and in some respects rival, sovereignties; temptations to interfere in the intestine commotions of neighbouring countries; the dangerous influences that arise in periods of excessive prosperity; and the anti-republican tendencies of associated wealth;these, with other trials not less formidable, have all been encountered, and thus far successfully resisted.

It was reserved for the American Union to test the advantages of a government entirely dependent on the continual exercise of the popular will; and our experience has shown that it is as beneficent in practice as it is just in theory. Each successive change made in our local institutions has contributed to extend the right of suffrage, has increased the direct influence of the mass of the community, given greater freedom to individual exertion, and restricted more and more the powers of government; yet the intelligence, prudence and patriotism of the people have kept pace with the augmented responsibility. In no country has education been so widely diffused. Domestic peace has nowhere so largely reigned. The close bonds of social intercourse have in no instance prevailed with such harmony over a space so vast. All forms of religion have united, for the first time, to diffuse charity and piety, because for the first time in the history of nations, all have been totally untrammelled and absolutely free. The deepest recesses of the wilderness have been penetrated; yet, instead of the rudeness in the social condition consequent upon such adventures elsewhere, numerous communities have sprung up, already unrivalled in prosperity, general intelligence, internal tranquillity, and the wisdom of their political institutions. Internal improvements, the fruit of individual enterprise, fostered by the protection of the states, have added new links to the confederation, and fresh rewards to provident industry. Doubtful questions of domestic policy have been quietly settled by mutual forbearance; and agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, minister to each other. Taxation and public debt, the burdens which bear so heavily upon all other countries, have pressed with comparative lightness upon us. Without

one entangling alliance, our friendship is prized by every nation; and the rights of our citizens are everywhere respected, because they are known to be guarded by a united, sensitive, and watchful people.

*

It affords me sincere pleasure to be able to apprize you of the entire removal of the Cherokee nation of Indians to their new homes west of the Mississippi. The measures authorized by

Congress at its last session, with a view to the long standing controversy with them, have had the happiest effects. By an agreement concluded with them by the commanding general in that country, who has performed the duties assigned to him on the occasion with commendable energy and humanity, their removal has been principally under the conduct of their own chiefs, and they have emigrated without any apparent reluc

tance.

The successful accomplishment of this important object; the removal, also, of the entire Creek nation, with the exception of a small number of fugitives amongst the Seminoles in Florida; the progress already made toward a speedy completion of the removal of the Chickasaws, the Choctaws, the Pottawatamies, the Ottawas, and the Chippewas, with the extensive purchases of Indian lands during the present year, have rendered the speedy and successful result of the long established policy of the government upon the subject of Indian affairs entirely certain. The occasion is, therefore, deemed a proper one to place this policy in such a point of view as will exonerate the government of the United States from the undeserved reproach which has been cast upon it through several successive administrations. That a mixed occupancy of the same territory, by the white and red man, is incompatible with the safety or happiness of either, is a position in respect to which there has long since ceased to be room for a difference of opinion. Reason and experience have alike demonstrated its impracticability. The bitter fruits of every attempt heretofore to overcome the barriers interposed by nature, have only been destruction, both physical and moral, to the Indian; dangerous conflicts of authority between the federal and state governments; and detriment to the individual prosperity of the citizens, as well as to the general improvement of the country. The remedial policy, the principles of which were settled more than thirty years ago, under the administration of Mr. Jefferson, consists in an extinction, for a fair consideration, of the title to all the lands still occupied by the Indians within the states and territories of the United States; their removal to a country west of the Mississippi much more extensive, and better adapted to their condition than that on which they then resided; the guarantee to them, by the United States, of their exclusive possession of that country for ever, exempt from all intrusions by white men, with ample provisions for their security against external violence and internal dissensions, and the extension to them of suitable facilities for their advancement in civilization. This has not been the policy

of particular administrations only, but of each in succession since the first attempt to carry it out under that of Mr. Monroe. All have laboured for its accomplishment, only with different degrees of success. The manner of its execution has, it is true, from time to time given rise to conflicts of opinion and unjust imputations; but in respect to the wisdom and necessity of the policy itself, there has not, from the beginning, existed a doubt in the mind of any calm, judicious, disinterested friend of the Indian race, accustomed to reflection and enlightened by experience.

EXTRACT FROM THE THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE OF

MARTIN VAN BUREN.

DECEMBER 2, 1839.

I regret to be obliged to inform you that no convention for the settlement of the claims of our citizens upon Mexico has yet been ratified by the government of that country. The first convention formed for that purpose was not presented by the President of Mexico for the approbation of its Congress, from a belief that the King of Prussia, the arbitrator in case of disagreement in the joint commission to be appointed by the United States and Mexico, would not consent to take upon himself that friendly office. Although not entirely satisfied with the course pursued by Mexico, I felt no hesitation in receiving, in the most conciliatory spirit, the explanation offered, and also cheerfully consented to a new convention, in order to arrange the payments proposed to be made to our citizens in a manner which, while equally just to them, was deemed less onerous and inconvenient to the Mexican government. Relying confidently upon the intentions of that government, Mr. Ellis was directed to repair to Mexico, and diplomatic intercourse has been resumed between the two countries. The new convention has, he informs us, been recently submitted by the President of that republic to its Congress, under circumstances which promise a speedy ratification; a result which I cannot allow myself to doubt.

EXTRACT FROM THE FOURTH ANNUAL MESSAGE OF MARTIN VAN BUREN.

DECEMBER 5, 1840.

The suppression of the African Slave Trade has received the continued attention of the government. The brig Dolphin and schooner Grampus have been employed during the last season on the coast of Africa, for the purpose of preventing such portions of that trade as were said to be prosecuted under the American flag. After cruising on those parts of the coast most usually resorted to by slavers, until the commencement of the rainy season, these vessels returned to the United States for supplies, and have since been despatched on a similar service.

From the reports of the commanding officers, it appears that the trade is now principally carried on under Portuguese colours; and they express the opinion that the apprehension of their presence on the slave coast, has, in a great degree, arrested the prostitution of the American flag to this inhuman purpose. It is hoped that, by continuing to maintain this force in that quarter, and by the exertions of the officers in command, much will be done to put a stop to whatever portion of this traffic may have been carried on under the American flag, and to prevent its use in a trade which, while it violates the laws, is equally an outrage on the rights of others and the feelings of humanity. The efforts of the several governments who are anxiously seeking to suppress this traffic must, however, be directed against the facilities afforded by what are now recognised as legitimate commercial pursuits, before that object can be fully accomplished.

I

Supplies of provisions, water-casks, merchandise, and articles connected with the prosecution of the Slave Trade, are, it is understood, freely carried by vessels of different nations to the Slave factories; and the effects of the factors are transported openly from one Slave station to another, without interruption or punishment from either of the nations to which they belong, by ships engaged in the commerce of that nation. submit to your judgment, whether this government, having been the first to prohibit by adequate penalties, the Slave Trade-the first to declare it piracy-should not be the first, also, to forbid to its citizens all trade with the Slave factories on the coast of Africa; giving an example to all nations in this respect, which, if fairly followed, cannot fail to produce the most effective results in breaking up those dens of iniquity.

79

THE HONOURABLE ROBERT C. WINTHROP,

MEMBER OF CONGRESS FOR BOSTON.

THIS is a name which I delight to honour. Graceful, gallant, and accomplished, Winthrop is the rising glory of the Whigs; and, by his truth and worth, he has well merited this high and distinguished position. Possessing the prestige that naturally arises from gentle birth and ample fortune, this promising member has no interest to serve, no favour to seek. His politics are those of his party, but modified by enlarged reason and enlightened judgment; he has stepped beyond the narrow boundary of New England policy, and, if I mistake not, the remark that men of that section of the Union are unskilled in the Art of Government will in his case be refuted. Already he has foreseen the imperative necessity of reducing the scale of commercial restriction, and in the session of 1846 declared his willingness to accept, under certain conditions, a modification of the Tariff of 1842.* *

The general views of the Member for Boston on the Oregon Question were explicitly laid down in his speech upon the subject in the House of Representatives as early as the 3d of January. The impression produced by his remarks was greatly increased by the fact of his voting against giving the Notice, contrary to the opinion and vote of his colleague, Mr. Adams. "I have no hesitation," observes the Hon. Member, "in saying that I honestly think, upon as dispassionate a review of the correspondence as I am capable of, that the American title to Oregon is the best now in existence. But I honestly think, also, that the whole character of the title is too confused and complicated to justify any arbitrary and exclusive assertions of right, and that a compromise of the question is every way consistent with reason, interest, and honour."

He adds, in conclusion, "As a friend, then, to Oregon, with every disposition to maintain our just rights to that territory,

* We may not, however, claim Mr. Winthrop as a Free Trader, for I remember that, when alluding to the possibility of Mr. Calhoun's accepting the mission to England, after speaking of that illustrious Senator in terms of the highest esteem and veneration, he added, smiling, "But we" (that is, the Whig party generally) "cannot allow Free Trade to be a part of his instructions."