our own fig-tree, and confide for safety upon Him, who, of old time looked down upon this state of things without wrath." The report concluded by recommending the adoption of two resolutions, one of which declared "that, having exhausted the argument, we will stand by our arms, and for the support of this determination we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour." The other resolution recommended that the first should be forwarded to the Executive of each state in the Union, to be laid before their representatives, and that the senators and representatives of Georgia, should be required to co-operate in thwarting obnoxious measures of the government. This was ominous language; but it proved to be mere sound and fury, and was followed by no result.

In December, the first session of the nineteenth congress was opened. The message of Mr. Quincy Adams to the congress on this occasion, had nothing to distinguish it from the usual character of that class of compositions. After mentioning some of the foreign relations of the Union, and noticing particularly that the United States had been invited to send representatives to the congress of the South American republics about to be assembled at Panama, and had accepted the invitation; he proceeded to treat of the internal concerns of the republic; and gave the following view of the American finances;

So that, though eight million dollars of debt had been paid off, only two of these had been raised by loan: consequently, the revenue had afforded a surplus of six million dollars applied in extinction of debt; and, at the same rate, the whole remaining debt of 81,000,000 dollars, would be paid off in thirteen years and a half. The communications by post in the United States were very extensive; and yet, in this year, the Post Office establishment (for the first time) produced a surplus receipt of 45,000 dollars.

After praising the organization and discipline of the army, and the new military academy and artillery school, he passed to the treaties with the Indian tribes, and to the surveys which had been made with a view to opening new communications in the interior. The navy next attracted the president's attention; and he dilated upon the employment of the cruising squadrons in the Mediterranean and Pacific seas, and on their activity in the suppression of the slave trade and of piracy.

The remainder of the message evinced a very laudable zeal in the cause of science. It spoke with applause of "the generous emulation with which the governments of France, Great Britain, and Russia have devoted the genius, the intelligence, and the treasures of their respective nations to the common improvement of the species" in geography and astrono

my, and held those governments up as splendid examples to be followed in this respect by the American legislature. Mr. Adams further quoted the examples of England and France, in their scientific improvement of weights and measures, suggested the endowment of a university, and the construction of an observatory, and recommended certain enlargements of the executive and judiciary departments, as required by the great increase of population, and the wide ramifications of foreign intercourse.

On the 1st day of January, the first meeting of the congress of Mexico, under the constitution adopted in the preceding year, was held. The speech, which the president of the republic then addressed to the senators and deputies, was in a style and spirit very different from that of Mr. Adams's message. Gentlemen," he began with stating, "It cannot be doubted, though some have affected to do so, whether modern societies established for the liberty of man, are the necessary results of just and beneficial ideas; or whether they exist momentarily, through the scandalous subversion of principles, and the tumultuous progress of the passions. The partisans of superannuated tyranny-those who from the region of the clouds draw down compacts and obligationsrefuse to acknowledge the legitimacy and vigour of those governments which have originated with the sovereign people. According to them, individuals in free nations possess neither restraint nor guarantees. They mutually assault each other, and in this bloody contest, cruelty and the remorseless anger of factions annihilate the hope of any regular system of legislation.

"It is not necessary, gentlemen, for the confusion of the enemies of the people, to lead them to the ruins of Carthage, to call up the remembrance of free Rome, or to open the annals of that Greece whose literature, noble arts, and sublime philosophy, gave a beginning to institutions which have been admired through all ages. No! America, our adored country, raising her head above ancient days, has resolved the problem which most interests the human race, and has torn aside the veils which covered the origin, the end, and the object of power.

"The profound legislator of Carolina, and William Penn, the friend of man, planted in the virgin soil of America the precious seeds of civil liberty, which, cultivated with care by Washington and Franklin, are now deposited, with the fruits which they produced, in this capital, which derived its wisdom from the banks of the Potomac ; from thence shoot desolating beams upon despotism— and from thence arises the generation of sovereign nations. How great is the glory of the New World! How elevated the grandeur of its destinies !"

It is melancholy to think, how low in point of intellect that le gislative assembly must be, to whose ears such rhapsodies and nonsense can be acceptable. The only parts of the speech which touched upon the state of the country, were these:

"The high attributes with which the law and the will of my fellow citizens have invested me, as the depositary of the Executive power, have put me in the happy situation of employing them all for their benefit: and a glance on the state and progress of affairs, will

convince you, that the greatest possible good has been effected, consistently with the extent of my information, and the very short period of my government. The secretary of finance will inform the congress, that if his situation is not advantageous in respect to revenue or to debt, he has succeed ed, by multiplied and laborious efforts, in clothing, arming, and increasing the army and the marine in assisting New Mexico, California, and all the frontiers; appeasing the clamours of the employés of the republic, whose pay was in arrear; and in meeting, in all parts, the wants of the administration, by the judicious and regulated use of foreign loans. The judicial power of the confederation being not yet formed into existence, the government is deprived of the power of interference which was formerly enjoyed by that of the old provinces; its action in this respect has therefore been, almost null, and will remain so, till the court of justice is installed, and the number and location of judges of circuit and district be determined, and the regulation of the tribunals and territories throughout the federation be fixed by law. Without waiting for this, the objects of the administration of justice have, as much as possible, been attended to, and the citizens have only to complain of the vices of our legislation, and those which were introduced into judicial proceedings, through the degrading indolence of the Spanish governors. The gaols and houses of correction have undergone the fate of the times; but I do not despair to make them serve for securing the delinquents, without increasing their affliction and misery.

"The Mexican army, which

enjoys so many laurels, has advanced considerably in discipline. Its force is on the point of being completed.

"The system happily adopted confines the internal administration of the people to their local authorities. The government within its sphere has employed itself in checking inveterate abuses, and in introducing to beneficial activity the laws of the country."

The first and most urgent subject for the consideration of the congress, was the financial situation of the country. On the 4th of January, a memorial on the state of the finances, was read in the Chamber of Deputies, by don Jose Ignacio Esteva, the minister for that department. In this document he considered-1. The condition in which the treasury had been; 2. That in which it then was; 3. The condition in which it was absolutely necessary that it should be placed; and 4. The means of attaining that object.

The gross proceeds of the revenue, it appeared, amounted to only 10,690,608 dollars, of which upwards of a million and a quarter were derived from the foreign loan. The expenditure was calculated at 17,986,674 dollars, leaving a deficiency of 7,296,066 dollars. Of the expenditure, that of the army formed the principal part, being 16,011,990 dollars: but it was intended to reduce the expense of this branch to 12,000,000 dollars. The Mexican minister, in looking to the means of meeting the deficiency, expressed his dissatisfaction at the decline and abandonment of one of the richest branches of the revenue, the tax on tobacco, which formerly produced 4,447,000 dollars, and now yielded only about 700,000 dollars; and he proposed,

that the provinces should give up altogether their interference in the manufacture and taxing of that article. He observed that, in the five years from 1795 to 1799, the gross receipts of the treasury were 20,462,317 dollars. "How fortunate," he added, "should we call ourselves, if we could get the nett amount of those receipts, which was 15,325,065 dollars. It appears to me to be easy to do so, if we abandon unknown roads to pass over those already trodden, sure of reaching the point to which we direct our steps. In the epoch of which I spoke, tobacco produced 3,927,898 dollars nett; the coinage of gold and silver 1,258,338; and the duties on both metals, in ingots, 2,111,474 dollars. The three together amounted to 7,297,710; and it will be seen that we can collect, in the year

1825, 6,649,563 dollars, if the revenue of tobacco, the coinage, and the duty of quintos (a tax on silver), were supported by the legis lative power, at the height at which they might be maintained, now that the population of consumers is increased by the entrance of foreigners, and now that the mines are worked at the expense of the latter." The mint of Mexico, which formerly was so productive, now scarcely paid the expense of the establishment; and the minister expressed his regret that "the riches buried in the bowels of the earth, remained there even after years of protection." A commission was appointed to examine the memoir of the minister; and the conclusions to which they came differed considerably from his. The estimate of the income, as stated by Esteva, was as follows: Expenses of Administration.

Pay of Officers.

Nett Produce.

Whole Receipt

Duties on import and export. Duties on introduction into consumption (Derechos de internacion) Revenue from tobacco, including in the column of expenses the purchase and manufacture

Revenue from gunpowder

Alcabala on tobacco

Dollars. 2,732,995

Dollars.

29,462 127,729 2,575,732

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