SENATE.] The President's Message. [DECEMBER, 1836. ingly instructed, in case the troops were not already | remains unexpended; but as the work will be again withdrawn under the discretionary powers before resumed at the earliest moment in the coming possessed by him, to give the requisite orders for spring, the balance of the existing appropriations, that purpose, on the receipt of the instructions, and in several cases which will be laid before you, unless he shall then have in his possession such in- with the proper estimates, further sums for the formation as shall satisfy him that the maintenance like objects may be usefully expended during the of the post is essential to the protection of our next year. frontiers, and to the due execution of our treaty stipulations, as previously explained to him. Whilst the necessities existing during the present year, for the service of militia and volunteers, have furnished new proofs of the patriotism of our fellowcitizens, they have also strongly illustrated the importance of an increase in the rank and file of the regular army. The views of this subject, submitted by the Secretary of War, in his report, meet my entire concurrence, and are earnestly commended to the deliberate attention of Congress. In this connection, it is also proper to remind you, that the defects in our present militia system are every day rendered more apparent. The duty of making further provision by law, for organizing, arming, and disciplining this arm of defence, has been so repeatedly represented to Congress by myself and my predecessors, that I deem it sufficient, on this occasion, to refer to the last annual message and to former Executive communications, in which the subject has been dis cussed. It appears from the reports of the officers charged with mustering into service the volunteers called for under the act of Congress of the last session, that more presented themselves at the place of rendezvous in Tennessee, than were sufficient to meet the requisition which had been made by the Secretary of War upon the Governor of that State. This was occasioned by the omission of the Governor to apportion the requisition to the different regiments of militia, so as to obtain the proper number of troops, and no more. It seems but just to the patriotic citizens who repaired to the general rendezvous, under circumstances authorizing them to believe that their services were needed, and would be accepted, that the expenses incurred by them, while absent from their homes, should be paid by the Government. I accordingly recommend that a law to this effect be passed by Congress, giving them a compensation which will cover their expenses on the march to and from the place of rendezvous, and while there; in connection with which, it will also be proper to make provision for such other equitable claims, growing out of the service of the militia, as may not be embraced in the existing laws. On the unexpected breaking out of hostilities in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, it became necessary, in some cases, to take the property of individuals for public use. Provision should be made by law for indemnifying the owners; and I would also respectfully suggest whether some provision may not be made, consistently with the principles of our Government, for the relief of the sufferers by Indian depredations, or by the operations of our own troops. No time was lost, after the making of the requisite appropriations, in resuming the great national work of completing the unfinished fortifications on our seaboard, and of placing them in a proper state of defence. In consequence, however, of the very late day at which those bills were passed, but little progress could be made during the season which has just closed. A very large amount of the moneys granted at your last session accordingly The recommendations of an increase in the engineer corps, and for a reorganization of the topographical corps, submitted to you in my last annual message, derive additional strength from the great embarrassments experienced, during the present year, in those branches of the service, and under which they are now suffering. Several of the most important surveys and constructions, directed by recent laws, have been suspended in consequence of the want of adequate force in these corps. The like observations may be applied to the ordnance corps and to the general staff, the operations of which, as they are now organized, must either be frequently interrupted, or performed by officers taken from the line of the army, to the great prejudice of the service. For a general view of the condition of the Military Academy, and of the other branches of the military service, not already noticed, as well as for fuller illustrations of those which have been mentioned, I refer you to the accompanying documents; and among the various proposals contained therein for legislative action, I would particularly notice the suggestion of the Secretary of War, for the revision of the pay of the army, as entitled to your favorable regard. The national policy, founded alike in interest and in humanity, so long and so steadily pursued by this Government, for the removal of the Indian tribes originally settled on this side of the Mississippi to the west of that river, may be said to have been consummated by the conclusion of the late treaty with the Cherokees. The measures taken in the execution of that treaty, and in relation to our Indian affairs generally, will fully appear by referring to the accompanying papers Without dwelling on the numerous and important topics embraced in them, I again invite your attention to the importance of providing a well-digested and comprehensive system for the protection, supervision, and improvement of the various tribes now planted in the Indian country. The suggestions submitted by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and enforced by the Secretary, on this subject, and also in regard to the establishment of additional military posts in the Indian country, are entitled to your profound consideration. Both measures are necessary, for the double purpose of protecting the Indians from intestine war, and in other respects complying with our engagements to them, and of securing our Western frontier against incursions which otherwise will assuredly be made on it. The best hopes of humanity in regard to the aboriginal race, the welfare of our rapidly extending settlements, and the honor of the United States, are all deeply involved in the relations existing between this Government and the emigrating tribes. I trust, therefore, that the various matters submitted in the accompanying documents, in respect to those relations, will receive your early and mature deliberation; and that it may issue in the adoption of legislative measures adapted to the circumstances and duties of the present crisis. You are referred to the report of the Secretary of the Navy for a satisfactory view of the operations of the department under his charge during the present year. In the construction of vessels at the different navy yards, and in the employment of our ships and squadrons at sea, that branch of the service has been actively and usefully employed. While the situation of our commercial interests in the West Indies required a greater number than usual of armed vessels to be kept on that station, it is gratifying to perceive that the protection due to our commerce in other quarters of the world has not proved insufficient. Every effort has been made to facilitate the equipment of the exploring expedition authorized by the act of the last session, but all the preparation necessary to enable it to sail has not yet been completed. No means will be spared by the Government to fit out the expedition on a scale corresponding with the liberal appropriations for the purpose, and with the elevated character of the objects which are to be effected by it. I beg leave to renew the recommendation made in my last annual message respecting the enlist ment of boys in our naval service, and to urge upon your attention the necessity of further appropriations to increase the number of ships afloat, and to enlarge generally the capacity and force of the navy. The increase of our commerce, and our position in regard to the other powers of the world, will always make it our policy and interest to cherish the great naval resources of our country. The report of the Postmaster General presents a gratifying picture of the condition of the Post Office Department. Its revenues, for the year ending the 30th June last, were $3,398,455 19, showing an increase of revenue over that of the preceding year of $404,878 53, or more than thirteen.per cent. The expenditures for the same year were $2,755,623 76, exhibiting a surplus of $642,831 43. The Department has been redeemed from embarrassment and debt; has accumulated a surplus of more than half a million of dollars; has largely extended, and is preparing still further to extend, the mail service, and recommends a reduction of postages equal to about twenty per cent. It is practising upon the great principle which should control every branch of our Government, of rendering to the public the greatest good possible with the least possible taxation to the people. The scale of postages suggested by the Postmaster General recommends itself, not only by the reduction it proposes, but by the simplicity of its arrangement, its conformity with the Federal currency, and the improvement it will introduce into the accounts of the Department and it agents. Your particular attention is invited to the subject of mail contracts with railroad companies. The present laws providing for the making of contracts are based upon the presumption that competition among bidders will secure the service at a fair price. But on most of the railroad lines there is no competition in that kind of transportation, and advertising is therefore useless. No contract can now be made with them, except such as shall be negotiated before the time of offering or afterwards, and the power of the Postmaster General to pay them high prices is, practically, without limitation. It would be a relief to him, and no doubt would conduce to the public interest, to prescribe by law some equitable basis upon which such contracts shall rest, and restrict him by a [SENATE. fixed rule of allowance. Under a liberal act of that sort, he would undoubtedly be able to secure the services of most of the railroad companies, and the interest of the Department would be thus advanced. The correspondence between the people of the United States and the European nations, and particularly with the British islands, has become very extensive, and requires the interposition of Congress to give it security. No obstacle is perceived to an interchange of mails between New York and Liverpool, or other foreign ports, as proposed by the Postmaster General. On the contrary it promises, by the security it will afford, to facilitate commercial transactions, and give rise to an enlarged intercourse among the people of different nations, which cannot but have a happy effect. Through the city of New York most of the correspondence between the Canadas and Europe is now carried on, and urgent representations have been received from the head of the Provincial Post Office, asking the interposition of the United States to guard it from the accidents and losses to which it is now subjected. Some legislation appears to be called for, as well by our own interest as by comity to the adjoining British Provinces. The expediency of providing a fire-proof building for the important books and papers of the Post Office Department is worthy of consideration. In the present condition of our Treasury it is neither necessary nor wise to leave essential public interests exposed to so much danger, when they can so readily be made secure. There are weighty considerations in the location of a new building for that Department, in favor of placing it near the other Executive buildings. The important subjects of a survey of the coast, and the manufacture of a standard of weights and measures for the different custom-houses, have been in progress for some years under the general direction of the Executive, and the immediate superintendence of a gentleman possessing high scientific attainments. At the last session of Congress, the making of a set of weights and measures for each State in the Union, was added to the others by a joint resolution. The care and correspondence as to all these subjects, have been devolved on the Treasury Department during the last year. A special report from the Secretary of the Treasury will soon be communicated to Congress, which will show what bas been accomplished as to the whole; the number and compensation of the persons now employed in these duties, and the progress expected to be made during the ensuing year; with a copy of the various correspondence deemed necessary to throw light on the subjects which seem to require additional legislation. Claims have been made for retrospective allowances in behalf of the superintendent and some of his assistants, which I did not feel justified in granting; other claims have been made for large increases in compensation, which, under all the circumstances of the several cases, I declined making without the express sanction of Congress. In order to obtain that sanction, the subject was, at the last session, on my suggestion, and by request of the immediate superintendent, submitted by the Treasury Department to the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives. But no legislative action having taken place, the early attention of Congress is now invited to the enact ment of some expressed and detailed provisions in relation to the various claims made for the past, and to the compensation and allowances deemed proper for the future. It is further respectfully recommended that, such being the inconvenience of attention to these duties by the Chief Magistrate, and such the great pressure of business on the Treasury Department, the general supervision of the coast survey, and the completion of the weights and measures, if the works are kept united, should be devolved on a board of officers organized specially for that purpose, or on the Navy Board attached to the Navy Department. All my experience and reflection confirm the conviction I have so often expressed to Congress in favor of an amendment of the constitution which will prevent, in any event, the election of the President and Vice President of the United States devolving on the House of Representatives and the Senate; and I therefore beg leave again to solicit your attention to the subject. There were various other suggestions in my last annual message not acted upon, particularly that relating to the want of uniformity in the laws of the District of Columbia, that are deemed worthy of your favorable consideration. Before concluding this paper, I think it due to the various executive departments to bear testimony to their prosperous condition, and to the ability and integrity with which they have been conducted. It has been my aim to enforce in all of them a vigilant and faithful discharge of the public business, and it is gratifying to me to believe that there is no just cause of complaint from any quarter at the manner in which they have fulfilled the objects of their creation. [DECEMBER, 1836. Death of Mr. Goldsborough. Mr. KENT addressed the Chair as follows: Mr. President: Yonder vacant seat, heretofore so ably and so faithfully filled, but too significantly indicates the object of my addressing you at this time. I rise, sir, for the purpose of announcing to you and to the Senate the melancholy intelligence of the death of my very worthy and excellent colleague, the late ROBERT H. GOLDSBOROUGH. He departed this life during the late recess, after a short illness, in the midst should have been justifiable in allotting to him of his usefulness, and at a period when we many years of vigorous health. But few individuals have occupied a greater space in public estimation in his native State than Mr. GOLDSBOROUGH. He filled, from an early period of his life, with no inconsiderable degree of reputation, various public stations, and was twice elected to a seat in this body. Possessing the advantages of a liberal education, which had been well improved, with the most polished address, he was ever found a ready and efficient debater, remarkable for his courtesy and politeness. He was truly said to have been "a man of manners and of letters too." Mr. GOLDSBOROUGH's exertions for the benefit of his fellow-men were not confined to public life. He was prominent as an agriculturist, making frequent and judicious experiments, enforcing his views by very able essays, thereby directing the attention of the agriculturist to such objects as were calculated to ameliorate and improve the condition of his exhausted lands. Truly exemplary in all the relations of private life, as a friend, neighbor, and in the domestic circle, he was unrivalled. Having now finished the observations deemed proper, on this, the last occasion I shall have of communicating with the two Houses of Congress at their meeting, I cannot omit an expression of the gratitude which is due to the great body of my To me, personally, his loss is truly afflicting. fellow-citizens, in whose partiality and indulgence IA severe hoarseness, under which I have lahave found encouragement and support, in the many bored for some time, obliges me to be thus brief. difficult and trying scenes through which it has been I beg leave to offer the following resolution: my lot to pass during my public career. Though deeply sensible that my exertions have not been crowned with a success corresponding to the degree of favor bestowed upon me, I am sure that they will be considered as having been directed by an earnest desire to promote the good of my country; and I am consoled by the persuasion that whatever errors have been committed will find a corrective in the intelligence and patriotism of those who will succeed us. All that has occurred during my administration is calculated to inspire me with increased confidence in the stability of our institutions; and should I be spared to enter upon that retirement which is so suitable to my age and infirm health, and so much desired by me in other respects, I shall not cease to invoke that beneficent Being to whose providence we are already so signally indebted, for the continuance of his blessings on our beloved country. "Resolved, That the members of the Senate, from a sincere desire of showing every mark of respect due to the memory of the Honorable ROBERT H. GOLDSBOROUGH, deceased, late a member thereof, will go into mourning for him one month, by the usual mode of wearing crape round the left ANDREW JACKSON. WASHINGTON, 5th December, 1836. Five thousand copies of the Message and the accompanying documents were ordered to be printed. arm." The resolution was unanimously adopted, and the Senate adjourned. WEDNESDAY, December 7. the President of the United States: I transmit, herewith, copies of my correspondence with Mrs. Madison, produced by the resolution adopted at the last session by the Senate and House of Representatives, on the decease of her venerated husband. The occasion seems to be appropriate to present a letter from her on the subject of the publication of a work of great political interest and ability, carefully prepared by DECEMBER, 1836.] The Treasury Circular. Mr. Madison's own hand, under circumstances that give it claims to be considered as little less than official. [SENATE. tion, and that five thousand additional copies be equally distributed to the members of the Senate and House of Representatives. Mr. BENTON said that, on looking further into the existing law providing for the printing of this document, he had become convinced that some such modification of the resolution was necessary as had now been proposed. The only objection he had to it related to the five thousand additional copies to be printed for the Senate; he thought this number larger than necessary, and proposed that it be reduced to three thousand. Congress has already, at considerable expense, published, in a variety of forms, the naked journals of the revolutionary Congress, and of the conventions that formed the Constitution of the United States. I am persuaded that the work of Mr. Madison, considering the author, the subject-matter of it, and the circumstances under which it was prepared-long withheld from the public as it has been by those motives of personal kindness and delicacy that gave tone to his intercourse with his fellow-men, until he and all who had been participators with him in the scenes he describes, have passed away-well deserves to become the property of the nation; and cannot fail, if published and disseminated at the public charge, to confer the most important of all benefits on the present and every succeeding generation-accurate knowledge The Senate proceeded to ballot for a Secreof the principles of their Government, and the cir-tary of the Senate, in place of Walter Lowcumstances under which they were recommended, and embodied in the constitution for adoption. ANDREW JACKSON. December 6, 1836. On motion of Mr. RIVES, the reading of the correspondence was dispensed with, and it was ordered to be printed. Expunging the Journal. Mr. BENTON gave notice that on the first day on which there was a Senate sufficiently full, he should ask leave to introduce a resolution to expunge from the journal certain sentences thereon. He would state, at the same time, that the resolution he should introduce would be in the same words as the one introduced by him at the last session, and it was his wish that the resolution might be disposed of by the Senate, before the other important business of the session commenced. MONDAY, December 12. Mr. BLACK, Senator from Mississippi, Mr. TALLMADGE, Senator from New York, and Mr. WEBSTER, Senator from Massachusetts, appeared to-day, and took their seats. Statements of Commerce and Navigation. Mr. BENTON called up the resolution he had offered, respecting an alteration in the mode of printing the annual report from the Treasury on commerce and navigation. Mr. KNIGHT moved to amend the resolution by striking out all after the word "resolved," and inserting Mr. KNIGHT assenting, the resolution was so modified accordingly, and in this form it was ordered to be engrossed for a third reading. Secretary of the Senate. RIE, Esq., resigned. On the first ballot, Mr. ASBURY DICKINS received 20 votes; Hon. ARNOLD NAUDAIN, late of the Senate, 18; scattering 3; 21 being necessary to a choice. On the second ballot, Mr. DICKINS received 21; Mr. NAUDAIN 18; Mr. BRYAN 1; 21 being necessary to a choice. Mr. DICKINS was accordingly declared to be duly elected Secretary of the Senate. Memory of Mr. Kinnard. On motion of Mr. TIPTON, of Indiana, it was Resolved, That, in memory of the late Hon. Mr. KINNARD, a member of the House of Representatives from the State of Indiana, the members of the Senate wear crape on the left arm for the space of thirty days. WEDNESDAY, December 14. Mr. CALHOUN, Senator from South Carolina, appeared to day in his seat. The Treasury Circular. The following resolutions, introduced by Mr. EWING, of Ohio, being at their second reading: "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives, dc., That the Treasury order of the eleventh day of July, Anno Domini one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, designating the funds which should be receivable in payment for public lands, be, and the same is hereby, rescinded. "Resolved, also, That it shall not be lawful for the Secretary of the Treasury to delegate to any person, or to any corporation, the power of directing what funds shall be receivable for customs, or for the public lands; nor shall he make any discrimination in the funds so receivable, between different individuals, or between the different branches of the public revenue." Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives, That the annual statement of the commerce and navigation of the United States be hereafter printed under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, and communicated as soon as possible after the commencement of each stated session of ConMr. EWING, of Ohio spoke as follows: gress, and that said statement be printed in the same form and at the same price as the ordinary extraordinary paper (the Treasury Circular) printing of the two Houses of Congress; that the was issued by the Secretary of the Treasury same number of copies as are usually printed be on the 11th of July last in the form of a circufurnished for the purpose of binding and distribu-lar to the receivers of public money in the This SENATE.] The Treasury Circular. [DECEMBER, 1836. several land offices in the United States, direct- | $11,950,000, making a difference in the receipts ing them, after the 15th of August then next, of that single quarter of seven millions. I think to receive in payment for public lands nothing I am very safe in saying that this most extrabut gold and silver and certificates of deposits, ordinary error never would have occurred in signed by the Treasurer of the United States, this report if it had been the wish of the with a saving in favor of actual settlers, and Executive to parade before the nation a very bona fide residents in the State in which the prosperous state of the public Treasury, and a land happened to lie. This saving was for a large receipt for the year 1835. If nothing had limited time, and expires, I think, to-morrow. been feared about the land bill or distribution The professed object of this order was to check project, the estimate for that quarter would the speculations in public lands; to check ex- probably have equalled the actual receipts. cessive issues of bank paper in the West, and to The statement of the Secretary, however, increase the specie currency of the country; showed a surplus; but he proceeds to calculate and the necessity of the measure was supported, it away in the year 1836. He conjectures that or pretended to be supported, by the opinions the receipts of that year will amount to $19,of members of this body and the other branch | 750,000, and of this he allows the public lands of Congress. But, before I proceed to examine to produce $4,000,000. The whole receipt in detail this paper, its character and its conse-being less by about $4,000,000, than sufficient quences, I will briefly advert to the state of things out of which it grew. I am confident, and I believe I can make the thing manifest, that the avowed objects were not the only, nor even the leading objects for which this order was framed; they may have influenced the minds of some who advised it, but those who planned, and those who at last virtually executed it, were governed by other and different motives, which I shall proceed to explain. It was foreseen, prior to the commencement of the last session of Congress, that there would be a very large surplus of money in the public Treasury beyond the wants of the country for all their reasonable expenditures. It was also well understood that the land bill, or some other measure for the distribution of this fund, would be again presented to Congress; and, if the true condition of the public Treasury were known and understood, that its distribution, in some form or other, would be demanded by the country. On the other hand, it seems to have been determined by the party, and some of those who act with it thoroughly, that the money should remain where it was, in the deposit banks, so that it could be wielded at pleasure by the Executive. Hence the report of the Secretary of the Treasury made to the two Houses of Congress on the 8th day of December, 1835, (doc. 2, page 2,) makes the aggregate balance in the Treasury, on the 1st day of January, 1836, no more than $19,147,000; but now the controversy is ended, he shows, in his report of the 6th of December, 1836, that the true amount of that balance was $26,749,803, making an error of $7,602,803. There enters into this, and thence arises the egregious error, an estimate of the receipts for the last quarter of the then current year. After three-quarters of that quarter had elapsed; after this was in the hands of inferior officers, and, in the ordinary course of business, within the knowledge of his several bureaus at Washington, receipts within that quarter of about seven millions, he estimates the aggregate receipts for the whole quarter at $4,950,000, whereas the true amount, as now reported, was to sustain the estimated expenses of the year. But in his report of December 6, 1836, he gives the receipts of the same year at $47,691,898; more, by about $28,000,000, than his estimate; and of this the public lands yield $24,000,000, six times the amount of that estimate. These facts are striking; and if the errors originate in mere mistake, which I am willing to believe, they indicate a most extraordinary degree of ignorance as to the business of the country, and the direction of its capital, or a mind easily biased and led into error by preconceived opinions. But Senators, in the course of the debate which afterwards sprung up on the land bill, went much farther than the Secretary of the Treasury. They denied, and most unequivocally, that there was any surplus, or that there would be any: and, when some of us offered an estimate of what would be the receipts into the Treasury in the current year, we were told that it would be very difficult to fasten that estimate upon us at this session of Congress. I, however, for one, determined to relieve gentlemen from all trouble on that score, as far as regarded myself. On the 15th of March, 1836, I submitted my estimate of the revenues and expenditures of the current year, in a speech which I caused to be printed in pamphlet form. In this I estimated the receipts from customs for the year at $19,000,000 The public lands at more than 20,000,000 And I made the whole amount on hand, and received and receivable, in that year, in round numbers, without deducting expenditures The customs, it seems, have. produced $23,000,000, which is $4,000,000 more than my estimate. The public lands $24,000,000-about the sum which I had supposed. And the footing of the column in the report of the Secretary of the Treasury, which answers to my estimate of $77,000,000, is $74,441,702, being two and a half millions less than I conjectured. More than this deficit, however, is accounted for by the fact that the bank stock which I had supposed would fall in, within the current year, 77,000,000 |