A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents - James D. Richardson
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The principles of this system of reciprocity, founded on the law of the
3d of March, 1815, have been since carried into effect with the Kingdoms
of the Netherlands, Sweden, Prussia, and with Hamburg, Bremen, Lubeck,
and Oldenburg, with a provision made by subsequent laws in regard to
the Netherlands, Prussia, Hamburg, and Bremen that such produce and
manufactures as could only be, or most usually were, first shipped from
the ports of those countries, the same being imported in vessels wholly
belonging to their subjects, should be considered and admitted as their
own manufactures and productions.
The Government of Norway has by an ordinance opened the ports of that
part of the dominions of the King of Sweden to the vessels of the United
States upon the payment of no other or higher duties than are paid by
Norwegian vessels, from whatever place arriving and with whatever
articles laden. They have requested the reciprocal allowance for the
vessels of Norway in the ports of the United States. As this privilege
is not within the scope of the act of the 3d of March, 1815, and can
only be granted by Congress, and as it may involve the commercial
relations of the United States with other nations, the subject is
submitted to the wisdom of Congress.
I have presented thus fully to your view our commercial relations with
other powers, that, seeing them in detail with each power, and knowing
the basis on which they rest, Congress may in its wisdom decide whether
any change ought to be made, and, if any, in what respect. If this basis
is unjust or unreasonable, surely it ought to be abandoned; but if it
be just and reasonable, and any change in it will make concessions
subversive of equality and tending in its consequences to sap the
foundations of our prosperity, then the reasons are equally strong for
adhering to the ground already taken, and supporting it by such further
regulations as may appear to be proper, should any additional support
be found necessary.
The question concerning the construction of the first article of the
treaty of Ghent has been, by a joint act of the representatives of
the United States and of Great Britain at the Court of St. Petersburg,
submitted to the decision of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of
Russia. The result of that submission has not yet been received. The
commissioners under the fifth article of that treaty not having been
able to agree upon their decision, their reports to the two Governments,
according to the provisions of the treaty, may be expected at an early
day.
With Spain the treaty of February 22, 1819, has been partly carried into
execution. Possession of East and West Florida has been given to the
United States, but the officers charged with that service by an order
from His Catholic Majesty, delivered by his minister to the Secretary
of State, and transmitted by a special agent to the Captain-General
of Cuba, to whom it was directed and in whom the government of those
Provinces was vested, have not only omitted, in contravention of the
order of their Sovereign, the performance of the express stipulation
to deliver over the archives and documents relating to the property
and sovereignty of those Provinces, all of which it was expected would
have been delivered either before or when the troops were withdrawn,
but defeated since every effort of the United States to obtain them,
especially those of the greatest importance. This omission has given
rise to several incidents of a painful nature, the character of which
will be fully disclosed by the documents which will be hereafter
communicated.
In every other circumstance the law of the 3d of March last, for
carrying into effect that treaty, has been duly attended to. For the
execution of that part which preserved in force, for the government of
the inhabitants for the term specified, all the civil, military, and
judicial powers exercised by the existing government of those Provinces
an adequate number of officers, as was presumed, were appointed, and
ordered to their respective stations. Both Provinces were formed into
one Territory, and a governor appointed for it; but in consideration
of the pre-existing division and of the distance and difficulty of
communication between Pensacola, the residence of the governor of West
Florida, and St. Augustine, that of the governor of East Florida,
at which places the inconsiderable population of each Province was
principally collected, two secretaries were appointed, the one to reside
at Pensacola and the other at St. Augustine. Due attention was likewise
paid to the execution of the laws of the United States relating to the
revenue and the slave trade, which were extended to these Provinces.
The whole Territory was divided into three collection districts, that
part lying between the river St. Marys and Cape Florida forming one,
that from the Cape to the Apalachicola another, and that from the
Apalachicola to the Perdido the third. To these districts the usual
number of revenue officers were appointed; and to secure the due
operation of these laws one judge and a district attorney were appointed
to reside at Pensacola, and likewise one judge and a district attorney
to reside at St. Augustine, with a specified boundary between them;
and one marshal for the whole, with authority to appoint a deputy. In
carrying this law into effect, and especially that part relating to the
powers of the existing government of those Provinces, it was thought
important, in consideration of the short term for which it was to
operate and the radical change which would be made at the approaching
session of Congress, to avoid expense, to make no appointment which
should not be absolutely necessary to give effect to those powers, to
withdraw none of our citizens from their pursuits, whereby to subject
the Government to claims which could not be gratified and the parties
to losses which it would be painful to witness.
It has been seen with much concern that in the performance of these
duties a collision arose between the governor of the Territory and the
judge appointed for the western district. It was presumed that the
law under which this transitory government was organized, and the
commissions which were granted to the officers who were appointed to
execute each branch of the system, and to which the commissions were
adapted, would have been understood in the same sense by them in which
they were understood by the Executive. Much allowance is due to officers
employed in each branch of this system, and the more so as there is good
cause to believe that each acted under the conviction that he possessed
the power which he undertook to exercise. Of the officer holding the
principal station, I think it proper to observe that he accepted it
with reluctance, in compliance with the invitation given him, and from
a high sense of duty to his country, being willing to contribute to the
consummation of an event which would insure complete protection to an
important part of our Union, which had suffered much from incursion and
invasion, and to the defense of which his very gallant and patriotic
services had been so signally and usefully devoted.
From the intrinsic difficulty of executing laws deriving their origin
from different sources, and so essentially different in many important
circumstances, the advantage, and indeed the necessity, of establishing
as soon as may be practicable a well-organized government over that
Territory on the principles of our system is apparent. This subject is
therefore recommended to the early consideration of Congress.
In compliance with an injunction of the law of the 3d of March last,
three commissioners have also been appointed and a board organized for
carrying into effect the eleventh article of the treaty above recited,
making provision for the payment of such of our citizens as have
well-founded claims on Spain of the character specified by that treaty.
This board has entered on its duties and made some progress therein.
The commissioner and surveyor of His Catholic Majesty, provided for by
the fourth article of the treaty, have not yet arrived in the United
States, but are soon expected. As soon as they do arrive corresponding
appointments will be made and every facility be afforded for the due
execution of this service.
The Government of His Most Faithful Majesty since the termination of the
last session of Congress has been removed from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon,
where a revolution similar to that which had occurred in the neighboring
Kingdom of Spain had in like manner been sanctioned by the accepted
and pledged faith of the reigning monarch. The diplomatic intercourse
between the United States and the Portuguese dominions, interrupted
by this important event, has not yet been resumed, but the change
of internal administration having already materially affected the
commercial intercourse of the United States with the Portuguese
dominions, the renewal of the public missions between the two countries
appears to be desirable at an early day.
It is understood that the colonies in South America have had great
success during the present year in the struggle for' their independence.
The new Government of Colombia has extended its territories and
considerably augmented its strength, and at Buenos Ayres, where civil
dissensions had for some time before prevailed, greater harmony and
better order appear to have been established. Equal success has attended
their efforts in the Provinces on the Pacific. It has long been manifest
that it would be impossible for Spain to reduce these colonies by force,
and equally so that no conditions short of their independence would be
satisfactory to them. It may therefore be presumed, and it is earnestly
hoped, that the Government of Spain, guided by enlightened and liberal
councils, will find it to comport with its interests and due to its
magnanimity to terminate this exhausting controversy on that basis. To
promote this result by friendly counsel with the Government of Spain
will be the object of the Government of the United States.
In conducting the fiscal operations of the year it has been found
necessary to carry into full effect the act of the last session of
Congress authorizing a loan of $5,000,000. This sum has been raised at
an average premium of $5.59 per centum upon stock bearing an interest
at the rate of 5 per cent per annum, redeemable at the option of the
Government after the 1st day of January, 1835.
There has been issued under the provisions of this act $4,735,296.30 of
5 per cent stock, and there has been or will be redeemed during the year
$3,197,030.71 of Louisiana 6 per cent deferred stock and Mississippi
stock. There has therefore been an actual increase of the public debt
contracted during the year of $1,538,266.69.
The receipts into the Treasury from the 1st of January to the 30th of
September last have amounted to $16,219,197.70, which, with the balance
of $1,198,461.21 in the Treasury on the former day, make the aggregate
sum of $17,417,658.91. The payments from the Treasury during the same
period have amounted to $15,655,288.47, leaving in the Treasury on the
last-mentioned day the sum of $1,762,370.44. It is estimated that the
receipts of the fourth quarter of the year will exceed the demands which
will be made on the Treasury during the same period, and that the amount
in the Treasury on the 30th of September last will be increased on the
1st day of January next.
At the close of the last session it was anticipated that the progressive
diminution of the public revenue in 1819 and 1820, which had been the
result of the languid state of our foreign commerce in those years,
had in the latter year reached its extreme point of depression. It
has, however, been ascertained that that point was reached only at the
termination of the first quarter of the present year. From that time
until the 30th of September last the duties secured have exceeded those
of the corresponding quarters of the last year $1,172,000, whilst the
amount of debentures issued during the three first quarters of this year
is $952,000 less than that of the same quarters of the last year.
There are just grounds to believe that the improvement which has
occurred in the revenue during the last-mentioned period will not only
be maintained, but that it will progressively increase through the next
and several succeeding years, so as to realize the results which were
presented upon that subject by the official reports of the Treasury at
the commencement of the last session of Congress.
Under the influence of the most unfavorable circumstances the revenue
for the next and subsequent years to the year 1825 will exceed the
demands at present authorized by law.
It may fairly be presumed that under the protection given to domestic
manufactures by the existing laws we shall become at no distant period a
manufacturing country on an extensive scale. Possessing as we do the raw
materials in such vast amount, with a capacity to augment them to an
indefinite extent; raising within the country aliment of every kind to
an amount far exceeding the demand for home consumption, even in the
most unfavorable years, and to be obtained always at a very moderate
price; skilled also, as our people are, in the mechanic arts and in
every improvement calculated to lessen the demand for and the price of
labor, it is manifest that their success in every branch of domestic
industry may and will be carried, under the encouragement given by the
present duties, to an extent to meet any demand which under a fair
competition may be made upon it.
A considerable increase of domestic manufactures, by diminishing the
importation of foreign, will probably tend to lessen the amount of the
public revenue. As, however, a large proportion of the revenue which is
derived from duties is raised from other articles than manufactures, the
demand for which will increase with our population, it is believed that
a fund will still be raised from that source adequate to the greater
part of the public expenditures, especially as those expenditures,
should we continue to be blessed with peace, will be diminished by the
completion of the fortifications, dockyards, and other public works, by
the augmentation of the Navy to the point to which it is proposed to
carry it, and by the payment of the public debt, including pensions for
military services.
It can not be doubted that the more complete our internal resources and
the less dependent we are on foreign powers for every national as well
as domestic purpose the greater and more stable will be the public
felicity. By the increase of domestic manufactures will the demand for
the rude materials at home be increased, and thus will the dependence of
the several parts of our Union on each other and the strength of the
Union itself be proportionably augmented. In this process, which is very
desirable, and inevitable under the existing duties, the resources which
obviously present themselves to supply a deficiency in the revenue,
should it occur, are the interests which may derive the principal
benefit from the change. If domestic manufactures are raised by duties
on foreign, the deficiency in the fund necessary for public purposes
should be supplied by duties on the former. At the last session it
seemed doubtful whether the revenue derived from the present sources
would be adequate to all the great purposes of our Union, including
the construction of our fortifications, the augmentation of the Navy,
and the protection of our commerce against the dangers to which it is
exposed. Had the deficiency been such as to subject us to the necessity
either to abandon those measures of defense or to resort to other means
for adequate funds, the course presented to the adoption of a virtuous
and enlightened people appeared to be a plain one. It must be gratifying
to all to know that this necessity does not exist. Nothing, however, in
contemplation of such important objects, which can be easily provided
for, should be left to hazard. It is thought that the revenue may
receive an augmentation from the existing sources, and in a manner to
aid our manufactures, without hastening prematurely the result which
has been suggested. It is believed that a moderate additional duty on
certain articles would have that effect, without being liable to any
serious objection.
The examination of the whole coast, for the construction of permanent
fortifications, from St. Croix to the Sabine, with the exception of part
of the territory lately acquired, will be completed in the present year,
as will be the survey of the Mississippi, under the resolution of the
House of Representatives, from the mouth of the Ohio to the ocean, and
likewise of the Ohio from Louisville to the Mississippi. A progress
corresponding with the sums appropriated has also been made in the
construction of these fortifications at the points designated. As they
will form a system of defense for the whole maritime frontier, and in
consequence for the interior, and are to last for ages, the greatest
care has been taken to fix the position of each work and to form it on
such a scale as will be adequate to the purpose intended by it. All the
inlets and assailable parts of our Union have been minutely examined,
and positions taken with a view to the best effect, observing in every
instance a just regard for economy. Doubts, however, being entertained
as to the propriety of the position and extent of the work at Dauphine
Island, further progress in it was suspended soon after the last session
of Congress, and an order given to the Board of Engineers and Naval
Commissioners to make a further and more minute examination of it in
both respects, and to report the result without delay.
Due progress has been made in the construction of vessels of war
according to the law providing for the gradual augmentation of the Navy,
and to the extent of existing appropriations. The vessels authorized by
the act of 1820 have all been completed and are now in actual service.
None of the larger ships have been or will be launched for the present,
the object being to protect all which may not be required for immediate
service from decay by suitable buildings erected over them. A squadron
has been maintained, as heretofore, in the Mediterranean, by means
whereof peace has been preserved with the Barbary Powers. This squadron
has been reduced the present year to as small a force as is compatible
with the fulfillment of the object intended by it. From past experience
and the best information respecting the views of those powers it is
distinctly understood that should our squadron be withdrawn they would
soon recommence their hostilities and depredations upon our commerce.
Their fortifications have lately been rebuilt and their maritime force
increased. It has also been found necessary to maintain a naval force on
the Pacific for the protection of the very important interests of our
citizens engaged in commerce and the fisheries in that sea. Vessels have
likewise been employed in cruising along the Atlantic coast, in the Gulf
of Mexico, on the coast of Africa, and in the neighboring seas. In
the latter many piracies have been committed on our commerce, and so
extensive was becoming the range of those unprincipled adventurers that
there was cause to apprehend, without a timely and decisive effort
to suppress them, the worst consequences would ensue. Fortunately, a
considerable check has been given to that spirit by our cruisers, who
have succeeded in capturing and destroying several of their vessels.
Nevertheless, it is considered an object of high importance to continue
these cruises until the practice is entirely suppressed. Like success
has attended our efforts to suppress the slave trade. Under the flag
of the United States and the sanction of their papers the trade may
be considered as entirely suppressed, and if any of our citizens are
engaged in it under the flags and papers of other powers, it is only
from a respect to the rights of those powers that these offenders are
not seized and brought home to receive the punishment which the laws
inflict. If every other power should adopt the same policy and pursue
the same vigorous means for carrying it into effect, the trade could
no longer exist.
Deeply impressed with the blessings which we enjoy, and of which we have
such manifold proofs, my mind is irresistibly drawn to that Almighty
Being, the great source from whence they proceed and to whom our most
grateful acknowledgments are due.
JAMES MONROE.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
WASHINGTON, _December 16, 1821_.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to Congress a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury,
inclosing the report of the commissioners appointed in conformity with
the provisions of "An act to authorize the building of light-houses
therein mentioned, and for other purposes," approved the 3d of March,
1821.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, _December 16, 1821_.
_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:
By a resolution of Congress approved on the 27th of March, 1818, it was
directed that the journal, acts, and proceedings of the Convention
which formed the present Constitution of the United States should be
published, under the direction of the President of the United States,
together with the secret journals of the acts and proceedings, and the
foreign correspondence (with a certain exception), of the Congress of
the United States from the first meeting thereof down to the date of the
ratification of the definitive treaty of peace between Great Britain
and the United States, in the year 1783, and that 1,000 copies thereof
should be printed, of which one copy should be furnished to each member
of that (the Fifteenth) Congress, and the residue should remain subject
to the future disposition of Congress.
And by a resolution of Congress approved on the 21st April, 1820, it
was provided that the secret journal, together with all the papers
and documents connected with that journal, and all other papers and
documents heretofore considered confidential, of the old Congress, from
the date of the ratification of the definitive treaty of the year 1783
to the formation of the present Government, which were remaining in
the office of the Secretary of State, should be published under the
direction of the President of the United States, and that I,000 copies
thereof should be printed and deposited in the Library subject to the
disposition of Congress.
In pursuance of these two resolutions, 1,000 copies of the journals
and acts of the Convention which formed the Constitution have been
heretofore printed and placed at the disposal of Congress, and 1,000
copies of the secret journals of the Congress of the Confederation,
complete, have been printed, 250 copies of which have been reserved to
comply with the direction of furnishing one copy to each member of the
Fifteenth Congress; the remaining 750 copies have been deposited in the
Library and are now at the disposal of Congress.
By the general appropriation act of 9th April, 1818, the sum of $10,000
was appropriated for defraying the expenses of printing done pursuant to
the resolution of the 27th of March of that year. No appropriation has
yet been made to defray the expenses incident to the execution of the
resolution of 21st April, 1820. The whole expense hitherto incurred
in carrying both resolutions into effect has exceeded by $542.56 the
appropriation of April, 1818. This balance remains due to the printers,
and is included in the estimates of appropriation for the year 1822.
That part of the resolution of the 27th March, 1818, which directs
the publication of the foreign correspondence of the Congress of the
Confederation remains yet to be executed, and a further appropriation
will be necessary for carrying it into effect.
JAMES MONROE.
DECEMBER 30, 1821.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I transmit to the Senate a treaty of peace and amity concluded between
the United States and the Dey and Regency of Algiers on the 23d of
December, 1816.
This treaty is in all respects the same in its provisions with that
which had been concluded on the 30th of June, 1815, and was ratified, by
and with the advice and consent of the Senate, on the 26th of December
of that year, with the exception of one additional and explanatory
article.
The circumstances which have occasioned the delay in laying the
present treaty before the Senate for their advice and consent to its
ratification are, that having been received in the spring of the year
1817, during the recess of the Senate, in the interval between the time
when the Department of State was vacated by its late Secretary and the
entrance of his successor upon the duties of the office, and when a
change also occurred of the chief clerk of the Department, it was not
recollected by the officers of the Department that it remained without
the constitutional sanction of the Senate until shortly before the
commencement of the present session. The documents explanatory of the
additional articles are likewise herewith transmitted.