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voted to the debt of gratitude to the warriors of the revolution; a nearly equal sum to the construction of fortifications and the acquisition of ordnance, and other permanent preparatives of national defence. Half a million to the gradual increase of the navy; an equal sum for the purchases of territory from the Indians, and payment of annuities to them; and upwards of a million for objects of internal improvement authorised by special acts of the last congress. If we add to these, four millions of dollars for payment of interest upon the public debt, there remains a sum of about seven millions which have defrayed the whole expenses of the administration of government, in its legislative, executive, and judiciary departments, including the support of the military and naval establishments, and all the occasional contingencies of a government co-extensive with the Union. The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported, from the commencement of the year, is about twenty-five millions and a half; and that which will accrue during the current quarter is estimated at five millions and a half; from these thirty-one millions, deducting the draw-backs, estimated at less than seven millions, a sum exceeding twenty-four millions will constitute the revenue of the year, and will exceed the whole expenditures of the year. The entire amount of public debt remaining due on the 1st of January next, will be short of eighty

one millions of dollars.

By an act of congress of the 3rd of March last, a loan of twelve millions of dollars was authorised at four and a half per cent, or an exchange of stock to that amount

of four and a half per cent for a stock of six per cent to create a fund for extinguishing an equal amount of the public debt, bearing an interest of six per cent, redeemable in 1826. An account of the measures taken to give effect to this act will be laid before you by the secretary of the Treasury. As the object which it had in view has been but partially accomplished, it will be for the consideration of congress, whether the power with which it clothed the executive should not be renewed at an early day of the present session, and under what modification.

The act of congress of the 3rd of March last directing the secretary of the treasury to subscribe, in the name and for the use of the United States, for one thousand five hundred shares of the capital stock of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal company, has been executed by the actual subscription for the amount specified, and such other measures have been adopted by that officer, under the act, as the fulfilment of its intentions require. The latest accounts received of this important undertaking, authorise the belief that it is in successful progress.

The payment into the treasury from proceeds of the sales of the public lands, during the present year, were estimated at one million of dollars. The actual receipts of the first two quarters have fallen very little short of that sum; it is not expected that the second half of the year will be equally productive; but the income of the year from that source may now be safely estimated at a million and a half. The act of congress of the 18th of May, 1824, to provide for the

extinguishment of the debt due to the United States by the purchasers of public lands, was limited, in its operation of relief to the purchaser, to the 10th of April last. Its effects at the end of the quarter during which it expired was, to reduce the debt from ten to seven millions. By the operation of similar prior laws of relief from and since that of the 2nd of March, 1821, the debt has been reduced, from upwards of twentytwo millions to ten. It is exceed ingly desirable that it should be extinguished altogether; and to facilitate that consummation, I recommend to congress the revival, for one year more, of the acts of 18th May, 1824, with such provisional modifications as may be necessary to guard the public interests against fraudulent practice in the re-sale of the relinquished land. The purchasers of public lands are amongst the most useful of our fellow citizens, and, since the system of sales for cash alone has been introduced, great indulgence has been justly extended to those who had previously purchased upon credit. The debt which had been contracted under the credit sales, had become unwieldy, and its extinction was alike advantageous to the purchaser and the public. Under the system of sales, matured, as it has been, by experience, and adapted to the exigencies of the times, the lands will continue, as they have become, an abundant source of revenue; and when the pledge of them to the public creditor shall be redeemed by the entire discharge of the national debt, the swelling tide of wealth with which they replenish the common treasury, may be made to reflow in unfailing streams of improvement from the Atlantic to the Pacific Occan

The condition of the various branches of the public service resorting from the department of war, and their administration during the current year, will be exhibited in the report from the secretary of war, and the accompanying documents herewith communicated. The organization and discipline of the army are effective and satisfactory. To counteract the prevalence of desertion among the troops, it has been suggested to withhold from the men a small portion of their monthly pay until the period of their discharge; and some expedient appears to be necessary to preserve and maintain among the officers so much of the art of horsemanship as could scarcely fail to be found wanting, on the possible sudden eruption of a war, which should not overtake us unprovided with a single corps of cavalry. The military academy at West Point, under the restric tions of a severe but parental superintendance, recommends itself more and more to the patronage of the nation; and the number of meritorious officers which it forms and introduces to the public service, furnishes the means of multiplying the undertakings of public improvements, to which their acquirements at that institution are peculiarly adapted. The school of artillery practice, established at Fortress Monroe, is well suited to the same purpose, and may need the aid of further legislative provisions to the same end. The reports from the various officers at the head of the administrative branches of the military service, connected with the quartering, clothing, subsistence, health, and pay, of the army, exhibit the assiduous vigilance of those officers in the performance of their re

spective duties, and the faithful accountability which has pervaded every part of the system.

Our relations with the numerous tribes of aboriginal natives of this country, scattered over its extensive surface, and so dependent, even for their existence, upon our power, have been, during the present year, highly interesting. An act of congress of the 25th of May, 1824, made an appropriation to defray the expenses of making treaties of trade and friendship with the Indian tribes beyond the Mississippi. An act of 3rd March, 1825, authorised treaties to be made with the Indians for their consent to the making of a road from the frontier of Missouri to that of New Mexico. And another act of the same date provided for defraying the expenses of holding treaties with the Sioux, Chippeways, Menomenees, Sauks, Foxes, &c. for the purpose of establishing boundaries, and promoting peace between the said tribes. The first and the last objects of these acts have been accomplished; and the second is yet in a process of execution. The

treaties which, since the last session of congress, have been concluded with the several tribes, will be laid before the senate for their consideration, conformably to the constitution. They comprise large and valuable acquisitions of territory; and they secure an adjustment of boundaries, and give pledges of permanent peace between several tribes which had been long waging bloody wars against each other.

On the 12th of February last, a treaty was signed at the Indian springs, between commissioners appointed on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs

and individuals of the Creek nation of Indians, which was received at the seat of government only a few days before the close of the last session of congress, and of the late administration. The advice and consent of the senate was given to it on the 3rd of March, too late to receive the sanction of the then president of the United States; it was ratified on the 7th of March, under the unsuspecting impression that it had been negociated in good faith, and in the confidence inspired by the recommendation of the senate. The subsequent transactions in relation to this treaty, will form the subject of a separate message.

The appropriations made by congress, for public works, as well in the construction of fortifications, as for purposes of internal improvement, as far as they have been expended, have been faithfully applied. Their progress has been delayed for want of suitable officers for superintending them. An increase of both the corps of engineers, military and topographical, was recommended by my predecessor at the last session of congress. The reasons upon which that recommendation was founded subsist in all their force, and have acquired additional urgency since that time. It may also be expedient to organize the topographical engineers into a corps similar to the establishment of the corps of engineers. The military academy at West Point will furnish, from the cadets annually graduated there, officers well qualified for carrying this measure into effect.

The board of engineers for internal improvement, appointed for carrying into execution the act of congress, of the 30th of April, 1824, "to procure the necessary

surveys, plans, and estimates, on the subject of roads and canals," have been actively engaged in that service from the close of the last session of congress. They have completed the surveys necessary for ascertaining the practicability of a canal from the Chesapeake bay to the Ohio river, and are preparing a full report on that subject; which, when completed, will be laid before you. The same observation is to be made with regard to the two other objects of national importance, upon which the board have been occupied, namely, the accomplishment of a national road from this city to New Orleans, and the practicability of uniting the waters of Lake Memphramagog with Connecticut river, and the improvement of the navigation of that river. The surveys have been made, and are nearly completed. The report may be expected at an early period during the present session of congress.

The acts of congress of the last session relative to the surveying, marking, or laying out roads in the territories of Florida, Arkansas, Michigan, from Missouri to Mexico, and for the continuation of the Cumberland road, are, some of them fully executed, and others in the process of execution. Those for completing or commencing fortifications, have been delayed only so far as the corps of engineers has been inadequate to furnish officers for the necessary superintendence of the works. Under the act confirming the statutes of Virginia and Maryland, incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio canal company, three commissioners on the part of the United States have been appointed for opening books and receiving subscriptions in concert with a like

number of commissioners appointed on the part of each of those states. A meeting of the commissioners has been postponed to await the definitive report of the board of engineers. The light-houses and monuments for the safety of our commerce and mariners; the works for the security of the Plymouth beach, and for the preservation of the islands in Boston harbour, have received the attention required by the laws relating to those objects respectively. The continuation of the Cumberland road, the most important of them all, after surmounting no inconsiderable difficulty in fixing upon the direction of the road, has commenced under the most promising auspices, with the improvements of recent invention in the mode of construction, and with the advantage of a great reduction in the comparative cost of the work.

The operation of the laws relating to revolutionary pensioners may deserve the renewed consideration of congress. The act of March 18, 1818, while it made provision for many meritorious and indigent citizens, who had served in the war of independence, opened a door to numerous abuses and impositions. To remedy this, the act, 1st May, 1820, exacted proofs of absolute indigence, which many really in want, were unable, and all, susceptible of that delicacy which is allied to many virtues, must be deeply reluctant, to give. The result has been, that some amongst the least deserving have been retained, and some in whom the requisites both of worth and want were combined, have been stricken from the list. As the number of these venerable relicts of an age gone by diminish, as the decays of body, mind, and

estate of those who survive must in the common course of nature increase, should not a more liberal portion of indulgence be dealt out to them?

May not the want, in most instances, be inferred from the demand, when the service can be duly proved? and may not the last days of human infirmity be spared the mortification of purchasing a pittance of relief only by the exposure of its own necessities? I submit to congress the expediency either of providing for individual cases of this description by special enactment, or of revising the act of 1st May, 1820, with a view to mitigate the rigour of its exclusions, in favour of persons to whom charity, now bestowed, can scarcely discharge the debt of justice.

The portion of the naval force of the Union in actual service has been chiefly employed on three stations: the Mediterranean, the coasts of South America bordering on the Pacific Ocean, and the West Indies. An occasional cruiser has been sent to range along the African shores most polluted by the traffic of slaves: one armed vessel has been stationed on the coast of our eastern boundary, to cruise along the fishing grounds in Hudson's Bay, and on the coast of Labrador; and the first service of a new frigate has been performed in returning to his native soil, and domestic enjoyments, the veteran hero whose youthful blood and treasure had freely flowed in the cause of our country's independence, and whose whole life had been a series of sacrifices-and sacrifices to the improvement of his fellow men. The visit of general Lafayette, alike honourable to himself and to our country, closed,

as it had commenced, with the most affecting testimonials of devoted attachment on his part, and of unbounded gratitude of this people to him in return. It will form, hereafter, a pleasing incident in the annals of our Union, giving to real history the intense interest of romance, and signally marking the unpurchasable tribute of a great nation's social affections to the disinterested champion of the liberties of human kind.

The constant maintenance of a small squadron in the Mediterranean was a necessary substitute for the humiliating alternative of paying tribute for the security of our commerce in that sea, and for a precarious peace at the mercy of every caprice of four Barbary states, by whom it was liable to be violated. An additional motive for keeping a respectable force stationed there at this time, is found in the maritime war raging between the Greeks and the Turks; and in which the neutral navigation of this Union is always in danger of outrage and depredation. A few instances have occurred of such depredations upon our merchant vessels by privateers or pirates wearing the Grecian flag, but without real authority from the Greek or any other government. The heroic struggles of the Greeks themselves, in which our warmest sympathies as freemen and christians have been engaged, have continued to be maintained with vicissitudes of success adverse and favourable.

Similar motives have rendered expedient, the keeping of a like force on the coasts of Peru and Chile on the Pacific. The irregular and convulsive character of the war upon those shores, has been extended to the conflicts upon the

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