Latest / State of the Union Addresses 1829-1836 / 015 - Andrew Jackson December 7 1835 part 1

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015 - Andrew Jackson December 7 1835 part 1 · State of the Union Addresses 1829-1836

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Speaker 1: Section fifteen of State of the Union Addresses eighteen twenty
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Speaker 1: nine to eighteen thirty six. This is a LibriVox recording.
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Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Andrew Jackson,
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Speaker 1: December seventh, eighteen thirty five. Part one, Fellow citizens of
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Speaker 1: the Senate and of the House of Representatives, in the
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Speaker 1: discharge of my official duty, the time again devolves upon
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Speaker 1: me of communicating with a new Congress. The reflection that
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Speaker 1: the representation of the Union has been recently renewed, and
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Speaker 1: that the constitutional term of its service will expire with
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Speaker 1: my own, heightens the solicitude with which I shall attempt
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Speaker 1: to lay before it the state of our national concerns,
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Speaker 1: and the devout hope which I cherish that its labors
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Speaker 1: to improve may be crowned with success. You are assembled
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Speaker 1: at a period of profound interest to the American patriot,
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Speaker 1: the unexampled growth and prosperity of our country having given
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Speaker 1: us a rank in the scale of nations, which removes
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Speaker 1: all apprehension of danger to our integrity and independence from
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Speaker 1: external foes. The career of freedom is before us with
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Speaker 1: an earnest desire from the past, that if true to ourselves,
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Speaker 1: there can be no formidable obstacle in the future to
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Speaker 1: its peaceful and uninterrupted pursuit. Yet, in proportion to the
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Speaker 1: disappearance of those apprehensions which attended our weakness, as once
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Speaker 1: contrasted with the power of some of the states of
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Speaker 1: the old world, should we now be solicitous as to
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Speaker 1: those which belong to the conviction that it is to
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Speaker 1: our own conduct. We must look for the preservation of
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Speaker 1: those causes on which depend the excellence and the duration
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Speaker 1: of our happy system of government. In the example of
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Speaker 1: other systems founded on the will of the people, we
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Speaker 1: trace to internal dissension the influences which have so often
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Speaker 1: blasted the hopes of the friends of freedom. The social elements,
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Speaker 1: which were strong and successful when united against external danger,
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Speaker 1: failed in the more difficult task of properly adjusting their
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Speaker 1: own internal organization, and thus gave way the great principle
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Speaker 1: of self government. Let us trust that this admonition will
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Speaker 1: never be forgotten by the government or the people of
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Speaker 1: the United States, and that the testimony which our experience
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Speaker 1: thus far holds out to the great human family of
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Speaker 1: the practicability, and the blessings of free government will be
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Speaker 1: confirmed in all time to come. We have but to
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Speaker 1: look at the state of our agricate culture, manufactures, and commerce,
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Speaker 1: and the unexampled increase of our population to feel the
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Speaker 1: magnitude of the trust committed to us. Never in any
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Speaker 1: former period of our history have we had greater reason
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Speaker 1: than we now have to be thankful to Divine Providence
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Speaker 1: for the blessings of health and general prosperity. Every branch
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Speaker 1: of labor we see crowned with the most abundant rewards.
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Speaker 1: In every element of national resources and wealth, and of
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Speaker 1: individual comfort, we witness the most rapid and solid improvements
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Speaker 1: with no interruptions to this pleasing prospect at home, which
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Speaker 1: will not yield to the spirit of harmony and good
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Speaker 1: will that so strikingly pervades the mass of the people
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Speaker 1: in every quarter, amidst all the diversity of interest and
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Speaker 1: pursuits to which they are attached, and with no cause
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Speaker 1: of solicitude in regard to our external affairs, which will not,
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Speaker 1: it is hoped, disappear before the principles of simple justice
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Speaker 1: and the forbearance that mark our intercourse with foreign powers.
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Speaker 1: We have every reason to feel proud of our beloved country.
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Speaker 1: The general state of our foreign relations has not materially
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Speaker 1: changed since my last annual message. In the settlement of
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Speaker 1: the question of the Northeastern boundary, little progress has been made.
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Speaker 1: Great Britain has declined acceding to the proposition of the
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Speaker 1: United States presented in accordance with the resolution of the Senate,
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Speaker 1: unless certain preliminary conditions were admitted which I deemed incompatible
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Speaker 1: with the satisfactory and rightful adjustment of the controversy. Waiting
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Speaker 1: for some distinct proposal from the Government of Great Britain,
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Speaker 1: which has been invited, I can only repeat the expression
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Speaker 1: of my confidence that with the strong mutual disposition which
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Speaker 1: I believe exists to make a just arrangement, this perplexing
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Speaker 1: question can be settled with a due regard to the
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Speaker 1: well founded pretensions and pacific policy of all the parties
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Speaker 1: to it. Events are frequently occurring on the Northeastern frontier
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Speaker 1: of a character to impress upon all the necessity of
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Speaker 1: a speedy and definitive termination of the dispute. This consideration
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Speaker 1: added to the desire common to both to relieve the
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Speaker 1: liberal and friendly relations so happily existing between the two countries.
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Speaker 1: From all embarrassment will no doubt have its just influence
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Speaker 1: upon both. Our diplomatic intercourse with Portugal has been renewed,
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Speaker 1: and it is expected that the claims of our citizens,
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Speaker 1: partially paid, will be fully satisfied, as soon as the
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Speaker 1: condition of the Queen's government will permit the proper attention
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Speaker 1: to the subject of them. That government has, I am
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Speaker 1: happy to inform you manifested a determination to act upon
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Speaker 1: the liberal principles which marked our commercial policy. The happiest
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Speaker 1: effects upon the future trade between the United States and
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Speaker 1: Portugal are anticipated from it, and the time is not
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Speaker 1: thought to be remote when a system of perfect reciprocity
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Speaker 1: will be established. The installments do under the convention with
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Speaker 1: the King of the two Sicilies have been paid with
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Speaker 1: that scrupulous fidelity by which his whole conduct has been characterized,
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Speaker 1: and the hope is indulged that the adjustment of the
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Speaker 1: vexed question of our claims will be followed by a
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Speaker 1: more extended and mutually beneficial intercourse between the two countries.
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Speaker 1: The internal contest still continues in Spain, distinguished as this
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Speaker 1: struggle has unhappily been by incidents of the most sanguinary character.
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Speaker 1: The obligations of the late Treaty of Indemnification with Us
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Speaker 1: have been nevertheless faithfully executed by the Spanish government, no
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Speaker 1: provision having been made at the last session of Congress
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Speaker 1: for the ascertainment of the claims to be paid and
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Speaker 1: the apportionment of the funds under the convention made with Spain.
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Speaker 1: I invite your early attention to the subject. The public
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Speaker 1: evidences of the debt have, according to the terms of
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Speaker 1: the Convention and in the forms prescribed by it, been
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Speaker 1: placed in the possession of the United States, and the interests,
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Speaker 1: as it fell do has been regularly paid upon them.
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Speaker 1: Our commercial intercourse with Cuba stands as regulated by the
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Speaker 1: Act of Congress. No recent information has been received as
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Speaker 1: to the disposition of the government of Madrid, and the
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Speaker 1: lamented death of our recently appointed minister on his way
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Speaker 1: to Spain. With the pressure of their affairs at home
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Speaker 1: renders it scarcely probable that any change is to be
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Speaker 1: looked for during the coming year. Further portions of the
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Speaker 1: Florida Archive have been sent to the United States, although
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Speaker 1: the death of the commissioners at a critical moment embarrassed
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Speaker 1: the progress of the delivery of them. The higher officers
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Speaker 1: of the local government have recently shown an anxious desire,
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Speaker 1: in compliance with the orders from the parent government, to
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Speaker 1: facilitate the selection and delivery of all we have a
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Speaker 1: right to claim. Negotiations have been opened at Madrid for
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Speaker 1: the establishment of a lasting peace between Spain and such
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Speaker 1: of the Spanish American governments of this hemisphere as have
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Speaker 1: availed themselves of the intimation given to all of them
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Speaker 1: of the disposition of Spain to treat upon the basis
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Speaker 1: of their entire independence. It is to be regretted that
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Speaker 1: simultaneous appointments by all of ministers to negotiate with Spain
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Speaker 1: had not been made. The negotiation itself would have been simplified,
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Speaker 1: and this long standing dispute, spreading over a large portion
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Speaker 1: of the world, would have been brought to a more
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Speaker 1: speedy cons inclusion, our political and commercial relations with Austria, Prussia,
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Speaker 1: Sweden and Denmark stand on the usual favorable bases. One
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Speaker 1: of the articles of our treaty with Russia, in relation
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Speaker 1: to the trade on the northwest coast of America having expired,
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Speaker 1: instructions have been given to our Minister at Saint Petersburg
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Speaker 1: to negotiate a renewal of it. The long and unbroken
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Speaker 1: amity between the two governments gives every reason for supposing
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Speaker 1: the article will be renewed if stronger motives do not
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Speaker 1: exist to prevent it, than with our view of the
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Speaker 1: subject can be anticipated. Here I ask your attention to
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Speaker 1: the message of my predecessor at the opening of the
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Speaker 1: second session of the nineteenth Congress, relative to our commercial
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Speaker 1: intercourse with Holland, and to the documents connected with that
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Speaker 1: subject communicated to the House of Representatives on the tenth
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Speaker 1: of January eighteen twenty five. H of January eighteen twenty seven,
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Speaker 1: coinciding in the opinion of my predecessor that Holland is not,
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Speaker 1: under the regulations of her present system, entitled to have
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Speaker 1: her vessels and their cargoes received into the United States
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Speaker 1: on the footing of American vessels and cargoes as regards
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Speaker 1: duties of tonnage and impost A respect for his reference
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Speaker 1: of it to the Legislature has alone prevented me from
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Speaker 1: acting on the subject. I should still have waited without
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Speaker 1: comment for the action of Congress. But recently a claim
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Speaker 1: has been made by Belgian subjects to admission into our
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Speaker 1: ports for their ships and cargoes on the same footing
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Speaker 1: as American With the allegation, we could not dispute that
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Speaker 1: our vessels received in their ports the identical treatment shown
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Speaker 1: to them in the ports of Holland, upon whose vessels
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Speaker 1: no discrimination is made in the ports of the United States.
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Speaker 1: Given the same privileges, the Belgians expected the same benefits,
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Speaker 1: benefits that were in fact enjoyed when Belgium and Holland
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Speaker 1: were united under one government. Satisfied with the justice of
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Speaker 1: their pretension to be placed on the same footing with Holland,
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Speaker 1: I could not, nevertheless, without disregard to the principle of
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Speaker 1: our laws, admit their claim to be treated as Americans.
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Speaker 1: And at the same time a respect for Congress, to
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Speaker 1: whom the subject had long since been referred, has prevented
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Speaker 1: me from a just equality by taking from the vessels
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Speaker 1: of Holland privileges conditionally granted by Acts of Congress, although
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Speaker 1: the condition upon which the grant was made has, in
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Speaker 1: my judgment, failed since eighteen twenty two. I recommend therefore
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Speaker 1: a review of the Act of eighteen twenty four, and
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Speaker 1: such modification of it as will produce an equality on
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Speaker 1: such terms as Congress shall think best comports with our
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Speaker 1: settled policy and the US obligations of justice to two
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Speaker 1: friendly powers, with the Sublime Port and all the governments
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Speaker 1: on the coast of Barbary, our relations continue to be friendly.
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Speaker 1: The proper steps have been taken to renew our treaty
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Speaker 1: with Morocco. The Argentine Republic has again promised to send
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Speaker 1: within the current year a minister to the United States.
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Speaker 1: A convention with Mexico for extending the time for the
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Speaker 1: appointment of commissioners to run the boundary line has been
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Speaker 1: concluded and will be submitted to the Senate. Recent events
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Speaker 1: in that country have awakened the liveliest solicitude in the
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Speaker 1: United States. Aware of the strong temptations existing, and powerful
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Speaker 1: inducements held out to the citizens of the United States
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Speaker 1: to mingle in the dissensions of our immediate neighbours, Instructions
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Speaker 1: have been given to the District Attorneys of the United States,
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Speaker 1: where indications warranted it, to prosecute, without respect to persons,
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Speaker 1: all who might attempt to violate the obligations of our neutrality.
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Speaker 1: While at the same time it has been thought necessary
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Speaker 1: to apprise the government of Mexico that we should require
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Speaker 1: the integrity of our territory to be scrupulously respected by
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Speaker 1: both parties. From our diplomatic agents in Brazil, Chile, Peru,
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Speaker 1: Central America, Venezuela and New Grenada, constant assurances are received
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Speaker 1: of the continued good understanding with the governments to which
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Speaker 1: they are severally accredited. With those governments upon which our
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Speaker 1: citizens have valid and accumulating claims, scarcely an advance toward
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Speaker 1: a settlement of them is made, owing mainly to their
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Speaker 1: distracted state or to the pressure of imperative domestic questions.
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Speaker 1: Our patience has been and will probably be still further
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Speaker 1: severely tried, but our fellow citizens whose interests are involved
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Speaker 1: may confide in the determination of the government to obtain
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Speaker 1: for them eventually ample retribute. Unfortunately, many of the nations
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Speaker 1: of this hemisphere are still self tormented by domestic dissensions.
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Speaker 1: Revolution succeeds revolution injuries are committed upon foreigners engaged in
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Speaker 1: lawful pursuits. Much time elapses before a government sufficiently stable
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Speaker 1: is erected to justify expectation of redress. Ministers are sent
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Speaker 1: and received, and before the discussions of past injuries are
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Speaker 1: fairly begun, fresh troubles arise, but two frequently new injuries
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Speaker 1: are added to the old, to be discussed together with
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Speaker 1: the existing government after it has proved its ability to
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Speaker 1: sustain the assaults made upon it, or with its successor
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Speaker 1: if overthrown. If this unhappy condition of things continues much longer,
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Speaker 1: other nations will be under the painful necessity of deciding
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Speaker 1: whether justice to their suffering citizens does not require a
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Speaker 1: prompt redress of injuries by their own power, without waiting
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Speaker 1: for the established of a government competent and enduring enough
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Speaker 1: to discuss and to make satisfaction for them. Since the
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Speaker 1: last session of Congress, the validity of our claims upon France,
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Speaker 1: as liquidated by the Treaty of eighteen thirty one has
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Speaker 1: been acknowledged by both branches of her legislature, and the
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Speaker 1: money has been appropriated for their discharge. But the payment
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Speaker 1: is I regret to inform you still withheld. A brief
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Speaker 1: recapitulation of the most important incidents in this protracted controversy
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Speaker 1: will show how utterly untenable are the grounds upon which
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Speaker 1: this course is attempted to be justified. On entering upon
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Speaker 1: the duties of my station, I found the United States
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Speaker 1: an unsuccessful applicant to the justice of France for the
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Speaker 1: satisfaction of claims, the validity of which was never questionable.
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Speaker 1: It has now been most solemnly admitted by France herself.
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Speaker 1: The antiquity of these claims, their high justice, and the
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Speaker 1: aggravating circumstances out of which they arose are too familiar
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Speaker 1: to the American people to require description. It is sufficient
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Speaker 1: to say that, for a period of ten years and upward,
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Speaker 1: our commerce was, with but little interruption, the subject of
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Speaker 1: constant aggression on the part of France, aggressions the ordinary
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Speaker 1: features of which were condemnations of vessels and cargoes under
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Speaker 1: arbitrary decrees adopted in contravention, as well of the laws
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Speaker 1: of nations, as of treaty stipulations, burnings on the high seas,
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Speaker 1: and seizures and confiscations under special imperial rescripts in the
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Speaker 1: ports of other nations occupied by the armies or under
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Speaker 1: the control of France. Such, it is now conceded, is
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Speaker 1: the character of the wrongs we suffered, wrongs in many
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Speaker 1: cases so flagrant that even their authors never denied our
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Speaker 1: right to reparation of the extent of these injuries. Some
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Speaker 1: conception may be formed from the fact that, after the
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Speaker 1: burning of a large amount at sea, and the necessary
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Speaker 1: deterioration in other cases by long detention, the American property
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Speaker 1: so seized and sacrificed at force. Sales excluding what was
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Speaker 1: adjudged to privateers before or without condemnation, brought into the
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Speaker 1: French treasury upward of twenty four million francs, besides large
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Speaker 1: custom house duties. The subject had already been an affair
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Speaker 1: of twenty years uninterrupted negotiation, except for a short time
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Speaker 1: when France was overwhelmed by the military power of United Europe.
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Speaker 1: During this period, whilst other nations were extorting from her
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Speaker 1: payment of their claims. At the point of the bayonet,
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Speaker 1: the United States intermitted their demand for justice out of
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Speaker 1: respect to the oppressed condition of a gallant people to
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Speaker 1: whom they felt under obligations for fraternal assistance in their
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Speaker 1: own days of suffering in peril. The bad effects of
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Speaker 1: these protracted and unavailing discussions were obvious, and the line
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Speaker 1: of duty was, to my mind equally so this was
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Speaker 1: either to insist upon the adjustment of our claims within
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Speaker 1: a reasonable period, or to abandon them altogether. I could
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Speaker 1: not doubt that by this course the interests and honor
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Speaker 1: of both countries would be best consulted. Instructions were therefore
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Speaker 1: given in this spirit to the Minister, who was sent
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Speaker 1: out once more to demand reparation. Upon the meeting of
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Speaker 1: Congress in December eighteen twenty nine. I felt that my
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Speaker 1: duty to speak of these claims and the delays of
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Speaker 1: France in terms calculated to call the serious attention of
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Speaker 1: both countries to the subject. The then French ministry took
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Speaker 1: exemption to the message on the ground of its containing
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Speaker 1: a menace under it was not agreeable to the French
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Speaker 1: government to negotiate. The American Minister, of his own accord,
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Speaker 1: refuted the construction which was attempted to be put upon
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Speaker 1: the message, and at the same time called to the
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Speaker 1: recollection of the French Ministry that the President's message was
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Speaker 1: a communication addressed not to foreign governments, but to the
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Speaker 1: Congress of the United States, in which it was enjoined
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Speaker 1: upon him by the Constitution to lay before that body
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Speaker 1: information of the state of the Union, comprehending its foreign
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Speaker 1: as well as its domestic relations, And that if in
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Speaker 1: the discharge of this duty, he felt it incumbent upon
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Speaker 1: him to summon the attention of Congress in due time
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Speaker 1: to what might be the possible consequences of existing difficulties
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Speaker 1: with any foreign government. He might fairly be supposed to
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Speaker 1: do so under a sense of his own government, and
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Speaker 1: not from any intention of holding a menace over a
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Speaker 1: foreign power. The views taken by him received by approbation.
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Speaker 1: The French government was satisfied, and the negotiation was continued.
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Speaker 1: It terminated in the Treaty of July fourth, recognizing the
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Speaker 1: justice of our claims in part, and promising payment to
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Speaker 1: the amount of twenty five million francs in six annual installments.
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Speaker 1: The ratifications of this treaty were exchanged at Washington on
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Speaker 1: the second of February eighteen thirty two, and in five
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Speaker 1: days thereafter it was laid before Congress, who immediately passed
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Speaker 1: the acts necessary on our part to secure to France
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Speaker 1: the commercial advantages conceded to her in the compact. The
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Speaker 1: treaty had previously been solemnly ratified by the King of
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Speaker 1: the French in terms which are certainly not mere matters
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Speaker 1: of form, and of which the translation is as follows,
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Speaker 1: We approving the above convention in all and each of
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Speaker 1: the dispositions which are contained in it, do declare by ourselves,
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Speaker 1: as well as by our heirs and successors, that it
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Speaker 1: is accepted, approved, ratified, and confirmed. And by these presents
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Speaker 1: signed by our hand, we do accept, approve, ratify, and
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Speaker 1: confirm it, promising on the faith and word of a
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Speaker 1: king to observe it and to cause it to be
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Speaker 1: observed inviolably, without ever contravening it, or suffering it to
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Speaker 1: be contravened directly or indirectly, for any cause or under
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Speaker 1: any pretense whatsoever. Official information of the exchange of ratifications
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Speaker 1: in the United States reached Paris whilst the Chambers were
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Speaker 1: in session. The extraordinary and to us injurious delays of
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Speaker 1: the French government in their action upon the subject of
21:35
Speaker 1: its fulfillment have been heretofore stated to Congress, and I
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Speaker 1: have no disposition to enlarge upon them. Here it is
21:42
Speaker 1: sufficient to observe that the then pending session was allowed
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Speaker 1: to expire without even an effort to obtain the necessary appropriations,
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Speaker 1: that the two succeeding ones were also suffered to pass
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Speaker 1: away without anything like a serious attempt to obtain a
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Speaker 1: decision upon the subject, and that It was not until
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Speaker 1: the fourth Session, almost three years after the conclusion of
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Speaker 1: the treaty, in more than two years after the exchange
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Speaker 1: of ratifications, that the bill for the execution of the
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Speaker 1: treaty was pressed to a vote and rejected. In the meantime,
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Speaker 1: the Government of the United States, having full confidence that
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Speaker 1: a treaty entered into and so solemnly ratified by the
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Speaker 1: French King, would be executed in good faith, and not
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Speaker 1: doubting that provision would be made for the payment of
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Speaker 1: the first installment, which was to become due on the
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Speaker 1: second day of February eighteen thirty three, negotiated a draft
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Speaker 1: for the amount through the Bank of the United States.
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Speaker 1: When this draft was presented by the holder with the
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Speaker 1: credentials required by the treaty to authorize him to receive
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Speaker 1: the money, the government of France allowed it to be protested.
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Speaker 1: In addition to the injury in the non payment of
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Speaker 1: the money by France conformably to her engagement, the United
23:00
Speaker 1: States were exposed to a heavy claim on the part
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Speaker 1: of the Bank under pretense of damages in satisfaction of
23:07
Speaker 1: which that institution seized upon and still retains an equal
23:11
Speaker 1: amount of the public money Congress was in session when
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Speaker 1: the decision of the Chambers reached Washington, and an immediate
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Speaker 1: communication of this apparently final decision of France not to
23:25
Speaker 1: fulfill the stipulation of the treaty was the course naturally
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Speaker 1: to be expected from the President. The deep tone of
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Speaker 1: dissatisfaction which pervaded the public mind, and the correspondent excitement
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Speaker 1: produced in Congress by only a general knowledge of the result,
23:42
Speaker 1: rendered it more than probable that a resort to immediate
23:45
Speaker 1: measures of redress would be the consequence of calling the
23:48
Speaker 1: attention of that body to the subject. Sincerely desirous of
23:53
Speaker 1: preserving the Pacific relations which had so long existed between
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Speaker 1: the two countries, I was anxious to avoid this if
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Speaker 1: I could be satisfied that by so neither the interest
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Speaker 1: nor the honor of my country would be compromitted. Without
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Speaker 1: the fullest assurances on that point, I could not hope
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Speaker 1: to acquit myself of the responsibility to be incurred in
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Speaker 1: suffering Congress to adjourn without laying the subject before them.
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Speaker 1: Those received by me were believed to be of that
24:23
Speaker 1: character that the feelings produced in the United States by
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Speaker 1: the news of the rejection of the appropriation would be
24:31
Speaker 1: such as I have described them to have been, was
24:34
Speaker 1: foreseen by the French government, and prompt measures were taken
24:37
Speaker 1: by it to prevent the consequence. The King in person
24:41
Speaker 1: expressed through ar Minister at Paris's profound regret at the
24:44
Speaker 1: decision of the Chambers, and promised to send forthwith a
24:47
Speaker 1: ship with dispatches to his minister here, authorizing him to
24:52
Speaker 1: give such assurances as would satisfy the government and people
24:56
Speaker 1: of the United States that the treaty would yet be
24:58
Speaker 1: faithfully execut by France. The national ship arrived and the
25:03
Speaker 1: Minister received his instructions. Claiming to act under the authority
25:07
Speaker 1: derived from them, he gave to this government in the
25:10
Speaker 1: name of his the most solemn assurances that as soon
25:14
Speaker 1: after the new elections, as the Charter would permit, the
25:17
Speaker 1: French Chambers would be convened, and the attempt to procure
25:20
Speaker 1: the necessary appropriations were newed, that all the constitutional powers
25:25
Speaker 1: of the King and his ministers should be put in
25:28
Speaker 1: requisition to accomplish the object. And he was understood and
25:32
Speaker 1: so expressly informed by this government at the time to engage,
25:36
Speaker 1: that the question should be pressed to a decision at
25:38
Speaker 1: a period sufficiently early to permit information of the result
25:42
Speaker 1: to be communicated to Congress at the commencement of their
25:46
Speaker 1: next session. Relying upon these assurances, I incurred the responsibility,
25:52
Speaker 1: great as I regarded it to be, of suffering Congress,
25:56
Speaker 1: to separate without communicating with them upon the subject. The
26:00
Speaker 1: expectations justly founded upon the promises thus solemnly made to
26:05
Speaker 1: this government by that of France were not realized. The
26:09
Speaker 1: French Chambers met on the thirty first of July eighteen
26:12
Speaker 1: thirty four, soon after the election, and although our minister
26:16
Speaker 1: in Paris urged the French ministry to bring the subject
26:19
Speaker 1: before them, they declined doing so. He next insisted that
26:24
Speaker 1: the Chambers of prorogued without acting on the subject, should
26:27
Speaker 1: be reassembled at a period so early that their action
26:31
Speaker 1: on the treaty might be known in Washington prior to
26:35
Speaker 1: the meeting of Congress. This reasonable request was not only declined,
26:40
Speaker 1: but the chambers were prorogued to the twenty ninth of December,
26:43
Speaker 1: a day so late that their decision, however urgently pressed,
26:47
Speaker 1: could not in all probability be obtained in time to
26:51
Speaker 1: reach Washington before the necessary adjournment of Congress. By the Constitution,
26:57
Speaker 1: the reasons given by the Ministry for refusing to invoke
27:00
Speaker 1: the Chambers at an earlier period were afterwards shown not
27:03
Speaker 1: to be insuperable by their actual convocation on the first
27:07
Speaker 1: of December under a special call for domestic purposes, which fact, however,
27:13
Speaker 1: did not become known to this government until after the
27:15
Speaker 1: commencement of the last session of Congress. Thus, disappointed in
27:20
Speaker 1: our just expectations, it became my imperative duty to consult
27:24
Speaker 1: with Congress in regard to the expediency of a resort
27:28
Speaker 1: to retaliatory measures in case the stipulations of the Treaty
27:33
Speaker 1: should not be speedily complied with, and to recommend, such
27:37
Speaker 1: as in my judgment, the occasion called for. To this end,
27:41
Speaker 1: an unreserved communication of the case in all its aspects
27:45
Speaker 1: became indispensable to have shrunk in making it from saying
27:49
Speaker 1: all that was necessary to its correct understanding, and that
27:53
Speaker 1: the truth would justified, for fear of giving offense to others.
27:56
Speaker 1: Would have been unworthy of us to have gone, on
27:58
Speaker 1: the other hand, a single state further for the purpose
28:01
Speaker 1: of wounding the pride of a government and people with
28:04
Speaker 1: whom we had so many motives for cultivating relations of
28:07
Speaker 1: amity and reciprocal advantage would have been unwise and improper
28:13
Speaker 1: admonished by the past of the difficulty of making even
28:16
Speaker 1: the simplest statement of our wrongs without disturbing the sensibilities
28:20
Speaker 1: of those who had, by their position, become responsible for
28:24
Speaker 1: their address, and earnestly desirous of preventing further obstacles from
28:28
Speaker 1: that source, I went out of my way to preclude
28:31
Speaker 1: a construction of the message by which the recommendation that
28:34
Speaker 1: was made to Congress might be regarded as a menace
28:37
Speaker 1: to France in not only disavowing such a design, but
28:41
Speaker 1: in declaring that her pride and her power were too
28:44
Speaker 1: well known to expect anything from her fears. The message
28:48
Speaker 1: did not reach Paris until more than a month after
28:50
Speaker 1: the Chambers had been in session, and such was the
28:54
Speaker 1: insensibility of the ministry to our rightful claims and just expectations,
28:59
Speaker 1: that our ministry had been informed that the matter, when introduced,
29:02
Speaker 1: would not be pressed as a cabinet measure. Although the
29:07
Speaker 1: message was not officially communicated to the French government, and
29:10
Speaker 1: notwithstanding the declaration to the contrary which it contained, the
29:14
Speaker 1: French ministry decided to consider the conditional recommendation of reprisals
29:19
Speaker 1: amenace and an insult which the honour of the nation
29:22
Speaker 1: made it incumbent on them to resent. The measures resorted
29:27
Speaker 1: to by them to evince their sense of the supposed
29:29
Speaker 1: indignity were the immediate recall of their minister at Washington,
29:34
Speaker 1: the offer of passports to the American minister at Paris,
29:37
Speaker 1: and a public notice to the legislative chambers that all
29:40
Speaker 1: diplomatic intercourse with the United States had been suspended. Having
29:45
Speaker 1: in this manner vindicated the dignity of France, they next
29:48
Speaker 1: proceeded to illustrate her justice to this, and a bill
29:52
Speaker 1: was immediately introduced into the Chamber of Deputies proposing to
29:56
Speaker 1: make the appropriations necessary to carry into effect the treaty.
30:01
Speaker 1: As this bill subsequently passed into a law, the provisions
30:05
Speaker 1: of which now constitute the main subject of difficulty between
30:09
Speaker 1: the two nations, it becomes my duty in order to
30:12
Speaker 1: place the subject before you in a clear light, to
30:15
Speaker 1: trace the history of its passage, and to refer with
30:18
Speaker 1: some particularity to the proceedings and discussions in regard to it.
30:25
Speaker 1: The Minister of Finance, in his opening speech, alluded to
30:28
Speaker 1: the measures which had been adopted to resent the supposed
30:32
Speaker 1: indignity and recommended the execution of the treaty as a
30:35
Speaker 1: measure required by the honor and justice of France. He
30:40
Speaker 1: as the organ of the Ministry, declared the message, so
30:43
Speaker 1: long as it had not received the sanction of Congress,
30:46
Speaker 1: a mere expression of the personal opinion of the President,
30:50
Speaker 1: for which neither the government nor people of the United
30:53
Speaker 1: States were responsible, and that an engagement had been entered
30:57
Speaker 1: into for the fulfillment of which the honor of France
31:00
Speaker 1: was pledged. Entertaining these views, the single condition which the
31:04
Speaker 1: French Ministry proposed to annex to the payment of the
31:08
Speaker 1: money was that it should not be made until it
31:11
Speaker 1: was ascertained that the government of the United States had
31:14
Speaker 1: done nothing to injure the interests of France, or, in
31:17
Speaker 1: other words, that no steps had been authorized by Congress
31:21
Speaker 1: of a hostile character toward France. What the disposition of
31:26
Speaker 1: action of Congress might be was then unknown to the
31:29
Speaker 1: French cabinet, But on the fourteenth day of January, the
31:32
Speaker 1: Senate resolved that it was at that time inexpedient to
31:36
Speaker 1: adopt any legislative measures in regard to the state of
31:39
Speaker 1: affairs between the United States and France, and no action
31:44
Speaker 1: on the subject had occurred in the House of Representatives.
31:47
Speaker 1: These facts were known in Paris prior to the twenty
31:50
Speaker 1: eighth of March eighteen thirty five, when the committee to
31:54
Speaker 1: whom the bill of indemnification had been referred reported it
31:58
Speaker 1: to the Chamber of Deputy. That committee substantially re echoed
32:03
Speaker 1: the sentiments of the Ministry, declared that Congress had set
32:06
Speaker 1: aside the proposition of the President and recommended the passage
32:10
Speaker 1: of the bill without any other restriction than that originally proposed.
32:16
Speaker 1: Thus was it known to the French ministry and chambers
32:19
Speaker 1: that if the position assumed by them, and which had
32:22
Speaker 1: been so frequently and solemnly announced as the only one
32:25
Speaker 1: compatible with the honor of France, was maintained and the
32:28
Speaker 1: bill passed as originally proposed, the money would be paid
32:32
Speaker 1: and there would be an end of this unfortunate controversy.
32:37
Speaker 1: But this cheering prospect was soon destroyed by an amendment
32:41
Speaker 1: introduced into the bill at the moment of its passage,
32:44
Speaker 1: providing that the money should not be paid until the
32:47
Speaker 1: French government had received satisfactory explanations of the President's message
32:52
Speaker 1: of the Tewod December eighteen thirty four. And what is
32:55
Speaker 1: still more extraordinary, the President of the Council of Ministers
32:59
Speaker 1: adopted this amat and consented to its incorporation in the
33:03
Speaker 1: bill in regard to a supposed insult which had been
33:07
Speaker 1: formally resented by the recall of their minister and the
33:10
Speaker 1: offer of passports to ours. They now for the first
33:14
Speaker 1: time proposed to ask explanations. Sentiments and propositions which they
33:19
Speaker 1: had declared could not justly be imputed to the government
33:22
Speaker 1: or people of the United States are set up as
33:25
Speaker 1: obstacles to the performance of an act of conceded justice
33:29
Speaker 1: to that government and people. They had declared that the
33:32
Speaker 1: honor of France required the fulfillment of the engagement into
33:35
Speaker 1: which the King had entered unless Congress adopted the recommendations
33:39
Speaker 1: of the message. They ascertained that Congress did not adopt them,
33:44
Speaker 1: And yet that fulfillment is refused unless they first obtained
33:48
Speaker 1: from the President's explanations of an opinion characterized by themselves
33:53
Speaker 1: as personal and inoperative. The conception that it was my
33:58
Speaker 1: intention to menace or in soult the government of France
34:01
Speaker 1: is as unfounded as the attempt to extort from the
34:04
Speaker 1: fears of that nation, what our sense of justice may
34:08
Speaker 1: deny would be vain and ridiculous. But the Constitution of
34:12
Speaker 1: the United States imposes on the President the duty of
34:15
Speaker 1: laying before Congress the condition of the country in its
34:18
Speaker 1: foreign and domestic relations, and of recommending such measures as may,
34:23
Speaker 1: in his opinion, be required by its interests. From the
34:27
Speaker 1: performance of this duty, he cannot be deterred by the
34:30
Speaker 1: fear of wounding the sensibilities of the people or government
34:34
Speaker 1: of whom it may become necessary to speak. And the
34:37
Speaker 1: American people are incapable of submitting to an interference by
34:41
Speaker 1: any government on earth, however powerful, with the free performance
34:46
Speaker 1: of the domestic duties which the Constitution has imposed on
34:50
Speaker 1: their public functionaries. The discussions which intervene between the several
34:56
Speaker 1: departments of our government being to ourselves and for anything
35:00
Speaker 1: said in them. Our public servants are only responsible to
35:04
Speaker 1: their own constituents and to each other. If in the
35:07
Speaker 1: course of their consultations facts are erroneously stated or unjust
35:12
Speaker 1: deductions are made, they require no other inducement to correct them. However,
35:17
Speaker 1: informed of their error than their love of justice, and
35:20
Speaker 1: what is due to their own character but they can
35:23
Speaker 1: never submit to be interrogated upon the subject as a
35:26
Speaker 1: matter of right by a foreign power. When our discussions
35:30
Speaker 1: terminate in acts, our responsibility to foreign powers commences not
35:35
Speaker 1: as individuals, but as a nation. The principle which calls
35:38
Speaker 1: in question the President for the language of his message
35:41
Speaker 1: would equally justify a foreign power in demanding explanations of
35:45
Speaker 1: the language used in the report of a committee or
35:48
Speaker 1: by a member in debate. This is not the first
35:52
Speaker 1: time that the government of France has taken exception to
35:55
Speaker 1: the messages of American presidents. President Washington and the First President,
36:00
Speaker 1: in the performance of their duties to the American people,
36:04
Speaker 1: fell under the animad versions of the French directory. The
36:07
Speaker 1: objection taken by the Ministry of Charles the tenth and
36:11
Speaker 1: removed by the explanation made by our minister upon the spot,
36:15
Speaker 1: has already been averted to when it was understood that
36:19
Speaker 1: the Ministry of the present King took exception to my
36:22
Speaker 1: message of last year, putting our construction upon it, which
36:26
Speaker 1: was disavowed on its face. Our late Minister at Paris,
36:29
Speaker 1: in answer to the note which first announced a dissatisfaction
36:33
Speaker 1: with the language used in the message, made a communication
36:36
Speaker 1: to the French Government under date of the twenty ninth
36:39
Speaker 1: of January eighteen thirty five, calculated to remove all impressions
36:44
Speaker 1: which an unreasonable susceptibility had created. He repeated and called
36:49
Speaker 1: the attention of the French government to the disavowal contained
36:53
Speaker 1: in the message itself of any intention to intimidate by menace.
36:58
Speaker 1: He truly declared that it cantained and was intended to
37:01
Speaker 1: contain no charge of ill faith against the King of
37:04
Speaker 1: the French, and properly distinguished between the right to complain
37:08
Speaker 1: in unexceptionable terms of the omission to execute an agreement
37:13
Speaker 1: and an accusation of bad motives and withholding such execution,
37:18
Speaker 1: and demonstrated that the necessary use of that right ought
37:21
Speaker 1: not to be considered as an offensive imputation. Although this
37:27
Speaker 1: communication was made without instructions and entirely on the minister's
37:31
Speaker 1: own responsibility, yet it was afterwards made the act of
37:35
Speaker 1: this government by my full approbation, and that approbation was
37:39
Speaker 1: officially made known on the twenty fifth of April eighteen
37:42
Speaker 1: thirty five to the French government. It, however, failed to
37:46
Speaker 1: have any effect. The law after this friendly explanation passed
37:50
Speaker 1: with the obnoxious amendment supported by the King's ministers, and
37:54
Speaker 1: was finally approved by the King. The people of the
37:58
Speaker 1: United States are just the attacked to a pacific system
38:01
Speaker 1: in their intercourse with foreign nations. It is proper, therefore,
38:05
Speaker 1: that they should know whether their government has adhered to it.
38:08
Speaker 1: In the present instance, it has been carried to the
38:11
Speaker 1: utmost extent that was consistent with a becoming self respect.
38:16
Speaker 1: The note of the twenty ninth of January to which
38:19
Speaker 1: I have before alluded was not the only one which
38:22
Speaker 1: our Minister took upon himself the responsibility of presenting on
38:25
Speaker 1: the same subject, and in the same spirit, finding that
38:29
Speaker 1: it was intended to make the payment of a just
38:32
Speaker 1: debt dependent on the performance of a condition which he
38:35
Speaker 1: knew could never be complied with, he thought it a
38:38
Speaker 1: duty to make another attempt to convince the French government that,
38:42
Speaker 1: whilst self respect in regard to the dignity of other
38:45
Speaker 1: nations would always prevent us from using any language that
38:49
Speaker 1: ought to give offense, yet we could never admit a
38:52
Speaker 1: right in any foreign government to ask explanations of, or
38:56
Speaker 1: to interfere in any manner in the commitmmunications which one
39:01
Speaker 1: branch of our public councils made with another. Then in
39:04
Speaker 1: the present case no such language had been used, and
39:07
Speaker 1: that this had in a former note been fully and
39:10
Speaker 1: voluntarily stated before it was contemplated to make the explanation
39:15
Speaker 1: a condition, and that there might be no misapprehension. He
39:19
Speaker 1: stated the terms used in that note, and he officially
39:23
Speaker 1: informed them that it had been approved by the President,
39:25
Speaker 1: and that therefore every explanation which could reasonably be asked
39:29
Speaker 1: or honorably given, had been already made. That the contemplated
39:34
Speaker 1: measure had been anticipated by a voluntary and friendly declaration,
39:38
Speaker 1: and was therefore not only useless, but might be deemed
39:41
Speaker 1: offensive and certainly would not be complied with if annexed
39:45
Speaker 1: as a condition. When this latter communication, to which I
39:49
Speaker 1: especially invite the attention of Congress, was laid before me,
39:53
Speaker 1: I entertained the hope that the means it was obviously
39:56
Speaker 1: intended to afford of an honorable and speedy adjustment of
39:59
Speaker 1: the difficulty between the two nations would have been accepted,
40:03
Speaker 1: and I therefore did not hesitate to give it my
40:05
Speaker 1: sanction unfull approbation. This was due to the Minister who
40:10
Speaker 1: had made himself responsible for the act and it was
40:13
Speaker 1: published to the people of the United States, and has
40:15
Speaker 1: now laid before their representatives to show how far their
40:19
Speaker 1: executive has gone in its endeavors to restore a good
40:22
Speaker 1: understanding between the two countries. It would have been at
40:26
Speaker 1: any time communicated to the Government of France had it
40:29
Speaker 1: been officially requested. The French government, having received all the
40:33
Speaker 1: explanation which honor and principle permitted, and which could in
40:36
Speaker 1: reason be asked, it was hoped it would no longer
40:39
Speaker 1: hesitate to pay the installments now due. The agent author
40:43
Speaker 1: us to receive the money was instructed to inform the
40:45
Speaker 1: French Minister of his readiness to do so. In reply
40:49
Speaker 1: to this notice, he was told that the money could
40:51
Speaker 1: not then be paid because the formalities required by the
40:54
Speaker 1: Act of the Chambers had not been arranged. Not having
40:58
Speaker 1: received any official information of the intentions of the French government,
41:02
Speaker 1: and anxious to bring as far as practicable, this unpleasant
41:05
Speaker 1: affair to a close before the meeting of Congress, that
41:08
Speaker 1: you might have the whole subject before you, I caused
41:11
Speaker 1: our charge d'affaire at Paris to be instructed to ask
41:15
Speaker 1: for the final determination of the French government, and then
41:18
Speaker 1: the event of their refusal to pay the installments now
41:21
Speaker 1: due without further explanations to return to the United States.
41:26
Speaker 1: The result of this last application has not yet reached us,
41:30
Speaker 1: but is daily expected that it may be favorable. Is
41:33
Speaker 1: my sincere wish France, having now through all the branches
41:37
Speaker 1: of her government acknowledged the validity of our claims and
41:40
Speaker 1: the obligation of the Treaty of eighteen thirty one, and
41:43
Speaker 1: there really existing no adequate cause for further delay, will
41:47
Speaker 1: at length, it may be hoped, adopt the course which
41:50
Speaker 1: the interests of both nations, not less than the principles
41:54
Speaker 1: of justice, so imperiously require, the treaty being once executed
41:59
Speaker 1: on her part, little will remain to disturb the friendly
42:02
Speaker 1: relations of the two countries, Nothing, indeed, which will not
42:06
Speaker 1: yield to the suggestions of a pacific and enlightened policy,
42:10
Speaker 1: and to the influence of that mutual good will and
42:13
Speaker 1: of those generous recollections which we may confidently expect will
42:17
Speaker 1: then be revived in all their ancient force. Ind of
42:25
Speaker 1: Section fifteen