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 controul the ardour inseparable from that early age, in such a 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 ardour 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 cooperation 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, cannot 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 on the Mediterranean, the Pacific, and along the Atlantic Coast, extending the Cruizes of the latter into the West Indies, where Piracy, organized into a system, has preyed on the Commerce of every Country trading thither. A Cruize 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.

By the Docuof The United The benevolent

In the West Indies Piracy is of recent date, which may explain the cause why other Powers have not combined against it. ments communicated, it will be seen that the efforts States to suppress it have had a very salutary effect. provision of the Act, under which the protection has been extended alike to the Commerce of other Nations, cannot 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 Subfactors 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 great 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 interest of the Union, that these Indians, should be removed, by Special Compact with them, to some other posi tion, or concentrated within narrower limits where they are. With the limited means in the power of the Executive, instructions were given to the Governor to accomplish this object, so far as it might be prac ticable, which was prevented by the distressing malady referred to. To carry it fully into effect in either mode, additional funds will be neces sary, to the provision of which the powers of Congress alone are com petent. With a view to such provision 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 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 expence, has already suffered, from the want of that regular superintendance, 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, fiuds 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 Post Office Department, cannot be estimated too highly. This great work is likewise an ornament and an honour 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 superintendance of it, and appropriating the money necessary for repairs. Surely, if they had the right to appropriate money to make the Road, they have a right to appropriate it to preserve the Road from ruin. From the ex

ercise 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 duties, 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, however, communicated my sentiments to Congress, at the last Session, fully, in the Document to which I have referred, respecting the Right of Appropriation, as distinct from the Right of Jurisdiction and Sovereignty over the Territory in question, I deem it improper to enlarge on the subject here.

From the best information that I have been able to obtain, it appears that our Manufactures, though depressed immediately after the Peace, have considerably increased, and are still increasing, under the encouragement given them by the Tariff of 1816, and by subsequent Laws. Satisfied I am, whatever may be the abstract doctrine, in favour of unrestricted Commerce, provided all Nations would concur in it, and it was not liable to be interrupted by War, which has never occurred, and cannot be expected, that there are other strong reasons, applicable to our situation and relations with other Countries, which impose on us the obligation to cherish and sustain our Manufactures. Satisfied, however, I likewise am, that the interest of every part of our Union, even of those most benefited by Manufactures, requires that this subject should be touched with the greatest caution, and a critical knowledge of the effect to be produced by the slightest change. On full consideration of the subject, in all its relations, I am persuaded, that a further augmentation may now be made of the Duties on certain Foreign Articles in favour of our own, and without affecting injuriously any other interest. For more precise details, I refer you to the Communications which were made to Congress during the last Session.

So great was the amount of Accounts for Moneys advanced during the late War, in addition to others of a previous date, which, in the regular operations of the Government, necessarily remained unsettled, that it required a considerable length of time for their adjustment. By a Report from the First Comptroller of the Treasury, it appears that on the 4th of March, 1817, the Accounts then unsettled, amounted to 103,068,876 dollars and 41 cents, of which, on the 30th of September, of the present year, 93,175,396 dollars and 56 cents, had been settled, leaving on that day a Balance unsettled of 9,893,479 dollars, and 85 cents. That there had been drawn from the Treasury, in paying the Public Debt, and sustaining the Government in all its operations and disbursements, since the 4th of March, 1817, 157,199,380 dollars and 96 cents, the Accounts for which have been settled to the amount

of 137,501,451 dollars and 12 cents, leaving a balance unsettled of 19,697,929 dollars and 84 cents. For precise details respecting each of these balances, I refer to the Report of the Comptroller, and the Documents which accompany it.

From this view it appears, that our Commercial differences with France and Great Britain have been placed in a train of amicable arrangement, on conditions fair and honourable, in both instances, to each Party; that our Finances are in a very productive state, our Revenue being at present fully competent to all the demands upon it; that our Military Force is well organized in all its branches, and capable of rendering the most important service, in case of emergency, that its number will admit of; that due progress has been made, under existing appropriations, in the construction of Fortifications, and in the operations of the Ordnance Department; that due progress has, in like manner, been made in the construction of Ships of War; that our Navy is in the best condition, felt and respected in every Sea in which it is employed for the protection of our Commerce; that our Manufactures have augmented in amount, and improved in quality; that great progress has been made in the settlement of Accounts, and in the recovery of the Balances due by Individuals; and that the utmost economy is secured and observed in every Department of the Administration.

Other objects will likewise claim your attention, because, from the station which The United States hold, as a Member of the great community of Nations, they have rights to maintain, duties to perform, and dangers to encounter.

A strong hope was entertained, that Peace would, ere this, have been concluded between Spain and the Independent Governments South of The United States in this Hemisphere. Long experience having evinced the competency of those Governments to maintain the Independence which they had declared, it was presumed that the considerations which induced their recognition by The United States, would have had equal weight with other Powers, and that Spain Herself, yielding to those magnanimous feelings, of which Her history furnishes so many examples, would have terminated, on that basis, a controversy so unavailing, and, at the same time, so destructive. We still cherish the hope that this result will not long be postponed. Sustaining our neutral Position, and allowing to each Party, while the War continues, equal Rights, it is incumbent on The United States to claim of each, with equal rigour, the faithful observance of our Rights, according to the well known Law of Nations. From each, therefore, a like co-operation is expected in the suppression of the Piratical Practice which has grown out of this War, and of Blockades of extensive Coasts on both Seas, which, considering the small Force employed to sustain them, have not the slightest foundation to rest on.