known during the present session of Congress. To give effect to this negotiation and to the negotiations which it is proposed to hold with all the other tribes within the limits of the several States and Territories on the principles and for the purposes stated, it is recommended that an adequate appropriation be now made by Congress. To the Senate of the United States: JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, January 27, 1825. I transmit to the Senate a treaty concluded in this city with a deputation from the Choctaw Indians, accompanied with the report from the Secretary of War, with a copy of the correspondence connected with the negotiations, for the advice and consent of the Senate. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 2, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I communicate herewith to both Houses of Congress copies of the alterations in the treaty of peace and friendship of August, 1797, between the United States and the Bashaw Bey of Tunis, concluded at the Palace of Bardo, near Tunis, on the 24th of February last, and of treaties between the United States and the Sock and Fox tribes of Indians and the Ioway tribe of Indians, concluded at the city of Washington on the 4th of August last, which have been duly ratified. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 4, 1825. The PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE OF THE SENATE: It appearing by certain provisions contained in a late act of the general assembly of Virginia, entitled "An act incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company," that the assent of Congress will be necessary to carry the said act into effect, I herewith transmit a copy thereof, that it may be considered with a view to the object contemplated. JAMES MONROE. [The same message was sent to the House of Representatives.] WASHINGTON, February 7, 1825. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I transmit herewith to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of the correspondence relating to the claims of the citizens of the United States upon the Government of the Netherlands, requested by a resolution of the House of the 18th of January last. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 11, 1825. To the House of Representatives of the United States: In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of January 5, I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with copies of the proceedings of the courts-martial in the cases of Lieutenants Weaver and Conner. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 14, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of War, with a report to him by the Chief Engineer, of the examination which has been made by the Board of Engineers for Internal Improvement, in obedience to their instructions, of the country between the Potomac and Ohio rivers, between the latter and Lake Erie, between the Allegheny and Schuylkill rivers, the Delaware and the Raritan, between Buzzards and Barnstable bays, and the Narraganset roads and Boston Harbor, with explanatory observations on each route. From the view which I have taken of these reports I contemplate results of incalculable advantage to our Union, because I see in them the most satisfactory proof that certain impediments which had a tendency to embarrass the intercourse between some of its most important sections may be removed without serious difficulty, and that facilities may be afforded in other quarters which will have the happiest effect. Of the right in Congress to promote these great results by the appropriation of the public money, in harmony with the States to be affected by them, having already communicated my sentiments fully and on mature consideration, I deem it unnecessary to enlarge at this time. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 16, 1825. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary of State, containing the information called for by their resolution of the Ist of this month, touching the capture and detention of American fishermen during the last season. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 17, 1825. To the House of Representatives of the United States: I herewith transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of the correspondence with the Government of France, requested by the resolution of the House of the 25th of January last. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 17, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I invite the attention of Congress to the peculiar situation of this District in regard to the exposure of its inhabitants to contagious diseases from abroad, against which it is thought that adequate provision should now be made. The exposure being common to the whole District, the regulation should apply to the whole, to make which Congress alone possesses the adequate power. That the regulation should be made by Con ́gress is the more necessary from the consideration that this being the seat of the Government, its protection against such diseases must form one of its principal objects. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 21, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with a report to him from the Third Auditor, of the settlement in the amount stated of the claims of the State of Massachusetts for services rendered by the militia of that State in the late war, the payment of which has hitherto been prevented by causes which are well known to Congress. Having communicated my sentiments on this subject fully in a message bearing date on the 23d of February, 1824, it is unnecessary to repeat in detail here what I there advanced. By recurring to that message and to the documents referred to in it it will be seen that the conduct of the executive of that State in refusing to place the militia thereof at that difficult conjuncture under the direction of the Executive of the United States, as it was bound to do by a fair construction of the Constitution, and as the other States did, is the great cause to which the difficulty adverted to is to be ascribed. It will also be seen on a view of those documents that the executive of the State was warned at the time if it persevered in the refusal that the consequences which have followed would be inevitable; that the attitude assumed by the State formed a case which was not contemplated by the existing laws of the United States relating to militia services; that the payment of the claims of the State for such services could be provided for by Congress only and by a special law for the purpose. Having made this communication while acting in the Department of War to the governor of Massachusetts, with the sanction and under the direction of my enlightened and virtuous predecessor, it would be improper in any view which may be taken of the subject for me to change the ground then assumed, to withdraw this great question from the consideration of Congress, and to act on it myself. Had the Executive been in error, it is entitled to censure, making a just allowance for the motive which guided it. If its conduct was correct, the ground then assumed ought to be maintained by it. It belongs to Congress alone to terminate this distressing incident on just principles, with a view to the highest interests of our Union. From the view which I have taken of the subject I am confirmed in the opinion that Congress should now decide on the claim and allow to the State such portions thereof as are founded on the principles laid down in the former message. If those principles are correct, as on great consideration I am satisfied they are, it appears to me to be just in itself and of high importance that the sums which may be due in conformity therewith should no longer be withheld from the State. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 21, 1825. The PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE PRO TEMPORE: I transmit to the Senate a convention, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the United States and of the Republic of Colombia at Bogota on the 10th of December, 1824, together with the documents appertaining to the negotiation of the same, for the constitutional consideration of the Senate with regard to its ratification. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 21, 1825. The PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE PRO TEMPORE: I transmit to the Senate a convention of general peace, amity, navigation, and commerce, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the United States and of the Republic of Colombia at Bogota on the 3d of October, 1824, together with the documents appertaining to the negotiation of the same, for the constitutional consideration of the Senate with regard to its ratification. To the House of Representatives: JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 23, 1825. I transmit to the House of Representatives a further report from the Secretary of State, in pursuance of their resolution of the 1st instant, with the papers to which it refers, upon the subject of the capture and detention of American fishermen the past season in the Bay of Fundy. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 25, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I communicate herewith to both Houses of Congress copies of the treaties between the United States and the Quapaw Nation of Indians, concluded at Harringtons, in the Territory of Arkansas, on the 15th day of November last, and between the United States and the Choctaw Nation of Indians, concluded at the city of Washington on the 20th day of January last, which have been duly ratified. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, February 26, 1825. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: Just before the termination of the last session an act entitled "An act concerning wrecks on the coast of Florida," which then passed, was presented to me with many others and approved, and, as I thought, signed. A report to that effect was then made to Congress. It appeared, however, after the adjournment that the evidence of such approbation had not been attached to it. Whether the act may be considered in force under such circumstances is a point on which it belongs not to me to decide. To remove all doubt on the subject, I submit to the consideration of Congress the propriety of passing a declaratory act to that effect. JAMES MONROE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, February 28, 1825. I transmit to the Senate, for the exercise of its constitutional power, a treaty lately concluded at the Indian Springs, by commissioners of the United States duly authorized, with the chiefs of the Creek Nation, assembled there in council, with the documents connected therewith. JAMES MONROE. PROCLAMATION. [From Senate Journal, Eighteenth Congress, second session, p. 269.] The President of the United States to WASHINGTON, January 19, 1825. Certain matters touching the public good requiring that the Senate of the United States should be convened on Friday, the 4th day of March next, you are desired to attend at the Senate Chamber, in the city of Washington, on that day, then and there to receive and deliberate on such communications as shall be made to you. JAMES MONROE. |