ciliated the sentiments and approximated the opinions of enlightened minds, upon the question of constitutional power. I cannot but hope that, by the same process of friendly, patient, and persevering deliberation, all constitutional objections will ultimately be removed. The extent and limitation of the powers of the general government, in relation to this transcendantly important interest, will be settled and acknowledged to the common satisfaction of all; and every speculative scruple will be solved by a practical public blessing.

Fellow citizens, you are acquainted with the peculiar circumstances of the recent election, which have resulted in affording me the opportunity of addressing you at this time. You have heard the exposition of the principles which will direct me in the fulfilment of the high and solemn trust imposed upon me in this station. Less possessed of your confidence, in advance, than any of my predecessors, I am deeply conscious

of the prospect that I shall stand more and oftener in need of your indulgence. Intentions, upright and pure; a heart devoted to the welfare of our country, and the unceasing application of all the faculties allotted to me to her service, are all the pledge that I can give for the faithful performance of the arduous duties I am to undertake. To the guidance of the legislative councils; to the assistance of the executive and subordinate departments; to the friendly co-operation of the respective state governments; to the candid and liberal support of the people, so far as it may be deserved by honest industry and zeal, I shall look for whatever success may attend my public service. And knowing that, except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain, with fervent supplications for his favour, to his overruling Providence I commit with humble but fearless confidence, my own fate, and the future destinies of my country.

Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives, In taking a general survey of the concerns of our beloved country, with reference to subjects interesting to the common welfare, the first sentiment which impresses itself upon the mind is, of gratitude to the Omnipotent Dispenser of good, for the continuance of the signal blessings of his providence, and especially for that health which, to an unusual extent, has prevailed within our border, and for that

abundance which, in the vicissitudes of the seasons, has been scattered with profusion over our land. Nor ought we less to ascribe to him the glory, that we are permitted to enjoy the bounties of his hand in peace and tranquillity; in peace with all the other nations of the earth, in tranquillity among ourselves. There has, indeed, rarely been a period in the history of civilized man, in which the general condition of the christian nations has been marked

so extensively by peace and prosperity. Europe, with a few partial and unhappy exceptions, has enjoyed ten years of peace, during which all her governments, whatever the theory of their constitutions may have been, are successively taught to feel that the end of their institution is the happiness of the people, and that the exercise of power among men can be justified only by the blessings it confers upon those over whom it is extended.

During the same period, our intercourse with all those nations has been pacific and friendly-it so continues. Since the close of your last session, no material variation has occurred in our relations with any of them. In the commercial and navigation system of Great Britain, important changes of municipal regulation have recently been sanctioned by acts of parliament, the effect of which, upon the interests of other nations, and particularly upon ours, has not yet been fully developed. In the recent renewal of the diplomatic missions on both sides, between the two governments, assurances have been given and received of the continuance and increase of the mutual confidence and cordiality by which the adjust ment of many points of difference had already been effected, and which afford the surest pledge for the ultimate satisfactory adjustment of those which still remain open or may hereafter arise.

The policy of the United States in their commercial intercourse with other nations, has always been of the most liberal character. In the mutual exchange of their respective productions, they have abstained altogether from prohibitions-they have interdicted them

selves the power of laying taxes upon exports, and whenever they have favoured their own shipping, by special preference, or exclusive privileges in their own ports, it has been only with a view to countervail similar favours and exclusions granted by the nations with whom we have been engaged in traffic, to their own people or shipping, and to the disadvantage of ours. Immediately after the close of the last war, a proposal was fairly made by the act of congress of the 3rd of March, 1815, to all the maritime nations, to lay aside the system of retaliating restrictions and exclusions, and to place the shipping of both parties to the common trade, on a footing of equality, in respect to the duties of tonnage and impost. This offer was partially and successively accepted by Great Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands, the Hanseatic cities, Prussia, Sardinia, the duke of Oldenburg, and Russia. It was also adopted, under certain modifications, in our late commercial convention with France. And, by the act of congress of the 8th of January, 1824, it has received a new confirmation, with all the nations who had acceded to it, and has been offered again to all those who are, or may hereafter be willing to abide in reciprocity by it. But all these regulations, whether established by treaty or municipal enactments, are still subject to one important restriction. The removal of discriminating duties of tonnage and impost is limited to articles of the growth, produce, or manufacture of the country to which the vessel belongs, or to such articles as are most usually first shipped from her ports. It will deserve the serious consideration of congress, whether

even this remnant of restriction may not be safely abandoned, and whether the general tender of equal competition, made in the act of the 8th of January, 1824, may not be extended to include all articles of merchandize not prohibited, of what country soever they may be the produce or manufacture. Propositions to this effect have already been made to us by more than one European government; and it is probable that if once established by legislation or compact with any distinguished maritime state, it would recommend itself by the experience of its advantages to the general accession of all.

The convention of commerce and navigation between the United States and France, concluded on the 24th June, 1822, was, in the understanding and intent of both parties, as appears upon its face, only a temporary arrangement of the points of difference between them, of the most immediate and pressing urgency. It was limited, in the first instance, to two years, from the 1st of October, 1822, but with a proviso, that it should further continue in force till the conclusion of a general and definitive treaty of commerce: unless terminated by a notice, six months in advance, of either of the parties to the other. Its operations, so far as it extended, have been mutually advantageous; and it still continues in force by common consent. But it left unadjusted several objects of great interest to the citizens and subjects of both countries, and particularly a mass of claims, to a considerable amount, of citizens of the United States upon the government of France, of indemnity for property taken or destroyed under circumstances of

the most aggravated and outrageous character. In the long period during which continual and earnest appeals have been made to the equity and magnanimity of France, in behalf of these claims, their justice has not been, as it could not be, denied. It was hoped that the accession of a new sovereign to the throne would have afforded a favourable opportunity for presenting them to the consideration of his government. They have been presented and urged, hitherto without effect.

The repeated and earnest representations of our minister at the court of France, remain as yet even without an answer. Were the demands of nations upon the justice of each other susceptible of adjudication by the sentence of an impartial tribunal, those to which I now refer would long since have been settled, and adequate indemnity would have been obtained. There are large amounts of similar claims upon the Netherlands, Naples, and Denmark. For those upon Spain, prior to 1819, indemnity was, after many years of patient forbearance, obtained; and those upon Sweden have been lately compromised by a private settlement, in which the claimants themselves have acquiesced. The governments of Denmark and of Naples have been recently reminded of those yet existing against them; nor will any of them be forgotten while a hope may be indulged of obtaining justice, by the means within the constitutional power of the executive, and without resorting to those measures of self-redress, which, as well as the time, circumstances and occasion, which may require them, are within the exclusive competency of the legislature.

It is with great satisfaction that I am enabled to bear witness to the liberal spirit with which the republic of Colombia has made satisfaction for well-established claims of a similar character; and among the documents now communicated to congress, will be distinguished a treaty of commerce and navigation with that republic, the ratifications of which have been exchanged since the last recess of the legislature. The negociation of similar treaties with all the independent South American states has been contemplated, and may yet be accomplished. The basis of them all, as proposed by the United States, has been laid in two principles; the one of entire and unqualified reciprocity; the other the mutual obligation of the parties, to place each other permanently upon the footing of the most favoured nations. These principles are, indeed, indispensable to the effectual emancipation of the American hemisphere from the thraldom of colonizing monopolies and exclusions; an event rapidly realizing in the progress of human affairs, and which the resistance still opposed in certain parts of Europe to the acknowledgment of Southern American republics as independent states, will, it is believed, contribute more effectually to accomplish. The time has been, and that not remote, when some of those states might, in their anxious desire to obtain a nominal recognition, have accepted of a independence, clogged with burthensome conditions, and exclusive commercial privileges granted to the nation from which they have separated, to the disadvantage of all others. They are now well aware that such conces

sions to any European nation,

would be incompatible with that independence which they have declared and maintained.

Among the measures which have been suggested to them by the new relations with one another, resulting from the recent changes of their condition is that of assembling at the Isthmus of Panama, a congress at which each of them should be represented, to deliberate upon objects important to the welfare of all. The republics of Colombia, of Mexico, and of central America, have already deputed plenipotentiaries to such a meeting, and they have invited the United States to be also represented there by their ministers. The invitation has been accepted, and ministers on the part of the United States will be commissioned to attend at those deliberations, and to take part in them, so far as may be compatible with that neutrality from which it is neither our intention, nor the desire of the other American States, that we should depart.

The commissions under the seventh article of the treaty of Ghent have so nearly completed their labours, that by the report recently received from the agent on the part of the United States, there is reason to expect that the commission will be closed at their next session appointed for the 22nd of May of the ensuing year.

The other commission, appointed to ascertain the indemnities due for slaves carried away from the United States, after the close of the late war, have met with some difficulty, which has delayed the progress of the inquiry. A reference has been made to the British Government on the subject, which, it may be hoped, will tend to hasten the

decision of the commissioners, or serve as a substitute for it.

Among the powers specifically granted to congress by the constitution are those of establishing uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States, and of providing for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States. The magnitude and complexity of the interests affected by legislation upon these subjects, may account for the fact, that long and often as both of them have occupied the attention, and animated the debates of congress, no systems have yet been devised for fulfilling, to the satisfaction of the community, the duties prescribed by these grants of power. To conciliate the claim of the individual citizen to the enjoyment of personal liberty, with the effective obligation of private contracts, is the difficult problem to be solved by a law of bankruptcy. These are objects of the deepest interest to society; affecting all that is precious in the existence of multitudes of persons, many of them in the classes essentially dependent and helpless; of the age requiring nurture, and of the sex entitled to protection, from the free agency of the parent and the husband. The organization of the militia is yet more indispensable to the liberties of the country. It is only by an effective militia that we can at once enjoy the repose of peace, and bid defiance to foreign aggression; it is by the militia that we are constituted an armed nation, standing in perpetual panoply of defence in the presence of all the nations of the earth. To this end it would be

necessary so to shape its organization as to give it a more united and active energy. There are laws for establishing an uniform militia throughout the United States, and for arming and equipping its whole body. But it is a body of dislocated members, without the vigour of unity, and having little of uniformity but the name. To infuse into this most important institution, the power of which it is susceptible, and to make it available for the defence of the Union at the shortest notice, and at the smallest expense of time, of life, and of treasure, are among the benefits to be expected from the persevering deliberations of congress.

Among the unequivocal indications of our national prosperity, is the flourishing state of our finances. The revenues of the present year, from all the principal sources, will exceed the anticipations of the last. The balance in the Treasury, on the 1st of January last, was a little short of two millions and a half, being the moiety of the loan of five millions, authorised by the act of 26th May, 1824. The receipts in the treasury from the 1st of January to the 13th of September, exclusive of the other moiety of the same loan, are estimated at 16,500,000 dollars, and it is expected that those of the current quarter will exceed five millions of dollars; forming an aggregate of receipts of nearly twenty-two millions, independent of the loan. The expenditures of the year will not exceed that sum more than two millions. By those expenditures nearly eight millions of the principal of the public debt have been discharged. More than a million and a half has been de