
efficient direction the Army is destined to a glory not less brilliant
than that which already encircles the Navy. The attack and capture of
York is in that quarter a presage of future and greater victories, while
on the western frontier the issue of the late siege of Fort Meigs leaves
us nothing to regret but a single act of inconsiderate valor.
The provisions last made for filling the ranks and enlarging the staff
of the Army have had the best effects. It will be for the consideration
of Congress whether other provisions depending on their authority may
not still further improve the military establishment and the means of
defense.
The sudden death of the distinguished citizen who represented the United
States in France, without any special arrangements by him for such a
contingency, has left us without the expected sequel to his last
communications, nor has the French Government taken any measures for
bringing the depending negotiations to a conclusion through its
representative in the United States. This failure adds to delays before
so unreasonably spun out. A successor to our deceased minister has been
appointed and is ready to proceed on his mission. The course which he
will pursue in fulfilling it is that prescribed by a steady regard to
the true interests of the United States, which equally avoids an
abandonment of their just demands and a connection of their fortunes
with the systems of other powers.
The receipts in the Treasury from the 1st of October to the 31st day of
March last, including the sums received on account of Treasury notes and
of the loans authorized by the acts of the last and the preceding
sessions of Congress, have amounted to $15,412,000. The expenditures
during the same period amounted to $15,920,000, and left in the Treasury
on the 1st of April the sum of $1,857,000. The loan of $16,000,000,
authorized by the act of the 8th of February last, has been contracted
for. Of that sum more than $1,000,000 had been paid into the Treasury
prior to the 1st of April, and formed a part of the receipts as above
stated. The remainder of that loan, amounting to near $15,000,000, with
the sum of $5,000,000 authorized to be issued in Treasury notes, and the
estimated receipts from the customs and the sales of public lands,
amounting to $9,300,000, and making, in the whole, $29,300,000, to
be received during the last nine months of the present year, will
be necessary to meet the expenditures already authorized and the
engagements contracted in relation to the public debt. These engagements
amount during that period to $10,500,000, which, with near one million
for the civil, miscellaneous, and diplomatic expenses, both foreign and
domestic, and $17,800,000 for the military and naval expenditures,
including the ships of war building and to be built, will leave a sum
in the Treasury at the end of the present year equal to that on the 1st
of April last. A part of this sum may be considered as a resource for
defraying any extraordinary expenses already authorized by law beyond
the sums above estimated, and a further resource for any emergency may
be found in the sum of $1,000,000, the loan of which to the United
States has been authorized by the State of Pennsylvania, but which has
not yet been brought into effect.
This view of our finances, whilst it shows that due provision has been
made for the expenses of the current year, shows at the same time, by
the limited amount of the actual revenue and the dependence on loans,
the necessity of providing more adequately for the future supplies
of the Treasury. This can be best done by a well-digested system of
internal revenue in aid of existing sources, which will have the effect
both of abridging the amount of necessary loans and, on that account, as
well as by placing the public credit on a more satisfactory basis, of
improving the terms on which loans may be obtained. The loan of sixteen
millions was not contracted for at a less interest than about 7 1/2 per
cent, and, although other causes may have had an agency, it can not be
doubted that, with the advantage of a more extended and less precarious
revenue, a lower rate of interest might have sufficed. A longer
postponement of this advantage could not fail to have a still greater
influence on future loans.
In recommending to the National Legislature this resort to additional
taxes I feel great satisfaction in the assurance that our constituents,
who have already displayed so much zeal and firmness in the cause of
their country, will cheerfully give any other proof of their patriotism
which it calls for. Happily no people, with local and transitory
exceptions never to be wholly avoided, are more able than the people
of the United States to spare for the public wants a portion of their
private means, whether regard be had to the ordinary profits of industry
or the ordinary price of subsistence in our country compared with those
in any other. And in no case could stronger reasons be felt for yielding
the requisite contributions. By rendering the public resources certain
and commensurate to the public exigencies, the constituted authorities
will be able to prosecute the war the more rapidly to its proper issue;
every hostile hope founded on a calculated failure of our resources
will be cut off, and by adding to the evidence of bravery and skill
in combats on the ocean and the land, and alacrity in supplying the
treasure necessary to give them their fullest effect, and demonstrating
to the world the public energy which our political institutions combine,
with the personal liberty distinguishing them, the best security will be
provided against future enterprises on the rights or the peace of the
nation.
The contest in which the United States are engaged appeals for its
support to every motive that can animate an uncorrupted and enlightened
people--to the love of country; to the pride of liberty; to an emulation
of the glorious founders of their independence by a successful
vindication of its violated attributes; to the gratitude and sympathy
which demand security from the most degrading wrongs of a class of
citizens who have proved themselves so worthy the protection of their
country by their heroic zeal in its defense; and, finally, to the sacred
obligation of transmitting entire to future generations that precious
patrimony of national rights and independence which is held in trust by
the present from the goodness of Divine Providence.
Being aware of the inconveniences to which a protracted session at this
season would be liable, I limit the present communication to objects of
primary importance. In special messages which may ensue regard will be
had to the same consideration.
JAMES MADISON.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
MAY 29, 1813.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
The Swedish Government having repeatedly manifested a desire to
interchange a public minister with the United States, and having lately
appointed one with that view, and other considerations concurring to
render it advisable at this period to make a correspondent appointment,
I nominate Jonathan Russell, of Rhode Island, to be minister
plenipotentiary of the United States to Sweden.
JAMES MADISON.
WASHINGTON, _July 6, 1813_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I have received from the committee appointed by the resolution of the
Senate of the 14th day of June a copy of that resolution, which
authorizes the committee to confer with the President on the subject of
the nomination made by him of a minister plenipotentiary to Sweden.
Conceiving it to be my duty to decline the proposed conference with the
committee, and it being uncertain when it may be convenient to explain
to the committee, and through them to the Senate, the grounds of my so
doing, I think it proper to address the explanation directly to the
Senate. Without entering into a general review of the relations in which
the Constitution has placed the several departments of the Government to
each other, it will suffice to remark that the Executive and Senate, in
the cases of appointments to office and of treaties, are to be
considered as independent of and coordinate with each other. If they
agree, the appointments or treaties are made; if the Senate disagree,
they fail. If the Senate wish information previous to their final
decision, the practice, keeping in view the constitutional relations of
the Senate and the Executive, has been either to request the Executive
to furnish it or to refer the subject to a committee of their body to
communicate, either formally or informally, with the head of the proper
department. The appointment of a committee of the Senate to confer
immediately with the Executive himself appears to lose sight of the
coordinate relation between the Executive and the Senate which the
Constitution has established, and which ought therefore to be
maintained.
The relation between the Senate and House of Representatives, in whom
legislative power is concurrently vested, is sufficiently analogous to
illustrate that between the Executive and Senate in making appointments
and treaties. The two Houses are in like manner independent of and
coordinate with each other, and the invariable practice of each in
appointing committees of conference and consultation is to commission
them to confer not with the coordinate body itself, but with a committee
of that body; and although both branches of the Legislature may be too
numerous to hold conveniently a conference with committees, were they to
be appointed by either to confer with the entire body of the other, it
may be fairly presumed that if the whole number of either branch were
not too large for the purpose the objection to such a conference, being
against the principle as derogating from the coordinate relations of the
two Houses, would retain all its force.
I add only that I am entirely persuaded of the purity of the intentions
of the Senate in the course they have pursued on this occasion, and with
which my view of the subject makes it my duty not to accord, and that
they will be cheerfully furnished with all the suitable information in
possession of the Executive in any mode deemed consistent with the
principles of the Constitution and the settled practice under it.
JAMES MADISON.
WASHINGTON, _July 20, 1813_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
There being sufficient ground to infer that it is the purpose of the
enemy to combine with the blockade of our ports special licenses to
neutral vessels or to British vessels in neutral disguises, whereby
they may draw from our country the precise kind and quantity of
exports essential to their wants, whilst its general commerce remains
obstructed, keeping in view also the insidious discrimination between
the different ports of the United States; and as such a system, if not
counteracted, will have the effect of diminishing very materially the
pressure of the war on the enemy, and encouraging a perseverance in it,
at the same time that it will leave the general commerce of the United
States under all the pressure the enemy can impose, thus subjecting
the whole to British regulation in subserviency to British monopoly,
I recommend to the consideration of Congress the expediency of an
immediate and effectual prohibition of exports limited to a convenient
day in their next session, and removable in the meantime in the event
of a cessation of the blockade of our ports.
JAMES MADISON.
PROCLAMATION.
[From Niles's Weekly Register, vol. 4, p. 345.]
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas the Congress of the United States, by a joint resolution of the
two Houses, have signified a request that a day may be recommended to be
observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnity as
a day of public humiliation and prayer; and
Whereas in times of public calamity such as that of the war brought on
the United States by the injustice of a foreign government it is
especially becoming that the hearts of all should be touched with the
same and the eyes of all be turned to that Almighty Power in whose hand
are the welfare and the destiny of nations:
I do therefore issue this my proclamation, recommending to all who shall
be piously disposed to unite their hearts and voices in addressing at
one and the same time their vows and adorations to the Great Parent and
Sovereign of the Universe that they assemble on the second Thursday of
September next in their respective religious congregations to render Him
thanks for the many blessings He has bestowed on the people of the
United States; that He has blessed them with a land capable of yielding
all the necessaries and requisites of human life, with ample means for
convenient exchanges with foreign countries; that He has blessed the
labors employed in its cultivation and improvement; that He is now
blessing the exertions to extend and establish the arts and manufactures
which will secure within ourselves supplies too important to remain
dependent on the precarious policy or the peaceable dispositions of
other nations, and particularly that He has blessed the United States
with a political Constitution founded on the will and authority of the
whole people and guaranteeing to each individual security, not only of
his person and his property, but of those sacred rights of conscience so
essential to his present happiness and so dear to his future hopes; that
with those expressions of devout thankfulness be joined supplications to
the same Almighty Power that He would look down with compassion on our
infirmities; that He would pardon our manifold transgressions and
awaken and strengthen in all the wholesome purposes of repentance and
amendment; that in this season of trial and calamity He would preside in
a particular manner over our public councils and inspire all citizens
with a love of their country and with those fraternal affections and
that mutual confidence which have so happy a tendency to make us safe
at home and respected abroad; and that as He was graciously pleased
heretofore to smile on our struggles against the attempts of the
Government of the Empire of which these States then made a part to wrest
from them the rights and privileges to which they were entitled in
common with every other part and to raise them to the station of an
independent and sovereign people, so He would now be pleased in like
manner to bestow His blessing on our arms in resisting the hostile and
persevering efforts of the same power to degrade us on the ocean, the
common inheritance of all, from rights and immunities belonging and
essential to the American people as a coequal member of the great
community of independent nations; and that, inspiring our enemies
with moderation, with justice, and with that spirit of reasonable
accommodation which our country has continued to manifest, we may be
enabled to beat our swords into plowshares and to enjoy in peace every
man the fruits of his honest industry and the rewards of his lawful
enterprise.
If the public homage of a people can ever be worthy the favorable regard
of the Holy and Omniscient Being to whom it is addressed, it must be
that in which those who join in it are guided only by their free choice,
by the impulse of their hearts and the dictates of their consciences;
and such a spectacle must be interesting to all Christian nations as
proving that religion, that gift of Heaven for the good of man, freed
from all coercive edicts, from that unhallowed connection with the
powers of this world which corrupts religion into an instrument or an
usurper of the policy of the state, and making no appeal but to reason,
to the heart, and to the conscience, can spread its benign influence
everywhere and can attract to the divine altar those freewill offerings
of humble supplication, thanksgiving, and praise which alone can be
acceptable to Him whom no hypocrisy can deceive and no forced sacrifices
propitiate.