repairs, and the security of vessels of war is dictated by the soundest policy.

In adjusting the duties on imports to the object of revenue the influence of the tariff on manufactures will necessarily present itself for cousideration. However wise the theory may be which leaves to the sagacity and interest of individuals the application of their industry and resources, there are in this as in other cases exceptions to the general rule. Besides the condition which the theory itself implies of a reciprocal adoption by other nations, experience teaches that so many circumstances must concur in introducing and maturing manufacturing establishments, especially of the more complicated kinds, that a country may remain long without them, although sufficiently advanced and in some respects even peculiarly fitted for carrying them on with success. Under circumstances giving a powerful impulse to manufacturing industry it has made among us a progress and exhibited an efficiency which justify the belief that with a protection not more than is due to the enterprising citizens whose interests are now at stake it will become at an early day not only safe against occasional competitions from abroad, but a source of domestic wealth and even of external commerce. In selecting the branches more especially entitled to the public patronage a preference is obviously claimed by such as will relieve the United States from a dependence on foreign supplies, ever subject to casual failures, for articles necessary for the public defense or connected with the primary wants of individuals. It will be an additional recommendation of particular manufactures where the materials for them are extensively drawn from our agriculture, and consequently impart and insure to that great fund of national prosperity and independence an encouragement which can not fail to be rewarded.

Among the means of advancing the public interest the occasion is a proper one for recalling the attention of Congress to the great importance of establishing throughout our country the roads and canals which can best be executed under the national authority. No objects within the circle of political economy so richly repay the expense bestowed on them; there are none the utility of which is more universally ascertained and acknowledged; none that do more honor to the governments whose wise and enlarged patriotism duly appreciates them. Nor is there any country which presents a field where nature invites more the art of man to complete her own work for his accommodation and benefit. These considerations are strengthened, moreover, by the political effect of these facilities for intercommunication in bringing and binding more closely together the various parts of our extended confederacy. Whilst the States individually, with a laudable enterprise and emulation, avail themselves of their local advantages by new roads, by navigable canals, and by improving the streams susceptible of navigation, the General Government is the more urged to similar undertakings, requiring a national

jurisdiction and national means, by the prospect of thus systematically completing so inestimable a work; and it is a happy reflection that any defect of constitutional authority which may be encountered can be supplied in a mode which the Constitution itself has providently pointed out. The present is a favorable season also for bringing again into view the establishment of a national seminary of learning within the District of Columbia, and with means drawn from the property therein, subject to the authority of the General Government. Such an institution claims the patronage of Congress as a monument of their solicitude for the advancement of knowledge, without which the blessings of liberty can not be fully enjoyed or long preserved; as a model instructive in the formation of other seminaries; as a nursery of enlightened preceptors, and as a central resort of youth and genius from every part of their country, diffusing on their return examples of those national feelings, those liberal sentiments, and those congenial manners which contribute cement to our Union and strength to the great political fabric of which that is the foundation.

In closing this communication I ought not to repress a sensibility, in which you will unite, to the happy lot of our country and to the goodness of a superintending Providence, to which we are indebted for it. Whilst other portions of mankind are laboring under the distresses of war or struggling with adversity in other forms, the United States are in the tranquil enjoyment of prosperous and honorable peace. In reviewing the scenes through which it has been attained we can rejoice in the proofs given that our political institutions, founded in human rights and framed for their preservation, are equal to the severest trials of war, as well as adapted to the ordinary periods of repose. As fruits of this experience and of the reputation acquired by the American arms on the land and on the water, the nation finds itself possessed of a growing respect abroad and of a just confidence in itself, which are among the best pledges for its peaceful career. Under other aspects of our country the strongest features of its flourishing condition are seen in a population rapidly increas-. ing on a territory as productive as it is extensive; in a general industry and fertile ingenuity which find their ample rewards, and in an affluent revenue which admits a reduction of the public burdens without withdrawing the means of sustaining the public credit, of gradually discharging the public debt, of providing for the necessary defensive and precautionary establishments, and of patronizing in every authorized mode undertakings conducive to the aggregate wealth and individual comfort of our citizens.

It remains for the guardians of the public welfare to persevere in that justice and good will toward other nations which invite a return of these sentiments toward the United States; to cherish institutions which guarantee their safety and their liberties, civil and religious; and to combine with a liberal system of foreign commerce an improvement of the national

advantages and a protection and extension of the independent resources of our highly favored and happy country.

In all measures having such objects my faithful cooperation will be afforded.

JAMES MADISON.

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

To the Senate of the United States:

WASHINGTON, December 6, 1815.

I lay before the Senate, for their consideration and advice as to a ratification, a treaty of peace with the Dey of Algiers concluded on the 30th day of June, 1815, with a letter relating to the same from the American commissioners to the Secretary of State.

To the Senate of the United States:

JAMES MADISON.

DECEMBER 6, 1815.

I lay before the Senate, for their consideration and advice as to a ratification, a convention to regulate the commerce between the United States and Great Britain, signed by their respective plenipotentiaries on the 3d of July last, with letters relating to the same from the American plenipotentiaries to the Secretary of State, and also the declaration with which it is the intention of the British Government to accompany the exchange of the ratification of the convention.

To the Senate of the United States:

JAMES MADISON.

WASHINGTON, December 6, 1815.

I lay before the Senate, for their consideration and advice as to a ratification, treaties which have been concluded with the following Indian tribes, viz: Iaway tribe, Kickapoo tribe, Poutawatamie, Siouxs of the Lakes, Piankeshaw tribe, Siouxs of the River St. Peters, Great and Little Osage tribes, Yancton tribe, Mahas, Fox tribe, Teeton, Sac Nation, Kanzas tribe, Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatamie, Shawanoe, Wyandot, Miami, Delaware, and Seneca.

I communicate also the letters from the commissioners on the part of the United States relating to their proceedings on those occasions.

To the Senate of the United States:

JAMES MADISON.

WASHINGTON, December II, 1815.

I transmit the original of the convention between the United States and Great Britain, as signed by their respective plenipotentiaries, on the

3d day of July last, a copy of which was laid before the Senate on the 5th instant.

I transmit also a copy of the late treaty of peace with Algiers, as certified by one of the commissioners of the United States, an office copy of which was laid before the Senate on the 5th instant, the original of the treaty not having been received.

JAMES MADISON.

DECEMBER 23, 1815.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

I lay before Congress copies of a proclamation notifying the convention concluded with Great Britain on the 3d day of July last, and that the same has been duly ratified; and I recommend to Congress such legislative provisions as the convention may call for on the part of the United States.

JAMES MADISON.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

The accompanying extract from the occurrences at Fort Jackson in August, 1814, during the negotiation of a treaty with the Indians shows that the friendly Creeks, wishing to give to General Jackson, Benjamin Hawkins, and others a national mark of their gratitude and regard, conveyed to them, respectively, a donation of land, with a request that the grant might be duly confirmed by the Government of the United States.

Taking into consideration the peculiar circumstances of the case, the expediency of indulging the Indians in wishes which they associated with the treaty signed by them, and that the case involves an inviting opportunity for bestowing on an officer who has rendered such illustrious services to his country a token of its sensibility to them, the inducement to which can not be diminished by the delicacy and disinterestedness of his proposal to transfer the benefit from himself, I recommend to Congress that provision be made for carrying into effect the wishes and request of the Indians as expressed by them.

JAMES MADISON.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

It is represented that the lands in the Michigan Territory designated by law toward satisfying land bounties promised the soldiers of the late army are so covered with swamps and lakes, or otherwise unfit for cultivation, that a very inconsiderable proportion can be applied to the

intended grants. I recommend, therefore, that other lands be designated by Congress for the purpose of supplying the deficiency.

JAMES MADISON.

To the Senate of the United States:

MARCH 5, 1816.

In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the 2d instant, they are informed that great losses having been sustained by citizens of the United States from unjust seizures and confiscations of their property by the late Government of Naples, it was deemed expedient that indemnification should be claimed by a special mission for that purpose. The occasion may be proper, also, for securing the use and accommodations of the Neapolitan ports, which may at any time be needed by the public ships of the United States, and for obtaining relief for the American commerce from the disadvantageous and unequal regulations now operating against it in that Kingdom.

JAMES MADISON.

MARCH 9, 1816.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I lay before Congress a statement of the militia of the United States according to the latest returns received by the Department of War.

JAMES MADISON.

APRIL II, 1816.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

With a view to the more convenient arrangement of the important and growing business connected with the grant of exclusive rights to inventors and authors, I recommend the establishment of a distinct office within the Department of State to be charged therewith, under a director with a salary adequate to his services, and with the privilege of franking communications by mail from and to the office. I recommend also that further restraints be imposed on the issue of patents to wrongful claimants, and further guards provided against fraudulent exactions of fees by persons possessed of patents.

JAMES MADISON.

APRIL 16, 1816.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

I lay before Congress copies of a convention concluded between the United States and the Cherokee Indians on the 2d day of March last, as the same has been duly ratified and proclaimed; and I recommend that