established institutions. It has insured to it the repose which always flows from truly wise and moderate counsels-a repose the more striking, because of the long and angry agitations which preceded it. This salutary law proclaims in express terms the principle which, while it led to the abandonment of a scheme of indirect taxation, founded on a false basis, and pushed to dangerous excess, justifies any enlargement of duties that may be called for by the real exigencies of the public service. It provides" that duties shall be laid for the purpose of raising such revenue as may be necessary to an economical administration of the government." It is, therefore, in the power of Congress to lay duties as high as its discretion may dictate, for the necessary uses of the government, without infringing upon the objects of the act of 1833. I do not doubt that the exigencies of the government do require an increase of the tariff of duties above twenty per cent., and I as little doubt that Congress may, above as well as below that rate, so discriminate as to give incidental protection to manufacturing industry-thus to make the burdens, which it is compelled to impose upon the people for the purposes of government, productive of a double benefit. This, most of the reasonable opponents of protective duties seem willing to concede, and if we may judge from the manifestations of public opinion in all quarters, this is all that the manufacturing interests really require. I am happy in the persuasion, that this double object can be most easily and effectually accomplished at the present juncture, without any departure from the spirit and principle of the statute in question. The manufacturing classes have now an opportunity, which may never occur again, of permanently identifying their interests with those of the whole country, and making them, in the highest sense of the term, a national concern. The moment is propitious to the interests of the whole country, in the introduction of harmony among all its parts and all its several interests. The same rate of imposts, and no more, as will most surely re-establish the public credit, will secure to the manufacturer all the protection he ought to desire, with every prospect of permanence and stability which the hearty acquiescence of the whole country, on a reasonable system, can hold out to him.

But of the universal acquiescence, and the harmony and confidence, and the many other benefits that will certainly result from it, I regard the suspension of the law for distributing the proceeds of the sales of the public lands as an indispensable condition. This measure is, in my judgment, called for by a large number, if not a great majority, of the people of the United States, by the state of public credit and finances, by the critical posture of our various foreign relations, and above all, by that most sacred of all duties, public faith. The act of September last, which provides for the distribution, couples it inseparably with the condition that it shall cease-1st, in case of war; 2d, as soon and so long as the rate of duties shall, for any reason whatever, be raised above twenty per cent. Nothing can be more clear, express, or imperative, than this language. It is in vain to allege that a deficit in the treasury was known to exist, and means taken to supply it by loan when the act was passed. It is true that a loan was authorized at the same session during which the distribution law was passed, but the most sanguine of the friends of the two measures entertained no doubt but that the loan would be eagerly sought after and taken up by capitalists, and speedily reimbursed by a country destined, as they hoped, soon to enjoy an overflowing prosperity. The very terms of the loan, making it redeemable in three years, demonstrate this beyond all cavil. Who, at the time,

foresaw or imagined the possibility of the present real state of things, when a nation that has paid off her whole debt since the last peace, while all the other great powers have been increasing theirs, and whose resources, already so great, are yet but in the infancy of their development, should be compelled to haggle in the money-market for a paltry sum, not equal to one year's revenue, upon her economical system? If the distribution law is to be indefinitely suspended, according, not only to its own terms, but by universal consent, in case of war, wherein are the actual exigencies of the country, or the moral obligation to provide for them, less under present circumstances than they could be, were we actually involved in war? It appears to me to be the indispensable duty of all concerned in the administration of public affairs, to see that a state of things so humiliating, and so perilous, should not last a moment longer than is absolutely unavoidable. Much less excusable should we be in parting with any portion of our available means, at least until the demands of the treasury are fully supplied. But, besides the urgency of such considerations, the fact is undeniable, that the distribution act could not have become a law without the guarantee in the proviso of the act itself.

This connexion, thus meant to be inseparable, is severed by the bill presented to me. The bill violates the principle of the acts of 1833, and September, 1841, by suspending the first, and rendering, for a time, the last inoperative. Duties, above 20 per cent., are proposed to be levied, and yet the proviso in the distribution act is disregarded; the proceeds of the sales are to be distributed on the first of August, so that while the duties proposed to be enacted exceed 20 per cent., no suspension of the distribution to the states is permitted to take place. To abandon the principle for a month, is to open the way for its total abandonment. If such is not meant, why postpone at all? Why not let the distribution take place on the 1st of July, if the law so directs?-which, however, is regarded as questionable. But why not have limited the provision to that effect? Is it for the accommodation of the treasury? I see no reason to believe that the treasury will be in a better condition to meet the payment on the 1st of August than on the 1st of July.

The bill assumes that a distribution of the proceeds of the public lands is, by existing laws, to be made on the first day of July, 1842, notwithstanding there has been an imposition of duties on imports exceeding 20 per cent. up to that day; and directs it to be made on the 1st of August next. It seems to me very clear that this conclusion is equally erroneous and dangerous, as it would divert from the treasury a fund sacredly pledged for the general purposes of the government, in the event of a rate of duty above 20 per cent., being found necessary for an economical administration of the government.

The bill under consideration is designed only as a temporary measure; and thus a temporary measure, passed merely for the convenience of Congress, is made to affect the vital principle of an important act. If the proviso of the act of September, 1841, can be suspended for the whole period of a temporary law, why not for the whole period of a permanent law? In fact, a doubt may be well entertained, according to strict legal rules, whether the condition having been thus expressly suspended by this bill, and rendered inapplicable to a case where it would otherwise have clearly applied, will not be considered as ever after satisfied and gone. Without expressing any decided opinion on this point, I see enough in it to justify me in adhering to the law as it stands, in preference to subjecting a condi

tion so vitally affecting the peace of the country, and so solemnly enacted at a momentous crisis, and so steadfastly adhered to ever since, and so replete, if adhered to, with good to every interest of the country, to doubtful or captious interpretation.

In discharging the high duty thus imposed on me by the constitution, I repeat to the house my entire willingness to co-operate in all financial measures of a constitutional character, which, in its wisdom, it may judge necessary and proper to re-establish the credit of the government. I believe that the proceeds of the sales of the public lands being restored to the treasury, or more properly speaking, the proviso of the act of September, 1841, being permitted to remain in full force, a tariff of duties may easily be adjusted, which, while it will yield a revenue sufficient to maintain the government in vigor by restoring its credit, will afford ample protection, and infuse a new life into all our manufacturing establishments. The condition of the country calls for such legislation, and it will afford me the most sincere pleasure to co-operate in it.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JULY 2, 1842.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:I SUBMIT to Congress the printed copy of certain resolutions of the legislature of the state of Louisiana, accompanied by a letter from the senators and representatives from that state, and also a letter from the solicitor of the treasury and commissioner from the general land-office, requesting and recommending that a suit in ejectment may be authorized and directed, in order to test the validity of a grant made on the 24th of June, 1797, by the baron de Carondelet, governor-general of Louisiana, to the marquis de Maison Rouge.

The magnitude of this claim renders it highly desirable that a speedy termination should be put to all contest concerning it, and I therefore recommend that Congress shall authorize such proceedings as may be best calculated to bring it to a close.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JULY 20, 1842.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

IN further compliance with the resolution of the house of representatives of the 29th of April last, I transmit herewith a supplemental and additional report of William M. Steuart, one of the commissioners appointed to investigate the affairs of the New York customhouse, which has recently been received, and which, like the reports of the commissioners heretofore communicated to the house, I have not had an opportunity to examine. For the reason stated in my message to the house of the 30th of April last, I shall abstain, as I have done hitherto, from recommending any specific measures which might be suggested by an examination of the various reports on the subject

SPECIAL MESSA G E.

JULY 22, 1842.

To the House of Representatives of the United States :—

In answer to the resolution of the house of representatives of the 13th instant, upon the subject of the relations between the United States and the republic of Texas, I transmit a report from the secretary of state. My last communication to Congress relating to that republic was my message of the 30th of March last, suggesting the expediency of legislative provisions for improving the trade and facilitating the intercourse by port between the two governments. Since that period, nothing has transpired which it would be compatible with the public interest to communicate to the house of representatives at this time.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

AUGUST 8, 1842.

To the Senate of the United States :—

In the communication made to the senate on the 13th of June, in answer to its resolution of the 2d of March last, there appears to have been, among other papers, sundry letters, addressed to the department of state by certain claimants or their agents, containing reflections upon the character of the umpire appointed by his Prussian majesty, pursuant to the convention between the United States and the Mexican republic, of the 11th of April, 1839. As the call was for all the communications which had been addressed to the department of state by any of the claimants under the convention, relative to the proceedings and progress of the mixed commission, the copies were prepared and submitted without attracting the attention either of the head of the department or myself. If those letters had been noticed, their transmission to the senate, if transmitted at all, would have been accompanied by a disclaimer, on the part of the executive, of any intention to approve such charges. The executive has no complaint to make against the conduct or decision of the highly-respectable person appointed by his sovereign umpire between the American and Mexican

commissioners.

SECOND TARIFF VETO.

AUGUST 9, 1842.

To the House of Representatives of the United States :

It is with unfeigned regret that I find myself under the necessity of returning to the house of representatives, with my objections, a bill, entitled, "An act to provide revenue from imports, and to change and modify existing laws imposing duties on imports, and for other purposes." Nothing can be more painful to any individual called upon to perform the

chief executive duties under our limited constitution, than to be constrained to withhold his assent from an important measure adopted by the legislature; yet he would neither fulfil the high purposes of his station, nor consult the true interests or the solemn will of the people, the common constituents of both branches of the government, by yielding his well-considered, most deeply-fixed, and repeatedly-declared opinions, on matters of great public concernment, to those of a co-ordinate department, without requesting that department seriously to re-examine the subject of their difference. The exercise of some independence of judgment, in regard to all acts of legislation, is plainly implied in the responsibility of approving them. At all times a duty, it becomes a peculiarly solemn and imperative one, when the subjects passed upon by Congress happen to involve, as in the present instance, the most momentous issues, to affect variously the various parts of a great country, and to have given rise in all quarters to such a conflict of opinion as to render it impossible to conjecture, with any certainty, on which side the majority really is. Surely, if the pause for reflection, intended by the wise authors of the constitution, by referring the subject back to Congress for reconsideration, be ever expedient and necessary, it is precisely such a case as the present.

On the subject of distributing the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, in the existing state of the finances, it has been my duty to make known my settled convictions on various occasions during the present session of Congress. At the opening of the extra session, upward of twelve months ago, sharing fully in the general hope of returning prosperity and credit, I recommended such a distribution; but that recommendation was even then expressly coupled with the condition that the duties on imports should not exceed the rate of twenty per cent., provided by the compromise act of 1833. These hopes were not a little encouraged, and these views strengthened, by the report of Mr. Ewing, then secretary of the treasury, which was shortly thereafter laid before Congress, in which he recommended the imposition of duties at the rate of twenty per cent., ad valorem, on all free articles, with specified exceptions, and stated, "if this measure be adopted, there will be received in the treasury, from customs, in the last quarter of the present year, 1841, five millions, three hundred thousand dollars; in all of the year 1842, about twenty-two millions, five hundred thousand dollars; and in the year 1843, after the final reduction under the act of March 2, 1833, about twenty millions of dollars ;" and adds, "it is believed that, after the heavy expenditures required by the public service, in the present year, shall have been provided for, the revenue which will accrue from that or nearly a proximate rate of duty, will be sufficient to defray the expenses of the government, and leave a surplus, to be annually applied to the gradual payment of the national debt, leaving the proceeds of the public lands to be disposed of as Congress shall see fit." I was most happy that Congress, at the time, seemed entirely to concur in the recommendations of the executive, and anticipating the correctness of the secretary's conclusions, and in view of an actual surplus, passed the distribution act of the 4th September last, wisely limiting its operation by two conditions, having reference, both of them, to a possible state of the treasury different from that which had been anticipated by the secretary of the treasury, and to the paramount necessities of the public service. It ordained that "if, at any time during the existence of that act, there should be an imposition of duties on imports inconsistent with the provision of the act of the 2d of March, 1833, and beyond the rate of duties fixed