Gambar halaman
PDF
ePub

from it, and we have been given distinctly to understand that neither of the bills which were under the consideration of Congress at their last session would have been deemed sufficient in the concessions, to have been rewarded by any relaxation from the British interdict. It is one of the inconveniences inseparably connected with the attempt to adjust by reciprocal legis. lation interests of this nature, that neither party can know what would be satisfactory to the other; and that after enacting a statute for the avowed and sincere purpose of conciliation, it will generally be found utterly inadequate to the expectations of the other party, and will terminate in mutual disappoint

ment.

The session of Congress having terminated without any act upon the subject, a proclamation was issued on the 17th of March last, conformably to the provisions of the 6th section of the Act of 1st March, 1823, declaring the fact that the trade and intercourse authorized by the British act of Parliament of 24th June, 1822, between the United States and the British enumerated colonial ports, had been by the subsequent acts of Parliament of 5th July, 1825, and the order of Council of 27th July, 1826, prohibited. The effect of this proclamation, by the terms of the act under which it was issued, has been, that each and every provision of the act concerning Navigation, of 18th April, 1818, and of the act supplementary thereto, of 15th May, 1820, revived, and is in full force. Such, then, is the present condition of the trade, that, useful as it is to both parties, it can, with a single momentary exception, bo carried on directly by the ves

sels of neither. That exception itself is found in a proclamation of the Governor of the Island of St. Christopher, and of the Virgin Is. lands, inviting, for three months from the 28th of August last, the importation of the articles of the produce of the United States, which constitue their export portion of this trade, in the vessels of all nations. That period having already expired, the state of mutual interdiction has again taken place. The British government have not only declined negotiation upon this subject, but by the principle they have assumed with reference to it, have precluded even the means of negotiation. It becomes not the self respect of the United States, either to solicit gratuitious favours, or to accept as the grant of a favour that for which an ample equivalent is exacted. remains to be determined by the respective governments, whether the trade shall be opened by acts of reciprocal legislation. It is in the mean time satisfactory to know, that apart from the inconveniences resulting from a disturbance of the usual channels of trade, no loss has been sustained by the commerce, the navigation or the revenue of the United States, and none of magnitude is to be apprehended from this existing state of mutual interdict.

It

With the other maritime and commercial nations of Europe, our intercourse continues with little variation. Since the cessation, by the convention of 24th June, 1822, of all discriminating duties upon the vessels of the United States and of France, in either country, our trade with that nation has increased, and is increasing. A disposition on the part of France has been manifested to renew that negotia

tion; and, in acceding to the proposal, we have expressed the wish that it might be extended to other objects, upon which a good understanding between the parties would be beneficial to the interests of both. The origin of the political relations between the United States and France, is coeval with the first years of our independence. The memory of it is interwoven with that of our arduous struggle for national existence. Weakened as it has occasionally been since that time, it can by us never be forgot. ten; and we should hail with exultation the moment which should indicate a recollection equally friend. ly in spirit on the part of France. A fresh effort has recently been made by the minister of the United States residing at Paris, to obtain a consideration of the just claims of citizens of the United States, to the reparation of wrongs 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 plenipotentary from the Hanseatic Republics 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 cooperating with him, the friends of freedom and 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 example 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 independence 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 follow. ed 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 obser

ved indications of intestine divisions in some of the republics 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 Republics 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 governments. 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 sustained by the govern. ment 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 discussions 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 use. less, deemed it his duty, without waiting for instructions, to terminate his official functions, to demand his passports, and to return to the United States. This movement, dictated by an honest zeal for the honour 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 gived 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 six millions three hundred and fifty-eight thousand six hundred and eighty-six dollars and eighteen 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 sixteen millions eight hundred and eighty-six thousand five hundred and eighty-one dollars and thirty-two cents. The receipts of the present quarter, estimated at four millions five hundred and fifteen thousand, added to

the above, form an aggregate of twenty-one millions four hundred thousand dollars of receipts. The expenditures of the year may perhaps amount to twenty-two millions three hundred thousand dollars, presenting a small excess over the receipts. But of these twenty-two millions, upwards of six have been applied to the discharge of the principal of the public debt; the whole amount of which, approaching seventy-four millions on the first of January last, will on the first day of next year fall short of sixty-seven millions and a half. The balance in the treasury on the first of January next, it is expected, will exceed five millions four hundred and fifty thousand dollars; a sum exceeding that of the first of January, 1825, though falling short of that exhibited on the first 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 entertain. ed, that these deficiencies would in nowise interrupt the steady operation of the discharge of the public debt by the annual ten millions 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 twenty-one millions two hundred and twenty-six thousand, and the probable amount of that which will be secured during the remainder of the year, is five millions seven hundred and seventy-four thousand dollars; forming a sum total of twenty-seven millions. With the allowances for drawbacks and con

tingent deficiencies which may occur, though not specifically foreseen, we may safely estimate the receipts of the ensuing year at twenty-two millions three hundred thousand 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 mean time, an alleviation from the burden of the public debt will, in three years, have been effected to the amount of nearly sixteen millions, and the charge of annual interest will have been reduced upwards of one million. 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 two last years, including the yearly ten millions of the sinking fund, have each equalled the promised revenue of the ensuing year. While we foresee with confidence that the public

« SebelumnyaLanjutkan »