imported from beyond the Cape of Good Hope are the chief cause of the losses at present sustained. If these were shortened to six, nine, and twelve months, and warehouses provided by government, sufficient to receive the goods offered in deposite for security and for debenture; and if the right of the United States to a priority of payment out of the estates of its insolvent debtors were more effectually secured this evil would, in a great measure, be obviated. An authority to construct such houses, is, therefore, with the proposed alteration of the credits, recommended to your attention.

It is worthy of notice, that the laws for the collection and security of the revenue arising from imposts, were chiefly framed when the rates of duties on imported goods presented much less temptation for illicit trade than at present exists. There is reason to believe that these laws are, in some respects, quite insufficient for the proper security of the revenue, and the protection of the interests of those who are disposed to observe them. The injurious and demoralizing tendency of a successful system of smuggling is so obvious as not to require comment, and cannot be too carefully guarded against. I therefore suggest to congress the propriety of adopting efficient measures to prevent this evil, avoiding however, as much as possible, every unnecessary infringement of individual liberty, and embarrassment of fair and lawful business.

On an examination of the records of the treasury, I have been forcibly struck with the large amount of public money which appears to be outstanding. Of the sum thus due from individuals to the government, a considerable portion is undoubtedly desperate; and, in many instances, has probably been rendered so by remissness in the agents charged with its collection. By proper exertions, a great part, however, may yet be recovered; and, whatever may be the portions respectively belonging to these two classes, it behoves the government to ascertain the real state of the fact. This can be done only by the prompt adoption of judicious measures for the collection of such as may be made available. It is believed that a very large amount has been lost through the inadequacy of the means provided for the collection of debts due to the public, and that this inadequacy lies chiefly in the want of legal skill, habitually and constantly employed in the direction of the agents engaged in the service. It must, I think, be admitted, that the supervisory power over suits brought by the public, which is now vested in an accounting officer of the treasury, not selected with a view to his legal knowledge, and encumbered as he is with numerous other duties, operates unfavorably to the public interest.

It is important that this branch of the public service should be subjected to the supervision of such professional skill as will give it efficiency. The expense attendant upon such a modification of the executive department, would be justified by the soundest principles of economy. I would recommend, therefore, that the duties now assigned to the agent of the treasury, so far as they relate to the superintendence and management of legal proceedings, on the part of the United States, be transferred to the attorney general; and that this officer be placed on the same footing, in all respects, as the heads of the other departments-receiving like com

pensation, and having such subordinate officers provided for his department, as may be requisite for the discharge of these additional duties. The professional skill of the attorney general, employed in directing the conduct of marshals and district attorneys, would hasten the collection of debts now in suit, and hereafter save much to the government. It might be further extended to the superintendence of all criminal proceedings, for offences against the United States. In making this transfer, great care should be taken, however, that the power necessary to the treasury department be not impaired: one of its greatest securities consisting in a control over all accounts, until they are audited or reported for suit.

In connexion with the foregoing views, I would suggest also, an inquiry, whether the provisions of the act of congress, authorizing the discharge of the persons of debtors to the government, from imprisonment, may not, consistently with the public interest, be extended to the release of the debt, where the conduct of the debtor is wholly exempt from the imputation of fraud. Some more liberal policy than that which now prevails, in reference to this unfortunate class of citizens, is certainly due to them, and would prove beneficial to the country. The continuance of the liability, after the means to discharge it have been exhausted, can only serve to dispirit the debtor, or, where his resources are but partial, the want of power in the government to compromise and release the demand, instigates to fraud, as the only resource for securing a support to his family. He thus sinks into a state of apathy, and becomes a useless drone in society, or a vicious member of it, if not a feeling witness of the rigor and inhumanity of his country. All experience proves, that oppressive debt is the bane of enterprise; and it should be the care of a republic not to exert a grinding power over misfortune and poverty.

Since the last session of congress, numerous frauds on the treasury have been discovered, which I thought it my duty to bring under the cognizance of the United States' court for this district, by a criminal prosecution. It was my opinion, and that of able counsel who were consulted, that the cases came within the penalties of the act of the 17th congress, approved 3d March, 1823, providing for the punishment of frauds committed on the government of the United States. Either from some defect in the law or in its administration, every effort to bring the accused to trial under its provisions proved ineffectual; and the government was driven to the necessity of resorting to the vague and inadequate provisions of the common law. It is therefore my duty to call your attention to the laws which have been passed for the protection of the treasury. If, indeed, there be no provision by which those who may be unworthily entrusted with its guardianship, can be punished for the most flagrant violation of duty, extending even to the most fraudulent appropriation of the public funds to their own use, it is time to remedy so dangerous an omission. Or, if the law has been perverted from its original purposes, and criminals, deserving to be punished under its provisions, have been rescued by legal subtilties, it ought to be made so plain, by amendatory provisions, as to baffle the arts of perversion, and accomplish the ends of its original enactment.

In one of the most flagrant cases, the court decided that the prosecu

tion was barred by the statute which limits prosecution for fraud to two years. In this case all the evidences of the fraud, and indeed all knowledge that a fraud had been committed, were in possession of the party accused, until after the two years had elapsed. Surely the statute ought not to run in favor of any man while he retains all the evidences of his crime in his own possession; and, least of all, in favor of a public officer who continues to defraud the treasury, and conceal the transaction for the brief term of two years. I would therefore recommend such an alteration of the law as will give the injured party and the government two years after the disclosure of the fraud, or after the accused is out of of fice, to commence their prosecution.

In connexion with this subject, I invite the attention of congress to a general and minute inquiry into the condition of the government; with a view to ascertain what offices can be dispensed with, what expenses retrenched, and what improvements may be made in the organization of its various parts, to secure the proper responsibility of public agents, and promote efficiency and justice in all its operations.

The report of the secretary of war will make you acquainted with the condition of our army, fortifications, arsenals, and Indian affairs. The proper discipline of the army, the training and equipment of the militia, the education bestowed at West Point, and the accumulation of the means of defence, applicable to the naval force; will tend to prolong the peace we now enjoy, and which every good citizen-more especially those who have felt the miseries of even a successful warfare-must ardently desire to perpetuate.

The returns from the subordinate branches of this service exhibit a regularity and order highly creditable to its character; both officers and soldiers seem imbued with a proper sense of duty, and conform to the restraints of exact discipline with that cheerfulness which becomes the profession of arms. There is need, however, of further legislation, to obviate the inconveniences specified in the report under consideration; to some of which it is proper that I should call your particular attention.

The act of congress of the 2d March, 1821, to reduce and fix the military establishment, remaining unexecuted as it regards the command of one of the regiments of artillery, cannot now be deemed a guide to the executive in making the proper appointment. An explanatory act, desiguating the class of officers out of which this grade is to be filledwhether from the military list, as existing prior to the act of 1821, or from it, as it has been fixed by that act-would remove this difficulty. It is also important that the laws regulating the pay and emoluments of officers generally, should be more specific than they now are. Those, for example, in relation to the paymaster and surgeon general assign to them an annual salary of two thousand five hundred dollars, but are silent as to allowances which, in certain exigencies of the service, may be deemed indispensable to the discharge of their duties. This circumstance has been the authority for extending to them various allowances, at different times, under former administrations: but no uniform rule has been observed on the subject. Similar inconveniences exist in other cases, in which the construction put upon the laws by the public

accountants may operate unequally, produce confusion, and expose officers to the odium of claiming what is not their due.

I recommend to your fostering care, as one of your safest means of national defence, the military academy. This institution has already exercised the happiest influence upon the moral and intellectual character of our army; and such of the graduates as, from various causes, may not pursue the profession of arms, will be scarcely less useful as citizens. Their knowledge of the military art will be advantageously employed in the militia service; and in a measure, secure to that class of troops the advantages which, in this respect, belong to standing armies.

I would also suggest a review of the pension law, for the purpose of extending its benefits to every revolutionary soldier who aided in establishing our liberties, and who is unable to maintain himself in comfort. These relics of the war of independence have strong claims upon their country's gratitude and bounty. The law is defective, in not embracing within its provisions all those who were, during the last war, disabled from supporting themselves by manual labor. Such an amendment would add but little to the amount of pensions, and is called for by the sympathies of the people, as well as by considerations of sound policy. It will be perceived that a large addition to the list of pensioners has been occasioned by an order of the late administration, departing materially from the rules which had previously prevailed. Considering it an act of legislation, I suspended its operation as soon as I was informed that it had commenced. Before this period, however, applications under the new regulation had been preferred, to the number of one hundred and fifty-four: of which, on the 27th March, the date of its revocation, eightyseven were admitted. For the amount, there was neither estimate nor appropriation; and besides this deficiency, the regular allowances, according to the rules which have heretofore governed the department, exceed the estimate of its late secretary, by about fifty thousand dollars: for which an appropriation is asked.

Your particular attention is requested to that part of the report of the secretary of war which relates to the money held in trust for the Seneca tribe of Indians. It will be perceived that, without legislative aid, the executive cannot obviate the embarrassments occasioned by the diminution of the dividends on that fund; which originally amounted to one hundred thousand dollars, and has recently been vested in the United States' three per cent. stock.

The condition and ulterior destiny of the Indian tribes within the limits of some of our states, have become objects of much interest and importance. It has long been the policy of government to introduce among them the arts of civilization, in the hope of gradually reclaiming them from a wandering life. This policy has, however, been coupled with another, wholly incompatible with its success. Professing a desire to civilize and settle them, we have, at the same time, lost no opportunity to purchase their lands, and thrust them further into the wilderness. By this means they have not only been kept in a wandering state, but been led to look upon us as unjust and indifferent to their fate. Thus, though lavish in its expenditures upon the subject, government has constantly de

feated its own policy; and the Indians in general, receding further and further to the west, have retained their savage habits. A portion, however, of the southern tribes, having mingled much with the whites, and made some progress in the arts of civilized life have lately attempted to erect an independent government, within the limits of Georgia and Alabama. These states claiming to be the only sovereigns within their territories, extended their laws over the Indians; which induced the latter to call upon the United States for protection.

Under these circumstances, the question presented was, whether the general government had a right to sustain those people in their pretensions? The constitution declares, that, "no new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other state," without the consent of its legislature. If the general government is not permitted to tolerate the erection of a confederate state within the territory of one of the members of this union, against her consent, much less could it allow a foreign and independent government to establish itself there. Georgia became a member of the confederacy which eventuated in our federal union, as a sovereign state, always asserting her claim to certain limits; which having been originally defined in her colonial charter, and subsequently recognised in the treaty of peace, she has ever since continued to enjoy, except as they have been circumscribed by her own voluntary transfer of a portion of her territory to the United States, in the articles of cession of 1802. Alabama was admitted into the union on the same footing with the original states, with boundaries which were prescribed by congress. There is no constitutional, conventional, or legal provision, which allows them less power over the Indians within their borders, than is possessed by Maine or New York. Would the people of Maine permit the Penobscot tribe to erect an independent government within their state? and unless they did, would it not be the duty of the general government to support them in resisting such a measure? Would the people of New York permit each remnant of the Six Nations within her borders, to declare itself an independent people under the protection of the United States? Could the Indians establish a separate republic on each of their reservations in Ohio? and if they were so disposed, would it be the duty of this government to protect them in the attempt? If the prin ciple involved in the obvious answer to these questions be abandoned, it will follow that the objects of this government are reversed; and that it has become a part of its duty to aid in destroying the states which it was established to protect.

Actuated by this view of the subject, I informed the Indians inhabiting parts of Georgia and Alabama, that their attempt to establish an independent government would not be countenanced by the executive of the United States; and advised them to emigrate beyond the Mississippi, or submit to the laws of those states.

Our conduct towards these people is deeply interesting to our national character. Their present condition, contrasted with what they once were, makes a most powerful appeal to our sympathies. Our ancestors found them the uncontrolled possessors of these vast regions. By persuasion and force, they have been made to retire from river to river, and