I lay before Congress communications just received from the
plenipotentiaries of the United States charged with negotiating peace
with Great Britain, showing the conditions on which alone that
Government is willing to put an end to the war.
The instructions to those plenipotentiaries, disclosing the grounds on
which they were authorized to negotiate and conclude a treaty of peace,
will be the subject of another communication.
JAMES MADISON.
WASHINGTON, _October 13, 1814_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I now transmit to Congress copies of the instructions to the
plenipotentiaries of the United States charged with negotiating a peace
with Great Britain, as referred to in my message of the 10th instant.
JAMES MADISON.
DECEMBER 1, 1814.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit, for the information of Congress, the communications last
received from the ministers extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the
United States at Ghent, explaining the course and actual state of their
negotiations with the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain.
JAMES MADISON.
FEBRUARY 15, 1815.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I have received from the American commissioners a treaty of peace and
amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America,
signed by those commissioners and by the commissioners of His Britannic
Majesty at Ghent on the 24th of December, 1814. The termination of
hostilities depends upon the time of the ratification of the treaty by
both parties. I lose no time, therefore, in submitting the treaty to the
Senate for their advice and approbation.
I transmit also a letter from the American commissioners, which
accompanied the treaty.
JAMES MADISON.
WASHINGTON, _February 18, 1815_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I lay before Congress copies of the treaty of peace and amity between
the United States and His Britannic Majesty, which was signed by the
commissioners of both parties at Ghent on the 24th of December, 1814,
and the ratifications of which have been duly exchanged.
While performing this act I congratulate you and our constituents upon
an event which is highly honorable to the nation, and terminates with
peculiar felicity a campaign signalized by the most brilliant successes.
The late war, although reluctantly declared by Congress, had become a
necessary resort to assert the rights and independence of the nation. It
has been waged with a success which is the natural result of the wisdom
of the legislative councils, of the patriotism of the people, of the
public spirit of the militia, and of the valor of the military and naval
forces of the country. Peace, at all times a blessing, is peculiarly
welcome, therefore, at a period when the causes for the war have ceased
to operate, when the Government has demonstrated the efficiency of its
powers of defense, and when the nation can review its conduct without
regret and without reproach.
I recommend to your care and beneficence the gallant men whose
achievements in every department of the military service, on the land
and on the water, have so essentially contributed to the honor of the
American name and to the restoration of peace. The feelings of conscious
patriotism and worth will animate such men under every change of fortune
and pursuit, but their country performs a duty to itself when it bestows
those testimonials of approbation and applause which are at once the
reward and the incentive to great actions.
The reduction of the public expenditures to the demands of a peace
establishment will doubtless engage the immediate attention of Congress.
There are, however, important considerations which forbid a sudden and
general revocation of the measures that have been produced by the war.
Experience has taught us that neither the pacific dispositions of
the American people nor the pacific character of their political
institutions can altogether exempt them from that strife which appears
beyond the ordinary lot of nations to be incident to the actual period
of the world, and the same faithful monitor demonstrates that a certain
degree of preparation for war is not only indispensable to avert
disasters in the onset, but affords also the best security for the
continuance of peace. The wisdom of Congress will therefore, I am
confident, provide for the maintenance of an adequate regular force; for
the gradual advancement of the naval establishment; for improving all
the means of harbor defense; for adding discipline to the distinguished
bravery of the militia, and for cultivating the military art in its
essential branches, under the liberal patronage of Government.
The resources of our country were at all times competent to the
attainment of every national object, but they will now be enriched and
invigorated by the activity which peace will introduce into all the
scenes of domestic enterprise and labor. The provision that has been
made for the public creditors during the present session of Congress
must have a decisive effect in the establishment of the public credit
both at home and abroad. The reviving interests of commerce will
claim the legislative attention at the earliest opportunity, and such
regulations will, I trust, be seasonably devised as shall secure to the
United States their just proportion of the navigation of the world.
The most liberal policy toward other nations, if met by corresponding
dispositions, will in this respect be found the most beneficial policy
toward ourselves. But there is no subject that can enter with greater
force and merit into the deliberations of Congress than a consideration
of the means to preserve and promote the manufactures which have sprung
into existence and attained an unparalleled maturity throughout the
United States during the period of the European wars. This source of
national independence and wealth I anxiously recommend, therefore, to
the prompt and constant guardianship of Congress.
The termination of the legislative sessions will soon separate you,
fellow citizens, from each other, and restore you to your constituents.
I pray you to bear with you the expressions of my sanguine hope that
the peace which has been just declared will not only be the foundation
of the most friendly intercourse between the United States and Great
Britain, but that it will also be productive of happiness and harmony in
every section of our beloved country. The influence of your precepts and
example must be everywhere powerful, and while we accord in grateful
acknowledgments for the protection which Providence has bestowed upon
us, let us never cease to inculcate obedience to the laws and fidelity
to the Union as constituting the palladium of the national independence
and prosperity.
JAMES MADISON.
WASHINGTON, _February 22, 1815_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I lay before Congress copies of two ratified treaties which were entered
into on the part of the United States, one on the 22d day of July, 1814,
with the several tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares,
Shawanees, Senakas, and Miamies; the other on the 9th day of August,
1814, with the Creek Nation of Indians.
It is referred to the consideration of Congress how far legislative
provisions may be necessary for carrying any part of these stipulations
into effect.
JAMES MADISON.
WASHINGTON, _February 23, 1815_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
Congress will have seen by the communication from the consul-general of
the United States at Algiers laid before them on the 17th of November,
1812, the hostile proceedings of the Dey against that functionary. These
have been followed by acts of more overt and direct warfare against the
citizens of the United States trading in the Mediterranean, some of whom
are still detained in captivity, notwithstanding the attempts which have
been made to ransom them, and are treated with the rigor usual on the
coast of Barbary.
The considerations which rendered it unnecessary and unimportant to
commence hostile operations on the part of the United States being now
terminated by the peace with Great Britain, which opens the prospect of
an active and valuable trade of their citizens within the range of the
Algerine cruisers, I recommend to Congress the expediency of an act
declaring the existence of a state of war between the United States
and the Dey and Regency of Algiers, and of such provisions as may be
requisite for a vigorous prosecution of it to a successful issue.
JAMES MADISON.
WASHINGTON, _February 25, 1815_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
Peace having happily taken place between the United States and Great
Britain, it is desirable to guard against incidents which during periods
of war in Europe might tend to interrupt it, and it is believed in
particular that the navigation of American vessels exclusively by
American seamen, either natives or such as are already naturalized,
would not only conduce to the attainment of that object, but also to
increase the number of our seamen, and consequently to render our
commerce and navigation independent of the service of foreigners who
might be recalled by their governments under circumstances the most
inconvenient to the United States. I recommend the subject, therefore,
to the consideration of Congress, and in deciding upon it I am persuaded
that they will sufficiently estimate the policy of manifesting to the
world a desire on all occasions to cultivate harmony with other nations
by any reasonable accommodations which do not impair the enjoyment
of any of the essential rights of a free and independent people. The
example on the part of the American Government will merit and may be
expected to receive a reciprocal attention from all the friendly powers
of Europe.
JAMES MADISON.
VETO MESSAGE.
WASHINGTON, _January 30, 1815_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
Having bestowed on the bill entitled "An act to incorporate the
subscribers to the Bank of the United States of America" that full
consideration which is due to the great importance of the subject, and
dictated by the respect which I feel for the two Houses of Congress, I
am constrained by a deep and solemn conviction that the bill ought not
to become a law to return it to the Senate, in which it originated, with
my objections to the same.
Waiving the question of the constitutional authority of the Legislature
to establish an incorporated bank as being precluded in my judgment by
repeated recognitions under varied circumstances of the validity of such
an institution in acts of the legislative, executive, and judicial
branches of the Government, accompanied by indications, in different
modes, of a concurrence of the general will of the nation, the proposed
bank does not appear to be calculated to answer the purposes of reviving
the public credit, of providing a national medium of circulation, and of
aiding the Treasury by facilitating the indispensable anticipations of
the revenue and by affording to the public more durable loans.
1. The capital of the bank is to be compounded of specie, of public
stock, and of Treasury notes convertible into stock, with a certain
proportion of each of which every subscriber is to furnish himself.
The amount of the stock to be subscribed will not, it is believed, be
sufficient to produce in favor of the public credit any considerable or
lasting elevation of the market price, whilst this may be occasionally
depressed by the bank itself if it should carry into the market the
allowed proportion of its capital consisting of public stock in order to
procure specie, which it may find its account in procuring with some
sacrifice on that part of its capital.
Nor will any adequate advantage arise to the public credit from the
subscription of Treasury notes. The actual issue of these notes nearly
equals at present, and will soon exceed, the amount to be subscribed
to the bank. The direct effect of this operation is simply to convert
fifteen millions of Treasury notes into fifteen millions of 6 per cent
stock, with the collateral effect of promoting an additional demand for
Treasury notes beyond what might otherwise be negotiable.
Public credit might indeed be expected to derive advantage from the
establishment of a national bank, without regard to the formation of its
capital, if the full aid and cooperation of the institution were secured
to the Government during the war and during the period of its fiscal
embarrassments. But the bank proposed will be free from all legal
obligation to cooperate with the public measures, and whatever might be
the patriotic disposition of its directors to contribute to the removal
of those embarrassments, and to invigorate the prosecution of the war,
fidelity to the pecuniary and general interest of the institution
according to their estimate of it might oblige them to decline a
connection of their operations with those of the National Treasury
during the continuance of the war and the difficulties incident to it.
Temporary sacrifices of interest, though overbalanced by the future
and permanent profits of the charter, not being requirable of right in
behalf of the public, might not be gratuitously made, and the bank would
reap the full benefit of the grant, whilst the public would lose the
equivalent expected from it; for it must be kept in view that the sole
inducement to such a grant on the part of the public would be the
prospect of substantial aids to its pecuniary means at the present
crisis and during the sequel of the war. It is evident that the stock of
the bank will on the return of peace, if not sooner, rise in the market
to a value which, if the bank were established in a period of peace,
would authorize and obtain for the public a bonus to a very large
amount. In lieu of such a bonus the Government is fairly entitled to and
ought not to relinquish or risk the needful services of the bank under
the pressing circumstances of war.
2. The bank as proposed to be constituted can not be relied on during
the war to provide a circulating medium nor to furnish loans or
anticipations of the public revenue.
Without a medium the taxes can not be collected, and in the absence of
specie the medium understood to be the best substitute is that of notes
issued by a national bank. The proposed bank will commence and conduct
its operations under an obligation to pay its notes in specie, or be
subject to the loss of its charter. Without such an obligation the notes
of the bank, though not exchangeable for specie, yet resting on good
pledges and performing the uses of specie in the payment of taxes and in
other public transactions, would, as experience has ascertained, qualify
the bank to supply at once a circulating medium and pecuniary aids to
the Government. Under the fetters imposed by the bill it is manifest
that during the actual state of things, and probably during the war, the
period particularly requiring such a medium and such a resource for
loans and advances to the Government, notes for which the bank would be
compellable to give specie in exchange could not be kept in circulation.
The most the bank could effect, and the most it could be expected to
aim at, would be to keep the institution alive by limited and local
transactions which, with the interest on the public stock in the bank,
might yield a dividend sufficient for the purpose until a change from
war to peace should enable it, by a flow of specie into its vaults and
a removal of the external demand for it, to derive its contemplated
emoluments from a safe and full extension of its operations.
On the whole, when it is considered that the proposed establishment
will enjoy a monopoly of the profits of a national bank for a period of
twenty years; that the monopolized profits will be continually growing
with the progress of the national population and wealth; that the nation
will during the same period be dependent on the notes of the bank for
that species of circulating medium whenever the precious metals may
be wanted, and at all times for so much thereof as may be an eligible
substitute for a specie medium, and that the extensive employment of the
notes in the collection of the augmented taxes will, moreover, enable
the bank greatly to extend its profitable issues of them without the
expense of specie capital to support their circulation, it is as
reasonable as it is requisite that the Government, in return for these
extraordinary concessions to the bank, should have a greater security
for attaining the public objects of the institution than is presented in
the bill, and particularly for every practicable accommodation, both in
the temporary advances necessary to anticipate the taxes and in those
more durable loans which are equally necessary to diminish the resort
to taxes.
In discharging this painful duty of stating objections to a measure
which has undergone the deliberations and received the sanction of
the two Houses of the National Legislature I console myself with the
reflection that if they have not the weight which I attach to them they
can be constitutionally overruled, and with a confidence that in a
contrary event the wisdom of Congress will hasten to substitute a more
commensurate and certain provision for the public exigencies.
JAMES MADISON.
PROCLAMATIONS.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
A PROCLAMATION.
The two Houses of the National Legislature having by a joint resolution
expressed their desire that in the present time of public calamity and
war a day may be recommended to be observed by the people of the United
States as a day of public humiliation and fasting and of prayer to
Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these States, His blessing on
their arms, and a speedy restoration of peace, I have deemed it proper
by this proclamation to recommend that Thursday, the 12th of January
next, be set apart as a day on which all may have an opportunity of
voluntarily offering at the same time in their respective religious
assemblies their humble adoration to the Great Sovereign of the
Universe, of confessing their sins and transgressions, and of
strengthening their vows of repentance and amendment. They will be
invited by the same solemn occasion to call to mind the distinguished
favors conferred on the American people in the general health which has
been enjoyed, in the abundant fruits of the season, in the progress of
the arts instrumental to their comfort, their prosperity, and their
security, and in the victories which have so powerfully contributed to
the defense and protection of our country, a devout thankfulness for all
which ought to be mingled with their supplications to the Beneficent
Parent of the Human Race that He would be graciously pleased to pardon
all their offenses against Him; to support and animate them in the
discharge of their respective duties; to continue to them the precious
advantages flowing from political institutions so auspicious to their
safety against dangers from abroad, to their tranquillity at home, and
to their liberties, civil and religious; and that He would in a special
manner preside over the nation in its public councils and constituted
authorities, giving wisdom to its measures and success to its arms
in maintaining its rights and in overcoming all hostile designs and
attempts against it; and, finally, that by inspiring the enemy with
dispositions favorable to a just and reasonable peace its blessings
may be speedily and happily restored.
[SEAL.]
Given at the city of Washington, the 16th day of November, 1814, and of
the Independence of the United States the thirty-eighth.
JAMES MADISON.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Among the many evils produced by the wars which with little intermission
have afflicted Europe and extended their ravages into other quarters
of the globe for a period exceeding twenty years, the dispersion or a
considerable portion of the inhabitants of different countries in sorrow
and in want has not been the least injurious to human happiness nor the
least severe in the trial of human virtue.
It had been long ascertained that many foreigners, flying from the
dangers of their own home, and that some citizens, forgetful of their
duty, had cooperated in forming an establishment on the island of
Barrataria, near the mouth of the river Mississippi, for the purposes
of a clandestine and lawless trade. The Government of the United States
caused the establishment to be broken up and destroyed, and having
obtained the means of designating the offenders of every description,
it only remained to answer the demands of justice by inflicting an
exemplary punishment.
But it has since been represented that the offenders have manifested a
sincere penitence; that they have abandoned the prosecution of the worse
cause for the support of the best, and particularly that they have
exhibited in the defense of New Orleans unequivocal traits of courage
and fidelity. Offenders who have refused to become the associates of the
enemy in the war upon the most seducing terms of invitation and who have
aided to repel his hostile invasion of the territory of the United
States can no longer be considered as objects of punishment, but as
objects of a generous forgiveness.
It has therefore been seen with great satisfaction that the general
assembly of the State of Louisiana earnestly recommend those offenders
to the benefit of a full pardon.
And in compliance with that recommendation, as well as in consideration
of all the other extraordinary circumstances of the case, I, James
Madison, President of the United States of America, do issue this
proclamation, hereby granting, publishing, and declaring a free and full
pardon of all offenses committed in violation of any act or acts of the
Congress of the said United States touching the revenue, trade, and
navigation thereof or touching the intercourse and commerce of the
United States with foreign nations at any time before the 8th day of
January, in the present year 1815, by any person or persons whomsoever
being inhabitants of New Orleans and the adjacent country or being
inhabitants of the said island of Barrataria and the places adjacent:
_Provided_, That every person claiming the benefit of this full
pardon in order to entitle himself thereto shall produce a certificate
in writing from the governor of the State of Louisiana stating that such
person has aided in the defense of New Orleans and the adjacent country
during the invasion thereof as aforesaid.
And I do hereby further authorize and direct all suits, indictments,
and prosecutions for fines, penalties, and forfeitures against any
person or persons who shall be entitled to the benefit of this full
pardon forthwith to be stayed, discontinued, and released; and all
civil officers are hereby required, according to the duties of their
respective stations, to carry this proclamation into immediate and
faithful execution.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, the 6th day of February, in the year
1815, and of the Independence of the United States the thirty-ninth.
JAMES MADISON.
By the President:
JAMES MONROE,
_Acting as Secretary of State_.
[From Niles's Weekly Register, vol. 7, p. 397.]
JAMES MADISON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
_To all and singular to whom these presents shall come, greeting_: