Chapter 33 1815

FEBRUARY 15, 1815.

 To the Senate of the United States :

I have received from the American commissioners a treaty of peace and
amity between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America,
signed by those commissioners and by the commissioners of His Britannic
Majesty at Ghent on the 24th of December, 1814. The termination of
hostilities depends upon the time of the ratification of the treaty by
both parties. I lose no time, therefore, in submitting the treaty to the
Senate for their advice and approbation.

I transmit also a letter from the American commissioners, which
accompanied the treaty.

JAMES MADISON.

WASHINGTON,  February 18, 1815 .

 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

I lay before Congress copies of the treaty of peace and amity between
the United States and His Britannic Majesty, which was signed by the
commissioners of both parties at Ghent on the 24th of December, 1814,
and the ratifications of which have been duly exchanged.

While performing this act I congratulate you and our constituents upon
an event which is highly honorable to the nation, and terminates with
peculiar felicity a campaign signalized by the most brilliant successes.

The late war, although reluctantly declared by Congress, had become a
necessary resort to assert the rights and independence of the nation. It
has been waged with a success which is the natural result of the wisdom
of the legislative councils, of the patriotism of the people, of the
public spirit of the militia, and of the valor of the military and naval
forces of the country. Peace, at all times a blessing, is peculiarly
welcome, therefore, at a period when the causes for the war have ceased
to operate, when the Government has demonstrated the efficiency of its
powers of defense, and when the nation can review its conduct without
regret and without reproach.

I recommend to your care and beneficence the gallant men whose
achievements in every department of the military service, on the land
and on the water, have so essentially contributed to the honor of the
American name and to the restoration of peace. The feelings of conscious
patriotism and worth will animate such men under every change of fortune
and pursuit, but their country performs a duty to itself when it bestows
those testimonials of approbation and applause which are at once the
reward and the incentive to great actions.

The reduction of the public expenditures to the demands of a peace
establishment will doubtless engage the immediate attention of Congress.
There are, however, important considerations which forbid a sudden and
general revocation of the measures that have been produced by the war.
Experience has taught us that neither the pacific dispositions of
the American people nor the pacific character of their political
institutions can altogether exempt them from that strife which appears
beyond the ordinary lot of nations to be incident to the actual period
of the world, and the same faithful monitor demonstrates that a certain
degree of preparation for war is not only indispensable to avert
disasters in the onset, but affords also the best security for the
continuance of peace. The wisdom of Congress will therefore, I am
confident, provide for the maintenance of an adequate regular force; for
the gradual advancement of the naval establishment; for improving all
the means of harbor defense; for adding discipline to the distinguished
bravery of the militia, and for cultivating the military art in its
essential branches, under the liberal patronage of Government.

The resources of our country were at all times competent to the
attainment of every national object, but they will now be enriched and
invigorated by the activity which peace will introduce into all the
scenes of domestic enterprise and labor. The provision that has been
made for the public creditors during the present session of Congress
must have a decisive effect in the establishment of the public credit
both at home and abroad. The reviving interests of commerce will
claim the legislative attention at the earliest opportunity, and such
regulations will, I trust, be seasonably devised as shall secure to the
United States their just proportion of the navigation of the world.
The most liberal policy toward other nations, if met by corresponding
dispositions, will in this respect be found the most beneficial policy
toward ourselves. But there is no subject that can enter with greater
force and merit into the deliberations of Congress than a consideration
of the means to preserve and promote the manufactures which have sprung
into existence and attained an unparalleled maturity throughout the
United States during the period of the European wars. This source of
national independence and wealth I anxiously recommend, therefore, to
the prompt and constant guardianship of Congress.

The termination of the legislative sessions will soon separate you,
fellow citizens, from each other, and restore you to your constituents.
I pray you to bear with you the expressions of my sanguine hope that
the peace which has been just declared will not only be the foundation
of the most friendly intercourse between the United States and Great
Britain, but that it will also be productive of happiness and harmony in
every section of our beloved country. The influence of your precepts and
example must be everywhere powerful, and while we accord in grateful
acknowledgments for the protection which Providence has bestowed upon
us, let us never cease to inculcate obedience to the laws and fidelity
to the Union as constituting the palladium of the national independence
and prosperity.

JAMES MADISON.

WASHINGTON,  February 22, 1815 .

 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

I lay before Congress copies of two ratified treaties which were entered
into on the part of the United States, one on the 22d day of July, 1814,
with the several tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares,
Shawanees, Senakas, and Miamies; the other on the 9th day of August,
1814, with the Creek Nation of Indians.

It is referred to the consideration of Congress how far legislative
provisions may be necessary for carrying any part of these stipulations
into effect.

JAMES MADISON.

WASHINGTON,  February 23, 1815 .

 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

Congress will have seen by the communication from the consul-general of
the United States at Algiers laid before them on the 17th of November,
1812, the hostile proceedings of the Dey against that functionary. These
have been followed by acts of more overt and direct warfare against the
citizens of the United States trading in the Mediterranean, some of whom
are still detained in captivity, notwithstanding the attempts which have
been made to ransom them, and are treated with the rigor usual on the
coast of Barbary.

The considerations which rendered it unnecessary and unimportant to
commence hostile operations on the part of the United States being now
terminated by the peace with Great Britain, which opens the prospect of
an active and valuable trade of their citizens within the range of the
Algerine cruisers, I recommend to Congress the expediency of an act
declaring the existence of a state of war between the United States
and the Dey and Regency of Algiers, and of such provisions as may be
requisite for a vigorous prosecution of it to a successful issue.

JAMES MADISON.

WASHINGTON,  February 25, 1815 .

 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

Peace having happily taken place between the United States and Great
Britain, it is desirable to guard against incidents which during periods
of war in Europe might tend to interrupt it, and it is believed in
particular that the navigation of American vessels exclusively by
American seamen, either natives or such as are already naturalized,
would not only conduce to the attainment of that object, but also to
increase the number of our seamen, and consequently to render our
commerce and navigation independent of the service of foreigners who
might be recalled by their governments under circumstances the most
inconvenient to the United States. I recommend the subject, therefore,
to the consideration of Congress, and in deciding upon it I am persuaded
that they will sufficiently estimate the policy of manifesting to the
world a desire on all occasions to cultivate harmony with other nations
by any reasonable accommodations which do not impair the enjoyment
of any of the essential rights of a free and independent people. The
example on the part of the American Government will merit and may be
expected to receive a reciprocal attention from all the friendly powers
of Europe.

JAMES MADISON.

VETO MESSAGE.

WASHINGTON,  January 30, 1815 .

 To the Senate of the United States :

Having bestowed on the bill entitled "An act to incorporate the
subscribers to the Bank of the United States of America" that full
consideration which is due to the great importance of the subject, and
dictated by the respect which I feel for the two Houses of Congress, I
am constrained by a deep and solemn conviction that the bill ought not
to become a law to return it to the Senate, in which it originated, with
my objections to the same.

Waiving the question of the constitutional authority of the Legislature
to establish an incorporated bank as being precluded in my judgment by
repeated recognitions under varied circumstances of the validity of such
an institution in acts of the legislative, executive, and judicial
branches of the Government, accompanied by indications, in different
modes, of a concurrence of the general will of the nation, the proposed
bank does not appear to be calculated to answer the purposes of reviving
the public credit, of providing a national medium of circulation, and of
aiding the Treasury by facilitating the indispensable anticipations of
the revenue and by affording to the public more durable loans.

1. The capital of the bank is to be compounded of specie, of public
stock, and of Treasury notes convertible into stock, with a certain
proportion of each of which every subscriber is to furnish himself.

The amount of the stock to be subscribed will not, it is believed, be
sufficient to produce in favor of the public credit any considerable or
lasting elevation of the market price, whilst this may be occasionally
depressed by the bank itself if it should carry into the market the
allowed proportion of its capital consisting of public stock in order to
procure specie, which it may find its account in procuring with some
sacrifice on that part of its capital.

Nor will any adequate advantage arise to the public credit from the
subscription of Treasury notes. The actual issue of these notes nearly
equals at present, and will soon exceed, the amount to be subscribed
to the bank. The direct effect of this operation is simply to convert
fifteen millions of Treasury notes into fifteen millions of 6 per cent
stock, with the collateral effect of promoting an additional demand for
Treasury notes beyond what might otherwise be negotiable.

Public credit might indeed be expected to derive advantage from the
establishment of a national bank, without regard to the formation of its
capital, if the full aid and cooperation of the institution were secured
to the Government during the war and during the period of its fiscal
embarrassments. But the bank proposed will be free from all legal
obligation to cooperate with the public measures, and whatever might be
the patriotic disposition of its directors to contribute to the removal
of those embarrassments, and to invigorate the prosecution of the war,
fidelity to the pecuniary and general interest of the institution
according to their estimate of it might oblige them to decline a
connection of their operations with those of the National Treasury
during the continuance of the war and the difficulties incident to it.
Temporary sacrifices of interest, though overbalanced by the future
and permanent profits of the charter, not being requirable of right in
behalf of the public, might not be gratuitously made, and the bank would
reap the full benefit of the grant, whilst the public would lose the
equivalent expected from it; for it must be kept in view that the sole
inducement to such a grant on the part of the public would be the
prospect of substantial aids to its pecuniary means at the present
crisis and during the sequel of the war. It is evident that the stock of
the bank will on the return of peace, if not sooner, rise in the market
to a value which, if the bank were established in a period of peace,
would authorize and obtain for the public a bonus to a very large
amount. In lieu of such a bonus the Government is fairly entitled to and
ought not to relinquish or risk the needful services of the bank under
the pressing circumstances of war.

2. The bank as proposed to be constituted can not be relied on during
the war to provide a circulating medium nor to furnish loans or
anticipations of the public revenue.

Without a medium the taxes can not be collected, and in the absence of
specie the medium understood to be the best substitute is that of notes
issued by a national bank. The proposed bank will commence and conduct
its operations under an obligation to pay its notes in specie, or be
subject to the loss of its charter. Without such an obligation the notes
of the bank, though not exchangeable for specie, yet resting on good
pledges and performing the uses of specie in the payment of taxes and in
other public transactions, would, as experience has ascertained, qualify
the bank to supply at once a circulating medium and pecuniary aids to
the Government. Under the fetters imposed by the bill it is manifest
that during the actual state of things, and probably during the war, the
period particularly requiring such a medium and such a resource for
loans and advances to the Government, notes for which the bank would be
compellable to give specie in exchange could not be kept in circulation.
The most the bank could effect, and the most it could be expected to
aim at, would be to keep the institution alive by limited and local
transactions which, with the interest on the public stock in the bank,
might yield a dividend sufficient for the purpose until a change from
war to peace should enable it, by a flow of specie into its vaults and
a removal of the external demand for it, to derive its contemplated
emoluments from a safe and full extension of its operations.

On the whole, when it is considered that the proposed establishment
will enjoy a monopoly of the profits of a national bank for a period of
twenty years; that the monopolized profits will be continually growing
with the progress of the national population and wealth; that the nation
will during the same period be dependent on the notes of the bank for
that species of circulating medium whenever the precious metals may
be wanted, and at all times for so much thereof as may be an eligible
substitute for a specie medium, and that the extensive employment of the
notes in the collection of the augmented taxes will, moreover, enable
the bank greatly to extend its profitable issues of them without the
expense of specie capital to support their circulation, it is as
reasonable as it is requisite that the Government, in return for these
extraordinary concessions to the bank, should have a greater security
for attaining the public objects of the institution than is presented in
the bill, and particularly for every practicable accommodation, both in
the temporary advances necessary to anticipate the taxes and in those
more durable loans which are equally necessary to diminish the resort
to taxes.

In discharging this painful duty of stating objections to a measure
which has undergone the deliberations and received the sanction of
the two Houses of the National Legislature I console myself with the
reflection that if they have not the weight which I attach to them they
can be constitutionally overruled, and with a confidence that in a
contrary event the wisdom of Congress will hasten to substitute a more
commensurate and certain provision for the public exigencies.

JAMES MADISON.

PROCLAMATIONS.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

A PROCLAMATION.

The two Houses of the National Legislature having by a joint resolution
expressed their desire that in the present time of public calamity and
war a day may be recommended to be observed by the people of the United
States as a day of public humiliation and fasting and of prayer to
Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these States, His blessing on
their arms, and a speedy restoration of peace, I have deemed it proper
by this proclamation to recommend that Thursday, the 12th of January
next, be set apart as a day on which all may have an opportunity of
voluntarily offering at the same time in their respective religious
assemblies their humble adoration to the Great Sovereign of the
Universe, of confessing their sins and transgressions, and of
strengthening their vows of repentance and amendment. They will be
invited by the same solemn occasion to call to mind the distinguished
favors conferred on the American people in the general health which has
been enjoyed, in the abundant fruits of the season, in the progress of
the arts instrumental to their comfort, their prosperity, and their
security, and in the victories which have so powerfully contributed to
the defense and protection of our country, a devout thankfulness for all
which ought to be mingled with their supplications to the Beneficent
Parent of the Human Race that He would be graciously pleased to pardon
all their offenses against Him; to support and animate them in the
discharge of their respective duties; to continue to them the precious
advantages flowing from political institutions so auspicious to their
safety against dangers from abroad, to their tranquillity at home, and
to their liberties, civil and religious; and that He would in a special
manner preside over the nation in its public councils and constituted
authorities, giving wisdom to its measures and success to its arms
in maintaining its rights and in overcoming all hostile designs and
attempts against it; and, finally, that by inspiring the enemy with
dispositions favorable to a just and reasonable peace its blessings
may be speedily and happily restored.

 (SEAL.)

Given at the city of Washington, the 16th day of November, 1814, and of
the Independence of the United States the thirty-eighth.

JAMES MADISON.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Among the many evils produced by the wars which with little intermission
have afflicted Europe and extended their ravages into other quarters
of the globe for a period exceeding twenty years, the dispersion or a
considerable portion of the inhabitants of different countries in sorrow
and in want has not been the least injurious to human happiness nor the
least severe in the trial of human virtue.

It had been long ascertained that many foreigners, flying from the
dangers of their own home, and that some citizens, forgetful of their
duty, had cooperated in forming an establishment on the island of
Barrataria, near the mouth of the river Mississippi, for the purposes
of a clandestine and lawless trade. The Government of the United States
caused the establishment to be broken up and destroyed, and having
obtained the means of designating the offenders of every description,
it only remained to answer the demands of justice by inflicting an
exemplary punishment.

But it has since been represented that the offenders have manifested a
sincere penitence; that they have abandoned the prosecution of the worse
cause for the support of the best, and particularly that they have
exhibited in the defense of New Orleans unequivocal traits of courage
and fidelity. Offenders who have refused to become the associates of the
enemy in the war upon the most seducing terms of invitation and who have
aided to repel his hostile invasion of the territory of the United
States can no longer be considered as objects of punishment, but as
objects of a generous forgiveness.

It has therefore been seen with great satisfaction that the general
assembly of the State of Louisiana earnestly recommend those offenders
to the benefit of a full pardon.

And in compliance with that recommendation, as well as in consideration
of all the other extraordinary circumstances of the case, I, James
Madison, President of the United States of America, do issue this
proclamation, hereby granting, publishing, and declaring a free and full
pardon of all offenses committed in violation of any act or acts of the
Congress of the said United States touching the revenue, trade, and
navigation thereof or touching the intercourse and commerce of the
United States with foreign nations at any time before the 8th day of
January, in the present year 1815, by any person or persons whomsoever
being inhabitants of New Orleans and the adjacent country or being
inhabitants of the said island of Barrataria and the places adjacent:
 Provided , That every person claiming the benefit of this full
pardon in order to entitle himself thereto shall produce a certificate
in writing from the governor of the State of Louisiana stating that such
person has aided in the defense of New Orleans and the adjacent country
during the invasion thereof as aforesaid.

And I do hereby further authorize and direct all suits, indictments,
and prosecutions for fines, penalties, and forfeitures against any
person or persons who shall be entitled to the benefit of this full
pardon forthwith to be stayed, discontinued, and released; and all
civil officers are hereby required, according to the duties of their
respective stations, to carry this proclamation into immediate and
faithful execution.

 (SEAL.)

Done at the city of Washington, the 6th day of February, in the year
1815, and of the Independence of the United States the thirty-ninth.

JAMES MADISON.

By the President:
  JAMES MONROE,
     Acting as Secretary of State .

 (From Niles's Weekly Register, vol. 7, p. 397.)

JAMES MADISON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

 To all and singular to whom these presents shall come, greeting :

Whereas a treaty of peace and amity between the United States of America
and His Britannic Majesty was signed at Ghent on the 24th day of
December, 1814, by the plenipotentiaries respectively appointed for that
purpose; and the said treaty having been, by and with the advice and
consent of the Senate of the United States, duly accepted, ratified, and
confirmed on the 17th day of February, 1815, and ratified copies thereof
having been exchanged agreeably to the tenor of the said treaty, which
is in the words following, to wit:

 (Here follows the treaty.)

Now, therefore, to the end that the said treaty of peace and amity may
be observed with good faith on the part of the United States, I, James
Madison, President as aforesaid, have caused the premises to be made
public; and I do hereby enjoin all persons bearing office, civil or
military, within the United States and all others citizens or
inhabitants thereof or being within the same faithfully to observe and
fulfill the said treaty and every clause and article thereof.

 (SEAL.)

In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand.

Done at the city of Washington, this 18th day of February, A.D. 1815,
and of the Sovereignty and Independence of the United States the
thirty-ninth.

JAMES MADISON.

By the President:
  JAMES MONROE,
     Acting Secretary of State .

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

The Senate and House of Representatives of the United States have by a
joint resolution signified their desire that a day may be recommended to
be observed by the people of the United States with religious solemnity
as a day of thanksgiving and of devout acknowledgments to Almighty God
for His great goodness manifested in restoring to them the blessing of
peace.

No people ought to feel greater obligations to celebrate the goodness of
the Great Disposer of Events and of the Destiny of Nations than the
people of the United States. His kind providence originally conducted
them to one of the best portions of the dwelling place allotted for the
great family of the human race. He protected and cherished them under
all the difficulties and trials to which they were exposed in their
early days. Under His fostering care their habits, their sentiments, and
their pursuits prepared them for a transition in due time to a state of
independence and self-government. In the arduous struggle by which it
was attained they were distinguished by multiplied tokens of His benign
interposition. During the interval which succeeded He reared them into
the strength and endowed them with the resources which have enabled them
to assert their national rights and to enhance their national character
in another arduous conflict, which is now so happily terminated by a
peace and reconciliation with those who have been our enemies. And to
the same Divine Author of Every Good and Perfect Gift we are indebted
for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil,
which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land.

It is for blessings such as these, and more especially for the
restoration of the blessing of peace, that I now recommend that the
second Thursday in April next be set apart as a day on which the people
of every religious denomination may in their solemn assemblies unite
their hearts and their voices in a freewill offering to their Heavenly
Benefactor of their homage of thanksgiving and of their songs of praise.

 (SEAL.)

Given at the city of Washington on the 4th day of March, A.D. 1815, and
of the Independence of the United States the thirty-ninth.

JAMES MADISON.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas information has been received that sundry persons citizens of
the United States or residents within the same, and especially within
the State of Louisiana, are conspiring together to begin and set on
foot, provide, and prepare the means for a military expedition or
enterprise against the dominions of Spain, with which the United States
are happily at peace; that for this purpose they are collecting arms,
military stores, provisions, vessels, and other means; are deceiving and
seducing honest and well-meaning citizens to engage in their unlawful
enterprises; are organizing, officering, and arming themselves for the
same contrary to the laws in such cases made and provided:

I have therefore thought fit to issue this my proclamation, warning and
enjoining all faithful citizens who have been led without due knowledge
or consideration to participate in the said unlawful enterprises to
withdraw from the same without delay, and commanding all persons
whatsoever engaged or concerned in the same to cease all further
proceedings therein, as they will answer the contrary at their peril.
And I hereby enjoin and require all officers, civil and military, of the
United States or of any of the States or Territories, all judges,
justices, and other officers of the peace, all military officers of the
Army or Navy of the United States, and officers of the militia, to be
vigilant, each within his respective department and according to his
functions, in searching out and bringing to punishment all persons
engaged or concerned in such enterprises, in seizing and detaining,
subject to the disposition of the law, all arms, military stores,
vessels, or other means provided or providing for the same, and, in
general, in preventing the carrying on such expedition or enterprise by
all the lawful means within their power. And I require all good and
faithful citizens and others within the United States to be aiding and
assisting herein, and especially in the discovery, apprehension, and
bringing to justice of all such offenders, in preventing the execution
of their unlawful combinations or designs, and in giving information
against them to the proper authorities.

In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States of
America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my
hand.

 (SEAL.)

Done at the city of Washington, the 1st day of September, A.D. 1815, and
of the Independence of the said United States of America the fortieth.

JAMES MADISON.

SEVENTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.

WASHINGTON,  December 5, 1815 .

 Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives :

I have the satisfaction on our present meeting of being able to
communicate to you the successful termination of the war which had been
commenced against the United States by the Regency of Algiers. The
squadron in advance on that service, under Commodore Decatur, lost not a
moment after its arrival in the Mediterranean in seeking the naval force
of the enemy then cruising in that sea, and succeeded in capturing two
of his ships, one of them the principal ship, commanded by the Algerine
admiral. The high character of the American commander was brilliantly
sustained on the occasion which brought his own ship into close action
with that of his adversary, as was the accustomed gallantry of all the
officers and men actually engaged. Having prepared the way by this
demonstration of American skill and prowess, he hastened to the port of
Algiers, where peace was promptly yielded to his victorious force. In
the terms stipulated the rights and honor of the United States were
particularly consulted by a perpetual relinquishment on the part of
the Dey of all pretensions to tribute from them. The impressions which
have thus been made, strengthened as they will have been by subsequent
transactions with the Regencies of Tunis and of Tripoli by the
appearance of the larger force which followed under Commodore
Bainbridge, the chief in command of the expedition, and by the judicious
precautionary arrangements left by him in that quarter, afford a
reasonable prospect of future security for the valuable portion of our
commerce which passes within reach of the Barbary cruisers.

It is another source of satisfaction that the treaty of peace with Great
Britain has been succeeded by a convention on the subject of commerce
concluded by the plenipotentiaries of the two countries. In this result
a disposition is manifested on the part of that nation corresponding
with the disposition of the United States, which it may be hoped will
be improved into liberal arrangements on other subjects on which the
parties have mutual interests, or which might endanger their future
harmony. Congress will decide on the expediency of promoting such a
sequel by giving effect to the measure of confining the American
navigation to American seamen  a measure which, at the same time that it
might have that conciliatory tendency, would have the further advantage
of increasing the independence of our navigation and the resources for
our maritime defense.

In conformity with the articles in the treaty of Ghent relating to the
Indians, as well as with a view to the tranquillity of our western and
northwestern frontiers, measures were taken to establish an immediate
peace with the several tribes who had been engaged in hostilities
against the United States. Such of them as were invited to Detroit
acceded readily to a renewal of the former treaties of friendship.
Of the other tribes who were invited to a station on the Mississippi
the greater number have also accepted the peace offered to them. The
residue, consisting of the more distant tribes or parts of tribes,
remain to be brought over by further explanations, or by such other
means as may be adapted to the dispositions they may finally disclose.

The Indian tribes within and bordering on the southern frontier, whom a
cruel war on their part had compelled us to chastise into peace, have
latterly shown a restlessness which has called for preparatory measures
for repressing it, and for protecting the commissioners engaged in
carrying the terms of the peace into execution.

The execution of the act for fixing the military peace establishment has
been attended with difficulties which even now can only be overcome by
legislative aid. The selection of officers, the payment and discharge of
the troops enlisted for the war, the payment of the retained troops and
their reunion from detached and distant stations, the collection and
security of the public property in the Quartermaster, Commissary, and
Ordnance departments, and the constant medical assistance required
in hospitals and garrisons rendered a complete execution of the
act impracticable on the 1st of May, the period more immediately
contemplated. As soon, however, as circumstances would permit, and as
far as it has been practicable consistently with the public interests,
the reduction of the Army has been accomplished; but the appropriations
for its pay and for other branches of the military service having proved
inadequate, the earliest attention to that subject will be necessary;
and the expediency of continuing upon the peace establishment the staff
officers who have hitherto been provisionally retained is also
recommended to the consideration of Congress.

In the performance of the Executive duty upon this occasion there has
not been wanting a just sensibility to the merits of the American Army
during the late war; but the obvious policy and design in fixing an
efficient military peace establishment did not afford an opportunity to
distinguish the aged and infirm on account of their past services nor
the wounded and disabled on account of their present sufferings. The
extent of the reduction, indeed, unavoidably involved the exclusion
of many meritorious officers of every rank from the service of their
country; and so equal as well as so numerous were the claims to
attention that a decision by the standard of comparative merit could
seldom be attained. Judged, however, in candor by a general standard of
positive merit, the Army Register will, it is believed, do honor to the
establishment, while the case of those officers whose names are not
included in it devolves with the strongest interest upon the legislative
authority for such provision as shall be deemed the best calculated to
give support and solace to the veteran and the invalid, to display the
beneficence as well as the justice of the Government, and to inspire a
martial zeal for the public service upon every future emergency.

Although the embarrassments arising from the want of an uniform national
currency have not been diminished since the adjournment of Congress,
great satisfaction has been derived in contemplating the revival of the
public credit and the efficiency of the public resources. The receipts
into the Treasury from the various branches of revenue during the nine
months ending on the 30th of September last have been estimated at
$12,500,000; the issues of Treasury notes of every denomination during
the same period amounted to the sum of $14,000,000, and there was also
obtained upon loan during the same period a sum of $9,000,000 of which
the sum of $6,000,000 was subscribed in cash and the sum of $3,000,000
in Treasury notes. With these means, added to the sum of $1,500,000,
being the balance of money in the Treasury on the 1st day of January,
there has been paid between the 1st of January and the 1st of October on
account of the appropriations of the preceding and of the present year
(exclusively of the amount of the Treasury notes subscribed to the loan
and of the amount redeemed in the payment of duties and taxes) the
aggregate sum of $33,500,000, leaving a balance then in the Treasury
estimated at the sum of $3,000,000. Independent, however, of the
arrearages due for military services and supplies, it is presumed that
a further sum of $5,000,000, including the interest on the public debt
payable on the 1st of January next, will be demanded at the Treasury
to complete the expenditures of the present year, and for which the
existing ways and means will sufficiently provide.

The national debt, as it was ascertained on the 1st of October last,
amounted in the whole to the sum of $120,000,000, consisting of
the unredeemed balance of the debt contracted before the late war
($39,000,000), the amount of the funded debt contracted in consequence
of the war ($64,000,000), and the amount of the unfunded and floating
debt, including the various issues of Treasury notes, $17,000,000, which
is in a gradual course of payment. There will probably be some addition
to the public debt upon the liquidation of various claims which are
depending, and a conciliatory disposition on the part of Congress may
lead honorably and advantageously to an equitable arrangement of the
militia expenses incurred by the several States without the previous
sanction or authority of the Government of the United States; but when
it is considered that the new as well as the old portion of the debt
has been contracted in the assertion of the national rights and
independence, and when it is recollected that the public expenditures,
not being exclusively bestowed upon subjects of a transient nature, will
long be visible in the number and equipments of the American Navy, in
the military works for the defense of our harbors and our frontiers, and
in the supplies of our arsenals and magazines the amount will bear a
gratifying comparison with the objects which have been attained, as well
as with the resources of the country.

The arrangements of the finances with a view to the receipts and
expenditures of a permanent peace establishment will necessarily enter
into the deliberations of Congress during the present session. It is
true that the improved condition of the public revenue will not only
afford the means of maintaining the faith of the Government with its
creditors inviolate, and of prosecuting successfully the measures of
the most liberal policy, but will also justify an immediate alleviation
of the burdens imposed by the necessities of the war. It is, however,
essential to every modification of the finances that the benefits of
an uniform national currency should be restored to the community. The
absence of the precious metals will, it is believed, be a temporary
evil, but until they can again be rendered the general medium of
exchange it devolves on the wisdom of Congress to provide a substitute
which shall equally engage the confidence and accommodate the wants of
the citizens throughout the Union. If the operation of the State banks
can not produce this result, the probable operation of a national bank
will merit consideration; and if neither of these expedients be deemed
effectual it may become necessary to ascertain the terms upon which the
notes of the Government (no longer required as an instrument of credit)
shall be issued upon motives of general policy as a common medium of
circulation.

Notwithstanding the security for future repose which the United States
ought to find in their love of peace and their constant respect for
the rights of other nations, the character of the times particularly
inculcates the lesson that, whether to prevent or repel danger, we ought
not to be unprepared for it. This consideration will sufficiently
recommend to Congress a liberal provision for the immediate extension
and gradual completion of the works of defense, both fixed and floating,
on our maritime frontier, and an adequate provision for guarding our
inland frontier against dangers to which certain portions of it may
continue to be exposed.

As an improvement in our military establishment, it will deserve the
consideration of Congress whether a corps of invalids might not be so
organized and employed as at once to aid in the support of meritorious
individuals excluded by age or infirmities from the existing
establishment, and to procure to the public the benefit of their
stationary services and of their exemplary discipline. I recommend also
an enlargement of the Military Academy already established, and the
establishment of others in other sections of the Union; and I can not
press too much on the attention of Congress such a classification and
organization of the militia as will most effectually render it the
safeguard of a free state. If experience has shewn in the recent
splendid achievements of militia the value of this resource for the
public defense, it has shewn also the importance of that skill in the
use of arms and that familiarity with the essential rules of discipline
which can not be expected from the regulations now in force. With this
subject is intimately connected the necessity of accommodating the laws
in every respect to the great object of enabling the political authority
of the Union to employ promptly and effectually the physical power of
the Union in the cases designated by the Constitution.

The signal services which have been rendered by our Navy and the
capacities it has developed for successful cooperation in the national
defense will give to that portion of the public force its full value in
the eyes of Congress, at an epoch which calls for the constant vigilance
of all governments. To preserve the ships now in a sound state, to
complete those already contemplated, to provide amply the imperishable
materials for prompt augmentations, and to improve the existing
arrangements into more advantageous establishments for the construction,
the repairs, and the security of vessels of war is dictated by the
soundest policy.

In adjusting the duties on imports to the object of revenue the
influence of the tariff on manufactures will necessarily present itself
for consideration. However wise the theory may be which leaves to the
sagacity and interest of individuals the application of their industry
and resources, there are in this as in other cases exceptions to the
general rule. Besides the condition which the theory itself implies of
a reciprocal adoption by other nations, experience teaches that so many
circumstances must concur in introducing and maturing manufacturing
establishments, especially of the more complicated kinds, that a country
may remain long without them, although sufficiently advanced and in some
respects even peculiarly fitted for carrying them on with success. Under
circumstances giving a powerful impulse to manufacturing industry it has
made among us a progress and exhibited an efficiency which justify the
belief that with a protection not more than is due to the enterprising
citizens whose interests are now at stake it will become at an early day
not only safe against occasional competitions from abroad, but a source
of domestic wealth and even of external commerce. In selecting the
branches more especially entitled to the public patronage a preference
is obviously claimed by such as will relieve the United States from a
dependence on foreign supplies, ever subject to casual failures, for
articles necessary for the public defense or connected with the primary
wants of individuals. It will be an additional recommendation of
particular manufactures where the materials for them are extensively
drawn from our agriculture, and consequently impart and insure to that
great fund of national prosperity and independence an encouragement
which can not fail to be rewarded.

Among the means of advancing the public interest the occasion is
a proper one for recalling the attention of Congress to the great
importance of establishing throughout our country the roads and canals
which can best be executed under the national authority. No objects
within the circle of political economy so richly repay the expense
bestowed on them; there are none the utility of which is more
universally ascertained and acknowledged; none that do more honor to the
governments whose wise and enlarged patriotism duly appreciates them.
Nor is there any country which presents a field where nature invites
more the art of man to complete her own work for his accommodation and
benefit. These considerations are strengthened, moreover, by the
political effect of these facilities for intercommunication in bringing
and binding more closely together the various parts of our extended
confederacy. Whilst the States individually, with a laudable enterprise
and emulation, avail themselves of their local advantages by new
roads, by navigable canals, and by improving the streams susceptible
of navigation, the General Government is the more urged to similar
undertakings, requiring a national jurisdiction and national means, by
the prospect of thus systematically completing so inestimable a work;
and it is a happy reflection that any defect of constitutional authority
which may be encountered can be supplied in a mode which the
Constitution itself has providently pointed out.

The present is a favorable season also for bringing again into view the
establishment of a national seminary of learning within the District of
Columbia, and with means drawn from the property therein, subject to
the authority of the General Government. Such an institution claims
the patronage of Congress as a monument of their solicitude for the
advancement of knowledge, without which the blessings of liberty can
not be fully enjoyed or long preserved; as a model instructive in the
formation of other seminaries; as a nursery of enlightened preceptors,
and as a central resort of youth and genius from every part of their
country, diffusing on their return examples of those national feelings,
those liberal sentiments, and those congenial manners which contribute
cement to our Union and strength to the great political fabric of which
that is the foundation.

In closing this communication I ought not to repress a sensibility,
in which you will unite, to the happy lot of our country and to the
goodness of a superintending Providence, to which we are indebted for
it. Whilst other portions of mankind are laboring under the distresses
of war or struggling with adversity in other forms, the United States
are in the tranquil enjoyment of prosperous and honorable peace. In
reviewing the scenes through which it has been attained we can rejoice
in the proofs given that our political institutions, founded in human
rights and framed for their preservation, are equal to the severest
trials of war, as well as adapted to the ordinary periods of repose. As
fruits of this experience and of the reputation acquired by the American
arms on the land and on the water, the nation finds itself possessed of
a growing respect abroad and of a just confidence in itself, which are
among the best pledges for its peaceful career. Under other aspects of
our country the strongest features of its flourishing condition are seen
in a population rapidly increasing on a territory as productive as it is
extensive; in a general industry and fertile ingenuity which find their
ample rewards, and in an affluent revenue which admits a reduction of
the public burdens without withdrawing the means of sustaining the
public credit, of gradually discharging the public debt, of providing
for the necessary defensive and precautionary establishments, and of
patronizing in every authorized mode undertakings conducive to the
aggregate wealth and individual comfort of our citizens.

It remains for the guardians of the public welfare to persevere in that
justice and good will toward other nations which invite a return of
these sentiments toward the United States; to cherish institutions which
guarantee their safety and their liberties, civil and religious; and to
combine with a liberal system of foreign commerce an improvement of the
national advantages and a protection and extension of the independent
resources of our highly favored and happy country.

In all measures having such objects my faithful cooperation will be
afforded.

JAMES MADISON.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON,  December 6, 1815 .

 To the Senate of the United States :

I lay before the Senate, for their consideration and advice as to a
ratification, a treaty of peace with the Dey of Algiers concluded on
the 30th day of June, 1815, with a letter relating to the same from
the American commissioners to the Secretary of State.

JAMES MADISON.

DECEMBER 6, 1815.

 To the Senate of the United States :

I lay before the Senate, for their consideration and advice as to a
ratification, a convention to regulate the commerce between the United
States and Great Britain, signed by their respective plenipotentiaries
on the 3d of July last, with letters relating to the same from the
American plenipotentiaries to the Secretary of State, and also the
declaration with which it is the intention of the British Government
to accompany the exchange of the ratification of the convention.

JAMES MADISON.

WASHINGTON,  December 6, 1815 .

 To the Senate of the United States :

I lay before the Senate, for their consideration and advice as to a
ratification, treaties which have been concluded with the following
Indian tribes, viz: Iaway tribe, Kickapoo tribe, Poutawatamie, Siouxs
of the Lakes, Piankeshaw tribe, Siouxs of the River Saint Peters, Great
and Little Osage tribes, Yancton tribe, Mahas, Fox tribe, Teeton, Sac
Nation, Kanzas tribe, Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatamie, Shawanoe, Wyandot,
Miami, Delaware, and Seneca.

I communicate also the letters from the commissioners on the part of
the United States relating to their proceedings on those occasions.

JAMES MADISON.

WASHINGTON,  December 11, 1815 .

 To the Senate of the United States :

I transmit the original of the convention between the United States and
Great Britain, as signed by their respective plenipotentiaries, on the
3d day of July last, a copy of which was laid before the Senate on the
5th instant.

I transmit also a copy of the late treaty of peace with Algiers, as
certified by one of the commissioners of the United States, an office
copy of which was laid before the Senate on the 5th instant, the
original of the treaty not having been received.

JAMES MADISON.

DECEMBER 23, 1815.

 To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

I lay before Congress copies of a proclamation notifying the convention
concluded with Great Britain on the 3d day of July last, and that the
same has been duly ratified; and I recommend to Congress such
legislative provisions as the convention may call for on the part of the
United States.

JAMES MADISON.