department having evinced its great utility, the propriety of its renewal is submitted to your consideration.

The view which has been taken of the probable productiveness of the lead mines, connected with the importance of the material to the public defence, makes it expedient that they should be managed with peculiar care. It is therefore suggested, whether it will not comport with the public interest to provide by law for the appointment of an agent skilled in mineralogy to superintend them, under the direction of the proper department.

It is understood that the Cumberland road, which was constructed at a great expense, has already suffered from the want of that regular superintendence, and of those repairs which are indispensable to the preservation of such a work. This road is of incalculable advantage in facilitating the intercourse between the western and the Atlantic states. Through it, the whole country, from the northern extremity of Lake Erie to the Mississippi, and from all the waters which empty into each, finds an easy and direct communication to the seat of government, and thence to the Atlantic. The facility which it affords to all military and commercial operations, and also to those of the post-office department, cannot be estimated too highly. This great work is likewise an ornament and an honor to the nation. Believing that a competent power to adopt and execute a system of internal improvement has not been granted to Congress, but that such a power, confined to great national purposes, and with proper limitations, would be productive of eminent advantage to our Union, I have thought it advisable that an amendment of the constitution to that effect should be recommended to the several states. A bill which assumed the right to adopt and execute such a system, having been presented for my signature at the last session, I was compelled, from the view which I had taken of the powers of the general government, to negative it, on which occasion I thought it proper to communicate the sentiments which I had formed, on mature consideration, on the whole subject. To that communication, in all the views in which the great interest to which it relates may be supposed to merit your attention, I have now to refer. Should Congress, however, deem it improper to recommend such an amendment, they have, according to my judgment, the right to keep the road in repair, by providing for the superintendence of it, and appropriating the money necessary for repairs. Surely, if they had a right to appropriate money to make the road, they have a right to appropriate it to preserve the road from ruin. From the exercise of this power no danger is to be apprehended. Under our happy system, the people are the sole and exclusive fountain of power. Each government originates from them, and to them alone, each to its proper constituents, are they respectively and solely responsible for the faithful discharge of their duty, within their constitutional limits. And that the people will confine their public agents, of every station, to the strict line of their constitutional duties, there is no cause to doubt. Having, however, commnnicated my sentiments to Congress at the last session fully, in the document to which I have referred, respecting the right of appropriation as distinct from the right of jurisdiction and sovereignty over the territory in question, I deem it improper to enlarge on the subject here.

From the best information that I have been able to obtain, it appears that our manufactures, though depressed immediately after the peace, have considerably increased, and are still increasing, under the encouragement given them by the tariff of 1816, and by subsequent laws. Satisfied I am, what

ever may be the abstract doctrine in favor of unrestricted commerce, provided all nations would concur in it and it was not liable to be interrupted by war, which has never occurred and cannot be expected, that there are other strong reasons applicable to our situation and relations with other countries, which impose on us the obligation to cherish and sustain our manufactures. Satisfied, however, I am, likewise, that the interest of every part of our Union, even of those most benefited by manufactures, requires that this subject should be touched with the greatest caution, and a critical knowledge of the effect to be produced by the slightest change. On full consideration of the subject, in all its relations, I am persuaded that a farther augmentation may now be made of the duties on certain foreign articles, in favor of our own, and without affecting injuriously any other interest. For more precise details, I refer you to the communications which were made to Congress during the last session.

So great was the amount of accounts for moneys advanced during the late war, in addition to others of a previous date, which in the regular operations of the government necessarily remained unsettled, that it requires a considerable length of time for their adjustment. By a report from the first comptroller of the treasury it appears that, on the 4th of March, 1817, the accounts then unsettled amounted to one hundred and three millions sixtyeight thousand eight hundred and seventy-six dollars and forty-one cents, of which, on the 30th of September of the present year, ninety-three millions one hundred and seventy-five thousand three hundred and ninety-six dollars and fifty-six cents had been settled; leaving on that day a balance unsettled of nine millions eight hundred and ninety-three thousand four hundred and seventy-nine dollars and eighty-five cents. That there have been drawn from the treasury, in paying the public debt and sustaining the government in all its operations and disbursements, since the 4th of March, 1817, one hundred and fifty-seven millions one hundred and ninety thousand three hundred and eighty dollars and ninety-six cents, the accounts for which have been settled to the amount of one hundred and thirty-seven millions five hundred and one thousand four hundred and fifty-one dollars and twelve cents; leaving a balance unsettled of nineteen millions six hundred and ninety-seven thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine dollars and eightyfour cents. For precise details respecting each of these balances, I refer to the report of the comptroller, and the documents which accompany it.

From this view, it appears that our commercial differences with France and Great Britain have been placed in a train of amicable arrangement, on conditions fair and honorable, in both instances, to each party; that our finances are in a very productive state, our revenue being at present fully competent to all demands upon it; that our military force is well organized in all its branches, and capable of rendering the most important service in case of emergency that its number will admit of; that due progress has been made, under existing appropriations, in the construction of fortifications and in the operation of the ordnance department; that due progress has in like manner been made in the construction of ships of war; that our navy is in the best condition, felt and respected in every sea in which it is employed for the protection of our commerce; that our manufactures have augmented in amount and improved in quality; that great progress has been made in the settlement of accounts, and in the recovery of the balances due by individuals; and that the utmost economy is secured and observed in every department of the administration.

Other objects will likewise claim your attention; because, from the station which the United States hold, as a member of the great community of nations, they have rights to maintain, duties to perform, and dangers to

encounter.

A strong hope was entertained that peace would, ere this, have been concluded between Spain and the independent governments south of the United States in this hemisphere. Long experience having evinced the competency of those governments to maintain the independence which they had declared, it was presumed that the considerations which induced their recognition by the United States would have had equal weight with other powers, and that Spain herself, yielding to those magnanimous feelings of which her history furnishes so many examples, would have terminated, on that basis, a controversy so unavailing, and at the same time so destructive. We still cherish the hope that this result will not long be postponed.

Sustaining our neutral position, and allowing to each party, while the war continues, equal rights, it is incumbent on the United States to claim of each, with equal rigor, the faithful observance of our rights, according to the well-known law of nations. From each, therefore, a like co-operation is expected in the suppression of the piratical practice which has grown out of this war, and the blockades of extensive coasts on both seas, which, considering the small force employed to sustain them, have not the slightest foundation to rest on.

Europe is still unsettled, and although the war long menaced between Russia and Turkey has not broken out, there is no certainty that the differences between those powers will be amicably adjusted. It is impossible to look to the oppressions of the country, respecting which those differences arose, without being deeply affected. The mention of Greece fills the mind with the most exalted sentiments, and arouses in our bosoms the best feelings of which our nature is susceptible. Superior skill and refinement in the arts, heroic gallantry in action, disinterested patriotism, enthusiastic zeal and devotion in favor of public and personal liberty, are associated with our recollections of ancient Greece. That such a country should have been overwhelmed and so long hidden, as it were, from the world, under a gloomy despotism, has been a cause of unceasing and deep regret to generous minds for ages past. It was natural, therefore, that the re-appearance of those people in their original character, contending in favor of their liberties, should produce that great excitement and sympathy in their favor which have been so signally displayed throughout the United States. A strong hope is entertained that these people will recover their independence, and resume their equal station among the nations of the earth.

A great effort has been made in Spain and Portugal to improve the condition of the people, and it must be very consoling to all benevolent minds to see the extraordinary moderation with which it has been conducted. That it may promote the happiness of both nations is the ardent wish of this whole people, to the expression of which we confine ourselves; for whatever may be the feelings or sentiments which every individual under our government has a right to indulge and express, it is nevertheless a sacred maxim, equally with the government and people, that the destiny of every independent nation, in what relates to such improvements, of right belongs and ought to be left exclusively to themselves.

Whether we reason from the late wars, or from those menacing symptoms which now appear in Europe, it is manifest, that if a convulsion should

take place in any of those countries, it will proceed from causes which have no existence and are utterly unknown in these states, in which there is but one order, that of the people, to whom the sovereignty exclusively belongs. Should war break out in any of those countries, who can foretell the extent to which it may be carried, or the desolation which it may spread? Exempt as we are from these causes, our internal tranquillity is secure; and distant as we are from the troubled scene, and faithful to first principles in regard to other powers, we might reasonably presume that we should not be molested by them. This, however, ought not to be calculated on as certain. Unprovoked injuries are often inflicted, and even the peculiar felicity of our situation might, with some, be a cause for excitement and aggression. The history of the late wars in Europe furnishes a complete demonstration that no system of conduct, however correct in principle, can protect neutral powers from injury from any party; that a defenceless position and distinguished love of peace are the surest invitations to war; and that there is no way to avoid it other than by being always prepared, and willing for a just cause to meet it. If there be a people on earth whose more especial duty it is to be at all times prepared to defend the rights with which they are blessed, and to surpass all others in sustaining the necessary burdens, and in submitting to sacrifices to make such preparations, it is undoubtedly the people of these states.

When we see that a civil war of the most frightful character rages from the Adriatic to the Black sea; that strong symptoms of war appear in other parts, proceeding from causes which, should it break out, may become general and be of long duration; that the war still continues between Spain and the independent governments, her late provinces in this hemisphere; that it is likewise menaced between Portugal and Brazil, in consequence of the attempt of the latter to dismember itself from the former; and that a system of piracy of great extent is maintained in the neighboring seas, which will require equal vigilance and decision to suppress it; the reasons for sustaining the attitude which we now hold, and for pushing forward all our measures of defence with the utmost vigor, appear to me to acquire new force.

The United States owe to the world a great example, and, by means thereof, to the cause of liberty and humanity a generous support. They have so far succeeded to the satisfaction of the virtuous and enlightened of every country. There is no reason to doubt that their whole movement will be regulated by a sacred regard to principle, all our institutions being founded on that basis. The ability to support our own cause, under any trial to which it may be exposed, is the great point on which the public solicitude rests. It has been often charged against free governments that they have neither the foresight nor the virtue to provide at the proper season for great emergencies; that their course is improvident and expensive; that war will always find them unprepared, and whatever may be its calamities, that its terrible warnings will be disregarded and forgotten as soon as peace returns. I have full confidence that this charge, so far as relates to the United States, will be shown to be utterly destitute of truth.

SEVENTH ANNUAL

DECEMBER 2, 1823.

MESSAGE.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: MANY important subjects will claim your attention during the present session, of which I will endeavor to give, in aid of your deliberations, a just idea in this communication. I undertake this duty with diffidence, from the vast extent of the interests on which I have to treat, and of their great importance to every part of our Union. I enter on it with zeal, from a thorough conviction that there never was a period, since the establishment of our revolution, when, regarding the condition of the civilized world, and its bearings on us, there was greater necessity for devotion in the public servants to their respective duties, or for virtue, patriotism, and union in our constituents.

Meeting in you a new Congress, I deem it proper to present this view of public affairs in greater detail than might otherwise be necessary. I do it, however, with peculiar satisfaction, from a knowledge that in this respect I shall comply more fully with the sound principles of our government. The people being with us exclusively the sovereign, it is indispensable that full information be laid before them on all important subjects, to enable them to exercise that high power with complete effect. If kept in the dark, they must be incompetent to it. We are all liable to error, and those who are engaged in the management of public affairs are more subject to excitement, and to be led astray by their particular interests and passions, than the great body of our constituents, who, being at home in the pursuit of their ordinary avocations, are calm but deeply-interested spectators of events, and of the conduct of those who are parties to them. To the people every department of the government, and every individual in each, are responsible, and the more full their information, the better they can judge of the wisdom of the policy pursued and of the conduct of each in regard to it. From their dispassionate judgment, much aid may always be obtained, while their approbation will form the greatest incentive and most gratifying reward for virtuous actions, and the dread of their censure the best security against the abuse of their confidence. Their interests, in all vital questions, are the same, and the bond, by sentiment as well as by interest, will be proportionably strengthened as they are better informed of the real state of public affairs, especially in difficult conjunctures. It is by such knowledge that local prejudices and jealousies are surmounted, and that a national policy, extending its fostering care and protection to all the great interests of our Union, is formed and steadily adhered to.

our

A precise knowledge of our relations with foreign powers, as respects negotiations and transactions with each, is thought to be particularly necessary. Equally necessary is it that we should form a just estimate of our resources, revenue, and progress in every kind of improvement connected with the national prosperity and public defence. It is by rendering justice to other nations that we may expect it from them. It is by our ability to resent injuries, and redress wrongs, that we may avoid them.

The commissioners under the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent having disagreed in their opinions respecting that portion of the boundary between