A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents. Volume 2, part 1: James Monroe · Chapter 19Special Messages. (1)
This chapter is not translated yet. You are reading the original.
WASHINGTON, December 16, 1821.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to Congress a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, inclosing the report of the commissioners appointed in conformity with the provisions of "An act to authorize the building of light-houses therein mentioned, and for other purposes," approved the 3d of March, 1821.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, December 16, 1821.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
By a resolution of Congress approved on the 27th of March, 1818, it was directed that the journal, acts, and proceedings of the Convention which formed the present Constitution of the United States should be published, under the direction of the President of the United States, together with the secret journals of the acts and proceedings, and the foreign correspondence (with a certain exception), of the Congress of the United States from the first meeting thereof down to the date of the ratification of the definitive treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, in the year 1783, and that 1,000 copies thereof should be printed, of which one copy should be furnished to each member of that (the Fifteenth) Congress, and the residue should remain subject to the future disposition of Congress.
And by a resolution of Congress approved on the 21st April, 1820, it was provided that the secret journal, together with all the papers and documents connected with that journal, and all other papers and documents heretofore considered confidential, of the old Congress, from the date of the ratification of the definitive treaty of the year 1783 to the formation of the present Government, which were remaining in the office of the Secretary of State, should be published under the direction of the President of the United States, and that I,000 copies thereof should be printed and deposited in the Library subject to the disposition of Congress.
In pursuance of these two resolutions, 1,000 copies of the journals and acts of the Convention which formed the Constitution have been heretofore printed and placed at the disposal of Congress, and 1,000 copies of the secret journals of the Congress of the Confederation, complete, have been printed, 250 copies of which have been reserved to comply with the direction of furnishing one copy to each member of the Fifteenth Congress; the remaining 750 copies have been deposited in the Library and are now at the disposal of Congress.
By the general appropriation act of 9th April, 1818, the sum of $10,000 was appropriated for defraying the expenses of printing done pursuant to the resolution of the 27th of March of that year. No appropriation has yet been made to defray the expenses incident to the execution of the resolution of 21st April, 1820. The whole expense hitherto incurred in carrying both resolutions into effect has exceeded by $542.56 the appropriation of April, 1818. This balance remains due to the printers, and is included in the estimates of appropriation for the year 1822. That part of the resolution of the 27th March, 1818, which directs the publication of the foreign correspondence of the Congress of the Confederation remains yet to be executed, and a further appropriation will be necessary for carrying it into effect.
JAMES MONROE.
DECEMBER 30, 1821.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate a treaty of peace and amity concluded between the United States and the Dey and Regency of Algiers on the 23d of December, 1816.
This treaty is in all respects the same in its provisions with that which had been concluded on the 30th of June, 1815, and was ratified, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, on the 26th of December of that year, with the exception of one additional and explanatory article.
The circumstances which have occasioned the delay in laying the present treaty before the Senate for their advice and consent to its ratification are, that having been received in the spring of the year 1817, during the recess of the Senate, in the interval between the time when the Department of State was vacated by its late Secretary and the entrance of his successor upon the duties of the office, and when a change also occurred of the chief clerk of the Department, it was not recollected by the officers of the Department that it remained without the constitutional sanction of the Senate until shortly before the commencement of the present session. The documents explanatory of the additional articles are likewise herewith transmitted.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON January 7, 1822.
To the Congress of the United States:
I transmit a report of the Secretary of the Navy, together with a survey of the coast of North Carolina, made in pursuance of a resolution of Congress of the 19th January, 1819.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, January 8, 1822.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
In pursuance of a joint resolution of the two Houses of Congress of the 3d of March, 1821, authorizing the President to cause such number of astronomical observations to be made by methods which might, in his judgment, be best adapted to insure a correct determination of the longitude of the Capitol, in the city of Washington, from Greenwich or some other known meridian in Europe, and that he cause the data, with accurate calculations on statements founded thereon, to be laid before them at their present session, I herewith transmit to Congress the report made by William Lambert, who was selected by me on the 10th of April last to perform the service required by that resolution.
As no compensation is authorized by law for the execution of the duties assigned to Mr. Lambert, it is submitted to the discretion of Congress to make the necessary provision for an adequate allowance to him and to the assistant whom he employed to aid him in his observations.
JAMES MONROE.
JANUARY 17, 1822.
To the Senate of the United States:
I nominate the persons whose names are stated in the inclosed letter from the Secretary of War for the appointments therein respectively proposed for them.
The changes in the Army growing out of the act of the 2d of March, 1821, "to reduce and fix the military peace establishment of the United States," are exhibited in the Official Register for the year 1822, herewith submitted for the information of the Senate.
Under the late organization of the artillery arm, with the exception of the colonel of the regiment of light artillery, there were no grades higher than lieutenant-colonel recognized. Three of the four colonels of artillery provided for by the act of Congress of the 2d of March, 1821, were considered, therefore, as original vacancies, to be filled, as the good of the service might dictate, from the Army corps.
The Pay Department being considered as a part of the military establishment, and, within the meaning of the above-recited act, constituting one of the corps of the Army, the then Pay master-General was appointed colonel of one of the regiments. A contrary construction, which would have limited the corps specified in the twelfth section of the act to the line of the Army, would equally have excluded all the other branches of the staff, as well that of the Pay Department, which was expressly comprehended among those to be reduced. Such a construction did not seem to be authorized by the act, since by its general terms it was inferred to have been intended to give a power of sufficient extent to make the reduction by which so many were to be disbanded operate with as little inconvenience as possible to the parties. Acting on these views and on the recommendation of the board of general officers, who were called in on account of their knowledge and experience to aid the Executive in so delicate a service, I thought it proper to appoint Colonel Towson to one of the new regiments of artillery, it being a corps in which he had eminently distinguished himself and acquired great knowledge and experience in the late war.
In reconciling conflicting claims provision for four officers of distinction could only be made in grades inferior to those which they formerly held. Their names are submitted, with the nomination for the brevet rank of the grades from which they were severally reduced.
It is proper also to observe that as it was found difficult in executing the act to retain each officer in the corps to which he belonged, the power of transferring officers from one corps to another was reserved in the general orders, published in the Register, till the 1st day of January last, in order that upon vacancies occurring those who had been put out of their proper corps might as far as possible be restored to it. Under this reservation, and in conformity to the power vested in the Executive by the first section of the seventy-fifth article of the general regulations of the Army, approved by Congress at the last session, on the resignation of Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell, of the corps of artillery, Lieutenant-Colonel Lindsay, who had belonged to this corps before the late reduction, was transferred back to it in the same grade. As an additional motive to the transfer, it had the effect of preventing Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor and Major Woolley being reduced to lower grades than those which they held before the reduction, and Captain Cobb from being disbanded under the act. These circumstances were considered as constituting an extraordinary case within the meaning of the section already referred to of the Regulations of the Army. It is, however, submitted to the Senate whether this is a case requiring their confirmation; and in case that such should be their opinion, it is submitted to them for their constitutional confirmation.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, January 20, 1822.
To the House of Representatives:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives "requesting the President of the United States to cause to be laid before this House an account of the expenditures made under the act to provide for the civilization of the Indian tribes, specifying the times when, the persons to whom, and the particular purpose for which such expenditures have been made," I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of War.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, January 28, 1822.
To the House of Representatives:
In compliance with the resolution of the 2d instant, I transmit a report of the Secretary of State, with all the documents relating to the misunderstanding between Andrew Jackson, while acting as governor of the Floridas, and Eligius Fromentin, judge of a court therein; and also of the correspondence between the Secretary of State and the minister plenipotentiary of His Catholic Majesty on certain proceedings in that Territory in execution of the powers vested in the governor by the Executive under the law of the last session for carrying into effect the late treaty between the United States and Spain. Being always desirous to communicate to Congress, or to either House, all the information in the possession of the Executive respecting any important interest of our Union which may be communicated without real injury to our constituents, and which can rarely happen except in negotiations pending with foreign powers, and deeming it more consistent with the principles of our Government in cases submitted to my discretion, as in the present instance, to hazard error by the freedom of the communication rather than by withholding any portion of information belonging to the subject, I have thought proper to communicate every document comprised within this call.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, January 30, 1822.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In pursuance of a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 16th instant, requesting information with regard to outrages and abuses committed upon the persons of the officers and crews of American vessels at The Havannah and other Spanish ports in America, and whether the Spanish authorities have taken any measures to punish, restrain, or countenance such outrages, I herewith transmit to that House a report from the Secretary of State, containing the information called for.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, January 30, 1822.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In pursuance of a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 8th instant, I transmit to the House of Representatives a report of the Secretary of State, containing all the information procured by him in relation to commissions of bankruptcy in certain districts of the United States under the act of 4th of April, 1800, "to establish an uniform system of bankruptcy in the United States."
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, February 7, 1822.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives requesting the President to "cause that House to be informed whether the commissioners appointed to lay out the continuation of the Cumberland road from Wheeling, in the State of Virginia, through the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to the Mississippi River, have completed the same, and, if not completed, the reason why their duties have been suspended," I transmit a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, which furnishes the information desired.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, February 10, 1822.
To the House of Representatives:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives "requesting the President of the United States to cause to be laid before this House any information which he may have of the condition of the several Indian tribes within the United States and the measures hitherto devised and pursued for their civilization," I now transmit a report from the Secretary of War.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, February 23, 1822.
To the House of Representatives:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives "requesting the President of the United States to cause to be reported to this House whether the Indian title has been extinguished by the United States to any lands the right of soil in which has been or is claimed by any particular State, and, if so, the conditions upon which the same has been extinguished," I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of War, furnishing all the information in the possession of that Department embraced by the resolution,
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, February 23, 1822.
To the Senate of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 14th instant, requesting the President of the United States "to make known to the Senate the annual disposition which has been made of the sum of $15,000 appropriated by an act of Congress of the year 1802 to promote civilization among friendly Indian tribes, showing to what tribes that evidence of the national bounty has been extended, the names of the agents who have been intrusted with the application of the money, the several amounts by them received, and the manner in which they have severally applied it to accomplish the objects of the act," I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of War, furnishing all the information upon this subject in the possession of that Department.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, February 25, 1822.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
Under the appropriation made by the act of Congress of the 11th of April, 1820, for holding treaties with the Creek and Cherokee nations of Indians for the extinguishment of the Indian title to lands within the State of Georgia, pursuant to the fourth condition of the first article of the articles of agreement and cession concluded between the United States and the State of Georgia on the 24th day of April, 1802, a treaty was held with the Creek Nation, the expense of which upon the settlement of the accounts of the commissioners who were appointed to conduct the negotiation was ascertained to amount to the sum of $24,695, leaving an unexpended balance of the sum appropriated of $5,305, a sum too small to negotiate a treaty with the Cherokees, as was contemplated by the act making the appropriation. The legislature of Georgia being still desirous that a treaty should be held for further extinguishment of the Indian title to lands within that State, and to obtain an indemnity to the citizens of that State for property of considerable value, which has been taken from them by the Cherokee Indians, I submit the subject to the consideration of Congress, that a further sum, which, in addition to the balance of the former appropriation, will be adequate to the expenses attending a treaty with them, may be appropriated should Congress deem it expedient.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, March 4, 1822.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 22d ultimo, requesting the President of the United States "to cause to be laid before this House a statement showing the amount of woolens purchased for the use of the Army during the years 1820 and 1821, comprising a description of the articles, of whom the purchases were made, at what prices, and what proportion thereof was of American manufacture," I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of War.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, March 8, 1822.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
In transmitting to the House of Representatives the documents called for by the resolution of that House of the 30th January, I consider it my duty to invite the attention of Congress to a very important subject, and to communicate the sentiments of the Executive on it, that, should Congress entertain similar sentiments, there may be such cooperation between the two departments of the Government as their respective rights and duties may require.
The revolutionary movement in the Spanish Provinces in this hemisphere attracted the attention and excited the sympathy of our fellow-citizens from its commencement. This feeling was natural and honorable to them, from causes which need not be communicated to you. It has been gratifying to all to see the general acquiescence which has been manifested in the policy which the constituted authorities have deemed it proper to pursue in regard to this contest. As soon as the movement assumed such a steady and consistent form as to make the success of the Provinces probable, the rights to which they were entitled by the law of nations as equal parties to a civil war were extended to them. Each party was permitted to enter our ports with its public and private ships, and to take from them every article which was the subject of commerce with other nations. Our citizens, also, have carried on commerce with both parties, and the Government has protected it with each in articles not contraband of war. Through the whole of this contest the United States have remained neutral, and have fulfilled with the utmost impartiality all the obligations incident to that character.
This contest has now reached such a stage and been attended with such decisive success on the part of the Provinces that it merits the most profound consideration whether their right to the rank of independent nations, with all the advantages incident to it in their intercourse with the United States, is not complete. Buenos Ayres assumed that rank by a formal declaration in 1816, and has enjoyed it since 1810 free from invasion by the parent country. The Provinces composing the Republic of Colombia, after having separately declared their independence, were united by a fundamental law of the 17th of December, 1819. A strong Spanish force occupied at that time certain parts of the territory within their limits and waged a destructive war. That force has since been repeatedly defeated, and the whole of it either made prisoners or destroyed or expelled from the country, with the exception of an inconsiderable portion only, which is blockaded in two fortresses. The Provinces on the Pacific have likewise been very successful. Chili declared independence in 1818, and has since enjoyed it undisturbed; and of late, by the assistance of Chili and Buenos Ayres, the revolution has extended to Peru. Of the movement in Mexico our information is less authentic, but it is, nevertheless, distinctly understood that the new Government has declared its independence, and that there is now no opposition to it there nor a force to make any. For the last three years the Government of Spain has not sent a single corps of troops to any part of that country, nor is there any reason to believe it will send any in future. Thus it is manifest that all those Provinces are not only in the full enjoyment of their independence, but, considering the state of the war and other circumstances, that there is not the most remote prospect of their being deprived of it.
When the result of such a contest is manifestly settled, the new governments have a claim to recognition by other powers which ought not to be resisted. Civil wars too often excite feelings which the parties can not control. The opinion entertained by other powers as to the result may assuage those feelings and promote an accommodation between them useful and honorable to both. The delay which has been observed in making a decision on this important subject will, it is presumed, have afforded an unequivocal proof to Spain, as it must have done to other powers, of the high respect entertained by the United States for her rights and of their determination not to interfere with them. The Provinces belonging to this hemisphere are our neighbors, and have successively, as each portion of the country acquired its independence, pressed their recognition by an appeal to facts not to be contested, and which they thought gave them a just title to it. To motives of interest this Government has invariably disclaimed all pretension, being resolved to take no part in the controversy or other measure in regard to it which should not merit the sanction of the civilized world. To other claims a just sensibility has been always felt and frankly acknowledged, but they in themselves could never become an adequate cause of action. It was incumbent on this Government to look to every important fact and circumstance on which a sound opinion could be formed, which has been done. When we regard, then, the great length of time which this war has been prosecuted, the complete success which has attended it in favor of the Provinces, the present condition of the parties, and the utter inability of Spain to produce any change in it, we are compelled to conclude that its fate is settled, and that the Provinces which have declared their independence and are in the enjoyment of it ought to be recognized.
Of the views of the Spanish Government on this subject no particular information has been recently received. It may be presumed that the successful progress of the revolution through such a long series of years, gaining strength and extending annually in every direction, and embracing by the late important events, with little exception, all the dominions of Spain south of the United States on this continent, placing thereby the complete sovereignty over the whole in the hands of the people, will reconcile the parent country to an accommodation with them on the basis of their unqualified independence. Nor has any authentic information been recently received of the disposition of other powers respecting it. A sincere desire has been cherished to act in concert with them in the proposed recognition, of which several were some time past duly apprised; but it was understood that they were not prepared for it. The immense space between those powers, even those which border on the Atlantic, and these Provinces makes the movement an affair of less interest and excitement to them than to us. It is probable, therefore, that they have been less attentive to its progress than we have been. It may be presumed, however, that the late events will dispel all doubt of the result.
In proposing this measure it is not contemplated to change thereby in the slightest manner our friendly relations with either of the parties, but to observe in all respects, as heretofore, should the war be continued, the most perfect neutrality between them. Of this friendly disposition an assurance will be given to the Government of Spain, to whom it is presumed it will be, as it ought to be, satisfactory. The measure is proposed under a thorough conviction that it is in strict accord with the law of nations, that it is just and right as to the parties, and that the United States owe it to their station and character in the world, as well as to their essential interests, to adopt it. Should Congress concur in the view herein presented, they will doubtless see the propriety of making the necessary appropriations for carrying it into effect.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, March 9, 1822.
To the House of Representatives:
I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, together with the annual return of the militia of the United States, and an exhibit of the arms, accouterments, and ammunition of the several States and Territories of the United States, prepared in conformity with the militia laws on that subject.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, March 12, 1822.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before the Senate the copy of a supplementary report, made by William Lambert, in relation to the longitude of the Capitol from Greenwich, in pursuance of a joint resolution of the two Houses of Congress of the 3d of March, 1821, and I subjoin an extract from the letter of Mr. Lambert submitting that report.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, March 26, 1822.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
Congress having suspended the appropriation, at the last session, for the fortification at Dauphine Island, in consequence of a doubt which was entertained of the propriety of that position, the further prosecution of the work was suspended, and an order given, as intimated in the message of the 3d of December, to the Board of Engineers and Naval Commissioners to examine that part of the coast, and particularly that position, as also the position at Mobile Point, with which it is connected, and to report their opinion thereon, which has been done, and which report is herewith communicated.
By this report it appears to be still the opinion of the Board that the construction of works at both these positions is of great importance to the defense of New Orleans and of all that portion of our Union which is connected with and dependent on the Mississippi and on the other waters which empty into the Gulf of Mexico between that river and Cape Florida. That the subject may be fully before Congress, I transmit also a copy of the former report of the Board, being that on which the work was undertaken and has been in part executed. Approving as I do the opinion of the Board, I consider it my duty to state the reasons on which I adopted the first report, especially as they were in part suggested by the occurrences of the late war.
The policy which induced Congress to decide on and provide for the defense of the coast immediately after the war was founded on the marked events of that interesting epoch. The vast body of men which it was found necessary to call into the field through the whole extent of our maritime frontier, and the number who perished by exposure, with the immense expenditure of money and waste of property which followed, were to be traced in an eminent degree to the defenseless condition of the coast. It was to mitigate these evils in future wars, and even for the higher purpose of preventing war itself, that the decision was formed to make the coast, so far as it might be practicable, impregnable, and that the measures necessary to that great object have been pursued with so much zeal since.
It is known that no part of our Union is more exposed to invasion by the numerous avenues leading to it, or more defenseless by the thinness of the neighboring population, or offers a greater temptation to invasion, either as a permanent acquisition or as a prize to the cupidity of grasping invaders from the immense amount of produce deposited there, than the city of New Orleans. It is known also that the seizure of no part of our Union could affect so deeply and vitally the immediate interests of so many States and of so many of our fellow-citizens, comprising all that extensive territory and numerous population which are connected with and dependent on the Mississippi, as the seizure of that city. Strong works, well posted, were therefore deemed absolutely necessary for its protection.
It is not, however, by the Mississippi only, or the waters which communicate directly with or approach nearest to New Orleans, that the town is assailable. It will be recollected that in the late war the public solicitude was excited not so much by the danger which menaced it in those directions as by the apprehension that, while a feint might be made there, the main force, landing either in the bay of Mobile or other waters between that bay and the Rigolets, would be thrown above the town in the rear of the army which had been collected there for its defense. Full confidence was entertained that that gallant army, led by the gallant and able chief who commanded it, would repel any attack to which it might be exposed in front. But had such a force been thrown above the town, and a position taken on the banks of the river, the disadvantage to which our troops would have been subjected, attacked in front and rear as they might have been, may easily be conceived. As their supplies would have been cut off, they could not long have remained in the city, and, withdrawing from it, it must have fallen immediately into the hands of the force below. In ascending the river to attack the force above, the attack must have been made to great disadvantage, since it must have been on such ground and at such time as the enemy preferred. These considerations shew that defenses other than such as are immediately connected with the city are of great importance to its safety.