SIXTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 3, 1822.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

MANY causes unite to make your present meeting peculiarly interesting to our constituents. The operation of our laws on the various subjects to which they apply, with the amendments which they occasionally require, imposes annually an important duty on the representatives of a free people. Our system has happily advanced to such maturity that I am not aware that your cares in that respect will be augmented. Other causes exist which are highly interesting to the whole civilized world, and to no portion of it more so, in certain views, than to the United States. Of these causes, and of their bearing on the interests of our Union, I shall communicate the sentiments which I have formed with that freedom which a sense of duty dictates. It is proper, however, to invite your attention in the first instance to those concerns respecting which legislative provision is thought to be particularly urgent.

On the 24th of June last, a convention of navigation and commerce was concluded in this city between the United States and France, by ministers duly authorized for the purpose. The sanction of the executive having been given to this convention under a conviction that, taking all its stipulations into view, it rested essentially on a basis of reciprocal and equal advantage, I deemed it my duty, in compliance with the authority vested in the executive by the second section of the act of the last session, of the 6th of May, concerning navigation, to suspend by proclamation, until the end of the next session of Congress, the operation of the act entitled, "An act to impose a new tonnage duty on French ships and vessels, and for other purposes," and to suspend, likewise, all other duties on French vessels, or the goods imported in them, which exceeded the duties on American vessels, and on similar goods imported in them. I shall submit this convention forthwith to the senate for its advice and consent as to the ratification.

Since your last session, the prohibition which had been imposed on the commerce between the United States and the British colonies, in the West Indies and on this continent, has likewise been removed. Satisfactory evidence having been adduced that the ports of those colonies had been opened to the vessels of the United States by an act of the British parhament, bearing date on the 24th of June last, on the conditions specified therein, I deemed it proper, in compliance with the provision of the first section of the act of the last session above recited, to declare, by proclamation bearing date the 24th of August last, that the ports of the United States should thenceforward and until the end of the next session of Congress, be open to the vessels of Great Britain employed in that trade, under the limitation specified in that proclamation.

A doubt was entertained whether the act of Congress applied to the British colonies on this continent as well as to those in the West Indies, but as the act of parliament opened the intercourse equally with both, and it was the manifest intention of Congress, as well as the obvious policy of the United States, that the provisions of the act of parliament should be met in equal extent on the part of the United States, and as also the act of Congress was supposed to vest in the president some discretion in

the execution of it, I thought it advisable to give it a corresponding co struction.

Should the constitutional sanction of the senate be given to the ratifica tion of the convention with France, legislative provisions will be neces sary to carry it fully into effect, as it likewise will be to continue in force on such conditions as may be deemed just and proper, the intercourse which has been opened between the United States and the British colonies. Every light in the possession of the executive will in due time be communicated on both subjects.

Resting essentially on a basis of reciprocal and equal advantage, it has been the object of the executive, in transactions with other powers, to meet the propositions of each with a liberal spirit, believing that thereby the interest of our country would be most effectually promoted. This course has been systematically pursued in the late occurrences with France and Great Britain, and in strict accord with the views of the legis lature. A confident hope is entertained that, by the arrangement thus commenced with each, all differences respecting navigation and commerce with the dominions in question will be adjusted, and a solid foundation laid for an active and permanent intercourse which will prove equally advantageous to both parties.

The decision of his imperial majesty, the emperor of Russia, on the question submitted to him by the United States and Great Britain, concerning the construction of the first article of the treaty of Ghent, has been received. A convention has since been concluded between the parties, under the mediation of his imperial majesty, to prescribe the mode by which that article shall be carried into effect in conformity with that decision. I shall submit this convention to the senate for its advice and consent as to the ratification, and if obtained, shall immediately bring the subject before Congress for such provisions as may require the interposi tion of the legislature.

In compliance with an act of the last session, a territorial government has been established in Florida on the principles of our system. By this act, the inhabitants are secured in the full enjoyment of their rights and liberties, and to admission into the Union, with equal participation in the government with the original states, on the conditions heretofore prescribed to other territories. By a clause in the ninth article of the treaty with Spain, by which that territory was ceded to the United States, it is stipulated that satisfaction shall be made for the injuries, if any, which by process of law shall be established to have been suffered by the Spanish officers and individual Spanish inhabitants by the late operations of our troops in Florida. No provision having yet been made to carry that stipulation into effect, it is submitted to the consideration of Congress whether it will not be proper to vest the competent power in the district court at Pensacola, or in some tribunal to be specially organized for that purpose. The fiscal operations of the year have been more successful than had been anticipated at the commencement of the last session of Congress. The receipts into the treasury during the first three quarters of the year have exceeded the sum of fourteen millions seven hundred and forty-five thousand dollars. The payments made at the treasury, during the same period, have exceeded twelve millions two hundred and seventy-nine thousand dollars, leaving in the treasury on the 30th day of September last (including one million one hundred and sixty-eight thousand five hundred and ninety-two dollars twenty-four cents, which were in the

treasury on the first day of January last), a sum exceeding four millions one hundred and twenty-eight thousand dollars.

Besides discharging all demands for the current service of the year, including the interest and the reimbursement of the public debt, the six per cent. stock of 1796, amounting to eighty thousand dollars, has been redeemed. It is estimated that, after defraying the current expenses of the present quarter, and redeeming the two millions of six per cent. stock of 1820, there will remain in the treasury, on the first day of January next, nearly three millions of dollars. It is estimated that the gross amount of duties which have been secured, from the 1st of January to the 30th of September last, has exceeded nineteen millions five hundred thousand dollars, and the amount for the whole year will probably not fall short of twenty-three millions of dollars.

Of the actual force in service under the present military establishment, the posts at which it is stationed, and the condition of each post, a report from the secretary of war, which is now communicated, will give a distinct idea. By like reports, the state of the academy at West Point will be seen, as will be the progress which has been made on the fortifications along the coasts, and at the public armories and arsenals.

The position on the Red river, and that at the Sault of St. Marie, are the only new posts that have been taken. These posts, with those already occupied in the interior, are thought to be well adapted to the protection of our frontiers. All the force not placed in the garrisons along the coast and in the ordnance dépôts, and indispensably necessary there, is placed on the frontiers.

The organization of the several corps composing the army is such as to admit its expansion to a great extent in case of emergency, the officers carrying with them all the light which they possess to the new corps to which they might be appointed.

With the organization of the staff there is equal cause to be satisfied. By the concentration of every branch with its chief in this city, in the presence of the department, and with a grade in the chief military station to keep alive and cherish a military spirit, the greatest promptitude in the execution of orders, with the greatest economy and efficiency, are secured. The same view is taken of the military academy. Good order is preserved in it, and the youth are well instructed in every science connected with the great objects of the institution. They are also well trained and disciplined in the practical parts of the profession. It has always been found difficult to control the ardor inseparable from that early age in such manner as to give it a proper direction. The rights of manhood are too often claimed prematurely, in pressing which too far, the respect which is due to age and the obedience necessary to a course of study and instruction in every such institution, are sometimes lost sight of. The great object to be accomplished is the restraint of that ardor by such wise regulations and government as, by directing all the energies of the youthful mind to the attainment of useful knowledge, will keep it within a just subordination and at the same time elevate it to the highest purposes. This object seems to be essentially obtained in this institution, and with great advantage to the Union.

The military academy forms the basis, in regard to science, on which the military establishment rests. It furnishes annually, after due examination, and on the report of the academic staff, many well-informed youths to fill the vacancies which occur in the several corps of the army, while

others, who retire to private life, carry with them such attainments as, under the right reserved to the several states to appoint the officers and to train the militia, will enable them, by affording a wider field for selection, to promote the great object of the power vested in Congress of providing for the organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia. Thus, by the mutual and harmonious co-operation of the two governments, in the execution of a power divided between them, an object always to be cherished, the attainment of a great result, on which our liberties may depend, can not fail to be secured. I have to add, that in proportion as our regular force is small, should the instruction and discipline of the militia, the great resource on which we rely, be pushed to the utmost extent that circumstances will admit.

A report from the secretary of the navy will communicate the progress which has been made in the construction of vessels-of-war, with other interesting details respecting the actual state of the affairs of that department. It has been found necessary, for the protection of our commerce, to maintain the usual squadrons in the Mediterranean, the Pacific, and along the Atlantic coast, extending the cruises of the latter into the West Indies, where piracy, organized into a system, has preyed on the commerce of every country trading thither. A cruise has also been maintained on the coast of Africa, when the season would permit, for the suppression of the slave-trade; and orders have been given to the commanders of all our public ships to seize our own vessels, should they find any engaged in that trade, and to bring them in for adjudication.

In the West Indies piracy is of a recent date, which may explain the cause why other powers have not combined against it. By the documents communicated, it will be seen that the efforts of the United States to suppress it have had a very salutary effect. The benevolent provision of the act, under which the protection has been extended alike to the commerce of other nations, can not fail to be duly appreciated by them.

In compliance with the act of last session, entitled, "An act to abolish the United States' trading establishments," agents were immediately appointed, and instructed, under the direction of the secretary of the treasury, to close the business of the trading-houses among the Indian tribes and to settle the accounts of the factors and sub-factors engaged in that trade, and to execute, in all other respects, the injunctions of that act in the mode prescribed therein. A final report of their proceedings shall be communicated to Congress as soon as it is received.

It is with regret I have to state that a serious malady has deprived us of many valuable citizens at Pensacola, and checked the progress of some of those arrangements which are important to the territory. This effect has been sensibly felt in respect to the Indians who inhabit that territory, consisting of the remnants of several tribes who occupy the middle ground, 'between St. Augustine and Pensacola, with extensive claims but undefined boundaries. Although peace is preserved with those Indians, yet their position and claims tend essentially to interrupt the intercourse between the eastern and western parts of the territory, on which our inhabitants are principally settled. It is essential to the growth and prosperity of the territory, as well as to the interests of the Union, that these Indians should be removed, by special compact with them, to some other position, or concentrated within narrower limits where they are. With the limited means in the power of the executive, instructions were given to the gov ernor to accomplish this object, so far as it might be practicable, which

was prevented by the distressing malady referred to. To carry it fully into effect, in either mode, additional funds will be necessary, to the provision of which, the powers of Congress alone are competent. With a view to such provisions as may be deemed proper, the subject is submitted to your consideration, and in the interim further proceedings are suspended.

It appearing that so much of the act entitled, " An act regulating the staff of the army," which passed on the 14th of April, 1818, as relates to the commissariat, will expire in April next, and the practical operation of that department having evinced its great utility, the propriety of its renewal is submitted to your consideration.

The view which has been taken of the probable productiveness of the lead mines, connected with the importance of the material to the public defence, makes it expedient that they should be managed with peculiar care. It is therefore suggested, whether it will not comport with the public interest to provide by law for the appointment of an agent skilled in mineralogy to superintend them, under the direction of the proper department. It is understood that the Cumberland road, which was constructed at a great expense, has already suffered from the want of that regular superintendence and of those repairs which are indispensable to the preservation of such a work. This road is of incalculable advantage in facilitating the intercourse between the western and the Atlantic states. Through it, the whole country, from the northern extremity of Lake Erie to the Mississippi, and from all the waters which empty into each, finds an easy and direct communication to the seat of government, and thence to the Atlantic. The facility which it affords to all military and commercial operations, and also to those of the postoffice department, can not be estimated too highly. This great work is likewise an ornament and an honor to the nation. Believing that a competent power to adopt and execute a system of internal improvement has not been granted to Congress, but that such a power, confined to great national purposes, and with proper limitations, would be productive of eminent advantage to our Union, I have thought it advisable that an amendment of the constitution to that effect should be recommended to the several states. A bill which assumed the right to adopt and execute such a system, having been presented for my signature at the last session, I was compelled, from the view which I had taken of the powers of the general government, to negative it, on which occasion I thought it proper to communicate the sentiments which I had formed, on mature consideration, on the whole subject. To that communication, in all the views in which the great interest to which it relates may be supposed to merit your attention, I have now to refer. Should Congress, however, deem it improper to recommend such an amendment, they have, according to my judgment, the right to keep the road in repair, by providing for the superintendence of it, and appropriating the money necessary for repairs. Surely, if they had a right to appropriate money to make the road, they have a right to appropriate it to preserve the road from ruin. From the exercise of this power no danger is to be apprehended. Under our happy system, the people are the sole and exclusive fountain of power. Each government originates from them, and to them alone, each to its proper constituents, are they respectively and solely responsible for the faithful discharge of their duty, within their constitutional limits. And that the people will confine their public agents, of every station, to the strict line of their constitutional duties, there is no cause to doubt. Having,