The Sun.
London, England, 1841-01-13 00:00:00

manent objects, with many others that might be stated,
have for a series of years, marked by peculiar obstacles
and difficulties, been successfully accomplished without a
resort to a permanent debt, or the aid of a national bank,
have we not a right to expect that a policy, the object of
which has been to sustain the public service independently
of either of these fruitful sources of discord, will receive
the final sanction of a people whose unbiassed and fairly
elicited judgment upon public affairs is never ultimately
wrong ?

That embarrassments in the pecuniary concerns of in-
dividuals, of unexampled extent and duration, have re-
cently existed in this, as in other commercial nations, is
undoubtedly true. To suppose it necessary now to trace
these reverses to their sources, would be a reflection on
the intelligence of my fellow-citizens. Whatever may
have been the obscurity in which the subject was involved
during the earlier stages of the revulsion, they cannot now
be many by whom the Thole question is not fully under-
stood.

Nut deeming it within the constitutional powers of the
General Government to repair private losses sustained by
reverses in business having no connection with the public
service, either by direct appropriations from the Treasury,
or by special legislation designed to secure exclusive pri-
vileges and immunities to individuals or classes in prefer-
ence to, and at the expense of, the great majority neces-
sarily debarred from any participation in them, no attempt
to do so has been either made, recommended, or encou-
raged, by the present Executive.
It is bel!eved, however, that the great purposes for
the attainment of which the Federal Government was ins
stituted,have not been lost sight of. Intrusted only with
certain limited powers, . cautiously enumerated, distinctly
specified, and defined with a precision and clearness which
would seem to defy misconstruction, it has been env con-
stant aim to confine myself within the limits so clearly
marked out, and so carefully guarded. Having always
been of opinion that the best preservative of the union of
the States is to be found in a total abstinence from the
exercise of all dollish' powers on the part of the Federal
Government, rather than in attempts to assume them by a
loose construction of the Constitution, or an ingenious per-
version of its words, I have endeavoured to avoid recom-
mend ng any measure which I bad reason to apprehend
would, in the opinion even of a considerable minority of
my fellow citizens, be regarded as trenching on the rights
instrument
of the States, or the provisions of the hallowed
of our Union. Viewing the aggregate powers of the
Federal Government as a voluntary concession of the
States, it seemed to me that such only should be exer-
cised as were at the time intended to be given.
I have been strengthened, too, in the propriety of this
course by the conviction that all efforts to go beyond this,
tend only to produce dissatisfaction and distrust, to excite
jealousies, and to provoke resistance. Instead of adding
strength to the Federal Government, even when success-
ful, they must ever pre ve a source of incurable weakness,
by alienating a portion of those whose adhesion is indis-
pensable to the great aggregate of united strength, and
whose voluntary attachment is, in my estimation, far more
essent.al to the efficiency of a Government strong :n the
best of nil possible strength, the confidence and attachment
of all those who make up its constituent elements.
Thus believing, it has been my purpose to secure to the
whole people, and to every member of the Confederacy, by
general, salutary, and equal laws alone, the benefit of those
Republican institutions which it was the end and aim of the
Constitution to establish, and the impartial influence of
which is, in my judgment, indispensable to their preserva-
tion. I cannot bring myself to believe that the lasting
happiness of the people, the prosperity of the States, or
the permanency of their union, can be maintained by giving
preference or priority to any class of citizens in the distri-
bution of benefits or privileges, or by the adoption of mea-
sures which enrich one poi Lion of the Union at the expense
of another ; nor can I see in the interferenc: of the
Federal Government with the heal legislation and reserved
rights of the Sates, a remedy fur present, or a security
' against future dangers.
The first, and assuredly not the least, important step to-
ward relieving the country from the condition into which
it had been plunged by excesses in trade, banking, and
credits of all kinds, was to place the business transActicus
of the Government itself on a solid basis ; giving sad re-
ceiving in all cases value for value, and neither counte-
nancing nor encouraging in others that delusive system of
credits from which it has been found so difficult to escape,
and which has left nothing behind it but the wrecks that
mark its fatal career.

That the financial affairs of the Government are now,
and have been during the whole period of these with -
spreading difficulties, conducted with a strict and
able regard to this great fundamental principle, and that
by the assumption and maintenance of the stand thus then
on the very threshold of the approaching crisis more than
by any other cause or causes whatever, the community at
large has been shielded from the incalculable evils of a
general and indefinite suspension of specie payments, and
a consequent annihilation. for the whole period it might
have lasted, of a just and invariable standard of value, will,
it is believed, at this period, scarcely be questioned.
A steady ahercnee on the part of the G..vernment, to
the policy which has produced such salutary results, aided
by judicious State legislation, and, what is nut less im-
portant, by the industry, enterprise, perseverance, and
economy of the Arne6.ln people, cannot fail to raise the
whole country, at an early period, to a state of solid and
enduring prosperity. not subject to be again overthi own by
the suspension of banks, or the explosion of a bloated
credit system. It is for the people, and their representa-
tives, to eecide whether or not the permanent welfare of
the country (which all good citizens equ•,lly desire, how-
ever widely they may differ as to the means of its accom-
plishment) be in this way secured ; or whether the
management of the pecuniary concerns of the Government,
and, by consequence, to a great extent, those of individuals
also, shall be carried back to a condition of things which
fostered those contractions and expansions of the currency,
and those reckless abuses of credit, from the baleful effcts
of which the country has so decidedly suffered—a return
that can promise, in the end, no better results than to re-
produce the embarrassments the Government has expe-
rienced ; and to remove from the shoulders of the present,
to those of fresh victims, the bitter fruits of that spirit
of speculative enterprise to xhich our countryme.: are so
liable, and upon which the lessons of experience are so un-
availing. The choice is an important one, and I sincerely
hope that it may be wisely made.
A report from the Secretary of War, presenting a de-
tailed view of the affairs of that department, accompanies
this communication.

dTial7i eisau,lst,ohriy:hdtult,,i,csarcnolnynhecastedbe we'inth
ctohleistraenntiloyvaelnogfaatehde
on the Northern and Western frontiers, and in Florida,
have rendered it impracticable to carry into full effect the
plan recommended by the Secretary for improving its dis-
cipline. In every instance where the regiments have been
concentrated, they have made great progress; and the be>t
results may bu anticipated from a continuance of this sys.
tern. During the last season, a part of the troops have
been employed in removing Indians from the interior to
the territory assigned them in the West—a duty which
they have performed efficiently, and with praiseworthy hu-
manity ; and that portion of them which has been sta-
tioned in Florida continued active operations there through-
out the heats of summer. _

The policy of the United States in regard to the In
dirties, of which a succinct account is given in my Message
of 1838, and of the wisdom and expediency of which I am
fully satisfied, has been continued in active operation
throughout the IN hole period of my administration. Since
the spring of 1837, more than forty thousand Indians have
been removed to their new homes west of the Mississippi;
and I am happy to add that all accounts concur in repre-
senting the result of this measure as eminently beneficial
to that people.
The emigration of the Seminoles alone has been atten-
ded with serious difficulty, and occasioned bloodshed, hos-
tilities having been commenced by the Indians in Florida,
under the apprehension that they would be compelled, by
force, to comply with their Treaty stipulations. The exe-
cution of the Treaty of Payne's Landing, signed in 1832,
but not ratified until 1534, was postponed, at the solici-
tation of the Indians, until 1836, when they again re.
newed their agreements to remove peaceably to their new
homes in the West. In the face of this solemn and re •
newed compact, they broke their faith, and commenced
hostilities by the maesaere of Major Dade's command, the
murder of their agent, General Thompson, and other acts
of cruel treachery.
When this alarming and unexpected intelligence reached
the seat of Government, every effort appears to have been
made to reinforce General Clinch, who commanied the
troops then in Florida. General Eustis was despatched
with reinforcements from Charleston, tinops were called
out from Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, and General
Scott was sent to take the command, with ample powers
and ample means. At the first alarm, General Gaines
organized a force at New Orleans, and without warteh.g
for orders, landed in Florida, where he delivered over the
troops he had brought with him to General Scott.
Governor Call was subsequently a
summer campaign, and at the close of it,
officers who had
gqf as
replacedto o k place by
General Jesup. These events and
changes
on entering up3n
under the administratiofuthoefto conduct
lh
Notwith-
standing the exertions u
I found
command there for eighteen months,
the administration of the Gevernment, the terri-
tory of Florida a prey to Indian atrocities.tliese. A.s.tr.enuous
hostilities to a
effort was immediately made to bring _
close ; and the army under Genedra Jesup, as as reinforced
until it amounted to ten thousan men, and furnished with
' every description
abundant supplies of
In this campaigngreat' number of the enemy were
and destroyed ; but the character
of the contest
captured
et! The Indians, •
only was changed, d having been defeated in
, engagement, disperse
every m bands throughout
the country, and became., an enterprizing, formidable, and
ruthless banditti. General Taylor, who succeeded General
Jesup, used his best
exertions to subdue them, and was se-
conded in his
.efforts by the officers under his command ;
but too, failed. to protect the territory front their de-
predations. By an act. of signal and cruel treachery, they
broke the truce made with them by General Macomb,
vier was sent from Washington for the purpose of carry-
ing
.into fleet the expressed wish of Congress, and have
continued their devastations ever since. General Armis-
tead, who was in Florida when General Taylor left the
army, he permission, assumed the command, and after
active innter operations, was met by propositions
.for
Peace ; and, from the fortunate coincidence of the arrival
in Florida, at the same period, of a delegation from. the.
Seminoles, who are happily settled West of the Nliisis-
sippi, and are now anxious to persuade their countiymea.
to join them there, hopes were for sonic time entertained
en ix
pye c predecessor.inot effid
that the Indians might he induced to leave the territory
without farther difficulty.
These hopes have proved fallacious, and hostilities have
been renewed throughout the whole of the territory. That
this contest has endured so long, is to be attributed to
causes beyond the control of the Government. Expe-
rienced Generals have had the command of the troops ;
officers and soldiers have alike distinguished themselves
for their activity, patience, and enduring courage ; the
army has been constantly furnished with supplies of every
description; and we must look for the causes which have
so long procrastinated the issue of the contest in the vast
extent of the theatre of hostilities, the almost insurmount-
able obstacles presented by the nature of the country, the
climate, and the wily character of the savages.
The sites for marine hospitals on the rivers and lakes,

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