advantages; to test them by the light of wisdom and truth; to oppose the force which they concentrate in their support-all this was necessarily the work of time, even among a people so enlightened and pure as that of the United States. In most other countries, perhaps, it could only have been accomplished through that series of revolutionary movements which are too often found necessary to effect any great and radical reform; but it is the crowning merit of our institutions, that they create and nourish, in the vast majority of our people, a disposition and a power peaceably to remedy abuses which have elsewhere caused the effusion of rivers of blood, and the sacrifice of thousands of the human race. The result thus far is most honorable to the self-denial, the intelligence, and the patriotism of our citizens; it justifies the confident hope that they will carry through the reform which has been so well begun, and that they will go still further than they have yet gone in illustrating the important truth that a people as free and enlightened as ours, will, whenever it becomes necessary, show themselves to be indeed capable of self-government by voluntarily adopting appropriate remedies for every abuse, and submitting to temporary sacrifices, however great, to insure their temporary welfare.

My own exertions for the furtherance of these desirable objects have been bestowed throughout my official career with a zeal that is nourished by ardent wishes for the welfare of my country, and by an unlimited reliance on the wisdom that marks its ultimate decision on all great and controverted decisions. Impressed with the solemn obligations imposed upon me by the constitution, desirous also of laying before my fellowcitizens, with whose confidence and support I have been so highly honored, such measures as appear to me conducive to their prosperity, and anxious to submit to their fullest consideration the grounds upon which my opinions are formed, I have on this, as on preceding occasions, freely offered my views on those points of domestic policy that seem, at the present time, most prominently to require the action of the government. I know that they will receive from Congress that full and able consideration which the importance of the subjects merits; and I can repeat the assurance heretofore made, that I shall cheerfully and readily co-operate with you in every measure that will tend to promote the welfare of the Union.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 4, 1840.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

I LAY before you a report from the secretary of the treasury, with several documents annexed, by which it will be seen that judicial constructions have been given to the existing laws for the collection of imposts, affecting extensively and injuriously the accruing revenue.

They embrace, with many others, the important articles of linens, woollens, and cottons; the last two of which are treated as silks, because that material constitutes a component part of them, and thus exempted them from duty altogether. Assessments of duties, which have prevailed for years, and, in some cases, since the passage of the laws themselves, are

in this manner altered, and uncertainty and litigation introduced in regard to the future.

The effects which these proceedings have already produced in diminishing the amount of revenue, and which are likely to increase hereafter, deserves your early consideration.

I have therefore deemed it necessary to bring the matter to your notice, with a view to such legislative action as the exigencies of the case may in your judgment require. It is not believed that any law, which can now be passed upon the subject, can affect the revenue favorably for several months to come, and could not therefore be safely regarded as a substitute for the early provision of certain and adequate means to enable the treasury to guard the public credit, and meet promptly and faithfully any deficiencies that may occur in the revenue, from whatever cause they may arise.

The reasons in favor of the propriety of adopting, at an early period, proper measures for that purpose, were explained by the secretary of the treasury in his annual report, and recommended to your attention by myself. The experience of the last two months, and especially the recent decision of the courts, with the continued suspension of specie payments by the banks over large sections of the United States, operating unfavorably upon the revenue, have greatly strengthened the views then taken of the subject.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 17, 1840.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :—

I SUBMIT to Congress a communication from the secretary of the treasury, repeating suggestions contained in his annual report in regard to the necessity of an early provision by law for the protection of the treasury against the fluctuations and contingencies to which its receipts are exposed, with additional facts and reasons in favor of the propriety of the legislation there desired.

The application assumes that, although the means of the treasury for the whole year may be equal to the expenditures of the year, the department may, notwithstanding, be rendered unable to meet the claims upon it at the times when they fall due. This apprehension arises partly from the circumstance that the largest proportion of the charges upon the treasury, including the payment of pensions and the redemption of treasury-notes, fall due in the early part of the year, viz., in the months of March and May, while the resources, on which it might otherwise rely to discharge them, can not be made available until the last half of the year; and partly from the fact that a portion of the means of the treasury consists of debts due from banks, for some of which delay has already been asked, and which may not be punctually paid.

Considering the injurious consequences to the character, credit, and business, of the country, which would result from a failure by the government, for even so short a period, to meet the engagements; that the happening of such a contingency can only be effectually guarded against by the exercise of legislative authority; that the period when such disability must arise, if at all, and which, at the commencement of the session, was

remote, has now approached so near as a few days; and that the provision asked for is only intended to enable the executive to fulfil existing obligations, and chiefly by anticipating funds not yet due, without making any addition to the public burdens, I have deemed the subject of sufficient urgency and importance again to ask for it your early attention.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MAY 21, 1840.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

I COMMUNICATE to Congress sundry papers, from which it will be perceived that the imaum of Muscat has transmitted to this country, and, through the agency of the commander of one of his vessels, offered, for my acceptance, a present, consisting of horses, pearls, and other articles of value. The answer of the secretary of state to a letter from the agents of the vessel, communicating the offer of the present, and my own letter to the imaum, in reply to one which he addressed to me, were intended to make known, in the proper quarter, the reasons which had precluded my acceptance of the proffered gift. Inasmuch, however, as the commander of the vessel, with the view, as he alleged, of carrying out the wishes of his sovereign, now offers the presents to the government of the United States, I deem it my duty to lay the proposition before Congress, for such disposition as they may think fit to make of it; and I take the opportunity to suggest, for their consideration, the adoption of legislative provisions pointing out the course which they may deem proper for the executive to pursue in any future instances where offers of presents by foreign states, either to the government, its legislative, or executive branches, or its agents abroad, may be made under circumstances precluding a refusal without the risk of giving offence.

The correspondence between the department of state and the consul at Tangiers, will acquaint Congress with such an instance, in which every proper exertion on the part of the consul to refrain from taking charge of an intended present, proved unavailing. The animals constituting it may, consequently, under the instructions from the secretary of state, be expected soon to arrive in the United States: when the authority of Congress as to the disposition to be made of them, will be necessary.

FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 5, 1840.

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives :

OUR devout gratitude is due to the Supreme Being for having graciously continued to our beloved country, through the vicissitudes of another year, the invaluable blessings of health, plenty, and peace. Seldom has this favored land been so generally exempted from the ravages of disease, or the labor of the husbandman more amply rewarded; and never before have our relations with other countries been placed on a more favorable basis

than that which they so happily occupy at this critical conjuncture in the affairs of the world. A rigid and persevering abstinence from all interference with the domestic and political relations of other states, alike due to the genius and distinctive character of our government and to the principles by which it is directed; a faithful observance, in the management of our foreign relations, of the practice of speaking plainly, dealing justly, and requiring truth and justice in return, as the best conservative of the peace of nations; a strict impartiality in our manifestations of friendship, in the commercial privileges we concede, and those we require from others; these, accompanied by a disposition as prompt to maintain, in every emergency, our own rights, as we are from principle averse to the invasion of those of others, have given to our country and government a standing in the great family of nations, of which we have just cause to be proud, and the advantages of which are experienced by our citizens throughout every portion of the earth to which their enterprise and adventurous spirit may carry them. Few, if any, remain insensible to the value of our friendship, or ignorant of the terms on which it can be acquired, and by which it can alone be preserved.

A series of questions of long standing, difficult in their adjustment and important in their consequences, in which the rights of our citizens and the honor of the country were deeply involved, have, in the course of a few years (the most of them during the successful administration of my immediate predecessor), been brought to a satisfactory conclusion; and the most important of those remaining are, I am happy to believe, in a fair way of being speedily and satisfactorily adjusted.

With all the powers of the world our relations are those of honorable peace. Since your adjournment, nothing serious has occurred to interrupt or threaten this desirable harmony. If clouds have lowered above

the other hemisphere, they have not cast their portentous shadows upon our happy shores. Bound by no entangling alliances, yet linked by a common nature and interest with the other nations of mankind, our aspirations are for the preservation of peace, in whose solid and civilizing triumphs all may participate with a generous emulation. Yet it behooves us to be prepared for any event, and to be always ready to maintain those just and enlightened principles of national intercourse for which this government has ever contended. In the shock of contending empires, it is only by assuming a resolute bearing, and clothing themselves with defensive armor, that neutral nations can maintain their independent rights.

The excitement which grew out of the territorial controversy between the United States and Great Britain having in a measure subsided, it is hoped that a favorable period is approaching for its final settlement. Both governments must now be convinced of the dangers with which the question is fraught; and it must be their desire, as it is their interest, that this perpetual cause of irritation should be removed as speedily as practicable. In my last annual message you were informed that a proposition for a commission of exploration and survey promised by Great Britain had been received, and that a counter-project, including also a provision for the certain and final adjustment of the limits in dispute, was then before the British government for its consideration. The answer of that government, accompanied by additional propositions of its own, were received through its minister here, since your separation. These were promptly considered; such as were deemed correct in principle, and consistent with a due regard to the just rights of the United States and of the state of

Maine, concurred in; and the reasons for dissenting from the residue, with an additional suggestion on our part, communicated by the secretary of state to Mr. Fox. That minister, not feeling himself sufficiently instructed upon some of the points raised in the discussion, felt it to be his duty to refer the matter to his own government for its further decision. Having now been for some time under its advisement, a speedy answer may be confidently expected. From the character of the points still in difference, and the undoubted disposition of both parties to bring the matter to an early conclusion, I look with entire confidence to a prompt and satisfactory termination of the negotiation. Three commissioners were appointed shortly after the adjournment of Congress, under the act of the last session providing for the exploration and survey of the line which separates the states of Maine and New Hampshire from the British provinces; they been actively employed until their progress was interrupted by the inclemency of the season, and will resume their labors as soon as practicable in the ensuing year.

It is understood that their respective examinations will throw new light upon the subject in controversy, and serve to remove any erroneous impression which may have been made elsewhere prejudicial to the rights of the United States. It was, among other reasons, with a view of preventing the embarrassments which, in our peculiar system of governnient. impede and complicate negotiations involving the territorial rights of a state, that I thought it my duty, as you have been informed on a previous occasion, to propose to the British government, through its minister at Washington, that early steps should be taken to adjust the points at difference on the line of boundary from the entrance of Lake Superior to the most northwestern point of the lake of the Woods, by the arbitration of a friendly power, in conformity with the seventh article of the treaty of Ghent. No answer has yet been returned by the British government to this proposition.

With Austria, France, Prussia, Russia, and the remaining powers of Europe, I am happy to inform you our relations continue to be of the most friendly character. With Belgium, a treaty of commerce and navigation, based upon liberal principles of reciprocity and equality, was concluded in March last, and, having been ratified by the Belgian government, will be duly laid before the senate. It is a subject of congratulation that it provides for the satisfactory adjustment of a long-standing question of controversy; thus removing the only obstacle which could obstruct the friendly and mutually advantageous intercourse between the two nations. A messenger has been despatched with the Hanoverian treaty to Berlin, where, according to stipulation, the ratifications are to be exchanged. I am happy to announce to you that, after many delays and difficulties, a treaty of commerce and navigation, between the United States and Portugal, was concluded and signed at Lisbon, on the 26th of August last, by the plenipotentiaries of the two governments. Its stipulations are founded upon those principles of mutual liberality and advantage which the United States have always sought to make the basis of their intercourse with foreign powers, and it is hoped they will tend to foster and strengthen the commercial intercourse of the two countries.

Under the appropriation of the last session of Congress, an agent has been sent to Germany for the purpose of promoting the interests of our tobacco trade.

The commissioners appointed under the convention for the adjustment