*

Among the important measures and acts of the twentieth Congress, were the following-An act to prevent defalcations on the part of disbursing agents and officers of the United States; and by which it was ordered that no wages should be paid to persons who were in arrears to the government, till they had accounted for, and paid into the Treasury all sums for which they were liable-a similar law was passed during the administration of President Monroe-an act for the relief or benefit of Columbia College, in the District of Columbia-an act for the relief of purchasers of the United States land; allowing them further time of payment-an act granting the privilege of franking letters, to Hon. Charles Carrol, the only survivor of the patriotic band of worthies who signed the Declaration of Independence, July 4th, 1776—an act appropriating five thousand dollars for an addition to the library of Congress -an act authorizing the President to appoint agents "for designating and settling the line forming the northeast boundary of the United States, and for bringing the existing controversy with Great Britain, on that subject, to a speedy termination". -an act to empower the President to subscribe, on behalf of the government, for ten thousand shares in the stock of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company-and an act for laying higher duties on several imported articles, than the laws of Congress then imposed, viz. on wool, and on woollen cloths; on cotton cloths; on iron, hemp, cotton bagging, sail duck, silks, molasses, and distilled spirits. On wines, the rate of duties was reduced, and no draw back was allowed on spirits distilled from molasses, nor on sail duck exported.

The additional duty on iron, caused complaints in some parts of the country; but those on woollen and cotton goods, were most strongly opposed, and denounced as unequal and oppressive. In the middle and southern States, where there were few or no manufactories of these goods, the opposition was loud and severe. The duties on low

It was

thousand dollars appropriated; which was probably not half its cost. voted by Congress, at the same session, to subscribe on part of the federal government, for ten thousand shares in the stock of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company. And an appropriation was then made for defraying the expenses of agents of the Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee, and Chickasaw tribes of Indians, to explore the country west of the river Mississippi, in order to the emigration to that territory of such as should choose to remove and settle there.

* The political parties in Congress, December, 1828, were nearly equal, the speaker was elected by only four votes majority; and he was opposed to the administration.

priced woollens was disproportionately high, and operated severely upon those who used them; and the southern planters made great use of them for their slaves. The complaint was also heard in the northern and eastern States, against the law, in this respect; for the lower classes of people in those parts also purchased largely of the coarser woollens for common use. The merchants and citizens of Boston, in their memorial and remonstrance against an increase of duties on imported woollen goods, in 1827, asserted, that the American system, so called, was founded in error and injustice; that it would eventually prove injurious to the manufacturers themselves, and was unequal and oppressive in its operation: oppressive to the lower classes of the people, and unequal as to different sections of the Union."

The message of the President to the national legislature, at the opening of its annual session, contains a summary of the proceedings of the executive during the recess of Congress, and gives a statement of transactions and occurrences relating to the public affairs of the government and its officers. In that of President Adams, December, 1828, which was the last he communicated, on a similar occasion, he represented the United States to be in a highly prosperous condition, enjoying peace with all other nations; and making rapid advances in population and wealth, and in the use of their abundant resources and means for internal improvements. The President referred particularly to the subject of the northeastern boundary of the United States, between Maine and New Brunswick, and informed Congress, that, as the agents of the two governments, employed for the purpose, were unable to agree, the question would be referred to the King of the Netherlands; in whose impartiality and probity he had the utmost confidence. The subject was becoming every year more interesting to the people of Maine, and of other parts of the United States; and interferences and collisions had happened between the inhabitants of the two contiguous territories, as each claimed the same tract of country. Several citizens of Maine made settlements on the disputed territory, and the British claimed jurisdiction over the whole, and frequently attempted to exercise authority accordingly. The argument of the government of New Brunswick for this was, that, as all the tract in dispute belonged to Great Britain before the treaty of 1783, recognized and confirmed by the treaty of Ghent, in 1815, it

ought to continue under its control and in its possession, until it should be found to belong to the United States.

In speaking of the relations with France, the President said, that there was good reason to believe the claims to indemnity for depredations-committed on the commerce of the United States, during the revolutionary governments of that country, and which had been many years presented and urged-would be admitted, and justice be done to American citizens whose property was seized and confiscated.

The political and commercial relations with Great Britain were not, in the opinion of the President, of an unfriendly character, though the difficulties still remained, as to the trade with her American colonies. "The interdiction of a direct trade with British ports in America had not proved extensively injurious to the commerce of the United States. Indeed the exports, the revenue, and the navigation of the country, had suffered no perceptible diminution by our exclusion from direct access to British colonial ports." Different channels had been found for an exchange of commodities desired by both countries. The produce of the United States needed by the British in their colonies, was conveyed indirectly to the islands and elsewhere. The subject, however, was earnestly recommended by the President to the early attention of Congress.

The message announced that a treaty would probably then soon be made with Austria; which, it was believed, would be for the commercial benefit of the United States. And in this treaty, the President observed, "care had been taken to establish and extend those principles of liberal intercourse and of fair reciprocity, which intertwine with the exchanges of commerce, the principles of justice, and the feelings of mutual benevolence." "This system," he added, "first proclaimed to the world, in the first commercial treaty by the United States-that with France, on the 6th of February, 1778-has been, invariably, the cherished policy of the Union. And it is by treaties of commerce only that it can be made, ultimately, to prevail, as the established system of all civilized nations. With this principle, our fathers extended the hand of friendship to every nation of the globe and to this policy our country has ever since adhered. For whatever of regulation in our laws has ever been adopted, unfavorable to the interest of any foreign nation, has been essentially defensive, and counteracting to similar previous regulations on their part, operating against us." A hope was expressed by the President in this message, that

these principles would soon be recognized and approved by the whole civilized world.

"The condition of neighboring American nations in the south, was rather that of approaching, than of settled tranquillity. Internal disturbances had been more frequent among them than was anticipated: but the intercourse of the United States with them continued to be that of friendship and of mutual good will. Treaties of commerce and of boundaries with the united Mexican States had been attempted, and were still in process of negotiation, but had not been brought to a final conclusion, from various and successive obstacles. The finances of the federal government were never in a more prosperous state, than at this period; and yet there had been no unnecessary stinting of the public expenditures for great national works of defence. or internal improvement. The revenue arising from imports was of greater amount than had been estimated. The receipts into the public treasury amounted to twenty-four million and ninety-five thousand dollars. The expenditures amounted to twenty-five millions and a half; which included over nine millions paid for reducing the public debt of the nation, which was at six per cent.: thus reducing the annual interest somewhat more than half a million. To the receipts of the year should be added, when comparing these with the expenditures, five millions in the treasury at the beginning of 1828; thus allowing for the yearly expenses, should it be needed, the sum of twenty-eight millions. The amount paid for interest on the old public debt, was over three millions; and that debt was now reduced to fifty-eight millions. In the opinion of the President, the revenue of the succeeding year would equal and probably surpass that of 1828: "for the uniform experience of forty years had shown, that whatever had been the tariff of duties on imported articles, the amount of importations had always borne an average value, nearly approaching to that of the exports; though occasionally differing in the balance. It is indeed, a general law of prosperous commerce, that the value of exports should, by at least a small balance, exceed that of imports-that balance being a permanent addition to the wealth of the nation. For the extent of the prosperous commerce of the nation must be regulated by the amount of its exports: and an important addition to the value of these, will draw after it a corresponding increase of importations.

"It has happened, in the vicissitudes of the seasons, that the harvests of Europe have, in the late summer and au

tumn, fallen short of their usual average. A relaxation of the interdict upon the importation of grain and flour from abroad has ensued; a propitious market has been opened to the granaries of our country; and a new prospect of reward presented to the labors of the husbandman; which, for several years, has been denied. This accession to the profits of agriculture, in the middle and western portions of the Union, is accidental and temporary: it may continue but for a single year. But we may consider it certain, that, for the approaching year, it has added an item of large amount to the value of our exports, and that it will procure a corresponding increase of importations. It may therefore be foreseen, that the revenue of 1829 will equal and probably exceed that of 1828; and will afford the means of extinguishing ten millions more of the public debt. This new element of prosperity to that part of our agricultural industry, which is occupied in producing the first article of human subsistence, is of the most cheering character to the feelings of patriotism. The great interests of an agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing nation are so linked in union together, that no permanent cause of prosperity to one of them can operate without extending its influence to the others. All these interests are alike under the protecting power of the legislative authority; and the duties of the representative bodies are to conciliate them in harmony together. So far as the object of taxation is to raise a revenue for discharging the debts and defraying the expenses of the community, it should, as much as possible, suit the burden with equal hand upon all, in proportion with their ability of bearing it without oppression. But the legislation. of one nation is sometimes intentionally made to bear heavily upon the interest of another."

In this connection, referring to the policy of the national government, which afforded encouragement to domestic manufactures, opposed by a large portion of the people, to the extent then given, but of which the President approved, he asks, "Is the self-protecting energy of this nation so helpless, that there exists, in the political institutions of our country, no power to counteract the bias of foreign legislation? That the growers of grain must submit to this exclusion from the foreign markets of their produce? That the shippers must dismantle their vessels? The trade of the north stagnate at the wharves, and the manufacturers starve at their looms, while the whole people shall pay tribute to foreign industry, to be clad in a foreign garb? That the Congress of the Union is impotent to restore the balance in