Message of the President of the United States. be refused, or longer delayed, take redress into their own hands. After the delay on the part of France of a quarter of a century in acknowledging these claims by treaty, it is not to be tolerated that another quarter of a century is to be wasted in negotiating about the payment. The laws of nations provide a remedy for such occasions. It is a well settled principle of the international code, that where one nation owes another a liquidated debt, which it refuses or neglects to pay, the aggrieved party may seize on the property belonging to the other, its citizens or subjects, sufficient to pay the debt, without giving just cause of war. This remedy has been repeatedly resorted to, and recently by France herself, towards Portugal, under circumstances less unquestionable. [23d CONG. 28 SESS. year, will amount to twenty million six hundred and twen ty-four thousand seven hundred and seventeen dollars, which, with the balance remaining in the Treasury on the 1st of January last, of eleven million seven hundred and two thousand nine hundred and five dollars, produces an aggregate of thirty-two million three hundred and twentyseven thousand six hundred and twenty-three dollars. The total expenditure during the year for all objects, including the public debt, is estimated at twenty-five million five hundred and ninety-one thousand three hundred and ninety dollars, which will leave a balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January, 1835, of six million seven hundred and thirty-six thousand two hundred and thirty-two dollars. In this balance, however, will be included about one million one hundred and fifty thousand dollars of what was heretofore reported by the department as not effective. The time at which resort should be had to this, or any other mode of redress, is a point to be decided by Congress. If an appropriation shall not be made by the French Chambers at their next session, it may justly be concluded that the Government of France has finally determined to disregard its own solemn undertaking, and re-that, of this sum, there will not be required more than fuse to pay an acknowledged debt. In that event, every day's delay on our part will be a stain upon our national honor, as well as a denial of justice to our injured citizens. Prompt measures, when the refusal of France shall be complete, will not only be most honorable and just, but will have the best effect upon our national cha racter. Since France, in violation of the pledges given through her minister here, has delayed her final action so long that her decision will not probably be known in time to be communicated to this Congress, I recommend that a law be passed, authorizing reprisals upon French property, in case provision shall not be made for the payment of the debt at the approaching session of the French Chambers. Such a measure ought not to be considered by France as a menace. Her pride and power are too well known to expect any thing from her fears, and preclude the necessity of a declaration that nothing partaking of the character of intimidation is intended by us. She ought to look upon it as the evidence only of an inflexible determination on the part of the United States to insist on their rights. That Government, by doing only what it has itself acknowledged to be just, will be able to spare the United States the necessity of taking redress into their own hands, and save the property of French citizens from that seizure and sequestration which American citizens so long endured without retaliation or redress. If she should continue to refuse that act of acknowledged justice, and, in violation of the law of nations, make reprisals on our part the occasion of hostilities against the United States, she would but add violence to injustice, and could not fail to expose herself to the just censure of civilized nations, and to the retributive judgments of Heaven. Collision with France is the more to be regretted, on account of the position she occupies in Europe in relation to liberal institutions. But, in maintaining our national rights and honor, all Governments are alike to us. If, by a collision with France, in a case where she is clearly in the wrong, the march of liberal principles shall be impeded, the responsibility for that result, as well as every other, will rest on her own head. Having submitted these considerations, it belongs to Congress to decide whether, after what has taken place, it will still await the further action of the French Chambers, or now adopt such provisional measures as it may deem necessary and best adapted to protect the rights and maintain the honor of the country. Whatever that decision may be, it will be faithfully enforced by the Executive, as far as he is authorized so to do. According to the estimates of the Treasury Department, the revenue accruing from all sources, during the present Of former appropriations, it is estimated that there will remain unexpended at the close of the year, eight million two thousand nine hundred and twenty-five dollars; and five million one hundred and forty-one thousand nine hundred and sixty-four dollars, to accomplish the objects of all the current appropriations. Thus it appears that, after satisfying all those appropriations, and after discharg ing the last item of our public debt, which will be done on the 1st of January next, there will remain unexpended in the Treasury an effective balance of about four hundred and forty thousand dollars. That such should be the aspect of our finances, is highly flattering to the industry and enterprise of our population, and auspicious of the wealth and prosperity which await the future cultivation of their growing resources. It is not deemed prudent, however, to recommend any change for the present in our impost rates, the effect of the gradual reduction now in progress in many of them not being sufficiently tested to guide us in determining the precise amount of revenue which they will produce. Free from public debt, at peace with all the world, and with no complicated interests to consult in our intercourse with foreign Powers, the present may be hailed as that epoch in our history the most favorable for the settlement of those principles in our domestic policy, which shall be best calculated to give stability to our republic, and secure the blessings of freedom to our citizens. Among these principles, from our past experience, it cannot be doubted that simplicity in the character of the Federal Government, and a rigid economy in its administration, should be regarded as fundamental and sacred. All must be sensible that the existence of the public debt, by rendering taxation necessary for its extinguishment, has increased the difficulties which are inseparable from any exercise of the taxing power; and that it was, in this respect, a remote agent in producing those disturbing questions which grew out of the discussions relating to the tariff. If such has been the tendency of a debt incurred in the acquisition and maintenance of our national rights and liberties, the obligation of which all portions of the Union cheerfully acknowledged, it must be obvious, that whatever is calculated to increase the burdens of Government without necessity, must be fatal to all our hopes of preserving its true character. While we are felicitating ourselves, therefore, upon the extinguishment of the national debt, and the prosperous state of our finances, let us not be tempted to depart from those sound maxims of public policy, which enjoin a just adaptation of the revenue to the expenditures that are consistent with a rigid economy, and an entire abstinence from all topics of legislation that are not clearly within the constitutional powers of the Government, and suggested by the wants of the country. Properly regarded, under such a policy, every diminution of the public burdens arising from taxation, gives to individual enterprise 23d CONG. 2d SESS.] Message of the President of the United States. increased power, and furnishes to all the members of our happy confederacy new motives for patriotic affection and support. But, above all, its most important effect will be found in its influence upon the character of the Government, by confining its action to those objects which will be sure to secure to it the attachment and support of our fellow-citizens. property or money, wherever he can find it, to pay such claim, there will remain no assurance that our revenue will reach the Treasury, or that it will be applied, after the appropriation, to the purposes designated in the law. The paymasters of our army, and the pursers of our navy, may, under like pretences, apply to their own use money's appropriated to set in motion the public force, and in time Circumstances make it my duty to call the attention of of war leave the country without defence. This measure, Congress to the Bank of the United States. Created resorted to by the Bank, is disorganizing and revolutionfor the convenience of the Government, that institutionary, and, if generally resorted to by private citizens in has become the scourge of the people. Its interference like cases, would fill the land with anarchy and violence. to postpone the payment of a portion of the national It is a constitutional provision, that "no money shall debt, that it might retain the public money appropriated | be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of approfor that purpose, to strengthen it in a political contest-priations made by law." The palpable object of this prothe extraordinary extension and contraction of its accom- vision is to prevent the expenditure of the public money, modations to the community-its corrupt and partisan for any purpose whatsoever, which shall not have been loans--its exclusion of the public directors from a know- first approved by the representatives of the people and ledge of its most important proceedings--the unlimited the States, in Congress assembled. It vests the power of authority conferred on the president to expend its funds declaring for what purposes the public money shall be in hiring writers, and procuring the execution of printing, expended in the Legislative Department of the Governand the use made of that authority--the retention of the ment, to the exclusion of the Executive and Judicial; and pension money and books after the selection of new it is not within the constitutional authority of either of agents--the groundless claim to heavy damages, in con- those departments to pay it away without law, or to sancsequence of the protest of the bill drawn on the French tion its payment. According to this plain constitutional Government, have, through various channels, been laid provision, the claim of the Bank can never be paid withbefore Congress. Immediately after the close of the last out an appropriation by act of Congress. But the Bank session, the Bank, through its president, announced its has never asked for an appropriation. It attempts to deability and readiness to abandon the system of unparal- feat the provision of the constitution, and obtain payment leled curtailment, and the interruption of domestic ex- without an act of Congress. Instead of awaiting an apchanges, which it had practised upon from the 1st of propriation passed by both Houses, and approved by the August, 1833, to the 30th June, 1834, and to extend its President, it makes an appropriation for itself, and inaccommodations to the community. The grounds as- vites an appeal to the Judiciary to sanction it. That the sumed in this annunciation amounted to an acknowledg. money had not technically been paid into the Treasury, ment that the curtailment, in the extent to which it had does not affect the principle intended to be established been carried, was not necessary to the safety of the Bank, by the constitution. The Executive and Judiciary have and had been persisted in merely to induce Congress to as little right to appropriate and expend the public money grant the prayer of the Bank in its memorial relative to without authority of law, before it is placed to the credit the removal of the deposites, and to give it a new charter. of the Treasurer, as to take it from the Treasury. In the They were substantially a confession that all the real dis- annual report of the Secretary of the Treasury, and in his tresses which individuals and the country had endured for correspondence with the president of the Bank, and the the preceding six or eight months, had been needlessly opinions of the Attorney General accompanying it, you produced by it, with the view of affecting, through the will find a further examination of the claims of the Bank, sufferings of the people, the legislative action of Con- and the course it has pursued. gress. It is a subject of congratulation that Congress and the country had the virtue and firmness to bear the infliction; that the energies of our people soon found relief from this wanton tyranny, in vast importations of the precious metals from almost every part of the world; and that, at the close of this tremendous effort to control our Government, the Bank found itself powerless, and no longer able to loan out its surplus means. The community had learned to manage its affairs without its assistance, and trade had already found new auxiliaries; so that, on the 1st of October last, the extraordinary spectacle was presented of a National Bank, more than onehalf of whose capital was either lying unproductive in its vaults, or in the hands of foreign bankers. To the needless distresses brought on the country during the last session of Congress, has since been added the open seizure of the dividends on the public stock, to the amount of one hundred and seventy thousand and fortyone dollars, under pretence of paying damages, cost, and interest, upon the protested French bill. This sum constituted a portion of the estimated revences for the year 1834, upon which the appropriations made by Congress were based. It would as soon have been expected that our collectors would seize on the customs, or the receivers of our land offices on the moneys arising from the sale of public lands, under pretences of claims against the United States, as that the Bank would have retained the dividends. Indeed, if the principle be established; that any one who chooses to set up a claim against the United States may, without authority of law, seize on the public It seems due to the safety of the public funds remaining in that Bank, and to the honor of the American people, that measures be taken to separate the Government entirely from an institution so mischievous to the public prosperity, and so regardless of the constitution and laws. By transferring the public deposites; by appointing other pension agents, as far as it had the power; by ordering the discontinuance of the receipt of Bank checks in payment of the public dues after the first day of January next, the Executive has exerted all its lawful authority to sever the connexion between the Government and this faithless corporation. The high-handed career of this institution imposes upon the constitutional functionaries of this Government, duties of the gravest and most imperative characterduties which they cannot avoid, and from which, I trust, there will be no inclination on the part of any of them to shrink. My own sense of them is most clear, as is also my readiness to discharge those which may rightfully fall on me. To continue any business relations with the Bank of the United States, that may be avoided without a violation of the national faith, after that institution has set at open defiance the conceded right of the Government to examine its affairs; after it has done all in its power to deride the public authority in other respects, and to bring it into disrepute at home and abroad; after it has attempted to defeat the clearly expressed will of the people, by turning against them the immense power entrusted to its hands, and, by involving a country, otherwise peaceful, flourishing, and happy, in dissension, em Message of the President of the United States. barrassment, and distress, would make the nation itself a party to the degradation so sedulously prepared for its public agents, and do much to destroy the confidence of mankind in popular Governments, and to bring into contempt their authority and efficiency. In guarding against an evil of such magnitude, considerations of temporary convenience should be thrown out of the question, and we should be influenced by such motives only as look to the honor and preservation of the republican system. Deeply and solemnly impressed with the justice of these views, I feel it to be my duty to recommend to you that a law be passed authorizing the sale of the public stock; that the provision of the charter requiring the receipt of notes of the Bank in payment of public dues, shall, in accordance with the power reserved to Congress in the 14th section of the charter, be suspended until the Bank pays to the Treasury the dividends withheld; and that all laws connecting the Government or its officers with the Bank, directly or indirectly, be repealed; and that the institution be left hereafter to its own resources and means. Events have satisfied my mind, and I think the minds of the American people, that the mischiefs and dangers which flow from a National Bank far overbalance all its advantages. The bold effort the present Bank has made to control the Government, the distresses it has wantonly produced, the violence of which it has been the occasion in one of our cities famed for its observance of law and order, are but premonitions of the fate which awaits the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution, or the establishment of another like it. It is fervently hoped that, thus admonished, those who have heretofore favored the establishment of a substitute for the present Bank, will be induced to abandon it, as it is evidently better to incur any inconvenience that may be reasonably expected, than to concentrate the whole moneyed power of the republic in any form whatsoever, or under any restrictions. Happily it is already illustrated that the agency of such an institution is not necessary to the fiscal operations of the Government. The State banks are found fully adequate to the performance of all services which were required of the Bank of the United States, quite as promptly, and with the same cheapness. They have maintained themselves, and discharged all these duties, while the Bank of the United States was still powerful, and in the field as an open enemy; and it is not possible to conceive that they will find greater difficulties in their operations, when that enemy shall cease to exist. The attention of Congress is earnestly invited to the regulation of the deposites in the State banks, by law. Although the power now exercised by the Executive Department in this behalf is only such as was uniformly exerted through every administration, from the origin of the Government up to the establishment of the present Bank, yet, it is one which is susceptible of regulation by law, and, therefore, ought so to be regulated. The power of Congress to direct in what places the Treasurer shall keep the moneys in the Treasury, and to impose restrictions upon the Executive authority in relation to their custody and removal, is unlimited, and its exercise will rather be courted than discouraged by those public officers and agents on whom rests the responsibility for their safety. It is desirable that as little power as possible should be left to the President or Secretary of the Treasury over those institutions; which, being thus freed from Executive influence, and without a cominon head to direct their operations, would have neither the temptation nor the ability to interfere in the political conflicts of the country. Not deriving their charters from the national authorities, they would never have those inducements to meddle in general elections, which have led the Bank of the United States to agitate and convulse the country for upwards of two years. 123d CONG. 2d SESS. The progress of our gold coinage is creditable to the officers of the mint, and promises in a short period to furnish the country with a sound and portable currency, which will much diminish the inconvenience to travellers of the want of a general paper currency, should the State banks be incapable of furnishing it. Those institutions have already shown themselves competent to purchase and furnish domestic exchange for the convenience of trade, at reasonable rates, and not a doubt is entertained that, in a short period, all the wants of the country in bank accommodations and in exchange will be supplied as promptly and cheaply as they have heretofore been by the Bank of the United States. If the several States shall be induced gradually to reform their banking systems, and prohibit the issue of all small notes, we shall, in a few years, have a currency as sound, and as little liable to fluctuations, as any other commercial country. The report of the Secretary of War, together with the ccompanying documents from the several bureaux of that department, will exhibit the situation of the various objects committed to its administration. No event has occurred since your last session rendering necessary any movements of the army, with the ex. ception of the expedition of the regiment of dragoons into the territory of the wandering and predatory tribes inhabiting the western frontier, and living adjacent to the Mexican boundary. These tribes have been heretofore known to us principally by their attacks upon our own citizens, and upon other Indians entitled to the protection of the United States. It became necessary for the peace of the frontiers to check these habitual inroads, and I am happy to inform you that the object has been effected without the commission of any act of hostility. Colonel Dodge, and the troops under his command, have acted with equal firmness and humanity, and an arrangement has been made with those Indians, which it is hoped will assure their permanent pacific relations with the United States and the other tribes of Indians upon that border. It is to be regretted that the prevalence of sickness in that quarter has deprived the country of a number of valuable lives, and particularly that General Leavenworth, an officer well known and esteemed for his gallant services during the late war, and for subsequent good conduct, has fallen a victim to his zeal and exertions in the discharge of his duty. The army is in a high state of discipline. Its moral condition, so far as that is known here, is good, and the various branches of the public service are carefully attended to. It is amply sufficient, under its present organization, for providing the necessary garrisons for the seaboard and for the defence of the internal frontier, and also for preserving the elements of military knowledge, and for keeping pace with those improvements which modern experience is continually making. And these objects appear to me to embrace all the legitimate purposes for which a permanent military force should be maintained in our country. The lessons of history teach us its danger, and the tendency which exists to an increase. This can be best met and averted by a just caution on the part of the public itself, and of those who represent them in Congress. From the duties which devolve on the Engineer Department, and upon the Topographical Engineers, a different organization seems to be demanded by the public interest, and I recommend the subject to your consideration. No important change has, during this season, taken place in the condition of the Indians. Arrangements are in progress for the removal of the Creeks, and will soon be for the removal of the Seminoles. I regret that the Cherokees cast of the Mississippi have not yet determined to remove. How long the personal causes which have hitherto retarded that ultimately inevitable measure, 23d CONG. 2d SESS.] Message of the President of the United States. will continue to operate, I am unable to conjecture. It is certain, however, that delay will bring with it accumulated evils, which will render their condition more and more unpleasant. The experience of every year adds to the conviction that emigration, and that alone, can preserve from destruction the remnant of the tribes yet living among us. The facility with which the necessaries of life are procured, and the treaty stipulations providing aid for the emigrant Indians in their agricultural pursuits, and in the important concern of education, and their removal from those causes which have heretofore depressed all and destroyed many of the tribes, cannot fail to stimulate their exertions and to reward their industry. The two laws passed at the last session of Congress on the subject of Indian affairs, have been carried into effect, and detailed instructions for their administration have been given. It will be seen by the estimates for the present session that a great reduction will take place in the expenditures of the department in consequence of these laws. And there is reason to believe that their operation will be salutary, and that the colonization of the Indians on the western frontier, together with a judicious system of administration, will still further reduce the expenses of this branch of the public service, and at the same time promote its usefulness and efficiency. history, and into the opinion entertained of their revolutionary services. 2. To ascertain, in all cases, whether the original claimant is living, and this by actual personal inspection. This measure will, if adopted, be productive, I think, of the desired results, and I therefore recommend it to your consideration, with the further suggestion, that all payments should be suspended till the necessary reports are received. It will be seen, by a tabular statement annexed to the documents transmitted to Congress, that the appropria tions for objects connected with the War Department, made at the last session, for the service of the year 1834, excluding the permanent appropriation for the payment of military gratuities under the act of June 7, 1832, the appropriation of two hundred thousand dollars for arming and equipping the militia, and the appropriation of ten thousand dollars for the civilization of the Indians, which are not annually renewed, amounted to the sum of nine million three thousand two hundred and sixty-one dollars, and that the estimates of appropriations necessary for the same branch of service, for the year 1835 amount to the sum of five million seven hundred and seventy-eight thousand nine hundred and sixty-four dollars, making a difference in the appropriations of the current year over the estimates of appropriations for the next, of three million two hundred and twenty-four thousand two hundred and ninety-seven dollars. The principal causes which have operated at this time to produce this great difference, are shown in the reports and documents, and in the detailed estimates. Some of these causes are accidental and temporary, while others are permanent, and, aided by a just course of administration, may continue to operate beneficially upon the public expenditures. A just economy, expending where the public service requires, and withholding where it does not, is among the indispensable duties of the Government. view of the operations of that important branch of our service, during the present year. It will be seen that the wisdom and liberality with which Congress have provided for the gradual increase of our navy material, have been seconded by a corresponding zeal and fidelity on the part of those to whom has been confided the execution of the laws on the subject, and that but a short period would now be required to put in commission a force large enough for any exigency into which the country may be thrown. Circumstances have been recently developed, showing the existence of extensive frauds under the various laws granting pensions and gratuities for revolutionary services. It is impossible to estimate the amount which may have been thus fraudulently obtained from the National Treasury. I am satisfied, however, it has been such as to justify a re-examination of the system, and the adoption of the necessary checks in its administration. All will agree, that the services and sufferings of the remnant of our revolutionary band should be fully compensated. But while this is done, every proper precaution should be taken to prevent the admission of fabricated and fraudulent claims. In the present mode of proceeding, the at- I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretatestations and certificates of the judicial officers of the vari-ry of the Navy, and to the documents with it, for a full ous States, form a considerable portion of the checks which are interposed against the commission of frauds. These, however, have been, and may be, fabricated, and in such a way as to elude detection at the examining offices. And independently of this practical difficulty, it is ascertained that these documents are often loosely granted; sometimes even blank certificates have been issued; sometimes prepared papers have been signed without inquiry; and, in one instance at least, the seal of the court has been within reach of a person most interested in its improper application. It is obvious that, under such circumstances, no severity of administration can check the abuse of the law; and information has, from time to time, been communicated to the Pension Office, questioning or denying the right of persons placed upon the pension list, to the bounty of the country. Such cautions are always attended to, and examined. But a far more general investigation is called for. And I therefore recommend, in conformity with the suggestion of the Secretary of War, that an actual inspection should be made, in each State, into the circumstances and claims of every person now drawing a pension. The honest veteran has nothing to fear from such a scrutiny, while the fraudulent claimant will be detected, and the public treasury relieved to an amount, I have reason to believe, far greater than has heretofore been suspected. The details of such a plan could be so regulated as to interpose the necessary checks, without any burdensome operation upon the pensioners. The object should be twofold: 1. To look into the original justice of the claims, so far as this can be done under a proper system of regulations, by an examination of the claimants themselves, and by inquiring, in the vicinity of their residence, into their When we reflect upon our position in relation to other nations, it must be apparent that, in the event of conflicts with them, we must look chiefly to our navy for the protection of our national rights. The wide seas which separate us from other Governments, must of necessity be the theatre on which an enemy will aim to assail us, and, unless we are prepared to meet him on this element, we cannot be said to possess the power requisite to repel or prevent aggressions. We cannot, therefore, watch with too much attention this arm of our defence, or cherish with too much care the means by which it can possess the necessary efficiency and extension. To this end our policy has been heretofore wisely directed to the constant employment of a force sufficient to guard our commerce, and to the rapid accumulation of the materials, which are necessary to repair our vessels, and construct with ease such new ones as may be required in a state of war. In accordance with this policy, I recommend to your consideration the erection of the additional dry dock described by the Secretary of the Navy, and also the construction of the steam batteries to which he has referred, for the purpose of testing their efficiency as auxiliaries to the system of defence now in use. Message of the President of the United States. The report of the Postmaster General, herewith submitted, exhibits the condition and prospects of that department. From that document, it appears that there was a deficit in the funds of the department, at the commencement of the present year, beyond its available means, of three hundred and fifteen thousand five hundred and ninety-nine dollars and ninety-eight cents, which, on the 1st of July last, had been reduced to two hundred and sixty-eight thousand and ninety-two dollars and seventy-four cents. It appears, also, that the revenues for the coming year will exceed the expenditures about two hundred and seventy thousand dollars, which, with the excess of revenue which will result from the operations of the current half year, may be expected, independently of any increase in the gross amount of postages, to supply the entire deficit before the end of 1835. But as this calculation is based on the gross amount of postages which had accrued within the period embraced by the times of striking the balances, it is obvious that, without a progressive increase in the amount of postages, the existing retrenchments must be persevered in through the year 1836, that the department may accumulate a surplus fund sufficient to place it in a condition of perfect ease. It will be observed that the revenues of the Post Office Department, though they have increased, and their amount is above that of any former year, have yet fallen short of the estimates more than a hundred thousand dollars. This is attributed, in a great degree, to the increase of free letters growing out of the extension and abuse of the franking privilege. There has been a gradual increase in the number of executive officers to which it has been granted; and, by an act passed in March, 1833, it was extended to members of Congress throughout the whole year. It is believed that a revision of the laws relative to the franking privilege, with some enactments to enforce more rigidly the restriction under which it is granted, would operate beneficially to the country, by enabling the department, at an earlier period, to restore the mail facilities that have been withdrawn, and to extend them more widely as the growing settlements of the country may require. To a measure so important to the Government, and so just to our constituents, who ask no exclusive privileges for themselves, and are not willing to concede them to others, I earnestly recommend the serious attention of Congress. The importance of the Post Office Department, and the magnitude to which it has grown, both in its revenues and in its operations, seem to demand its reorganization by law. The whole of its receipts and disbursements have hitherto been left entirely to Executive control and individual discretion. The principle is as sound in relation to this as to any other department of the Government, that as little discretion should be confided to the executive officer who controls it, as is compatible with its efficiency. It is therefore earnestly recommended that it be organized with an Auditor and Treasurer of its own, appointed by the President and Senate, who shall be branches of the Treasury Department. [23d CONG. 2d SESS. Whatever may be the difficulty in a proper organization of the judicial system, so as to secure its efficiency and uniformity in all parts of the Union, and at the same time to avoid such an increase of judges as would encumber the supreme appellate tribunal, it should not be allowed to weigh against the great injustice which the present operation of the system produces. I trust that I may be also pardoned for renewing the recommendation I have so often submitted to your attention, in regard to the mode of electing the President and Vice President of the United States. All the reflection I have been able to bestow upon the subject increases my conviction that the best interests of the country will be promoted by the adoption of some plan which will secure, in all contingencies, that important right of sovereignty to the direct control of the people. Could this be attained, and the terms of those officers be limited to a single period of either four or six years, I think our liberties would possess an additional safeguard. At your last session I called the attention of Congress to the destruction of the public building occupied by the Treasury Department. As the public interest requires that another building should be erected, with as little delay as possible, it is hoped that the means will be seasonably provided, and that they will be ample enough to authorize such an enlargement and improvement in the plan of the building as will more effectually accommodate the public officers, and secure the public documents deposited in it from the casualties of fire. I have not been able to satisfy myself that the bill entitled "An act to improve the navigation of the Wabash river," which was sent to me at the close of your last session, ought to pass, and I have, therefore, withheld from it my approval, and now return it to the Senate, the body in which it originated. There can be no question connected with the administration of public affairs, more important or more difficult to be satisfactorily dealt with, than that which relates to the rightful authority and proper action of the Federal Government upon the subject of internal improvements. To inherent embarrassments have been added others resulting from the course of our legislation concerning it. I have heretofore communicated freely with Congress upon this subject; and, in adverting to it again, I cannot refrain from expressing my increased conviction of its extreme importance, as well in regard to its bearing upon the maintenance of the constitution, and the prudent management of the public revenue, as on account of its disturbing effect upon the harmony of the Union. We are in no danger from violations of the constitution by which encroachments are made upon the personal rights of the citizen. The sentence of condemnation long since pronounced by the American people upon acts of that character, will, I doubt not, continue to prove as salutary in its effects as it is irreversible in its nature. But against the dangers of unconstitutional acts which, instead of menacing the vengeance of offended authority, proffer local advantages, and bring in their train the patronage of the Government, we are, I fear, not so safe. Your attention is again respectfully invited to the de- To suppose that because our Government has been insti fect which exists in the judicial system of the United tuted for the benefit of the people, it must therefore have States. Nothing can be more desirable than the uniform the power to do whatever may seem to conduce to the operation of the Federal Judiciary throughout the seve- public good, is an error, into which even honest minds ral States, all of which, standing on the same footing as are too apt to fall. In yielding themselves to this fallacy, members of the Union, have equal rights to the advan- they overlook the great considerations in which the Fedetages and benefits resulting from its laws. This object is❘ral Constitution was founded. They forget that, in connot attained by the judicial acts now in force, because they leave one-fourth of the States without circuit courts. It is undoubtedly the duty of Congress to place all the States on the same footing in this respect, either by the creation of an additional number of associate judges, or by an enlargement of the circuits assigned to those already appointed, so as to include the new States. VOL. XI.-B sequence of the conceded diversities in the interest and condition of the different States, it was foreseen, at the period of its adoption, that although a particular measure of the Government might be beneficial and proper in one State, it might be the reverse in another-that it was for this reason the States would not consent to make a grant to the Federal Government of the general and usual pow |