ration for sea. Having due regard to the unsettled condition of our foreign relations, and the exposed situation of our inland and maritime frontier, I should feel myself wanting in my duty to the country, if I could hesitate in urging upon Congress all necessary appropriations for placing it in an attitude of strength and security. Such recommendation, however, has heretofore been made, in full reliance, as well on Congress as on the well-known patriotism of the people, their high sense of national honor, and their determination to defend our soil from the possibility, however remote, of a hostile invasion.

The diminution in the revenue arising from the great diminution of duties under what is commonly called the compromise act, necessarily involves the treasury in embarrassments, which have been for some years palliated by the temporary expedient of issuing treasury-notes-an expedient which, affording no permanent relief, has imposed upon Congress, from time to time, the necessity of replacing the old by a new issue. The amount outstanding on the 4th of March, 1840, varies in no great degree from the amount which will be outstanding on the first of January next ; while in the interim the new issues are rendered equivalent to the redemption of the old, and at the end of the fiscal year leave an augmented pressure on the finances by the accumulation of interest.

The contemplated revision of the tariff of duties may, and doubtless will, lead in the end to a relief of the treasury from those constantly-recurring embarrassments: but it must be obvious that time will be necessary to realize the full anticipations of financial benefit from any modification of the tariff laws. In the meantime, I submit to Congress the suggestions made by the secretary, and invite its prompt and speedy action.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 8, 1842.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :In my message of the 7th of December, I suggested to Congress the propriety, and in some degree the necessity, of making proper provisions by law, within the pale of the constitution, for the removal, at their commencement, and at the option of the party, of all such cases as might arise in state courts involving national questions, or questions touching the faithful observance and discharge of the international obligations of the United States, from such state tribunal to the federal judiciary. I am urged to repeat, at this time, this recommendation, by the receipt of intelligence, upon which I can rely, that a subject of Great Britain, residing in Upper Canada, has been arrested upon a charge of connexion with the expedition fitted out by the Canadian authorities by which the Caroline" was destroyed, and will, in all probability, be subjected to trial in the state courts of New York. It is doubtful whether, in this state of things, should his discharge be demanded by the British government, this government is invested with any control over the subject until the case shall have reached the court of final resort of the state of New York, and been decided in that court. And although such delay ought not, in a national point of view, to give cause of umbrage to Great Britain, yet the prompt and instant rendering of justice to foreign nations should be placed among our

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highest duties. I can not, therefore, in consideration of what properly becomes the United States, and in anticipation of any demand from a foreign government for the discharge of one of its subjects, forego the duty of repeating my recommendation to Congress for the immediate adoption of some suitable legislative provision on this subject.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 23, 1842.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

A RESOLUTION adopted by the house of representatives on the 16th instant, in the following words, viz., "Resolved, That the president of the United States and the heads of the several departments be requested to communicate to the house of representatives the names of such of the members (if any) of the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh Congress who have been applicants for office, and for what offices, distinguishing between those who have applied in person, and those whose applications were made by friends, whether in person or by writing"-has been transmitted to me for my consideration.

If it were consistent with the rights and the duties of the executive department, it would afford me great pleasure to furnish in this, as in all cases in which proper information is demanded, a ready compliance with the wishes of the house of representatives. But since, in my view, general considerations of policy and propriety, as well as a proper defence of the rights and safeguards of the executive department, require of me, as the chief magistrate, to refuse compliance with the terms of this resolution, it is incumbent on me to urge, for the consideration of the house of representatives, my reasons for declining to give the desired information.

All appointments to office made by a president become, from the date of their nomination to the senate, official acts, which are matter of record, and are at the proper time made known to the house of representatives and to the country. But applications for office, or letters respecting appointments, or conversations held with individuals on such subjects, are not official proceedings, and can not by any means be made to partake of the character of official proceedings, unless, after the nomination of such person so writing or conversing, the president shall think proper to lay such correspondence or such conversations before the senate. Applications for office are in their very nature confidential; and, if the reasons assigned for such applications, or the names of the applicants, were communicated, not only would such implied confidence be wantonly violated, but, in addition, it is quite obvious that a mass of vague, incoherent, and personal matter, would be made public at a vast consumption of time, money, and trouble, without accomplishing, or tending in any manner to accomplish, as it appears to me, any useful object connected with a sound and constitutional administration of the government in any of its branches.

But there is a consideration of a still more effective and lofty character, which is with me entirely decisive of the correctness of the view that I have taken of this question. While I shall ever evince the greatest readiness to communicate to the house of representatives all proper information which the house shall deem necessary to a due discharge of its

constitutional obligations and functions, yet it becomes me, in defence of the constitution and laws of the United States, to protect the executive department from all encroachment on its powers, rights, and duties. In my judgment, a compliance with the resolution which has been transmitted to me would be a surrender of duties and powers which the constitution has conferred exclusively on the executive; and, therefore, such compliance can not be made by me, nor by the heads of departments by my direction. The appointing power, so far as it is bestowed on the president by the constitution, is conferred without reserve or qualification. The reason for the appointment, and the responsibility of the appointment, rest with him alone. I can not perceive anywhere in the constitution of the United States any right conferred on the house of representatives to hear the reasons which an applicant may urge for an appointment to office under the executive department, or any duty resting upon the house of representatives by which it may become responsible for any such appointment.

Any assumption or misapprehension on the part of the house of representatives of its duties and powers in respect to appointments, by which it encroaches on the rights and duties of the executive department, is, to the extent to which it reaches, dangerous, impolitic, and unconstitutional.

For these reasons, so perfectly convincing to my mind, I beg leave respectfully to repeat, in conclusion, that I can not comply with the request contained in the above resolution.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 25, 1842.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :NOTWITHSTANDING the urgency with which I have, on more than one occasion, felt it my duty to press upon Congress the necessity of providing the government with the means of discharging its debts, and maintaining inviolate the public faith, the increasing embarrassments of the treasury impose upon me the indispensable obligation of again inviting your most serious attention to the condition of the finances. Fortunately for myself, in thus bringing this important subject to your view for a deliberate and comprehensive examination in all its bearings, and I trust I may add, for a final adjustment of it, to the common advantage of the whole Union, I am permitted to approach it with perfect freedom and candor. As few of the burdens for which provision is now required to be made, have been brought upon the country during my short administration of its affairs, I have neither motive nor wish to make them a matter of crimination against any of my predecessors. I am disposed to regard, as I am bound to treat them, as facts which can not now be undone, and as deeply interesting to us all, and equally imposing upon all the most solemn duties; and the only use I would make of the errors of the past is, by a careful examination of their causes and character, to avoid, if possible, the repetition of them in future. The condition of the country, indeed, is such as may well arrest the conflict of parties. The conviction seems at length to have made its way to the minds of all, that the disproportion between the

public responsibilities and the means provided for meeting them, is no casual nor transient evil. It is, on the contrary, one which, for some years to come, notwithstanding a resort to all reasonable retrenchments, and the constant progress of the country in population and productive power, must continue to increase under existing laws, unless we consent to give up or impair all our defences in war and peace. But this is a thought which, I am persuaded, no patriotic mind would for a moment entertain. Without affecting an alarm which I do not feel, in regard to our foreign relations, it may safely be affirmed that they are in a state too critical, and involve too many momentous issues, to permit us to neglect in the least, much less to abandon entirely, those means of asserting our rights, without which negotiation is without dignity and peace without security.

In the report of the secretary of the treasury, submitted to Congress at the commencement of the present session, it is estimated that, after exhausting all the probable resources of the year, there will remain a deficit of about fourteen millions of dollars. With a view partly to a permanent system of revenue, and partly to immediate relief from actual embarrassment, that officer recommended, together with a plan for establishing a government exchequer, some expedients of a more temporary character, viz., the issuing of treasury-notes, and the extension of the time for which the loan, authorized to be negotiated by the act of the last session, should be taken. Congress accordingly provided for an issue of treasury-notes, to the amount of five millions of dollars, but subject to the condition that they should not be paid away below par.

No measure connected with the last of the two objects abovementioned, was introduced until recently into the house of representatives. Should the loan-bill now pending before that body pass into a law for its present amount, there would still remain a deficit of two millions, five hundred thousand dollars. It requires no argument to show, that such a condition of the treasury is incompatible, not only with a high state of public credit, but with anything approaching to efficiency in the conduct of public affairs. It must be obvious, even to the most inexperienced minds, to say nothing of any particular exigency, actual or imminent, there should be at all times in the treasury of a great nation, with a view to contingencies of ordinary occurrence, a surplus, at least equal in amount to the above deficiency. But that deficiency, serious as it would be in itself, will, I am compelled to say, rather be increased than diminished, without the adoption of measures adequate to correct the evil at once. The stagnation of trade and business, in some degree incident to the derangement of the national finances, and the state of the revenue laws, holds out but little prospect of relief, in the ordinary course of things, for some time to come. Under such circumstances, I am deeply impressed with the necessity of meeting the crisis with a vigor and decision which it imperatively demands at the hands of all intrusted with the conduct of public affairs The gravity of the evil calls for a remedy proportioned to it. No slight palliatives or occasional expedients will give the country the relief it needs. Such measures, on the contrary, will, in the end, as is now manifest to all, too surely multiply its embarrassments. Relying, as I am bound to do, on the representatives of a people rendered illustrious among nations by having paid off its whole public debt, I shall not shrink from the responsibility imposed upon me by the constitution, of pointing out such measures as will, in my opinion, insure adequate relief. I am the more encouraged to recommend the course which necessity exacts, by

the confidence which I have in its complete success. The resources of the country, in everything that constitutes the wealth and strength of nations, are so abundant-the spirit of a most industrious, enterprising, and intelligent people, is so energetic and elastic-that the government will be without the shadow of excuse for its delinquency, if the difficulties which now embarrass it be not speedily and effectually removed.

From present indications, it is hardly doubtful that Congress will find it necessary to lay additional duties on imports, in order to meet the ordinary current expenses of the government. In the exercise of a sound discrimination, having reference to revenue, but, at the same time, necessarily affording incidental protection to manufacturing industry, it seems equally probable that duties on some articles of importation will have to be advanced above twenty per cent. In performing this important work of revising the tariff of duties, which, in the present emergency, would seem to be indispensable, I can not too strongly recommend the cultivation of a spirit of mutual harmony and concession, to which the government itself owes its origin, and without the continued exercise of which, jarring and discord would universally prevail.

An additional reason for the increase of duties, in some instances, beyond the rate of twenty per cent., will exist in fulfilling the recommendations already made, and now repeated, of making adequate appropriations for the defences of the country.

By the express provision of the act distributing the proceeds of the sales of the public lands among the states, its operation is ipso facto to cease, so soon as the rate of the duties shall exceed the limits prescribed in the act.

In recommending the adoption of measures for distributing the proceeds of the public lands among the states, at the commencement of the last session of Congress, such distribution was urged by arguments and considerations which appeared to me then, and appear to me now, of great weight, and was placed on the condition that it should not render necessary any departure from the act of 1833. It is with sincere regret that I now perceive the necessity of departing from that act, because I am well aware that expectations justly entertained by some of the states will be disappointed by any occasion which shall withhold from them the proceeds of the lands. But the condition was plainly expressed in the message, and was inserted in terms equally plain in the law itself; and amid the embarrassments which surround the country on all sides, and beset both the general and the state governments, it appears to me that the object first and highest in importance is to establish the credit of this government, and to place it on durable foundations, and thus afford the most effectual support to the credit of the states, equal, at least, to what it would receive from a direct distribution of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands.

When the distribution law was passed, there was reason to anticipate that there soon would be a real surplus to distribute. On that assumption it was, in my opinion, a wise, a just, and a beneficent measure. But to continue it in force while there is no such surplus to distribute, and when it is manifestly necessary, not only to increase the duties, but at the same time to borrow money in order to liquidate the public debt and disembarrass the public treasury, would cause it to be regarded as an unwise alienation of the best security of the public creditor, which would with difficulty be excused, and could not be justified.

Causes of no ordinary character have recently depressed American