I regret that I can not on this occasion congratulate you that the past year has been one of unalloyed prosperity. The ravages of fire and disease have painfully afflicted otherwise flourishing portions of our country, and serious embarrassments yet derange the trade of many of our cities. But notwithstanding these adverse circumstances, that general prosperity which has been heretofore so bountifully bestowed upon us by the Author of All Good still continues to call for our warmest gratitude. Especially have we reason to rejoice in the exuberant harvests which have lavishly recompensed well-directed industry and given to it that sure reward which is vainly sought in visionary speculations. I cannot, indeed, view without peculiar satisfaction the evidences afforded by the past season of the benefits that spring from the steady devotion of the husbandman to his honorable pursuit. No means of individual comfort is more certain and no source of national prosperity is so sure. Nothing can compensate a people for a dependence upon others for the bread they eat, and that cheerful abundance on which the happiness of everyone so much depends is to be looked for nowhere with such sure reliance as in the industry of the agriculturist and the bounties of the earth. With foreign countries our relations exhibit the same favorable aspect which was presented in my last annual message, and afford continued proof of the wisdom of the pacific, just, and forbearing policy adopted by the first Administration of the Federal Government and pursued by its successors. The extraordinary powers vested in me by an act of Congress for the defense of the country in an emergency, considered so far probable as to require that the Executive should possess ample means to meet it, have not been exerted. They have therefore been attended with no other result than to increase, by the confidence thus reposed in me, my obligations to maintain with religious exactness the cardinal principles that govern our intercourse with other nations. Happily, in our pending questions with Great Britain, out of which this unusual grant of authority arose, nothing has occurred to require its exertion, and as it is about to return to the Legislature I trust that no future necessity may call for its exercise by them or its delegation to another Department of the Government. For the settlement of our northeastern boundary the proposition promised by Great Britain for a commission of exploration and survey has been received, and a counter project, including also a provision for the certain and final adjustment of the limits in dispute, is now before the British Government for its consideration. A just regard to the delicate state of this question and a proper respect for the natural impatience of the State of Maine, not less than a conviction that the negotiation has been already protracted longer than is prudent on the part of either Government, have led me to believe that the present favorable moment should on no account be suffered to pass without putting the question forever at rest. I feel confident that the Government of Her Britannic Majesty will take the same view of this subject, as I am persuaded it is governed by desires equally strong and sincere for the amicable termination of the controversy. To the intrinsic difficulties of questions of boundary lines, especially those described in regions unoccupied and but partially known, is to be added in our country the embarrassment necessarily arising out of our Constitution by which the General Government is made the organ of negotiating and deciding upon the particular interests of the States on whose frontiers these lines are to be traced. To avoid another controversy in which a State government might rightfully claim to have her wishes consulted previously to the conclusion of conventional arrangements concerning her rights of jurisdiction or territory, I have thought it necessary to call the attention of the Government of Great Britain to another portion of our conterminous dominion of which the division still remains to be adjusted I refer to the line from the entrance of Lake Superior to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, stipulations for the settlement of which are to be found in the seventh article of the treaty of Ghent. The commissioners appointed under that article by the two Governments having differed in their opinions, made separate reports, according to its stipulations, upon the points of disagreement, and these differences are now to be submitted to the arbitration of some friendly sovereign or state. The disputed points should be settled and the line designated before the Territorial government of which it is one of the boundaries takes its place in the Union as a State, and I rely upon the cordial cooperation of the British Government to effect that object. There is every reason to believe that disturbances like those which lately agitated the neighboring British Provinces will not again prove the sources of border contentions or interpose obstacles to the continuance of that good understanding which it is the mutual interest of Great Britain and the United States to preserve and maintain. Within the Provinces themselves tranquillity is restored, and on our frontier that misguided sympathy in favor of what was presumed to be a general effort in behalf of popular rights, and which in some instances misled a few of our more inexperienced citizens, has subsided into a rational conviction strongly opposed to all intermeddling with the internal affairs of our neighbors. The people of the United States feel, as it is hoped they always will, a warm solicitude for the success of all who are sincerely endeavoring to improve the political condition of mankind. This generous feeling they cherish toward the most distant nations, and it was natural, therefore, that it should be awakened with more than common warmth in behalf of their immediate neighbors; but it does not belong to their character as a community to seek the gratification of those feelings in acts which violate their duty as citizens, endanger the peace of their country, and tend to bring upon it the stain of a violated faith toward foreign nations. If, zealous to confer benefits on others, they appear for a moment to lose sight of the permanent obligations imposed upon them as citizens, they are seldom long misled. From all the information I receive, confirmed to some extent by personal observation, I am satisfied that no one can now hope to engage in such enterprises without encountering public indignation, in addition to the severest penalties of the law. Recent information also leads me to hope that the emigrants from Her Majesty's Provinces who have sought refuge within our boundaries are disposed to become peaceable residents and to abstain from all attempts to endanger the peace of that country which has afforded them an asylum. On a review of the occurrences on both sides of the line it is satisfactory to reflect that in almost every complaint against our country the offense may be traced to emigrants from the Provinces who have sought refuge here. In the few instances in which they were aided by citizens of the United States the acts of these misguided men were not only in direct contravention of the laws and well-known wishes of their own Government, but met with the decided disapprobation of the people of the United States. I regret to state the appearance of a different spirit among Her Majesty's subjects in the Canadas. The sentiments of hostility to our people and institutions which have been so frequently expressed there, and the disregard of our rights which has been manifested on some occasions, have, I am sorry to say, been applauded and encouraged by the people, and even by some of the subordinate local authorities, of the Provinces. The chief officers in Canada, fortunately, have not entertained the same feeling, and have probably prevented excesses that must have been fatal to the peace of the two countries. I look forward anxiously to a period when all the transactions which have grown out of this condition of our affairs, and which have been made the subjects of complaint and remonstrance by the two Governments, respectively, shall be fully examined, and the proper satisfaction given where it is due from either side. Nothing has occurred to disturb the harmony of our intercourse with Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Naples, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, or Sweden. The internal state of Spain has sensibly improved, and a well-grounded hope exists that the return of peace will restore to the people of that country their former prosperity and enable the Government to fulfill all its obligations at home and abroad. The Government of Portugal, I have the satisfaction to state, has paid in full the eleventh and last installment due to our citizens for the claims embraced in the settlement made with it on the 3d of March, 1837. I lay before you treaties of commerce negotiated with the Kings of Sardinia and of the Netherlands, the ratifications of which have been exchanged since the adjournment of Congress. The liberal principles of these treaties will recommend them to your approbation. That with Sardinia is the first treaty of commerce formed by that Kingdom, and it will, I trust, answer the expectations of the present Sovereign by aiding the development of the resources of his country and stimulating the enterprise of his people. That with the Netherlands happily terminates a long-existing subject of dispute and removes from our future commercial intercourse all apprehension of embarrassment. The King of the Netherlands has also, in further illustration of his character for justice and of his desire to remove every cause of dissatisfaction, made compensation for an American vessel captured in 1800 by a French privateer, and carried into Curacoa, where the proceeds were appropriated to the use of the colony, then, and for a short time after, under the dominion of Holland. The death of the late Sultan has produced no alteration in our relations with Turkey. Our newly appointed minister resident has reached Constantinople, and I have received assurances from the present ruler that the obligations of our treaty and those of friendship will be fulfilled by himself in the same spirit that actuated his illustrious father. I regret to be obliged to inform you that no convention for the settlement of the claims of our citizens upon Mexico has yet been ratified by the Government of that country. The first convention formed for that purpose was not presented by the President of Mexico for the approbation of its Congress, from a belief that the King of Prussia, the arbitrator in case of disagreement in the joint commission to be appointed by the United States and Mexico, would not consent to take upon himself that friendly office. Although not entirely satisfied with the course pursued by Mexico, I felt no hesitation in receiving in the most conciliatory spirit the explanation offered, and also cheerfully consented to a new convention, in order to arrange the payments proposed to be made to our citizens in a manner which, while equally just to them, was deemed less onerous and inconvenient to the Mexican Government. Relying confidently upon the intentions of that Government, Mr. Ellis was directed to repair to Mexico, and diplomatic intercourse has been resumed between the two countries. The new convention has, he informs us, been recently submitted by the President of that Republic to its Congress under circumstances which promise a speedy ratification, a result which I can not allow myself to doubt. Instructions have been given to the commissioner of the United States under our convention with Texas for the demarcation of the line which separates us from that Republic. The commissioners of both Governments met in New Orleans in August last. The joint commission was organized, and adjourned to convene at the same place on the 12th of October. It is presumed to be now in the performance of its duties. The new Government of Texas has shown its desire to cultivate friendly relations with us by a prompt reparation for injuries complained of in the cases of two vessels of the United States. With Central America a convention has been concluded for the renewal of its former treaty with the United States. This was not ratified before the departure of our late charge d'affaires from that country, and the copy of it brought by him was not received before the adjournment of the Senate at the last session. In the meanwhile, the period limited for the exchange of ratifications having expired, I deemed it expedient, in consequence of the death of the charge d'affaires, to send a special agent to Central America to close the affairs of our mission there and to arrange with the Government an extension of the time for the exchange of ratifications. The commission created by the States which formerly composed the Republic of Colombia for adjusting the claims against that Government has by a very unexpected construction of the treaty under which it acts decided that no provision was made for those claims of citizens of the United States which arose from captures by Colombian privateers and were adjudged against the claimants in the judicial tribunals. This decision will compel the United States to apply to the several Governments formerly united for redress. With all these--New Granada, Venezuela, and Ecuador--a perfectly good understanding exists. Our treaty with Venezuela is faithfully carried into execution, and that country, in the enjoyment of tranquillity, is gradually advancing in prosperity under the guidance of its present distinguished President, General Paez. With Ecuador a liberal commercial convention has lately been concluded, which will be transmitted to the Senate at an early day. With the great American Empire of Brazil our relations continue unchanged, as does our friendly intercourse with the other Governments of South America--the Argentine Republic and the Republics of Uruguay, Chili, Peru, and Bolivia. The dissolution of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation may occasion some temporary inconvenience to our citizens in that quarter, but the obligations on the new Governments which have arisen out of that Confederation to observe its treaty stipulations will no doubt be soon understood, and it is presumed that no indisposition will exist to fulfill those which it contracted with the United States. The financial operations of the Government during the present year have, I am happy to say, been very successful. The difficulties under which the Treasury Department has labored, from known defects in the existing laws relative to the safe-keeping of the public moneys, aggravated by the suspension of specie payments by several of the banks holding public deposits or indebted to public officers for notes received in payment of public dues, have been surmounted to a very gratifying extent. The large current expenditures have been punctually met, and the faith of the Government in all its pecuniary concerns has been scrupulously maintained. The nineteen millions of Treasury notes authorized by the act of Congress of 1837, and the modifications thereof with a view to the indulgence of merchants on their duty bonds and of the deposit banks in the payment of public moneys held by them, have been so punctually redeemed as to leave less than the original ten millions outstanding at any one time, and the whole amount unredeemed now falls short of three millions. Of these the chief portion is not due till next year, and the whole would have been already extinguished could the Treasury have realized the payments due to it from the banks. If those due from them during the next year shall be punctually made, and if Congress shall keep the appropriations within the estimates, there is every reason to believe that all the outstanding Treasury notes can be redeemed and the ordinary expenses defrayed without imposing on the people any additional burden, either of loans or increased taxes. To avoid this and to keep the expenditures within reasonable bounds is a duty second only in importance to the preservation of our national character and the protection of our citizens in their civil and political rights. The creation in time of peace of a debt likely to become permanent is an evil for which there is no equivalent. The rapidity with which many of the States are apparently approaching to this condition admonishes us of our own duties in a manner too impressive to be disregarded. One, not the least important, is to keep the Federal Government always in a condition to discharge with ease and vigor its highest functions should their exercise be required by any sudden conjuncture of public affairs--a condition to which we are always exposed and which may occur when it is least expected. To this end it is indispensable that its finances should be untrammeled and its resources as far as practicable unencumbered. No circumstance could present greater obstacles to the accomplishment of these vitally important objects than the creation of an onerous national debt. Our own experience and also that of other nations have demonstrated the unavoidable and fearful rapidity with which a public debt is increased when the Government has once surrendered itself to the ruinous practice of supplying its supposed necessities by new loans. The struggle, therefore, on our part to be successful must be made at the threshold. To make our efforts effective, severe economy is necessary. This is the surest provision for the national welfare, and it is at the same time the best preservative of the principles on which our institutions rest. Simplicity and economy in the affairs of state have never failed to chasten and invigorate republican principles, while these have been as surely subverted by national prodigality, under whatever specious pretexts it may have been introduced or fostered. These considerations can not be lost upon a people who have never been inattentive to the effect of their policy upon the institutions they have created for themselves, but at the present moment their force is augmented by the necessity which a decreasing revenue must impose. The check lately given to importations of articles subject to duties, the derangements in the operations of internal trade, and especially the reduction gradually taking place in our tariff of duties, all tend materially to lessen our receipts; indeed, it is probable that the diminution resulting from the last cause alone will not fall short of $5,000,000 in the year 1842, as the final reduction of all duties to 20 per cent then takes effect. The whole revenue then accruing from the customs and from the sales of public lands, if not more, will undoubtedly be wanted to defray the necessary expenses of the Government under the most prudent administration of its affairs. These are circumstances that impose the necessity of rigid economy and require its prompt and constant exercise. With the Legislature rest the power and duty of so adjusting the public expenditure as to promote this end. By the provisions of the Constitution it is only in consequence of appropriations made by law that money can be drawn from the Treasury. No instance has occurred since the establishment of the Government in which the Executive, though a component part of the legislative power, has interposed an objection to an appropriation bill on the sole ground of its extravagance. His duty in this respect has been considered fulfilled by requesting such appropriations only as the public service may be reasonably expected to require. In the present earnest direction of the public mind toward this subject both the Executive and the Legislature have evidence of the strict responsibility to which they will be held; and while I am conscious of my own anxious efforts to perform with fidelity this portion of my public functions, it is a satisfaction to me to be able to count on a cordial cooperation from you. At the time I entered upon my present duties our ordinary disbursements, without including those on account of the public debt, the Post-Office, and the trust funds in charge of the Government, had been largely increased by appropriations for the removal of the Indians, for repelling Indian hostilities, and for other less urgent expenses which grew out of an overflowing Treasury. Independent of the redemption of the public debt and trusts, the gross expenditures of seventeen and eighteen millions in 1834 and 1835 had by these causes swelled to twenty-nine millions in 1836, and the appropriations for 1837, made previously to the 4th of March, caused the expenditure to rise to the very large amount of thirty-three millions. We were enabled during the year 1838, notwithstanding the continuance of our Indian embarrassments, somewhat to reduce this amount, and that for the present year (1839) will not in all probability exceed twenty-six millions, or six millions less than it was last year. With a determination, so far as depends on me, to continue this reduction, I have directed the estimates for 1840 to be subjected to the severest scrutiny and to be limited to the absolute requirements of the public service. They will be found less than the expenditures of 1839 by over $5,000,000. The precautionary measures which will be recommended by the Secretary of the Treasury to protect faithfully the public credit under the fluctuations and contingencies to which our receipts and expenditures are exposed, and especially in a commercial crisis like the present, are commended to your early attention. On a former occasion your attention was invited to various considerations in support of a preemption law in behalf of the settlers on the public lands, and also of a law graduating the prices for such lands as had long been in the market unsold in consequence of their inferior quality. The execution of the act which was passed on the first subject has been attended with the happiest consequences in quieting titles and securing improvements to the industrious, and it has also to a very gratifying extent been exempt from the frauds which were practiced under previous preemption laws. It has at the same time, as was anticipated, contributed liberally during the present year to the receipts of the Treasury. The passage of a graduation law, with the guards before recommended, would also, I am persuaded, add considerably to the revenue for several years, and prove in other respects just and beneficial. Your early consideration of the subject is therefore once more earnestly requested. The present condition of the defenses of our principal seaports and navy-yards, as represented by the accompanying report of the Secretary of War, calls for the early and serious attention of Congress; and, as connecting itself intimately with this subject, I can not recommend too strongly to your consideration the plan submitted by that officer for the organization of the militia of the United States. In conformity with the expressed wishes of Congress, an attempt was made in the spring to terminate the Florida war by negotiation. It is to be regretted that these humane intentions should have been frustrated and that the effort to bring these unhappy difficulties to a satisfactory conclusion should have failed; but after entering into solemn engagements with the commanding general, the Indians, without any provocation, recommenced their acts of treachery and murder. The renewal of hostilities in that Territory renders it necessary that I should recommend to your favorable consideration the plan which will be submitted to you by the Secretary of War, in order to enable that Department to conduct them to a successful issue. Having had an opportunity of personally inspecting a portion of the troops during the last summer, it gives me pleasure to bear testimony to the success of the effort to improve their discipline by keeping them together in as large bodies as the nature of our service will permit. I recommend, therefore, that commodious and permanent barracks be constructed at the several posts designated by the Secretary of War. Notwithstanding the high state of their discipline and excellent police, the evils resulting to the service from the deficiency of company officers were very apparent, and I recommend that the staff officers be permanently separated from the line. The Navy has been usefully and honorably employed in protecting the rights and property of our citizens wherever the condition of affairs seemed to require its presence. With the exception of one instance, where an outrage, accompanied by murder, was committed on a vessel of the United States while engaged in a lawful commerce, nothing is known to have occurred to impede or molest the enterprise of our citizens on that element, where it is so signally displayed. On learning this daring act of piracy, Commodore Reed proceeded immediately to the spot, and receiving no satisfaction, either in the surrender of the murderers or the restoration of the plundered property, inflicted severe and merited chastisement on the barbarians. It will be seen by the report of the Secretary of the Navy respecting the disposition of our ships of war that it has been deemed necessary to station a competent force on the coast of Africa to prevent a fraudulent use of our flag by foreigners. Recent experience has shown that the provisions in our existing laws which relate to the sale and transfer of American vessels while abroad are extremely defective. Advantage has been taken of these defects to give to vessels wholly belonging to foreigners and navigating the ocean an apparent American ownership. This character has been so well simulated as to afford them comparative security in prosecuting the slave trade--a traffic emphatically denounced in our statutes, regarded with abhorrence by our citizens, and of which the effectual suppression is nowhere more sincerely desired than in the United States. These circumstances make it proper to recommend to your early attention a careful revision of these laws, so that without impeding the freedom and facilities of our navigation or impairing an important branch of our industry connected with it the integrity and honor of our flag may be carefully preserved. Information derived from our consul at Havana showing the necessity of this was communicated to a committee of the Senate near the close of the last session, but too late, as it appeared, to be acted upon. It will be brought to your notice by the proper Department, with additional communications from other sources. The latest accounts from the exploring expedition represent it as proceeding successfully in its objects and promising results no less useful to trade and navigation than to science. The extent of post-roads covered by mail service on the 1st of July last was about 133,999 miles and the rate of annual transportation upon them 34,496,878 miles. The number of post-offices on that day was 12,780 and on the 30th ultimo 13,028. The revenue of the Post-Office Department for the year ending with the 30th of June last was $4,476,638, exhibiting an increase over the preceding year of $241,560. The engagements and liabilities of the Department for the same period are $4,624,117. The excess of liabilities over the revenue for the last two years has been met out of the surplus which had previously accumulated. The cash on hand on the 30th ultimo was about $206,701.95 and the current income of the Department varies very little from the rate of current expenditures. Most of the service suspended last year has been restored, and most of the new routes established by the act of 7th July, 1838, have been set in operation, at an annual cost of $136,963. Notwithstanding the pecuniary difficulties of the country, the revenue of the Department appears to be increasing, and unless it shall be seriously checked by the recent suspension of payment by so many of the banks it will be able not only to maintain the present mail service, but in a short time to extend it. It is gratifying to witness the promptitude and fidelity with which the agents of this Department in general perform their public duties. Some difficulties have arisen in relation to contracts for the transportation of the mails by railroad and steamboat companies. It appears that the maximum of compensation provided by Congress for the transportation of the mails upon railroads is not sufficient to induce some of the companies to convey them at such hours as are required for the accommodation of the public. It is one of the most important duties of the General Government to provide and maintain for the use of the people of the States the best practicable mail establishment. To arrive at that end it is indispensable that the Post-Office Department shall be enabled to control the hours at which the mails shall be carried over railroads, as it now does over all other roads. Should serious inconveniences arise from the inadequacy of the compensation now provided by law, or from unreasonable demands by any of the railroad companies, the subject is of such general importance as to require the prompt attention of Congress. In relation to steamboat lines, the most efficient remedy is obvious and has been suggested by the Postmaster-General. The War and Navy Departments already employ steamboats in their service; and although it is by no means desirable that the Government should undertake the transportation of passengers or freight as a business, there can be no reasonable objection to running boats, temporarily, whenever it may be necessary to put down attempts at extortion, to be discontinued as soon as reasonable contracts can be obtained. The suggestions of the Postmaster-General relative to the inadequacy of the legal allowance to witnesses in cases of prosecutions for mail depredations merit your serious consideration. The safety of the mails requires that such prosecutions shall be efficient, and justice to the citizen whose time is required to be given to the public demands not only that his expenses shall be paid, but that he shall receive a reasonable compensation. The reports from the War, Navy, and Post-Office Departments will accompany this communication, and one from the Treasury Department will be presented to Congress in a few days. For various details in respect to the matters in charge of these Departments I would refer you to those important documents, satisfied that you will find in them many valuable suggestions which will be found well deserving the attention of the Legislature. From a report made in December of last year by the Secretary of State to the Senate, showing the trial docket of each of the circuit courts and the number of miles each judge has to travel in the performance of his duties, a great inequality appears in the amount of labor assigned to each judge. The number of terms to be held in each of the courts composing the ninth circuit, the distances between the places at which they sit and from thence to the seat of Government, are represented to be such as to render it impossible for the judge of that circuit to perform in a manner corresponding with the public exigencies his term and circuit duties. A revision, therefore, of the present arrangement of the circuit seems to be called for and is recommended to your notice. I think it proper to call your attention to the power assumed by Territorial legislatures to authorize the issue of bonds by corporate companies on the guaranty of the Territory. Congress passed a law in 1836 providing that no act of a Territorial legislature incorporating banks should have the force of law until approved by Congress, but acts of a very exceptionable character previously passed by the legislature of Florida were suffered to remain in force, by virtue of which bonds may be issued to a very large amount by those institutions upon the faith of the Territory. A resolution, intending to be a joint one, passed the Senate at the same session, expressing the sense of Congress that the laws in question ought not to be permitted to remain in force unless amended in many material respects; but it failed in the House of Representatives for want of time, and the desired amendments have not been made. The interests involved are of great importance, and the subject deserves your early and careful attention. The continued agitation of the question relative to the best mode of keeping and disbursing the public money still injuriously affects the business of the country. The suspension of specie payments in 1837 rendered the use of deposit banks as prescribed by the act of 1836 a source rather of embarrassment than aid, and of necessity placed the custody of most of the public money afterwards collected in charge of the public officers. The new securities for its safety which this required were a principal cause of my convening an extra session of Congress, but in consequence of a disagreement between the two Houses neither then nor at any subsequent period has there been any legislation on the subject. The effort made at the last session to obtain the authority of Congress to punish the use of public money for private purposes as a crime a measure attended under other governments with signal advantage--was also unsuccessful, from diversities of opinion in that body, notwithstanding the anxiety doubtless felt by it to afford every practicable security. The result of this is still to leave the custody of the public money without those safeguards which have been for several years earnestly desired by the Executive, and as the remedy is only to be found in the action of the Legislature it imposes on me the duty of again submitting to you the propriety of passing a law providing for the safe-keeping of the public moneys, and especially to ask that its use for private purposes by any officers intrusted with it may be declared to be a felony, punishable with penalties proportioned to the magnitude of the offense. These circumstances, added to known defects in the existing laws and unusual derangement in the general operations of trade, have during the last three years much increased the difficulties attendant on the collection, keeping, and disbursement of the revenue, and called forth corresponding exertions from those having them in charge. Happily these have been successful beyond expectation. Vast sums have been collected and disbursed by the several Departments with unexpected cheapness and ease, transfers have been readily made to every part of the Union, however distant, and defalcations have been far less than might have been anticipated from the absence of adequate legal restraints. Since the officers of the Treasury and Post-Office Departments were charged with the custody of most of the public moneys received by them there have been collected $66,000,000, and, excluding the case of the late collector at New York, the aggregate amount of losses sustained in the collection can not, it is believed, exceed $60,000. The defalcation of the late collector at that city, of the extent and circumstances of which Congress have been fully informed, ran through all the modes of keeping the public money that have been hitherto in use, and was distinguished by an aggravated disregard of duty that broke through the restraints of every system, and can not, therefore, be usefully referred to as a test of the comparative safety of either. Additional information will also be furnished by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, in reply to a call made upon that officer by the House of Representatives at the last session requiring detailed information on the subject of defaults by public officers or agents under each Administration from 1789 to 1837. This document will be submitted to you in a few days. The general results (independent of the Post-Office, which is kept separately and will be stated by itself), so far as they bear upon this subject, are that the losses which have been and are likely to be sustained by any class of agents have been the greatest by banks, including, as required in the resolution, their depreciated paper received for public dues; that the next largest have been by disbursing officers, and the least by collectors and receivers. If the losses on duty bonds are included, they alone will be threefold those by both collectors and receivers. Our whole experience, therefore, furnishes the strongest evidence that the desired legislation of Congress is alone wanting to insure in those operations the highest degree of security and facility. Such also appears to have been the experience of other nations. From the results of inquiries made by the Secretary of the Treasury in regard to the practice among them I am enabled to state that in twenty-two out of twenty-seven foreign governments from which undoubted information has been obtained the public moneys are kept in charge of public officers. This concurrence of opinion in favor of that system is perhaps as great as exists on any question of internal administration. In the modes of business and official restraints on disbursing officers no legal change was produced by the suspension of specie payments. The report last referred to will be found to contain also much useful information in relation to this subject. I have heretofore assigned to Congress my reasons for believing that the establishment of an independent National Treasury, as contemplated by the Constitution, is necessary to the safe action of the Federal Government. The suspension of specie payments in 1837 by the banks having the custody of the public money showed in so alarming a degree our dependence on those institutions for the performance of duties required by law that I then recommended the entire dissolution of that connection. This recommendation has been subjected, as I desired it should be, to severe scrutiny and animated discussion, and I allow myself to believe that notwithstanding the natural diversities of opinion which may be anticipated on all subjects involving such important considerations, it has secured in its favor as general a concurrence of public sentiment as could be expected on one of such magnitude. Recent events have also continued to develop new objections to such a connection. Seldom is any bank, under the existing system and practice, able to meet on demand all its liabilities for deposits and notes in circulation. It maintains specie payments and transacts a profitable business only by the confidence of the public in its solvency, and whenever this is destroyed the demands of its depositors and note holders, pressed more rapidly than it can make collections from its debtors, force it to stop payment. This loss of confidence, with its consequences, occurred in 1837, and afforded the apology of the banks for their suspension. The public then acquiesced in the validity of the excuse, and while the State legislatures did not exact from them their forfeited charters, Congress, in accordance with the recommendation of the Executive, allowed them time to pay over the public money they held, although compelled to issue Treasury notes to supply the deficiency thus created. It now appears that there are other motives than a want of public confidence under which the banks seek to justify themselves in a refusal to meet their obligations. Scarcely were the country and Government relieved in a degree from the difficulties occasioned by the general suspension of 1837 when a partial one, occurring within thirty months of the former, produced new and serious embarrassments, though it had no palliation in such circumstances as were alleged in justification of that which had previously taken place. There was nothing in the condition of the country to endanger a well-managed banking institution; commerce was deranged by no foreign war; every branch of manufacturing industry was crowned with rich rewards, and the more than usual abundance of our harvests, after supplying our domestic wants, had left our granaries and storehouses filled with a surplus for exportation. It is in the midst of this that an irredeemable and depreciated paper currency is entailed upon the people by a large portion of the banks. They are not driven to it by the exhibition of a loss of public confidence or of a sudden pressure from their depositors or note holders, but they excuse themselves by alleging that the current of business and exchange with foreign countries, which draws the precious metals from their vaults, would require in order to meet it a larger curtailment of their loans to a comparatively small portion of the community than it will be convenient for them to bear or perhaps safe for the banks to exact. The plea has ceased to be one of necessity. Convenience and policy are now deemed sufficient to warrant these institutions in disregarding their solemn obligations. Such conduct is not merely an injury to individual creditors, but it is a wrong to the whole community, from whose liberality they hold most valuable privileges, whose rights they violate, whose business they derange, and the value of whose property they render unstable and insecure. It must be evident that this new ground for bank suspensions, in reference to which their action is not only disconnected with, but wholly independent of, that of the public, gives a character to their suspensions more alarming than any which they exhibited before, and greatly increases the impropriety of relying on the banks in the transactions of the Government. A large and highly respectable portion of our banking institutions are, it affords me unfeigned pleasure to state, exempted from all blame on account of this second delinquency. They have, to their great credit, not only continued to meet their engagements, but have even repudiated the grounds of suspension now resorted to. It is only by such a course that the confidence and good will of the community can be preserved, and in the sequel the best interests of the institutions themselves promoted New dangers to the banks are also daily disclosed from the extension of that system of extravagant credit of which they are the pillars. Formerly our foreign commerce was principally rounded on an exchange of commodities, including the precious metals, and leaving in its transactions but little foreign debt. Such is not now the case. Aided by the facilities afforded by the banks, mere credit has become too commonly the basis of trade. Many of the banks themselves, not content with largely stimulating this system among others, have usurped the business, while they impair the stability, of the mercantile community; they have become borrowers instead of lenders; they establish their agencies abroad; they deal largely in stocks and merchandise; they encourage the issue of State securities until the foreign market is glutted with them; and, unsatisfied with the legitimate use of their own capital and the exercise of their lawful privileges, they raise by large loans additional means for every variety of speculation. The disasters attendant on this deviation from the former course of business in this country are now shared alike by banks and individuals to an extent of which there is perhaps no previous example in the annals of our country. So long as a willingness of the foreign lender and a sufficient export of our productions to meet any necessary partial payments leave the flow of credit undisturbed all appears to be prosperous, but as soon as it is checked by any hesitation abroad or by an inability to make payment there in our productions the evils of the system are disclosed. The paper currency, which might serve for domestic purposes, is useless to pay the debt due in Europe. Gold and silver are therefore drawn in exchange for their notes from the banks. To keep up their supply of coin these institutions are obliged to call upon their own debtors, who pay them principally in their own notes, which are as unavailable to them as they are to the merchants to meet the foreign demand. The calls of the banks, therefore, in such emergencies of necessity exceed that demand, and produce a corresponding curtailment of their accommodations and of the currency at the very moment when the state of trade renders it most inconvenient to be borne. The intensity of this pressure on the community is in proportion to the previous liberality of credit and consequent expansion of the currency. Forced sales of property are made at the time when the means of purchasing are most reduced, and the worst calamities to individuals are only at last arrested by an open violation of their obligations by the banks--a refusal to pay specie for their notes and an imposition upon the community of a fluctuating and depreciated currency. These consequences are inherent in the present system. They are not influenced by the banks being large or small, created by National or State Governments. They are the results of the irresistible laws of trade or credit. In the recent events, which have so strikingly illustrated the certain effects of these laws, we have seen the bank of the largest capital in the Union, established under a national charter, and lately strengthened, as we were authoritatively informed, by exchanging that for a State charter with new and unusual privileges--in a condition, too, as it was said, of entire soundness and great prosperity--not merely unable to resist these effects, but the first to yield to them. Nor is it to be overlooked that there exists a chain of necessary dependence among these institutions which obliges them to a great extent to follow the course of others, notwithstanding its injustice to their own immediate creditors or injury to the particular community in which they are placed. This dependence of a bank, which is in proportion to the extent of its debts for circulation and deposits, is not merely on others in its own vicinity, but on all those which connect it with the center of trade. Distant banks may fail without seriously affecting those in our principal commercial cities, but the failure of the latter is felt at the extremities of the Union. The suspension at New York in 1837 was everywhere, with very few exceptions, followed as soon as it was known. That recently at Philadelphia immediately affected the banks of the South and West in a similar manner. This dependence of our whole banking system on the institutions in a few large cities is not found in the laws of their organization, but in those of trade and exchange. The banks at that center, to which currency flows and where it is required in payments for merchandise, hold the power of controlling those in regions whence it comes, while the latter possess no means of restraining them; so that the value of individual property and the prosperity of trade through the whole interior of the country are made to depend on the good or bad management of the banking institutions in the great seats of trade on the seaboard. But this chain of dependence does not stop here. It does not terminate at Philadelphia or New York. It reaches across the ocean and ends in London, the center of the credit system. The same laws of trade which give to the banks in our principal cities power over the whole banking system of the United States subject the former, in their turn, to the money power in Great Britain. It is not denied that the suspension of the New York banks in 1837, which was followed in quick succession throughout the Union, was produced by an application of that power, and it is now alleged, in extenuation of the present condition of so large a portion of our banks, that their embarrassments have arisen from the same cause. From this influence they can not now entirely escape, for it has its origin in the credit currencies of the two countries; it is strengthened by the current of trade and exchange which centers in London, and is rendered almost irresistible by the large debts contracted there by our merchants, our banks, and our States. It is thus that an introduction of a new bank into the most distant of our villages places the business of that village within the influence of the money power in England; it is thus that every new debt which we contract in that country seriously affects our own currency and extends over the pursuits of our citizens its powerful influence. We can not escape from this by making new banks, great or small, State or national. The same chains which bind those now existing to the center of this system of paper credit must equally fetter every similar institution we create. It is only by the extent to which this system has been pushed of late that we have been made fully aware of its irresistible tendency to subject our own banks and currency to a vast controlling power in a foreign lad, and it adds a new argument to those which illustrate their precarious situation.. Endangered in the first place by their own mismanagement and again by the conduct of every institution which connects them with the center of trade in our own country, they are yet subjected beyond all this to the effect of whatever measures policy, necessity, or caprice may induce those who control the credits of England to resort to. I mean not to comment upon these measures, present or past, and much less to discourage the prosecution of fair commercial dealing between the two countries, based on reciprocal benefits; but it having now been made manifest that the power of inflicting these and similar injuries is by the resistless law of a credit currency and credit trade equally capable of extending their consequences through all the ramifications of our banking system, and by that means indirectly obtaining, particularly when our banks are used as depositories of the public moneys, a dangerous political influence in the United States, I have deemed it my duty to bring the subject to your notice and ask for it your serious consideration. Is an argument required beyond the exposition of these facts to show the impropriety of using our banking institutions as depositories of the public money? Can we venture not only to encounter the risk of their individual and mutual mismanagement, but at the same time to place our foreign and domestic policy entirely under the control of a foreign moneyed interest? To do so is to impair the independence of our Government, as the present credit system has already impaired the independence of our banks; it is to submit all its important operations, whether of peace or war, to be controlled or thwarted, at first by our own banks and then by a power abroad greater than themselves. I can not bring myself to depict the humiliation to which this Government and people might be sooner or later reduced if the means for defending their rights are to be made dependent upon those who may have the most powerful of motives to impair them. Nor is it only in reference to the effect of this state of things on the independence of our Government or of our banks that the subject presents itself for consideration; it is to be viewed also in its relations to the general trade of our country. The time is not long passed when a deficiency of foreign crops was thought to afford a profitable market for the surplus of our industry, but now we await with feverish anxiety the news of the English harvest, not so much from motives of commendable sympathy, but fearful lest its anticipated failure should narrow the field of credit there. Does not this speak volumes to the patriot? Can a system be beneficent, wise, or just which creates greater anxiety for interests dependent on foreign credit than for the general prosperity of our own country and the profitable exportation of the surplus produce of our labor? The circumstances to which I have thus adverted appear to me to afford weighty reasons, developed by late events, to be added to those which I have on former occasions offered when submitting to your better knowledge and discernment the propriety of separating the custody of the public money from banking institutions. Nor has anything occurred to lessen, in my opinion, the force of what has been heretofore urged. The only ground on which that custody can be desired by the banks is the profitable use which they may make of the money. Such use would be regarded in individuals as a breach of trust or a crime of great magnitude, and yet it may be reasonably doubted whether, first and last, it is not attended with more mischievous consequences when permitted to the former than to the latter. The practice of permitting the public money to be used by its keepers, as here, is believed to be peculiar to this country and to exist scarcely anywhere else. To procure it here improper influences are appealed to, unwise connections are established between the Government and vast numbers of powerful State institutions, other motives than the public good are brought to bear both on the executive and legislative departments, and selfish combinations leading to special legislation are formed. It is made the interest of banking institutions and their stockholders throughout the Union to use their exertions for the increase of taxation and the accumulation of a surplus revenue, and while an excuse is afforded the means are furnished for those excessive issues which lead to extravagant trading and speculation and are the forerunners of a vast debt abroad and a suspension of the banks at home. Impressed, therefore, as I am with the propriety of the funds of the Government being withdrawn from the private use of either banks or individuals, and the public money kept by duly appointed public agents, and believing as I do that such also is the judgment which discussion, reflection, and experience have produced on the public mind, I leave the subject with you. It is, at all events, essential to the interests of the community and the business of the Government that a decision should be made. Most of the arguments that dissuade us from employing banks in the custody and disbursement of the public money apply with equal force to the receipt of their notes for public dues. The difference is only in form. In one instance the Government is a creditor for its deposits, and in the other for the notes it holds. They afford the same opportunity for using the public moneys, and equally lead to all the evils attendant upon it, since a bank can as safely extend its discounts on a deposit of its notes in the hands of a public officer as on one made in its own vaults. On the other hand, it would give to the Government no greater security, for in case of failure the claim of the note holder would be no better than that of a depositor. I am aware that the danger of inconvenience to the public and unreasonable pressure upon sound banks have been urged as objections to requiring the payment of the revenue in gold and silver. These objections have been greatly exaggerated. From the best estimates we may safely fix the amount of specie in the country at $85,000,000, and the portion of that which would be employed at any one time in the receipts and disbursements of the Government, even if the proposed change were made at once, would not, it is now, after fuller investigation, believed exceed four or five millions. If the change were gradual, several years would elapse before that sum would be required, with annual opportunities in the meantime to alter the law should experience prove it to be oppressive or inconvenient. The portions of the community on whose business the change would immediately operate are comparatively small, nor is it believed that its effect would be in the least unjust or injurious to them. In the payment of duties, which constitute by far the greater portion of the revenue, a very large proportion is derived from foreign commission houses and agents of foreign manufacturers, who sell the goods consigned to them generally at auction, and after paying the duties out of the avails remit the rest abroad in specie or its equivalent. That the amount of duties should in such cases be also retained in specie can hardly be made a matter of complaint. Our own importing merchants, by whom the residue of the duties is paid, are not only peculiarly interested in maintaining a sound currency, which the measure in question will especially promote, but are from the nature of their dealings best able to know when specie will be needed and to procure it with the least difficulty or sacrifice. Residing, too, almost universally in places where the revenue is received and where the drafts used by the Government for its disbursements must concentrate, they have every opportunity to obtain and use them in place of specie should it be for their interest or convenience. Of the number of these drafts and the facilities they may afford, as well as of the rapidity with which the public funds are drawn and disbursed, an idea may be formed from the fact that of nearly $20,000,000 paid to collectors and receivers during the present year the average amount in their hands at any one time has not exceeded a million and a half, and of the fifteen millions received by the collector of New York alone during the present year the average amount held by him subject to draft during each week has been less than half a million. The ease and safety of the operations of the Treasury in keeping the public money are promoted by the application of its own drafts to the public dues. The objection arising from having them too long outstanding might be obviated and they yet made to afford to merchants and banks holding them an equivalent for specie, and in that way greatly lessen the amount actually required. Still less inconvenience will attend the requirement of specie in purchases of public lands. Such purchases, except when made on speculation, are in general but single transactions, rarely repeated by the same person; and it is a fact that for the last year and a half, during which the notes of sound banks have been received, more than a moiety of these payments has been voluntarily made in specie, being a larger proportion than would have been required in three years under the graduation proposed. It is, moreover, a principle than which none is better settled by experience that the supply of the precious metals will always be found adequate to the uses for which they are required. They abound in countries where no other currency is allowed. In our own States, where small notes are excluded, gold and silver supply their place. When driven to their hiding places by bank suspensions, a little firmness in the community soon restores them in a sufficient quantity for ordinary purposes. Postage and other public dues have been collected in coin without serious inconvenience even in States where a depreciated paper currency has existed for years, and this, with the aid of Treasury notes for a part of the time, was done without interruption during the suspension of 1837. At the present moment the receipts and disbursements of the Government are made in legal currency in the largest portion of the Union. No one suggests a departure from this rule, and if it can now be successfully carried out it will be surely attended with even less difficulty when bank notes are again redeemed in specie. Indeed, I can not think that a serious objection would anywhere be raised to the receipt and payment of gold and silver in all public transactions were it not from an apprehension that a surplus in the Treasury might withdraw a large portion of it from circulation and lock it up unprofitably in the public vaults. It would not, in my opinion, be difficult to prevent such an inconvenience from occurring; but the authentic statements which I have already submitted to you in regard to the actual amount in the public Treasury at any one time during the period embraced in them and the little probability of a different state of the Treasury for at least some years to come seem to render it unnecessary to dwell upon it. Congress, moreover, as I have before observed, will in every year have an opportunity to guard against it should the occurrence of any circumstances lead us to apprehend injury from this source. Viewing the subject in all its aspects, I can not believe that any period will be more auspicious than the present for the adoption of all measures necessary to maintain the sanctity of our own engagements and to aid in securing to the community that abundant supply of the precious metals which adds so much to their prosperity and gives such increased stability to all their dealings. In a country so commercial as ours banks in some form will probably always exist, but this serves only to render it the more incumbent on us, notwithstanding the discouragements of the past, to strive in our respective stations to mitigate the evils they produce; to take from them as rapidly as the obligations of public faith and a careful consideration of the immediate interests of the community will permit the unjust character of monopolies; to check, so far as may be practicable, by prudent legislation those temptations of interest and those opportunities for their dangerous indulgence which beset them on every side, and to confine them strictly to the performance of their paramount duty--that of aiding the operations of commerce rather than consulting their own exclusive advantage. These and other salutary reforms may, it is believed, be accomplished without the violation of any of the great principles of the social compact, the observance of which is indispensable to its existence, or interfering in any way with the useful and profitable employment of real capital. Institutions so framed have existed and still exist elsewhere, giving to commercial intercourse all necessary facilities without inflating or depreciating the currency or stimulating speculation. Thus accomplishing their legitimate ends, they have gained the surest guaranty for their protection and encouragement in the good will of the community. Among a people so just as ours the same results could not fail to attend a similar course. The direct supervision of the banks belongs, from the nature of our Government, to the States who authorize them. It is to their legislatures that the people must mainly look for action on that subject. But as the conduct of the Federal Government in the management of its revenue has also a powerful, though less immediate, influence upon them, it becomes our duty to see that a proper direction is given to it. While the keeping of the public revenue in a separate and independent treasury and of collecting it in gold and silver will have a salutary influence on the system of paper credit with which all banks are connected, and thus aid those that are sound and well managed, it will at the same time sensibly check such as are otherwise by at once withholding the means of extravagance afforded by the public funds and restraining them from excessive issues of notes which they would be constantly called upon to redeem. I am aware it has been urged that this control may be best attained and exerted by means of a national bank. The constitutional objections which I am well known to entertain would prevent me in any event from proposing or assenting to that remedy; but in addition to this, I can not after past experience bring myself to think that it can any longer be extensively regarded as effective for such a purpose. The history of the late national bank, through all its mutations, shows that it was not so. On the contrary, it may, after a careful consideration of the subject, be, I think, safely stated that at every period of banking excess it took the lead; that in 1817 and 1818, in 1823, in 1831, and in 1834 its vast expansions, followed by distressing contractions, led to those of the State institutions. It swelled and maddened the tides of the banking system, but seldom allayed or safely directed them. At a few periods only was a salutary control exercised, but an eager desire, on the contrary, exhibited for profit in the first place; and if afterwards its measures were severe toward other institutions, it was because its own safety compelled it to adopt them. It did not differ from them in principle or in form; its measures emanated from the same spirit of gain; it felt the same temptation to overissues; it suffered from and was totally unable to avert those inevitable laws of trade by which it was. itself affected equally with them; and at least on one occasion, at an early day, it was saved only by extraordinary exertions from the same fate that attended the weakest institution it professed to supervise. In 1837 it failed equally with others in redeeming its notes (though the two years allowed by its charter for that purpose had not expired), a large amount of which remains to the present time outstanding. It is true that, having so vast a capital and strengthened by the use of all the revenues of the Government, it possessed more power; but while it was itself by that circumstance freed from the control which all banks require, its paramount object and inducement were left the same--to make the most for its stockholders, not to regulate the currency of the country. Nor has it, as far as we are advised, been found to be greatly otherwise elsewhere. The national character given to the Bank of England has not prevented excessive fluctuations in their currency, and it proved unable to keep off a suspension of specie payments, which lasted for nearly a quarter of a century. And why should we expect it to be otherwise? A national institution, though deriving its charter from a different source than the State banks, is yet constituted upon the same principles, is conducted by men equally exposed to temptation, and is liable to the same disasters, with the additional disadvantage that its magnitude occasions an extent of confusion and distress which the mismanagement of smaller institutions could not produce. It can scarcely be doubted that the recent suspension of the United State Bank of Pennsylvania, of which the effects are felt not in that State alone, but over half the Union, had its origin in a course of business commenced while it was a national institution, and there is no good reason for supposing that the same consequences would not have followed had it still derived its powers from the General Government. It is in vain, when the influences and impulses are the same, to look for a difference in conduct or results. By such creations we do, therefore, but increase the mass of paper credit and paper currency, without checking their attendant evils and fluctuations. The extent of power and the efficiency of organization which we give, so far from being beneficial, are in practice positively injurious. They strengthen the chain of dependence throughout the Union, subject all parts more certainly to common disaster, and bind every bank more effectually in the first instance to those of our commercial cities, and in the end to a foreign power. In a word, I can not but believe that, with the full understanding of the operations of our banking system which experience has produced, public sentiment is not less opposed to the creation of a national bank for purposes connected with currency and commerce than for those connected with the fiscal operations of the Government. Yet the commerce and currency of the country are suffering evils from the operations of the State banks which can not and ought not to be overlooked. By their means we have been flooded with a depreciated paper, which it was evidently the design of the framers of the Constitution to prevent when they required Congress to "Coin money and regulate the value of foreign coins," and when they forbade the States "to coin money, emit bills of credit, make anything but gold and silver a tender in payment of debts," or "pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts." If they did not guard more explicitly against the present state of things, it was because they could not have anticipated that the few banks then existing were to swell to an extent which would expel to so great a degree the gold and silver for which they had provided from the channels of circulation, and fill them with a currency that defeats the objects they had in view. The remedy for this must chiefly rest with the States from whose legislation it has sprung. No good that might accrue in a particular case front the exercise of powers not obviously conferred on the General Government would authorize its interference or justify a course that might in the slightest degree increase at the expense of the States the power of the Federal authorities; nor do I doubt that the States will apply the remedy. Within the last few years events have appealed to them too strongly to be disregarded. They have seen that the Constitution, though theoretically adhered to, is subverted in practice; that while on the statute books there is no legal tender but gold and silver, no law impairing the obligations of contracts, yet that in point of fact the privileges conferred on banking corporations have made their notes the currency of the country; that the obligations imposed by these notes are violated under the impulses of interest or convenience, and that the number and power of the persons connected with these corporations or placed under their influence give them a fearful weight when their interest is in opposition to the spirit of the Constitution and laws. To the people it is immaterial whether these results are produced by open violations of the latter or by the workings of a system of which the result is the same. An inflexible execution even of the existing statutes of most of the States would redress many evils now endured, would effectually show the banks the dangers of mismanagement which impunity encourages them to repeat, and would teach all corporations the useful lesson that they are the subjects of the law and the servants of the people. What is still wanting to effect these objects must be sought in additional legislation, or, if that be inadequate, in such further constitutional grants or restrictions as may bring us back into the path from which we have so widely wandered. In the meantime it is the duty of the General Government to cooperate with the States by a wise exercise of its constitutional powers and the enforcement of its existing laws. The extent to which it may do so by further enactments I have already adverted to, and the wisdom of Congress may yet enlarge them. But above all, it is incumbent upon us to hold erect the principles of morality and law, constantly executing our own contracts in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, and thus serving as a rallying point by which our whole country may be brought back to that safe and honored standard. Our people will not long be insensible to the extent of the burdens entailed upon them by the false system that has been operating on their sanguine, energetic, and industrious character, nor to the means necessary to extricate themselves from these embarrassments. The weight which presses upon a large portion of the people and the States is an enormous debt, foreign and domestic. The foreign debt of our States, corporations, and men of business can scarcely be less than $200,000,000, requiring more than $10,000,000 a year to pay the interest. This sum has to be paid out of the exports of the country, and must of necessity cut off imports to that extent or plunge the country more deeply in debt from year to year. It is easy to see that the increase of this foreign debt must augment the annual demand on the exports to pay the interest, and to the same extent diminish the imports, and in proportion to the enlargement of the foreign debt and the consequent increase of interest must be the decrease of the import trade. In lieu of the comforts which it now brings us we might have our. gigantic banking institutions and splendid, but in many instances profitless, railroads and canals absorbing to a great extent in interest upon the capital borrowed to construct them the surplus fruits of national industry for years to come, and securing to posterity no adequate return for the comforts which the labors of their hands might otherwise have secured. It is not by the increase of this debt that relief is to be sought, but in its diminution. Upon this point there is, I am happy to say, hope before us; not so much in the return of confidence abroad, which will enable the States to borrow more money, as in a change of public feeling at home, which prompts our people to pause in their career and think of the means by which debts are to be paid before they are contracted. If we would escape embarrassment, public and private, we must cease to run in debt except for objects of necessity or such as will yield a certain return. Let the faith of the States, corporations, and individuals already pledged be kept with the most punctilious regard. It is due to our national character as well as to justice that this should on the part of each be a fixed principle of conduct. But it behooves us all to be more chary in pledging it hereafter. By ceasing to run in debt and applying the surplus of our crops and incomes to the discharge of existing obligations, buying less and selling more, and managing all affairs, public and private, with strict economy and frugality, we shall see our country soon recover from a temporary depression, arising not from natural and permanent causes, but from those I have enumerated, and advance with renewed vigor in her career of prosperity. Fortunately for us at this moment, when the balance of trade is greatly against us and the difficulty of meeting it enhanced by the disturbed state of our money affairs, the bounties of Providence have come to relieve us from the consequences of past errors. A faithful application of the immense results of the labors of the last season will afford partial relief for the present, and perseverance in the same course will in due season accomplish the rest. We have had full experience in times past of the extraordinary results which can in this respect be brought about in a short period by the united and well-directed efforts of a community like ours. Our surplus profits, the energy and industry of our population, and the wonderful advantages which Providence has bestowed upon our country in its climate, its various productions, indispensable to other nations, will in due time afford abundant means to perfect the most useful of those objects for which the States have been plunging themselves of late in embarrassment and debt, without imposing on ourselves or our children such fearful burdens. But let it be indelibly engraved on our minds that relief is not to be found in expedients. Indebtedness can not be lessened by borrowing more money. or by changing the form of the debt. The balance of trade is not to be turned in our favor by creating new demands upon us abroad. Our currency can not be improved by the creation of new banks or more issues from those which now exist. Although these devices sometimes appear to give temporary relief, they almost invariably aggravate the evil in the end. It is only by retrenchment and reform--by curtailing public and private expenditures, by paying our debts, and by reforming our banking system--that we are to expect effectual relief, security for the future, and an enduring prosperity. In shaping the institutions and policy of the General Government so as to promote as far as it can with its limited powers these important ends, you may rely on my most cordial cooperation. That there should have been in the progress of recent events doubts in many quarters and in some a heated opposition to every change can not surprise us. Doubts are properly attendant on all reform, and it is peculiarly in the nature of such abuses as we are now encountering to seek to perpetuate their power by means of the influence they have been permitted to acquire. It is their result, if not their object, to gain for the few an ascendency over the many by securing to them a monopoly of the currency, the medium through which most of the wants of mankind are supplied; to produce throughout society a chain of dependence which leads all classes to look to privileged associations for the means of speculation and extravagance; to nourish, in preference to the manly virtues that give dignity to human nature, a craving desire for luxurious enjoyment and sudden wealth, which renders those who seek them dependent on those who supply them; to substitute for republican simplicity and economical habits a sickly appetite for effeminate indulgence and an imitation of that reckless extravagance which impoverished and enslaved the industrious people of foreign lands, and at last to fix upon us, instead of those equal political rights the acquisition of which was alike the object and supposed reward of our Revolutionary struggle, a system of exclusive privileges conferred by partial legislation. To remove the influences which had thus gradually grown up among us, to deprive them of their deceptive advantages, to test them by the light of wisdom and truth, to oppose the force which they concentrate in their sup-port--all this was necessarily the work of time, even among a people so enlightened and pure as that of the United States. In most other countries, perhaps, it could only be accomplished through that series of revolutionary movements which are too often found necessary to effect any great and radical reform; but it is the crowning merit of our institutions that they create and nourish in the vast majority of our people a disposition and a power peaceably to remedy abuses which have elsewhere caused the effusion of rivers of blood and the sacrifice of thousands of the human race. The result thus far is most honorable to the self-denial, the intelligence, and the patriotism of our citizens; it justifies the confident hope that they will carry through the reform which has been so well begun, and that they will go still further than they have yet gone in illustrating the important truth that a people as free and enlightened as ours will, whenever it becomes necessary, show themselves to be indeed capable of self-government by voluntarily adopting appropriate remedies for every abuse, and submitting to temporary sacrifices, however great, to insure their permanent welfare. My own exertions for the furtherance of these desirable objects have been bestowed throughout my official career with a zeal that is nourished by ardent wishes for the welfare of my country, and by an unlimited reliance on the wisdom that marks its ultimate decision on all great and controverted questions. Impressed with the solemn obligations imposed upon me by the Constitution, desirous also of laying before my fellow-citizens, with whose confidence and support I have been so highly honored, such measures as appear to me conducive to their prosperity, and anxious to submit to their fullest consideration the grounds upon which my opinions are formed, I have on this as on preceding occasions freely offered my views on those points of domestic policy that seem at the present time most prominently to require the action of the Government. I know that they will receive from Congress that full and able consideration which the importance of the subjects merits, and I can repeat the assurance heretofore made that I shall cheerfully and readily cooperate with you in every measure that will tend to promote the welfare of the Union.
I regret that I can not on this occasion congratulate you that the past year has been one of unalloyed prosperity. The ravages of fire and disease have painfully afflicted otherwise flourishing portions of our country, and serious embarrassments yet derange the trade of many of our cities. But notwithstanding these adverse circumstances, that general prosperity which has been heretofore so bountifully bestowed upon us by the Author of All Good still continues to call for our warmest gratitude. Especially have we reason to rejoice in the exuberant harvests which have lavishly recompensed well-directed industry and given to it that sure reward which is vainly sought in visionary speculations. I cannot, indeed, view without peculiar satisfaction the evidences afforded by the past season of the benefits that spring from the steady devotion of the husbandman to his honorable pursuit. No means of individual comfort is more certain and no source of national prosperity is so sure. Nothing can compensate a people for a dependence upon others for the bread they eat, and that cheerful abundance on which the happiness of everyone so much depends is to be looked for nowhere with such sure reliance as in the industry of the agriculturist and the bounties of the earth. With foreign countries our relations exhibit the same favorable aspect which was presented in my last annual message, and afford continued proof of the wisdom of the pacific, just, and forbearing policy adopted by the first Administration of the Federal Government and pursued by its successors. The extraordinary powers vested in me by an act of Congress for the defense of the country in an emergency, considered so far probable as to require that the Executive should possess ample means to meet it, have not been exerted. They have therefore been attended with no other result than to increase, by the confidence thus reposed in me, my obligations to maintain with religious exactness the cardinal principles that govern our intercourse with other nations. Happily, in our pending questions with Great Britain, out of which this unusual grant of authority arose, nothing has occurred to require its exertion, and as it is about to return to the Legislature I trust that no future necessity may call for its exercise by them or its delegation to another Department of the Government. For the settlement of our northeastern boundary the proposition promised by Great Britain for a commission of exploration and survey has been received, and a counter project, including also a provision for the certain and final adjustment of the limits in dispute, is now before the British Government for its consideration. A just regard to the delicate state of this question and a proper respect for the natural impatience of the State of Maine, not less than a conviction that the negotiation has been already protracted longer than is prudent on the part of either Government, have led me to believe that the present favorable moment should on no account be suffered to pass without putting the question forever at rest. I feel confident that the Government of Her Britannic Majesty will take the same view of this subject, as I am persuaded it is governed by desires equally strong and sincere for the amicable termination of the controversy. To the intrinsic difficulties of questions of boundary lines, especially those described in regions unoccupied and but partially known, is to be added in our country the embarrassment necessarily arising out of our Constitution by which the General Government is made the organ of negotiating and deciding upon the particular interests of the States on whose frontiers these lines are to be traced. To avoid another controversy in which a State government might rightfully claim to have her wishes consulted previously to the conclusion of conventional arrangements concerning her rights of jurisdiction or territory, I have thought it necessary to call the attention of the Government of Great Britain to another portion of our conterminous dominion of which the division still remains to be adjusted I refer to the line from the entrance of Lake Superior to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, stipulations for the settlement of which are to be found in the seventh article of the treaty of Ghent. The commissioners appointed under that article by the two Governments having differed in their opinions, made separate reports, according to its stipulations, upon the points of disagreement, and these differences are now to be submitted to the arbitration of some friendly sovereign or state. The disputed points should be settled and the line designated before the Territorial government of which it is one of the boundaries takes its place in the Union as a State, and I rely upon the cordial cooperation of the British Government to effect that object. There is every reason to believe that disturbances like those which lately agitated the neighboring British Provinces will not again prove the sources of border contentions or interpose obstacles to the continuance of that good understanding which it is the mutual interest of Great Britain and the United States to preserve and maintain. Within the Provinces themselves tranquillity is restored, and on our frontier that misguided sympathy in favor of what was presumed to be a general effort in behalf of popular rights, and which in some instances misled a few of our more inexperienced citizens, has subsided into a rational conviction strongly opposed to all intermeddling with the internal affairs of our neighbors. The people of the United States feel, as it is hoped they always will, a warm solicitude for the success of all who are sincerely endeavoring to improve the political condition of mankind. This generous feeling they cherish toward the most distant nations, and it was natural, therefore, that it should be awakened with more than common warmth in behalf of their immediate neighbors; but it does not belong to their character as a community to seek the gratification of those feelings in acts which violate their duty as citizens, endanger the peace of their country, and tend to bring upon it the stain of a violated faith toward foreign nations. If, zealous to confer benefits on others, they appear for a moment to lose sight of the permanent obligations imposed upon them as citizens, they are seldom long misled. From all the information I receive, confirmed to some extent by personal observation, I am satisfied that no one can now hope to engage in such enterprises without encountering public indignation, in addition to the severest penalties of the law. Recent information also leads me to hope that the emigrants from Her Majesty's Provinces who have sought refuge within our boundaries are disposed to become peaceable residents and to abstain from all attempts to endanger the peace of that country which has afforded them an asylum. On a review of the occurrences on both sides of the line it is satisfactory to reflect that in almost every complaint against our country the offense may be traced to emigrants from the Provinces who have sought refuge here. In the few instances in which they were aided by citizens of the United States the acts of these misguided men were not only in direct contravention of the laws and well-known wishes of their own Government, but met with the decided disapprobation of the people of the United States. I regret to state the appearance of a different spirit among Her Majesty's subjects in the Canadas. The sentiments of hostility to our people and institutions which have been so frequently expressed there, and the disregard of our rights which has been manifested on some occasions, have, I am sorry to say, been applauded and encouraged by the people, and even by some of the subordinate local authorities, of the Provinces. The chief officers in Canada, fortunately, have not entertained the same feeling, and have probably prevented excesses that must have been fatal to the peace of the two countries. I look forward anxiously to a period when all the transactions which have grown out of this condition of our affairs, and which have been made the subjects of complaint and remonstrance by the two Governments, respectively, shall be fully examined, and the proper satisfaction given where it is due from either side. Nothing has occurred to disturb the harmony of our intercourse with Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Naples, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, or Sweden. The internal state of Spain has sensibly improved, and a well-grounded hope exists that the return of peace will restore to the people of that country their former prosperity and enable the Government to fulfill all its obligations at home and abroad. The Government of Portugal, I have the satisfaction to state, has paid in full the eleventh and last installment due to our citizens for the claims embraced in the settlement made with it on the 3d of March, 1837. I lay before you treaties of commerce negotiated with the Kings of Sardinia and of the Netherlands, the ratifications of which have been exchanged since the adjournment of Congress. The liberal principles of these treaties will recommend them to your approbation. That with Sardinia is the first treaty of commerce formed by that Kingdom, and it will, I trust, answer the expectations of the present Sovereign by aiding the development of the resources of his country and stimulating the enterprise of his people. That with the Netherlands happily terminates a long-existing subject of dispute and removes from our future commercial intercourse all apprehension of embarrassment. The King of the Netherlands has also, in further illustration of his character for justice and of his desire to remove every because of dissatisfaction, made compensation for an American vessel captured in 1800 by a French privateer, and carried into Curacoa, where the proceeds were appropriated to the use of the colony, then, and for a short time after, under the dominion of Holland. The death of the late Sultan has produced no alteration in our relations with Turkey. Our newly appointed minister resident has reached Constantinople, and I have received assurances from the present ruler that the obligations of our treaty and those of friendship will be fulfilled by himself in the same spirit that actuated his illustrious father. I regret to be obliged to inform you that no convention for the settlement of the claims of our citizens upon Mexico has yet been ratified by the Government of that country. The first convention formed for that purpose was not presented by the President of Mexico for the approbation of its Congress, from a belief that the King of Prussia, the arbitrator in case of disagreement in the joint commission to be appointed by the United States and Mexico, would not consent to take upon himself that friendly office. Although not entirely satisfied with the course pursued by Mexico, I felt no hesitation in receiving in the most conciliatory spirit the explanation offered, and also cheerfully consented to a new convention, in order to arrange the payments proposed to be made to our citizens in a manner which, while equally just to them, was deemed less onerous and inconvenient to the Mexican Government. Relying confidently upon the intentions of that Government, Mr. Ellis was directed to repair to Mexico, and diplomatic intercourse has been resumed between the two countries. The new convention has, he informs us, been recently submitted by the President of that Republic to its Congress under circumstances which promise a speedy ratification, a result which I can not allow myself to doubt. Instructions have been given to the commissioner of the United States under our convention with Texas for the demarcation of the line which separates us from that Republic. The commissioners of both Governments met in New Orleans in August last. The joint commission was organized, and adjourned to convene at the same place on the 12th of October. It is presumed to be now in the performance of its duties. The new Government of Texas has shown its desire to cultivate friendly relations with us by a prompt reparation for injuries complained of in the cases of two vessels of the United States. With Central America a convention has been concluded for the renewal of its former treaty with the United States. This was not ratified before the departure of our late charge d'affaires from that country, and the copy of it brought by him was not received before the adjournment of the Senate at the last session. In the meanwhile, the period limited for the exchange of ratifications having expired, I deemed it expedient, in consequence of the death of the charge d'affaires, to send a special agent to Central America to close the affairs of our mission there and to arrange with the Government an extension of the time for the exchange of ratifications. The commission created by the States which formerly composed the Republic of Colombia for adjusting the claims against that Government has by a very unexpected construction of the treaty under which it acts decided that no provision was made for those claims of citizens of the United States which arose from captures by Colombian privateers and were adjudged against the claimants in the judicial tribunals. This decision will compel the United States to apply to the several Governments formerly united for redress. With all these--New Granada, Venezuela, and Ecuador--a perfectly good understanding exists. Our treaty with Venezuela is faithfully carried into execution, and that country, in the enjoyment of tranquillity, is gradually advancing in prosperity under the guidance of its present distinguished President, General Paez. With Ecuador a liberal commercial convention has lately been concluded, which will be transmitted to the Senate at an early day. With the great American Empire of Brazil our relations continue unchanged, as does our friendly intercourse with the other Governments of South America--the Argentine Republic and the Republics of Uruguay, Chili, Peru, and Bolivia. The dissolution of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation may occasion some temporary inconvenience to our citizens in that quarter, but the obligations on the new Governments which have arisen out of that Confederation to observe its treaty stipulations will no doubt be soon understood, and it is presumed that no indisposition will exist to fulfill those which it contracted with the United States. The financial operations of the Government during the present year have, I am happy to say, been very successful. The difficulties under which the Treasury Department has labored, from known defects in the existing laws relative to the safe-keeping of the public moneys, aggravated by the suspension of specie payments by several of the banks holding public deposits or indebted to public officers for notes received in payment of public dues, have been surmounted to a very gratifying extent. The large current expenditures have been punctually met, and the faith of the Government in all its pecuniary concerns has been scrupulously maintained. The nineteen millions of Treasury notes authorized by the act of Congress of 1837, and the modifications thereof with a view to the indulgence of merchants on their duty bonds and of the deposit banks in the payment of public moneys held by them, have been so punctually redeemed as to leave less than the original ten millions outstanding at any one time, and the whole amount unredeemed now falls short of three millions. Of these the chief portion is not due till next year, and the whole would have been already extinguished could the Treasury have realized the payments due to it from the banks. If those due from them during the next year shall be punctually made, and if Congress shall keep the appropriations within the estimates, there is every reason to believe that all the outstanding Treasury notes can be redeemed and the ordinary expenses defrayed without imposing on the people any additional burden, either of loans or increased taxes. To avoid this and to keep the expenditures within reasonable bounds is a duty second only in importance to the preservation of our national character and the protection of our citizens in their civil and political rights. The creation in time of peace of a debt likely to become permanent is an evil for which there is no equivalent. The rapidity with which many of the States are apparently approaching to this condition admonishes us of our own duties in a manner too impressive to be disregarded. One, not the least important, is to keep the Federal Government always in a condition to discharge with ease and vigor its highest functions should their exercise be required by any sudden conjuncture of public affairs--a condition to which we are always exposed and which may occur when it is least expected. To this end it is indispensable that its finances should be untrammeled and its resources as far as practicable unencumbered. No circumstance could present greater obstacles to the accomplishment of these vitally important objects than the creation of an onerous national debt. Our own experience and also that of other nations have demonstrated the unavoidable and fearful rapidity with which a public debt is increased when the Government has once surrendered itself to the ruinous practice of supplying its supposed necessities by new loans. The struggle, therefore, on our part to be successful must be made at the threshold. To make our efforts effective, severe economy is necessary. This is the surest provision for the national welfare, and it is at the same time the best preservative of the principles on which our institutions rest. Simplicity and economy in the affairs of state have never failed to chasten and invigorate republican principles, while these have been as surely subverted by national prodigality, under whatever specious pretexts it may have been introduced or fostered. These considerations can not be lost upon a people who have never been inattentive to the effect of their policy upon the institutions they have created for themselves, but at the present moment their force is augmented by the necessity which a decreasing revenue must impose. The check lately given to importations of articles subject to duties, the derangements in the operations of internal trade, and especially the reduction gradually taking place in our tariff of duties, all tend materially to lessen our receipts; indeed, it is probable that the diminution resulting from the last because alone will not fall short of $5,000,000 in the year 1842, as the final reduction of all duties to 20 per cent then takes effect. The whole revenue then accruing from the customs and from the sales of public lands, if not more, will undoubtedly be wanted to defray the necessary expenses of the Government under the most prudent administration of its affairs. These are circumstances that impose the necessity of rigid economy and require its prompt and constant exercise. With the Legislature rest the power and duty of so adjusting the public expenditure as to promote this end. By the provisions of the Constitution it is only in consequence of appropriations made by law that money can be drawn from the Treasury. No instance has occurred since the establishment of the Government in which the Executive, though a component part of the legislative power, has interposed an objection to an appropriation bill on the sole ground of its extravagance. His duty in this respect has been considered fulfilled by requesting such appropriations only as the public service may be reasonably expected to require. In the present earnest direction of the public mind toward this subject both the Executive and the Legislature have evidence of the strict responsibility to which they will be held; and while I am conscious of my own anxious efforts to perform with fidelity this portion of my public functions, it is a satisfaction to me to be able to count on a cordial cooperation from you. At the time I entered upon my present duties our ordinary disbursements, without including those on account of the public debt, the Post-Office, and the trust funds in charge of the Government, had been largely increased by appropriations for the removal of the Indians, for repelling Indian hostilities, and for other less urgent expenses which grew out of an overflowing Treasury. Independent of the redemption of the public debt and trusts, the gross expenditures of seventeen and eighteen millions in 1834 and 1835 had by these causes swelled to twenty-nine millions in 1836, and the appropriations for 1837, made previously to the 4th of March, caused the expenditure to rise to the very large amount of thirty-three millions. We were enabled during the year 1838, notwithstanding the continuance of our Indian embarrassments, somewhat to reduce this amount, and that for the present year (1839) will not in all probability exceed twenty-six millions, or six millions less than it was last year. With a determination, so far as depends on me, to continue this reduction, I have directed the estimates for 1840 to be subjected to the severest scrutiny and to be limited to the absolute requirements of the public service. They will be found less than the expenditures of 1839 by over $5,000,000. The precautionary measures which will be recommended by the Secretary of the Treasury to protect faithfully the public credit under the fluctuations and contingencies to which our receipts and expenditures are exposed, and especially in a commercial crisis like the present, are commended to your early attention. On a former occasion your attention was invited to various considerations in support of a preemption law in behalf of the settlers on the public lands, and also of a law graduating the prices for such lands as had long been in the market unsold in consequence of their inferior quality. The execution of the act which was passed on the first subject has been attended with the happiest consequences in quieting titles and securing improvements to the industrious, and it has also to a very gratifying extent been exempt from the frauds which were practiced under previous preemption laws. It has at the same time, as was anticipated, contributed liberally during the present year to the receipts of the Treasury. The passage of a graduation law, with the guards before recommended, would also, I am persuaded, add considerably to the revenue for several years, and prove in other respects just and beneficial. Your early consideration of the subject is therefore once more earnestly requested. The present condition of the defenses of our principal seaports and navy-yards, as represented by the accompanying report of the Secretary of War, calls for the early and serious attention of Congress; and, as connecting itself intimately with this subject, I can not recommend too strongly to your consideration the plan submitted by that officer for the organization of the militia of the United States. In conformity with the expressed wishes of Congress, an attempt was made in the spring to terminate the Florida war by negotiation. It is to be regretted that these humane intentions should have been frustrated and that the effort to bring these unhappy difficulties to a satisfactory conclusion should have failed; but after entering into solemn engagements with the commanding general, the Indians, without any provocation, recommenced their acts of treachery and murder. The renewal of hostilities in that Territory renders it necessary that I should recommend to your favorable consideration the plan which will be submitted to you by the Secretary of War, in order to enable that Department to conduct them to a successful issue. Having had an opportunity of personally inspecting a portion of the troops during the last summer, it gives me pleasure to bear testimony to the success of the effort to improve their discipline by keeping them together in as large bodies as the nature of our service will permit. I recommend, therefore, that commodious and permanent barracks be constructed at the several posts designated by the Secretary of War. Notwithstanding the high state of their discipline and excellent police, the evils resulting to the service from the deficiency of company officers were very apparent, and I recommend that the staff officers be permanently separated from the line. The Navy has been usefully and honorably employed in protecting the rights and property of our citizens wherever the condition of affairs seemed to require its presence. With the exception of one instance, where an outrage, accompanied by murder, was committed on a vessel of the United States while engaged in a lawful commerce, nothing is known to have occurred to impede or molest the enterprise of our citizens on that element, where it is so signally displayed. On learning this daring act of piracy, Commodore Reed proceeded immediately to the spot, and receiving no satisfaction, either in the surrender of the murderers or the restoration of the plundered property, inflicted severe and merited chastisement on the barbarians. It will be seen by the report of the Secretary of the Navy respecting the disposition of our ships of war that it has been deemed necessary to station a competent force on the coast of Africa to prevent a fraudulent use of our flag by foreigners. Recent experience has shown that the provisions in our existing laws which relate to the sale and transfer of American vessels while abroad are extremely defective. Advantage has been taken of these defects to give to vessels wholly belonging to foreigners and navigating the ocean an apparent American ownership. This character has been so well simulated as to afford them comparative security in prosecuting the slave trade--a traffic emphatically denounced in our statutes, regarded with abhorrence by our citizens, and of which the effectual suppression is nowhere more sincerely desired than in the United States. These circumstances make it proper to recommend to your early attention a careful revision of these laws, so that without impeding the freedom and facilities of our navigation or impairing an important branch of our industry connected with it the integrity and honor of our flag may be carefully preserved. Information derived from our consul at Havana showing the necessity of this was communicated to a committee of the Senate near the close of the last session, but too late, as it appeared, to be acted upon. It will be brought to your notice by the proper Department, with additional communications from other sources. The latest accounts from the exploring expedition represent it as proceeding successfully in its objects and promising results no less useful to trade and navigation than to science. The extent of post-roads covered by mail service on the 1st of July last was about 133,999 miles and the rate of annual transportation upon them 34,496,878 miles. The number of post-offices on that day was 12,780 and on the 30th ultimo 13,028. The revenue of the Post-Office Department for the year ending with the 30th of June last was $4,476,638, exhibiting an increase over the preceding year of $241,560. The engagements and liabilities of the Department for the same period are $4,624,117. The excess of liabilities over the revenue for the last two years has been met out of the surplus which had previously accumulated. The cash on hand on the 30th ultimo was about $206,701.95 and the current income of the Department varies very little from the rate of current expenditures. Most of the service suspended last year has been restored, and most of the new routes established by the act of 7th July, 1838, have been set in operation, at an annual cost of $136,963. Notwithstanding the pecuniary difficulties of the country, the revenue of the Department appears to be increasing, and unless it shall be seriously checked by the recent suspension of payment by so many of the banks it will be able not only to maintain the present mail service, but in a short time to extend it. It is gratifying to witness the promptitude and fidelity with which the agents of this Department in general perform their public duties. Some difficulties have arisen in relation to contracts for the transportation of the mails by railroad and steamboat companies. It appears that the maximum of compensation provided by Congress for the transportation of the mails upon railroads is not sufficient to induce some of the companies to convey them at such hours as are required for the accommodation of the public. It is one of the most important duties of the General Government to provide and maintain for the use of the people of the States the best practicable mail establishment. To arrive at that end it is indispensable that the Post-Office Department shall be enabled to control the hours at which the mails shall be carried over railroads, as it now does over all other roads. Should serious inconveniences arise from the inadequacy of the compensation now provided by law, or from unreasonable demands by any of the railroad companies, the subject is of such general importance as to require the prompt attention of Congress. In relation to steamboat lines, the most efficient remedy is obvious and has been suggested by the Postmaster-General. The War and Navy Departments already employ steamboats in their service; and although it is by no means desirable that the Government should undertake the transportation of passengers or freight as a business, there can be no reasonable objection to running boats, temporarily, whenever it may be necessary to put down attempts at extortion, to be discontinued as soon as reasonable contracts can be obtained. The suggestions of the Postmaster-General relative to the inadequacy of the legal allowance to witnesses in cases of prosecutions for mail depredations merit your serious consideration. The safety of the mails requires that such prosecutions shall be efficient, and justice to the citizen whose time is required to be given to the public demands not only that his expenses shall be paid, but that he shall receive a reasonable compensation. The reports from the War, Navy, and Post-Office Departments will accompany this communication, and one from the Treasury Department will be presented to Congress in a few days. For various details in respect to the matters in charge of these Departments I would refer you to those important documents, satisfied that you will find in them many valuable suggestions which will be found well deserving the attention of the Legislature. From a report made in December of last year by the Secretary of State to the Senate, showing the trial docket of each of the circuit courts and the number of miles each judge has to travel in the performance of his duties, a great inequality appears in the amount of labor assigned to each judge. The number of terms to be held in each of the courts composing the ninth circuit, the distances between the places at which they sit and from thence to the seat of Government, are represented to be such as to render it impossible for the judge of that circuit to perform in a manner corresponding with the public exigencies his term and circuit duties. A revision, therefore, of the present arrangement of the circuit seems to be called for and is recommended to your notice. I think it proper to call your attention to the power assumed by Territorial legislatures to authorize the issue of bonds by corporate companies on the guaranty of the Territory. Congress passed a law in 1836 providing that no act of a Territorial legislature incorporating banks should have the force of law until approved by Congress, but acts of a very exceptionable character previously passed by the legislature of Florida were suffered to remain in force, by virtue of which bonds may be issued to a very large amount by those institutions upon the faith of the Territory. A resolution, intending to be a joint one, passed the Senate at the same session, expressing the sense of Congress that the laws in question ought not to be permitted to remain in force unless amended in many material respects; but it failed in the House of Representatives for want of time, and the desired amendments have not been made. The interests involved are of great importance, and the subject deserves your early and careful attention. The continued agitation of the question relative to the best mode of keeping and disbursing the public money still injuriously affects the business of the country. The suspension of specie payments in 1837 rendered the use of deposit banks as prescribed by the act of 1836 a source rather of embarrassment than aid, and of necessity placed the custody of most of the public money afterwards collected in charge of the public officers. The new securities for its safety which this required were a principal because of my convening an extra session of Congress, but in consequence of a disagreement between the two Houses neither then nor at any subsequent period has there been any legislation on the subject. The effort made at the last session to obtain the authority of Congress to punish the use of public money for private purposes as a crime a measure attended under other governments with signal advantage--was also unsuccessful, from diversities of opinion in that body, notwithstanding the anxiety doubtless felt by it to afford every practicable security. The result of this is still to leave the custody of the public money without those safeguards which have been for several years earnestly desired by the Executive, and as the remedy is only to be found in the action of the Legislature it imposes on me the duty of again submitting to you the propriety of passing a law providing for the safe-keeping of the public moneys, and especially to ask that its use for private purposes by any officers intrusted with it may be declared to be a felony, punishable with penalties proportioned to the magnitude of the offense. These circumstances, added to known defects in the existing laws and unusual derangement in the general operations of trade, have during the last three years much increased the difficulties attendant on the collection, keeping, and disbursement of the revenue, and called forth corresponding exertions from those having them in charge. Happily these have been successful beyond expectation. Vast sums have been collected and disbursed by the several Departments with unexpected cheapness and ease, transfers have been readily made to every part of the Union, however distant, and defalcations have been far less than might have been anticipated from the absence of adequate legal restraints. Since the officers of the Treasury and Post-Office Departments were charged with the custody of most of the public moneys received by them there have been collected $66,000,000, and, excluding the case of the late collector at New York, the aggregate amount of losses sustained in the collection can not, it is believed, exceed $60,000. The defalcation of the late collector at that city, of the extent and circumstances of which Congress have been fully informed, ran through all the modes of keeping the public money that have been hitherto in use, and was distinguished by an aggravated disregard of duty that broke through the restraints of every system, and can not, therefore, be usefully referred to as a test of the comparative safety of either. Additional information will also be furnished by the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, in reply to a call made upon that officer by the House of Representatives at the last session requiring detailed information on the subject of defaults by public officers or agents under each Administration from 1789 to 1837. This document will be submitted to you in a few days. The general results (independent of the Post-Office, which is kept separately and will be stated by itself), so far as they bear upon this subject, are that the losses which have been and are likely to be sustained by any class of agents have been the greatest by banks, including, as required in the resolution, their depreciated paper received for public dues; that the next largest have been by disbursing officers, and the least by collectors and receivers. If the losses on duty bonds are included, they alone will be threefold those by both collectors and receivers. Our whole experience, therefore, furnishes the strongest evidence that the desired legislation of Congress is alone wanting to insure in those operations the highest degree of security and facility. Such also appears to have been the experience of other nations. From the results of inquiries made by the Secretary of the Treasury in regard to the practice among them I am enabled to state that in twenty-two out of twenty-seven foreign governments from which undoubted information has been obtained the public moneys are kept in charge of public officers. This concurrence of opinion in favor of that system is perhaps as great as exists on any question of internal administration. In the modes of business and official restraints on disbursing officers no legal change was produced by the suspension of specie payments. The report last referred to will be found to contain also much useful information in relation to this subject. I have heretofore assigned to Congress my reasons for believing that the establishment of an independent National Treasury, as contemplated by the Constitution, is necessary to the safe action of the Federal Government. The suspension of specie payments in 1837 by the banks having the custody of the public money showed in so alarming a degree our dependence on those institutions for the performance of duties required by law that I then recommended the entire dissolution of that connection. This recommendation has been subjected, as I desired it should be, to severe scrutiny and animated discussion, and I allow myself to believe that notwithstanding the natural diversities of opinion which may be anticipated on all subjects involving such important considerations, it has secured in its favor as general a concurrence of public sentiment as could be expected on one of such magnitude. Recent events have also continued to develop new objections to such a connection. Seldom is any bank, under the existing system and practice, able to meet on demand all its liabilities for deposits and notes in circulation. It maintains specie payments and transacts a profitable business only by the confidence of the public in its solvency, and whenever this is destroyed the demands of its depositors and note holders, pressed more rapidly than it can make collections from its debtors, force it to stop payment. This loss of confidence, with its consequences, occurred in 1837, and afforded the apology of the banks for their suspension. The public then acquiesced in the validity of the excuse, and while the State legislatures did not exact from them their forfeited charters, Congress, in accordance with the recommendation of the Executive, allowed them time to pay over the public money they held, although compelled to issue Treasury notes to supply the deficiency thus created. It now appears that there are other motives than a want of public confidence under which the banks seek to justify themselves in a refusal to meet their obligations. Scarcely were the country and Government relieved in a degree from the difficulties occasioned by the general suspension of 1837 when a partial one, occurring within thirty months of the former, produced new and serious embarrassments, though it had no palliation in such circumstances as were alleged in justification of that which had previously taken place. There was nothing in the condition of the country to endanger a well-managed banking institution; commerce was deranged by no foreign war; every branch of manufacturing industry was crowned with rich rewards, and the more than usual abundance of our harvests, after supplying our domestic wants, had left our granaries and storehouses filled with a surplus for exportation. It is in the midst of this that an irredeemable and depreciated paper currency is entailed upon the people by a large portion of the banks. They are not driven to it by the exhibition of a loss of public confidence or of a sudden pressure from their depositors or note holders, but they excuse themselves by alleging that the current of business and exchange with foreign countries, which draws the precious metals from their vaults, would require in order to meet it a larger curtailment of their loans to a comparatively small portion of the community than it will be convenient for them to bear or perhaps safe for the banks to exact. The plea has ceased to be one of necessity. Convenience and policy are now deemed sufficient to warrant these institutions in disregarding their solemn obligations. Such conduct is not merely an injury to individual creditors, but it is a wrong to the whole community, from whose liberality they hold most valuable privileges, whose rights they violate, whose business they derange, and the value of whose property they render unstable and insecure. It must be evident that this new ground for bank suspensions, in reference to which their action is not only disconnected with, but wholly independent of, that of the public, gives a character to their suspensions more alarming than any which they exhibited before, and greatly increases the impropriety of relying on the banks in the transactions of the Government. A large and highly respectable portion of our banking institutions are, it affords me unfeigned pleasure to state, exempted from all blame on account of this second delinquency. They have, to their great credit, not only continued to meet their engagements, but have even repudiated the grounds of suspension now resorted to. It is only by such a course that the confidence and good will of the community can be preserved, and in the sequel the best interests of the institutions themselves promoted New dangers to the banks are also daily disclosed from the extension of that system of extravagant credit of which they are the pillars. Formerly our foreign commerce was principally rounded on an exchange of commodities, including the precious metals, and leaving in its transactions but little foreign debt. Such is not now the case. Aided by the facilities afforded by the banks, mere credit has become too commonly the basis of trade. Many of the banks themselves, not content with largely stimulating this system among others, have usurped the business, while they impair the stability, of the mercantile community; they have become borrowers instead of lenders; they establish their agencies abroad; they deal largely in stocks and merchandise; they encourage the issue of State securities until the foreign market is glutted with them; and, unsatisfied with the legitimate use of their own capital and the exercise of their lawful privileges, they raise by large loans additional means for every variety of speculation. The disasters attendant on this deviation from the former course of business in this country are now shared alike by banks and individuals to an extent of which there is perhaps no previous example in the annals of our country. So long as a willingness of the foreign lender and a sufficient export of our productions to meet any necessary partial payments leave the flow of credit undisturbed all appears to be prosperous, but as soon as it is checked by any hesitation abroad or by an inability to make payment there in our productions the evils of the system are disclosed. The paper currency, which might serve for domestic purposes, is useless to pay the debt due in Europe. Gold and silver are therefore drawn in exchange for their notes from the banks. To keep up their supply of coin these institutions are obliged to call upon their own debtors, who pay them principally in their own notes, which are as unavailable to them as they are to the merchants to meet the foreign demand. The calls of the banks, therefore, in such emergencies of necessity exceed that demand, and produce a corresponding curtailment of their accommodations and of the currency at the very moment when the state of trade renders it most inconvenient to be borne. The intensity of this pressure on the community is in proportion to the previous liberality of credit and consequent expansion of the currency. Forced sales of property are made at the time when the means of purchasing are most reduced, and the worst calamities to individuals are only at last arrested by an open violation of their obligations by the banks--a refusal to pay specie for their notes and an imposition upon the community of a fluctuating and depreciated currency. These consequences are inherent in the present system. They are not influenced by the banks being large or small, created by National or State Governments. They are the results of the irresistible laws of trade or credit. In the recent events, which have so strikingly illustrated the certain effects of these laws, we have seen the bank of the largest capital in the Union, established under a national charter, and lately strengthened, as we were authoritatively informed, by exchanging that for a State charter with new and unusual privileges--in a condition, too, as it was said, of entire soundness and great prosperity--not merely unable to resist these effects, but the first to yield to them. Nor is it to be overlooked that there exists a chain of necessary dependence among these institutions which obliges them to a great extent to follow the course of others, notwithstanding its injustice to their own immediate creditors or injury to the particular community in which they are placed. This dependence of a bank, which is in proportion to the extent of its debts for circulation and deposits, is not merely on others in its own vicinity, but on all those which connect it with the center of trade. Distant banks may fail without seriously affecting those in our principal commercial cities, but the failure of the latter is felt at the extremities of the Union. The suspension at New York in 1837 was everywhere, with very few exceptions, followed as soon as it was known. That recently at Philadelphia immediately affected the banks of the South and West in a similar manner. This dependence of our whole banking system on the institutions in a few large cities is not found in the laws of their organization, but in those of trade and exchange. The banks at that center, to which currency flows and where it is required in payments for merchandise, hold the power of controlling those in regions whence it comes, while the latter possess no means of restraining them; so that the value of individual property and the prosperity of trade through the whole interior of the country are made to depend on the good or bad management of the banking institutions in the great seats of trade on the seaboard. But this chain of dependence does not stop here. It does not terminate at Philadelphia or New York. It reaches across the ocean and ends in London, the center of the credit system. The same laws of trade which give to the banks in our principal cities power over the whole banking system of the United States subject the former, in their turn, to the money power in Great Britain. It is not denied that the suspension of the New York banks in 1837, which was followed in quick succession throughout the Union, was produced by an application of that power, and it is now alleged, in extenuation of the present condition of so large a portion of our banks, that their embarrassments have arisen from the same because. From this influence they can not now entirely escape, for it has its origin in the credit currencies of the two countries; it is strengthened by the current of trade and exchange which centers in London, and is rendered almost irresistible by the large debts contracted there by our merchants, our banks, and our States. It is thus that an introduction of a new bank into the most distant of our villages places the business of that village within the influence of the money power in England; it is thus that every new debt which we contract in that country seriously affects our own currency and extends over the pursuits of our citizens its powerful influence. We can not escape from this by making new banks, great or small, State or national. The same chains which bind those now existing to the center of this system of paper credit must equally fetter every similar institution we create. It is only by the extent to which this system has been pushed of late that we have been made fully aware of its irresistible tendency to subject our own banks and currency to a vast controlling power in a foreign lad, and it adds a new argument to those which illustrate their precarious situation.. Endangered in the first place by their own mismanagement and again by the conduct of every institution which connects them with the center of trade in our own country, they are yet subjected beyond all this to the effect of whatever measures policy, necessity, or caprice may induce those who control the credits of England to resort to. I mean not to comment upon these measures, present or past, and much less to discourage the prosecution of fair commercial dealing between the two countries, based on reciprocal benefits; but it having now been made manifest that the power of inflicting these and similar injuries is by the resistless law of a credit currency and credit trade equally capable of extending their consequences through all the ramifications of our banking system, and by that means indirectly obtaining, particularly when our banks are used as depositories of the public moneys, a dangerous political influence in the United States, I have deemed it my duty to bring the subject to your notice and ask for it your serious consideration. Is an argument required beyond the exposition of these facts to show the impropriety of using our banking institutions as depositories of the public money? Can we venture not only to encounter the risk of their individual and mutual mismanagement, but at the same time to place our foreign and domestic policy entirely under the control of a foreign moneyed interest? To do so is to impair the independence of our Government, as the present credit system has already impaired the independence of our banks; it is to submit all its important operations, whether of peace or war, to be controlled or thwarted, at first by our own banks and then by a power abroad greater than themselves. I can not bring myself to depict the humiliation to which this Government and people might be sooner or later reduced if the means for defending their rights are to be made dependent upon those who may have the most powerful of motives to impair them. Nor is it only in reference to the effect of this state of things on the independence of our Government or of our banks that the subject presents itself for consideration; it is to be viewed also in its relations to the general trade of our country. The time is not long passed when a deficiency of foreign crops was thought to afford a profitable market for the surplus of our industry, but now we await with feverish anxiety the news of the English harvest, not so much from motives of commendable sympathy, but fearful lest its anticipated failure should narrow the field of credit there. Does not this speak volumes to the patriot? Can a system be beneficent, wise, or just which creates greater anxiety for interests dependent on foreign credit than for the general prosperity of our own country and the profitable exportation of the surplus produce of our labor? The circumstances to which I have thus adverted appear to me to afford weighty reasons, developed by late events, to be added to those which I have on former occasions offered when submitting to your better knowledge and discernment the propriety of separating the custody of the public money from banking institutions. Nor has anything occurred to lessen, in my opinion, the force of what has been heretofore urged. The only ground on which that custody can be desired by the banks is the profitable use which they may make of the money. Such use would be regarded in individuals as a breach of trust or a crime of great magnitude, and yet it may be reasonably doubted whether, first and last, it is not attended with more mischievous consequences when permitted to the former than to the latter. The practice of permitting the public money to be used by its keepers, as here, is believed to be peculiar to this country and to exist scarcely anywhere else. To procure it here improper influences are appealed to, unwise connections are established between the Government and vast numbers of powerful State institutions, other motives than the public good are brought to bear both on the executive and legislative departments, and selfish combinations leading to special legislation are formed. It is made the interest of banking institutions and their stockholders throughout the Union to use their exertions for the increase of taxation and the accumulation of a surplus revenue, and while an excuse is afforded the means are furnished for those excessive issues which lead to extravagant trading and speculation and are the forerunners of a vast debt abroad and a suspension of the banks at home. Impressed, therefore, as I am with the propriety of the funds of the Government being withdrawn from the private use of either banks or individuals, and the public money kept by duly appointed public agents, and believing as I do that such also is the judgment which discussion, reflection, and experience have produced on the public mind, I leave the subject with you. It is, at all events, essential to the interests of the community and the business of the Government that a decision should be made. Most of the arguments that dissuade us from employing banks in the custody and disbursement of the public money apply with equal force to the receipt of their notes for public dues. The difference is only in form. In one instance the Government is a creditor for its deposits, and in the other for the notes it holds. They afford the same opportunity for using the public moneys, and equally lead to all the evils attendant upon it, since a bank can as safely extend its discounts on a deposit of its notes in the hands of a public officer as on one made in its own vaults. On the other hand, it would give to the Government no greater security, for in case of failure the claim of the note holder would be no better than that of a depositor. I am aware that the danger of inconvenience to the public and unreasonable pressure upon sound banks have been urged as objections to requiring the payment of the revenue in gold and silver. These objections have been greatly exaggerated. From the best estimates we may safely fix the amount of specie in the country at $85,000,000, and the portion of that which would be employed at any one time in the receipts and disbursements of the Government, even if the proposed change were made at once, would not, it is now, after fuller investigation, believed exceed four or five millions. If the change were gradual, several years would elapse before that sum would be required, with annual opportunities in the meantime to alter the law should experience prove it to be oppressive or inconvenient. The portions of the community on whose business the change would immediately operate are comparatively small, nor is it believed that its effect would be in the least unjust or injurious to them. In the payment of duties, which constitute by far the greater portion of the revenue, a very large proportion is derived from foreign commission houses and agents of foreign manufacturers, who sell the goods consigned to them generally at auction, and after paying the duties out of the avails remit the rest abroad in specie or its equivalent. That the amount of duties should in such cases be also retained in specie can hardly be made a matter of complaint. Our own importing merchants, by whom the residue of the duties is paid, are not only peculiarly interested in maintaining a sound currency, which the measure in question will especially promote, but are from the nature of their dealings best able to know when specie will be needed and to procure it with the least difficulty or sacrifice. Residing, too, almost universally in places where the revenue is received and where the drafts used by the Government for its disbursements must concentrate, they have every opportunity to obtain and use them in place of specie should it be for their interest or convenience. Of the number of these drafts and the facilities they may afford, as well as of the rapidity with which the public funds are drawn and disbursed, an idea may be formed from the fact that of nearly $20,000,000 paid to collectors and receivers during the present year the average amount in their hands at any one time has not exceeded a million and a half, and of the fifteen millions received by the collector of New York alone during the present year the average amount held by him subject to draft during each week has been less than half a million. The ease and safety of the operations of the Treasury in keeping the public money are promoted by the application of its own drafts to the public dues. The objection arising from having them too long outstanding might be obviated and they yet made to afford to merchants and banks holding them an equivalent for specie, and in that way greatly lessen the amount actually required. Still less inconvenience will attend the requirement of specie in purchases of public lands. Such purchases, except when made on speculation, are in general but single transactions, rarely repeated by the same person; and it is a fact that for the last year and a half, during which the notes of sound banks have been received, more than a moiety of these payments has been voluntarily made in specie, being a larger proportion than would have been required in three years under the graduation proposed. It is, moreover, a principle than which none is better settled by experience that the supply of the precious metals will always be found adequate to the uses for which they are required. They abound in countries where no other currency is allowed. In our own States, where small notes are excluded, gold and silver supply their place. When driven to their hiding places by bank suspensions, a little firmness in the community soon restores them in a sufficient quantity for ordinary purposes. Postage and other public dues have been collected in coin without serious inconvenience even in States where a depreciated paper currency has existed for years, and this, with the aid of Treasury notes for a part of the time, was done without interruption during the suspension of 1837. At the present moment the receipts and disbursements of the Government are made in legal currency in the largest portion of the Union. No one suggests a departure from this rule, and if it can now be successfully carried out it will be surely attended with even less difficulty when bank notes are again redeemed in specie. Indeed, I can not think that a serious objection would anywhere be raised to the receipt and payment of gold and silver in all public transactions were it not from an apprehension that a surplus in the Treasury might withdraw a large portion of it from circulation and lock it up unprofitably in the public vaults. It would not, in my opinion, be difficult to prevent such an inconvenience from occurring; but the authentic statements which I have already submitted to you in regard to the actual amount in the public Treasury at any one time during the period embraced in them and the little probability of a different state of the Treasury for at least some years to come seem to render it unnecessary to dwell upon it. Congress, moreover, as I have before observed, will in every year have an opportunity to guard against it should the occurrence of any circumstances lead us to apprehend injury from this source. Viewing the subject in all its aspects, I can not believe that any period will be more auspicious than the present for the adoption of all measures necessary to maintain the sanctity of our own engagements and to aid in securing to the community that abundant supply of the precious metals which adds so much to their prosperity and gives such increased stability to all their dealings. In a country so commercial as ours banks in some form will probably always exist, but this serves only to render it the more incumbent on us, notwithstanding the discouragements of the past, to strive in our respective stations to mitigate the evils they produce; to take from them as rapidly as the obligations of public faith and a careful consideration of the immediate interests of the community will permit the unjust character of monopolies; to check, so far as may be practicable, by prudent legislation those temptations of interest and those opportunities for their dangerous indulgence which beset them on every side, and to confine them strictly to the performance of their paramount duty--that of aiding the operations of commerce rather than consulting their own exclusive advantage. These and other salutary reforms may, it is believed, be accomplished without the violation of any of the great principles of the social compact, the observance of which is indispensable to its existence, or interfering in any way with the useful and profitable employment of real capital. Institutions so framed have existed and still exist elsewhere, giving to commercial intercourse all necessary facilities without inflating or depreciating the currency or stimulating speculation. Thus accomplishing their legitimate ends, they have gained the surest guaranty for their protection and encouragement in the good will of the community. Among a people so just as ours the same results could not fail to attend a similar course. The direct supervision of the banks belongs, from the nature of our Government, to the States who authorize them. It is to their legislatures that the people must mainly look for action on that subject. But as the conduct of the Federal Government in the management of its revenue has also a powerful, though less immediate, influence upon them, it becomes our duty to see that a proper direction is given to it. While the keeping of the public revenue in a separate and independent treasury and of collecting it in gold and silver will have a salutary influence on the system of paper credit with which all banks are connected, and thus aid those that are sound and well managed, it will at the same time sensibly check such as are otherwise by at once withholding the means of extravagance afforded by the public funds and restraining them from excessive issues of notes which they would be constantly called upon to redeem. I am aware it has been urged that this control may be best attained and exerted by means of a national bank. The constitutional objections which I am well known to entertain would prevent me in any event from proposing or assenting to that remedy; but in addition to this, I can not after past experience bring myself to think that it can any longer be extensively regarded as effective for such a purpose. The history of the late national bank, through all its mutations, shows that it was not so. On the contrary, it may, after a careful consideration of the subject, be, I think, safely stated that at every period of banking excess it took the lead; that in 1817 and 1818, in 1823, in 1831, and in 1834 its vast expansions, followed by distressing contractions, led to those of the State institutions. It swelled and maddened the tides of the banking system, but seldom allayed or safely directed them. At a few periods only was a salutary control exercised, but an eager desire, on the contrary, exhibited for profit in the first place; and if afterwards its measures were severe toward other institutions, it was because its own safety compelled it to adopt them. It did not differ from them in principle or in form; its measures emanated from the same spirit of gain; it felt the same temptation to overissues; it suffered from and was totally unable to avert those inevitable laws of trade by which it was. itself affected equally with them; and at least on one occasion, at an early day, it was saved only by extraordinary exertions from the same fate that attended the weakest institution it professed to supervise. In 1837 it failed equally with others in redeeming its notes (though the two years allowed by its charter for that purpose had not expired), a large amount of which remains to the present time outstanding. It is true that, having so vast a capital and strengthened by the use of all the revenues of the Government, it possessed more power; but while it was itself by that circumstance freed from the control which all banks require, its paramount object and inducement were left the same--to make the most for its stockholders, not to regulate the currency of the country. Nor has it, as far as we are advised, been found to be greatly otherwise elsewhere. The national character given to the Bank of England has not prevented excessive fluctuations in their currency, and it proved unable to keep off a suspension of specie payments, which lasted for nearly a quarter of a century. And why should we expect it to be otherwise? A national institution, though deriving its charter from a different source than the State banks, is yet constituted upon the same principles, is conducted by men equally exposed to temptation, and is liable to the same disasters, with the additional disadvantage that its magnitude occasions an extent of confusion and distress which the mismanagement of smaller institutions could not produce. It can scarcely be doubted that the recent suspension of the United State Bank of Pennsylvania, of which the effects are felt not in that State alone, but over half the Union, had its origin in a course of business commenced while it was a national institution, and there is no good reason for supposing that the same consequences would not have followed had it still derived its powers from the General Government. It is in vain, when the influences and impulses are the same, to look for a difference in conduct or results. By such creations we do, therefore, but increase the mass of paper credit and paper currency, without checking their attendant evils and fluctuations. The extent of power and the efficiency of organization which we give, so far from being beneficial, are in practice positively injurious. They strengthen the chain of dependence throughout the Union, subject all parts more certainly to common disaster, and bind every bank more effectually in the first instance to those of our commercial cities, and in the end to a foreign power. In a word, I can not but believe that, with the full understanding of the operations of our banking system which experience has produced, public sentiment is not less opposed to the creation of a national bank for purposes connected with currency and commerce than for those connected with the fiscal operations of the Government. Yet the commerce and currency of the country are suffering evils from the operations of the State banks which can not and ought not to be overlooked. By their means we have been flooded with a depreciated paper, which it was evidently the design of the framers of the Constitution to prevent when they required Congress to "Coin money and regulate the value of foreign coins," and when they forbade the States "to coin money, emit bills of credit, make anything but gold and silver a tender in payment of debts," or "pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts." If they did not guard more explicitly against the present state of things, it was because they could not have anticipated that the few banks then existing were to swell to an extent which would expel to so great a degree the gold and silver for which they had provided from the channels of circulation, and fill them with a currency that defeats the objects they had in view. The remedy for this must chiefly rest with the States from whose legislation it has sprung. No good that might accrue in a particular case front the exercise of powers not obviously conferred on the General Government would authorize its interference or justify a course that might in the slightest degree increase at the expense of the States the power of the Federal authorities; nor do I doubt that the States will apply the remedy. Within the last few years events have appealed to them too strongly to be disregarded. They have seen that the Constitution, though theoretically adhered to, is subverted in practice; that while on the statute books there is no legal tender but gold and silver, no law impairing the obligations of contracts, yet that in point of fact the privileges conferred on banking corporations have made their notes the currency of the country; that the obligations imposed by these notes are violated under the impulses of interest or convenience, and that the number and power of the persons connected with these corporations or placed under their influence give them a fearful weight when their interest is in opposition to the spirit of the Constitution and laws. To the people it is immaterial whether these results are produced by open violations of the latter or by the workings of a system of which the result is the same. An inflexible execution even of the existing statutes of most of the States would redress many evils now endured, would effectually show the banks the dangers of mismanagement which impunity encourages them to repeat, and would teach all corporations the useful lesson that they are the subjects of the law and the servants of the people. What is still wanting to effect these objects must be sought in additional legislation, or, if that be inadequate, in such further constitutional grants or restrictions as may bring us back into the path from which we have so widely wandered. In the meantime it is the duty of the General Government to cooperate with the States by a wise exercise of its constitutional powers and the enforcement of its existing laws. The extent to which it may do so by further enactments I have already adverted to, and the wisdom of Congress may yet enlarge them. But above all, it is incumbent upon us to hold erect the principles of morality and law, constantly executing our own contracts in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution, and thus serving as a rallying point by which our whole country may be brought back to that safe and honored standard. Our people will not long be insensible to the extent of the burdens entailed upon them by the false system that has been operating on their sanguine, energetic, and industrious character, nor to the means necessary to extricate themselves from these embarrassments. The weight which presses upon a large portion of the people and the States is an enormous debt, foreign and domestic. The foreign debt of our States, corporations, and men of business can scarcely be less than $200,000,000, requiring more than $10,000,000 a year to pay the interest. This sum has to be paid out of the exports of the country, and must of necessity cut off imports to that extent or plunge the country more deeply in debt from year to year. It is easy to see that the increase of this foreign debt must augment the annual demand on the exports to pay the interest, and to the same extent diminish the imports, and in proportion to the enlargement of the foreign debt and the consequent increase of interest must be the decrease of the import trade. In lieu of the comforts which it now brings us we might have our. gigantic banking institutions and splendid, but in many instances profitless, railroads and canals absorbing to a great extent in interest upon the capital borrowed to construct them the surplus fruits of national industry for years to come, and securing to posterity no adequate return for the comforts which the labors of their hands might otherwise have secured. It is not by the increase of this debt that relief is to be sought, but in its diminution. Upon this point there is, I am happy to say, hope before us; not so much in the return of confidence abroad, which will enable the States to borrow more money, as in a change of public feeling at home, which prompts our people to pause in their career and think of the means by which debts are to be paid before they are contracted. If we would escape embarrassment, public and private, we must cease to run in debt except for objects of necessity or such as will yield a certain return. Let the faith of the States, corporations, and individuals already pledged be kept with the most punctilious regard. It is due to our national character as well as to justice that this should on the part of each be a fixed principle of conduct. But it behooves us all to be more chary in pledging it hereafter. By ceasing to run in debt and applying the surplus of our crops and incomes to the discharge of existing obligations, buying less and selling more, and managing all affairs, public and private, with strict economy and frugality, we shall see our country soon recover from a temporary depression, arising not from natural and permanent causes, but from those I have enumerated, and advance with renewed vigor in her career of prosperity. Fortunately for us at this moment, when the balance of trade is greatly against us and the difficulty of meeting it enhanced by the disturbed state of our money affairs, the bounties of Providence have come to relieve us from the consequences of past errors. A faithful application of the immense results of the labors of the last season will afford partial relief for the present, and perseverance in the same course will in due season accomplish the rest. We have had full experience in times past of the extraordinary results which can in this respect be brought about in a short period by the united and well-directed efforts of a community like ours. Our surplus profits, the energy and industry of our population, and the wonderful advantages which Providence has bestowed upon our country in its climate, its various productions, indispensable to other nations, will in due time afford abundant means to perfect the most useful of those objects for which the States have been plunging themselves of late in embarrassment and debt, without imposing on ourselves or our children such fearful burdens. But let it be indelibly engraved on our minds that relief is not to be found in expedients. Indebtedness can not be lessened by borrowing more money. or by changing the form of the debt. The balance of trade is not to be turned in our favor by creating new demands upon us abroad. Our currency can not be improved by the creation of new banks or more issues from those which now exist. Although these devices sometimes appear to give temporary relief, they almost invariably aggravate the evil in the end. It is only by retrenchment and reform--by curtailing public and private expenditures, by paying our debts, and by reforming our banking system--that we are to expect effectual relief, security for the future, and an enduring prosperity. In shaping the institutions and policy of the General Government so as to promote as far as it can with its limited powers these important ends, you may rely on my most cordial cooperation. That there should have been in the progress of recent events doubts in many quarters and in some a heated opposition to every change can not surprise us. Doubts are properly attendant on all reform, and it is peculiarly in the nature of such abuses as we are now encountering to seek to perpetuate their power by means of the influence they have been permitted to acquire. It is their result, if not their object, to gain for the few an ascendency over the many by securing to them a monopoly of the currency, the medium through which most of the wants of mankind are supplied; to produce throughout society a chain of dependence which leads all classes to look to privileged associations for the means of speculation and extravagance; to nourish, in preference to the manly virtues that give dignity to human nature, a craving desire for luxurious enjoyment and sudden wealth, which renders those who seek them dependent on those who supply them; to substitute for republican simplicity and economical habits a sickly appetite for effeminate indulgence and an imitation of that reckless extravagance which impoverished and enslaved the industrious people of foreign lands, and at last to fix upon us, instead of those equal political rights the acquisition of which was alike the object and supposed reward of our Revolutionary struggle, a system of exclusive privileges conferred by partial legislation. To remove the influences which had thus gradually grown up among us, to deprive them of their deceptive advantages, to test them by the light of wisdom and truth, to oppose the force which they concentrate in their sup-port--all this was necessarily the work of time, even among a people so enlightened and pure as that of the United States. In most other countries, perhaps, it could only be accomplished through that series of revolutionary movements which are too often found necessary to effect any great and radical reform; but it is the crowning merit of our institutions that they create and nourish in the vast majority of our people a disposition and a power peaceably to remedy abuses which have elsewhere caused the effusion of rivers of blood and the sacrifice of thousands of the human race. The result thus far is most honorable to the self-denial, the intelligence, and the patriotism of our citizens; it justifies the confident hope that they will carry through the reform which has been so well begun, and that they will go still further than they have yet gone in illustrating the important truth that a people as free and enlightened as ours will, whenever it becomes necessary, show themselves to be indeed capable of self-government by voluntarily adopting appropriate remedies for every abuse, and submitting to temporary sacrifices, however great, to insure their permanent welfare. My own exertions for the furtherance of these desirable objects have been bestowed throughout my official career with a zeal that is nourished by ardent wishes for the welfare of my country, and by an unlimited reliance on the wisdom that marks its ultimate decision on all great and controverted questions. Impressed with the solemn obligations imposed upon me by the Constitution, desirous also of laying before my fellow-citizens, with whose confidence and support I have been so highly honored, such measures as appear to me conducive to their prosperity, and anxious to submit to their fullest consideration the grounds upon which my opinions are formed, I have on this as on preceding occasions freely offered my views on those points of domestic policy that seem at the present time most prominently to require the action of the Government. I know that they will receive from Congress that full and able consideration which the importance of the subjects merits, and I can repeat the assurance heretofore made that I shall cheerfully and readily cooperate with you in every measure that will tend to promote the welfare of the Union.
i regret that i can not on this occasion congratulate you that the past year has been one of unalloyed prosperity the ravages of fire and disease have painfully afflicted otherwise flourishing portions of our country and serious embarrassments yet derange the trade of many of our cities but notwithstanding these adverse circumstances that general prosperity which has been heretofore so bountifully bestowed upon us by the author of all good still continues to call for our warmest gratitude especially have we reason to rejoice in the exuberant harvests which have lavishly recompensed industry and given to it that sure reward which is vainly sought in visionary speculations i can not indeed view without peculiar satisfaction the evidences afforded by the past season of the benefits that spring from the steady devotion of the husbandman to his honorable pursuit no means of individual comfort is more certain and no source of national prosperity is so sure nothing can compensate a people for a dependence upon others for the bread they eat and that cheerful abundance on which the happiness of everyone so much depends is to be looked for nowhere with such sure reliance as in the industry of the agriculturist and the bounties of the earth with foreign countries our relations exhibit the same favorable aspect which was presented in my last annual message and afford continued proof of the wisdom of the pacific just and forbearing policy adopted by the first administration of the federal government and pursued by its successors the extraordinary powers vested in me by an act of congress for the defense of the country in an emergency considered so far probable as to require that the executive should possess ample means to meet it have not been exerted they have therefore been attended with no other result than to increase by the confidence thus reposed in me my obligations to maintain with religious exactness the cardinal principles that govern our intercourse with other nations happily in our pending questions with great britain out of which this unusual grant of authority arose nothing has occurred to require its exertion and as it is about to return to the legislature i trust that no future necessity may call for its exercise by them or its delegation to another department of the government for the settlement of our northeastern boundary the proposition promised by great britain for a commission of exploration and survey has been received and a counter project including also a provision for the certain and final adjustment of the limits in dispute is now before the british government for its consideration a just regard to the delicate state of this question and a proper respect for the natural impatience of the state of maine not less than a conviction that the negotiation has been already protracted longer than is prudent on the part of either government have led me to believe that the present favorable moment should on no account be suffered to pass without putting the question forever at rest i feel confident that the government of her britannic majesty will take the same view of this subject as i am persuaded it is governed by desires equally strong and sincere for the amicable termination of the controversy to the intrinsic difficulties of questions of boundary lines especially those described in regions unoccupied and but partially known is to be added in our country the embarrassment necessarily arising out of our constitution by which the general government is made the organ of negotiating and deciding upon the particular interests of the states on whose frontiers these lines are to be traced to avoid another controversy in which a state government might rightfully claim to have her wishes consulted previously to the conclusion of conventional arrangements concerning her rights of jurisdiction or territory i have thought it necessary to call the attention of the government of great britain to another portion of our conterminous dominion of which the division still remains to be adjusted i refer to the line from the entrance of lake superior to the most northwestern point of the lake of the woods stipulations for the settlement of which are to be found in the seventh article of the treaty of ghent the commissioners appointed under that article by the two governments having differed in their opinions made separate reports according to its stipulations upon the points of disagreement and these differences are now to be submitted to the arbitration of some friendly sovereign or state the disputed points should be settled and the line designated before the territorial government of which it is one of the boundaries takes its place in the union as a state and i rely upon the cordial cooperation of the british government to effect that object there is every reason to believe that disturbances like those which lately agitated the neighboring british provinces will not again prove the sources of border contentions or interpose obstacles to the continuance of that good understanding which it is the mutual interest of great britain and the united states to preserve and maintain within the provinces themselves tranquillity is restored and on our frontier that misguided sympathy in favor of what was presumed to be a general effort in behalf of popular rights and which in some instances misled a few of our more inexperienced citizens has subsided into a rational conviction strongly opposed to all intermeddling with the internal affairs of our neighbors the people of the united states feel as it is hoped they always will a warm solicitude for the success of all who are sincerely endeavoring to improve the political condition of mankind this generous feeling they cherish toward the most distant nations and it was natural therefore that it should be awakened with more than common warmth in behalf of their immediate neighbors but it does not belong to their character as a community to seek the gratification of those feelings in acts which violate their duty as citizens endanger the peace of their country and tend to bring upon it the stain of a violated faith toward foreign nations if zealous to confer benefits on others they appear for a moment to lose sight of the permanent obligations imposed upon them as citizens they are seldom long misled from all the information i receive confirmed to some extent by personal observation i am satisfied that no one can now hope to engage in such enterprises without encountering public indignation in addition to the severest penalties of the law recent information also leads me to hope that the emigrants from her majesty provinces who have sought refuge within our boundaries are disposed to become peaceable residents and to abstain from all attempts to endanger the peace of that country which has afforded them an asylum on a review of the occurrences on both sides of the line it is satisfactory to reflect that in almost every complaint against our country the offense may be traced to emigrants from the provinces who have sought refuge here in the few instances in which they were aided by citizens of the united states the acts of these misguided men were not only in direct contravention of the laws and wishes of their own government but met with the decided disapprobation of the people of the united states i regret to state the appearance of a different spirit among her majesty subjects in the canadas the sentiments of hostility to our people and institutions which have been so frequently expressed there and the disregard of our rights which has been manifested on some occasions have i am sorry to say been applauded and encouraged by the people and even by some of the subordinate local authorities of the provinces the chief officers in canada fortunately have not entertained the same feeling and have probably prevented excesses that must have been fatal to the peace of the two countries i look forward anxiously to a period when all the transactions which have grown out of this condition of our affairs and which have been made the subjects of complaint and remonstrance by the two governments respectively shall be fully examined and the proper satisfaction given where it is due from either side nothing has occurred to disturb the harmony of our intercourse with austria belgium denmark france naples portugal prussia russia or sweden the internal state of spain has sensibly improved and a hope exists that the return of peace will restore to the people of that country their former prosperity and enable the government to fulfill all its obligations at home and abroad the government of portugal i have the satisfaction to state has paid in full the eleventh and last installment due to our citizens for the claims embraced in the settlement made with it on the 3d of march 1837 i lay before you treaties of commerce negotiated with the kings of sardinia and of the netherlands the ratifications of which have been exchanged since the adjournment of congress the liberal principles of these treaties will recommend them to your approbation that with sardinia is the first treaty of commerce formed by that kingdom and it will i trust answer the expectations of the present sovereign by aiding the development of the resources of his country and stimulating the enterprise of his people that with the netherlands happily terminates a subject of dispute and removes from our future commercial intercourse all apprehension of embarrassment the king of the netherlands has also in further illustration of his character for justice and of his desire to remove every because of dissatisfaction made compensation for an american vessel captured in 1800 by a french privateer and carried into curacoa where the proceeds were appropriated to the use of the colony then and for a short time after under the dominion of holland the death of the late sultan has produced no alteration in our relations with turkey our newly appointed minister resident has reached constantinople and i have received assurances from the present ruler that the obligations of our treaty and those of friendship will be fulfilled by himself in the same spirit that actuated his illustrious father i regret to be obliged to inform you that no convention for the settlement of the claims of our citizens upon mexico has yet been ratified by the government of that country the first convention formed for that purpose was not presented by the president of mexico for the approbation of its congress from a belief that the king of prussia the arbitrator in case of disagreement in the joint commission to be appointed by the united states and mexico would not consent to take upon himself that friendly office although not entirely satisfied with the course pursued by mexico i felt no hesitation in receiving in the most conciliatory spirit the explanation offered and also cheerfully consented to a new convention in order to arrange the payments proposed to be made to our citizens in a manner which while equally just to them was deemed less onerous and inconvenient to the mexican government relying confidently upon the intentions of that government ellis was directed to repair to mexico and diplomatic intercourse has been resumed between the two countries the new convention has he informs us been recently submitted by the president of that republic to its congress under circumstances which promise a speedy ratification a result which i can not allow myself to doubt instructions have been given to the commissioner of the united states under our convention with texas for the demarcation of the line which separates us from that republic the commissioners of both governments met in new orleans in august last the joint commission was organized and adjourned to convene at the same place on the 12th of october it is presumed to be now in the performance of its duties the new government of texas has shown its desire to cultivate friendly relations with us by a prompt reparation for injuries complained of in the cases of two vessels of the united states with central america a convention has been concluded for the renewal of its former treaty with the united states this was not ratified before the departure of our late charge from that country and the copy of it brought by him was not received before the adjournment of the senate at the last session in the meanwhile the period limited for the exchange of ratifications having expired i deemed it expedient in consequence of the death of the charge to send a special agent to central america to close the affairs of our mission there and to arrange with the government an extension of the time for the exchange of ratifications the commission created by the states which formerly composed the republic of colombia for adjusting the claims against that government has by a very unexpected construction of the treaty under which it acts decided that no provision was made for those claims of citizens of the united states which arose from captures by colombian privateers and were adjudged against the claimants in the judicial tribunals this decision will compel the united states to apply to the several governments formerly united for redress with all these new granada venezuela and ecuador a perfectly good understanding exists our treaty with venezuela is faithfully carried into execution and that country in the enjoyment of tranquillity is gradually advancing in prosperity under the guidance of its present distinguished president general paez with ecuador a liberal commercial convention has lately been concluded which will be transmitted to the senate at an early day with the great american empire of brazil our relations continue unchanged as does our friendly intercourse with the other governments of south america the argentine republic and the republics of uruguay chili peru and bolivia the dissolution of the confederation may occasion some temporary inconvenience to our citizens in that quarter but the obligations on the new governments which have arisen out of that confederation to observe its treaty stipulations will no doubt be soon understood and it is presumed that no indisposition will exist to fulfill those which it contracted with the united states the financial operations of the government during the present year have i am happy to say been very successful the difficulties under which the treasury department has labored from known defects in the existing laws relative to the of the public moneys aggravated by the suspension of specie payments by several of the banks holding public deposits or indebted to public officers for notes received in payment of public dues have been surmounted to a very gratifying extent the large current expenditures have been punctually met and the faith of the government in all its pecuniary concerns has been scrupulously maintained the nineteen millions of treasury notes authorized by the act of congress of 1837 and the modifications thereof with a view to the indulgence of merchants on their duty bonds and of the deposit banks in the payment of public moneys held by them have been so punctually redeemed as to leave less than the original ten millions outstanding at any one time and the whole amount unredeemed now falls short of three millions of these the chief portion is not due till next year and the whole would have been already extinguished could the treasury have realized the payments due to it from the banks if those due from them during the next year shall be punctually made and if congress shall keep the appropriations within the estimates there is every reason to believe that all the outstanding treasury notes can be redeemed and the ordinary expenses defrayed without imposing on the people any additional burden either of loans or increased taxes to avoid this and to keep the expenditures within reasonable bounds is a duty second only in importance to the preservation of our national character and the protection of our citizens in their civil and political rights the creation in time of peace of a debt likely to become permanent is an evil for which there is no equivalent the rapidity with which many of the states are apparently approaching to this condition admonishes us of our own duties in a manner too impressive to be disregarded one not the least important is to keep the federal government always in a condition to discharge with ease and vigor its highest functions should their exercise be required by any sudden conjuncture of public affairs a condition to which we are always exposed and which may occur when it is least expected to this end it is indispensable that its finances should be untrammeled and its resources as far as practicable unencumbered no circumstance could present greater obstacles to the accomplishment of these vitally important objects than the creation of an onerous national debt our own experience and also that of other nations have demonstrated the unavoidable and fearful rapidity with which a public debt is increased when the government has once surrendered itself to the ruinous practice of supplying its supposed necessities by new loans the struggle therefore on our part to be successful must be made at the threshold to make our efforts effective severe economy is necessary this is the surest provision for the national welfare and it is at the same time the best preservative of the principles on which our institutions rest simplicity and economy in the affairs of state have never failed to chasten and invigorate republican principles while these have been as surely subverted by national prodigality under whatever specious pretexts it may have been introduced or fostered these considerations can not be lost upon a people who have never been inattentive to the effect of their policy upon the institutions they have created for themselves but at the present moment their force is augmented by the necessity which a decreasing revenue must impose the check lately given to importations of articles subject to duties the derangements in the operations of internal trade and especially the reduction gradually taking place in our tariff of duties all tend materially to lessen our receipts indeed it is probable that the diminution resulting from the last because alone will not fall short of in the year 1842 as the final reduction of all duties to 20 per cent then takes effect the whole revenue then accruing from the customs and from the sales of public lands if not more will undoubtedly be wanted to defray the necessary expenses of the government under the most prudent administration of its affairs these are circumstances that impose the necessity of rigid economy and require its prompt and constant exercise with the legislature rest the power and duty of so adjusting the public expenditure as to promote this end by the provisions of the constitution it is only in consequence of appropriations made by law that money can be drawn from the treasury no instance has occurred since the establishment of the government in which the executive though a component part of the legislative power has interposed an objection to an appropriation bill on the sole ground of its extravagance his duty in this respect has been considered fulfilled by requesting such appropriations only as the public service may be reasonably expected to require in the present earnest direction of the public mind toward this subject both the executive and the legislature have evidence of the strict responsibility to which they will be held and while i am conscious of my own anxious efforts to perform with fidelity this portion of my public functions it is a satisfaction to me to be able to count on a cordial cooperation from you at the time i entered upon my present duties our ordinary disbursements without including those on account of the public debt the and the trust funds in charge of the government had been largely increased by appropriations for the removal of the indians for repelling indian hostilities and for other less urgent expenses which grew out of an overflowing treasury independent of the redemption of the public debt and trusts the gross expenditures of seventeen and eighteen millions in 1834 and 1835 had by these causes swelled to millions in 1836 and the appropriations for 1837 made previously to the 4th of march caused the expenditure to rise to the very large amount of millions we were enabled during the year 1838 notwithstanding the continuance of our indian embarrassments somewhat to reduce this amount and that for the present year 1839 will not in all probability exceed millions or six millions less than it was last year with a determination so far as depends on me to continue this reduction i have directed the estimates for 1840 to be subjected to the severest scrutiny and to be limited to the absolute requirements of the public service they will be found less than the expenditures of 1839 by over the precautionary measures which will be recommended by the secretary of the treasury to protect faithfully the public credit under the fluctuations and contingencies to which our receipts and expenditures are exposed and especially in a commercial crisis like the present are commended to your early attention on a former occasion your attention was invited to various considerations in support of a preemption law in behalf of the settlers on the public lands and also of a law graduating the prices for such lands as had long been in the market unsold in consequence of their inferior quality the execution of the act which was passed on the first subject has been attended with the happiest consequences in quieting titles and securing improvements to the industrious and it has also to a very gratifying extent been exempt from the frauds which were practiced under previous preemption laws it has at the same time as was anticipated contributed liberally during the present year to the receipts of the treasury the passage of a graduation law with the guards before recommended would also i am persuaded add considerably to the revenue for several years and prove in other respects just and beneficial your early consideration of the subject is therefore once more earnestly requested the present condition of the defenses of our principal seaports and as represented by the accompanying report of the secretary of war calls for the early and serious attention of congress and as connecting itself intimately with this subject i can not recommend too strongly to your consideration the plan submitted by that officer for the organization of the militia of the united states in conformity with the expressed wishes of congress an attempt was made in the spring to terminate the florida war by negotiation it is to be regretted that these humane intentions should have been frustrated and that the effort to bring these unhappy difficulties to a satisfactory conclusion should have failed but after entering into solemn engagements with the commanding general the indians without any provocation recommenced their acts of treachery and murder the renewal of hostilities in that territory renders it necessary that i should recommend to your favorable consideration the plan which will be submitted to you by the secretary of war in order to enable that department to conduct them to a successful issue having had an opportunity of personally inspecting a portion of the troops during the last summer it gives me pleasure to bear testimony to the success of the effort to improve their discipline by keeping them together in as large bodies as the nature of our service will permit i recommend therefore that commodious and permanent barracks be constructed at the several posts designated by the secretary of war notwithstanding the high state of their discipline and excellent police the evils resulting to the service from the deficiency of company officers were very apparent and i recommend that the staff officers be permanently separated from the line the navy has been usefully and honorably employed in protecting the rights and property of our citizens wherever the condition of affairs seemed to require its presence with the exception of one instance where an outrage accompanied by murder was committed on a vessel of the united states while engaged in a lawful commerce nothing is known to have occurred to impede or molest the enterprise of our citizens on that element where it is so signally displayed on learning this daring act of piracy commodore reed proceeded immediately to the spot and receiving no satisfaction either in the surrender of the murderers or the restoration of the plundered property inflicted severe and merited chastisement on the barbarians it will be seen by the report of the secretary of the navy respecting the disposition of our ships of war that it has been deemed necessary to station a competent force on the coast of africa to prevent a fraudulent use of our flag by foreigners recent experience has shown that the provisions in our existing laws which relate to the sale and transfer of american vessels while abroad are extremely defective advantage has been taken of these defects to give to vessels wholly belonging to foreigners and navigating the ocean an apparent american ownership this character has been so well simulated as to afford them comparative security in prosecuting the slave trade a traffic emphatically denounced in our statutes regarded with abhorrence by our citizens and of which the effectual suppression is nowhere more sincerely desired than in the united states these circumstances make it proper to recommend to your early attention a careful revision of these laws so that without impeding the freedom and facilities of our navigation or impairing an important branch of our industry connected with it the integrity and honor of our flag may be carefully preserved information derived from our consul at havana showing the necessity of this was communicated to a committee of the senate near the close of the last session but too late as it appeared to be acted upon it will be brought to your notice by the proper department with additional communications from other sources the latest accounts from the exploring expedition represent it as proceeding successfully in its objects and promising results no less useful to trade and navigation than to science the extent of covered by mail service on the 1st of july last was about miles and the rate of annual transportation upon them miles the number of on that day was and on the 30th ultimo the revenue of the department for the year ending with the 30th of june last was exhibiting an increase over the preceding year of the engagements and liabilities of the department for the same period are the excess of liabilities over the revenue for the last two years has been met out of the surplus which had previously accumulated the cash on hand on the 30th ultimo was about and the current income of the department varies very little from the rate of current expenditures most of the service suspended last year has been restored and most of the new routes established by the act of 7th july 1838 have been set in operation at an annual cost of notwithstanding the pecuniary difficulties of the country the revenue of the department appears to be increasing and unless it shall be seriously checked by the recent suspension of payment by so many of the banks it will be able not only to maintain the present mail service but in a short time to extend it it is gratifying to witness the promptitude and fidelity with which the agents of this department in general perform their public duties some difficulties have arisen in relation to contracts for the transportation of the mails by railroad and steamboat companies it appears that the maximum of compensation provided by congress for the transportation of the mails upon railroads is not sufficient to induce some of the companies to convey them at such hours as are required for the accommodation of the public it is one of the most important duties of the general government to provide and maintain for the use of the people of the states the best practicable mail establishment to arrive at that end it is indispensable that the department shall be enabled to control the hours at which the mails shall be carried over railroads as it now does over all other roads should serious inconveniences arise from the inadequacy of the compensation now provided by law or from unreasonable demands by any of the railroad companies the subject is of such general importance as to require the prompt attention of congress in relation to steamboat lines the most efficient remedy is obvious and has been suggested by the the war and navy departments already employ steamboats in their service and although it is by no means desirable that the government should undertake the transportation of passengers or freight as a business there can be no reasonable objection to running boats temporarily whenever it may be necessary to put down attempts at extortion to be discontinued as soon as reasonable contracts can be obtained the suggestions of the relative to the inadequacy of the legal allowance to witnesses in cases of prosecutions for mail depredations merit your serious consideration the safety of the mails requires that such prosecutions shall be efficient and justice to the citizen whose time is required to be given to the public demands not only that his expenses shall be paid but that he shall receive a reasonable compensation the reports from the war navy and departments will accompany this communication and one from the treasury department will be presented to congress in a few days for various details in respect to the matters in charge of these departments i would refer you to those important documents satisfied that you will find in them many valuable suggestions which will be found well deserving the attention of the legislature from a report made in december of last year by the secretary of state to the senate showing the trial docket of each of the circuit courts and the number of miles each judge has to travel in the performance of his duties a great inequality appears in the amount of labor assigned to each judge the number of terms to be held in each of the courts composing the ninth circuit the distances between the places at which they sit and from thence to the seat of government are represented to be such as to render it impossible for the judge of that circuit to perform in a manner corresponding with the public exigencies his term and circuit duties a revision therefore of the present arrangement of the circuit seems to be called for and is recommended to your notice i think it proper to call your attention to the power assumed by territorial legislatures to authorize the issue of bonds by corporate companies on the guaranty of the territory congress passed a law in 1836 providing that no act of a territorial legislature incorporating banks should have the force of law until approved by congress but acts of a very exceptionable character previously passed by the legislature of florida were suffered to remain in force by virtue of which bonds may be issued to a very large amount by those institutions upon the faith of the territory a resolution intending to be a joint one passed the senate at the same session expressing the sense of congress that the laws in question ought not to be permitted to remain in force unless amended in many material respects but it failed in the house of representatives for want of time and the desired amendments have not been made the interests involved are of great importance and the subject deserves your early and careful attention the continued agitation of the question relative to the best mode of keeping and disbursing the public money still injuriously affects the business of the country the suspension of specie payments in 1837 rendered the use of deposit banks as prescribed by the act of 1836 a source rather of embarrassment than aid and of necessity placed the custody of most of the public money afterwards collected in charge of the public officers the new securities for its safety which this required were a principal because of my convening an extra session of congress but in consequence of a disagreement between the two houses neither then nor at any subsequent period has there been any legislation on the subject the effort made at the last session to obtain the authority of congress to punish the use of public money for private purposes as a crime a measure attended under other governments with signal advantage was also unsuccessful from diversities of opinion in that body notwithstanding the anxiety doubtless felt by it to afford every practicable security the result of this is still to leave the custody of the public money without those safeguards which have been for several years earnestly desired by the executive and as the remedy is only to be found in the action of the legislature it imposes on me the duty of again submitting to you the propriety of passing a law providing for the of the public moneys and especially to ask that its use for private purposes by any officers intrusted with it may be declared to be a felony punishable with penalties proportioned to the magnitude of the offense these circumstances added to known defects in the existing laws and unusual derangement in the general operations of trade have during the last three years much increased the difficulties attendant on the collection keeping and disbursement of the revenue and called forth corresponding exertions from those having them in charge happily these have been successful beyond expectation vast sums have been collected and disbursed by the several departments with unexpected cheapness and ease transfers have been readily made to every part of the union however distant and defalcations have been far less than might have been anticipated from the absence of adequate legal restraints since the officers of the treasury and departments were charged with the custody of most of the public moneys received by them there have been collected and excluding the case of the late collector at new york the aggregate amount of losses sustained in the collection can not it is believed exceed the defalcation of the late collector at that city of the extent and circumstances of which congress have been fully informed ran through all the modes of keeping the public money that have been hitherto in use and was distinguished by an aggravated disregard of duty that broke through the restraints of every system and can not therefore be usefully referred to as a test of the comparative safety of either additional information will also be furnished by the report of the secretary of the treasury in reply to a call made upon that officer by the house of representatives at the last session requiring detailed information on the subject of defaults by public officers or agents under each administration from 1789 to 1837 this document will be submitted to you in a few days the general results independent of the which is kept separately and will be stated by itself so far as they bear upon this subject are that the losses which have been and are likely to be sustained by any class of agents have been the greatest by banks including as required in the resolution their depreciated paper received for public dues that the next largest have been by disbursing officers and the least by collectors and receivers if the losses on duty bonds are included they alone will be threefold those by both collectors and receivers our whole experience therefore furnishes the strongest evidence that the desired legislation of congress is alone wanting to insure in those operations the highest degree of security and facility such also appears to have been the experience of other nations from the results of inquiries made by the secretary of the treasury in regard to the practice among them i am enabled to state that in out of foreign governments from which undoubted information has been obtained the public moneys are kept in charge of public officers this concurrence of opinion in favor of that system is perhaps as great as exists on any question of internal administration in the modes of business and official restraints on disbursing officers no legal change was produced by the suspension of specie payments the report last referred to will be found to contain also much useful information in relation to this subject i have heretofore assigned to congress my reasons for believing that the establishment of an independent national treasury as contemplated by the constitution is necessary to the safe action of the federal government the suspension of specie payments in 1837 by the banks having the custody of the public money showed in so alarming a degree our dependence on those institutions for the performance of duties required by law that i then recommended the entire dissolution of that connection this recommendation has been subjected as i desired it should be to severe scrutiny and animated discussion and i allow myself to believe that notwithstanding the natural diversities of opinion which may be anticipated on all subjects involving such important considerations it has secured in its favor as general a concurrence of public sentiment as could be expected on one of such magnitude recent events have also continued to develop new objections to such a connection seldom is any bank under the existing system and practice able to meet on demand all its liabilities for deposits and notes in circulation it maintains specie payments and transacts a profitable business only by the confidence of the public in its solvency and whenever this is destroyed the demands of its depositors and note holders pressed more rapidly than it can make collections from its debtors force it to stop payment this loss of confidence with its consequences occurred in 1837 and afforded the apology of the banks for their suspension the public then acquiesced in the validity of the excuse and while the state legislatures did not exact from them their forfeited charters congress in accordance with the recommendation of the executive allowed them time to pay over the public money they held although compelled to issue treasury notes to supply the deficiency thus created it now appears that there are other motives than a want of public confidence under which the banks seek to justify themselves in a refusal to meet their obligations scarcely were the country and government relieved in a degree from the difficulties occasioned by the general suspension of 1837 when a partial one occurring within thirty months of the former produced new and serious embarrassments though it had no palliation in such circumstances as were alleged in justification of that which had previously taken place there was nothing in the condition of the country to endanger a banking institution commerce was deranged by no foreign war every branch of manufacturing industry was crowned with rich rewards and the more than usual abundance of our harvests after supplying our domestic wants had left our granaries and storehouses filled with a surplus for exportation it is in the midst of this that an irredeemable and depreciated paper currency is entailed upon the people by a large portion of the banks they are not driven to it by the exhibition of a loss of public confidence or of a sudden pressure from their depositors or note holders but they excuse themselves by alleging that the current of business and exchange with foreign countries which draws the precious metals from their vaults would require in order to meet it a larger curtailment of their loans to a comparatively small portion of the community than it will be convenient for them to bear or perhaps safe for the banks to exact the plea has ceased to be one of necessity convenience and policy are now deemed sufficient to warrant these institutions in disregarding their solemn obligations such conduct is not merely an injury to individual creditors but it is a wrong to the whole community from whose liberality they hold most valuable privileges whose rights they violate whose business they derange and the value of whose property they render unstable and insecure it must be evident that this new ground for bank suspensions in reference to which their action is not only disconnected with but wholly independent of that of the public gives a character to their suspensions more alarming than any which they exhibited before and greatly increases the impropriety of relying on the banks in the transactions of the government a large and highly respectable portion of our banking institutions are it affords me unfeigned pleasure to state exempted from all blame on account of this second delinquency they have to their great credit not only continued to meet their engagements but have even repudiated the grounds of suspension now resorted to it is only by such a course that the confidence and good will of the community can be preserved and in the sequel the best interests of the institutions themselves promoted new dangers to the banks are also daily disclosed from the extension of that system of extravagant credit of which they are the pillars formerly our foreign commerce was principally rounded on an exchange of commodities including the precious metals and leaving in its transactions but little foreign debt such is not now the case aided by the facilities afforded by the banks mere credit has become too commonly the basis of trade many of the banks themselves not content with largely stimulating this system among others have usurped the business while they impair the stability of the mercantile community they have become borrowers instead of lenders they establish their agencies abroad they deal largely in stocks and merchandise they encourage the issue of state securities until the foreign market is glutted with them and unsatisfied with the legitimate use of their own capital and the exercise of their lawful privileges they raise by large loans additional means for every variety of speculation the disasters attendant on this deviation from the former course of business in this country are now shared alike by banks and individuals to an extent of which there is perhaps no previous example in the annals of our country so long as a willingness of the foreign lender and a sufficient export of our productions to meet any necessary partial payments leave the flow of credit undisturbed all appears to be prosperous but as soon as it is checked by any hesitation abroad or by an inability to make payment there in our productions the evils of the system are disclosed the paper currency which might serve for domestic purposes is useless to pay the debt due in europe gold and silver are therefore drawn in exchange for their notes from the banks to keep up their supply of coin these institutions are obliged to call upon their own debtors who pay them principally in their own notes which are as unavailable to them as they are to the merchants to meet the foreign demand the calls of the banks therefore in such emergencies of necessity exceed that demand and produce a corresponding curtailment of their accommodations and of the currency at the very moment when the state of trade renders it most inconvenient to be borne the intensity of this pressure on the community is in proportion to the previous liberality of credit and consequent expansion of the currency forced sales of property are made at the time when the means of purchasing are most reduced and the worst calamities to individuals are only at last arrested by an open violation of their obligations by the banks a refusal to pay specie for their notes and an imposition upon the community of a fluctuating and depreciated currency these consequences are inherent in the present system they are not influenced by the banks being large or small created by national or state governments they are the results of the irresistible laws of trade or credit in the recent events which have so strikingly illustrated the certain effects of these laws we have seen the bank of the largest capital in the union established under a national charter and lately strengthened as we were authoritatively informed by exchanging that for a state charter with new and unusual privileges in a condition too as it was said of entire soundness and great prosperity not merely unable to resist these effects but the first to yield to them nor is it to be overlooked that there exists a chain of necessary dependence among these institutions which obliges them to a great extent to follow the course of others notwithstanding its injustice to their own immediate creditors or injury to the particular community in which they are placed this dependence of a bank which is in proportion to the extent of its debts for circulation and deposits is not merely on others in its own vicinity but on all those which connect it with the center of trade distant banks may fail without seriously affecting those in our principal commercial cities but the failure of the latter is felt at the extremities of the union the suspension at new york in 1837 was everywhere with very few exceptions followed as soon as it was known that recently at philadelphia immediately affected the banks of the south and west in a similar manner this dependence of our whole banking system on the institutions in a few large cities is not found in the laws of their organization but in those of trade and exchange the banks at that center to which currency flows and where it is required in payments for merchandise hold the power of controlling those in regions whence it comes while the latter possess no means of restraining them so that the value of individual property and the prosperity of trade through the whole interior of the country are made to depend on the good or bad management of the banking institutions in the great seats of trade on the seaboard but this chain of dependence does not stop here it does not terminate at philadelphia or new york it reaches across the ocean and ends in london the center of the credit system the same laws of trade which give to the banks in our principal cities power over the whole banking system of the united states subject the former in their turn to the money power in great britain it is not denied that the suspension of the new york banks in 1837 which was followed in quick succession throughout the union was produced by an application of that power and it is now alleged in extenuation of the present condition of so large a portion of our banks that their embarrassments have arisen from the same because from this influence they can not now entirely escape for it has its origin in the credit currencies of the two countries it is strengthened by the current of trade and exchange which centers in london and is rendered almost irresistible by the large debts contracted there by our merchants our banks and our states it is thus that an introduction of a new bank into the most distant of our villages places the business of that village within the influence of the money power in england it is thus that every new debt which we contract in that country seriously affects our own currency and extends over the pursuits of our citizens its powerful influence we can not escape from this by making new banks great or small state or national the same chains which bind those now existing to the center of this system of paper credit must equally fetter every similar institution we create it is only by the extent to which this system has been pushed of late that we have been made fully aware of its irresistible tendency to subject our own banks and currency to a vast controlling power in a foreign lad and it adds a new argument to those which illustrate their precarious situation endangered in the first place by their own mismanagement and again by the conduct of every institution which connects them with the center of trade in our own country they are yet subjected beyond all this to the effect of whatever measures policy necessity or caprice may induce those who control the credits of england to resort to i mean not to comment upon these measures present or past and much less to discourage the prosecution of fair commercial dealing between the two countries based on reciprocal benefits but it having now been made manifest that the power of inflicting these and similar injuries is by the resistless law of a credit currency and credit trade equally capable of extending their consequences through all the ramifications of our banking system and by that means indirectly obtaining particularly when our banks are used as depositories of the public moneys a dangerous political influence in the united states i have deemed it my duty to bring the subject to your notice and ask for it your serious consideration is an argument required beyond the exposition of these facts to show the impropriety of using our banking institutions as depositories of the public money can we venture not only to encounter the risk of their individual and mutual mismanagement but at the same time to place our foreign and domestic policy entirely under the control of a foreign moneyed interest to do so is to impair the independence of our government as the present credit system has already impaired the independence of our banks it is to submit all its important operations whether of peace or war to be controlled or thwarted at first by our own banks and then by a power abroad greater than themselves i can not bring myself to depict the humiliation to which this government and people might be sooner or later reduced if the means for defending their rights are to be made dependent upon those who may have the most powerful of motives to impair them nor is it only in reference to the effect of this state of things on the independence of our government or of our banks that the subject presents itself for consideration it is to be viewed also in its relations to the general trade of our country the time is not long passed when a deficiency of foreign crops was thought to afford a profitable market for the surplus of our industry but now we await with feverish anxiety the news of the english harvest not so much from motives of commendable sympathy but fearful lest its anticipated failure should narrow the field of credit there does not this speak volumes to the patriot can a system be beneficent wise or just which creates greater anxiety for interests dependent on foreign credit than for the general prosperity of our own country and the profitable exportation of the surplus produce of our labor the circumstances to which i have thus adverted appear to me to afford weighty reasons developed by late events to be added to those which i have on former occasions offered when submitting to your better knowledge and discernment the propriety of separating the custody of the public money from banking institutions nor has anything occurred to lessen in my opinion the force of what has been heretofore urged the only ground on which that custody can be desired by the banks is the profitable use which they may make of the money such use would be regarded in individuals as a breach of trust or a crime of great magnitude and yet it may be reasonably doubted whether first and last it is not attended with more mischievous consequences when permitted to the former than to the latter the practice of permitting the public money to be used by its keepers as here is believed to be peculiar to this country and to exist scarcely anywhere else to procure it here improper influences are appealed to unwise connections are established between the government and vast numbers of powerful state institutions other motives than the public good are brought to bear both on the executive and legislative departments and selfish combinations leading to special legislation are formed it is made the interest of banking institutions and their stockholders throughout the union to use their exertions for the increase of taxation and the accumulation of a surplus revenue and while an excuse is afforded the means are furnished for those excessive issues which lead to extravagant trading and speculation and are the forerunners of a vast debt abroad and a suspension of the banks at home impressed therefore as i am with the propriety of the funds of the government being withdrawn from the private use of either banks or individuals and the public money kept by duly appointed public agents and believing as i do that such also is the judgment which discussion reflection and experience have produced on the public mind i leave the subject with you it is at all events essential to the interests of the community and the business of the government that a decision should be made most of the arguments that dissuade us from employing banks in the custody and disbursement of the public money apply with equal force to the receipt of their notes for public dues the difference is only in form in one instance the government is a creditor for its deposits and in the other for the notes it holds they afford the same opportunity for using the public moneys and equally lead to all the evils attendant upon it since a bank can as safely extend its discounts on a deposit of its notes in the hands of a public officer as on one made in its own vaults on the other hand it would give to the government no greater security for in case of failure the claim of the note holder would be no better than that of a depositor i am aware that the danger of inconvenience to the public and unreasonable pressure upon sound banks have been urged as objections to requiring the payment of the revenue in gold and silver these objections have been greatly exaggerated from the best estimates we may safely fix the amount of specie in the country at and the portion of that which would be employed at any one time in the receipts and disbursements of the government even if the proposed change were made at once would not it is now after fuller investigation believed exceed four or five millions if the change were gradual several years would elapse before that sum would be required with annual opportunities in the meantime to alter the law should experience prove it to be oppressive or inconvenient the portions of the community on whose business the change would immediately operate are comparatively small nor is it believed that its effect would be in the least unjust or injurious to them in the payment of duties which constitute by far the greater portion of the revenue a very large proportion is derived from foreign commission houses and agents of foreign manufacturers who sell the goods consigned to them generally at auction and after paying the duties out of the avails remit the rest abroad in specie or its equivalent that the amount of duties should in such cases be also retained in specie can hardly be made a matter of complaint our own importing merchants by whom the residue of the duties is paid are not only peculiarly interested in maintaining a sound currency which the measure in question will especially promote but are from the nature of their dealings best able to know when specie will be needed and to procure it with the least difficulty or sacrifice residing too almost universally in places where the revenue is received and where the drafts used by the government for its disbursements must concentrate they have every opportunity to obtain and use them in place of specie should it be for their interest or convenience of the number of these drafts and the facilities they may afford as well as of the rapidity with which the public funds are drawn and disbursed an idea may be formed from the fact that of nearly paid to collectors and receivers during the present year the average amount in their hands at any one time has not exceeded a million and a half and of the fifteen millions received by the collector of new york alone during the present year the average amount held by him subject to draft during each week has been less than half a million the ease and safety of the operations of the treasury in keeping the public money are promoted by the application of its own drafts to the public dues the objection arising from having them too long outstanding might be obviated and they yet made to afford to merchants and banks holding them an equivalent for specie and in that way greatly lessen the amount actually required still less inconvenience will attend the requirement of specie in purchases of public lands such purchases except when made on speculation are in general but single transactions rarely repeated by the same person and it is a fact that for the last year and a half during which the notes of sound banks have been received more than a moiety of these payments has been voluntarily made in specie being a larger proportion than would have been required in three years under the graduation proposed it is moreover a principle than which none is better settled by experience that the supply of the precious metals will always be found adequate to the uses for which they are required they abound in countries where no other currency is allowed in our own states where small notes are excluded gold and silver supply their place when driven to their hiding places by bank suspensions a little firmness in the community soon restores them in a sufficient quantity for ordinary purposes postage and other public dues have been collected in coin without serious inconvenience even in states where a depreciated paper currency has existed for years and this with the aid of treasury notes for a part of the time was done without interruption during the suspension of 1837 at the present moment the receipts and disbursements of the government are made in legal currency in the largest portion of the union no one suggests a departure from this rule and if it can now be successfully carried out it will be surely attended with even less difficulty when bank notes are again redeemed in specie indeed i can not think that a serious objection would anywhere be raised to the receipt and payment of gold and silver in all public transactions were it not from an apprehension that a surplus in the treasury might withdraw a large portion of it from circulation and lock it up unprofitably in the public vaults it would not in my opinion be difficult to prevent such an inconvenience from occurring but the authentic statements which i have already submitted to you in regard to the actual amount in the public treasury at any one time during the period embraced in them and the little probability of a different state of the treasury for at least some years to come seem to render it unnecessary to dwell upon it congress moreover as i have before observed will in every year have an opportunity to guard against it should the occurrence of any circumstances lead us to apprehend injury from this source viewing the subject in all its aspects i can not believe that any period will be more auspicious than the present for the adoption of all measures necessary to maintain the sanctity of our own engagements and to aid in securing to the community that abundant supply of the precious metals which adds so much to their prosperity and gives such increased stability to all their dealings in a country so commercial as ours banks in some form will probably always exist but this serves only to render it the more incumbent on us notwithstanding the discouragements of the past to strive in our respective stations to mitigate the evils they produce to take from them as rapidly as the obligations of public faith and a careful consideration of the immediate interests of the community will permit the unjust character of monopolies to check so far as may be practicable by prudent legislation those temptations of interest and those opportunities for their dangerous indulgence which beset them on every side and to confine them strictly to the performance of their paramount duty that of aiding the operations of commerce rather than consulting their own exclusive advantage these and other salutary reforms may it is believed be accomplished without the violation of any of the great principles of the social compact the observance of which is indispensable to its existence or interfering in any way with the useful and profitable employment of real capital institutions so framed have existed and still exist elsewhere giving to commercial intercourse all necessary facilities without inflating or depreciating the currency or stimulating speculation thus accomplishing their legitimate ends they have gained the surest guaranty for their protection and encouragement in the good will of the community among a people so just as ours the same results could not fail to attend a similar course the direct supervision of the banks belongs from the nature of our government to the states who authorize them it is to their legislatures that the people must mainly look for action on that subject but as the conduct of the federal government in the management of its revenue has also a powerful though less immediate influence upon them it becomes our duty to see that a proper direction is given to it while the keeping of the public revenue in a separate and independent treasury and of collecting it in gold and silver will have a salutary influence on the system of paper credit with which all banks are connected and thus aid those that are sound and well managed it will at the same time sensibly check such as are otherwise by at once withholding the means of extravagance afforded by the public funds and restraining them from excessive issues of notes which they would be constantly called upon to redeem i am aware it has been urged that this control may be best attained and exerted by means of a national bank the constitutional objections which i am well known to entertain would prevent me in any event from proposing or assenting to that remedy but in addition to this i can not after past experience bring myself to think that it can any longer be extensively regarded as effective for such a purpose the history of the late national bank through all its mutations shows that it was not so on the contrary it may after a careful consideration of the subject be i think safely stated that at every period of banking excess it took the lead that in 1817 and 1818 in 1823 in 1831 and in 1834 its vast expansions followed by distressing contractions led to those of the state institutions it swelled and maddened the tides of the banking system but seldom allayed or safely directed them at a few periods only was a salutary control exercised but an eager desire on the contrary exhibited for profit in the first place and if afterwards its measures were severe toward other institutions it was because its own safety compelled it to adopt them it did not differ from them in principle or in form its measures emanated from the same spirit of gain it felt the same temptation to overissues it suffered from and was totally unable to avert those inevitable laws of trade by which it was itself affected equally with them and at least on one occasion at an early day it was saved only by extraordinary exertions from the same fate that attended the weakest institution it professed to supervise in 1837 it failed equally with others in redeeming its notes though the two years allowed by its charter for that purpose had not expired a large amount of which remains to the present time outstanding it is true that having so vast a capital and strengthened by the use of all the revenues of the government it possessed more power but while it was itself by that circumstance freed from the control which all banks require its paramount object and inducement were left the same to make the most for its stockholders not to regulate the currency of the country nor has it as far as we are advised been found to be greatly otherwise elsewhere the national character given to the bank of england has not prevented excessive fluctuations in their currency and it proved unable to keep off a suspension of specie payments which lasted for nearly a quarter of a century and why should we expect it to be otherwise a national institution though deriving its charter from a different source than the state banks is yet constituted upon the same principles is conducted by men equally exposed to temptation and is liable to the same disasters with the additional disadvantage that its magnitude occasions an extent of confusion and distress which the mismanagement of smaller institutions could not produce it can scarcely be doubted that the recent suspension of the united state bank of pennsylvania of which the effects are felt not in that state alone but over half the union had its origin in a course of business commenced while it was a national institution and there is no good reason for supposing that the same consequences would not have followed had it still derived its powers from the general government it is in vain when the influences and impulses are the same to look for a difference in conduct or results by such creations we do therefore but increase the mass of paper credit and paper currency without checking their attendant evils and fluctuations the extent of power and the efficiency of organization which we give so far from being beneficial are in practice positively injurious they strengthen the chain of dependence throughout the union subject all parts more certainly to common disaster and bind every bank more effectually in the first instance to those of our commercial cities and in the end to a foreign power in a word i can not but believe that with the full understanding of the operations of our banking system which experience has produced public sentiment is not less opposed to the creation of a national bank for purposes connected with currency and commerce than for those connected with the fiscal operations of the government yet the commerce and currency of the country are suffering evils from the operations of the state banks which can not and ought not to be overlooked by their means we have been flooded with a depreciated paper which it was evidently the design of the framers of the constitution to prevent when they required congress to coin money and regulate the value of foreign coins and when they forbade the states to coin money emit bills of credit make anything but gold and silver a tender in payment of debts or pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts if they did not guard more explicitly against the present state of things it was because they could not have anticipated that the few banks then existing were to swell to an extent which would expel to so great a degree the gold and silver for which they had provided from the channels of circulation and fill them with a currency that defeats the objects they had in view the remedy for this must chiefly rest with the states from whose legislation it has sprung no good that might accrue in a particular case front the exercise of powers not obviously conferred on the general government would authorize its interference or justify a course that might in the slightest degree increase at the expense of the states the power of the federal authorities nor do i doubt that the states will apply the remedy within the last few years events have appealed to them too strongly to be disregarded they have seen that the constitution though theoretically adhered to is subverted in practice that while on the statute books there is no legal tender but gold and silver no law impairing the obligations of contracts yet that in point of fact the privileges conferred on banking corporations have made their notes the currency of the country that the obligations imposed by these notes are violated under the impulses of interest or convenience and that the number and power of the persons connected with these corporations or placed under their influence give them a fearful weight when their interest is in opposition to the spirit of the constitution and laws to the people it is immaterial whether these results are produced by open violations of the latter or by the workings of a system of which the result is the same an inflexible execution even of the existing statutes of most of the states would redress many evils now endured would effectually show the banks the dangers of mismanagement which impunity encourages them to repeat and would teach all corporations the useful lesson that they are the subjects of the law and the servants of the people what is still wanting to effect these objects must be sought in additional legislation or if that be inadequate in such further constitutional grants or restrictions as may bring us back into the path from which we have so widely wandered in the meantime it is the duty of the general government to cooperate with the states by a wise exercise of its constitutional powers and the enforcement of its existing laws the extent to which it may do so by further enactments i have already adverted to and the wisdom of congress may yet enlarge them but above all it is incumbent upon us to hold erect the principles of morality and law constantly executing our own contracts in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and thus serving as a rallying point by which our whole country may be brought back to that safe and honored standard our people will not long be insensible to the extent of the burdens entailed upon them by the false system that has been operating on their sanguine energetic and industrious character nor to the means necessary to extricate themselves from these embarrassments the weight which presses upon a large portion of the people and the states is an enormous debt foreign and domestic the foreign debt of our states corporations and men of business can scarcely be less than requiring more than a year to pay the interest this sum has to be paid out of the exports of the country and must of necessity cut off imports to that extent or plunge the country more deeply in debt from year to year it is easy to see that the increase of this foreign debt must augment the annual demand on the exports to pay the interest and to the same extent diminish the imports and in proportion to the enlargement of the foreign debt and the consequent increase of interest must be the decrease of the import trade in lieu of the comforts which it now brings us we might have our gigantic banking institutions and splendid but in many instances profitless railroads and canals absorbing to a great extent in interest upon the capital borrowed to construct them the surplus fruits of national industry for years to come and securing to posterity no adequate return for the comforts which the labors of their hands might otherwise have secured it is not by the increase of this debt that relief is to be sought but in its diminution upon this point there is i am happy to say hope before us not so much in the return of confidence abroad which will enable the states to borrow more money as in a change of public feeling at home which prompts our people to pause in their career and think of the means by which debts are to be paid before they are contracted if we would escape embarrassment public and private we must cease to run in debt except for objects of necessity or such as will yield a certain return let the faith of the states corporations and individuals already pledged be kept with the most punctilious regard it is due to our national character as well as to justice that this should on the part of each be a fixed principle of conduct but it behooves us all to be more chary in pledging it hereafter by ceasing to run in debt and applying the surplus of our crops and incomes to the discharge of existing obligations buying less and selling more and managing all affairs public and private with strict economy and frugality we shall see our country soon recover from a temporary depression arising not from natural and permanent causes but from those i have enumerated and advance with renewed vigor in her career of prosperity fortunately for us at this moment when the balance of trade is greatly against us and the difficulty of meeting it enhanced by the disturbed state of our money affairs the bounties of providence have come to relieve us from the consequences of past errors a faithful application of the immense results of the labors of the last season will afford partial relief for the present and perseverance in the same course will in due season accomplish the rest we have had full experience in times past of the extraordinary results which can in this respect be brought about in a short period by the united and efforts of a community like ours our surplus profits the energy and industry of our population and the wonderful advantages which providence has bestowed upon our country in its climate its various productions indispensable to other nations will in due time afford abundant means to perfect the most useful of those objects for which the states have been plunging themselves of late in embarrassment and debt without imposing on ourselves or our children such fearful burdens but let it be indelibly engraved on our minds that relief is not to be found in expedients indebtedness can not be lessened by borrowing more money or by changing the form of the debt the balance of trade is not to be turned in our favor by creating new demands upon us abroad our currency can not be improved by the creation of new banks or more issues from those which now exist although these devices sometimes appear to give temporary relief they almost invariably aggravate the evil in the end it is only by retrenchment and reform by curtailing public and private expenditures by paying our debts and by reforming our banking system that we are to expect effectual relief security for the future and an enduring prosperity in shaping the institutions and policy of the general government so as to promote as far as it can with its limited powers these important ends you may rely on my most cordial cooperation that there should have been in the progress of recent events doubts in many quarters and in some a heated opposition to every change can not surprise us doubts are properly attendant on all reform and it is peculiarly in the nature of such abuses as we are now encountering to seek to perpetuate their power by means of the influence they have been permitted to acquire it is their result if not their object to gain for the few an ascendency over the many by securing to them a monopoly of the currency the medium through which most of the wants of mankind are supplied to produce throughout society a chain of dependence which leads all classes to look to privileged associations for the means of speculation and extravagance to nourish in preference to the manly virtues that give dignity to human nature a craving desire for luxurious enjoyment and sudden wealth which renders those who seek them dependent on those who supply them to substitute for republican simplicity and economical habits a sickly appetite for effeminate indulgence and an imitation of that reckless extravagance which impoverished and enslaved the industrious people of foreign lands and at last to fix upon us instead of those equal political rights the acquisition of which was alike the object and supposed reward of our revolutionary struggle a system of exclusive privileges conferred by partial legislation to remove the influences which had thus gradually grown up among us to deprive them of their deceptive advantages to test them by the light of wisdom and truth to oppose the force which they concentrate in their all this was necessarily the work of time even among a people so enlightened and pure as that of the united states in most other countries perhaps it could only be accomplished through that series of revolutionary movements which are too often found necessary to effect any great and radical reform but it is the crowning merit of our institutions that they create and nourish in the vast majority of our people a disposition and a power peaceably to remedy abuses which have elsewhere caused the effusion of rivers of blood and the sacrifice of thousands of the human race the result thus far is most honorable to the the intelligence and the patriotism of our citizens it justifies the confident hope that they will carry through the reform which has been so well begun and that they will go still further than they have yet gone in illustrating the important truth that a people as free and enlightened as ours will whenever it becomes necessary show themselves to be indeed capable of by voluntarily adopting appropriate remedies for every abuse and submitting to temporary sacrifices however great to insure their permanent welfare my own exertions for the furtherance of these desirable objects have been bestowed throughout my official career with a zeal that is nourished by ardent wishes for the welfare of my country and by an unlimited reliance on the wisdom that marks its ultimate decision on all great and controverted questions impressed with the solemn obligations imposed upon me by the constitution desirous also of laying before my with whose confidence and support i have been so highly honored such measures as appear to me conducive to their prosperity and anxious to submit to their fullest consideration the grounds upon which my opinions are formed i have on this as on preceding occasions freely offered my views on those points of domestic policy that seem at the present time most prominently to require the action of the government i know that they will receive from congress that full and able consideration which the importance of the subjects merits and i can repeat the assurance heretofore made that i shall cheerfully and readily cooperate with you in every measure that will tend to promote the welfare of the union
regret occasion congratulate past year one unalloyed prosperity ravages fire disease painfully afflicted otherwise flourishing portions country serious embarrassments yet derange trade many cities notwithstanding adverse circumstances general prosperity heretofore bountifully bestowed upon us author good still continues call warmest gratitude especially reason rejoice exuberant harvests lavishly recompensed industry given sure reward vainly sought visionary speculations indeed view without peculiar satisfaction evidences afforded past season benefits spring steady devotion husbandman honorable pursuit means individual comfort certain source national prosperity sure nothing compensate people dependence upon others bread eat cheerful abundance happiness everyone much depends looked nowhere sure reliance industry agriculturist bounties earth foreign countries relations exhibit favorable aspect presented last annual message afford continued proof wisdom pacific forbearing policy adopted first administration federal government pursued successors extraordinary powers vested act congress defense country emergency considered far probable require executive possess ample means meet exerted therefore attended result increase confidence thus reposed obligations maintain religious exactness cardinal principles govern intercourse nations happily pending questions great britain unusual grant authority arose nothing occurred require exertion return legislature trust future necessity may call exercise delegation another department government settlement northeastern boundary proposition promised great britain commission exploration survey received counter project including also provision certain final adjustment limits dispute british government consideration regard delicate state question proper respect natural impatience state maine less conviction negotiation already protracted longer prudent part either government led believe present favorable moment account suffered pass without putting question forever rest feel confident government britannic majesty take view subject persuaded governed desires equally strong sincere amicable termination controversy intrinsic difficulties questions boundary lines especially described regions unoccupied partially known added country embarrassment necessarily arising constitution general government made organ negotiating deciding upon particular interests states whose frontiers lines traced avoid another controversy state government might rightfully claim wishes consulted previously conclusion conventional arrangements concerning rights jurisdiction territory thought necessary call attention government great britain another portion conterminous dominion division still remains adjusted refer line entrance lake superior northwestern point lake woods stipulations settlement found seventh article treaty ghent commissioners appointed article two governments differed opinions made separate reports according stipulations upon points disagreement differences submitted arbitration friendly sovereign state disputed points settled line designated territorial government one boundaries takes place union state rely upon cordial cooperation british government effect object every reason believe disturbances like lately agitated neighboring british provinces prove sources border contentions interpose obstacles continuance good understanding mutual interest great britain united states preserve maintain within provinces tranquillity restored frontier misguided sympathy favor presumed general effort behalf popular rights instances misled inexperienced citizens subsided rational conviction strongly opposed intermeddling internal affairs neighbors people united states feel hoped always warm solicitude success sincerely endeavoring improve political condition mankind generous feeling cherish toward distant nations natural therefore awakened common warmth behalf immediate neighbors belong character community seek gratification feelings acts violate duty citizens endanger peace country tend bring upon stain violated faith toward foreign nations zealous confer benefits others appear moment lose sight permanent obligations imposed upon citizens seldom long misled information receive confirmed extent personal observation satisfied one hope engage enterprises without encountering public indignation addition severest penalties law recent information also leads hope emigrants majesty provinces sought refuge within boundaries disposed become peaceable residents abstain attempts endanger peace country afforded asylum review occurrences sides line satisfactory reflect almost every complaint country offense may traced emigrants provinces sought refuge instances aided citizens united states acts misguided men direct contravention laws wishes government met decided disapprobation people united states regret state appearance different spirit among majesty subjects canadas sentiments hostility people institutions frequently expressed disregard rights manifested occasions sorry say applauded encouraged people even subordinate local authorities provinces chief officers canada fortunately entertained feeling probably prevented excesses must fatal peace two countries look forward anxiously period transactions grown condition affairs made subjects complaint remonstrance two governments respectively shall fully examined proper satisfaction given due either side nothing occurred disturb harmony intercourse austria belgium denmark france naples portugal prussia russia sweden internal state spain sensibly improved hope exists return peace restore people country former prosperity enable government fulfill obligations home abroad government portugal satisfaction state paid full eleventh last installment due citizens claims embraced settlement made 3d march 1837 lay treaties commerce negotiated kings sardinia netherlands ratifications exchanged since adjournment congress liberal principles treaties recommend approbation sardinia first treaty commerce formed kingdom trust answer expectations present sovereign aiding development resources country stimulating enterprise people netherlands happily terminates subject dispute removes future commercial intercourse apprehension embarrassment king netherlands also illustration character justice desire remove every dissatisfaction made compensation american vessel captured 1800 french privateer carried curacoa proceeds appropriated use colony short time dominion holland death late sultan produced alteration relations turkey newly appointed minister resident reached constantinople received assurances present ruler obligations treaty friendship fulfilled spirit actuated illustrious father regret obliged inform convention settlement claims citizens upon mexico yet ratified government country first convention formed purpose presented president mexico approbation congress belief king prussia arbitrator case disagreement joint commission appointed united states mexico would consent take upon friendly office although entirely satisfied course pursued mexico felt hesitation receiving conciliatory spirit explanation offered also cheerfully consented new convention order arrange payments proposed made citizens manner equally deemed less onerous inconvenient mexican government relying confidently upon intentions government ellis directed repair mexico diplomatic intercourse resumed two countries new convention informs us recently submitted president republic congress circumstances promise speedy ratification result allow doubt instructions given commissioner united states convention texas demarcation line separates us republic commissioners governments met new orleans august last joint commission organized adjourned convene place 12th october presumed performance duties new government texas shown desire cultivate friendly relations us prompt reparation injuries complained cases two vessels united states central america convention concluded renewal former treaty united states ratified departure late charge country copy brought received adjournment senate last session meanwhile period limited exchange ratifications expired deemed expedient consequence death charge send special agent central america close affairs mission arrange government extension time exchange ratifications commission created states formerly composed republic colombia adjusting claims government unexpected construction treaty acts decided provision made claims citizens united states arose captures colombian privateers adjudged claimants judicial tribunals decision compel united states apply several governments formerly united redress new granada venezuela ecuador perfectly good understanding exists treaty venezuela faithfully carried execution country enjoyment tranquillity gradually advancing prosperity guidance present distinguished president general paez ecuador liberal commercial convention lately concluded transmitted senate early day great american empire brazil relations continue unchanged friendly intercourse governments south america argentine republic republics uruguay chili peru bolivia dissolution confederation may occasion temporary inconvenience citizens quarter obligations new governments arisen confederation observe treaty stipulations doubt soon understood presumed indisposition exist fulfill contracted united states financial operations government present year happy say successful difficulties treasury department labored known defects existing laws relative public moneys aggravated suspension specie payments several banks holding public deposits indebted public officers notes received payment public dues surmounted gratifying extent large current expenditures punctually met faith government pecuniary concerns scrupulously maintained nineteen millions treasury notes authorized act congress 1837 modifications thereof view indulgence merchants duty bonds deposit banks payment public moneys held punctually redeemed leave less original ten millions outstanding one time whole amount unredeemed falls short three millions chief portion due till next year whole would already extinguished could treasury realized payments due banks due next year shall punctually made congress shall keep appropriations within estimates every reason believe outstanding treasury notes redeemed ordinary expenses defrayed without imposing people additional burden either loans increased taxes avoid keep expenditures within reasonable bounds duty second importance preservation national character protection citizens civil political rights creation time peace debt likely become permanent evil equivalent rapidity many states apparently approaching condition admonishes us duties manner impressive disregarded one least important keep federal government always condition discharge ease vigor highest functions exercise required sudden conjuncture public affairs condition always exposed may occur least expected end indispensable finances untrammeled resources far practicable unencumbered circumstance could present greater obstacles accomplishment vitally important objects creation onerous national debt experience also nations demonstrated unavoidable fearful rapidity public debt increased government surrendered ruinous practice supplying supposed necessities new loans struggle therefore part successful must made threshold make efforts effective severe economy necessary surest provision national welfare time best preservative principles institutions rest simplicity economy affairs state never failed chasten invigorate republican principles surely subverted national prodigality whatever specious pretexts may introduced fostered considerations lost upon people never inattentive effect policy upon institutions created present moment force augmented necessity decreasing revenue must impose check lately given importations articles subject duties derangements operations internal trade especially reduction gradually taking place tariff duties tend materially lessen receipts indeed probable diminution resulting last alone fall short year 1842 final reduction duties 20 per cent takes effect whole revenue accruing customs sales public lands undoubtedly wanted defray necessary expenses government prudent administration affairs circumstances impose necessity rigid economy require prompt constant exercise legislature rest power duty adjusting public expenditure promote end provisions constitution consequence appropriations made law money drawn treasury instance occurred since establishment government executive though component part legislative power interposed objection appropriation bill sole ground extravagance duty respect considered fulfilled requesting appropriations public service may reasonably expected require present earnest direction public mind toward subject executive legislature evidence strict responsibility held conscious anxious efforts perform fidelity portion public functions satisfaction able count cordial cooperation time entered upon present duties ordinary disbursements without including account public debt trust funds charge government largely increased appropriations removal indians repelling indian hostilities less urgent expenses grew overflowing treasury independent redemption public debt trusts gross expenditures seventeen eighteen millions 1834 1835 causes swelled millions 1836 appropriations 1837 made previously 4th march caused expenditure rise large amount millions enabled year 1838 notwithstanding continuance indian embarrassments somewhat reduce amount present year 1839 probability exceed millions six millions less last year determination far depends continue reduction directed estimates 1840 subjected severest scrutiny limited absolute requirements public service found less expenditures 1839 precautionary measures recommended secretary treasury protect faithfully public credit fluctuations contingencies receipts expenditures exposed especially commercial crisis like present commended early attention former occasion attention invited various considerations support preemption law behalf settlers public lands also law graduating prices lands long market unsold consequence inferior quality execution act passed first subject attended happiest consequences quieting titles securing improvements industrious also gratifying extent exempt frauds practiced previous preemption laws time anticipated contributed liberally present year receipts treasury passage graduation law guards recommended would also persuaded add considerably revenue several years prove respects beneficial early consideration subject therefore earnestly requested present condition defenses principal seaports represented accompanying report secretary war calls early serious attention congress connecting intimately subject recommend strongly consideration plan submitted officer organization militia united states conformity expressed wishes congress attempt made spring terminate florida war negotiation regretted humane intentions frustrated effort bring unhappy difficulties satisfactory conclusion failed entering solemn engagements commanding general indians without provocation recommenced acts treachery murder renewal hostilities territory renders necessary recommend favorable consideration plan submitted secretary war order enable department conduct successful issue opportunity personally inspecting portion troops last summer gives pleasure bear testimony success effort improve discipline keeping together large bodies nature service permit recommend therefore commodious permanent barracks constructed several posts designated secretary war notwithstanding high state discipline excellent police evils resulting service deficiency company officers apparent recommend staff officers permanently separated line navy usefully honorably employed protecting rights property citizens wherever condition affairs seemed require presence exception one instance outrage accompanied murder committed vessel united states engaged lawful commerce nothing known occurred impede molest enterprise citizens element signally displayed learning daring act piracy commodore reed proceeded immediately spot receiving satisfaction either surrender murderers restoration plundered property inflicted severe merited chastisement barbarians seen report secretary navy respecting disposition ships war deemed necessary station competent force coast africa prevent fraudulent use flag foreigners recent experience shown provisions existing laws relate sale transfer american vessels abroad extremely defective advantage taken defects give vessels wholly belonging foreigners navigating ocean apparent american ownership character well simulated afford comparative security prosecuting slave trade traffic emphatically denounced statutes regarded abhorrence citizens effectual suppression nowhere sincerely desired united states circumstances make proper recommend early attention careful revision laws without impeding freedom facilities navigation impairing important branch industry connected integrity honor flag may carefully preserved information derived consul havana showing necessity communicated committee senate near close last session late appeared acted upon brought notice proper department additional communications sources latest accounts exploring expedition represent proceeding successfully objects promising results less useful trade navigation science extent covered mail service 1st july last miles rate annual transportation upon miles number day 30th ultimo revenue department year ending 30th june last exhibiting increase preceding year engagements liabilities department period excess liabilities revenue last two years met surplus previously accumulated cash hand 30th ultimo current income department varies little rate current expenditures service suspended last year restored new routes established act 7th july 1838 set operation annual cost notwithstanding pecuniary difficulties country revenue department appears increasing unless shall seriously checked recent suspension payment many banks able maintain present mail service short time extend gratifying witness promptitude fidelity agents department general perform public duties difficulties arisen relation contracts transportation mails railroad steamboat companies appears maximum compensation provided congress transportation mails upon railroads sufficient induce companies convey hours required accommodation public one important duties general government provide maintain use people states best practicable mail establishment arrive end indispensable department shall enabled control hours mails shall carried railroads roads serious inconveniences arise inadequacy compensation provided law unreasonable demands railroad companies subject general importance require prompt attention congress relation steamboat lines efficient remedy obvious suggested war navy departments already employ steamboats service although means desirable government undertake transportation passengers freight business reasonable objection running boats temporarily whenever may necessary put attempts extortion discontinued soon reasonable contracts obtained suggestions relative inadequacy legal allowance witnesses cases prosecutions mail depredations merit serious consideration safety mails requires prosecutions shall efficient justice citizen whose time required given public demands expenses shall paid shall receive reasonable compensation reports war navy departments accompany communication one treasury department presented congress days various details respect matters charge departments would refer important documents satisfied find many valuable suggestions found well deserving attention legislature report made december last year secretary state senate showing trial docket circuit courts number miles judge travel performance duties great inequality appears amount labor assigned judge number terms held courts composing ninth circuit distances places sit thence seat government represented render impossible judge circuit perform manner corresponding public exigencies term circuit duties revision therefore present arrangement circuit seems called recommended notice think proper call attention power assumed territorial legislatures authorize issue bonds corporate companies guaranty territory congress passed law 1836 providing act territorial legislature incorporating banks force law approved congress acts exceptionable character previously passed legislature florida suffered remain force virtue bonds may issued large amount institutions upon faith territory resolution intending joint one passed senate session expressing sense congress laws question ought permitted remain force unless amended many material respects failed house representatives want time desired amendments made interests involved great importance subject deserves early careful attention continued agitation question relative best mode keeping disbursing public money still injuriously affects business country suspension specie payments 1837 rendered use deposit banks prescribed act 1836 source rather embarrassment aid necessity placed custody public money afterwards collected charge public officers new securities safety required principal convening extra session congress consequence disagreement two houses neither subsequent period legislation subject effort made last session obtain authority congress punish use public money private purposes crime measure attended governments signal advantage also unsuccessful diversities opinion body notwithstanding anxiety doubtless felt afford every practicable security result still leave custody public money without safeguards several years earnestly desired executive remedy found action legislature imposes duty submitting propriety passing law providing public moneys especially ask use private purposes officers intrusted may declared felony punishable penalties proportioned magnitude offense circumstances added known defects existing laws unusual derangement general operations trade last three years much increased difficulties attendant collection keeping disbursement revenue called forth corresponding exertions charge happily successful beyond expectation vast sums collected disbursed several departments unexpected cheapness ease transfers readily made every part union however distant defalcations far less might anticipated absence adequate legal restraints since officers treasury departments charged custody public moneys received collected excluding case late collector new york aggregate amount losses sustained collection believed exceed defalcation late collector city extent circumstances congress fully informed ran modes keeping public money hitherto use distinguished aggravated disregard duty broke restraints every system therefore usefully referred test comparative safety either additional information also furnished report secretary treasury reply call made upon officer house representatives last session requiring detailed information subject defaults public officers agents administration 1789 1837 document submitted days general results independent kept separately stated far bear upon subject losses likely sustained class agents greatest banks including required resolution depreciated paper received public dues next largest disbursing officers least collectors receivers losses duty bonds included alone threefold collectors receivers whole experience therefore furnishes strongest evidence desired legislation congress alone wanting insure operations highest degree security facility also appears experience nations results inquiries made secretary treasury regard practice among enabled state foreign governments undoubted information obtained public moneys kept charge public officers concurrence opinion favor system perhaps great exists question internal administration modes business official restraints disbursing officers legal change produced suspension specie payments report last referred found contain also much useful information relation subject heretofore assigned congress reasons believing establishment independent national treasury contemplated constitution necessary safe action federal government suspension specie payments 1837 banks custody public money showed alarming degree dependence institutions performance duties required law recommended entire dissolution connection recommendation subjected desired severe scrutiny animated discussion allow believe notwithstanding natural diversities opinion may anticipated subjects involving important considerations secured favor general concurrence public sentiment could expected one magnitude recent events also continued develop new objections connection seldom bank existing system practice able meet demand liabilities deposits notes circulation maintains specie payments transacts profitable business confidence public solvency whenever destroyed demands depositors note holders pressed rapidly make collections debtors force stop payment loss confidence consequences occurred 1837 afforded apology banks suspension public acquiesced validity excuse state legislatures exact forfeited charters congress accordance recommendation executive allowed time pay public money held although compelled issue treasury notes supply deficiency thus created appears motives want public confidence banks seek justify refusal meet obligations scarcely country government relieved degree difficulties occasioned general suspension 1837 partial one occurring within thirty months former produced new serious embarrassments though palliation circumstances alleged justification previously taken place nothing condition country endanger banking institution commerce deranged foreign war every branch manufacturing industry crowned rich rewards usual abundance harvests supplying domestic wants left granaries storehouses filled surplus exportation midst irredeemable depreciated paper currency entailed upon people large portion banks driven exhibition loss public confidence sudden pressure depositors note holders excuse alleging current business exchange foreign countries draws precious metals vaults would require order meet larger curtailment loans comparatively small portion community convenient bear perhaps safe banks exact plea ceased one necessity convenience policy deemed sufficient warrant institutions disregarding solemn obligations conduct merely injury individual creditors wrong whole community whose liberality hold valuable privileges whose rights violate whose business derange value whose property render unstable insecure must evident new ground bank suspensions reference action disconnected wholly independent public gives character suspensions alarming exhibited greatly increases impropriety relying banks transactions government large highly respectable portion banking institutions affords unfeigned pleasure state exempted blame account second delinquency great credit continued meet engagements even repudiated grounds suspension resorted course confidence good community preserved sequel best interests institutions promoted new dangers banks also daily disclosed extension system extravagant credit pillars formerly foreign commerce principally rounded exchange commodities including precious metals leaving transactions little foreign debt case aided facilities afforded banks mere credit become commonly basis trade many banks content largely stimulating system among others usurped business impair stability mercantile community become borrowers instead lenders establish agencies abroad deal largely stocks merchandise encourage issue state securities foreign market glutted unsatisfied legitimate use capital exercise lawful privileges raise large loans additional means every variety speculation disasters attendant deviation former course business country shared alike banks individuals extent perhaps previous example annals country long willingness foreign lender sufficient export productions meet necessary partial payments leave flow credit undisturbed appears prosperous soon checked hesitation abroad inability make payment productions evils system disclosed paper currency might serve domestic purposes useless pay debt due europe gold silver therefore drawn exchange notes banks keep supply coin institutions obliged call upon debtors pay principally notes unavailable merchants meet foreign demand calls banks therefore emergencies necessity exceed demand produce corresponding curtailment accommodations currency moment state trade renders inconvenient borne intensity pressure community proportion previous liberality credit consequent expansion currency forced sales property made time means purchasing reduced worst calamities individuals last arrested open violation obligations banks refusal pay specie notes imposition upon community fluctuating depreciated currency consequences inherent present system influenced banks large small created national state governments results irresistible laws trade credit recent events strikingly illustrated certain effects laws seen bank largest capital union established national charter lately strengthened authoritatively informed exchanging state charter new unusual privileges condition said entire soundness great prosperity merely unable resist effects first yield overlooked exists chain necessary dependence among institutions obliges great extent follow course others notwithstanding injustice immediate creditors injury particular community placed dependence bank proportion extent debts circulation deposits merely others vicinity connect center trade distant banks may fail without seriously affecting principal commercial cities failure latter felt extremities union suspension new york 1837 everywhere exceptions followed soon known recently philadelphia immediately affected banks south west similar manner dependence whole banking system institutions large cities found laws organization trade exchange banks center currency flows required payments merchandise hold power controlling regions whence comes latter possess means restraining value individual property prosperity trade whole interior country made depend good bad management banking institutions great seats trade seaboard chain dependence stop terminate philadelphia new york reaches across ocean ends london center credit system laws trade give banks principal cities power whole banking system united states subject former turn money power great britain denied suspension new york banks 1837 followed quick succession throughout union produced application power alleged extenuation present condition large portion banks embarrassments arisen influence entirely escape origin credit currencies two countries strengthened current trade exchange centers london rendered almost irresistible large debts contracted merchants banks states thus introduction new bank distant villages places business village within influence money power england thus every new debt contract country seriously affects currency extends pursuits citizens powerful influence escape making new banks great small state national chains bind existing center system paper credit must equally fetter every similar institution create extent system pushed late made fully aware irresistible tendency subject banks currency vast controlling power foreign lad adds new argument illustrate precarious situation endangered first place mismanagement conduct every institution connects center trade country yet subjected beyond effect whatever measures policy necessity caprice may induce control credits england resort mean comment upon measures present past much less discourage prosecution fair commercial dealing two countries based reciprocal benefits made manifest power inflicting similar injuries resistless law credit currency credit trade equally capable extending consequences ramifications banking system means indirectly obtaining particularly banks used depositories public moneys dangerous political influence united states deemed duty bring subject notice ask serious consideration argument required beyond exposition facts show impropriety using banking institutions depositories public money venture encounter risk individual mutual mismanagement time place foreign domestic policy entirely control foreign moneyed interest impair independence government present credit system already impaired independence banks submit important operations whether peace war controlled thwarted first banks power abroad greater bring depict humiliation government people might sooner later reduced means defending rights made dependent upon may powerful motives impair reference effect state things independence government banks subject presents consideration viewed also relations general trade country time long passed deficiency foreign crops thought afford profitable market surplus industry await feverish anxiety news english harvest much motives commendable sympathy fearful lest anticipated failure narrow field credit speak volumes patriot system beneficent wise creates greater anxiety interests dependent foreign credit general prosperity country profitable exportation surplus produce labor circumstances thus adverted appear afford weighty reasons developed late events added former occasions offered submitting better knowledge discernment propriety separating custody public money banking institutions anything occurred lessen opinion force heretofore urged ground custody desired banks profitable use may make money use would regarded individuals breach trust crime great magnitude yet may reasonably doubted whether first last attended mischievous consequences permitted former latter practice permitting public money used keepers believed peculiar country exist scarcely anywhere else procure improper influences appealed unwise connections established government vast numbers powerful state institutions motives public good brought bear executive legislative departments selfish combinations leading special legislation formed made interest banking institutions stockholders throughout union use exertions increase taxation accumulation surplus revenue excuse afforded means furnished excessive issues lead extravagant trading speculation forerunners vast debt abroad suspension banks home impressed therefore propriety funds government withdrawn private use either banks individuals public money kept duly appointed public agents believing also judgment discussion reflection experience produced public mind leave subject events essential interests community business government decision made arguments dissuade us employing banks custody disbursement public money apply equal force receipt notes public dues difference form one instance government creditor deposits notes holds afford opportunity using public moneys equally lead evils attendant upon since bank safely extend discounts deposit notes hands public officer one made vaults hand would give government greater security case failure claim note holder would better depositor aware danger inconvenience public unreasonable pressure upon sound banks urged objections requiring payment revenue gold silver objections greatly exaggerated best estimates may safely fix amount specie country portion would employed one time receipts disbursements government even proposed change made would fuller investigation believed exceed four five millions change gradual several years would elapse sum would required annual opportunities meantime alter law experience prove oppressive inconvenient portions community whose business change would immediately operate comparatively small believed effect would least unjust injurious payment duties constitute far greater portion revenue large proportion derived foreign commission houses agents foreign manufacturers sell goods consigned generally auction paying duties avails remit rest abroad specie equivalent amount duties cases also retained specie hardly made matter complaint importing merchants residue duties paid peculiarly interested maintaining sound currency measure question especially promote nature dealings best able know specie needed procure least difficulty sacrifice residing almost universally places revenue received drafts used government disbursements must concentrate every opportunity obtain use place specie interest convenience number drafts facilities may afford well rapidity public funds drawn disbursed idea may formed fact nearly paid collectors receivers present year average amount hands one time exceeded million half fifteen millions received collector new york alone present year average amount held subject draft week less half million ease safety operations treasury keeping public money promoted application drafts public dues objection arising long outstanding might obviated yet made afford merchants banks holding equivalent specie way greatly lessen amount actually required still less inconvenience attend requirement specie purchases public lands purchases except made speculation general single transactions rarely repeated person fact last year half notes sound banks received moiety payments voluntarily made specie larger proportion would required three years graduation proposed moreover principle none better settled experience supply precious metals always found adequate uses required abound countries currency allowed states small notes excluded gold silver supply place driven hiding places bank suspensions little firmness community soon restores sufficient quantity ordinary purposes postage public dues collected coin without serious inconvenience even states depreciated paper currency existed years aid treasury notes part time done without interruption suspension 1837 present moment receipts disbursements government made legal currency largest portion union one suggests departure rule successfully carried surely attended even less difficulty bank notes redeemed specie indeed think serious objection would anywhere raised receipt payment gold silver public transactions apprehension surplus treasury might withdraw large portion circulation lock unprofitably public vaults would opinion difficult prevent inconvenience occurring authentic statements already submitted regard actual amount public treasury one time period embraced little probability different state treasury least years come seem render unnecessary dwell upon congress moreover observed every year opportunity guard occurrence circumstances lead us apprehend injury source viewing subject aspects believe period auspicious present adoption measures necessary maintain sanctity engagements aid securing community abundant supply precious metals adds much prosperity gives increased stability dealings country commercial banks form probably always exist serves render incumbent us notwithstanding discouragements past strive respective stations mitigate evils produce take rapidly obligations public faith careful consideration immediate interests community permit unjust character monopolies check far may practicable prudent legislation temptations interest opportunities dangerous indulgence beset every side confine strictly performance paramount duty aiding operations commerce rather consulting exclusive advantage salutary reforms may believed accomplished without violation great principles social compact observance indispensable existence interfering way useful profitable employment real capital institutions framed existed still exist elsewhere giving commercial intercourse necessary facilities without inflating depreciating currency stimulating speculation thus accomplishing legitimate ends gained surest guaranty protection encouragement good community among people results could fail attend similar course direct supervision banks belongs nature government states authorize legislatures people must mainly look action subject conduct federal government management revenue also powerful though less immediate influence upon becomes duty see proper direction given keeping public revenue separate independent treasury collecting gold silver salutary influence system paper credit banks connected thus aid sound well managed time sensibly check otherwise withholding means extravagance afforded public funds restraining excessive issues notes would constantly called upon redeem aware urged control may best attained exerted means national bank constitutional objections well known entertain would prevent event proposing assenting remedy addition past experience bring think longer extensively regarded effective purpose history late national bank mutations shows contrary may careful consideration subject think safely stated every period banking excess took lead 1817 1818 1823 1831 1834 vast expansions followed distressing contractions led state institutions swelled maddened tides banking system seldom allayed safely directed periods salutary control exercised eager desire contrary exhibited profit first place afterwards measures severe toward institutions safety compelled adopt differ principle form measures emanated spirit gain felt temptation overissues suffered totally unable avert inevitable laws trade affected equally least one occasion early day saved extraordinary exertions fate attended weakest institution professed supervise 1837 failed equally others redeeming notes though two years allowed charter purpose expired large amount remains present time outstanding true vast capital strengthened use revenues government possessed power circumstance freed control banks require paramount object inducement left make stockholders regulate currency country far advised found greatly otherwise elsewhere national character given bank england prevented excessive fluctuations currency proved unable keep suspension specie payments lasted nearly quarter century expect otherwise national institution though deriving charter different source state banks yet constituted upon principles conducted men equally exposed temptation liable disasters additional disadvantage magnitude occasions extent confusion distress mismanagement smaller institutions could produce scarcely doubted recent suspension united state bank pennsylvania effects felt state alone half union origin course business commenced national institution good reason supposing consequences would followed still derived powers general government vain influences impulses look difference conduct results creations therefore increase mass paper credit paper currency without checking attendant evils fluctuations extent power efficiency organization give far beneficial practice positively injurious strengthen chain dependence throughout union subject parts certainly common disaster bind every bank effectually first instance commercial cities end foreign power word believe full understanding operations banking system experience produced public sentiment less opposed creation national bank purposes connected currency commerce connected fiscal operations government yet commerce currency country suffering evils operations state banks ought overlooked means flooded depreciated paper evidently design framers constitution prevent required congress coin money regulate value foreign coins forbade states coin money emit bills credit make anything gold silver tender payment debts pass law impairing obligation contracts guard explicitly present state things could anticipated banks existing swell extent would expel great degree gold silver provided channels circulation fill currency defeats objects view remedy must chiefly rest states whose legislation sprung good might accrue particular case front exercise powers obviously conferred general government would authorize interference justify course might slightest degree increase expense states power federal authorities doubt states apply remedy within last years events appealed strongly disregarded seen constitution though theoretically adhered subverted practice statute books legal tender gold silver law impairing obligations contracts yet point fact privileges conferred banking corporations made notes currency country obligations imposed notes violated impulses interest convenience number power persons connected corporations placed influence give fearful weight interest opposition spirit constitution laws people immaterial whether results produced open violations latter workings system result inflexible execution even existing statutes states would redress many evils endured would effectually show banks dangers mismanagement impunity encourages repeat would teach corporations useful lesson subjects law servants people still wanting effect objects must sought additional legislation inadequate constitutional grants restrictions may bring us back path widely wandered meantime duty general government cooperate states wise exercise constitutional powers enforcement existing laws extent may enactments already adverted wisdom congress may yet enlarge incumbent upon us hold erect principles morality law constantly executing contracts accordance provisions constitution thus serving rallying point whole country may brought back safe honored standard people long insensible extent burdens entailed upon false system operating sanguine energetic industrious character means necessary extricate embarrassments weight presses upon large portion people states enormous debt foreign domestic foreign debt states corporations men business scarcely less requiring year pay interest sum paid exports country must necessity cut imports extent plunge country deeply debt year year easy see increase foreign debt must augment annual demand exports pay interest extent diminish imports proportion enlargement foreign debt consequent increase interest must decrease import trade lieu comforts brings us might gigantic banking institutions splendid many instances profitless railroads canals absorbing great extent interest upon capital borrowed construct surplus fruits national industry years come securing posterity adequate return comforts labors hands might otherwise secured increase debt relief sought diminution upon point happy say hope us much return confidence abroad enable states borrow money change public feeling home prompts people pause career think means debts paid contracted would escape embarrassment public private must cease run debt except objects necessity yield certain return let faith states corporations individuals already pledged kept punctilious regard due national character well justice part fixed principle conduct behooves us chary pledging hereafter ceasing run debt applying surplus crops incomes discharge existing obligations buying less selling managing affairs public private strict economy frugality shall see country soon recover temporary depression arising natural permanent causes enumerated advance renewed vigor career prosperity fortunately us moment balance trade greatly us difficulty meeting enhanced disturbed state money affairs bounties providence come relieve us consequences past errors faithful application immense results labors last season afford partial relief present perseverance course due season accomplish rest full experience times past extraordinary results respect brought short period united efforts community like surplus profits energy industry population wonderful advantages providence bestowed upon country climate various productions indispensable nations due time afford abundant means perfect useful objects states plunging late embarrassment debt without imposing children fearful burdens let indelibly engraved minds relief found expedients indebtedness lessened borrowing money changing form debt balance trade turned favor creating new demands upon us abroad currency improved creation new banks issues exist although devices sometimes appear give temporary relief almost invariably aggravate evil end retrenchment reform curtailing public private expenditures paying debts reforming banking system expect effectual relief security future enduring prosperity shaping institutions policy general government promote far limited powers important ends may rely cordial cooperation progress recent events doubts many quarters heated opposition every change surprise us doubts properly attendant reform peculiarly nature abuses encountering seek perpetuate power means influence permitted acquire result object gain ascendency many securing monopoly currency medium wants mankind supplied produce throughout society chain dependence leads classes look privileged associations means speculation extravagance nourish preference manly virtues give dignity human nature craving desire luxurious enjoyment sudden wealth renders seek dependent supply substitute republican simplicity economical habits sickly appetite effeminate indulgence imitation reckless extravagance impoverished enslaved industrious people foreign lands last fix upon us instead equal political rights acquisition alike object supposed reward revolutionary struggle system exclusive privileges conferred partial legislation remove influences thus gradually grown among us deprive deceptive advantages test light wisdom truth oppose force concentrate necessarily work time even among people enlightened pure united states countries perhaps could accomplished series revolutionary movements often found necessary effect great radical reform crowning merit institutions create nourish vast majority people disposition power peaceably remedy abuses elsewhere caused effusion rivers blood sacrifice thousands human race result thus far honorable intelligence patriotism citizens justifies confident hope carry reform well begun go still yet gone illustrating important truth people free enlightened whenever becomes necessary show indeed capable voluntarily adopting appropriate remedies every abuse submitting temporary sacrifices however great insure permanent welfare exertions furtherance desirable objects bestowed throughout official career zeal nourished ardent wishes welfare country unlimited reliance wisdom marks ultimate decision great controverted questions impressed solemn obligations imposed upon constitution desirous also laying whose confidence support highly honored measures appear conducive prosperity anxious submit fullest consideration grounds upon opinions formed preceding occasions freely offered views points domestic policy seem present time prominently require action government know receive congress full able consideration importance subjects merits repeat assurance heretofore made shall cheerfully readily cooperate every measure tend promote welfare union
regret occasion congratulate past year one unalloyed prosperity ravage fire disease painfully afflict otherwise flourishing portion country serious embarrassment yet derange trade many city notwithstanding adverse circumstance general prosperity heretofore bountifully bestow upon u author good still continue call warm gratitude especially reason rejoice exuberant harvest lavishly recompense industry give sure reward vainly seek visionary speculation indeed view without peculiar satisfaction evidence afford past season benefit spring steady devotion husbandman honorable pursuit mean individual comfort certain source national prosperity sure nothing compensate people dependence upon others bread eat cheerful abundance happiness everyone much depend look nowhere sure reliance industry agriculturist bounty earth foreign country relation exhibit favorable aspect present last annual message afford continue proof wisdom pacific forbearing policy adopt first administration federal government pursue successor extraordinary power vest act congress defense country emergency consider far probable require executive possess ample mean meet exert therefore attended result increase confidence thus repose obligation maintain religious exactness cardinal principle govern intercourse nation happily pending question great britain unusual grant authority arise nothing occur require exertion return legislature trust future necessity may call exercise delegation another department government settlement northeastern boundary proposition promise great britain commission exploration survey receive counter project include also provision certain final adjustment limit dispute british government consideration regard delicate state question proper respect natural impatience state maine less conviction negotiation already protract longer prudent part either government lead believe present favorable moment account suffer pas without put question forever rest feel confident government britannic majesty take view subject persuade governed desire equally strong sincere amicable termination controversy intrinsic difficulty question boundary line especially describe region unoccupied partially know added country embarrassment necessarily arise constitution general government make organ negotiate decide upon particular interest state whose frontier line trace avoid another controversy state government might rightfully claim wish consult previously conclusion conventional arrangement concern right jurisdiction territory think necessary call attention government great britain another portion conterminous dominion division still remain adjusted refer line entrance lake superior northwestern point lake wood stipulation settlement find seventh article treaty ghent commissioner appoint article two government differ opinion make separate report accord stipulation upon point disagreement difference submit arbitration friendly sovereign state dispute point settle line designate territorial government one boundaries take place union state rely upon cordial cooperation british government effect object every reason believe disturbance like lately agitate neighboring british province prove source border contention interpose obstacle continuance good understand mutual interest great britain united state preserve maintain within province tranquillity restore frontier misguided sympathy favor presume general effort behalf popular right instance mislead inexperienced citizen subside rational conviction strongly oppose intermeddling internal affair neighbor people united state feel hop always warm solicitude success sincerely endeavor improve political condition mankind generous feel cherish toward distant nation natural therefore awakened common warmth behalf immediate neighbor belong character community seek gratification feeling act violate duty citizen endanger peace country tend bring upon stain violated faith toward foreign nation zealous confer benefit others appear moment lose sight permanent obligation impose upon citizen seldom long mislead information receive confirm extent personal observation satisfy one hope engage enterprise without encounter public indignation addition severe penalty law recent information also lead hope emigrant majesty province seek refuge within boundary dispose become peaceable resident abstain attempt endanger peace country afford asylum review occurrence side line satisfactory reflect almost every complaint country offense may trace emigrant province seek refuge instance aid citizen united state act misguide men direct contravention law wishes government meet decided disapprobation people united state regret state appearance different spirit among majesty subject canadas sentiment hostility people institution frequently express disregard right manifest occasion sorry say applaud encouraged people even subordinate local authority province chief officer canada fortunately entertain feeling probably prevent excess must fatal peace two country look forward anxiously period transaction grown condition affair make subject complaint remonstrance two government respectively shall fully examine proper satisfaction give due either side nothing occur disturb harmony intercourse austria belgium denmark france naples portugal prussia russia sweden internal state spain sensibly improve hope exist return peace restore people country former prosperity enable government fulfill obligation home abroad government portugal satisfaction state pay full eleventh last installment due citizen claim embrace settlement make 3d march 1837 lay treaty commerce negotiated king sardinia netherlands ratification exchange since adjournment congress liberal principle treaty recommend approbation sardinia first treaty commerce form kingdom trust answer expectation present sovereign aid development resource country stimulate enterprise people netherlands happily terminate subject dispute remove future commercial intercourse apprehension embarrassment king netherlands also illustration character justice desire remove every dissatisfaction make compensation american vessel capture 1800 french privateer carry curacoa proceeds appropriate use colony short time dominion holland death late sultan produce alteration relation turkey newly appoint minister resident reach constantinople receive assurance present ruler obligation treaty friendship fulfil spirit actuate illustrious father regret oblige inform convention settlement claim citizen upon mexico yet ratified government country first convention form purpose present president mexico approbation congress belief king prussia arbitrator case disagreement joint commission appoint united state mexico would consent take upon friendly office although entirely satisfied course pursue mexico felt hesitation receive conciliatory spirit explanation offer also cheerfully consent new convention order arrange payment propose make citizen manner equally deem less onerous inconvenient mexican government rely confidently upon intention government ellis direct repair mexico diplomatic intercourse resume two country new convention informs u recently submit president republic congress circumstance promise speedy ratification result allow doubt instruction give commissioner united state convention texas demarcation line separate u republic commissioner government meet new orleans august last joint commission organize adjourn convene place 12th october presume performance duty new government texas show desire cultivate friendly relation u prompt reparation injury complain case two vessel united state central america convention conclude renewal former treaty united state ratify departure late charge country copy bring receive adjournment senate last session meanwhile period limit exchange ratification expire deemed expedient consequence death charge send special agent central america close affair mission arrange government extension time exchange ratification commission create state formerly compose republic colombia adjust claim government unexpected construction treaty act decide provision make claim citizen united state arise capture colombian privateer adjudge claimant judicial tribunal decision compel united state apply several government formerly united redress new granada venezuela ecuador perfectly good understanding exists treaty venezuela faithfully carried execution country enjoyment tranquillity gradually advance prosperity guidance present distinguish president general paez ecuador liberal commercial convention lately conclude transmitted senate early day great american empire brazil relation continue unchanged friendly intercourse government south america argentine republic republic uruguay chili peru bolivia dissolution confederation may occasion temporary inconvenience citizen quarter obligation new government arise confederation observe treaty stipulation doubt soon understood presume indisposition exist fulfill contract united state financial operation government present year happy say successful difficulty treasury department labor know defect exist law relative public money aggravate suspension specie payment several bank hold public deposit indebted public officer note receive payment public due surmount gratify extent large current expenditure punctually meet faith government pecuniary concern scrupulously maintain nineteen million treasury note authorize act congress 1837 modification thereof view indulgence merchant duty bond deposit bank payment public money hold punctually redeem leave less original ten million outstanding one time whole amount unredeemed fall short three million chief portion due till next year whole would already extinguish could treasury realized payment due bank due next year shall punctually make congress shall keep appropriation within estimate every reason believe outstanding treasury note redeem ordinary expense defray without impose people additional burden either loan increase tax avoid keep expenditure within reasonable bound duty second importance preservation national character protection citizen civil political right creation time peace debt likely become permanent evil equivalent rapidity many state apparently approach condition admonishes u duty manner impressive disregard one least important keep federal government always condition discharge ease vigor high function exercise require sudden conjuncture public affair condition always expose may occur least expected end indispensable finance untrammeled resource far practicable unencumbered circumstance could present great obstacle accomplishment vitally important object creation onerous national debt experience also nations demonstrate unavoidable fearful rapidity public debt increase government surrender ruinous practice supply suppose necessity new loan struggle therefore part successful must make threshold make effort effective severe economy necessary sure provision national welfare time best preservative principle institution rest simplicity economy affair state never fail chasten invigorate republican principle surely subvert national prodigality whatever specious pretext may introduce fostered consideration lose upon people never inattentive effect policy upon institution create present moment force augment necessity decreasing revenue must impose check lately give importation article subject duty derangement operation internal trade especially reduction gradually take place tariff duty tend materially lessen receipt indeed probable diminution result last alone fall short year 1842 final reduction duty 20 per cent take effect whole revenue accrue custom sale public land undoubtedly want defray necessary expense government prudent administration affair circumstance impose necessity rigid economy require prompt constant exercise legislature rest power duty adjust public expenditure promote end provision constitution consequence appropriation make law money draw treasury instance occur since establishment government executive though component part legislative power interpose objection appropriation bill sole ground extravagance duty respect consider fulfil requesting appropriation public service may reasonably expect require present earnest direction public mind toward subject executive legislature evidence strict responsibility hold conscious anxious effort perform fidelity portion public function satisfaction able count cordial cooperation time enter upon present duty ordinary disbursement without include account public debt trust fund charge government largely increased appropriation removal indian repel indian hostility less urgent expense grow overflow treasury independent redemption public debt trust gross expenditure seventeen eighteen million 1834 1835 cause swell million 1836 appropriation 1837 make previously 4th march cause expenditure rise large amount million enable year 1838 notwithstanding continuance indian embarrassment somewhat reduce amount present year 1839 probability exceed million six million less last year determination far depend continue reduction direct estimate 1840 subject severe scrutiny limit absolute requirement public service find less expenditure 1839 precautionary measure recommend secretary treasury protect faithfully public credit fluctuation contingency receipt expenditure expose especially commercial crisis like present commend early attention former occasion attention invite various consideration support preemption law behalf settler public land also law graduate price land long market unsold consequence inferior quality execution act pass first subject attend happy consequence quiet title secure improvement industrious also gratify extent exempt fraud practice previous preemption law time anticipate contribute liberally present year receipt treasury passage graduation law guard recommend would also persuade add considerably revenue several year prove respect beneficial early consideration subject therefore earnestly request present condition defense principal seaport represent accompany report secretary war call early serious attention congress connect intimately subject recommend strongly consideration plan submit officer organization militia unite state conformity express wish congress attempt make spring terminate florida war negotiation regret humane intention frustrate effort bring unhappy difficulty satisfactory conclusion fail enter solemn engagement command general indian without provocation recommence act treachery murder renewal hostility territory render necessary recommend favorable consideration plan submit secretary war order enable department conduct successful issue opportunity personally inspect portion troop last summer give pleasure bear testimony success effort improve discipline keep together large body nature service permit recommend therefore commodious permanent barrack construct several post designate secretary war notwithstanding high state discipline excellent police evil result service deficiency company officer apparent recommend staff officer permanently separate line navy usefully honorably employ protect right property citizen wherever condition affair seem require presence exception one instance outrage accompany murder committed vessel united state engage lawful commerce nothing know occur impede molest enterprise citizen element signally display learn dare act piracy commodore reed proceed immediately spot receive satisfaction either surrender murderer restoration plunder property inflict severe merit chastisement barbarian see report secretary navy respect disposition ship war deem necessary station competent force coast africa prevent fraudulent use flag foreigner recent experience show provision exist law relate sale transfer american vessel abroad extremely defective advantage take defect give vessel wholly belong foreigner navigate ocean apparent american ownership character well simulated afford comparative security prosecute slave trade traffic emphatically denounce statute regard abhorrence citizen effectual suppression nowhere sincerely desire united state circumstance make proper recommend early attention careful revision law without impede freedom facility navigation impair important branch industry connect integrity honor flag may carefully preserve information derive consul havana show necessity communicate committee senate near close last session late appear act upon brought notice proper department additional communication source late account explore expedition represent proceed successfully object promise result less useful trade navigation science extent cover mail service 1st july last mile rate annual transportation upon mile number day 30th ultimo revenue department year end 30th june last exhibiting increase precede year engagement liabilities department period excess liability revenue last two year meet surplus previously accumulate cash hand 30th ultimo current income department vary little rate current expenditures service suspend last year restore new route establish act 7th july 1838 set operation annual cost notwithstanding pecuniary difficulty country revenue department appear increase unless shall seriously check recent suspension payment many bank able maintain present mail service short time extend gratify witness promptitude fidelity agent department general perform public duty difficulty arise relation contract transportation mail railroad steamboat company appear maximum compensation provide congress transportation mail upon railroad sufficient induce company convey hour require accommodation public one important duty general government provide maintain use people state best practicable mail establishment arrive end indispensable department shall enable control hour mail shall carry railroad road serious inconvenience arise inadequacy compensation provide law unreasonable demand railroad company subject general importance require prompt attention congress relation steamboat line efficient remedy obvious suggest war navy department already employ steamboat service although mean desirable government undertake transportation passenger freight business reasonable objection run boat temporarily whenever may necessary put attempt extortion discontinue soon reasonable contract obtain suggestion relative inadequacy legal allowance witness case prosecution mail depredation merit serious consideration safety mail require prosecution shall efficient justice citizen whose time require give public demand expense shall pay shall receive reasonable compensation report war navy department accompany communication one treasury department present congress day various detail respect matter charge department would refer important document satisfy find many valuable suggestion find well deserve attention legislature report make december last year secretary state senate show trial docket circuit court number mile judge travel performance duty great inequality appear amount labor assign judge number term hold court compose ninth circuit distance place sit thence seat government represent render impossible judge circuit perform manner correspond public exigency term circuit duty revision therefore present arrangement circuit seem call recommend notice think proper call attention power assume territorial legislature authorize issue bond corporate company guaranty territory congress pass law 1836 provide act territorial legislature incorporate bank force law approve congress act exceptionable character previously pass legislature florida suffer remain force virtue bond may issue large amount institution upon faith territory resolution intend joint one pass senate session express sense congress law question ought permit remain force unless amend many material respect fail house representative want time desire amendment make interest involve great importance subject deserve early careful attention continue agitation question relative best mode keep disburse public money still injuriously affect business country suspension specie payment 1837 render use deposit bank prescribe act 1836 source rather embarrassment aid necessity place custody public money afterwards collect charge public officer new security safety require principal convene extra session congress consequence disagreement two house neither subsequent period legislation subject effort make last session obtain authority congress punish use public money private purpose crime measure attend government signal advantage also unsuccessful diversity opinion body notwithstanding anxiety doubtless felt afford every practicable security result still leave custody public money without safeguard several year earnestly desire executive remedy find action legislature impose duty submit propriety pass law provide public money especially ask use private purpose officer intrust may declare felony punishable penalty proportion magnitude offense circumstance add know defect exist law unusual derangement general operation trade last three year much increase difficulty attendant collection keep disbursement revenue call forth corresponding exertion charge happily successful beyond expectation vast sum collect disbursed several department unexpected cheapness ease transfer readily make every part union however distant defalcation far less might anticipate absence adequate legal restraint since officer treasury department charge custody public money receive collected exclude case late collector new york aggregate amount loss sustain collection believe exceed defalcation late collector city extent circumstance congress fully inform ran mode keep public money hitherto use distinguish aggravated disregard duty break restraint every system therefore usefully referred test comparative safety either additional information also furnish report secretary treasury reply call make upon officer house representative last session require detailed information subject default public officer agent administration 1789 1837 document submit day general result independent keep separately state far bear upon subject loss likely sustain class agent great bank include required resolution depreciate paper receive public due next large disburse officer least collector receivers loss duty bond include alone threefold collector receiver whole experience therefore furnishes strong evidence desire legislation congress alone wanting insure operation high degree security facility also appear experience nation result inquiry make secretary treasury regard practice among enabled state foreign government undoubted information obtain public money keep charge public officer concurrence opinion favor system perhaps great exists question internal administration mode business official restraint disburse officer legal change produce suspension specie payment report last refer find contain also much useful information relation subject heretofore assign congress reason believe establishment independent national treasury contemplate constitution necessary safe action federal government suspension specie payment 1837 bank custody public money show alarm degree dependence institution performance duty require law recommend entire dissolution connection recommendation subject desire severe scrutiny animate discussion allow believe notwithstanding natural diversity opinion may anticipate subject involve important consideration secure favor general concurrence public sentiment could expect one magnitude recent event also continue develop new objection connection seldom bank exist system practice able meet demand liabilities deposit note circulation maintain specie payment transact profitable business confidence public solvency whenever destroyed demand depositor note holder press rapidly make collection debtor force stop payment loss confidence consequence occur 1837 afford apology bank suspension public acquiesce validity excuse state legislature exact forfeit charter congress accordance recommendation executive allow time pay public money hold although compelled issue treasury note supply deficiency thus create appear motif want public confidence bank seek justify refusal meet obligation scarcely country government relieve degree difficulty occasion general suspension 1837 partial one occur within thirty month former produce new serious embarrassment though palliation circumstance allege justification previously take place nothing condition country endanger bank institution commerce derange foreign war every branch manufacture industry crown rich reward usual abundance harvest supply domestic want left granary storehouses filled surplus exportation midst irredeemable depreciate paper currency entail upon people large portion bank drive exhibition loss public confidence sudden pressure depositor note holder excuse allege current business exchange foreign country draw precious metal vault would require order meet large curtailment loan comparatively small portion community convenient bear perhaps safe bank exact plea cease one necessity convenience policy deem sufficient warrant institution disregard solemn obligation conduct merely injury individual creditor wrong whole community whose liberality hold valuable privilege whose right violate whose business derange value whose property render unstable insecure must evident new ground bank suspension reference action disconnect wholly independent public give character suspension alarm exhibit greatly increase impropriety rely bank transaction government large highly respectable portion banking institution affords unfeigned pleasure state exempt blame account second delinquency great credit continue meet engagement even repudiate ground suspension resort course confidence good community preserve sequel best interest institution promote new danger bank also daily disclose extension system extravagant credit pillar formerly foreign commerce principally round exchange commodity include precious metal leave transaction little foreign debt case aid facility afford bank mere credit become commonly basis trade many bank content largely stimulating system among others usurped business impair stability mercantile community become borrower instead lender establish agency abroad deal largely stock merchandise encourage issue state security foreign market glut unsatisfied legitimate use capital exercise lawful privilege raise large loan additional mean every variety speculation disaster attendant deviation former course business country share alike bank individual extent perhaps previous example annals country long willingness foreign lender sufficient export production meet necessary partial payment leave flow credit undisturbed appear prosperous soon checked hesitation abroad inability make payment production evils system disclose paper currency might serve domestic purpose useless pay debt due europe gold silver therefore drawn exchange note bank keep supply coin institution oblige call upon debtor pay principally note unavailable merchant meet foreign demand call bank therefore emergency necessity exceed demand produce corresponding curtailment accommodation currency moment state trade render inconvenient borne intensity pressure community proportion previous liberality credit consequent expansion currency force sale property make time mean purchase reduce bad calamity individual last arrest open violation obligation bank refusal pay specie note imposition upon community fluctuating depreciated currency consequence inherent present system influence bank large small create national state government result irresistible law trade credit recent event strikingly illustrate certain effect law see bank large capital union establish national charter lately strengthen authoritatively inform exchange state charter new unusual privilege condition say entire soundness great prosperity merely unable resist effect first yield overlooked exists chain necessary dependence among institution obliges great extent follow course others notwithstanding injustice immediate creditor injury particular community place dependence bank proportion extent debt circulation deposit merely others vicinity connect center trade distant bank may fail without seriously affect principal commercial city failure latter felt extremity union suspension new york 1837 everywhere exception follow soon know recently philadelphia immediately affected bank south west similar manner dependence whole banking system institution large city find law organization trade exchange bank center currency flow require payment merchandise hold power control region whence come latter possess mean restrain value individual property prosperity trade whole interior country make depend good bad management banking institution great seat trade seaboard chain dependence stop terminate philadelphia new york reach across ocean end london center credit system law trade give bank principal city power whole banking system united state subject former turn money power great britain deny suspension new york bank 1837 follow quick succession throughout union produce application power allege extenuation present condition large portion bank embarrassment arisen influence entirely escape origin credit currency two country strengthen current trade exchange center london render almost irresistible large debt contract merchant bank state thus introduction new bank distant village place business village within influence money power england thus every new debt contract country seriously affect currency extend pursuit citizen powerful influence escape make new bank great small state national chain bind exist center system paper credit must equally fetter every similar institution create extent system push late make fully aware irresistible tendency subject bank currency vast control power foreign lad add new argument illustrate precarious situation endanger first place mismanagement conduct every institution connect center trade country yet subject beyond effect whatever measure policy necessity caprice may induce control credit england resort mean comment upon measure present past much less discourage prosecution fair commercial deal two country base reciprocal benefit make manifest power inflict similar injury resistless law credit currency credit trade equally capable extend consequence ramification bank system mean indirectly obtain particularly bank use depository public money dangerous political influence united state deem duty bring subject notice ask serious consideration argument require beyond exposition fact show impropriety use banking institution depositories public money venture encounter risk individual mutual mismanagement time place foreign domestic policy entirely control foreign moneyed interest impair independence government present credit system already impaired independence bank submit important operation whether peace war control thwart first bank power abroad great bring depict humiliation government people might sooner later reduce mean defend right make dependent upon may powerful motif impair reference effect state thing independence government bank subject present consideration view also relation general trade country time long passed deficiency foreign crop think afford profitable market surplus industry await feverish anxiety news english harvest much motif commendable sympathy fearful l anticipated failure narrow field credit speak volume patriot system beneficent wise create great anxiety interest dependent foreign credit general prosperity country profitable exportation surplus produce labor circumstance thus advert appear afford weighty reason develop late event add former occasion offer submit good knowledge discernment propriety separate custody public money banking institution anything occur lessen opinion force heretofore urge ground custody desire bank profitable use may make money use would regard individual breach trust crime great magnitude yet may reasonably doubt whether first last attend mischievous consequence permit former latter practice permit public money use keeper believe peculiar country exist scarcely anywhere else procure improper influence appeal unwise connection establish government vast number powerful state institution motif public good bring bear executive legislative department selfish combination lead special legislation form make interest banking institution stockholder throughout union use exertion increase taxation accumulation surplus revenue excuse afford mean furnished excessive issue lead extravagant trading speculation forerunner vast debt abroad suspension bank home impress therefore propriety fund government withdrawn private use either bank individual public money keep duly appoint public agent believe also judgment discussion reflection experience produce public mind leave subject event essential interest community business government decision make argument dissuade u employ bank custody disbursement public money apply equal force receipt note public due difference form one instance government creditor deposit note hold afford opportunity use public money equally lead evil attendant upon since bank safely extend discount deposit note hand public officer one make vault hand would give government great security case failure claim note holder would better depositor aware danger inconvenience public unreasonable pressure upon sound bank urge objection require payment revenue gold silver objection greatly exaggerate best estimate may safely fix amount specie country portion would employ one time receipt disbursement government even propose change make would fuller investigation believe exceed four five million change gradual several year would elapse sum would require annual opportunity meantime alter law experience prove oppressive inconvenient portion community whose business change would immediately operate comparatively small believe effect would least unjust injurious payment duty constitute far great portion revenue large proportion derive foreign commission house agents foreign manufacturer sell good consign generally auction pay duty avail remit rest abroad specie equivalent amount duty case also retain specie hardly make matter complaint import merchant residue duty pay peculiarly interested maintain sound currency measure question especially promote nature dealing best able know specie need procure least difficulty sacrifice reside almost universally place revenue receive draft used government disbursement must concentrate every opportunity obtain use place specie interest convenience number draft facility may afford well rapidity public fund draw disburse idea may form fact nearly pay collector receiver present year average amount hand one time exceed million half fifteen million receive collector new york alone present year average amount hold subject draft week less half million ease safety operation treasury keep public money promote application draft public due objection arise long outstanding might obviate yet make afford merchant bank hold equivalent specie way greatly lessen amount actually require still less inconvenience attend requirement specie purchase public land purchase except make speculation general single transaction rarely repeat person fact last year half note sound bank receive moiety payment voluntarily make specie large proportion would require three year graduation propose moreover principle none well settle experience supply precious metal always find adequate us require abound country currency allow state small note exclude gold silver supply place drive hide place bank suspension little firmness community soon restore sufficient quantity ordinary purpose postage public due collect coin without serious inconvenience even state depreciate paper currency exist year aid treasury note part time do without interruption suspension 1837 present moment receipt disbursement government make legal currency large portion union one suggest departure rule successfully carry surely attend even less difficulty bank note redeem specie indeed think serious objection would anywhere raise receipt payment gold silver public transaction apprehension surplus treasury might withdraw large portion circulation lock unprofitably public vault would opinion difficult prevent inconvenience occur authentic statement already submit regard actual amount public treasury one time period embrace little probability different state treasury least year come seem render unnecessary dwell upon congress moreover observe every year opportunity guard occurrence circumstance lead u apprehend injury source view subject aspect believe period auspicious present adoption measure necessary maintain sanctity engagement aid secure community abundant supply precious metal add much prosperity give increase stability dealing country commercial bank form probably always exist serf render incumbent u notwithstanding discouragement past strive respective station mitigate evil produce take rapidly obligation public faith careful consideration immediate interest community permit unjust character monopoly check far may practicable prudent legislation temptation interest opportunity dangerous indulgence beset every side confine strictly performance paramount duty aid operation commerce rather consult exclusive advantage salutary reform may believe accomplish without violation great principle social compact observance indispensable existence interfere way useful profitable employment real capital institution frame exist still exist elsewhere give commercial intercourse necessary facility without inflate depreciate currency stimulate speculation thus accomplish legitimate end gain sure guaranty protection encouragement good community among people result could fail attend similar course direct supervision bank belong nature government state authorize legislature people must mainly look action subject conduct federal government management revenue also powerful though less immediate influence upon becomes duty see proper direction give keep public revenue separate independent treasury collect gold silver salutary influence system paper credit bank connect thus aid sound well manage time sensibly check otherwise withhold mean extravagance afford public fund restrain excessive issue note would constantly call upon redeem aware urge control may best attain exerted mean national bank constitutional objection well know entertain would prevent event propose assent remedy addition past experience bring think longer extensively regarded effective purpose history late national bank mutation show contrary may careful consideration subject think safely state every period banking excess take lead 1817 1818 1823 1831 1834 vast expansion follow distress contraction lead state institution swell maddened tide bank system seldom allay safely direct period salutary control exercise eager desire contrary exhibit profit first place afterwards measure severe toward institution safety compel adopt differ principle form measure emanate spirit gain felt temptation overissues suffer totally unable avert inevitable law trade affect equally least one occasion early day save extraordinary exertion fate attend weak institution profess supervise 1837 fail equally others redeem note though two year allow charter purpose expire large amount remain present time outstanding true vast capital strengthen use revenue government possess power circumstance free control bank require paramount object inducement leave make stockholder regulate currency country far advise find greatly otherwise elsewhere national character give bank england prevent excessive fluctuation currency prove unable keep suspension specie payment last nearly quarter century expect otherwise national institution though derive charter different source state bank yet constitute upon principle conduct men equally expose temptation liable disaster additional disadvantage magnitude occasion extent confusion distress mismanagement small institution could produce scarcely doubt recent suspension unite state bank pennsylvania effect felt state alone half union origin course business commence national institution good reason suppose consequence would follow still derive power general government vain influence impulses look difference conduct result creation therefore increase mass paper credit paper currency without check attendant evil fluctuation extent power efficiency organization give far beneficial practice positively injurious strengthen chain dependence throughout union subject part certainly common disaster bind every bank effectually first instance commercial city end foreign power word believe full understanding operation bank system experience produce public sentiment less opposed creation national bank purpose connect currency commerce connect fiscal operation government yet commerce currency country suffer evils operation state bank ought overlook mean flood depreciated paper evidently design framer constitution prevent require congress coin money regulate value foreign coin forbid state coin money emit bill credit make anything gold silver tender payment debt pass law impair obligation contract guard explicitly present state thing could anticipate bank exist swell extent would expel great degree gold silver provide channel circulation fill currency defeat object view remedy must chiefly rest state whose legislation spring good might accrue particular case front exercise power obviously confer general government would authorize interference justify course might slightest degree increase expense state power federal authority doubt state apply remedy within last year event appeal strongly disregard see constitution though theoretically adhere subvert practice statute book legal tender gold silver law impair obligation contract yet point fact privilege confer banking corporation make note currency country obligation impose note violate impulse interest convenience number power person connect corporation place influence give fearful weight interest opposition spirit constitution law people immaterial whether result produce open violation latter working system result inflexible execution even exist statute state would redress many evil endure would effectually show bank danger mismanagement impunity encourage repeat would teach corporation useful lesson subject law servant people still want effect object must seek additional legislation inadequate constitutional grant restriction may bring u back path widely wander meantime duty general government cooperate state wise exercise constitutional power enforcement exist law extent may enactments already advert wisdom congress may yet enlarge incumbent upon u hold erect principle morality law constantly execute contract accordance provision constitution thus serve rally point whole country may bring back safe honored standard people long insensible extent burden entail upon false system operate sanguine energetic industrious character mean necessary extricate embarrassment weight press upon large portion people state enormous debt foreign domestic foreign debt state corporation men business scarcely less require year pay interest sum pay export country must necessity cut import extent plunge country deeply debt year year easy see increase foreign debt must augment annual demand export pay interest extent diminish import proportion enlargement foreign debt consequent increase interest must decrease import trade lieu comfort bring u might gigantic banking institution splendid many instance profitless railroad canal absorb great extent interest upon capital borrow construct surplus fruit national industry year come secure posterity adequate return comfort labor hand might otherwise secure increase debt relief seek diminution upon point happy say hope u much return confidence abroad enable state borrow money change public feeling home prompt people pause career think mean debt pay contract would escape embarrassment public private must cease run debt except object necessity yield certain return let faith state corporation individual already pledge keep punctilious regard due national character well justice part fix principle conduct behoove u chary pledge hereafter cease run debt apply surplus crop incomes discharge exist obligation buy less sell manage affair public private strict economy frugality shall see country soon recover temporary depression arise natural permanent cause enumerate advance renew vigor career prosperity fortunately u moment balance trade greatly u difficulty meet enhance disturbed state money affair bounties providence come relieve u consequence past error faithful application immense result labor last season afford partial relief present perseverance course due season accomplish rest full experience time past extraordinary result respect bring short period united effort community like surplus profit energy industry population wonderful advantage providence bestow upon country climate various production indispensable nation due time afford abundant mean perfect useful object state plunge late embarrassment debt without impose child fearful burden let indelibly engrave mind relief find expedient indebtedness lessen borrow money change form debt balance trade turn favor create new demand upon u abroad currency improve creation new bank issue exist although device sometimes appear give temporary relief almost invariably aggravate evil end retrenchment reform curtail public private expenditure pay debt reform banking system expect effectual relief security future endure prosperity shape institution policy general government promote far limited power important end may rely cordial cooperation progress recent event doubt many quarter heat opposition every change surprise u doubt properly attendant reform peculiarly nature abuse encounter seek perpetuate power mean influence permit acquire result object gain ascendency many secure monopoly currency medium want mankind supplied produce throughout society chain dependence lead class look privileged association mean speculation extravagance nourish preference manly virtues give dignity human nature crave desire luxurious enjoyment sudden wealth render seek dependent supply substitute republican simplicity economical habit sickly appetite effeminate indulgence imitation reckless extravagance impoverish enslave industrious people foreign land last fix upon u instead equal political right acquisition alike object suppose reward revolutionary struggle system exclusive privilege confer partial legislation remove influence thus gradually grow among u deprive deceptive advantage test light wisdom truth oppose force concentrate necessarily work time even among people enlightened pure united state country perhaps could accomplish series revolutionary movement often find necessary effect great radical reform crown merit institution create nourish vast majority people disposition power peaceably remedy abuse elsewhere cause effusion river blood sacrifice thousand human race result thus far honorable intelligence patriotism citizen justifies confident hope carry reform well begin go still yet go illustrate important truth people free enlighten whenever becomes necessary show indeed capable voluntarily adopt appropriate remedy every abuse submit temporary sacrifice however great insure permanent welfare exertion furtherance desirable object bestow throughout official career zeal nourish ardent wish welfare country unlimited reliance wisdom mark ultimate decision great controverted question impressed solemn obligation impose upon constitution desirous also lay whose confidence support highly honor measure appear conducive prosperity anxious submit full consideration ground upon opinion form precede occasion freely offer view point domestic policy seem present time prominently require action government know receive congress full able consideration importance subject merit repeat assurance heretofore make shall cheerfully readily cooperate every measure tend promote welfare union