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peake, the Louisville and Portland, the Dismal Swamp, and the Chesapeake and Ohio canals; the large donations of lands to the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Alabama, for objects of improvements within those states, and the sums appropriated for lighthouses, buoys, and piers, on the coast; and a full view will be taken of the munificence of the nation in the application of its resources to the improvement of its own condition. Of these great national undertakings, the academy at West Point is among the most important in itself, and the most comprehensive in its consequences. In that institution, a part of the revenue of the nation is applied to defray the expense of educating a competent portion of her youth, chiefly to the knowledge and the duties of military life. It is the living armory of the nation. While the other works of improvement enumerated in the reports now presented to the attention of Congress are destined to ameliorate the face of nature; to multiply the facilities of communication between the different parts of the Union; to assist the labors, increase the comforts, and enhance the enjoyments of individuals—the instruction acquired at West Point enlarges the dominion and expands the capacities of the mind. beneficial results are already experienced in the composition of the army, and their influence is felt in the intellectual progress of society. The institution is susceptible still of great improvement from benefactions proposed by several successive boards of visiters, to whose earnest and repeated recommendations I cheerfully add my own.

With the usual annual reports of the secretary of the navy, and the board of commissioners, will be exhibited to the view of Congress the execution of the laws relating to that department of the public service. The repression of piracy in the West Indian and Grecian seas has been effectually maintained, with scarcely any exception. During the war between the governments of Buenos Ayres and Brazil, frequent collisions between belligerent acts of power and the rights of neutral commerce occurred. Licentious blockades, irregularly enlisted or impressed seamen, and the property of honest commerce seized with violence, and even plundered under legal pretences, are disorders never separable from the conflicts of war upon the ocean. With a portion of them, the correspondence of our commanders on the eastern aspect of the South American coasts, and among the islands of Greece, discover how far we have been involved. In these, the honor of our country and rights of our citizens have been asserted and vindicated. The appearance of new squadrons in the Mediterranean, and the blockade of the Dardanelles, indicate the danger of other obstacles to the freedom of commerce and the necessity of keeping our naval force in those seas. To the suggestions repeated in the report of the secretary of the navy, and tending to the permanent improvement of this institution, I invite the favorable consideration of Congress.

A resolution of the house of representatives, requesting that one of our small public vessels should be sent to the Pacific ocean, and South sea, to examine the coasts, islands, harbors, shoals, and reefs, in those seas, and to ascertain their true situation and description, has been put in a train of execution. The vessel is nearly ready to depart; the successful accomplishment of the expedition may be greatly facilitated by suitable legislative provisions; and particularly by an appropriation to defray its necessary expense. The addition of a second, and perhaps a third vessel, with a slight aggravation of the cost, would contribute much to the safety of the citizens embarked on this undertaking, the results of which may be of the deepest interest to our country.

With the report of the secretary of the navy will be submitted, in conformity to the act of Congress of 3d March, 1827, for the gradual improvement of the navy of the United States, statements of the expenditures under that act, and of the measures taken for carrying the same into effect. Every section of that statute contains a distinct provision, looking to the great object of the whole, the gradual improvement of the navy. Under its salutary sanction, stores of ship-timber have been procured, and are in process of seasoning and preservation for the future uses of the navy. Arrangements have been made for the preservation of the live oak timber growing on the lands of the United States, and for its reproduction, to supply at future and distant days, the waste of that most valuable material for ship-building, by the great consumption of it yearly for the commercial, as well as for the military marine of our country. The construction of the two dry docks at Charleston and at Norfolk, is making satisfactory progress toward a durable establishment. The examinations and inquiries to ascertain the ticability and expediency of a marine railway at Pensacola, though not yet accomplished, have been postponed, but to be more effectually made. The navy-yards of the United States have been examined, and plans for their improvement, and the preservation of the public property therein, at Portsmouth, Charleston, Philadelphia, Washington, and Gosport, and to which two others are to be added, have been prepared, and received my sanction; and no other portion of my public duties has been performed with a more intimate conviction of its importance to the future welfare and security of the Union.

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With the report from the postmaster-general is exhibited a comparative view of the gradual increase of that establishment, from five to five years, since 1792, till this time, in the number of postoffices, which has grown from less than two hundred to nearly eight thousand; in the revenue yielded by them, which, from sixty-seven thousand dollars, has swollen to upward of one million five hundred thousand dollars, and in the number of miles of postroads, which, from five thousand six hundred and forty-two, have multiplied to one hundred and fourteen thousand five hundred and thirty-six. While, in the same period of time, the population of the Union has about thrice doubled, the rate of increase of these offices is nearly forty, and of the revenue and of travelled miles, from twenty to twenty-five for one. The increase of revenue within the last five years has been nearly equal to the whole revenue of the department in 1812.

The expenditures of the department during the year which ended on the first of July last, have exceeded the receipts by a sum of about twenty-five thousand dollars. The excess has been occasioned by the increase of mail conveyances and facilities to the extent of near eight hundred thousand miles. It has been supplied by collections from the postmasters of the arrearages of the preceding years. While the correct principle seems to be, that the income levied by the department should defray all its expenses, it has never been the policy of this government to raise from this establishment any revenue to be applied to any other purposes. The suggestion of the postmaster-general, that the insurance of the safe transmission of moneys by the mail might be assumed by the department, for a moderate and competent remuneration, will deserve the consideration of Congress.

A report from the commissioner of the public buildings in this city exhibits the expenditures upon them in the course of the current year. It will be seen that the humane and benevolent intentions of Congress in providing, by the act of the 20th of May, 1826, for the erection of a peni

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tentiary in this district have been accomplished. The authority of further legislation is now required for the removal to this tenement of the offenders against the laws, sentenced to atone by personal confinement for their crimes, and to provide a code for their employment and government while thus confined.

The commissioners appointed conformably to the act of 2d March, 1827, to provide for the adjustment of claims of persons entitled to indemnification under the first article of the treaty of Ghent, and for the distribution among such claimants of the sum paid by the government of Great Britain, under the convention of 13th November, 1826, closed their labors on the 30th August last, by awarding to the claimants the sum of one million one hundred and ninety-seven thousand four hundred and twenty-two dollars and eighteen cents; leaving a balance of seven thousand five hundred and thirtyseven dollars and eighty-two cents, which was distributed ratedly among all the claimants to whom awards had been made, according to the directions of the act.

The exhibits appended to the report from the commissioner of the general land office, present the actual condition of that common property of the Union. The amount paid into the treasury, from the proceeds of lands, during the year 1827, and the first half of 1828, falls little short of two millions of dollars. The propriety of further extending the time for the extinguishment of the debt due to the United States by the purchasers of the public lands, limited by the act of 21st March last to the 4th of July next, will claim the consideration of Congress, to whose vigilance and careful attention, the regulation, disposal, and preservation of this great national inheritance, has by the people of the United States been intrusted.

Among the important subjects to which the attention of the present Congress had already been invited, and which may occupy their further and deliberate discussion, will be the provision to be made for taking the fifth census, or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States. The constitution of the United States requires that this enumeration should be made within every term of ten years, and the date from which the last enumeration commenced was the first Monday of August, of the year 1820. The laws under which the former enumerations were taken were enacted at the session of Congress immediately preceding the operation. But considerable inconveniences were experienced from the delay of legislation to so late a period. That law, like those of the preceding enumerations, directed that the census should be taken by the marshals of the several districts and territories, under instructions from the secretary of state. The preparation and transmission to the marshals of those instructions, required more time than was then allowed between the passage of the law and the day when the enumeration was to commence. The term of six months, limited for the returns of the marshals, was also found even then too short, and must be more so now, when an additional population of at least three millions must be presented upon the returns. As they are to be made at the short session of Congress, it would, as well as from other considerations, be more convenient to commence the enumeration at an earlier period of the year than the first of August. The most favorable season would be the spring. On a review of the former enumerations, it will be found that the plan for taking every census has contained improvements upon that of its predecessor. The last is still susceptible of much improvement. The third census was the first at which any account was taken of the manufactures of the country. It was

repeated at the last enumeration, but the returns in both cases were necessarily very imperfect.

They must always be so, resting of course only on the communications voluntarily made by individuals interested in some of the manufacturing establishments. Yet they contained much valuable information, and may by some supplementary provision of the law be rendered more effective. The columns of age, commencing from infancy, have hitherto been confined to a few periods, all under the number of forty-five years. Important knowledge would be obtained by extending those columns, in intervals of ten years, to the utmost boundaries of human life. The labor of taking them would be a trifling addition to that already prescribed, and the result would exhibit comparative tables of longevity highly interesting to the country. I deem it my duty further to observe, that much of the imperfections in the returns of the last, and perhaps of preceding enumerations, proceeded from the inadequateness of the compensation allowed to the marshals and their assistants in taking them.

In closing this communication, it only remains for me to assure the legislature of my continued earnest wish for the adoption of measures recommended by me heretofore, and yet to be acted on by them, and of the cordial concurrence on my part in every constitutional provision which may receive their sanction during the session, tending to the general welfare.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 16, 1826.

To the Senate of the United States :—

In answer to the two resolutions of the Senate of the 15th instant, marked (executive), and which I have received, I state, respectfully, that all the communications from me to the senate, relating to the congress at Panama, have been made, like all other communications upon executive business, in confidence, and most of them in compliance with a resolution. of the senate requesting them confidentially. Believing that the established usage of free confidential communications between the executive and the senate ought, for the public interest, to be preserved unimpaired. I deem it my indispensable duty to leave to the senate itself the decision of a question involving a departure, hitherto, so far as I am informed, without example, from that usage, and upon the motives for which, not being informed of them, I do not feel myself competent to decide.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 15, 1826.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with the resolution of the house of the 5th ultimo, requesting me to cause to be laid before the house so much of the correspondence between the government of the United States and the new states of America, or their ministers, respecting the proposed congress or meeting of diplomatic agents at Panama, and such information respecting the general character of that expected congress as may be in my possession, and as may, in my opinion, be communicated without prejudice to the public interest; and also to inform the house, so far as in my opinion the public interest may allow, in regard to what objects the agents of the United States are expected to take part in the deliberations of that congress; I now transmit to the house a report from the secretary of state, with the correspondence and information requested by the resolution.

With regard to the objects in which the agents of the United States are expected to take part in the deliberations of that congress, I deem it proper to premise, that these objects did not form the only, nor even the principal, motive for my acceptance of the invitation. My first and greatest inducement was, to meet, in the spirit of kindness and friendship, an overture made in that spirit by three sister republics of this hemisphere.

The great revolution in human affairs which has brought into existence, nearly at the same time, eight sovereign and independent states, has placed the United States in a situation not less novel, and scarcely less interesting, than that in which they had found themselves by their own transition from a cluster of colonies to a nation of sovereign states. The deliverance of the South American republics from the oppression under which they had been so long afflicted, was hailed with great unanimity by the people of this Union as among the most auspicious events of the age. On the 4th of May, 1822, an act of Congress made an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars, "for such missions to the independent nations on the American continent as the president of the United States might deem proper." In exercising the authority recognised by this act, my predecessor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, appointed, successively, ministers plenipotentiary to the republics of Colombia, Buenos Ayres, Chili, and Mexico. Unwilling to raise among the fraternity of freedom questions of precedency and etiquette, which even the European monarchs had of late found it necessary in a great measure to discard, he despatched these ministers to Colombia, Buenos Ayres, and Chili, without exacting from those republics, as by the ancient principles of political primogeniture he might have done, that the compliment of a plenipotentiary mission should have been paid first by them to the United States. The instructions, prepared under his direction, to Mr. Anderson, the first of our ministers to the southern continent, contain, at much length, the general principles upon which he thought it desirable that our relations, political and commercial, with these, our new neighbors, should be established, for their benefit and ours, and that of the future ages of our posterity.

A copy of so much of these instructions as relates to these general subjects is among the papers now transmitted to the house. Similar instructions were furnished to the ministers appointed to Buenos Ayres, Chili,

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