Mm
Whole JVo.
Turborough, (lulgecombe County, X. C.) Saturday, December 19, 1835,
Vol. XI X0 51.
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE,
jjoir ci'izeus of the. Senate
; A- i'J5C of Representatives:
j Jj the discharge of my official
llv t,e ik again devolves upon
jeol'cDtnnrmicatinir with a new
Cmi'Tess. The1 reflection that
libe representation of the Union
lias been recently renewed, and
tintllie constitutional term of its
irvice will expire with tny own,
kichtens the solicitude with
ihich I stiaM attempt to lay before
it the state of our national con
irii5.and the devout hope which
riierUIi,tlal 'ls labors to improve
tiem may be crowned with suc-
ct.
J Von are assembled at a period
of profound interest to the Amer
ican patriot. The unexampled
growth and prosperity of our
country having given us a rank in
the scale of nations which removes
all apprehension of danger to our
."integrity and independence from
external foe?; the career of freedom
is before us, with an earnest from
die past, th.it, if true to ourselves,
there can be no formidable obsta
cle in the future to its peaceful
id uninterrupted pursuit. Yet in
jfropurtion to the disappearance
of those apprehensions which at
tended our weakness, as once
contrasted with the power of Some
of tiic states of the old world,
stauldwe now be solicitous as to
thoe which belong to the convic
tion thnt it is to our ow n conduct
ternust look for the preservation
those causes-oil which depend
tie excellence and the duration of
ar happy system of government.
? lathi example of other sys
fjunded on the will of the
People, we trace to internal dis
nntlie influences which have
often blasted the hopes of the
friends of freedom. The social
e'm?iitS which were strong and
socrcssfui u1el, itt,( against ex
Jfaal dajrer, failed in the more
JulCUit tak of nrnnprlv rwlitictino
.t ; . r i "J" ---0
jC; leif Mia intpi linl firrrnnWif irui
mi thus gave way the great
jMiiciple of self-government.
f ,l us "st that this admonition
jjil never be forgotten by the
wernment or the People ol the
U,lllp'l States: and that the testi
tpoay w,ich our experience thus
rhol(js,illo lhe Kreal humall
py,oftl,e practicability and the
;fi!izs of foe government will
confirmed in all time to come.
. We have but to look at the
of our agriculture, manufac
res and commerce, and the tin
ppled increase ofourpopula
JVofeel t(e magnitude of the
committed to us. Never, in
rrner perio( of our history,
. tla,j greater reason than
jj "nv have, io be thankful to
"e rovidence for the bless-
health and general pros
i ry branl, 0f labor
l,ed with ,h most a
T'lant reward. : .
4. .
rewards: ui evprv plpn.oni
national
indr
'rces and wealtli
",,jividual comfort, we wit
the
?rov
nosi rapid and solid im-
e,nerits. WiU,
1,1 his plt
no luterrtip-
lf.,. . l P'asiim nronect ai
h " harmony and goodwill,
lrf,Slr,n,"t?,y Pervads
" l"e People i every quar-
1 ter, amidst all the diversity of in
terest and pursuits to which they
are attached; and with no cause
of solicitude in regard to our ex
ternal affairs, which will not, it is
hopd disappear before the prin
eiples of simple justice and the
forbearance that mark our inter
course with foreign powers, -we
have every reason to feel proud of
our beloved country.
The general state of our Fo
reign Relations has not materially
changed since tny la?l annual mes
sage. The President then gives a brief
skrtch ' f our Fortin relations, and
continues as follows:
iSince the last session of Con
gress, the validity of our Claims
upon France, as liquidated by the
treaty of 18:31, has been acknowl
egded by both branches of her
Legislature, and the money has
been appropriated fur. their dis
charge, but the payment is, I re
gret to inform you, still withheld.
A brief recapitulation of the
most important incidents in this
protracted controversy, will show
how utterly untenable are the
grounds upon w hich this course is
attempted to be justified.
On entering upon the duties of
my station, I found the United
States an unsuccessful applicant
to the justice of France, for the
satisfaction of claims, the validity
of which was never questionable
and has now been most solemnly
admitted by France herself. The
antiquity of those claims, their;
high justice, and the aggavaling
circumstances out of which they
arose, are to familiar to the A-
merican People to require des
cription. It is suflicicnt to say,
that, for a period of ten years and '.
upwards, our commerce was, with
but little interruption, the subject of,
constant aggression on the part of
France aggressions, the ordina-'
ry features of which w ere condem- j
nations of vessels and cargoes un-i
tier arbitrary decrees, adopted in,
contravention, as well of the laws
of nations, as of treaty stipula-
tions; burnings on the high seas,
and seizures and confiscations un
der special imperial rescripts, in
the ports of. other nations occu
pied by the armies, or under the
control of France. Such, it is
now conceded, is the character of
the wrongs we suffered; wrongs,
in many cases, so flagrant that
even their authors never denied
our right to reparation. Of the
extent of these injuries, some con
ception may be formed from the
fact, that after the burning of a
large amount at sea, and the ne
cessary deterioration in other ca
ses, by long detention, the Amer
ican property so seized and sacri
ficed at forced sales, excluding
what was adjudged to privateers,
before or without condemnation,
brought into the French treasury
upwards of twenty-four millions of
francs, besides large custom-house
duties.
The subject had already been'
an affair of twenty years' uninter
rupted negotiation, except for a
short time, when France was over
whelmed by the military power,
of united Europe. During this
period, whilst other nations were
extorting from her, payment of
their claims at the point of the
bayonet, the United States inter-;
mitted their demand for justice,
out of respect to the oppressed
condition of a gallant people, to i
whom they felt under obligations
for fraternal assistance in their
own days of suffering and of peril.
The bad effects of these protracted
and unavailing discussions, as well
upon our relations with France as
upon our national character, were
obvious; and the line of duty was
in mv mind eauallv so. This was,
either to insist upon the adjust
ment of our claims, within a rea
sonable period, or to abandon
them altogether. I could not
doubt that, by this course, the in
terest and honor of both countries
would be best consulted. Instruc
tions were, therefore, given in this
spirit, to the Minister who was
sent out once more to demand
reparation. Upon the meeting ol
Congress, in December, 1829, I
felt it my duty to speak of these
claims, and the delays of France,
in terms calculated to call the se
rious attention of both countries
to the subject. The French Min
istry took exception to the mes
sage, on the ground of its con
taining a menace, under which it
was not agreeable to the French
Government to negotiate. The
American .Minister, of his own
accord, refuted the construction
which was attempted to be put
ttpon the message, and at the same
time called to the recollection of j
the French Ministry, that the'
President's message was a commu- j
nication addressed, not to Foreign
governments, but to the Congress j
of the United States, in which itj
enjoined upon him, by theconsti-;
lution, to lay before that body
information of the slate of the Un
ion, comprehending its foreign as!
well as its domestic relations; and
that if, in the discharge of this:
duty, he felt it incumbent upon;
him to summon the attention ofi
Conpress in due time to what
might be the possible consequen
ces of existing difficulties with any
foreign Government, he might
fairly be supposed to do so, under
a sense of w hat was due from him
in a frank communication with
another branch of his own Gov
ernment, and not from any inten
tion of holding a menace over a
foreign power. The views taken
by him received tny approbation,
the French Goveuiment was satis
lied, and the negotiation was con
tinned. It terminated, in the
treaty of July 4, 1 S3 1 , recogniing
the justice of our claims in part,
and promising payment to the a-
mount of twenty-five millions of
frmirs. iti ;ix annual instalments. !
The ratifications of this treaty
were exchanged at Washington onj
the 2d of February, 1832, audio
five days thereafter was laid be
fore Congress, who immediately
passed the acts necessary, on our
pait. to secure to France the com
mercial advantages conceded to
her in the compact. The treaty
had previously been solemnly rat
ified by the King of the French in
terms which are certainly not
mere matters of form, and of which
the translation is as follows:
''We, approving the above con
vention in all and each of the dis
positions which are contained in
it, do declare by ourselves, as well
as by our heirs and successor,
that it is accepted, approved, rat
ified, and confirmed; and by these
presents, signed by our hand, we
do accept, approve, ratify, and
confirm it; promising, on the faith
and word of a King, to observe it,
and to cause it to be observed in
violably, without ever contraven
ing it, or suffering it to be con
travened, directly or indirectly,
for any cause, or under any pre
tence whatsoever."
Official information of the ex
change of ratifications in the United
States reached Paris whilst the
Chambers were in session. The
extraordinary, and to us injurious,
delays of the French Government
in their action upon the subject ofj
its fulfilment, have been heretofore
staled to Congress, and 1 have no
disposition to enlarge upon them
here. It is sufficient to observe
that the then pending session was
qllowed to expire, without even an
effort to obtain the necessary ap
propriations that the two suc
ceeding ones were also sufTered to
pass away without any thing like
a serious attempt to obtain a deci
sion upon the subject and that it
was not until the fourth session
almost three years after the con
clusion of the treaty, and more
than two years after the exchange
of ratifications that the bill for
the execution of the treaty was
pressed to a vote, and "rejected.
In the mean time, the Government
of the United States, having full
confidence that a treaty entered
into and so solemnly ratified by
the French King, would be exe-
cuieu in gooa latin, and not
doubting that provision would be
made for the payment of the first
instalment which was to become
due on the second day of Februa
ry, 1833, negotiated a draft for
the amount through the Bank of
the United States. When this
draft was presented by the holder,
with the credentials required by
the treaty to authorize him to re
ceive the. money the Government
of France allowed it to be protes
ted. In addition to the injury in
the nonpayment of the money by
France, conformably to her en
gagement, the United Sthtes were
exposed to a heavy claim on the
part of the Bank, under pretence
of damages, m satisfaction of
which, that institution seized upon,
and still retains, an equal amount
of the public moneys. Congress
was in session when the decision
of the Chambers reached Wash
ington, and an immediate commu
nication of this apparently final
decision of France not to fulfil the
stipulations of the treaty, w as the
course naturally to be expected
from the President. The deep
lone of disalisfaction which per
vaded the public mind, and the
correspondent excitement produc
ed in Congress by only a general
knowledge of the result, rendered
it more than probable, that a re
sort to immediate measures of
redress would be the consequence
of calling the attention of that ho
tly to the subject. Sincerely
desirous of preserving the pacific
relations w hich had so long existed
between the two countries, I was
anxious to avoid this course if 1
could be satisfied that, by doing
I so. neither the interests nor the
honor of my country would be
compromitled. Without the ful
lest assurances upon that point, I
could not hope to acquit myself of
the responsibility to be incurred in
suffering Congress to adjourn
without laying the subject before
them. Those received by me
were believed to be that charac
ter. That the feelings produced in
the United States by the nei of
the rejection of the appropriation,
would be such as I have described
them to have been, was foreseen
by the French Government, and
prompt measures were taken by it
to prevent the consequences. The
King, in person, expressed,
through our Minister at Paris, his
profound regret at the decision of
the Chambers, and promised to
send, forthwith, a national ship,
with despatches to his Minister
here, authorizing him to give such
assurances as would satisfy the
Government and people of the
United States that the treaty
would yet be faithfully executed
by France. The national ship
arrived, and the Minister received
his instructions. Claiming to act
under the authority derived from
them, he gave to this Government,
in the name of hir, the most so
lemn assurances, that, as snpn af
ter the new elections as the charter
would permit, the French Cham
bers would be convened, and the
attempt to procure the necessary
appropriations renewed: that all
the constitutional powers of the
King and his Ministers should be
put iii-requisition to accomplish
the object: and he was understood,
and so expressly informed by this
Government, at the time, to en
gage that the question should be
pressed to a decision, at a period
sufficiently early to permit infor
mation of the result to be commu
nicated to Congress at the com
mencement of their next session
Relying upon these assurances, I
incurred the responsibilby, great
as I regarded it to be, of suffering
Congress to separate without com
municating with them upon the
subject.
The expectations justly founded
upon the promises thus solemnly
made to this Government by that
of France, were not realized. The
French Chambers met on the 3 1st
of July, IS34, scon after the elec
tion, and although our Minister in
Parrs urged the French Ministry
to press the subject before them,
they declined doing so. He next
insisted that the Chambers, if pro
rogued without acting on the sub
ject, should be reassembled at a
period so early, that their action
on the treaty might be known in
Washington prior to the meeting
of Congress. This reasonable re
quest was not only declined, hut the
Chambers were prorogued to the
29th of Uecember, a day so late,
that their decision, however ur
gently pressed, could not, in all
probability, be obtained in time to
reach Washington before the ne
cessary adjournment of Congress
by the constitution. The reasons
given by the Ministry for refusing
io convoke ttie Chambers at an
earlier period.' were aftcrvrards
hown not to be insuperable, by
their actual convocation on the
1st of December, under a special
call for domestic purposes, which
fact however did not become
known to this Government until
after the commencement of the last
session of Congress.
Thus disappointed in our just
expectations, it became tny impo
rative duty to consult with Con
gress in regard to the expedhncv
of a resort to retaliatory measures,
in case the stipulations of the trea
ty should not be speedily complied
with; and to recommend sncb s,
in my judgment, tin; occasion
called or. To this ene an unre
served communication of the case,
in all its aspects, become indispen
sable. To have shrunk, in mak
ing it, from saying all that was
necessary to its correct under
standing, and that the truth would '
justify , for fear of giving offence
to others, would have been unwor
thy of us. To have gone, on the
ether hand, a single step further,
for the purpose of wounding the
pride of a Gover nment and people
with whom we had so many mo-
lives for cultivating relations cfj
amity and reciprocal advantage,'
r.
would nave oeen unwise ana im
i.i i i . i
proper. Admonished uy the past,
of the difficulty of makinir even
the simplest statement of our
wrongs without disturbing the
sensibilities of those who had, by
their position, become responsi
ble for their redress, and earnestly
desirous of preventing further ob
stacles from that source, I went
out of my way to preclude a con
struction ol the message, by which
the recommendation that was
made to Congress might be rc-i
garded as a menace to France, in
not only disavowing such a de
sign, but in declaring (hat her
pride and her power were too well! jjaiible. wiih the honor of France,
known to expect any thing from I was maintained, r.nd the bill pass
her fears. The message did not ed as originally proposed, the
reach Paris until more than
month after the Chambers had
been in session, and such was the
insensibility of the Ministry to our
rightful claims and just expecta
tions, that oui Minister has been
informed, that the mailers, when
introduced, would not be pressed
as a Cabinet measure.
Although the message was not
officially communicated to the
French Government, and notwith
standing the declaration to dtp
contrary which it contained, the
French Ministry decided to con
sider the conditional recommend
ation of reprisals, menace and an
insult, which the honor of the na
tion made it incumbent on them
to resent. The measures resorted
toby them to evince their sense ofj
the supposed indignity, were, the
immediate recall of their Minister
at Washington, the otTer of pass
ports to the American Minister at
Paris, and a public notice to the
Legislative Chambers, that all
diplomatic intercourse with the
United States had been suspended.
Having in this manner, vindica
ted the dignity of France, they
flext proceeded to illustrate her
. -r- . 1 I'll
lustire. Io this end. a mil was
immediately introduced into the
Chamber of Deputies, proposing
to make the appropriations neces
sary to rarry into effect the treaty.
As this bill subsequently pased
into a law, the provisions of which
now constitute the main subject of
difficulty between the two nations,
it becomes my duty, in order to
place the subject before you in a
clear light, to trace the history of
its pasage, and. to refer, with
some particularity, to the proceed
ings and discussions in regard to
it. The Minister of Finance, in
his opening speech, alltn.'ed to the
measures which had been adopted
to resent the supposed indignity,
and recommended the execution
of the treaty as a measure required
by the honor and justice of France.
He, as the organ of the Ministry,
declared the message, so long as
it bad not received the sanction of
Congress, a mere expression of
the personal opinion ol the Presi
dent, for which neither the Gov
ern ineut nor the people c-f the Uni
ted Slates were responsible, and
that an engagement bad been en
tered into, for the fultihneot of
which the honor of France was
pledged. Entertaining these views,
the single condition which the
French ministry proposed to an
nex to the payment of the money,
was, thnt it should not be made
until it was ascertained that the
Govt rumenl of the United States.
s had done nothing to injure the in
terests of Fiance; or, in other
words, that no steps had been au
thorized by Congress of a hostile
character towards France.
Vh3t the disposition or action
of Congress might be, w as then
unknown to the French Cabinet.
; But on the 14th of January the
Senate resolved, thai it was at that
time inexpedient to adopt any leg
islative measures in regard to the
state of affairs between ti e United
States and France, and no action
on the subject had occurred in the
House of Representatives, lnese
frets were known in Paris prior to
the 2Gth of March, 1835, when
the committee to whom the bill of
indemnification bad been referred,
reported it to the Chamber of
Deputies. That committee sub
stantially re-echoed the sentiments
of the Ministry, declared that Con
gress bad set aside the proposition
of the President, and recommend
ed the passage of the bill without
any other restriction than that ob
jgmally proposed. 1 hus was it
known to the French Ministry and
Chambers, that if the position as-
sumed by them, and which had
been so frequently and solemnly
announced as the only one coui-
mo'.ey would be paid, and there
WMild be an cod of this unforLu-
nate controversy.
Hut this cheering prospect was
soon des; roved Ly an amendment
introduced into the bill at lb mo
ment of its passage, providing
that the money should not be paid
until the Frem h Govprnmt ti-t bad
received satisfactory explanations
of the President's inessag' of the
2d December, 1834; nn'J w? at is
still more extranidinasy, ihe Pre
sident of the Court' i cf Minsters
adopted this amendirenJ, 7.?wl con
sented to its incorporation in the
bill. In regard to a supposed in
sult which hud been formally re
suited by the recall of their Min
ister, end the offer of passports to
j.urs, they now, for tb- bVi time,
proposed to ask explanations.