ing my duty to my constituents in giving the Executive sanction to any bill containing such an appropriation. If the people of the United States desire that the public treasury shall be resorted to for the means to prosecute such works, they will concur in an amendment of the constitution, prescribing a rule by which the national character of the works is to be tested, and by which the greatest practicable equality of benefits may be secured to each member of the confederacy. The effects of such a regulation would be most salutary in preventing unprofitable expenditures, in securing our legislation from the pernicious consequences of a scramble for the favors of Government, and in repressing the spirit of discontent which must inevitably arise from an unequal distribution of treasures which belong alike to all.

There is another class of appropriations for what may be called, without impropriety, internal improvements, which have always been regarded as standing upon different grounds from those to which I have referred. I allude to such as have for their object the improvement of our harbors, the removal of partial and temporary obstructions in our navigable rivers, for the facility and security of our foreign commerce. The grounds upon which I distinguished appropriations of this character from others have already been stated to Congress. I will now only add that at the first session of Congress under the new constitution, it was provided, by law, that all expenses which should accrue from and after the 15th day of August, 1789, in the necessary support, and maintenance, and repairs of all light-houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers, erected, placed, or sunk, before the passage of the act, within any bay, inlet, harbor, or port of the United States, for rendering the navigation thereof easy and safe, should be defrayed out of the Treasury of the United States; and, further, that it should be the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury to provide, by contracts, with the approba tion of the President, for rebuilding, when necessary, and keeping in good repair the light-houses, beacons, buoys, and public piers, in the several States, and for furnishing them with supplies. Appropriations for similar objects have been continued from that time to the present, without interruption or dispute. As a natural consequence of the increase and extension of our foreign commerce, ports of entry and delivery have been multipled and established, not only upon our seaboard, but in the interior of the country, upon our lakes and navigable rivers. The convenience and safety of this commerce have led to the gradual extension of these expenditures; to the erection of light-houses; the placing, planting, and sinking of buoys, beacons, and piers, and to the removal

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of partial and temporary obstructions in our navigable rivers, and in the harbors upon our great lakes, as well as on the seaboard. Although I have expressed to Congress my apprehension that these expenditures have sometimes been extravagant, and disproportionate to the advantages to be derived from them, I have not felt it to be my duty to refuse my assent to bills containing them, and have contented myself to follow, in this respect, in the footsteps of all my predecessors. Sensible, however, from experience and observation, of the great abuses to which the unrestricted exercise of this authority of Congress was exposed, I have prescribed a limitation for the government of my own conduct, by which expenditures of this character are confined to places below the ports of entry or delivery established by law. I am very sensible that this restriction is not as satisfactory as could be desired, and that much embarrassment may be caused to the Executive Department in its execution, by appropriations for remote, and not well understood, objects. But as neither my own reflections, nor the lights which I may properly derive from other sources, have supplied me with a better, I shall continue to apply my best exertions to a faithful application of the rule upon which it is founded. I sincerely regret that I could not give my assent to the bill entitled "An act to improve the navigation of the Wabash river;" but I could not have done so without receding from the ground which I have, upon the fullest consideration, taken upon this subject, and of which Congress has been heretofore apprised, and without throwing the subject again open to abuses which no good citizen, entertaining my opinions, could desire. I rely upon the intelligence and candor of my fellowcitizens, in whose liberal indulgence I have already so largely participated for a correct appreciation of my motives in interposing, as I have done, on this, and other occasions, checks to a course of legislation which, without, in the slightest degree, calling in question the motives of others, I consider as sanctioning improper and unconstitutional expenditures of public treasure.

I am not hostile to internal improvements, and wish to see them extended to every part of the country. But I am fully persuaded, if they are not commenced in a proper manner, confined to proper objects, and conducted under an authority generally conceded to be rightful, that a successful prosecution of them cannot be reasonably expected. The attempt will meet with resistance, where it might otherwise receive support, and, instead of strengthening the bonds of our confederacy, it will only multiply and aggravate the causes of disunion. DECEMBER 1, 1834.

ANDREW JACKSON.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR.

WAR DEPARTMENT, Nov 27, 1834.

To the President of the United States: SIR: The annual period for submitting to you a statement of the proceedings of this Department having arrived, I have the honor, in conformity with your instructions, to lay before you an abstract of its operations, together with the reports and estimates from the various bureaux, exhibiting the condition of those branches of the public service connected with its administration.

Since my last annual report, no military movement of any importance, with the exception of the

expedition of the regiment of dragoons, has been. rendered necessary. The reports and information which have reached the Department respecting the situation of the Army are highly gratifying. In its discipline, its moral character, and the general performance of its duties, the Government and the country have every reason to be satisfied with its condition and prospects. As a safeguard for the frontiers, as a school of practical instruction, as a depository of military information, and as the means of preparing and providing in peace for the exigencies of war, the present military establishment has fully answered the objects of its organization and support. And it is but an act of justice

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to state that, in all the essential requisites of capacity and conduct, the officers of the American Army do honor to themselves and their country.

It is known to you that some of the Western tribes of Indians, roaming through the extensive prairies West of Arkansas and Missouri, particularly the Camanches and Kiawas, have, for some years, interrupted the peace of that quarter by predatory attacks upon our citizens, and upon the indigenous and emigrant Indians whom we are under obligations to protect. Their war parties have annoyed our citizens in their intercourse with the Mexican States, and have rendered the communication difficult and hazardous. It became necessary to put a stop to this state of things, either by amicable representations or by force. Those remote tribes have little knowledge of the strength of the United States, or of their own relative weakness, and it was hoped that the display of a respectable military force, for the first time in their country,would satisfy them that further hostilities would lead to their destruction.

The dragoons being peculiarly adapted to this service, were ordered to penetrate into that region, and to endeavor, by peaceable remonstrances, to establish permanent tranquillity; and,if these should fail,to repel any hostile demonstrations which might be made. Fortunately, the efforts to introduce amicable relations were successful, and the object of the expedition was obtained without a single act of hostility. Colonel Dodge, who led the expedition, and his whole command, appear to have performed their duties in the most satisfactory manner; and they encountered, with firmness, the privations incident to the harassing service upon which they were ordered. It is to be regretted that the prevalence of sickness prevented the whole regiment from joining in this duty, as the same zeal for the public interest pervaded the whole; that sickness deprived the country of some valuable lives, and, among others, of Brigadier General Leavenworth. Impelled by his anxiety to forward the views of the Government, he exposed himself, while yet weak, to the hardships of the border campaign, and sunk under the mala ly which these induced. His high personal character, his services during the late war, and his exemplary official conduct since, are too well known to you to require from me any thing more than this brief allusion to his worth and fate.

Among the accompanying documents will be found a full statement of the proceedings of Col. Dodge, and of the satisfactory result of his expedition.

The report of the Chief Engineer contains a summary of the various objects entrusted to his supervision, and of their progress and condition. It will be seen that the Cumberland road, East of Wheeling, will be soon completed in the manner required by an act of last session, and for the amount allowed by law. No further appropriation will be asked for. As much progress has been made in the other works, as the advanced state of the season when the appropriations were made would permit. I beg leave to ask your particular attention to that part of the report of the Chief Engineer, which recommends an addition to the number of officers of his corps. believe the public service requires this measure. duties have recently been imposed upon the Engineer corps, by express acts of Congress; while, in other cases, it has been found necessary, by executive regulation, to require from the officers services not originally contemplated in the organization of the department. The erection of fortifications, the construction of roads, the estab

I

New

lishment of fixed points by astronomical observations in boundary lines, and the improvement of harbors and rivers, are among the objects committed to the Engineer officers. And I feel bound to report to you, that, as far as my observation or information has extended, their duties have been performed in the most satisfactory and exemplary manner. In scientific acquirements, and in their practical application, these officers are deserving of high commendation, and it is very desirable that their numbers should be so far augmented, as to insure their

personal attention to all the objects within the control of

the Engineer Department. This cannot now be done; and the public service suffers in consequence of it.

Similar reasons call for a re-organization of the topo graphical corps, and the officer at the head of it has submitted a projet for this purpose; which, while it will render that corps more efficient, will not increase the public expense. I ask for it your favorable consideration. The duties connected with this branch of the service require peculiar attainments, and great practical experience. They can best be performed by officers devoting their whole time and attention to the subject. A system of detail requiring periodical changes, however proper it may be with relation to a just routine of milita ry duties, so long as temporary assistants are selected from, and continued in the line of the army, it is still not calculated to ensure the best execution of the functions appropriately belonging to the topographical engineers. The remedy would be to remodel the corps, and permanently to attach to it as many officers as may be necessary; and, by consolidating with it the civil engineers, the general operations would be simplified, and the duties of the corps might embrace all the objects connected with surveys for civil or military purposes. There is in this corps a fund of experience and information, which cannot but be useful to the country.

It will be seen, by adverting to the report of the officer in charge of the Topographical Bureau, that difficulties have occurred in the execution of the joint resolution of Congress, passed at the last session, and providing for the construction of a railroad through the public grounds at Harper's Ferry. Some modification will be necessary, before the object of Congress and of the Company can be attained; and this may probably be effected by requiring the latter to pay the value of any improvements injured by the road; or by giving authority to replace them in other positions, should they be deemed of sufficient importance to require being paid for or removed.

The present condition of the work at the Delaware Breakwater, is shown in the report of the Quartermaster General, and in that of the commission lately instituted by your orders to examine it. It has been known, for some time, that gradual depositions were making in the vicinity of this work, by which the depth of water was somewhat reduced; but, until this season, the process was so slow and uncertain, that no anxiety was felt with respect to its final effect upon this great national improvement. Recently, however, the accumulation of sand in the artificial harbor has been much more rapid, and indicated the necessity of a thorough examination by scientific persons, in order to ascertain, if possible, the causes of this occurrence, and to check or obviate them. The views of the officers selected for this purpose will be found in their report, and, agreeably to your directions, they have been adopted by the Depart ment. An estimate for one hundred thousand dollars, to be applied to this work, is among the annual estimates of the Department, and, if approved by Congress, that sum will be appropriated in the manner pointed out by the report, to the completion of that part of the work already begun, and yet unfinished. In the mean time, by a series of observations frequently and carefully to ken, the probable operation of the tides and currents

may be ascertained, and the best remedy to counteract them pointed out.

The act of March 21, 1829, "to continue the present mode of supplying the army of the United States," expires, by its own limitation, on the 2d of March next. The Subsistence Department, which was continued by this act, has been found highly useful to the army and beneficial to the public, by the efficiency and economy of its administration. From my own knowledge of its officers and operations, as well as from what I have otherwise learned of these, I feel called upon to present this subject particularly to your attention, satisfied that the continuance of the department is demanded by the best interests of the service.

The reports of the Major General, and of the other heads of bureaux, will communicate all necessary information in relation to subjects respectively committed to them. I am not aware that there is any particular matter requiring your special attention. These reports are satisfactory in the views they exhibit of the course of administration, and of the reduced expenditures which are required for the service of the coming year.

At the last session of Congress, so much of the laws as authorises the conferring of brevets for ten years' service in one grade was repealed, and the nominations of all officers, who had completed that term prior to the repeal, was confirmed. This change seems to bear with some severity upon those who had served during the greater portion, tho' not the whole, of such term. The existing laws, and the practice under them, held out to all officers, as an inducement to good conduct, the prospect of promotion after ten years' faithful services in one grade. In military life the hope of professional distinction is essential to a high and honorable discharge of the duties to which its members are devoted. If this is destroyed or neglected, little more than a mechanical execution of these duties can be expected. In our army this sentiment is as dear and as much cherished as in any other, and if not the cause, it is certainly the accompaniment, of zealous devotion to the public interest. All the officers who, before the repeal of this law, had entered upon what may be termed their probation, expected, and had a right to expect, that if at its termination they should have complied with the condition by faithful service, the reward held out would be granted to them. I venture respectfully to suggest, whether justice does not require such a modification of this law as to authorize the granting of brevets to every one, whose term of ten years had commenced before its repeal, at the end of such term, if the conditions of the law shall be fulfilled: This would insure the ultimate abolition of the practice which Congress had in view, while it would seem to be giving due weight to claims founded, if not in right, certainly in strong considerations connected with the services and situation of the officers. This valuable class of the community is exposed to every vicissitude incident to climate and situation, and the pecuniary considerations they receive is barely sufficient to enable them to meet the demands to which they are liable.

[23d CONG. 2d SESS.

are requested, in order to determine the validity of the application. In the administrative examination of the papers submitted in support of a claim, if the name of the applicant is found upon the recorded muster rolls, and his identity is established by his own declaration and the proper certificates, the pension is granted as a matter of course.

In far the greater number of cases, however, no muster rolls of the corps exist, and frequently where they do exist, they are defective, and a resort to other testimony, in the examination of the claim, becomes therefore necessary. Here, a more detailed statement of services is required from the party-combining the various circumstances connected with such duty, best calculated to enable the proper examining officers to compare the statement with the records of the office, and with other facts known to them, and thus to assist in detecting frauds, if any exist. In addition to this, a certificate of two respectable persons acquainted with the party is made necessary, stating his age, and the opinion, in the neighborhood where he resides, that he is a soldier of the Revolution, and their concurrence therein; and to this must be added the certificate and opinion of the proper court upon the whole matter.

Besides this course of proceeding, which is applicable more particularly to the militia claimants, very few muster rolls of which remain, the testimony of two persons actually acquainted with the services of the applicant is necessary wherever he served in the regular army, and his name is not to be found on a muster roll, as in that case evidence is necessary to rebut the presumption against him.

This system was adopted upon great consideration, and it is difficult to see how the law can be administered, if farther requisites are demanded. But experience has shown that the prescribed certificates are sometimes granted without due caution, and that persons desirous of converting the provisions of the law to their own benefit, have been enabled to procure official attestations, and even the seal of the court, under circumstances calculated to weaken, if not to destroy, the public confidence in these safeguards. Seals have likewise been taken from useless attestations, and affixed to others, and direct forgeries have been committed in the preparation of the whole papers. And these proceedings have been resorted to not only to establish the original claim, by placing the applicant upon the roll, but also to establish his right to each semi-annual payment, by proving his identity. It is obvious that a system depending, for its correctness, upon the conduct of such a variety of persons and officers, not responsible to the General Government, and where frequently a natural sympathy for the claims of the time and war-worn veterans would lead to much practical relaxation, must be able to abuse; although, till very recently, the extent to which such abuses may have gone was not suspected. Some plan is now necessary by which a re-examination may be made, a plan which, while it ensures to the honest and gallant survivors of the Revolution all that they expect, and all that the country has provided, shall, at the same time, lay open the frauds which have been committed, and prevent their occurrence here after.

ble to judge to what extent frauds may have been committed, but enough has occurred to satisfy me that some new mode of proceeding is essentially necessary to detect and check these abuses.

In the administration of the laws on this subject, the parties are required to make certain declarations before the judicial tribunals; and the opinions of these tribunals

In the report of the Commissioner of Pensions, his views upon the subject are given, which appear to me practical and judicious; and as such, I ask for them your favorable recommendation to Congress. An exam

person now drawing a pension, into the circumstances of his case, appears to me to present the only effectual means of accomplishing the desired object. Undertaken by proper persons, and conducted with proper discretion, it could scarcely fail to confirm the grants made to honest applicants, and to detect those which have been fraudulently obtained by dishonest ones. It appears to

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me that the expense of such a measure ought not to delay its immediate adoption. It is impossible even to conjecture the amount of surreptitious claims. It may be far greater than the data now before the office enable us to estimate. And possibly, conjecture and recent disclosures may have led to the suspicion that the ratifications of the system have been more extended, and the abuses greater, than a rigid inquiry may confirm. In the one case, the beneficial result would be the relief of the Treasury from fraudulent payments, and the punishment of those concerned in them, and, in the other, it would be satisfactory to know that, while the bounty of the Government has been justly appropriated, it has not been improperly applied.

The provision of law for the establishment of a Pension Office, as a branch of this department, expires, by its own limitation, at the end of the present session of Congress. It is essential, to a due execution of the duties, connected with the system of pensions and gratuities for military services, that this arrangement should be renewed and continued. The applicants and grantees are so numerous, the aggregate amount disbursed so great-equalling at least three million two hundred thousand dollars annually; and the doubtful questions, both of fact and principle, so frequent and complicated, that unless a branch of administration carefully superintended is devoted exclusively to this service, the public interest must materially suffer.

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs has exhibited, in detail, the transactions in the important branch of the public service confided to his superintendence. It is on ly necessary that I should advert to the more prominent subjects which have received, or which require, the action of the Government.

The commission for the adjustment of unsettled relations with the Indians west of the Mississippi, terminated, by the provisions of the act instituting it, in July last. Important benefits have resulted from the labors of the commissioners, in the adjustment of difficult questions connected with the Indians of that region, and in the treaty arrangements which have been entered into by them. The country assigned for the permanent residence of the eastern Indians has been so apportioned among them, that little difficulty is anticipated from conflicting claims, or from doubtful boundaries. And, both in equality and extent, there can be no doubt but that the region allotted to them will be amply sufficient for their comfortable subsistence during an indefinite period of time.

An important council has been held at Fort Gibson, by Col. Dodge, and by Maj. Armstrong, the superintendent of Indian affairs, with the chiefs of several of the tribes of that quarter, including some of the wandering bands, whose predatory operations have heretofore kept the frontier in alarm. At this council, the situation of the Indians was fully discussed, and amicable relations established. It is to be hoped that the feelings with which they separated will be permanent, and their intercourse hereafter uninterrupted.

The united tribe of Pottawatamies, Ottawas, and Chippewas, possessing the country in the vicinity of Chicago, have conditionally acceded to the alteration proposed in the boundaries of the tract assigned for them west of the Mississippi, by the treaty concluded in 1833. Should their proposition be accepted, an extensive and valuable region will be opened for settlement, and they will be removed to a district whose climate is suitable to their habits, and whose other advantages cannot fail to offer then strong inducements for moral and physical improve

ment.

An arrangement has been made with the Miamies for the cession of a part of their reservation in the State of Indiana. The tracts held by them are far more extensive than they require; and, as they appear to be not

yet prepared for removal, this relinquishment, without injuring them, will relieve the State in some measure from the embarrassment caused by such large reservations as they posses, embracing a most valuable part of the country, and interrupting the settlements and communication. Instructions were given immediately after the last session of Congress, for purchasing from the Wyandots in Ohio, if they were disposed to sell, the reservations secured to them in that State, and for their removal to the west. The commissioner, Governor Lucas, conducted the negotiation with great fairness and propriety, fully explaining to the Indians their own position, the wishes of the Government, and the course of circumstances urging their removal. The matter is not yet terminated, the Indians having requested time for further consideration.

The necessary appropriation will be asked for the removal of the Seminoles, agreeably to the treaty formed with them; and arrangements have been made for the emigration of the Creeks, as fast as they are prepared for a change of residence. There has not yet been sufficient time to ascertain the result of these measures.

I am not able to submit to you any more favorable views of the condition of the Cherokees than were embraced in my last annual report. While every dictate of prudence, and in fact of self-preservation, urges their removal, unhappy councils and internal divisions prevent the adoption of that course. Where they are, they are declining and must decline; while that portion of the tribe which is established in the west is realizing the benefits which were expected to result from a change of position. The system of removal, however, by enrollment is going on; and, during this season, about one thousand persons have passed to the West.

The treaty concluded the 24th of May last with the Chickasaws, has altered the relations in which they were placed with the United States. The proceeds derivable from a portion of their present possessions have been assigned to them, and reservations have also been provided for such as choose to become citizens of the United States. Their future condition now depends upon their own views and experience, as they have a right to remain or remove, in conformity with their own judgment. The means placed at their disposal are fully adequate to their permanent comfortable establishment, and it is to be sin. cerely hoped that they will apply them wisely.

The acts of the last session of Congress on the subject of Indian affairs, have introduced important changes into those relations. Many of the provisions of former laws had become inappropriate or inadequate, and not suited to the changes which time and circumstances have made. In the act regulating the intercourse with the various tribes, the principles of intercommunication with them are laid down, and the necessary details provided. In that for the re-organization of the department, the number of officers employed has been much reduced, and the current expenses diminished.

Any changes which experience may show to be neces. sary in these acts, can, from time to time, be provided, until they shall become fully adapted to the situation and condition of the Indians, and to the intercourse, both commercial and political, which ought to exist between them and our Government and citizens. The system of removal has changed essentially the prospects of the emigrants, and has imposed new obligations upon the United States. A vast tract of country, containing much more than one hundred millions of acres, has been set apart for the permanent residence of these Indians; and already about thirty thousand have been removed to it.

The Government is under treaty stipulations to remove nearly fifty thousand others to the same region, including the Illinois and Lake Michigan Indians, with whom a conditional arrangement has been made. This extensive district, embracing a great variety of soil and climate, has