the enrolment in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery of such Deed or Instrument as aforesaid, the said recited Act of the 26th Year of the Reign of His said late Majesty King George the Second, and also the said recited Act of the 59th Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, and all Powers for the levying of any Duties or Dues heretofore payable to the said Governor and Company, shall be and the same are hereby repealed; and all such Duties and Dues, and all Powers for levying the same, shall cease and determine, except only so far as relates to the payment and recovery of any arrears of Duties and Dues which shall be payable to the said Company at the time of the enrolment of such Deed or Instrument; and also that from and after such enrolment of such Deed or Instrument, all and every clause, matter, and thing contained in the said several hereinbefore recited Acts made in the 20th, 43rd, 55th, and 57th Years of the Reign of His said late Majesty King George the Third, in any way extending or relating to the said Governor and Company, shall be and the same are from thenceforth hereby repealed; anything in the said recited Acts or any of them, or any other law, usage, or custom to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding.

IV. And be it further enacted, That from and immediately after the enrolment of any such Deed or Instrument as aforesaid, all such Rights and Duties of Jurisdiction and Authority over His Majesty's Subjects resorting to the Ports of the Levant for the purposes of Trade or otherwise, as were lawfully exercised and performed, or which the said recited Letters Patent or Acts, or any of them, authorized to be exercised and performed by any Consuls or other Officers appointed by the said Company, or which such Consuls or other Officers lawfully exercised and performed under and by virtue of any Power or Authority whatever, shall, from and after the enrolment of such Deed or Investment as aforesaid, be and become invested in, and shall be exercised and performed by such Consuls and other Officers respectively as His Majesty may be pleased to appoint, for the protection of the Trade of His Majesty's Subjects in the Ports and Places respectively mentioned in the said Letters Patent and Acts, or any or either of them.

V. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, or any Three or more of them, and they are hereby empowered and authorized to grant reasonable allowances and Pensions to such of the Officers and Servants in England of the said Company, and to such other Person or Persons as, by reason of the dissolution of the said Company, may lose and be deprived of their Offices, Employments, and Pensions, and to charge the same upon the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom; and all such Allowances and Pensions to be so granted, shall be payable and paid Quarterly at the receipt of the Exchequer

at Westminster, out of the said Consolidated Fund, free and clear of and from all taxes, charges, and deductions whatsoever; and the said Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury shall yearly and every Year before the 25th Day of March in each Year, if Parliament be sitting, and in case Parliament shall not be sitting, then within 20 Days after the Meeting of Parliament then next following such 25th Day: of March, cause an Account and Estimate to be laid before Parliament, of the total Amount of such Allowances and Pensions payable to such Officers and Servants in England of the said Company, and to such other Persons as are hereinbefore mentioned, for One Year ending on the 5th Day of January preceding every such 25th Day of March respectively.

MESSAGE of the President of The United States of America, on the Opening of Congress, 7th December, 1824.

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND OF THE HOUSE OF REPRE

SENTATIVES:

THE view which I have now to present to you of our Affairs, Foreign and Domestic, realizes the most sanguine anticipations which have been entertained of the public prosperty. If we look to the whole, our growth, as a Nation, continues to be rapid beyond example; if to the States which compose it, the same gratifying spectacle is exhi. bited. Our expansion over the vast Territory within our limits has been great, without indicating any decline in those Sections from which the emigration has been most conspicuous. We have daily gained strength by a native population in every quarter-a population devoted to our happy system of Government, and cherishing the bond of union with fraternal affection. Experience has already shown, that the difference of climate, and of industry, proceeding from that cause, inseparable from such vast Domains, and which, under other systems, might have a repulsive tendency, cannot fail to produce, with us, under wise regulations, the opposite effect. What one portion wants, the other may supply, and this will be most sensibly felt by the Parts most distinct from each other, forming thereby a domestic market, and an active intercourse between the extremes, and throughout every portion of our Union. Thus, by a happy distribution of power between the National and State Governments,-Governments which rest exclusively on the Sovereignty of the People, and are fully adequate to the great purposes for which they were respectively instituted,-causes which might otherwise lead to dismemberment, operate powerfully to draw us close together. In every other circumstance, a correct view of the. actual state of our Union, must be equally gratifying to our constituents.

Our relations with Foreign Powers are of a friendly character, although certain interesting differences remain unsettled with some. Our Revenue, under the mild system of impost and tonnage, continues to be adequate to all the purposes of the Government. Our agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and navigation flourish. Our fortifications are advancing in the degree authorized by existing appropriations, to maturity; and due progress is made in the augmentation of the Navy to the limit prescribed for it by law. For these blessings we owe to Almighty God, from Whom we derive them, and with profound reverence, our most grateful and unceasing acknowledgments.

In adverting to our relations with Foreign Powers, which are always an object of the highest importance, I have to remark, that, of the subjects which have been brought into discussion with them during the present Administration, some have been satisfactorily terminated: others have been suspended, to be resumed hereafter, under circumstances more favourable to success; and others are still in negotiation, with the hope that they may be adjusted, with mutual accommodation to the interests and to the satisfaction of the respective Parties. It has been the invariable object of this Government to cherish the most friendly relations with every Power, and on principles and conditions which might make them permanent. A systematic effort has been made to place our Commerce with each Power on a footing of perfect reciprocity, to settle with each, in a spirit of candour and liberality, all existing differences, and to anticipate and remove, so far as it might be practicable, all causes of future variance.

It having been stipulated by the 7th Article of the Convention of Navigation and Commerce, which was concluded on the 24th June 1822, between The United States and France, that the said Convention should continue in force for 2 years, from the 1st of October of that year, and for an indefinite term afterwards, unless one of the Parties should declare its intention to renounce it, in which event it should cease to operate at the end of six months from such declaration; and, no such intention having been announced, the Convention having been found advantageous to both Parties, it has since remained, and still remains, in force. At the time when that Convention was concluded, many interesting subjects were left unsettled, and particularly our claim to indemnity for spoliations which were committed on our Commerce in the late War. For these interests and claims, it was the contemplation of the Parties to make provision at a subsequent day, by a more comprehensive and definitive Treaty. The object has been duly attended to since by the Executive, but, as yet, it has not been accomplished. It is hoped that a favourable opportunity will present itself, for opening a Negotiation which may embrace and arrange all existing differences, and every other concern, in which they have a common interest, upon the accession of the present King of France,

an event which has occurred since the close of the last Session of Congress.

With Great Britain our Commercial intercourse rests on the same footing that it did at the last Session. By the Convention of 1815, the Commerce between The United States and the British Dominions in Europe and the East Indies, was arranged on a principle of reciprocity. That Convention was confirmed and continued in force, with slight exceptions, by a subsequent Treaty, for the term of 10 years, from the 20th October, 1818, the date of the latter. The trade with the British Colonies in the West Indies, has not, as yet, been arranged by Treaty or otherwise, to our satisfaction. An approach to that result has been made by Legislative Acts, whereby many serious impediments which had been raised by the Parties in defence of their respective claims were removed. An earnest desire exists, and has been manifested on the part of this Government, to place the Commerce with the Colonies likewise on a footing of reciprocal advantage; and it is hoped that the British Government, seeing the justice of the proposal, and its importance to the Colonies, will, ere long, accede to it.

The Commissioners who were appointed for the adjustment of the Boundary between the Territories of The United States and those of Great Britain, specified in the 5th Article of the Treaty of Ghent, having disagreed in their decision, and both Governments having agreed to establish that Boundary by amicable Negotiation between them, it is hoped that it may be satisfactorily adjusted in that mode. The Boundary specified by the 6th Article has been established by the decision of the Commissioners. From the progress made in that provided for by the 7th, according to a Report recently received, there is good cause to presume that it will be settled in the course of the ensuing year.

It is a cause of serious regret, that no arrangement has yet been finally concluded between the two Governments, to secure, by joint co-operation, the suppression of the Slave Trade. It was the object of the British Government, in the early stages of the Negotiation, to adopt a plan for the suppression, which should include the concession of the mutual Right of Search, by the ships of war of each Party, of the vessels of the other, for suspected Offenders. This was objected to by this Government, on the principle that, as the Right of Search was a right of War of a belligerent towards a neutral Power, it might have an ill effect to extend it, by Treaty, to an offence which had been made comparatively mild, to a time of peace. Anxious, however, for the suppression of this Trade, it was thought advisable, in compliance with a Resolution of the House of Representatives, founded on an Act of Congress, to propose to the British Government an expedient which should be free from that objection, and more effectual for the object,

by making it piratical. In that mode, the enormity of the crime would place the Offenders out of the protection of their Government, and involve no question of search, or other question between the Parties, touching their respective rights. It was believed, also, that it would completely suppress the Trade in the Vessels of both Parties, and by their respective citizens and subjects, in those of other Powers, with whom, it was hoped, that the odium which would thereby be attached to it, would produce a corresponding arrangement, and, by means thereof, its entire extirpation for ever. A Convention to this effect was concluded and signed in London, on the 13th day of March, 1824, by Plenipotentiaries duly authorized by both Governments, to the Ratification of which certain obstacles have arisen, which are not yet entirely removed. The difference between the Parties still remaining, has been reduced to a point not of sufficient magnitude, as is presumed, to be permitted to defeat an object so near to the heart of both Nations, and so desirable to the friends of humanity throughout the world. As objections, however, to the principle recommended by the House of Representatives, or at least to the consequences inseparable from it, and which are understood to apply to the law, have been raised, which may deserve a reconsideration of the whole subject, I have thought it proper to suspend the conclusion of a new Convention until the definitive sentiments of Congress may be ascertained. The Documents relating to the Negotiation are, with that intent, submitted to your consideration.

Our Commerce with Sweden has been placed on a footing of perfect reciprocity by Treaty, and with Russia, The Netherlands, Prussia, the Free Hanseatic Cities, the Dukedom of Oldenburg, and Sardinia, by internal regulations on each side, founded on mutual agreement between the respective Governments.

The principles upon which the Commercial policy of The United States is founded, are to be traced to an early period. They are essentially connected with those upon which their Independence was declared, and owe their origin to the enlightened men who took the lead in our affairs at that important epoch. They are developed in their first Treaty of Commerce with France, of 6th February, 1778, and by a formal Commission, which was instituted immediately after the conclusion of their revolutionary struggle, for the purpose of negotiating Treaties of Commerce with every European Power. The first Treaty of The United States with Prussia, which was negotiated by that Commission, affords a signal illustration of those principles. The Act of Congress of the 3rd March, 1815, adopted immediately after the return of a general peace, was a new overture to Foreign Nations to establish our Commercial relations with them, on the basis of free and equal reciprocity. That principle has pervaded all the