A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Part 18

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

Was.h.i.+ngton, _December 6, 1831_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its ratification, a treaty between the United States and France, signed at Paris by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 4th of July, 1831.

With the treaty are also transmitted the dispatch which accompanied it, and two others on the same subject received since.

ANDREW JACKSON.

_December 7, 1831_.

_Gentlemen of the Senate_:

In my public message to both Houses of Congress I communicated the state in which I had found the controverted claims of Great Britain and the United States in relation to our northern and eastern boundary, and the measures which since my coming into office I had pursued to bring it to a close, together with the fact that on the 10th day of January last the sovereign arbiter had delivered his opinion to the plenipotentiaries of the United States and Great Britain.

I now transmit to you that opinion for your consideration, that you may determine whether you will advise submission to the opinion delivered by the sovereign arbiter and consent to its execution.

That you may the better be enabled to judge of the obligation as well as the expediency of submitting to or rejecting the decision of the arbiter, I herewith transmit--

1. A protest made by the minister plenipotentiary of the United States after receiving the opinion of the King of the Netherlands, on which paper it may be necessary to remark that I had always determined, whatever might have been the result of the examination by the sovereign arbiter, to have submitted the same to the Senate for their advice before I executed or rejected it. Therefore no instructions were given to the ministers to do any act that should commit the Government as to the course it might deem proper to pursue on a full consideration of all the circ.u.mstances of the case.

2. The dispatches from our minister at The Hague accompanying the protest, as well as those previous and subsequent thereto, in relation to the subject of the submission.

3. Communications between the Department of State and the governor of the State of Maine in relation to this subject.

4. Correspondence between the charge d'affaires of His Britannic Majesty and the Department of State in relation to the arrest of certain persons at Madawasca under the authority of the British Government at New Brunswick.

It is proper to add that in addition to the evidence derived from Mr.

Treble's dispatches of the inclination of the British Government to abide by the award, a.s.surances to the same effect have been uniformly made to our minister at London, and that an official communication on that subject may very soon be expected.

ANDREW JACKSON.

Was.h.i.+ngton City, _December 7, 1831_.

_To the Congress of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the information of Congress, two letters from the Secretary of State, accompanied by statements from that Department showing the progress which has been made in taking the Fifth Census of the inhabitants of the United States, and also by a printed copy of the revision of the statements heretofore transmitted to Congress of all former enumerations of the population of the United States and their Territories.

ANDREW JACKSON.

Was.h.i.+ngton, _December 13, 1831_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

The accompanying papers show the situation of extreme peril from which more than sixty of our fellow-citizens have been rescued by the courage and humanity of the master and crew of a Spanish brig. As no property was saved, there were no means of making pecuniary satisfaction for the risk and loss incurred in performing this humane and meritorious service. Believing, therefore, that the obligation devolved upon the nation, but having no funds at my disposal which I could think const.i.tutionally applicable to the case, I have thought honor as well as justice required that the facts should be submitted to the consideration of Congress, in order that they might provide not only a just indemnity for the losses incurred, but some compensation adequate to the merits of the service.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, _December 13, 1831_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, in obedience to a resolution of the Senate of the 8th December, 1831, all the information in the possession of the Executive relative to the capture, abduction, and imprisonment of American citizens by the provincial authorities of New Brunswick, and the measures which, in consequence thereof, have been adopted by the Executive of the United States.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON CITY, _December 21, 1831_.

_To the Congress of the United States_:

I transmit herewith, for the information of Congress, a report of the Secretary of State, respecting tonnage duties levied at Martinique and Guadaloupe on American vessels and on French vessels from those islands to the United States.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON CITY, _December 21, 1831_.

_Gentlemen of the Senate_:

Since my message of the 7th instant, transmitting the award of the King of the Netherlands, I have received the official communication, then expected, of the determination of the British Government to abide by the award. This communication is now respectfully laid before you for the purpose of aiding your deliberations on the same subject.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, _December 29, 1831_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 19th instant, requesting the President of the United States to communicate to it "the correspondence between the governor of Georgia and any Department of this Government, in the years 1830 and 1831, in relation to the boundary line between the State of Georgia and the Territory of Florida," I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State, with copies of the papers referred to. It is proper to add, as the resolutions on this subject from the governor and legislature of Georgia were received after the adjournment of the last Congress, and as that body, after having the same subject under consideration, had failed to authorize the President to take any steps in relation to it, that it was my intention to present it in due time to the attention of the present Congress by special message. This determination has been hastened by the call of the House for the information now communicated, and it only remains for me to await the action of Congress upon the subject.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, _January 5, 1832_.

_To the Senate_:

I herewith lay before the Senate, for their advice and consent as to the ratification of the same, a treaty between the United States and the princ.i.p.al chiefs and warriors of the mixed band of Seneca and Shawnee Indians living on the waters of the Great Miami and within the territorial limits of the county of Logan, in the State of Ohio, entered into on the 30th day of July, 1831; and also a treaty between the United States and the chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the band of Ottaway Indians residing within the State of Ohio, entered into on the 30th of August, 1831.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, _January 10, 1832_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I herewith transmit a report made by the Secretary of State on the subject of a commercial arrangement with the Republic of Colombia, which requires legislative action to carry it into effect.

ANDREW JACKSON.