FREMONT,  THE  PATHFINDER. 
Under  the  authority  of  the  United  States  Government,  John  Charles 
Fremont*  in  1842,  began  the  exploration  of  an  overland  route  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  When  the  discovery  of  gold  in  1849  precipitated  the  great  emigra- 
tion westward,  his  pathfinding  was  of  incalculable  value. 
The  picture  represents  him  scaling  Fremont's  Peak  in  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, the  highest  point  in  the  Wind  River  Range.    In  his  Journal  he  says: 
"I  sprang  upon  the  summit  and  another  step  would  have  precipitated  me 
into  an  immense  snowfall  500  feet  below.  To  the  edge  of  this  field  was  a 
sheer  icy  precipice.  I  stood  on  a  narrow  crest  about  3  feet  in  width.  We 
unfurled  the  national  flag  to  wave  in  the  breeze  where  never  flag  waved  before. 
We  had  climbed  the  loftiest  peak  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  looked  do'wn 
upon  the  snow  1,000  feet  below,  and,  standing  where  never  human  foot  had 
stood  before,  felt  the  exultation  of  first  explorers." 
In  the  Biographic  Index,  there  are  several  references  to  presidential  remarks 
•concerning  Fremont.  References  to  the  headings  "California"  and  "Oregon" 
will  provide  interesting  reading,  both  in  the  Encyclopedic  Index  articles  and 
in  presidential  discussions  concerning  those  sections.
Martin  Van  Buren  17 14 
success  if  persisted  in  with  temperate  firmness  and  sustained  by  prudent 
legislation. 
In  recommending  to  Congress  the  adoption  of  the  necessary  pro- 
visions at  this  session  for  taking  the  next  census  0%  enumeration  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States,  the  suggestion  presents  itself 
whether  the  scope  of  the  measure  might  not  be  usefully  extended  by 
causing  it  to  embrace  authentic  statistical  returns  of  the  great  interests 
specially  intrusted  to  or  necessarily  affected  by  the  legislation  of  Con- 
The  accompanjnng  report  of  the  Secretary  of  War  presents  a  satisfac- 
tory account  of  the  state  of  the  Army  and  of  the  several  branches  of  the 
pubHc  service  confided  to  the  superintendence  of  that  ofl&cer. 
The  law  increasing  and  organizing  the  military  establishment  of  the 
United  States  has  been  nearly  carried  into  effect,  and  the  Army  has  been 
extensively  and  usefully  employed  during  the  past  season. 
I  would  again  call  to  your  notice  the  subjects  connected  with  and 
essential  to  the  military  defenses  of  the  country  which  were  submitted 
to  you  at  the  last  session,  but  which  were  not  acted  upon,  as  is  supposed, 
for  want  of  time.  The  most  important  of  them  is  the  organization  of  the 
militia  on  the  maritime  and  inland  frontiers.  This  measure  is  deemed 
important,  as  it  is  beUeved  that  it  will  furnish  an  effective  volunteer  force 
in  aid  of  the  Regular  Army,  and  may  form  the  basis  of  a  general  system 
of  organization  for  the  entire  militia  of  the  United  States.  The  erection 
of  a  national  foundry  and  gunpowder  manufactory,  and  one  for  making 
small  arms,  the  latter  to  be  situated  at  some  point  west  of  the  Allegany 
Moimtains,  all  appear  to  be  of  suf&cient  importance  to  be  again  urged 
upon  your  attention. 
The  plan  proposed  by  the  Secretary  of  War  for  the  distribution  of  the 
forces  of  the  United  States  in  time  of  peace  is  well  calculated  to  promote 
regularity  and  economy  in  the  fiscal  administration  of  the  service,  to 
preserve  the  discipline  of  the  troops,  and  to  render  them  available  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  peace  and  tranquilhty  of  the  country.  With  this 
view,  likewise,  I  recotomend  the  adoption  of  the  plan  presented  by  that 
oflScer  for  the  defense  of  the  western  frontier.  The  preservation  of  the 
Uves  and  property  of  our  fellow-dtizens  who  are  settled  upon  that  bor-_ 
der  country,  as  well  as  the  existence  of  the  Indian  population,  which 
might  be.  tempted  by  our  want  of  preparation  to  rush  on  their  own 
destruction  and  attack  the  white  settlements,  all  seem  to  require  that 
this  subject  should  be  acted  upon  without  delky,  and  the  War  Depart- 
ment authorized  to  place  that  coimtry  in  a  state  of  complete  defense 
against  any  assault  from  the  numerous  and  warlike  tribes  which  are 
congregated  on  that  border. 
It  affords  me  sincere  pleasure  to  be  able  to  apprise  you  of  the  entire 
removal  of  the  Cherokee  Nation  of  Indiahs  to  their  new  homes  west  of 
the  Mississippi.   The  measures  authorized  by  Congress  at  its  last  session.
1/^5  Me:isu^e:^  and  I^apers  of  the  Presidents 
vvith  a  view  to  the  long-standing  controversy  with  them,  have  had  the 
happiest  effects.  By  an  agreement  concluded  with  them  by  the  com- 
manding general  in  that  country,  who  has  performed  the  duties  assigned 
to  him  on  the  occasion  with  commendable  energy  and  humanity,  their 
removal  has  been  principally  under  the  conduct  of  their  own  chiefs,  and 
they  have  emigrated  without  any  apparent  reluctance. 
The  successful  accomplishment  of  this  important  object,  the  removal 
also  of  the  entire  Creek  Nation  with  the  exception  of  a  small  number 
of  fugitives  amongst  the  Seminoles  in  Florida,  the  progress  already  made 
toward  a  speedy  completion  of  the  removal  of  the  Chickasaws,  the  Choc- 
taws,  the  Pottawatamies,  the  Ottawas,  and  the  Chippewas,  with  the  exten- 
sive purchases  of  Indian  lands  during  the  present  year,  have  rendered 
the  speedy  and  successful  result  of  the  long-established  policy  of  the 
Govfemment  upon  the  subject  of  Indian  affairs  entirely  certain.  The 
occasion  is  therefore  deemed  a  proper  one  to  place  this  policy  in  such  a 
point  of  view  as  will  exonerate  the  Government  of  the  United  States 
from  the  undeserved  reproach  which  has  been  cast  upon  it  through  sev- 
eral successive  Administrations.  That  a  mixed  occupancy  of  the  same 
territory  by  the  white  and  red  man  is  incompatible  with  the  safety  or 
happiness  of  either  is  a  position  in  respect  to  which  there  has  long  since 
ceased  to  be  room  for  a  difference  of  opinion.  Reason  and  experience 
have  alike  demonstrated  its  impracticability.  The  bitter  fruits  of  every 
attempt  heretofore  to  overcome  the  barriers  interposed  by  nature  have 
only  been  destruction,  both  physical  and  moral,  to  the  Indian,  dangerous 
conflicts  of  authority  between  the  Federal  and  State  Governments,  and 
detriment  to  the  individual  prosperity  of  the  citizen  as  well  as  to  the 
general  improvement  of  the  country.  The  remedial  poUcy,  the  principles 
of  which  were  settled  more  than  thirty  years  ago  under  the  Administra- 
tion of  Mr.  Jefferson,  consists  in  an  extinction,  for  a  fair  consideration,  of 
the  title  to  all  the  lands  still  occupied  by  the  Indians  within  the  States 
and  Territories  of  the  United  States;  their  removal  to  a  country  west  of 
the  Mississippi  much  more  extensive  and  better  adapted  to  their  condi- 
tion than  that  on  which  they  then  resided;  the  guarantee  to  them  by  the 
United  States  of  their  exclusive  possession  of  that  country  forever,  exempt 
from  all  intrusions  by  white  men,  with  ample  provisions  for  their  security 
against  external  violence  and  internal  dissensions,  and  the  extension  to 
them  of  suitable  facilities  for  their  advancement  in  civilization.  This 
has  not  been  the  policy  of  particular  Administrations  only,  but  of  each 
in  succession  since  the  first  attempt  to  carry  it  out  under  that  of  Mr, 
Monroe.  All  have  labored  for  its  accomplishment,  only  with  different 
degrees  of  success.  The  manner  of  its  execution  has,  it  is  true,  from 
time  to  time  given  rise  to  conflicts  of  opinion  and  unjust  imputations; 
but  in  respect  to  the  wisdom  and  necessity  of  the  policy  itself  there  has 
not  from  the  beginning  existed  a  doubt  in  the  mind  of  any  calm,  judi- 
cious, disinterested  friend  of  the  Indian  race  accustomed  to  reflection  and 
enhghtened  by  experience.
Martin  Van  Bur  en  1716 
Occupying  the  double  character  of  contractor  on  its  own  account  and 
guardian  for  the  parties  contracted  with,  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected 
that  the  dealings  of  the  Federal  Government  with  the  Indian  tribes 
would  escape  misrepresentation.  That  there  occurred  in  the  early  set- 
tlement of  this  country,  as  in  all  others  where  the  civilized  race  has 
succeeded  to  the  possessions  of  the  savage,  instances  of  oppression  and 
fraud  on  the  part  of  the  former  there  is  too  much  reason  to  believe.  No 
such  ofiFenses  can,  however,  be  justly  charged  upon  this  Government 
since  it  became  free  to  pursue  its  own  course.  Its  dealings  with  the 
Indian  tribes  have  been  just  and  friendly  throughout;  its  efforts  for  their 
civilization  constant,  and  directed  by  the  best  feeUngs  of  humanity;  its 
watchfulness  in  protecting  them  from  individual  frauds  unremitting; 
its  forbearance  under  the  keenest  provocations,  the  deepest  injuries,  and 
the  most  flagrant  outrages  may  challenge  at  least  a  comparison  with 
any  nation,  ancient  or  modem,  in  similar  circumstances;  and  if  in  future 
times  a  powerful,  civilized,  and  happy  nation  of  Indians  shall  be  found 
to  exist  within  the  limits  of  this  northern  continent  it  will  be  owing  to 
the  consummation  of  that  policy  which  has  been  so  unjustly  assailed. 
Only  a  very  brief  reference  to  facts  in  confirmation  of  this  assertion  can 
in  this  form  be  given,  and  you  are  therefore  necessarily  referred  to  the 
report  of  the  Secretary  of  War  for  further  details.  To  the  Cherokees, 
whose  case  has  perhaps  excited  the  greatest  share  of  attention  and  sym- 
pathy, the  United  States  have  granted  in  fee,  with  a  perpetual  guaranty 
of  exclusive  and  peaceable  possession,  I3,554ii35  acres  of  land  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Mississippi,  eligibly  situated,  in  a  healthy  climate,  and  in 
all  respects  better  suited  to  their  condition  than  the  country  they  have 
left,  in  exchange  for  only  9,492,160  acres  on  the  east  side  of  the  same 
river.  The  United  States  have  in  addition  stipulated  to  pay  them 
$5,600,000  for  their  interest  in  and  improvements  on  the  lands  thus 
relinquished,  and  $1,160,000  for  subsistence  and  other  beneficial  pur- 
poses, thereby  putting  it  in  their  power  to  become  one  of  the  most 
wealthy  and  independent  separate  communities  of  the  same  extent  in 
the  world. 
By  the  treaties  made  and  ratified  with  the  Miamies,  the  Chippewas,  the 
Sioux,  the  Sacs  and  Poxes,  and  the  Winnebagoes  during  the  last  year 
the  Indian  title  to  18,458,000  acrv  s  has  been  extinguished.  These  pur- 
chases have  been  much  more  extensive  than  those  of  any  previous  year, 
and  have,  with  other  Indian  expenses,  borne  very  heavily  upon  the  Treas- 
ury. They  leave,  however,  but  a  small  quantity  of  unbought  Indian  lands 
within  the  States  and  Territories,  and  the  Legislature  and  Executive 
were  equally  sensible  of  the  propriety  of  a  final  and  more  speedy  extinc- 
tion of  Indian  titles  within  those  limits.  The  treaties,  which  were  with 
a  single  exception  made  in  pursuance  of  previous  appropriations  for 
defraying  the  expenses,  have  subsequently  been  ratified  by  the  Senate, 
and  received  the  sanction  of  Congress  by  the  appropriations  necessary  to
1 7 1 7  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
carry  them  into  effect.  Of  the  terms  upon  which  these  important  nego- 
tiations were  concluded  I  can  speak  from  direct  knowledge,  and  I  feel  no 
difficulty  in  affirming  that  the  interest  of  the  Indians  in  the  extensive 
territory  embraced  by  them  is  to  be  paid  for  at  its  fair  value,  and  that 
no  more  favorable  terms  have  been  granted  to  the  United  States  than 
would  have  been  reasonably  expected  in  a  negotiation  with  civilized  men 
fully  capable  of  appreciating  and  protecting  their  own  rights.  For  the 
Indian  title  to  116,349,897  acres  acquired  since  the  4th  of  March,  1829, 
the  United  States  have  paid  $72,560,056  in  permanent  annuities,  lands, 
reservations  for  Indians,  expenses  of  removal  and  subsistence,  merchan- 
dise, mechanical  and  agricultural  establishments  and  implements.  When 
the  heavy  expenses  incurred  by  the  United  States  and  the  circumstance 
that  so  large  a  portion  of  the  entire  t'erritory  will  be  forever  unsalable 
are  considered,  and  this  price  is  compared  with  that  for  which  the  United 
States  sell  their  own  lands,  no  one  can  doubt  that  justice  has  been  done 
to  the  Indians  in  these  purchases  also.  Certain  it  is  that  the  transactions 
of  the  Federal  Government  with  the  Indians  have  been  uniformly  char- 
acterized by  a  sincere  and  paramount  desire  to  promote  their  welfare; 
and  it  must  be  a  source  of  the  highest  gratification  to  every  friend  to 
justice  and  humanity  to  learn  that  notwithstanding  the  obstructions 
from  time  to  time  thrown  in  its  way  and  the  difficulties  which  have 
arisen  from  the  peculiar  and  impracticable  nature  of  the  Indian  charac- 
ter, the  wise,  humane,  and  undeviating  policy  of  the  Government  in  this 
the  most  difficult  of  all  our  relations,  foreign  or  domestic,  has  at  length 
been  justified  to  the  world  in  its  near  approach  to  a  happy  and  certain 
consummation. 
The  condition  of  the  tribes  which  occupy  the  coimtry  set  apart  for 
them  in  the  West  is  highly  prosperous,  and  encourages  the  hope  of  their 
early  civilization.  They  have  for  the  most  part  abandoned  the  hunter 
state  and  turned  their  attention  to  agricultural  pursuits.  All  those  who 
have  been  established  for  any  length  of  time  in  that  fertile  region  main- 
tain themselves  by  their  own  industry.  There  are  among  them  traders 
of  no  inconsiderable  capital,  and  planters  exporting  cotton  to  some  extent, 
but  the  greater  number  are  small  agriculturists,  living  in  comfort  upon 
the  produce  of  their  farms.  The  recent  emigrants,  although  they  have 
in  some  instances  removed  reluctantly,  have  readily  acquiesced  in  their 
unavoidable  destiny.  They  have  found  at  once  a  recompense  for  past 
sufferings  and  an  incentive  to  industrious  habits  in  the  abundance  and 
comforts  around  them.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  all  these  tribes 
are  friendly  in  their  feelings  toward  the  United  States;  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  the  acquisition  of  individual  wealth,  the  pursuits  of  agricul- 
ture, and  habits  of  industry  will  gradually  subdue  their  warlike  propen- 
sities and  incline  them  to  maintain  peace  among  themselves.  To  effect 
this  desirable  object  the  attention  of  Congress  is  solicited  to  the  measures 
recommended  by  the  Secretary  of  War  for  their  future  government  and
Martin  Van  Buren  17 18 
protection,  as  well  from  each  other  as  from  the  hostility  of  the  warlike 
tribes  around  them  and  the  intrusions  of  the  whites.  The  poHcy  of  the 
Government  has  given  them  a  permanent  home  and  guaranteed  to  them 
its  peaceful  and  undisturbed  possession.  It  only  remains  to  give  them  a 
government  and  laws  which  will  encourage  industry  and  secure  to  them 
the  rewards  of  their  exertions.  The  importance  of  some  form  of  gov- 
ernment can  not  be  too  much  insisted  upon.  The  earliest  effects  will  be 
to  diminish  the  causes  and  occasions  for  hostilities  among  the  tribes,  to 
inspire  an  interest  in  the  observance  of  laws  to  which  they  will  have 
themselves  a^^nted,  and  to  multiply  the  securities  of  property  and  the 
motives  for  self-improvement.  Intimately  connected  with  this  subject 
is  the  establishment  of  the  military  defenses  recommended  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  War,  which  have  been  already  referred  to.  Without  them  the 
Government  will  be  powerless  to  redeem  its  pledge  of  protection  lo  the 
emigrating  Indians  against  the  numerous  warUke  tribes  that  surround 
them  and  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  the  frontier  settlers  of  the  bordering 
States.  • 
The  case  of  the  Seminoles  constitutes  at  present  the  only  exception 
to  the  successful  efforts  of  the  Government  to  remove  the  Indians  to  the 
homes  assigned  them  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Four  hundred  of  this 
tribe  emigrated  in  1836  and  1,500  in  1837  ^^^  1838,  leaving  in  the  coun- 
try, it  is  supposed,  about  2,000  Indians.  The  continued  treacherous 
conduct  of  these  people;  the  savage  and  unprovoked  murders  they  have 
lately  committed,  butchering  whole  famiUes  of  the  settlers  of  the  Terri- 
tory without  distinction  of  age  or  sex,  and  making  their  way  into  the 
very  center  and  heart  of  the  country,  so  that  no  part  of  it  is  free  from 
their  ravages;  their  frequent  attacks  on  the  light-houses  along  that  dan- 
gerous coast,  and  the  barbarity  with  which  they  have  murdered  the  pas- 
sengers and  crews  of  such  vessels  as  have  been  wrecked  upon  the  reefs 
and  keys  which  border  the  Gulf,  leave  the  Government  no  alternative 
but  to  continue  the  military  operations  against  them  until  they  are  totally 
expelled  from  Florida.  There  are  other  motives  which  would  urge  the 
Government  to  pursue  this  course  toward  the  Seminoles.  The  United 
States  have  fulfilled  in  good  faith  all  their  treaty  stipulations  with  the 
Indian  tribes,  and  have  in  every  other  instance  insisted  upon  a  like  per- 
formance of  their  obligations.  To  relax  from  this  salutary  rule  because 
the  Seminoles  have  maintained  themselves  so  long  in  the  territory  they 
had  relinquished,  and  in  defiance  of  their  frequent  and  solemn  engage- 
ments still  continue  to  wage  a  ruthless  war  against  the  United  States, 
would  not  only  evince  a  want  of  constancy  on  our  part,  but  be  of  evil 
example  in  our  intercourse  with  other  tribes.  Experience  has  shown 
that  but  little  is  to  be  gained  by  the  march  of  armies  through  a  country 
so  intersected  with  inaccessible  swamps  and  marshes,  and  which,  from 
the  fatal  character  of  the  climate,  must  be  abandoned  at  the  end  of  the 
winter.     I  recommend,  therefore,  to  your  attention  the  plan  submitted
17 19  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
by  the  Secretary  of  War  in  the  accompanying  report,  for  the  permanent 
occupation  of  the  portion  of  the  Territory  freed  from  the  Indians  and  the 
more  efficient  protection  of  the  people  of  Florida  from  their  inhuman 
warfare. 
From  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  herewith  transmitted 
it  will  appear  that  a  large  portion  of  the  disposable  naval  force  is  eithet 
actively  employed  or  in  a  state  of  preparation  for  the  purposes  of  experi- 
ence and  discipline  and  the  protection  of  our  commerce.  So  effectual 
has  been  this  protection  that  so  far  as  the  information  of  Government 
extends  not  a  single  outrage  has  been  attempted  on  a  vessel  carrying  the 
flag  of  the  United  States  within  the  present  year,  in  any  quarter,  how- 
ever distant  or  exposed. 
The  exploring  expedition  sailed  from  Norfolk  on  the  19th  of  August 
last,  and  information  has  been  received  of  its  safe  arrival  at  the  island  of 
Madeira.  The  best  spirit  animates  the  officers  and  crews,  and  there  is 
every  reason  to  anticipate  from  its  efforts  results  beneficial  to  commerce 
and  honorable  to  the  nation. 
It  will  also  be  seen  that  no  reduction  of  the  force  now  in  commission 
is  contemplated.  The  unsettled  state  of  a  portion  of  South  America 
renders  it  indispensable  that  our  commerce  should  receive  protection  in 
that  quarter;  the  vast  and  increasing  interests  embarked  in  the  trade  of 
the  Indian  and  China  seas,  in  the  whale  fisheries  of  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
and  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  require  equal  attention  to  their  safety,  and  a 
small  squadron  may  be  employed  to  great  advantage  on  our  Atlantic 
coast  in  mating  sudden  demands  for  the  reenforcement  of  other  sta- 
tions, in  aiding  merchant  vessels  in  distress,  in  affording  active  service 
to  an  additional  number  of  officers,  and  in  visiting  the  different  ports  of 
the  United  States,  an  acctu'ate  knowledge  of  which  is  obviously  of  the 
highest  importance. 
The  attention  of  Congress  is  respectfully  called  to  that  portion  of  the 
report  recommending  an  increase  in  the  number  of  smaller  vessels,  and 
to  other  suggestions  contained  in  that  doctunent.  The  rapid  increase 
and  wide  expansion  of  our  commerce,  which  is  every  day  seeking  new 
avenues  of  profitable  adventure;  the  absolute  necessity  of  a  naval  force 
for  its  protection  precisely  in  the  degree  of  its  extension;  a  due  regard 
^.o  the  national  rights  and  honor;  the  recollection  of  its  former  exploits, 
smd  the  anticipation  of  its  future  triumphs  whenever  opportunity  pre- 
sents itself,  which  we  may  rightfully  indulge  from  the  experience  of 
the  past — all  seem  to  point  to  the  Navy  as  a  most  efficient  arm  of  our 
national  defense  and  a  proper  object  of  legislative  encouragement. 
The  progress  and  condition  of  the  Post-Office  Department  will  be  seen 
by  reference  to  the  report  of  the  Postmaster-General.  The  extent  of 
post-roads  covered  by  mail  contracts  is  stated  to  be  1 34^8 18  miles,  and 
the  annual  transportation  upon  them  34,580,202  miles.  The  nimiber  of 
post-offices  in  the  United  States  is  12,553,  and  rapidly  increasing.     The
Martin  Van  Buren  1720 
gross  revenue  for  the  year  ending  on  the  30th  day  of  June  last  was 
$4,262,145;  the  accruing  expenditures,  $4,680,068;  excess  of  expendi- 
tures, $417,923.  This  has  been  made  up  out  of  the  siuplus  previously 
on  hand.  The  cash  on  hand  on  the  ist  instant  was  $314,068.  The 
revenue  for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1838,  was  $161,540  more  than  that 
for  the  year  ending  June  30,  1837.  The  expenditures  of  the  Depart- 
ment had  been  graduated  upon  the  anticipation  of  a  largely  increased 
revenue.  A  moderate  curtailment  of  mail  service  consequently  became 
necessary,  and  has  been  effected,  to  shield  the  Department  against  the 
danger  of  embarrassment.  Its  revenue  is  now  improving,  and  it  will 
soon  resume  its  onward  course  in  the  march  of  improvement. 
Your  particular  attention  is  requested  to  so  much  of  the  Postmaster- 
General's  report  as  relates  to  the  transportation  of  the  mails  upon  rail- 
roads. The  laws  on  that  subject  do  not  seem  adequate  to  secure  that 
service,  now  become  almost  essential  to  the  public  interests,  and  at  the 
same  time  protect  the  Department  from  combinations  and  unreasonable 
demands. 
Nor  can  I  too  earnestly  request  your  attention  to  the  necessity  of  pro- 
viding a  more  secure  building  for  this  Department.  The  danger  of 
destruction  to  which  its  important  books  and  papers  are  continually 
exposed,  as  well  from  the  highly  combustible  character  of  the  building 
occupied  as  from  that  of  others  in  the  vicinity,  calls  loudly  for  prompt 
action. 
Your  attention  is  again  earnestly  invited  to  the  suggestions  and  rec- 
ommendations submitted  at  the  last  session  in  respect  to  the  District  of 
Columbia. 
I  feel  it  my  duty  also  to  bring  to  your  notice  certain  proceedings  at 
law  which  have  recently  been  prosecuted  in  this  District  in  the  name 
of  the  United  States,  on  the  relation  of  Messrs.  Stockton  &  Stokes,  of 
the  State  of  Maryland,  against  the  Postmaster-General,  and  which  have 
resulted  in  the  pa3nnent  of  money  out  of  the  National  Treasury,  for  the 
first  time  since  the  establishment  of  the  Government,  by  judicial  compul- 
sion exercised  by  the  common-law  writ  of  mandamus  issued  by  the  cir- 
cuit court  of  this  District. 
The  facts  of  the  case  and  the  grounds  of  the  proceedings  will  be.  found 
fully  stated  in  the  report  of  the  decision,  and  any  additional  information 
which  you  may  desire  will  be  supplied  by  the  proper  Department.  No 
interference  in  the  particular  case  is  contemplated.  The  money  has  been 
paid,  the  claims  of  the  prosecutors  have  been  satisfied,  and  the  whole 
subject,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned,  is  finally  disposed  of;  but  it  is 
on  the  supposition  that  the  case  may  be  regarded  as  an  authoritative 
exposition  of  the  law  as  it  now  stands  that  I  have  thought  it  necessary 
to  present  it  to  your  consideration. 
The  object  of  the  application  to  the  circuit  court  was  to  compel  the 
Postmaster-General  to  carry  into  effect  an  award  made  by  the  Solicitor
1 7  2 1  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
of  the  Treasury,  under  a  special  act  of  Congress  for  the  settlement  of  cer- 
tain claims  of  the  relators  on  the  Post-Ofi&ce  Department,  which  award  the 
Postmaster-General  declined  to  execute  in  full  until  he  should  receive 
further  legislative  direction  on  the  subject.  If  the  duty  imposed  on  the 
Postmaster-General  by  that  law  was  to  be  regarded  as  one  of  an  official 
nature,  belonging  to  his  office  as  a  branch  of  the  executive,  then  it  is 
obvious  that  the  constitutional  competency  of  the  judiciary  to  direct  and 
control  him  in  its  discharge  was  necessarily  drawn  in  question;  and  if 
the  duty  so  imposed  on  the  Postmaster-General  was  to  be  considered  as 
merely  ministerial,  and  not  executive,  it  yet  remained  to  be  shown  that 
the  circuit  court  of  this  District  had  authority  to  interfere  by  mandamus, 
such  a  power  having  never  before  been  asserted  or  claimed  by  that  court. 
With  a  view  to  the  settlement  of  these  important  questions,  the  judgment 
of  the  circuit  court  was  carried  by  a  writ  of  error  to  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States.  In  the  opinion  of  that  tribunal  the  duty  imposed 
on  the  Postmaster-General  was  not  an  official  executive  duty,  but  one 
of  a  merely  ministerial  nature.  Thp  grave  constitutional  questions 
which  had  been  discussed  were  therefore  excluded  from  the  decision  of 
the  case,  the  court,  indeed,  expressly  admitting  that  with  powers  and 
duties  properly  belonging  to  the  executive  no  other  department  can  inter- 
fere by  the  writ  of  mandamus;  and  the  question  therefore  resolved  itself 
into  this:  Has  Congress  conferred  upon  the  circuit  court  of  this  District 
the  power  to  issue  3uch  a  writ  to  an  officer  of  the  General  Government 
commanding  him  to  perform  a  ministerial  act?  A  majority  of  the  court 
have  decided  that  it  has,  but  have  founded  their  decision  upon  a  process 
of  reasoning  which  in  my  judgment  renders  further  legislative  provision 
indispensable  to  the  public  interests  and  the  equal  administration  of 
justice. 
It  has  long  since  been  decided  by  the  Supreme  Court  that  neither  that 
tribunal  nor  the  circuit  courts  of  the  United  States,  held  within  the 
respective  States,  possess  the  power  in  question;  but  it  is  now  held  that 
this  power,  denied  to  both  of  these  high  tribunals  (to  the  former  by  the 
Constitution  and  to  the  latter  by  Congress),  has  been  by  its  legislation 
vested  in  the  circuit  court  of  this  District. ,  No  such  direct  grant  of  power 
to  the  circuit  court  of  this  District  is  claimed,  but  it  has  been  held  to 
result  by  necessary  impUcation  from  several  sections  of  the  law  estab- 
lishing the  court.  One  of  these  sections  declares  that  the  laws  of  Mary- 
land, as  they  existed  at  the  time  of  the  cession,  should  be  in  force  in  that 
part  of  the  District  ceded  by  that  State,  and  by  this  provision  the  common 
law  in  civil  and  criminal  cases,  as  it  prevailed  in  Maryland  in  1801,  was 
established  in  that  part  of  the  District. 
In  England  the  court  of  king's  bench — because  the  Sovereign,  who, 
according  to  the  theory  of  the  constitution,  is  the  fountain  of  justice, 
originally  sat  there  in  person,  and  is  still  deemed  to  be  present  in  con- 
struction of  law — alone  possesses  the  high  power  of ''issuing  the  writ  of
Alartin  Van  Buren  1722 
mandamus,  not  only  to  inferior  jurisdictions  and  corporations,  but  also  to 
magistrates  and  others,  commanding  them  in  the  King's  name  to  do  what 
their  duty  requires  in  cases  where  there  is  a  vested  right  and  no  other 
specific  remedy.  It  has  been  held  in  the  case  referred  to  that  as  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  is  by  the  Constitution  rendered 
incompetent  to  exercise  this  power,  and  as  the  circuit  court  of  this  Dis- 
trict is  a  court  of  general  jurisdiction  in  cases  at  common  law,  and  the 
highest  court  of  original  jurisdiction  in  the  District,  the  right  to  issue 
the  writ  of  mandamus  is  incident  to  its  common-law  powers.  Another 
groxmd  relied  upon  to  maintain  the  power  in  question  is  that  it  was 
included  by  fair  construction  in  the  powers  granted  to  the  circuit  courts 
of  the  United  States  by  the  act  **to  provide  for  the  more  convenient 
organization  of  the  courts  of  the  United  States,'*  passed  13th  February, 
1 801;  that  the  act  establishing  the  circuit  court  of  this  District,  passed 
the  27th  day  of  February,  1801,  conferred  upon  that  court  and  the  judges 
thereof  the  same  powers  as  were  by  law  vested  in  the  circuit  courts  of 
the  United  States  and  in  the  judges  of  the  said  courts;  that  the  repeal 
of  the  first-mentioned  act,  which  took  place  in  the  next  year,  did  not 
divest  the  circuit  court  of  this  District  of  the  authority  in  dispute,  but 
left  it  still  clothed  with  the  powers  over  the  subject  which,  it  is  con- 
ceded, were  taken  away  from  the  circuit  courts  of  the  United  States  by 
the  repeal  of  the  act  of  13th  February,  1801. 
Admitting  that  the  adoption  of  the  laws  of  Maryland  for  a  portion  of 
this  District  confers  on  the  circuit  court  thereof,  in  that  portion,  the 
transcendent  extrajudicial  prerogative  powers  of  the  court  of  king's 
bench  in  England,  or  that  either  ^f  the  acts  of  Congress  by  necessary 
implication  authorizes  the  former  court  to  issue  a  writ  of  mandamus  to 
an  ofl&cer  of  the  United  States  to  compel  him  to  perform  a  ministerial 
duty,  the  consequences  are  in  one  respect  the  same.  The  result  in  either 
case  is  that  the  oflScers  of  the  United  States  stationed  in  different  parts 
of  the  United  States  are,  in  respect  to  the  performance  of  their  official 
duties,  subject  to  different  laws  and  a  different  supervision — those  in  the 
States  to  one  rule,  and  those  in  the  District  of  Columbia  to  another  and 
a  very  different  one.  In  the  District  their  official  conduct  is  subject  to  a 
judicial  control  from  which  in  the  States  they  ^re  exempt. 
Whatever  difference  of  opinion  may  exist  as  to  the  expediency  of  vest- 
ing such  a  power  in  the  judiciary  in  a  system  of  government  constituted 
like  that  of  the  United  States,  all  must  agree  that  these  disparaging  dis- 
crepancies in  the  law  and  in  the  administration  of  justice  ought  not  to  be 
permitted  to  continue;  and  as  Congress  alone  can  provide  the  remedy,  the 
subject  is  imavoidably  presented  to  your  consideration. 
M.  VAN  BUREN.
1723  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
SPECIAL  MESSAGES. 
Washington,  December  6,  1838. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
The  act  of  the  ist  July,  1836,  to  enable  the  Executive  to  assert  and 
prosecute  with  eflFect  the  claim  of  the  United  States  to  the  legacy  be- 
queathed to  them  by  James  Smithson,  late  of  I^ondon,  having  received. its 
entire  execution,  and  the  amount  recovered  and  paid  into  the  Treasury 
having,  agreeably  to  an  act  of  the  last  session,  been  invested  in  State 
stocks,  I  deem  it  proper  to  invite  the  attention  of  Congress  to  the  obli- 
gation now  devolving  upon  the  United  States  to  fulfill  the  object  of  the 
bequest.  In  order  to  obtain  such  information  as  might  serve  to  facilitate 
its  attainment,  the  Secretary  of  State  was  directed  in  July  last  to  apply 
to  persons  versed  in  science  and  familiar  with  the  subject  of  public  edu- 
cation for  their  views  as  to  the  mode  of  disposing  of  the  fund  best  cal- 
culated to  meet  the  intentions  of  the  testator  and  prove  most  beneficial 
to  mankind.  Copies  of  the  circular  letter  written  in  compliance  with 
these  directions,  and  of  the  answers  to  it  received  at  the  Department  of 
State,  are  herewith  communicated  for  the  consideration  of  Congress. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  December  7, 1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  oftheJJnited  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives  reports*  from  the 
Secretary  of  State  and  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  with  accompany- 
ing documents,  in  answer  to  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  the  9th  of  July 
last. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  December  8,  1838. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  a  special  report  made  to  me  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  for  your  consideration,  in  relation  to  the  recently  discovered 
default  of  Samuel  Swartwout,  late  collector  of  the  customs  at  the  port  of 
New  York. 
I  would  respectfully  invite  the  early  attention  of  Congress  to  the  adop- 
tion of  the  legal  provisions  therein  suggested,  or  such  other  measures  as 
may  appear  more  expedient,  for  increasing  the  public  security  against 
similar  defalcations  hereafter. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
•Trmnsmltting  oommnnicatioiu,  pApen,  docnments,  etc.,  elucidating  the  origin  and  objecuof  the 
Smithflonian  bequest  and  the  origl««  prognM,  and  ooaaummation  of  the  procen  by  which  that 
bcqueat  was  rcoorered,  cte.
Martin  Van  Buren  1724 
Washington,  December  14, 1838. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
With  the  accompanying  communication  of  the  Secretary  of  War  I 
transmit,  for  the  consideration  and  constitutional  action  of  the  Senate, 
a  treaty  concluded  with  the  Miami  tribe  of  Indians  on  the  6th  ultimo. 
Your  attention  is  invited  to  that  section  which  reserves  a  tract  of  land 
for  the  use  of  certain  Indians,  and  to  other  reservations  contained  in  the 
treaty.  All  such  reservations  are  objectionable,  but  for  the  reasons 
given  by  the  Secretary  of  War  I  submit  to  your  consideration  whether 
the  circumstances  attending  this  negotiation,  and  the  great  importance 
of  removing  the  Miamies  from  the  State  of  Indiana,  will  warrant  a  depar- 
ture in  this  instance  from  the  salutary  rule  of  excluding  all  reservations 
from  Indian  treaties. 
M.  VAN  BURBN. 
Wax  DSPA&TICSMT,  December  14, 1838, 
The  President  of  the  United  States. 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  lay  before  you,  for  submission  to  the  Senate  for  its  action 
if  approved  by  you,  a  treaty  with  the  Miami  tribe  of  Indians  concluded  on  the  6th 
ultimo.  In  doing  so  I  beg  to  call  your  attention  to  that  section  which  reserves  from 
the  cession  made  by  the  Miamies  a  tract  of  land  supposed  to  contain  10  square  miles, 
and  to  other  reservations  according  to  a  schedule  appended  to  the  treaty.  The  com- 
missioner who  negotiated  this  treaty  is  of  opinion  that  it  could  not  have  been 
concluded  if  he  had  not  so  far  departed  ficom  his  instructions  as  to  admit  these  res- 
ervations. And  it  is  to  be  feared  that  if  the  rules  adopted  by  the  Department  in  this 
particular  be  insisted  upon  on  this  occasion  it  will  very  much  increase  the  difficulty, 
if  it  does  not  render  it  impracticable  to  acquire  this  land  and  remove  these  Indians — 
objects  of  so  much  importance  to  the  United  States  and  especially  to  the  State  of 
Indiana. 
Very  respectfully,  your  most  obedient  servant, 
J.  R.  poiNsmr. 
Washington,  December  18,  1838. 
To  the  House  0/ Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  the  accompanying  documents,  marked  from  i  to  5,*  in  reply 
to  a  resolution  of  yesterday's  date,  calling  for  copies  of  correspondence 
between  the  Executive  of  the  General  Government  and  the  governor  of 
Pennsylvania  in  relation  to  **a  call  of  the  latter  for  an  armed  force 
of  United  States  troops  since  the  present  session  of  Congress,"  and 
requiring  information  ''whether  any  oflScer  of  the  United  States  insti- 
gated or  participated  *  *  in  the  riotous  proceedings  referred  to  in  the  resolu- 
tion, and  **what  measures,  if  any,  the  President  has  taken  to  investigate 
and  punish  the  said  acts,  and  whether  any  such  officer  still  remains  in 
the  service  of  the  United  States." 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
•  Ktistiaff  to  the  "  Bttduhot  wsr.»'
1725  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Washington,  December  20,  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives: 
I  have  the  honor  to  transmit  herewith  additional  letters  and  docu- 
ments* embraced  in  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  17th  instant.  j^   y^^^  BUREN. 
Washington,  December  20,  1838. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives: 
An  important  difference  of  opinion  haying  arisen  concerning  the  con- 
struction of  an  act  of  Congress  making  a  grant  of  land  to  the  State  of 
Indiana,t  and  in  which  she  feels  a  deep  interest,  I  deem  it  proper  to  sub- 
mit all  the  material  facts  to  your  consideration,  with  a  view  to  procure 
such  additional  legislation  as  the  facts  of  the  case  may  appear  to  render 
proper. 
The  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  the  documents  annexed 
from  the  General  I^nd  Office  will  disclose  all  the  circumstances  deemed 
material  in  relation  to  the  subject,  and  are  herewith  presented. 
M.  VAN  BURBN. 
Washington,  December  26,  1838. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  for  your  consideration  the  inclosed  communication  and 
accompanying  documents  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  relative  to  the 
present  state  of  the  Pea  Patch  Island,  in  the  Delaware  River,  and  of 
the  operations  going  on  there  for  the  erection  of  defenses  for  that  impor- 
tant channel  of  commerce. 
It  will  be  seen  from  these  documents  that  a  complete  stop  has  been  put 
to  t^ose  operations  in  consequence  of  the  island  having  been  taken  pos- 
session of  by  the  individual  claimant  under  the  decision,  in  his  favor,  of 
the  United  States  district  court  for  the  district  of  New  Jersey,  and  that 
unless  early  measures  are  taken  to  bring  the  island  within  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Government  great  loss  and  injury  will  result  to  the  future 
operations  for  carrying  on  the  works.  The  importance  of  the  subject 
would  seem  to  render  it  worthy  of  the  early  attention  of  Congress. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  December,  1838. 
To  the  Senate: 
I  transmit  a  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  accompanied  by  a  com- 
munication from  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  on  the  subject 
of  granting  to  the  Chickasaw  Indians  subsistence  for  the  further  term  of 
*  RelAtinr  to  the  "  Buckshot  war." 
tin  aid  of  the  oonstniction  of  the  Wabash  and  Brie  Can«l.
Martin  Van  Buren  1726 
seven  months.  Should  it  be  the  pleasure  of  the  Senate  to  give  its  sanc- 
tion to  the  measure  suggested  by  the  Commissioner  for  t^i<^  purpose,  my 
own  will  not  be  withheld, 
^    M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washinoton,  January  7,  iSjg. 
To  ihe  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
In  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  20th  December 
last,  I  communicate  to  the  Senate  reports  from  the  several  Executive 
Departments,  containing  the  information*  called  for  by  said  resolution. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  January  p,  1839. 
The  Prksidbht  op  thb  Sbnato  op  the  United  States. 
Sir:  I  transmit  herewith  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  in 
answer  to  the  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  3d  instant,  calling  for  infor- 
mation in  regard  to  the  examinations  of  inventions  designed  to  prevent 
the  calamities  resulting  from  the  explosion  of  steam  boilers,  directed  by 
the  acts  of  Congress  of  the  2dth  of  June  and  the  9th  of  July  last. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  January  10,  1839. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives: 
I  communicate  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  compliance  with 
its  resolution  of  the  3d  instant,  reports f  from  the  Secretaries  of  State 
and  War,  containing  all  the  information  called  for  by  said  resolution  now 
in  possession  of  the  Executive. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington, /a««arK  //,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  a  report  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  in  reply  to  the 
resolution  of  the  Senate  of  yesterday's  date,  calling  for  information 
respecting  the  agreement  between  him  and  the  United  States  Bank  of 
Pennsylvania  on  the  subject  of  the  sale  or  pa5rment  of  certain  bonds 
of  that  institution  held  by  the  United  States,  and  respecting  the  dis- 
position made  of  the  proceeds  thereof. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
*  Copies  of  orders  and  instructions  issued  since  April  14, 1836,  relative  to  the  kind  of  money  and 
Oank  notes  to  be  paid  out  on  account  of  the  United  States. 
t&elatinff  to  the  invasion  of  the  southwestern  frontier  of  the  United  States  by  |an  farmed  force 
from  the  Republic  of  Texas.
1727  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
^ ssBxas^ortOY^^  January  is,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  UniUd  States: 
In  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  9th  of  July  last, 
I  transmit  reports*  from  the  several  Departments  of  the  Government  to 
which  t}iat  resolution  was  referred. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  January  16,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  tlie  United  States: 
I  lay  before  you  a  communication  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  which  is 
accompanied  by  one  from  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs,  suggesting 
the  propriety  of  setting  apart  a  tract  of  country  west  of  the  Mississippi 
for  the  Seminole  Indians,  so  that  they  may  be  separate  from  the  Creeks, 
and  representing  the  necessity  of  a  small  appropriation  for  supplying  the 
immediate  wants  of  those  who  have  been  removed;  and  I  respectfully 
recommend  these  subjects  for  the  early  consideration  and  favorable  action 
of  Congress. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
January  17,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives: 
I  herewith  communicate  to  Congress  a  letter  from  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  in  respect  to  the  Florida  claims  under  the  treaty  of  18 19 
and  the  subsequent  acts  of  Congress  passed  to  enforce  it. 
The  propriety  of  some  additional  legislation  on  this  subject  seems 
obvious.  The  period  when  the  evidence  on  the  claims  shall  be  closed 
ought,  in  my  opinion,  to  be  limited,  as  they  are  already  of  long  stand- 
ing, and,  as  a  general  consequence,  the  proof  of  their  justice  every  day 
becoming  more  and  more  unsatisfactory. 
It  seems  also  that  the  task  of  making  the  final  examination  into  the 
justice  of  the  awards  might  advantageously  be  devolved  upon  some  other 
oflBcer  or  tribunal  than  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  considering  the 
other  responsible,  laborious,  and  numerous  duties  imposed  on  him  at 
the  present  juncture. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  January  77,  7<?jp. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  a  communication  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, which  presents  for  the  consideration  of  Congress  the  propriety  of 
so  changing  the  second  section  of  the  act  of  March  2,  1837,  as  that  the 
^Timnamittiiiir  statements  of  cases  in  which  a  per  centum  has  been  allowed  to  public  officers  on 
disbttrsementi  of  public  moneys.
Martin  Van  Buren  1728 
existing  humane  provisions  of  the  laws  for  the  relief  of  certain  insolvent 
debtors  of  the  United  States  may  be  extended  to  such  cases  of  insolvency 
as  shall  have  occurred  on  or  before  the  ist  day  of  January^  1839 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  January  77,  1839. 
The  Speakbr  of  the  House  op  Rbprbsentatives: 
In  answer  to  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the 
14th  instant,  calling  for  information  as  to  the  proceedings  under  the  act 
of  Congress  of  the  28th  of  June  last,  providing  for  examinations  of 
inventions  designed  to  prevent  the  explosion  of  steam  boilers,  I  transmit 
herewith  a  copy  of  a  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  which  was 
made  to  the  Senate  in  answer  to  a  similar  call  from  that  body,  as  con- 
taining the  information  called  for. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  January  18, 1839. 
To  the  House  oj  Representatives: 
In  addition  to  the  information  contained  in  a  report  from  the  Secre- 
tary of  State  communicated  with  my  message  of  the  30th  April,  1838, 
I  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  report*  from  the  Secretary 
of  War,  dated  the  i6th  instant,  in  ^mswer  to  a  resolution  of  the  House 
of  the  19th  March  last,  and  containing  so  much  of  the  information  called 
for  by  said  resolution  as  could  be  furnished  by  his  Department. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington, /a««arv  21,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  oJ  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  to  the  Senate,  for  their  consideration  in  reference 
to  its  ratification,  a  treaty  of  commerce  and  navigation  between  the 
United  States  of  America  and  His  Majesty  the  King  of  the  Netherlands, 
signed  at  this  place  on  the  19th  instant  by  the  Secretary  of  State  and 
the  charg^  d'affaires  of  the  Netherlands  in  the  United  States. 
M.  VAN  BUREN.' 
Washington,  January  21,  1839, 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  for  the  consideration  of  the  Senate  with  a  view  to  its  ratifi- 
cation a  convention  for  the  adjustment  of  claims  of  citizens  of  the  United 
States  upon  the  Government  of  the  Mexican  Republic,  concluded  and 
*  Relating  to  the  intermeddling  of  any  foreign  government,  or  subjects  or  officers  thereof,  with 
the  Indian  tribes  in  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  the  territory  beyond  the  Rocky  MounUins,  or  else- 
where within  the  limits  of  the  United  SUiet,  etc
1729  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
signed  in  this  dty  on  the  loth  of  September  last  by  John  Porsjrth,  Sec- 
retary of  State  of  the  United  States,  and  Francisco  Pizarro  Martinez, 
envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipotentiary  of  the  Mexican  Repub- 
lic, on  the  part  of  their  respective  Governments. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  January  21,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  a  treaty  negotiated  with  the  New  York  Indians,  which  was 
submitted  to  your  body  in  June  last  and  amended.  The  amendments 
have,  in  pursuance  of  the  requirement  of  the  Senate,  been  submitted  to 
each  of  the  tribes,  assembled  in  council,  for  their  free  and  voluntary  assent 
or  dissent  thereto.  In  respect  to  all  the  tribes  except  the  Senecas  the 
result  of  this  application  has  been  entirely  satisfactory.  It  will  be  seen 
by  the  accompanying  papers  that  of  this  tribe,  the  most  important  of 
those  concerned,  the  assent  of  only  42  out  of  81  chiefs  has  been  obtained. 
I  deem  it  advisable  under  these  circumstances  to  submit  the  treaty  in  its 
modified  form  to  the  Senate,  for  its  advic^  in  regard  of  the  sufB.ciency  of 
the  assent  of  the  Senecas  to  the  amendments  proposed. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  January  24.,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  to  the  Senate,  for  their  consideration  in  reference 
to  its  ratification,  a  treaty  of  commerce  and  navigation  between  the 
United  States  of  America  and  His  Majesty  the  King  of  Sardinia,  signed 
at  Genoa  on  the  26th  of  November  last  by  the  plenipotentiaries  of  the 
contracting  parties. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  January  ^5,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  Senate  a  report  *  from  the  Secretary  of  State, 
in  answer  to  their  resolution  of  the  22d  instant. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  fanuary  26, 1839. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  lay  before  you,  for  your  consideration,  a  treaty  concluded  with  the 
Omaha,  loway,  and  Otoe  tribes  of  Indians,  and  sanctioned  by  the  Yanc- 
ton  and  Santie  bands  of  Sioux,  by  which  a  tract  of  land  situated  on  the 
*Statitiflr  that  there  has  been  no  correspondence  with  Great  Britain  in  relation  to  the  northeast- 
em  boundary  since  December  3*  1838.
Martin  Van  Buren  173^ 
scmtli  side  of  the  Missouri  between  the  Great  and  Little  Nemahaw  rivers 
has  been  ceded  to  the  United  States. 
It  appears  that  the  consent  of  the  half-breeds  of  the  above-mentioned 
tribes  and  bands  is  wanting  to  perfect  the  treaty.  This  tract  of  land  was 
ceded  by  the  treaty  of  15th  July,  1830,  to  them  by  the  above-mentioned 
tribes  and  bands  of  Indians,  and  can  not  be  taken  from  them,  even  for 
such  a  valuable  consideration  as  will  relieve  their  wants,  without  their 
assent.  In  order  to  avoid  unnecessary  delay,  I  submit  it  to  your  con- 
sideration in  order  to  receive  an  expression  of  your  opinion  as  to  the 
manner  of  obtaining  the  assent  of  the  minors,  whereby  all  unnecessary 
delay  in  the  final  action  upon  the  treaty  will  be  avoided. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
January  28,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  a  communication  received  from  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  on  the  subject  of  the  balances  reported  on  the  books  of  the 
Treasury  against  collecting  and  disbursing  agents  of  the  Government,  to 
which  I  beg  leave  to  invite  the  early  attention  of  Congress. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  fanuary  30,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives: 
I  herewith  transmit  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  on 
the  subject  of  commissions  claimed  by  agents  or  oflScers  employed  by  the 
General  Government. 
The  propriety  of  new  legislation  reg^ilating  the  whole  matter  by 
express  laws  seems  very  apparent,  and  is  urgently  recommended  to 
the  early  attention  of  Congress. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  February  2,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  assigning  reasons  which 
render  it  probable  that  the  time  limited  for  the  exchange  of  the  ratifi- 
cations of  the  convention  for  the  adjustment  of  claims  of  citizens  of  the 
United  States  on  the  Government  of  the  Mexican  Republic  may  expire 
before  that  exchange  can  be  effected,  and  suggesting  that  the  consent 
of  the  Senate  be  requested  for  an  extension  of  that  time.  The  object  of 
this  communication,  accordingly,  is  to  solicit  the  approval  by  the  Senate 
of  such  an  extension  upon  the  conditions  mentioned  in  the  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  State. 
M.  VAN  BUREN.
1 73 1  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
DSPA&TMaKT  OP  STATB, 
Washington^  February  2^  iSjp, 
The  PRSsmBNT  of  thk  United  Statbs: 
The  Secretary  of  State  has  the  honor  to  report  to  the  President  that,  according  to 
his  instructions,  Mr.  Martinez,  the  Mexican  minister  plenipotentiary,  was  invited 
to  the  Department  of  State  in  order  to  ascertain  if  he  had  any  recent  information  on 
the  subject  of  the  convention  between  the  United  States  and  Mexico,  transmitted  by 
him  to  Mexico  for  ratification  by  his  Government.  Mr.  Martinez  called  yesterday 
and  stated  that  he  was  without  definite  information,  but  expected  daily  to  receive  it. 
He  supposed  the  delay  was  occasioned  by  the  troubled  condition  of  Mexican  affairs, 
and  hoped  we  would  make  all  due  allowances  for  unavoidable  delays.  When  asked 
if  he  had  power  to  enlarge  the  time  for  the  exchange  of  ratifications,  he  said  that  all 
his  instructions  had  been  fulfilled  on  the  signature  of  the  treaty.  The  Secretary 
called  his  attention  to  information  just  received  at  the  Department  from  Mexico  that 
the  treaty  was  about  to  be  submitted  to  the  Mexican  Congress,  and  he  was  requested 
to  state  what  had  changed  the  views  of  his  Government  on  the  question  of  ratifying 
the  convention,  he  himself  having  stated,  pending  the  negotiation,  that  the  Presi- 
dent, Bustamente,  believed  he  had  full  power  under  the  decree  of  the  20th  of  May, 
i837»  to  ratify  the  convention  without  a  reference  of  it  to  Congress.  He  replied  that 
be  did  not  know  the  causes  which  had  produced  this  change  of  opinion.  Mr.  Marti- 
nez appeared  to  be  very  solicitous  to  have  it  understood  that  he  had  done  everything 
in  his  power  to  hasten  the  exchange  of  ratifications,  and  to  have  every  allowance 
made  in  consequence  of  the  disturbed  state  of  Mexico  and  her  pending  war  with 
Prance.  From  this  corversation  and  the  accompanying  extracts  from  two  letters 
from  the  consul  of  the  United  States  at  Mexico  the  President  will  see  that  it  is 
by  no  means  improbable,  if  the  ratification  of  the  convention  should  have  been 
decreed  by  the  Congress  of  Mexico,  that  the  ratification  may  not  reach  the  city  of 
'Washington  until  after  the  loth  of  February.  The  Secretary  therefore  respectfully 
represents  to  the  President  whether  it  is  not  advisable  to  ask  the  consent  of  the  Sen- 
ate to  the  exchange  of  the  ratifications  after  the  expiration  of  the  time  limited,  if 
such  exchange  shall  be  offered  by  the  Mexican  Government  by  their  agent  duly 
authorized  for  that  purpose.  Unless  this  authority  can  be  granted,  a  new  convention 
will  haVe  to  be  negotiated  and  the  whole  subject  passed  over  until  after  the  neact 
session  of  Congress. 
All  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 
JOHN  FORSYTH. 
(Bztract  of  a  letter  from  the  consul  of  the  United  States  at  Mexico,  dated  Novemt>er  17, 1838.] 
On  the  13th  Mr.  Basave  did  me  the  honor  to  call  on  me,  and  informed  me  that 
he  was  requested  by  his  excellency  the  minister  of  foreign  relations,  Mr.  Cuevas,  to 
inform  me  that  in  consequence  of  his  having  to  go  to  Jalapa  to  meet  Admiral  Baudin, 
the  French  minister  plenipotentiary,  he  could  not  attend  to  the  matters  relating 
to  the  American  question  in  time  for  Mr.  Basave  to  go  back  in  the  Woodhury^  and 
wished,  therefore,  that  she  might  not  be  detained,  as  was  intended,  for  the  purpose 
of  conveying  to  the  United  States  Messrs.  Basave  and  Murphy. 
[Extract  of  a  letter  ffx>m  the  consul  of  the  United  States  at  Mexico,  dated  December  31, 1838.] 
On  a  visit  to  the  minister  of  foreign  relations  yesterday  he  informed  me  that  he 
was  writing  a  friendly  letter  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  and  another  to  Mr. 
Forsyth,  and  said  he  was  about  to  lay  the  convention  entered  into  between  the  two 
Governments  before  the  new  Congress,  and  if  ratified  should  request  of  me  to  procure 
for  it  a  conveyance  to  the  United  States  by  one  of  our  men-of-war,  the  time  for  its 
ratification  being  nearly  expired.
Martin  Van  Buren  1731 
Washington,  D.  C,  February  6,  1839. 
Co  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  report*  from  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  with  accompanying  documents,  in  answer  to  a  resolution 
of  that  body  bearing  date  on  the  28th  ultimo. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  February  6,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
In  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  of  the  19th  December 
last,  I  communicate  to  the  Senate  a  report  f  frdm  the  Secretary  of  State, 
accompanying  copies  of  the  correspondence  called  for  by  said  resolution. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  February  6,  1839. 
The  Speaker  op  the  House  op  Representatives. 
Sir:  I  transmit  herewith  the  report  of  the  commissioners  appointed 
under  the  act  of  28th  of  June  last  and  the  supplementary  act  of  July 
following  to  test  the  usefulness  of  inventions  to  improve  and  render  safe 
the  boilers  of  steam  engines  against  explosions. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  D.  C,  February  p,  1839, 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  report  from  the 
Secretary  of  State,  together  with  the  documents  which  accompanied  it, 
in  answer  to  the  resolution  of  the  28th  ultimo,  requesting  information 
touching  certain  particulars  in  the  territorial  relations  of  the  United 
States  and  Great  Britain  on  this  continent. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  February  13,  1839, 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  Senate  a  report  J  from  the  Secretary  of 
State,  with  accompanying  documents,  in  answer  to  their  resolution 
of  the  ist  instant. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
*Relatlngr  to  the  demand  npon  the  British  GoTernment  for  satisfaction  for  the  burning  of  the 
fteamboat  Caroiine  and  murdering  of  unarmed  citizens  on  board,  at  Schlosiser,  N.  Y.,  December  39, 
t  Relating  to  the  commerce  and  navigation  carried  on  within  the  Turkish  dominions  and  in  the 
Pashalic  of  Bgypt. 
X  Relating  to  compensation  by  Great  Britain  in  the  cases  of  the  brigs  Enterprise^  Encomium^  and 
Comet,  slaves  on  board  which  were  forcibly  seixed  and  detained  by  local  authorities  of  Bermuda 
and  Bahama  islands.
1733  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Washington,  February  i6,  1839. 
To  the  Senate: 
I  transmit  for  the  constitutional  action  of  the  Senate  treaties  recently 
concluded  with  the  Creek,  Osage,  and  Iowa  tribes  of  Indians,  with  com- 
munications from  the  Department  of  War. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  February  /p,  1839. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives: 
I  transmit  a  report  from  the  War  Department  in  relation  to  the  inves- 
tigations had  by*the  commissioners  under  the  resolution  of  ist  July,  1836, 
on  the  sales  of  reservations  of  deceased  Creek  Indians. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  February  21,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  for  the  constitutional  action  of  the  Senate  articles  supple- 
mentary to  the  treaty  with  the  Chippewas,  for  the  purchase  of  40  acres  of 
land  at  the  mouth  of  the  Saginaw  River,  which  are  esteemed  ncteessary 
in  the  erection  and  use  of  a  light-bouse  at  that  point. 
M.  VAN  BUREN, 
Washington,  February  22, 1839. 
The  Speaker  op  the  Housb  of  Rbprssentatives: 
I  herewith  transmit  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  with  a(xom- 
panying  documents,  on  the  subject  of  the  blockades  of  the  Mexican  coast 
and  of  the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  in  answer  to  the  resolution  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  the  i  ith  instant. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  February  25, 1839. 
To  the  SenaU: 
I  transmit  for  the  constitutional  action  o*f  the  Senate  a  supplemental 
article  to  the  treaty  with  the  Chippewas  of  Saganaw,  which  accompanied 
my  communication  of  the  2i8t  instant,  and  explanatory  papers  from  the 
War  Department. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  February  26, 1839. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives: 
I  lay  before  Congress  several  dispatches  from  his  excellency  the  gov- 
ernor of  Maine,  with  inclosures,  communicating  certain  proceedings  oC
Martin  Van  Buren  1734 
the  legislature  of  that  State,  and  a  copy  of  the  reply  of  the  Secretary 
of  State,  made  by  my  direction,  together  with  a  note  from  H.  S.  Fox, 
esq.,  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipotentiary  of  Great  Britain, 
with  the  answer  of  the  Secretary  of  State  to  the  same. 
It  will  appear  from  those  documents  that  a  numerous  band  of  lawless 
and  desperate  men,  chiefly  from  the  adjoining  British  Provinces,  but  with- 
out the  authority  or  sanction  of  the  provincial  government,  had  trespassed 
upon  that  portion  of  the  territory  in  dispute  between  the  United  States 
and  Greot  Britain  which  is  watered  by  the  river  Aroostook  and  claimed 
to  belo'^g  to  the  State  of  Maine,  and  that  they  had  committed  extensive 
depredadons  there  by  cutting  and  destroying  a  very  large  quantity  of 
timber.  It  will  further  appear  that  the  governor  of  Maine,  having  been 
officially  apprised  of  the  circumstance,  had  communicated  it  to  the  leg- 
islature with  a  recommendation  of  such  provisions  in  addition  to  those 
already  existing  by  law  as  would  enable  him  to  arrest  the  course  of  said 
depredations,  disperse  the  trespassers,  and  secure  the  timber  which  they 
were  about  carrying  away;  that,  in  compliance  with  a  resolve  of  the  legis- 
lature passed  in  pursuance  of  his  recommendation,  his  excellency  had 
dispatched  the  land  agent  of  the  State,  with  a  force  deemed  adequate  to 
that  purpose,  to  the  scene  of  the  alleged  depredations,  who,  after  accom- 
j-^lishing  a  part  of  his  duty,  was  seized  by  a  band  of  the  trespassers  at  a 
house  claimed  to  be  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Maine,  whither  he  had 
repaired  for  the  purpose  of  meeting  and  consulting  with  the  land  agent 
of  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick,  and  conveyed  as  a  prisoner  to  Fred- 
erickton,  in  that  Province,  together  with  two  other  citizens  of  the  State 
who  were  assisting  him  in  the  discharge  of  his  duty. 
It  will  also  appear  that  the  governor  and  legislature  of  Maine,  satisfied 
that  the  trespassers  had  acted  in  defiance  of  the  laws  of  both  countries, 
learning  that  they  were  in  possession  of  arms,  and  anticipating  (cor- 
rectly, as  the  result  has  proved)  that  persons  of  their  reckless  and  des- 
perate character  would  set  at  naught  the  authority  of  the  magistrates 
without  the  aid  of  a  strong  force,  had  authorized  the  sherifiE  and  the 
officer  appointed  in  the  place  of  the  land  agent  to  employ,  at  the  expense 
of  the  State,  an  armed  posse,  who  had  proceeded  to  the  scene  of  these 
depredations  with  a  view  to  the  entire  dispersion  or  arrest  of  the  tres- 
passers and  the  protection  of  the  public  property.  • 
In  the  correspondence  between  the  governor  of  Maine  and  Sir  John 
Harvey,  lieutenant-governor  of  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick,  which 
has  grown  out  of  these  occurrences  and  is  likewise  herewith  commimi- 
cated,  the  former  is  requested  to  recall  the  armed  party  advanced  into 
the  disputed  territory  for  the  arrest  of  trespassers,  and  is  informed  that 
a  strong  body  of  British  troops  is  to  be  held  in  readiness  to  support  and 
protect  the  authority  and  subjects  of  Great  Britain  in  said  territory. 
In  answer  to  that  request  the  provincial  governor  is  informed  of  the 
determination  of  the  State  of  Maine  to  support  the  land  agent  and  his
1 735  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
party  in  the  performance  of  their  duty,  and  the  same  determination,  for 
the  execution  of  which  provision  is  made  by  a  resolve  of  the  State  legis- 
lature, is  communicated  by  the  governor  to  the  General  Government. 
The  lieutenant-governor  of  New  Brunswick,  in  calling  upon  the  gov- 
ernor of  Maine  for  the  recall  of  the  land  agent  and  his  party  from  the 
disputed  territory,  and  the  British  minister,  in  making  a  similar  demand 
upon  the  Government  of  the  United  States,  proceed  upon  the  assumption 
that  an  agreement  exists  between  the  two  nations  conceding  to  Great 
Britain,  until  the  final  settlement  of  the  boundary  question,  ^xclus^ve  pos- 
session of  and  jurisdiction  over  the  territory  in  dispute.  Th  important 
bearing  which  such  an  agreement,  if  it  existed,  would  have  upon  the 
condition  and  interests  of  the  parties,  and  the  influence  it  might  have 
upon  the  adjustment  of  the  dispute,  are  too  obvious  to  allow  the  error  upon 
which  this  assumption  seems  to  rest  to  pass  for  a  moment  without  cor- 
rection. The  answer  of  the  Secretary  of  State  to  Mr.  Fox*s  note  will 
show  the  ground  taken  by  the  Government  of  the  United  States  upon 
this  point.  It  is  believed  that  all  the  correspondence  which  has  passed 
between  the  two  Governments  upon  this  subject  has  already  been  com- 
municated to  Congress  and  is  now  on  their  files.  An  abstract  of  it,  how- 
ever, hastily  prepared,  accompanies  this  communication.  It  is  possible 
that  in  thus  abridging  a  voluminous  correspondence,  commencing  in 
1825  and  continuing  to  a  very  recent  period,  a  portion  may  have  been 
accidentally  overlooked;  but  it  is  believed  that  nothing  has  taken  place 
which  would  materially  change  the  aspect  of  the  question  as  therein 
presented.  Instead  of  sustaining  the  assumption  of  the  British  function- 
aries, that  correspondence  disproves  the  existence  of  any  such  agreement. 
It  shows  that  the  two  Governments  have  differed  not  only  in  regard  to 
the  main  question  of  title  to  the  territory  in  dispute,  but  with  reference 
also  to  the  right  of  jurisdiction  and  the  fact  of  the  actual  exercise  of  it  in 
different  portions  thereof. 
Always  aiming  at  an  amicable  adjustment  of  the  dispute,  both  par- 
ties have  entertained  and  repeatedly  urged  upon  each  other  a  desire 
that  each  should  exercise  its  rights,  whatever  it  considered  them  to 
be,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  avoid  collision  and  allay  to  the  greatest  prac- 
ticable extent  the  excitement  likely  to  grow  out  of  the  controversy. 
It  was  in  pursuance  of  such  an  understanding  that  Maine  and  Massa- 
chusetts, upon  the  remonstrance  of  Great  Britain,  desisted  from  making 
sales  of  lands,  and  the  General  Government  from  the  construction  of 
a  projected  military  road  in  a  portion  of  the  territory  of  which  they 
claimed  to  have  enjoyed  the  exclusive  possession;  and  that  Great  Britain 
on  her  part,  in  deference  to  a  similar  remonstrance  from  the  United 
States,  suspended  the  issue  of  licenses  to  cut  timber  in  the  territory 
in  controversy  and  also  the  survey  and  location  of  a  railroad  through  a 
section  of  country  over  which  she  also  claimed  to  have  exercised  exdu^ 
sive  jurisdiction.
Martin  Van  Buren  173* 
The  State  of  Maine  bad  a  right  to  arrest  the  depredatioiis  oomplkined 
of.  It  belonged  to  her  to  judge  of  the  exigency  of  the  occasion  calling 
for  her  interference,  and  it  is  presumed  that  had  the  lieutenant-governor 
of  New  Brunswick  been  correctly  advised  of  the  nature  of  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  State  of  Maine  he  would  not  have  regarded  the  transaction  as 
requiring  on  his  part  any  resort  to  force.  Each  party  claiming  a  right  to 
the  territory,  and  hence  to  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  it,  it  is  mani- 
fest that  to  prevent  the  destruction  of  the  timber  by  trespassers,  acting 
against  the  authority  of  both,  and  at  the  same  time  avoid  forcible  colli- 
sion between  the  contiguous  governments  during  the  pendency  of  nego- 
tiations concerning  the  title,  resort  must  be  had  to  the  mutual  exercise 
of  jurisdiction  in  such  extreme  cases  or  to  an  amicable  and  temporary 
arrangement  as  to  the  limits  within  which  it  should  be  exercised  by  each 
party.  The  understanding  supposed  to  exist  between  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  has  been  found  heretofore  sufficient  for  that  pur- 
pose, and  I  believe  will  prove  so  hereafter  if  the  parties  on  the  frontier 
directly  interested  in  the  question  are  respectively  governed  by  a  just 
spirit  of  condliatioii  and  forbearance.  If  it  shall  be  found,  as  there  is 
now  reason  to  apprehend,  that  there  is,  in  the  modes  of  construing 
that  understanding  by  the  two  Governments,  a  difference  not  to  be 
reconciled,  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  propose  to  Her  Britannic  Majesty's 
Government  a  distinct  arrangement  for  the  temporary  and  mutual  exer- 
cise of  jurisdiction  by  means  of  which  similar  difficulties  may  in  future 
be  prevented. 
But  between  an  effort  on  the  part  of  Maine  to  preserve  the  property 
in  dispute  from  destruction  by  intruders  and  a  military  occupation  by 
that  State  of  the  territory  with  a  view  to  hold  it  by  force  while  the  set- 
tlement is  a  subject  of  negotiation  between  the  two  Governments  there 
is  an  essential  difference,  as  well  in  respect  to  the  position  of  the  State 
as  to  the  duties  of  the  General  Government.  In  a  letter  addressed  by 
the  Secretary  of  State  to  the  governor  of  Maine  on  the  ist  of  March 
last,  giving  a  detailed  statement  of  the  steps  which  had  been  taken  by 
the  Federal  Government  to  bring  the  controversy  to  a  termination,  and 
designed  to  apprise  the  governor  of  that  State  of  the  views  of  the  Fed- 
eral Executive  in  respect  to  the  future,  it  was  stated  that  while  the 
obligations  of  the  Federal  Government  to  do  all  in  its  power  to  effect 
the  settlement  of  the  boundary  question  were  fully  recognized,  it  had, 
in  the  event  of  being  unable  to  do  so  specifically  by  mutual  consent,  no 
other  means  to  accomplish  that  object  amicably  than  by  another  arbitra- 
tion, or  by  a  commission,  with  an  umpire,  in  the  nature  of  an  arbitration; 
and  that  in  the  event  of  all  other  measures  failing  the  President  would 
feel  it  his  duty  to  submit  another  proposition  to  the  Government  of 
Great  Britain  to  refer  the  decision  of  the  question  to  a  third  power. 
These  are  still  my  views  upon  the  subject,  and  until  this  step  shall  have 
been  taken  I  can  not  think  it  proper  to  invoke  the  attention  of  Congress
1737  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
to  other  than  amicable  means  for  the  settlement  of  the  controversy,  or  to 
cause  the  military  power  of  the  Fecferal  Government  to  be  brought  in  aid 
of  the  State  of  Maine  in  any  attempt  to  effect  that  object- by  a  resort  to 
force. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  the  authorities  of  New  Bnmswick  should  attempt 
to  enforce  the  claim  of  exclusive  jurisdiction  set  up  by  them  by  means  of 
a  military  occupation  on  their  part  of  the  disputed  territory,  I  shall  fed 
myself  bound  to  consider  the  contingency  provided  by  the  Constitution 
as  having  occurred,  on  the  happening  of  which  a  State  has  the  right  to 
call  for  the  aid  of  the  Federal  Government  to  repel  invasion. 
I  have  expressed  to  the  British  minister  near  this  Government  a  confi- 
dent expectation  that  the  agents  of  the  State  of  Maine,  who  have  been 
arrested  under  an  obvious  misapprehension  of  the  object  of  their  mission, 
will  be  protnptly  released,  and  to  the  governor  of  Maine  that  a  similar 
course  will  be  pursued  in  regard  to  the  agents  of  the  Province  of  New 
Brunswick.  I  have  also  recommended  that  any  militia  that  may  have 
been  brought  together  by  the  State  of  Maine  from  an  apprehension  of  a 
collision  with  the  government  or  people  of  the  British  Province  will  be 
voluntarily  and  peaceably  disbanded. 
I  can  not  allow  myself  to  doubt  that  the  results  anticipated  from  these 
representations  will  be  seasonably  realized.  The  parties  more  immedi- 
ately interested  can  not  but  perceive  that  an  appeal  to  arms  under  exist- 
ing circumstances  will  not  only  prove  fatal  to  their  present  interests,  but 
would  postpone,  if  not  defeat,  the  attainment  of  the  main  objects  which 
they  have  in  view.  The  very  incidents  which  have  recently  occurred 
will  necessarily  awaken  the  Governments  to  the  importance  of  promptly 
adjusting  a  dispute  by  which  it  is  now  made  manifest  that  the  peace  of 
the  two  nations  is  daily  and  imminently  endangered.  This  expectation 
is  further  warranted  by  the  general  forbearance  which  has  hitherto  char* 
acterized  the  conduct  of  the  Government  and  people  on  both  sides  ol 
the  line.  In  the  uniform  patriotism  of  Maine,  her  attachment  to  th« 
Union,  her  respect  for  the  wishes  of  the  people  of  her  sister  States  (of 
whose  interest  in  her  welfare  she  can  not  be  unconscious),  and  in  the 
soUdtude  felt  by  the  country  at  large  for  the  preservation  of  peace  \^th 
our  neighbors,  we  have  a  strong  guaranty  that  she  will  not  disregard 
the  request  that  has  been  made  of  her. 
As,  however,  the  session  of  Congress  is  about  to  terminate  and  the 
agency  of  the  Executive  may  become  necessary  during  the  recess,  it  is. 
important  that  the  attention  of  the  Legislature  should  be  drawn  to  the 
consideration  of  such  measures  as  may  be  calculated  to  obviate  the  neces- 
sity of  a  call  for  an  extra  session.  With  that  view  I  have  thought  it  my 
duty  to  lay  the  whole  matter  before  you  and  to  invite  such  action  thereon 
89  you  may  think  the  oocasioQ  requires. 
M.  VAN  BUREN.
Martin  Van  Buren  1738 
Washington,  D.  C,  February  27,  iSsg, 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  herewith  transmit  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  in  answer  to 
their  resolution  of  the  26th  instant,  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State, 
with  the  document*  therein  referred  to. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  February  27,  1839. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives: 
In  further  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives of  the  28th  of  January  last,  I  communicate  a  reportf  from  the 
Secretary  of  War,  which,  with  its  inclosures,  contains  additional  infor- 
mation called  for  by  said  resolution. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  February  27,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  to  Congress  copies  of  various  other  documents  received 
from  the  governor  of  Maine,  relating  to  the  dispute,  between  that  State 
and  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick,  which  formed  the  subject  of  my 
message  of  the  26th  instant,  and  also  a  copy  of  a  memorandum,  signed 
by  the  Secretary  of  State  of  the  United  States  and  Her  Britannic 
Majesty's  envoy  extraordinary  and  minister  plenipotentiary  near  the 
United  States,  of  the  terms  upon  which  it  is  believed  that  all  hostile  col- 
lision can  be  avoided  on  the  frontier  consistently  with  and  respecting 
the  claims  on  either  side. 
As  the  British  minister  acts  without  specific  authority  from  his  Gov- 
ernment, it  will  be  observed  that  this  memorandum  has  but  the  force  of 
recommendation  on  the  provincial  authorities  and  on  the  government 
of  the  State. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
BzEcuTivK  Department, 
His  Excellency  M.  Van  Btobn,  Augusta,  February  22, 1839. 
President  United  States, 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  inclose  herewith  copies  of  letter  from  the  lieutenant- 
governor  of  New  Brunswick,  under  date  of  February  18,  with  my  reply  thereto;  letter 
from  the  solicitor-general  of  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick  to  the  Hon.  Charles 
JarviSy  temporary  land  agent,  under  date  of  the  17th  instant,  with  Mr.  Jarvis's  reply; 
parole  of  honor  given  by  Messrs.  Mclntire,  Cushman,  Bartlett,  and  Webster,  dated 
i8th  February;  my  message  to  the  legislature  of  the  21st  instant. 
*  Letter  of  Mr.  Stevenson,  minister  to  Ensrland,  relative  to  the  duties  and  restrictions  imposed  by 
Great  Britain  upon  the  tobacco  trade  of  the  United  States. 
t  Relating:  to  troubles  in  the  British  Provinces  of  Upper  and  Lower  Canada  and  to  alleged  viola- 
tions of  neutrality  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  or  Great  Britain,  [and  whether  the  authorities 
of  Upper  Canada  have  undertaken  to  interdict  or  restrict  the  ordinary  intercourse  between  said 
Provinoe  and  the  United  States,  inconiittent  with  subsittinff  treatiet.
1739  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
These  papers  will  give  Your  Excellency  all  the  additional  information  of  any 
importance  not  heretofore  communicated  that  has  been  received  in  relation  to  the 
state  of  affairs  upon  our  eastern  frontier.  I  can  not  but  persuade  m3rself  that  Your 
Excellency  will  see  that  an  attack  upon  the  citizens  of  this  State  by  a  British  armed 
force  is  in  all  human  probability  inevitable,  and  that  the  interposition  of  the  General 
Government  at  this  momentous  crisis  should  be  promptly  afforded. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  high  respect.  Your  Excellency's  obedient  servant, 
JOHN  FAIRFIELD, 
Governor  of  Maine. 
GOVBRNMBZrr  HOUSB, 
Fhederickton^  New  Brunswick,  February  i8,  iS^g, 
His  Excellency  the  Governor  op  Mainb. 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt,  by  the  hands  of  Hon.  Mr.  Rog- 
ers, of  your  excellency's  letter  of  the  15th  instant.  Mr.  Mclntire  and  the  gentlemen 
with  him  have  been  subjected  to  an  examination  before  Her  Majesty's  attorney- 
general  of  this  Province,  who  has  reported  to  me  that  the  offense  of  which  they  stand 
charged  is  one  rather  against  the  law  of  nations  and  of  treaties  than  against  those  of 
this  Province.  They  must  accordingly  be  regarded  as  '* state  offenders."  In  thia 
view,  their  disposal  rests  exclusively  with  Her  Majesty's  Government,  to  which  I 
shall  accordingly  report  the  case.  In  the  meantime  I  have  had  pleasure  in  directing 
that  they  shall  immediately  be  allowed  to  return  to  the  State  of  Maine  upon  pledg- 
ing their  parole  of  honor  to  present  themselves  to  the  Government  of  this  Province 
whenever  Her  Majesty's  decision  may  be  received,  or  when  required  to  do  so.  The 
high  respectability  of  their  characters  and  situations  and  my  desire  to  act  in  all 
matters  relating  to  the  disputed  territory  in  such  a  manner  as  may  evince  the  utmost 
forbearance  consistent  with  the  fulfillment  of  my' instructions  have  influenced  me  in 
my  conduct  toward  these  gentlemen;  but  it  is  necessary  that  I  should  upon  this 
occasion  distinctly  state  to  your  excellency — 
First.  That  if  it  be  the  desire  of  the  State  of  Maine  that  the  friendly  relations  sub- 
sisting between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  should  not  be  disturbed,  it  la 
indispensable  that  the  armed  force  from  that  State  now  understood  to  be  within  the 
territory  in  dispute  be  immediately  withdrawn,  as  otherwise  I  have  no  alternative 
but  to  take  military  occupation  of  that  territory,  with  a  view  to  protect  Her  Majesty's 
snojects  and  to  support  the  civil  authorities  in  apprehending  all  persons  claiming  to 
exercise  jurisdiction  within  it. 
Second.  That  it  is  my  duty  to  require  that  all  persons  subjects  of  Her  Majesty 
who  may  have  been  arrested  in  the  commission  of  acts  of  trespass  within  the  dis- 
puted territory  be  given  up  to  the  tribunals  of  this  Province,  there  to  be  proceeded 
against  according  to  law. 
Third.  That  in  the  event  of  the  nmior  which  has  just  reached  me  relative  to  the 
arrest,  detention,  or  interruption  of  James  Maclauchlan,  esq.,  the  warden  of  the  dis- 
puted territory,  being  correct,  that  that  officer  be  enlarged  and  the  grounds  of  his 
detention  explained. 
Mr.  Rogers  takes  charge  of  this  letter,  of  which  a  duplicate  will  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  Hon.  Mr.  Mclntire,  with  both  of  whom  I  have  conversed  and  conmiuni- 
cated  to  them  my  views  in  regard  to  the  actual  position  in  which  I  shall  be  placed 
and  the  measures  which  will  be  forced  upon  me  if  the  several  demands  contained  in 
this  letter  be  not  complied  with;  and  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  Mr.  Mclntire  leaves 
me  fully  impressed  with  the  anxious  desire  which  I  feel  to  be  spared  the  necessity  of 
acting  as  the  letter  of  my  instructions  would  both  warrant  and  prescribe. 
With  regard  to  trespasses  upon  the  lands  of  the  disputed  territory,  I  beg  to  assure 
you  that  the  extent  to  which  those  trespasses  appear  to  have  been  carried,  as  brought
Martin  Van  Buren  1740 
to  my  knowledge  by  recent  occurrences,  will  lead  me  to  adopt  without  any  delay  the 
strongest  and  most  effectual  measures  which  may  be  in  my  power  for  putting  a  stop 
to  and  preventing  the  recurrence  of  such  trespasses. 
With  high  respect,  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  your  excellency's  most  obedient  servant, 
J.  HARVEY, 
Major-Generaly  Lieutenant-Governor, 
\  EZBCUTIVB  DBPA&TliKMT, 
His  Excellenry  Sir  John  Harvey,  Augusta,  February  21, 1839. 
Lieutenant-Governor  New  Brunswick. 
Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  excellency's  communi* 
cation  of  the  i8th  instant,  by  the  hand  of  Colonel  J.  P.  Rogers. 
To  your  demand  for  the  discharge  of  the  persons  arrested  by  the  authorities  of  this 
State  for  being  engaged  in  acts  of  trespass  upon  the  public  lands  of  this  State  I  have 
to  say  that  the  persons  named  are  now  in  the  custody  of  the  law.  With  that  custody 
I  have  neither  the  disposition  nor  the  authority  to  interfere. 
In  regard  to  James  Maclauchlan,  esq.,  provincial  land  agent,  and  Mr.  Tibbets,  his 
assistant,  I  have  advised  that  they  be  released  upon  the  same  terms  upon  which  the 
Hon.  Rufus  Mclntire  and  his  assistants  were  released,  to  wit,  upon  their  parole  of 
A^TfMir  to  return  to  Bangor  whenever  they  should  be  thereto  required  by  the  executive 
government  of  this  State,  to  answer  to  any  charges  that  may  be  brought  against  them 
for  their  acts  and  proceedings  upon  what  your  excellency  is  pleased  to  call  *'the 
disputed  territory." 
For  a  reply  to  the  remainder  of  your  excellency's  coxomunication  I  must  refer 
you  to  my  letter  of  the  i8th  instant,  which  you  will  receive  l^  the  hand  of  R. 
English,  esq. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  high  respect,  yonsr  excellency's  obedient  servant, 
JOHN  FAIRFIELD, 
Governor  of  Maine. 
hrt  THE  MOTTTH  OF  THE  ARESTOOK,  RiVER  ST.  JoHN, 
Province  of  New  Brunswick^  February  //,  iSsg, 
The  OFFICER  CoMMAin>iNG  the  Armed  Force  on  the  Disputed  Territory. 
Sir:  I  am  directed  by  His  Excellency  Major-General  Sir  John  Harvey,  lieutenant- 
governor  and  commander  in  chief  of  this  Province,  to  express  to  you  his  great  sur- 
prise at  the  very  extraordinary  oocturence  of  an  armed  force  of  the  description  now 
with  you  having  entered  upon  the  disputed  territory  (so  called)  and  attempted  to 
exercise  a  jurisdiction  there  foreign  to  the  British  Government,  seizing  upon  and  mal- 
treating British  subjects  and  retaining  many  of  them  prisoners  without  having  in  the 
first  instance  given  any  notice  or  made  any  communication  whatever  to  the  govern- 
ment authorities  of  this  Province  of  such  your  intention,  or  the  causes  which  have  led 
to  these  acts  of  aggression.  If  you  are  acting  under  any  authority  from  3rour  own  gor- 
smment  the  proceedings  are  still  more  unjustifiable,  being  in  direct  defiance  and 
breach  of  tL  j  existing  treaties  between  the  Central  Government  of  the  United  States 
and  England.  If  you  have  not  any  such  authority,  you  and  those  with  you  have 
placed  yourselves  in  a  situation  to  be  treated  by  both  Governments  as  persons  rebel- 
ling against  the  laws  of  either  country.  But  be  that  as  it  may,  I  am  directed  by  his 
excellency  to  give  you  notice  that  unless  you  immediately  remove  with  the  force  you 
have  with  you  from  any  part  of  the  disputed  territory  (so  called)  and  discharge  all 
British  subjects  whom  you  have  taken  prisoners  and  at  once  cease  attempting  to  exer- 
cise any  authority  in  the  said  territory  not  authorized  by  the  British  Government 
every  person  of  your  party  that  can  be  found  or  laid  hold  of  will  be  taken  by  the
1741  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
British  authorities  in  this  Province  and  detained  as  prisoners  to  answer  for  this 
offense,  as  his  excellency  is  expressly  commanded  by  his  Sovereign  to  hold  this  ter- 
ritory inviolate  and  to  defend  it  from  any  foreign  aggression  whatevet  until  the  two 
Governments  have  determined  the  question  of  to  whom  it  shall  belong;  and  to  enable 
him  to  carry  these  commands  into  full  effect,  a  large  military  force  is  now  assem- 
bling at  this  place,  part  of  which  has  already  arrived,  and  will  be  shortly  completed 
to  any  extent  that  the  service"  may  require.  In  doing  this  his  excellency  is  very 
desirous  to  avoid  any  collision  between  Her  Majesty*s  troops  and  any  of  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States  that  might  lead  to  bloodshed,  and  if  you  remove  from  the 
territory  peaceably  and  quietly  without  further  opposition  such  collision  will  be 
avoided,  as  in  that  case  his  excellency  will  not  think  it  necessary  to  move  the  Brit- 
ish troops  farther;  but  if  you  do  not  he  will,  in  the  execution  of  the  commands  of 
the  British  Government,  find  it  necessary  to  take  military  possession  of  the  territory 
in  order  to  defend  it  from  such  innovation;  and  the  consequences  must  be  upon  your 
own  heads  or  upon  the  authority,  if  any,  under  which  you  act.  The  three  gentlemen 
who  were  with  you,  and  were  taken  prisoners  by  some  of  our  people,  have  been  for- 
warded on  to  Frederickton  by  the  magistrates  of  the  country  and  will  be  detained  (as 
all  persons  heretofore  have  been  who  on  former  occasions  were  found  endeavoring 
to  set  up  or  exercise  any  foreign  jurisdiction  or  authority  in  the  territory  in  question). 
They  will,  however,  be  well  treated  and  every  necessary  attention  paid  to  their  com- 
fort; but  I  have  no  doubt  they  will  be  detained  as  prisoners,  to  be  disposed  of  as  may 
hereafter  be  directed  by  the  British  Government.  The  warden  of  the  disputed  terri- 
tory, Mr.  Maclauchlan,  went  out,  I  understood,  a  few  days  since  to  explain  all  this 
to  you;  but  he  not  having  returned  we  are  led  to  suppose  you  have  still  further 
violated  the  laws  and  treaties  of  the  two  nations  by  detaining  him,  who  was  a 
mere  messenger  of  communication,  together  with  Mr.  Tibbets,  the  person  who 
was  employed  to  convey  him.  But  as  Mr.  Maclauchlan  was  an  accredited  officer, 
acknowledged  by  the  American  Government  as  well  as  the  British,  and  appointed 
for  the  very  purpose  of  looking  after  this  territory,  I  trust  you  will  on  refle<;tion  see 
the  great  impropriety  and  risk  you  run,  even  with  your  own  government,  by  detain- 
ing him  or  his  attendant,  Mr.  Tibbets,  any  longer. 
I  shall  await  at  this  place  to  receive  your  answer  to  this. 
I  am,  sir,  your  most  obedient,  humble  servant, 
GEO.  FRBD»K  STREET, 
Solicitor-General  of  the  PrcDinces. 
CONPI^UBKCS  OP  THB  ST.  CROIZ,  STREAM  ArBSTOOK  RIVBR, 
Township  No,  10,  State  of  Maine^  February  1%  1839. 
Geo.  Prbd.  Street,  Esq., 
Soliciior-General  of  Province  New  Brunswick, 
Sir:  Your  communication  of  the  17th  instant  has  been  this  moment  received.  The 
aolicitor-general  of  the  Provinces  must  have  been  misinformed  as  to  the  place  where 
the  force  under  my  direction  is  now  located,  or  he  would  have  been  spared  the 
impropriety  of  addressing  such  a  communication  to  me,  a  citizen  of  the  State  of 
Maine,  one  of  the  North  American  Confederacy  of  United  States. 
It  is  also  to  be  hoped,  for  the  honor  of  the  British  Empire,  that  when  Major-Gen- 
eral Sir  John  Harvey,  lieutenant-governor  and  commander  in  chief  of  the  Province 
of  New  Brunswick,  is  made  acquainted  with  the  place  where  the  Hon.  Rufus  Mcln- 
tire,  land  agent  of  the  State  of  Maine,  and  the  two  other  gentlemen  with  him  were 
forcibly  arrested  by  a  lawless  mob,  that  he  will  direct  their  immediate  discharge  and 
bring  the  offenders  to  justice. 
The  oflScer  to  whom  you  allude  and  the  person  in  company  with  him  were  arrested 
for  serving  a  precept  on  a  citizen  of  Maine.     He  was  sent  on  immediately  to  Angnsta,
Martin  Van  Buren  1742 
the  seat  of  government,  to  be  dealt  with  by  the  authorities  of  the  State.  Their  per- 
sons are  not,  therefore,  in  my  power,  and  application  for  their  discharge  must  be 
made  to  the  government  of  the  State. 
If,  however,  I  have  been  in  error  as  to  your  being  under  a  mistake  as  to  the  place 
where  I  am  now  stationed,  on  land  which  was  run  out  into  townships  by  the  State 
of  Massachusetts  and  covered  by  grants  from  that  State  before  Maine  was  separated 
from  Massachusetts,  and  which  has  therefore  been  under  the  Jurisdiction  of  Maine 
since  she  has  taken  her  rank  among  the  independent  States  of  the  North  American 
Union,  therefore,  as  a  citizen  of  Maine,  in  official  capacity,  I  have  but  one  answer  to 
return  to  the  threat  conveyed:  I  am  here  under  the  direction  of  the  executive  of  the 
State,  and  must  remain  until  otherwise  ordered  by  the  only  authority  recognized  by 
me;  and  deeply  as  I  should  regret  a  conflict  between  our  respective  countries,  I  shall 
consider  the  approach  to  my  station  by  an  armed  force  as  an  act  of  hostility,  which 
will  be  met  by  me  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 
I  am,  sir,  your  most  obedient  servant, 
CHARLES  J ARVIS,  Land  AgenU 
PR9DBRICKTON,  N«w  BRUNSWICK,  February  iB^  iSjg, 
Hon.  RuFus  MclNTiRE,  GusTAvus  G.  CusHMAN,  Thomas  Barti,ktt,  and  Bbsnb- 
ZBR  Wbbstbr,  Esqs. : 
Whereas  the  offense  wherewith  you  stand  charged  has  been  pronounced  by  the 
law  officers  of  this  Province  as  one  rather  against  the  law  of  nations  and  of  treadea 
than  against  the  municipal  laws  of  this  country,  and  as  such  must  be  referred  for  the . 
decision  of  Her  Majesty's  Government,  you  are  hereby  required  to  pledge  your  parole 
of  honor  to  present  yourselves  at  Frederickton,  in  this  Province  of  New  Brunswick, 
whenever  such  decision  shall  be  communicated,  or  you  shall  be  otherwise  required 
by  or  on  the  part  of  this  government;  and  for  this  purpose  you  shall  make  known 
the  place  or  places  to  which  such  requisition  shall  be  sent 
J.  HARVEY. 
February  18,  1839. 
We  have  no  hesitation  in  giving,  and  hereby  do  give,  the  parole  of  honor  above 
referred  to. 
Witness: 
W.  Eari;. 
CouKCii.  Chamber,  February  2/,  1839. 
To  the  House  0/ Representatives: 
Under  the  order  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  19th  instant,  I  herewith 
lay  before  you  certain  correspondence  since  had  with  the  lieutenant-governor  of  New 
Brunswick,  and  the  correspondence  between  Geo.  Frederick  Street,  esq.,  solicitor- 
general  for  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick,  and  Charles  Jarvis,  esq.,  provisional 
land  agent  of  this  State. 
The  reply  of  Mr.  Jarvis  to  the  inadmissible  and  preposterous  claims  and  preten- 
sions of  Her  Majesty's  solicitor-general  for  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick  must,  I 
think,  command  the  unqualified  approbation  of  everyone  having  a  just  regard  for 
the  honor  of  his  State.  It  is  in  the  true  spirit,  and  I  have  every  reason  to  believe 
that  the  same  spirit  animates  the  whole  body  of  our  citizens.  While  it  prevails, 
though  success  will  be  deserved,  defeat  can  bring  no  disgrace. 
You  will  see  by  the  accompan3ring  papers  (and  I  take  great  pleasure  in  communi- 
cating the  fact)  that  Mr.  Mclntire  and  his  assistants  have  been  released.  It  was, 
however,  upon  their  parole  of  honor  to  return  when  thereto  required  by  the  govern- 
ment of  that  Province.     Immediately  upon  the  receipt  of  this  information  I  advised
1743  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
the  release  of  Janes  Madauchlan,^  esq. ,  provincial  land  agent,  and  his  assistant,  upon 
the  same  terms. 
Since  my  last  communication  the  land  agent's  forces  at  the  Aroostook  have  been 
reenforced  by  about  600  good  and  effective  men,  making  the  whole  force  now  about 
750. 
I  have  a  letter  from  Mr.  Jarvis  dated  the  19th,  before  the  reenforcement  had  arrived, 
and  when  his  company  consisted  of  only  100  men.  /He  says  he  found  the  men  in 
good  spirits  and  that  they  had  been  active  in  making  temporary  but  most  effectual 
defenses  of  logs,  etc. 
After  describing  his  defenses,  he  says:  ''By  to-morrow  noon  a  force  of  roo  men 
would  make  good  our  position  against  500.  Retreating^  therefore^  is  out  of  the 
question.  We  shall  make  good  our  stand  against  any  force  that  we  can  reasonably 
expect  would  be  brought  against  us.**  He  says  further:  "I  take  pleasure  in  sa3ang 
to  you  that  a  finer  looking  set  of  men  I  never  saw  than  those  now  with  me,  and  that 
the  honor  of  our  State,  so  far  as  they  are  concerned,  is  in  safe-keeping.*' 
The  draft  of  1,000  men  from  the  third  division  has  been  made  with  great  dispatch. 
The  troops,  I  understand,  arrived  promptly  at  the  place  of  rendescvous  at  the  time 
appointed  in  good  spirits  and  anxious  for  the  order  to  march  to  the  frontier.  The 
detachment  from  this  second  division  will  be  ordered  to  march  at  the  earliest  con- 
venient day — probably  on  Monday  next.  Other  military  movements  will  be  made, 
which  it  is  unnepessary  to  communicate  to  you  at  this  time. 
The  mission  of  Colonel  Rogers  to  the  lieutenant-governor  of  New  Brunswick  has 
resulted  successfully  so  far  as  relates  to  the  release  of  the  land  agent  and  his  assist- 
ants,  and  has  been  oondocted  in  a  manner  highly  satisfactory. 
JOHN  FAIRFIELD. 
(Memofandttm.] 
Washington,  February  27, 1839. 
Her  Majesty^s  authorities  consider  it  to  have  been  understood  and  agreed  upon  by 
the  two  Governments  that  the  territory  in  dispute  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States  on  the  northeastern  frontier  should  remain  cfxclusively  under  British 
jurisdiction  until  the  final  settlement  of  the  boundary  question. 
The  United  States  Government  have  not  understood  the  above  agreement  in  the 
same  sense,  but  consider,  on  the  contrary,  that  there  has  been  no  agreement  what- 
ever for  the  exercise  by  Great  Britain  of  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  the  disputed 
territory  or  any  portion  thereof,  but  a  mutual  understanding  that  pending  the  nego- 
tiation the  jurisdiction  then  exercised  by  either  party  over  small  portions  of  the 
territory  in  dispute  should  not  be  enlarged,  but  be  continued  merely  for  the  preser- 
vation of  local  tranquillity  and  the  public  property,  both  forbearing,  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable, to  exert  any  authority,  and  when  any  should  be  exercised  by  either  placing 
upon  the  conduct  of  each  other  the  most  favorable  construction. 
A  complete  understanding  upon  the  question  thus  placed  at  issue  of  present  juris- 
diction can  only  be  arrived  at  by  friendly  discussion  between  the  Governments  dt 
the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  and  as  it  is  confidently  hoped  that  there  will  be 
an  early  settlement  of  the  general  question,  this  subordinate  point  of  difference  can 
be  of  but  little  moment. 
In  the  meantime  the  government  of  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick  and  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  State  of  Maine  will  act  as  follows:  Her  Majesty *s  officers- will  not  seek 
to  expel  by  military  force  the  armed  party  which  has  been  sent  by  Maine  into  the 
district  bordering  on  the  Restook  River,  but  the  government  of  Maine  will  volun- 
tarily and  without  needless  delay  withdraw  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  disputed 
territory  any  anted  force  now  within  them ;  and  if  fatnre  necessity  shall  arise  for 
dispersing  notorioos  trespassers  or  protecting  public  property  from  depredation  Ir
Martin  Van  Buren  1744 
aimed  force,  the  operation  shall  be  conducted  by  concert,  jointly  or  separately,  accofd- 
ing  to  agreement  between  the  governments  of  Maine  and  New  Brunswick. 
The  civil  officers  in  the  service,  respectively,  of  New  Brunswick  and  Maine  who 
have  been  taken  into  custody  by  the  opposite  parties  shall  be  released. 
Nothing  in  this  memorandum  shall  be  construed  to  fortify  or  to  weaken  in  any 
respect  whatever  the  claim  of  either  party  to  the  ultimate  possession  of  the  disputed 
territory. 
The  minister  plenipotentiaiy  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty  having  no  specific  authority 
to  make  any  arrangement  on  this  subject,  the  undersigned  can  only  recommend,  as 
^ey  now  earnestly  do,  to  the  governments  of  New  Brunswick  and  Maine  to  regulate 
Iheir  future  proceedings  according  to  the  terms  hereinbefore  set  forth  until  the  final 
settlement  of  the  territorial  dispute  or  until  the  Governments  of  the  United  States 
and  Great  Britain  shall  come  to  some  definite  conclusion  on  the  subordinate  point 
upon  which  they  are  now  at  issue.  j^^N  FORSYTH, 
Secretory  ofStai^  of  the  United  States  of  North  America. 
H.  S.  FOX, 
Her  Britannic  Majesty  s  Envoy  Extraordinary 
and  Minister  Plenipotentiary, 
Washington,  February  27,  1839. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
In  compliance  with  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of 
tlie  22d  instant,  requesting  information  on  the  subject  of  the  existing 
relations  between  the  United  States  and  the  Mexican  Republic,  I  trans- 
mit a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  State,  to  whom  the  resolution  was 
referred,  and  the  documents  by  which  the  report  was  accompanied. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  February  28,  1839. 
To  the  House  of  Representatives: 
I  transmit  herewith  a  report  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
accompanied  by  a  letter  from  the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land 
OfiSce.  and  other  documents  therein  referred  to,  touching  certain  infor- 
mation directed  to  be  communicated  to  the  House  of  Representatives  by 
a  resolution  dated  the  7th  of  July  last.* 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  February  28,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States: 
I  transmit  herewith  a  communication  from  the  Secretary  of  War, 
respecting  the  importance  of  requiring  the  officers  who  may  be  employed 
to  take  the  next  general  census  to  make  a  return  of  the  names  and  ages 
of  pensioners,  and,  for  the  reasons  given  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  I  rec- 
ommend the  subject  for  your  favorable  consideration. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
*  Relating  to  attempts  to  keep  down  the  price  of  public  lands.
1745  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
WASHJN&toaJt  March  /,  1839. 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
Understanding  from  the  decision  of  the  Senate  that  the  regulation  of 
the  Navy  Department  requiring  that  a  commander  **shall  serve  in  active 
employ  as  such  one  year  before  he  can  be  promoted  to  a  captain"  does 
not  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case  constitute  an  objection  to  the  pro- 
motion of  Commander  Robert  F.  Stockton,  I  nominate  him  to  be  a  cap- 
tain in  the  Navy  from  the  8th  of  December,  1838,  at  the  same  time 
renominating  Commanders  Isaac  McKeever  and  John  P.  Zantzingers  to 
be  captains  in  the  Navy,  the  former  from  the  8th  of  December,  1838,  and 
the  latter  from  the  22d  of  December,  1838,  and  withdrawing  the  nomi- 
nation of  Commander  William  D.  Salter.  j,  VAN  BUREN 
Washington,  March  z,  1839, 
To  the  Senate  of  the  United  States: 
I  have  received  the  resolution  of  theSenate  of  this  day,  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  a  communication  made  to  you  by  the  Postmaster-General  on  the 
27th  ultimo,*  and  have  the  satisfaction*of  laying  before  the  Senate  the 
accompan3ring  letter  from  that  officer,  in  which  he  fully  disclaims  any 
intended  disrespect  to  the  Senate  in  the  communication  referred  to. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
Washington,  March  2, 1839. 
The  Speaker  op  the  House  op  Representatives  op  the  United 
States. 
I  transmit  herewith  reports  of  the  Secretaries  of  the  State,  Treasury, 
War,  and  Navy  Departments,  in  reply  to  a  resolution  of  the  28th  ultimo, 
calling  for  information  respecting  the  amounts  paid  to  persons  concerned 
in  negotiating  treaties  with  the  Indians. since  the  year  1829,  and  in  regard 
to  the  disbursement  of  public  money  by  clerks  in  the  above  Departments 
and  the  bureaus  and  offices  thereof.  yr  y am  bURBN 
VETO  MESSAGE.t 
March  5,  1839, 
The  annexed  joint  resolution  was  presented  to  me  by  Messrs.  Foster 
and  Merrick,  of  the  Senate,  on  the  4th  of  March  at  half  past  3  o'clock 
a.  m.  at  the  President's  house,  after  a  joint  committee  had  informed  me 
at  the  Capitol  that  the  two  Houses  had  completed  their  business  and 
'statins:  that  the  only  reason  [he  had  not  sent  an  answer  to  a  resolution  of  the  Senate  was 
because  it  was  not  ready,  which  was  considered  disrespectful. 
tVocketveto.
INTERNAL  IBffPROVEBOINTS— BRIDGES 
The  question  of  appropriating  money  out  of  the  Federal  Treasury  to  be 
used  in  improving  roads,  building  bridges,  digging  canals  and  deepening 
streams  in  the  States  is  no  longer  a  political  issue.  The  article  "  Internal 
Improvements''  in  the  Encyclopedic  Index,  relates  how  prominent  an 
issue  it  used  to  be  in  the  days  before  the  Civil  War.  In  our  day  the  annual 
Rivers  and  Harbors  Bill  covering  the  matter  is  voted  through  with  little  or  no 
discussion.  Under  the  authority  of  Congress  some  notable  works  of  public 
improvement  have  been  performed  by  the  engineers  of  the  army  in  recent 
years.  These  tasks  include  the  irrigation  and  reclamation  projects  in  the 
West,  the  constant  curbing  of  the  unruly  Mississippi,  the  construction  of 
breakwaters  in  harbors  of  both  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  seaboards,  and  nu- 
merous enterprises  on  the  Great  Lakes.  Although  the  sphere  in  which  the 
Federal  Government  can  operate  is  so  well  defined  as  to  remove  the  question 
from  politics,  the  country  is  profoundly  interested  in  these  benevolent  activ- 
ities, which  promote  commerce,  agriculture  and  industry  in  all  their  branches. 
The  evolution  of  the  policy  is  revealed  in  the  Presidents'  state  papers  on 
the  pages  mentioned  by  the  index.  The  Annual  Rivers  and  Harbors  Bill  is 
so  notorious  an  example  of  log-rolling  that  it  is  called  *^the  pork  barrel,** 
referring,  of  course,  to  the  fact  that  it  is  passed  at  the  last  moment  and  that 
members  who  have  faithfully  obeyed  their  party  managers,  receive  enough 
''pork"  for  their  constituencies  to  grease  their  way  to  re-election,  while 
mutineers  are  correspondingly  punished.
Martin  Van  Buren  1746 
were  ready  to  adjourn,  and  had  communicated  my  answer  that  I  had  no 
further  communication  to  make  to  them.  The  committee  of  the  Senate, 
on  presenting  the  joint  resolution  for  my  signatture,  stated  in  explana- 
tion of  the  circumstance  that  they  were  not  attended  by  the  Committee 
on  Enrolled  Bills  of  the  House  of  Representatives  (as  is  reqtiired  by  the 
joint  rules  of  the  two  Houses);  that  that  body  had  adjourned  about  two 
hours  before. 
The  joint  resolution  is  not  certified  by  the  clerk  of  the  House  in  which 
it  originated,  as  is  likewise  required  by  the  joint  rules.  Under  these 
circumstances,  and  without  reference  to  its  provisions,  I  withheld  my 
approval  from  the  joint  resolution. 
M.  VAN  BUREN. 
To  be  placed  on  file  in  the  State  Department. 
M.  V.  B. 
▲.  RESOI^UTION  for  the  dittrllxition  in  part  of  the  lladiaon  Papers. 
Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  Congress  assembled ^  That  the  Secretary  of  the  Senate  and  Clerk  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  directed  to  distribute  by  mail, 
or  otherwise,  to  each  member  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  and  Dele- 
gates of  the  Twenty-fifth  Congress  one  copy  of  the  compilation  now  in  progress  of 
execution  under  the  act  entitled  "An  act  authorizing  the  printing  of  the  Madison 
Papers,'*  when  the  same  shall  have  been  completed;  and  that  of  the  said  compila- 
tion there  be  deposited  in  the  Library  of  Congress  ten  copies,  in  the  Library  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  twenty  copies,  and  in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Sen- 
ate ten  copies,  and  one  copy  in  each  of  the  committee  rooms  of  the  Senate;  and  that 
the  residue  of  said  copies  shall  remain  under  the  care  of  the  said  officers  subject  to  the 
future  disposition  of  Congress. 
JAMES  K.  POLK, 
Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
W.  R.  KING, 
President  of  the  Senate  pro  tempore, 
I  certify  that  this  resolution  did  originate  in  the  Senate. 
Secretary. 
THIRD  ANNUAL  MESSAGE. 
Washington,  December  2,  1839. 
FeUaW'Citizens  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives: 
I  regret  that  I  can  not  on  this  occasion  congratulate  you  that  the  past 
year  has  been  one  of  unalloyed  prosperity.  The  ravages  of  fire  and  dis. 
ease  have  painfully  afflicted  otherwise  flourishing  portions  of  our  country, 
and  serious  embarrassments  yet  derange  the  trade  of  many  of  our  cities. 
But  notwithstanding  these  adverse  circumstances,  that  general  prosper- 
ity which  has  been  heretofore  so  bountifully  bestowed  upon  us  by  the
1747  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Author  of  All  Good  still  continues  to  call  for  our  warmest  gratitude. 
Especially  have  we  reason  to  rejoice  in  the  exuberant  harvests  which 
have  lavishly  recompensed  well-directed  industry  and  given  to  it  that 
sure  reward  which  is  vainly  sought  in  visionary  speculations.  I  can 
not,  indeed,  view  without  peculiar  satisfaction  the- evidences  afforded  by 
the  past  season  of  the  benefits  that  spring  from  the  steady  devotion  of  the 
husbandman  to  his  honorable  pursuit.  No  means  of  individual  comfort 
is  more  certain  and  no  source  of  national  prosperity  is  so  sure,  itothing 
can  compensate  a  people  for  a  dependence  upon  others  for  the  bread  they 
eat,  and  that  cheerful  abundance  on  which  the  happiness  of  everyone 
so  much  depends  is  to  be  looked  for  nowhere  with  such  sure  reliance  as 
in  the  industry  of  the  agriculturist  and  the  bounties  of  the  earth. 
With  foreign  countries  our  relations  exhibit  the  same  favorable  aspect 
which  was  presented  in  my  last  annual  message,  and  afford  continued 
proof  of  the  wisdom  of  the  pacific,  just,  and  forbearing  policy  adopted  by 
the  first  Administration  of  the  Federal  Government  and  pursued  by  its 
successors.  The  extraordinary  powers  vested  in  me  by  an  act  of  Con- 
gress for  the  defense  of  the  country  in  an  emergency,  considered  so  far 
probable  as  to  require  that  the  Executive  should  possess  ample  means  to 
meet  it,  have  not  been  exerted.  They  have  therefore  been  attended  with 
no  other  result  than  to  increase,  by  the  confidence  thus  reposed  in  me,  my 
obligations  to  maintain  with  reUgious  exactness  the  cardinal  principles 
that  govern  our  intercourse  with  other  nations.  Happily,  in  our  pending 
questions  with  Great  Britain,  out  of  which  this  unusual  grant  of  author- 
ity arose,  nothing  has  occurred  to  require  its  exertion,  and  as  it  is  about 
to  return  to  the  legislature  I  trust  that  no  future  necessity  may  call  for 
its  exercise  by  them  or  its  delegation  to  another  Department  of  the 
Government. 
For  the  settlement  of  otu:  northeastern  boundary  the  proposition  prom- 
ised by  Great  Britain  for  a  commission  of  exploration  and  survey  has  been 
received,  and  a  counter  project,  including  also  a  provision  for  the  certain 
and  final  adjustment  of  the  limits  in  dispute,  is  now  before  the  British 
Government  for  its  consideration.  A  just  regard  to  the  delicate  state  of 
this  question  and  a  proper  respect  for  the  natural  impatience  of  the  State 
of  Maine,  not  less  than  a  conviction  that  the  negotiation  has  been  already 
protracted  longer  than  is  prudent  on  the  part  of  either  Government,  have 
led  me  to  believe  that  the  present  favorable  moment  should  on  no  account 
be  suffered  to  pass  without  putting  the  question  forever  at  rest.  I  feel 
confident  that  the  Government  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty  will  take  the 
same  view  of  this  subject,  as  I  am  persuaded  it  is  governed  by  desires 
equally  strong  and  sincere  for  the  amicable  termination  of  the  controversy. 
To  the  intrinsic  difficulties  of  questions  of  boimdary  lines,  especially 
those  described  in  regions  unoccupied  and  but  partially  known,  is  to  be 
added  in  our  country  the  embarrassment  necessarily  arising  out  of  our 
Constitution  by  which  the  General  Government  is  made  the  organ  of
Martin  Van  Buren  1748 
negotiating  and  deciding  upon  the  particular  interests  of  the  States  on 
whose  frontiers  these  lines  are  to  be  traced.  To  avoid  another  contro- 
versy in  which  a  State  government  might  rightfully  claim  to  have  her 
wishes  consulted  previously  to  the  conclusion  of  conventional  arrange- 
ments concerning  her  rights  of  jurisdiction  or  territory,  I  have  thought 
.  it  necessary  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Government  of  Great  Britain 
to  another  portion  of  our  conterminous  dominion  of  which  the  division 
still  remains  to  be  adjusted  I  refer  to  the  line  from  the  entrance  of 
I^e  Superior  to  the  most  northwestern  point  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods, 
stipulations  for  the  settlement  of  which  are  to  be  found  in  the  seventh 
article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent.  The  commissioners  appointed  under 
that  article  by  the  two  Governments  having  diflFered  in  their  o  inions, 
made  separate  reports,  according  to  its  stipulations,  upon  the  j  ints  of 
disagreement,  and  these  differences  are  now  to  be  submitted  to  le  arbi- 
tration of  some  friendly  sovereign  or  state.  The  disputed  points  should 
be  settled  and  the  line  desigfnated  before  the  Territorial  government  of 
which  it  is  one  of  the  boundaries  takes  its  place  in  the  Union  as  a  State, 
and  I  rely  upon  the  cordial  cooperation  of  the  British  Government  to 
effect  that  object. 
There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  disttirbances  like  those  which 
lately  agitated  the  neighboring  British  Provinces  will  not  again  prove 
the  sources  of  border  contentions  or  interpose  obstacles  to  the  continu- 
ance of  that  good  understanding  which  it  is  the  mutual  interest  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  United  States  to  preserve  and  maintain. 
Within  the  Provinces  themselves  tn^nquillity  is  restored,  and  on  our 
frontier  that  misguided  sympathy  in  favor  of  what  was  presumed  to  be  a 
general  effort  in  behalf  of  popular  rights,  and  which  in  some  instances 
misled  a  few  of  our  more  inexperienced  citizens,  has  subsided  into  a 
rational  conviction  strongly  opposed  to  all  intermeddling  with  the  inter- 
nal affairs  of  our  neighbors.  The  people  of  the  United  States  feel,  as  it 
is  hoped  they  always  will,  a  warm  solicitude  for  the  success  of  all  who 
are  sincerely  endeavoring  to  improve  the  political  condition  of  mankind. 
This  generous  feeling  they  cherish  toward  the  most  distant  nations,  and 
it  was  natural,  therefore,  that  it  should  be  awakened  with  more  than 
common  warmth  in  behalf  of  their  immediate  neighbors;  but  it  does 
not  belong  to  their  character  as  a  community  to  seek  the  gratification 
of  those  feelings  in  acts  which  violate  their  duty  as  citizens,  endanger  the 
peace  of  their  country,  and  tend  to  bring  upon  it  the  stain  of  a  violated 
faith  toward  foreign  nations.  If,  zealous  to  confer  benefits  on  others, 
they  appear  for  a  moment  to  lose  sight  of  the  permanent  obligations 
imposed  upon  them  as  citizens,  they  are  seldom  long  misled.  Prom  all 
the  information  I  receive,  confirmed  to  some  extent  by  personal  obser- 
vation, I  am  satisfied  that  no  one  can  now  hope  to  engage  in  such 
enterprises  without  encountering  public  indignation,  in  addition  to  the 
severest  penalties  of  the  law.
1749  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
Recent  information  also  leads  me  to  hope  that  the  emigrants  from  Her 
Majesty's  Provinces  who  have  sought  refuge  within  our  boundaries  are 
disposed  to  become  peaceable  residents  and  to  abstain  from  all  attempts 
to  endanger  the  peace  of  that  country  which  has  afforded  them  an  asylum. 
On  a  review  of  the  occurrences  on  both  sides  of  the  Une  it  is  satisfactory 
to  reflect  that  in  almost  every  complaint  against  our  country  the  offense 
may  be  traced  to  emigrants  from  the  Provinces  who  have  sought  refuge 
here.  In  the  few  instances  in  which  they  were  aided  by  citizens  of  the 
United  States  the  acts  of  these  misguided  men  were  not  only  in  direct 
contravention  of  the  laws  and  well-known  wishes  of  their  own  Govern- 
ment, but  met  with  the  decided  disapprobation  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States. 
I  r^net  to  state  the  appearance  of  a  different  spirit  among  Her  Maj- 
esty's subjects  in  the  Canadas.  The  sentiments  of  hostility  to  our  people 
and  institutions  which  have  been  so  frequently  expressed  there,  and  the 
disregard  of  our  rights  which  has  been  manifested  on  some  occasions, 
have,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  been  applauded  and  encouraged  by  the  people, 
and  even  by  some  of  the  subordinate  local  authorities,  of  the  Provinces. 
The  chief  officers  in  Canada,  fortunately,  have  not  entertained  the  same 
feeling,  and  have  probably  prevented  excesses  that  must  have  been  fatal 
to  the  peace  of  the  two  countries. 
I  look  forward  anxiously  to  a  period  when  all  the  transactions  which 
have  grown  out  of  this  condition  of  otu-  affairs,  and  which  have  been 
made  the  subjects  of  complaint  and  remonstrance  by  the  two  Govern- 
ments, respectively,  shall  be  fully  examined,  and  the  proper  satisfaction 
given  where  it  is  due  from  either  side. 
Nothing  has  occurred  to  disturb  the  harmony  of  our  intercourse  with 
Austria,  Belgium,  Denmark,  France,  Naples,  Portugal,  Prussia,  Russia, 
or  Sweden.  The  internal  state  of  Spain  has  sensibly  improved,  and  a 
well-grounded  hope  exists  that  the  retmn  of  peace  will  restore  to  the 
people  of  that  country  their  former  prosperity  and  enable  the  Govern- 
ment to  fulfill  all  its  obligations  at  home  and  abroad.  The  Government 
of  Portugal,  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  state,  has  paid  in  full  the  eleventh 
and  last  installment  due  to  our  citizens  for  the  claims  embraced  in  the 
settlement  made  with  it  on  the  3d  of  March,  1837. 
I  lay  before  you  treaties  of  commerce  negotiated  with  the  Kings  of 
Sardinia  and  of  the  Netherlands,  the  ratifications  of  which  have  been 
exchanged  since  the  adjournment  of  Congress.  The  liberal  principles 
of  these  treaties  will  recommend  them  to  your  approbation.  That  with 
Sardinia  is  the  first  treaty  of  commerce  formed  by  that  Kingdom,  and  it 
will,  I  trust,  answer  the  expectations  of  the  present  Sovereign  by  aiding 
the  development  of  the  resources  of  his  country  and  stimulating  the 
enterprise  of  his  people.  That  with  the  Netherlands  happily  termi- 
nates a  long-existing  subject  of  dispute  and  removes  from  our  future 
commercial  intercourse  all  apprehension  of  embarrassment.    The  King
Martin  Van  Buren  1750 
of  the  Netherlands  has  also,  in  further  illustration  of  his  character  for 
justice  and  of  his  desire  to  remove  every  cause  of  dissatisfaction,  made 
compensation  for  an  American  vessel  captured  in  1800  by  a  French  pri- 
vateer, and  carried  into  Cura^oa,  where  the  proceeds  were  appropriated 
to  the  use  of  the  colony,  then,  and  for  a  short  time  after,  under  the 
dominion  of  Holland. 
The  death  of  the  late  Sultan  has  produced  no  alteration  in  our  rela- 
tions with  Turkey.  Our  newly  appointed  minister  resident  has  reached 
Constantinople,  and  I  have  received  assurances  from  the  present  ruler 
that  the  obligations  of  our  treaty  and  those  of  friendship  will  be  fulfilled 
by  himself  in  the  same  spirit  that  actuated  his  illustrious  father. 
I  regret  to  be  obliged  to  inform  you  that  no  convention  for  the  settle- 
ment of  the  claims  of  otu:  citizens  upon  Mexico  has  yet  been  ratified  by 
the  Government  of  that  country.  The  first  convention  formed  for  that 
purpose  was  not  presented  by  the  President  of  Mexico  for  the  approba- 
tion of  its  Congress,  from  a  belief  that  the  King  of  Prussia,  the  arbitra- 
tor in  case  of  disagreement  in  the  joint  commission  to  be  appointed  by 
the  United  States  and  Mexico,  would  not  consent  to  take  upon  himself 
that  friendly  office.  Although  not  entirely  satisfied  with  the  course  pur- 
sued by  Mexico,  I  felt  no  hesitation  in  receiving  in  the  most  conciliatory 
spirit  the  explanation  oflFered,  and  also  cheerfully  consented  to  a  new 
convention,  in  order  to  arrange  the  payments  proposed  to  be  made  to  our 
citizens  in  a  manner  which,  while  equally  just  to  them,  was  deemed  less 
onerous  and  inconvenient  to  the  Mexican  Government.  Rel3dng  con- 
fidently upon  the  intentions  of  that  Government,  Mr.  Ellis  was  directed  to 
repair  to  Mexico,  and  diplomatic  intercourse  has  been  resumed  between 
the  two  countries.  The  new  convention  has,  he  informs  us,  been  recently 
submitted  by  the  President  of  that  Republic  to  its  Congress  under  cir- 
cumstances which  promise  a  speedy  ratification,  a  result  which  I  can 
not  allow  myself  to  doubt. 
Instructions  have  been  given  to  the  commissioner  of  the  United  States 
under  our  convention  with  Texas  for  the  demarcation  of  the  line  which 
separates  us  from  that  Republic.  The  commissioners  of  both  Govern- 
ments met  in  New  Orleans  in  August  last.  The  joint  commission  was 
organized,  and  adjourned  to  convene  at  the  same  place  on  the  12th  of 
October.     It  is  presumed  to  be  now  in  the  performance  of  its  duties. 
The  new  Government  of  Texas  has  shown  its  desire  to  cultivate  friendly 
relations  with  us  by  a  prompt  reparation  for  injuries  complained  of  in  the 
cases  of  two  vessels  of  the  United  States. 
With  Central  America  a  convention  has  been  concluded  for  the  renewal 
of  its  former  treaty  with  the  United  States.  This  was  not  ratified  be- 
fore the  departure  of  our  late  charg6  d'affaires  from  that  country,  and 
the  copy  of  it  brought  by  him  was  not  received  before  the  adjournment 
•  of  the  Senate  at  the  last  session.  In  the  meanwhile,  the  period  limited 
for  the  exchange  of  ratifications  having  expired,  I  deemed  it  expedient,
175 1  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
in  oonsequence  of  the  death  of  the  charg6  d'affaires,  to  send  a  special 
agent  to  Central  America  to  close  the  affairs  of  our  mission  there  and  to 
arrange  with  the  Government  an  extension  of  the  time  for  the  exchange 
of  ratifications. 
The  commission  created  by  the  States  which  formerly  composed  the 
Republic  of  Colombia  for  adjusting  the  claims  against  that  Government 
has  by  a  very  unexpected  construction  of  the  treaty  under  which  it  acts 
decided  that  no  provision  was  made  for  those  claims  of  citizens  of  the 
United  States  which  arose  from  captures  by  Colombian  privateers  and 
were  adjudged  against  the  claimants  in  the  judicial  tribunals.  This 
decision  will  compel  the  United  States  to  apply  to  the  several  Gov- 
ernments formerly  united  for  redress.  With  all  these — New  Granada, 
Venezuela,  and  Ecuador — a  perfectly  good  understanding  exists.  Our 
treaty  with  Venezuela  is  faithfully  carried  into  execution,  and  that 
country,  in  the  enjoyment  of  tranquillity,  is  gradually  advancing  in 
prosperity  under  the  guidance  of  its  present  distinguished  President, 
General  Paez.  With  Ecuador  a  liberal  commercial  convention  has  lately 
been  concluded,  which  will  be  transmitted  to  the  Senate  at  an  early  day. 
With  the  great  American  Empire  of  Brazil  our  relations  continue 
unchanged,  as  does  our  friendly  intercourse  with  the  other  Governments 
of  South  America — the  Argentine  Republic  and  the  Republics  of  Uru- 
guay, Chili,  Peru,  and  Bolivia.  The  dissolution  of  the  Peru-Bolivian 
Confederation  may  occasion  some  temporary  inconvenience  to  our  citi- 
zens in  that  quarter,  but  the  obligations  on  the  new  Governments  which 
have  arisen  out  of  that  Confederation  to  observe  its  treaty  stipulations 
will  no  doubt  be  soon  understood,  and  it  is  presumed  that  no  indisposi- 
tion will  exist  to  fulfill  those  which  it  contracted  with  the  United  States. 
The  financial  operations  of  the  Government  during  the  present  year 
have,  I  am  happy  to  say,  been  very  successful.  The  difficulties  under 
which  the  Treasury  Department  has  labored,  from  known  defects  in  the 
existing  laws  relative  to  the  safe-keeping  of  the  public  moneys,  aggra- 
vated by  the  suspension  of  specie  payments  by  several  of  the  banks  hold- 
ing public  deposits  or  indebted  to  public  officers  for  notes  received  in 
payment  of  public  dues,  have  been  surmounted  to  a  very  gratifying 
extent.  The  large  current  expenditures  have  been  punctually  met,  and 
the  faith  of  the  Government  in  all  its  pecuniary  concerns  has  been  scru- 
pulously maintained. 
The  nineteen  millions  of  Treasury  notes  authorized  by  the  act  of  Con- 
gress of  1837,  and  the  modifications  thereof  with  a  view  to  the  indul- 
gence of  merchants  on  their  duty  bonds  and  of  the  deposit  banks  in 
the  payment  of  public  moneys  held  by  them,  have  been  so  punctually 
redeemed  as  to  leave  less  than  the  original  ten  millions  outstanding  at 
any  otie  time,  and  the  whole  amount  unredeemed  now  falls  short  of  three 
millions.  Of  these  the  chief  portion  is  not  due  till  next  year,  and  the 
whole  would  have  been  already  extingxxished  could  the  Treasury  have
Martin  Van  Burmi  2752 
realized  the  payments  due  to  it  from  the  banks.  If  those  due  from  them 
during  the  next  year  shall  be  punctually  made,  and  if  Congress  shall 
keep  the  appropriations  within  the  estimates,  there  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that  all  the  outstanding  Treasury  notes  can  be  redeemed  and  the 
ordinary  expenses  defrayed  without  imposing  on  the  people  any  addi- 
tional burden,  either  of  loans  or  increased  taxes. 
To  avoid  this  and  to  keep  the  expenditures  within  reasonable  bounds 
is  a  duty  second  only  in  importance  to  the  preservation  of  our  national 
character  and  the  protection  of  our  citizens  in  their  civil  and  political 
rights.  The  creation  in  time  of  peace  of  a  debt  likely  to  become  per* 
manent  is  an  evil  for  which  there  is  no  equivalent.  The  rapidity  with 
which  many  of  the  States  are  apparently  approaching  to  this  condition 
admonishes  us  of  our  own  duties  in  a  manner  too  impressive  to  be  disre- 
garded. One,  not  the  least  important,  is  to  keep  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment always  in  a  condition  to  discharge  with  ease  and  vigor  its  highest 
functions  should  their  exercise  be  required  by  any  sudden  conjuncture 
of  public  affairs — a  condition  to  which  we  are  always  exposed  and  which 
may  occur  when  it  is  least  expected.  To  this  end  it  is  indispensable 
that  its  finances  should  be  untrammeled  and  its  resources  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable unencumbered.  No  circumstance  could  present  greater  obstacles 
to  the  accomplishment  of  these  vitally  important  objects  than  the  crea- 
tion of  an  onerous  national  debt.  Our  own  experience  and  also  that 
of  other  nation^  have  demonstrated  the  unavoidable  and  fearful  rapidity 
with  which  a  public  debt  is  increased  when  the  Government  has  once 
surrendered  itself  to  the  ruinoi^  practice  of  supplying  its  supposed  neces- 
sities by  new  loans.  The  struggle,  therefore,  on  otu:  part  to  be  success- 
ful must  be  made  at  the  threshold.  To  make  our  efforts  effective,  severe 
economy  is  necessary.  This  is  the  surest  provision  for  the  national  wel 
fare,  and  it  is  at  the  same  time  the  best  preservative  of  the  principles  on 
which  our  institutions  rest.  Simplicity  and  economy  in  the  affairs  of 
state  have  never  failed  to  chasten  and  invigorate  republican  principles, 
while  these  have  been  as  surely  subverted  by  national  prodigality,  under 
whatever  specious  pretexts  it  may  have  been  introduced  or  fostered. 
These  considerations  can  not  be  lost  upon  a  people  who  have  never 
been  inattentive  to  the  effect  of  their  policy  upon  the  institutions  they 
have  created  for  themselves,  but  at  the  present  moment  their  force  is 
augmented  by  the  necessity  which  a  decreasing  revenue  must  impose. 
The  check  lately  given  to  importations  of  articles  subject  to  duties,  the 
derangements  in  the  operations  of  internal  trade,  and  especially  the  reduc- 
tion gradually  taking  place  in  our  tariff  of  duties,  all  tend  materially  to 
lessen  our  receipts;  indeed,  it  is  probable  that  the  diminution  resulting 
from  the  last  cause  alone  will  not  fall  short  of  $5,000,000  in  the  year 
1842,  as  the  final  reduction  of  all  duties  to  20  per  cent  then  takes  effect. 
The  whole  revenue  then  accruing  from  the  customs  and  from  the  sales 
of  public  lands,  if  not  more,  will  undoubtedly  be  wanted  to  defray  the
I7S3  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
necessary  expenses  of  the  Government  under  the  most  prudent  adminis- 
tration of  its  affairs.  These  are  circumstances  that  impose  the  necessity 
of  rigid  economy  and  require  its  prompt  and  constant  exercise.  With  the 
Legislature  rest  the  power  and  duty  of  so  adjusting  the  public  expendi- 
ture as  to  promote  this  end.  By  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution  it  is 
only  in  consqquence  of  appropriations  made  by  law  that  money  can  be 
drawn  from  the  Treasury.  No  instance  has  occurred  since  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Government  in  which  the  Executive,  though  a  component 
part  of  the  legislative  power,  has  interposed  an  objection  to  an  appropria- 
tion bill  on  the  sole  ground  of  its  extravagance.  His  duty  in  this  respect 
has  been  considered  fulfilled  by  requesting  such  appropriations  only  as 
the  public  service  may  be  reasonably  expected  to  require.  In  the  present 
earnest  direction  of  the  public  mind  toward  this  subject  both  the  Execu- 
tive and  the  Legislature  have  evidence  of  the  strict  responsibility  to  which 
they  will  be  held;  and  while  I  am  conscious  of  my  own  anxious  efforts 
to  perform  with  fidelity  this  portion  of  my  public  functions,  it  is  a  satis^ 
faction  to  me  to  be  able  to  count  on  a  cordial  cooperation  from  you. 
At  the  time  I  entered  upon  my  present  duties  our  ordinary  disburse- 
ments, without  including  those  on  account  of  the  public  debt,  the  Post- 
Office,  and  the  trust  funds  in  charge  of  the  Government,  had  been 
largely  increased  by  appropriations  for  the  removal  of  the  Indians,  for 
repelling  Indian  hostilities,  and  for  other  less  urgent  expenses  which 
grew  out  of  an  overflowing  Treasury.  Independent  of  the  redemption 
of  the  public  debt  and  trusts,  the  gross  expenditures  of  seventeen  and 
eighteen  millions  in  1834  ^^^  1835  had  by  these  causes  swelled  to 
twenty-nine  millions  in  1836,  and  the  appropriations  for  1837,  made 
previously  to  the  4th  of  March,  caused  the  expenditure  to  rise  to  the 
very  large  amount  of  thirty-three  millions.  We  were  enabled  during 
the  year  1838,  notwithstanding  the  continuance  of  our  Indian  embar- 
rassments, somewhat  to  reduce  this  amount,  and  that  for  the  present 
year  (1839)  will  not  in  all  probability  exceed  twenty-six  millions,  or 
six  milUons  less  than  it  was  last  year.  With  a  determination,  so  far  as 
depends  on  me,  to  continue  this  reduction,  I  have  directed  the  estimates 
for  1840  to  be  subjected  to  the  severest  scrutiny  and  to  be  Umited  to  the 
absolute  requirements  of  the  public  service.  They  will  be  found  less 
than  the  expenditures  of  1839  by  over  $5,000,000. 
The  precautionary  measures  which  will  be  recommended  by  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury  to  protect  faithfully  the  public  credit  under  the 
fluctuations  and  contingencies  to  which  our  receipts  and  expenditures 
are  exposed,  and  especially  in  a  commercial  crisis  Uke  the  present,  are 
commended  to  yotu:  early  attention. 
On  a  former  occasion  your  attention  was  invited  to  various  considera- 
tions in  support  of  a  preemption  law  in  behalf  of  the  settlers  on  the  pub- 
lic lands,  and  also  of  a  law  graduating  the  prices  for  such  lands  as  had 
long  been  in  the  market  unsold  in  consequence  of  their  inferior  quality.
Martin  Van  Buren  1754 
The  execution  of  the  act  which  was  passed  on  the  first  subject  has  been 
attended  with  the  happiest  consequences  in  quieting  titles  and  securing 
improvements  to  the  industrious,  and  it  has  also  to  a  very  gratifying 
extent  been  exempt  from  the  frauds  which  were  practiced  under  previous 
preemption  laws.  It  has  at  the  same  time,  as  was  anticipated,  con- 
tributed liberally  during  the  present  year  to  the  receipts  of  the  Treasury. 
The  passage  of  a  graduation  law,  with  the  guards  before  recom- 
mended, would  also,  I  am  persuaded,  add  considerably  to  the  revenue 
for  several  years,  and  prove  in  other  respects  just  and  beneficial. 
Your  early  consideration  of  the  subject  is  therefore  once  more  ear- 
nestly requested. 
The  present  condition  of  the  defenses  of  our  principal  seaports  and 
navy-yards,  as  represented  by  the  accompanying  report  of  the  Secretary 
of  War,  calls  for  the  early  and  serious  attention  of  Congress;  and,  as 
connecting  itself  intimately  with  this  subject,  I  can  not  recommend  too 
strongly  to  your  consideration  the  plan  submitted  by  that  officer  for  the 
organization  of  the  militia  of  the  United  States. 
In  conformity  with  the  expressed  wishes  of  Congress,  an  attempt  was 
made  in  the  spring  to  terminate  the  Florida  war  by  negotiation.  It  is  to 
be  regretted  that  these  humane  intentions  should  have  been  frustrated 
and  that  the  effort  to  bring  these  unhappy  difficulties  to  a  satisfactory 
conclusion  should  have  failed;  but  after  entering  into  solemn  engage- 
ments with  the  commanding  general,  the  Indians,  without  any  provoca- 
tion, recommenced  their  acts  of  treachery  and  murder.  The  renewal  of 
hostilities  in  that  Territory  renders  it  necessary  that  I  should  recommend 
to  your  favorable  consideration  the  plan  which  will  be  submitted  to  you 
by  the  Secretary  of  War,  in  order  to  enable  that  Department  to  conduct 
them  to  a  successful  issue. 
Having  had  an  opportunity  of  personally  inspecting  a  portion  of  the 
troops  during  the  last  summer,  it  gives  me  pleasure  to  bear  testimony  to 
the  success  of  the  effort  to  improve  their  discipline  by  keeping  them 
together  in  as  large  bodies  as  the  nature  of  our  service  will  permit.  I 
recommend,  therefore,  that  commodious  and  permanent  barracks  be  con- 
structed at  the  several  posts  designated  by  the  Secretary  of  War.  Not- 
wrthstanding  the  high  state  of  their  discipline  and  excellent  jwlice,  the 
evils  resulting  to  the  service  from  the  deficiency  of  company  officers  were 
very  apparent,  and  I  recommend  that  the  staff  officers  be  permanently 
separated  from  the  line. 
The  Navy  has  been  usefully  and  honorably  employed  in  protecting 
the  rights  and  property  of  our  citizens  wherever  the  condition  of  affairs 
seemed  to  require  its  presence.  With  the  exception  of  one  instance, 
where  an  outrage,  accompanied  by  murder,  was  committed  on  a  vessel 
of  the  United  States  while  engaged  in  a  lawful  commerce,  nothing  is 
known  to  have  occurred  to  impede  or  molest  the  enterprise  of  our  citi- 
zens on  that  element,  where  it  is  so  signally  displayed.    On  learning  this
1 755  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
daring  act  of  piracy,  Commodore  Reed  proceeded  immediately  to  tlie 
spot,  and  receiving  no  satisfaction,  either  in  the  surrender  of  the  mttr* 
derers  or  the  restoration  of  the  plundered  property,  inflicted  severe  and 
merited  chastisement  on  the  barbarians. 
It  will  be  seen  by  the  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  respecting 
the  disposition  of  our  ships  of  war  that  it  has  been  deemed  necessary  to 
station  a  competent  force  on  the  coast  of  Africa  to  prevent  a  fraudulent 
use  of  our  flag  by  foreigners. 
Recent  experience  has  shown  that  the  provisions  in  our  existing  laws 
which  relate  to  the  sale  and  transfer  of  American  vessels  while  abroad 
are  extremely  defective.  Advantage  has  been  taken  of  these  defects  to 
give  to  vessels  wholly  belonging  to  foreigners  and  navigating  the  ocean 
an  apparent  American  ownership.  This  character  has  been  so  well  sim- 
ulated as  to  afford  them  comparative  security  in  prosecuting  the  slave 
trade — a  traffic  emphatically  denounced  in  our  statutes,  regarded  with 
abhorrence  by  our  citizens,  and  of  which  the  effectual  suppression  is 
nowhere  more  sincerely  desired  than  in  the  United  States.  These  cir- 
cumstances make  it  proper  to  recommend  to  your  early  attention  a  care- 
ful revision  of  these  laws,  so  that  without  impeding  the  freedom  and 
facilities  of  our  navigation  or  impairing  an  important  branch  of  our  indus- 
try connected  with  it  the  integrity  and  honor  of  our  flag  may  be  carefully 
preserved.  Information  derived  from  our  consul  at  Havana  showing 
the  necessity  of  this  was  communicated  to  a  committee  of  the  Senate 
near  the  dose  of  the  last  session,  but  too  late,  as  it  appeared,  to  be  acted 
upon.  It  will  be  brought  to  your  notice  by  the  proper  Department,  with 
additional  communications  from  other  sources. 
The  latest  accounts  from  the  exploring  expedition  represent  it  as  pro- 
ceeding successfully  in  its  objects  and  promising  results  no  less  useful 
to  trade  and  navigation  than  to  science. 
The  extent  of  post-roads  covered  by  mail  service  on  the  ist  of  July 
last  was  about  133,999  miles  and  the  rate  of  annual  transportation  upon 
them  34,496,878  miles.  The  number  of  post-offices  on  that  day  was 
12,780  and  on  the  30th  ultimo  13,028. 
The  revenue  of  the  Post-Office  Department  for  the  year  ending  with 
the  30th  of  June  last  was  $4,476,638,  exhibiting  an  increase  over  the 
preceding  year  of  $241,560.  The  engagements  and  liabiUties  of  the 
Department  for  the  same  period  are  $4,624,117. 
The  excess  of  liabilities  over  the  revenue  for  the  last  two  years  has 
been  met  out  of  the  surplus  which  had  previously  accumulated.  The 
cash  on  hand  on  the  30th  ultimo  was  about  $206,701.95,  and  the  cur- 
rent income  of  the  Department  varies  very  Uttle  from  the  rate  of  current 
expenditures.  Most  of  the  service  suspended  last  year  has  been  restored, 
and  most  of  the  new  routes  established  by  the  act  of  7th  July,  1838. 
have  been  set  in  operation,  at  an  annual  cost  of  $136,963.  Notwith- 
standing the  pecuniary  difficulties  of  the  country,  the\evenue  of  the
Martin  Van  Buren  1756 
Department  appears  to  be  increasing,  and  unless  it  shall  be  seriously 
checked  by  the  recent  suspension  of  payment  by  so  many  of  the  banks 
it  will  be  able  not  only  to  maintain  the  present  mail  service,  but  in  a 
short  time  to  extend  it.  It  is  gratifying  to  witness  the  \  ^mptitude  and 
fidelity  with  which  the  agents  of  this  Department  in  general  perform 
their  public  duties. 
Some  difiGiculties  have  arisen  in  relation  to  contracts  for  the  transporta- 
tion of  the  mails  by  railroad  and  steamboat  companies.  It  appears  that 
the  maximum  of  compensation  provided  by  Congress  for  the  transpor- 
tation of  the  mails  upon  railroads  is  not  sufficient  to  induce  some  of  the 
companies  to  convey  them  at  such  hours  as  are  required  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  public.  It  is  one  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the 
General  Government  to  provide  and  maintain  for  the  use  of  the  people  of 
the  States  the  best  practicable"  mail  establishment.  To  arrive  at  that 
end  it  is  indispensable  that  the  Post-Office  Department  shall  be  enabled 
to  control  the  hours  at  which  the  mails  shall  be  carried  over  railroads, 
as  it  now  does  over  all  other  roads.  Should  serious  inconveniences  arise 
from  the  inadequacy  of  the  compensation  now  provided  by  law,  or  from 
unreasonable  demands  by  any  of  the  railroad  companies,  the  subject  is  of 
such  general  importance  as  to  require  the  prompt  attention  of  Congress. 
In  relation  to  steamboat  lines,  the  most  efficient  remedy  is  obvious  and 
has  been  suggested  by  the  Postmaster-General.  The  War  and  Navy 
Departments  already  employ  steamboats  in  their  service;  and  although 
it  is  by  no  means  desirable  that  the  Government  should  undertake  the 
transportation  of  passengers  or  freight  as  a  business,  there  can  be  no 
reasonable  objection  to  running  boats,  temporarily,  whenever  it  may  be 
necessary  to  put  down  attempts  at  extortion,  to  be  discontinued  as  soon 
as  reasonable  contracts  can  be  obtained. 
The  suggestions  of  the  Postmaster-General  relative  to  the  inadequacy 
of  the  legal  allowance  to  witnesses  in  cases  of  prosecutions  for  mail  dep- 
redations merit  your  serious  consideration.  The  safety  of  the  mails 
requires  that  such  prosecutions  shall  be  efficient,  and  justice  to  the  citi- 
zen whose  time  is  required  to  be  given  to  the  public  demands  not  only 
that  his  expenses  shall  be  paid,  but  that  he  shall  receive  a  reasonable 
compensation. 
The  reports  from  the  War,  Navy,  and  Post-Office  Departments  will 
accompany  this  communication,  and  one  from  the  Treasury  Department 
will  be  presented  to  Congress  in  a  few  days. 
For  various  details  in  respect  to  the  matters  in  charge  of  these  Depart- 
ments I  would  refer  you  to  those  important  documents,  satisfied  that 
you  will  find  in  them  many  valuable  suggestions  which  will  be  found 
well  deserving  the  attention  of  the  Legislature. 
Prom  a  report  made  in  December  of  last  year  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  the  Senate,  showing  the  trial  docket  of  each  of  the  circuit  courts 
and  the  number  of  miles  each  judge  has  to  travel  in  the  performance  of
1757  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
his  duties,  a  great  inequality  appears  in  the  amount  of  labor  assigned  to 
each  judge.  The  number  of  term3  to  be  held  in  each  of  the  courts  com- 
posing the  ninth  circuit,  the  distances  between  the  places  at  which  they 
sit  and  from  thence  to  the  seat  of  Government,  are  represented  to  be 
such  as  to  render  it  impossible  for  the  judge  of  that  circuit  to  perform 
in  a  manner  corresponding  with  the  public  exigencies  his  term  and  cir- 
cuit duties.  A  revision,  therefore,  of  the  present  arrangement  of  the 
circuit  seems  to  be  called  for  and  is  recommended  to  your  notice. 
I  think  it  proper  to  call  your  attention  to  the  power  assumed  by  Terri- 
torial legislatures  to  authorize  the  issue  of  bonds  by  corporate  companies 
on  the  guaranty  of  the  Territory.  Congress  passed  a  law  in  1836  pro- 
viding that  no  act  of  a  Territorial  legislature  incorporating  banks  should 
have  the  force  of  law  until  approved  by  Congress,  but  acts  of  a  very 
exceptionable  character  previously  passed  by  the  legislature  of  Florida 
were  suffered  to  remain  in  force,  by  virtue  of  which  bonds  may  be  issued 
to  a  very  large  amount  by  those  institutions  upon  the  faith  of  the  Terri- 
tory. A  resolution,  intending  to  be  a  joint  one,  passed  the  Senate  at  the 
same  session,  expressing  the  sense  of  Congress  that  the  laws  in  question 
ought  not  to  be  permitted  to  remain  in  force  unless  amended  in  many 
material  respects;  but  it  failed  in  the  House  of  Representatives  for  want 
of  time,  and  the  desired  amendments  have  not  been  made.  The  interests 
involved  are  of  great  importance,  and  the  subject  deserves  your  early  and 
careful  attention. 
The  continued  agitation  of  the  question  relative  to  the  best  mode  of 
keeping  and  disbursing  the  pulilic  money  still  injuriously  affects  the  busi- 
ness of  the  country.  The  suspension  of  specie  pajonents  in  1837  rendered 
the  use  of  deposit  banks  as  prescribed  by  the  act  of  1836  a  source  rather 
of  embarrassment  than  aid,  and  of  necessity  placed  the  custody  of  most  of 
the  public  money  afterwards  collected  in  charge  of  the  public  officers. 
The  new  securities  for  its  safety  which  this  required  were  a  principal 
cause  of  my  convening  an  extra  session  of  Congress,  but  in  consequence 
of  a  disagreement  between  the  two  Houses  neither  then  nor  at  any  sub- 
sequent period  has  there  been  any  legislation  on  the  subject.  The  effort 
made  at  the  last  session  to  obtain  the  authority  of  Congress  to  punish  the 
use  of  public  money  for  private  purposes  as  a  crime — ^a  measure  attended 
under  other  governments  with  signal  advantage — ^was  also  unsuccessful, 
from  diversities  of  opinion  in  that  body,  notwithstanding  the  anxiety 
doubtless  felt  by  it  to  afford  every  practicable  security.  The  result  of 
this  is  still  to  leave  the  custody  of  the  public  money  without  those  safe- 
guards which  have  been  for  several  years  earnestly  desired  by  the  Execu- 
tive, and  as  the  remedy  is  only  to  be  found  in  the  action  of  the  Legislature 
it  imposes  on  me  the  duty  of  again  submitting  to  you  the  propriety  of 
passing  a  law  providing  for  the  safe-keeping  of  the  public  moneys,  and 
especially  to  ask  that  its  use  for  private  purposes  by  any  officers  intrusted 
with  it  may  be  declared  to  be  a  felony,  punishable  with  penalties  propor- 
tioned to  the  magnitude  of  the  offense.
Martin  Van  Buren  i7S8 
These  circumstances,  added  to  known  defects  in  the  existing  laws  and 
unusual  derangement  in  t^e  general  operations  of  trade,  have  during  the 
last  three  years  much  increased  the  difl&culties  attendant  on  the  collection, 
keeping,  and  disbursement  of  the  revenue,  and  called  forth  corresponding 
exertions  from  those  having  them  in  charge.  Happily  these  have  been 
successful  beyond  expectation.  Vast  sums  have  been  collected  and  dis- 
bursed by  the  several  Departments  with  unexpected  cheapness  and  ease, 
transfers  have  been  readily  made  to  every  part  of  the  Union,  however 
distant,  and  defalcations  have  been  far  less  than  might  have  been  antici- 
pated from  the  absence  of  adequate  legal  restraints.  Since  the  oflBcers 
of  the  Treasury  and  Post-OflSce  Departments  were  charged  with  the  cus- 
tody of  most  of  the  public  moneys  received  by  them  there  have  been 
collected  $66,000,000,  and,  excluding  the  case  of  the  late  collector  at  New 
York,  the  aggregate  amount  of  losses  sustained  in  the  collection  can  not, 
it  is  believed,  exceed  $60,000.  The  defalcation  of  the  late  collector  at 
that  city,  of  the  extent  and  circumstances  of  which  Congress  have  been 
fully  informed,  ran  through  all  the  modes  of  keeping  the  pubUc  money 
that  have  been  hitherto  in  use,  and  was  distinguished  by  an  aggravated 
disregard  of  duty  that  broke  through  the  restraints  of  every  system,  and 
can  not,  therefore,  be  usefully  referred  to  as  a  test  of  the  comparative 
safety  of  either.  Additional  information  will  also  be  furnished  by  the 
report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  in  reply  to  a  call  made  upon  that 
oflScer  by  the  House  of  Representatives  at  the  last  session  requiring 
detailed  information  on  the  subject  of  defaults  by  public  oflScers  or  agents 
under  each  Administration  from  1789  to  1837.  This  document  will  be 
submitted  to  you  in  a  few  days.  The  general  results  (independent  of 
the  Post-OflSce,  which  is  kept  separately  and  will  be  stated  by  itself),  so 
far  as  they  bear  upon  this  subject,  are  that  the  losses  which  have  been 
and  are  likely  to  be  sustained  by  any  class  of  agents  have  been  the 
greatest  by  banks,  including,  as  required  in  the  resolution,  their  depre- 
ciated paper  received  for  pubUc  dues;  that  the  next  largest  have  been  by 
disbursing  officers,  and  the  least  by  collectors  and  receivers.  If  the  losses 
on  duty  bonds  are  included,  they  alone  will  be  threefold  those  by  both 
collectors  and  receivers.  Our  whole  experience,  therefore,  furnishes  the 
strongest  evidence  that  the  desired  legislation  of  Congress  is  alone  wanting 
to  insure  in  those  operations  the  highest  degree  of  security  and  facility. 
Such  also  appears  to  have  been  the  experience  of  other  nations.  From 
the  results  of  inquiries  made  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  regard 
to  the  practice  among  them  I  am  enabled  to  state  that  in  twenty-two 
out  of  twenty-seven  foreign  governments  from  which  undoubted  infor- 
mation has  been  obtained  the  public  moneys  are  kept  in  charge  of  pubhc 
officers.  This  concurrence  of  opinion  in  favor  of  that  system  is  perhaps 
as  great  as  exists  on  any  question  of  internal  administration. 
In  the  modes  of  business  and  official  restraints  on  disbursing  officers 
no  legal  change  was  produced  by  the  suspension  of  specie  payments.
1 759  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
The  report  last  referred  to  will  be  found  to  contain  also  much  useful 
information  in  relation  to  this  subject. 
I  have  heretof or'e  assigned  to  Congress  my  reasons  for  beUeving  that 
the  estabUshment  of  an  independent  National  Treasury,  as  contemplated 
by  the  Constitution,  is  necessary  to  the  safe  action  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment. The  suspension  of  specie  payments  in  1837  t>y  the  banks  hav- 
ing the  custody  of  the  pubUc  money  showed  in  so  alarming  a  degree  our 
dependence  on  those  institutions  for  the  performance  of  duties  required 
by  law  that  I  then  recommended  the  entire  dissolution  of  that  connection. 
This  recommendation  has  been  subjected,  as  I  desired  it  should  be,  to 
severe  scrutiny  and  animated  discussion,  and  I  allow  myself  to  believe 
that  notwithstanding  the  natural  diversities  of  opinion  which  may  be 
anticipated  on  all  subjects  involving  such  important  considerations,  it 
has  secured  in  its  favor  as  general  a  concurrence  of  public  sentiment  as 
could  be  expected  on  one  of  such  magnitude. 
'  Recent  events  have  also  continued  to  develop  new  objections  to  such  a 
connection.  Seldom  is  any  bank,  under  the  existing  system  and  prac- 
tice, able  to  meet  on  demand  all  its  liabilities  for  deposits  and  notes 
in  circulation.  It  maintains  specie  payments  and  transacts  a  profitable 
business  only  by  the  corifidence  of  the  public  in  its  solvency,  and  when* 
ever  this  is  destroyed  the  demands  of  it3  depositors  and  note  holders, 
pressed  more  rapidly  than  it  can  make  collections  from  its  debtors, 
force  it  to  stop  payment.  This  loss  of  confidence,  with  its  consequences, 
occurred  in  1837,  ^^^  afforded  the  apology  of  the  banks  for  their  suspen- 
sion. The  public  then  acquiesced  in  the  vaHdity  of  the  excuse,  and  while 
the  State  legislatures  did  not  exact  from  them  their  forfeited  charters, 
Congress,  in  accordance  with  the  recommendation  of  the  Executive, 
allowed  them  time  to  pay  over  the  public  money  they  held,  although 
compelled  to  issue  Treasury  notes  to  supply  the  deficiency  thus  created. 
It  now  appears  that  there  are  other  motives  than  a  want  of  public 
confidence  tmder  which  the  banks  seek  to  justify  themselves  in  a  refusal 
to  meet  their  obligations.  Scarcely  were  the  country  and  Government 
relieved  in  a  degree  from  the  diflSculties  occasioned  by  the  general  sus- 
pension of  1837  when  a  partial  one,  occurring  within  thirty  months  of 
the  former,  produced  new  and  serious  embarrassments,  though  it  had  no 
palliation  in  such  circumstances  as  were  alleged  in  justification  of  that 
which  had  previously  taken  place.  There  was  nothing  in  the  condition 
of  the  country  to  endanger  a  well-managed  banking  institution;  com- 
merce was  deranged  by  no  foreign  war;  every  branch  of  manufacturing 
industry  was  crowned  with  rich  rewards,  and  the  more  than  usual  abun- 
dance of  our  harvests,  after  supplying  our  domestic  wants,  had  left  our 
granaries  and  storehouses  filled  with  a  surplus  for  exportation.  It  is  in 
the  midst  of  this  that  an  irredeemable  and  depreciated  paper  currency 
is  entailed  upon  the  people  by  a  large  portion  of  the  banks.  They  are 
not  driven  to  it  by  the  exhibition  of  a  loss  of  public  confidence  or  of  a
Martin  Van  Buren  1760 
sudden  pressure  from  their  depositors  or  note  holders,  but  they  excuse 
themselves  by  alleging  that  the  current  of  business  and  exchange  with 
foreign  countries,  which  draws  the  precious  metals  from  their  vaults, 
would  require  in  order  to  meet  it  a  larger  curtailment  of  their  loans  to  a 
comparatively  small  portion  of  the  community  than  it  will  be  convenient 
for  them  to  bear  or  perhaps  safe  for  the  banks  to  exact.  The  plq^  has 
ceased  to  be  one  of  necessity.  Convenience  and  policy  are  now  deemed 
suflBcient  to  warrant  these  institutions  in  disregarding  their  solemn  obli- 
gations. Such  conduct  is  not  merely  an  injury  to  individual  creditors, 
but  it  is  a  wrong  to  the  whole  community,  from  whose  liberality  they  hold 
most  valuable  privileges,  whose  rights  they  violate,  whose  business  they 
derange,  and  the  value  of  whose  property  they  render  unstable  and  inse- 
cure. It  must  be  evident  that  this  new  ground  for  bank  suspensions,  in 
reference  to  which  their  action  is  not  only  disconnected  with,  but  wholly 
independent  of,  that  of  the  public,  gives  a  character  to  their  suspen- 
sions more  alarming  than  any  which  they  exhibited  before,  and  greatly 
increases  the  impropriety  of  relying  on  the  banks  in  the  transactions  of 
the  Government. 
A  large  and  highly  respectable  portion  of  our  banking  institutions 
are,  it  affords  me  unfeigned  pleasure  to  state,  exempted  from  all  blame 
on  account  of  this  second  delinquency.  They  have,  to  their  great  credit, 
not  only  continued  to  meet  their  engagements,  but  have  even  repudiated 
the  grounds  of  suspension  now  resorted  to.  It  is  only  by  such  a  course 
that  the  confidence  and  good  will  of  the  community  can  be  preserved,  and 
in  the  sequel  the  best  interests  of  the  institutions  themselves  promoted 
New  dangers  to  the  banks  are  also  daily  disclosed  from  the  extension 
of  that  system  of  extravagant  credit  of  which  they  are  the  pillars.  For- 
merly our  foreign  commerce  was  principally  founded  on  an  exchange  of 
commodities,  including  the  precious  metals,  and  leaving  in  its  transac- 
tions but  little  foreign  debt.  Such  is  not  now  the  case.  Aided  by  the 
facilities  afforded  by  the  banks,  mere  credit  has  become  too  commonly 
the  basis  of  trade.  Many  of  the  banks  themselves,  not  content  with 
largely  stimulating  this  system  among  others,  have  usurped  the  business, 
while  they  impair  the  stability,  of  the  mercantile  community;  they  have 
become  borrowers  instead  of  lenders;  they  establish  their  agencies  abroad; 
they  deal  largely  in  stocks  and  merchandise;  they  encourage  the  issue 
of  State  securities  until  the  foreign  market  is  glutted  with  them;  and, 
unsatisfied  with  the  legitimate  use  of  their  own  capital  and  the  exercise 
of  their  lawful  privileges,  they  raise  by  large  loans  additional  means  for 
every  variety  of  speculation.  The  disasters  attendant  on  this  deviation 
from  the  former  course  of  business  in  this  country  are  now  shared  alike 
by  banks  and  individuals  to  an  extent  of  which  there  is  perhaps  no  pre- 
vious example  in  the  annals  of  our  country.  So  long  as  a  willingness  of 
the  foreign  lender  and  a  sufficient  export  of  our  productions  to  meet  any 
necessary  partial  payments  leave  the  flow  of  credit  undisturbed  all  appeam
1 76 1  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
to  be  prosperous,  but  as  soon  as  it  is  checked  by  any  hesitation  abroad 
or  by  an  inability  to  make  payment  there  in  our  productions  the  evils  of 
the  system  are  disclosed.  The  paper  currency,  which  might  serve  for 
domestic  purposes,  is  useless  to  pay  the  debt  due  in  Europe.  Gold  and 
silver  are  therefore  drawn  in  exchange  for  their  notes  from  the  bank^. 
To  keep  up  their  supply  of  coin  these  institutions  are  obliged  to  call 
upon  their  own  debtors,  who  pay  them  principally  in  their  own  notes, 
which  are  as  unavailable  to  them  as  they  are  to  the  merchants  to  meet 
the  foreign  demand.  The  calls  of  the  banks,  therefore,  in  such  emer- 
gencies of  necessity  exceed  that  demand,  and  produce  a  corresponding 
curtailment  of  their  accommodations  and  of  the  currency  at  the  very 
moment  when  the  state  of  trade  renders  it  most  inconvenient  to  be  borne. 
The  intensity  of  this  pressure  on  the  community  is  in  proportion  to  the 
previous  liberality  of  credit  and  consequent  expansion  of  the  currency. 
Forced  sales  of  property  are  made  at  the  time  when  the  means  of  pur- 
chasing are  most  reduced,  and  the  worst  calamities  to  individuals  are 
only  at  last  arrested  by  an  open  violation  of  their  obligations  by  the 
banks — sl  refusal  to  pay  specie  for  their  notes  and  an  imposition  upon 
the  community  of  a  fluctuating  and  depredatedcurrency. 
These  consequences  are  inherent  in  the  present  system.  They  are 
not  influenced  by  the  banks  being  large  or  small,  created  by  National 
or  State  Governments.  They  are  the  results  of  the  irresistible  laws  of 
trade  or  credit.  In  the  recent  events,  which  have  so  strikingly  illus- 
trated the  certain  effects  of  these  laws,  we  have  seen  the  bank  of  the 
largest  capital  in  the  Union,  established  under  a  national  charter,  and 
lately  strengthened,  as  we  were  authoritatively  informed,  by  exchanging 
that  for  a  State  charter  with  new  and  unusual  privileges — in  a  condition, 
too,  as  it  was  said,  of  entire  soundness  and  great  prosperity — not  merely 
unable  to  resist  these  effects,  but  the  first  to  yield  to  them. 
Nor  is  it  to  be  overlooked  that  there  exists  a  chain  of  necessary  de- 
pendence among  these  institutions  which  obliges  them  to  a  great  extent 
to  follow  the  course  of  others,  notwithstanding  its  injustice  to  their  own 
immediate  creditors  or  injury  to  the  particular  community  in  which  they 
are  placed.  This  dependence  of  a  bank,  which  is  in  proportion  to  the 
extent  of  its  debts  for  circulation  and  deposits,  is  not  merely  on  others 
in  its  own  vicinity,  but  on  all  those  which  connect  it  with  the  center  of 
trade.  Distant  banks  may  fail  without  seriously  affecting  those  in  our 
principal  commercial  cities,  but  the  failure  of  the  latter  is  felt  at  the 
extremities  of  the  Union.  The  suspension  at  New  York  in  1837  was 
everjrwhere,  with  very  few  exceptions,  followed  as  soon  as  it  was  known. 
That  recently  at  Philadelphia  immediately  affected  the  banl^  of  the 
South  and  West  in  a  similar  manner.  This  dependence  of  our  whole 
banking  system  on  the  institutions  in  a  few  large  cities  is  not  found  in 
the  laws  of  their  organization,  but  in  those  of  trade  and  exchange.  The 
banks  at  that  center,  to  which  currency  flows  and  where  it  is  required  in
Martin  Van  Buren  1762 
pa3mietits  for  merchandise,  hold  the  power  of  controlling  those  in  regions 
whence  it  comes,  while  the  latter  possess  no  means  of  restraining  them; 
so  that  the  value  of  individual  property  and  the  prosperity  of  trade 
through  the  whole  interior  of  the  country  are  made  to  depend  on  the 
good  or  bad  management  of  the  banking  institutions  in  the  great  seats 
of  trade  on  the  seaboard. 
But  this  chain  of  dependence  does  not  stop  here.  It  does  not  termi- 
nate at  Philadelphia  or  New  York.  It  reaches  across  the  ocean  and  ends 
in  London,  the  center  of  the  credit  system.  The  same  laws  of  trade 
which  give  to  the  banks  in  our  principal  cities  power  over  the  whole 
banking  system  of  the  United  States  subject  the  former,  in  their  turn,  to 
the  money  power  in  Great  Britain.  It  is  not  denied  that  the  suspension 
of  the  New  York  banks  in  1837,  which  was  followed  in  quick  succession 
throughout  the  Union,  was  produced  by  an  appHcation  of  that  power, 
and  it  is  now  alleged,  in  extenuation  of  the  present  condition  of  so  large 
a  portion  of  our  banks,  that  their  embarrassments  have  arisen  from  the 
same  cause. 
From  this  influence  they  can  not  now  entirely  escape,  for  it  has  its 
origin  in  the  credit  currencies  of  the  two  countries;  it  is  strengthened  by 
the  current  of  trade  and  exchange  which  centers  in  I/)ndon,jand  is  ren- 
dered almost  irresistible  by  the  large  debts  contracted  there  by  our  mer- 
chants, our  banks,  and  our  States.  It  is  thus  that  an  introduction  of  a 
new  bank  into  the  most  distant  of  our  villages  places  the  business  of  that 
village  within  the  influence  of  the  money  power  in  England;  it  is  thus 
that  every  new  debt  which  we  contract  in  that  country  seriously  affects 
our  own  currency  and  extends  over  the  pursuits  of  our  citizens  its  power- 
ful influence.  We  can  not  escape  from  this  by  making  new  banks,  great 
or  small,  State  or  national.  The  same  chains  which  bind  those  now  exist- 
ing to  the  center  of  this  system  of  paper  credit  mi;st  equally  fetter  every 
similar  institution  we  create.  It  is  only  by  thp  extent  to  which  this 
system  has  been  pushed  of  late  that  we  have  been  made  fully  aware  of 
its  irresistible  tendency  to  subject  our  own  banks  and  currency  to  a  vast 
controlling  power  in  a  foreign  land,  and  it  adds  a  new  argument  to  those 
which  illustrate  their  precarious  situation.  Endangered  in  the  first  place 
by  their  own  mismanagement  and  again  by  the  conduct  of  every  institu- 
tion which  connects  them  with  the  center  of  trade  in  our  own  country, 
they  are  yet  subjected  beyond  all  this  to  the  effect  of  whatever  measures 
policy,  necessity,  or  caprice  may  induce  those  who  control  the  credits  of 
England  to  resort  to.  I  mean  not  to  comment  upon  these  measures, 
present  or  past,  and  much  less  to  discourage  the  prosecution  of  fair  com- 
mercial dealing  between  the  two  countries,  based  on  reciprocal  bene- 
fits; but  it  having  now  been  made  manifest  that  the  power  of  inflicting 
these  and  similar  injuries  is  by  the  resistless  law  of  a  credit  currency  and 
credit  trade  equally  capable  of  extending  their  consequences  throuo^h  ali 
the  ramifications  of  our  banking  system,  and  by  that  means  indirectly
1763  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
obtaining,  particukrly  when  our  banks  are  used  as  depositories  of  the 
public  moneys,  a  dangerous  political  influence  in  the  United  States,  I 
have  deemed  it  my  duty  to  bring  the  subject  to  your  notice  and  ask  for  it 
your  serious  consideration. 
Is  an  argument  required  beyond  the  exposition  of  these  facts  to  show 
the  impropriety  of  using  our  banking  institutions  as  depositories  of  the 
public  money?  Can  we  venture  not  only  to  encounter  the  risk  of  their 
individual  and  mutual  mismanagement,  but  at  the  same  time  to  place 
our  foreign  and  domestic  policy  entirely  under  the  control  of  a  foreign 
moneyed  interest?  To  do  so  is  to  impair  the  independence  of  our  Gov- 
ernment, as  the  present  credit  system  has  already  impaired  the  independ- 
ence of  our  banks;  it  is  to  submit  all  its  important  operations,  whether 
of  peace  or  war,  to  be  controlled  or  thwarted,  at  first  by  our  own  banks 
and  then  by  a  power  abroad  greater  than  themselves.  I  can  not  bring 
myself  to  depict  the  humiliation  to  which  this  Government  and  people 
might  be  sooner  or  later  reduced  if  the  means  for  defending  their  rights 
are  to  be  made  dependent  upon  those  who  may  have  the  most  powerful 
of  motives  to  impair  them. 
Nor  is  it  only  in  reference  to  the  eflFect  of  this  state  of  things  on  the 
independence  of  our  Government  or  of  our  banks  that  the  subject  pre- 
sents itself  for  consideration;  it  is  to  be  viewed  also  in  its  relations  to 
the  general  trade  of  our  country.  The  time  is  not  long  passed  when  a 
deficiency  of  foreign  crops  was  thought  to  afford  a  profitable  market  for 
the  surplus  of  our  industry,  but  now  we  await  with  feverish  anxiety  the 
news  of  the  Engluh  harvest,  not  so  much  from  motives  of  commendable 
sympathy,  but  fearful  lest  its  anticipated  failure  should  narrow  the  field 
of  credit  there.  Does  not  this  speak  volumes  to  the  patriot?  Can  a 
system  be  beneficent,  wise,  or  just  which  creates  greater  anxiety  for 
interests  dependent  on  foreign  credit  than  for  the  general  prosperity  of 
our  own  country  and  the  profitable  exportation  of  the  surplus  produce 
of  our  labor? 
The  circumstances  to  which  I  have  thus  adverted  appear  to  me  to 
afford  weighty  reasons,  developed  by  late  events,  to  be  added  to  those 
which  I  have  on  former  occasions  offered  when  submitting  to  your  better 
knowledge  and  discernment  the  propriety  of  separating  the  custody  of 
the  public  money  from  banking  institutions.  Nor  has  anjrthing  occurred 
to  lessen,  in  my  opinion,  the  force  of  what  has  been  heretofore  urged. 
The  only  ground  on  which  that  custody  can  be  desired  by  the  banks  is 
the  profitable  use  which  they  may  make  of  the  money.  Such  use  would 
be  regarded  in  individuals  as  a  breach  of  trust  or  a  crime  of  great  mag- 
nitude, and  yet  it  may  be  reasonably  doubted  whether,  first  and  last, 
it  is  not  attended  with  more  mischievous  consequences  when  permitted 
to  the  former  than  to  the  latter.  The  practice  of  permitting  the  public 
money  to  be  used  by  its  keepers,  as  here,  is  believed  to  be  peculiar  to 
this  country  and  to  exist  scarcely  anywhere  else.     To  procure  it  hert
Martin  Van  Buren  1764 
improper  influences  are  appealed  to,  unwise  connections  are  established 
between  the  Government  and  vast  numbers  of  powerful  State  institutions, 
other  motives  than  the  public  good  are  brought  to  bear  both  on  the  exec- 
utive and  legislative  departments,  and  selfish  combinations  leading  to 
special  legislation  are  formed.  It  is  made  the  interest  of  banking  insti- 
tutions and  their  stockholders  throughout  the  Union  to  use  their  exertions 
for  the  increase  of  taxation  and  the  accumulation  of  a  surplus  revenue, 
and  while  an  excuse  is  afforded  the  m^ns  are  furnished  for  those  exces- 
sive issues  which  lead  to  extravagant  trading  and  speculation  and  are 
the  forerunners  of  a  vast  debt  abroad  and  a  suspension  of  the  banks  at 
home. 
Impressed,  therefore,  as  I  am  with  the  propriety  of  the  funds  of  the 
Government  being  withdrawn  from  the  private  use  of  either  banks  or 
individuals,  and  the  public  money  kept  by  duly  appointed  public  agents, 
and  believing  as  I  do  that  such  also  is  the  judgment  which  discussion, 
reflection,  and  experience  have  produced  on  the  public  mind,  I  leave  the 
subject  with  you.  It  is,  at  all  events,  essential  to  the  interests  of  the 
community  and  the  business  of  the  Government  that  a  decision  should 
be  made. 
Most  of  the  arguments  that  dissuade  us  from  employing  banks  in  the 
custody  and  disbursement  of  the  public  money  apply  with  equal  force  to 
the  receipt  of  their  notes  for  public  dues.  The  difference  is  only  in  form. 
In  one  instance  the  Government- is  a  creditor  for  its  deposits,  and  in  the 
other  for  the  notes  it  holds.  They  afford  the  same  opportunity  for 
using  the  public  moneys,  and  equally  lead  to  all  the  evils  attendant  upon 
it,  since  a  bank  can  as  safely  extend  its  discounts  on  a  deposit  of  its  notes 
in  the  hands  of  a  public  officer  as  on  one  made  in  its  own  vaults.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  would  give  to  the  Government  no  greater  security,  foi 
in  case  of  failure  the  claim  of.  the  note  bolder  would  be  no  better  than 
that  of  a  depositor. 
I  am  aware  that  the  danger  of  inconvenience  to  the  public  and  unrea- 
sonable pressure  upon  sound  banks  have  been  urged  as  objections  to 
requiring  the  payment  of  the  revenue  in  gold  and  silver.  These  objec- 
tions have  been  greatly  exaggerated.  From  the  best  estimates  we  may 
safely  fix  the  amount  of  specie  in  the  country  at  $85,000,000,  and  the 
portion  of  that  which  would  be  employed  at  any  one  time  in  the  receipts 
and  disbursements  of  the  Government,  even  if  the  proposed  change  were 
made  at  once,  would  not,  it  is  now,  after  fuller  investigation,  believed 
exceed  four  or  five  millions.  If  the  change  were  gradual,  several  years 
would  elapse  before  that  sum  would  be  required,  with  annual  opportuni- 
ties in  the  meantime  to  alter  the  law  should  experience  prove  it  to  be 
oppressive  or  inconvenient.  The  portions  of  the  community  on  whose 
business  the  change  would  inunediately  operate  are  comparatively  small, 
nor  is  it  believed  that  its  effect  would  be  in  the  least  unjust  or  injurious 
to  them.
1 765  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
In  the  payment  of  duties,  which  constitute  by  far  the  greater  portion 
of  the  revenue,  a  very  large  proportion  is  derived  from  foreign  commis* 
sion  houses  and  agents  of  foreign  manufacturers,  who  sell  the  goods  con- 
signed to  them  generally  at  auction,  and  after  paying  the  duties  out  of  the 
avails  remit  the  rest  abroad  in  specie  or  its  equivalent.  That  the  amount 
of  duties  should  in  such  cases  be  also  retained  in  specie  can  hardly  be 
made  a  matter  of  complaint.  Our  own  importing  merchants,  by  whom 
the  residue  of  the  duties  is  paid,  are  not  only  peculiarly  interested 
in  maintaining  a  sound  currency,  which  the  measure  in  question  will 
especially  promote,  but  are  from  the  nature  of  their  dealings  best  able  to 
know  when  specie  will  be  needed  and  to  procure  it  with  the  least  diflS- 
culty  or  sacrifice.  Residing,  too,  almost  universally  in  places  where  the 
revenue  is  received  and  where  the  drafts  used  by  the  Government  for  its 
disbursements  must  concentrate,  they  have  every  opportunity  to  obtain* 
and  use  them  in  place  of  specie  should  it  be  for  their  interest  or  conven- 
ience. Of  the  number  of  these  drafts  and  the  facilities  they  may  afford, 
as  well  as  of  the  rapidity  with  which  the  public  ftmds  are  drawn  and 
disbursed,  an  idea  may  be  formed  from  the  fact  that  of  nearly  $20,000,000 
paid  to  collectors  and  receivers  during  the  present  year  the  average 
amount  in  their  hands  at  any  one  time  has  not  exceeded  a  million  and 
a  half,  and  of  the  fifteen  milUons  received  by  the  collector  of  New  York 
alone  during  the  present  year  the  average  amount  held  by  him  subject 
to  draft  during  each  week  has  been  less  than  half  a  million. 
The  ease  and  safety  of  the  operations  of  the  Treasury  in  keeping  the 
pubHc  money  are  promoted  by  the  application  of  its  own  drafts  to  the  pub- 
lic dues.  The  objection  arising  from  having  them  too  long  outstanding 
might  be  obviated  and  they  yet  made  to  afford  to  merchants  and  banks 
holding  them  an  equivalent  for  specie,  and  in  that  way  greatly  lessen 
the  amount  actually  required.  Still  less  inconvenience  will  attend  the 
requirement  of  specie  in  ptu-chases  of  public  lands.  Such  purchases, 
except  when  made  on  speculation,  are  in  general  but  single  transactions, 
rarely  repeated  by  the  same  person;  and  it  is  a  fact  that  for  the  last  year 
and  a  half,  during  which  the  notes  of  sound  banks  have  been  received, 
more  than  a  moiety  of  these  pajonents  has  been  volimtarily  made  in 
specie,  being  a  larger  proportion  than  would  have  been  required  in  three 
years  under  the  graduation  projwsed. 
It  is,  moreover,  a  principle  than  which  none  is  better  settled  by  experi- 
ence that  the  supply  of  the  precious  metals  will  always  be  found  adequate 
to  the  uses  for  which  they  are  required.  They  abound  in  countries  where 
no  other  currency  is  allowed.  In  our  own  States,  where  small  notes  are 
excluded,  gold  and  silver  supply  their  place.  When  driven  to  their  hid- 
ing places  by  bank  suspensions,  a  little  firmness  in  the  community  soon 
restores  them  in  a  suflScient  quantity  for  ordinary  purposes.  Postage 
and  other  public  dues  have  been  collected  in  coin  without  serious  incon- 
venience even  in  States  where  a  depreciated  paper  currency  has  existed
Martin  Van  Buren  1766 
for  years,  and  this,  with  the  aid  of  Treasury  notes  for  a  part  of  the  time, 
was  done  without  interruption  during  the  suspension  of  1837.  At  the 
present  moment  the  receipts  and  disbursements  of  the  Government  are 
made  in  legal  currency  in  thfe  largest,  portion  of  the  Union.  No  one 
suggests  a  departure  from  this  rule,  and  if  it  can  now  be  successfully 
carried  out  it  will  be  surely  attended  with  even  less  difficulty  when  bank 
notes  are  again  redeemed  in  specie. 
Indeed,  I  can  not  think  that  a  serious  objection  would  anywhere  be 
raised  to  the  receipt  and  payment  of  gold  and  silver  in  all  public  trans- 
actions were  it  not  from  an  apprehension  that  a  surplus  in  the  Treasury 
might  withdraw  a  large  portion  of  it  from  circulation  and  lock  it  up 
unprofitably  in  the  public  vaults.  It  would  not,  in  my  opinion,  be  diffi- 
cult to  prevent  such  an  inconvenience  from  occurring;  but  the  authentic 
statements  which  I  have  already  submitted  to  you  in  regard  to  the  actual 
amount  in  the  public  Treasury  at  any  one  time  during  the  period  em- 
braced in  them  and  the  little  probability  of  a  different  state  of  the  Treas- 
ury for  at  least  some  years  to  come  seem  to  render  it  unnecessary  to 
dwell  upon  it.  Congress,  moreover,  as  I  have  before  observed,  will  in 
every  year  have  an  opportunity  to  guard  against  it  should  the  occurrence 
of  any  circumstances  lead  us  to  apprehend  injury  from  this  source.  View- 
ing the  subject  in  all  its  aspects,  I  can  not  believe  that  any  period  will  be 
more  auspicious  than  the  present  for  the  adoption  of  all  measures  neces- 
sary to  maintain  the  sanctity  of  our  own  engagements  and  to  aid  in 
securing  to  the  community  that  abundant  supply  of  the  precious  metals 
which  adds  so  much  to  their  prosperity  and  gives  such  increased  stability 
to  all  their  dealings. 
In  a  country  so  commercial  as  ours  banks  in  some  form  will  probably 
always  exist,  but  this  serves  only  to  render  it  the  more  incumbent  on  us, 
notwithstanding  the  discouragements  of  the  past,  to  strive  in  our  respec- 
tive stations  to  mitigate  the  evils  they  produce;  to  take  from  them  as 
rapidly  as  the  obligations  of  public  faith  and  a  careful  consideration  of 
the  immediate  interests  of  the  community  will  permit  the  unjust  char- 
acter of  monopolies;  to  check,  so  far  as  may  be  practicable,  by  prudent 
legislation  those  temptations  of  interest  and  those  opportunities  for  theiA* 
dangerous  indulgence  which  beset  them  on  every  side,  and  to  confine 
them  strictly  to  the  performance  of  their  paramount  duty — that  of  aiding 
the  operations  of  commerce  rather  than  consulting  their  own  exclusive 
advantage.  These  and  other  salutary  reforms  may,  it  is  believed,  be 
accomplished  without  the  violation  of  any  of  the  great  principles  of  the 
social  compact,  the  observance  of  which  is  indispensable  to  its  existence, 
or  interfering  in  any  way  with  the  useful  and  profitable  employment  of 
real  capital. 
Institutions  so  framed  have  existed  and  still  exist  elsewhere,  giving  to 
commercial  intercourse  all  necessary  facilities  without  inflating  or  depre- 
ciating the  currency  or  stimulating  speculation.     Thus  accomplishing
1767  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
their  legitimate  ends,  they  have  gained  the  surest  gtiamnty  for  their  pro- 
tection and  encouragement  in  the  good  will  of  the  community.  Among 
a  people  so  just  as  ours  the  same  results  could  not  fail  to  attend  a  similar 
cotnse.  The  direct  supervision  of  the  b^ks  belongs,  from  the  nature 
of  our  Government,  to  the  States  who  authorize  them.  It  is  to  their 
legislatures  that  the  people  must  mainly  look  for  auction  on  that  subject. 
But  as  the  conduct  of  the  Federal  Government  in  the  management  of 
its  revenue  has  also  a  powerful,  though  less  immediate,  influence  upon 
them,  it  becomes  our  duty  to  see  that  a  proper  direction  is  given  to  it. 
While  the  keeping  of  the  public  revenue  in  a  separate  and  independent 
treasury  and  of  collecting  it  in  gold  and  silver  will  have  a  salutary  influ- 
ence on  the  system  of  paper  credit  with  which  all  banks  are  connected, 
and  thus  aid  those  that  are  sound  and  well  managed,  it  will  at  the  same 
time  sensibly  check  such  as  are  otherwise  by  at  once  withholding  the 
means  of  extravagance  afforded  by  the  public  funds  and  restraining  them 
from  excessive  issues  of  notes  which  they  would  be  constantly  called 
upon  to  redeem. 
I  am  aware  it  has  been  urged  that  this  control  may  be  best  attained 
and  exerted  by  means  of  a  national  bank.  The  constitutional  objections 
which  I  am  well  known  to  entertain  would  prevent  me  in  any  event 
from  proposing  or  assenting  to  that  remedy;  but  in  addition  to  this,  I 
can  not  after  past  experience  bring  myself  to  think  that  it  can  any 
longer  be  extensively  regarded  as  effective  for  such  a  purpose.  The 
history  of  the  late  national  bank,  through  all  its  mutations,  shows  that  it 
was  not  so.  On  the  contrary,  it  may,  after  a  careful  consideration  of  the 
subject,  be,  I  think,  safely  stated  that  at  every  period  of  banking  excess 
it  took  tile  lead;  that  in  1817  and  1818,  in  1823,  in  1831,  and  in  1834  its 
vast  expansions,  followed  by  distressing  contractions,  led  to  those  of  the 
State  institutions.  It  swelled  and  maddened  the  tides  of  the  banking 
system,  but  seldom  allayed  or  safely  directed  them.  At  a  few  periods 
only  was  a  salutary  control  exercised,  but  an  eager  desire,  on  the  con- 
trary, exhibited  for  profit  in  the  first  place;  and  if  afterwards  its  measures 
were  severe  toward  other  institutions,  it  was  because  its  own  safety  com- 
pelled it  to  adopt  them.  It  did  not  differ  from  them  in  principle  or  in 
form;  its  measures  emanated  from  the  same  spirit  of  gain;  it  felt  the 
same  temptation  to  overissues;  it  suffered  from  and  was  totally  unable 
to  avert  those  inevitable  laws  of  trade  by  which  it  was  itself  affected 
equally  with  them;  and  at  least  on  one  occasion,  at  an  early  day,  it  was 
saved  only  by  extraordinary  exertions  from  the  same  fate  that  attended 
the  weakest  institution  it  professed  to  supervise.  In  1837  it  failed 
equally  with  others  in  redeeming  its  notes  (though  the  two  years  allowed 
by  its  charter  for  that  purpose  had  not  expired) ,  a  large  amount  of  which 
remains  to  the  present  time  outstanding.  It  is  true  that,  having  so 
vast  a  capital  and  strengthened  by  the  use  of  all  the  revenues  of  the 
Oovemment,  it  possessed  more  power;  but  while  it  was  itself  by  thai
Martin  Van  Buren  1768 
circumstance  freed  from  the  control  which  all  banks  reqtdre,  its  para- 
mount object  and  inducement  were  left  the  same — to  make  the  most  for 
its  stockholders,  not  to  regulate  the  currency  of  the  country.  Nor  has  it, 
as  far  as  we  are  advised,  been  tound  to  be  greatly  otherwise  elsewhere. 
The  national  character  given  to  the  Bank  of  England  has  not  prevented 
excessive  fluctuations  in  their  currency,  and  it  proved  unable  to  keep  ofiF 
a  suspension  of  specie  payments,  which  lasted  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  And  why  should  we  expect  it  to  be  otherwise?  A  national  insti- 
tution, though  deriving  its  charter  from  a  different  source  than  the  State 
banks,  is  yet  constituted  upon  the  same  principles,  is  conducted  by  men 
equally  exposed  to  temptation,  and  is  liable  to  the  same  disasters,  with 
the  additional  disadvantage  that  its  magnitude  occasions  an  extent  of 
confusion  and  distress  which  the  mismanagement  of  smaller  institutions 
could  not  produce.  It  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  the  recent  suspen- 
sion of  the  United  States  Bank  of  Pennsylvania,  of  which  the  effects  are 
felt  not  in  that  State  alone,  but  over  half  the  Union,  had  its  origin  in  a 
course  of  business  commenced  while  it  was  a  national  institution,  and 
there  is  no  good  reason  for  supposing  that  the  same  consequences  would 
not  have  followed  had  it  still  derived  its  powers  from  the  General  Gov- 
ernment. It  is  in  vain,  when  the  influences  and  impulses  are  the  same, 
to  look  for  a  difference  in  conduct  or  results.  By  such  creations  we  do, 
therefore,  but  increase  the  mass  of  paper  credit  and  paper  currency, 
without  checking  their  attendant  evils  and  fluctuations.  The  extent 
of  power  and  the  efficiency  of  organization  which  we  give,  so  far  from 
being  beneficial,  are  in  practice  positively  injurious.  They  strengthen 
the  chain  of  dependence  throughout  the  Union,  subject  all  parts  more 
certainly  to  common  disaster,  and  bind  every  bank  more  effectually  in 
the  first  instance  to  those  of  our  commercial  cities,  and  in  the  end  to 
a  foreign  power.  In  a  word,  I  tan  not  but  believe  that,  with  the  full 
understanding  of  the  operations  of  bur  banking  system  which  experi- 
ence has  produced,  public  sentiment  is  not  less  opposed  to  the  creation 
of  a  national  bank  for  piu-poses  connected  with  currency  and  commerce 
than  for  those  connected  with  the  fiscal  operations  of  the  Government. 
Yet  the  commerce  and  currency  of  the  country  are  suffering  evils  from 
the  operations  of  the  State  banks  which  can  not  and  ought  not  to  be 
overlooked.  By  their  means  we  have  been  flooded  with  a  depreciated 
paper,  which  it  was  evidently  the  design  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion to  prevent  when  they  required  Congress  to  **  coin  money  and  regu- 
late the  value  of  foreign  coins,'*  and  when  they  forbade  the  States  **to 
coin  money,  emit  bills  of  credit,  make  anything  but  gold  and  silver  a 
tender  in  payment  of  debts,"  or  '*pass  any  law  impairing  the  obligation 
of  contracts. '  *  If  they  did  not  guard  more  explicitly  against  the  present 
state  of  things,  it  was  because  they  could  not  have  anticipated  that  the 
few  banks  then  existing  were  to  swell  to  an  extent  which  would  expel 
to  80  great  a  degree  the  gold  and  silver  for  which  they  had  provided
1769  Messages  and  Papers  of  the  Presidents 
from  the  channels  of  drculation,  and  fill  them  with  a  currency  that 
defeats  the  objects  they  had  in  view.  The  remedy  for  this  must  chiefly 
rest  with  the  States  from  whose  legislation  it  has  sprung.  No  good  that 
might  accrue  in  a  particular  case  from  the  exercise  of  powers  not  obvi- 
ously conferred  on  the  General  Government  would  authorize  its  inter- 
ference or  justify  a  course  that  might  in  the  slightest  degree  increase  at 
the  expense  of  the  States  the  power  of  the  Federal  authorities;  nor  do  I 
doubt  that  the  States  will  apply  the  remedy.  Within  the  last  few  years 
events  have  appealed  to  them  too  strongly  to  be  disregarded.  They 
have  seen  that  the  Constitution,  though  theoretically  adhered  to,  is  sub- 
verted in  practice;  that  while  on  the  statute  books  there  is  no  legal  ten- 
der but  gold  and  silver,  no  law  impairing  the  obligations  of  contracts,  yet 
that  in  point  of  fact  the  privileges  conferred  on  banking  corporations 
have  made  their  notes  the  currency  of  the  country;  that  the  obligations 
imposed  by  these  notes  are  violated  under  the  impulses  of  interest  or 
convenience,  and  that  the  number  and  power  of  the  persons  connected 
with  these  corporations  or  placed  under  their  influence  give  them  a 
fearful  weight  when  their  interest  is  in  opposition  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Constitution  and  laws.  To  the  people  it  is  immaterial  whether  these 
results  are  produced  by  open  violations  of  the  latter  or  by  the  workings 
of  a  system  of  which  the  result  is  the  same.  An  inflexible  execution 
even  of  the  existing  statutes  of  most  of  the  States  would  redress  many 
evils  now  endured,  would  effectually  show  the  banks  the  dangers  of 
mismanagement  which  impunity  encourages  them  to  repeat,  and  would 
teach  all  corporations  the  useful  lesson  that  they  are  the  subjects  of  the 
law  and  the  servants  of  the  people.  What  is  still  wanting  to  effect  these 
objects  must  be  sought  in  additional  legislation,  or,  if  that  be  inad- 
equate, in  such  further  constitutional  grants  or  restrictions  as  may  bring 
us  back  into  the  path  from  which  we  have  so  widely  wandered. 
In  the  meantime  it  is  the  duty  of  the  General  Government  to  cooperate 
with'  the  States  by  a  wise  exercise  of  its  constitutional  powers  and  the 
enforcement  of  its  existing  laws.  The  extent  to  which  it  may  do  so  by 
further  enactments  I  have  already  adverted  to,  and  the  wisdom  of  Congress 
may  yet  enlarge  them.  But  above  all,  it  is  incumbent  upon  us  to  hold 
erect  the  principles  of  morality  and  law,  constantly  executing  our  own 
contracts  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Constitution,  and  thus 
serving  as  a  rallying  point  by  which  our  whole  country  may  be  brought 
back  to  that  safe  and  honored  standard. 
Our  people  will  not  long  be  insensible  to  the  extent  of  the  burdens 
entailed  upon  them  by  the  false  system  that  has  been  operating  on  their 
sanguine,  energetic,  and  industrious  character,  nor  to  the  means  necessary 
to  extricate  themselves  from  these  embarrassments.  The  weight  which 
presses  upon  a  large  portion  of  the  people  and  the  States  is  an  enormous 
debt,  foreign  and  domestic.  The  foreign  debt  of  our  States,  corporations, 
and  men  of  business  can  scarcely  be  less  than  $200,000,000,  reqtiiring