The Sun.
London, England, 1828-12-29 00:00:00

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.

The President of the United States transmitted,
this clay, to both Houses of Congress the following
Message :

TO TIIE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OF THE'VNITED STATES.

L•'ELLOW CITIZENS OP THE SENATE,

AM) OF TITS HOUSE OF ILEFRESENTATI TES

If the enjoyment in profusion of the bounties of
Providence forms a suitable subject of mutual gte-
tulation and grateful acknowledgment, we are ad-
monished at this return of the season, when the Re-
presentatives of the Nation are assembled to deliber-
ate upon their concerns, to offer up the tribute of
fervent and grateful hearts, for the never-failing
mercies of Him who ruleth over all. He has again
favoured us with healthful seasons and abundant,
harvests. He has sustained us in peace with foreign
countries, and in tranquillity within our borders. He
has preserved us in the quiet and undisturbed pos-
session of civil and religions liberty. He has crowned
the year with his goodness, imposing on us no
other conditions than of improving for our own
happiness the blessings bestowed by his hands ;
and in the fruition of all his favours, of devoting the
faculties with which we have been endowed by Him,
to his glory and to our own temporal and eternal
welfare.
In the relation of our Federal Union with our
brethren of the human race, the changes which
have occurred since die close of your last session,
have generally tended to the preservation of peace,
and to the cultivation of harmony. Before .your
last separation, a war had unhappily been kindled
between the Empire of Russia, one of those with
which our intercourse has been no other than a
constant exchange of good offices, and that of the
Ottoman Porte, a nation from which geographical
distance, religious opinions, and maxims of Govern-
ment on their part, little suited to :the formation of
those • bonds of mutual benevolence which result
from the benefits of commerce, had kept us in a
state, perhaps too much prolonged, of coldness and
alienation. The extensive, fertile, and populous
dominions of the Sultan, belong rather to the Asi-
atic, than the European division of the human family.
They enter but partially into the system of Europe ;
nor have their wars with Russia and Austria, the
European States upon whieb they border, for more
than a century past, disturbed the pacific relations
of those States with the other great Powers of
Europe. Neither France, nor Prussia, nor Great
Britain, has ever taken part in them ; nor is it to be
expected that they will at this time. The declara-
tion of war by Russia has received the approbation
or acquiescence of her allies, and we may, indulge
the hope that its progress and terMination will be
signalized by the moderation and forbearance, no
less than by the energy of the Emperor Nicholas,
and that it will afford the opportunity for such
col-
lateral agency in behalf of the suffering Greeks, ae.
will secure to them ultimately the triumph of huma-
nity and of freedom.
The state of our particular relations with France
has scarcely varied in the course of the present
year. The commercial intercourse between the
two countries has continued to increase for the
mutual benefit of both. The claims of indemnity
to 'numbers of our fellow citizens for depredations
upon their property, heretofore committed, during
the Reyol;,4tionary Governments, still remain unad-
justed, and still form the subject of earnest repre-
sentation and remonstrance. Recent advises from
the Minister of the United States at Paris en-
courage the expectation that the appeal to the justice
of the French Government will ere long receive a
favourable consideration.

The last friendly expedient has been resorted to
for the decision of the controversy with Great
min, relating to the North-eastern boundary of the
United States. By an agreement with the British
Government, carrying into effect the provisions of
the fifth article of the Treaty of Ghent, and the
Convention of 29th September, 1827, his Majesty
the King of the Netherlands has by common consent
been selected as the umpire between the parties.
The proposal to him to accept the designation for
the performance of this friendly office will be made
at an early day, and the United States, relying upon
the justice of their cause, will cheerfully commit the
arbitrament of it to a Prince equally distinguished
for the independence of his spirit, his indefatigable
assiduity to the duties of his station, and his inflexi-
ble personal probity.
, Our commercial relations with Great Britain will
deserve ;he serious consideration of Congress, and
the exercise of a conciliatory and forbearing spirit
in the policy of both Governments. The state of
them has been materially changed by the act of
Congress passed at their last session, in alteration
of the several acts imposing duties on imports, and
by acts of more recent date of the British Parliament.
The effect of the interdiction of direct trade com-
menced by Great Britain, and reciprocated by the
United States, has been, as was to be foreseen, only
to substitute different channels for an exchange of
commodities indispensable to the Colonies, and pro-
fitable to a numerous class of our fellow citizens.- The
exports, the revenue, the navigation of the United
States have suffered no diminution by our exclusion
from direct access to the British Colonies. The
Colonies pay more dearly for the necessaries of life,
which their Government burdens with the charges
of double voyages, freight, insurance and commis-
sion, and the profits of our exports are somewhat
impaired, and more injuriously trarsferred from one
portion of our citizens to another. The presump-
tion of this old and otherwise exploded system of
Colonial exclusion has not secured to the shipping
interest of Great Britain the relief which, at the

expense of the distant Coloniea, and of the •United
States, it was expected to afford. Other measures
have been' resorted to,.more pointedly bearing upon
the navigation of the United States, and which, un-
less modified by the construction given to the recent
Acts of Parliament, will be manifestly incompatible
with the positive stipulations of the commercial
convention existing between the two eountries.
That convention, however, may he terminated, with
twelve months' notice, at the option of either party.
A treaty of Amity, Navigation, and Commerce,
between the United States and his Majesty the
Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohe-
mia, has been prepared for signature by the Secre-
tary of State, and by the Baron de Ledreder,_in-
trusted with full powers of the Austrian Govern-
ment. Independently of the new and friendly rela-
tions which may be thus. commenced with one of
the most eminent and powerful Petioles of the earth,
the occasion has been taken in it, as in other recent
treaties concluded by the United States, to extend
those principles of liberal intercourse and of fair re-
ciprocity which intertwine with the exchanges of
commerce the principles of justice, and the feelings.
of mutual benevolence. This system, first pro-
chtimed•to the world in the first commercial treaty
ever concluded by the United States, that of 6th
February, 1779, with France, has been invariably
the-cherished policy of our Union.. It is by treaties
of commerce alone that it can be made ultimately to
irevail as the established system of all civilized pa-
' tions.—With this principle our fathers extended the
hand of friendship to every nation of the globe, and
to this policy our country_ has ever since adhered—
' whatever of regulation in our laws has ever been
adopted unfavourable to-the interest of any foreign
nation, has been essentially defensive and counter-
acting to similar regulations of their's operating
against us.
Immediately after the close of the war of inde-
pendence, Commissioners were appointed by the
Congress of the Confederation, authori zed to con-
clude treaties with every nation of Europe disposed
to adopt them. Berme the Wars of the French re-
volution, such treaties had been consummated with
the United Netherlands, Sweden and Prussia.—
During those wars treaties with Great Britain and
Spain had been effected, and those with Prussia and
France renewed. In all these, some concessions to
the liberal principles of intercourse proposed by the
United States had been obtained ; but as, in all the
negotiations, they came occasionally in collision with
previous internal regulations, or exclusive and ex-
cluding compacts of monopoly, with which the other
parties had been trammelled, the advances made in
them towards the freedom of trade were partial and
imperfect. Colonial establishnients, chartered com-
panies, and ship building influence, pervaded and
encumbered the legislation of all the great commer-
cial States; and the United States, in offering free-
trade and equal privilege to all, were compelled to
acquiesce in many exceptions with each of the par-
ties to their treaties, accommodated to their existing
laws and anterior engagements.
The colonial system, by which this whole hemis-
phere was bound, has fallen into ruins. Totally
abolished by revolutions, converting colonies into in-
dependent nations, throughout the two American
Continents, excepting a portion of territory chiefly
at the northern extremity of our own, and con-
fined to the remnants of dominion retained by
Great Britain over the insular Archipelago, geogra-
phically the appendages of our part of the globe.
With all the rest we have free trade—even with
the insular colonies of all the European notions, ex-
cept Great Britain. Her Government had also
manifested approaches to the adoption of a free and
liberal intercourse between her colonies and other
nations, though, by a sudden and scarcely explained
revulsion, the spirit of exclusion has been revived
for operation upon the United States alOne.
The conclusion of our last Treaty of Peace with
Great Britain was shortly afterwards followed by a
Commercial Convention, placing the direct inter-
course between the two countries upon a footing of
more equal reciprocity than had ever befoie been
admitted. The same principle has since been
much farther extended, by Treaties with France,
Sweden, Denmark, the Hanseatic Cities, Prussia in
Europe, and with the Republics of Colombia, and
of Central Amelien, in this hemisphere. The me-
mat abolition of discriminating duties and charges
upon the navigation and commercial intercourse be-
tween the parties, is the general maxim which cha-
racterises them all. There is reason to expect that.
it will, at no distant period, be adopted by other
nations, both of Europe and Americu, and to hope,
that, by its universal prevalence, one of the fruitful
sources of wars of commercial competition will be
extinguished.
Among the nations upon whose governments
many of our fellow citizens have had long pending
claims of indemnity, for depredations upon their pro-
perty during a period when the rights of neutral
commerce were disregarded, was that of Denmark.
They were, soon after the events occurred, the sub-
ject of a special mission from the United States,
at the close of which tine assurance was given, by
his Danish Majesty, that at a period of more tran-
quillity, and of less distress, they would be con-
sidered, examined, and decided upon, in a spirit of
determined purpose for the dispensation of justice.
I have much pleasure in informing congress that the
fulfilment of this honourable promise is now in pro-
gress; that a small portion of the claims has already
been settled, lo the satisfaction of the claimants;
and that we have reason to hope that the remainder
will shortly be placed in a train a equitable adjust-
ment. This result has always been confidently ex
pected, from the character of personal integrity anti
of benevolence, which the Sovereign of the Danish
Dominions, has through every vicissitude of fortune,
maintained.

The general aspect of the affairs of our neigh-
bouring American nations of the South, has been
rather of approaching than of settled tranquillity. In-
ternal disturbances have been more frequent among
them titan their common friends would have desired.
Our intercourse with all has continued to be that
of friendship, and of mutual good will. Treaties of
commerce and of boundaries with the United Mex-
ican States have been negotiated, but from various
successive obstacles, not yet brought to a final con-
clusion. The civil war which unfortunately still
prevails in the Republic of Central America, has
been unpropitious to the cultivation of our commer-
cial relations with them; and the dissections and re-
volutionary changes in the Republics of Columbia
and Peru, have been seen with cordial regret by us,
who would gladly contribute to the happiness of both.
It is with great satisfaction, however, that we have
witnessed the'recent conclusion of a peace between
the governments of Buenos Ayres and Brazil, 'and it
is equally gratifying to observe that indemnity has
been obtained ter some of the injuries which our fel-
low-citizens had sustained in the latter of those
countries. The rest are in a train of negotiation,
which we hope may terminate to mutual satisfaction,
and that it may be succeeded by a Treaty of Com-
merce and Navigation upon liberal principles, propi-
tious to a great and growing commerce, already im-
portant to the interests of our country.
The condition and prospects of the Revenue are
more favourable than our most sanguine expectations
had anticipated. The balance in the Treastn•y on
the Ist of January last, exclusive of the monies re-
ceived under the convention of the 13th November,
1826, with Great Britain, was five millions eight
hundred and s;xty-one thousand nine hundred and
seventy-two dollars, and eighty-duet cents► The

receipts into the Treasury from the Ist of January
to the 30th September last, so far as they have been
ascertained to form the basis of an estimate, amount
to eighteen millions six hundred and thirty-three
thousand nine hundred and eighty dollars and twenty-
Seven cents, which, with the receipts of the present
quarter, estimated at five MillionS four hundred and
sixty-one thousand two hundred and eighty-three
dollars and forty cents, form an aggregate of receipts
during the year of twenty-four millions and ninety-
four thousand eight hundred and sixty-three dollars
and sixty-seven' cents. The expenditures of the
year may probably amount to twenty-five millions
six hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred
and eleven dollars and sixty-three cents ; and leave
in the Treastny, on the Ist of January next, the
sum of five millions one hundred and twenty-five
thousand six hundred and thirty-eight dollars, four-
teen cents.

The receipts of the present year have amounted
to near two millions more than was anticipated at
the commencement of the last session of Congress.
The amount of duties secured on importations
from the Ist of January to the 30th September
was about twenty-two millions nine hundred and
ninety-seven thousand, and that date estimated ac-
cruing
.revenue is five millions ; leaving an aggre-
gate for the year of near twenty-eight millions.
This is one million more than the estimate made last
December for the :scenting- revenue of the present
year, , which with allowances for drawbacks and
contingent deficiencies was expected to produce
an actual revenue of twenty-two millions three
hundred thousand dollars. Had these only _been
realized, the expenditures of the year would have
been nig() proportionally \reduced. For of these
twenty-four millions received, upwards of nine
millions have been applied to the extinction of
public debt bearing an interest of six per cent. a
year, and of course reducing the burden of interest
annually payable in future, by the amount of more
than half a million. The payments on account of
interest during the current year exceed three mil-
lions of dollars ; presenting an aggregate of more
than twelve millions applied during the year to
the discharge of the public debt, the whole of which
remaining due on the first of January next will
amount only to fifty-eight millions three hundred
and sixty-two thousand one hundred and thirty-five
dollars and seventy-eight cents.
That the revenue of the ensuing year will not fall
short of that received in the one now expiring,
there. arc indications which can scateely prove de-
ceptive. In our country, an uniform experience of
forty years has shown that whatever the tariff of du-
ties upon articles imported from abroad has been,
the amount of importations has always borne an
average value nearly approaching. to that of the ex-
ports, though occasionally differing in the balance,
sometimes being more, and sometimes less. It is,
indeed, a general law of prosperous commerce, that
the real value of exports should, by a sr-s.ll, and
only a small balance, exceed that of imports, that ba-
lance being a permanent addition to the wealth of
the nation. The extant of the prosperous com-
merce of the nation must be regulated by the
amount of its exports ; and an important addition to
the value of these will draw after it a correspond-
ing increase of importations. It has happened, in
the vicissitudes of the seasons, that the harvests of
all Europe, have,' in the late summer and autumn,
Lao short of their usual average. A relaxation of
the interdict upon the importation of grain and flour
from abroad has ensued; a propitious market bus
been opened to. the granaries of our ecuntry ; and a
new prospect of reward presented to the labours of
the husbandman, which, for several years has been
denied. This accession to the profits of agriculture
in the middle and western portions of our Union is
accidental and temporary. It may continue only
for a single year. It may be, as has been often ex-
perienced in the revolutions of time, but the first
of several scanty harvests in succession. %Ve may
consider it certain, that, for the approaching year,
it has added an item of large amount to the value
of our exports, and that it will produce a correspond-
ing increase of importations. It may, therefore, sonfi-
dently be foreseen that the revenue of 1829 will
equal, and probably exceed, that of 1828, and will
afford the means of extinguishing ten millions more
of the principal of the public debt.
This new element of prosperity to that part of
our agricultural industry which is occupied in pro-
ducing the first article of human subsistence, is of
the most cheering character to the feelings of patriot-
ism. Proceeding from a muse which humanity will
view with concern, the sufferings of scarcity in di;-
tent lands, it yields a consolatory reflection that this
scarcity is in no respect attributable to as. That it
comes from the dispensation of Him who ordains all
in wisdom and goodness, mid who permits evil itself
only as an instrument of good. That far from con-
tributing to this scarcity, our agency will be applied
only to the alleviation of its severity ; and that in
pouring forth, from the abundance of our own
garners, the supplies which will partially restore
plenty to those who are in need, we shall ourselves
reduce our stores, and add to the price of our own
bread, so as in some degree to participate in the
wants which it will be the good fortune of our coun-
t y to relieve.

The great interests of up agricultural, commercial,
and manufacturing nation, are so linked in union to-
gether, that no permanent cause of prosperity to one
of them can operate without extending its influence
to the others. All these interests are alike under
the protecting power of the legislative authority;
and the duties of the representative bodies are to
conciliate them in harmony together. So far as the
object of taxation is to raise a revenue for discharg-
ing the debts, and defraying the expenses of the
community, it should as much as possible suit the
burden with equal hand upon all, in proportion with
their ability of bearing it without oppression. But
the legislation of one nation is sometimes inten-
tionally made to beer heavily upon the interests of
another. net legislatithi, adapted, as it is meant
to be, to the special interests of its own people, will
often press most unequally upon the several compo-
nent interests of its neighbours.' Thus, the legisla-
tion of Great Britain, when, as has recently been
avowed, adapted to the depression of a rival nation,
will naturally abound with regulations
of interdict
upon the productions of the soil or industry of the
other which come in competition with its own ; and
will peseta encouragement, perhaps, even bounty,
to the raw material of the other state, which it can-
not produce itself, and which is es'e"li"l for the use
of its mem:facilites, competitors in the markets of
the world with those of its commercial rival. Such
is the state of the commercial legislation of Great
Britain as it bears apex
our interests. It excludes,
ith interdicting duties, all importation (except in
w
time of approaching famine)
scribes, with equal of the great staple pro-
ductions of our Middle and Western States; it pro-
rigour, the bulkier lumber and
live stock of the same portion, and also of the Nor-
thern an Eastern pH., t of our Union. It refuses
even the rice of the South, unless aggravated with
a charge of duty upon the Notthern carrier, who
brings it to them. But the cotton, indispensable
for their looms, they will receive almost duty free,
to weave it into a fabric for our own wear, to the
destruction of our own manufactures, which they are
enabled thus to undersell. Is the sclf-protecting
energy of this nation so helpless that there exists, in
the political institutions of our country, no power to
counteract the bias of this foreign legislation ? that
the growers of grain must submit to this exclusion
Borst the foreign un.rkete of their produce; that the

shippers must dismantle their ships, the trade of' the
North stagnate at the what vest, awl the manufac-
turers starve at their looms, while the whole people
shall pay tribute to foreign industry to be clad in %a
foreign garb; that the Congress of the Union are
impotent to restore the Isdunce in favour of native
industry, t'estro)e4by the-statute of anothar realm ? •
More just and Moregeneeteus sentiments, will, I
trust, prevail. If the tariff adopted ut, the last sea-
-6:0I1 of Congress shall he found by experience to
bear oppressively upon the interests of any one-see-
tion of our Union, it ought to be, and I cannot
doubt will be, so modified as to alleviate its burden.
To the voice of just complaint from any portion of
their constituents, the Representatives of the States
and People will never turn away their ears. But
so long as Me duty of the foreign shall operate only
as u bounty upon the domestic article—while the
planter, and the merchant, arid the shepherd, and the-
husbandman, shall be found thriving in their occupa-
tions under their duties imposed for the-protectiou of
domestic manufactures, they will not rep;rie at the pros-
perity shared with themselves by their fellow-citizens
of other professions, nor denounce as violations of
the Constitution, the deliberate acts,ef Congress to.
shield from the wrongs of foreign laws the native in-
dustry of the Union. While the tariff of the last
session of Congress was a subject of legislative de-
liberation, it was foretold by some of its opposers
that one of its necessary consequences would be to
impair the revenue. It is yet too aeon to pronounce
with confidence, that this prediction was.erroneous.
The obstruction of one revenue of trade not eerie•
guiltily opens an issue to another. The cousequence
of the tariff will be to increase the exportation, lied
to diminish the importation of some specific ert
des. But, by the general Jew of trade, the increase
of exportation of one article will be followed by an
increased importation of others, the duties upon
which will supply the defieiences, which the dimi-
nished importation would otherwise occasion. The
effect of taxation upon l'llep;le.cap seldom be for,
with certainty. It mutt abide the test of ex-
perience. As yet 110 symptoms of (limit-intim' are
perceptible in the receipts of the Treasury. As yet,
little addition of cost has even been experienced
upon the articles burthened with heavier duties by
the last tariff. The domestic manufacturer supplies
the same or a kindred article at a diminished price,
and the consumer pays the same tribute to the labour
of his own countryman, which he must otherwise
have paid to foreign industry and toil.
The tariff of the last session was, iu its details, not
acceptable to the great interests of any portion of
the Union, not even to the interest which it was
specially intended to subserve. Its object was to
balance the burdens upon native industry imposed by
the operation of foreign laws; but not to aggravate
the burdens of one section of the Union by the relief
afforded to another. To the great principle sanc-
tioned by that Act, one of thezie. open which the
Constitution itself was formed, I hope and trust the
authorities of the Union will adhere. But if tiny
of the duties imposed by the Act only relieve the
manufacturer by riggravatieg the burden of the
planter, let a careful revisal of its provisions, eh-
lightened by the practical experience of its effects, be
directed to retain those which impart protection to
native industry, and remove or supply the place of
those which only alleviate one great national ieterest
by the depression of another.

The United States of America, and the People of
every State of .which they are composed, are each
of them Sovereign Powers. The legislative autho-
rity of the whole is exercised by Congress under
authority grunted them in the common Constitution.
The legislative power of each State is exercised by
assemblies deriving their authority from the Consti-
tution of the State. Each is sovereign within its
own province. The distribution of power between
them pre-supposes that these authorities will move in
harmony with each other. The members of the
State and General Governments are all wider oath
to support both, and allegiance is due to the one
and to the other. Thu case of a conflict between
these two powers has not been supposed ; nor has
any provision been made for it in our isatitution3; as
a virtuous nation of ancient times existed more than
five centuries without a law for the punishment of
parricide.

More than once, however, in the progress of our
history, have the People and the Legislatures of one
or more States, in moments of excitement, been in-
stigated to this conflict, and the means of effecting
this impulse have been allegations that the acts of
Congress to be resisted were unconstitutional. The
People of no one States have ever delegated to their
Legiilative the power of pronouncing an Act on
Congress unconstitutional ; but they have delegated
to them powers, by the exercise of which the ex'
cution of the laws of Congress within the States
may be resisted. If we suppose the case of such
conflicting legislation sustalued by the corresponding
Executive and Judicial Authmitics, Patriotism and
Philanthropy turn their eyes from the condition in
which the parties would be placed, and from that of
the people of both, which must be its victims.

The Reports from the Secretary of 'War, anti from
the various subordinate offices of the resort of that.
Department, present an exposition of the public ad-
ministration of affairs connected with them, through
the course of the current year. - The present state
of the army, and the distribution of the force of
which it is composed, will be seen from the Report
of the Major-General. Several alterations in the
disposal of the troops have been found expe-
dient in the course of the year, and the discipline of
the army, though not entirely free from:exception
has been generally good.
The attention of Congress is-particularly invited
to that part of the Report of the Secretary of w"
which concerns the existing system of our relations
with the Indian tribes. At the eStablislnnent of
the Federal GOvernment, under the present constitu-
tion of the United States, the principle Was adopted
of considering them as foreign terl independent,
powers : and also as proprietors of lands. They'
were, moreover, considered as savages, whom it was
our policy and our duty to use our influence in con-
verting to Christianity, and bringing within the pale
of civilization.

prevail upon them to
As independent Powers we aegociuted with them
all
rude and igoo.
by treaties;- as proprietors, we purchased of them
ledge of religion and of letters. The ultimate de-
rant,
sign was to-incorporate in our own institutions that
sell ; e‘a'rselebenrueditsehar‘vevonhujorufehttihweet hoct°n:ntisidir:
gr ehee,m
to
the,
know_
portion of them which could be Converted to the
state of civilization. In the practice of European
States before oar Revolution, they had been con-
sidered as children to be governed; as tenants at
discretion, to be disposr,essed us occa,ion might re-
quire; as hunters, to be indemnified by trifling con-
cession 2 for removal, from the grounds upon which
their game was extirpated. In changing the system
it would seem as if a full contemplation of the con-
sequences of the change had not been taken. We
have been fur more successful in the acquisition of
their lands than in imparting to them the principles,
or inspiring them with the spirit of civilization. But
in appropriating to ourselves their hunting-ground,
we have brought upon ourselves the obligation ot
providing them with subsistence; and when we have
bad the rare good fortune of teaching them the arts
of civilization and the doctrines of 'Christianity, wo
have unexpt(etedly found them forming, in the
midst of ourselves, communities claiming to be in-
dependent of ours, and rivals of sovereignty within
the territories of the members
.of our Union. This
state of things requires that a remedy should be pro•
vided; a remedy which, while it shall do jinqice to
those unfortunate children of nature, may secure-to
the members of our confederation their rights of
sovereignty and of soil. As the outline of ;a pro.
jest to that effect, the views presented in the Report
of the Secretary of War a recommendation to the
consideration of Congress.

The Report from the Engineer Department pre-
sents a comprehensive view of the progress tvii-ch
has been made in the great tywtems prom,;ivc of
the public interest, commenced mid organized under
the authority of Congrep, tozd i,he etreete

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Aoti

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'llO er
n
have already c ntr) trecrtd the security, as they will
hereafter largely contribute to the honour and dignity
of the nation.

The first of these great systems is that of fortifi-
cations, commenced immediately after the dose of
our last war, under the salutary experience which
the events of that war t►ad impres.ed upon our coun-
trymen of its necessity. Introduced under the
auspices of my immediate predecessor, it has been
continued with the perseverance and liberal encou-
ragement of the Legislature ; and combined with
corresponding exertions for the gradual increase and
improvement of the Navy, prepares for our extensive
country a condition of defence adapted to any criti-
cal emergency which the varying course of events
may bring forth. Our advances in these concerted
systems have, fur the last ten years been steady and
progressive, and in a few years more will be so com-
pleted as to leave no cause for apprehension that our
s,a-coast will ever again offer a theatre for hostile

invasion.
The next of these cardinal measures of policy, is
the preliminary to great and lasting works of public
improvement, in the survey of roads, examination
for the course of canals, and labours for the re-
moval of the obstructions of rivers and harbours,
first commenced by the Act of Congress of the 30th
April, 1824.
The report exhibits in one table the funds appro-
priated at the hat and preceding Sessions of Con-
gress, for all th, se fortifications, surveys, and works
of public impro, ement ; the manner in which these
funds have beet, applied, the amount expended upon
the several wort s under construction, and the farther
sums which may he necessary to complete them.—
In a second, the works projected by the Board of
Engineers, whi- h have not been commenced, and
the estimate of their cost.
In a third, the report of the annual Board of Vi-
sitors at the Military Academy at West Point. For
13 fortifications erected on various points of our
Atlantic cotter from Rhode Island to Louisiana, the
aggregate expenditure of the year has fallen a little
short of one million of dollars.
For the wept-twee of five additional reports of
reconnoesances and surveys since the last Session of
Convess for the civil constructions upon thirty-
seven different public works commenced, eight others
for whteh specific appropriations have been made by
Acts of Congress, and twenty other incipient sur-
veys under the authority given by the Act of 30th
April, 1824, about one million more of dollars have
been drawn from the Treasury.
To these two millions of dollars are to be added
the Appropriations of '250,000 dollars, to commence
the erection of a Breakwater near the mouth of the
Delaware River: the subscriptions to the Delaware
and Chesapeake, the Louisville and Portland, the
Dismal Swamp, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Ca-
nals; the large donations of lands to the states of
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Alabama, for objects of
improvements within these states, and the stuns ap-
propriated for Lieht Houses, Buoys, and Piers, on
the coast, and a full view will be taken of the muni-
ficence of the nation in the application of its re-
sources to the improvement of its own condition.
Of these great national undertakings, the Academy
at West Point is among the most important in itself,
and the most comprehensive in its consequences. In
that institution, a part of the revenue of the nation it
is applied to defray the expenee of educating a com-
petent portion of her youth, chiefly to the knowledge
and duties of military life. It is the living armory of
the nation. While the other works of improvement
enumerated in the reports now presented to the
attention of Congress, are destined to ameliorate the
face of nature; to multiply the facilities of commu-
nication between the different parts of the Union to
assist the labours, increase the comforts, and enhance
the enjoyments of individuals, the instruction ac-
quired at West Point enlarges the dominion and ex-
pands the capacities of the mind. Its beneficial re-
sults are already experienced in the composition of
the army, and their influence is felt in the intellec-
tual progress of society. The institution is suscep-
tible still of great improvement from benefactions
proposed by several successive Boatels of Visitors,
to whose earnest and repeated recommendations 1
cheerfully add my own.
With the usual annual reports from the Secretary
of the Navy and the Board of Commissioners,will be
exhibited to the view of Congress the execution of
the laws relating to that Department of the public
service. The repression of piracy in the West In-
dian, and in the Grecian Seas, has been effectually
maintained, with scarcely any exception. During
the war between the Governments of Buenos Ayres
and of Brazil, frequent collisions between bellige-
rent acts of power and the rights of neutral com-
merce occurred. Licentious blockades, irregularly
enlisted or impressed seamen, and the property of
.Isenest commerce seized with violence, and even
plundered under legal pretences, are disorders never
separable from the conflict of wars upon the ocean.
With a portion of them, the correspondence of our
commanders on the Eastern aspect of the South
American Coast, and among the Islands of Greece,
discover how far we have been involved. In these,
the honour of our country and the rights of our ci-
tizens have been asserted and vindicated. The ap-
pearance of new squadrons in the Mediteranean, and
the blockade of the Dardanelles, indicate the danger
of other obstacles to the freedom of commerce, and
the necessity of keeping our naval force in those
" seas. To the suggestions repeated in the report of
the Secretary of the Navy, and tending to the per-
manent improvement of this institution, I invite the
:avourable consideration of Congress.
A resolution of the House of Representatives,
tyquassieg that one of our small public vessels
should be sent to the Pacific Ocean and South Sea,
to examine the coasts, islands, harbours, shoals, and
reefs in those seas, and to ascertain their true situa-
tion and description, has been put in a train of exe-
cution. The vessel is nearly ready to depart ; the
successful accomplishment of the expedition may be
greatly facilitated by suitable Legislative provisions;
and particularly by an appropriation to defray its
ineeseseary expenre. The addition of a second, and,
perhaps, a third vessel, with a slight aggravation of
the costs would contribute much to the safety of
the citizens embai ked on this undertaking, the re-
sults of which may be of the deepest interest to our

country.
With the report of the Secretary of the Navy
will be submitted, in conformity to the act of Con-
gress of 3d March, 1827, for the gradual improve-
ment of the Navy of the United States, statements
of the expenditures under that Act, and of the mea-
sures taken for carrying the same roes effect. Every
section of that ftate contains a distinct provision,
looking to the great object of the whole, the gra-
dual improvement of the Navy. Under its salutary
sanction, stores of ship-timber have been procured,
and ;Ire in process of seasoning and preservation for
the future uses of the Navy. Arrangements have
been made for the preservation of the live oak tim-
ber growing.on the lands of the United States, and
for its reproduction, to supply at future and distant
days, the waste of that most valuable material for
ship•building, by the great consumption of it yearly
for the commercial, as well as for the military ma-
rine of our country. The construction of the two
Dry Docks at Charleston and at Norfolk, is makirg
satisfactory progress tctstards a durable establish-
ment. The examinations and inquiries to ascertain
the practicability and expediency of a Marine Rail-
way at Pensacola, though not yet accomplished.
have been postponed, but to be the more effectually
made. The Navy Yards of the United States have
been examined, and plans for the improvement and
the preservation. of the public property therein,
Portsmouth, Charlestown, Philadelphia, Washing-
ton, and Gosport, and to which two others are to
be added, have been prepared, and received my
sanction ; and no other portion of my public duties
has been performed with a more intimate conviction
of its importance to the future welfare and security
of the Union.
With the report of the Postmaster-General, is ex-
hibited a .comparative view of the gradual increase
of that establishment, from five to six years, since
1792, till this time, in the number of Post Offices,
which has grown from less than, two hundred to

nearly eight thousand; in the revenue yielded by
them, which from sixty-seven thousand dollars; has
swollen to upwards of a million and a half, and in
the number of miles of Post Roads, which, from
five thousand six hundred and forty-two, have mul-
tiplied to one hundred and fourteen thousand five
hundred and thirty-six. While, in the same period
of time, the population of the Union has übout thrice
doubled, the rate of increase of thesioffices is nearly
forty, and of .-the revenue, and of travelled miles,
from twenty to twenty-five for one. The increase
of reve►►ue, within the last five years, has been
nearly equal to the whole,revenue of the Depart-
! ment of 1812.

The expenditures of the department during the
year which ended on the Ist of July last, have ex-
ceeded the receipts by a sum of about twenty-five
thousand dollars. - The excess has -been occasioned
by the increase of mail conveyances and facilities, to
the extent of near eight hundred thousand miles. It
has been supplied by collections from the postmas-
ters, of the errearages'of preceding years. While
the correct principle seems to be, that the income
levied by the department should defray all its ex-
pences, it has never been the policy of this Govern-
ment to raise from this establishment any revenue to
be applied to any other purposes. The suggestion
of the Postmaster-General, that the insurance the
safe transmission of moneys by the mail ought to be •
assumed by the department, for a moderate and com-
petent remuneration, will deserve the consideration
of Congress.
A report from the Commissioners of the Public
Buildings in this City exhibits the expenditures
upon them in the course of the current year. It
will be seen that the humane and benevolent inten-
tions of Congress, in providing, by the 'Act Of 20th
May, 1826, for the erection of a penitentiary in this
district, have been accomplished. The authority of
further legislation is now required for the removal
to this tenement of the offenders against the laws,
sentenced to atone by personal confinement for their
crimes, and to provide a code for their employment
and government while this confined.
The Commissioners appointed conformably to the
Act of 2ii March, 1827, to provide for the adjust-
ment of claims of persons entitled to indemnifica-
tion under the first article of the Treaty of Ghent,
arid for the distribution among such claimants of the
sem paid by the Government of Great Britain UPP.
der the Convention of 13th November, 1826, closed
their labours on the 30th of August last, by award-
ing the claimants the sum of one million one hun-
dred and ninety-seven thousand four hundred and
twenty-two dollars and eighteen cents, leaving a ba-
lance of seven thousand five hundred and thirty-
seven dollars and eighty-two cents, which was dis-
tributed rateably amongst all the claimants to whom
awards had been made, accarding to the directions
of the Act.

The exhibits appended to the report from the
Commissioner of the General Land Office, present
the actual condition of that common property of the
Union. The amount paid into the Treasury from
the proceeds of the lands, during the year 1827,
and the first half of 1828, falls little short of two
millions of dollars. The propriety of further ex-
tending the time for the extinguishment of the debt
due to the United States by the purchasers of the
public lands, limited by the Act of 21st March last,
to the 4th of July next, will claim the consideration
of Congress, to whose vigilance and careful atten-
tion, the regulation, disposal, and preservation, of
this great national inheritance has by the people of
the United States been entrusted.

Among the important subjects to which the atten-
tion of the present Congress has already been in-
vited, and which may occupy their further and de-
liberate discussion, will be the provision to be made
for taking the fifth census or enumeration of the in-
habitants of the United States. The Constitution
of the United States requires that this enumeration
should be made within every term of ten years,
and the date from which the last enumeration com-
menced was the first Monday of August of the year
1820. The laws under which the former enume-
rations were taken, were enacted at the Session of
Congress immediately preceding the operation.—
But considerable incomenicsces were experienced
from the delay of legislation to so late a period.—
That law, like those of the preceding enumerations,
directed that the census should be taken by the
Marshals of the several Districts and Territories,
under instructions from the Secretary of State.—
The preparation and transmission to the Marshals
of those instructions required more time than was
then allowed between the passage of the law and
the day when the enumeration was to commence.
The term of six months, limited for the returns of
the Marshals, was also found even then too short ;
and must be more so now, when an additional po-
pulation of at least three millions must be presented
upon the returns. As they are to be made at the
short session of Congress, it would, as well as from
other considerations, be more convenient to com-
mence the enumeration from an earlier period of
the year than the first of August. The most favour-
able season would be the spring. On a review of
the former enumerations, it will be found that
the plan for taking every census has contained im-
provements upon that of its predecessor. The last
is still susceptible of much improvement. The third
census was the first at which any account was taken
of the manufactures of the country. It was repeated
at the last enumeration, but the returns in both cases
were necessarily very imperfect. They must always
he so, resting of course only on the communications
voluntarily made by individuals interested in some of
the manufacturing establishments. Yet they con-
tained much valuable information, and may by some
supplementary provision of the law, be rendered
more effective. The columns of age, commencing
from infancy, have hitherto been confined to a few
periods, all under the number of 45 years. Import-
ant knowledge would be obtained by, extending
those columns, in intervals of ten years, to the ut-
most boundaries of human life. The labour of tak-
ing them would he a trifling addition to diet al-
ready prescribed, and the result would exhibit com-
parative tables of longevity highly interesting to
the country. I
deem it my duty further to observe,
that much of the imperfeciiiins in the returns of the
last and perhaps of preceding enumerations pro-
ceeded from the inadequateness of the compensatiorts
allowed to the Marshals and their assistants -in tak-
ing them.
closing this communication, it only remains
for the to assue.e the Legislature of my continued
e wriest wish for the adoption of measures reeom-
heretofore, and yet to be acted on
mended by me
by them : and of the cordial eonaurrence on my part
in every constitutional provision which may recei% e
their sanction during the Session, tending to the ge-
neral welfare.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.
Washington, December 2. IS2B.

-----
Early on Saturday morning, an alarming fire
broke out in the premises of Mr. Box, oil and colourman,
Wheler-street, Spitaltields ; from the combustible nature
of the materials in which Mr. Box dealt., the fire raged
for a time with considerable fury, the prompt attendance,
however, of the p.,rish and other fire engines, together
with a plentiful supply of water, stopped the progress of
the devouring element; the damage was confined to Mr.
Box's premises, which were reduced to a complete ruin.
The cause of the fire has not been ascertained.

KNUFSFORD MEETING.—It Wollld Seem,
from the preparations that are making at Knutafurd, that
it will rival that of Penenilen-heath i❑ importance. Those
with whom it has originated have at least taken a hint
from that important meeting on the advantages of concert
and—what was so much condemned in this neighbour-
hood—military array. Mr. John Elliott Turner, the Se-
cretary to the Loyal Wellington Club of Stockport, has
issued a circular to all the members of the Club, calling
on them to muster at Bucklow-hill, two miles from Knuts-
ford, where they are to fall into procession, and so enter
*the field of action, in all the parade of a grand procession.
At the head of it we may expect to behold that jovial, but
not very brilliant baronet, Sir H. M.sinwaring, and that
loyal and consistent eulogist of his King, Trafford Traf-
ford, Esq., of Ootrington. There is eves y reason to ex-
pect a strenuous opposition, and the meeting is generally
looked forward to with iuterest.—Mancliester Gazette.