of arms or ammunition, on board any Ship or Vessel, for the transporting of the same into any such Ports or Places on the Coast of Africa (except as above excepted), without leave or permission in that behalf first obtained from His Majesty or His Privy Council, upon pain of incurring and suffering the respective forfeitures and penalties imposed in that behalf by an Act, passed in the 6th Year of His present Majesty's Reign, intituled “An Act for the general regulation of the Customs :"

And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, the Master-General and the rest of the Principal Officers of the Ordnance, and His Majesty's Secretary at War, are to give the necessary directions herein as to them may respectively appertain.

C. C. GREVILLE.

BRITISH ORDER IN COUNCIL, granting to Spanish Vessels certain privileges of trading with the British Possessions Abroad.-28th April, 1828.

At the Court at St. James's, the 28th day of April, 1828.

PRESENT,

THE KING'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY IN COUNCIL.

WHEREAS by a certain Act of Parliament, passed in the 6th Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, intituled "An Act to regulate the trade of the British Possessions abroad;" after reciting, that "by the Law of Navigation Foreign Ships are permitted to import into any of the British Possessions abroad, from the Countries to which they belong, goods, the produce of those Countries, and to export goods from such Possessions to be carried to any Foreign Country whatever, and that it is expedient that such permission should be subject to certain conditions," it is enacted, "that the privileges thereby granted to Foreign Ships shall be limited to the Ships of those Countries which, having Colonial Possessions, shall grant the like privileges of trading with those Possessions to British Ships, or which, not having Colonial Possessions, shall place the Commerce and Navigation of this Country, and of its Possessions abroad, upon the footing of the most favoured Nation, unless His Majesty, by His Order in Council, shall in any case deem it expedient to grant the whole or any of such privileges to the Ships of any Foreign Country, although the conditions aforesaid shall not in all respects be fulfilled by such Foreign Country:"

And whereas by an Act, passed in the 7th and 8th Years of His Present Majesty's Reign, intituled "An Act to amend the laws relating to the Customs," after reciting or taking notice of the said Act so passed as aforesaid in the 6th Year of His Majesty's Reign, and after reciting, that unless some period were limited for the fulfilment by Foreign Countries of the conditions mentioned and referred to in the said recited Act, the Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom and of the British Possessions abroad, could not be regulated by fixed and certain rules, but would continue subject to changes dependent upon the Laws from time to time made in such Foreign Countries; it is therefore enacted, that no Foreign Country shall hereafter be deemed to have fulfilled the conditions so prescribed as aforesaid in and by the said Act, as to be entitled to the privileges therein mentioned, unless such Foreign Country had in all respects fulfilled those conditions within 12 months next after the passing of the said Act, that is to say, on or before the 5th day of July, 1826; and for the better ascertaining what particular Foreign Countries are permitted by law to exercise and enjoy the said privileges, it is further enacted that no Foreign Country shall hereafter be deemed to have fulfilled the before-mentioned conditions, or to be entitled to the privileges aforesaid, unless and until His Majesty shall by some Order or Orders to be by him made, by the advice of His Privy Council, have declared that such Foreign Country hath so fulfilled the said conditions, and is entitled to the said privileges; provided always, and it is thereby declared and enacted, that nothing therein contained, extends, or shall be construed to extend, to make void or annul any Order or Orders in Council theretofore issued, under the authority or in pursuance of the said recited Act, or to take away or abridge the powers vested in His Majesty in and by the said Act, or any of those powers, any thing therein contained to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding:

And whereas the conditions mentioned and referred to in the said Acts of Parliament have not in all respects been fulfilled by the Government of His Most Catholick Majesty the King of Spain, and therefore the privileges so granted as aforesaid by the Law of Navigation to Foreign Ships, cannot lawfully be exercised or enjoyed by the Ships of Spain, unless His Majesty, by His Order in Council, shall grant the whole or any of such privleges to such Spanish Ships:

And whereas His Majesty, by and with the advice of His Privy Council, doth deem it expedient to grant the privileges aforesaid, in certain cases, to Ships of the Dominions of His Most Catholick Majesty the King of Spain, His Majesty doth therefore, by the advice aforesaid, and in pursuance and exercise of the powers and authority in him vested by the said recited Acts of Parliament, declare and grant, that it shall and may be lawful for Spanish Ships to import into any of the British Possessions abroad, from the Colonies and Foreign plantations

of His Most Catholick Majesty, goods, the produce of those Colonies and Possessions, and to export goods from such British Possessions abroad, to be carried to any Foreign Country whatever :

And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, and the Right Honourable William Huskisson, one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, are to give the necessary directions herein, as to them may respectively appertain. JAS. BULLER.

LETTER from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting the Annual Report on the state of the Finances of The United States.-8th December, 1827.

SIB,

Treasury Department, 8th December, 1827. I HAVE the honour to transmit a Report, prepared in obedience to the directions of the "Act, supplementary to the Act, entitled an Act to establish he Treasury Department," passed on the 10th of May, 1800. I have the honour to be, &c.

RICHARD RUSH.

The Hon. the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

REPORT.

IN obedience to the Act making it the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to "lay before Congress, at the commencement of every Session, a Report on the subject of Finance, containing Estimates of the Public Revenue and Public Expenditures, and plans for improving or increasing the Revenues from time to time," the Secretary proceeds to the task which that duty enjoins upon him.

It is satisfactory to be able to state, in the beginning, that the Revenue accruing for the current Year is likely to exceed, rather than fall below, that of the last. This is the more satisfactory when considered in connexion with the fact of the unusually large importations of Foreign merchandise in 1825. The importations for that Year having greatly exceeded their average value for many Years preceding, a subsequent reduction in their value had been looked to, under analogous facts heretofore occurring in the Foreign trade of the Country. This has proved to be less the case than might have been anticipated. Although the importations for the Year ending on the 30th September last, are believed to have been less than for the Year ending on the same day in 1826, those for 1827, commencing on the 1st of January, and ending with the close of the present month, will, in all probability, be greater. It is on the Year, calculated in the latter way, that the annual Revenue from the Customs is estimated,

The importations for the 3rd Quarter of the present Year have been large, owing to the quantity of woollen goods which they embraced. If this, on the one hand, has been a cause specially operating to augment the entire importations of 1827, there are circumstances connected with other branches of the Foreign trade that have been specially in operation to diminish them. The opinion may reasonably be entertained, founded on these and other considerations, that the reaction, under the heavy importations of 1825, has arrived at its close. Aside, therefore, from unfoerseen events, the importations for the next year, on which the Revenue so mainly depends, under the present system of Finance, may be expected to prove sufficiently ample for every ordinary Financial purpose. The actual receipts into the Treasury during the current Year, have been less, in particulars that will be presently stated, than the sum at which they were estimated. They have been sufficient, however, with the balance in the Treasury at the commencement of the Year, to meet every appropriation for the service of the Year, including the sum of 10,000,000 dollars on account of the Publick Debt.

As the state of the Publick Debt, and manner in which the process of extinguishment goes on from Year to Year, is a subject on which the Nation desires and expects to receive accurate and full information, it will be exhibited to Congress in the first instance upon the present occasion. The exposition of this subject will be given in connexion with a short retrospect.

From the 1st of January, 1825, to the close of the present Year, there will have been applied to the principal of the Publick Debt, the sum of 21,297,210 dollars 93; and paid on account of interest the sum of 11,863,445 dollars 20; making a total of 33,160,656 dollars 13. Of the applications on account of the Principal, during these Years, 7,725,034 dollars 88 were made in 1825; 7,064,709 dollars 21, in 1826; and 6,507,466 dollars 84, will have been made by the close of 1827. Of the preceding sum of 21,297,210 dollars 93, it is proper to state, that a portion of it, viz. 5,000,000 dollars, was borrowed under the Act of the 26th of May, 1824, at an interest of 41 per cent. to pay off an equal portion of Debt, standing at an interest of 6 per cent. The aggregate amount of the Publick Debt on the 1st of January, 1825, was 83,710,572 dollars 60. To this must be added, the stock, amounting to 5,000,000, at 4 per cent, created by the above Act, but which was not issued until after the commencement of 1825; and a small amount of 3 per cent, stock that was subsequently issued, viz. 16 dollars 25, making the whole of the Public Debt, in 1825, 88,710,588 dollars 85. The aggregate amount at which it will stand on the 1st of January, 1828, will be 67,413,377 dollars 92. The whole of the 21,297,210 dollars 93, applied to the principal of the Debt, in the 3 years mentioned, have gone towards the reduction of

the 6 per cent. stock. Five millions of this sum having been replaced by the stock at 4 per cent. issued under the Act of the 26th of May aforesaid, are of course again to be ranked as part of the Debt. It follows, that the Debt, in 6 per cent. stock, to the amount of 16,297,210 dollars 93 cents, will have been absolutely extinguished in the course of these 3 Years by the surplus moneys of the Treasury, in addition to 11,863,445 dollars 20, paid as interest. It also follows that, 21,062,332 dollars 17 cents, in principal and interest, will have been applied to the Publick Debt, during the Years 1826 and 1827, out of the means of the Treasury, without any assistance whatever from Loans. This is an amount greater than was required to be applied to it for these 2 Years by the obligations of the Sinking Fund Act.

It will be satisfactory to Congress to know that, during the 3 Years in question, besides these payments made on account of the Debt, and all other payments to meet the annual expenses of Government, large sums have been applied to objects wearing a character neither temporary nor annual. By these are meant, Internal Improvements, in the form of Subscriptions to Canals, and appropriations for otherwise opening and extending intercourse throughout the Country; Fortifications and Armouries; Ships of War, Naval Docks, and other Establishments connected with the Navy; Publick Edifices of various descriptions, whether for purposes Marine or Civil; arming the militia; the purchase of Lands from the Indians, and other expenses belonging to this Department of the Publick Service. On such objects, and others kindred to them, the Expenditures, during these 3 Years, have reached a sum little short of 12,000,000 dollars. A Nation that, after providing for the regular support of its Government, is seen to proceed in this manner in the payment of its Publick Debt, and in additional disbursements so considerable, for which equivalents remain, that, for the most part, are of permanent value to the Nation, cannot be regarded as other than prosperous in its financial condition.

That the exact situation of the whole Funded Debt at this time may be seen, the several parts of which it consists will be distinctly set forth, for the full information of Congress.

Its total amount, on the first of October last, was (Statement No. 1.) 68,913,541 dollars 08. This sum comprehends the old Revolutionary 3 per cents, amounting to 13,296,247 dollars 70, redeemable at the pleasure of the Government; and the 7,000,000 subscribed to the Bank of The United States, also redeemable at the pleasure of the Government.

The residue of the Debt was contracted after the commencement of the War of 1812, and consists of various Loans and Stocks created and redeemable at periods, as follows:

1. The sum of 4,244,587 dollars 07, at 6 per cent. being the residue unpaid of the Loan under the Act of the 8th of February, 1813, and