SPECIAL MESSAGES.
WASHINGTON, December 7, 1819.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith to the Senate a collection of the commercial regulations of the different foreign countries with which the United States have commercial intercourse, which has been compiled in compliance with the resolution of the Senate of 3d March, 1817.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, December 14, 1819.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In conformity with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 24th of February last, I now transmit a report of the Secretary of State, with extracts and copies of several letters, touching the causes of the imprisonment of William White, an American citizen, at Buenos Ayres.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, December 17, 1819.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
Some doubt being entertained respecting the true intent and meaning of the act of the last session entitled "An act in addition to the acts prohibiting the slave trade," as to the duties of the agents to be appointed on the coast of Africa, I think it proper to state the interpretation which has been given of the act and the measures adopted to carry it into effect, that Congress may, should it be deemed advisable, amend the same before further proceeding is had under it.
The obligation to instruct the commanders of all our armed vessels to seize and bring into port all ships or vessels of the United States, wheresoever found, having on board any negro, mulatto, or person of color in violation of former acts for the suppression of the slave trade, being imperative, was executed without delay. No seizures have yet been made, but as they were contemplated by the law, and might be presumed, it seemed proper to make the necessary regulations applicable to such seizures for carrying the several provisions of the act into effect.
It is enjoined on the Executive to cause all negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color who may be taken under the act to be removed to Africa. It is the obvious import of the law that none of the persons thus taken should remain within the United States, and no place other than the coast of Africa being designated, their removal or delivery, whether carried from the United States or landed immediately from the vessels in which they were taken, was supposed to be confined to that coast. No settlement or station being specified, the whole coast was thought to be left open for the selection of a proper place at which the persons thus taken should be delivered. The Executive is authorized to appoint one or more agents residing there to receive such persons, and $100,000 are appropriated for the general purposes of the law.
On due consideration of the several sections of the act, and of its humane policy, it was supposed to be the intention of Congress that all the persons above described who might be taken under it and landed in Africa should be aided in their return to their former homes, or in their establishment at or near the place where landed. Some shelter and food would be necessary for them there as soon as landed, let their subsequent disposition be what it might. Should they be landed without such provision having been previously made, they might perish.
It was supposed, by the authority given to the Executive to appoint agents residing on that coast, that they should provide such shelter and food, and perform the other beneficent and charitable offices contemplated by the act. The coast of Africa having been little explored, and no persons residing there who possessed the requisite qualifications to entitle them to the trust being known to the Executive, to none such could it be committed. It was believed that citizens only who would go hence well instructed in the views of their Government and zealous to give them effect would be competent to these duties, and that it was not the intention of the law to preclude their appointment. It was obvious that the longer these persons should be detained in the United States in the hands of the marshals the greater would be the expense, and that for the same term would the main purpose of the law be suspended. It seemed, therefore, to be incumbent on me to make the necessary arrangements for carrying this act into effect in Africa in time to meet the delivery of any persons who might be taken by the public vessels and landed there under it.
On this view of the policy and sanctions of the law it has been decided to send a public ship to the coast of Africa with two such agents, who will take with them tools and other implements necessary for the purposes above mentioned. To each of these agents a small salary has been allowed—$1,500 to the principal and $1,200 to the other.
All our public agents on the coast of Africa receive salaries for their services, and it was understood that none of our citizens possessing the requisite qualifications would accept these trusts, by which they would be confined to parts the least frequented and civilized, without a reasonable compensation, Such allowance therefore seemed to be indispensable to the execution of the act. It is intended also to subject a portion of the sum appropriated to the order of the principal agent for the special objects above stated, amounting in the whole, including the salaries of the agents for one year, to rather less than one third of the appropriation. Special instructions will be given to these agents, defining in precise terms their duties in regard to the persons thus delivered to them, the disbursement of the money by the principal agent, and his accountability for the same. They will also have power to select the most suitable place on the coast of Africa at which all persons who may be taken under this act shall be delivered to them, with an express injunction to exercise no power founded on the principle of colonization or other power than that of performing the benevolent offices above recited by the permission and sanction of the existing government under which they may establish themselves. Orders will be given to the commander of the public ship in which they will sail to cruise along the coast to give the more complete effect to the principal object of the act.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, December 17, 1819.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of Congress of the 27th March, 1818, the journal, acts, and proceedings of the convention which formed the present Constitution of the United States have been published. The resolution directs that 1,000 copies should be printed, of which one copy should be furnished to each member of the Fifteenth Congress, and the residue to be subject to the future disposition of Congress. The number of copies sufficient to supply the members of the late Congress having been reserved for that purpose, the remainder are now deposited at the Department of State subject to the order of Congress. The documents mentioned in the resolution of the 27th March, 1818, are in the process of publication.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, December 24, 1819.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
On the 23d of February. 1803, a message from the President of the United States was transmitted to both Houses of Congress, together with the report of the then Secretary of State, Mr. Madison, upon the case of the Danish brigantine Henrick and her cargo, belonging to citizens of Hamburg, recommending the claim to the favorable consideration of Congress. In February, 1805, it was again presented by a message from the President to the consideration of Congress, but has not since been definitively acted upon.
The minister resident from Denmark and the consul-general from Hamburg having recently renewed applications in behalf of the respective owners of the vessel and cargo, I transmit herewith copies of their communications for the further consideration of the Legislature, upon whose files all the documents relating to the claim are still existing.
JAMES MONROE.
DECEMBER 31, 1819.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, for its advice and consent as to the ratification, three treaties which have been concluded in the course of the present year with the Kickapoos, the Chippaways, and the Kickapoos of the Vermillion by commissioners who were duly authorized for the purpose.
With the Chippaways there is a supplementary article stipulating certain advantages in their favor on condition that the same shall be ratified by the Executive, with the advice and consent of the Senate, which I likewise submit to your consideration.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, January 8, 1820.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 14th December, 1819, requesting me to cause to be laid before it any information I may possess respecting certain executions which have been inflicted in the Army of the United States since the year 1815 contrary to the laws and regulations provided for the government of the same, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War containing a detailed account in relation to the object of the said resolution.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, January 8, 1820.
To the Senate of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 20th of January, 1819, requesting me "to cause a report to be laid before them at their next session of such facts as may be within the means of the Government to obtain shewing how far it may be expedient or not to provide by law for clothing the Army with articles manufactured in the United States," I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, which, with the accompanying documents, comprehends all the information required by the Senate in their resolution aforesaid.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, January 19, 1820.
To the House of Representatives:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives requesting me "to lay before it at as early a day as may be convenient an account of the expenditure of the several sums appropriated for building fortifications from the year 1816 to the year 1819, inclusive, indicating the places at which works of defense have been begun, the magnitude of the works contemplated at each place, their present condition, the amount already expended, and the estimated amount requisite for the completion of each, also the mode by which the fortifications are built, by contract or otherwise," I now transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of War, to whom the said resolution was referred, which, with the documents accompanying it, contains all the information required.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, February 8, 1820.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In conformity with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 24th January, 1820, requesting me "to inform the House what loans, if any, have been made since the peace, to private citizens, of powder, lead, and other munitions belonging to the Government by officers of any department of the Army or Navy, specifying the times, terms, objects, and extent of such loans, the names of the persons by whom and to whom made, the different times of repayment, and also the amount of the ultimate loss, if any, likely to be incurred by the Government in consequence thereof," I now transmit a report from the Secretary of War, which, with the accompanying documents, contains all the information that can be furnished on the subject.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, March 1, 1820.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 4th of February last, requesting to be informed what progress has been made in surveying certain parts of the coast of North Carolina and in ascertaining the latitude and longitude of the extreme points of Cape Hatteras, Cape Look Out, and Cape Fear, according to a resolution of the 19th of January, 1819, I have to state that it is intended to carry the resolution of the 19th of March into effect in the present year. The cooperation of the Board of Engineers with Naval Commissioners being necessary in executing that duty, and the Board having been engaged last year in surveying the eastern coast of our Union, it would have interfered with previous arrangements and been attended with increased expense had they been withdrawn from it. The Board will, however, be employed during the present summer in the regular execution of its duties in the survey of the coast of North Carolina, when instructions will be given it to afford the necessary aid to carry the resolution of the 19th of January of the last year into effect.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, March 4, 1820.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit to the Senate, in pursuance of their resolution of the 4th of January last, a report from the Secretary of State, with a list of fines incurred under the act of Congress entitled "An act in addition to the act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States," which appear from the records of the Department of State to have been remitted by the Executive authority of the United States.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, March 8, 1820.
The PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE SENATE:
I transmit to the Senate copies of sundry papers having relation to the treaty of 22d February, 1819, between the United States and Spain, which have been received at the Department of State, and have not before been communicated to the Senate.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, March 8, 1820.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to Congress a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, which, with the accompanying documents, will shew that the act of the 20th May, 1812, respecting the northern and western boundaries of the State of Ohio, has been executed.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, March 17, 1820.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
It being stipulated by the fourth article of the articles of agreement and cession entered into on the 24th of April, 1802, with the State of Georgia that the United States should at their own expense extinguish for the use of that State, as soon as it might be done on reasonable terms, the Indian title to all the lands within its limits, and the legislature of Georgia being desirous to make a further acquisition of said lands at this time, presuming that it may be done on reasonable terms; and it being also represented that property of considerable value which had been taken by the Creek and Cherokee Indians from citizens of Georgia, the restoration of which had been provided for by different treaties, but which has never been made, it is proposed to hold a treaty with those nations, and more particularly with the Creeks, in the course of this summer. For the attainment of these objects I submit the subject to the consideration of Congress, that a sum adequate to the expenses attending such treaty may be appropriated should Congress deem it expedient.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, March 20, 1820.
To the Senate of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 16th of February, 1820, requesting me to cause to be laid before it "abstracts of the bonds or other securities given under the laws of the United States by the collectors of the customs, receivers of public moneys for lands, and registers of public lands, paymasters in the Army, and pursers in the Navy, who are now in office, or who have heretofore been in office, and whose accounts remain unsettled, together with a statement of such other facts as may tend to shew the expediency or inexpediency of so far altering the laws respecting such officers that they may hereafter be appointed for limited periods, subject to removal as heretofore," I transmit to the Senate a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, which, with the documents accompanying it, will afford all the information required.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, March 27, 1820.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I transmit to Congress an extract of a letter from the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at St. Petersburg, of the 1st of November last, on the subject of our relations with Spain, indicating the sentiments of the Emperor of Russia respecting the nonratification by His Catholic Majesty of the treaty lately concluded between the United States and Spain, and the strong interest which His Imperial Majesty takes in promoting the ratification of that treaty. Of this friendly disposition the most satisfactory assurance has been since given directly to this Government by the minister of Russia residing here.
I transmit also to Congress an extract of a letter from the minister plenipotentiary of the United States at Madrid of a later date than those heretofore communicated, by which it appears that, at the instance of the chargé d'affaires of the Emperor of Russia, a new pledge had been given by the Spanish Government that the minister who had been lately appointed to the United States should set out on his mission without delay, with full power to settle all differences in a manner satisfactory to the parties.
I have further to state that the Governments of France and Great Britain continue to manifest the sentiments heretofore communicated respecting the nonratification of the treaty by Spain, and to interpose their good offices to promote its ratification.
It is proper to add that the Governments of France and Russia have expressed an earnest desire that the United States would take no steps for the present on the principle of reprisal which might possibly tend to disturb the peace between the United States and Spain. There is good cause to presume from the delicate manner in which this sentiment has been conveyed that it is founded in a belief as well as a desire that our just objects may be accomplished without the hazard of such an extremity.
On full consideration of all these circumstances, I have thought it my duty to submit to Congress whether it will not be advisable to postpone a decision on the questions now depending with Spain until the next session. The distress of that nation at this juncture affords a motive for this forbearance which can not fail to be duly appreciated. Under such circumstances the attention of the Spanish Government may be diverted from its foreign concerns, and the arrival of a minister here be longer delayed. I am the more induced to suggest this course of proceeding from a knowledge that, while we shall thereby make a just return to the powers whose good offices have been acknowledged, and increase by a new and signal proof of moderation our claims on Spain, our attitude in regard to her will not be less favorable at the next session than it is at the present.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, May 9, 1820.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate to Congress a correspondence which has taken place between the Secretary of State and the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of His Catholic Majesty since the message of the 27th March last, respecting the treaty which was concluded between the United States and Spain on the 22d February, 1819.
After the failure of His Catholic Majesty for so long a time to ratify the treaty, it was expected that this minister would have brought with him the ratification, or that he would have been authorized to give an order for the delivery of the territory ceded by it to the United States. It appears, however, that the treaty is still unratified and that the minister has no authority to surrender the territory. The object of his mission has been to make complaints and to demand explanations respecting an imputed system of hostility on the part of citizens of the United States against the subjects and dominions of Spain, and an unfriendly policy in their Government, and to obtain new stipulations against these alleged injuries as the condition on which the treaty should be ratified.
Unexpected as such complaints and such a demand were under existing circumstances, it was thought proper, without compromising the Government as to the course to be pursued, to meet them promptly and to give the explanations that were desired on every subject with the utmost candor. The result has proved what was sufficiently well known before, that the charge of a systematic hostility being adopted and pursued by citizens of the United States against the dominions and subjects of Spain is utterly destitute of foundation, and that their Government in all its branches has maintained with the utmost rigor that neutrality in the civil war between Spain and the colonies which they were the first to declare. No force has been collected nor incursions made from within the United States against the dominions of Spain, nor have any naval equipments been permitted in favor of either party against the other. Their citizens have been warned of the obligations incident to the neutral condition of their country; their public officers have been instructed to see that the laws were faithfully executed, and severe examples have been made of some who violated them.
In regard to the stipulation proposed as the condition of the ratification of the treaty, that the United States shall abandon the right to recognize the revolutionary colonies in South America, or to form other relations with them when in their judgment it may be just and expedient so to do, it is manifestly so repugnant to the honor and even to the independence of the United States that it has been impossible to discuss it. In making this proposal it is perceived that His Catholic Majesty has entirely misconceived the principles on which this Government has acted in being a party to a negotiation so long protracted for claims so well founded and reasonable, as he likewise has the sacrifices which the United States have made, comparatively, with Spain in the treaty to which it is proposed to annex so extraordinary and improper a condition.
Had the minister of Spain offered an unqualified pledge that the treaty should be ratified by his Sovereign on being made acquainted with the explanations which had been given by this Government, there would have been a strong motive for accepting and submitting it to the Senate for their advice and consent, rather than to resort to other measures for redress, however justifiable and proper; but he gives no such pledge; oil the contrary, he declares explicitly that the refusal of this Government to relinquish the right of judging and acting for itself hereafter, according to circumstances, in regard to the Spanish colonies, a right common to all nations, has rendered it impossible for him under his instructions to make such engagement. He thinks that his Sovereign will be induced by his communications to ratify the treaty, but still he leaves him free either to adopt that measure or to decline it. He admits that the other objections are essentially removed and will not in themselves prevent the ratification, provided the difficulty on the third point is surmounted. The result, therefore, is that the treaty is declared to have no obligation whatever; that its ratification is made to depend not on the considerations which led to its adoption and the conditions which it contains, but on a new article unconnected with it, respecting which a new negotiation must be opened, of indefinite duration and doubtful issue.
Under this view of the subject the course to be pursued would appear to be direct and obvious if the affairs of Spain had remained in the state in which they were when this minister sailed. But it is known that an important change has since taken place in the Government of that country which can not fail to be sensibly felt in its intercourse with other nations. The minister of Spain has essentially declared his inability to act in consequence of that change. With him, however, under his present powers nothing could be done. The attitude of the United States must now be assumed on full consideration of what is due to their rights, their interest and honor, without regard to the powers or incidents of the late mission. We may at pleasure occupy the territory which was intended and provided by the late treaty as an indemnity for losses so long since sustained by our citizens; but still, nothing could be settled definitively without a treaty between the two nations. Is this the time to make the pressure? If the United States were governed by views of ambition and aggrandizement, many strong reasons might be given in its favor; but they have no objects of that kind to accomplish, none which are not founded in justice and which can be injured by forbearance. Great hope is entertained that this change will promote the happiness of the Spanish nation. The good order, moderation, and humanity which have characterized the movement are the best guaranties of its success.
The United States would not be justified in their own estimation should they take any step to disturb its harmony. When the Spanish Government is completely organized on the principles of this change, as it is expected it soon will be, there is just ground to presume that our differences with Spain will be speedily and satisfactorily settled.
With these remarks I submit it to the wisdom of Congress whether it will not still be advisable to postpone any decision on this subject until the next session.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, May 11, 1820.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith to the Senate a report from the Secretary of State, together with the returns of causes depending in the courts of the United States, collected conformably to a resolution of the Senate of the 18th of January, 1819.
JAMES MONROE.
WASHINGTON, May 12, 1820.
The SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES:
I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary of State, with the document prepared in pursuance of a resolution of the House of the 14th ultimo, on the subject of claims of citizens of the United States for Spanish spoliations upon their property and commerce.
JAMES MONROE.