A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents Part 4

In regard to the former, the rule hitherto adopted by Congress has been to allow to the States interest only where they had paid it on money borrowed, and had applied it to the use of the United States. The case of South Carolina does not come strictly within this rule, because instead of borrowing, as she alleges, for the use of the United States, upon interest, she applied to the use of the United States funds for which she was actually receiving an interest; and she is understood to insist that the loss of interest in both cases being equal, and the relief afforded equally meritorious, the same principle of remuneration should be applied.

Acting upon an enlightened sense of national justice and grat.i.tude, it is confidently believed that Congress will be as mindful of this claim as it has been of others put forward by the States that in periods of extreme peril generously contributed to the service of the Union and enabled the General Government to discharge its obligations. The grounds upon which certain portions of it have been suspended or rejected will appear from the communications of the Secretary of War and Third Auditor herewith submitted.

ANDREW JACKSON.

_January 4, 1830_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a supplement to the treaty made with the Delaware tribe on the 3d of October, 1818, which, with the accompanying papers, is submitted to the Senate for their advice and consent as to the ratification of the same.

ANDREW JACKSON.

_January 5, 1830_.

_To the House of Representatives_:

The subject of the inclosed memorial[4] having been adjudicated by the courts of the country, and decided against the memorialists, it is respectfully laid before Congress, the only power now to which they can appeal for relief.

ANDREW JACKSON

[Footnote 4: Of certain purchasers of land in Louisiana from the Government of Spain.]

_January 5, 1830_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I submit herewith a report[5] from the Secretary of the Treasury, giving the information called for by a resolution of the Senate of the 24th December, 1828.

ANDREW JACKSON.

[Footnote 5: Transmitting statements of moneys appropriated and lands granted to the several States for purposes of education and construction of roads and ca.n.a.ls, etc., since the adoption of the Const.i.tution.]

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, _January 14, 1830_.

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

I transmit to Congress copies of three Indian treaties, which have been duly ratified:

1. A treaty with the nation of Winnebago Indians, concluded on the 1st of August, 1829, at Prairie du Chien, in the Territory of Michigan, between General John McNeil, Colonel Pierre Menard, and Caleb At-water, esq., commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs and warriors on the part of the nation of Winnebago Indians.

2. A treaty with the united nations of Chippewa, Ottowa, and Pottawatomie Indians, concluded on the 29th of July, 1829, at Prairie du Chien, between General John McNeil, Colonel Pierre Menard, and Caleb At.w.a.ter, esq., commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs and warriors of the said united nations on the part of said nations.

3. Articles of agreement between the United States of America and the band of Delaware Indians upon the Sandusky River, in the State of Ohio, entered into on the 3d of August, 1829, at Little Sandusky, in the State of Ohio, by John McElvain, commissioner on the part of the United States, and certain chiefs on the part of said band of Delaware Indians.

I transmit also the estimates of appropriation necessary to carry them into effect.

ANDREW JACKSON.

_January 19, 1830_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_.

GENTLEMEN: The accompanying gold medal, commemorative of the delivery of the Liberator President of the Republic of Colombia from the daggers of a.s.sa.s.sins on the night of the 25th of September last, has been offered for my acceptance by that Government. The respect which I entertain as well for the character of the Liberator President as for the people and Government over which he presides renders this mark of their regard most gratifying to my feelings; but I am prevented from complying with their wishes by the provision of our Const.i.tution forbidding the acceptance of presents from a foreign state by officers of the United States, and it is therefore placed at the disposal of Congress.

The powerful influence in the affairs of his country which the sacrifices and heroic deeds of General Bolivar have acquired for him creates an anxiety as to his future course in which the friends of liberal inst.i.tutions throughout the world deeply partic.i.p.ate. The favorable estimate which I have formed of the nature of the services rendered by him, and of his personal character, impresses me with the strongest confidence that his conduct in the present condition of his country will be such as may best promote her true interest and best secure his own permanent fame.

I deem the present a suitable occasion to inform you that shortly after my communication to Congress at the opening of the session dispatches were received from Mr. Moore, the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to Colombia, stating that he had succeeded in obtaining the a.s.sent of the council of ministers to the allowance of the claims of our citizens upon that Government in the cases of the brig _Josephine_ and her cargo and the schooner _Ranger_ and part of her cargo. An official copy of the convention subsequently entered into between Mr. Moore and the secretary of foreign affairs, providing for the final settlement of those claims, has just been received at the Department of State. By an additional article of this convention the claim in the case of the brig _Morris_ is suspended until further information is obtained by the Colombian Government from the Court at Carracas; and Mr. Moore antic.i.p.ates its early and satisfactory adjustment. The convention only waited the ratification of the Liberator President, who was at the time absent from Bogota, to be binding upon the Colombian Government. Although these claims are not, comparatively, of a large amount, yet the prompt and equitable manner in which the application of Mr. Moore in behalf of our injured citizens was met by that Government ent.i.tles its conduct to our approbation, and promises well for the future relations of the two countries.

It gives me pleasure to add an expression of my entire satisfaction with the conduct of Mr. Moore since his arrival at Bogota. The judgment and discretion evinced by him on occasions of much interest and delicacy, the a.s.siduity displayed in bringing so nearly to a conclusion within five weeks after his arrival claims which had been pending for years, and the prompt.i.tude and capacity with which he has entered upon other and more important portions of his official duty are calculated to inspire strong confidence in his future usefulness.

ANDREW JACKSON.

_January 20, 1830_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives._

GENTLEMEN: I respectfully submit to your consideration the accompanying communication from the Secretary or the Treasury, showing that according to the terms of an agreement between the United States and the United Society of Christian Indians the latter have a claim to an annuity of $400, commencing from the 1st of October, 1826, for which an appropriation by law for this amount, as long as they are ent.i.tled to receive it, will be proper.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON, _January 26, 1830_.

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

I submit to Congress a communication from the Secretary of State, together with the report of the Superintendent of the Patent Office, to which it refers, showing the present condition of that office and suggesting the necessity of further legislative provisions in regard to it, and I recommend the subjects it embraces to the particular attention of Congress.

It will be seen that there is an unexplained deficiency in the accounts which have been rendered at the Treasury of the fees received at the office, amounting to $4,290, and that precautions have been provided to guard against similar delinquencies in future. Congress will decide on their sufficiency and whether any legislative aid is necessary upon this branch of the subject referred to in the report.

ANDREW JACKSON.

_January 26, 1830_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives_:

I find it necessary to recommend to Congress a revision of the laws relating to the direct and contingent expenses of our intercourse with foreign nations, and particularly of the act of May 1, 1810, ent.i.tled "An act fixing the compensation of public ministers and of consuls residing on the coast of Barbary, and for other purposes."

A letter from the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury to the Secretary of State, herewith transmitted, which notices the difficulties incident to the settlement of the accounts of certain diplomatic agents of the United States, serves to show the necessity of this revision. This branch of the Government is incessantly called upon to sanction allowances which not unfrequently appear to have just and equitable foundations in usage, but which are believed to be incompatible with the provisions of the act of 1810. The letter from the Fifth Auditor contains a description of several claims of this character which are submitted to Congress as the only tribunal competent to afford the relief to which the parties consider themselves ent.i.tled.

Among the most prominent questions of this description are the following:

_I. Claims for outfits by ministers and charges d'affaires duly appointed by the President and Senate_.

The act of 1790, regulating the expenditures for foreign intercourse, provided "that, exclusive of an outfit, which shall in no case exceed one year's full salary to the minister plenipotentiary or charge d'affaires to whom the same may be allowed, the President shall not allow to any minister plenipotentiary a greater sum than at the rate of $9,000 per annum as a compensation for all his personal services and other expenses, nor a greater sum for the same than $4,500 per annum to a charge d'affaires." By this provision the maximum of allowance only was fixed, leaving the question as to any outfit, either in whole or in part, to the discretion of the President, to be decided according to circ.u.mstances. Under it a variety of cases occurred, in which outfits having been given to diplomatic agents on their first appointment, afterwards, upon their being transferred to other courts or sent upon special and distinct missions, full or half outfits were again allowed.

This act, it will be perceived, although it fixes the maximum of outfit, is altogether silent as to the circ.u.mstances under which outfits might be allowed; indeed, the authority to allow them at all is not expressly conveyed, but only incidentally adverted to in limiting the amount. This limitation continued to be the only restriction upon the Executive until 1810, the act of 1790 having been kept in force till that period by five successive reenactments, in which it is either referred to by means of its t.i.tle or its terms are repeated verbatim. In 1810 an act pa.s.sed wherein the phraseology which had been in use for twenty years is departed from. Fixing the same limits precisely to the _amount_ of salaries and outfits to ministers and charges as had been six times fixed since 1790, it differs from preceding acts by formally conveying an authority to allow an outfit to "a minister plenipotentiary or charge d'affaires _on going from the United States to any foreign country_;"

and, in addition to this specification of the circ.u.mstances under which the outfit may be allowed, it contains one of the conditions which shall be requisite to ent.i.tle a charge or secretary to the compensation therein provided.