Speech Transcript:

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

It would have been a source, fellow citizens, of much gratification
if our last communications from Europe had enabled me to inform you
that the belligerent nations, whose disregard of neutral rights has
been so destructive to our commerce, had become awakened to the duty
and true policy of revoking their unrighteous edicts. That no means
might be omitted to produce this salutary effect, I lost no time in
availing myself of the act authorizing a suspension, in whole or in
part, of the several embargo laws. Our ministers at London and Paris
were instructed to explain to the respective Governments there our
disposition to exercise the authority in such manner as would
withdraw the pretext on which the aggressions were originally founded
and open the way for a renewal of that commercial intercourse which it
was alleged on all sides had been reluctantly obstructed.

As each of those Governments had pledged its readiness to concur in
renouncing a measure which reached its adversary through the
incontestable rights of neutrals only, and as the measure had been
assumed by each as a retaliation for an asserted acquiescence in the
aggression of the other, it was reasonably expected that the occasion
would have been seized by both for evincing the sincerity of their
professions, and for restoring to the commerce of the United States
its legitimate freedom. The instructions to our ministers with
respect to the different belligerents were necessarily modified with
a reference to their different circumstances, and to the condition
annexed by law to the Executive power of suspension, requiring a
decree of security to our commerce which would not result from a
repeal of the decrees of France. Instead of a pledge, therefore, of a
suspension of the embargo as to her in case of such a repeal, it was
presumed that a sufficient inducement might be found in other
considerations, and particularly in the change produced by a
compliance with our just demands by one belligerent and a refusal by
the other in the relations between the other and the United States.

To Great Britain, whose power on the ocean is so ascendant, it was
deemed not inconsistent with that condition to state explicitly that
on her rescinding her orders in relation to the United States their
trade would be opened with her, and remain shut to her enemy in case
of his failure to rescind his decrees also. From France no answer has
been received, nor any indication that the requisite change in her
decrees is contemplated. The favorable reception of the proposition
to Great Britain was the less to be doubted, as her orders of council
had not only been referred for their vindication to an acquiescence on
the part of the United States no longer to be pretended, but as the
arrangement proposed, whilst it resisted the illegal decrees of
France, involved, moreover, substantially the precise advantages
professedly aimed at by the British orders. The arrangement has
nevertheless been rejected.

This candid and liberal experiment having thus failed, and no other
event having occurred on which a suspension of the embargo by the
Executive was authorized, it necessarily remains in the extent
originally given to it. We have the satisfaction, however, to reflect
that in return for the privations imposed by the measure, and which
our fellow citizens in general have borne with patriotism, it has had
the important effects of saving our mariners and our vast mercantile
property, as well as of affording time for prosecuting the defensive
and provisional measures called for by the occasion. It has
demonstrated to foreign nations the moderation and firmness which
govern our councils, and to our citizens the necessity of uniting in
support of the laws and the rights of their country, and has thus
long frustrated those usurpations and spoliations which, if resisted,
involved war; if submitted to, sacrificed a vital principle of our
national independence.

Under a continuance of the belligerent measures which, in defiance of
laws which consecrate the rights of neutrals, overspread the ocean
with danger, it will rest with the wisdom of Congress to decide on
the course best adapted to such a state of things; and bringing with
them, as they do, from every part of the Union the sentiments of our
constituents, my confidence is strengthened that in forming this
decision they will, with an unerring regard to the essential rights
and interests of the nation, weigh and compare the painful
alternatives out of which a choice is to be made. Nor should I do
justice to the virtues which on other occasions have marked the
character of our fellow citizens if I did not cherish an equal
confidence that the alternative chosen, whatever it may be, will be
maintained with all the fortitude and patriotism which the crisis
ought to inspire.

The documents containing the correspondences on the subject of the
foreign edicts against our commerce, with the instructions given to
our ministers at London and Paris, are now laid before you.

The communications made to Congress at their last session explained
the posture in which the close of the discussions relating to the
attack by a British ship of war on the frigate Chesapeake left a
subject on which the nation had manifested so honorable a
sensibility. Every view of what had passed authorized a believe that
immediate steps would be taken by the British Government for
redressing a wrong which the more it was investigated appeared the
more clearly to require what had not been provided for in the special
mission. It is found that no steps have been taken for the purpose. On
the contrary, it will be seen in the documents laid before you that
the inadmissible preliminary which obstructed the adjustment is still
adhered to, and, moreover, that it is now brought into connection with
the distinct and irrelative case of the orders in council. The
instructions which had been given to our minister at London with a
view to facilitate, if necessary, the reparation claimed by the
United States are included in the documents communicated.

Our relations with the other powers of Europe have undergone no
material changes since your last session. The important negotiations
with Spain which had been alternately suspended and resumed
necessarily experience a pause under the extraordinary and
interesting crisis which distinguishes her internal situation.

With the Barbary Powers we continue in harmony, with the exception of
an unjustifiable proceeding of the Dey of Algiers toward our consul to
that Regency. Its character and circumstances are now laid before you,
and will enable you to decide how far it may, either now or hereafter,
call for any measures not within the limits of the Executive
authority.

With our Indian neighbors the public peace has been steadily
maintained. Some instances of individual wrong have, as at other
times, taken place, but in no wise implicating the will of the
nation. Beyond the Mississippi the Ioways, the Sacs and the Alabamas
have delivered up for trial and punishment individuals from among
themselves accused of murdering citizens of the United States. On
this side of the Mississippi the Creeks are exerting themselves to
arrest offenders of the same kind, and the Choctaws have manifested
their readiness and desire for amicable and just arrangements
respecting depredations committed by disorderly persons of their
tribe. And, generally, from a conviction that we consider them as a
part of ourselves, and cherish with sincerity their rights and
interests, the attachment of the Indian tribes is gaining strength
daily - is extending from the nearer to the more remote, and will
amply requite us for the justice and friendship practiced toward
them. Husbandry and household manufacture are advancing among them
more rapidly with the Southern than Northern tribes, from
circumstances of soil and climate, and one of the two great divisions
of the Cherokee Nation have now under consideration to solicit the
citizenship of the United States, and to be identified with us in
laws and government in such progressive manner as we shall think
best.

In consequence of the appropriations of the last session of Congress
for the security of our sea port towns and harbors, such works of
defense have been erected as seemed to be called for by the situation
of the several places, their relative importance, and the scale of
expense indicated by the amount of the appropriation. These works
will chiefly be finished in the course of the present season, except
at New York and New Orleans, where most was to be done; and although
a great proportion of the last appropriation has been expended on the
former place, yet some further views will be submitted to Congress for
rendering its security entirely adequate against naval enterprise. A
view of what has been done at the several places, and of what is
proposed to be done, shall be communicated as soon as the several
reports are received.

Of the gun boats authorized by the act of December last, it has been
thought necessary to build only 103 in the present year. These, with
those before possessed, are sufficient for the harbors and waters
most exposed, and the residents will require little time for their
construction when it shall be deemed necessary.

Under the act of the last session for raising an additional military
force so many officers were immediately appointed as were necessary
for carrying on the business of recruiting, and in proportion as it
advanced others have been added. We have reason to believe their
success has been satisfactory, although such returns have not yet
been received as enable me to present you a statement of the numbers
engaged.

I have not thought it necessary in the course of the last season to
call for any general detachments of militia or of volunteers under
the laws passed for that purpose. For the ensuing season, however,
they will be required to be in readiness should their service be
wanted. Some small and special detachments have been necessary to
maintain the laws of embargo on that portion of our northern frontier
which offered peculiar facilities for evasion, but these were replaced
as soon as it could be done by bodies of new recruits. By the aid of
these and of the armed vessels called into service in other quarters
the spirit of disobedience and abuse, which manifested itself early
and with sensible effect while we were unprepared to meet it, has
been considerably repressed.

Considering the extraordinary character of the times in which we
live, our attention should unremittingly be fixed on the safety of
our country. For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a
well organized and armed militia is their best security. It is
therefore incumbent on us at every meeting to revise the condition of
the militia, and to ask ourselves if it is prepared to repel a
powerful enemy at every point of our territories exposed to invasion.
Some of the States have paid a laudable attention to this object, but
every degree of neglect is to be found among others. Congress alone
having the power to produce an uniform state of preparation in this
great organ of defense, the interests which they so deeply feel in
their own and their country's security will present this as among the
most important objects of their deliberation.

Under the acts of March 11 and April 23 respecting arms, the
difficulty of procuring them from abroad during the present situation
and dispositions of Europe induced us to direct our whole efforts to
the means of internal supply. The public factories have therefore
been enlarged, additional machineries erected, and, in proportion as
artificers can be found or formed, their effect, already more than
doubled, may be increased so as to keep pace with the yearly increase
of the militia. The annual sums appropriated by the latter have been
directed to the encouragement of private factories of arms, and
contracts have been entered into with individual undertakers to
nearly the amount of the first year's appropriation.

The suspension of our foreign commerce, produced by the injustice of
the belligerent powers and the consequent losses and sacrifices of
our citizens are subjects of just concern. The situation into which
we have thus been forced has impelled us to apply a portion of our
industry and capital to internal manufactures and improvements. The
extent of this conversion is daily increasing, and little doubt
remains that the establishments formed and forming will, under the
auspices of cheaper materials and subsistence, the freedom of labor
from taxation with us, and of protecting duties and prohibitions,
become permanent. The commerce with the Indians, too, within our own
boundaries is likely to receive abundant aliment from the same
internal source, and will secure to them peace and the progress of
civilization, undisturbed by practices hostile to both.

The accounts of the receipts and expenditures during the year ending
the 30th of September last being not yet made up, a correct statement
will hereafter be transmitted from the Treasury. In the mean time it
is ascertained that the receipts have amounted to near $18M, which,
with the $8.5M in the Treasury at the beginning of the year, have
enabled us, after meeting the current demands and interest incurred,
to pay $2.3M of the principal of our funded debt, and left us in the
Treasury on that day near $14M. Of these, $5.35M will be necessary to
pay what will be due on the 1st day of January next, which will
complete the reimbursement of the 8% stock. These payments, with
those made in the 6.5 years preceding, will have extinguished $33.58M
of the principal of the funded debt, being the whole which could be
paid or purchased within the limits of the law and of our contracts,
and the amount of principal thus discharged will have liberated the
revenue from about $2M of interest and added that sum annually to the
disposable surplus.

The probable accumulation of the surpluses of revenue beyond what can
be applied to the payment of the public debt whenever the freedom and
safety of our commerce shall be restored merits the consideration of
Congress. Shall it lie unproductive in the public vaults? Shall the
revenue be reduced? Or shall it not rather be appropriated to the
improvements of roads, canals, rivers, education, and other great
foundations of prosperity and union under the powers which Congress
may already possess or such amendment to the Constitution as may be
approved by the States? While uncertain of the course of things, the
time may be advantageously employed in obtaining the powers necessary
for a system of improvement, should that be thought best.

Availing myself of this the last occasion which will occur of
addressing the two Houses of the Legislature at their meeting, I can
not omit the expression of my sincere gratitude for the repeated
proofs of confidence manifested to me by themselves and their
predecessors since my call to the administration and the many
indulgences experienced at their hands. These same grateful
acknowledgements are due to my fellow citizens generally, whose
support has been my great encouragement under all embarrassments. In
the transaction of their business I can not have escaped error. It is
incident to our imperfect nature. But I may say with truth my errors
have been of the understanding, not of intention, and that the
advancement of their rights and interests has been the constant
motive for every measure. On these considerations I solicit their
indulgence. Looking forward with anxiety to future destinies, I trust
that in their steady character, unshaken by difficulties, in their
love of liberty, obedience to law, and support of the public
authorities, I see a sure guaranty of the permanence of our Republic;
and, retiring from the charge of their affairs, I carry with me the
consolation of a firm persuasion that Heaven has in store for our
beloved country long ages to come of prosperity and happiness.