depositories should be permitted to sell or purchase bills under very limited restrictions, together with all its other details, was submitted to the wisdom of Congress, and was regarded as of secondary importance. I thought then, and think now, that such an arrangement would have been attended with the happiest results. The whole matter of the currency would have been placed where by the Constitution it was designed to be placed-under the immediate supervision and control of Congress. The action of the Government would have been independent of all corporations, and the same eye which rests unceasingly on the specie currency, and guards it against adulteration, would also have rested on the paper currency, to control and regulate its issues and protect it against depreciation. The same reasons which would forbid Congress from parting with the power over the coinage, would seem to operate with nearly equal force in regard to any substitution for the precious metals in the form of a circulating medium. Paper, when substituted for specie, constitutes a standard of value by which the operations of society are regulated; and whatsoever causes its depreciation affects society to an extent nearly, if not quite, equal to the adulteration of the coin. Nor can I withhold the remark, that its advantages, contrasted with a Bank of the United States, apart from the fact that a bank was esteemed as obnoxious to the public sentiment, as well on the score of expediency as of constitutionality, appeared to me to be striking and obvious. The relief which a bank would afford by an issue of $15,000,000 of its notes, judging from the experience of the late United States Bank, would not have occurred in less than fifteen years; whereas, under the proposed arrangement, the relief arising from the issue of $15,000,000 of Treasury notes would have been consummated in one year; thus furnishing in one-fifteenth part of the time in which a bank could have accomplished it, a paper medium of exchange equal in amount to the real wants of the country, at par value with gold and silver. The saving to the Government would have been equal to all the interest which it has had to pay on Treasury notes of previous as well as subsequent issues, thereby relieving the Government, and at the same time affording relief to the people. Under all the responsibilities attached to the station which I occupy, and in redemption of a pledge given to the last Congress at the close of its first session, I submitted the suggestion to its consideration at two consecutive sessions. The recommendation, however, met with no favor at its hands. While I am free to admit, that the necessities of the times have since become greatly ameliorated, and that there is good reason to hope that the country is safely and rapidly emerging from the difficulties and embarrassments which every where surrounded it in 1841, yet I cannot but think that its restoration to a sound and healthy condition would be greatly expedited by a resort to the expedient in a modified form.

The operations of the Treasury now rest on the act of 1789 and the resolution of 1816, and those laws have been so administered as to produce as great a quantum of good to the country as their provisions are capable of yielding. If there had been any distinct expression of opinion going to show that public sentiment is averse to the plan either as heretofore recommended to Congress, or in a modified form, while my own opinion in,regard to it would remain unchanged, I should be very far from again presenting it to your consideration. The Government has originated with the States and the people, for their own benefit and advantage; and it would be subversive of the foundation principles of the political edifice which they

have reared, to persevere in a measure which in their mature judgments they had either repudiated or condemned. The will of our constituents, dearly expressed, should be regarded as the light to guide our footsteps; the true difference between a monarchical or aristocratical Government and a Republic being, that in the first the will of the few prevails over the will of the many, while in the last the will of the many should be alone consalted.

The report of the Secretary of War will bring you acquainted with the condition of that important branch of the public service. The army may be regarded, in consequence of the small number of the rank and file in each company and regiment, as little more than a nucleus around which to rally the military force of the country in case of war; and yet its services, in preserving the peace of the frontiers, are of a most important nature. In all cases of emergency, the reliance of the country is properly placed in the militia of the several States, and it may well deserve the consideration of Congress, whether a new and more perfect organization might not be introduced, looking mainly to the volunteer companies of the Union for the present, and of easy application to the great body of the militia in time of

war.

The expenditures of the War Department have been considerably reduced within the last two years; contingencies, however, may arise, which would call for the filling up of the regiments with a full complement of men, and make it very desirable to remount the corps of dragoons, which by an act of the last Congress, was directed to be dissolved.

I refer you to the accompanying report of the Secretary, for information in relation to the navy of the United States. While every effort has been and will continue to be made to retrench all superfluities and lop off all excrescences which from time to time may have grown up, yet it has not been regarded as wise or prudent to recommend any material change in the annual appropriations. The interests which are involved are of too important a character to lead to the recommendation of any other than a liberal policy. Adequate appropriations ought to be made to enable the Executive to fit out all the ships that are now in a course of building, or that require repairs, for active service in the shortest possible time, should any emergency arise which may require it. An efficient navy, while it is the cheapest means of public defence, enlists in its support the feelings of pride and confidence which brilliant deeds and heroic valor have heretofore served to strengthen and confirm.

I refer you particularly to that part of the Secretary's report which has reference to recent experiments in the application of steam and in the construction of war steamers, made under the superintendence of distinguished officers of the navy. In addition to other manifest improvements in the construction of the steam engine and application of the motive power, which has rendered them more appropriate to the uses of ships of war, one of those officers has brought into use a power which makes the steam ship most formidable either for attack or defence. I cannot too strongly recommend this subject to your consideration, and do not hesitate to express my entire conviction of its great importance.

I call your particular attention also to that portion of the Secretary's report which has reference to the act of the late session of Congress which prohibited the transfer of any balance of appropriation from other heads of appropriation to that for building, equipment, and repair. The repeal of

that prohibition will enable the Department to give renewed employment to a large class of workmen who have been necessarily discharged, in consequence of the want of means to pay them-a circumstance attended, especially at this season of the year, with much privation and suffering.

It gives me great pain to announce to you the loss of the steamship the "Missouri," by fire, in the bay of Gibraltar, where she had stopped to renew her supplies of coal, on her voyage to Alexandria, with Mr. Cushing, the American minister to China, on board. There is ground for high commendation of the officers and men, for the coolness and intrepidity and perfect submission to discipline evinced under the most trying circumstances. Surrounded by a raging fire, which the utmost exertions could not subdue, and which threatened momentarily the explosions of her wellsupplied magazines, the officers exhibited no signs of fear, and the men obeyed every order with alacrity. Nor was she abandoned until the last gleam of hope of saving her had expired. It is well worthy of your consideration, whether the losses sustained by the officers and crew in this unfortunate affair should not be reimbursed to them.

I cannot take leave of this painful subject without adverting to the aid rendered upon the occasion by the British authorities at Gibraltar, and the commander, officers, and crew of the British ship of the line the "Malabar," which was lying at the time in the bay. Every thing that generosity or humanity could dictate was promptly performed. It is by such acts of good will by one to another of the family of nations, that fraternal feelings are nourished and the blessings of permanent peace secured.

The report of the Postmaster General will bring you acquainted with the operations of that Department during the past year, and will suggest to you such modifications of the existing laws as in your opinion the exigencies of the public service may require. The change which the country has undergone of late years, in the mode of travel and transportation, has afforded so many facilities for the transmission of mail matter out of the regular mail, as to require the greatest vigilance and circumspection, in order to enable the officer at the head of the Department to restrain the expenditures within the income. There is also too much reason to fear that the franking privilege has run into great abuse. The Department, nevertheless, has been conducted with the greatest vigor, and has attained, at the least possible expense, all the useful objects for which it was estab lished.

In regard to all the Departments, I am quite happy in the belief that nothing has been left undone which was called for by a true spirit of economy, or by a system of accountability rigidly enforced. This is in some degree apparent from the fact, that the Government has sustained no loss by the default of any of its agents. In the complex, but at the same time beautiful, machinery of our system of Government, it is not a matter of surprise that some remote agency may have failed for an instant to fulfil its desired office; but I feel confident in the assertion, that nothing has occurred to interrupt the harmonious action of the Government itself, and that, while the laws have been executed with efficiency and vigor, the rights neither of States nor individuals have been trampled on or disregarded.

In the mean time, the country has been steadily advancing in all that contributes to national greatness. The tide of population continues unbrokenly to flow into the new States and Territories, where a refuge is

found not only for our native-born fellow-citizens, but for emigrants from all parts of the civilized world, who come among us to partake of the blessings of our free institutions, and to aid by their labor to swell the current of our wealth and power.

It is due to every consideration of public policy that the lakes and rivers of the West should receive all such attention at the hands of Congress as the Constitution will enable it to bestow. Works in favorable and proper situations on the lakes would be found to be as indispensably necessary in case of war, to carry on safe and successful naval operations, as fortificatious on the Atlantic seaboard. The appropriation made by the last Congress, for the improvement of the navigation of the Mississippi river, has been diligently and efficiently applied.

I cannot close this communication, gentlemen, without recommending to your most favorable consideration the interests of this District. Appointed by the Constitution its exclusive legislators, and forming in this particular the only anomaly in our system of Government, of the legislative body being elected by others than those for whose advantage they are to legislate, you will feel a superadded obligation to look well into their condition, and to leave no cause for complaint or regret. The seat of Government of our associated Republics cannot but be regarded as worthy of your parental

care.

In connexion with its other interests, as well as those of the whole country, I recommend that at your present session you adopt such measures, in order to carry into effect the Smithsonian bequest, as in your judgment will be the best calculated to consummate the liberal intent of the testator. When, under a dispensation of Divine Providence, I succeeded to the Presidential office, the state of public affairs was embarrassing and critical. To add to the irritation consequent upon a long standing controversy with one of the most powerful nations of modern times, involving not only questions of boundary, which, under the most favorable circumstances, are always embarrassing, but at the same time important and high principles of maritime law, border controversies between the citizens and subjects of the two countries had engendered a state of feeling and of conduct which threatened the most calamitous consequences. The hazards incident to this state of things were greatly heightened by the arrest and imprisonment of a subject of Great Britain, who, acting, as it was alleged, as a part of a military force, had aided in the commission of an act violative of the territorial jurisdiction of the United States, and involving the murder of a citizen of the State of New York. A large amount of claims against the Government of Mexico remained unadjusted, and a war of several years' continuance with the savage tribes of Florida still prevailed, attended with the desolation of a large portion of that beautiful Territory, and with the sacrifice of many valuable lives. To increase the embarrassments of the Government, individual and State credit had been nearly stricken down, and confidence in the General Government was so much impaired that loans of a small amount could only be negotiated at a considerable sacrifice. As a necessary consequence of the blight which had fallen on commerce and mechanical industry, the ships of the one were thrown out of employment, and the operations of the other had been greatly diminished. Owing to the condition of the currency, exchanges between different parts of the country had become ruinously high, and trade had to depend on a depreciated paper currency in conducting its transactions. I shall be per

mitted to congratulate the country that, under an overruling Providence, peace was preserved without a sacrifice of the national honor, the war in Florida was brought to a speedy termination; a large portion of the claims on Mexico have been fully adjudicated and are in a course of payment, while justice has been rendered to us in other matters by other nations; confidence between man and man is in a great measure restored, and the credit of this Government fully and perfectly re-established. Commerce is becoming more and more extended in its operations, and manufacturing and mechanical industry once more reap the rewards of skill and labor honestly applied. The operations of trade rest on a sound currency, and the rates of exchange are reduced to their lowest amount. In this condition of things, I have felt it to be my duty to bring to your favorable consideration matters of great interest in their present and ultimate results; and the only desire which I feel in connexion with the future is, and will continue to be, to leave the country prosperous, and its institutions unimpaired.

WASHINGTON, December 5, 1843.

JOHN TYLER.