Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1832-12-13
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE,
To both Houses IF Congress, Dee. An, 1873


tC"-
FELLOW CITIZENS OF rHE sLNATE,
AND fioUsE OF REPKEsENTATivE
II gives me pleasure TO congratulate
you upon your return to The Seat OF Gov
cinitm, for the purpose Of dlscharg ns
your duhns la the people OF the Untct
;.,tLsn. Although the pcstIlcncc which
had ua,cIscd the Old " ord has enter
cd our limits, and extended its ravage,
over much OF our land, it has pleased Al
mighty God to mitigate its severity, and
lc.sem the number OF lis victim, compar-
cd wiz. those who have fallen in most
other countries over which it has spread
lis terrors. Notwithstanding this vista
ton, our country presents, OH every side, ,
marks oil prosperity q happiness, unequal
led, pc,haps, in any other portion VI the
world. If we fully appreciate our COM
parative condition, existing causes of dis
content will appear unworthy of atten-
ton, and with hearts of thaAkiulncss to
that Divine Being who has filled our cup
OF prosperity, we shall feel our resolution
strengthened to preserve and hand down
to posterity that liberty and that union
which we have recen cd from our Faith
ers, and which constitute the sources and
the shield Of all our blessings.
The relations Of our country continue
to present the same picture of amicabIc
intercourse that had the satisfaction to
hold up to your view at the opening of
your last session. The same friendly
professions, the same desire to partici-
pate in our fourishing commerce, the
same disposition to refrain from resenting
injuries un:ntentionally offered, are, with
a few exceptions, evinced by all nations
with whom we have any intercourse
This desirable state OF things may be
mainly ascribed to our Underwriting prac-
tice of tho rule which has long guided
our national policy, to require no exclu-
sive privileges in commerce, and to grant
none. 1t is daily producing its benc-
ficiul effect in the respect shown to our
flag, the protection of our citizens and
their property abroad, s. in the increase of
our navig ation and the extension Of our
mercantile operations. The returns
which have been made out since we last
met, will show an increase during the
last preceding year OF more than 10000
tons in our shipping, and Of nearly forty
millions of dollars in The aggregate of our
imports and exports.
Nor have we less reason to felicitate
ourselves OH the position of our political,
than Of our commercial, concerns. They
remain in the state in which they were
when | last addressed you-a state of
prosperity and peace, the effect of
wise attention to the parting advice of
the revered Father Of his country, on
this subject, condensed into a maxim for
the use Of posterity by one Of his most
dstng pushed Successors, to cultivate free
commerce and honest friendship with all
nations, but TO make entangling alliances
with none. A strict adherence to this
policy has kept us alool from the perplex
ing questions that now agitate the Euro
pcan world, and have more than once
deluged those countries with blood
Should those scenes unfortunately re-
cur, the parties to the contest may count
IN a faithful performance of the duties,
Incumbent on us as neutral nation, and
,ur own citizens may equally rely on the
irm assertion Of their neutral rights.
With the nation that was our earliest
iriend and ally in the infancy of our po- I
itical existence, the most friendly rcla-
ions have subsistcd through the late
evolutions of its Government; and, from
he events of the last, promise perma- [
lent duration. 1t has made an approxi- ,
nation in some Of its political institutions /,
o our own, and raised a monarch to the
hronc who preserves, il is said, friend {
y recollection Of the period during which !
Ic acquired among our citizens the high
that could then have been ,
'roduced by his personal qualifications t
lone. {
Our commerce with that nation is grad q
ally assuming mutually beneficial {
haracter, aud the adjustment Of the
laf,ns of our citizens has removed the q
My obstacle there. was, to an inter q
curse; not only lucrative, but produce ii
We of literary and scientific improve Il
lent k
From Great Britain have the salts" h
Iction TO inform you that | continue to C.
,ccivc assurances Of the most amicablc
Isposition, which have, on my pars, on b.
i proper occasions, been promptly and G
merely rcciprocated The attention p-
that Government has la,tcrIy been SO s,
uch cngrossed by matters of deeply ~
domestic character, that we L