long since committed, many of them frankly acknowledged, and all of them entitled, upon every principle of justice, to a candid examination. The proposal last made to the French Government has been to refer the subject, which has formed an obstacle to this consideration, to the determination of a Sovereign, the common friend of both. To this offer no definitive answer has yet been received; but the gallant and honourable spirit which has at all times been the pride and glory of France, will not ultimately permit the demands of innocent sufferers to be extinguished in the mere consciousness of the power to reject them.

A new Treaty of Amity, Navigation, and Commerce, has been concluded with the Kingdom of Sweden, which will be submitted to the Senate for their advice with regard to its ratification. At a more recent date, a Minister Plenipotentiary from the Hanseatic Republicks of Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen, has been received, charged with a special Mission for the Negotiation of a Treaty of Amity and Commerce between that ancient and renowned League and The United States. This Negotiation has accordingly been commenced, and is now in progress, the result of which will, if successful, be also submitted to the Senate, for their consideration.

Since the accession of the Emperor Nicholas to the Imperial Throne of all the Russias, the friendly dispositions towards The United States, so constantly manifested by his Predecessor, have continued unabated; and have been recently testified by the appointment of a Minister Plenipotentiary to reside at this place. From the interest taken by this Sovereign in behalf of the suffering Greeks, and from the spirit with which others of the Great European Powers are co-operating with him, the friends of freedom and of humanity may indulge the hope, that they will obtain relief from that most unequal of conflicts, which they have so long and so gallantly sustained: that they will enjoy the blessing of self-government, which by their sufferings in the cause of liberty they have richly earned; and that their independence will be secured by those liberal Institutions, of which their Country furnished the earliest examples in the history of mankind, and which have consecrated to immortal remembrance the very soil for which they are now again profusely pouring forth their blood. The sympathies which the People and Government of The United States have so warmly indulged with their cause, have been acknowledged by their Government, in a letter of thanks, which I have received from their illustrious President, a translation of which is now communicated to Congress, the Representatives of that Nation to whom this tribute of gratitude was intended to be paid, and to whom it was justly due.

In the American hemisphere the cause of freedom and Independenence has continued to prevail; and if signalized by none of those splendid triumphs which had crowned with glory some of the preceding years, it has only been from the banishment of all external force

against which the struggle had been maintained. The shout of victory has been superseded by the expulsion of the enemy over whom it could have been achieved. Our friendly wishes and cordial good will, which have constantly followed the Southern Nations of America in all the vicissitudes of their War of Independence, are succeeded by a solicitude, equally ardent and cordial, that, by the wisdom and purity of their Institutions, they may secure to themselves the choicest blessings of social order, and the best rewards of virtuous liberty. Disclaiming alike all right and all intention of interfering in those concerns which it is the prerogative of their independence to regulate as to them shall see fit, we hail with joy every indication of their prosperity, of their harmony, of their persevering and inflexible homage to those principles of freedom and of equal rights, which are alone suited to the genius and temper of the American Nations. It has been therefore with some concern that we have observed indications of intestine divisions in some of the Republicks of the South, and appearances of less union with one another, than we believe to be the interest of all. Among the results of this state of things has been that the Treaties concluded at Panama do not appear to have been ratified by the Contracting Parties, and that the Meeting of the Congress at Tacubaya has been indefinitely postponed. In accepting the invitations to be represented at this Congress, while a manifestation was intended on the part of The United States, of the most friendly disposition towards the Southern Republicks by whom it had been proposed, it was hoped that it would furnish an opportunity for bringing all the Nations of this hemisphere to the common acknowledgment and adoption of the principles, in the regulation of their international relations, which would have secured a lasting peace and harmony between them, and have promoted the cause of mutual benevolence throughout the globe. But as obstacles appear to have arisen to the re-assembling of the Congress, one of the two Ministers commissioned on the part of The United States has returned to the bosom of his Country, while the Minister charged with the ordinary Mission to Mexico remains authorized to attend at the Conferences of the Congress whenever they may be resumed.

A hope was for a short time entertained, that a Treaty of Peace, actually signed between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and Brazil, would supersede all further occasion. for those collisions between belligerent pretensions and neutral rights, which are so commonly the result of Maritime War, and which have, unfortunately, disturbed the harmony of the relations between The United States and the Brazilian Government. At their last Session, Congress were informed that some of the Naval Officers of that Empire had advanced and practised upon principles in relation to Blockades and to Neutral Navigation, which we could not sanction, and which our Commanders found it necessary to resist. It appears that they have not been sus

tained by the Government of Brazil itself. Some of the Vessels captured under the assumed authority of these erroneous principles, have been restored; and we trust that our just expectations will be realized, that adequate indemnity will be made to all the Citizens of The United States who have suffered by the unwarranted captures which the Brazilian Tribunals themselves have pronounced unlawful.

In the Diplomatic Discussion at Rio de Janeiro, of these wrongs sustained by Citizens of The United States, and of others which seemed as if emanating immediately from that Government itself, the Chargé d'Affaires of The United States, under an impression that his representations in behalf of the rights and interests of his Countrymen were totally disregarded and useless, deemed it his duty, without waiting for instructions, to terminate his official functions, to demand his Passports, and return to The United States. This movement, dictated by an honest zeal for the honor and interests of his Country; motives which operated exclusively upon the mind of the Officer who resorted to it, has not been disapproved by me. The Brazilian Government, however, complained of it as a measure for which no adequate intentional cause had been given by them; and upon an explicit assurance, through their Chargé d'Affaires, residing here, that a Successor to the late Representative of The United States near that Government, the appointment of whom they desired, should be received and treated with the respect due to his character, and that indemnity should be promptly made for all injuries inflicted on Citizens of The United States or their property, contrary to the Laws of Nations, a temporary Commission as Chargé d'Affaires to that Country has been issued, which it is hoped will entirely restore the ordinary Diplomatic Intercourse between the two Governments, and the friendly relations between their respective Nations.

Turning from the momentous concerns of our Union in its intercourse with Foreign Nations, to those of the deepest interest in the administration of our internal affairs, we find the Revenues of the present Year corresponding as nearly as might be expected with the anticipations of the last, and presenting an aspect still more favourable in the promise of the next. The Balance in the Treasury on the first of January last was 6,358,686 dollars 18 cents. The receipts from that day to the 30th of September last, as near as the returns of them yet received can show, amount to 16,886,581 dollars 32 cents. The receipts of the present quarter, estimated at 4,515,000 dollars added to the above, form an aggregate of 21,400,000 dollars of receipts. The Expenditures of the Year may perhaps amount to 22,300,000 dollars, presenting a small excess over the receipts. But of these 22,000,000, upwards of 6 have been applied to the discharge of the principal of the public debt; the whole amount of which, approaching 74,000,000 on the 1st of January last, will on the first day of next

Year fall short of 67,500,000. The Balance in the Treasury on the 1st of January next, it is expected, will exceed 5,450,000 dollars; a sum exceeding that of the 1st of January, 1825, though falling short of that exhibited on the 1st of January last.

It was foreseen that the Revenue of the present Year would not equal that of the last, which had itself been less than that of the next preceding Year. But the hope has been realized which was entertained, that these deficiencies would in nowise interrupt the steady operation of the discharge of the public debt by the annual 10,000,000 devoted to that object by the Act of 3d March, 1817.

The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the commencement of the Year until the 30th of September last, is 21,226,000, and the probable amount of that which will be secured during the remainder of the Year, is 5,774,000 dollars; forming a sum total of 27,000,000. With the allowances for drawbacks and contingent deficiencies which may occur, though not specifically foreseen, we may safely estimate the receipts of the ensuing year at 22,300,000 dollars; a Revenue for the next equal to the Expenditure of the present Year.

The deep solicitude felt by our Citizens of all classes throughout the Union for the total discharge of the public debt, will apologize for the earnestness with which I deem it my duty to urge this topic upon the consideration of Congress-of recommending to them again the observance of the strictest economy in the application of the public Funds. The depression upon the receipts of the Revenue which had commenced with the year 1826, continued with increased severity during the two first quarters of the present Year. The returning tide began to flow with the third quarter, and so far as we can judge from experience, may be expected to continue through the course of the ensuing Year. In the meantime, an alleviation from the burden of the public debt will in the 3 years, have been effected to the amount of nearly 16,000,000, and the charge of annual interest will have been reduced upwards of 1,000,000. But among the maxims of political economy which the Stewards of the public moneys should never suffer without urgent necessity to be transcended, is that of keeping the Expenditures of the Year within the limits of its Receipts. The appropriations of the 2 last years, including the yearly 10,000,000 of the Sinking Fund, have each equalled the promised Revenue of the ensuing Year. While we foresee with confidence that the public coffers will be replenished from the Receipts, as fast as they will be drained by the Expenditures, equal in amount to those of the current Year, it should not be forgotten that they could ill suffer the exhaustion of larger disbursements.

The condition of the Army, and of all the branches of the publick service under the superintendence of the Secretary of War, will be

seen by the Report from that Officer, and the Documents with which it is accompanied.

During the course of the last summer, a detachment of the Army has been usefully and successfully called to perform their appropriate duties. At the moment when the Commissioners appointed for carrying into execution certain provisions of the Treaty of August 19th, 1825, with various tribes of the Northwestern Indians, were about to arrive at the appointed place of meeting, the unprovoked murder of several Citizens, and other acts of unequivocal hostility committed by a party of the Winnebago tribe, one of those associated in the Treaty, followed by indications of a menacing character, among other tribes of the same region, rendered necessary an immediate display of the defensive and protective force of the Union in that quarter. It was accordingly exhibited by the immediate and concerted movements of the Governors of the State of Illinois and of the Territory of Michigan, and competent levies of militia under their authority; with a corps of 700 men of United States troops under the command of General Atkinson, who, at the call of Governor Cass, immediately repaired to the scene of danger, from their station at St. Louis. Their presence dispelled the alarms of our Fellow-citizens on those borders, and overawed the hostile purposes of the Indians. The perpetrators of the murders were surrendered to the authority and operation of our laws; and every appearance of purposed hostility from those Indian tribes has subsided.

Although the present organization of the Army, and the administration of its various branches of service, are, upon the whole, satisfactory, they are yet susceptible of much improvement in particulars, some of which have been heretofore submitted to the consideration of Congress, and others are now first presented in the Report of the Secretary of War.

The expediency of providing for additional numbers of Officers in the two Corps of Engineers will, in some degree, depend upon the number and extent of the objects of National importance upon which Congress may think it proper that surveys should be made, conformably to the Act of the 30th of April, 1824. Of the surveys which, before the last Session of Congress, had been made under the authority of that Act, reports were made:

1. Of the Board of Internal Improvement, on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.

2. On the continuation of the National Road from Cumberland to the tide waters within the District of Columbia.

3. On the continuation of the National Road from Canton to Zanesville.

4. On the location of the National Road from Zanesville to Columbus.