Our devout gratitude is due to the Supreme Being for having graciously continued to our beloved country through the vicissitudes of another year the invaluable blessings of health, plenty, and peace. Seldom has this favored land been so generally exempted from the ravages of disease or the labor of the husbandman more amply rewarded, and never before have our relations with other countries been placed on a more favorable basis than that which they so happily occupy at this critical conjuncture in the affairs of the world. A rigid and persevering abstinence from all interference with the domestic and political relations of other States, alike due to the genius and distinctive character of our Government and to the principles by which it is directed; a faithful observance in the management of our foreign relations of the practice of speaking plainly, dealing justly, and requiring truth and justice in return as the best conservatives of the peace of nations; a strict impartiality in our manifestations of friendship in the commercial privileges we concede and those we require from others--these, accompanied by a disposition as prompt to maintain in every emergency our own rights as we are from principle averse to the invasion of those of others, have given to our country and Government a standing in the great family of nations of which we have just cause to be proud and the advantages of which are experienced by our citizens throughout every portion of the earth to which their enterprising and adventurous spirit may carry them. Few, if any, remain insensible to the value of our friendship or ignorant of the terms on which it can be acquired and by which it can alone be preserved. A series of questions of long standing, difficult in their adjustment and important in their consequences, in which the rights of our citizens and the honor of the country were deeply involved, have in the course of a few years (the most of them during the successful Administration of my immediate predecessor) been brought to a satisfactory conclusion; and the most important of those remaining are, I am happy to believe, in a fair way of being speedily and satisfactorily adjusted. With all the powers of the world our relations are those of honorable peace. Since your adjournment nothing serious has occurred to interrupt or threaten this desirable harmony. If clouds have lowered above the other hemisphere, they have not cast their portentous shadows upon our happy shores. Bound by no entangling alliances, yet linked by a common nature and interest with the other nations of mankind, our aspirations are for the preservation of peace, in whose solid and civilizing triumphs all may participate with a generous emulation. Yet it behooves us to be prepared for any event and to be always ready to maintain those just and enlightened principles of national intercourse for which this Government has ever contended. In the shock of contending empires it is only by assuming a resolute bearing and clothing themselves with defensive armor that neutral nations can maintain their independent rights. The excitement which grew out of the territorial controversy between the United States and Great Britain having in a great measure subsided, it is hoped that a favorable period is approaching for its final settlement. Both Governments must now be convinced of the dangers with which the question is fraught, and it must be their desire, as it is their interest, that this perpetual cause of irritation should be removed as speedily as practicable. In my last annual message you were informed that the proposition for a commission of exploration and survey promised by Great Britain had been received, and that a counter project, including also a provision for the certain and final adjustment of the limits in dispute, was then before the British Government for its consideration. The answer of that Government, accompanied by additional propositions of its own, was received through its minister here since your separation. These were promptly considered, such as were deemed correct in principle and consistent with a due regard to the just rights of the United States and of the State of Maine concurred in, and the reasons for dissenting from the residue, with an additional suggestion on our part, communicated by the Secretary of State to Mr. Fox. That minister, not feeling himself sufficiently instructed upon some of the points raised in the discussion, felt it to be his duty to refer the matter to his own Government for its further decision. Having now been for some time under its advisement, a speedy answer may be confidently expected. From the character of the points still in difference and the undoubted disposition of both parties to bring the matter to an early conclusion, I look with entire confidence to a prompt and satisfactory termination of the negotiation. Three commissioners were appointed shortly after the adjournment of Congress under the act of the last session providing for the exploration and survey of the line which separates the States of Maine and New Hampshire from the British Provinces. They have been actively employed until their progress was interrupted by the inclemency of the season, and will resume their labors as soon as practicable in the ensuing year. It is understood that their respective examinations will throw new light upon the subject in controversy and serve to remove any erroneous impressions which may have been made elsewhere prejudicial to the rights of the United States. It was, among other reasons, with a view of preventing the embarrassments which in our peculiar system of government impede and complicate negotiations involving the territorial rights of a State that I thought it my duty, as you have been informed on a previous occasion, to propose to the British Government, through its minister at Washington, that early steps should be taken to adjust the points of difference on the line of boundary from the entrance of Lake Superior to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods by the arbitration of a friendly power in conformity with the seventh article of the treaty of Ghent. No answer has yet been returned by the British Government to this proposition. With Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, and the remaining powers of Europe I am happy to inform you our relations continue to be of the most friendly character. With Belgium a treaty of commerce and navigation, based upon liberal principles of reciprocity and equality, was concluded in March last, and, having been ratified by the Belgian Government, will be duly laid before the Senate. It is a subject of congratulation that it provides for the satisfactory adjustment of a long-standing question of controversy, thus removing the only obstacle which could obstruct the friendly and mutually advantageous intercourse between the two nations. A messenger has been dispatched with the Hanoverian treaty to Berlin, where, according to stipulation, the ratifications are to be exchanged. I am happy to announce to you that after many delays and difficulties a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and Portugal was concluded and signed at Lisbon on the 26th of August last by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments. Its stipulations are founded upon those principles of mutual liberality and advantage which the United States have always sought to make the basis of their intercourse with foreign powers, and it is hoped they will tend to foster and strengthen the commercial intercourse of the two countries. Under the appropriation of the last session of Congress an agent has been sent to Germany for the purpose of promoting the interests of our tobacco trade. The commissioners appointed under the convention for the adjustment of claims of citizens of the United States upon Mexico having met and organized at Washington in August last, the papers in the possession of the Government relating to those claims were communicated to the board. The claims not embraced by that convention are now the subject of negotiation between the two Governments through the medium of our minister at Mexico. Nothing has occurred to disturb the harmony of our relations with the different Governments of South America. I regret, however, to be obliged to inform you that the claims of our citizens upon the late Republic of Colombia have not yet been satisfied by the separate Governments into which it has been resolved. The charge' d'affaires of Brazil having expressed the intention of his Government not to prolong the treaty of 1828, it will cease to be obligatory upon either party on the 12th day of December, 1841, when the extensive commercial intercourse between the United States and that vast Empire will no longer be regulated by express stipulations. It affords me pleasure to communicate to you that the Government of Chili has entered into an agreement to indemnify the claimants in the case of the Macectonian for American property seized in 1819, and to add that information has also been received which justifies the hope of an early adjustment of the remaining claims upon that Government. The commissioners appointed in pursuance of the convention between the United States and Texas for marking the boundary between them have, according to the last report received from our commissioner, surveyed and established the whole extent of the boundary north along the western bank of the Sabine River from its entrance into the Gulf of Mexico to the thirty-second degree of north latitude. The commission adjourned on the 16th of June last, to reassemble on the 1st of November for the purpose of establishing accurately the intersection of the thirty-second degree of latitude with the western bank of the Sabine and the meridian line thence to Red River. It is presumed that the work will be concluded in the present season. The present sound condition of their finances and the success with which embarrassments in regard to them, at times apparently insurmountable, have been overcome are matters upon which the people and Government of the United States may well congratulate themselves. An overflowing Treasury, however it may be regarded as an evidence of public prosperity, is seldom conducive to the permanent welfare of any people, and experience has demonstrated its incompatibility with the salutary action of political institutions like those of the United States. Our safest reliance for financial efficiency and independence has, on the contrary, been found to consist in ample resources unencumbered with debt, and in this respect the Federal Government occupies a singularly fortunate and truly enviable position. When I entered upon the discharge of my official duties in March, 1837, the act for the distribution of the surplus revenue was in a course of rapid execution. Nearly $28,000,000 of the public moneys were, in pursuance of its provisions, deposited with the States in the months of January, April, and July of that year. In May there occurred a general suspension of specie payments by the banks, including, with very few exceptions, those in which the public moneys were deposited and upon whose fidelity the Government had unfortunately made itself dependent for the revenues which had been collected from the people and were indispensable to the public service. This suspension and the excesses in banking and commerce out of which it arose, and which were greatly aggravated by its occurrence, made to a great extent unavailable the principal part of the public money then on hand, suspended the collection of many millions accruing on merchants' bonds, and greatly reduced the revenue arising from customs and the public lands. These effects have continued to operate in various degrees to the present period, and in addition to the decrease in the revenue thus produced two and a half millions of duties have been relinquished by two biennial reductions under the act of 1833, and probably as much more upon the importation of iron for railroads by special legislation. Whilst such has been our condition for the last four years in relation to revenue, we have during the same period been subjected to an unavoidable continuance of large extraordinary expenses necessarily growing out of past transactions, and which could not be immediately arrested without great prejudice to the public interest. Of these, the charge upon the Treasurer in consequence of the Cherokee treaty alone, without adverting to others arising out of Indian treaties, has already exceeded $5,000,000; that for the prosecution of measures for the removal of the Seminole Indians, which were found in progress, has been nearly fourteen millions, and the public buildings have required the unusual sum of nearly three millions. It affords me, however, great pleasure to be able to say that from the commencement of this period to the present day every demand upon the Government, at home or abroad, has been promptly met. This has been done not only without creating a permanent debt or a resort to additional taxation in any form, but in the midst of a steadily progressive reduction of existing burdens upon the people, leaving still a considerable balance of available funds which will remain in the Treasury at the end of the year. The small amount of Treasury notes, not exceeding $4,500,000, still outstanding, and less by twenty-three millions than the United States have in deposit with the States, is composed of such only as are not yet due or have not been presented for payment. They may be redeemed out of the accruing revenue if the expenditures do not exceed the amount within which they may, it is thought, be kept without prejudice to the public interest, and the revenue shall prove to be as large as may justly be anticipated. Among the reflections arising from the contemplation of these circumstances, one, not the least gratifying, is the consciousness that the Government had the resolution and the ability to adhere in every emergency to the sacred obligations of law, to execute all its contracts according to the requirements of the Constitution, and thus to present when most needed a rallying point by which the business of the whole country might be brought back to a safe and unvarying standard--a result vitally important as well to the interests as to the morals of the people. There can surely now be no difference of opinion in regard to the incalculable evils that would have arisen if the Government at that critical moment had suffered itself to be deterred from upholding the only true standard of value, either by the pressure of adverse circumstances or the violence of unmerited denunciation. The manner in which the people sustained the performance of this duty was highly honorable to their fortitude and patriotism. It can not fail to stimulate their agents to adhere under all circumstances to the line of duty and to satisfy them of the safety with which a course really right and demanded by a financial crisis may in a community like ours be pursued, however apparently severe its immediate operation. The policy of the Federal Government in extinguishing as rapidly as possible the national debt, and subsequently in resisting every temptation to create a new one, deserves to be regarded in the same favorable light. Among the many objections to a national debt, the certain tendency of public securities to concentrate ultimately in the coffers of foreign stockholders is one which is every day gathering strength. Already have the resources of many of the States and the future industry of their citizens been indefinitely mortgaged to the subjects of European Governments to the amount of twelve millions annually to pay the constantly accruing interest on borrowed money--a sum exceeding half the ordinary revenues of the whole United States. The pretext which this relation affords to foreigners to scrutinize the management of our domestic affairs, if not actually to intermeddle with them, presents a subject for earnest attention, not to say of serious alarm. Fortunately, the Federal Government, with the exception of an obligation entered into in behalf of the District of Columbia, which must soon be discharged, is wholly exempt from any such embarrassment. It is also, as is believed, the only Government which, having fully and faithfully paid all its creditors, has also relieved itself entirely from debt. To maintain a distinction so desirable and so honorable to our national character should be an object of earnest solicitude. Never should a free people, if it be possible to avoid it, expose themselves to the necessity of having to treat of the peace, the honor, or the safety of the Republic with the governments of foreign creditors, who, however well disposed they may be to cultivate with us in general friendly relations, are nevertheless by the law of their own condition made hostile to the success and permanency of political institutions like ours. Most humiliating may be the embarrassments consequent upon such a condition. Another objection, scarcely less formidable, to the commencement of a new debt is its inevitable tendency to increase in magnitude and to foster national extravagance. He has been an unprofitable observer of events who needs at this day to be admonished of the difficulties which a government habitually dependent on loans to sustain its ordinary expenditures has to encounter in resisting the influences constantly exerted in favor of additional loans; by capitalists, who enrich themselves by government securities for amounts much exceeding the money they actually advance--a prolific source of individual aggrandizement in all borrowing countries; by stockholders, who seek their gains in the rise and fall of public stocks; and by the selfish importunities of applicants for appropriations for works avowedly for the accommodation of the public, but the real objects of which are too frequently the advancement of private interests. The known necessity which so many of the States will be under to impose taxes for the payment of the interest on their debts furnishes an additional and very cogent reason why the Federal Governments should refrain from creating a national debt, by which the people would be exposed to double taxation for a similar object. We possess within ourselves ample resources for every emergency, and we may be quite sure that our citizens in no future exigency will be unwilling to supply the Government with all the means asked for the defense of the country. In time of peace there can, at all events, be no justification for the creation of a permanent debt by the Federal Government. Its limited range of constitutional duties may certainly under such circumstances be performed without such a resort. It has, it is seen, been avoided during four years of greater fiscal difficulties than have existed in a similar period since the adoption of the Constitution, and one also remarkable for the occurrence of extraordinary causes of expenditures. But to accomplish so desirable an object two things are indispensable: First, that the action of the Federal Government be kept within the boundaries prescribed by its founders, and, secondly, that all appropriations for objects admitted to be constitutional, and the expenditure of them also, be subjected to a standard of rigid but well-considered and practical economy. The first depends chiefly on the people themselves--the opinions they form of the true construction of the Constitution and the confidence they repose in the political sentiments of those they select as their representatives in the Federal Legislature; the second rests upon the fidelity with which their more immediate representatives and other public functionaries discharge the trusts committed to them. The duty of economizing the expenses of the public service is admitted on all hands; yet there are few subjects upon which there exists a wider difference of opinion than is constantly manifested in regard to the fidelity with which that duty is discharged. Neither diversity of sentiment nor even mutual recriminations upon a point in respect to which the public mind is so justly sensitive can well be entirely avoided, and least so at periods of great political excitement. An intelligent people, however, seldom fail to arrive in the end at correct conclusions in such a matter. Practical economy in the management of public affairs can have no adverse influence to contend with more powerful than a large surplus revenue, and the unusually large appropriations for 1837 may without doubt, independently of the extraordinary requisitions for the public service growing out of the state of our Indian relations, be in no inconsiderable degree traced to this source. The sudden and rapid distribution of the large surplus then in the Treasury and the equally sudden and unprecedentedly severe revulsion in the commerce and business of the country, pointing with unerring certainty to a great and protracted reduction of the revenue, strengthened the propriety of the earliest practicable reduction of the public expenditures. But to change a system operating upon so large a surface and applicable to such numerous and diversified interests and objects was more than the work of a day. The attention of every department of the Government was immediately and in good faith directed to that end, and has been so continued to the present moment. The estimates and appropriations for the year 1838 (the first. over which I had any control) were somewhat diminished. The expenditures of 1839 were reduced $6,000,000. Those of 1840, exclusive of disbursements for public debt and trust claims, will probably not exceed twenty-two and a half millions, being between two and three millions less than those of the preceding year and nine or ten millions less than those of 1837. Nor has it been found necessary in order to produce this result to resort to the power conferred by Congress of postponing certain classes of the public works, except by deferring expenditures for a short period upon a limited portion of them, and which postponement terminated some time since--at the moment the Treasury Department by further receipts from the indebted banks became fully assured of its ability to meet them without prejudice to the public service in other respects. Causes are in operation which will, it is believed, justify a still further reduction without injury to any important national interest. The expenses of sustaining the troops employed in Florida have been gradually and greatly reduced through the persevering efforts of the War Department, and a reasonable hope may be entertained that the necessity for military operations in that quarter will soon cease. The removal of the Indians from within our settled borders is nearly completed. The pension list, one of the heaviest charges upon the Treasury, is rapidly diminishing by death. The most costly of our public buildings are either finished or nearly so, and we may, I think, safely promise ourselves a continued exemption from border difficulties. The available balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January next is estimated at $ 1,500,000. This sum, with the expected receipts from all sources during the next year, will, it is believed, be sufficient to enable the Government to meet every engagement and have a suitable balance, in the Treasury at the end of the year, if the remedial measures connected with the customs and the public lands heretofore recommended are adopted and the new appropriations by Congress shall not carry the expenditures beyond the official estimates. The new system established by Congress for the safe-keeping of the public money, prescribing the kind of currency to be received for the public revenue and providing additional guards and securities against losses, has now been several mouths in operation. Although it might be premature upon an experience of such limited duration to form a definite opinion in regard to the extent of its influences in correcting many evils under which the Federal Government and the country have hitherto suffered, especially those that have grown out of banking expansions, a depreciated currency, and official defalcations, yet it is but right to say that nothing has occurred in the practical operation of the system to weaken in the slightest degree, but much to strengthen, the confident anticipations of its friends. The grounds of these have been heretofore so fully explained as to require no recapitulation. In respect to the facility and convenience it affords in conducting the public service, and the ability of the Government to discharge through its agency every duty attendant on the collection, transfer, and disbursement of the public money with promptitude and success, I can say with confidence tha the apprehensions of those who felt it to be their duty to oppose its adoption have proved to be unfounded. On the contrary, this branch of the fiscal affairs of the Government has been, and it is believed may always be, thus carried on with every desirable facility and security. A few changes and improvements in the details of the system, without affecting any principles involved in it, will be submitted to you by the Secretary of the Treasury, and will, I am sure, receive at your hands that attention to which they may on examination be found to be entitled. I have deemed this brief summary of our fiscal affairs necessary to the due performance of a duty specially enjoined upon me by the Constitution. It will serve also to illustrate more fully the principles by which I have been guided in reference to two contested points in our public policy which were earliest in their development and have been more important in their consequences than any that have arisen under our complicated and difficult, yet admirable, system of government. I allude to a national debt and a national bank. It was in these that the political contests by which the country has been agitated ever since the adoption of the Constitution in a great measure originated, and there is too much reason to apprehend that the conflicting interests and opposing principles thus marshaled will continue as heretofore to produce similar if not aggravated consequences. Coming into office the declared enemy of both, I have earnestly endeavored to prevent a resort to either. The consideration that a large public debt affords an apology, and produces in some degree a necessity also, for resorting to a system and extent of taxation which is not only oppressive throughout, but is likewise so apt to lead in the end to the commission of that most odious of all offenses against the principles of republican government, the prostitution of political power, conferred for the general benefit, to the aggrandizement of particular classes and the gratification of individual cupidity, is alone sufficient, independently of the weighty objections which have already been urged, to render its creation and existence the sources of bitter and unappeasable discord. If we add to this its inevitable tendency to produce and foster extravagant expenditures of the public moneys, by which a necessity is created for new loans and new burdens on the people, and, finally, refer to the examples of every government which has existed for proof, how seldom it is that the system, when once adopted and implanted in the policy of a country, has failed to expand itself until public credit was exhausted and the people were no longer able to endure its increasing weight, it seems impossible to resist the conclusion that no benefits resulting from its career, no extent of conquest, no accession of wealth to particular classes, nor any nor all its combined advantages, can counterbalance its ultimate but certain results--a splendid government and an impoverished people. If a national bank was, as is undeniable, repudiated by the framers of the Constitution as incompatible with the rights of the States and the liberties of the people; if from the beginning it has been regarded by large portions of our citizens as coming in direct collision with that great and vital amendment of the Constitution which declares that all powers not conferred by that instrument on the General Government are reserved to the States and to the people; if it has been viewed by them as the first great step in the march of latitudinous construction, which unchecked would render that sacred instrument of as little value as an unwritten constitution, dependent, as it would alone be, for its meaning on the interested interpretation of a dominant party, and affording no security to the rights of the minority--if such is undeniably the case, what rational grounds could have been conceived for anticipating aught but determined opposition to such an institution at the present day. Could a different result have been expected when the consequences which have flowed from its creation, and particularly from its struggles to perpetuate its existence, had confirmed in so striking a manner the apprehensions of its earliest opponents; when it had been so clearly demonstrated that a concentrated money power, wielding so vast a capital and combining such incalculable means of influence, may in those peculiar conjunctures to which this Government is unavoidably exposed prove an overmatch for the political power of the people themselves; when the true character of its capacity to regulate according to its will and its interests and the interests of its favorites the value and production of the labor and property of every man in this extended country had been so fully and fearfully developed; when it was notorious that all classes of this great community had, by means of the power and influence it thus possesses, been infected to madness with a spirit of heedless speculation; when it had been seen that, secure in the support of the combination of influences by which it was surrounded, it could violate its charter and set the laws at defiance with impunity; and when, too, it had become most apparent that to believe that such an accumulation of powers can ever be granted without the certainty of being abused was to indulge in a fatal delusion? To avoid the necessity of a permanent debt and its inevitable consequences I have advocated and endeavored to carry into effect the policy of confining the appropriations for the public service to such objects only as are clearly within the constitutional authority of the Federal Government; of excluding from its expenses those improvident and unauthorized grants of public money for works of internal improvement which were so wisely arrested by the constitutional interposition of my predecessor, and which, if they had not been so checked, would long before this time have involved the finances of the General Government in embarrassments far greater than those which are now experienced by any of the States; of limiting all our expenditures to that simple, unostentatious, and economical administration of public affairs which is alone consistent with the character of our institutions; of collecting annually from the customs, and the sales of public lands a revenue fully adequate to defray all the expenses thus incurred; but under no pretense whatsoever to impose taxes upon the people to a greater amount than was actually necessary to the public service conducted upon the principles I have stated. In lieu of a national bank or a dependence upon banks of any description for the management of our fiscal affairs, I recommended the adoption of the system which is now in successful operation. That system affords every requisite facility for the transaction of the pecuniary concerns of the Government; will, it is confidently anticipated, produce in other respects many of the benefits which have been from time to time expected from the creation of a national bank, but which have never been realized; avoid the manifold evils inseparable from such an institution; diminish to a greater extent than could be accomplished by any other measure of reform the patronage of the Federal Government--a wise policy in all governments, but more especially so in one like ours, which works well only in proportion as it is made to rely for its support upon the unbiased and unadulterated opinions of its constituents; do away forever all dependence on corporate bodies either in the raising, collecting, safekeeping, or disbursing the public revenues, and place the Government equally above the temptation of fostering a dangerous and unconstitutional institution at home or the necessity of adapting its policy to the views and interests of a still more formidable money power abroad. It is by adopting and carrying out these principles under circumstances the most arduous and discouraging that the attempt has been made, thus far successfully, to demonstrate to the people of the United States that a national bank at all times, and a national debt except it be incurred at a period when the honor and safety of the nation demand the temporary sacrifice of a policy which should only be abandoned in such exigencies, are not merely unnecessary, but in direct and deadly hostility to the principles of their Government and to their own permanent welfare. The progress made in the development of these positions appears in the preceding sketch of the past history and present state of the financial concerns of the Federal Government. The facts there stated fully authorize the assertion that all the purposes for which this Government was instituted have been accomplished during four years of greater pecuniary embarrassment than were ever before experienced in time of peace, and in the face of opposition as formidable as any that was ever before arrayed against the policy of an Administration; that this has been done when the ordinary revenues of the Government were generally decreasing as well from the operation of the laws as the condition of the country, without the creation of a permanent public debt or incurring any liability other than such as the ordinary resources of the Government will speedily discharge, and without the agency of a national bank. If this view of the proceedings of the Government for the period it embraces be warranted by the facts as they are known to exist; if the Army and Navy have been sustained to the full extent authorized by law, and which Congress deemed sufficient for the defense of the country and the protection of its rights and its honor; if its civil and diplomatic service has been equally sustained; if ample provision has been made for the administration of justice and the execution of the laws; if the claims upon public gratitude in behalf of the soldiers of the Revolution have been promptly met and faithfully discharged; if there have been no failures in defraying the very large expenditures growing out of that long-continued and salutary policy of peacefully removing the Indians to regions of comparative safety and prosperity; if the public faith has at all times and everywhere been most scrupulously maintained by a prompt discharge of the numerous, extended, and diversified claims on the Treasury--if all these great and permanent objects, with many others that might be stated, have for a series of years, marked by peculiar obstacles and difficulties, been successfully accomplished without a resort to a permanent debt or the aid of a national bank, have we not a right to expect that a policy the object of which has been to sustain the public service independently of either of these fruitful sources of discord will receive the final sanction of a people whose unbiased and fairly elicited judgment upon public affairs is never ultimately wrong? That embarrassments in the pecuniary concerns of individuals of unexampled extent and duration have recently existed in this as in other commercial nations is undoubtedly true. To suppose it necessary now to trace these reverses to their sources would be a reflection on the intelligence of my fellow-citizens. Whatever may have been the obscurity in which the subject was involved during the earlier stages of the revulsion, there can not now be many by whom the whole question is not fully understood. Not deeming it within the constitutional powers of the General Government to repair private losses sustained by reverses in business having no connection with the public service, either by direct appropriations from the Treasury or by special legislation designed to secure exclusive privileges and immunities to individuals or classes in preference to or at the expense of the great majority necessarily debarred from any participation in them, no attempt to do so has been either made, recommended, or encouraged by the present Executive. It is believed, however, that the great purposes for the attainment of which the Federal Government was instituted have not been lost sight of. Intrusted only with certain limited powers, cautiously enumerated, distinctly specified, and defined with a precision and clearness which would seem to defy misconstruction, it has been my constant aim to confine myself within the limits so clearly marked out and so carefully guarded. Having always been of opinion that the best preservative of the union of the States is to be found in a total abstinence from the exercise of all doubtful powers on the part of the Federal Government rather than in attempts to assume them by a loose construction of the Constitution or an ingenious perversion of its words, I have endeavored to avoid recommending any measure which I had reason to apprehend would, in the opinion even of a considerable minority of my fellow-citizens, be regarded as trenching on the rights of the States or the provisions of the hallowed instrument of our Union. Viewing the aggregate powers of the Federal Government as a voluntary concession of the States, it seemed to me that such only should be exercised as were at the time intended to be given. I have been strengthened, too, in the propriety of this course by the conviction that all efforts to go beyond this tend only to produce dissatisfaction and distrust, to excite jealousies, and to provoke resistance. Instead of adding strength to the Federal Government, even when successful they must ever prove a source of incurable weakness by alienating a portion of those whose adhesion is indispensable to the great aggregate of united strength and whose voluntary attachment is in my estimation far more essential to the efficiency of a government strong in the best of all possible strength--the confidence and attachment of all those who make up its constituent elements. Thus believing, it has been my purpose to secure to the whole people and to every member of the Confederacy, by general, salutary, and equal laws alone, the benefit of those republican institutions which it was the end and aim of the Constitution to establish, and the impartial influence of which is in my judgment indispensable to their preservation. I can not bring myself to believe that the lasting happiness of the people, the prosperity of the States, or the permanency of their Union can be maintained by giving preference or priority to any class of citizens in the distribution of benefits or privileges, or by the adoption of measures which enrich one portion of the Union at the expense of another; nor can I see in the interference of the Federal Government with the local legislation and reserved rights of the States a remedy for present or a security against future dangers. The first, and assuredly not the least, important step toward relieving the country from the condition into which it had been plunged by excesses in trade, banking, and credits of all kinds was to place the business transactions of the Government itself on a solid basis, giving and receiving in all cases value for value, and neither countenancing nor encouraging in others that delusive system of credits from which it has been found so difficult to escape, and which has left nothing behind it but the wrecks that mark its fatal career. That the financial affairs of the Government are now and have been during the whole period of these wide-spreading difficulties conducted with a strict and invariable regard to this great fundamental principle, and that by the assumption and maintenance of the stand thus taken on the very threshold of the approaching crisis more than by any other cause or causes whatever the community at large has been shielded from the incalculable evils of a general and indefinite suspension of specie payments, and a consequent annihilation for the whole period it might have lasted of a just and invariable standard of value, will, it is believed, at this period scarcely be questioned. A steady adherence on the part of the Government to the policy which has produced such salutary results, aided by judicious State legislation and, what is not less .important, by the industry, enterprise, perseverance, and economy of the American people, can not fail to raise the whole country at an early period to a state of solid and enduring prosperity, not subject to be again overthrown by the suspension of banks or the explosion of a bloated credit system. It is for the people and their representatives to decide whether or not the permanent welfare of the country (which all good citizens equally desire, however widely they may differ as to the means of its accomplishment) shall be in this way secured, or whether the management of the pecuniary concerns of the Government, and by consequence to a great extent those of individuals also, shall be carried back to a condition of things which fostered those contractions and expansions of the currency and those reckless abuses of credit from the baleful effects of which the country has so deeply suffered--a return that can promise in the end no better results than to reproduce the embarrassments the Government has experienced, and to remove from the shoulders of the present to those of fresh victims the bitter fruits of that spirit of speculative enterprise to which our countrymen are so liable and upon which the lessons of experience are so unavailing. The choice is an important one, and I sincerely hope that it may be wisely made. A report from the Secretary of War, presenting a detailed view of the affairs of that Department, accompanies this communication. The desultory duties connected with the removal of the Indians, in which the Army has been constantly engaged on the northern and western frontiers and in Florida, have rendered it impracticable to carry into full effect the plan recommended by the Secretary for improving its discipline. In every instance where the regiments have been concentrated they have made great progress, and the best results may be anticipated from a continuance of this system. During the last season a part of the troops have been employed in removing Indians from the interior to the territory assigned them in the West--a duty which they have performed efficiently and with praiseworthy humanity--and that portion of them which has been stationed in Florida continued active operations there throughout the heats of summer. The policy of the United States in regard to the Indians, of which a succinct account is given in my message of 1838, and of the wisdom and expediency of which I am fully satisfied, has been continued in active operation throughout the whole period of my Administration. Since the spring of 1837 more than 40,000 Indians have been removed to their new homes west of the Mississippi, and I am happy to add that all accounts concur in representing the result of this measure as eminently beneficial to that people. The emigration of the Seminoles alone has been attended with serious difficulty and occasioned bloodshed, hostilities having been commenced by the Indians in Florida under the apprehension that they would be compelled by force to comply with their treaty stipulations. The execution of the treaty of Paynes Landing, signed in 1832, but not ratified until 1834, was postponed at the solicitation of the Indians until 1836, when they again renewed their agreement to remove peaceably to their new homes in the West. In the face of this solemn and renewed compact they broke their faith and commenced hostilities by the massacre of Major Dade's command, the murder of their agent, General Thompson, and other acts of cruel treachery. When this alarming and unexpected intelligence reached the seat of Government, every effort appears to have been made to reenforce General Clinch, who commanded the troops then in Florida. General Eustis was dispatched with reenforcements from Charleston, troops were called out from Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, and General Scott was sent to take the command, with ample powers and ample means. At the first alarm General Gaines organized a force at New Orleans, and without waiting for orders landed in Florida, where he delivered over the troops he had brought with him to General Scott. Governor Call was subsequently appointed to conduct a summer campaign, and at the close of it was replaced by General Jesup. These events and changes took place under the Administration of my predecessor. Notwithstanding the exertions of the experienced officers who had command there for eighteen months, on entering upon the administration of the Government I found the Territory of Florida a prey to Indian atrocities. A strenuous effort was immediately made to bring those hostilities to a close, and the army under General Jesup was reenforced until it amounted to 10,000 men, and furnished with abundant supplies of every description. In this campaign a great number of the enemy were captured and destroyed, but the character of the contest only was changed. The Indians, having been defeated in every engagement, dispersed in small bands throughout the country and became an enterprising, formidable, and ruthless banditti. General Taylor, who succeeded General Jesup, used his best exertions to subdue them, and was seconded in his efforts by the officers under his command; but he too failed to protect the Territory from their depredations. By an act of signal and cruel treachery they broke the truce made with them by General MacGrab, who was sent from Washington for the purpose of carrying into effect the expressed wishes of Congress, and have continued their devastations ever since. General Armistead, who was in Florida when General Taylor left the army by permission, assumed the command, and after active summer operations was met by propositions for peace, and from the fortunate coincidence of the arrival in Florida at the same period of a delegation from the Seminoles who are happily settled west of the Mississippi and are now anxious to persuade their countrymen to join them there hopes were for some time entertained that the Indians might be induced to leave the Territory without further difficulty. These hopes have proved fallacious and hostilities have been renewed throughout the whole of the Territory. That this contest has endured so long is to be attributed to causes beyond the control of the Government. Experienced generals have had the command of the troops, officers and soldiers have alike distinguished themselves for their activity, patience, and enduring courage, the army has been constantly furnished with supplies of every description, and we must look for the causes which have so long procrastinated the issue of the contest in the vast extent of the theater of hostilities, the almost insurmountable obstacles presented by the nature of the country, the climate, and the wily character of the savages. The sites for marine hospitals on the rivers and lakes which I was authorized to select and cause to be purchased have all been designated, but the appropriation not proving sufficient, conditional arrangements only have been made for their acquisition. It is for Congress to decide whether these Conditional purchases shall be sanctioned and the humane intentions of the law carried into full effect. The Navy, as will appear from the accompanying report of the Secretary, has been usefully and honorably employed in the protection of our commerce and citizens in the Mediterranean, the Pacific, on the coast of Brazil, and in the Gulf of Mexico. A small squadron, consisting of the frigate Constellation and the sloop of war Boston, under Commodore Kearney, is now on its way to the China and Indian seas for the purpose of attending to our interests in that quarter, and Commander Aulick, in the sloop of war Yorktown, has been instructed to visit the Sandwich and Society islands, the coasts of New Zealand and Japan, together with other ports and islands frequented by our whale ships, for the purpose of giving them countenance and protection should they be required. Other smaller vessels have been and still are employed in prosecuting the surveys of the coast of the United States directed by various acts of Congress, and those which have been completed will shortly be laid before you. The exploring expedition at the latest date was preparing to leave the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, in further prosecution of objects which have thus far been successfully accomplished. The discovery of a new continent, which was first seen in latitude 66° 2' south, longitude 154° 27' east, and afterwards in latitude 66° 31' south, longitude 153° 40' east, by Lieutenants Wilkes and Hudson, for an extent of 1,800 miles, but on which they were prevented from landing by vast bodies of ice which encompassed it, is one of the honorable results of the enterprise. Lieutenant Wilkes bears testimony to the zeal and good conduct of his officers and men, and it is but justice to that officer to state that he appears to have performed the duties assigned him with an ardor, ability, and perseverance which give every assurance of an honorable issue to the undertaking. The report of the Postmaster-General herewith transmitted will exhibit the service of that Department the past year and its present condition. The transportation has been maintained during the year to the full extent authorized by the existing laws; some improvements have been effected which the public interest seemed urgently to demand, but not involving any material additional expenditure; the contractors have generally performed their engagements with fidelity; the postmasters, with few exceptions, have rendered their accounts and paid their quarterly balances with promptitude, and the whole service of the Department has maintained the efficiency for which it has for several years been distinguished. The acts of Congress establishing new mail routes and requiring more expensive services on others and the increasing wants of the country have for three years past carried the expenditures something beyond the accruing revenues, the excess having been met until the past year by the surplus which had previously accumulated. That surplus having been exhausted and the anticipated increase in the revenue not having been realized owing to the depression in the commercial business of the country, the finances of the Department exhibit a small deficiency at the close of the last fiscal year. Its resources, however, are ample, and the reduced rates of compensation for the transportation service which may be expected on the future lettings from the general reduction of prices, with the increase of revenue that may reasonably be anticipated from the revival of commercial activity, must soon place the finances of the Department in a prosperous condition. Considering the unfavorable circumstances which have existed during the past year, it is a gratifying result that the revenue has not declined as compared with the preceding year, but, on the contrary, exhibits a small increase, the circumstances referred to having had no other effect than to check the expected income. It will be seen that the Postmaster-General suggests certain improvements in the establishment designed to reduce the weight of the mails, cheapen the transportation, insure greater regularity in the service, and secure a considerable reduction in the rates of letter postage--an object highly desirable. The subject is one of general interest to the community, and is respectfully recommended to your consideration. The suppression of the African slave trade has received the continued attention of the Government. The brig Dolphin and schooner Grampus have been employed during the last season on the coast of Africa for the purpose of preventing such portions of that trade as were said to be prosecuted under the American flag. After cruising off those parts of the coast most usually resorted to by slavers until the commencement of the rainy season, these vessels returned to the United States for supplies, and have since been dispatched on a similar service. From the reports of the commanding officers it appears that the trade is now principally carried on under Portuguese colors, and they express the opinion that the apprehension of their presence on the slave coast has in a great degree arrested the prostitution of the American flag to this inhuman purpose. It is hoped that by continuing to maintain this force in that quarter and by the exertions of the officers in command much will be done to put a stop to whatever portion of this traffic may have been carried on under the American flag and to prevent its use in a trade which, while it violates the laws, is equally an outrage on the rights of others and the feelings of humanity. The efforts of the several Governments who are anxiously seeking to suppress this traffic must, however, be directed against the facilities afforded by what are now recognized as legitimate commercial pursuits before that object can be fully accomplished. Supplies of provisions, water casks, merchandise, and articles connected with the prosecution of the slave trade are, it is understood, freely carried by vessels of different nations to the slave factories, and the effects of the factors are transported openly from one slave station to another without interruption or punishment by either of the nations to which they belong engaged in the commerce of that region. I submit to your judgments whether this Government, having been the first to prohibit by adequate penalties the slave trade, the first to declare it piracy, should not be the first also to forbid to its citizens all trade with the slave factories on the coast of Africa, giving an example to all nations in this respect which if fairly followed can not fail to produce the most effective results in breaking up those dens of iniquity.
Our devout gratitude is due to the Supreme Being for having graciously continued to our beloved country through the vicissitudes of another year the invaluable blessings of health, plenty, and peace. Seldom has this favored land been so generally exempted from the ravages of disease or the labor of the husbandman more amply rewarded, and never before have our relations with other countries been placed on a more favorable basis than that which they so happily occupy at this critical conjuncture in the affairs of the world. A rigid and persevering abstinence from all interference with the domestic and political relations of other States, alike due to the genius and distinctive character of our Government and to the principles by which it is directed; a faithful observance in the management of our foreign relations of the practice of speaking plainly, dealing justly, and requiring truth and justice in return as the best conservatives of the peace of nations; a strict impartiality in our manifestations of friendship in the commercial privileges we concede and those we require from others--these, accompanied by a disposition as prompt to maintain in every emergency our own rights as we are from principle averse to the invasion of those of others, have given to our country and Government a standing in the great family of nations of which we have just because to be proud and the advantages of which are experienced by our citizens throughout every portion of the earth to which their enterprising and adventurous spirit may carry them. Few, if any, remain insensible to the value of our friendship or ignorant of the terms on which it can be acquired and by which it can alone be preserved. A series of questions of long standing, difficult in their adjustment and important in their consequences, in which the rights of our citizens and the honor of the country were deeply involved, have in the course of a few years (the most of them during the successful Administration of my immediate predecessor) been brought to a satisfactory conclusion; and the most important of those remaining are, I am happy to believe, in a fair way of being speedily and satisfactorily adjusted. With all the powers of the world our relations are those of honorable peace. Since your adjournment nothing serious has occurred to interrupt or threaten this desirable harmony. If clouds have lowered above the other hemisphere, they have not cast their portentous shadows upon our happy shores. Bound by no entangling alliances, yet linked by a common nature and interest with the other nations of mankind, our aspirations are for the preservation of peace, in whose solid and civilizing triumphs all may participate with a generous emulation. Yet it behooves us to be prepared for any event and to be always ready to maintain those just and enlightened principles of national intercourse for which this Government has ever contended. In the shock of contending empires it is only by assuming a resolute bearing and clothing themselves with defensive armor that neutral nations can maintain their independent rights. The excitement which grew out of the territorial controversy between the United States and Great Britain having in a great measure subsided, it is hoped that a favorable period is approaching for its final settlement. Both Governments must now be convinced of the dangers with which the question is fraught, and it must be their desire, as it is their interest, that this perpetual because of irritation should be removed as speedily as practicable. In my last annual message you were informed that the proposition for a commission of exploration and survey promised by Great Britain had been received, and that a counter project, including also a provision for the certain and final adjustment of the limits in dispute, was then before the British Government for its consideration. The answer of that Government, accompanied by additional propositions of its own, was received through its minister here since your separation. These were promptly considered, such as were deemed correct in principle and consistent with a due regard to the just rights of the United States and of the State of Maine concurred in, and the reasons for dissenting from the residue, with an additional suggestion on our part, communicated by the Secretary of State to Mr. Fox. That minister, not feeling himself sufficiently instructed upon some of the points raised in the discussion, felt it to be his duty to refer the matter to his own Government for its further decision. Having now been for some time under its advisement, a speedy answer may be confidently expected. From the character of the points still in difference and the undoubted disposition of both parties to bring the matter to an early conclusion, I look with entire confidence to a prompt and satisfactory termination of the negotiation. Three commissioners were appointed shortly after the adjournment of Congress under the act of the last session providing for the exploration and survey of the line which separates the States of Maine and New Hampshire from the British Provinces. They have been actively employed until their progress was interrupted by the inclemency of the season, and will resume their labors as soon as practicable in the ensuing year. It is understood that their respective examinations will throw new light upon the subject in controversy and serve to remove any erroneous impressions which may have been made elsewhere prejudicial to the rights of the United States. It was, among other reasons, with a view of preventing the embarrassments which in our peculiar system of government impede and complicate negotiations involving the territorial rights of a State that I thought it my duty, as you have been informed on a previous occasion, to propose to the British Government, through its minister at Washington, that early steps should be taken to adjust the points of difference on the line of boundary from the entrance of Lake Superior to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods by the arbitration of a friendly power in conformity with the seventh article of the treaty of Ghent. No answer has yet been returned by the British Government to this proposition. With Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, and the remaining powers of Europe I am happy to inform you our relations continue to be of the most friendly character. With Belgium a treaty of commerce and navigation, based upon liberal principles of reciprocity and equality, was concluded in March last, and, having been ratified by the Belgian Government, will be duly laid before the Senate. It is a subject of congratulation that it provides for the satisfactory adjustment of a long-standing question of controversy, thus removing the only obstacle which could obstruct the friendly and mutually advantageous intercourse between the two nations. A messenger has been dispatched with the Hanoverian treaty to Berlin, where, according to stipulation, the ratifications are to be exchanged. I am happy to announce to you that after many delays and difficulties a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and Portugal was concluded and signed at Lisbon on the 26th of August last by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments. Its stipulations are founded upon those principles of mutual liberality and advantage which the United States have always sought to make the basis of their intercourse with foreign powers, and it is hoped they will tend to foster and strengthen the commercial intercourse of the two countries. Under the appropriation of the last session of Congress an agent has been sent to Germany for the purpose of promoting the interests of our tobacco trade. The commissioners appointed under the convention for the adjustment of claims of citizens of the United States upon Mexico having met and organized at Washington in August last, the papers in the possession of the Government relating to those claims were communicated to the board. The claims not embraced by that convention are now the subject of negotiation between the two Governments through the medium of our minister at Mexico. Nothing has occurred to disturb the harmony of our relations with the different Governments of South America. I regret, however, to be obliged to inform you that the claims of our citizens upon the late Republic of Colombia have not yet been satisfied by the separate Governments into which it has been resolved. The charge' d'affaires of Brazil having expressed the intention of his Government not to prolong the treaty of 1828, it will cease to be obligatory upon either party on the 12th day of December, 1841, when the extensive commercial intercourse between the United States and that vast Empire will no longer be regulated by express stipulations. It affords me pleasure to communicate to you that the Government of Chili has entered into an agreement to indemnify the claimants in the case of the Macectonian for American property seized in 1819, and to add that information has also been received which justifies the hope of an early adjustment of the remaining claims upon that Government. The commissioners appointed in pursuance of the convention between the United States and Texas for marking the boundary between them have, according to the last report received from our commissioner, surveyed and established the whole extent of the boundary north along the western bank of the Sabine River from its entrance into the Gulf of Mexico to the thirty-second degree of north latitude. The commission adjourned on the 16th of June last, to reassemble on the 1st of November for the purpose of establishing accurately the intersection of the thirty-second degree of latitude with the western bank of the Sabine and the meridian line thence to Red River. It is presumed that the work will be concluded in the present season. The present sound condition of their finances and the success with which embarrassments in regard to them, at times apparently insurmountable, have been overcome are matters upon which the people and Government of the United States may well congratulate themselves. An overflowing Treasury, however it may be regarded as an evidence of public prosperity, is seldom conducive to the permanent welfare of any people, and experience has demonstrated its incompatibility with the salutary action of political institutions like those of the United States. Our safest reliance for financial efficiency and independence has, on the contrary, been found to consist in ample resources unencumbered with debt, and in this respect the Federal Government occupies a singularly fortunate and truly enviable position. When I entered upon the discharge of my official duties in March, 1837, the act for the distribution of the surplus revenue was in a course of rapid execution. Nearly $28,000,000 of the public moneys were, in pursuance of its provisions, deposited with the States in the months of January, April, and July of that year. In May there occurred a general suspension of specie payments by the banks, including, with very few exceptions, those in which the public moneys were deposited and upon whose fidelity the Government had unfortunately made itself dependent for the revenues which had been collected from the people and were indispensable to the public service. This suspension and the excesses in banking and commerce out of which it arose, and which were greatly aggravated by its occurrence, made to a great extent unavailable the principal part of the public money then on hand, suspended the collection of many millions accruing on merchants' bonds, and greatly reduced the revenue arising from customs and the public lands. These effects have continued to operate in various degrees to the present period, and in addition to the decrease in the revenue thus produced two and a half millions of duties have been relinquished by two biennial reductions under the act of 1833, and probably as much more upon the importation of iron for railroads by special legislation. Whilst such has been our condition for the last four years in relation to revenue, we have during the same period been subjected to an unavoidable continuance of large extraordinary expenses necessarily growing out of past transactions, and which could not be immediately arrested without great prejudice to the public interest. Of these, the charge upon the Treasurer in consequence of the Cherokee treaty alone, without adverting to others arising out of Indian treaties, has already exceeded $5,000,000; that for the prosecution of measures for the removal of the Seminole Indians, which were found in progress, has been nearly fourteen millions, and the public buildings have required the unusual sum of nearly three millions. It affords me, however, great pleasure to be able to say that from the commencement of this period to the present day every demand upon the Government, at home or abroad, has been promptly met. This has been done not only without creating a permanent debt or a resort to additional taxation in any form, but in the midst of a steadily progressive reduction of existing burdens upon the people, leaving still a considerable balance of available funds which will remain in the Treasury at the end of the year. The small amount of Treasury notes, not exceeding $4,500,000, still outstanding, and less by twenty-three millions than the United States have in deposit with the States, is composed of such only as are not yet due or have not been presented for payment. They may be redeemed out of the accruing revenue if the expenditures do not exceed the amount within which they may, it is thought, be kept without prejudice to the public interest, and the revenue shall prove to be as large as may justly be anticipated. Among the reflections arising from the contemplation of these circumstances, one, not the least gratifying, is the consciousness that the Government had the resolution and the ability to adhere in every emergency to the sacred obligations of law, to execute all its contracts according to the requirements of the Constitution, and thus to present when most needed a rallying point by which the business of the whole country might be brought back to a safe and unvarying standard--a result vitally important as well to the interests as to the morals of the people. There can surely now be no difference of opinion in regard to the incalculable evils that would have arisen if the Government at that critical moment had suffered itself to be deterred from upholding the only true standard of value, either by the pressure of adverse circumstances or the violence of unmerited denunciation. The manner in which the people sustained the performance of this duty was highly honorable to their fortitude and patriotism. It can not fail to stimulate their agents to adhere under all circumstances to the line of duty and to satisfy them of the safety with which a course really right and demanded by a financial crisis may in a community like ours be pursued, however apparently severe its immediate operation. The policy of the Federal Government in extinguishing as rapidly as possible the national debt, and subsequently in resisting every temptation to create a new one, deserves to be regarded in the same favorable light. Among the many objections to a national debt, the certain tendency of public securities to concentrate ultimately in the coffers of foreign stockholders is one which is every day gathering strength. Already have the resources of many of the States and the future industry of their citizens been indefinitely mortgaged to the subjects of European Governments to the amount of twelve millions annually to pay the constantly accruing interest on borrowed money--a sum exceeding half the ordinary revenues of the whole United States. The pretext which this relation affords to foreigners to scrutinize the management of our domestic affairs, if not actually to intermeddle with them, presents a subject for earnest attention, not to say of serious alarm. Fortunately, the Federal Government, with the exception of an obligation entered into in behalf of the District of Columbia, which must soon be discharged, is wholly exempt from any such embarrassment. It is also, as is believed, the only Government which, having fully and faithfully paid all its creditors, has also relieved itself entirely from debt. To maintain a distinction so desirable and so honorable to our national character should be an object of earnest solicitude. Never should a free people, if it be possible to avoid it, expose themselves to the necessity of having to treat of the peace, the honor, or the safety of the Republic with the governments of foreign creditors, who, however well disposed they may be to cultivate with us in general friendly relations, are nevertheless by the law of their own condition made hostile to the success and permanency of political institutions like ours. Most humiliating may be the embarrassments consequent upon such a condition. Another objection, scarcely less formidable, to the commencement of a new debt is its inevitable tendency to increase in magnitude and to foster national extravagance. He has been an unprofitable observer of events who needs at this day to be admonished of the difficulties which a government habitually dependent on loans to sustain its ordinary expenditures has to encounter in resisting the influences constantly exerted in favor of additional loans; by capitalists, who enrich themselves by government securities for amounts much exceeding the money they actually advance--a prolific source of individual aggrandizement in all borrowing countries; by stockholders, who seek their gains in the rise and fall of public stocks; and by the selfish importunities of applicants for appropriations for works avowedly for the accommodation of the public, but the real objects of which are too frequently the advancement of private interests. The known necessity which so many of the States will be under to impose taxes for the payment of the interest on their debts furnishes an additional and very cogent reason why the Federal Governments should refrain from creating a national debt, by which the people would be exposed to double taxation for a similar object. We possess within ourselves ample resources for every emergency, and we may be quite sure that our citizens in no future exigency will be unwilling to supply the Government with all the means asked for the defense of the country. In time of peace there can, at all events, be no justification for the creation of a permanent debt by the Federal Government. Its limited range of constitutional duties may certainly under such circumstances be performed without such a resort. It has, it is seen, been avoided during four years of greater fiscal difficulties than have existed in a similar period since the adoption of the Constitution, and one also remarkable for the occurrence of extraordinary causes of expenditures. But to accomplish so desirable an object two things are indispensable: First, that the action of the Federal Government be kept within the boundaries prescribed by its founders, and, secondly, that all appropriations for objects admitted to be constitutional, and the expenditure of them also, be subjected to a standard of rigid but well-considered and practical economy. The first depends chiefly on the people themselves--the opinions they form of the true construction of the Constitution and the confidence they repose in the political sentiments of those they select as their representatives in the Federal Legislature; the second rests upon the fidelity with which their more immediate representatives and other public functionaries discharge the trusts committed to them. The duty of economizing the expenses of the public service is admitted on all hands; yet there are few subjects upon which there exists a wider difference of opinion than is constantly manifested in regard to the fidelity with which that duty is discharged. Neither diversity of sentiment nor even mutual recriminations upon a point in respect to which the public mind is so justly sensitive can well be entirely avoided, and least so at periods of great political excitement. An intelligent people, however, seldom fail to arrive in the end at correct conclusions in such a matter. Practical economy in the management of public affairs can have no adverse influence to contend with more powerful than a large surplus revenue, and the unusually large appropriations for 1837 may without doubt, independently of the extraordinary requisitions for the public service growing out of the state of our Indian relations, be in no inconsiderable degree traced to this source. The sudden and rapid distribution of the large surplus then in the Treasury and the equally sudden and unprecedentedly severe revulsion in the commerce and business of the country, pointing with unerring certainty to a great and protracted reduction of the revenue, strengthened the propriety of the earliest practicable reduction of the public expenditures. But to change a system operating upon so large a surface and applicable to such numerous and diversified interests and objects was more than the work of a day. The attention of every department of the Government was immediately and in good faith directed to that end, and has been so continued to the present moment. The estimates and appropriations for the year 1838 (the first. over which I had any control) were somewhat diminished. The expenditures of 1839 were reduced $6,000,000. Those of 1840, exclusive of disbursements for public debt and trust claims, will probably not exceed twenty-two and a half millions, being between two and three millions less than those of the preceding year and nine or ten millions less than those of 1837. Nor has it been found necessary in order to produce this result to resort to the power conferred by Congress of postponing certain classes of the public works, except by deferring expenditures for a short period upon a limited portion of them, and which postponement terminated some time since--at the moment the Treasury Department by further receipts from the indebted banks became fully assured of its ability to meet them without prejudice to the public service in other respects. Causes are in operation which will, it is believed, justify a still further reduction without injury to any important national interest. The expenses of sustaining the troops employed in Florida have been gradually and greatly reduced through the persevering efforts of the War Department, and a reasonable hope may be entertained that the necessity for military operations in that quarter will soon cease. The removal of the Indians from within our settled borders is nearly completed. The pension list, one of the heaviest charges upon the Treasury, is rapidly diminishing by death. The most costly of our public buildings are either finished or nearly so, and we may, I think, safely promise ourselves a continued exemption from border difficulties. The available balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January next is estimated at $ 1,500,000. This sum, with the expected receipts from all sources during the next year, will, it is believed, be sufficient to enable the Government to meet every engagement and have a suitable balance, in the Treasury at the end of the year, if the remedial measures connected with the customs and the public lands heretofore recommended are adopted and the new appropriations by Congress shall not carry the expenditures beyond the official estimates. The new system established by Congress for the safe-keeping of the public money, prescribing the kind of currency to be received for the public revenue and providing additional guards and securities against losses, has now been several mouths in operation. Although it might be premature upon an experience of such limited duration to form a definite opinion in regard to the extent of its influences in correcting many evils under which the Federal Government and the country have hitherto suffered, especially those that have grown out of banking expansions, a depreciated currency, and official defalcations, yet it is but right to say that nothing has occurred in the practical operation of the system to weaken in the slightest degree, but much to strengthen, the confident anticipations of its friends. The grounds of these have been heretofore so fully explained as to require no recapitulation. In respect to the facility and convenience it affords in conducting the public service, and the ability of the Government to discharge through its agency every duty attendant on the collection, transfer, and disbursement of the public money with promptitude and success, I can say with confidence tha the apprehensions of those who felt it to be their duty to oppose its adoption have proved to be unfounded. On the contrary, this branch of the fiscal affairs of the Government has been, and it is believed may always be, thus carried on with every desirable facility and security. A few changes and improvements in the details of the system, without affecting any principles involved in it, will be submitted to you by the Secretary of the Treasury, and will, I am sure, receive at your hands that attention to which they may on examination be found to be entitled. I have deemed this brief summary of our fiscal affairs necessary to the due performance of a duty specially enjoined upon me by the Constitution. It will serve also to illustrate more fully the principles by which I have been guided in reference to two contested points in our public policy which were earliest in their development and have been more important in their consequences than any that have arisen under our complicated and difficult, yet admirable, system of government. I allude to a national debt and a national bank. It was in these that the political contests by which the country has been agitated ever since the adoption of the Constitution in a great measure originated, and there is too much reason to apprehend that the conflicting interests and opposing principles thus marshaled will continue as heretofore to produce similar if not aggravated consequences. Coming into office the declared enemy of both, I have earnestly endeavored to prevent a resort to either. The consideration that a large public debt affords an apology, and produces in some degree a necessity also, for resorting to a system and extent of taxation which is not only oppressive throughout, but is likewise so apt to lead in the end to the commission of that most odious of all offenses against the principles of republican government, the prostitution of political power, conferred for the general benefit, to the aggrandizement of particular classes and the gratification of individual cupidity, is alone sufficient, independently of the weighty objections which have already been urged, to render its creation and existence the sources of bitter and unappeasable discord. If we add to this its inevitable tendency to produce and foster extravagant expenditures of the public moneys, by which a necessity is created for new loans and new burdens on the people, and, finally, refer to the examples of every government which has existed for proof, how seldom it is that the system, when once adopted and implanted in the policy of a country, has failed to expand itself until public credit was exhausted and the people were no longer able to endure its increasing weight, it seems impossible to resist the conclusion that no benefits resulting from its career, no extent of conquest, no accession of wealth to particular classes, nor any nor all its combined advantages, can counterbalance its ultimate but certain results--a splendid government and an impoverished people. If a national bank was, as is undeniable, repudiated by the framers of the Constitution as incompatible with the rights of the States and the liberties of the people; if from the beginning it has been regarded by large portions of our citizens as coming in direct collision with that great and vital amendment of the Constitution which declares that all powers not conferred by that instrument on the General Government are reserved to the States and to the people; if it has been viewed by them as the first great step in the march of latitudinous construction, which unchecked would render that sacred instrument of as little value as an unwritten constitution, dependent, as it would alone be, for its meaning on the interested interpretation of a dominant party, and affording no security to the rights of the minority--if such is undeniably the case, what rational grounds could have been conceived for anticipating aught but determined opposition to such an institution at the present day. Could a different result have been expected when the consequences which have flowed from its creation, and particularly from its struggles to perpetuate its existence, had confirmed in so striking a manner the apprehensions of its earliest opponents; when it had been so clearly demonstrated that a concentrated money power, wielding so vast a capital and combining such incalculable means of influence, may in those peculiar conjunctures to which this Government is unavoidably exposed prove an overmatch for the political power of the people themselves; when the true character of its capacity to regulate according to its will and its interests and the interests of its favorites the value and production of the labor and property of every man in this extended country had been so fully and fearfully developed; when it was notorious that all classes of this great community had, by means of the power and influence it thus possesses, been infected to madness with a spirit of heedless speculation; when it had been seen that, secure in the support of the combination of influences by which it was surrounded, it could violate its charter and set the laws at defiance with impunity; and when, too, it had become most apparent that to believe that such an accumulation of powers can ever be granted without the certainty of being abused was to indulge in a fatal delusion? To avoid the necessity of a permanent debt and its inevitable consequences I have advocated and endeavored to carry into effect the policy of confining the appropriations for the public service to such objects only as are clearly within the constitutional authority of the Federal Government; of excluding from its expenses those improvident and unauthorized grants of public money for works of internal improvement which were so wisely arrested by the constitutional interposition of my predecessor, and which, if they had not been so checked, would long before this time have involved the finances of the General Government in embarrassments far greater than those which are now experienced by any of the States; of limiting all our expenditures to that simple, unostentatious, and economical administration of public affairs which is alone consistent with the character of our institutions; of collecting annually from the customs, and the sales of public lands a revenue fully adequate to defray all the expenses thus incurred; but under no pretense whatsoever to impose taxes upon the people to a greater amount than was actually necessary to the public service conducted upon the principles I have stated. In lieu of a national bank or a dependence upon banks of any description for the management of our fiscal affairs, I recommended the adoption of the system which is now in successful operation. That system affords every requisite facility for the transaction of the pecuniary concerns of the Government; will, it is confidently anticipated, produce in other respects many of the benefits which have been from time to time expected from the creation of a national bank, but which have never been realized; avoid the manifold evils inseparable from such an institution; diminish to a greater extent than could be accomplished by any other measure of reform the patronage of the Federal Government--a wise policy in all governments, but more especially so in one like ours, which works well only in proportion as it is made to rely for its support upon the unbiased and unadulterated opinions of its constituents; do away forever all dependence on corporate bodies either in the raising, collecting, safekeeping, or disbursing the public revenues, and place the Government equally above the temptation of fostering a dangerous and unconstitutional institution at home or the necessity of adapting its policy to the views and interests of a still more formidable money power abroad. It is by adopting and carrying out these principles under circumstances the most arduous and discouraging that the attempt has been made, thus far successfully, to demonstrate to the people of the United States that a national bank at all times, and a national debt except it be incurred at a period when the honor and safety of the nation demand the temporary sacrifice of a policy which should only be abandoned in such exigencies, are not merely unnecessary, but in direct and deadly hostility to the principles of their Government and to their own permanent welfare. The progress made in the development of these positions appears in the preceding sketch of the past history and present state of the financial concerns of the Federal Government. The facts there stated fully authorize the assertion that all the purposes for which this Government was instituted have been accomplished during four years of greater pecuniary embarrassment than were ever before experienced in time of peace, and in the face of opposition as formidable as any that was ever before arrayed against the policy of an Administration; that this has been done when the ordinary revenues of the Government were generally decreasing as well from the operation of the laws as the condition of the country, without the creation of a permanent public debt or incurring any liability other than such as the ordinary resources of the Government will speedily discharge, and without the agency of a national bank. If this view of the proceedings of the Government for the period it embraces be warranted by the facts as they are known to exist; if the Army and Navy have been sustained to the full extent authorized by law, and which Congress deemed sufficient for the defense of the country and the protection of its rights and its honor; if its civil and diplomatic service has been equally sustained; if ample provision has been made for the administration of justice and the execution of the laws; if the claims upon public gratitude in behalf of the soldiers of the Revolution have been promptly met and faithfully discharged; if there have been no failures in defraying the very large expenditures growing out of that long-continued and salutary policy of peacefully removing the Indians to regions of comparative safety and prosperity; if the public faith has at all times and everywhere been most scrupulously maintained by a prompt discharge of the numerous, extended, and diversified claims on the Treasury--if all these great and permanent objects, with many others that might be stated, have for a series of years, marked by peculiar obstacles and difficulties, been successfully accomplished without a resort to a permanent debt or the aid of a national bank, have we not a right to expect that a policy the object of which has been to sustain the public service independently of either of these fruitful sources of discord will receive the final sanction of a people whose unbiased and fairly elicited judgment upon public affairs is never ultimately wrong? That embarrassments in the pecuniary concerns of individuals of unexampled extent and duration have recently existed in this as in other commercial nations is undoubtedly true. To suppose it necessary now to trace these reverses to their sources would be a reflection on the intelligence of my fellow-citizens. Whatever may have been the obscurity in which the subject was involved during the earlier stages of the revulsion, there can not now be many by whom the whole question is not fully understood. Not deeming it within the constitutional powers of the General Government to repair private losses sustained by reverses in business having no connection with the public service, either by direct appropriations from the Treasury or by special legislation designed to secure exclusive privileges and immunities to individuals or classes in preference to or at the expense of the great majority necessarily debarred from any participation in them, no attempt to do so has been either made, recommended, or encouraged by the present Executive. It is believed, however, that the great purposes for the attainment of which the Federal Government was instituted have not been lost sight of. Intrusted only with certain limited powers, cautiously enumerated, distinctly specified, and defined with a precision and clearness which would seem to defy misconstruction, it has been my constant aim to confine myself within the limits so clearly marked out and so carefully guarded. Having always been of opinion that the best preservative of the union of the States is to be found in a total abstinence from the exercise of all doubtful powers on the part of the Federal Government rather than in attempts to assume them by a loose construction of the Constitution or an ingenious perversion of its words, I have endeavored to avoid recommending any measure which I had reason to apprehend would, in the opinion even of a considerable minority of my fellow-citizens, be regarded as trenching on the rights of the States or the provisions of the hallowed instrument of our Union. Viewing the aggregate powers of the Federal Government as a voluntary concession of the States, it seemed to me that such only should be exercised as were at the time intended to be given. I have been strengthened, too, in the propriety of this course by the conviction that all efforts to go beyond this tend only to produce dissatisfaction and distrust, to excite jealousies, and to provoke resistance. Instead of adding strength to the Federal Government, even when successful they must ever prove a source of incurable weakness by alienating a portion of those whose adhesion is indispensable to the great aggregate of united strength and whose voluntary attachment is in my estimation far more essential to the efficiency of a government strong in the best of all possible strength--the confidence and attachment of all those who make up its constituent elements. Thus believing, it has been my purpose to secure to the whole people and to every member of the Confederacy, by general, salutary, and equal laws alone, the benefit of those republican institutions which it was the end and aim of the Constitution to establish, and the impartial influence of which is in my judgment indispensable to their preservation. I can not bring myself to believe that the lasting happiness of the people, the prosperity of the States, or the permanency of their Union can be maintained by giving preference or priority to any class of citizens in the distribution of benefits or privileges, or by the adoption of measures which enrich one portion of the Union at the expense of another; nor can I see in the interference of the Federal Government with the local legislation and reserved rights of the States a remedy for present or a security against future dangers. The first, and assuredly not the least, important step toward relieving the country from the condition into which it had been plunged by excesses in trade, banking, and credits of all kinds was to place the business transactions of the Government itself on a solid basis, giving and receiving in all cases value for value, and neither countenancing nor encouraging in others that delusive system of credits from which it has been found so difficult to escape, and which has left nothing behind it but the wrecks that mark its fatal career. That the financial affairs of the Government are now and have been during the whole period of these wide-spreading difficulties conducted with a strict and invariable regard to this great fundamental principle, and that by the assumption and maintenance of the stand thus taken on the very threshold of the approaching crisis more than by any other because or causes whatever the community at large has been shielded from the incalculable evils of a general and indefinite suspension of specie payments, and a consequent annihilation for the whole period it might have lasted of a just and invariable standard of value, will, it is believed, at this period scarcely be questioned. A steady adherence on the part of the Government to the policy which has produced such salutary results, aided by judicious State legislation and, what is not less .important, by the industry, enterprise, perseverance, and economy of the American people, can not fail to raise the whole country at an early period to a state of solid and enduring prosperity, not subject to be again overthrown by the suspension of banks or the explosion of a bloated credit system. It is for the people and their representatives to decide whether or not the permanent welfare of the country (which all good citizens equally desire, however widely they may differ as to the means of its accomplishment) shall be in this way secured, or whether the management of the pecuniary concerns of the Government, and by consequence to a great extent those of individuals also, shall be carried back to a condition of things which fostered those contractions and expansions of the currency and those reckless abuses of credit from the baleful effects of which the country has so deeply suffered--a return that can promise in the end no better results than to reproduce the embarrassments the Government has experienced, and to remove from the shoulders of the present to those of fresh victims the bitter fruits of that spirit of speculative enterprise to which our countrymen are so liable and upon which the lessons of experience are so unavailing. The choice is an important one, and I sincerely hope that it may be wisely made. A report from the Secretary of War, presenting a detailed view of the affairs of that Department, accompanies this communication. The desultory duties connected with the removal of the Indians, in which the Army has been constantly engaged on the northern and western frontiers and in Florida, have rendered it impracticable to carry into full effect the plan recommended by the Secretary for improving its discipline. In every instance where the regiments have been concentrated they have made great progress, and the best results may be anticipated from a continuance of this system. During the last season a part of the troops have been employed in removing Indians from the interior to the territory assigned them in the West--a duty which they have performed efficiently and with praiseworthy humanity--and that portion of them which has been stationed in Florida continued active operations there throughout the heats of summer. The policy of the United States in regard to the Indians, of which a succinct account is given in my message of 1838, and of the wisdom and expediency of which I am fully satisfied, has been continued in active operation throughout the whole period of my Administration. Since the spring of 1837 more than 40,000 Indians have been removed to their new homes west of the Mississippi, and I am happy to add that all accounts concur in representing the result of this measure as eminently beneficial to that people. The emigration of the Seminoles alone has been attended with serious difficulty and occasioned bloodshed, hostilities having been commenced by the Indians in Florida under the apprehension that they would be compelled by force to comply with their treaty stipulations. The execution of the treaty of Paynes Landing, signed in 1832, but not ratified until 1834, was postponed at the solicitation of the Indians until 1836, when they again renewed their agreement to remove peaceably to their new homes in the West. In the face of this solemn and renewed compact they broke their faith and commenced hostilities by the massacre of Major Dade's command, the murder of their agent, General Thompson, and other acts of cruel treachery. When this alarming and unexpected intelligence reached the seat of Government, every effort appears to have been made to reenforce General Clinch, who commanded the troops then in Florida. General Eustis was dispatched with reenforcements from Charleston, troops were called out from Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, and General Scott was sent to take the command, with ample powers and ample means. At the first alarm General Gaines organized a force at New Orleans, and without waiting for orders landed in Florida, where he delivered over the troops he had brought with him to General Scott. Governor Call was subsequently appointed to conduct a summer campaign, and at the close of it was replaced by General Jesup. These events and changes took place under the Administration of my predecessor. Notwithstanding the exertions of the experienced officers who had command there for eighteen months, on entering upon the administration of the Government I found the Territory of Florida a prey to Indian atrocities. A strenuous effort was immediately made to bring those hostilities to a close, and the army under General Jesup was reenforced until it amounted to 10,000 men, and furnished with abundant supplies of every description. In this campaign a great number of the enemy were captured and destroyed, but the character of the contest only was changed. The Indians, having been defeated in every engagement, dispersed in small bands throughout the country and became an enterprising, formidable, and ruthless banditti. General Taylor, who succeeded General Jesup, used his best exertions to subdue them, and was seconded in his efforts by the officers under his command; but he too failed to protect the Territory from their depredations. By an act of signal and cruel treachery they broke the truce made with them by General MacGrab, who was sent from Washington for the purpose of carrying into effect the expressed wishes of Congress, and have continued their devastations ever since. General Armistead, who was in Florida when General Taylor left the army by permission, assumed the command, and after active summer operations was met by propositions for peace, and from the fortunate coincidence of the arrival in Florida at the same period of a delegation from the Seminoles who are happily settled west of the Mississippi and are now anxious to persuade their countrymen to join them there hopes were for some time entertained that the Indians might be induced to leave the Territory without further difficulty. These hopes have proved fallacious and hostilities have been renewed throughout the whole of the Territory. That this contest has endured so long is to be attributed to causes beyond the control of the Government. Experienced generals have had the command of the troops, officers and soldiers have alike distinguished themselves for their activity, patience, and enduring courage, the army has been constantly furnished with supplies of every description, and we must look for the causes which have so long procrastinated the issue of the contest in the vast extent of the theater of hostilities, the almost insurmountable obstacles presented by the nature of the country, the climate, and the wily character of the savages. The sites for marine hospitals on the rivers and lakes which I was authorized to select and because to be purchased have all been designated, but the appropriation not proving sufficient, conditional arrangements only have been made for their acquisition. It is for Congress to decide whether these Conditional purchases shall be sanctioned and the humane intentions of the law carried into full effect. The Navy, as will appear from the accompanying report of the Secretary, has been usefully and honorably employed in the protection of our commerce and citizens in the Mediterranean, the Pacific, on the coast of Brazil, and in the Gulf of Mexico. A small squadron, consisting of the frigate Constellation and the sloop of war Boston, under Commodore Kearney, is now on its way to the China and Indian seas for the purpose of attending to our interests in that quarter, and Commander Aulick, in the sloop of war Yorktown, has been instructed to visit the Sandwich and Society islands, the coasts of New Zealand and Japan, together with other ports and islands frequented by our whale ships, for the purpose of giving them countenance and protection should they be required. Other smaller vessels have been and still are employed in prosecuting the surveys of the coast of the United States directed by various acts of Congress, and those which have been completed will shortly be laid before you. The exploring expedition at the latest date was preparing to leave the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, in further prosecution of objects which have thus far been successfully accomplished. The discovery of a new continent, which was first seen in latitude 66° 2' south, longitude 154° 27' east, and afterwards in latitude 66° 31' south, longitude 153° 40' east, by Lieutenants Wilkes and Hudson, for an extent of 1,800 miles, but on which they were prevented from landing by vast bodies of ice which encompassed it, is one of the honorable results of the enterprise. Lieutenant Wilkes bears testimony to the zeal and good conduct of his officers and men, and it is but justice to that officer to state that he appears to have performed the duties assigned him with an ardor, ability, and perseverance which give every assurance of an honorable issue to the undertaking. The report of the Postmaster-General herewith transmitted will exhibit the service of that Department the past year and its present condition. The transportation has been maintained during the year to the full extent authorized by the existing laws; some improvements have been effected which the public interest seemed urgently to demand, but not involving any material additional expenditure; the contractors have generally performed their engagements with fidelity; the postmasters, with few exceptions, have rendered their accounts and paid their quarterly balances with promptitude, and the whole service of the Department has maintained the efficiency for which it has for several years been distinguished. The acts of Congress establishing new mail routes and requiring more expensive services on others and the increasing wants of the country have for three years past carried the expenditures something beyond the accruing revenues, the excess having been met until the past year by the surplus which had previously accumulated. That surplus having been exhausted and the anticipated increase in the revenue not having been realized owing to the depression in the commercial business of the country, the finances of the Department exhibit a small deficiency at the close of the last fiscal year. Its resources, however, are ample, and the reduced rates of compensation for the transportation service which may be expected on the future lettings from the general reduction of prices, with the increase of revenue that may reasonably be anticipated from the revival of commercial activity, must soon place the finances of the Department in a prosperous condition. Considering the unfavorable circumstances which have existed during the past year, it is a gratifying result that the revenue has not declined as compared with the preceding year, but, on the contrary, exhibits a small increase, the circumstances referred to having had no other effect than to check the expected income. It will be seen that the Postmaster-General suggests certain improvements in the establishment designed to reduce the weight of the mails, cheapen the transportation, insure greater regularity in the service, and secure a considerable reduction in the rates of letter postage--an object highly desirable. The subject is one of general interest to the community, and is respectfully recommended to your consideration. The suppression of the African slave trade has received the continued attention of the Government. The brig Dolphin and schooner Grampus have been employed during the last season on the coast of Africa for the purpose of preventing such portions of that trade as were said to be prosecuted under the American flag. After cruising off those parts of the coast most usually resorted to by slavers until the commencement of the rainy season, these vessels returned to the United States for supplies, and have since been dispatched on a similar service. From the reports of the commanding officers it appears that the trade is now principally carried on under Portuguese colors, and they express the opinion that the apprehension of their presence on the slave coast has in a great degree arrested the prostitution of the American flag to this inhuman purpose. It is hoped that by continuing to maintain this force in that quarter and by the exertions of the officers in command much will be done to put a stop to whatever portion of this traffic may have been carried on under the American flag and to prevent its use in a trade which, while it violates the laws, is equally an outrage on the rights of others and the feelings of humanity. The efforts of the several Governments who are anxiously seeking to suppress this traffic must, however, be directed against the facilities afforded by what are now recognized as legitimate commercial pursuits before that object can be fully accomplished. Supplies of provisions, water casks, merchandise, and articles connected with the prosecution of the slave trade are, it is understood, freely carried by vessels of different nations to the slave factories, and the effects of the factors are transported openly from one slave station to another without interruption or punishment by either of the nations to which they belong engaged in the commerce of that region. I submit to your judgments whether this Government, having been the first to prohibit by adequate penalties the slave trade, the first to declare it piracy, should not be the first also to forbid to its citizens all trade with the slave factories on the coast of Africa, giving an example to all nations in this respect which if fairly followed can not fail to produce the most effective results in breaking up those dens of iniquity.
our devout gratitude is due to the supreme being for having graciously continued to our beloved country through the vicissitudes of another year the invaluable blessings of health plenty and peace seldom has this favored land been so generally exempted from the ravages of disease or the labor of the husbandman more amply rewarded and never before have our relations with other countries been placed on a more favorable basis than that which they so happily occupy at this critical conjuncture in the affairs of the world a rigid and persevering abstinence from all interference with the domestic and political relations of other states alike due to the genius and distinctive character of our government and to the principles by which it is directed a faithful observance in the management of our foreign relations of the practice of speaking plainly dealing justly and requiring truth and justice in return as the best conservatives of the peace of nations a strict impartiality in our manifestations of friendship in the commercial privileges we concede and those we require from others these accompanied by a disposition as prompt to maintain in every emergency our own rights as we are from principle averse to the invasion of those of others have given to our country and government a standing in the great family of nations of which we have just because to be proud and the advantages of which are experienced by our citizens throughout every portion of the earth to which their enterprising and adventurous spirit may carry them few if any remain insensible to the value of our friendship or ignorant of the terms on which it can be acquired and by which it can alone be preserved a series of questions of long standing difficult in their adjustment and important in their consequences in which the rights of our citizens and the honor of the country were deeply involved have in the course of a few years the most of them during the successful administration of my immediate predecessor been brought to a satisfactory conclusion and the most important of those remaining are i am happy to believe in a fair way of being speedily and satisfactorily adjusted with all the powers of the world our relations are those of honorable peace since your adjournment nothing serious has occurred to interrupt or threaten this desirable harmony if clouds have lowered above the other hemisphere they have not cast their portentous shadows upon our happy shores bound by no entangling alliances yet linked by a common nature and interest with the other nations of mankind our aspirations are for the preservation of peace in whose solid and civilizing triumphs all may participate with a generous emulation yet it behooves us to be prepared for any event and to be always ready to maintain those just and enlightened principles of national intercourse for which this government has ever contended in the shock of contending empires it is only by assuming a resolute bearing and clothing themselves with defensive armor that neutral nations can maintain their independent rights the excitement which grew out of the territorial controversy between the united states and great britain having in a great measure subsided it is hoped that a favorable period is approaching for its final settlement both governments must now be convinced of the dangers with which the question is fraught and it must be their desire as it is their interest that this perpetual because of irritation should be removed as speedily as practicable in my last annual message you were informed that the proposition for a commission of exploration and survey promised by great britain had been received and that a counter project including also a provision for the certain and final adjustment of the limits in dispute was then before the british government for its consideration the answer of that government accompanied by additional propositions of its own was received through its minister here since your separation these were promptly considered such as were deemed correct in principle and consistent with a due regard to the just rights of the united states and of the state of maine concurred in and the reasons for dissenting from the residue with an additional suggestion on our part communicated by the secretary of state to fox that minister not feeling himself sufficiently instructed upon some of the points raised in the discussion felt it to be his duty to refer the matter to his own government for its further decision having now been for some time under its advisement a speedy answer may be confidently expected from the character of the points still in difference and the undoubted disposition of both parties to bring the matter to an early conclusion i look with entire confidence to a prompt and satisfactory termination of the negotiation three commissioners were appointed shortly after the adjournment of congress under the act of the last session providing for the exploration and survey of the line which separates the states of maine and new hampshire from the british provinces they have been actively employed until their progress was interrupted by the inclemency of the season and will resume their labors as soon as practicable in the ensuing year it is understood that their respective examinations will throw new light upon the subject in controversy and serve to remove any erroneous impressions which may have been made elsewhere prejudicial to the rights of the united states it was among other reasons with a view of preventing the embarrassments which in our peculiar system of government impede and complicate negotiations involving the territorial rights of a state that i thought it my duty as you have been informed on a previous occasion to propose to the british government through its minister at washington that early steps should be taken to adjust the points of difference on the line of boundary from the entrance of lake superior to the most northwestern point of the lake of the woods by the arbitration of a friendly power in conformity with the seventh article of the treaty of ghent no answer has yet been returned by the british government to this proposition with austria france prussia russia and the remaining powers of europe i am happy to inform you our relations continue to be of the most friendly character with belgium a treaty of commerce and navigation based upon liberal principles of reciprocity and equality was concluded in march last and having been ratified by the belgian government will be duly laid before the senate it is a subject of congratulation that it provides for the satisfactory adjustment of a question of controversy thus removing the only obstacle which could obstruct the friendly and mutually advantageous intercourse between the two nations a messenger has been dispatched with the hanoverian treaty to berlin where according to stipulation the ratifications are to be exchanged i am happy to announce to you that after many delays and difficulties a treaty of commerce and navigation between the united states and portugal was concluded and signed at lisbon on the 26th of august last by the plenipotentiaries of the two governments its stipulations are founded upon those principles of mutual liberality and advantage which the united states have always sought to make the basis of their intercourse with foreign powers and it is hoped they will tend to foster and strengthen the commercial intercourse of the two countries under the appropriation of the last session of congress an agent has been sent to germany for the purpose of promoting the interests of our tobacco trade the commissioners appointed under the convention for the adjustment of claims of citizens of the united states upon mexico having met and organized at washington in august last the papers in the possession of the government relating to those claims were communicated to the board the claims not embraced by that convention are now the subject of negotiation between the two governments through the medium of our minister at mexico nothing has occurred to disturb the harmony of our relations with the different governments of south america i regret however to be obliged to inform you that the claims of our citizens upon the late republic of colombia have not yet been satisfied by the separate governments into which it has been resolved the charge of brazil having expressed the intention of his government not to prolong the treaty of 1828 it will cease to be obligatory upon either party on the 12th day of december 1841 when the extensive commercial intercourse between the united states and that vast empire will no longer be regulated by express stipulations it affords me pleasure to communicate to you that the government of chili has entered into an agreement to indemnify the claimants in the case of the macectonian for american property seized in 1819 and to add that information has also been received which justifies the hope of an early adjustment of the remaining claims upon that government the commissioners appointed in pursuance of the convention between the united states and texas for marking the boundary between them have according to the last report received from our commissioner surveyed and established the whole extent of the boundary north along the western bank of the sabine river from its entrance into the gulf of mexico to the degree of north latitude the commission adjourned on the 16th of june last to reassemble on the 1st of november for the purpose of establishing accurately the intersection of the degree of latitude with the western bank of the sabine and the meridian line thence to red river it is presumed that the work will be concluded in the present season the present sound condition of their finances and the success with which embarrassments in regard to them at times apparently insurmountable have been overcome are matters upon which the people and government of the united states may well congratulate themselves an overflowing treasury however it may be regarded as an evidence of public prosperity is seldom conducive to the permanent welfare of any people and experience has demonstrated its incompatibility with the salutary action of political institutions like those of the united states our safest reliance for financial efficiency and independence has on the contrary been found to consist in ample resources unencumbered with debt and in this respect the federal government occupies a singularly fortunate and truly enviable position when i entered upon the discharge of my official duties in march 1837 the act for the distribution of the surplus revenue was in a course of rapid execution nearly of the public moneys were in pursuance of its provisions deposited with the states in the months of january april and july of that year in may there occurred a general suspension of specie payments by the banks including with very few exceptions those in which the public moneys were deposited and upon whose fidelity the government had unfortunately made itself dependent for the revenues which had been collected from the people and were indispensable to the public service this suspension and the excesses in banking and commerce out of which it arose and which were greatly aggravated by its occurrence made to a great extent unavailable the principal part of the public money then on hand suspended the collection of many millions accruing on merchants bonds and greatly reduced the revenue arising from customs and the public lands these effects have continued to operate in various degrees to the present period and in addition to the decrease in the revenue thus produced two and a half millions of duties have been relinquished by two biennial reductions under the act of 1833 and probably as much more upon the importation of iron for railroads by special legislation whilst such has been our condition for the last four years in relation to revenue we have during the same period been subjected to an unavoidable continuance of large extraordinary expenses necessarily growing out of past transactions and which could not be immediately arrested without great prejudice to the public interest of these the charge upon the treasurer in consequence of the cherokee treaty alone without adverting to others arising out of indian treaties has already exceeded that for the prosecution of measures for the removal of the seminole indians which were found in progress has been nearly fourteen millions and the public buildings have required the unusual sum of nearly three millions it affords me however great pleasure to be able to say that from the commencement of this period to the present day every demand upon the government at home or abroad has been promptly met this has been done not only without creating a permanent debt or a resort to additional taxation in any form but in the midst of a steadily progressive reduction of existing burdens upon the people leaving still a considerable balance of available funds which will remain in the treasury at the end of the year the small amount of treasury notes not exceeding still outstanding and less by millions than the united states have in deposit with the states is composed of such only as are not yet due or have not been presented for payment they may be redeemed out of the accruing revenue if the expenditures do not exceed the amount within which they may it is thought be kept without prejudice to the public interest and the revenue shall prove to be as large as may justly be anticipated among the reflections arising from the contemplation of these circumstances one not the least gratifying is the consciousness that the government had the resolution and the ability to adhere in every emergency to the sacred obligations of law to execute all its contracts according to the requirements of the constitution and thus to present when most needed a rallying point by which the business of the whole country might be brought back to a safe and unvarying standard a result vitally important as well to the interests as to the morals of the people there can surely now be no difference of opinion in regard to the incalculable evils that would have arisen if the government at that critical moment had suffered itself to be deterred from upholding the only true standard of value either by the pressure of adverse circumstances or the violence of unmerited denunciation the manner in which the people sustained the performance of this duty was highly honorable to their fortitude and patriotism it can not fail to stimulate their agents to adhere under all circumstances to the line of duty and to satisfy them of the safety with which a course really right and demanded by a financial crisis may in a community like ours be pursued however apparently severe its immediate operation the policy of the federal government in extinguishing as rapidly as possible the national debt and subsequently in resisting every temptation to create a new one deserves to be regarded in the same favorable light among the many objections to a national debt the certain tendency of public securities to concentrate ultimately in the coffers of foreign stockholders is one which is every day gathering strength already have the resources of many of the states and the future industry of their citizens been indefinitely mortgaged to the subjects of european governments to the amount of twelve millions annually to pay the constantly accruing interest on borrowed money a sum exceeding half the ordinary revenues of the whole united states the pretext which this relation affords to foreigners to scrutinize the management of our domestic affairs if not actually to intermeddle with them presents a subject for earnest attention not to say of serious alarm fortunately the federal government with the exception of an obligation entered into in behalf of the district of columbia which must soon be discharged is wholly exempt from any such embarrassment it is also as is believed the only government which having fully and faithfully paid all its creditors has also relieved itself entirely from debt to maintain a distinction so desirable and so honorable to our national character should be an object of earnest solicitude never should a free people if it be possible to avoid it expose themselves to the necessity of having to treat of the peace the honor or the safety of the republic with the governments of foreign creditors who however well disposed they may be to cultivate with us in general friendly relations are nevertheless by the law of their own condition made hostile to the success and permanency of political institutions like ours most humiliating may be the embarrassments consequent upon such a condition another objection scarcely less formidable to the commencement of a new debt is its inevitable tendency to increase in magnitude and to foster national extravagance he has been an unprofitable observer of events who needs at this day to be admonished of the difficulties which a government habitually dependent on loans to sustain its ordinary expenditures has to encounter in resisting the influences constantly exerted in favor of additional loans by capitalists who enrich themselves by government securities for amounts much exceeding the money they actually advance a prolific source of individual aggrandizement in all borrowing countries by stockholders who seek their gains in the rise and fall of public stocks and by the selfish importunities of applicants for appropriations for works avowedly for the accommodation of the public but the real objects of which are too frequently the advancement of private interests the known necessity which so many of the states will be under to impose taxes for the payment of the interest on their debts furnishes an additional and very cogent reason why the federal governments should refrain from creating a national debt by which the people would be exposed to double taxation for a similar object we possess within ourselves ample resources for every emergency and we may be quite sure that our citizens in no future exigency will be unwilling to supply the government with all the means asked for the defense of the country in time of peace there can at all events be no justification for the creation of a permanent debt by the federal government its limited range of constitutional duties may certainly under such circumstances be performed without such a resort it has it is seen been avoided during four years of greater fiscal difficulties than have existed in a similar period since the adoption of the constitution and one also remarkable for the occurrence of extraordinary causes of expenditures but to accomplish so desirable an object two things are indispensable first that the action of the federal government be kept within the boundaries prescribed by its founders and secondly that all appropriations for objects admitted to be constitutional and the expenditure of them also be subjected to a standard of rigid but and practical economy the first depends chiefly on the people themselves the opinions they form of the true construction of the constitution and the confidence they repose in the political sentiments of those they select as their representatives in the federal legislature the second rests upon the fidelity with which their more immediate representatives and other public functionaries discharge the trusts committed to them the duty of economizing the expenses of the public service is admitted on all hands yet there are few subjects upon which there exists a wider difference of opinion than is constantly manifested in regard to the fidelity with which that duty is discharged neither diversity of sentiment nor even mutual recriminations upon a point in respect to which the public mind is so justly sensitive can well be entirely avoided and least so at periods of great political excitement an intelligent people however seldom fail to arrive in the end at correct conclusions in such a matter practical economy in the management of public affairs can have no adverse influence to contend with more powerful than a large surplus revenue and the unusually large appropriations for 1837 may without doubt independently of the extraordinary requisitions for the public service growing out of the state of our indian relations be in no inconsiderable degree traced to this source the sudden and rapid distribution of the large surplus then in the treasury and the equally sudden and unprecedentedly severe revulsion in the commerce and business of the country pointing with unerring certainty to a great and protracted reduction of the revenue strengthened the propriety of the earliest practicable reduction of the public expenditures but to change a system operating upon so large a surface and applicable to such numerous and diversified interests and objects was more than the work of a day the attention of every department of the government was immediately and in good faith directed to that end and has been so continued to the present moment the estimates and appropriations for the year 1838 the first over which i had any control were somewhat diminished the expenditures of 1839 were reduced those of 1840 exclusive of disbursements for public debt and trust claims will probably not exceed and a half millions being between two and three millions less than those of the preceding year and nine or ten millions less than those of 1837 nor has it been found necessary in order to produce this result to resort to the power conferred by congress of postponing certain classes of the public works except by deferring expenditures for a short period upon a limited portion of them and which postponement terminated some time since at the moment the treasury department by further receipts from the indebted banks became fully assured of its ability to meet them without prejudice to the public service in other respects causes are in operation which will it is believed justify a still further reduction without injury to any important national interest the expenses of sustaining the troops employed in florida have been gradually and greatly reduced through the persevering efforts of the war department and a reasonable hope may be entertained that the necessity for military operations in that quarter will soon cease the removal of the indians from within our settled borders is nearly completed the pension list one of the heaviest charges upon the treasury is rapidly diminishing by death the most costly of our public buildings are either finished or nearly so and we may i think safely promise ourselves a continued exemption from border difficulties the available balance in the treasury on the 1st of january next is estimated at this sum with the expected receipts from all sources during the next year will it is believed be sufficient to enable the government to meet every engagement and have a suitable balance in the treasury at the end of the year if the remedial measures connected with the customs and the public lands heretofore recommended are adopted and the new appropriations by congress shall not carry the expenditures beyond the official estimates the new system established by congress for the of the public money prescribing the kind of currency to be received for the public revenue and providing additional guards and securities against losses has now been several mouths in operation although it might be premature upon an experience of such limited duration to form a definite opinion in regard to the extent of its influences in correcting many evils under which the federal government and the country have hitherto suffered especially those that have grown out of banking expansions a depreciated currency and official defalcations yet it is but right to say that nothing has occurred in the practical operation of the system to weaken in the slightest degree but much to strengthen the confident anticipations of its friends the grounds of these have been heretofore so fully explained as to require no recapitulation in respect to the facility and convenience it affords in conducting the public service and the ability of the government to discharge through its agency every duty attendant on the collection transfer and disbursement of the public money with promptitude and success i can say with confidence tha the apprehensions of those who felt it to be their duty to oppose its adoption have proved to be unfounded on the contrary this branch of the fiscal affairs of the government has been and it is believed may always be thus carried on with every desirable facility and security a few changes and improvements in the details of the system without affecting any principles involved in it will be submitted to you by the secretary of the treasury and will i am sure receive at your hands that attention to which they may on examination be found to be entitled i have deemed this brief summary of our fiscal affairs necessary to the due performance of a duty specially enjoined upon me by the constitution it will serve also to illustrate more fully the principles by which i have been guided in reference to two contested points in our public policy which were earliest in their development and have been more important in their consequences than any that have arisen under our complicated and difficult yet admirable system of government i allude to a national debt and a national bank it was in these that the political contests by which the country has been agitated ever since the adoption of the constitution in a great measure originated and there is too much reason to apprehend that the conflicting interests and opposing principles thus marshaled will continue as heretofore to produce similar if not aggravated consequences coming into office the declared enemy of both i have earnestly endeavored to prevent a resort to either the consideration that a large public debt affords an apology and produces in some degree a necessity also for resorting to a system and extent of taxation which is not only oppressive throughout but is likewise so apt to lead in the end to the commission of that most odious of all offenses against the principles of republican government the prostitution of political power conferred for the general benefit to the aggrandizement of particular classes and the gratification of individual cupidity is alone sufficient independently of the weighty objections which have already been urged to render its creation and existence the sources of bitter and unappeasable discord if we add to this its inevitable tendency to produce and foster extravagant expenditures of the public moneys by which a necessity is created for new loans and new burdens on the people and finally refer to the examples of every government which has existed for proof how seldom it is that the system when once adopted and implanted in the policy of a country has failed to expand itself until public credit was exhausted and the people were no longer able to endure its increasing weight it seems impossible to resist the conclusion that no benefits resulting from its career no extent of conquest no accession of wealth to particular classes nor any nor all its combined advantages can counterbalance its ultimate but certain results a splendid government and an impoverished people if a national bank was as is undeniable repudiated by the framers of the constitution as incompatible with the rights of the states and the liberties of the people if from the beginning it has been regarded by large portions of our citizens as coming in direct collision with that great and vital amendment of the constitution which declares that all powers not conferred by that instrument on the general government are reserved to the states and to the people if it has been viewed by them as the first great step in the march of latitudinous construction which unchecked would render that sacred instrument of as little value as an unwritten constitution dependent as it would alone be for its meaning on the interested interpretation of a dominant party and affording no security to the rights of the minority if such is undeniably the case what rational grounds could have been conceived for anticipating aught but determined opposition to such an institution at the present day could a different result have been expected when the consequences which have flowed from its creation and particularly from its struggles to perpetuate its existence had confirmed in so striking a manner the apprehensions of its earliest opponents when it had been so clearly demonstrated that a concentrated money power wielding so vast a capital and combining such incalculable means of influence may in those peculiar conjunctures to which this government is unavoidably exposed prove an overmatch for the political power of the people themselves when the true character of its capacity to regulate according to its will and its interests and the interests of its favorites the value and production of the labor and property of every man in this extended country had been so fully and fearfully developed when it was notorious that all classes of this great community had by means of the power and influence it thus possesses been infected to madness with a spirit of heedless speculation when it had been seen that secure in the support of the combination of influences by which it was surrounded it could violate its charter and set the laws at defiance with impunity and when too it had become most apparent that to believe that such an accumulation of powers can ever be granted without the certainty of being abused was to indulge in a fatal delusion to avoid the necessity of a permanent debt and its inevitable consequences i have advocated and endeavored to carry into effect the policy of confining the appropriations for the public service to such objects only as are clearly within the constitutional authority of the federal government of excluding from its expenses those improvident and unauthorized grants of public money for works of internal improvement which were so wisely arrested by the constitutional interposition of my predecessor and which if they had not been so checked would long before this time have involved the finances of the general government in embarrassments far greater than those which are now experienced by any of the states of limiting all our expenditures to that simple unostentatious and economical administration of public affairs which is alone consistent with the character of our institutions of collecting annually from the customs and the sales of public lands a revenue fully adequate to defray all the expenses thus incurred but under no pretense whatsoever to impose taxes upon the people to a greater amount than was actually necessary to the public service conducted upon the principles i have stated in lieu of a national bank or a dependence upon banks of any description for the management of our fiscal affairs i recommended the adoption of the system which is now in successful operation that system affords every requisite facility for the transaction of the pecuniary concerns of the government will it is confidently anticipated produce in other respects many of the benefits which have been from time to time expected from the creation of a national bank but which have never been realized avoid the manifold evils inseparable from such an institution diminish to a greater extent than could be accomplished by any other measure of reform the patronage of the federal government a wise policy in all governments but more especially so in one like ours which works well only in proportion as it is made to rely for its support upon the unbiased and unadulterated opinions of its constituents do away forever all dependence on corporate bodies either in the raising collecting safekeeping or disbursing the public revenues and place the government equally above the temptation of fostering a dangerous and unconstitutional institution at home or the necessity of adapting its policy to the views and interests of a still more formidable money power abroad it is by adopting and carrying out these principles under circumstances the most arduous and discouraging that the attempt has been made thus far successfully to demonstrate to the people of the united states that a national bank at all times and a national debt except it be incurred at a period when the honor and safety of the nation demand the temporary sacrifice of a policy which should only be abandoned in such exigencies are not merely unnecessary but in direct and deadly hostility to the principles of their government and to their own permanent welfare the progress made in the development of these positions appears in the preceding sketch of the past history and present state of the financial concerns of the federal government the facts there stated fully authorize the assertion that all the purposes for which this government was instituted have been accomplished during four years of greater pecuniary embarrassment than were ever before experienced in time of peace and in the face of opposition as formidable as any that was ever before arrayed against the policy of an administration that this has been done when the ordinary revenues of the government were generally decreasing as well from the operation of the laws as the condition of the country without the creation of a permanent public debt or incurring any liability other than such as the ordinary resources of the government will speedily discharge and without the agency of a national bank if this view of the proceedings of the government for the period it embraces be warranted by the facts as they are known to exist if the army and navy have been sustained to the full extent authorized by law and which congress deemed sufficient for the defense of the country and the protection of its rights and its honor if its civil and diplomatic service has been equally sustained if ample provision has been made for the administration of justice and the execution of the laws if the claims upon public gratitude in behalf of the soldiers of the revolution have been promptly met and faithfully discharged if there have been no failures in defraying the very large expenditures growing out of that and salutary policy of peacefully removing the indians to regions of comparative safety and prosperity if the public faith has at all times and everywhere been most scrupulously maintained by a prompt discharge of the numerous extended and diversified claims on the treasury if all these great and permanent objects with many others that might be stated have for a series of years marked by peculiar obstacles and difficulties been successfully accomplished without a resort to a permanent debt or the aid of a national bank have we not a right to expect that a policy the object of which has been to sustain the public service independently of either of these fruitful sources of discord will receive the final sanction of a people whose unbiased and fairly elicited judgment upon public affairs is never ultimately wrong that embarrassments in the pecuniary concerns of individuals of unexampled extent and duration have recently existed in this as in other commercial nations is undoubtedly true to suppose it necessary now to trace these reverses to their sources would be a reflection on the intelligence of my whatever may have been the obscurity in which the subject was involved during the earlier stages of the revulsion there can not now be many by whom the whole question is not fully understood not deeming it within the constitutional powers of the general government to repair private losses sustained by reverses in business having no connection with the public service either by direct appropriations from the treasury or by special legislation designed to secure exclusive privileges and immunities to individuals or classes in preference to or at the expense of the great majority necessarily debarred from any participation in them no attempt to do so has been either made recommended or encouraged by the present executive it is believed however that the great purposes for the attainment of which the federal government was instituted have not been lost sight of intrusted only with certain limited powers cautiously enumerated distinctly specified and defined with a precision and clearness which would seem to defy misconstruction it has been my constant aim to confine myself within the limits so clearly marked out and so carefully guarded having always been of opinion that the best preservative of the union of the states is to be found in a total abstinence from the exercise of all doubtful powers on the part of the federal government rather than in attempts to assume them by a loose construction of the constitution or an ingenious perversion of its words i have endeavored to avoid recommending any measure which i had reason to apprehend would in the opinion even of a considerable minority of my be regarded as trenching on the rights of the states or the provisions of the hallowed instrument of our union viewing the aggregate powers of the federal government as a voluntary concession of the states it seemed to me that such only should be exercised as were at the time intended to be given i have been strengthened too in the propriety of this course by the conviction that all efforts to go beyond this tend only to produce dissatisfaction and distrust to excite jealousies and to provoke resistance instead of adding strength to the federal government even when successful they must ever prove a source of incurable weakness by alienating a portion of those whose adhesion is indispensable to the great aggregate of united strength and whose voluntary attachment is in my estimation far more essential to the efficiency of a government strong in the best of all possible strength the confidence and attachment of all those who make up its constituent elements thus believing it has been my purpose to secure to the whole people and to every member of the confederacy by general salutary and equal laws alone the benefit of those republican institutions which it was the end and aim of the constitution to establish and the impartial influence of which is in my judgment indispensable to their preservation i can not bring myself to believe that the lasting happiness of the people the prosperity of the states or the permanency of their union can be maintained by giving preference or priority to any class of citizens in the distribution of benefits or privileges or by the adoption of measures which enrich one portion of the union at the expense of another nor can i see in the interference of the federal government with the local legislation and reserved rights of the states a remedy for present or a security against future dangers the first and assuredly not the least important step toward relieving the country from the condition into which it had been plunged by excesses in trade banking and credits of all kinds was to place the business transactions of the government itself on a solid basis giving and receiving in all cases value for value and neither countenancing nor encouraging in others that delusive system of credits from which it has been found so difficult to escape and which has left nothing behind it but the wrecks that mark its fatal career that the financial affairs of the government are now and have been during the whole period of these difficulties conducted with a strict and invariable regard to this great fundamental principle and that by the assumption and maintenance of the stand thus taken on the very threshold of the approaching crisis more than by any other because or causes whatever the community at large has been shielded from the incalculable evils of a general and indefinite suspension of specie payments and a consequent annihilation for the whole period it might have lasted of a just and invariable standard of value will it is believed at this period scarcely be questioned a steady adherence on the part of the government to the policy which has produced such salutary results aided by judicious state legislation and what is not less by the industry enterprise perseverance and economy of the american people can not fail to raise the whole country at an early period to a state of solid and enduring prosperity not subject to be again overthrown by the suspension of banks or the explosion of a bloated credit system it is for the people and their representatives to decide whether or not the permanent welfare of the country which all good citizens equally desire however widely they may differ as to the means of its accomplishment shall be in this way secured or whether the management of the pecuniary concerns of the government and by consequence to a great extent those of individuals also shall be carried back to a condition of things which fostered those contractions and expansions of the currency and those reckless abuses of credit from the baleful effects of which the country has so deeply suffered a return that can promise in the end no better results than to reproduce the embarrassments the government has experienced and to remove from the shoulders of the present to those of fresh victims the bitter fruits of that spirit of speculative enterprise to which our countrymen are so liable and upon which the lessons of experience are so unavailing the choice is an important one and i sincerely hope that it may be wisely made a report from the secretary of war presenting a detailed view of the affairs of that department accompanies this communication the desultory duties connected with the removal of the indians in which the army has been constantly engaged on the northern and western frontiers and in florida have rendered it impracticable to carry into full effect the plan recommended by the secretary for improving its discipline in every instance where the regiments have been concentrated they have made great progress and the best results may be anticipated from a continuance of this system during the last season a part of the troops have been employed in removing indians from the interior to the territory assigned them in the west a duty which they have performed efficiently and with praiseworthy humanity and that portion of them which has been stationed in florida continued active operations there throughout the heats of summer the policy of the united states in regard to the indians of which a succinct account is given in my message of 1838 and of the wisdom and expediency of which i am fully satisfied has been continued in active operation throughout the whole period of my administration since the spring of 1837 more than indians have been removed to their new homes west of the mississippi and i am happy to add that all accounts concur in representing the result of this measure as eminently beneficial to that people the emigration of the seminoles alone has been attended with serious difficulty and occasioned bloodshed hostilities having been commenced by the indians in florida under the apprehension that they would be compelled by force to comply with their treaty stipulations the execution of the treaty of paynes landing signed in 1832 but not ratified until 1834 was postponed at the solicitation of the indians until 1836 when they again renewed their agreement to remove peaceably to their new homes in the west in the face of this solemn and renewed compact they broke their faith and commenced hostilities by the massacre of major dade command the murder of their agent general thompson and other acts of cruel treachery when this alarming and unexpected intelligence reached the seat of government every effort appears to have been made to reenforce general clinch who commanded the troops then in florida general eustis was dispatched with reenforcements from charleston troops were called out from alabama tennessee and georgia and general scott was sent to take the command with ample powers and ample means at the first alarm general gaines organized a force at new orleans and without waiting for orders landed in florida where he delivered over the troops he had brought with him to general scott governor call was subsequently appointed to conduct a summer campaign and at the close of it was replaced by general jesup these events and changes took place under the administration of my predecessor notwithstanding the exertions of the experienced officers who had command there for eighteen months on entering upon the administration of the government i found the territory of florida a prey to indian atrocities a strenuous effort was immediately made to bring those hostilities to a close and the army under general jesup was reenforced until it amounted to men and furnished with abundant supplies of every description in this campaign a great number of the enemy were captured and destroyed but the character of the contest only was changed the indians having been defeated in every engagement dispersed in small bands throughout the country and became an enterprising formidable and ruthless banditti general taylor who succeeded general jesup used his best exertions to subdue them and was seconded in his efforts by the officers under his command but he too failed to protect the territory from their depredations by an act of signal and cruel treachery they broke the truce made with them by general macgrab who was sent from washington for the purpose of carrying into effect the expressed wishes of congress and have continued their devastations ever since general armistead who was in florida when general taylor left the army by permission assumed the command and after active summer operations was met by propositions for peace and from the fortunate coincidence of the arrival in florida at the same period of a delegation from the seminoles who are happily settled west of the mississippi and are now anxious to persuade their countrymen to join them there hopes were for some time entertained that the indians might be induced to leave the territory without further difficulty these hopes have proved fallacious and hostilities have been renewed throughout the whole of the territory that this contest has endured so long is to be attributed to causes beyond the control of the government experienced generals have had the command of the troops officers and soldiers have alike distinguished themselves for their activity patience and enduring courage the army has been constantly furnished with supplies of every description and we must look for the causes which have so long procrastinated the issue of the contest in the vast extent of the theater of hostilities the almost insurmountable obstacles presented by the nature of the country the climate and the wily character of the savages the sites for marine hospitals on the rivers and lakes which i was authorized to select and because to be purchased have all been designated but the appropriation not proving sufficient conditional arrangements only have been made for their acquisition it is for congress to decide whether these conditional purchases shall be sanctioned and the humane intentions of the law carried into full effect the navy as will appear from the accompanying report of the secretary has been usefully and honorably employed in the protection of our commerce and citizens in the mediterranean the pacific on the coast of brazil and in the gulf of mexico a small squadron consisting of the frigate constellation and the sloop of war boston under commodore kearney is now on its way to the china and indian seas for the purpose of attending to our interests in that quarter and commander aulick in the sloop of war yorktown has been instructed to visit the sandwich and society islands the coasts of new zealand and japan together with other ports and islands frequented by our whale ships for the purpose of giving them countenance and protection should they be required other smaller vessels have been and still are employed in prosecuting the surveys of the coast of the united states directed by various acts of congress and those which have been completed will shortly be laid before you the exploring expedition at the latest date was preparing to leave the bay of islands new zealand in further prosecution of objects which have thus far been successfully accomplished the discovery of a new continent which was first seen in latitude 2 south longitude 27 east and afterwards in latitude 31 south longitude 40 east by lieutenants wilkes and hudson for an extent of miles but on which they were prevented from landing by vast bodies of ice which encompassed it is one of the honorable results of the enterprise lieutenant wilkes bears testimony to the zeal and good conduct of his officers and men and it is but justice to that officer to state that he appears to have performed the duties assigned him with an ardor ability and perseverance which give every assurance of an honorable issue to the undertaking the report of the herewith transmitted will exhibit the service of that department the past year and its present condition the transportation has been maintained during the year to the full extent authorized by the existing laws some improvements have been effected which the public interest seemed urgently to demand but not involving any material additional expenditure the contractors have generally performed their engagements with fidelity the postmasters with few exceptions have rendered their accounts and paid their quarterly balances with promptitude and the whole service of the department has maintained the efficiency for which it has for several years been distinguished the acts of congress establishing new mail routes and requiring more expensive services on others and the increasing wants of the country have for three years past carried the expenditures something beyond the accruing revenues the excess having been met until the past year by the surplus which had previously accumulated that surplus having been exhausted and the anticipated increase in the revenue not having been realized owing to the depression in the commercial business of the country the finances of the department exhibit a small deficiency at the close of the last fiscal year its resources however are ample and the reduced rates of compensation for the transportation service which may be expected on the future lettings from the general reduction of prices with the increase of revenue that may reasonably be anticipated from the revival of commercial activity must soon place the finances of the department in a prosperous condition considering the unfavorable circumstances which have existed during the past year it is a gratifying result that the revenue has not declined as compared with the preceding year but on the contrary exhibits a small increase the circumstances referred to having had no other effect than to check the expected income it will be seen that the suggests certain improvements in the establishment designed to reduce the weight of the mails cheapen the transportation insure greater regularity in the service and secure a considerable reduction in the rates of letter postage an object highly desirable the subject is one of general interest to the community and is respectfully recommended to your consideration the suppression of the african slave trade has received the continued attention of the government the brig dolphin and schooner grampus have been employed during the last season on the coast of africa for the purpose of preventing such portions of that trade as were said to be prosecuted under the american flag after cruising off those parts of the coast most usually resorted to by slavers until the commencement of the rainy season these vessels returned to the united states for supplies and have since been dispatched on a similar service from the reports of the commanding officers it appears that the trade is now principally carried on under portuguese colors and they express the opinion that the apprehension of their presence on the slave coast has in a great degree arrested the prostitution of the american flag to this inhuman purpose it is hoped that by continuing to maintain this force in that quarter and by the exertions of the officers in command much will be done to put a stop to whatever portion of this traffic may have been carried on under the american flag and to prevent its use in a trade which while it violates the laws is equally an outrage on the rights of others and the feelings of humanity the efforts of the several governments who are anxiously seeking to suppress this traffic must however be directed against the facilities afforded by what are now recognized as legitimate commercial pursuits before that object can be fully accomplished supplies of provisions water casks merchandise and articles connected with the prosecution of the slave trade are it is understood freely carried by vessels of different nations to the slave factories and the effects of the factors are transported openly from one slave station to another without interruption or punishment by either of the nations to which they belong engaged in the commerce of that region i submit to your judgments whether this government having been the first to prohibit by adequate penalties the slave trade the first to declare it piracy should not be the first also to forbid to its citizens all trade with the slave factories on the coast of africa giving an example to all nations in this respect which if fairly followed can not fail to produce the most effective results in breaking up those dens of iniquity
devout gratitude due supreme graciously continued beloved country vicissitudes another year invaluable blessings health plenty peace seldom favored land generally exempted ravages disease labor husbandman amply rewarded never relations countries placed favorable basis happily occupy critical conjuncture affairs world rigid persevering abstinence interference domestic political relations states alike due genius distinctive character government principles directed faithful observance management foreign relations practice speaking plainly dealing justly requiring truth justice return best conservatives peace nations strict impartiality manifestations friendship commercial privileges concede require others accompanied disposition prompt maintain every emergency rights principle averse invasion others given country government standing great family nations proud advantages experienced citizens throughout every portion earth enterprising adventurous spirit may carry remain insensible value friendship ignorant terms acquired alone preserved series questions long standing difficult adjustment important consequences rights citizens honor country deeply involved course years successful administration immediate predecessor brought satisfactory conclusion important remaining happy believe fair way speedily satisfactorily adjusted powers world relations honorable peace since adjournment nothing serious occurred interrupt threaten desirable harmony clouds lowered hemisphere cast portentous shadows upon happy shores bound entangling alliances yet linked common nature interest nations mankind aspirations preservation peace whose solid civilizing triumphs may participate generous emulation yet behooves us prepared event always ready maintain enlightened principles national intercourse government ever contended shock contending empires assuming resolute bearing clothing defensive armor neutral nations maintain independent rights excitement grew territorial controversy united states great britain great measure subsided hoped favorable period approaching final settlement governments must convinced dangers question fraught must desire interest perpetual irritation removed speedily practicable last annual message informed proposition commission exploration survey promised great britain received counter project including also provision certain final adjustment limits dispute british government consideration answer government accompanied additional propositions received minister since separation promptly considered deemed correct principle consistent due regard rights united states state maine concurred reasons dissenting residue additional suggestion part communicated secretary state fox minister feeling sufficiently instructed upon points raised discussion felt duty refer matter government decision time advisement speedy answer may confidently expected character points still difference undoubted disposition parties bring matter early conclusion look entire confidence prompt satisfactory termination negotiation three commissioners appointed shortly adjournment congress act last session providing exploration survey line separates states maine new hampshire british provinces actively employed progress interrupted inclemency season resume labors soon practicable ensuing year understood respective examinations throw new light upon subject controversy serve remove erroneous impressions may made elsewhere prejudicial rights united states among reasons view preventing embarrassments peculiar system government impede complicate negotiations involving territorial rights state thought duty informed previous occasion propose british government minister washington early steps taken adjust points difference line boundary entrance lake superior northwestern point lake woods arbitration friendly power conformity seventh article treaty ghent answer yet returned british government proposition austria france prussia russia remaining powers europe happy inform relations continue friendly character belgium treaty commerce navigation based upon liberal principles reciprocity equality concluded march last ratified belgian government duly laid senate subject congratulation provides satisfactory adjustment question controversy thus removing obstacle could obstruct friendly mutually advantageous intercourse two nations messenger dispatched hanoverian treaty berlin according stipulation ratifications exchanged happy announce many delays difficulties treaty commerce navigation united states portugal concluded signed lisbon 26th august last plenipotentiaries two governments stipulations founded upon principles mutual liberality advantage united states always sought make basis intercourse foreign powers hoped tend foster strengthen commercial intercourse two countries appropriation last session congress agent sent germany purpose promoting interests tobacco trade commissioners appointed convention adjustment claims citizens united states upon mexico met organized washington august last papers possession government relating claims communicated board claims embraced convention subject negotiation two governments medium minister mexico nothing occurred disturb harmony relations different governments south america regret however obliged inform claims citizens upon late republic colombia yet satisfied separate governments resolved charge brazil expressed intention government prolong treaty 1828 cease obligatory upon either party 12th day december 1841 extensive commercial intercourse united states vast empire longer regulated express stipulations affords pleasure communicate government chili entered agreement indemnify claimants case macectonian american property seized 1819 add information also received justifies hope early adjustment remaining claims upon government commissioners appointed pursuance convention united states texas marking boundary according last report received commissioner surveyed established whole extent boundary north along western bank sabine river entrance gulf mexico degree north latitude commission adjourned 16th june last reassemble 1st november purpose establishing accurately intersection degree latitude western bank sabine meridian line thence red river presumed work concluded present season present sound condition finances success embarrassments regard times apparently insurmountable overcome matters upon people government united states may well congratulate overflowing treasury however may regarded evidence public prosperity seldom conducive permanent welfare people experience demonstrated incompatibility salutary action political institutions like united states safest reliance financial efficiency independence contrary found consist ample resources unencumbered debt respect federal government occupies singularly fortunate truly enviable position entered upon discharge official duties march 1837 act distribution surplus revenue course rapid execution nearly public moneys pursuance provisions deposited states months january april july year may occurred general suspension specie payments banks including exceptions public moneys deposited upon whose fidelity government unfortunately made dependent revenues collected people indispensable public service suspension excesses banking commerce arose greatly aggravated occurrence made great extent unavailable principal part public money hand suspended collection many millions accruing merchants bonds greatly reduced revenue arising customs public lands effects continued operate various degrees present period addition decrease revenue thus produced two half millions duties relinquished two biennial reductions act 1833 probably much upon importation iron railroads special legislation whilst condition last four years relation revenue period subjected unavoidable continuance large extraordinary expenses necessarily growing past transactions could immediately arrested without great prejudice public interest charge upon treasurer consequence cherokee treaty alone without adverting others arising indian treaties already exceeded prosecution measures removal seminole indians found progress nearly fourteen millions public buildings required unusual sum nearly three millions affords however great pleasure able say commencement period present day every demand upon government home abroad promptly met done without creating permanent debt resort additional taxation form midst steadily progressive reduction existing burdens upon people leaving still considerable balance available funds remain treasury end year small amount treasury notes exceeding still outstanding less millions united states deposit states composed yet due presented payment may redeemed accruing revenue expenditures exceed amount within may thought kept without prejudice public interest revenue shall prove large may justly anticipated among reflections arising contemplation circumstances one least gratifying consciousness government resolution ability adhere every emergency sacred obligations law execute contracts according requirements constitution thus present needed rallying point business whole country might brought back safe unvarying standard result vitally important well interests morals people surely difference opinion regard incalculable evils would arisen government critical moment suffered deterred upholding true standard value either pressure adverse circumstances violence unmerited denunciation manner people sustained performance duty highly honorable fortitude patriotism fail stimulate agents adhere circumstances line duty satisfy safety course really right demanded financial crisis may community like pursued however apparently severe immediate operation policy federal government extinguishing rapidly possible national debt subsequently resisting every temptation create new one deserves regarded favorable light among many objections national debt certain tendency public securities concentrate ultimately coffers foreign stockholders one every day gathering strength already resources many states future industry citizens indefinitely mortgaged subjects european governments amount twelve millions annually pay constantly accruing interest borrowed money sum exceeding half ordinary revenues whole united states pretext relation affords foreigners scrutinize management domestic affairs actually intermeddle presents subject earnest attention say serious alarm fortunately federal government exception obligation entered behalf district columbia must soon discharged wholly exempt embarrassment also believed government fully faithfully paid creditors also relieved entirely debt maintain distinction desirable honorable national character object earnest solicitude never free people possible avoid expose necessity treat peace honor safety republic governments foreign creditors however well disposed may cultivate us general friendly relations nevertheless law condition made hostile success permanency political institutions like humiliating may embarrassments consequent upon condition another objection scarcely less formidable commencement new debt inevitable tendency increase magnitude foster national extravagance unprofitable observer events needs day admonished difficulties government habitually dependent loans sustain ordinary expenditures encounter resisting influences constantly exerted favor additional loans capitalists enrich government securities amounts much exceeding money actually advance prolific source individual aggrandizement borrowing countries stockholders seek gains rise fall public stocks selfish importunities applicants appropriations works avowedly accommodation public real objects frequently advancement private interests known necessity many states impose taxes payment interest debts furnishes additional cogent reason federal governments refrain creating national debt people would exposed double taxation similar object possess within ample resources every emergency may quite sure citizens future exigency unwilling supply government means asked defense country time peace events justification creation permanent debt federal government limited range constitutional duties may certainly circumstances performed without resort seen avoided four years greater fiscal difficulties existed similar period since adoption constitution one also remarkable occurrence extraordinary causes expenditures accomplish desirable object two things indispensable first action federal government kept within boundaries prescribed founders secondly appropriations objects admitted constitutional expenditure also subjected standard rigid practical economy first depends chiefly people opinions form true construction constitution confidence repose political sentiments select representatives federal legislature second rests upon fidelity immediate representatives public functionaries discharge trusts committed duty economizing expenses public service admitted hands yet subjects upon exists wider difference opinion constantly manifested regard fidelity duty discharged neither diversity sentiment even mutual recriminations upon point respect public mind justly sensitive well entirely avoided least periods great political excitement intelligent people however seldom fail arrive end correct conclusions matter practical economy management public affairs adverse influence contend powerful large surplus revenue unusually large appropriations 1837 may without doubt independently extraordinary requisitions public service growing state indian relations inconsiderable degree traced source sudden rapid distribution large surplus treasury equally sudden unprecedentedly severe revulsion commerce business country pointing unerring certainty great protracted reduction revenue strengthened propriety earliest practicable reduction public expenditures change system operating upon large surface applicable numerous diversified interests objects work day attention every department government immediately good faith directed end continued present moment estimates appropriations year 1838 first control somewhat diminished expenditures 1839 reduced 1840 exclusive disbursements public debt trust claims probably exceed half millions two three millions less preceding year nine ten millions less 1837 found necessary order produce result resort power conferred congress postponing certain classes public works except deferring expenditures short period upon limited portion postponement terminated time since moment treasury department receipts indebted banks became fully assured ability meet without prejudice public service respects causes operation believed justify still reduction without injury important national interest expenses sustaining troops employed florida gradually greatly reduced persevering efforts war department reasonable hope may entertained necessity military operations quarter soon cease removal indians within settled borders nearly completed pension list one heaviest charges upon treasury rapidly diminishing death costly public buildings either finished nearly may think safely promise continued exemption border difficulties available balance treasury 1st january next estimated sum expected receipts sources next year believed sufficient enable government meet every engagement suitable balance treasury end year remedial measures connected customs public lands heretofore recommended adopted new appropriations congress shall carry expenditures beyond official estimates new system established congress public money prescribing kind currency received public revenue providing additional guards securities losses several mouths operation although might premature upon experience limited duration form definite opinion regard extent influences correcting many evils federal government country hitherto suffered especially grown banking expansions depreciated currency official defalcations yet right say nothing occurred practical operation system weaken slightest degree much strengthen confident anticipations friends grounds heretofore fully explained require recapitulation respect facility convenience affords conducting public service ability government discharge agency every duty attendant collection transfer disbursement public money promptitude success say confidence tha apprehensions felt duty oppose adoption proved unfounded contrary branch fiscal affairs government believed may always thus carried every desirable facility security changes improvements details system without affecting principles involved submitted secretary treasury sure receive hands attention may examination found entitled deemed brief summary fiscal affairs necessary due performance duty specially enjoined upon constitution serve also illustrate fully principles guided reference two contested points public policy earliest development important consequences arisen complicated difficult yet admirable system government allude national debt national bank political contests country agitated ever since adoption constitution great measure originated much reason apprehend conflicting interests opposing principles thus marshaled continue heretofore produce similar aggravated consequences coming office declared enemy earnestly endeavored prevent resort either consideration large public debt affords apology produces degree necessity also resorting system extent taxation oppressive throughout likewise apt lead end commission odious offenses principles republican government prostitution political power conferred general benefit aggrandizement particular classes gratification individual cupidity alone sufficient independently weighty objections already urged render creation existence sources bitter unappeasable discord add inevitable tendency produce foster extravagant expenditures public moneys necessity created new loans new burdens people finally refer examples every government existed proof seldom system adopted implanted policy country failed expand public credit exhausted people longer able endure increasing weight seems impossible resist conclusion benefits resulting career extent conquest accession wealth particular classes combined advantages counterbalance ultimate certain results splendid government impoverished people national bank undeniable repudiated framers constitution incompatible rights states liberties people beginning regarded large portions citizens coming direct collision great vital amendment constitution declares powers conferred instrument general government reserved states people viewed first great step march latitudinous construction unchecked would render sacred instrument little value unwritten constitution dependent would alone meaning interested interpretation dominant party affording security rights minority undeniably case rational grounds could conceived anticipating aught determined opposition institution present day could different result expected consequences flowed creation particularly struggles perpetuate existence confirmed striking manner apprehensions earliest opponents clearly demonstrated concentrated money power wielding vast capital combining incalculable means influence may peculiar conjunctures government unavoidably exposed prove overmatch political power people true character capacity regulate according interests interests favorites value production labor property every man extended country fully fearfully developed notorious classes great community means power influence thus possesses infected madness spirit heedless speculation seen secure support combination influences surrounded could violate charter set laws defiance impunity become apparent believe accumulation powers ever granted without certainty abused indulge fatal delusion avoid necessity permanent debt inevitable consequences advocated endeavored carry effect policy confining appropriations public service objects clearly within constitutional authority federal government excluding expenses improvident unauthorized grants public money works internal improvement wisely arrested constitutional interposition predecessor checked would long time involved finances general government embarrassments far greater experienced states limiting expenditures simple unostentatious economical administration public affairs alone consistent character institutions collecting annually customs sales public lands revenue fully adequate defray expenses thus incurred pretense whatsoever impose taxes upon people greater amount actually necessary public service conducted upon principles stated lieu national bank dependence upon banks description management fiscal affairs recommended adoption system successful operation system affords every requisite facility transaction pecuniary concerns government confidently anticipated produce respects many benefits time time expected creation national bank never realized avoid manifold evils inseparable institution diminish greater extent could accomplished measure reform patronage federal government wise policy governments especially one like works well proportion made rely support upon unbiased unadulterated opinions constituents away forever dependence corporate bodies either raising collecting safekeeping disbursing public revenues place government equally temptation fostering dangerous unconstitutional institution home necessity adapting policy views interests still formidable money power abroad adopting carrying principles circumstances arduous discouraging attempt made thus far successfully demonstrate people united states national bank times national debt except incurred period honor safety nation demand temporary sacrifice policy abandoned exigencies merely unnecessary direct deadly hostility principles government permanent welfare progress made development positions appears preceding sketch past history present state financial concerns federal government facts stated fully authorize assertion purposes government instituted accomplished four years greater pecuniary embarrassment ever experienced time peace face opposition formidable ever arrayed policy administration done ordinary revenues government generally decreasing well operation laws condition country without creation permanent public debt incurring liability ordinary resources government speedily discharge without agency national bank view proceedings government period embraces warranted facts known exist army navy sustained full extent authorized law congress deemed sufficient defense country protection rights honor civil diplomatic service equally sustained ample provision made administration justice execution laws claims upon public gratitude behalf soldiers revolution promptly met faithfully discharged failures defraying large expenditures growing salutary policy peacefully removing indians regions comparative safety prosperity public faith times everywhere scrupulously maintained prompt discharge numerous extended diversified claims treasury great permanent objects many others might stated series years marked peculiar obstacles difficulties successfully accomplished without resort permanent debt aid national bank right expect policy object sustain public service independently either fruitful sources discord receive final sanction people whose unbiased fairly elicited judgment upon public affairs never ultimately wrong embarrassments pecuniary concerns individuals unexampled extent duration recently existed commercial nations undoubtedly true suppose necessary trace reverses sources would reflection intelligence whatever may obscurity subject involved earlier stages revulsion many whole question fully understood deeming within constitutional powers general government repair private losses sustained reverses business connection public service either direct appropriations treasury special legislation designed secure exclusive privileges immunities individuals classes preference expense great majority necessarily debarred participation attempt either made recommended encouraged present executive believed however great purposes attainment federal government instituted lost sight intrusted certain limited powers cautiously enumerated distinctly specified defined precision clearness would seem defy misconstruction constant aim confine within limits clearly marked carefully guarded always opinion best preservative union states found total abstinence exercise doubtful powers part federal government rather attempts assume loose construction constitution ingenious perversion words endeavored avoid recommending measure reason apprehend would opinion even considerable minority regarded trenching rights states provisions hallowed instrument union viewing aggregate powers federal government voluntary concession states seemed exercised time intended given strengthened propriety course conviction efforts go beyond tend produce dissatisfaction distrust excite jealousies provoke resistance instead adding strength federal government even successful must ever prove source incurable weakness alienating portion whose adhesion indispensable great aggregate united strength whose voluntary attachment estimation far essential efficiency government strong best possible strength confidence attachment make constituent elements thus believing purpose secure whole people every member confederacy general salutary equal laws alone benefit republican institutions end aim constitution establish impartial influence judgment indispensable preservation bring believe lasting happiness people prosperity states permanency union maintained giving preference priority class citizens distribution benefits privileges adoption measures enrich one portion union expense another see interference federal government local legislation reserved rights states remedy present security future dangers first assuredly least important step toward relieving country condition plunged excesses trade banking credits kinds place business transactions government solid basis giving receiving cases value value neither countenancing encouraging others delusive system credits found difficult escape left nothing behind wrecks mark fatal career financial affairs government whole period difficulties conducted strict invariable regard great fundamental principle assumption maintenance stand thus taken threshold approaching crisis causes whatever community large shielded incalculable evils general indefinite suspension specie payments consequent annihilation whole period might lasted invariable standard value believed period scarcely questioned steady adherence part government policy produced salutary results aided judicious state legislation less industry enterprise perseverance economy american people fail raise whole country early period state solid enduring prosperity subject overthrown suspension banks explosion bloated credit system people representatives decide whether permanent welfare country good citizens equally desire however widely may differ means accomplishment shall way secured whether management pecuniary concerns government consequence great extent individuals also shall carried back condition things fostered contractions expansions currency reckless abuses credit baleful effects country deeply suffered return promise end better results reproduce embarrassments government experienced remove shoulders present fresh victims bitter fruits spirit speculative enterprise countrymen liable upon lessons experience unavailing choice important one sincerely hope may wisely made report secretary war presenting detailed view affairs department accompanies communication desultory duties connected removal indians army constantly engaged northern western frontiers florida rendered impracticable carry full effect plan recommended secretary improving discipline every instance regiments concentrated made great progress best results may anticipated continuance system last season part troops employed removing indians interior territory assigned west duty performed efficiently praiseworthy humanity portion stationed florida continued active operations throughout heats summer policy united states regard indians succinct account given message 1838 wisdom expediency fully satisfied continued active operation throughout whole period administration since spring 1837 indians removed new homes west mississippi happy add accounts concur representing result measure eminently beneficial people emigration seminoles alone attended serious difficulty occasioned bloodshed hostilities commenced indians florida apprehension would compelled force comply treaty stipulations execution treaty paynes landing signed 1832 ratified 1834 postponed solicitation indians 1836 renewed agreement remove peaceably new homes west face solemn renewed compact broke faith commenced hostilities massacre major dade command murder agent general thompson acts cruel treachery alarming unexpected intelligence reached seat government every effort appears made reenforce general clinch commanded troops florida general eustis dispatched reenforcements charleston troops called alabama tennessee georgia general scott sent take command ample powers ample means first alarm general gaines organized force new orleans without waiting orders landed florida delivered troops brought general scott governor call subsequently appointed conduct summer campaign close replaced general jesup events changes took place administration predecessor notwithstanding exertions experienced officers command eighteen months entering upon administration government found territory florida prey indian atrocities strenuous effort immediately made bring hostilities close army general jesup reenforced amounted men furnished abundant supplies every description campaign great number enemy captured destroyed character contest changed indians defeated every engagement dispersed small bands throughout country became enterprising formidable ruthless banditti general taylor succeeded general jesup used best exertions subdue seconded efforts officers command failed protect territory depredations act signal cruel treachery broke truce made general macgrab sent washington purpose carrying effect expressed wishes congress continued devastations ever since general armistead florida general taylor left army permission assumed command active summer operations met propositions peace fortunate coincidence arrival florida period delegation seminoles happily settled west mississippi anxious persuade countrymen join hopes time entertained indians might induced leave territory without difficulty hopes proved fallacious hostilities renewed throughout whole territory contest endured long attributed causes beyond control government experienced generals command troops officers soldiers alike distinguished activity patience enduring courage army constantly furnished supplies every description must look causes long procrastinated issue contest vast extent theater hostilities almost insurmountable obstacles presented nature country climate wily character savages sites marine hospitals rivers lakes authorized select purchased designated appropriation proving sufficient conditional arrangements made acquisition congress decide whether conditional purchases shall sanctioned humane intentions law carried full effect navy appear accompanying report secretary usefully honorably employed protection commerce citizens mediterranean pacific coast brazil gulf mexico small squadron consisting frigate constellation sloop war boston commodore kearney way china indian seas purpose attending interests quarter commander aulick sloop war yorktown instructed visit sandwich society islands coasts new zealand japan together ports islands frequented whale ships purpose giving countenance protection required smaller vessels still employed prosecuting surveys coast united states directed various acts congress completed shortly laid exploring expedition latest date preparing leave bay islands new zealand prosecution objects thus far successfully accomplished discovery new continent first seen latitude 2 south longitude 27 east afterwards latitude 31 south longitude 40 east lieutenants wilkes hudson extent miles prevented landing vast bodies ice encompassed one honorable results enterprise lieutenant wilkes bears testimony zeal good conduct officers men justice officer state appears performed duties assigned ardor ability perseverance give every assurance honorable issue undertaking report herewith transmitted exhibit service department past year present condition transportation maintained year full extent authorized existing laws improvements effected public interest seemed urgently demand involving material additional expenditure contractors generally performed engagements fidelity postmasters exceptions rendered accounts paid quarterly balances promptitude whole service department maintained efficiency several years distinguished acts congress establishing new mail routes requiring expensive services others increasing wants country three years past carried expenditures something beyond accruing revenues excess met past year surplus previously accumulated surplus exhausted anticipated increase revenue realized owing depression commercial business country finances department exhibit small deficiency close last fiscal year resources however ample reduced rates compensation transportation service may expected future lettings general reduction prices increase revenue may reasonably anticipated revival commercial activity must soon place finances department prosperous condition considering unfavorable circumstances existed past year gratifying result revenue declined compared preceding year contrary exhibits small increase circumstances referred effect check expected income seen suggests certain improvements establishment designed reduce weight mails cheapen transportation insure greater regularity service secure considerable reduction rates letter postage object highly desirable subject one general interest community respectfully recommended consideration suppression african slave trade received continued attention government brig dolphin schooner grampus employed last season coast africa purpose preventing portions trade said prosecuted american flag cruising parts coast usually resorted slavers commencement rainy season vessels returned united states supplies since dispatched similar service reports commanding officers appears trade principally carried portuguese colors express opinion apprehension presence slave coast great degree arrested prostitution american flag inhuman purpose hoped continuing maintain force quarter exertions officers command much done put stop whatever portion traffic may carried american flag prevent use trade violates laws equally outrage rights others feelings humanity efforts several governments anxiously seeking suppress traffic must however directed facilities afforded recognized legitimate commercial pursuits object fully accomplished supplies provisions water casks merchandise articles connected prosecution slave trade understood freely carried vessels different nations slave factories effects factors transported openly one slave station another without interruption punishment either nations belong engaged commerce region submit judgments whether government first prohibit adequate penalties slave trade first declare piracy first also forbid citizens trade slave factories coast africa giving example nations respect fairly followed fail produce effective results breaking dens iniquity
devout gratitude due supreme graciously continue beloved country vicissitude another year invaluable blessing health plenty peace seldom favor land generally exempt ravage disease labor husbandman amply reward never relation country place favorable basis happily occupy critical conjuncture affair world rigid persevere abstinence interference domestic political relation state alike due genius distinctive character government principle direct faithful observance management foreign relation practice speak plainly deal justly require truth justice return best conservative peace nation strict impartiality manifestation friendship commercial privilege concede require others accompany disposition prompt maintain every emergency right principle averse invasion others give country government stand great family nation proud advantage experience citizen throughout every portion earth enterprising adventurous spirit may carry remain insensible value friendship ignorant term acquire alone preserve series question long stand difficult adjustment important consequence right citizen honor country deeply involved course year successful administration immediate predecessor bring satisfactory conclusion important remain happy believe fair way speedily satisfactorily adjust power world relation honorable peace since adjournment nothing serious occur interrupt threaten desirable harmony cloud lower hemisphere cast portentous shadow upon happy shore bound entangle alliance yet link common nature interest nation mankind aspiration preservation peace whose solid civilize triumph may participate generous emulation yet behoove u prepared event always ready maintain enlighten principle national intercourse government ever contend shock contend empire assume resolute bear clothe defensive armor neutral nation maintain independent right excitement grow territorial controversy united state great britain great measure subside hop favorable period approach final settlement government must convince danger question fraught must desire interest perpetual irritation remove speedily practicable last annual message inform proposition commission exploration survey promise great britain receive counter project include also provision certain final adjustment limit dispute british government consideration answer government accompany additional proposition receive minister since separation promptly consider deem correct principle consistent due regard right unite state state maine concur reason dissent residue additional suggestion part communicate secretary state fox minister feel sufficiently instruct upon point raise discussion felt duty refer matter government decision time advisement speedy answer may confidently expect character point still difference undoubted disposition party bring matter early conclusion look entire confidence prompt satisfactory termination negotiation three commissioner appoint shortly adjournment congress act last session provide exploration survey line separate state maine new hampshire british province actively employ progress interrupt inclemency season resume labor soon practicable ensue year understood respective examination throw new light upon subject controversy serve remove erroneous impression may make elsewhere prejudicial right unite state among reason view prevent embarrassment peculiar system government impede complicate negotiation involve territorial right state think duty inform previous occasion propose british government minister washington early step take adjust point difference line boundary entrance lake superior northwestern point lake wood arbitration friendly power conformity seventh article treaty ghent answer yet return british government proposition austria france prussia russia remain power europe happy inform relation continue friendly character belgium treaty commerce navigation base upon liberal principle reciprocity equality conclude march last ratified belgian government duly lay senate subject congratulation provide satisfactory adjustment question controversy thus remove obstacle could obstruct friendly mutually advantageous intercourse two nation messenger dispatched hanoverian treaty berlin accord stipulation ratification exchange happy announce many delay difficulty treaty commerce navigation unite state portugal conclude sign lisbon 26th august last plenipotentiary two government stipulation found upon principle mutual liberality advantage united state always seek make basis intercourse foreign power hop tend foster strengthen commercial intercourse two country appropriation last session congress agent send germany purpose promote interest tobacco trade commissioner appoint convention adjustment claim citizen united state upon mexico meet organize washington august last paper possession government relate claim communicate board claim embrace convention subject negotiation two government medium minister mexico nothing occur disturb harmony relation different government south america regret however oblige inform claim citizens upon late republic colombia yet satisfy separate government resolve charge brazil express intention government prolong treaty 1828 cease obligatory upon either party 12th day december 1841 extensive commercial intercourse united state vast empire longer regulate express stipulation affords pleasure communicate government chili enter agreement indemnify claimant case macectonian american property seize 1819 add information also receive justifies hope early adjustment remain claim upon government commissioner appoint pursuance convention unite state texas mark boundary accord last report receive commissioner survey establish whole extent boundary north along western bank sabine river entrance gulf mexico degree north latitude commission adjourn 16th june last reassemble 1st november purpose establish accurately intersection degree latitude western bank sabine meridian line thence red river presume work conclude present season present sound condition finance success embarrassments regard time apparently insurmountable overcome matter upon people government united state may well congratulate overflow treasury however may regard evidence public prosperity seldom conducive permanent welfare people experience demonstrate incompatibility salutary action political institution like united state safest reliance financial efficiency independence contrary find consist ample resource unencumbered debt respect federal government occupies singularly fortunate truly enviable position enter upon discharge official duty march 1837 act distribution surplus revenue course rapid execution nearly public money pursuance provision deposit state month january april july year may occur general suspension specie payment bank include exception public money deposit upon whose fidelity government unfortunately make dependent revenue collect people indispensable public service suspension excesses bank commerce arise greatly aggravate occurrence make great extent unavailable principal part public money hand suspend collection many million accrue merchant bond greatly reduce revenue arise custom public land effect continue operate various degree present period addition decrease revenue thus produce two half million duty relinquish two biennial reduction act 1833 probably much upon importation iron railroad special legislation whilst condition last four year relation revenue period subject unavoidable continuance large extraordinary expense necessarily grow past transaction could immediately arrest without great prejudice public interest charge upon treasurer consequence cherokee treaty alone without advert others arise indian treaty already exceed prosecution measure removal seminole indian find progress nearly fourteen million public building require unusual sum nearly three million affords however great pleasure able say commencement period present day every demand upon government home abroad promptly meet do without create permanent debt resort additional taxation form midst steadily progressive reduction exist burden upon people leave still considerable balance available fund remain treasury end year small amount treasury note exceed still outstanding less million united state deposit state compose yet due present payment may redeem accrue revenue expenditure exceed amount within may think keep without prejudice public interest revenue shall prove large may justly anticipate among reflection arise contemplation circumstance one least gratify consciousness government resolution ability adhere every emergency sacred obligation law execute contract accord requirement constitution thus present need rally point business whole country might bring back safe unvarying standard result vitally important well interest moral people surely difference opinion regard incalculable evil would arise government critical moment suffer deterred upholding true standard value either pressure adverse circumstance violence unmerited denunciation manner people sustain performance duty highly honorable fortitude patriotism fail stimulate agent adhere circumstance line duty satisfy safety course really right demand financial crisis may community like pursue however apparently severe immediate operation policy federal government extinguish rapidly possible national debt subsequently resist every temptation create new one deserve regard favorable light among many objection national debt certain tendency public security concentrate ultimately coffer foreign stockholder one every day gather strength already resource many state future industry citizen indefinitely mortgage subject european government amount twelve million annually pay constantly accrue interest borrow money sum exceed half ordinary revenue whole united state pretext relation affords foreigner scrutinize management domestic affair actually intermeddle present subject earnest attention say serious alarm fortunately federal government exception obligation enter behalf district columbia must soon discharge wholly exempt embarrassment also believe government fully faithfully pay creditor also relieve entirely debt maintain distinction desirable honorable national character object earnest solicitude never free people possible avoid expose necessity treat peace honor safety republic government foreign creditor however well disposed may cultivate u general friendly relation nevertheless law condition make hostile success permanency political institution like humiliate may embarrassments consequent upon condition another objection scarcely less formidable commencement new debt inevitable tendency increase magnitude foster national extravagance unprofitable observer event need day admonish difficulty government habitually dependent loan sustain ordinary expenditure encounter resist influence constantly exert favor additional loan capitalist enrich government security amount much exceed money actually advance prolific source individual aggrandizement borrow country stockholder seek gain rise fall public stock selfish importunity applicant appropriation work avowedly accommodation public real object frequently advancement private interest know necessity many state impose tax payment interest debt furnish additional cogent reason federal government refrain create national debt people would expose double taxation similar object possess within ample resource every emergency may quite sure citizen future exigency unwilling supply government mean ask defense country time peace event justification creation permanent debt federal government limit range constitutional duty may certainly circumstance perform without resort see avoid four year great fiscal difficulty exist similar period since adoption constitution one also remarkable occurrence extraordinary cause expenditures accomplish desirable object two thing indispensable first action federal government keep within boundary prescribe founder secondly appropriation object admit constitutional expenditure also subject standard rigid practical economy first depend chiefly people opinion form true construction constitution confidence repose political sentiment select representative federal legislature second rest upon fidelity immediate representative public functionary discharge trust commit duty economize expense public service admit hand yet subject upon exists wider difference opinion constantly manifest regard fidelity duty discharge neither diversity sentiment even mutual recrimination upon point respect public mind justly sensitive well entirely avoid least period great political excitement intelligent people however seldom fail arrive end correct conclusion matter practical economy management public affair adverse influence contend powerful large surplus revenue unusually large appropriation 1837 may without doubt independently extraordinary requisition public service grow state indian relation inconsiderable degree trace source sudden rapid distribution large surplus treasury equally sudden unprecedentedly severe revulsion commerce business country point unerring certainty great protract reduction revenue strengthen propriety early practicable reduction public expenditures change system operate upon large surface applicable numerous diversified interest object work day attention every department government immediately good faith direct end continued present moment estimate appropriation year 1838 first control somewhat diminish expenditure 1839 reduced 1840 exclusive disbursement public debt trust claim probably exceed half million two three million less preceding year nine ten million less 1837 find necessary order produce result resort power confer congress postpone certain class public work except defer expenditure short period upon limited portion postponement terminate time since moment treasury department receipt indebted bank become fully assure ability meet without prejudice public service respect cause operation believe justify still reduction without injury important national interest expense sustain troop employ florida gradually greatly reduce persevere effort war department reasonable hope may entertain necessity military operation quarter soon cease removal indian within settled border nearly complete pension list one heaviest charge upon treasury rapidly diminish death costly public building either finish nearly may think safely promise continued exemption border difficulty available balance treasury 1st january next estimate sum expect receipt source next year believe sufficient enable government meet every engagement suitable balance treasury end year remedial measure connect custom public land heretofore recommend adopt new appropriation congress shall carry expenditure beyond official estimate new system establish congress public money prescribe kind currency receive public revenue provide additional guard security loss several mouth operation although might premature upon experience limited duration form definite opinion regard extent influence correct many evil federal government country hitherto suffer especially grown banking expansion depreciate currency official defalcation yet right say nothing occur practical operation system weaken slightest degree much strengthen confident anticipation friend ground heretofore fully explain require recapitulation respect facility convenience affords conduct public service ability government discharge agency every duty attendant collection transfer disbursement public money promptitude success say confidence tha apprehension felt duty oppose adoption prove unfounded contrary branch fiscal affair government believe may always thus carry every desirable facility security change improvement detail system without affect principle involve submit secretary treasury sure receive hand attention may examination find entitle deemed brief summary fiscal affair necessary due performance duty specially enjoin upon constitution serve also illustrate fully principle guide reference two contest point public policy early development important consequence arisen complicate difficult yet admirable system government allude national debt national bank political contest country agitate ever since adoption constitution great measure originate much reason apprehend conflicting interest oppose principle thus marshal continue heretofore produce similar aggravated consequence come office declare enemy earnestly endeavor prevent resort either consideration large public debt affords apology produce degree necessity also resort system extent taxation oppressive throughout likewise apt lead end commission odious offense principle republican government prostitution political power confer general benefit aggrandizement particular class gratification individual cupidity alone sufficient independently weighty objection already urge render creation existence source bitter unappeasable discord add inevitable tendency produce foster extravagant expenditures public money necessity create new loan new burden people finally refer example every government exist proof seldom system adopt implanted policy country fail expand public credit exhaust people longer able endure increase weight seem impossible resist conclusion benefit result career extent conquest accession wealth particular class combine advantage counterbalance ultimate certain result splendid government impoverish people national bank undeniable repudiated framer constitution incompatible right state liberty people begin regarded large portion citizen come direct collision great vital amendment constitution declare power confer instrument general government reserve state people view first great step march latitudinous construction unchecked would render sacred instrument little value unwritten constitution dependent would alone meaning interested interpretation dominant party afford security right minority undeniably case rational ground could conceive anticipate aught determine opposition institution present day could different result expect consequence flow creation particularly struggle perpetuate existence confirm striking manner apprehension earliest opponent clearly demonstrate concentrated money power wield vast capital combine incalculable mean influence may peculiar conjuncture government unavoidably expose prove overmatch political power people true character capacity regulate accord interest interest favorites value production labor property every man extend country fully fearfully develop notorious class great community mean power influence thus possess infected madness spirit heedless speculation see secure support combination influence surround could violate charter set law defiance impunity become apparent believe accumulation power ever grant without certainty abuse indulge fatal delusion avoid necessity permanent debt inevitable consequence advocate endeavored carry effect policy confine appropriation public service object clearly within constitutional authority federal government exclude expense improvident unauthorized grant public money work internal improvement wisely arrest constitutional interposition predecessor check would long time involve finance general government embarrassment far great experienced state limit expenditure simple unostentatious economical administration public affair alone consistent character institution collect annually custom sale public land revenue fully adequate defray expense thus incur pretense whatsoever impose tax upon people great amount actually necessary public service conduct upon principle state lieu national bank dependence upon bank description management fiscal affair recommend adoption system successful operation system affords every requisite facility transaction pecuniary concern government confidently anticipate produce respect many benefit time time expect creation national bank never realize avoid manifold evils inseparable institution diminish great extent could accomplish measure reform patronage federal government wise policy government especially one like work well proportion make rely support upon unbiased unadulterated opinion constituent away forever dependence corporate body either raise collect safekeeping disburse public revenue place government equally temptation foster dangerous unconstitutional institution home necessity adapt policy view interest still formidable money power abroad adopt carry principle circumstance arduous discourage attempt make thus far successfully demonstrate people united state national bank time national debt except incurred period honor safety nation demand temporary sacrifice policy abandon exigency merely unnecessary direct deadly hostility principle government permanent welfare progress make development position appear precede sketch past history present state financial concern federal government fact state fully authorize assertion purpose government institute accomplished four year great pecuniary embarrassment ever experience time peace face opposition formidable ever array policy administration do ordinary revenue government generally decrease well operation law condition country without creation permanent public debt incurring liability ordinary resource government speedily discharge without agency national bank view proceedings government period embrace warrant fact know exist army navy sustain full extent authorize law congress deem sufficient defense country protection right honor civil diplomatic service equally sustained ample provision make administration justice execution law claim upon public gratitude behalf soldier revolution promptly meet faithfully discharge failure defray large expenditure grow salutary policy peacefully remove indian region comparative safety prosperity public faith time everywhere scrupulously maintain prompt discharge numerous extend diversified claim treasury great permanent object many others might state series year mark peculiar obstacle difficulty successfully accomplish without resort permanent debt aid national bank right expect policy object sustain public service independently either fruitful source discord receive final sanction people whose unbiased fairly elicit judgment upon public affair never ultimately wrong embarrassment pecuniary concern individual unexampled extent duration recently exist commercial nation undoubtedly true suppose necessary trace revers source would reflection intelligence whatever may obscurity subject involve earlier stage revulsion many whole question fully understood deem within constitutional power general government repair private loss sustain revers business connection public service either direct appropriation treasury special legislation design secure exclusive privilege immunity individual class preference expense great majority necessarily debar participation attempt either make recommend encouraged present executive believe however great purpose attainment federal government institute lose sight intrust certain limited power cautiously enumerate distinctly specify define precision clearness would seem defy misconstruction constant aim confine within limit clearly mark carefully guard always opinion best preservative union state find total abstinence exercise doubtful power part federal government rather attempts assume loose construction constitution ingenious perversion word endeavor avoid recommend measure reason apprehend would opinion even considerable minority regard trench right state provision hallow instrument union view aggregate power federal government voluntary concession state seem exercised time intend give strengthen propriety course conviction effort go beyond tend produce dissatisfaction distrust excite jealousy provoke resistance instead add strength federal government even successful must ever prove source incurable weakness alienate portion whose adhesion indispensable great aggregate united strength whose voluntary attachment estimation far essential efficiency government strong best possible strength confidence attachment make constituent element thus believe purpose secure whole people every member confederacy general salutary equal law alone benefit republican institution end aim constitution establish impartial influence judgment indispensable preservation bring believe last happiness people prosperity state permanency union maintain give preference priority class citizens distribution benefit privilege adoption measure enrich one portion union expense another see interference federal government local legislation reserve right state remedy present security future danger first assuredly least important step toward relieve country condition plunge excess trade bank credit kind place business transaction government solid basis give receive case value value neither countenance encouraging others delusive system credit find difficult escape leave nothing behind wreck mark fatal career financial affair government whole period difficulty conduct strict invariable regard great fundamental principle assumption maintenance stand thus take threshold approach crisis cause whatever community large shield incalculable evil general indefinite suspension specie payment consequent annihilation whole period might last invariable standard value believe period scarcely question steady adherence part government policy produce salutary result aid judicious state legislation less industry enterprise perseverance economy american people fail raise whole country early period state solid endure prosperity subject overthrown suspension bank explosion bloat credit system people representative decide whether permanent welfare country good citizen equally desire however widely may differ mean accomplishment shall way secure whether management pecuniary concern government consequence great extent individual also shall carry back condition thing foster contraction expansion currency reckless abuse credit baleful effect country deeply suffer return promise end good result reproduce embarrassments government experience remove shoulder present fresh victim bitter fruit spirit speculative enterprise countryman liable upon lesson experience unavailing choice important one sincerely hope may wisely make report secretary war present detailed view affair department accompany communication desultory duty connect removal indian army constantly engage northern western frontier florida render impracticable carry full effect plan recommend secretary improving discipline every instance regiment concentrate make great progress best result may anticipate continuance system last season part troop employ remove indian interior territory assign west duty perform efficiently praiseworthy humanity portion station florida continue active operation throughout heat summer policy united state regard indian succinct account give message 1838 wisdom expediency fully satisfy continued active operation throughout whole period administration since spring 1837 indian remove new home west mississippi happy add account concur represent result measure eminently beneficial people emigration seminole alone attend serious difficulty occasion bloodshed hostility commence indian florida apprehension would compel force comply treaty stipulation execution treaty paynes land signed 1832 ratified 1834 postponed solicitation indian 1836 renew agreement remove peaceably new home west face solemn renew compact break faith commenced hostility massacre major dade command murder agent general thompson act cruel treachery alarm unexpected intelligence reach seat government every effort appear make reenforce general clinch command troop florida general eustis dispatch reenforcement charleston troop call alabama tennessee georgia general scott send take command ample power ample mean first alarm general gaines organize force new orleans without wait order land florida deliver troop bring general scott governor call subsequently appoint conduct summer campaign close replace general jesup event change take place administration predecessor notwithstanding exertion experience officer command eighteen month enter upon administration government find territory florida prey indian atrocity strenuous effort immediately make bring hostility close army general jesup reenforce amount men furnish abundant supply every description campaign great number enemy capture destroyed character contest change indian defeat every engagement disperse small band throughout country become enterprising formidable ruthless bandit general taylor succeed general jesup use best exertion subdue second effort officer command fail protect territory depredation act signal cruel treachery break truce make general macgrab send washington purpose carry effect express wish congress continue devastation ever since general armistead florida general taylor leave army permission assume command active summer operation meet proposition peace fortunate coincidence arrival florida period delegation seminole happily settle west mississippi anxious persuade countryman join hope time entertain indian might induce leave territory without difficulty hope prove fallacious hostility renew throughout whole territory contest endure long attributed cause beyond control government experience general command troop officer soldier alike distinguish activity patience endure courage army constantly furnish supply every description must look cause long procrastinated issue contest vast extent theater hostilities almost insurmountable obstacle present nature country climate wily character savage sit marine hospital river lake authorize select purchase designate appropriation prove sufficient conditional arrangement make acquisition congress decide whether conditional purchase shall sanction humane intention law carry full effect navy appear accompany report secretary usefully honorably employ protection commerce citizen mediterranean pacific coast brazil gulf mexico small squadron consist frigate constellation sloop war boston commodore kearney way china indian sea purpose attend interest quarter commander aulick sloop war yorktown instructed visit sandwich society island coast new zealand japan together port island frequent whale ship purpose give countenance protection require small vessel still employ prosecute survey coast united state direct various act congress complete shortly lay explore expedition late date prepare leave bay island new zealand prosecution object thus far successfully accomplish discovery new continent first see latitude 2 south longitude 27 east afterwards latitude 31 south longitude 40 east lieutenant wilkes hudson extent mile prevent land vast body ice encompass one honorable result enterprise lieutenant wilkes bear testimony zeal good conduct officer men justice officer state appear performed duty assign ardor ability perseverance give every assurance honorable issue undertake report herewith transmitted exhibit service department past year present condition transportation maintain year full extent authorize exist law improvement effect public interest seem urgently demand involve material additional expenditure contractor generally perform engagement fidelity postmaster exception render account pay quarterly balance promptitude whole service department maintain efficiency several year distinguish act congress establish new mail route require expensive service others increase want country three year past carry expenditure something beyond accrue revenue excess meet past year surplus previously accumulate surplus exhaust anticipated increase revenue realize owe depression commercial business country finance department exhibit small deficiency close last fiscal year resource however ample reduce rate compensation transportation service may expect future letting general reduction price increase revenue may reasonably anticipate revival commercial activity must soon place finance department prosperous condition consider unfavorable circumstance exist past year gratify result revenue decline compare precede year contrary exhibit small increase circumstance refer effect check expect income see suggest certain improvement establishment design reduce weight mail cheapen transportation insure great regularity service secure considerable reduction rate letter postage object highly desirable subject one general interest community respectfully recommended consideration suppression african slave trade receive continued attention government brig dolphin schooner grampus employ last season coast africa purpose prevent portion trade say prosecuted american flag cruise part coast usually resort slaver commencement rainy season vessel return united state supply since dispatch similar service report command officer appear trade principally carry portuguese color express opinion apprehension presence slave coast great degree arrest prostitution american flag inhuman purpose hop continue maintain force quarter exertion officer command much do put stop whatever portion traffic may carry american flag prevent use trade violate law equally outrage right others feelings humanity effort several government anxiously seek suppress traffic must however direct facility afford recognize legitimate commercial pursuit object fully accomplish supply provision water cask merchandise article connect prosecution slave trade understood freely carry vessel different nation slave factory effect factor transport openly one slave station another without interruption punishment either nation belong engage commerce region submit judgment whether government first prohibit adequate penalty slave trade first declare piracy first also forbid citizen trade slave factory coast africa give example nation respect fairly follow fail produce effective result break den iniquity