Speech Transcript:

Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

In the discharge of my official duty the again devolves upon me of
communicating with a new Congress. The reflection that the
representation of the Union has been recently renewed, and that the
constitutional term of its service will expire with my own, heightens
the solicitude with which I shall attempt to lay before it the state
of our national concerns and the devout hope which I cherish that its
labors to improve them may be crowned with success.

You are assembled at a period of profound interest to the American
patriot. The unexampled growth and prosperity of our country having
given us a rank in the scale of nations which removes all
apprehension of danger to our integrity and independence from
external foes, the career of freedom is before us, with an earnest
from the past that if true to ourselves there can be no formidable
obstacle in the future to its peaceful and uninterrupted pursuit.
Yet, in proportion to the disappearance of those apprehensions which
attended our weakness, as once contrasted with the power of some of
the States of the Old World, should we now be solicitous as to those
which belong to the conviction that it is to our own conduct we must
look for the preservation of those causes on which depend the
excellence and the duration of our happy system of government.

In the example of other systems founded on the will of the people we
trace to internal dissension the influences which have so often
blasted the hopes of the friends of freedom. The social elements,
which were strong and successful when united against external danger,
failed in the more difficult task of properly adjusting their own
internal organization, and thus gave way the great principle of
self-government. Let us trust that this admonition will never be
forgotten by the Government or the people of the United States, and
that the testimony which our experience thus far holds out to the
great human family of the practicability and the blessings of free
government will be confirmed in all time to come.

We have but to look at the state of our agriculture, manufactures,
and commerce and the unexampled increase of our population to feel
the magnitude of the trust committed to us. Never in any former
period of our history have we had greater reason than we now have to
be thankful to Divine Providence for the blessings fo health and
general prosperity. Every branch of labor we see crowned with the
most abundant rewards. In every element of national resources and
wealth and of individual comfort we witness the most rapid and solid
improvements. With no interruptions to this pleasing prospect at home
which will not yield to the spirit of harmony and good will that so
strikingly pervades the mass of the people in every quarter, amidst
all the diversity of interest and pursuits to which they are
attached, and with no cause of solicitude in regard to our external
affairs which will not, it is hoped, disappear before the principles
of simple justice and the forbearance that mark our intercourse with
foreign powers, we have every reason to feel proud of our beloved
country.

The general state of our foreign relations has not materially changed
since my last annual message.

In the settlement of the question of the North Eastern boundary
little progress has been made. Great Britain has declined acceding to
the proposition of the United States, presented in accordance with the
resolution of the Senate, unless certain preliminary conditions were
admitted, which I deemed incompatible with a satisfactory and
rightful adjustment of the controversy. Waiting for some distinct
proposal from the Government of Great Britain, which has been
invited, I can only repeat the expression of my confidence that, with
the strong mutual disposition which I believe exists to make a just
arrangement, this perplexing question can be settled with a due
regard to the well-founded pretensions and pac ific policy of all the
parties to it. Events are frequently occurring on the North Eastern
frontier of a character to impress upon all the necessity of a speedy
and definitive termination of the dispute. This consideration, added
to the desire common to both to relieve the liberal and friendly
relations so happily existing between the two countries from all
embarrassment, will no doubt have its just influence upon both.

Our diplomatic intercourse with Portugal has been renewed, and it is
expected that the claims of our citizens, partially paid, will be
fully satisfied as soon as the condition of the Queen's Government
will permit the proper attention to the subject of them. That
Government has, I am happy to inform you, manifested a determination
to act upon the liberal principles which have marked our commercial
policy. The happiest effects upon the future trade between the United
States and Portugal are anticipated from it, and the time is not
thought to be remote when a system of perfect reciprocity will be
established.

The installments due under the convention with the King of the Two
Sicilies have been paid with that scrupulous fidelity by which his
whole conduct has been characterized, and the hope is indulged that
the adjustment of the vexed question of our claims will be followed
by a more extended and mutually beneficial intercourse between the
two countries.

The internal contest still continues in Spain. Distinguished as this
struggle has unhappily been by incidents of the most sanguinary
character, the obligations of the late treaty of indemnification with
us have been, never the less, faithfully executed by the Spanish
Government.

No provision having been made at the last session of Congress for the
ascertainment of the claims to be paid and the apportionment of the
funds under the convention made with Spain, I invite your early
attention to the subject. The public evidences of the debt have,
according to the terms of the convention and in the forms prescribed
by it, been placed in the possession of the United States, and the
interest as it fell due has been regularly paid upon them. Our
commercial intercourse with Cuba stands as regulated by the act of
Congress. No recent information has been received as to the
disposition of the Government of Madrid, and the lamented death of
our recently appointed minister on his way to Spain, with the
pressure of their affairs at home, renders it scarcely probable that
any change is to be looked for during the coming year.

Further portions of the Florida archives have been sent to the United
States, although the death of one of the commissioners at a critical
moment embarrassed the progress of the delivery of them. The higher
officers of the local government have recently shown an anxious
desire, in compliance with the orders from the parent Government, to
facilitate the selection and delivery of all we have a right to
claim.

Negotiations have been opened at Madrid for the establishment of a
lasting peace between Spain and such of the Spanish American
Governments of this hemisphere as have availed themselves of the
intimation given to all of them of the disposition of Spain to treat
upon the basis of their entire independence. It is to be regretted
that simultaneous appointments by all of ministers to negotiate with
Spain had not been made. The negotiation itself would have been
simplified, and this long-standing dispute, spreading over a large
portion of the world, would have been brought to a more speedy
conclusion.

Our political and commercial relations with Austria, Prussia, Sweden,
and Denmark stand on the usual favorable bases. One of the articles of
our treaty with Russia in relation to the trade on the North-West
coast of America having expired, instructions have been given to our
minister at St. Petersburg to negotiate a renewal of it. The long and
unbroken amity between the two Governments gives every reason for
supposing the article will be renewed, if stronger motives do not
exist to prevent it than with our view of the subject can be
anticipated here. I ask your attention to the message of my
predecessor at the opening of the second session fo the 19th
Congress, relative to our commercial intercourse with Holland, and to
the documents connected with that subject, communicated to the House
of Representatives on the 10th of January, 1825, and 18th of January,
1827.
Coinciding in the opinion of my predecessor that Holland is not,
under the regulations of her present system, entitled to have her
vessels and their cargoes received into the United States on the
footing of American vessels and cargoes as regards duties of tonnage
and impost, a respect for his reference of it to the Legislature has
alone prevented me from acting on the subject. I should still have
waited without comment for the action of Congress, but recently a
claim has been made by Belgian subjects to admission into our ports
for their ships and cargoes on the same footing as American, with the
allegation we could not dispute that our vessels received in their
ports the identical treatment shewn to them in the ports of Holland,
upon whose vessels no discrimination is made in the ports of the
United States.

Given the same privileges the Belgians expected the same benefits --
benefits that were, in fact, enjoyed when Belgium and Holland were
united under one Government. Satisfied with the justice of their
pretension to be placed on the same footing with Holland, I could
not, never the less, without disregard to the principle of our laws,
admit their claim to be treated as Americans, and at the same time a
respect for Congress, to whom the subject had long since been
referred, has prevented me from producing a just equality by taking
from the vessels of Holland privileges conditionally granted by acts
of Congress, although the condition upon which the grant was made
has, in my judgment, failed since 1822. I recommend, therefore, a
review of the act of 1824, and such modification of it as will
produce an equality on such terms as Congress shall think best
comports with our settled policy and the obligations of justice to
two friendly powers.

With the Sublime Porte and all the Governments on the coast of
Barbary our relations continue to be friendly. The proper steps have
been taken to renew our treaty with Morocco.

The Argentine Republic has again promised to send within the current
year a minister to the United States.

A convention with Mexico for extending the time for the appointment
of commissioners to run the boundary line has been concluded and will
be submitted to the Senate. Recent events in that country have
awakened the liveliest solicitude in the United States. Aware of the
strong temptations existing and powerful inducements held out to the
citizens of the United States to mingle in the dissensions of our
immediate neighbors, instructions have been given to the district
attorneys of the United States where indications warranted it to
prosecute without respect to persons all who might attempt to violate
the obligations of our neutrality, while at the same time it has been
thought necessary to apprise the Government of Mexico that we should
require the integrity of our territory to be scrupulously respected
by both parties.

From our diplomatic agents in Brazil, Chile, Peru, Central America,
Venezuela, and New Granada constant assurances are received of the
continued good understanding with the Governments to which they are
severally accredited. With those Governments upon which our citizens
have valid and accumulating claims, scarcely an advance toward a
settlement of them is made, owing mainly to their distracted state or
to the pressure of imperative domestic questions. Our patience has
been and will probably be still further severely tried, but our
fellow citizens whose interests are involved may confide in the
determination of the Government to obtain for them eventually ample
retribution.

Unfortunately, many of the nations of this hemisphere are still
self-tormented by domestic dissensions. Revolution succeeds
revolution; injuries are committed upon foreigners engaged in lawful
pursuits; much time el apses before a government sufficiently stable
is erected to justify expectation of redress; ministers are sent and
received, and before the discussions of past injuries are fairly
begun fresh troubles arise; but too frequently new injuries are added
to the old, to be discussed together with the existing government
after it has proved its ability to sustain the assaults made upon it,
or with its successor if overthrown. If this unhappy condition of
things continues much longer, other nations will be under the painful
necessity of deciding whether justice to their suffering citizens does
not require a prompt redress of injuries by their own power, without
waiting for the establishment of a government competent and enduring
enough to discuss and to make satisfaction for them.

Since the last session of Congress the validity of our claims upon
France, as liquidated by the treaty of 1831, has been acknowledged by
both branches of her legislature, and the money has been appropriated
for their discharge; but the payment is, I regret to inform you,
still withheld.

A brief recapitulation of the most important incidents in this
protracted controversy will shew how utterly untenable are the
grounds upon which this course is attempted to be justified.

On entering upon the duties of my station I found the United States
an unsuccessful applicant to the justice of France for the
satisfaction of claims the validity of which was never questionable,
and has now been most solemnly admitted by France herself. The
antiquity of these claims, their high justice, and the aggravating
circumstances out of which they arose are too familiar to the
American people to require description. It is sufficient to say that
for a period of 10 years and upward our commerce was, with but little
interruption, the subject of constant aggression on the part of France
-- aggressions the ordinary features of which were condemnations of
vessels and cargoes under arbitrary decrees, adopted in contravention
as well of the laws of nations as of treaty stipulations, burnings on
the high seas, and seizures and confiscations under special imperial
rescripts in the ports of other nations occupied by the armies or
under the control of France. Such it is now conceded is the character
of the wrongs we suffered -- wrongs in many cases so flagrant that
even their authors never denied our right to reparation. Of the
extent of these injuries some conception may be formed from the fact
that after the burning of a large amount at sea and the necessary
deterioration in other cases by long detention the American property
so seized and sacrificed at forced sales, excluding what was adjudged
to privateers before or without condemnation, brought into the French
treasury upward of 24,000,000 francs, besides large custom house
duties.

The subject had already been an affair of 20 years' uninterrupted
negotiation, except for a short time when France was overwhelmed by
the military power of united Europe. During this period, whilst other
nations were extorting from her payment of their claims at the point
of the bayonet, the United States intermitted their demand for
justice out of respect to the oppressed condition of a gallant people
to whom they felt under obligations for fraternal assistance in their
own days of suffering and peril. The bad effects of these protracted
and unavailing discussions, were obvious, and the line of duty was to
my mind equally so.

This was either to insist upon the adjustment of our claims within a
reasonable period or to abandon them altogether. I could not doubt
that by this course the interests and honor of both countries would
be best consulted. Instructions were therefore given in this spirit
to the minister who was sent out once more to demand reparation.

Upon the meeting of Congress in December, 1829, I felt it my duty to
speak of these claims and the delays of France in terms calculated to
call the serious attention of both countries to the subject. The then
French ministry took exception to the message on the ground of its
conataining a menace, under it was not agreeable to the French
Government to negotiate. The American minister of his own accord
refuted the construction which was attempted to be put upon the
message and at the same time called to the recollection of the French
ministry that the President's message was a communication addressed,
not to foreign governments, but to the Congress of the United States,
in which it was enjoined upon him by the Constitution to lay before
that body information of the state of the Union, comprehending its
foreign as well as its domestic relations, and that if in the
discharge of this duty he felt it indumbent upon him to summon the
attention of Congress in due time to what might be the possible
consequences of existing difficulties with any foreign government, he
might fairly be supposed to do so under a sense of his own Government,
and not from any intention of holding a menace over a foreign power.

The views taken by him received my approbation, the French Government
was satisfied, and the negotiation was continued. It terminated in the
treaty of July 4, recognizing the justice of our claims in part and
promising payment to the amount of 25,000,000 francs in 6 annual
installments.

The ratifications of this treaty were exchanged at Washington on the
second of February, 1832, and in 5 days thereafter it was laid before
Congress, who immediately passed the acts necessary on our part to
secure to France the commercial advantages conceded to her in the
compact. The treaty had previously been solemnly ratified by the King
of the French in terms which are certainly not mere matters of form,
and of which the translation is as follows:

WE, approving the above convention in all and each of the
dispositions which are contained in it, do declare, by ourselves as
well as by our heirs and successors, that it is accepted, approved,
ratified, and confirmed, and by these presents, signed by our hand,
we do accept, approve, ratify, and confirm it; promising, on the
faith and word of a king, to observe it and to cause it to be
observed inviolably, without ever contravening it or suffering it to
be contravened, directly or indirectly, for any cause or under any
pretense whatsoever.
Official information of the exchange of ratifications in the United
States reached Paris whilst the Chambers were in session. The
extraordinary and to us injurious delays of the French Government in
their action upon the subject of its fulfillment have been heretofore
stated to Congress, and I have no disposition to enlarge upon them
here. It is sufficient to observe that the then pending session was
allowed to expire without even an effort to obtain the necessary
appropriations; that the two succeeding ones were also suffered to
pass away without anything like a serious attempt to obtain a
decision upon the subject, and that it was not until the fourth
session, almost three years after the conclusion of the treaty and
more than two years after the exchange of ratifications, that the
bill for the execution of the treaty was pressed to a vote and
rejected.
In the mean time the Government of the United States, having full
confidence that a treaty entered into and so solemnly ratified by the
French King would be executed in good faith, and not doubting that
provision would be made for the payment of the first installment
which was to become due on the second day of February, 1833,
negotiated a draft for the amount through the Bank of the United
States. When this draft was presented by the holder with the
credentials required by the treaty to authorize him to receive the
money, the Government of France allowed it to be protested. In
addition to the injury in the nonpayment of the money by France,
conformably to her engagement, the United States were exposed to a
heavy claim on the part of the bank under pretense of damages, in
satisfaction of which that institution seized upon and still retains
an equal amount of the public money.

Congress was in session when the decision of the Chambers reached
Washington, and an immediate communication of this apparently final
decision of France not to fulfill the stipulation of the treaty was
the course naturally to be expected from the President. The deep tone
of dissatisfaction which pervaded the public mind and the
correspondent excitement produced in Congress by only a general
knowledge of the result rendered it more than probable that a resort
to immediate measures of redress would be the consequence of calling
the attention of that body to the subject. Sincerely desirous of
preserving the pacific relations which had so long existed between
the two countries, I was anxious to avoid this course if I could be
satisfied that by so neither the interests nor the honor of my
country would be compromitted. Without the fullest assurances on that
point, I could not hope to acquit myself of the responsibility to be
incurred in suffering Congress to adjourn without laying the subject
before them. Those received by me were believed to be of that
character.

That the feelings produced in the United States by the news of the
rejection of the appropriation would be such as I have described them
to have been was foreseen by the French Government, and prompt
measures were taken by it to prevent the consequence. The King in
person expressed through our minister at Paris his profound regret at
the decision of the Chambers, and promised to send forthwith a ship
with dispatches to his miniter here authorizing him to give such
assurances as would satisfy the Government and people of the United
States that the treaty would yet be faithfully executed by France.

The national ship arrived, and the minister received his
instructions. Claiming to act under the authority derived from them,
he gave to this government in the name of his the most solemn
assurances that as soon after the new elections as the charter would
permit the French Chambers would be convened and the attempt to
procure the necessary appropriations renewed; that all the
constitutional powers of the King and his ministers should be put in
requisition to accomplish the object, and he was understood, and so
expressly informed by this Government at the time, to engage that the
question should be pressed to a decision at a period sufficiently
early to permit information of the result to be communicated to
Congress at the commencement of their next session. Relying upon
these assurances, I incurred the responsibility, great as I regarded
it to be, of suffering Congress to separate without communicating
with them upon the subject.

The expectations justly founded upon the promises thus solemnly made
to this Government by that of France were not realized. The French
Chambers met on the thirty-first of July, 1834, soon after the
election, and although our minister in Paris urged the French
ministry to bring the subject before them, they declined doing so. He
next insisted that the Chambers, of prorogued without acting on the
subject, should be reassembled at a period so early that their action
on the treaty might be known in Washington prior to the meeting of
Congress.

This reasonable request was not only declined, but the Chambers were
prorogued to the 29th of December, a day so late that their decision,
however urgently pressed, could not in all probability be obtained in
time to reach Washington before the necessary adjournment of Congress
by the Constitution. The reasons given by the ministry for refusing to
convoke the Chambers at an earlier period were afterwards shewn not to
be insuperable by their actual convocation on the first of December
under a special call for domestic purposes, which fact, however, did
not become known to this Government until after the commencement of
the last session of Congress.

Thus disappointed in our just expectations, it became my imperative
duty to consult with Congress in regard to the expediency of a resort
to retaliatory measures in case the stipulations of the treaty should
not be speedily complied with, and to recommend such as in my
judgment the occasion c alled for. To this end an unreserved
communication of the case in all its aspects became indispensable. To
have shrunk in making it from saying all that was necessary to its
correct understanding, and that the truth would justify, for fear of
giving offense to others, would have been unworthy of us. To have
gone, on the other hand, a single step further for the purpose of
wounding the pride of a Government and people with whom we had so
many motives for cultivating relations of amity and reciprocal
advantage would have been unwise and improper.

Admonished by the past of the difficulty of making even the simplest
statement of our wrongs without disturbing the sensibilities of those
who had by their position become responsible for their redress, and
earnestly desirous of preventing further obstacles from that source,
I went out of my way to preclude a construction of the message by
which the recommendation that was made to Congress might be regarded
as a menace to France in not only disavowing such a design, but in
declaring that her pride and her power were too well known to expect
anything from her fears. The message did not reach Paris until more
than a month after the Chambers had been in session, and such was the
insensibility of the ministry to our rightful claims and just
expectations that our minister had been informed that the matter when
introduced would not be pressed as a cabinet measure.

Although the message was not officially communicated to the French
Government, and not withstanding the declaration to the contrary
which it contained, the French minstry decided to consider the
conditional recommendation of reprisals a menace and an insult which
the honor of the nation made it incumbent on them to resent. The
measures resorted to by them to evince their sense of the supposed
indignity were the immediate recall of their minister at Washington,
the offer of passports to the American minister at Paris, and a
public notice to the legislative Chambers that all diplomatic
intercourse with the United States had been suspended.

Having in this manner vindicated the dignity of France, they next
proceeded to illustrate her justice. To this end a bill was
immediately introduced into the Chamber of Deputies proposing to make
the appropriations necessary to carry into effect the treaty. As this
bill subsequently passed into a law, the provisions of which now
constitute the main subject of difficulty between the two nations, it
becomes my duty, in order to place the subject before you in a clear
light, to trace the history of its passage and to refer with some
particularity to the proceedings and discussions in regard to it.

The minister of finance in his opening speech alluded to the measures
which had been adopted to resent the supposed indignity, and
recommended the execution of the treaty as a measure required by the
honor and justice of France. He as the organ of the ministry declared
the message, so long as it had not received the sanction of Congress,
a mere expression of the personal opinion of the President, for which
neither the Government nor people of the United States were
responsible, and that an engagement had been entered into for the
fulfillment of which the honor of France was pledged. Entertaining
these views, the single condition which the French ministry proposed
to annex to the payment of the money was that it should not be made
until it was ascertained that the Government of the United States had
done nothing to injure the interests of France, or, in other words,
that no steps had been authorized by Congress of a hostile character
toward France.

What the disposition of action of Congress might be was then unknown
to the French cabinet; but on the 14th day of January the Senate
resolved that it was at that time inexpedient to adopt any
legislative measures in regard to the state of affairs between the
United States and France, and no action on the subject had occurred
in the House of Representatives. These facts were known in Paris
prior to the 28th of March, 1835, when the committee to whom the bill
of indemnification had been referred reported it to the Chamber of
Deputies. That committee substantially re-echoed the sentiments of
the ministry, declared that Congress had set aside the proposition of
the President, and recommended the passage of the bill without any
other restriction than that originally proposed. Thus was it known to
the French ministry and Chambers that if the position assumed by them,
and which had been so frequently and solemnly announced as the only
one compatible with the honor of France, was maintained and the bill
passed as originally proposed, the money would be paid and there
would be an end of this unfortunate controversy.

But this cheering prospect was soon destroyed by an amendment
introduced into the bill at the moment of its passage, providing that
the money should not be paid until the French Government had received
satisfactory explanations of the President's message of the second
December, 1834, and, what is still more extraordinary, the president
of the council of ministers adopted this amendment and consented to
its incorporation in the bill. In regard to a supposed insult which
had been formally resented by the recall of their minister and the
offer of passports to ours, they now for the first time proposed to
ask explanations. Sentiments and propositions which they had declared
could not justly be imputed to the Government or people of the United
States are set up as obstacles to the performance of an act of
conceded justice to that Government and people. They had declared
that the honor of France required the fulfillment of the engagement
into which the King had entered, unless Congress adopted the
recommendations of the message. They ascertained that Congress did
not adopt them, and yet that fulfillment is refused unless they first
obtain from the President explanations of an opinion characterized by
themselves as personal and inoperative.

The conception that it was my intention to menace or insult the
Government of France is as unfounded as the attempt to extort from
the fears of that nation what her sense of justice may deny would be
vain and ridiculous. But the Constitution of the United States
imposes on the President the duty of laying before Congress the
condition of the country in its foreign and domestic relations, and
of recommending such measures as may in his opinion be required by
its interests. From the performance of this duty he can not be
deterred by the fear of wounding the sensibilities of the people or
government of whom it may become necessary to speak; and the American
people are incapble of submitting to an interference by any government
on earth, however powerful, with the free performance of the domestic
duties which the Constitution has imposed on their public
functionaries.

The discussions which intervene between the several departments of
our Government being to ourselves, and for anything said in them our
public servants are only responsible to their own constituents and to
each other. If in the course of their consultations facts are
erroneously stated or unjust deductions are made, they require no
other inducement to correct them, however informed of their error,
than their love of justice and what is due to their own character;
but they can never submit to be interrogated upon the subject as a
matter of right by a foreign power. When our discussions terminate in
acts, our responsibility to foreign powers commences, not as
individuals, but as a nation. The principle which calls in question
the President for the language of his message would equally justify a
foreign power in demanding explanations of the language used in the
report of a committee or by a member in debate.

This is not the first time that the Government of France has taken
exception to the messages of American Presidents. President
Washington and the first President Adams in the performance of their
duties to the American people fell under the animadversions of the
French Directory. The obj ection taken by the ministry of Charles 10,
and removed by the explanation made by our minister upon the spot, has
already been adverted to. When it was understood that the ministry of
the present King took exception to my message of last year, putting a
construction upon it which was disavowed on its face, our late
minister at Paris, in answer to the note which first announced a
dissatisfaction with the language used in the message, made a
communication to the French Government under date of the 29th of
January, 1835, calculated to remove all impressions which an
unreasonable susceptibility had created. He repeated and called the
attention of the French Government to the disavowal contained in the
message itself of any intention to intimidate by menace; he truly
declared that it contained and was intended to contain no charge of
ill faith against the King of the French, and properly distinguished
between the right to complain in unexceptionable terms of the
omission to execute an agreement and an accusation of bad motives in
withholding such execution, and demonstrated that the necessary use
of that right ought not to be considered as an offensive imputation.

Although this communication was made without instructions and
entirely on the minister's own responsibility, yet it was afterwards
made the act of this Government by my full approbation, and that
approbation was officially made known on the 25th of April, 1835, to
the French Government. It, however, failed to have any effect. The
law, after this friendly explanation, passed with the obnoxious
amendment, supported by the King's ministers, and was finally
approved by the King.

The people of the United States are justly attached to a pacific
system in their intercourse with foreign nations. It is proper,
therefore, that they should know whether their Government has adhered
to it. In the present instance it has been carried to the utmost
extent that was consistent with a becoming self-respect. The note of
the 29th of January, to which I have before alluded, was not the only
one which our minister took upon himself the responsibility of
presenting on the same subject and in the same spirit.

Finding that it was intended to make the payment of a just debt
dependent on the performance of a condition which he knew could never
be complied with, he thought it a duty to make another attempt to
convince the French Government that whilst self-respect and regard to
the dignity of other nations would always prevent us from using any
language that ought to give offense, yet we could never admit a right
in any foreign government to ask explanations of or to interfere in
any manner in the communications which one branch of our public
councils made with another; that in the present case no such language
had been used, and that this had in a former note been fully and
voluntarily state, before it was contemplated to make the explantion
a condition; and that there might be no misapprehension he stated the
terms used in that note, and he officially informed them that it had
been approved by the President, and that therefore every explanation
which could reasonably be asked or honorably given had been already
made; that the contemplated measure had been anticipated by a
voluntary and friendly declaration, and was therefore not only
useless, but might be deemed offensive, and certainly would not be
complied with if annexed as a condition.

When this latter communication, to which I especially invite the
attention of Congress, was laid before me, I entertained the hope
that the means it was obviously intended to afford of an honorable
and speedy adjustment of the difficulties between the two nations
would have been accepted, and I therefore did not hesitate to give it
my sanction and full approbation. This was due to the minister who had
made himself responsible for the act, and it was published to the
people of the United States and is now laid before their
representatives to shew hos far their Executive has gone in its
endeavors to restore a good understanding betwe en the two countries.
It would have been at any time communicated to the Government of
France had it been officially requested.

The French Government having received all the explanation which honor
and principle permitted, and which could in reason be asked, it was
hoped it would no longer hesitate to pay the installments now due.
The agent authorized to receive the money was instructed to inform
the French minister of his readiness to do so. In reply to this
notice he was told that the money could not then be paid, because the
formalities required by the act of the Chambers had not been
arranged.

Not having received any official information of the intentions of the
French Government, and anxious to bring, as far as practicable, this
unpleasant affair to a close before the meeting of Congress, that you
might have the whole subject before you, I caused our charge'
d'affaires at Paris to be instructed to ask for the final
determination of the French Government, and in the event of their
refusal to pay the installments now due, without further explanations
to return to the United States.

The result of this last application has not yet reached us, but is
daily expected. That it may be favorable is my sincere wish. France
having now, through all the branches of her Government, acknowledged
the validity of our claims and the obligation of the treaty of 1831,
and there really existing no adequate cause for further delay, will
at length, it may be hoped, adopt the course which the interests of
both nations, not less than the principles of justice, so imperiously
require. The treaty being once executed on her part, little will
remain to disturb the friendly relations of the two countries --
nothing, indeed, which will not yield to the suggestions of a pacific
and enlightened policy and to the influence of that mutual good will
and of those generous recollections which we may confidently expect
will then be revived in all their ancient force.

In any event, however, the principle involved in the new aspect which
has been given to the controversy is so vitally important to the
independent administration of the Government that it can neither be
surrendered nor compromitted without national degradation. I hope it
is unnecessary for me to say that such a sacrifice will not be made
through any agency of mine. The honor of my country shall never be
stained by an apology from me for the statement of truth and the
performance of duty; nor can I give any explanation of my official
acts except such as is due to integrity and justice and consistent
with the principles on which our institutions have been framed. This
determination will, I am confident, be approved by my constituents. I
have, indeed, studied their character to but little purpose if the sum
of 25,000,000 francs will have the weight of a feather in the
estimation of what appertains to their national independence, and if,
unhappily, a different impression should at any time obtain in any
quarter, they will, I am sure, rally round the Government of their
choice with alacrity and unanimity, and silence for ever the
degrading imputation.

Having thus frankly presented to you the circumstances which since
the last session of Congress have occurred in this interesting and
important matter, with the views of the Executive in regard to them,
it is at this time only necessary to add that when ever the advices
now daily expected from our chargyyé d'affaires shall have been
received they will be made the subject of a special communication.

The condition of the public finances was never more flattering than
at the present period.

Since my last annual communication all the remains of the public debt
have been redeemed, or money has been placed in deposit for this
purpose when ever the creditors choose to receive it. All the other
pecuniary engagements of the Government have been honorably and
promptly fulfilled, and there will be a balance in the Treasury at
the close of the year of about $19,000,000. It is believed that after
meeting all outstanding and unexpended appropriations there will
remain near $11,000,000 to be applied to any new objects which
Congress may designate or to the more rapid execution of the works
already in progress. In aid of these objects, and to satisfy the
current expenditures of the ensuing year, it is estimated that there
will be received from various sources $20,000,000 more in 1836.

Should Congress make new appropriations in conformity with the
estimates which will be submitted from the proper Departments,
amounting to about $24,000,000, still the available surplus at the
close of the next year, after deducting all unexpended
appropriations, will probably not be less than $6,000,000. This sum
can, in my judgment, be now usefully applied to proposed improvements
in our navy yards, and to new national works which are not enumerated
in the present estimates or to the more rapid completion of those
already begun. Either would be constitutional and useful, and would
render unnecessary any attempt in our present peculiar condition to
divide the surplus revenue or to reduce it any faster than will be
effected by the existing laws.

In any event, as the annual report from the Secretary of the Treasury
will enter into details, shewing the probability of some decrease in
the revenue during the next 7 years and a very considerable deduction
in 1842, it is not recommended that Congress should undertake to
modify the present tariff so as to disturb the principles on which
the compromise act was passed. Taxation on some of the articles of
general consumption which are not in competition with our own
productions may be no doubt so diminished as to lessen to some extent
the source of this revenue, and the same object can also be assisted
by more liberal provisions for the subjects of public defense, which
in the present state of our prosperity and wealth may be expected to
engage your attention.

If, however, after satisfying all the demands which can arise from
these sources the unexpended balance in the Treasury should still
continue to increase, it would be better to bear with the evil until
the great changes contemplated in our tariff laws have occurred and
shall enable us to revise the system with that care and
circumspection which are due to so delicate and important a subject.

It is certainly our duty to diminish as far as we can the burdens of
taxation and to regard all the restrictions which are imposed on the
trade and navigation of our citizens as evils which we shall mitigate
when ever we are not prevented by the adverse legislation and policy
of foreign nations or those primary duties which the defense and
independence of our country enjoin upon us. That we have accomplished
much toward the relief of our citizens by the changes which have
accompanied the payment of the public debt and the adoption of the
present revenue laws is manifest from the fact that compared to 1833
there is a diminution of near $25,000,000 in the last two years, and
that our expenditures, independently of those for the public debt,
have been reduced near $9,000,000 during the same period. Let us
trust that by the continued observance of economy and by harmonizing
the great interests of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce much
more may be accomplished to diminish the burdens of government and to
increase still further the enterprise and the patriotic affection of
all classes of our citizens and all the members of our happy
Confederacy. As the data which the Secretary of the Treasury will lay
before you in regard to our financial resources are full and extended,
and will afford a safe guide in your future calculations, I think it
unnecessary to offer any further observations on that subject here.

Among the evidences of the increasing prosperity of the country, not
the least gratifying is that afforded by the receipts from the sales
of the public lands, which amount in the present year to the
unexpected sum of $11,000,000. This circumstance attests the rapidity
with which agriculture, the first and most important occupation of
man, advances and contributes to the wealth and power of our extended
territory. Being still of the opinion that it is our best policy, as
far as we can consistently with the obligations under which those
lands were ceded to the United States, to promote their speedy
settlement, I beg leave to call the attention of the present Congress
to the suggestions I have offered respecting it in my former
messages.

The extraordinary receipts from the sales of the public lands invite
you to consider what improvements the land system, and particularly
the condition of the General Land Office, may require. At the time
this institution was organized, near a quarter century ago, it would
probably have been thought extravagant to anticipate for this period
such an addition to its business as has been produced by the vast
increase of those sales during the past and present years. It may
also be observed that since the year 1812 the land offices and
surveying districts have been greatly multiplied, and that numerous
legislative enactments from year to year since that time have imposed
a great amount of new and additional duties upon that office, while
the want of a timely application of force commensurate with the care
and labor required has caused the increasing embarrassment of
accumulated arrears in the different branches of the establishment.

These impediments to the expedition of much duty in the General Land
Office induce me to submit to your judgment whether some modification
of the laws relating to its organization, or an organization of a new
character, be not called for at the present juncture, to enable the
office to accomplish all the ends of its institution with a greater
degree of facility and promptitude than experience has proved to be
practicable under existing regulations. The variety of the concerns
and the magnitude and complexity of the details occupying and
dividing the attention of the Commissioner appear to render it
difficult, if not impracticable, for that officer by any possible
assiduity to bestow on all the multifarious subjects upon which he is
called to act the ready and careful attention due to their respective
importance, unless the Legislature shall assist him by a law
providing, or enabling him to provide, for a more regular and
economical distribution of labor, with the incident responsibility
among those employed under his direction. The mere manual operation
of affixing his signature to the vast number of documents issuing
from his office subtracts so largely from the time and attention
claimed by the weighty and complicated subjects daily accumulating in
that branch of the public service as to indicate the strong necessity
of revising the organic law of the establishment. It will be easy for
Congress hereafter to proportion the expenditure on account of this
branch of the service to its real wants by abolishing from time to
time the offices which can be dispensed with.

The extinction of the public debt having taken place, there is no
longer any use for the offices of Commissioners of Loans and of the
Sinking Fund. I recommend, therefore, that they be abolished, and
that proper measures be taken for the transfer to the Treasury
Department of any funds, books, and papers connected with the
operations of those offices, and that the proper power be given to
that Department for closing finally any portion of their business
which may remain to be settled.

It is also incumbent on Congress in guarding the pecuniary interests
of the country to discontinue by such a law as was passed in 1812 the
receipt of the bills of the Bank of the United States in payment of
the public revenue, and to provide for the designation of an agent
whose duty it shall be to take charge of the books and stock of the
United States in that institution, and to close all connection with
it after the 3d of March, 1836 1836-03-03, when its charter expires.
In making provision in regard to the disposition of this stock it
will be essential to define clearly and strictly the duties and
powers of the officer charged with that branch of the public
service.
It will be seen from the correspondence which the Secretary of the
Treasury will lay before you that not withstanding the large amount
of the stock which the United States hold in that institution no
information has yet been communicated which will enable the
Government to anticipate when it can receive any dividends or derive
any benefit from it.

Connected with the condition of the finances and the flourishing
state of the country in all its branches of industry, it is pleasing
to witness the advantages which have been already derived from the
recent laws regulating the value of the gold coinage. These
advantages will be more apparent in the course of the next year, when
the branch mints authorized to be established in North Carolina,
Georgia, and Louisiana shall have gone into operation. Aided, as it
is hoped they will be, by further reforms in the banking systems of
the States and by judicious regulations on the part of Congress in
relation to the custody of the public moneys, it may be confidently
anticipated that the use of gold and silver as circulating medium
will become general in the ordinary transactions connected with the
labor of the country.

The great desideratum in modern times is an efficient check upon the
power of banks, preventing that excessive issue of paper whence arise
those fluctuations in the standard of value which render uncertain the
rewards of labor. It was supposed by those who established the Bank of
the United States that from the credit given to it by the custody of
the public moneys and other privileges and the precautions taken to
guard against the evils which the country had suffered in the
bankruptcy of many of the State institutions of that period we should
derive from that institution all the security and benefits of a sound
currency and every good end that was attainable under the provision
of the Constitution which authorizes Congress alone to coin money and
regulate the value thereof. But it is scarcely necessary now to say
that these anticipations have not been realized.

After the extensive embarrassment and distress recently produced by
the Bank of the United States, from which the country is now
recovering, aggravated as they were by pretensions to power which
defied the public authority, and which if acquiesced in by the people
would have changed the whole character of our Government, every candid
and intelligent individual must admit that for the attainment of the
great advantages of a sound currency we must look to a course of
legislation radically different from that which created such an
institution.

In considering the means of obtaining so important an end we must set
aside all calculations of temporary convenience, and be influenced by
those only which are in harmony with the true character and the
permanent interests of the Republic. We must recur to first
principles and see what it is that has prevented the legislation of
Congress and the States on the subject of currency from satisfying
the public expectation and realizing results corresponding to those
which have attended the action of our system when truly consistent
with the great principle of equality upon which it rests, and with
that spirit of forbearance and mutual concession and generous
patriotism which was originally, and must ever continue to be, the
vital element of our Union.

On this subject I am sure that I can not be mistaken in ascribing our
want of success to the undue countenance which has been afforded to
the spirit of monopoly. All the serious dangers which our system has
yet encountered may be traced to the resort to implied powers and the
use of corporations clothed with privileges, the effect of which is to
advance the interests of the few at the expense of the many.

We have felt but one class of these dangers exhibited in the contest
waged by the Bank of the United States against the Government for the
last four years. Happily they have been obviated for the present by
the indignant resistance of the people, but we should recollect that
the principle whence they sprung is an ever-active one, which will
not fail to renew its effo rts in the same and in other forms so long
as there is a hope of success, founded either on the inattention of
the people or the treachery of their representatives to the subtle
progress of its influence.

The bank is, in fact, but one of the fruits of a system at war with
the genius of all our institutions -- a system founded upon a
political creed the fundamental principle of which is a distrust of
the popular will as a safe regulator of political power, and whose
great ultimate object and inevitable result, should it prevail, is
the consolidation of all power in our system in one central
government. Lavish public disbursements and corporations with
exclusive privileges would be its substitutes for the original and as
yet sound checks and balances of the Constitution -- the means by
whose silent and secret operation a control would be exercised by the
few over the political conduct of the many by first acquiring that
control over the labor and earnings of the great body of the people.
Wherever this spirit has effected an alliance with political power,
tyranny and despotism have been the fruit. If it is ever used for the
ends of government, it has to be incessantly watched, or it corrupts
the sources of the public virtue and agitates the country with
questions unfavorable to the harmonious and steady pursuit of its
true interests.

We are now to see whether, in the present favorable condition of the
country, we can not take an effectual stand against thei spirit of
monopoly, and practically prove in respect to the currency as well as
other important interests that ther is no necessity for so extensive a
resort to it as that which has been heretofore practiced. The
experience of another year has confirmed the utter fallacy of the
idea that the Bank of the United States was necessary as a fiscal
agent of the Government. Without its aid as such, indeed, in despite
of all the embarrassment it was in its power to create, the revenue
has been paid with punctuality by our citizens, the business of
exchange, both foreign and domestic, has been conducted with
convenience, and the circulating medium has been greatly improved.

By the use of the State banks, which do not derive their charters
from the General Government and are not controlled by its authority,
it is ascertained that the moneys of the United States can be
collected and disbursed without loss or inconvenience, and that all
the wants of the community in relation to exchange and currency are
supplied as well as they have ever been before. If under
circumstances the most unfavorable to the steadiness of the money
market it has been found that the considerations on which the Bank of
the United States rested its claims to the public favor were imaginary
and groundless, it can not be doubted that the experience of the
future will be more decisive against them.

It has been seen that without the agency of a great moneyed monopoly
the revenue can be collected and conveniently and safely applied to
all the purposes of the public expenditure. It is also ascertained
that instead of being necessarily made to promote the evils of an
unchecked paper system, the management of the revenue can be made
auxiliary to the reform which the legislatures of several of the
States have already commenced in regard to the suppression of small
bills, and which has only to be fostered by proper regulations on the
part of Congress to secure a practical return to the extent required
for the security of the currency to the constitutional medium.

Severed from the Government as political engines, and not susceptible
of dangerous extension and combination, the State banks will not be
tempted, nor will they have teh power, which we have seen exercised,
to divert the public funds from the legitimate purposes of the
Government. The collection and custody of the revenue, being, on the
contrary, a source of credit to them, will increase the security
which the States provide for a faithful execution of their trusts by
multiplying the scrutinies to which their operations and accounts
will be subjected. Thus disposed, as well from interest as the
obligations of their charters, it can not be doubted that such
conditions as Congress may see fit to adopt respecting the deposits
in these institutions, with a view to the gradual disuse, of the
small bills will be cheerfully complied with, and that we shall soon
gain in place of the Bank of the United States a practical reform in
the whole paper system of the country. If by this policy we can
ultimately witness the suppression of all bank bills below $20, it is
apparent that gold and silver will take their place and become the
principal circulating medium in the common business of the farmers
and mechanics of the country. The attainment of such a result will
form an era in the history of our country which will be dwelt upon
with delight by every true friend of its liberty and independence. It
will lighten the great tax which our paper system has so long
collected from the earnings of labor, and do more to revive and
perpetuate those habits of economy and simplicity which are so
congenial to the character of republicans than all the legislation
which has yet been attempted.

To this subject I feel that I can not too earnestly invite the
special attention of Congress, without the exercise of whose
authority the opportunity to accomplish so much public good must pass
unimproved. Deeply impressed with its vital importance, the Executive
has taken all the steps within his constitutional power to guard the
public revenue and defeat the expectation which the Bank of the
United States indulged of renewing and perpetuating its monopoly on
the ground of its necessity as a fiscal agent and as affording a
sounder currency than could be obtained without such an institution.

In the performance of this duty much responsibility was incurred
which would have been gladly avoided if the stake which the public
had in the question could have been otherwise preserved. Although
clothed with the legal authority and supported by precedent, I was
aware that there was in the act of the removal of the deposits a
liability to excite that sensitiveness to Executive power which it is
characteristic and the duty of free men to indulge; but I relied on
this feeling also, directed by patriotism and intelligence, to
vindicate the conduct which in the end would appear to have been
called for by the interests of my country. The apprehensions natural
to this feeling that there may have been a desire, through the
instrumentality of that measure, to extend the Executive influence,
or that it may have been prompted by motives not sufficiently free
from ambition, were not over-looked. Under the operation of our
institutions the public servant who is called on to take a step of
high responsibility should feel in the freedom which gives rise to
such apprehensions his highest security. When unfounded the attention
which they arouse and the discussions they excite deprive those who
indulge them of the power to do harm; when just they but hasten the
certainty with which the great body of our citizens never fail to
repel an attempt to procure the sanction to any exercise of power
inconsistent with the jealous maintenance of their rights.

Under such convictions, and entertaining no doubt that my
constitutional obligations demanded the steps which were taken
inreference to the removal of the deposits, it was impossible for me
to be deterred from the path of duty by a fear that my motives could
be misjudged or that political prejudices could defeat the just
consideration of the merits of my conduct. The result has shewn how
safe is this reliance upon the patriotic temper and enlightened
discernment of the people. That measure has now been before them and
has stood the test of all the severe analysis which its general
importance, the interests it affected, and the apprehensions it
excited were calculated to produce, and it now remains for Congress
to consider what legislation has become necessary in consequence.

I need only add to what I have on former occasions said on this
subject general ly that in the regulations which Congress may
prescribe respecting the custody of the public moneys it is desirable
that as little discretion as may be deemed consistent with their
safe-keeping should be given to the executive agents. No one can be
more deeply impressed than I am with the soundness of the doctrine
which restrains and limits, by specific provisions, executive
discretion, as far as it can be done consistently with the
preservation of its constitutional character. In respect to the
control over the public money this doctrine is peculiarly applicable,
and is in harmony with the great principle which I felt I was
sustaining in the controversy with the Bank of the United States,
which has resulted in severing to some extent a dangerous connection
between a moneyed and political power. The duty of the Legislature to
define, by clear and positive enactments, the nature and extent of the
action which it belongs to the Executive to superintend springs out of
a policy analogous to that which enjoins upon all branches of the
Federal Government an abstinence from the exercise of powers not
clearly granted.

In such a Government, possessing only limited and specific powers,
the spirit of its general administration can not be wise or just when
it opposes the reference of all doubtful points to the great source of
authority, the States and the people, whose number and diversified
relations securing them against the influences and excitements which
may mis-lead their agents, make them the safest depository of power.
In its application to the Executive, with reference to the
legislative branch of the Government, the same rule of action should
make the President ever anxious to avoid the exercise of any
discretionary authority which can be regulated by Congress. The
biases which may operate upon him will not be so likely to extend to
the representatives of the people in that body.

In my former messages to Congress I have repeatedly urged the
propriety of lessening the discretionary authority lodged in the
various Departments, but it has produced no effect as yet, except the
discontinuance of extra allowances in the Army and Navy and the
substitution of fixed salaries in the latter. It is believed that the
same principles could be advantageously applied in all cases, and
would promote the efficiency and economy of the public service, at
the same tiem that greater satisfaction and more equal justice would
be secured to the public officers generally.

The accompanying report of the Secretary of War will put you in
possession of the operations of the Department confided to his care
in all its diversified relations during the past year.

I am gratified in being able to inform you that no occurrence has
required any movement of the military force, except such as is common
to a state of peace. The services of the Army have been limited to
their usual duties at the various garrisons upon the Atlantic and
in-land frontier, with the exceptions states by the Secretary of War.
Our small military establishment appears to be adequate to the
purposes for which it is maintained, and it forms a nucleus around
which any additional force may be collected should the public
exigencies unfortunately require any increase of our military means.