SPECIAL MESSAGE.

APRIL 11, 1816.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :— WITH a view to the more convenient arrangement of the important and growing business connected with the grant of exclusive rights to inventors and authors, I recommend the establishment of a distinct office within the department of state, to be charged therewith, under a director, with a salary adequate to his services, and with the privilege of franking communications by mail from and to the office. I recommend, also, that further restraints be imposed on the issue of patents to wrongful claimants, and further guards provided against fraudulent exactions of fees by persons possessed of patents.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 6, 1816.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :THE ninth section of the act passed at the last session of Congress," to authorize the payment for property lost, captured, or destroyed by the enemy, while in the military services of the United States, and for other purposes," having received a construction giving it a scope of great and uncertain extent, I thought it proper that proceedings relative to claims under that part of the act should be suspended, until Congress should have an opportunity of defining more precisely the cases contemplated by them. With that view, I now recommend the subject to their consideration. They will have an opportunity, at the same time, of considering how far other provisions of the act may be rendered more clear and precise in their import.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 26, 1816.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :— Ir is found that the existing laws have not the efficacy necessary to prevent violations of the obligations of the United States as a nation at peace toward belligerent parties, and other unlawful acts on the high seas, by armed vessels equipped within the waters of the United States.

With a view to maintain, more effectually, the respect due to the laws, to the character, and to the neutral and pacific relations of the United States, I recommend to the consideration of Congress the expediency of such further legislative provisions as may be requisite for detaining vessels actually equipped, or in a course of equipment with a warlike force, within the jurisdiction of the United States; or, as the case may be, for obtaining from the owners or commanders of such vessels adequate securities against

the abuse of their armaments, with the exceptions in such provisions proper for the cases of merchant vessels furnished with the defensive armaments usual on distant and dangerous expeditions, and of a private commerce in military stores permitted by our laws, and which the law of nations does not require the United States to prohibit.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 3, 1817.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:THE government of Great Britain, induced by the posture of the relations with the United States, which succeeded the conclusion of the recent commercial convention, issued an order on the 17th day of August, 1815, discontinuing the discriminating duties payable in British ports on American vessels and their cargoes. It was not until the 22d of December following, that a corresponding discontinuance of discriminating duties on British vessels and their cargoes, in American ports, took effect, under the authority vested in the executive, by the act of March, 1816. During the period between those two dates there was, consequently, a failure of reciprocity, or equality, in the existing regulations of the two countries. I recommend to the consideration of Congress, the expediency of paying to the British government the amount of the duties remitted, during the period in question, to the citizens of the United States, subject to a deduction of the amount of whatever discriminating duties may have commenced in British ports after the signature of that convention, and been collected previous to the 17th of August, 1815.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 6, 1817.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :ON comparing the fourth section of the act of Congress, passed March 31, 1814, providing for the indemnification of certain claimants of public lands in the Mississippi territory, with the article of agreement and cession between the United States and state of Georgia, bearing date April 30, 1802, it appears that the engagement entered into with the claimants interfere with the rights and interests secured to that state. I recommend to Congress, that provision be made by law for payments to the state of Georgia, equal to the amount of Mississippi stock which shall be paid into the treasury, until the stipulated sum of one million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars shall be completed.

ADMINISTRATION OF MADISON.

On the fourth of March, 1809, James Madison was inaugurated as president of the United States. The oath of office was administered to him by Chief-Justice Marshall, in the capitol, at Washington in the presence of the ex-president, Mr. Jefferson, who sat at his right hand, the members of the late cabinet, many members of Congress, foreign ministers, and a large concourse of citizens. He was dressed in a plain suit of black, and delivered his inaugural address in a manner at once modest and dignified. The tone and sentiment of the address elicited general approbation, and hopes were entertained by the nation, that the gloomy aspect of affairs might be changed by the measures of the new administration with regard to our foreign relations. These anticipations of the people were doomed to disappointment.

Mr. Madison selected for his cabinet, Robert Smith, of Maryland, as secretary of state, William Eustis, of Massachusetts, secretary of war, Paul Hamilton, of South Carolina, secretary of the navy; Mr. Gallatin was continued as secretary of the treasury, as was Cesar A. Rodney, of Delaware, attorney-general.

The eleventh Congress met on the 22d of May, 1809, agreeably to a law passed by the previous Congress, in consequence of the critical state of the nation, and the apprehension of a war with Great Britain or France. The democratic ascendency in the house of representatives having been sustained at the recent elections, Joseph B. Varnum was re-elected speaker.

At this session, the non-intercourse act with Great Britain and France, which had been substituted for the embargo, by the last Congress, was continued, with some modifications. No very material alterations were made in the law, nor was any other very important measure adopted at this extra session, which lasted only about five weeks, and was terminated on the 28th of June.

Mr. Erskine, the British minister at Washington, considering the nonintercourse law as placing Great Britain and France on an equality, made a communication to the government of the United States, in April, informing it that he was authorized, by despatches received from his govern

ment, to make reparation for the Chesapeake affair; also that an envoy extraordinary would soon be sent to the United States to conclude a treaty on all questions between the two countries, and that the orders in council would be repealed as to the United States, on the president's renewing the intercourse between America and Great Britain. The president issued a proclamation to that effect, on the 19th of April, stating the withdrawal of the British orders on the 10th of June, when the commerce between the two countries would be renewed. But the British government refused to sanction the overture and arrangement made by their minister, who, they declared, had exceeded the authority of his instructions; and he admitted that he had done so, in a letter to his government, in which he says, that "nothing would have induced me to deviate, in any degree, from the orders I had received, but a thorough conviction that by so doing I should accomplish the object which his majesty had in view; when by too strictly adhering to the letter of my instructions, I might lose the opportunity of promoting essentially his majesty's interests and wishes."

The president thereupon issued a second proclamation, reciting the facts, and declaring the act of non-intercourse to be revived and in full effect. Mr. Erskine was soon after recalled, and another envoy appointed in his stead. This transaction caused great irritation in the public mind and hostility toward England, among the American people, and a declaration of war at this time with England, would probably have been popular.

Mr. Jackson, the British envoy who succeeded Mr. Erskine, arrived at Washington at the close of the year 1809. He was directed to state the reasons for a refusal by the British government to confirm the arrangement made Mr. Erskine, and was authorized to enter into negotiations for a commercial treaty. But far from displaying the mild and conciliatory spirit of his predecessor, he attempted to vindicate the honor of his own government by dealing in censures and criminations upon the government of the United States, in a style unusual in diplomatic correspondence. He insinuated that the president and secretary of state must have known that Mr. Erskine had deviated from his instructions, and transcended his powers; and after the secretary of state denied the charge, he repeated the insinuation, which was deemed highly improper and insulting to our government. The correspondence between Mr. Jackson and the secretary of state was continued in the same angry tone for several weeks, each party considering himself harshly treated, and the president finally directed the secretary of state to receive no further communication from the British envoy. Mr. Jackson therefore left Washington, immediately on receiving notice to that effect, and took up his residence in New York. At the request of the president, communicated through the American minister in London, Mr. Jackson was recalled, but without being censured, or the offer of any

apology for his conduct. Nor did the British ministry think proper to send another envoy to the United States until some months had elapsed after the return of Mr. Jackson to England.

Mr. Pinkney, the American minister to Great Britain, was continued at that court, but his efforts at negotiating proved unavailing, and early in 1811 he was instructed to return home. The British government, the same year appointed Mr. Foster minister to the United States, who effected a settlement of the affair of the Chesapeake frigate in November, 1811, and remained at Washington until the declaration of war against Great Britain, in 1812.

Congress again assembled on the 27th of November, 1809, and continued in session until the 1st of May, 1810-but during this period of more than five months, few acts of general importance were passed; among them were several respecting the public lands; also laws respecting the postoffice establishment and postroads, the territories, lighthouses, compensation to ministers to foreign countries, consuls, &c.; providing for taking the census in 1810; for payment of a portion of the public debt, by creating a new loan,' &c. The non-intercourse with Great Britain and France was continued by a new act, and a joint resolution was adopted in relation to the controversy between the executive and Francis James Jackson, the British envoy to the United States; the language of whose official letters to Mr. Smith, the secretary of state, was declared to be highly indecorous and insolent, the conduct of the executive toward him approved, and Congress solemnly pledged to stand by the executive government, in its refusal to receive any further communication from said Jackson, and to call into action the whole force of the nation, if it should become necessary, to repel such insults, and to assert and maintain the rights, the honor, and interests of the United States.

In the early part of the year 1810, the French decree of Rambouillet was made known, and alleged by the emperor Napoleon to have been issued in retaliation of the non-intercourse act of the United States. All American vessels which, since the 20th of March, 1808, had entered any French port, or the ports of any French colony, or of any country occupied by the French, or which should thereafter enter, were declared forfeit, and were to be sold for the benefit of the national treasury of France. In addition to the numerous condemnations under this decree, the French privateers committed various depredations on American com

merce.

By the new non-intercourse act already referred to, which was passed by Congress in May, 1810, it was provided, that if either Great Britain or France would repeal her obnoxious orders or decrees, and the other nation did not, within three months thereafter, repeal hers, that then intercourse should be renewed with the nation repealing her acts, while tow