It has been unfortunate, that all the efforts of the Baltic Powers to secure the interests of neutrals have been frustrated by the want of a united and determined perseverance. Their leagues have been broken to pieces; and to finish the catastrophe, each of the parties has separately deserted itself. The latter Treaties of Russia, of Sweden, and of Denmark, with Great Britain, have all, in some form or other, let in the British doctrines, and become authorities against the claims of neutrals.
If a purification of the Maritime Code ever take place, the task seems to be reserved for the United States. They cannot fail to acquire rapidly more and more of respect from other Nations, and of influence on those having a common interest with themselves. They will soon become, in the Canvas they spread, and in all the means of power, on the Ocean, rivals of the Nation which has in fact legislated on that element. Under such auspices, truth, justice, humanity, and universal good, will be inculcated with an advantage which must gradually and peaceably enlist the civilized world, against a Code which violates all those obligations; a code as noxious by the wars and calamities it produces to its overbearing patron, as to the Nations protesting against it.
As a preparation for such a result, it is of great moment that the subject of maritime law should appear in our public debates, in the judicial proceedings, and in individual disquisitions, to have been profoundly studied and understood; so as to attract favorable attention elsewhere; and by inspiring respect for the lights and the character of the Nation, increase that for its power and importance. The Law of Nations has been made by the powerful nations; and these having been warlike in their dispositions and institutions, the law has been moulded to suit belligerent rather than peaceable nations. With the faculties for war, it is to be hoped, our country will continue friendly to peace, and exert the influence belonging to it, in promoting a system favorable to Nations cherishing peace and justice, rather than to those devoted to ambition and conquest.
The questions claiming more particular research and elucidation seem to be, those relating to Contraband of war, blockades, the Colonial and Coasting trades, and the great question of “free ships, free goods.”
Accept c
For the Department of War.
On viewing the course which the proceedings of the War Department have not unfrequently taken, I find that I owe it to my own responsibility as well as to other considerations, to make some remarks on the relations in which the Head of the Department stands to the President, and to lay down some rules for conducting the business of the Department, which are dictated by the nature of those relations.
In general the Secretary of War, like the Heads of the other Dep ts . as well by express statute as by the structure of the constitution, acts under the authority subject to the decisions instructions of the President; with the exception of cases where the law may vest special independent powers in the head of the Department.
From the great number variety of subjects, however, embraced by that Department and the subordinate routine character of a great portion of them, it cannot be either necessary or convenient that proceedings relative to every subject should receive a previous positive sanction of the Executive. In cases of that minor sort it is requisite only that they be subsequently communicated as far and as soon as a knowledge of them can be useful or satisfactory.
In cases of a higher character importance, involving necessarily, and in the public understanding, a just responsibility of the President, the acts of the Department ought to be either prescribed by him, or preceded by his sanction.
It is not easy to define in theory the cases falling within these different classes, or in practice to discriminate them with uniform exactness. But substantial observance of the distinction is not difficult, and will be facilitated by the confidence between the Executive the Head of the Department.
This distinction has not been sufficiently kept in view.
I need not repeat the notice heretofore taken of the measure consolidating certain regiments; a measure highly important under more than one aspect; and which was adopted executed without the knowledge or sanction of the President; nor was it subsequently made known to him otherwise than through the publication of the act in the newspapers.
The like may be said of certain rules regulations, particularly a Body of them for the Hospital Medical Dep ts . of which the law expressly required the approbation of the President, and which comprise a rule to be observed by the P. himself in future appointments. The first knowledge of these latter regulations was derived from the newspapers.
A very remarkable instance is a late general order prohibiting Duels and challenges, on pain of dismission from the army. However proper such an order may be in itself, it would never be supposed to have been issued without the deliberate sanction of the President, the more particularly as it pledged an exercise of one of the most responsible of the Executive functions, that of summarily dismissing from military offices without the intervention of the military Tribunal provided by law. This order was adopted promulgated without the previous knowledge of the P. nor was it ever made known to him otherwise than by its promulgation. Instructions to military Comanders relating to important plans operations have been issued without any previous or even any subsequent communication thereof to the Executive; and letters expressly intended proper for the knowledge decision of the Ex. have been rec d . acted on without being previously communicated or the measures taken being made known to him.
Other illustrations might be drawn from instances of other sorts, leading to the result of these remarks. The above may suffice, with the addition of one which with the circumstances attending it will be explained by a reference to the letter of resignation from Gen l . Harrison, to the letter of the P. to the Secretary of War of May 24, to the issuing of the commission of Major General to General Jackson, and the letter of the Secretary of War accompanying it.
The following course will be observed in future:
To be previously communicated to the President:
1. Orders from the Dept. of War establishing general or permanent regulations.
2. Orders for Courts of Enquiry or Courts Martial, on general officers; or designating the numbers or members of the Courts.
3. Commissions or notifications of appointment to officers other than regular promotions, in uncontested cases.
4. Dismissions of officers from the service.
5. Consolidations of Corps or parts of Corps translations of F d . officers from one Regiment to another.
6. Acceptances refusals of resignations from officers above the rank of Captains.
7. Requisitions receptions of militia into the service pay of the U. S.
8. Instructions relating to Treaties with Indians.
9. Instructions to officers commanding military Districts, or Corps or Stations, relative to military movements or operations.
10. Changes in the boundaries of military Districts, or the establishm t of separate commands therein; or the transfer of General officers from one District or command to another District or command.
In the absence of the P. from the seat of Gov t previous communications to him may be waived in urgent cases, but to be subsequently made without delay.
All letters giving military intelligence or containing other matters intended or proper for the knowledge of the P. will of course be immediately communicated to him.
These rules may omit cases falling within, and embrace cases not entirely within, the reason of them. Experience therefore may improve the rules. In the meantime, they will give a more suitable order course to the business of the Dep t . will conduce to a more certain harmony cooperation in the proceedings of the several Departments, and will furnish the proper opportunity for the advantage of cabinet consultations on cases of a nature to render them expedient.
I rec d yours of 11 P. M. about 20 minutes ago. You will hear from Genl. A. or myself by other express who will leave this about 9 or 10 o’C. If the force of the Enemy be not greater than yet appears, he be without Cavalry, it seems extraordinary that he sh d venture on an enterprize to this distance from his shipping. He may however count on the effect of boldness celerity on his side, and the want of precaution on ours. He may be bound also to do something, therefore to risk everything. We know little of what is passing in the Potowmac. A company of regular recruits from V a arrived here last evening. Nothing new from the North or from abroad.
Since mine of this morning Tatham has come and speaks of reinforcements to the first Column of the Enemy at Notingham. Taylor, I understand is also here just from Parker, with a report that the Enemy have 3000 in the Potowmac. This must be a great exaggeration, if there be not more shipping than we know of. It w d . seem not improbable that if they have land force of any sensible importance, that it would be equal to some distinct object, otherwise it w d . not be taken from the real operative force. It is s d . Parker is moving up parallel with the frigates; but at what point they were I do not learn. I take for granted that there are arrangements where you are for quick intelligence from every important point. The papers of all the Officers are under way to retired places. 1 I fear not much can be done more than has been done to strengthen the hands of Genl. W[inder]. As fast as succorers arrive here they will be hastened on, but the crisis I presume will be of such short duration, that but few Even from the neighboring Country will be on the ground before it is over. Gen l Douglas’s Brigade will receive another spur, so will the Militia who are to rendevouz at a Church in Fairfax near this. Wadsworth is taking measures for defensive works on the road about Blandensb g .
It appears that the reinforcements in Canada, amount to 8 or 10,000.
We reached our quarters last evening at the Camp between 8 9 oC. and made out very well. I have passed the forenoon among the troops who are in high spirits make a good appearance. The reports as to the enemy have varied every hour. The last probably truest information is that they are not very strong, and are without cavalry or artillery; and of course that they are not in a condition to strike at Washington. It is believed also that they are not about to move from Marlbro’, unless it be from an apprehension of our gathering force, and on a retreat to their ships. It is possible however they may have a greater force or expect one, than has been represented or that their temerity may be greater than their strength. I sent you a message last night by Col. M. and one to-day by a messenger of Gen! Winder who set out at a moment when it was impossible to write. I have detained Shorter, that I might give you by him some final certain information. We expect any how to learn something further from the camp concerning the enemy. If it should be [of] a nature to make it advisable to return to the camp, you will not see me this evening; otherwise I hope I shall be with you in the course tho’ perhaps later in the evening
I met M r Cutts between this the camp, he returned with us to dinner here when we were offered it by the hospitality of M r Williams.
In the morning, a note, by an express from General Winder was handed me. It was addressed to the Secretary of War. Not doubting the urgency of the occasion, I opened and read it, and it went on immediately by the Express to Gen l Armstrong who lodged in the Seven Buildings. Finding by the note that the General requested the speediest counsel, I proceeded to his Head Quarters on the Eastern Branch, trusting for notice to the Secretary of War to follow, to the note from Winder. On my reaching his quarters, we were successively joined by the Secretary of State [who soon with our approbation repaired to Bladensburg] the Secretary of the Navy, and Mr. Rush, the Attorney General. After an hour or so, the Secretary of the Treasury arrived, and quickly after the Secretary of War. The latter had been impatiently expected, and surprize at his delay manifested. Gen. Winder was, at the moment setting off to hurry on the troops to Bladensburg in consequence of certain intelligence that the Enemy had taken that direction. Barney’s corps was also ordered thither, leaving the Bridge to be blown up if necessary. On Gen. Armstrong’s coming into the room, he was informed of the certain march of the enemy for Bladensburg, and of what had passed before his arrival; and he was asked whether he had any arrangement or advice to offer in the emergency. He said he had not; adding, that as the battle would be between Militia and regular troops, the former would be beaten.
On coming out of the house and mounting our horses, the Secretary of the Treasury, who though in a very languid state of health had turned out to join us, observed to me privately that he was grieved to see the great reserve of the Secretary of War, [he lodged in the same house with him] who was taking no part on so critical an occasion; that he found him under the impression, that as the means of defending the District had been committed to Gen l . Winder, it might not be delicate to intrude his opinions without the approbation of the President; tho’ with that approbation he was ready to give any aid he could. Mr. Campbell said that notwithstanding his just confidence in Gen l Winder, he thought, in the present state of things which called for all the military skill possible, the Military knowledge and experience of the Secretary of War ought to be availed of, and that no considerations of delicacy ought to jeopard the public safety. With these impressions he said, he had thought it his duty to make this communication, and was very anxious, that I should take some proper steps in the case. I told him I could scarcely conceive it possible that Gen l . Armstrong could have so misconstrued his functions and duty as Secretary of war; that he could not but know that any proper directions from him would receive any sanction that might be necessary from the Executive; nor doubt that any suggestions or advice from him to Gen l . Winder would be duly attended to [in this case it had been requested in writing] I told M r C. that I would speak to the Secretary of War explicitly on the subject; and accordingly turning my horse to him, expressed to him my concern and surprise at the reserve he shewed at the present crisis, and at the scruples I understood he had at offering his advice or opinions; that I hoped he had not construed the paper of instructions given him some time before, [see the paper of Aug t . 13, 1814] so as to restrain him in any respect from the exercise of functions belonging to his office; that at such a juncture it was to be expected that he should omit nothing within the proper agency of Secretary of War, towards the public defence; and that I thought it proper particularly that he should proceed to Bladensburg and give any aid to Gen l . Winder that he could; observing that if any difficulty on the score of authority should arise, which was not likely, I should be near at hand to remove it [it was my purpose in case there should be time, to have the members of the Cabinet together in Bladensburg, where it was expected Gen l Winder would be, and in consultation with him to decide on the arrangements suited to the posture of things.] He said in reply that he had put no such construction on the paper of instructions as was alluded to; and that as I thought it proper, he would proceed to Bladensburg, and be of any service to Gen l Winder he could. The purport of this conversation I communicated to Mr. Campbell who remained near us. The Secretary of War set off without delay to Bladensburg.
After a short turn to the Marine barracks whither the Secretary of the Navy had gone, I mentioned to Mr. Rush who was with me my purpose of going to Bladensburg and my object in so doing. He readily accompanied me. On approaching the Town, we learned from William Simmons, that Winder was not there, and that the enemy were entering it. We rode up to him [Winder] instantly. The Secretaries of State and War were with him. I asked the latter whether he had spoken with Gen l Winder on the subject of his arrangements and views. He said he had not. I remarked that tho’ there was so little time for it, it was possible he might offer some advice or suggestion that might not be too late, to be turned to account; on which he rode up to the General as I did myself. The unruliness of my horse prevented me from joining in the short conversation that took place. When it was over, I asked Gen l Armstrong whether he had seen occasion to suggest any improvement in any part of the arrangements. He said that he had not; that from his view of them they appeared to be as good as circumstances admitted.
When the Battle had decidedly commenced, I observed to the Secretary of War and Secretary of State that it would be proper to withdraw to a position in the rear, where we could act according to circumstances; leaving military movements now to the military functionaries who were responsible for them. This we did, Mr. Rush soon joining us. When it became manifest that the battle was lost; Mr. Rush accompanying me, I fell down into the road leading to the city and returned to it.
It had been previously settled that in the event of the enemy’s taking possession of the city, and the necessity of Executive consultations elsewhere, Fredericktown would be the proper place for the assembling of the Cabinet. 1
I expected this morning to have reached General W. and yourself before your departure from Mongtomery C. H., but was delayed so that I did not arrive there till six o’clock, partly to obtain quarters, partly to be within communication with you. I have proceeded thus far, in company with Mr. Rush, General Mason, 1 c., and avail myself of the bearer to inform you, that I will either wait here till you join me, or follow and join you, as you may think best. Let me know your idea on the subject by the bearer. If you decide on coming hither, the sooner the better. Mr. Rush will remain here also. Mr. Jones is with my family and his own on the other side of the Potomac, but will come to the city the moment he hears of its evacuation. General Armstrong and Mr. Campbell are, I understand, at Fredericktown. I shall give them immediate notice of the change in the state of things, and desire them to conform to it. A letter from General Smith (of Winchester) to General A. was put in my hands, by an express at Montgomery C. H., stating that a brigade of militia could come on or not, as might be desired. I have sent it open to Gen. W., who can judge best of the answer proper to be given, and will act on the letter accordingly.
James Monroe, Esq.,
Secretary of State.
To be opened by Gen. Winder.
Finding that our army has left Montgomery C. H. we pushed on to this place, with a view to join it, or proceed to the City, as further information might prescribe. I have just recd. a line from Col Monroe saying that the enemy were out of Washington on the retreat to their ships, advising our immediate return to Washington. We shall accordingly set out thither immediately, you will all of course take the same resolution. I know not where we are in the first instance, to hide our heads; but shall look for a place on my arrival Mr Rush offers his house in the six buildings the offer claims attention. Perhaps I may fall in with Mr Cutts have the aid of his advice. I saw Mr Bradley at Montgomery C. H. who told me that Mr. Cutts was well. Jamey will give you some particulars truly yours.
P.S. I have not time to write, since the above it is found necessary to detain Jamey send a trooper.
In the evening of the 29th of August, 1814, Being on horseback, I stopped at General Armstrong’s lodgings for the purpose of communicating with him on the state of things in the District, then under apprehensions of an immediate visit from the force of the enemy at Alexandria.
I observed to him that he could not be unaware of the great excitement in the District produced by the unfortunate event which had taken place in the city; that violent prejudices were known to exist against the administration, as having failed in its duty to protect it, particularly against me and himself as head of the War Department; that threats of personal violence had, it was said, been thrown out against us both, but more especially against him; that it had been sufficiently known for several days, and before his return 1 to the city (which was about one o’clock P.M. of the 29th) that the temper of the troops was such as made it expedient, if possible, that he should have nothing to do with them; that I had within a few hours received a message from the commanding General of the Militia informing me that every officer would tear off his epauletts if Gen l Armstrong was to have anything to do with them; that before his arrival there was less difficulty, as Mr. Monroe who was very acceptable to them, had, as on preceding occasions of his absence, though very reluctantly on this, been the medium for the functions of Secretary of War, but that since his return and presence, the expedient could not be continued, and the question was, what was best to be done. Any convulsion at so critical a moment could not but have the worst consequences.
He said he had been aware of the excitement against him; that it was altogether artificial, and that he knew the sources of it, and the intrigues by which it had been effected, which this was not the proper time for examining; that the excitement was founded on the most palpable falsehoods, and was limited to this spot; that it was evident he could not remain here, and the functions belonging to him divided or exercised by any one else, without forgetting what he owed to his station, and to himself; that he had come into his office with the sole view of serving the public, and was willing to resign it when he could no longer do so with honor and effect; that if it was thought best therefore that he should adopt this course, he was ready to give up his appointment; or he could, with my permission, retire from the scene, by setting out immediately on a visit to his family in the State of New York.
I observed that a resignation was an extent which had not been contemplated; that if made under such circumstances, it might receive constructions which could not be desirable, either in a public or a personal view; that a temporary retirement, as he suggested, tho’ also subject to be viewed in some lights not agreeable, was on the whole less objectionable, and would avoid the existing embarrassment, without precluding any future course which might be deemed most fit.
He dwelt on the groundless nature of the charges which had produced the excitement, and on the limits within which they had and would operate; affirming that his conduct in relation to the defence of the city c. had proved that there had been no deficiency on his part.
I told him that I well knew that some of the particular charges brought against him were destitute of foundation, and that as far as they produced the discontents, these would be limited both as to time and space; but that I suspected the discontents to be in a great measure rooted in the belief that he had not taken a sufficient interest in the defence of the city, nor promoted the measures for it; and considering the heavy calamity which had fallen on the place and on its inhabitants, it was natural that strong feelings would be excited on the spot; and as the place was the Capital of the nation every where else also. I added that it would not be easy to satisfy the nation that the event was without blame somewhere, and I could not in candour say that all that ought to have been done had been done in proper time.
He returned to an exculpation of himself, and remarked that he had omitted no preparations or steps whatever for the safety of the place which had been enjoined on him.
I replied that as the conversation was a frank one, I could not admit this justification; that it was the duty of the Secretary of War not only to execute plans, or orders committed to him, but to devise and propose such as would in his opinion be necessary and proper; that it was an obvious and essential part of his charge, and that in what related to military plans and proceedings elsewhere, he had never been scrupulous or backward in taking this course; that on the contrary he well knew from what on another occasion 1 had passed between us, he had taken a latitude in this respect which I was not satisfied with, that it was due to truth and to myself to say, that he had never appeared to enter into a just view either of the danger to the city which was to be apprehended, or of the consequences of its falling into the hands of the Enemy; that he had never himself proposed or suggested a single precaution or arrangement for its safety, everything done on that subject having been brought forward by myself, and that the apparent difference of his views on that subject from mine had naturally induced a reduction of my arrangements to the minimum, in order to obtrude the less on a reluctant execution. I reminded him also that he had fallen short of the preparations even decided on in the Cabinet, in some respects; particularly in not having arms and equipments brought to convenient depôts from distant ones, some of the militia, when called on for the defence of the City, being obliged to get arms first at Harper’s ferry.
I remarked that it was not agreeable thus to speak, nor on an occasion less urgent would it be done; that I had selected him for the office he filled from a respect to his talents, and a confidence that he would exert them for the public good; that I had always treated him with friendliness and confidence and that as there was but a short distance before me to the end of my public career, my great wish, next to leaving my country in a state of peace and prosperity, was to have preserved harmony and avoid changes, and that I had accordingly as he well knew acquiesced in many things, to which no other consideration would have reconciled me.
He said he was very sensible of my friendly conduct towards him, and always had, and always should respect me for it.
The conversation was closed by my referring to the idea of his setting out in the Morning on a visit to his family; and observing that he would of course revolve it further, and if he continued to think of it as he then did, he would consider me as opposing no restraint. We parted as usual in a friendly manner. On the next morning he sent me word by Mr. Parker that he should proceed immediately to visit his family; and on his arrival at Baltimore, transmitted his resignation.
Whereas the enemy by a sudden incursion have succeeded in invading the capital of the nation, defended at the moment by troops less numerous than their own and almost entirely of the militia, during their possession of which, though for a single day only, they wantonly destroyed the public edifices, having no relation in their structure to operations of war nor used at the time for military annoyance, some of these edifices being also costly monuments of taste and of the arts, and others depositories of the public archives, not only precious to the nation as the memorials of its origin and its early transactions, but interesting to all nations as contributions to the general stock of historical instruction and political science; and
Whereas advantage has been taken of the loss of a fort more immediately guarding the neighboring town of Alexandria to place the town within the range of a naval force too long and too much in the habit of abusing its superiority wherever it can be applied to require as the alternative of a general conflagration an undisturbed plunder of private property, which has been executed in a manner peculiarly distressing to the inhabitants, who had inconsiderately cast themselves upon the justice and generosity of the victor; and
Whereas it now appears by a direct communication from the British commander on the American station to be his avowed purpose to employ the force under his direction “in destroying and laying waste such towns and districts upon the coast as may be found assailable,” adding to this declaration the insulting pretext that it is in retaliation for a wanton destruction committed by the army of the United States in Upper Canada, when it is notorious that no destruction has been committed, which, notwithstanding the multiplied outrages previously committed by the enemy was not unauthorized, and promptly shown to be so and that the United States have been as constant in their endeavors to reclaim the enemy from such outrages by the contrast of their own example as they have been ready to terminate on reasonable conditions the war itself; and
Whereas these proceedings and declared purposes, which exhibit a deliberate disregard of the principles of humanity and the rules of civilized warfare, and which must give to the existing war a character of extended devastation and barbarism at the very moment of negotiations for peace, invited by the enemy himself, leave no prospect of safety to anything within the reach of his predatory and incendiary operations but in manful and universal determination to chastise and expel the invader:
Now, therefore, I, James Madison, President of the United States, do issue this my proclamation, exhorting all the good people thereof to unite their hearts and hands in giving effect to the ample means possessed for that purpose. I enjoin it on all officers, civil and military, to exert themselves in executing the duties with which they are respectively charged; and more especially I require the officers commanding the respective military districts to be vigilant and alert in providing for the defense thereof, for the more effectual accomplishment of which they are authorized to call to the defense of exposed and threatened places portions of the militia most convenient thereto, whether they be or be not parts of the quotas detached for the service of the United States under requisitions of the General Government.
On an occasion which appeals so forcibly to the proud feelings and patriotic devotion of the American people none will forget what they owe to themselves, what they owe to their country and the high destinies which await it, what to the glory acquired by their fathers in establishing the independence which is now to be maintained by their sons with the augmented strength and resources with which time and Heaven had blessed them.
In testimony whereof c. (September 1, 1814.)
Notwithstanding the early day which had been fixed for your session of the present year, I was induced to call you together still sooner, as well that any inadequacy in the existing provisions for the wants of the Treasury might be supplied as that no delay might happen in providing for the result of the negotiations on foot with Great Britain, whether it should require arrangements adapted to a return of peace or further and more effective provisions for prosecuting the war.
That result is not yet known. If, on the one hand, the repeal of the orders in council and the general pacification in Europe, which withdrew the occasion on which impressments from American vessels were practiced, suggest expectations that peace and amity may be reestablished, we are compelled, on the other hand, by the refusal of the British Government to accept the offered mediation of the Emperor of Russia, by the delays in giving effect to its own proposal of a direct negotiation, and, above all, by the principles and manner in which the war is now avowedly carried on to infer that a spirit of hostility is indulged more violent than ever against the rights and prosperity of this country.
This increased violence is best explained by the two important circumstances that the great contest in Europe for an equilibrium guaranteeing all its States against the ambition of any has been closed without any check on the overbearing power of Great Britain on the ocean, and it has left in her hands disposable armaments, with which, forgetting the difficulties of a remote war with a free people, and yielding to the intoxication of success, with the example of a great victim of it before her eyes, she cherishes hopes of still further aggrandizing a power already formidable in its abuses to the tranquillity of the civilized and commercial world.
But whatever may have inspired the enemy with these more violent purposes, the public councils of a nation more able to maintain than it was to acquire its independence, and with a devotion to it rendered more ardent by the experience of its blessings, can never deliberate but on the means most effectual for defeating the extravagant views or unwarrantable passions with which alone the war can now be pursued against us.
In the events of the present campaign the enemy, with all his augmented means and wanton use of them, has little ground for exultation, unless he can feel it in the success of his recent enterprises against this metropolis and the neighboring town of Alexandria, from both of which his retreats were as precipitate as his attempts were bold and fortunate. In his other incursions on our Atlantic frontier his progress, often checked and chastised by the martial spirit of the neighboring citizens, has had more effect in distressing individuals and in dishonoring his arms than in promoting any object of legitimate warfare; and in the two instances mentioned, however deeply to be regretted on our part, he will find in his transient success, which interrupted for a moment only the ordinary public business at the seat of Government, no compensation for the loss of character with the world by his violations of private property and by his destruction of public edifices protected as monuments of the arts by the laws of civilized warfare.
On our side we can appeal to a series of achievements which have given new luster to the American arms. Besides the brilliant incidents in the minor operations of the campaign, the splendid victories gained on the Canadian side of the Niagara by the American forces under Major-General Brown and Brigadiers Scott and Gaines have gained for these heroes and their emulating companions the most unfading laurels, and, having triumphantly tested the progressive discipline of the American soldiery, have taught the enemy that the longer he protracts his hostile efforts the more certain and decisive will be his final discomfiture.
On our southern border victory has continued also to follow the American standard. The bold and skillful operations of Major-General Jackson, conducting troops drawn from the militia of the States least distant, particularly of Tennessee, have subdued the principal tribes of hostile savages, and, by establishing a peace with them, preceded by recent and exemplary chastisement, has best guarded against the mischief of their co-operation with the British enterprises which may be planned against that quarter of our country. Important tribes of Indians on our north-western frontier have also acceded to stipulations which bind them to the interests of the United States and to consider our enemy as theirs also.
In the recent attempt of the enemy on the city of Baltimore, defended by militia and volunteers, aided by a small body of regulars and seamen, he was received with a spirit which produced a rapid retreat to his ships, whilst a concurrent attack by a large fleet was successfully resisted by the steady and well-directed fire of the fort and batteries opposed to it.
In another recent attack by a powerful force on our troops at Plattsburg, of which regulars made a part only, the enemy, after a perseverance for many hours, was finally compelled to seek safety in a hasty retreat, with our gallant bands pressing upon him.
On the Lakes, so much contested throughout the war, the great exertions for the command made on our part have been well repaid. On Lake Ontario our squadron is now and has been for some time in a condition to confine that of the enemy to his own port, and to favor the operations of our land forces on that frontier.
A part of the squadron on Lake Erie has been extended into Lake Huron, and has produced the advantage of displaying our command on that lake also. One object of the expedition was the reduction of Mackinaw, which failed with the loss of a few brave men, among whom was an officer justly distinguished for his gallant exploits. The expedition, ably conducted by both the land and the naval commanders, was otherwise highly valuable in its effects.
On Lake Champlain, where our superiority had for some time been undisputed, the British squadron lately came into action with the American, commanded by Captain Macdonough. It issued in the capture of the whole of the enemy’s ships. The best praise for this officer and his intrepid comrades is in the likeness of his triumph to the illustrious victory which immortalized another officer and established at a critical moment our command of another lake.
On the ocean the pride of our naval arms has been amply supported. A second frigate has indeed fallen into the hands of the enemy, but the loss is hidden in the blaze of heroism with which she was defended. Captain Porter, who commanded her, and whose previous career had been distinguished by daring enterprise and by fertility of genius, maintained a sanguinary contest against two ships, one of them superior to his own, and under other severe disadvantages, till humanity tore down the colors which valor had nailed to the mast. This officer and his brave comrades have added much to the rising glory of the American flag, and have merited all the effusions of gratitude which their country is ever ready to bestow on the champions of its rights and of its safety.
Two smaller vessels of war have also become prizes to the enemy, but by a superiority of force which sufficiently vindicates the reputation of their commanders, whilst two others, one commanded by Captain Warrington, the other by Captain Blakely, have captured British ships of the same class with a gallantry and good conduct which entitle them and their companions to a just share in the praise of their country.
In spite of the naval force of the enemy accumulated on our coasts, our private cruisers also have not ceased to annoy his commerce and to bring their rich prizes into our ports, contributing thus, with other proofs, to demonstrate the incompetency and illegality of a blockade the proclamation of which is made the pretext for vexing and discouraging the commerce of neutral powers with the United States.
To meet the extended and diversified warfare adopted by the enemy, great bodies of militia have been taken into service for the public defense, and great expenses incurred. That the defense everywhere may be both more convenient and more economical, Congress will see the necessity of immediate measures for filling the ranks of the Regular Army and of enlarging the provision for special corps, mounted and unmounted, to be engaged for longer periods of service than are due from the militia. I earnestly renew, at the same time, a recommendation of such changes in the system of the militia as, by classing and disciplining for the most prompt and active service the portions most capable of it, will give to that great resource for the public safety all the requisite energy and efficiency.
The moneys received into the Treasury during the nine months ending on the 30th day of June last amounted to $32,000,000, of which near eleven millions were the proceeds of the public revenue and the remainder derived from loans. The disbursements for public expenditures during the same period exceeded $34,000,000, and left in the Treasury on the 1st day of July near $5,000,000. The demands during the remainder of the present year already authorized by Congress and the expenses incident to an extension of the operations of the war will render it necessary that large sums should be provided to meet them.
From this view of the national affairs Congress will be urged to take up without delay as well the subject of pecuniary supplies as that of military force, and on a scale commensurate with the extent and the character which the war has assumed. It is not to be disguised that the situation of our country calls for its greatest efforts. Our enemy is powerful in men and in money, on the land and on the water. Availing himself of fortuitous advantages, he is aiming with his undivided force a deadly blow at our growing prosperity, perhaps at our national existence. He has avowed his purpose of trampling on the usages of civilized warfare, and given earnest of it in the plunder and wanton destruction of private property. In his pride of maritime dominion and in his thirst of commercial monopoly he strikes with peculiar animosity at the progress of our navigation and of our manufactures. His barbarous policy has not even spared those monuments of the arts and models of taste with which our country had enriched and embellished its infant metropolis. From such an adversary hostility in its greatest force and in its worst forms may be looked for. The American people will face it with the undaunted spirit which in their revolutionary struggle defeated his unrighteous projects. His threats and his barbarities, instead of dismay, will kindle in every bosom an indignation not to be extinguished but in the disaster and expulsion of such cruel invaders. In providing the means necessary the National Legislature will not distrust the heroic and enlightened patriotism of its constituents. They will cheerfully and proudly bear every burden of every kind which the safety and honor of the nation demand. We have seen them everywhere paying their taxes, direct and indirect, with the greatest promptness and alacrity. We see them rushing with enthusiasm to the scenes where danger and duty call. In offering their blood they give the surest pledge that no other tribute will be withheld.
Having forborne to declare war until to other aggressions had been added the capture of nearly a thousand American vessels and the impressment of thousands of American seafaring citizens, and until a final declaration had been made by the Government of Great Britain that her hostile orders against our commerce would not be revoked but on conditions as impossible as unjust, whilst it was known that these orders would not otherwise cease but with a war which had lasted nearly twenty years, and which, according to appearances at that time, might last as many more; having manifested on every occasion and in every proper mode a sincere desire to arrest the effusion of blood and meet our enemy on the ground of justice and reconciliation, our beloved country, in still opposing to his persevering hostility all its energies, with an undiminished disposition toward peace and friendship on honorable terms, must carry with it the good wishes of the impartial world and the best hopes of support from an omnipotent and kind Providence.
Mr. Monroe having just been appointed Sec y . of War it is necessary to provide for the vacancy resulting in the Dep t . of State. Wishing to avail the U. S. of y r . talents services, I take the liberty of requesting permission to name you to the Senate as his successor. I am aware of the very important station, from which their concurrence will withdraw you; but I justify my personal wish to see you a member of the Ex. family, by my persuasion, that the one contemplated will afford still greater scope for the benefits w ch . you have given so many proofs of your disposition to render to our Country. I need not suggest that as early an answer as you can make convenient will be acceptable.
Your favor of the 24th Ult: came duly to hand. I learn that the Library Com e . will report favorably on your proposition to supply the loss of books by Cong s . It will prove a gain to them, if they have the wisdom to replace it by such a Collection as yours. Mr. Smith will doubtless write you on the subject. 1
I have not yet read your last communication to Mr. Monroe on the subject of finance. 2 It seems clear, according to your reasoning in the preceding one, that a circulating medium, to take the place of a bank or metallic medium, may be created by law and made to answer the purpose of a loan, or rather anticipation of a tax; but as the resource cannot be extended beyond the amount of a sufficient medium, and of course cannot be continued but by successive re-emissions redemptions by taxes, resort must eventually be had to loans of the usual sort, or an augmentation of taxes, according to the public exigencies: I say augmentations of taxes, because these absorbing a larger sum into circulation, will admit an enlargement of the medium employed for the purpose. In England where the paper medium, is a legal tender in paying a hundred millions of taxes, thirty millions of interest to the public creditors c c, and in private debts, so as to stay a final recovery, we have seen what a mass of paper has been kept afloat, with little if any depreciation. That the difference in value between the circulating notes and the metals proceeded rather from the rise in the latter than from the depreciation of the former, is now proved by the fact, that the notes are, notwithstanding a late increase of their quantity, rising towards a par with the metals, in consequence of a favorable balance of trade which diminishes the demand of them for foreign markets.
We have just received despatches from Ghent, which I shall lay before Cong s . to-day. 1 The British sine qua non, excluded us from fishing within the sovereignty attached to her shores, and from using these in curing fish; required a Cession of as much of Maine as w d remove the obstruction to a direct communication between Quebec Halifax, confirmed to her the Passamaquoddy Islands as always hers of right; included in the pacification the Indian Allies, with a boundary for them (such as that of the Treaty of Greenville) ag st the U. S. mutually guarantied, and the Indians restrained from selling their lands to either party, but free to sell them to a third party; prohibited the U. S. from having an armed force on the Lakes or forts on their shores, the British prohibited as to neither; and substituted for the present N. W. limit of the U. S. a line running direct from the W. end of L. Superior to the Mississippi, with a right of G. B. to the navigation of this river. Our ministers were all present, in perfect harmony of opinion on the arrogance of such demands. They w d . probably leave Ghent shortly after the sailing of the vessel just arrived. Nothing can prevent it, but a sudden change in the B. Cabinet not likely to happen, tho’ it might be somewhat favored by an indignant rupture of the negotiation, as well as by the intelligence from this Country, and the fermentations taking place in Europe.
I intended to have said something on the changes in the Cabinet, involving in one instance, circumstances of which the public can as yet very little judge, but cannot do it now.
The situation of Sacketts Harbour is very critical. I hope for the best, but have serious apprehensions.
With truest affection always y rs .
(Private.)
The Committee appointed by the H. of Rep s . 2 to enquire into the causes of the late military events in this District have called for information on the members of the Cabinet, and the call will embrace you. That you may be under no restraint whatever from official or personal confidence, I think it proper to intimate to you, that in relation to myself, I hope no information you may be able to give will be withheld, from either of those considerations.
I am so far from wishing to circumscribe the range of enquiry, on the subject, that I am anxious that every circumstance may be reached that can throw light on it. I am the more anxious, because I understand that a statement furnished by the late Secretary of War, implicates me in two particulars, 1. that I committed to him, the direction of the military operations on the field of battle, which I could not even legally do, 2. that at a critical moment I interposed prevented it.
On the latter point, I am aware that as you were not on the ground, you can have no direct knowledge may be without a knowledge of any circumstances indirectly bearing on it. It is a point however which I believe can be disproved by evidence as decisive as can be required to establish the negative.
On the first point your memory may furnish circumstances not unimportant, as the statement in question has doubtless reference to the conversation with Genl. Armstrong on the morning of Aug. 24, to which I was led by the regret you expressed at his apparent reserve on so momentous a crisis, your suggestion that he might be kept back by some feeling of delicacy in relation to Genl. Winder.
The conversation was held very near to you, but no part of it might be within your hearing. Your recollection of my reply to your remarks, of my communication of what passed between me Genl. Armstrong may, in connection with recollections of others, aid in elucidating truth.
I have heard with pleasure that you were far advanced on your journey to Nashville, and that your health was improving. With my sincere wishes for its perfect restoration, accept assurances of my great esteem my friendly respects.
I did not receive your favor of the 11th instant till a few days ago, and I have till now been too much indisposed to acknowledge it.
You are not mistaken in viewing the conduct of the Eastern States as the source of our greatest difficulties in carrying on the war, as it certainly is the greatest, if not the sole, inducement with the enemy to persevere in it. The greater part of the people in that quarter have been brought by their leaders, aided by their priests, under a delusion scarcely exceeded by that recorded in the period of witchcraft; and the leaders are becoming daily more desperate in the use they make of it. Their object is power. If they could obtain it by menaces, their efforts would stop there. These failing, they are ready to go every length for which they can train their followers. Without foreign co-operation, revolts separation will be hardly risked; and what the effect of so profligate an experiment may be, first on deluded partizans, and next on those remaining faithful to the nation who are respectable for their consistency, and even for their numbers, is for conjecture only. The best may be hoped, but the worst ought to be kept in view. In the mean time the course to be taken by the Govt is full of delicacy perplexity; and the more so under the pinch which exists in our fiscal affairs, the lamentable tardiness of the Legislature in applying some relief.
At such a moment the vigorous support of the well disposed States is peculiarly important to the General Govt; and it would be impossible for me to doubt that Virga, under your administration of its Executive Govt, will continue to be among the foremost in zealous exertions for the national rights and success.
Be pleased to accept assurances of my esteem respect.
M r . Jones having retired from the Secretaryship of the Navy, my thoughts have been turned to you as a desirable Successor; and I have this day sent in your name to the Senate for the appointment. I hope you will excuse my doing it without your consent which would have been asked, if the business of that Dep t . had less urged an avoidance of delay. The same consideration will apologize for my hoping that it will not be inconsistent with your views to aid your Country in that Station, nor with your conveniency to be prepared to repair to it as soon as you may receive notice that the Senate have given effect to the nomination.
Accept Sir assurances of my esteem and of my friendly respects.
Your favor of the 28th Ult o . was duly received, though with more delay, than usually attends the mail. I return the interesting letter from your son, with my thanks for the opportunity of perusing it.
I have caused the archives of the Department of State to be searched with an eye to what passed during the negotiation for peace on the subject of the fisheries. The search has not furnished a precise answer to the enquiry of Mr. Adams. It appears from one of your letters referring to the instructions accompanying the commission to make a Treaty of commerce with Great Britain, that the original views of Congress did not carry their Ultimatum, beyond the common right to fish in waters distant three leagues from the British shores. The negotiations therefore, and not the instructions, if no subsequent change of them took place, have the merit of the terms actually obtained. That other instructions, founded on the Resolutions of Congress, issued at subsequent periods cannot be doubted, though as yet they do not appear. But how far they distinguished between the common use of the sea, and the use, then common also, of the shores, in carrying on the fisheries, I have no recollection.
The view of the discussions at Ghent presented by the private letters of all our Ministers there, as well as by their official despatches, leaves no doubt of the policy of the British Cabinet, so forcibly illustrated by the letter of Mr. Adams to you. 1 Our Enemy knowing that he has peace in his own hands, speculates on the fortune of events. Should these be unfavorable, he can at any moment, as he supposes, come to our terms. Should they correspond with his hopes, his demands may be insisted on, or even extended. The point to be decided by our Ministers is, whether during the uncertainty of events, a categorical alternative of immediate peace, or a rupture of the negotiation, would not be preferable to a longer acquiescence in the gambling procrastinations of the other party. It may be presumed that they will before this, have pushed the negotiations to this point.
It is very agreeable to find that the superior ability which distinguishes the notes of our Envoys, extorts commendation from the most obdurate of their political Enemies. And we have the further satisfaction to learn that the cause they are pleading, is beginning to overcome the prejudice which misrepresentations had spread over the continent of Europe against it. The British Government is neither inattentive to this approaching revolution in the public opinion there, nor blind to its tendency. If it does not find in it a motive to immediate peace, it will infer the necessity of shortening the war by bringing upon us, the ensuing Campaign, what it will consider as a force not to be resisted by us.
It were to be wished that this consideration had more effect in quickening the preparatory measures of Congress. I am unwilling to say how much distress in every branch of our affairs is the fruit of their tardiness; nor would it be necessary to you, who will discern the extent of the evil, in the symptoms from which it is to be inferred.
I pray you Sir to accept assurances of my distinguished esteem and best regards.
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 every where 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.
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.
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 co-operation 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 cannot 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.
Being desirous of obtaining for the Department of War, 1 services which I thought you could render with peculiar advantage, and hoping that for a time at least you might consent to step into that Department, I took the liberty, without a previous communication, for which there was not time, to nominate you as successor to Mr. Monroe, who was called back to the Department of State. I had not a doubt from all the calculations I could make, that the Senate would readily concur in my views; and if a doubt had arisen, it would have been banished by the confidence of the best informed and best disposed with whom I conferred, that the nomination would be welcomed where it was to be decided on. Contrary to these confident expectations, an opposition was disclosed in an extent, which determined me to withdraw the nomination. But before the Message arrived, the Senate very unexpectedly had taken up the subject and proceeded to a decision. They promptly however relaxed so far as to erase the proceeding from their Journal, and in that mode to give effect to the withdrawal.
I have thought this explanation due both to me and to yourself. I sincerely regret the occasion for it. But to whatever blame I may have subjected myself, I trust you will see in the course taken by me, a proof of the high value I place on your public, and of the esteem I feel for your personal character. Permit me to add that I have been not a little consoled for the occurrence to which I have been accessory, by the diffusive expression to which it has led, of sentiments such as your best friends have heard with most pleasure.
Accept assurances of my great respect and sincere regard
It was long desirable that an Expose of the causes and character of the War between the U. S. G. B. 1 should remedy the mischief produced by the Declaration of the Prince Regent other misstatements which had poisoned the opinion of the world on the subject. Since the pacification in Europe the effect of that and other occurrences in turning the attention of that quarter of the World towards the U. S. the antidote became at once more necessary more hopeful. It was accordingly determined soon after the meeting of Cong s that a correct full view of the War, should be prepared made public in the usual Demiofficial form. The commencement of it was however somewhat delayed by the probability of an early termination of the Negotiations at Ghent, either, in a peace, or in a new epoch particularly inviting a new appeal to the neutral public. The long suspension of intelligence from our Envoys, the critical state of our affairs at home, as well as abroad, finally overruled this delay, and the execution of the task was committed to Mr. Dallas. Altho’ he hastened it as much as the nature of it, and his other laborious attentions admitted, it was not finished in time for publication before the news of peace arrived. The latter pages had not even been struck off at the press. Under these circumstances, it became a question whether it should be published with a prefatory notice that it was written before the cessation of hostilities, and thence derived its spirit language; or should be suppressed, or written over with a view to preserve the substantial vindication of our Country ag st prevailing calumnies, and avoid asperities of every sort unbecoming the change in the relations of the two Countries. This last course, tho’ not a little difficult might have been best in itself, but it required a time labour not to be spared for it, and the suppression was preferred to the first course, which w d have been liable to misconstructions of an injurious tendency. The printed copies however amounting to several hundred are not destroyed, and will hereafter contribute materials for a historical review of the period which the document embraces. I have thought a perusal of it might amuse an hour of your leisure; requesting only that as it is to be guarded ag st . publication, you will be so good as either to return the Copy, or to place it where it will be in no danger of escaping. You will observe, from the plan cast of the Work, that it was meant for the eye of the British people, and of our own, as well as for that of the Neutral world. This threefold object increased the labor not a little, and gives the composition some features not otherwise to be explained.
The despatch vessel with the peace via France, has just arrived. It brings little more than duplicates of what was rec d . via England. The affairs at Vienna remain in a fog, which rather thickens than disperses. The situation of France also has yet it would seem to pass some clearing up shower. The peace between this Country G. B. gives sincere pleasure there as relieving the Gov t . and the Nation, from the dilemma, of humiliating submissions to the antineutral measures of G. Britain, or a premature contest with her. In Spain, every thing suffers under the phrenzy of the Throne, and the fanaticism of the People. But for our peace with England, it is not impossible, that a new War from that quarter would have been opened upon us. The affair at New Orleans will perhaps be a better Guarantee ag st . such an event.
Mr. Smith will have communicated to you the result of our consultation on the transportation of the Library.
We are indulging hopes of paying a trip soon to our farm; and shall not fail, if it be practicable, to add to it the pleasure of a visit to Monticello.
Always with sincere affection y rs .,
I have the satisfaction on our present meeting of being able to communicate to you the successful termination of the war which had been commenced against the United States by the Regency of Algiers. The squadron in advance on that service, under Commodore Decatur, lost not a moment after its arrival in the Mediterranean in seeking the naval force of the enemy then cruising in that sea, and succeeded in capturing two of his ships, one of them the principal ship, commanded by the Algerine admiral. The high character of the American commander was brilliantly sustained on that occasion which brought his own ship into close action with that of his adversary, as was the accustomed gallantry of all the officers and men actually engaged. Having prepared the way by this demonstration of American skill and prowess, he hastened to the port of Algiers, where peace was promptly yielded to his victorious force. In the terms stipulated the rights and honor of the United States were particularly consulted by a perpetual relinquishment on the part of the Dey of all pretensions to tribute from them. The impressions which have thus been made, strengthened as they will have been by subsequent transactions with the Regencies of Tunis and of Tripoli by the appearance of the larger force which followed under Commodore Bainbridge, the chief in command of the expedition, and by the judicious precautionary arrangements left by him in that quarter, afford a reasonable prospect of future security for the valuable portion of our commerce which passes within reach of the Barbary cruisers.
It is another source of satisfaction that the treaty of peace with Great Britain has been succeeded by a convention on the subject of commerce concluded by the plenipotentiaries of the two countries. In this result a disposition is manifested on the part of that nation corresponding with the disposition of the United States, which it may be hoped will be improved into liberal arrangements on other subjects on which the parties have mutual interests, or which might endanger their future harmony. Congress will decide on the expediency of promoting such a sequel by giving effect to the measure of confining the American navigation to American seamen—a measure which, at the same time that it might have that conciliatory tendency, would have the further advantage of increasing the independence of our navigation and the resources for our maritime defence.
In conformity with the articles in the treaty of Ghent relating to the Indians, as well as with a view to the tranquillity of our western and northwestern frontiers, measures were taken to establish an immediate peace with the several tribes who had been engaged in hostilities against the United States. Such of them as were invited to Detroit acceded readily to a renewal of the former treaties of friendship. Of the other tribes who were invited to a station on the Mississippi the greater number have also accepted the peace offered to them. The residue, consisting of the more distant tribes or parts of tribes, remain to be brought over by further explanations, or by such other means as may be adapted to the dispositions they may finally disclose.
The Indian tribes within and bordering on the southern frontier, whom a cruel war on their part had compelled us to chastise into peace, have latterly shown a restlessness which has called for preparatory measures for repressing it, and for protecting the commissioners engaged in carrying the terms of the peace into execution.
The execution of the act fixing the military peace establishment has been attended with difficulties which even now can only be overcome by legislative aid. The selection of officers, the payment and discharge of the troops enlisted for the war, the payment of the retained troops and their reunion from detached and distant stations, the collection and security of the public property in the Quartermaster, Commissary, and Ordnance departments, and the constant medical assistance required in hospitals and garrisons rendered a complete execution of the act impracticable on the 1st of May, the period more immediately contemplated. As soon, however, as circumstances would permit, and as far as it has been practicable consistently with the public interests, the reduction of the Army has been accomplished; but the appropriations for its pay and for other branches of the military service having proved inadequate, the earliest attention to that subject will be necessary; and the expediency of continuing upon the peace establishment the staff officers who have hitherto been provisionally retained is also recommended to the consideration of Congress.
In the performance of the Executive duty upon this occasion there has not been wanting a just sensibility to the merits of the American Army during the late war; but the obvious policy and design in fixing an efficient military peace establishment did not afford an opportunity to distinguish the aged and infirm on account of their past services nor the wounded and disabled on account of their present sufferings. The extent of the reduction, indeed, unavoidably involved the exclusion of many meritorious officers of every rank from the service of their country; and so equal as well as so numerous were the claims to attention that a decision by the standard of comparative merit could seldom be attained. Judged, however, in candor by a general standard of positive merit, the Army register will, it is believed, do honor to the establishment, while the case of those officers whose names are not included in it devolves with the strongest interest upon the legislative authority for such provision as shall be deemed the best calculated to give support and solace to the veteran and the invalid, to display the beneficence as well as the justice of the Government, and to inspire a martial zeal for the public service upon every future emergency.
Although the embarrassments arising from the want of an uniform national currency have not been diminished since the adjournment of Congress, great satisfaction has been derived in contemplating the revival of the public credit and the efficiency of the public resources. The receipts into the Treasury from the various branches of revenue during the nine months ending on the 30th of September last have been estimated at $12,500,000; the issues of Treasury notes of every denomination during the same period amounted to the sum of $14,000,000, and there was also obtained upon loan during the same period a sum of $9,000,000, of which the sum of $6,000,000 was subscribed in cash and the sum of $3,000,000 in Treasury notes. With these means, added to the sum of $1,500,000, being the balance of money in the Treasury on the 1st day of January, there has been paid between the 1st of January and the 1st of October on account of the appropriations of the preceding and of the present year (exclusively of the amount of the Treasury notes subscribed to the loan and of the amount redeemed in the payment of duties and taxes) the aggregate sum of $33,500,000, leaving a balance then in the Treasury estimated at the sum of $3,000,000. Independent, however, of the arrearages due for military services and supplies, it is presumed that a further sum of $5,000,000, including the interest on the public debt payable on the 1st of January next, will be demanded at the Treasury to compete the expenditures of the present year, and for which the existing ways and means will sufficiently provide.
The national debt, as it was ascertained on the 1st of October last, amounted in the whole to the sum of $120,000,000, consisting of the unredeemed balance of the debt contracted before the late war ($39,000,000), the amount of the funded debt contracted in consequence of the war ($64,000,000), and the amount of the unfunded and floating debt, including the various issues of Treasury notes, $17,000,000, which is in a gradual course of payment. There will probably be some addition to the public debt upon the liquidation of various claims which are depending, and a conciliatory disposition on the part of Congress may lead honorably and advantageously to an equitable arrangement of the militia expenses incurred by the several States without the previous sanction or authority of the Government of the United States; but when it is considered that the new as well as the old portion of the debt has been contracted in the assertion of the national rights and independence, and when it is recollected that the public expenditures, not being exclusively bestowed upon subjects of a transient nature, will long be visible in the number and equipments of the American Navy, in the military works for the defense of our harbors and our frontiers, and in the supplies of our arsenals and magazines the amount will bear a gratifying comparison with the objects which have been attained, as well as with the resources of the country.
The arrangements of the finances with a view to the receipts and expenditures of a permanent peace establishment will necessarily enter into the deliberations of Congress during the present session. It is true that the improved condition of the public revenue will not only afford the means of maintaining the faith of the Government with its creditors inviolate, and of prosecuting successfully the measures of the most liberal policy, but will also justify an immediate alleviation of the burdens imposed by the necessities of the war. It is, however, essential to every modification of the finances that the benefits of an uniform national currency should be restored to the community. The absence of the precious metals will, it is believed, be a temporary evil, but until they can again be rendered the general medium of exchange it devolves on the wisdom of Congress to provide a substitute which shall equally engage the confidence and accommodate the wants of the citizens throughout the Union. If the operation of the State banks can not produce this result, the probable operation of a national bank will merit consideration; and if neither of these expedients be deemed effectual it may become necessary to ascertain the terms upon which the notes of the Government (no longer required as an instrument of credit) shall be issued upon motives of general policy as a common medium of circulation.
Notwithstanding the security for future repose which the United States ought to find in their love of peace and their constant respect for the rights of other nations, the character of the times particularly inculcates the lesson that, whether to prevent or repel danger, we ought not to be unprepared for it. This consideration will sufficiently recommend to Congress a liberal provision for the immediate extension and gradual completion of the works of defense, both fixed and floating, on our maritime frontier, and an adequate provision for guarding our inland frontier against dangers to which certain portions of it may continue to be exposed.
As an improvement in our military establishment, it will deserve the consideration of Congress whether a corps of invalids might not be so organized and employed as at once to aid in the support of meritorious individuals excluded by age or infirmities from the existing establishment, and to procure to the public the benefit of their stationary services and of their exemplary discipline. I recommend also an enlargement of the Military Academy already established, and the establishment of others in other sections of the Union; and I can not press too much on the attention of Congress such a classification and organization of the militia as will most effectually render it the safeguard of a free state. If experience has shewn in the recent splendid achievements of militia the value of this resource for the public defense, it has shewn also the importance of that skill in the use of arms and that familiarity with the essential rules of discipline which can not be expected from the regulations now in force. With this subject is intimately connected the necessity of accommodating the laws in every respect to the great object of enabling the political authority of the Union to employ promptly and effectually the physical power of the Union in the cases designated by the Constitution.
The signal services which have been rendered by our Navy and the capacities it has developed for successful co-operation in the national defense will give to that portion of the public force its full value in the eyes of Congress, at an epoch which calls for the constant vigilance of all governments. To preserve the ships now in a sound state, to complete those already contemplated, to provide amply the imperishable materials for prompt augmentations, and to improve the existing arrangements into more advantageous establishments for the construction, the repairs, and the security of vessels of war is dictated by the soundest policy.
In adjusting the duties on imports to the object of revenue the influence of the tariff on manufactures will necessarily present itself for consideration. However wise the theory may be which leaves to the sagacity and interest of individuals the application of their industry and resources, there are in this as in other cases exceptions to the general rule. Besides the condition which the theory itself implies of a reciprocal adoption by other nations, experience teaches that so many circumstances must concur in introducing and maturing manufacturing establishments, especially of the more complicated kinds, that a country may remain long without them, although sufficiently advanced and in some respects even peculiarly fitted for carrying them on with success. Under circumstances giving a powerful impulse to manufacturing industry it has made among us a progress and exhibited an efficiency which justify the belief that with a protection not more than is due to the enterprising citizens whose interests are now at stake it will become at an early day not only safe against occasional competitions from abroad, but a source of domestic wealth and even of external commerce. In selecting the branches more especially entitled to the public patronage a preference is obviously claimed by such as will relieve the United States from a dependence on foreign supplies ever subject to casual failures, for articles necessary for the public defense or connected with the primary wants of individuals. It will be an additional recommendation of particular manufactures where the materials for them are extensively drawn from our agriculture, and consequently impart and insure to that great fund of national prosperity and independence an encouragement which can not fail to be rewarded.
Among the means of advancing the public interest the occasion is a proper one for recalling the attention of Congress to the great importance of establishing throughout our country the roads and canals which can best be executed under the national authority. No objects within the circle of political economy so richly repay the expense bestowed on them; there are none the utility of which is more universally ascertained and acknowledged; none that do more honor to the governments whose wise and enlarged patriotism duly appreciates them. Nor is there any country which presents a field where nature invites more the art of man to complete her own work for his accommodation and benefit. These considerations are strengthened, moreover, by the political effect of these facilities for intercommunication in bringing and binding more closely together the various parts of our extended confederacy. Whilst the States individually, with a laudable enterprise and emulation, avail themselves of their local advantages by new roads, by navigable canals, and by improving the streams susceptible of navigation, the General Government is the more urged to similar undertakings, requiring a national jurisdiction and national means, by the prospect of thus systematically completing so inestimable a work; and it is a happy reflection that any defect of constitutional authority which may be encountered can be supplied in a mode which the Constitution itself has providently pointed out.
The present is a favorable season also for bringing again into view the establishment of a national seminary of learning within the District of Columbia, and with means drawn from the property therein, subject to the authority of the General Government. Such an institution claims the patronage of Congress as a monument of their solicitude for the advancement of knowledge, without which the blessings of liberty can not be fully enjoyed or long preserved; as a model instructive in the formation of other seminaries; as a nursery of enlightened preceptors, and as a central resort of youth and genius from every part of their country, diffusing on their return examples of those national feelings, those liberal sentiments, and those congenial manners which contribute cement to our Union and strength to the great political fabric of which that is the foundation.
In closing this communication I ought not to repress a sensibility, in which you will unite, to the happy lot of our country and to the goodness of a superintending Providence, to which we are indebted for it. Whilst other portions of mankind are laboring under the distresses of war or struggling with adversity in other forms, the United States are in the tranquil enjoyment of prosperous and honorable peace. In reviewing the scenes through which it has been attained we can rejoice in the proofs given that our political institutions, founded in human rights and framed for their preservation, are equal to the severest trials of war as well as adapted to the ordinary periods of repose. As fruits of this experience and of the reputation acquired by the American arms on the land and on the water, the nation finds itself possessed of a growing respect abroad and of a just confidence in itself, which are among the best pledges for its peaceful career. Under other aspects of our country the strongest features of its flourishing condition are seen in a population rapidly increasing on a territory as productive as it is extensive; in a general industry and fertile ingenuity which find their ample rewards, and in an affluent revenue which admits a reduction of the public burdens without withdrawing the means of sustaining the public credit, of gradually discharging the public debt, of providing for the necessary defensive and precautionary establishments, and of patronizing in every authorized mode undertakings conducive to the aggregate wealth and individual comfort of our citizens.
It remains for the guardians of the public welfare to persevere in that justice and good will toward other nations which invite a return of these sentiments toward the United States, to cherish institutions which guarantee their safety and their liberties, civil and religious; and to combine with a liberal system of foreign commerce an improvement of the national advantages and a protection and extension of the independent resources of our highly favored and happy country.
In all measures having such objects my faithful co-operation will be afforded.
I return the papers sent with yours of the 29 th . except the letter from E. Lewis, which goes to the Treas y Dep t . If M r . B[agot] 1 has no more power than to receive proposals, 2 I s d . have supposed his object in an interview w d . have been simply to ask for them, with an assurance of the general disposition of his Gov t . to receive them favorably, and that the uncertainty or misconception occasioned by his remarks would have been prevented. I have stated to M r . M[onroe] the grounds occurring to me, for a tacit or express arrangement as to the Lake armaments; an essential one being an immediate discontinuance of equipments preparations. As this already exists on our part, it w d be sufficient to give an order to that effect on the other. If even this cannot be done by M r . B[agot] and must be reported across the Atlantic, the B[ritish] augmentations going on in the mean time, I see nothing in the transfer of the business to M r B[agot] worth the taking it from M r . A[dams] the delay is certainly not diminished, and the “general disposition” of the P[rince] R[egent] could have been as promptly expressed, or rather repeated to M r . A. as conveyed through M r . B. The views of the B. gov t . I am willing to believe are candid, but the course it has taken, if it proceeds with its equipments, would tempt a different construction. I hope M r . B. will yet be brought to have them suspended.
I am reading some Spanish official documents sent by M r Dallas. The date of the last is in Dec r . 1814. They sanction all the accounts from other sources, of the extreme jealousy hatred of us prevailing in the Spanish Court, and prove that after the fall of Napoleon, there was a project entertained, for taking advantage of our war with England, and the expected succour of the latter to Spain, to settle all territorial matters with the U. S. according to Spanish wishes.
We have had here as with you, fine rains with somewhat of the other desideratum warm weather. There is however a return of cold, after hurricanes, destructive showers of hail in spots. In some instances the corn and tobacco have been totally demolished by the latter.
Altho’ the inclosed letter is anonymous, the idea it suggests, of requiring an admission of our Cotton in a half manufactured state at least by nations whose luxuries fully manufactured, are admitted in the U. S. is not unworthy of attention. The general idea I believe has not escaped in the instructions to M r Gallatin and M r . Pinkney. But it may be well to enforce it and particularly in relation to Cotton Twist, which Russia receives from G. B. whilst her manufactures are excluded by the latter, and which France has lately prohibited even from the U. S. on the principle of reciprocity. The U. S. may reasonably demand such a regulation in their favor; and the nations granting it may with equal reason refuse it to G. B without a charge of partiality. As the Netherlands have adopted a like policy ag st . the U. S. a change may very properly be urged, on the same grounds, by M r . Eustis, whether a treaty be or be not contemplated. An admission of cotton twist from this country into Europe, is of vast importance to manufacturing estab ts . indeed to its general interests.
I have rec d yours of the 29 June, with the several papers sent with it.
Under the difficult circumstances of the currency, and the obligation to attempt a remedy or at least an alleviation of them, the plan you have in view is entitled to a fair experiment. You do right however in reserving a discretion to judge of the sufficiency of accessions by the State Banks. Should there be a single State, in which a failure of the Banks to accede should reduce the people to the necessity of pay g . their taxes in coin, or treasury notes, or a bank paper out of their reach, the pressure and the complaint would be intense, and the more so from the inequality with which the measure w d . operate. 1
Can the suspension of payments in coin by the principal Banks, be regarded as the precise cause of the undue depreciation of treasury notes, as intimated in the 3 d paragraph of your Circular? A slight modification, if you think it requisite, would obviate the remark.
As your statement to the President will remain an official document, I suggest for your consideration, the expression that the Treas y . “cannot discriminate in the mode of payment between the revenue of the customs and the internal revenue” as liable to be turned ag st . the Distinction proposed in the payment of them.
With respect to the validity of this distinction, I should yield my doubts if they were stronger than they are, to the unanimous opinion which has sanctioned it.
I anxiously wish that the State Banks may enter promptly heartily into the means of re-establishing the proper Currency. Nothing but their general co-operation, is wanting for the purpose; and they owe it to their own character, and ultimately to their own interest, as much as they do to the immediate vital interest of the Nation. Sh d they sacrifice all these powerful obligations to the unfair gain of the moment, it must remain with the State Legislatures to apply the remedy, and it is to be hoped that they will not be diverted from it either by their share in the gains of the Banks, or the influence of the Banks on their deliberations. If they will not enforce the obligation of the Banks to redeem their notes in specie, they cannot surely forbear to enforce the alternatives of redeeming them with public stock, or with national Bank notes, or, finally of paying interest on all their notes presented for payment. The expedient also of restricting their circulating paper in a reasonable proportion to their metallic fund, may merit attention as at once aiding the credit of their paper, and accelerating a resumption of specie payments.
I enclose the papers marked A, B, C, to guard ag st the possibility, that you may not have copies of them with you.
Herewith are the papers rec d . from M r . Hughs. He seems to have been no wise sparing of diplomatic politeness to the Spanish Gov r . You will of course express the satisfaction afforded by the successful execution of his commission in reference to our Captive Citizens with an approbation of the interest taken in behalf of the English French captives, and forward the documents to M r . Erving, 1 with instructions to press at Madrid the restitution of the Am a . property refused to M r . Hughs. If the Spanish authorities had had [sic] taken the ground that the property was forfeited by the aid and comfort it afforded to rebels, it would have involved the discussion commenced with M r . Onis, and have avoided the inconsistency now added to their injustice. In resting the seizure on the alleged Blockade, which was a spurious one, and substituting a decoy, for the warning, required by the L. of N. to neutrals, they have disarmed themselves of every plea, or rather have armed us with every plea ag st . them.
You will find herewith also the 2 letters from M r . Onis. 2 His complaint of expeditions from our ports ag st . Spanish commerce, are entitled to the ordinary answer. His conciliatory remarks introducing them, are too guarded to mean much that is favorable, if they do not cover a disposition to thwart some of our demands on Spain. It appears from his final paragraph that his participation in the transactions relating to Louisiana, is to be produced as testimony ag st . us. Will it not be well, in forwarding the correspondence to M r . Erving to furnish him with the facts of an opposite tendency which fall within your personal knowledge. 1 Great stress will doubtless be laid by the Spanish Gov t . on the principle asserted by Onis, that France Spain alone who were parties to the Treaties, can interpret the respective intentions recorded in them. To this must be opposed the meaning deducible by the legal rules of interpretation, and the fact that the U. S. were bona fide purchasers without notice of any other interpretation, altho’ Spain was not ignorant of our views, of purchasing, and even referred us to France as alone having the right to sell.—The second letter of Onis shows adroitness; but it does not clear his Gov t . from the charge of not proceeding at Algiers in the spirit we were authorized to expect. If However Algiers obtained the Brig, without redeeming it from Spain no pretext remains for a demand on the U. S.
. . . . . . . .
Herewith are the communications from M r . Adams. He pinches Castlereagh not a little. I always suspected that the enlistments apprenticeship of captured Negroes, in the W. Ind s . would be the refuge ag st . the allegations on our part. 2
But, if the former be for life, the latter for 14 years even for those of mature age, both be forced, as the law order in council shew, how can either be a situation in which the unfortunate blacks are protected in the privileges of freedom? Nor is it conceivable that the act of Parl t , which contemplates evidently the African trade, and seizures on the high seas, can be fairly applied to negroes in the U. States in a slavery originating with G. B. herself, seduced or forced therefrom with her sanction, and rec d . on board vessels within the waters of the U. S. As the B. Gov t . [illegible] a full [illegible] into the charges ag st . its officers, whether w th a view to discredit this Gov t . or for whatever other purpose, it will be proper to promote the establishment of the truth. It will be particularly proper to keep in the front of the transaction, the inviting proclamation of the B. Commander, and the bondage de facto into which, it is admitted, that the negroes are placed, under the name of freedom protection. I hope M r Adams will not fail in the most suitable stage of the business to do justice to this view of the subject. It will put our charges on defensible ground, even if we fail to establish what is fairly to be believed, that the captives or fugitives in question were sold into the ordinary slavery of the W. Indies. The object of L d . Castlereagh evidently is to draw the question to a point most difficult of proof, and in the failure of it to avail himself of an ostentatious zeal for an impracticable investigation.
I rec d . yesterday the 2 letters from Onis herewith returned, and today copies of the papers transmitted by M r . Crowninshield, which as the originals are in the Dep t . I return. The law of nations, and our position in relation to the contest between Spain Spanish America will of course govern the reply to these representations.
The remarks of Judge Story as to the fisheries are valuable, and furnish some precise objects for discussion with the B. Gov t . If Mr. B[agot] will accede to the most favorable arrangements marked out, it may be well to close with him. Whether the one next best ought to be accepted, is a more delicate question; notwithstanding the opinion of Mr. Crowninshield on the subject. I do not think in the present temper situation of G.B. that delay with a prudent conduct on our part will injure our prospects. And it appears after all, that the right to cure fish on the B. shores, the fish cured on them being the proportion only of ⅕ or ⅙ of those caught by our vessels in those waters, is of less importance than was supposed. How far the waters within the marginal league have been used, and w d . be prohibited if not stipulated is to be ascertained. On the whole, I still think unless an arrangement likely to be satisfactory can be obtained, it will be better to prolong the negotiation, than to cut it short from a despondence as to better terms. I observe that J. Story represents the shores of Labrador as a good deal settled. If this be the fact and could appear in an arrangement of our use of them, we might accept the use of the shores without any unselfish surrender of our pretensions, which are limited to unsettled districts. Perhaps M r . B. may be willing to make a partial arrangement, leaving open the negociation for its extension. If this can be done in a form avoiding implications adverse to our claims, it w d . be a safe might be an eligible course. It might be predicated on the want of full information, and the purpose of obtaining it. The sources of further information pointed at by the Judge may deserve attention.
I return the letter from M r . Bagot. 1 It manifests a good disposition on his part, and on that of the Commander in chief in Canada. But it appears by communications to the War Dep t . from one of our own sources, that the hostile purposes of the Indians in question are the effect, of instigations from British Traders. I have desired M r . G. Graham to lay these communications before the Dep t . of State. In connection with those from M r . B. they will bring the whole subject into the conversation desired by M r . B. The British authorities ought to repress a resort to their posts, of Indians from our side of the boundary, at least for political purposes; and to prohibit effectually the misconduct of their traders. If this be not done we must strengthen our military establishments, on that quarter, and hasten the exclusion of British traders from intercourse with Indians within our limits. It will certainly be better for the British to cooperate with us in keeping the Indians within rule, than to force us into the alternatives. I am glad you are likely to obtain at length a translation of the Algerine letter. I wrote to M r . Monroe on the receipt of it, to send with the translation an answer ready to be signed. This can best be drawn at Washington, where all the circumstances are most distinctly in view, including those connected with the Navy Dep t ., and the lapse of time increases also the reason for diminishing delay.
I have just rec d . yours of the 3 d and return without delay the several letters inclosed in it. The apprehensions of M r Shaler, are instigated at least by the recent occurrence, if true, at Oran, and its probable effect on the relations of G. B. Algiers. 1 M r . Adams’s idea of making his country the sole champion of Xndum against the Barbarians, is very heroic, but is not in perfect harmony with the sober spirit which tempers its zeal interprize. If we can maintain an elevated position in the Mediterranean for ourselves, and afford that example for others, it will, for the present at least, best reconcile all our duties.
I have yours of the 12 th intended for the 11 th inst: I have no map by which I can judge of the comparative values of the 2 offers of M r . Bagot as to the fisheries. 2 There will be some delicacy in referring the arrangement to M r . A. who prefers a decision here, and will say that we having better means of procuring the necessary information we ought not to put the task responsibility on him. If M r Bagot will not favor an arrangement which we can acquiesce in I still think it will be best to decide nothing but to instruct M r . A. to press the subject in such an extent as we think admissible, and to engage as far as we can the co-operation of M r . B. As to armaments on the Lakes, M r . A. may be furnished with our propositions and if they be concurred in the effect will be accelerated, in case the B. Gov t . be liberal eno’ to send over the necessary orders, without waiting for the consummating forms. If it be understood that Shaler intends or wishes to leave Algiers, 3 Poinsett may take his place; and in the event of an ulterior mission, he will be so far on his way. I think, however, he ought not to be permitted to form any ulterior expectations as well because the ulterior mission in question is of too important too delicate a nature to be hastily contemplated, as because unforeseen selections may become preferable.
As you will so soon be here I leave for consultation the choice of an agent for the pacific. The gentleman you name comes fairly into a comparative view of characters.
Since the rece t . of your several letters relating to the Treasury proposition, 1 the decision of Bank Deputies at Phil a . my thoughts have been duly turned to the important perplexing subject. Altho’ there may be no propriety in recalling the proposition, it seems now certain that it will fail of its effect. Should the Banks not represented at Phil a . come into the measure, the refusal of those represented would be fatal. The want of a medium for taxes in a single state would be a serious difficulty; so extensive a want would forbid at once an enforcement of the proposition. The Banks feel their present importance seem more disposed to turn it to their own profit than to the public good, the views of the Gov t . Without their co-operation it does not appear that any immediate relief can be applied to the embarrassments of the Treasury or of the currency. This co-operation they refuse. Can they be coerced?
Should the State Legislatures unite in the means within their power, the object may be attained. But this is scarcely to be expected; in point of time is too remote. The National Bank must for a time at least, be on the defensive.
The interposition of Congress remains; we may hope the best as to a vigorous use of it. But there is danger that the influence of the local Banks may reach even that resource. Should this not be the case, the remedy is future not immediate. The question then before us is, whether any what further expedients lie with the Executive. Altho we have satisfied by what has been already attempted our legal responsibility, it would be still incumbent on us to make further experiments if any promising ones can be devised. If there be such I have full confidence, that they will enter into your views on the subject. One only occurs to me; I mention it because no other does, not because I regard it as free from objections which may be deemed conclusive. The notes in the Treasury might be presented to the Banks respectively with a demand of the specie due on the face of them. On refusal suits might be immediately instituted not with a view to proceed to execution, but to establish a claim to interest from the date of the demand. The notes thus bearing interest being kept in hand, Treasury notes bearing interest might be issued in payments from the Treasury; so far injustice to the several classes of creditors might be lessened, whilst a check would be given to the unjust career of the Banks.
Such a proceeding ought to be supported by the Stockholders, the Army, the Navy, all the disinterested well-informed part of the community. The clamor ag st . it would be from the Banks those having interested connections with them, supported by the honest part of the community misled by their fallacies; and the probability is but too great that the clamor would be overwhelming. I do not take into view the expedient of requiring a payment of the Impost, in specie, in part at least, because it could not be extended to the other taxes, would in that respect as well as otherwise, be a measure too delicate for the Ex: Auth y ; nor would its effect be in time for any very early purpose.
I have been led by the tenor of your letters to put on paper these observations. The report you are preparing will doubtless enlighten my view of the whole subject.
Among the inclosures is a very ex ty letter from M r De Neuville. 2 It was brought by his private Secretary from whom I thought it better for several reasons to receive it, than to let him proceed with it to your House. As its contents were neither known nor guessed, it was possible that they might call for an attention which my knowledge of them might hasten and it was desirable for you that you should not be [obliterated] with the Bearer if not necessary. It was a further calculation that an immediate answer if not convenient might thus be avoided. The young Secretary left me with a mere intimation to him, that his dispatch would be answered by the Sec y . of State. M r . De Neuville could not have given a greater proof of want of judgment than in putting the amity of the two countries on such an issue, or of a personal wish to flatter the ultra royal Bourbons who may ere long accede to the throne. The proper answer to him will be facilitated by his undertaking to dictate the precise reparation in the case. Common delicacy would have demanded an adequate one in general terms, leaving the particular mode to the Gov t . and the arrogance of the manner in which he has disregarded it, forfeits the respect that might be otherwise due to his complaint. It will be well if possible by a conciliatory language towards his sovereign to counteract the efforts of his minister to work up a trivial incident into a provoking enormity, and to awaken his attention to our just sensibility to the indecorous unauthorized step of the latter. It would seem as if De N. hoped to hide the degradation of the Bourbons in Europe, under a blustering deportment in a distant country. Whatever may be the answer to his letter, it will be proper to hasten communications instructions to M r . Gallatin on the whole subject.
Dashkoff’s letter also among the inclosures, revives the question how far anything beyond the despatches by M r . Coles is called for by the posture of Kozloff’s affair. Perhaps it may not be amiss for you to write a letter to the Russian Secy. of For. Aff rs . 1 referring to that of Dasch f and relying, with expressions of respect friendship here for the Emperor, on the communications by M r . Coles, as of a satisfactory import. It is however to be recollected that the instructions to Dash f . were given prior to the last discussions transmitted by Mr. Harris. . . .
On perusing your letters to Mr. De Neuville, and M r . Gallatin, 2 some ideas occurred which induced me to put them on paper for your consideration. Those relating to the first letter are interlined with a pencil. Those relating to the 2 d . are partly so partly penned on a separate sheet. In the communication to M r . G. I. thought it might be not amiss to suggest the several topics which he may find it expedient to develope orally or in writing. Reject or use any or the whole as you judge best.
As De Neuvilles communication to his gov t . may first arrive and forestall impressions at Paris, the interlineation in pa. 2 d . of the letter to him, is intended to suggest an important and very pertinent fact which may not be known there, which he will not disclose, and to controul the effect of his magnifying comments on the subject. Whether this last part of the interlineation merits adoption is the more questionable of the two.
The little delay occasioned by this retrograde of the papers is not material as De Neuville himself will think on rec ngtilde your answer. But to avoid a protraction of it, it will be best to sign blank sheets (if there be not more signed at the office) for copies of the letters whatever the final shapes you give them, and to send these with your drafts directly to M r Graham, with instructions to forward triplicates immediately to M r . Gallatin; perhaps one ought to be forwarded thro’ G. B. I have no objection if you think it proper to your intimating to M r . Gallatin that the recall of De Neuville is not our object, nor wish if his continuance be agreeable to his gov t .
I have just rec d . from Mr. Monroe a very extraordinary communication, confidentially made to him by Col. Jessup. A copy of it is inclosed. An invasion by a Spanish force at the present period might be pronounced a mere chimoera, if a less degree of folly reigned at Madrid; unless, indeed the Councils of Spain sh d . be supported by a power, whose councils may reasonably be more confided in. It is probable however that Onis is intriguing at N. Orleans, and the extent to which he may mislead, an ignorant proud vindictive Gov t . cannot be calculated. It is incumbent on us therefore to have an eye to our S. W. Frontier, proportioning our precautions to our means, and to a fair estimate of the danger. As Gen: Jackson is apprized of the apprehensions of Col. Jessup, tho’ without some of the grounds of them mentioned to Mr. Monroe, we may expect soon to hear from him on the subject. Are there any reinforcements or defences, which can be added to those now within his employment? Should Jessup execute his purpose, it will be the boldest project, ever assumed by no higher authority. I communicate the intelligence he gives, to the Sec y of the Navy. Be so good as to do the same to your Colleagues at Washington. 1
I have rec d . yours of the 20 th . inst. The claim of M r . Knagg involves an important question:—what is the effect produced on the salaries of persons made prisoners by an Enemy by during their captivity?
Civil officers are of two classes. 1. Those holding during good behaviour.
2. Those holding during pleasure.
Whilst the officers of the 1 st class continue and the officers are not removed in the mode authorized, the salaries are legally due, and cannot be withheld by the Ex: auth y .: and it is understood that neither the capture of the officer, nor even the capture of the office by that of the place including it (unless peace sh d . transfer the right to the possessor) annuls the office. The former suspends the functions of the officer, and the latter the office itself. In the former case temporary provision when necessary can only be made by the Legislative authority. In the latter case the temporary provision will depend on the conqueror.
With respect to officers holding during pleasure, their claim to their salaries appears to be legal, whilst their offices continue, and no removal, or other appointment involving a removal takes place.
The claim of W. K. then depends on the question whether his two app ts . or either of them was of a nature to cease with the capture of Detroit and of himself, and if not whether, as no direct removal appears to have taken place, any other appointment was made, actually superceding his.
The latter is a simple question of fact to be decided by the evidence in the Dept.
The former question must be decided by the character of the appointments in the eye of the law. Is that of a deputy Indian agent, an office which would be vacated only not extinguished by the death removal or resignation of the person exercising it; or a personal agency ceasing with the non-exercise of it? Is the app t . of Indian Interpreter, in like manner, an office an agency, as so distinguished?
Not finding it convenient in my present situation to examine our laws fully in relation to these app ts . and aware that there is merit often in discriminating between an office an agency I cannot do better than request you to communicate these observations with the interesting ones contained in your letter to the other members of the Cabinet at Washington; and transmit me the results of a consultation on the whole subject. Should there be no difference of opinion delay be inconvenient it may be acted on, without hearing further from me.
Genl. Hull presented some time ago a claim for two salaries during his captivity, and pressed strongly the reasoning which gave most color to it. His military claim I believe was viewed in a different light from his salary as gov r at the time when he was charged with the Expedition which had so unfortunate an issue.
I have received your two letters of the 27th and 28th. The views taken by yourself and your colleagues at Washington of the subject presented by Col. Jesup’s communication, and your letters to the Secretary of the Navy and General Jackson in consequence of them, were very proper. The part of the precautionary arrangements involving most delicacy is that of sending the naval force into the Gulf of Mexico. Besides the unavoidable delay, I fear the expense of equipment will be considerable, under an appropriation known to be deficient. It will be well to give him the earliest notice of any change in the prospect releasing the Navy Department from the call. The letter from Mr. Erving goes far towards it, and further intelligence from him may be daily expected. As a communication of the contents of Col. Jesup’s letter to the Governors of Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Louisiana, will lead to no immediate expense, nor to any unnecessary public excitement, it is recommended by the general policy of anticipating danger and guarding against it. I am glad to find General Jackson’s views coinciding with those transmitted to him.
I sent to the Attorney General the papers received by the Navy Department from Commodore Patterson, relating to the destruction of the Negro fort, and the property taken in it, with a request from the Commodore that a decision might be had on the distribution of the property among the captors. I referred Mr. Rush, also, to the report, when received from Col. Clinch. Be so good as to let him see the communications from that officer, now returned. The case is novel, and involves several legal questions.
I perceive that a part of the Negroes captured were deserters from the Spaniards, who will therefore be gainers by breaking up the establishment on the Apalachicola. This is another consideration which may prevent complaints from that quarter. It may be recollected, also, that the Governor of Pensacola declared that territory not to be within Spanish jurisdiction.
Jameson’s remarks in favor of making the seat of the factory the seat of his agency have weight. His pacific mediations among the Indians may also be recommended by a humane policy. But I think it will be best to discountenance the proposed visit of some of them to Washington. We complain at present of the reception of our Indians even at British outposts, and we may find occasion for making a point of putting an end to that sort of intercourse.
Mr. Monroe has not yet arrived on his way to Washington, and I cannot fix on the day of my setting out until he does. Some other circumstances, also, have been in the way. I fear I shall not be able to put an end to the detention before the last of the week; possibly not before Monday next.
I have already mentioned to you the answer of Mr. Clay, declining the offer made to him. 1 Altho’ Mr. Lowndes has not had occasion to manifest particular qualifications for the War Department, his general talents and public standing present him in very favorable comparison with any other occurring for consideration.
Cordial regards.
I have recd. yours of the 30 th . ult. 2 It will afford me pleasure to promote your wishes in behalf of Mr. Armistead; and the pleasure will be increased by my recollection of the period persons to whom you allude. It is incumbent on me at the same time to remark that it is the usage, to leave to the heads of Dep ts . the selection of their own clks. which the law vests in their discretion responsibility; that they generally have their preferences often founded on relations of friendship and personal confidence; and there is always depending a list of applicants for the few vacancies which occur, some of which pretentions may have peculiar force. My connection with such appointments is much less therefore than might be supposed, and I mention it that in the event of disappointment it may not be inferred that I have been insensible or inattentive to the object you so justly have at heart.
Mr. Dallas has will have explained so fully his measures with the grounds of them, that I need say very little on the subject. If any have supposed him not conciliatory toward the Banks, they have done him great injustice. As to the epoch of enforcing specie payments the law had fixed on the 20 th . of Feb y . next; with an evident obligation on him to anticipate it if practicable. Many of the Banks, instead of co-operating with him for the latter purpose, have announced purposes at variance with the positive injunctions of the law. It can scarcely be doubted that if the Banks had concerted a general concurrence with the views of the Treasury, the former confidence currency would have been easily re-established by the time fixed by Congress, and probably sooner. Nor can it well be doubted that such a concert would have taken place, if the Bank dividends had been as much favored by the effort, as they might, at least for a time, be reduced by it. I am far from applying these remarks to all the Banks. There are exceptions which we could jointly name with equal pleasure. But it is certain that as far as the Banks have not done their duty, they have to answer for the injustice done by a depreciated currency to particular states, to the public creditors, to the Army, to the Navy, and even to private creditors who were in a manner forced to receive their debts in that currency. Had the Banks sold their public stock for their own notes with which they procured it when they could have done so with a liberal profit, or had they agreed to pay interest on their protested notes, whilst they received interest on the paper pledged to them, they would have stood on different ground. But they preferred, too many of them, to these sacrifices, or rather to these acts of justice, an increased issue of notes on a capital as productive nearly as the notes issued on that basis. Taking the whole subject as we find it, it is not easy to say what Congress, with whom it lies, may decide on. There is sufficient reason to believe that if the crisis requires a relaxation they will not withhold it. But there are indications that a resumption of specie payments, is rapidly becoming practicable and popular. If the demand of Spain to discharge a foreign balance ag st . the nation, should not raise the Exchange above the Expence and difficulty of exporting it; the Banks in general will run no risk in uniting at once with the National Banks in restoring health to the currency, and justice to all transactions public private. . . .
Your favor of the 4th of Sep r . was handed to me by Doctor Freeman at my abode in Virg a . just before I left it for this place. His transient stay afforded but a slight opportunity for the civilities I wished to shew to one who enjoys so much of your esteem, and who appeared so well to deserve them. He was so good as to call at the door since my arrival here; but being at the moment engaged, he was so informed without my being apprised of the name, till he had retired; and his ensuing departure from the City closed our intercourse, unless he should repeat his southern excursion when I shall pay with pleasure the arrears due on the first.
Mrs. Madison, wishing to seize the occasion for a letter to Mrs. Adams, has herself answered the enquiry in yours to me having reference to her. You will perceive that she has not the slightest recollection of any letter to Mr. Steel, such as could have led to the intimations in yours. We conclude therefore that some error has taken place in the statement made to you. It will rest with your goodness conveniency to throw any light upon it, which you may have the means of doing, and which you may think the subject worthy of. I beg you to be assured that I join fully in her acknowledgments for the delicate manner in which you have alluded to it, and for the kind dispositions which it has led you to express.
The favorable judgment you are so good as to express on the course of my administration, cannot but be very gratifying to me; not merely for the immediate value I set on it, but as an encouraging presage of the light in which my endeavours in the service of my country will be hereafter viewed by those most capable of deciding on them.
Be pleased to accept, Dear Sir assurances of my high esteem and best wishes.
In reviewing the present state of our country, our attention can not be withheld from the effect produced by peculiar seasons which have very generally impaired the annual gifts of the earth and threatened scarcity in particular districts. Such, however, is the variety of soils, of climates, and of products within our extensive limits that the aggregate resources for subsistence are more than sufficient for the aggregate wants. And as far as an economy of consumption, more than usual, may be necessary, our thankfulness is due to Providence for what is far more than a compensation, in the remarkable health which has distinguished the present year.
Amidst the advantages which have succeeded the peace of Europe, and that of the United States with Great Britain, in a general invigoration of industry among us and in the extension of our commerce, the value of which is more and more disclosing itself to commercial nations, it is to be regretted that a depression is experienced by particular branches of our manufactures and by a portion of our navigation. As the first proceeds in an essential degree from an excess of imported merchandise, which carries a check in its own tendency, the cause in its present extent can not be of very long duration. The evil will not, however, be viewed by Congress without a recollection that manufacturing establishments, if suffered to sink too low or languish too long, may not revive after the causes shall have ceased, and that in the vicissitudes of human affairs situations may recur in which a dependence on foreign sources for indispensable supplies may be among the most serious embarrassments.
The depressed state of our navigation is to be ascribed in a material degree to its exclusion from the colonial ports of the nation most extensively connected with us in commerce, and from the indirect operation of that exclusion.
Previous to the late convention at London between the United States and Great Britain the relative state of the navigation laws of the two countries, growing out of the treaty of 1794, had given to the British navigation a material advantage over the American in the intercourse between the American ports and British ports in Europe. The convention of London equalized the laws of the two countries relating to those ports, leaving the intercourse between our ports and the ports of the British colonies subject, as before, to the respective regulations of the parties. The British Government enforcing now regulations which prohibit a trade between its colonies and the United States in American vessels, whilst they permit a trade in British vessels, the American navigation loses accordingly, and the loss is augmented by the advantage which is given to the British competition over the American in the navigation between our ports and British ports in Europe by the circuitous voyages enjoyed by the one and not enjoyed by the other.
The reasonableness of the rule of reciprocity applied to one branch of the commercial intercourse has been pressed on our part as equally applicable to both branches; but it is ascertained that the British cabinet declines all negotiation on the subject, with a disavowal, however, of any disposition to view in an unfriendly light whatever countervailing regulations the United States may oppose to the regulations of which they complain. The wisdom of the Legislature will decide on the course which, under these circumstances, is prescribed by a joint regard to the amicable relations between the two nations and to the just interests of the United States.
I have the satisfaction to state, generally, that we remain in amity with foreign powers.
An occurrence has indeed taken place in the Gulf of Mexico which, if sanctioned by the Spanish Government, may make an exception as to that power. According to the report of our naval commander on that station, one of our public armed vessels was attacked by an overpowering force under a Spanish commander, and the American flag, with the officers and crew, insulted in a manner calling for prompt reparation. This has been demanded. In the meantime a frigate and a smaller vessel of war have been ordered into that Gulf for the protection of our commerce. It would be improper to omit that the representative of His Catholic Majesty in the United States lost no time in giving the strongest assurances that no hostile order could have emanated from his Government, and that it will be as ready to do as to expect whatever the nature of the case and the friendly relations of the two countries shall be found to require.
The posture of our affairs with Algiers at the present moment is not known. The Dey, drawing pretexts from circumstances for which the United States were not answerable, addressed a letter to this Government declaring the treaty last concluded with him to have been annulled by our violation of it, and presenting as the alternative war or a renewal of the former treaty, which stipulated, among other things, an annual tribute. The answer, with an explicit declaration that the United States preferred war to tribute, required his recognition and observance of the treaty last made, which abolishes tribute and the slavery of our captured citizens. The result of the answer has not been received. Should he renew his warfare on our commerce, we rely on the protection it will find in our naval force actually in the Mediterranean.
With the other Barbary States our affairs have undergone no change.
The Indian tribes within our limits appear also disposed to remain at peace. From several of them purchases of land, have been made particularly favorable to the wishes and security of our frontier settlements, as well as to the general interests of the nation. In some instances the titles, though not supported by due proof, and clashing those of one tribe with the claims of another, have been extinguished by double purchases, the benevolent policy of the United States preferring the augmented expense to the hazard of doing injustice or to the enforcement of justice against a feeble and untutored people by means involving or threatening an effusion of blood. I am happy to add that the tranquillity which has been restored among the tribes themselves, as well as between them and our own population, will favor the resumption of the work of civilization which had made an encouraging progress among some tribes, and that the facility is increasing for extending that divided and individual ownership, which exists now in movable property only, to the soil itself, and of thus establishing in the culture and improvement of it the true foundation for a transit from the habits of the savage to the arts and comforts of social life.
As a subject of the highest importance to the national welfare, I must again earnestly recommend to the consideration of Congress a reorganization of the militia on a plan which will form it into classes according to the periods of life more or less adapted to military services. An efficient militia is authorized and contemplated by the Constitution and required by the spirit and safety of free government. The present organization of our militia is universally regarded as less efficient than it ought to be made, and no organization can be better calculated to give to it its due force than a classification which will assign the foremost place in the defense of the country to that portion of its citizens whose activity and animation best enable them to rally to its standard. Besides the consideration that a time of peace is the time when the change can be made with most convenience and equity, it will now be aided by the experience of a recent war in which the militia bore so interesting a part.
Congress will call to mind that no adequate provision has yet been made for the uniformity of weights and measures also contemplated by the Constitution. The great utility of a standard fixed in its nature and founded on the easy rule of decimal proportions is sufficiently obvious. It led the Government at an early stage to preparatory steps for introducing it, and a completion of the work will be a just title to the public gratitude.
The importance which I have attached to the establishment of a university within this District on a scale and for objects worthy of the American nation induces me to renew my recommendation of it to the favorable consideration of Congress. And I particularly invite again their attention to the expediency of exercising their existing powers, and, where necessary, of resorting to the prescribed mode of enlarging them, in order to effectuate a comprehensive system of roads and canals, such as will have the effect of drawing more closely together every part of our country, by promoting intercourse and improvements and by increasing the share of every part in the common stock of national prosperity.
Occurrences having taken place which shew that the statutory provisions for the dispensation of criminal justice are deficient in relation both to places and to persons under the exclusive cognizance of the national authority, an amendment of the law embracing such cases will merit the earliest attention of the Legislature. It will be a seasonable occasion also for inquiring how far legislative interposition may be further requisite in providing penalties for offenses designated in the Constitution or in the statutes, and to which either no penalties are annexed or none with sufficient certainty. And I submit to the wisdom of Congress whether a more enlarged revisal of the criminal code be not expedient for the purpose of mitigating in certain cases penalties which were adopted into it antecedent to experiment and examples which justify and recommend a more lenient policy.
The United States, having been the first to abolish within the extent of their authority the transportation of the natives of Africa into slavery, by prohibiting the introduction of slaves and by punishing their citizens participating in the traffic, can not but be gratified at the progress made by concurrent efforts of other nations toward a general suppression of so great an evil. They must feel at the same time the greater solicitude to give the fullest efficacy to their own regulations. With that view, the interposition of Congress appears to be required by the violations and evasions which it is suggested are chargeable on unworthy citizens who mingle in the slave trade under foreign flags and with foreign ports, and by collusive importations of slaves into the United States through adjoining ports and territories. I present the subject to Congress with a full assurance of their disposition to apply all the remedy which can be afforded by an amendment of the law. The regulations which were intended to guard against abuses of a kindred character in the trade between several States ought also to be rendered more effectual for their humane object.
To these recommendations I add, for the consideration of Congress, the expediency of a remodification of the judiciary establishment, and of an additional department in the executive branch of the Government.
The first is called for by the accruing business which necessarily swells the duties of the Federal courts, and by the great and widening space within which justice is to be dispensed by them. The time seems to have arrived which claims for members of the Supreme Court a relief from itinerary fatigues, incompatible as well with the age which a portion of them will always have attained as with the researches and preparations which are due to their stations and to the juridical reputation of their country. And considerations equally cogent require a more convenient organization of the subordinate tribunals, which may be accomplished without an objectionable increase of the number or expense of the judges.
The extent and variety of executive business also accumulating with the progress of our country and its growing population call for an additional department, to be charged with duties now overburdening other departments and with such as have not been annexed to any department.
The course of experience recommends, as another improvement in the executive establishment, that the provision for the station of Attorney-General, whose residence at the seat of Government, official connections with it, and the management of the public business before the judiciary preclude an extensive participation in professional emoluments, be made more adequate to his services and his relinquishments, and that, with a view to his reasonable accommodation and to a proper depository of his official opinions and proceedings, there be included in the provision the usual appurtenances to a public office.
In directing the legislative attention to the state of the finances it is a subject of great gratification to find that even within the short period which has elapsed since the return of peace the revenue has far exceeded all the current demands upon the Treasury, and that under any probable diminution of its future annual products which the vicissitudes of commerce may occasion it will afford an ample fund for the effectual and early extinguishment of the public debt. It has been estimated that during the year 1816 the actual receipts of revenue at the Treasury, including the balance at the commencement of the year, and excluding the proceeds of loans and Treasury notes, will amount to about the sum of $47,000,000; that during the same year the actual payments at the Treasury, including the payment of the arrearages of the War Department as well as the payment of a considerable excess beyond the annual appropriations, will amount to about the sum of $38,000,000, and that consequently at the close of the year there will be a surplus in the Treasury of about the sum of $9,000,000.
The operations of the Treasury continued to be obstructed by difficulties arising from the condition of the national currency, but they have nevertheless been effectual to a beneficial extent in the reduction of the public debt and the establishment of the public credit. The floating debt of Treasury notes and temporary loans will soon be entirely discharged. The aggregate of the funded debt, composed of debts incurred during the wars of 1776 and 1812, has been estimated with reference to the 1st of January next at a sum not exceeding $110,000,000. The ordinary annual expenses of the Government for the maintenance of all its institutions, civil, military, and naval, have been estimated at a sum less than $20,000,000, and the permanent revenue to be derived from all the existing sources has been estimated at a sum of about $25,000,000.
Upon this general view of the subject it is obvious that there is only wanting to the fiscal prosperity of the Government the restoration of an uniform medium of exchange. The resources and the faith of the nation, displayed in the system which Congress has established, insure respect and confidence both at home and abroad. The local accumulations of the revenue have already enabled the Treasury to meet the public engagements in the local currency of most of the States, and it is expected that the same cause will produce the same effect throughout the Union; but for the interests of the community at large, as well as for the purposes of the Treasury, it is essential that the nation should possess a currency of equal value, credit, and use wherever it may circulate. The Constitution has intrusted Congress exclusively with the power of creating and regulating a currency of that description, and the measures which were taken during the last session in execution of the power give every promise of success. The Bank of the United States has been organized under auspices the most favorable, and can not fail to be an important auxiliary to those measures.
For a more enlarged view of the public finances, with a view of the measures pursued by the Treasury Department previous to the resignation of the late Secretary, I transmit an extract from the last report of that officer. Congress will perceive in it ample proofs of the solid foundation on which the financial prosperity of the nation rests, and will do justice to the distinguished ability and successful exertions with which the duties of the Department were executed during a period remarkable for its difficulties and its peculiar perplexities.
The period of my retiring from the public service being at little distance, I shall find no occasion more proper than the present for expressing to my fellow-citizens my deep sense of the continued confidence and kind support which I have received from them. My grateful recollection of these distinguished marks of their favorable regard can never cease, and with the consciousness that, if I have not served my country with greater ability, I have served it with a sincere devotion will accompany me as a source of unfailing gratification.
Happily, I shall carry with me from the public theater other sources, which those who love their country most will best appreciate. I shall behold it blessed with tranquillity and prosperity at home and with peace and respect abroad. I can indulge the proud reflection that the American people have reached in safety and success their fortieth year as an independent nation; that for nearly an entire generation they have had experience of their present Constitution, the offspring of their undisturbed deliberations and of their free choice; that they have found it to bear the trials of adverse as well as prosperous circumstances; to contain in its combination of the federate and elective principles a reconcilement of public strength with individual liberty, of national power for the defense of national rights with a security against wars of injustice, of ambition, and of vainglory in the fundamental provision which subjects all questions of war to the will of the nation itself, which is to pay its costs and feel its calamities. Nor is it less a peculiar felicity of this Constitution, so dear to us all, that it is found to be capable, without losing its vital energies, of expanding itself over a spacious territory with the increase and expansion of the community for whose benefit it was established.
And may I not be allowed to add to this gratifying spectacle that I shall read in the character of the American people, in their devotion to true liberty and to the Constitution which is its palladium, sure presages that the destined career of my country will exhibit a Government pursuing the public good as its sole object, and regulating its means by the great principles consecrated in its charter, and by those moral principles to which they are so well allied; a Government which watches over the purity of elections, the freedom of speech and of the press, the trial by jury, and the equal interdict against encroachments and compacts between religion and the state; which maintains inviolably the maxims of public faith, the security of persons and property, and encourages in every authorized mode that general diffusion of knowledge which guarantees to public liberty its permanency and to those who possess the blessing the true enjoyment of it; a Government which avoids intrusions on the internal repose of other nations, and repels them from its own; which does justice to all nations with a readiness equal to the firmness with which it requires justice from them; and which, whilst it refines its domestic code from every ingredient not congenial with the precepts of an enlightened age and the sentiments of a virtuous people, seeks by appeals to reason and by its liberal examples to infuse into the law which governs the civilized world a spirit which may diminish the frequency or circumscribe the calamities of war, and meliorate the social and beneficent relations of peace; a Government, in a word, whose conduct within and without may bespeak the most noble of all ambitions—that of promoting peace on earth and good will to man.
These contemplations, sweetening the remnant of my days, will animate my prayers for the happiness of my beloved country, and a perpetuity of the institutions under which it is enjoyed.
Letter of P. of the U. S. Bank of Feb y 1, 1817, covering negotiations and arrangement with Deligates of Banks from N. Y., Phil a Baltimore Virg a for resuming specie payments.
The letter papers returned Feb y 4 with the following note:
The arrangement communicated by the Presid t . of the U. S. Bank is so important an advance towards a universal return of specie circulation, that the Treasury sanction to it, under existing circumstances is evidently proper. Serious difficulties will notwithstanding remain to be encountered, if the principal Banks in every State do not immediately follow the example set them. Even in the States comprising the Banks parties to the arrangement, the payment of the internal taxes after the 20th inst. will be distressing to many not possessing the notes of their own Banks. In the other States the payment in the legalized notes, will be generally impossible for a considerable time.
Having considered the bill this day presented to me entitled “An act to set apart and pledge certain funds for internal improvements,” 1 and which sets apart and pledges funds “for constructing roads and canals, and improving the navigation of water courses, in order to facilitate, promote, and give security to internal commerce among the several States, and to render more easy and less expensive the means and provisions for the common defense,” I am constrained by the insuperable difficulty I feel in reconciling the bill with the Constitution of the United States to return it with that objection to the House of Representatives, in which it originated.
The legislative powers vested in Congress are specified and enumerated in the eighth section of the first article of the Constitution, and it does not appear that the power proposed to be exercised by the bill is among the enumerated powers, or that it falls by any just interpretation within the power to make laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution those or other powers vested by the Constitution in the Government of the United States.
“The power to regulate commerce among the several States” can not include a power to construct roads and canals, and to improve the navigation of water courses in order to facilitate, promote, and secure such a commerce without a latitude of construction departing from the ordinary import of the terms strengthened by the known inconveniences which doubtless led to the grant of this remedial power to Congress.