government for adjusting all the unsettled questions connected with this interesting subject.

The operations of the navy during the year, and its present condition, are fully exhibited in the annual report from the navy department.

Suggestions are made by the secretary, of various improvements, which deserve careful consideration, and most of which, if adopted, bid fair to promote the efficiency of this important branch of the public service. Among these are the new organization of the navy board, the revision of the pay to officers, and a change in the period of time, or in the manner of making the annual appropriations, to which I beg leave to call your particular

attention.

The views which are presented on almost every portion of our naval concerns, and especially on the amount of force and the number of officers, and the general course of policy appropriate in the present state of our country, for securing the great and useful purposes of naval protection in peace, and due preparation for the contingencies of war, meet with my entire approbation.

It will be perceived, from the report referred to, that the fiscal concerns of the establishment are in an excellent condition; and it is hoped that Congress may feel disposed to make promptly every suitable provision desired, either for preserving or improving the system.

The general postoffice department has continued, upon the strength of its own resources, to facilitate the means of communication between the various portions of the Union with increased activity. The method, however, in which the accounts of the transportation of the mail have always been kept, appears to have presented an imperfect view of its expenses. It has recently been discovered that, from the earliest records of the department, the annual statements have been calculated to exhibit an amount considerably short of the actual expenses incurred for that service. These illusory statements, together with the expense of carrying into effect the law of the last session of Congress, establishing new mail-routes, and a disposition on the part of the head of the department to gratify the wishes of the public in the extension of mail facilities, have induced him to incur responsibilities for their improvement, beyond what the current resources of the department would sustain. As soon as he had discovered the imperfection of the method, he caused an investigation to be made of its results, and applied the proper remedy to correct the evil. It became necessary for him to withdraw some of the improvements which he had made, to bring the expenses of the department within its own resources. These expenses were incurred for the public good, and the public have enjoyed their benefit. They are now but partially suspended, and that where they may be discontinued with the least inconvenience to the country.

The progressive increase in the income from postages has equalled the highest expectations, and it affords demonstrative evidence of the growing importance and great utility of this department. The details are exhibited

in the accompanying report of the postmaster-general.

The many distressing accidents which have, of late, occurred in that portion of our navigation carried on by the use of steam power, deserve the immediate and unremitting attention of the constituted authorities of the country. The fact that the number of these fatal disasters is constantly increasing, notwithstanding the great improvements which are everywhere made in the machinery employed, and in the rapid advances

which have been made in that branch of science, show very clearly that they are, in a great degree, the result of criminal negligence on the part of those by whom the vessels are navigated, and to whose care and attention the lives and property of our citizens are so extensively intrusted.

That these evils may be greatly lessened, if not substantially removed, by means of precautionary and penal legislation, seems to be highly probable; so far, therefore, as the subject can be regarded as within the constitutional purview of Congress, I earnestly recommend it to your prompt and serious consideration.

I would also call your attention to the views I have heretofore expressed of the propriety of amending the constitution, in relation to the mode of electing the president and vice-president of the United States. Regarding it as all important to the future quiet and harmony of the people, that every intermediate agency in the election of these officers should be removed, and that their eligibility should be limited to one term of either four or six years, I can not too earnestly invite your consideration of the subject.

Trusting that your deliberations on all the topics of general interest to which I have adverted, and such others as your more extensive knowledge of the wants of our beloved country may suggest, may be crowned with success, I tender you, in conclusion, the co-operation which it may be in my power to afford them.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

JANUARY 6, 1834.

To the House of Representatives :—

I COMMUNICATE to Congress an extract of a letter recently received from R. J. Leib, consul of the United States at Tangier, by which it appears that that officer has been induced to receive from the emperor of Morocco a present of a lion and two horses, which he holds as belonging to the United States. There being no funds at the disposal of the executive applicable to the objects stated by Mr. Lieb, I submit the whole subject to the consideration of Congress, for such direction as in their wisdom may seem proper.

I have directed instructions to be given to all our ministers and agents abroad, requiring that, in future, unless previously authorized by Congress, they will not, under any circumstances, accept presents, of any description, from any foreign state.

I deem it proper, on this occasion, to invite the attention of Congress to the presents which have heretofore been made to our public officers, and which have been deposited, under the orders of the government, in the department of state. These articles are altogether useless to the government, and the care and preservation of them in the department of state are attended with considerable inconvenience.

The provision of the constitution, which forbids any officer, without the consent of Congress, to accept any present from any foreign power, may be considered as having been satisfied by the surrender of the articles to the government; and they might now be disposed of by Congress to those for whom they were originally intended, or to their heirs, with obvious VOL. II.—8

propriety in both cases, and, in the latter, would be received as grateful memorials of the surrender of the present.

As, under the positive order now given, similar presents can not hereafter be received, even for the purpose of being placed at the disposal of the government, I recommend to Congress to authorize, by law, that the articles already in the department of state shall be delivered to the persons to whom they were originally presented, if living, and to the heirs of such as may have died.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 4, 1834.

To the Senate and House of Representatives :

I DEEM it my duty to communicate to Congress the recent conduct of the bank of the United States, in refusing to deliver the books, papers, and funds, in its possession, relating to the execution of the act of Congress of June 7, 1832, entitled, "An act supplementary to the act for the relief of certain surviving officers and soldiers of the revolution." The correspondence reported by the secretary of war, and herewith transmitted, will show the ground assumed by the bank to justify its refusal to make the transfer directed by the war department. It does not profess to claim the privilege of this agency as a right secured to it by contract, nor as a benefit conferred by the government, but as a burden, from which it is willing to be relieved. It places its refusal on the extraordinary ground, that the corporation has a right to sit in judgment upon the legality of the acts of the constituted authorities, in a matter in which the stockholders are admitted to have no interest, and it impedes and defeats, as far as its powers will permit, the execution of a measure of the administration, because the opinion of the corporation, upon the construction of an act of Congress, differs from that of the proper officer of the United States.

The claim of this corporation, thus to usurp the functions of the judicial power, and to prescribe to the executive department the manner in which it shall execute the trust confided to it by law, is without example in the history of our country. If the acts of the public servants, who are responsible to the people for the manner in which they execute their duty, may thus be checked and controlled by an irresponsible money corporation, then, indeed, the whole frame of our government is changed, and we have established a power, in the bank of the United States, above what we derive from the people.

It will be seen, from the accompanying statement, marked A, that, according to the latest accounts received at the war department, the bank of the United States and its branches have in their possession near half a million of the public money, received by them under the law of 1832, which they have not yet accounted for, and which they refuse to pay over to the proper agents, for the use of those persons for whose benefit it was drawn from the treasury. It is to be regretted, that this attempt, on the part of the bank, to guide and direct the executive upon the construction and execution of an act of Congress, should have been put forward and insisted on in a case where the immediate sufferers from their conduct will be the surviving veterans of the revolutionary war; for this evil falls exclusively

upon the gallant defenders of their country, and delays and embarrasses the payment of the debt which the gratitude of the nation has awarded to them, and which, in many instances, is necessary for their subsistence and comfort in their declining years.

The character of the claim set up by the bank, and the interest of the parties to be immediately affected by it, make it my duty to submit the whole subject to the consideration of Congress and I leave it to their wisdom to adopt such measures as the honor of the government, and the just claims of the individuals injured by the proceedings, may be deemed to require.

Having called for the opinion of the attorney-general upon this occasion, with a view to a thorough investigation of the question which has thus been presented for my consideration, I enclose a copy of the report of that officer, and add my entire concurrence in the views he has taken.

PROTEST.

APRIL 15, 1834.

To the Senate of the United States :—

It appears, by the published journal of the senate, that, on the 26th of December last, a resolution was offered by a member of the senate, which, after a protracted debate, was, on the twenty-eighth day of March last, modified by the mover, and passed by the votes of twenty-six senators out of forty-six, who were present and voted, in the following words, viz. :

"Resolved, That the president, in the late executive proceeding in relation to the public revenue, has assumed upon himself authority and power not conferred by the constitution and laws, but in derogation of both."

Having had the honor, through the voluntary suffrages of the American people, to fill the office of president of the United States, during the period which may be presumed to have been referred to in this resolution, it is sufficiently evident that the censure it inflicts was intended for myself. Without notice, unheard and untried, I thus find myself charged on the records of the senate, and in a form hitherto unknown in our history, with the high crime of violating the laws and constitution of my country.

It can seldom be necessary for any department of the government, when assailed in conversation or debate, or by the strictures of the press or of popular assemblies, to step out of its ordinary path for the purpose of vindicating its conduct, or of pointing out any irregularity or injustice in the manner of the attack. But when the chief executive magistrate is, by one of the most important branches of the government, in its official capacity, in a public manner, and by its recorded sentence, but without precedent, competent authority, or just cause, declared guilty of the breach of the laws and constitution, it is due to his station, to public opinion, and to proper self-respect, that the officer thus denounced should promptly expose the wrong which has been done.

In the present case, moreover, there is even a stronger necessity for such a vindication. By an express provision of the constitution, before the president of the United States can enter on the execution of his office, he is required to take an oath or affirmation in the following words :

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States; and will, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend, the constitution of the United States."

The duty of defending, so far as in him lies, the integrity of the constitution would indeed have resulted from the very nature of his office; but, by thus expressing it in the official oath or affirmation, which, in this respect, differs from that of every other functionary, the founders of our republic have attested their sense of its importance, and have given to it a peculiar solemnity and force. Bound to the performance of this duty by the oath I have taken, by the strongest obligations of gratitude to the American people, and by the ties which unite my every earthly interest with the welfare and glory of my country; and perfectly convinced that the discussion and passage of the above-mentioned resolution were not only unauthorized by the constitution, but in many respects repugnant to its provisions, and subversive of the rights secured by it to other co-ordinate departments, I deem it an imperative duty to maintain the supremacy of that sacred instrument, and the immunities of the department intrusted to my care, by all means consistent with my own lawful powers, with the rights of others, and with the genius of our civil institutions. To this end, I have caused this, my solemn protest against the aforesaid proceedings, to be placed on the files of the executive department, and to be transmitted to the senate.

It is alike due to the subject, the senate, and the people, that the views which I have taken of the proceedings referred to, and which compel me to regard them in the light that has been mentioned, should be exhibited at length, and with the freedom and firmness which are required by an occasion so unprecedented and peculiar.

Under the constitution of the United States, the powers and functions of the various departments of the federal government, and their responsibilities for violation or neglect of duty, are clearly defined or result by necessary inference. The legislative power, subject to the qualified negative of the president, is vested in the Congress of the United States, composed of the senate and house of representatives. The executive power is vested exclusively in the president, except that, in the conclusion of treaties and in certain appointments to office, he is to act with the advice and consent of the senate. The judicial power is vested exclusively in the supreme and other courts of the United States, except in cases of impeachment, for which purpose the accusatory power is vested in the house of representatives, and that of hearing and determining in the senate. But although for the special purposes which have been mentioned, there is an occasional intermixture of the powers of the different departments, yet, with these exceptions, each of the three great departments is independent of the others in its sphere of action; and when it deviates from that sphere, is not responsible to the others, further than it is expressly made so in the constitution. In every other respect, each of them is the co-equal of the other two, and all are the servants of the American people, without power or right to control or censure each other in the service of their common superior, save only in the manner and to the degree which that superior has prescribed.

The responsibilities of the president are numerous and weighty. He is liable to impeachment for high crimes and misdemeanors, and, on due conviction, to removal from office, and perpetual disqualification; and notwithstanding such conviction, he may also be indicted and punished