The hostile incursions of the Sac and Fox Indians necessarily led to the interposition of the government. A portion of the troops, under Generals Scott and Atkinson, and of the militia of the state of Illinois, were I called into the field. After a harassing warfare, prolonged by the nature of the country, and by the difficulty of procuring subsistence, the Indians were entirely defeated, and the disaffected band dispersed or destroyed. The result has been creditable to the troops engaged in the service. Severe as is the lesson to the Indians, it was rendered necessary by their unprovoked aggressions; and it is to be hoped that its impression will be permanent and salutary.

This campaign has evinced the efficient organization of the army, and its capacity for prompt and active service. Its several departments have performed their functions with energy and despatch, and the general movement was satisfactory.

Our fellow-citizens upon the frontiers were ready, as they always are, in the tender of their services in the hour of danger. But a more efficient organization of our militia is essential to that security which is one of the principal objects of all governments. Neither our situation, nor our institutions, require or permit the maintenance of a large regular force. History offers too many lessons of the fatal results of such a measure, not to warn us against its adoption here. The expense which attends it, the obvious tendency to employ it, because it exists, and thus to engage in unnecessary wars, and its ultimate danger to public liberty, will lead us, I trust, to place our principal dependence for protection upon the great body of the citizens of the republic. If, in asserting rights, or in repelling wrongs, war should come upon us, our regular force should be increased to an extent proportioned to the emergency, and our present small army is a nucleus around which such force could be formed and embodied. But for the purposes of defence, under ordinary circumstances, we must rely upon the electors of the country. Those by whom, and for whom, the government was instituted and is supported, will constitute its protection in the hour of danger, as they do its check in the hour of safety.

But it is obvious that the militia system is imperfect. Much time is lost, much unnecessary expense incurred, and much public property wasted, under the present arrangement. Little useful knowledge is gained by the musters and drills as now established, and the whole subject evidently requires a thorough examination. Whether a plan of classification, remedying these defects, and providing for a system of instruction, might not be adopted, is submitted to the consideration of Congress. The constitution has vested in the general government an independent authority upon the subject of the militia, which renders its action essential to the establishment or improvement of the system, and I recommend the matter to your consideration, in the conviction that the state of this important arm of the public defence requires your attention.

I am happy to inform you, that the wise and humane policy of transferring from the eastern to the western side of the Mississippi, the remnants of our aboriginal tribes, with their own consent, and upon just terms, has been steadily pursued, and is approaching, I trust, its consummation. By reference to the report of the secretary of war, and to the documents submitted with it, you will see the progress which has been made, since your last session, in the arrangement of the various matters connected with our Indian relations. With one exception, every subject involving any question of conflicting jurisdiction, or of peculiar difficulty, has been hap

pily disposed of; and the conviction evidently gains ground among the Indians, that their removal to the country assigned by the United States for their permanent residence, furnishes the only hope of their ultimate prosperity.

With that portion of the Cherokees, however, living within the state of Georgia, it has been found impracticable as yet to make a satisfactory adjustment. Such was my anxiety to remove all the grounds of complaint, and to bring to a termination the difficulties in which they are involved, that I directed the very liberal propositions to be made to them which accompany the documents herewith submitted. They can not but have seen in these offers, the evidence of the strongest disposition on the part of the government to deal justly and liberally with them. An ample indemnity was offered for their present possessions, a liberal provision for their future support and improvement, and full security for their private and political rights. Whatever difference of opinion may have prevailed respecting the just claims of these people, there will probably be none respecting the liberality of the propositions, and very little respecting the expediency of their immediate acceptance. They were, however, rejected, and thus the position of these Indians remains unchanged, as do the views communicated in my message to the senate, in February, 1830.

I refer you to the annual report of the secretary of the navy, which accompanies this message, for a detail of the operations of that branch of the service during the present year.

Besides the general remarks on some of the transactions of our navy, presented in the view which has been taken of our foreign relations, I seize this occasion to invite to your notice the increased protection which it has afforded to our commerce and citizens on distant seas, without any augmentation of the force in commission. In the gradual improvement of its pecuniary concerns, in the constant progress in the collection of materials suitable for use during future emergencies, and in the construction of vessels, and the buildings necessary to their preservation and repair, the present state of this branch of the service exhibits the fruits of that vigilance and care which are so indispensable to its efficiency. Various new suggestions, contained in the annexed report, as well as others heretofore submitted to Congress, are worthy of your attention; but none more so than that urging the renewal, for another term of six years, of the general appropriation for the gradual improvement of the navy.

From the accompanying report of the postmaster-general, you will also perceive that that department continues to extend its usefulness, without impairing its resources, or lessening the accommodations which it affords in the secure and rapid transportation of the mail.

I beg leave to call the attention of Congress to the views heretofore expressed in relation to the mode of choosing the president and vice-president of the United States, and to those respecting the tenure of office generally. Still impressed with the justness of those views, and with the belief that the modifications suggested on those subjects, if adopted, will contribute to the prosperity and harmony of the country, I earnestly recommend them to your consideration at this time.

I have heretofore pointed out defects in the law for punishing official frauds, especially within the district of Columbia. It has been found almost impossible to bring notorious culprits to punishment, and, according to the decision of the court for this district, the prosecution is barred by the lapse of two years after the fraud has been committed. It may hap

pen again, as it has already happened, that, during the whole two years, all the evidences of the fraud may be in the possession of the culprit himself. However proper the limitation may be in relation to private citizens, it would seem that it ought not to commence running in favor of public officers until they go out of office.

The judiciary system of the United States remains imperfect. Of the nine western and southwestern states, three only enjoy the benefits of a circuit court. Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, are embraced in the general system; but Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, have only district courts. If the existing system be a good one, why should it not be extended? If it be a bad one, why is it suffered to exist? The new states were promised equal rights and privileges when they came into the Union, and such are the guaranties of the constitution. Nothing can be more obvious than the obligation of the general government to place all the states on the same footing in relation to the administration of justice, and I trust this duty will be neglected no longer.

On many of the subjects to which your attention is invited in this communication, it is a source of gratification to reflect, that the steps to be now adopted are uninfluenced by the embarrassments entailed upon the country by the wars through which it has passed. In regard to most of our great interests, we may consider ourselves as just starting in our career, and, after a salutary experience, about to fix upon a permanent basis the policy best calculated to promote the happiness of the people, and facilitate their progress toward the most complete enjoyment of civil liberty. On an occasion so interesting and important in our history, and of such anxious concern to the friends of freedom throughout the world, it is our imperious duty to lay aside all selfish and local considerations, and be guided by a lofty spirit of devotion to the great principles on which our institutions are founded.

That this government may be so administered, as to preserve its efficiency in promoting and securing these general objects, should be the only aim of our ambition, and we can not, therefore, too carefully examine its structure, in order that we may not mistake its powers, or assume those which the people have reserved to themselves, or have preferred to assign to other agents. We should bear constantly in mind the fact, that the considerations which induced the framers of the constitution to withhold from the general government the power to regulate the great mass of the business and concerns of the people have been fully justified by experience; and that it can not now be doubted, that the genius of all our institutions prescribes simplicity and economy as the characteristics of the reform which is yet to be effected in the present and future execution of the functions bestowed on us by the constitution.

Limited to a general superintending power, to maintain peace at home and abroad, and to prescribe laws on a few subjects of general interest, not calculated to restrict human liberty, but to enforce human rights, this government will find its strength and its glory in the faithful discharge of these plain and simple duties. Relieved by its protecting shield from the fear of war and the apprehension of oppression, the free enterprise of our citizens, aided by the state sovereignties, will work out improvements and ameliorations, which can not fail to demonstrate that the great truth, that the people can govern themselves, is not only realized in our example, but that it is done by a machinery in government so simple and economical as

scarcely to be felt. That the Almighty Ruler of the universe may so direct our deliberations, and overrule our acts, as to make us instrumental in securing a result so dear to mankind, is my most earnest and sincere prayer.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

DECEMBER 6, 1832.

To the House of Representatives :—

In addition to the general views I have heretofore expressed to Congress, on the subject of internal improvement, it is my duty to advert to it again, in stating my objections to the bill entitled, " An act for the improvement of certain harbors, and the navigation of certain rivers," which was not received a sufficient time before the close of the last session, to enable me to examine it before the adjournment.

Having maturely considered that bill, within the time allowed me by the constitution, and being convinced that some of its provisions conflict with the rule adopted for my guide on this subject of legislation, I have been compelled to withhold from it my signature, and it has, therefore, failed to become a law.

To facilitate, as far as I can, the intelligent action of Congress upon the subjects embraced in this bill, I transmit herewith a report from the engineer department, distinguishing, as far as the information within its possession would enable it, between those appropriations which do, and those which do not, conflict with the rules by which my conduct in this respect has hitherto been governed. By that report, it will be seen, that there is a class of appropriations in the bill for the improvement of streams that are not navigable, that are not channels of commerce, and that do not pertain to the harbors or ports of entry designated by law, or have any ascertained connexion with the usual establishments for the security of commerce, external or internal. It is obvious, that such appropriations involve the sanction of a principle that concedes to the general government an unlimited power over the subject of internal improvements, and that I could not, therefore, approve a bill containing them, without receding from the positions taken in my veto of the Maysville road bill, and, afterward, in my annual message of December 19, 1830.

It is to be regretted, that the rules by which the classification of the improvements in this bill has been made by the engineer department are not more definite and certain, and that embarrassments may not always be avoided by the observance of them; but, as neither my own reflection, nor the lights derived from other sources, have furnished me with a better guide, I shall continue to apply my best exertions to their application and enforcement. In thus employing my best faculties to exercise the power with which I am invested, to avoid evils, and to effect the greatest attainable good for our common country, I feel that I may trust to your cordial cooperation; and the experience of the past, leaves me no room to doubt the liberal indulgence and favorable consideration of those for whom we act. The grounds upon which I have given my assent to appropriations for the construction of lighthouses, beacons, buoys, public piers, and the removal of sandbars, sawyers, and other temporary or partial impediments VOL. II.-5

in our navigable rivers and harbors, and with which many of the provisions of this bill correspond, have been so fully stated, that I trust a repetition of them is unnecessary. Had there been incorporated in the bill no provisions for works of a different description, depending on principles which extend the power of making appropriations to every object which the discretion of the government may select, and losing sight of the distinctions between national and local character, which, I had stated, would be my future guide on the subject, I should have cheerfully signed the bill.

PROCLAMATION.

DECEMBER 11, 1832.

WHEREAS, a convention, assembled in the state of South Carolina, have passed an ordinance, by which they declare, "That the several acts and parts of acts of the Congress of the United States, purporting to be laws for the imposing of duties and imposts on the importation of foreign commodities, and now having actual operation and effect within the United States, and more especially," two acts for the same purposes, passed on the 29th of May, 1828, and on the 14th of July, 1832, are unauthorized by the constitution of the United States, and violate the true meaning and intent thereof, and are null and void, and no law," nor binding on the citizens of that state, or its officers and by the said ordinance, it is further declared to be unlawful for any of the constituted authorities of the state, or of the United States, to enforce the payment of the duties imposed by the said acts within the same state, and that it is the duty of the legislature to pass such laws as may be necessary to give full effect to the said ordinance :

And whereas, by the said ordinance, it is further ordained, that, in no case of law or equity, decided in the courts of said state, wherein shall be drawn in question the validity of the said ordinance, or of the acts of the legislature that may be passed to give it effect, or of the said laws of the United States, no appeal shall be allowed to the supreme court of the United States, nor shall any copy of the record be permitted or allowed for that purpose, and that any person attempting to take such appeal shall be punished as for a contempt of court:

And finally, the said ordinance declares, that the people of South Carolina will maintain the said ordinance at every hazard; and that they will consider the passage of any act by Congress abolishing or closing the ports of the said state, or otherwise obstructing the free ingress or egress of vessels to and from the said ports, or any other act of the federal government to coerce the state, shut up her ports, destroy or harass her commerce, or to enforce the said acts otherwise than through the civil tribunals of the country, as inconsistent with the longer continuance of South Carolina in the Union; and that the people of the said state will thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligation to maintain or preserve their political connexion with the people of the other states, and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate government, and do all other acts and things which sovereign and independent states may of right do :

And whereas the said ordinance prescribes to the people of South Car