A X - AND LEW EMM W W UMJVeflZ December:-Mi" isss. .OUR COUNTRY, AND OUR COUNTRY S GOOD. VOL. I.-NO. 19, t 'ir i ill IE www u BY JOHN I. PASTEUB, At three Dollar per annum payable in advance. Adveet.3Ets inserted on the usual jenn , , I - to the publisher, must be postpaid. Washington, Dec. 2, 1828.1 The President 'of the United State, transmit ted, this day, to both Houses of Congress, the following Message : , ... - v T0 THE SENATE AND HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES. , Fellow-Citizens of the Senate, ' - " ; , and of the House of Representatives Tf the enioymcnt in profusion of the bounties of ProvSe forms a suitable subject of mutual ; En and grateful acknowledgement, we are gf uhcd at this return of the season, when 3x NaU(,n -rmb!hd SSrate upon their c,, n or up r r.irvAnt ana trrtiiuiui - Mercies of Him who ruleth over T He has apun favored us with healthful sea ,ons and abundant harvests. He has sustained uu fnrpmn countries, and in tran- AuiUity within our borders. He has preserved us in the quiet and undisturbed possession of civil and religious liberty. He has crowned the year with his goodness, imposing on us no other con eitions than of improving for our own happiness the blessings bestowed by his hands ; and in the fruition of all his favors, of devoting the faculties with which weliave been endowed by him to his i ...i tn. nnr own temporal and eternal f....ir.. In the relations of our Federal Union with our brethren of tho human race, the changes which occurred since the close of your last ses sion, have generally tended to the preservation of peace, and to the cultivation of harmony. Before vourlast separaiion, a wai hiu un.iatr.v tinned between the Empire of Russia, one of those with which our intercourse has been no other than a constant exchange of good offices, nnd that of the Ottoman Porte, a nation from which geographical distance, religious opinions, .,nA mnlmi! of Government on their part, little cuitoil t) the formation of those bonds of mutual whirli result from the benefits of commerce, had kept us in a state, perhaps too much prolonged, of coldness and alienation. The extensive, fertile, and populous dominions of the Sultan, belong rather to the Asiatic, than the European division of the human family. They enter but partially into tho system of Eu rope ; nor have their wars with Russia and Aus tria, the European States upon which they bor der, for more than a century past, disturbed the pacific relations of those States with the other great Powers of Europe. Neither France, nor Prussia, nor Great Britain, has ever taken part in them : nor is it to be expected that they will at this time. The declaration of war by Russia has received the approbation or acquiescence of her allies, and we may indulge the hope that its progress and termination will be signalized by the moderation and forbearance, no less than by the energy of the Emperor Nicholas, and that it will afford the opportunity for such collateral agency in behalf of the suffering Greeks, as will secure to them ultimately tho triumph of humani ty and of freedom. The state of our particular relations witn France has scarcely varied in the course of the present year. The commercial intercourse be tween tho two countries has continued to increase for the mutual benefit of both. The claims of indemnity to numbers of our follow citizens for depredations upon their property heretofore com mitted, during the Revolutionary Governments, still remain unadjusted, and still form the subject of earnest representation and remonstrance. Recent advices from the Minister of the United States at Paris, encourage the expectation that the appeal to the justice of the French Govern ment will ere long- receive a favourablo conside ration. The last friendly expedient has been resorted to for the decision of the controversy with Great Britain, relating to the North-eastern boundary of the United States. By an agreement with the British Government, carrying into effect the pro visions of the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent, and the Convention of 29th September, 1827, his Majesty the King of the Netherlands ,has by common consent been selected as the umpire be tween the parties. The proposal to him to ac cept the designation for the performance of this friendly office, will be made at an early day, and the United States, relying upon tho justice of their cause, will cheerfully commit the arbi trament of it to a Prince equally distinguished for the independence of his spirit,, his indefatiga ble assiduity to the duties of his station, and his inflexible personal probity. Our commercial relations with Great Britain will deserve the serious consideration of Con gress, and the exercise of a conciliatory and for bearing spirit in the policy of both Governments. The state of them has been materially changed by the act of Congress passed at their last Ses sion, in alteration of the several acts imposing duties on imposts, and by acts of more recent date of the British Parliament. The effect of the interdiction of direct trade, commenced by Great Britain, and reciprocated by the United States, has been, as was to be foreseen, only to substitute different channels for an exchange of commodities indispensable to the colonies, and profitable to a numerous class of our fellow-citizens. Tho exports, the revenue, the navigation, of the United States, have suffered no diminution by our exclusion from direct access to the British Colonies. Tho Colonies pay more dearly for the necessaries of life, which their Government burdens with the charges of. double voyages, freight, insurance and commission, and the pro fits of our exports are somewhat impaired, and more injuriously transferred from one portion of -our citizens to another. The resumption of this iu ana otherwise exploded system of Colonial exclusion, has not secured to the shipping interest of trreat Untain tho reliet which, at the ex pease of the distant colonies, and of the United States, it was expected to afford. Other mea sures have been resorted to, more pointedly bear ing upon the navigation of the United States, and which, unless modified by the construction given to tho recent Acts of Parliament, will be manifestly incompatible with the positive stipula tions of the commercial convention existing be tween tho two countries. That convention, how ever, may be terminated, with twelve months' notice, at the option of either party. A treaty of Amity, Navigation, and Com merce, between the United States and His Ma jesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and .Bohemia, has been prepared for signature by tho Secretary of State, and by tho Baron de Le derer intrusted with full powers of the Austrian Government. Independently of the new and friendly relations, which may be thus commenced with one of the most eminent and powerful na tions of the Earth, the occasion has been taken in it, as in other resent Treaties concluded by the United States,' to extend those principles of liberal intercourse and of fair reciprocity, which intertwine with the exchanges of commerce the principles of justice, and the feeliugs of mutual benevolence. This system, first proclaimed to tho world in the first commercial Treaty ever concluded by the United States, that of Cth Fe bruary, 1T78, with France, has been invariably the cherished policy of our Union. It is by treaties of commerce alone that it can be made ulti mately to prevail as the established system of all civilized nations. With this principle our fathers extended the hand of friendship to every nation of the globe, and to this policy our country has ever since adhered whatever of regulation in our laws has ever been adopted unfavourable to the interest of any foreign nation, has been essentially defensive and counteracting to similar regulations of theirs operating against us. Immediately after the close of the war of In dependence, Commissioners were appointed by the Congress of the Confederation, authorized to conclude treaties with every nation of Europe disposed to adopt them. Before the wars of the French revolution, such treaties had been con summated with the United Netherlands, Sweden', and Prussia. During those wars, treaties with Great Britain and Spain had been effected, and those with Prussia and France renewed. In all these, some concessions to the liberal principles of intercourse proposed by the United States, had been obtained; but as, in all the negotiations, they came occasionally in collision with previous internal regulations, or exclusive and excluding compacts of monopoly, with which the othei par ties had been trammelled, the advances made in them towards the freedom of trade were partial and imperfect. Colonial establishments, char tered companies, and ship building influence, pervaded and encumbered the legislation of all the great commercial States ; and the United States, in offering free trade and equal privilege to all, were compelled to acquiesce in many ex ceptions with each of the parties to their treaties, accommodated to their existing laws and anterior engagements. The colonial system by which this whole hem isphere was bound has fallen into ruins. Totally abolished by revolutions converting colonies into independent nations, throughout the two Ameri can Continents, excepting a portion of territory chiefly at tho northern extremity of our own, and confined to the remnants of dominion retained by Great Britain over the insular Archipelago, geographically the appendages of our part of the globe. With nil the rest va have free trade even with the insular colonies of all the Europe an .nations,except Great Britain. Her Govern ment also had manifested approaches to the adop tion of a free and liberal intercourse between her colonies and other nations, though,by as,udden and scarcely explained revulsion, the spirit of exclu sion has been revived for operation upon the U nited States alone. The conclusion of our last. Treaty of Peace with Great Britain was shortly afterwards follow ed by a Commercial Convention, placing the di rect intercourse between the two countries upon a footing of more equal reciprocity than had ever before been admitted. The same principle has since been much farther extended, by Treaties witli Fnmce, Sweden, Denmark, the JJanscatic Cities, Prussia in Europe, and with the Repub lics of Colombia, and of Central America, in this hemisphere. The mutual abolition of discrimi nating duties and charges, upon the navigation and commercial intercourse betwoen the parties, is the general maxim which characterizes them all. There is reason to expect that it will, at no distant period, be adopted by other nations, both of Europe and America, and to hope that, by its universal prevalence, one of tho fruitful sources of wars of commercial competition will be extin guished. Among the Nations upon whose Governments many of our fellow-citizens have had long-pending claims of indemnity, for depredations upon their property during a period when the rights of neutral commerce' were disregarded, was that of Denmark. They were, soon after the events oc curred, the subject of a special mission from the United States, at the close of which the assurance was given, by his Danish Majesty, that, at a pe riod of more tranquillity, and of loss distress, they would be considered, examined, and decided upon, in a spirit of determined purpose for the dispensation of justice. I have much pleasure in informing Congress that the fulfilment of this honorable promise is now in progress ; that a small portion of the claims ha3 already been set tled,to thfi satisfaction of the claimants; and that wo have reason to hope that the remainder will short ly be placed in a train of equitable adjustment. This result has always been confidently t::pected, from the character of personal integrity, nnd of benevolence, which the Sovereign of the Danish Dominions has, through every vicissitude of for tune, maintained. The general aspect of the affairs of our neigh bouring American Nations of the South, has been rather of approaching than of settled tranquillity. Internal disturbances have been more frequent among them than their common friends would have desired. Our intercourse with all has con tinued to be that of friendship, and of mutual good will. Treaties of Commerce and of Boundaries with the United Mexican States have been nego tiated, but, from various successive obstacles, not yet brought to a final conclusion. The civil war which unfortunately still prevails in the Republic ot Central America, has been unpropitious to the cultivation of our commercial relations with them : and the dissensions and revolutionary changes in the, Republics , of Colombia and of Peru, have been seen with cordial regret by us, who would gladly contribute to the, happiness of both. It is with great satisfaction, however, that we have witnessed tho recent conclusion of a Peace be tween the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of lirazu ; and it is equally gratifying to observe that indemnity has been obtained for some of the injuries which our fellow citizens had sustained in the latter of those countries. The rest are in a train of negotiation, which we hope may termi nate to mutual satisfaction, and that it may be succeeded by a Treaty of Commerce and Navi gation upon liberal principles, propitious to a great aud growing commerce, already important to the interests of o:ir country. The condition and prospects of the Revenue are more favourable than our most sanguine ex pectations had anticipated. The balance in the Treasury on the first of January last, exclusive of the moneys received under the Convention of 13th November, 1826, witli Great Britain, was five millions eight hundred and sixty-one thou sand nine hundred and seventy-two dollars, and eighty three cents. The receipts into the Trea sury from the first of January -to tho 30th of Sep tember last, so far as they have been ascertained to form the basis of an estimate, amount to eigh teen millions six hundred and thirty-three thou sand nine hundred and eighty dollars and twenty seven cents, which, with the receipts of the pre sent quarter, estimated at five millions four hun dred and sixty-one thousand two hundred and eighty-three dollars and forty cents, form an ag gregate of receipts during the year, of twenty-four millions and ninety-four thousand eight hundred and sixty-three dollars and sixty-seven cents. The expenditures of the year may probably amount to twenty-five millions six hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred and eleven dollars and sixty-three cents ; and leave in the Treasury on the first of January next, the sum of five millions one hundred and twenty-five thou sand six hundred and thirty-eight dollars, four teen cents. The receipts of the present year have amount ed to near two millions more than was anticipa ted at the commencement of the last session of Congress. ' The amount of duties secured on importations from the first of January to the 30th September, was about twenty-two millions nine hundred and ninety-seven thousand, and that of the estimated accruing revenue is five millions, leaving an ag erefate for the year of near twenty-eight millions. This is one million more than the estimate made last December for the accruing revenue of the present year, which, with allowances for draw backs and contingent deficiencies, was expected to produce an actual revenue of twenty-two millions three hundred thousand dollars. Had these only been realized, the expenditures of the year would have been also proportionally redu ced. For of these twenty-four millions received, upwards of nino millions have been applied to the extinction of "public debt bearing an interest of six per cent, a year, nnd of course reducing the burden of interest annually payable in future, by the amount of more than half a million. Tho payments on account of interest during the cur rent year exceed three millions of dollars ; pre senting an agffiesrate of more than twelve millions applied during the year to the discharge of the public debt, the whole of which remaining due on the first of January next, will amount only to fifty-eight millions three hundred and sixty-two thousand one hundred and thirty-five dollars, seventy-eight cents. That the revenue of the ensuing year will not fall short of that received in the one now expi ring, there "are indications which caa scarcely prove deceptive. In our country, an uniform experience of forty years has shown that whate ver the tariff of duties upon articles imported from abroad has been, the amount of importations has always borne an average value nearly ap proaching 'o that of the exports, though occa sionally differin? in the balance, sometimes being more and sometimes less. It is, indeed, a gene ral law of prosperous commerce, that the real value of exports should, by a small, and only a small balance, exceed that of imports, that balance being a permanent addition to the wealth of the nation. The extent of the prosperous commerce of the nation must be regulated by the amount of its exports ; and an important addition to the value of these will draw after it a corresponding increase of importations. It has happened, in the vicissitudes of tho seasons, that the harvests of all Europe have, in the late summer and au tumn, fallen short of their usual average. A re laxation of the interdict upon the importation of grain and flour from abroad has ensued ; a propi tious market has been opened to the graneries of our country ; and a new prospect of reward pre sented to the labours of the husbandman, which, for several years, has been denied. This acces sion to the profits of agriculture in the middle and western portions of our Union is accidental and temporary. It may continue only for a single year. It may be,' as has been often experienced in the revolutions of time, but the first of several scanty harvests in succession. We may consider it certain that, for the approaching year, it has added an item of large amount to the value of our exports, and that it will produce a corres pondinsr increase'of importations. It may, there fore, confidently be foreseen, that the revenue of 1829 will equal, and probably exceed, that of 1828, and will afford the means ot extinguishing ten millions more of the principal of the public debt. - This new element of prosperity to that part o" our agricultural industry which is occupied in producing the first article of human subsistence, is of the most cheering character to the feelings of patriotism Proceeding from a cause which humanity will view with concern, the sufferings of scarcity in distant lands, it yields a consolatory reflection, that this scarcity is in no respect at tributable to us. That it comes from the dispen sation of Him who ordains all in wisdom and goodness, and who permits evil itself only as an instrument of good. That, far from contributing to this scarcity, our agency will be applied only to the alleviation of its severity, and that in pour ing forth, from the abundance of our own garners, the supplies-which will partially restore plenty to those who are in need, we shall ourselves reduce our stores, and add to the price of our own bread; so as in some degree to participate in the wants which it will be the good fortune of orr country to relieve. The great interests of an agricultural, com mercial, and manufacturing nation, are so linned in union together, that no permanent cause of prosperity to one of them can operate without extending its influence to the others. All these interests are alike under the protecting power of the legislative authority; and the duties of the representative bodies are to conciliate them in harmony together. So far as the object of taxa tion is to raise a revenue for discharging the debts, and defraying the expenses of the com munity, it should as much as possible suit the bur den with equal hand upon all, in proportion with their ability of bearing it without oppression. But the legislation of one nation is sometimes in tentionally made to bear heavily upon the inte rests of another. That legislation, adapted as it is meant to be, to the special interests of its own people, will often press most unequally upon the several component interests of its neighbours. Thus, the legislation of Great Britain, when, as has recently been avowed, adapted to the de pression of a rival nation, will naturally abound with regulations of interdict upon the produc tions of the soil or industry of the other which come in competition with its own, and will pre sent encouragement, perhaps even bounty, to the raw material of the other State, which it cannot produce itself, and which is essential for the use of its manufactures, competitors in the markets of the world with those of its commercial rival. Such is the state of the commercial legislation of Great Britain, as it bears upon our interests. It excludes, with interdicting duties, all importation (except in tiqie of approaching famine) of the great staple productions of our Middle and Wes tern States ; it proscribes, with equal rigor, the bulkier lumber and live stock of the same portion, and also of the Northern and Eastern part of our Union. It refuses even the rice of the South, unless aggravated with a charge of duty upon the Northern carrier who brings it to them. But the cotton, indispensable for their looms, they will receive almost duty free, to weave it into a fabric' for our own wear, to the destruction of our own manufactures, which they are enabled thus to un dersell, Is the self-protecting energy of this na tion so helpless that there exists, in tho political institutions of our country, no power to counter act the bias of this foreign legislation that the growers of grain must submit to this exclusion from the foreign markets of their produce ; that the shippers must dismantle their ships, the trade of the North stagnate at the wharves, and the manufacturers starve at their looms, while the whole people shall pay tribute to foreign industry to be clad in a foreign garb 1 that the Congress of the Union are impotent to restore the balance in favour of native industry destroyed by the sta tutes of another realm ? More just and more generous sentiments will, I trust, prevail. If the tariff adopted at the last session of Congress shall be found, by experience, to bear oppressively upon the interests of any one section of the Union, it ought to be, and I cannot doubt will be, so modified as to alleviate its burden. To the voice of just complaint from any portion of their constituents, the Representatives of the States and People will never turn away their ears. But so long as the duty of the foreign shall operate only as a bounty upon the domestic article while the planter, and the merchant, and the shepherd, and the husbandman, shall bo found thriving in their occupations undcrthe duties im posed for the protection of domestic manufac tures, they will not repine at the prosperity sha red with themselves by their fellow-citizens of other professions, nor denounce as violations of the Constitution the deliberate acts of Congress to shield from the wrongs of foreign laws the na tive industry of the Union. While the tariff of the last session of Congress was a subject of le gislative deliberation, it was foretold by some of its opposers that one ofits necessary consequences would be to impair tho revenue. It is yet too soon to pronounce, with confidence, that this prediction was erroneous. The obstruction of one avenue of trade not unfrequently opens an issue to another. The consequence of the tariff will be to increase the exportation, and to dimi nish the importation of some specific articles. But, by the general law of trade, the increase of exportation of one article will be followed by an increased importation of others, the duties upon which will supply the deficiencies, which the di minished importation would otherwise occasion. The effect of taxation upon revenue can seldom be foreseen with certainty. It must abide the test of experience. As yet no symptoms of diminution are perceptible in the receipts of the Treasury. As yet, little addition of cost has even been experienced upon the articles bur dened with heavier duties by the last tariff. The domestic manufacturer supplies the same or a kindred article at a diminished price, and the consumer pays the same tribute to the labour of his own countrymen, which ho must otherwise have paid to foreign industry and toil. ' The tariff of the last session was, in its details, not acceptable to the great interests qfany por tion of the Union, not even to the interest which it was specially intended to subserve. Its ob ject was to balance the burdens upon native in dustry imposed by the operation of foreign laws; but not to aggravate, the burdens of one section of tho Union by the relief afforded to another. To the great principle sanctioned by thai act, ono of those upon which the Constitution itself was formed, I hope and trust the authorities of the Union will adhere. But if any of the duties imposed by the act only relieve the manufacturer by agjravating the burden of the planter, let a carcfu revisal of its provisions, enlightened by the practical experience of its effects, be directed to retain those which impart protection to native industry, and remove or supply the place of those which only alleviate one great national interest by the depression of another. The United States of America, and tho peoplo of every State of which they are composed, are each of them Sovereign Powers. .The legislative authority of the whole is exercised ' by Congress under authority granted thcm.in tho common Con stitution. The legislative power of each State i exercised by assemblies, deriving their authority from the Constitution of the State. Each is sove reign within its own province. The distribution of power between them presupposes that thesejau thorities will move in harmony with each other; The members of the State and General Govern ments are all under oath to support both, and al legiance is due to the one and to the other. Tho case of a conflict between these two powers has not been supposed ; nor has any provision been made for it in our institutions ; ns a virtuous Na tion of ancient times existed more than five cen turies without a law for the punishment of parri cide. ' J' ','.' ,1 More than once, however in the progress of our history, have the.. People and the Legislatures of one or more States, in moments of excitement, been instigated to this conflict) and the means of effecting this impulse have been allegations that the acts of Congress to be resisted were uncon stitutional. The People of no one State have ever delegated to their Legislature the power of pronouncing an act of Congress unconstitutional; but they have delegated to them powers, by the exercise of which the execution of the laws of Congress within the State may be resisted. If we suppose the caso of such conflicting legisla tion sustained by the corresponding Executive and Judicial authorities,'' Patriotism and Philan thropy turn 4 their eyes from the condition in which the parties would be placed, and from that of the people of both, which must bo its victims. Tho Reports from tho Secretary of War, and ' from the various subordinate offices of tho resort of that Department, present an exposition of tho public administration of affairs connected witli them, through the course of the current year. The present state of the army, and the distribu tion of tho force of which it is composed, will bo scon from the Report of tho Major Genend. Se veral alterations in the disposal of the troops have been found expedient in tho course of the year, and tho discipline of the army, though not en tirely free from exception, has been generally good. Tho attention of Congress is particularly invi ted to that part of the Report of the Secretary of War which concerns the existing system of our relations with the Indian tribes. At the estab lishment of the Federal Government, under the present Constitution of the United States, the principle was adopted of considering them as fo reign and independent powers ; and also as pro prietors of lands. They were, moreover, consi dered as savages, whom it was oar policy and our duty to use our influence in converting to Christianity, and in bringing within the pale of civilization. As Independent Powers, we negotiated with them by treaties ; as proprietors, we purchased of them all the lands which we could prevail up on them to sell as brethren of the human race, rudo and ignorant, we endeavoured to bring them , to the knowledge of religion and of letters. The ultimato design was to incorporate in our own in stitutions that portion of them which could be converted to the state of civilization. In the practice of European States, before our Revolu tion, they had been considered as children to bo governed ; as tenants at discretion, to be dispos sessed as occasion might require ; as hunters, to be indemnified by trifling concessions for remo val from the grounds upon which their game was extirpated. In changing the system, it would seem as if a full contemplation of the conse quences of the change had not been taken. We have been far more successful in the acquisition of their lands than in imparting to them the prin ciples, or inspiring them with the spirit of civili zation. But in appropriating to ourselves their hunting grounds, we have brought upon ourselves the obligation of providing them with subsistence; and when we have had the rare good fortune of teaching them the arts of civilization, and the doctrines of Christianity,- we have unexpectedly found them forming, in the midst of ourselves, communities claiming to be independent of ours, and rivals of sovereignty within the territories of the members of our Union. This state of things requires that a remedy should be provided. A remedy which, while it shall do justice to those unfortunate children of nature, may secure to the members of our confederation their rights of sovereignty and of soil. As the outline of a pro ject to that effect, the views presented in the Re port of the Secretary of War are recommended to the consideration of Congress. The Report from the Engineer Department presents a comprehensive view of the progress which has been made in the great systems pro motive of the public interest, commenced and or ganized under the authority of Congress, and the effects of which have already contributed to tho security, ns they will hereafter largely contribute to the honour and dignity of the nation. Tho first of these great systems is that of forti fications, commenced immediately after the close of our last war, under the salutary cxpcricnco which the events of that war had impressed upon our countrymen of its necessity. Introduced un der the auspices of my immediate predecessor, it has been continued with the persevering and libe ral encouragement pf tho Legislature ; and conv i J

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view