Chapter 14

In transmitting to Congress copies of a communication received from the governor of Pennsylvania, with certain resolutions of the legislature of that Commonwealth, relating to the Cumberland road, I deem it my duty to recommend to the consideration of Congress an adequate provision for the permanent preservation and repair of that great national work.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _March 3, 1828_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary of State, with documents, containing the instructions of the Government of the United States to Thomas Pinckney under which was negotiated the treaty of San Lorenzo el Real, and relating to the boundary line between the United States and the dominions, at that time, of Spain as requested by a resolution of the House of the 18th ultimo.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _March 3, 1828_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 3d of January last, requesting the communication of information in my possession relative to alleged aggression on the rights of citizens of the United States by persons claiming authority under the government of the Province of New Brunswick, I communicate a report from the Secretary of State, with a copy of that of the special agent mentioned in my message at the commencement of the present session of Congress as having been sent to visit the spot where the cause of complaint had occurred to ascertain the state of the facts, and the result of whose inquiries I then promised to communicate to Congress when it should be received.

The Senate are requested to receive this communication as the fulfillment of that engagement; and in making it I deem it proper to notice with just acknowledgment the liberality with which the minister of His Britannic Majesty residing here and the government of the Province of New Brunswick have furnished the agent of the United States with every facility for the attainment of the information which it was the object of his mission to procure.

Considering the exercise of exclusive territorial jurisdiction upon the grounds in controversy by the government of New Brunswick in the arrest and imprisonment of John Baker as incompatible with the mutual understanding existing between the Governments of the United States and of Great Britain on this subject, a demand has been addressed to the provincial authorities through the minister of Great Britain for the release of that individual from prison, and of indemnity to him for his detention'. In doing this it has not been intended to maintain the regularity of his own proceedings or of those with whom he was associated, to which they were not authorized by any sovereign authority of this country.

The documents appended to the report of the agent being original papers belonging to the files of the Department of State, a return of them is requested when the Senate shall have no further use for them.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _March 7, 1828_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

The resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, requesting me to cause to be laid before the Senate all papers which might be in the Department of War relating to the treaty concluded at the Butte des Morts, on Fox River, between Lewis Cass and Thomas L. McKenney, commissioners on the part of the United States, and the Chippewa, Menomonie, and Winnebago tribes of Indians, having been referred to the Secretary of War, the report of that officer thereon is herewith inclosed. The papers therein referred to were all transmitted to the Senate with the treaty. Before that event, however, a petition and several other papers had been addressed directly to me, in behalf of certain Indians originally and in part still residing within the State of New York, objecting to the ratification of the treaty, as affecting injuriously their rights and interests. The treaty was itself withheld from the Senate until it was understood at the War Department and by me that by the consent of the persons representing the New York Indians their objections were withdrawn, as by one of them, the Reverend Eleazer Williams, I was personally assured. Those papers, however, addressed directly to me, and which have not been upon the files of the War Department, are now transmitted to the Senate.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _March 14, 1828_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a treaty concluded at the Wyandot village, near the Wabash, in the State of Indiana, between John Tipton, commissioner on the part of the United States, and the chiefs, headmen, and warriors of the Eel River or Thorntown party of Miami Indians, on the 11th day of February last.

A letter from the commissioner to the Secretary of War, with a copy of the journal of the proceedings which led to the conclusion of the treaty, are communicated with it to the Senate.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _March 15, 1828_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 21st ultimo, requesting me to lay before the House correspondence not heretofore communicated between the Government of the United States and that of Great Britain on the subject of the claims of the two Governments to the territory westward of the Rocky Mountains, I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of State, with the documents requested by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _March 21, 1828_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty concluded on the 15th day of November, 1827, by commissioners of the United States and the chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation of Indians, which was duly ratified on the 4th instant.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _March 22, 1828_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 3d instant, touching the formation of a new government by the Cherokee tribe of Indians within the States of North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama, and requesting copies of certain correspondence relating thereto, I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary of War, together with the documents desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _March 25, 1828_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, prepared in compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 25th of February last, requesting copies of instructions and correspondence relating to the settlement of the boundary lines of the United States, or any one of them, under the Government of the Confederated States and by the definitive treaty of peace of 3d September, 1783, with Great Britain.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _April 8, 1828_

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 22d ultimo, on the subject of the treaty with the Creek Nation of Indians of the 15th November last, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with the documents, containing the information desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _April 15, 1828_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 9th instant, requesting copies of the charges preferred against the agent of the United States for the Creek tribe of Indians since the 1st of January, 1826, and of proceedings had thereon, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with documents, containing the information desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _April 17, 1828_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

In conformity with the practice of all my predecessors, I have during my service in the office of President transmitted to the two Houses of Congress from time to time, by the same private secretary, such messages as a proper discharge of my constitutional duty appeared to me to require. On Tuesday last he was charged with the delivery of a message to each House. Having presented that which was intended for the House of Representatives, whilst he was passing, within the Capitol, from their Hall to the Chamber of the Senate, for the purpose of delivering the other message, he was waylaid and assaulted in the Rotunda by a person, in the presence of a member of the House, who interposed and separated the parties.

I have thought it my duty to communicate this occurrence to Congress, to whose wisdom it belongs to consider whether it is of a nature requiring from them any animadversion, and also whether any further laws or regulations are necessary to insure security in the official intercourse between the President and Congress, and to prevent disorders within the Capitol itself.

In the deliberations of Congress upon this subject it is neither expected nor desired that any consequence shall be attached to the private relation in which my secretary stands to me.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _April 21, 1828_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a treaty of limits between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, concluded by the plenipotentiaries of the two Governments on the 12th of January last. A copy of the treaty and the protocols of conference between the plenipotentiaries during the negotiation are inclosed with it.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _April 22,1828_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

A copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General, dated 17th May, 1826, upon the construction of the award of the Emperor of Russia under the treaty of Ghent and upon certain questions propounded to him in relation thereto, subjoined to a report from the Secretary of State, are herewith communicated to the House, in compliance with their resolution of the 17th instant.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _April 24, 1828_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for the exercise of their constitutional authority thereon, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, signed by their respective plenipotentiaries on the 14th of February last, with a copy of the treaty and the protocols of conference during and subsequent to the negotiation.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _April 28,1828_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th instant, requesting a communication of the correspondence between this Government and that of Great Britain on the subject of the trade between the United States and the British colonial possessions in the West Indies and North America, not heretofore communicated, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with the correspondence desired.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _April 30, 1828_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

In the month of December last 121 African negroes were landed at Key West from a Spanish slave-trading vessel stranded within the jurisdiction of the United States while pursued by an armed schooner in His Britannic Majesty's service. The collector of the customs at Key West took possession of these persons, who were afterwards delivered over to the marshal of the Territory of East Florida, by whom they were conveyed to St. Augustine, where they still remain.

Believing that the circumstances under which they have been cast upon the compassion of the country are not embraced by the provisions of the act of Congress of 3d March, 1819, or of the other acts prohibiting the slave trade, I submit to the consideration of Congress the expediency of a supplementary act directing and authorizing such measures as may be necessary for removing them from the territory of the United States and for fulfilling toward them the obligations of humanity.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _May 1, 1828_. _To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 17th ultimo, relating to the removal of the Indian agency from Fort Wayne, in the State of Indiana, I transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with the documents and information requested by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _May 5, 1828_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 30th ultimo, requesting information concerning any regulation of the Government of Brazil relative to the reduction of certain duties, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, exhibiting the information received at that Department on the subject.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _May 5,1828_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I communicate to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, a treaty of commerce and navigation between the United States and His Majesty the King of Prussia, signed on the 1st instant at this place by the Secretary of State and the chargé d'affaires of Prussia residing here. A copy of the treaty is also transmitted.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _May 9, 1828_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

The report of the Secretary of War herewith transmitted, with the documents annexed, contains the information requested by a resolution of the 3d of April last, relating to the payments made to the citizens of Georgia under the fourth article of the treaty with the Creek Nation of 8th February, 1821, and to the disallowances of certain claims exhibited under that treaty, and to the reasons for rejecting the same.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _May 12, 1828_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I transmit to the Senate, for their consideration and advice, the articles of a convention concluded at this place on the 6th instant between the Secretary of War and the chiefs and headmen of the Cherokee Nation west of the Mississippi, duly authorized by their nation. A report from the Secretary of War, with certain documents, and a map illustrative of the convention are submitted with it to the Senate.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _May 16, 1828_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

By a communication received from the chargé d'affaires of Prussia, a translation of which is herewith transmitted, it appears that in the ports of that Kingdom all discriminating duties so far as they affected the vessels of the United States and their cargoes have been abolished since the 15th of April, 1826. I recommend to the consideration of Congress a legislative provision whereby the reciprocal application of the same principle may be extended to Prussian vessels and their cargoes which may have arrived in the ports of the United States from and after that day.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _May 19, 1828_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress copies of three conventions concluded between the United States of America and His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the ratifications of which were exchanged at London on the 2d of last month:

1. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in force the provisions of the convention of 3d July, 1815.

2. A convention concluded 6th August, 1827, for continuing in force the provisions of the third article of the convention of 20th October, 1818.

3. A convention concluded 29th September, 1827, for carrying into effect the provisions of the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent in relation to the northeastern boundary of the United States.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _May 21, 1828_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to the House a report[015] from the Secretary of State, with a copy of the note of the minister of the United States to Spain dated 20th January, 1826, requested by a resolution of the House of the 19th instant.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _May 22, 1828_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

The inclosed report from the Secretary of State is accompanied by copies of the correspondence between this Government and the minister of His Britannic Majesty residing here relating to the arrest and imprisonment of John Baker,[016] requested by a recent resolution of the House.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _May 22, 1828_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

I transmit to Congress copies of a treaty between the United States of America and the Eel River or Thornton party of Miami Indians, concluded on the 11th of February last at the Wyandot village, near the Wabash, and duly ratified on the 7th instant.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _May 23, 1828_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant, relating to the accounts and official conduct of Thomas A. Smith, receiver of public moneys at Franklin, Mo., I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, _May 23, 1828_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 30th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of the correspondence[017] with the Brazilian Government, and shewing the measures taken by the Government of the United States in relation to the several topics noticed in the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.

* * * * *

PROCLAMATION.

By the President of the United States of America.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United States by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels belonging wholly to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as respects the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given to the President of the United States, and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States and merchandise as aforesaid thereon laden shall be continued, and no longer; and

Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His Britannic Majesty, as King of Hanover, through the Right Honorable Charles Richard Vaughan, his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, that vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States or merchandise the produce or manufacture thereof imported in such vessels are not nor shall be on their entering any Hanoverian port subject to the payment of higher duties of tonnage or impost than are levied on Hanoverian ships or merchandise the produce or manufacture of the United States imported in such vessels:

Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts imposing duties on the tonnage of ships and vessels and on goods, wares, and merchandise imported into the United States as imposed a discriminating duty of tonnage between the vessels of the Kingdom of Hanover and vessels of the United States and between goods imported into the United States in vessels of the Kingdom of Hanover and vessels of the United States are suspended and discontinued so far as the same respect the produce or manufacture of the said Kingdom of Hanover, the said suspension to take effect this day and to continue henceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the United States and of the merchandise laden therein as aforesaid shall be continued in the ports of the Kingdom of Hanover.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 1st day of July, A. D. 1828, and the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United States.

John Quincy Adams.

By the President:

H. Clay, _Secretary of State_.

* * * * *

EXECUTIVE ORDER.

Department of War, _February 28, 1828_.

The Secretary of War, by direction of the President of the United States, announces to the Army the painful intelligence of the decease (the 24th of February) of Major-General Brown.

To say that he was one of the men who have rendered most important services to his country would fall far short of the tribute due to his character. Uniting with the most unaffected simplicity the highest degree of personal valor and of intellectual energy, he stands preeminent before the world and for after ages in that band of heroic spirits who upon the ocean and the land formed and sustained during the second war with Great Britain the martial reputation of their country. To this high and honorable purpose General Brown may be truly said to have sacrificed his life, for the disease which abridged his days and has terminated his career at a period scarcely beyond the meridian of manhood undoubtedly originated in the hardships of his campaigns on the Canada frontier, and in that glorious wound which, though desperate, could not remove him from the field of battle till it was won.

Quick to perceive, sagacious to anticipate, prompt to decide, and daring in execution, he was born with the qualities which constitute a great commander. His military _coup d'oeil_ his intuitive penetration, his knowledge of men and his capacity to control them were known to all his companions in arms, and commanded their respect; while the gentleness of his disposition, the courtesy of his deportment, his scrupulous regard to their rights, his constant attention to their wants, and his affectionate attachment to their persons universally won their hearts and bound them to him as a father.

Calm and collected in the presence of the enemy, he was withal tender of human life; in the hour of battle more sparing of the blood of the soldier than his own. In the hour of victory the vanquished enemy found in him a humane and compassionate friend. Not one drop of blood shed in wantonness or cruelty sullies the purity of his fame. Defeat he was never called to endure, but in the crisis of difficulty and danger he displayed untiring patience and fortitude not to be overcome.

Such was the great and accomplished captain whose loss the Army has now, in common with their fellow-citizens of all classes, to deplore. While indulging the kindly impulses of nature and yielding the tribute of a tear upon his grave, let it not be permitted to close upon his bright example as it must upon his mortal remains. Let him be more nobly sepulchered in the hearts of his fellow-soldiers, and his imperishable monument be found in their endeavors to emulate his virtues.