Speech Transcript:

Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives

In performing my duty at the opening of your present session it gives
me pleasure to congratulate you again upon the prosperous condition of
our beloved country. Divine Providence has favored us with general
health, with rich rewards in the fields of agriculture and in every
branch of labor, and with peace to cultivate and extend the various
resources which employ the virtue and enterprise of our citizens. Let
us trust that in surveying a scene so flattering to our free
institutions our joint deliberations to preserve them may be crowned
with success.

Our foreign relations continue, with but few exceptions, to maintain
the favorable aspect which they bore in my last annual message, and
promise to extend those advantages which the principles that regulate
our intercourse with other nations are so well calculated to secure.

The question of our North East boundary is still pending with Great
Britain, and the proposition made in accordance with the resolution
of the Senate for the establishment of a line according to the treaty
of 1783 has not been accepted by that Government. Believing that every
disposition is felt on both sides to adjust this perplexing question
to the satisfaction of all the parties interested in it, the hope is
yet indulged that it may be effected on the basis of that
proposition.

With the Governments of Austria, Russia, Prussia, Holland, Sweden,
and Denmark the best understanding exists. Commerce with all is
fostered and protected by reciprocal good will under the sanction of
liberal conventional or legal provisions.

In the midst of her internal difficulties the Queen of Spain has
ratified the convention for the payment of the claims of our citizens
arising since 1819. It is in the course of execution on her part, and
a copy of it is now laid before you for such legislation as may be
found necessary to enable those interested to derive the benefits of
it.

Yielding to the force of circumstances and to the wise counsels of
time and experience, that power has finally resolved no longer to
occupy the unnatural position in which she stood to the new
Governments established in this hemisphere. I have the great
satisfaction of stating to you that in preparing the way for the
restoration of harmony between those who have sprung from the same
ancestors, who are allied by common interests, profess the same
religion, and speak the same language the United States have been
actively instrumental. Our efforts to effect this good work will be
persevered in while they are deemed useful to the parties and our
entire disinterestedness continues to be felt and understood. The act
of Congress to countervail the discriminating duties to the prejudice
of our navigation levied in Cuba and Puerto Rico has been transmitted
to the minister of the United States at Madrid, to be communicated to
the Government of the Queen. No intelligence of its receipt has yet
reached the Department of State. If the present condition of the
country permits the Government to make a careful and enlarged
examination of the true interests of these important portions of its
dominions, no doubt is entertained that their future intercourse with
the United States will be placed upon a more just and liberal basis.

The Florida archives have not yet been selected and delivered. Recent
orders have been sent to the agent of the United States at Havana to
return with all that he can obtain, so that they may be in Washington
before the session of the Supreme Court, to be used in the legal
questions there pending to which the Government is a party.

Internal tranquillity is happily restored to Portugal. The distracted
state of the country rendered unavoidable the postponement of a final
payment of the just claims of our citizens. Our diplomatic relations
will be soon resumed, and the long-subsisting friendship with that
power affords the strongest guaranty that the balance due will
receive prompt attnetion.

The first installment due under the convention of indemnity with the
King of the Two Sicilies has been duly received, and an offer has
been made to extinguish the whole by a prompt payment -- an offer I
did not consider myself authorized to accept, as the indemnification
provided is the exclusive property of individual citizens of the
United States. The original adjustment of our claims and the anxiety
displayed to fulfill at once the stipulations made for the payment of
them are highly honorable to the Government of the Two Sicilies. When
it is recollected that they were the result of the injustice of an
intrusive power temporarily dominant in its territory, a repugnance
to acknowledge and to pay which would have been neither unnatural nor
unexpected, the circumstances can not fail to exalt its character for
justice and good faith in the eyes of all nations.

The treaty of amity and commerce between the United States and
Belgium, brought to your notice in my last annual message as
sanctioned by the Senate, but the ratifications of which had not been
exchanged owing to a delay in its reception at Brussels and a
subsequent absence of the Belgian minister of foreign affairs, has
been, after mature deliberation, finally disavowed by that Government
as inconsistent with the powers and instructions given to their
minister who negotiated it. This disavowal was entirely unexpected,
as the liberal principles embodied in the convention, and which form
the ground-work of the objections to it, were perfectly satisfactory
to the Belgian representative, and were supposed to be not only
within the powers granted, but expressly conformable to the
instructions given to him. An offer, not yet accepted, has been made
by Belgium to renew negotiations for a treaty less liberal in its
provisions on questions of general maritime law.

Our newly established relations with the Sublime Porte promise to be
useful to our commerce and satisfactory in every respect to this
Government. Our intercourse with the Barbary Powers continues without
important change, except that the present political state of Algiers
has induced me to terminate the residence there of a salaried consul
and to substitute an ordinary consulate, to remain so long as the
place continues in the possession of France. Our first treaty with
one of these powers, the Emperor of Morocco, was formed in 1786, and
was limited to fifty years. That period has almost expired. I shall
take measures to renew it with the greater satisfaction as its
stipulations are just and liberal and have been, with mutual fidelity
and reciprocal advantage, scrupulously fulfilled.

Intestine dissensions have too frequently occurred to mar the
prosperity, interrupt the commerce, and distract the governments of
most of the nations of this hemisphere which have separated
themselves from Spain. When a firm and permanent understanding with
the parent country shall have produced a formal acknowledgment of
their independence, and the idea of danger from that quarter can be
no longer entertained, the friends of freedom expect that those
countries, so favored by nature, will be distinguished for their love
of justice and their devotion to those peaceful arts the assiduous
cultivation of which confers honor upon nations and gives value to
human life.

In the mean time I confidently hope that the apprehensions
entertained that some of the people of these luxuriant regions may be
tempted, in a moment of unworthy distrust of their own capacity for
the enjoyment of liberty, to commit the too common error of
purchasing present repose by bestowing on some favorite leaders the
fatal gift of irresponsible power will not be realized. With all
these Governments and with that of Brazil no unexpected changes in
our relations have occurred during the present year.

Frequent causes of just complaint have arisen upon the part of the
citizens of the United States, some times from the irregular action
of the constituted subordinate authorities of the maritime regions
and some times from the leaders or partisans of those in arms against
the established Governments. In all cases representations have been or
will be made, and as soon as their political affairs are in a settled
position it is expected that our friendly remonstrances will be
followed by adequate redress.

The Government of Mexico made known in [1833] December last the
appointment of commissioners and a surveyor on its part to run, in
conjunction with ours, the boundary line between its territories and
the United States, and excused the delay for the reasons anticipated
-- the prevalence of civil war. The commissioners and surveyors not
having met within the time stipulated by the treaty, a new
arrangement became necessary, and our chargé d'affaires was
instructed in [1833] January to negotiate in Mexico an article
additional to the pre-existing treaty. This instruction was
acknowledged, and no difficulty was apprehended in the accomplishment
of that object. By information just received that additional article
to the treaty will be obtained and transmitted to this country as
soon as it can receive the ratification of the Mexican Congress.

The reunion of the three States of New Grenada, Venezuela, and
Equador, forming the Republic of Colombia, seems every day to become
more improbable. The commissioners of the two first are understood to
be now negotiating a just division of the obligations contracted by
them when united under one government. The civil war in Equador, it
is believed, has prevented even the appointment of a commissioner on
its part.

I propose at an early day to submit, in the proper form, the
appointment of a diplomatic agent to Venezuela, the importance of the
commerce of that country to the United States and the large claims of
our citizens upon the Government arising before and since the
division of Colombia rendering it, in my judgment, improper longer to
delay this step.

Our representatives to Central America, Peru, and Brazil are either
at or on their way to their respective posts.

From the Argentine Republic, from which a minister was expected to
this Government, nothing further has been heard. Occasion has been
taken on the departure of a new consul to Buenos Ayres to remind that
Government that its long delayed minister, whose appointment had been
made known to us, had not arrived.

It becomes my unpleasant duty to inform you that this pacific and
highly gratifying picture of our foreign relations does not include
those with France at this time. It is not possible that any
Government and people could be more sincerely desirous of
conciliating a just and friendly intercourse with another nation than
are those of the United States with their ancient ally and friend.
This disposition is founded as well on the most grateful and
honorable recollections associated with our struggle for independence
as upon a well grounded conviction that it is consonant with the true
policy of both. The people of the United States could not, therefore,
see without the deepest regret even a temporary interruption of the
friendly relations between the two countries -- a regret which would,
I am sure, be greatly aggravated if there should turn out to be any
reasonable ground for attributing such a result to any act of
omission or commission on our part. I derive, therefore, the highest
satisfaction from being able to assure you that the whole course of
this Government has been characterized by a spirit so conciliatory
and for bearing as to make it impossible that our justice and
moderation should be questioned, what ever may be the consequences of
a longer perseverance on the part of the French Government in her
omission to satisfy the conceded claims of our citizens.

The history of the accumulated and unprovoked aggressions upon our
commerce committed by authority of the existing Governments of France
between the years 1800 and 1817 has been rendered too painfully
familiar to Americans to make its repetition either necessary or
desirable. It will be sufficient here to remark that there has for
many years been scarcely a single administration of the French
Government by whom the justice and legality of the claims of our
citizens to indemnity were not to a very considerable extent
admitted, and yet near a quarter of a century has been wasted in
ineffectual negotiations to secure it.

Deeply sensible of the injurious effects resulting from this state of
things upon the interests and character of both nations, I regarded it
as among my first duties to cause one more effort to be made to
satisfy France that a just and liberal settlement of our claims was
as well due to her own honor as to their incontestable validity. The
negotiation for this purpose was commenced with the late Government
of France, and was prosecuted with such success as to leave no
reasonable ground to doubt that a settlement of a character quite as
liberal as that which was subsequently made would have been effected
had not the revolution by which the negotiation was cut off taken
place. The discussions were resumed with the present Government, and
the result showed that we were not wrong in supposing that an event
by which the two Governments were made to approach each other so much
nearer in their political principles, and by which the motives for the
most liberal and friendly intercourse were so greatly multiplied,
could exercise no other than a salutary influence upon the
negotiation.

After the most deliberate and thorough examination of the whole
subject a treaty between the two Governments was concluded and signed
at Paris on 1831-07-04, by which it was stipulated that "the French
Government, in order to liberate itself from all the reclamations
preferred against it by citizens of the United States for unlawful
seizures, captures, sequestrations, confiscations, or destruction of
their vessels, cargoes, or other property, engages to pay a sum of
25,000,000 francs to the United States, who shall distribute it among
those entitled in the manner and according to the rules it shall
determine"; and it was also stipulated on the part of the French
Government that this 25,000,000 francs should "be paid at Paris, in
six annual installments of 4,166,666 francs and 66 centimes each,
into the hands of such person or persons "as shall be authorized by
the Government of the US to receive it", the first installment to be
paid "at the expiration of one year next following the exchange of
the ratifications of this convention and the others at successive
intervals of a year, one after another, 'til the whole shall be paid.
To the amount of each of the said installments shall be added interest
at 4% thereupon, as upon the other installments then remaining unpaid,
the said interest to be computed from the day of the exchange of the
present convention".

It was also stipulated on the part of the United States, for the
purpose of being completely liberated from all the reclamations
presented by France on behalf of its citizens, that the sum of
1,500,000 francs should be paid to the Government of France in six
annual installments, to be deducted out of the annual sums which
France had agreed to pay, interest thereupon being in like manner
computed from the day of the exchange of the ratifications. In
addition to this stipulation, important advantages were secured to
France by the following article, viz:

The wines of France, from and after the exchange of the ratifications
of the present conventions, shall be admitted to consumption in the
States of the Union at duties which shall not exceed the following
rates by the gallon (such as it is used at present for wines in the
US), to wit: 6 cents for red wines in casks; 10 cents for white wines
in casks, and 22 cents for wines of all sorts in bottles. The
proportions existing between the duties on French wines thus reduced
and the general rates of the tariff which went into operation
1829-01-01, shall be maintained in case the Government of the United
States should think proper to diminish those general rates in a new
tariff.
In consideration of this stipulation, which shall be binding on the
United States for 10 years, the French Government abandons the
reclamations which it had formed in relation to the 8th article of
the treaty of cession of Louisiana. It engages, moreover, to
establish on the long-staple cottons of the United States which after
the exchange of the ratifications of the present convention shall be
brought directly thence to France by the vessels of the US or by
French vessels the same duties as on short-staple cotton.

This treaty was duly ratified in the manner prescribed by the
constitutions of both countries, and the ratification was exchanged
at the city of Washington on 1832-02-02. On account of its commercial
stipulations it was in five days thereafter laid before the Congress
of the United States, which proceeded to enact such laws favorable to
the commerce of France as were necessary to carry it into full
execution, and France has from that period to the present been in the
unrestricted enjoyment of the valuable privileges that were thus
secured to her.
The faith of the French nation having been thus solemnly pledged
through its constitutional organ for the liquidation and ultimate
payment of the long deferred claims of our citizens, as also for the
adjustment of other points of great and reciprocal benefits to both
countries, and the United States having, with a fidelity and
promptitude by which their conduct will, I trust, be always
characterized, done every thing that was necessary to carry the
treaty into full and fair effect on their part, counted with the most
perfect confidence on equal fidelity and promptitude on the part of
the French Government. In this reasonable expectation we have been, I
regret to inform you, wholly disappointed. No legislative provision
has been made by France for the execution of the treaty, either as it
respects the indemnity to be paid or the commercial benefits to be
secured to the United States, and the relations between the United
States and that power in consequence thereof are placed in a
situation threatening to interrupt the good understanding which has
so long and so happily existed between the two nations.

Not only has the French Government been thus wanting in the
performance of the stipulations it has so solemnly entered into with
the United States, but its omissions have been marked by
circumstances which would seem to leave us without satisfactory
evidences that such performance will certainly take place at a future
period. Advice of the exchange of ratifications reached Paris prior to
1832-04-08. The French Chambers were then sitting, and continued in
session until 1832-04-21, and although one installment of the
indemnity was payable on 1833-02-02, one year after the exchange of
ratifications, no application was made to the Chambers for the
required appropriation, and in consequence of no appropriation having
then been made the draft of the United States Government for that
installment was dishonored by the minister of finance, and the United
States thereby involved in much controversy.

The next session of the Chambers commenced on 1832-11-19, and
continued until 1833-04-25. Not withstanding the omission to pay the
first installment had been made the subject of earnest remonstrance
on our part, the treaty with the United States and a bill making the
necessary appropriations to execute it were not laid before the
Chamber of Deputies until 1833-04-06, nearly five months after its
meeting, and only nineteen days before the close of the session. The
bill was read and referred to a committee, but there was no further
action upon it.

The next session of the Chambers commenced on 1833-04-26, and
continued until 1833-06-26. A new bill was introduced on 1833-06-11,
but nothing important was done in relation to it during the session.

In 1834 April, nearly three years after the signature of the treaty,
the final action of the French Chambers upon the bill to carry the
treaty into effect was obtained, and resulted in a refusal of the
necessary appropriations. The avowed grounds upon which the bill was
rejected are to be found in the published debates of that body, and
no observations of mine can be necessary to satisfy Congress of their
utter insufficiency. Although the gross amount of the claims of our
citizens is probably greater than will be ultimately allowed by the
commissioners, sufficient is, never the less, shown to render it
absolutely certain that the indemnity falls far short of the actual
amount of our just claims, independently of the question of damages
and interest for the detention. That the settlement involved a
sacrifice in this respect was well known at the time -- a sacrifice
which was cheerfully acquiesced in by the different branches of the
Federal Government, whose action upon the treaty was required from a
sincere desire to avoid further collision upon this old and
disturbing subject and in the confident expectation that the general
relations between the two countries would be improved thereby.

The refusal to vote the appropriation, the news of which was received
from our minister in Paris about 1834-05-15, might have been
considered the final determination of the French Government not to
execute the stipulations of the treaty, and would have justified an
immediate communication of the facts to Congress, with a
recommendation of such ultimate measures as the interest and honor of
the United States might seem to require. But with the news of the
refusal of the Chambers to make the appropriation were conveyed the
regrets of the King and a declaration that a national vessel should
be forthwith sent out with instructions to the French minister to
give the most ample explanations of the past and the strongest
assurances for the future. After a long passage the promised dispatch
vessel arrived.

The pledges given by the French minister upon receipt of his
instructions were that as soon after the election of the new members
as the charter would permit the legislative Chambers of France should
be called together and the proposition for an appropriation laid
before them; that all the constitutional powers of the King and his
cabinet should be exerted to accomplish the object, and that the
result should be made known early enough to be communicated to
Congress at the commencement of the present session. Relying upon
these pledges, and not doubting that the acknowledged justice of our
claims, the promised exertions of the King and his cabinet, and,
above all, that sacred regard for the national faith and honor for
which the French character has been so distinguished would secure an
early execution of the treaty in all its parts, I did not deem it
necessary to call the attention of Congress to the subject at the
last session.

I regret to say that the pledges made through the minister of France
have not been redeemed. The new Chambers met on 1834-07-31, and
although the subject of fulfilling treaties was alluded to in the
speech from the throne, no attempt was made by the King or his
cabinet to procure an appropriation to carry it into execution. The
reasons given for this omission, although they might be considered
sufficient in an ordinary case, are not consistent with the
expectations founded upon the assurances given here, for there is no
constitutional obstacle to entering into legislative business at the
first meeting of the Chambers. This point, however, might have been
over-looked had not the Chambers, instead of being called to meet at
so early a day that the result of their deliberations might be
communicated to me before the meeting of Congress, been prorogued to
1834-12-29 -- a period so late that their decision can scarcely be
made known to the present Congress prior to its dissolution. To avoid
this delay our minister in Paris, in virtue of the assurance given by
the French minister in the United States, strongly urged the
convocation of the Chambers at an earlier day, but without success.
It is proper to remark, however, that this refusal has been
accompanied with the most positive assurances on the part of the
executive government of France of their intention to press the
appropriation at the ensuing session of the Chambers.

The executive branch of this Government has, as matters stand,
exhausted all the authority upon the subject with which it is
invested and which it had any reason to believe could be beneficially
employed.

The idea of acquiescing in the refusal to execute the treaty will
not, I am confident, be for a moment entertained by any branch of
this Government, and further negotiation upon the subject is equally
out of the question.

If it shall be the pleasure of Congress to await the further action
of the French Chambers, no further consideration of the subject will
at this session probably be required at your hands. But if from the
original delay in asking for an appropriation, from the refusal of
the Chambers to grant it when asked, from the omission to bring the
subject before the Chambers at their last session, from the fact
that, including that session, there have been five different
occasions when the appropriation might have been made, and from the
delay in convoking the Chambers until some weeks after the meeting of
Congress, when it was well known that a communication of the whole
subject to Congress at the last session was prevented by assurances
that it should be disposed of before its present meeting, you should
feel yourselves constrained to doubt whether it be the intention of
the French Government, in all its branches, to carry the treaty into
effect, and think that such measures as the occasion may be deemed to
call for should be now adopted, the important question arises what
those measures shall be.

Our institutions are essentially pacific. Peace and friendly
intercourse with all nations are as much the desire of our Government
as they are the interest of our people. But these objects are not to
be permanently secured by surrendering the rights of our citizens or
permitting solemn treaties for their indemnity, in cases of flagrant
wrong, to be abrogated or set aside.

It is undoubtedly in the power of Congress seriously to affect the
agricultural and manufacturing interests of France by the passage of
laws relating to her trade with the United States. Her products,
manufactures, and tonnage may be subjected to heavy duties in our
ports, or all commercial intercourse with her may be suspended. But
there are powerful and to my mind conclusive objections to this mode
of proceeding.

We can not embarrass or cut off the trade of France without at the
same time in some degree embarrassing or cutting off our own trade.
The injury of such a warfare must fall, though unequally, upon our
own citizens, and could not but impair the means of the Government
and weaken that united sentiment in support of the rights and honor
of the nation which must now pervade every bosom. Nor is it
impossible that such a course of legislation would introduce once
more into our national councils those disturbing questions in
relation to the tariff of duties which have been so recently put to
rest. Besides, by every measure adopted by the Government of the
United Sstates with the view of injuring France the clear perception
of right which will induce our own people and the rulers and people
of all other nations, even of France herself, to pronounce our
quarrel just will be obscured and the support rendered to us in a
final resort to more decisive measures will be more limited and
equivocal.

There is but one point of controversy, and upon that the whole
civilized world must pronounce France to be in the wrong. We insist
that she shall pay us a sum of money which she has acknowledged to be
due, and of the justice of this demand there can be but one opinion
among mankind. True policy would seem to dictate that the question at
issue should be kept thus disencumbered and that not the slightest
pretense should be given to France to persist in her refusal to make
payment by any act on our part affecting the interests of her people.
The question should be left, as it is now, in such an attitude that
when France fulfills her treaty stipulations all controversy will be
at an end.

It is my conviction that the United States ought to insist on a
prompt execution of the treaty, and in case it be refused or longer
delayed take redress into their own hands. After the delay on the
part of France of a quarter of a century in acknowledging these
claims by treaty, it is not to be tolerated that another quarter of a
century is to be wasted in negotiating about the payment. The laws of
nations provide a remedy for such occasions. It is a well-settled
principle of the international code that where one nation owes
another a liquidated debt which it refuses or neglects to pay the
aggrieved party may seize on the property belonging to the other, its
citizens or subjects, sufficient to pay the debt without giving just
cause of war. This remedy has been repeatedly resorted to, and
recently by France herself toward Portugal, under circumstances less
unquestionable.

The time at which resort should be had to this or any other mode of
redress is a point to be decided by Congress. If an appropriation
shall not be made by the French Chambers at their next session, it
may justly be concluded that the Government of France has finally
determined to disregard its own solemn undertaking and refuse to pay
an acknowledged debt. In that event every day's delay on our part
will be a stain upon our national honor, as well as a denial of
justice to our injured citizens. Prompt measures, when the refusal of
France shall be complete, will not only be most honorable and just,
but will have the best effect upon our national character.

Since France, in violation of the pledges given through her minister
here, has delayed her final action so long that her decision will not
probably be known in time to be communicated to this Congress, I
recommend that a law be passed authorizing reprisals upon French
property in case provision shall not be made for the payment of the
debt at the approaching session of the French Chambers. Her pride and
power are too well known to expect any thing from her fears and
preclude the necessity of a declaration that nothing partaking of the
character of intimidation is intended by us. She ought to look upon it
as the evidence only of an inflexible determination on the part of the
United States to insist on their rights.

That Government, by doing only what it has itself acknowledged to be
just, will be able to spare the United States the necessity of taking
redress into their own hands and save the property of French citizens
from that seizure and sequestration which American citizens so long
endured without retaliation or redress. If she should continue to
refuse that act of acknowledged justice and, in violation of the law
of nations, make reprisals on our part the occasion of hostilities
against the United States, she would but add violence to injustice,
and could not fail to expose herself to the just censure of civilized
nations and to the retributive judgments of Heaven.

Collision with France is the more to be regretted on account of the
position she occupies in Europe in relation to liberal institutions,
but in maintaining our national rights and honor all governments are
alike to us. If by a collision with France in a case where she is
clearly in the wrong the march of liberal principles shall be
impeded, the responsibility for that result as well as every other
will rest on her own head.

Having submitted these considerations, it belongs to Congress to
decide whether after what has taken place it will still await the
further action of the French Chambers or now adopt such provisional
measures as it may deem necessary and best adapted to protect the
rights and maintain the honor of the country. What ever that decision
may be, it will be faithfully enforced by the Executive as far as he
is authorized so to do.

According to the estimate of the Treasury Department, the revenue
accruing from all sources during the present year will amount to
$20,624,717, which, with the balance remaining in the Treasury on
1834-01-01 of $11,702,905, produces an aggregate of $32,327,623. The
total expenditure during the year for all objects, including the
public debt, is estimated at $25,591,390, which will leave a balance
in the Treasury on 1835-01-01 of $6,736,232. In this balance,
however, will be included about $1,150,000 of what was heretofore
reported by the Department as not effective.

Of former appropriations it is estimated that there will remain
unexpended at the close of the year $8,002,925, and that of this sum
there will not be required more than $5,141,964 to accomplish the
objects of all the current appropriations. Thus it appears that after
satisfying all those appropriations and after discharging the last
item of our public debt, which will be done on 1835-01-01, there will
remain unexpended in the Treasury an effective balance of about
$440,000. That such should be the aspect of our finances is highly
flattering to the industry and enterprise of our population and
auspicious of the wealth and prosperity which await the future
cultivation of their growing resources. It is not deemed prudent,
however, to recommend any change for the present in our impost rates,
the effect of the gradual reduction now in progress in many of them
not being sufficiently tested to guide us in determining the precise
amount of revenue which they will produce.

Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no
complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign
powers, the present may be hailed as the epoch in our history the
most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic
policy which shall be best calculated to give stability to our
Republic and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens.

Among these principles, from our past experience, it can not be
doubted that simplicity in the character of the Federal Government
and a rigid economy in its administration should be regarded as
fundamental and sacred. All must be sensible that the existence of
the public debt, by rendering taxation necessary for its
extinguishment, has increased the difficulties which are inseparable
from every exercise of the taxing power, and that it was in this
respect a remote agent in producing those disturbing questions which
grew out of the discussions relating to the tariff. If such has been
the tendency of a debt incurred in the acquisition and maintenance of
our national rights and liberties, the obligations of which all
portions of the Union cheerfully acknowledged, it must be obvious
that what ever is calculated to increase the burdens of Government
without necessity must be fatal to all our hopes of preserving its
true character.

While we are felicitating ourselves, therefore, upon the
extinguishment of the national debt and the prosperous state of our
finances, let us not be tempted to depart from those sound maxims of
public policy which enjoin a just adaptation of the revenue to the
expenditures that are consistent with a rigid economy and an entire
abstinence from all topics of legislation that are not clearly within
the constitutional powers of the Government and suggested by the wants
of the country. Properly regarded under such a policy, every
diminution of the public burdens arising from taxation gives to
individual enterprise increased power and furnishes to all the
members of our happy Confederacy new motives for patriotic affection
and support. But above all, its most important effect will be found
in its influence upon the character of the Government by confining
its action to those objects which will be sure to secure to it the
attachment and support of our fellow citizens.

Circumstances make it my duty to call the attention of Congress to
the Bank of the United States. Created for the convenience of the
Government, that institution has become the scourge of the people.
Its interference to postpone the payment of a portion of the national
debt that it might retain the public money appropriated for that
purpose to strengthen it in a political contest, the extraordinary
extension and contraction of its accommodations to the community, its
corrupt and partisan loans, its exclusion of the public directors from
a knowledge of its most important proceedings, the unlimited authority
conferred on the president to expend its funds in hiring writers and
procuring the execution of printing, and the use made of that
authority, the retention of the pension money and books after the
selection of new agents, the groundless claim to heavy damages in
consequence of the protest of the bill drawn on the French
Government, have through various channels been laid before Congress.

Immediately after the close of the last session the bank, through its
president, announced its ability and readiness to abandon the system
of unparalleled curtailment and the interruption of domestic
exchanges which it had practiced upon from 1833-08-01 to 1834-06-30,
and to extend its accommodations to the community. The grounds
assumed in this annunciation amounted to an acknowledgment that the
curtailment, in the extent to which it had been carried, was not
necessary to the safety of the bank, and had been persisted in merely
to induce Congress to grant the prayer of the bank in its memorial
relative to the removal of the deposits and to give it a new charter.
They were substantially a confession that all the real distresses
which individuals and the country had endured for the preceding 6 or
8 months had been needlessly produced by it, with the view of
affecting through the sufferings of the people the legislative action
of Congress.

It is subject of congratulation that Congress and the country had the
virtue and firmness to bear the infliction, that the energies of our
people soon found relief from this wanton tyranny in vast
importations of th eprecious metals from almost every part of the
world, and that at the close of this tremendous effort to control our
Government the bank found itself powerless and no longer able to loan
out its surplus means. The community had learned to manage its
affairs without its assistance, and trade had already found new
auxiliaries, so that on 1834-10-01 the extraordinary spectacle was
presented of a national more than half of whose capital was either
lying unproductive in its vaults or in the hands of foreign bankers.

To the needless distresses brought on the country during the last
session of Congress has since been added the open seizure of the
dividends on the public stock to the amount of $170,041, under
pretense of paying damages, cost, and interest upon the protested
French bill. This sum constituted a portion of the estimated revenues
for the year 1834, upon which the appropriations made by Congress were
based. It would as soon have been expected that our collectors would
seize on the customs or the receivers of our land offices on the
moneys arising from the sale of public lands under pretenses of
claims against the United States as that the bank would have retained
the dividends. Indeed, if the principle be established that any one
who chooses to set up a claim against the United States may without
authority of law seize on the public property or money wherever he
can find it to pay such claim, there will remain no assurance that
our revenue will reach the Treasury or that it will be applied after
the appropriation to the purposes designated in the law.

The pay masters of our Army and the pursers of our Navy may under
like pretenses apply to their own use moneys appropriated to set in
motion the public force, and in time of war leave the country without
defense. This measure resorted to by the bank is disorganizing and
revolutionary, and if generally resorted to by private citizens in
like cases would fill the land with anarchy and violence.

It is a constitutional provision "that no money shall be drawn from
the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law". The
palpable object of this provision is to prevent the expenditure of
the public money for any purpose what so ever which shall not have
been 1st approved by the representatives of the people and the States
in Congress assembled. It vests the power of declaring for what
purposes the public money shall be expended in the legislative
department of the Government, to the exclusion of the executive and
judicial, and it is not within the constitutional authority of either
of those departments to pay it away without law or to sanction its
payment.

According to this plain constitutional provision, the claim of the
bank can never be paid without an appropriation by act of Congress.
But the bank has never asked for an appropriation. It attempts to
defeat the provision of the Constitution and obtain payment without
an act of Congress. Instead of awaiting an appropriation passed by
both Houses and approved by the President, it makes an appropriation
for itself and invites an appeal to the judiciary to sanction it.
That the money had not technically been paid into the Treasury does
not affect the principle intended to be established by the
Constitution.

The Executive and the judiciary have as little right to appropriate
and expend the public money without authority of law before it is
placed to the credit of the Treasury as to take it from the Treasury.
In the annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury, and in his
correspondence with the president of the bank, and the opinions of
the Attorney General accompanying it, you will find a further
examination of the claims of the bank and the course it has pursued.

It seems due to the safety of the people funds remaining in that bank
and to the honor of the American people that measures be taken to
separate the Government entirely from an institution so mischievous
to the public prosperity and so regardless of the Constitution and
laws. By transferring the public deposits, by appointing other
pension agents as far as it had the power, by ordering the
discontinuance of the receipt of bank checks in the payment of the
public dues after 1834-01-01, the Executive has exerted all its
lawful authority to sever the connection between the Government and
this faithless corporation.

The high-handed career of this institution imposes upon the
constitutional functionaries of this Government duties of the gravest
and most imperative character -- duties which they can not avoid and
from which I trust there will be no inclination on the part of any of
them to shrink. My own sense of them is most clear, as is also my
readiness to discharge those which may rightfully fall on me. To
continue any business relations with the Bank of the United States
that may be avoided without a violation of the national faith after
that institution has set at open defiance the conceded right of the
Government to examine its affairs, after it has done all in its power
to deride the public authority in other respects and to bring it into
disrepute at home and abroad, after it has attempted to defeat the
clearly expressed will of the people by turning against them the
immense power intrusted to its hands and by involving a country
otherwise peaceful, flourishing, and happy, in dissension,
embarrassment, and distress, would make the nation itself a party to
the degradation so sedulously prepared for itss public agents and do
much to destroy the confidence of man-kind in popular governments and
to bring into contempt their authority and efficiency.

In guarding against an evil of such magnitude consideration of
temprary convenience should be thrown out of the question, and we
should be influenced by such motives only as look to the honor and
preservation of the republican system. Deeply and solemnly impressed
with the justice of these views, I feel it to be my duty to recommend
to you that a law be passed authorizing the sale of the public stock;
that the provision of the charter requiring the receipt of notes of
the bank in payment of public dues shall, in accordance with the
power reserved to Congress in the 14th section of the charter, be
suspended until the bank pays to the Treasury the dividends withheld,
and that all laws connecting the Government or its officers with the
bank, directly or indirectly, be repealed, and that the institution
be left hereafter to its own resources and means.

Events have satisfied my mind, and I think the minds of the American
people, that the mischiefs and dangers which flow from a national
bank far over-balance all its advantages. The bold effort the present
bank has made to control the Government, the distresses it has
wantonly produced, the violence of which it has been the occasion in
one of our cities famed for its observance of law and order, are but
premonitions of the fate which awaits the American people should they
be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the
establishment of another like it. It is fervently hoped that thus
admonished those who have heretofore favored the establishment of a
substitute for the present bank will be induced to abandon it, as it
is evidently better to incur any inconvenience that may be reasonably
expected than to concentrate the whole moneyed power of the Republic
in any form what so ever or under any restrictions.

Happily it is already illustrated that the agency of such an
institution is not necessary to the fiscal operations of the
Government. The State banks are found fully adequate to the
performance of all services which were required of the Bank of the
United States, quite as promptly and with the same cheapness. They
have maintained themselves and discharged all these duties while the
Bank of the United States was still powerful and in the field as an
open enemy, and it is not possible to conceive that they will find
greater difficulties in their operations when that enemy shall cease
to exist.

The attention of Congress is earnestly invited to the regulation of
the deposits in the State banks by law. Although the power now
exercised by the executive department in this behalf is only such as
was uniformly exerted through every Administration from the origin of
the Government up to the establishment of the present bank, yet it is
one which is susceptible of regulation by law, and therefore ought so
to be regulated. The power of Congress to direct in what places the
Treasurer shall keep the moneys in the Treasury and to impose
restrictions upon the Executive authority in relation to their
custody and removal is unlimited, and its exercise will rather be
courted than discouraged by those public officers and agents on whom
rests the responsibility for their safety. It is desirable that as
little power as possible should be left to the President or the
Secretary of the Treasury over those institutions, which, being thus
freed from Executive influence, and without a common head to direct
their operations, would have neither the temptation nor the ability
to interfere in the political conflicts of the country. Not deriving
their charters from the national authorities, they would never have
those inducements to meddle in general elections which have led the
Bank of the United States to agitate and convulse the country for
upward of two years.

The progress of our gold coinage is creditable to the officers of the
Mint, and promises in a short period to furnish the country with a
sound and portable currency, which will much diminish the
inconvenience to travelers of the want of a general paper currency
should the State banks be incapable of furnishing it. Those
institutions have already shown themselves competent to purchase and
furnish domestic exchange for the convenience of trade at reasonable
rates, and not a doubt is entertained that in a short period all the
wants of the country in bank accommodations and exchange will be
supplid as promptly and as cheaply as they have heretofore been by
the Bank of the United States. If the several States shall be induced
gradually to reform their banking systems and prohibit the issue of
all small notes, we shall in a few years have a currency as sound and
as little liable to fluctuations as any other commercial country.

The report of the Secretary of War, together with the accompanying
documents from the several bureaux of that Department, will exhibit
the situation of the various objects committed to its
administration.

No event has occurred since your last session rendering necessary any
movements of the Army, with the exception of the expedition of the
regiment of dragoons into the territory of the wandering and
predatory tribes inhabiting the western frontier and living adjacent
to the Mexican boundary. These tribes have been heretofore known to
us principally by their attacks upon our own citizens and upon other
Indians entitled to the protection of the United States. It became
necessary for the peace of the frontiers to check these habitual
inroads, and I am happy to inform you that the object has been
effected without the commission of any act of hostility. Colonel
Dodge and the troops under his command have acted with equal firmness
and humanity, and an arrangement has been made with those Indians
which it is hoped will assure their permanent pacific relations with
the United States and the other tribes of Indians upon that border.
It is to be regretted that the prevalence of sickness in that quarter
has deprived the country of a number of valuable lives, and
particularly that General Leavenworth, an officer well known, and
esteemed for his gallant services in the late war and for his
subsequent good conduct, has fallen a victim to his zeal and
exertions in the discharge of his duty.

The Army is in a high state of discipline. Its moral condition, so
far as that is known here, is good, and the various branches of the
public service are carefully attended to. It is amply sufficient
under its present organization for providing the necessary garrisons
for the seaboard and for the defense of the internal frontier, and
also for preserving the elements of military knowledge and for
keeping pace with those improvements which modern experience is
continually making. And these objects appear to me to embrace all the
legitimate purposes for which a permanent military force should be
maintained in our country. The lessons of history teach us its danger
and the tendency which exists to an increase. This can be best met and
averted by a just caution on the part of the public itself, and of
those who represent them in Congress.

From the duties which devolve on teh Engineer Department and upon the
topographical engineers, a different organization seems to be demanded
by the public interest, and I recommend the subject to your
consideration.

No important change has during this season taken place in the
condition of the Indians. Arrangements are in progress for the
removal of the Creeks, and will soon be for the removal of the
Seminoles. I regret that the Cherokees east of the Mississippi have
not yet determined as a community to remove. How long the personal
causes which have heretofore retarded that ultimately inevitable
measure will continue to operate I am unable to conjecture. It is
certain, however, that delay will bring with it accumulated evils
which will render their condition more and more unpleasant. The
experience of every year adds to the conviction that emigration, and
that alone, can preserve from destruction the remnant of the tribes
yet living amongst us. The facility with which the necessaries of
life are procured and the treaty stipulations providing aid for the
emigrant Indians in their agricultural pursuits and in the important
concern of education, and their removal from those causes which have
heretofore depressed all and destroyed many of the tribes, can not
fail to stimulate their exertions and to reward their industry.

The two laws passed at the last session of Congress on the subject of
Indian affairs have been carried into effect, and detailed
instructions for their administration have been given. It will be
seen by the estimates for the present session that a great reduction
will take place in the expenditures of the Department in consequence
of these laws, and there is reason to believe that their operation
will be salutary and that the colonization of the Indians on the
western frontier, together with a judicious system of administration,
will still further reduce the expenses of this branch of the public
service and at the same time promote its usefulness and efficiency.

Circumstances have been recently developed showing the existence of
extensive frauds under the various laws granting pensions and
gratuities for Revolutionary services. It is impossible to estimate
the amount which may have been thus fraudulently obtained from the
National Treasury. I am satisfied, however, it has been such as to
justify a re-examination of the system and the adoption of the
necessary checks in its administration. All will agree that the
services and sufferings of the remnant of our Revolutionary band
should be fully compensated; but while this is done, every proper
precaution should be taken to prevent the admission of fabricated and
fraudulent claims.

In the present mode of proceeding the attestations and certificates
of the judicial officers of the various States from a considerable
portion of the checks which are interposed against the commission of
frauds. These, however, have been and may be fabricated, and in such
a way as to elude detection at the examining offices. And
independently of this practical difficulty, it is ascertained that
these documents are often loosely granted; some times even blank
certificates have been issued; some times prepared papers have been
signed without inquiry, and in one instance, at least, the seal of
the court has been within reach of a person most interested in its
improper application. It is obvious that under such circumstances no
severity of administration can check the abuse of the law. And
information has from time to time been communicated to the Pension
Office questioning or denying the right of persons placed upon the
pension list to the bounty of the country.

Such cautions are always attended to and examined, but a far more
general investigation is called for, and I therefore recommend, in
conformity with the suggestion of the Secretary of War, that an
actual inspection should be made in each State into the circumstances
and claims of every person now drawing a pension. The honest veteran
has nothing to fear from such a scrutiny, while the fraudulent
claimant will be detected and the public Treasury relieved to an
amount, I have reason to believe, far greater than has heretofore
been suspected. The details of such a plan could be so regulated as
to interpose the necessary checks without any burdensome operation
upon the pensioners. The object should be two-fold:

To look into the original justice of the claims, so far as this can
be done under a proper system of regulations, by an examination of
the claimants themselves and by inquiring in the vicinity of their
residence into their history and into the opinion entertained of
their Revolutionary services.
To ascertain in all cases whether the original claimant is living and
this by actual personal inspection.
This measure will, if adopted, be productive, I think, of the desired
results, and I therefore recommend it to your consideration, with the
further suggestion that all payments should be suspended 'til the
necessary reports are received.
It will be seen by a tabular statement annexed to the documents
transmitted to Congress that the appropriations for objects connected
with the War Department, made at the last session, for the service of
the year 1834, excluding the permanent appropriation for the payment
of military gratuities under the act of 1832-06-07, the appropriation
of $200,000 for arming and equipping the militia, and the
appropriation of $10,000 for the civilization of the Indians, which
are not annually renewed, amounted to the sum of $9,003,261, and that
the estimates of appropriations necessary for the same branches of
service for the year 1835 amount to the sum of $5,778,964, making a
difference in the appropriations of the current year over the
estimates of the appropriations for the next of $3,224,297.

The principal causes which have operated at this time to produce this
great difference are shown in the reports and documents and in the
detailed estimates. Some of these causes are accidental and
temporary, while others are permanent, and, aided by a just course of
administration, may continue to operate beneficially upon the public
expenditures.

A just economy, expending where the public service requires and
withholding where it does not, is among the indispensable duties of
the Government.

I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary of the Navy
and to the documents with it for a full view of the operations of
that important branch of our service during the present year. It will
be seen that the wisdom and liberality with which Congress has
provided for the gradual increase of our navy material have been
seconded by a corresponding zeal and fidelity on the part of those to
whom has been confided the execution of the laws on the subject, and
that but a short period would be now required to put in commission a
force large enough for any exigency into which the country may be
thrown.

When we reflect upon our position in relation to other nations, it
must be apparent that in the event of conflicts with them we must
look chiefly to our Navy for the protection of our national rights.
The wide seas which separate us from other Governments must of
necessity be the theater on which an enemy will aim to assail us, and
unless we are prepared to meet him on this element we can not be said
to possess the power requisite to repel or prevent aggressions. We
can not, therefore, watch with too much attention this arm of our
defense, or cherish with too much care the means by which it can
possess the necessary efficiency and extension. To this end our
policy has been heretofore wisely directed to the constant employment
of a force sufficient to guard our commerce, and to the rapid
accumulation of the materials which are necessary to repair our
vessels and construct with ease such new ones as may be required in a
state of war.

In accordance with this policy, I recommend to your consideration the
erection of the additional dry dock described by the Secretary of the
Navy, and also the construction of the steam batteries to which he
has referred, for the purpose of testing their efficacy as
auxiliaries to the system of defense now in use.

The report of the PostMaster General herewith submitted exhibits the
condition and prospects of that Department. From that document it
appears that there was a deficit in the funds of the Department at
the commencement of the present year beyond its available means of
$315,599.98, which on the first of July last (1834-07-01) had been
reduced to $268,092.74. It appears also that the revenues for the
coming year will exceed the expenditures about $270,000, which, with
the excess of revenue which will result from the operations of the
current half year, may be expected, independently of any increase in
the gross amount of postages, to supply the entire deficit before the
end of 1835. But as this calculation is based on the gross amount of
postages which had accrued within the period embraced by the times of
striking the balances, it is obvious that without a progressive
increase in the amount of postages the existing retrenchments must be
persevered in through the year 1836 that the Department may accumulate
a surplus fund sufficient to place it in a condition of perfect ease.

It will be observed that the revenues of the Post Office Department,
though they have increased, and their amount is above that of any
former year, have yet fallen short of the estimates more than
$100,000. This is attributed in a great degree to the increase of
free letters growing out of the extension and abuse of the franking
privilege. There has been a gradual increase in the number of
executive offices to which it has been granted, and by an act passed
in 1833-03, it was extended to members of Congress throughout the
whole year. It is believed that a revision of the laws relative to
the franking privilege, with some enactments to enforce more rigidly
the restrictions under which it is granted, would operate
beneficially to the country, by enabling the Department at an earlier
period to restore the mail facilities that have been withdrawn, and to
extend them more widely, as the growing settlements of the country may
require.

To a measure so important to the Government and so just to our
constituents, who ask no exclusive privileges for themselves and are
not willing to concede them to others, I earnestly recommend the
serious attention of Congress.

The importance of the Post Office Department and the magnitude to
which it has grown, both in its revenues and in its operations, seem
to demand its reorganization by law. The whole of its receipts and
disbursements have hitherto been left entirely to Executive control
and individual discretion. The principle is as sound in relation to
this as to any other Department of the Government, that as little
discretion should be confided to the executive officer who controls
it as is compatible with its efficiency. It is therefore earnestly
recommended that it be organized with an auditor and treasurer of its
own, appointed by the President and Senate, who shall be branches of
the Treasury Department.

Your attention is again respectfully invited to the defect which
exists in the judicial system of the United States. Nothing can be
more desirable than the uniform operation of the Federal judiciary
throughout the several States, all of which, standing on the same
footing as members of the Union, have equal rights to the advantages
and benefits resulting from its laws. This object is not attained by
the judicial acts now in force, because they leave one quarter of the
States without circuit courts.

It is undoubtedly the duty of Congress to place all the States on the
same footing in this respect, either by the creation of an additional
number of associate judges or by an enlargement of the circuits
assigned to those already appointed so as to include the new States.
What ever may be the difficulty in a proper organization of the
judicial system so as to secure its efficiency and uniformity in all
parts of the Union and at the same time to avoid such an increase of
judges as would encumber the supreme appellate tribunal, it should
not be allowed to weigh against the great injustice which the present
operation of the system produces.

I trust that I may be also pardoned for renewing the recommendation I
have so often submitted to your attention in regard to the mode of
electing the President and Vice President of the United States. All
the reflection I have been able to bestow upon the subject increases
my conviction that the best interests of the country will be promoted
by the adoption of some plan which will secure in all contingencies
that important right of sovereignty to the direct control of the
people. Could this be attained, and the terms of those officers be
limited to a single period of either four or six years, I think our
liberties would possess an additional safeguard.

At your last session I called the attention of Congress to the
destruction of the public building occupied by the Treasury
Department. As the public interest requires that another building
should be erected with as little delay as possible, it is hoped that
the means will be seasonably provided and that they will be ample
enough to authorize such an enlargement and improvement in the plan
of the building as will more effectually accommodate the public
officers and secure the public documents deposited in it from the
casualties of fire.

I have not been able to satisfy myself that the bill entitled "An act
to improve the navigation of the Wabash River", which was sent to me
at the close of your last session, ought to pass, and I have
therefore withheld from it my approval and now return it to the
Senate, the body in which it originated.

There can be no question connected with the administration of public
affairs more important or more difficult to be satisfactorily dealth
with than that which relates to the rightful authority and proper
action of the Federal Government upon the subject of internal
improvements. To inherent embarrassments have been added others
resulting from the course of our legislation concerning it.

I have heretofore communicated freely with Congress upon this
subject, and in adverting to it again I can not refrain from
expressing my increased conviction of its extreme importance as well
in regard to its be