The Sun.
London, England, 1827-01-02 00:00:00

FEMALE FASHIONS FOR JANUARY.

(From Ackernaates Repository of Arts, Fashions, Mansifits-

tures, i.e. ts.)

PRONIENADI DATM—High dress of striped Bros de Napless,
wadded and lined with scarlet earenet ; the corsage made up to
the throat, the straight way of the silk, with a little fullness to-
wards the waist, which is rather long, and confined by a rich plaid
scarf, worn as a each, and tied in front, the ends reaching towards
the border of the skirt, which is an horizontal fan-like trimming
of scarlet corded point, and is crossed in the centre by longitudinal
green velvet fluted puffs ; their terminations united by circlets of
scarlet satin and green velvet; beneath is a row of chinchilla fur
about half a quarter deep. The sleeves are en gigot, and stiffened
to keep them extended ; they are confined at the wrist by a scar-
let corded satin band, fastened with a geld snap ; a vandyke cuff
extends a little way over the hand, and a second corded band regu-
lates the fulness between the elbow and the wrist : chinchilla fur
adorns the shoulders and surrounds the throat. Bonnet of the
Jame material as the dress; the brim circular, edged with a mo-
iety, and lined with scarlet satin. The crown is almost concealed
by its decorations, consisting of three handsome hydrangeas end
several large green velvet leaves, besides bows of pros de Naples,
which are placed on the left aide. The hair is dressed in a double
row of large curls; the ear-rings are long end of coral; yellow
gloves lined with fur ; chinchilla muff; the boots of elate-colour
morocco.

WEDDING DANS*. —Frock of Urling's sprigged lace, of a very
elegant Brussels pattern ; the flowers are of an equal size and dis-
tance, except on each side, where they are formed into large clus-
ters, and arranged one beneath the other from the waist to the
flounce. The corsage is circular and of a moderate height, made
plain in front, but rather full behind, and has a doable row of
falling lace of the same rich pattern, but not so deep as the Amines
on the skirt. The sleeve is very full, and regulated by seven or
eight drawings from the shoulder to below the elbow, from
whence it is continued plain to the wrist, where a scolloped cuff
graces the hand, corresponding to the scollops at the edge of the
dress, which appears just below the flounce. Broad white satin
sash, with bows on the right side ; white satin slip, with a wad-
ded hen► at bottom. The hair is parted in front, and has three
very large curls on the left side ; above are bows of white satin
and crepe liese : sprigs of myrtle and two full-blown white
roses adorn the right side. The necklace consists of three rows
of pearl, clasped in front by a brilliant gem; long pearl ear-rings ;
cameo bracelets. The left arm has an additional bracelet, coin-
posed of rows of pearl, united by emeralds. White kid gloves ;
white satin shoes.

Mr. Poole's new Comedy will not be produced at
Covent-garden Theatra until after the run of Mr. Morton'. Play.
According to the Green-room Critics, they are both of them ax-
pect4.4l to be sure cards. _ _

Howard Payne, the successful author of " Charles
the Second's Merry Days," in which C. Kemble and Fawcett so
much distinguish themselves, is, we hear, the translator of the
new Opera called " The White Maid," to be acted for the first
time at Covent-garden Theatre this evening.
Bishop is composing an Opera for Drury-lane ;we
trust that he will draw on himself only for supplies, and forget
that he ever heard a note of Weber or Rossiui's. His " Tramp
Chorus," "Charter and Crow," "Bid me Discourse," " Tell me,
my heart," " Should he upbraid," " When the wind blows,"
and a thousand other things, are a proof of his superior talents.—
The Opera is a very well written one, i❑ the style of Bickerstaff's
Pieces, and all the performers are pleased with their characters.
On the first night of Congreve's " Way of the
World," the audience hissed it violently. When the uproar w-s
at its height, Congrere walked on the stage, and ad,.iressed the
audience. "Is it your intention to damn this play ?" The cry
was, " Yes, yes, off, off." " Then I'll tell you, this play of mine
Will be a living play when you are dead and —," and he'
walked slowly off.

MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDINT
OF THE UNITED STATES
COUMUNICATED TO BOTH HOUSES, AT THE COMMENCEMME Or

THE SECOND SESSION OF THE NINETEENTH IPONEEIES.

FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND OF THE moult or EE-

PRESENTATIVES,

The assemblage of the Representatives of oar Union in both
Houses of Congress at this time occurs under circumstances cal-
ling for the renewed homage of our grateful acknowledgments to
the Giver of all good. With the exceptions incidental to the
most felicitous condition of human existence, we continue' to be
highly favoured in all the elements which contribute to individual
comfort and to national prosperity. In the survey of our exten-
sive country, we have generally to observe the abodes of health
and regions of plenty. In our civil and political relations, we have
peace without, and tranquillity within, our borders. We are, as a
people, increasing with unabated rapidity in population, wealth, and
national resources; and, whatever differences of opinion exist
among us, with regard to the mode and the means by which we
shall turn the beneficence of Heaven to the improvement of our
own condition, there is yet a spirit, animating us all, which well
not suffer the bounties of Providence to be showered upon us in
vain, but will receive them with grateful hearts, and apply them
with unwearied hands, to the advancement of the.general good.
Of the subjects recommended to the consideration of Congress
at their
.last session, some were then definitively acted upon.
Others left unfinished, but partly matured, will recur to your at,
tention, without needing a renewal of notice from me. Thu per.
pose of this communication will be, to present to your view the
general aspect of our public affairs at this moment, and !fie
measures which have been taken to carry into efket she Wan-
tions of the Legislature as signified by the laws then and hereto-
fore enacted.

In our intercourse with the other nations of the earth, we have
still the happiness of enjoying peace and a general good under-
standing, qualified, however, in several important instances, by
collisions of interest, and by unsatisfied claims of justice, to the
settlement of which, the constitutional interposition of the legisla-
tive authority may become ultimately indispensable.
By the decease of the Emperor Alexander of Russia, which oc-
curred contemporaneously with the commencement of the laat
Session of Congress, the United States have been deprived of a
long-tried, steady, and faithful friend. Born to the inheritance of
absolute power, and trained in the school of adversity, from which
no power on earth, however absolute, is exempt, that monareb,
from his youth, had been taught to feel the force end valtee of
public opinion, and to be eensible that the interest of his own Goe
vernment would best be promoted by a frank and friendly inter.
course with this republic, as those of his people vrottld be advasiced
by a liberal commercial intercourse with our country. A candid
and confidential interchange of sentiments between him and the
Government of the United States, upon the affairs of Southern
America, took place at a period not long preceding his demise.,
and contributed to fix that course of policy which left to the other
Governments of Europe no alternative but that of sooner or le-ter
recognizing the independence of our southern neighbours, of
which the example had, by the United States, already been set.
The ordinary diplomatic communications between his telecamera
the Emperor Nicholas, and the United States, have suffered sonic
interruption by the illness, departure, and subsequent decease of
his Minister residing here, who enjoyed, as he merited, the entire
confidence of his new sovereign, as he had eminently responded to
that of his predecessor. But we have had the most satisfactory
assurances, that the sentiments of the reigning Emperor towards
the United States are altogether conformable to those which had
so long and constantly animated his imperial brother; and we have
reason to hope that they will serve to cement that harmony and
good understanding between the two nations, which, founded in
congenial interests cannot but result in the advanevment of the
welfare and prosperity of both.
Our relations of commerce and navigation with France are,
by the operation of the Convention of the 24th of Jane,
with that nation, in a state of gradual and progressive im-
provement. Convinced by all our experience, no lees than by
the principles of fair and liberal reciprocity which the Unite&
States have constantly tendered to all the nations of the earth,
as the rule of commercial intercourse, which they would gni•
versally prefer, that fair and equal competition is most tondt-
cive to the interests of both parties, the United States, in the
negotiation of that Convention, earnestly contended for a mu-
tual renunciaticn of discriminating duties and ehargea in the
ports of the two eountrks. Unable to obtain the imineelieta
recognition of this principle in its full extent, after reducing the
duties of discrimination, so far as was found attainable, it was
agreed that, at the expiration of two years from the Ist of Oct.
1922, when the Convention was to go into effect, unless a notice
of six months ou either side should be given to the other, that the
Convention itself must terminate, those duties should be reduced
by one-fourth; and that this reduction should be yearly repeated
until all discrimination should cease, while the Convention itself
should continue in force. By the effect of this stipulation, three-
fourths of the discriminating duties, which had been levied by
each party upon the vessels of the other in its ports, have already
been removed : and on the Ist of October next, should the Con-
vention still be in force, the remaining fourth will bediscontinntd.
French vessels laden with French produce will be received in our
ports on the same terms as our own; and ours, in return, will
enjoy the same advantages in the ports of France. By these ap-
proximations to an equality of duties and of charges, not only has
the commerce between the two countries prospered, but frier:dlr.
dispositions have been; on both sides, eneouraged and promoted.
They will continue to be cherished and cultivated on the part of
tho United States. It would have been gratifying to have had it
in my power to add, that the claims upon the justice of the French
Government, involving the property and the comfortable subsist.
ence of many of our fellow-citizens, and which have been so long
and so earnestly urged, were in a more promising train of adjust-
ment than at your last meeting ; but their condition remains un-
altered.

With the Government of the Netherlands, the mutual abet-
donment of discriminating duties had been regulated by legislative
acts on both sides. The act of Congress of the 20th of April,
1818, abolished all discriminating duties of impost and tonnage
upon the vessels and produce of the Netherlands ►n the porta of
the United States, upon the assurance given by the Government
of the Netherlands, that all such duties operating against the ship-
ping and commerce of the United States i❑ that kingdom had been
abolished. These reciprocal regulations had ccntined in force se-
veral years, when the discriminating principle was resumed by
the Netherlands ►n a new and indirect form, by a bounty of 10
per cent. in the shape of a return of duties to their national ves-
sels, and i❑ which those of the United States are not permitted to
participate. By the act of Congress of the 7th of January, 18414,
all discriminating duties in the United States were again suspend-
ed, so far as related to the vessels and produce of the Netherlands,
so long as the reciprocal exemption should be extended to the eve-
eels and produce of the United States in the Netherlands. Bat the
same act provides that, in the event ofa restoration of discriminasi-
ing duties, to operate against the shipping and commerce of the
United States, in any of the foreign countries referred to tkerein,
the suspension of discriminating duties in favour of the navigation
of such foreign country should cease, and all the provisions of Ike
acts impoeine discriminating foreign tonnage and impost duties in
the United States, should revive, and be in full force with regard
to that nation.

In the correspondence with the Government of theNethalands
upon this subject, they hare contended that the favour shown to
their own shipping, by this bounty upon their tonnage, is not to
be considered as a discriminating duty. But it cannot be denied
that it produces 01l the same effects. Had the mutual abolition
been stipulated by treaty, such a bounty upon the national vessels
could scarcely have been granted consistently with good faith.—
Yet, as the act of Congress of the 7th of January, 184, has not
expressly authorised the Executive authority to determine what
shall be considered as a revival of discriminating duties by a fo-
reign Goi eminent, to the disadvantage of the United States; and
as the retaliatory measures on our part, however just and neces-
sary, may tend rather to that conflict of legislation which we de-
-precate, than to that concert to which we invite all commercial
nations, as most conducive to their interest and our own ; I have
thought it more consistent with the spirit of our institutions, to
refer the subject again to the paramount authority of the lugiela-
Sure, to decide what measures the emergency may require, than
abruptly, by proclamation, to carry into effect, the minatory pry-
vision of the act of 1824. •

During the last session of Congrees, treaties of amity, nariga-
tion, and commerce were negociated and signed at this place with
the Government of Denmark, in Europe, and with the Federation
of Central America, in this hemisphere. These treaties then re-
ceived the constitutional sanction of the Senate by the adrift anti
consent to their ratification. They were accordingly ratified on
the part of the United States, and during the recess of Congress
have been also ratified by the other respective contracting parties.
The ratifications have been exchanged, and they have been pub-
lished by proclamations, copies of which are herewith communi-
cated to Congress. These treaties have established between the
contracting parties the principles of equality and reciprocity, in
their broadest and most liberal extent; each party admitting the
vessels of the other into its ports, laden with cargoes the produce
or manufacture of any quarter of the globe, upon the payment of
the same duties of tonnage and impost that are chtirgeable upon
their own. They have further stipulated,
that the peaties shell
heresiftta grant no favour of navigation or commerce to any otitts.

• nation which shall not, upon the same terms, be granted to each
other ; nod that neither party will impose, upon articles of mer-
chandise the produce or manufacture of the other, any other or
'higher duties than upon the like articles, being the produce of
manufacture of any other country. To these principles there is,
in the convention with Denmark, an exception with regard to the
. colonies of that kingdom in the Arctic Seas, but none with regard
to her colonies in the West Indies.
In the course of the last summer, the term to which our last
commercial treaty with'Sweden was limited, has expired. A
continuation of it is in the contemplation of the Swedish Go-
vernment, and is believed to be desirable on the part of the
. United States. It has been proposed by the King of Sweden,
that, .pending the negociation of renewal, the expired treaty
should ben mutually considered as still in force—a measure
which will require the sanction of Congress to be carried into
effect on our part, and which I, therefore, recommend to your
consideration.
With Prussia, Spain, Portugal, and, in general, all the Euro-
pean Powers, between whom and the United States relations of
friendly intercourse have existed, their condition has not materially
varied sinTT the fast session of Congress. I regret not to he able
to say. the same of our commercial intercourse with the colonial
possessions of Greit Britain in. America. Negotiations of the
highest importance to our cotnmon interests have been for several
years in discU4sion between the two Governments ; and, on the
part of the United States, have been invariably pursued in the
spirit of candour and conciliation. Interests of great -magnitude
and delicacy had been adjusted by the conventions of 1815 and
ISIS, while that of 182.2, meditated by the late Emperor Alex-
ander, had promised a satisfactory compromise of claims which the
Government of the United States, in justice to the rights of a
numerous class of their citizens, was bound to sustain. But with
regard to the commercial intercourse between the United States
and the British colonies in America, it has been hitherto found.
impracticable to bring the parties to an understanding satisfactory
le both. The relative geographical position, and the respective
products of nature cultivated by human industry, had constituted
the elements of a commercial intercourse between the United
States and British America, insular slid continental, important to
the inhabitants of both countries. But it had been interdicted by
Great Britain, upon a principle heretofore practised upon by the
colonizing notions of Europe, of holding the trade of theirecolo-
'lies, each in exclusive monopoly to herself. After the termina- •
time of of the late war, this interdiction had been revived, and the
British Government declined including this portion of our inter-
soerse with her possessions in the negotiation of the conven-
tion of 1815. The trade was then carried on exclusively in
. British vessels, till the Act of Congress coneetining navigation, of
ISIS, anti the supplementary act Of IQ2O, met the interdict
by a corresponding measure on the part of the United States.
These measures, - not of retaliation, but of 'necessary self--de-
fence, where soon succeeded by an Act of Parliament, open-
ing ciertaitt colonial ports to, the weeds of the United States
teraiirig:directly from • them, and to the importation from them
•tsertam articles of our produce, burdened with heavy ditties,
anti 'excbsiting sonie of the most valuable articles 'of 'obi- ex-
ports,-/The United States opened their ports to British yes-
leis from the rialonies, upon terms at eieadly corresponding with
those of the Act of Parliament, as, in the relative position of the
parties, could be made. Anti a negotiation was commenced by
mutual consent, wish the hope, on our part, that a reciprocal spirit
of accommodation and a common sentiment of the importance of
the trade to the interest of the inhabitants of the two countries,
It between whom it must be carried on, would ultimately bring the,
parties to a compromise, with which Inith Might be satisfied.—
With this view, the Government tif the United States bad
determined to sacrifice nornething of that entire reciprocity
which in all noinmerciel arrangements with foreign powers
they are entitled to demand, and to acquiesce in some ine-
nualities dissidnantageous to ourselves, rather than to forego
the beneiltsa a final 'and permanent adjustment of this inte-
rest; the _satisfaction of Great Britain herself. The tregoti-
-4slnni repeatedly staspendsA by accidental circumstances, was,
ISowever, by mutual agreement and express assent, considered as
pending, Aid to be speedily resumed. In the mean time, another.
Act of Parliament, sodoubtfril and ambiguous in. its import, as to
'have been misunderstood by the officers in the colonies who were
to carry it into execution, opens again certain colonial ports, upon
bewsconditions and terms, with a threat to close them against any
nation which may not accept those terms as prescribed by the
British Government. This Act passed in July, 1825, not com-
municated to the Government of the United States, not under-
stood by the British officers of the Customsin the colonies where
it we; to be enforced, was, nevertheless, submitted to the coeside-
netion of Congress, at their last session. With the knowledge
that a negociation upon the subject had long been in progress, and
pledges given of its resumption at an early day, it was deemed ex-
' nedient to await the result of that negociation, rather than to sub-
Scribe implicitly to terms, the import of which was not clear, and
which the British authorities themselves, in this hemisphere, were
Sint prepared to explain.
Immediately after the close of the last session of Congress, one
• of our most distinguished citizens was despatched, as nvoy Ex-
traordinary and 'Minister, Plenipotentiary, to Great Britain, fur-
bished with instructions which we could not doubt would lead to
a conclusion of this long-controverted interest, upon terms ac-
septable to Great Britain. Upon his arrival, and before he had
deliver( d his letters of credence, he was met by an order of the
British Council, excluding, from and after the Ist of December
now current, the vessels of the United States from all the colo-
nial British ports, exceptirig those immediately bordering upon
our 'territories. In answer to his expostulations upon a measure
thus unexpected, he is informed that, according to the ancient
maxims of policy of European nations, having colonies, their
trade is an exclusive possession of the mother country. That all
participation in it by other nations is a boon or favour, not form-
ing a subject of negociation, but to be regulated by the legisla-
tive acts of the power owning the colony. That the British Go-
vernment therefore declines negotiating concerning it; and that,
as the United States did not forthwith accept purely and simply
the terms offered by the Act of Parliament of July, 1825, Great
Britain would not now admit the vessels of the United States
even upon the terms on which she has opened them to the navi-
gation of other nations,
We-have been accustomed to consider the trade which we
have enjoyed with the British Colonies, rather as an interchange
of mutual. benefits, than as a mere favour received : that, under
every circumstance, we have given an ample equivalent. N.Ve
have Seen every other nation, holding colonies, negotiate with
- other nations, and grant them, freely,_ admission to the colonies
by treaty ; and, so far are the other colonizing nations of Europe
now, from refusing to negotiate for trade with other colonies,
that we ourselves have secured access to the colonies of more
than one of them by treaty. The refusal, howevers of Great
Britain to negotiate, leaves to the United States no other alter-
native 'than that of regulating, or interdicting altogether, the
trade on their part, -according as either measure may affect the
intetests of our country; and, with that exclusive object, I would
recommend the whole subject to your calm and candid delibera-
tions.

It is hoped 'that our unavailing exertions to accomplish a
cordial" good understanding on this interest, will not have an
'unpropitious effect upon the other great topics of discussion
between the two Governments. . Our north-eastern and north-
western boundaries are still unadjusted. The Coutroissionent
under the 7th article of the treaty of Ghent have, meetly come
to the close bf their labours; nor can we renounce the expec-
tation, enfeebled as it is, that they may agree upon their report,
to the satisfaction or acquiescence of both parties. The
commission for liquidating the claims for indemnity for slaves,
carried away after the close of the war, has been sitting with
doubtful prospects of success. Propositions of compromise have
-however, passed between the two Governments, the results of
which, we flatter ourselves, may yet prove satisfactory. Our own
dispositions and purpo:sei towards Great Britain are all friendly
and conciliatory ; nor can we abandon, but with strong reluct-
ance, the belief that they
_will ultimately meet a return, not of
favours, which see neither ask nor desire, but of equal reciprocity
altd good will.
With the American Governments of this hemisphere we coati-
nuelo maintain an intercourse altogether friendly, and between
their nations arid ours that commercial interchange, of which mu-
tual benefit is the source, and mutual comfort and harmony the re-
sult, is in a continual-state of improvement. The war between
Spain and them, since the total expulsion of the Spanish military
force from their continental territories, has been little more than
nominal; and their internal tranquillity, though occasionally me-
naced by the agitations which civil wars never fail to leave behind
thew, has not been affected by any serious calamity.
The Congress of Ministers front several of those nations which
assembled at Panama, after a short session there, adjourned to
meet again; at a more favourable season, in the neighbourhood of
Mexico. The decease Of one of our Ministers on his way to the
Isthmus, and the impediments of the season, which delayed the
departure of the other, deprived us of the advantage of being re-
esentetf at the first meeting of the Congress. There is, how-
ever, no reason to believe that any of the transactions of the Con-
gress- wereof a nature to affect injuriously the interests of the
United Skates, or to require the interposition of our Ministers, had
they been present. Their absence has, indeed, deprived us of the
opporttittity-of possessing precise and authentic information of the
treaties which were concluded at Panama ; and the whole result
`has confirmed me in the convieion of. the expediency to the
United States of being represented at the Congress. The sum viv-

ing member of the mission, appointec) wring your last session,
has accordingly proceeded to his destination, and a successor to
his distinguished and lamented essociate will be nominated to the
Senate. A treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce, has, in the
course of the last summer, been concluded by our Minister Pleni-
potentiary at Mexico, with the United States of that confederacy,
which will also be laid before the Senate, for their advice With
regard to itz ratification.

Jr. adverting to the present condition of our fiscal concerns,
and to the prospects Of one revenue, the first remark that calls
our attention, it, that they are less exuberantly prosperous than
they were at the corresponding period of ' the last yeet. The se•-
vere shock so extensively sustained by the commercial and manu-
facturing interests in Great Britain, has not been without a per-
ceptible recoil iipOn ourselves. A 'reduced iinportation from
abroad is necessarily succeeded by a reduced return to the Treasury
at home. The net revenue of the present year will not equal that
of the last. And the receipts of that which is to come will fall
short of those in the current yell'. The diminution, however, is
in part attributable to the flourishing condition of some of our do-
mestic manufactures, and so far is compensated by an equivalent
more profitable .to the nation. It is also highly gratifying to per-
ceive, that the deficiency in the revenue, while it scarcely exceeds
the anticipations of the last year's estimates from the Treasury,
has not interrupted the application of more than 11,000,00
dollars during the present year to the discharge of 'the principal
and interest of the debt, nor the reduction of 7,000,000 of dollars
of the capital debt itself. The balance in the Treasury on the Ist
of January last, was 5,201,65(1 dollars 43 cents. The receipts
from that time to the 30th of September last, were 19,585,932
dollars 50 cents. The receipts of the current quarter; estimated
at 6,000,000 of dollars, yield, with the sums already received, a
revenue of about 25 millions and a half for the year. The expen-
ditures for the three first quarters of the year have amounted to
18,714,226 clonal* 66 cents. The expenditures of the current
quarter ,are expected, including the 2,000,000 of the principal
debt to he paid, to balance the receipt. So that the expencea of
the year, amounting to upwards of 1,000,000 less than its in-
come, will leave a proportionally increased balance of the Treasury,
of the.lst of January, 1827, over that of the Ist of January last.
Instead of 5,200,000, there will be 6,400,000 dollars.
The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from
the commencement of the year until the 30th of September, is
estimated at 21,250,000 dollars ; and the amount that will pro-
bably accrue durilig the present quarter, is estimated at 4,250,000,
making for the whole year 25,500,000 dollars, from which the
drawbacks being deducted; will letti.e a clear revenue from the
customs, receivable in the year 1827, of 20,400,000 dollars,
which, with the tinnt to be received from the proceeds of public
lands, the bank dividends, and other incidental receipts will form
an aggregate of about 23,000,000 dollars—a stun falling short of
the whole expcnees of the present year, little more than the por-
tion of those expenditures applied to the discharge of the public
debt, beyond the annual appropriation of 10,000,000 of dollars,
by the act of the 3d of March, 1817. At the passage of that act
the public debt amounted to 123,500,000 dollars. On the Ist of
January .next, it will be short of 74,000,000 dollars. In the
lapse of these ten years, 50,000,000 of dollars of public debt,
with the anuual charge of upwards of 3,000,000 dollars of in-
terest upon them, have been extinguished. At the passage of that
act, of the annual appropriation of the 10,000,000, seven were
absorbed in the payment of interest, and not more than 3,000,000
went to reduce the capital of the debt. Of the same 10,000,000
at this time, scarcely four are applicable to the interest, and up-
ards of six are effective in melting down the capital. Yet our
experience has proved that a revenue consisting so largely of im-
posts and tonnage, ebbs and flows to an extraordinary extent,
with all the fluctuations incident to the general commerce of
the world. It is within our recollection that even in the com-
pass of the same last ten years, the receipts of the Treasury
were not adequate to the expenditures of the year; and that in
two successive years it was found necessary to resort to loans to
meet the engagements of the nation. The returning tides of the
succeeding years replenished the public coffers, until they have
again begun to feel the vicissitude of a decline. To produce these-
alternations of fullness and exhaustion, the relative operation of
abundant or of unfruitful seasons, the regulations of foreign Go-
vernments, political revolutions, the prosperous or decaying con-
dition of manufactures, commercial speculations, a::'1 many other
causes not always to be traced, variously combine; we have found
the alternate swells and diminutions embracing periods of from
two to three years. The last period of depression to us was from
1819 to 1822. The corresponding revival was from 1823 to
the commencement of the present year. Still we have no cause to
apprehend a depression comparable to that of the former period,
or even to anticipate a deficiency which will intrench upon the
ability to apply the arnimaY 10,000,000 dollars to the reduction,
of the debt. -It is well for us, however,' to be admonished of the
necessity of abiding by the maxims of the most vigilant economy,
and of reaorting to all' honourable and useful expedients for pur-
suing with steady and inflexible perseverance the total discharge
of the debt.

Besides the '7,000,000 of dollars of the loans of 1823, which
will have been discharged in the course of the present year,
there are 9,000,000, which, by the terms of the contracts, would
have been, and are now redeemable. Thirteen millions more
of the loan of 1814 will heroine redeemable from and after the
expiration of the present month ; and nine other millions from
and after the close of the ensuing year. They constitute a mass
of 31,000,000, of dollars, all bearing an interest of six per cent.,
more than 20,000,000 of which will be immediately redeemable,
and the rest within a little more than a year. Leaving of this amount,
15,000,000 of dollars to tontine at the interest of six per cent.,
but to be, as tiir as shall be found practicable, paid off in the
years 1827 and 1828, there is scarcely a doubt that the remain-
ing 16,000,000 might, within a few months, be discharged by
a loan at not exceeding five per cent. redeemable in the years
1529 and 1830. By this operation, a sum of nearly half a mil-
lion of dollars may be saved to the nation ; and the discharge of
the whole 31,000,000 of doltars within the four years may be
greatly facilitated, if not wholly accomplished.
By an act of Congress of 3d March, 1825,' a loan, for the
purpose now referred to, or a subscription to stock, was autho-
rized, at an interest not exceeding four and a half per cent. But
at that time so large a portion of the floating capital of the coun-
try was absorbed in commercial speculations, and so little was left
for investment in the stocks, that the measure was but partially
successful. At the last Session of Congress, the condition of the
funds was still unpropitious to the measure ; but the change so
soon afterwards occurred, that had the authority existed to
redeem the 9,000,000 now redeemable by an exchange of
stocks, or a loan at five per cent., it is morally certain that
it might have been effected, and with it a yearly saving of
90,000 dollars.
With regard to the collection of revenue of impost, certain oc-
currences have within the last year been disclosed in one or two
of our principal ports, which engaged the attention of Congress
at their last session, and may hereafter require further considera-
tion. Until within a very few years, the execution of the laws
for raising the revenue, like that of all our other laws; has been
ensured more by the moral sense of our community than by the
rigours of a jealous precaution, or by penal sanctions. Confid-
ing in the exemplary punctuality and unsullied integrity of our
importing merchants, a gradual relaxation from the provisions of
the collection laws, a close adherence to which would have caused
inconvenience and expense to them, had long become habitual :
and indulgences had been extended universally, because they had
never been abused. It may be worthy of your serious con-
sideration, whether some further legislative provision may
not be necessary to come in aid of this state of unguarded security.
From the reports herewith communicated of the secretaries
of war and of the navy, with the subsidiary documents annex-
ed to them, will be discovered the present condition and adminis-
tration of our military establishment on the land and on the sea.
The organization of the army having undergone no change since
its reduction to the present peace establishment in 1821, it re-
mains only to observe, that it is yet found adequate to all the pur-
poses for which a permanent armed force in time of peace can be
needed or useful. It may be proper to add, that, from a differ-
ence of opinion between the late President of the United States
and the Senate, with regard to the construction of the act of Con-
gress of the 2d of March, 1821, to reduce and fix the military
peace establishment of the United States, it remains hitherto so far
without execution, that no Colonel has been appointed to command
one of the regiments of artillery. A supplementary or explanatory
act of the Legislature appears to be the only expedient practi-
cable, for removing the difficulty of this appointment.
In a period of profound peace the conduct of the mere military
establishment forms but a very ir,:.onsiderable portion of the duties
devolving upon the administration of the Department of War.
It will he seen by the refill us from the subordinate departments
of the army, that every branch of the service is marked with
order, regularity, and discipline—that from the Commanding
General, through all the gradations of superintendence, the offi-
cers feel themselves to have been citizens before they were soldiers,
and that the glory of a republican army must consist in the spirit
of freedom by which it is animated, and of patriotism by which
it is impelled. It may be confidently stated, that the moral cha-
racter of the army is in a state of continual improvement, and
that all the arrangements for the disposal of its parts have a con-
stant reference to that end.

But to the War Department are attributed other duties, having
indeed relation to a future possible condition of war, hut being
purely defensive, and in their tendency contributing rather to the
security and permanency of peace. The erection of the fortifica-

tions provided for by Congress, and adapted to secure our shore=
from hostile invasion; the distribution of the fund of public gra-
titude and justice to the pensioners of the revolutionary war ; the
maintenance of our relations of peace and of protection with the
Indian tribes; and the internal improvements and surveys for the
location of roads and canals, which- during the last three sessions
of Congress have engaged so much of their attention, and may
engross so large a share of their future benefactions to our country.
By the act of the 30th of April, 18.14-, suggested and approved
by my predecessor, the stun of 80,000 dollars was appropriated
for the purpose of causing to be made the necessary surveys, plans,
and estimates, of the routes of such roads and canals as the Presi-
dent of the United States might deem of national importance in a
commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the trans-
portation of the public mail : the surveys, plans, and estimates,
for each, when completed, to be laid before Congress.

In execution of this Act, a Board of Engineers was immediately
instituted, and have since been most assiduously and constantly oc-
cupied in carrying it into effect. The first object to which their la-
bours Were directed, by order of the late President, was the exa-
inination of the country between the tide-waters of the Potomac,
the Ohio, and Lake Erie, to ascertain the practicability of a com-
munication between them, to designate the most suitable route
for the same, and to form plans and iestitnates in detail of the ex-,
pence of execution.

On the 3d of Fe7..ruary, 182, they made their first report,
which was immediately communicated to Congress, and in which
they declared that, having maturely considered the circumstances
observed by them
.personally, and carefully studied the results of
such of the preliminary surveys as were then completed, they
were decidedly of opinion that the Jminunication was prac-
ticable.

At the last session of Congress, before the board of Engineers
were enabled to make up their second report, containing a gene-
ral plan, and preparatory estimate for the work, the Committee
tit. the House of Representatives upon roads and canals, closed
the season with a report, ex/massing the hope that the plan and
estimate of the Board of Engineers might at this time he pre-
_ _

pared, and that the subject be referred Co the early and favour-
consideration of Congress, at tl.eir present session. That
expected report of the Board of Enginecrs is prepared, and will
forthwith be laid before you.
Under the resolution of Congress authorizing the Secretary of
War to have prepared a complete system of-cavalry tactics of the
United States, to he reported to Congress at the present session,
a board of distinguished officers of :the army and of the militia,
has been convened, whose report. will be submitted to you with
that of the Secretary of War. The occasion was thought favour-
able for consulting the same board, aided by the results of a cor-
respondence with-the governors of the several states and territo-
ries, and other citizens of intelligence and experience, upon the
acknowledged defective condition of c ►r militia system, and upon
the improvements of which it is susceptible. The report or
the board upon this subject- is also submitted for your consi-
deration.

In the estimates of appropriations for the ensuing year, up-
wards of 5,000,000 of dollars will be submitted for the expendi-
tures to be paid from the Department of War. Less than two-
tiftbs of this will be applicable to the maintenance and support of
the army. A million and a half, in the form of pensions, goes as
a scarcely adequate tribute to the set vices and sacrifices of a former
age; and a more than equal sum, invested in fortifications, or for
the preparations of internal improvement, provides for the quiet,
the comfort, and the happier existence of the ages to come. The
appropriations to indemnify those unfortunate remnants of another
race, unable alike to share in the enjoyments, and to exist in the
presence of civilization, though swelling in recent years to a mag-
nitude burdensome to the Treasury, are generally not without their
equivalents, in profitable value; or serve to discharge the Union
from engagements more burdensome than debt.
In like manner, the estimate of appropriations for the navy de-
partment will present an aggregate sum of upwards of 3,000,000
of dollars. About one.half of those, however, cover the current
expenditures of the navy in actual service, and one-half constitutes
a fundof national property, the pledge of our future glory and de-
fence. It was scarcely one short year after the close of the late
war, and when the burden of its expenses and charges was weigh-
ing heaviest upon the country, that Congress, by the act of the
29th of April, 1816, appropriated 1,000,000 of dollars annually,
for eight years, to the graduci increase of the navy. At a subee-
qnent period, this annual appropriation was reduced to half a mil-
lion for six years, of which the present year is the last. A "yet
more recent appropriation the last two years, for building ten
sloops of war, has nearly restored the original appropriation of
1616, of a million for every year. The result is before us all.
We have,twellualine loatakehipesoo - frieotes, and, stoops of war
in proportion ; which, with a few months of preparation, may
present a line of floating fortifications along the whole range
of our coast, ready to meet any invader who might attempt
to set foot upon our shores ; combining with a system of fortifi-
cations upon the choice themselves, commenced about the same
time, under the auspices of my immediate predecessor, and hi.
therto systematically pursued, it has placed in our poss,ssion the
most effective sinews of war, and *has left us at once an example and
a lesson from which our own duties may he inferred. The gradual
increase of the navy was the principle of which tlt, act of the 29th
April, 1816, was the first development. It was the introduction
of a system to act upon the character and history of our country
for an indefinite series of ages. It was a declaration of that
Congress to their constituents and to posterity, that it was the
destiny and the duty of these confederated states to become, in
regular process of time, and by no petty advances, a great
naval power. That which they proposed to accomplish in eight
years, is rather to be considered as the measure of their means,
than the limitation of their design. They looked forward for a
term of years sufficient for the accomplishment of a definite por-
tion of their purpose; and they left to their successors to fill up
the canvass of which they had traced the large and prophetic out-
line. The ships of the line, and frigates, which they had in con -
templation, will be shortly completed. The time which they
had allotted for the accomplishment of the work has more than
elapsed. It remains for your consideration, how their successors
may contribute their portion of toil and of treasure for the benefit
of the succeeding age, in the gradual increase of our navy. There
is, perhaps, no part of the exercise of the constitutional .. powers
of the federal Government, which has given more general satis-
faction to the people of the Union than this. The system has not
been thus vigorously introduced, and hitherto sustained, to be
now departed from, or abandoned. In continuing to provide for
the gradual increase of the navy, it may not be necessary or ex-
pedient to add for the present any more to the number of our
ships; lout should you deem it advisable to continue the yearly
appropriation of half a million to the same objects, it may be
profitably expended, in providing a supply of timber to be season-
ed, and other materials for future use ; in the construction of
docks, or in laying the foundations of a school for naval educa-
tion, as, to The wisdom._ of Congress, either of these measures
may appear to claim the preference.
Of the small portions of this navy engaged in actual service
during the peace, squadrons have continued to he maintained in
the Pacific Ocean, in the West India Seas, in the Mediterranean;

to which has been added a small armament to cruise on the
eastern coast of .F,:tith America. In all, they have afforded pro-
tection to our commerce, have contributed to make our country
advantageously known to foreign nations, have honourably em-
ployed multitudes of our seamen in the. service of their country,
and have enured numbers of youths of the rising generation to
lives of manly hardihood and of nautit al experience and skill.—
The piracies for which the West India seas were for several years
infested, have been totally suppressed ; but in the Mediterranean
they have increased in a manner afflictive to other nations, and
but for the continued presence of our squadron, would probably
have been distressing to our own. The war which has
unfortunately broken out between the Republic of Buenos
Ayres and the Mardian Government has given rise to very
great irregularities among the naval officers of the latter, by
whom principles in relation to blockades, and to neutral navi-
gation, have been brought forward, to which we cannot sub-
scribe, and which our own commanders have found it neces-
sary to resist. From the friendly disposition towards the United
States constantly manifested by the Emperor of Brazil, and the
very useful and friendly commercial intercourse between the
United States and his dominions, we have reason to believe that
the just reparation demanded for the injuries sustained by several
of our citizens from some of their officers, will not be withheld.
Abstracts from the recent despatches of the commanders of our
several squadrons are communicated with the report of the Se-
cretary of the Isavy, to Congress.
A report from the Postmaster-General is likewise communi-
cated, presenting, in a highly satisfactory manner, the result of a
vigorous, efficient, and economical administration of that depart-
meat. The revenue of the office, even of the year including the
latter half of 1824, and the first half of 1825, had exceeded its
expenditures by a sum of more than 45,000 dollars. That of
the succeeding year has been still more productive. The in-
crease of the receipts in the year preceding the first of July last,
over that of the year before, exceeds 136,000 dollars; and the
excess of the receipts over the expenditures of the year has swol-
len from 45,000 to nearly 80,000 dollars. During the same
•period, contracts for additional transportation of the mail, in
stages, for about 60,000 miles, have been made, and for 70,000
miles, annually on horseback : 714 new post-offices have been
established within the year ; and the increase of revenue within
the last three years, as well as the augmentation of the transpor-
tation by mail, is more than equal to the whole amount of re-

eeipts, and of inail-conveyanec, at the eommencetnent of the pre-
sent century, when the seat of General Government was removed
to this place. When we reflect that the objects effected by the
transportation of the mail are among the choicest comforts and
enjoyments of social life, it is pleasing to observe that the dis-
semination of them to every corner of par country has outstripped
in their increase even the rapid march of our population.
By the treaties with France and Spain, respectively ceding
Louisiana and the Floridas to the United States, provision was
made for the security of land titles derived from the Governments
of those nations. some progress has been made under the au-
thority of various Acts of Congress, in the ascertainment and es-
tablishment of those titles ; but claims to a very large extent
remain unadjusted. The public faith, no less than the just rights
of individuals, and the interest of the community itself, seems to
require further provision for the speedy settlement of these claims,
which I therefore recommend to the care and attention of the Le-
gislature.
In conformity wits the provisions of the Act of the 20th of
May last, to provide for erecting a penitentiary in the district of
Colombia, and for other purposes, three Commissioners were ap-
pointed to select a site for the erection of a penitentiary for the
district, and also a site in the county of Alexandria for a county
gaol; both of which objects have been effected. The building of

the penitentiary has been commenced, and is in such a degree of
forwardness as to promise that it will be completed before the
meeting of the next Congress. This consideration points to the
expediency of maturing, at the present session, a system for the
regulation and government of the penitentiary, and of defining the
class of offences which shall be punishable by confinement in this
edifice.

In closing this communication, I trust that it will not be
deemed inappropriate to the occasion and purposes upon which we
are here assembled, to indulge a momentary retrospect, combining
in a single glance the period of our origin as a National Confede-
tion, with that of our present existence, at the precise interval of
half a century from each other. Since your last meeting at this
place, the fiftieth anniversary of the day when our independence
was declared has been celebrated throughout our land ; and on
that day, when every heart was bounding with joy, and every
voice was tuned to gratulation, amid the blessings of freedom and
independence, which the sires of a former age had handed down to
their children, two of the principal actors in that solemn scene,
the hand that penned that ever-memorable declaration, and the
voice that sustained it in debate, were by one summons, at the
distance of seven hundred miles, from each other, called before the
Judge of all, to account for their deeds done upon earth. Tlnsy
departed, cheered by the benedictions of their country, to whom
they left the inheritance of their fame, and the memory of
their bright example. If we turn our thoughts to the con-
dition of their country, in the contrast of the first and last day
of that half century, how resplendent and sublime is the
transition from gloom to glory. Then, glancing through the
same lapse of time, in the condition of the individuals, we
see the first day toarked with the fulness and vigour of youth, in
the pledge of their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honour,
to the cause of freedom and of mankind ; and on the last, ex-
tended on the bed of death, with but sense and sensibility left to
breathe a last aspiration of Heaven of blessing upon their country ;
may we not humbly hope that to them, too, it was a pledge of
transition from gloom to glory; and that, while their mortal vest-
ments were sinking into the clod of the valley, their emancipated
spirits were ascending to the bosom of their God!
Washington, Dec. 5, 1826. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

PRICE OF IRISH
Rank Stock
Gov. Stock. 3!.¢ per cent....8530i%
Ditto, New

4 per Cent.
Gov. Deb. :N per cent BB
Cowob:, 3 per cent 7834
!!pralCanalStock

Gr;.tod Canal Stock

City Deb. 4 per cent.
Banast.Office Del•. 1 per cent. -