should finally be referred to the decision of a sovereign, the common friend of both. Of these commissions two have already terminated their sessions and investigations, one by entire, and the other by partial agreement. The commissioners of the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent have finally disagreed, and made their conflicting reports to their own governments. But from these reports a great difficulty has occurred in making up a question to be decided by the arbitrator. This purpose has, however, been effected by a fourth convention, concluded at London by the plenipotentiaries of the two governments, on the 29th of September last. It will be submitted, together with the others, to the consideration of the Senate.

While these questions have been pending, incidents have occurred of conflicting pretensions, and of a dangerous character, upon the territory itself in dispute between the two nations. By a common understanding between the governments, it was agreed that no exercise of exclusive jurisdiction by either party, while the negotiation was pending, should change the state of the question of right to be definitively settled. Such collision has, nevertheless, recently taken place by occurrences the precise cha racter of which has not yet been ascertained. A communication from the governor of the state of Maine, with accompanying documents, and a correspondence between the secretary of state and the minister of Great Britain, on this subject, are now communicated. Measures have been taken to ascertain the state of the facts more correctly, by the employment of a special agent to visit the spot where the alleged outrages have occurred; the result of those inquiries, when received, will be transmitted to Congress.

While so many of the subjects of high interest to the friendly relations between the two countries have been so far adjusted, it is matter of regret that their views respecting commercial intercourse between the United States and the British colonial possessions have not equally approximated to a friendly agreement.

At the commencement of the last session of Congress, they were informed of the sudden and unexpected exclusion, by the British government, of access, in vessels of the United States, to all their colonial ports, except those immediately bordering upon our own territories In the amicable discussions which have succeeded the adoption of this measure, which, as it affected harshly the interests of the United States, became a subject of expostulation on our part, the principles upon which its justification has been placed have been of a diversified character. It has been at once ascribed to a mere recurrence to the old long-established principle of colonial monopoly, and at the same time to a feeling of resentment, because the offers of an act of parliament, opening the colonial ports upon certain conditions had not been grasped at with sufficient eagerness by an instantaneous conformity to them. At a subsequent period it has been intimated that the new exclusion was in resentment, because a prior act of parliament, of 1822, opening certain colonial ports, under heavy and burdensome restrictions to vessels of the United States, had not been reciprocated by an admission of British vessels from the colonies, and their cargoes, without any restriction or discrimination whatever. But, be the motive for the interdiction what it may, the British government have manifested no disposition, either by negotiation or by corresponding legislative enactments, to recede from it, and we have been given distinctly to understand, that neither of the bills which were under the consideration of Congress, at their

last session, would have been deemed sufficient in their concessions to have been rewarded by any relaxation from the British interdict. It is one of the inconveniences inseparably connected with the attempt to adjust, by reciprocal legislation, interests of this nature, that neither party can know what would be satisfactory to the other; and that after enacting a statute for the avowed and sincere purpose of conciliation, it will generally be found utterly inadequate to the expectations of the other party, and will terminate in mutual disappointment.

The session of Congress having terminated without any act upon the subject, a proclamation was issued, on the 17th of March last, conformably to the provisions of the 6th section of the act of 1st March, 1823, declaring the fact that the trade and intercourse authorized by the British act of parliament, of 24th June, 1822, between the United States and the British enumerated colonial ports, had been, by the subsequent acts of parliament, of 5th July, 1825, and the order of council, of 27th July, 1826, prohibited. The effect of this proclamation, by the terms of the act under which it was issued, has been, that each and every provision of the act concerning navigation, of 18th of April, 1818, and of the act supplementary thereto, of 15th of May, 1820, revived, and is in full force. Such, then, is the present condition of the trade, that, useful as it is to both parties, it can, with a single momentary exception, be carried on directly by the vessels of neither. That exception itself is found in a proclamation of the governor of the island of St. Christopher and of the Virgin islands, inviting, for three months from the 28th of August last, the importation of the articles of the produce of the United States, which constitute their export portion of this trade, in the vessels of all nations. That period having already expired, the state of mutual interdiction has again taken place. The British government have not only declined negotiation upon this subject, but by the principle they have assumed with reference to it, have precluded even the means of negotiation. It becomes not the self-respect of the United States either to solicit gratuitous favors, or to accept as the grant of a favor that for which an ample equivalent is exacted. It remains to be determined by the respective governments, whether the trade shall be opened by acts of reciprocal legislation. It is, in the meantime, satisfactory to know that, apart from the inconveniences resulting from a disturbance of the usual channels of trade, no loss has been sustained by the commerce, the navigation, or the revenue of the United States, and none of magnitude is to be apprehended from this existing state of mutual interdict.

With the other maritime and commercial nations of Europe our intercourse still continues with little variation. Since the cessation, by the convention of 24th June, 1822, of all discriminating duties upon the vessels of the United States and of France, in either country, our trade with that nation has increased and is increasing. A disposition on the part of France has been manifested to renew that negotiation; and, in acceding to the proposal, we have expressed the wish that it might be extended to other objects, upon which a good understanding between the parties would be beneficial to the interests of both. The origin of the political relations between the United States and France is coeval with the first years of our independence. The memory of it is interwoven with that of our arduous struggle for national existence. Weakened as it has occasionally been since that time, it can by us never be forgotten; and we should hail with exultation the moment which should indicate a recollection equally friendly in spirit on the

part of France. A fresh effort has recently been made, by the minister of the United States residing at Paris, to obtain a consideration of the just claims of citizens of the United States, to the reparation of wrongs long since committed, many of them frankly acknowledged, and all of them entitled, upon every principle of justice, to a candid examination. The proposal last made to the French government has been, to refer the subject which has formed an obstacle to this consideration to the determination of a sove reign the common friend of both. To this offer no definitive answer has yet been received; but the gallant and honorable spirit which has at all times been the pride and glory of France, will not ultimately permit the demands of innocent sufferers to be extinguished in the mere consciousness of the power to reject them.

A new treaty of amity, navigation, and commerce has been concluded with the kingdom of Sweden, which will be submitted to the Senate, for their advice with regard to its ratification. At a more recent date, a minis ter plenipotentiary from the Hanseatic republics of Hamburg, Lubeck, and Bremen, has been received, charged with a special mission for the negotia tion of a treaty of amity and commerce between that ancient and renowned league and the United States. This negotiation has accordingly been commenced, and is now in progress, the result of which will, if successful, be also submitted to the Senate for their consideration.

Since the accession of the Emperor Nicholas to the imperial throne of all the Russias, the friendly dispositions toward the United States, so constantly manifested by his predecessor, have continued unabated, and have been recently testified by the appointment of a minister plenipotentiary to reside at this place. From the interest taken by this sovereign in behalf of the suffering Greeks, and from the spirit with which others of the great European powers are co-operating with him, the friends of freedom and of humanity may indulge the hope that they will obtain relief from that most unequal of conflicts which they have so long and so gallantly sustained; that they will enjoy the blessings of self-government which, by their sufferings in the cause of liberty, they have richly earned; and that their independence will be secured by those liberal institutions of which their country furnished the earliest examples in the history of mankind, and which have consecrated to immortal remembrance the very soil for which they are now again profusely pouring forth their blood. The sympathies which the people and the government of the United States have so warmly indulged with their cause, have been acknowledged by their government, in a letter of thanks, which I have received from their illustrious president, a translation of which is now communicated to Congress, the representatives of that nation to whom this tribute of gratitude was intended to be paid, and to whom it was justly due.

In the American hemisphere, the cause of freedom and independence has continued to prevail, and if signalized by none of those splendid triumphs which had crowned with glory some of the preceding years, it has only been from the banishment of all external force against which the struggle had been maintained. The shout of victory has been superseded by the expul sion of the enemy over whom it could have been achieved. Our friendly wishes and cordial good will, which have constantly followed the southern nations of America, in all the vicissitudes of their war of independence, are succeeded by a solicitude equally ardent and cordial, that, by the wisdom and purity of their institutions, they may secure to themselves the choicest

blessings of social order, and the best rewards of virtuous liberty. Disclaiming alike all right and all intention of interfering in those concerns which it is the prerogative of their independence to regulate as to them shall seem fit, we hail with joy every indication of their prosperity, of their harmony, of their persevering and inflexible homage to those principles of freedom and of equal rights which are alone suited to the genius and temper of the American nations. It has been, therefore, with some concern that we have observed indications of intestine divisions in some of the republics of the south, and appearances of less union with one another than we believe to be the interest of all. Among the results of this state of things has been that the treaties concluded at Panama do not appear to have been ratified by the contracting parties, and that the meeting of the congress at Tacubaya has been indefinitely postponed. In accepting the invitations to be represented at this congress, while a manifestation was intended on the part of the United States, of the most friendly disposition toward the southern republics by whom it had been proposed, it was hoped that it would furnish an opportunity for bringing all the nations of this hemisphere to the common acknowledgment and adoption of the principles, in the regulation of their internal relations, which would have secured a lasting peace and harmony between them, and have promoted the cause of mutual benevolence throughout the globe. But as obstacles appear to have arisen to the re-assembling of the congress, one of the two ministers commissioned on the part of the United States has returned to the bosom of his country, while the ministers charged with the ordinary mission to Mexico remain authorized to attend at the conferences of the congress, whenever they may be resumed.

A hope was for a short time entertained that a treaty of peace, actually signed between the governments of Buenos Ayres and Brazil, would supersede all farther occasions for those collisions between belligerent pretensions and neutral rights which are so commonly the result of maritime war, and which have unfortunately disturbed the harmony of the relations between the United States and the Brazilian government. At their last session, Congress were informed that some of the naval officers of that empire had advanced and practised upon principles in relation to blockade, and to neutral navigation, which we could not sanction, and which our commanders found it necessary to resist. It appears that they have not been sustained by the government of Brazil itself. Some of the vessels captured under the assumed authority of these erroneous principles have been restored, and we trust that our just expectations will be realized, that adequate indemnity will be made to all the citizens of the United States who have suffered by the unwarranted captures which the Brazilian tribunals themseves have pronounced unlawful.

In the diplomatic discussion at Rio de Janeiro of these wrongs, sustained by citizens of the United States, and of others which seemed as if emanating immediately from that government itself, the chargé d'affaires of the United States, under an impression that his representations in behalf of the rights and interests of his countrymen were totally disregarded and useless, deemed it his duty, without waiting for instructions, to terminate his official functions, to demand his passports, and return to the United States. This movement, dictated by an honest zeal for the honor and interest of his country-motives which operated exclusively upon the mind of the officer who resorted to it has not been disapproved by me. The Brazilian government,

however, complained of it as a measure for which no adequate intentional cause had been given by them; and, upon an explicit assurance, through their chargé d'affaires residing here, that a successor to the late representative of the United States near that government, the appointment of whom they desired, should be received and treated with the respect due to his character, and that indemnity should be promptly made for all injuries inflicted on citizens of the United States, or their property, contrary to the laws of nations, a temporary commission as chargé d'affaires to that country has been issued, which, it is hoped, will entirely restore the ordinary diplomatic intercourse between the two governments, and the friendly relations between their respective nations.

Turning from the momentous concerns of our Union, in its intercourse with foreign nations, to those of the deepest interest in the administration of our internal affairs, we find the revenues of the present year corresponding as nearly as might be expected to the anticipations of the last, and presenting an aspect still more favorable in the promise of the next. The balance in the treasury on the first of January last, was six millions three hundred and fifty-eight thousand six hundred and eighty-six dollars eighteen cents. The receipts from that day to the 30th September last, as near as the returns of them yet received can show, amount to sixteen millions eight hundred and eighty-six thousand five hundred and eighty-one dollars thirty-two cents. The receipts of the present quarter, estimated at four millions five hundred and fifteen thousand dollars, added to the above, form an aggregate of twenty-one millions four hundred thousand dollars of receipts. The expenditures of the year may perhaps amount to twenty-two millions three hundred thousand dollars, presenting a small excess over the receipts. But of these twentytwo millions of dollars, upwards of six have been applied to the discharge of the principal of the public debt; the whole amount of which, approaching seventy-four millions of dollars, on the first of January last, will, on the first day of next year, fall short of sixty-seven millions five hundred thousand dollars. The balance in the treasury, on the first of January next, it is expected will exceed five millions four hundred and fifty thousand dollars, a sum exceeding that of the first of January, 1825, though falling short of that exhibited on the first of January last.

It. was foreseen that the revenue of the present year would not equal that of the last, which had itself been less than that of the next preceding year. But the hope has been realized which was entertained, that these deficiencies would in no wise interrupt the steady operation of the discharge of the pub lic debt by the annual ten millions devoted to that object by the act of 3d of March, 1817.

The amount of duties secured on merchandise imported from the commencement of the year until the 30th of September last, is twenty-one millions two hundred and twenty-six thousand dollars, and the probable amount of that which will be secured during the remainder of the year, is five mil lions seven hundred and seventy-four thousand dollars; forming a sum total of twenty-seven millions of dollars. With the allowances for drawbacks and contingent deficiencies which may occur, though not specifically foreseen, we may safely estimate the receipts of the ensuing year at twenty-two millions three hundred thousand dollars; a revenue for the next, equal to the expenditures of the present year.

The deep solicitude felt by our citizens of all classes throughout the Union for the total discharge of the public debt, will apologize for the