18th CONGRESS, 2d SESSION. Documents accompanying the President's Message. Great Britain, for the suppression of the African slave trade, is herewith transmitted to you, with the ratification on the part of the United States, under certain modifications and exceptions, annexed as conditions to the advice and consent of the Senate to its ratification. The participation of the Senate of the United States in the final conclusion of all treaties to which they are parties, is already well known to the British government; and the novelty of the principles established by the convention, as well as their importance, and the requisite assent of two-thirds of the Senators present, to the final conclusion of every part of a ratified treaty, will explain the causes of its ratification under this form. It will be seen that the great and essential principles which form the basis of the compact are admitted, to their full extent, in the ratified part of the convention. The second article, and the portion of the seventh which it is proposed to expunge, are unessential to the plan, and were not included in the project of convention transmitted to you from hence. They appear, indeed, to be, so far as concerned the United States, altogether inoperative, since they could not confer the power of capturing slave traders under the flag of a third party-a power not claimed, either by the United States, or Great Britain, unless by treaty, and the United States having no such treaty with any other power. It is presumed that the bearing of those articles was exclusively upon the flags of those other nations with which Great Britain has already treaties for the suppression of the slave trade, and that, while they give an effective power to the officers of Great Britain, they conferred none upon those of the United States. [Sen. and H. of R. with transmit the British ratified copy to this place. On exchanging the ratifications, a certificate of that act is usually executed under the hand and seal of the persons performing it, and mutually delivered. A copy of the form of that used in exchanging the ratifications of the convention of 20th October, 1818, is here with enclosed, and it appears to be the form generally used on such occasions by the British government. You will transmit the certificate exchanged with the British ratification. To complete the documents belonging to the negotiation, a copy of the full power of the British Plenipotentiaries, and of the protocol of the third conference, are yet to be forwarded to us. By the ninth article of the convention, it is provided that copies of it, "and of the laws of both countries, actually in force, for the prohibition and suppression of the slave trade, shall be furnished to every commander of the National vessels of either party, charged with the execution of those laws." The fulfilment of this article will require the continued and particular attention of both governments. I enclose, herewith, a printed pamphlet, containing all the laws of the United States on this subject, now in force. It is stated in your despatches to have been the intention of the British government to consolidate into one act, during the present session of Parliament, all the British laws relating to the subject; and perhaps Congress, at the next session, may deem it expedient to do the same here. At all events, you will not fail to forward to me a copy of all the laws in force, which come within the purview of the convention, and although not expressly stipulated in that instrument, you will suggest to the British government, that copies The exception of the coast of America from the seas of the Instructions relating to this object, given by each upon which the mutual power of capturing the vessels of the parties to its own naval officers, should be comunder the flag of either party may be exercised, had re- municated to the other, and furnished to all the officers, ference, in the views of the Senate, doubtless, to the on either side, entrusted with the execution of the laws coast of the United States. On no part of that coast, made by this convention, common to both. Lists of the unless within the Gulf of Mexico, is there any probabili-vessels of either party, and of their commanders, thus ty that slave-trading vessels will ever be found. The ne-instructed, might also facilitate the accomplishment of cessity for the exercise of the authority to capture is, the great purposes of both, and harmonize the practical therefore, no greater, than it would be upon the coast of operation of a system, not less important by the magnanEurope. In South America, the only coast to which imous end to be obtained, than by the novelty of the slave-traders may be hereafter expected to resort, is that means adopted for its accomplishment. of Brazil, from which, it is to be hoped, they will shortly be expelled by the laws of the country. the continuance and promotion of their harmony and good understanding, and welcomes it as an earnest of the same spirit, in accomplishing the adjustment of the other interesting objects in negotiation between the two parties. The conclusion of this convention has been highly satisfactory to the President, whose entire approbation of The limitation by which each party is left at liberty to the course pursued by you in the negotiation of it, I am renounce the convention, by six months' notice to the instructed to make known to you. He indulges the other, may, perhaps, be useful in reconciling other na-hope that it will, even as now modified, contribute tions to the adoption of its provisions. If the principles largely to two objects of high importance: to the friendof the convention are to be permanently maintained, this ly relations between the two countries, and to the generlimitation must undoubtedly be abandoned; and when al interests of humanity. He sees in it, with much pleathe public mind shall have been familiarized to the prac-sure, that spirit of mutual accommodation, so essential to tical operation of the system, it is not doubted that this reservation will, on all sides, be readily given up. In giving these explanations to the British Government, you will state that the President was fully prepared to have ratified the convention without alteration, as it had been signed by you. He is aware that the conditional ratification leaves the British government at liberty to concur therein, or to decline the ratification altogether; but he will not disguise the wish, that, such as it is, it may receive the sanction of Great Britain, and be carried into effect. When the concurrence of both governments has been at length obtained, by exertions so long and so anxiously continued, to principles so important, and for purposes of so high and honorable a character, it would prove a severe disappointment to the friends of freedom and of humanity, if all prospect of effective concert between the two nations, for the extirpation of this disgrace to civilized man, should be lost by differences of sentiment, in all probability transient, upon unessential details. Should the convention, as ratified on the part of the United States, be likewise ratified on the part of Great Britain, you will exchange the ratifications, and forth. I am, with great respect, sir, your very humble and and Minister Plenipotentiary U. S. London. Extract of a letter from Mr. Rush to Mr. Adams, slated "I have this day had the honor to receive your des patch, No. 79, of the 29th of May, with the Convention for the Suppression of the Slave Trade, as ratified on the part of the United States, under certain modifications and exceptions, annexed as conditions to the advice and consent of the Senate to its ratification. "I shall proceed, immediately, to lay the Convention, as thus ratified, before this Government, and endeavor to recommend to its acceptance the modifications and 18th 2d SESSION. Documents accompanying the President's Message. [Sen. and H. of R. exceptions, now a part of the instrument, by all the sugas they will now be seen in his note, for not acceding to gestions and arguments with which your despatch has supplied me." Extract of a letter from Mr. Rush to Mr. Adams, portion of North America, as proximate to the Britis LONDON, August 9, 1824. "I have the honor to inform you that Mr. Secretary Canning has given me to understand, in an interview which I have this day had with him, that this Government finds itself unable to accede to the Convention for the Suppression of the Slave Trade, with the alterations and modifications that have been annexed to its ratification on the part of the United States. He said that none of these alterations or modifications would have formed insuperable bars to the consent of Great Britain, except that which had expunged the word America from the first article, but that this was considered insuperable." "The reasons which Mr. Canning assigned for this determination on the part of Great Britain, I forbear to state, as he has promised to address a communication, in writing, to me, upon the subject, where they will be seen more accurately, and at large; but to guard against any delay in my receiving that communication, I have thought it right not to lose any time in thus apprising you, for the President's information, of the result." Mr. Rush to Mr. Adams. LONDON, August 30, 1824. SIB: I had the honor to apprize you, in my letter of the 9th inst. that Mr. Secretary Canning had informed me, in an interview that I had with him on that day, that this Government would decline acceding to the convention for the suppression of the slave trade, as ratified in May, on the part of the United States,and that he promised to address me an official note upon this subject. This note I received on Saturday the 28th instant, the delay having arisen from an attack of fever, under which he has been laboring. A copy of it is, herewith, enclosed. the treaty, took occasion to remark, that Great Britain would be willing to give to the omitted words a meaning that would restrict their operation to the southera West Indies, excluding the range of coast which con prehended the middle and northern states, if I though: that such a plan would be acceptable to my government. I immediately and most decidedly discountenanced suck a proposition, as objectionable under every view. He replied, that, having no other object in making the inmation than that of preventing the treaty from falling through, and not knowing himself in what light it might be received, he had of course nothing more to say, after learning from me that it would be objectionable. I avail myself of this opportunity to forward to you copy of the act of the last session of Parliament for con solidating the laws of this realm for the abolition of the slave trade, as requested in your communication of the 29th of May. I have the honor to remain, &c. RICHARD RUSH. Secretary of State. Mr. G. Canning to Mr. Rush. FOREIGN OFFICE, AUG. 27, 1824. SIR: In pursuance of what I stated to you in out late conference, I have now the honor to address you on the subject of the qualified ratification, on the part of your government, of the treaty for the more effect al suppression of the slave trade, which was conclud ed and signed, in the month of March last, by you and his Majesty's Plenipotentiaries. His Majesty's government have given the most an ious and deliberate consitleration to this subject; and a the result of that consideration has been to decide that they cannot advise his Majesty to accept the America ratification, (notwithstanding the arguments alleged by you, in the name of your government, in favor of such acceptance,) I entreat you to believe it is not from an diminished sense of the importance of the matter t which that treaty relates. Nor do they at all underrate the desire which, as you have assured me, and, as they really believe, was felt by the President of the United States, to adopt the pro sions of the treaty, such as it was transmitted to Amer ca. But the result is not the less inconvenient. of stipulations, which had been engrafted upon the o ginal projet, but extending to that part of the original projet itself, which had passed, unchanged, through the negotiation. A treaty, of which the basis was laid in propositions framed by the American government, was considere here, as so little likely to be made a subject of renewed discussion in America, that not a moment was lost in ratif ing it, on the part of his Majesty; and his Majesty's r I lost no time, after receiving your instructions of the tification was ready to be exchanged against that of the 29th of May, in laying the matter of them before Mr. United States, when the treaty came back; not as Canning, having, on the 30th of June, written him a note had been sent to America, but with material variation to request an interview, for the purpose of executing-variations not confined to those stipulations, or parts this duty, which he granted me, at the Foreign Office, on the first of July. It was in that interview that I laid fully before him all the considerations and arguments for the adoption of the treaty, as ratified at Washington, with which your above instructions had charged me, omitting The knowledge that the constitution of the U. States no part of them. He gave no opinion at that time, on renders all their diplomatic compacts liable to this s the course which this Government would be likely to of revision, undoubtedly precludes the possibility of tais pursue, but, afterwards, on the 9th of August, informed ing exception at any particular instance in which that me, as I have heretofore mentioned, that the omission of revision is exercised; but the repetition of such insta the words," and America," from the first article of the ces does not serve to reconcile to the practice the feel treaty, was considered, by Great Britain, as an insuper-ings of the other contracting party, whose solemn rati able objection to its acceptance on her part, and to this effect is the note which I now transmit from him. A copy of my answer to it, dated to-day, is enclosed. It may be proper for me to state, that, whilst Mr. Canning, in the interview I had with him on the ninth of August, was assigning the reasons of this Government, cation is thus rendered of no avail, and whose conces sions, in negotiation, having been made (as all such con cessions must be understood to be made) conditionaliy are thus accepted as positive and absolute, while what may have been the stipulated price of those concessions, is withdrawn. 18th CONGRESS, ( 4 SESSION. Documents accompanying the President's Message. In the instance before us, the question is not one nerely of form. A substantial change is made in the reaty; and, as I have said, on a point originally proposd by yourself, sir, as the American plenipotentiary, and understood to be proposed by the special direction of our government. [Sen. and H. of R. giving way to the desire and the hope that his majesty's government might have felt able to accept the treaty, with the alterations introduced by the Senate as conditions of its ratification, I have only to express my regret at the disappointment of this hope. All power over the instrument,on my part, as the PleThe right of visiting vessels, suspected of slave-trad-nipotentiary of the United States at his majesty's court, g, when extended alike to the West Indies, and to the ceasing by this decision, it only remains for me to say, ast of America, implied an equality of vigilance, and that I will, with promptitude, transmit to my governid not necessarily imply the existence of ground of sus- ment a copy of your note, at which source it will receive, I am sure, all the attention due to the high interests of which it treats. icion on either side. The removal of this right, as to the coast of America, nd its continuance to the West Indies, cannot but apear to imply the existence on one side, and not on the ther, of a just ground either of suspicion of misconduct, for apprehension of an abuse of authority. To such an equality, leading to such an inference, his fajesty's government can never advise his Majesty to insent. It would have been rejected, if proposed in le course of negotiation. It can still less be admitted as new demand, after the conclusion of the treaty. With the exception of this proposed omission, there nothing in the alterations, made by the Senate of the hited states, in the treaty (better satisfied, as his Masty's government undoubtedly would have been,it they -id not been made,) which his Majesty's goverament ould not rather agree to adopt, than suffer the hopes good, to which this arrangement had given rise, to be sappointed. Upon this omission, they trust the Senate of the U. ates will, on another consideration of the subject, see at it is not equitable to insist. A full power will therefore be sent to Mr. Addington, $ Majesty's Charge d'Affaires at Washington, to conade and sign, with any plenipotentiary to be appointby the American government, a treaty, verbatim the me as the returned treaty would be, with all the altertons introduced into it by the Senate, excepting only e proposed omission of the words " and America," in e first article; which treaty, if transmitted to England, th the ratification of the government of the U. States, Majesty will be ready to ratify. But I am to apprize you, sir, that his Majesty will not advised to appoint plenipotentiaries to conclude and en the like treaty here, to be, as before, ratified by his ajesty, and to be again subjected, after raufication by Majesty, to alterations by the Senate of the United I have the honor to be, with distinguished considera- The Rt. Hon. GEORGE CANNING, Mr. Adams to Mr. Rush. Washington, Nov. 12, 1824. Sir: Your despatches, to Nos. 395 and 12, inclusive, have been received. The proposal for the negotiation of a new convention, for the suppression of the slave trade, will receive the deliberate consideration of the President. It is observed, with regret, that the reasons assigned in Mr Secretary Canning's letter of 27th August, to you, as having induced the British Government to decline the ratification of that which you had signed, as modified by the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, appear to have arisen from impressions altion that the treaty would not be made a subject of reIt is stated that, under the expectatogether erroneous. newed discussion in the United States, it had actually been ratified on the part of the British Government as at first concluded; and hence an argument of inconvenience is deduced, that a second, and qualified ratification could not be given, without impairing the dignity of the Government, by the implication that the former ratification had been an act of the sovereign, performed in vain. To give weight to this reasoning, it would seem an essential part of the facts, that the ratification alluded to had been transmitted to the United States; or at least that it was known to have taken place by the Govern ment of the United States, at the time when the Convention came under the consideration of the Senate. This, That it had been ratified in however, was not the case. Great Britain, was neither known nor believed. It ap pears to have been an act altogether voluntary, and in no wise referring to that which was expected on the part of the United States. The argument, therefore, rests upon facts other than those which were really ap. plicable to the subject. While admitting that the knowledge of those provisions of our constitution, which reserve to the Senate the right of revising all treaties with foreign powers, be SIR: I had the honor to receive, on the 28th in-fore they can obtain the force of law, precludes the pos ant, your note of the 2d of this month, giving me formation that his Britannic Majesty's government ave declined, for the reasons you have enumerated, adising his majesty to accept the ratification, by the Predent and Senate of the United States, of the treaty for le suppression of the slave trade, lately signed on bealf of the two powers, in manner and form as that ratication had been made known by me to his Majesty's jovernment. Having already, sir, had the honor to lay before you all the reasons that operated with my government for Vol. 1-D sibility of taking exception to any particular instance in which that revision is exercised, Mr. Canning urges that this part of our system operates unfavorably upon the feelings of the other contracting party; whose solemn ratification, he says, is thus rendered of no avail; and whose concessions in negotiation, having been made, (as all such concessions must be understood to be made) conditionally, are thus accepted as positive and absolute, while, what may have been the stipulated price of those concessions, is withdrawn. It may be replied, that, in all cases of a treaty, thus ne. go iated, the other contracting party, being under no obligation to ratify the compact, before it shall have been ascertained whether, and in what manner, it has been disposed of in the United States, its ratification can in no case be rendered unavailing by the proceedings of the Government of the United States upon the treaty. And that every Government contracting with the United States, and with a full knowledge that all their treaties, until sanctioned by the constitutional majority of their Senate, are, and must be, considered as merely inchoate, and not consummated compacts, is entirely free to withhold its own ratification until it shall have knowledge of the ratification on their part. In the full powers of European goverments to their ministers, the sovereign usually promises to ratify that which his minister shall conclude in his name; and yet, if the minister transcends his instructions, though not known to the other party, the sovereign is not held bound to ratify his engage ments. Of this principle Great Britain has once ava led herself, in her negotiations with the United States. But the full powers of our ministers abroad are necessarily modified by the provisions of our constitution, and promise the ratification of treaties signed by them, only in the event of their receiving the constitutional sanction of our own government. If this arrangement does, in some instances, operate as a slight inconvenience to other governments, by interposing an obstacle to the facility of negotiation, it is, on the other hand, essential to guard against evils of the deepest import to our own nation, utterly incompatible with the genius of our institutions, and it is supported by considerations to which the equitable sense of other nations cannot fail to subscribe. The treaties of the United States, are, together with their Constitution, the supreme law of the land. The power of contracting them is, in the first instance, given to the President, a single individual. If negotiated abroad, it must be by a minister or ministers under his appointment; and if in Europe, with powers largely discretionary-the distances seldom permitting opportunities to the minister of consulting his Government for instructions, during the progress of the negotiation. Were there no other check or control over this power, and were there an obligation, even of delicacy, requiring the unqualified sanction of every treaty so negotiated, the result would be an authority possessed by every minister of the United States, entrusted with a full power for negotiating a treaty, to change the laws of this Union, upon objects of the first magnitude to the interests of the nation. In their negotiations with each other, the European nations are generally so near, and the communications between them are so easy and regular, that a negotiator can seldom have a justifiable occasion to agree to any important stipulation, without having an opportunity of asking and receiving the instructions of his govern ment: a practice always and peculiarly resorted to by British plenipotentiaries. With an intervening ocean, this is seldom possible, and it is, therefore, just and proper, that the right of judgment upon all the stipulations agreed to by a ininister, should be reserved, in the most unqualified manner, to both governments, parties to the treaty; and that every compact, so negotia ed, should be understood to be signed by the minister remote from his own country, only sub spe rati; not conclusive upon his nation, until its government shall have passed sentence of approbation upon it. These general observations are submitted, in order that you may make such use of them as you shall deem expedient to satisfy the British Government. that, in this established principle of our constitution, there is nothing to which any foreign government can justly take excep tion and that it only reserves to our government a power of supervision, necessary for our own safety, which the European governments effectively reserve to [Sen, and H. of R. themselves, and none more cautiously than Great Bri R. RUSH, Esq. Envoy, &c. London. Mr. Addington to Mr. Adams. WASHINGTON, 6th Nov. 1824. SIR: You have already been apprised of the circum stance of his Majesty, my sovereign, having declined af fixing his ratification to the convent.on concluded in London on the 13th of March last, between the British and American Plenipotentiaries, for the more effectual suppression of the slave trade, amended and qualified a that instrument had been by the Senate of the United States In lieu of that convention, however, His Majesty pro poses to the American government to substitute an ther, verbatim the same as the amended instrument, out point alone excepted; that exception is, the erasure the word "America," in the first article, a word watch stood in the original projet of the article, as proposed by the President to the British Government, but which the United States thought fit, after the mutual acquiescence of both parties in it, to expunge. In announcing to you the fact of my having been fur nished with full powers to conclude and sign with the American Government a new treaty, such as I have above described, it will be unnecessary for me to enter at length into the motives which have actuated His M jesty in coming to this d. cision, as you have already been made acquainted with those motives thro' the medium of an official letter, addressed, on the 27th August last, by His Majesty's Secretary of State, to the American E voy in London, in which all the grounds of that determ nation are fully expounded. A few observations, on my part, however, in brief alle sion to one or two points connected with this subject may here be not misplaced. In the acquiescence of His Majesty in all the altera tions, with one only exception, effected by the Senate in a treaty originally projected by this government, the spontaneous recommendation of the House of Re presentatives, the President will, I doubt not, see the clearest manifestation of the earnest desire of His Ma Jesty's Government to carry into effect the importan and salutary object for which the treaty was designed however they may have deemed the original forma which that treaty was presented for the ratification of this government, the best calculated to attain that object To the amendment which would exempt the shors of America from that vigilance which is to be employed on those of the British West Indies, thereby destroying that equality which is the prevailing principle of the p visions of the treaty, and which cannot be withdrawn the one side, or on the other, consistently with the ma tual respect and confidence which subsist between the two contracting parties, His Majesty has found himself unable to accede; and I doubt not, that, upon a fair and unbiassed reconsideration of that point, the American government will see and acknowledge the justice His Majesty's views, and will not hesitate to prove acknowledgment, by consenting to re-admit the expus ed word "America," into the treaty. d that It will not fail, sir, to occur to you, that the condition required of Great Britain, prior to the signature of the treaty by the American Plenipotentiary, namely, the de nunciation as piracy, by the British Parliament, of the slave trade, when exercised by British subjects, has a ready been fulfilled. On the justice of accepting the value already paid for a stipulated act, and withholding the performance of 18th CONGRESS, 20 SESSION. Documents accompanying the President's Message. that act, I leave it with confidence to your own sense of honor and equity to determine. The sanction of this government of the original provisions of the treaty in full, was the equivalent to be received by his Majesty, for his performance of the condition required of him, namely, his sanction of an Act of Parliament, declaring the slave trade piracy. Those provisions have been, in part rejected, in part modified, by this government; and yet His Maj sty is still willing to abide by his original agreement, provided this Government will recede from one, alone, of the various amendments made by them in the treaty. I might here cite as a proof, if proof were necessary, of the unlimited confidence which his majesty reposed in the good faith of the government of this republic, and their sincerity in wishing to execute the treaty signed by their Plenipotentiary in London-a treaty, I repeat, pro jected in conformity with the express recommendation of the House of Representatives-that His Majesty affixed, without delay, his own ratification to the treaty, in the full security of that instrument being equally invested with that of this government. No shadow of a sus picion ever entered, ever could enter, His Majesty's mind, that that ratification could be withheld, in whole or in part. Under all the circumstances of the case, sir, I cannot bur feel an entire conviction, that the se se of justice, and the right feelings which animate the American Government, will lead them to accede, without hesitation, to the proposition now submitted to them on the part of His Majesty, and that the President will find no difficulty in sanctioning the conclusion of a treaty, the provisions of which must eventually result in such incalculable benefits to a most oppressed and afflicted portion of the human race. [Sen, and H. of R. DOCUMENTS FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT. Secretary of War to the President of the U. States. December 3d 1824. Sin: In compliance with your directions, I herewith transmit reports from the various branches of the Military Establishment, lettered from A to K, which cont-in a fuil statement of the administration of that portion of the public service which is confided to the Department of War. The reports afford satisfactory evidence, that a high degree of excellence has been attained in the administration of the different branches of the Department. Not an instance of defalcation, or loss, has thus far occurred, and there is every reason to believe that the disbursements of the year will be made without the loss of a cent to the Government. The accounts have already been rendered for nearly all the money which has been drawn from the Treasury in the three first quarters of the year, on account of the army, fortifications, ordnance, and Indian affairs, and it is anticipated, with confidence, that the accounts of the whole of the disbursements, these quarters, will be rendered before the ter mination of the year. The old unsettled accounts of the Department which, at the commencement of the present administration amounted to $45,111,123, have been reduced to 3,156,991; and further accumulation is ef fectually prevented in the Department by strict fidelity and punctuality in expenditure and settlement of accounts. In order to improve the discipline of the artillery, eleven companies have been collected at Fortress Monroe, at Old Point Comfort, which have been formed into a With this conviction, I need not assure you, sir, of my corps, as a school of practice for the artillery. The disreadiness to wait upon you at any time which you may persed condition of the artillery rendered the measure think fit to appoint, in order to give effect to 'he instruc- necessary for the improvement of its discipline. By passtions which I have received from His Majesty's Secre' a-ng the whole corps, in succession, through the school, ry of State, by affixing my signature to the convention, as newly modelled. I beg, sir, that you will receive the assurances of my distinguished consideration. H. U. ADDINGTON. Secretary of State to Mr. Addington. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, a degree of perfection will be given to the discipline of the artillery, nearly, if not quite, equal to that which could be attained, were it practicable to collect it into one body, instead of being dispersed, as it is, in garrisons in the different fortresses along the whole line of the coast. To carry the arrangement into full effect, will require the aid of Congress. An appropriation, in particular, will be necessary, to furnish horses for instruction in the light artillery exercise, which may be also used in instructing the cavalry drill; a branch of service in which the army is now without skill or in struction. A board of officers has been constituted to revise the Sin: Your note of the 6th ult. has been submitted to the consideration of the President of the United States. While regretting that it has not been found book of field exercise and manœuvres of infantry, which Confor nable to the views of His Britannic Majesty's Go was adopted at the close of the late war, in order to a Ternment, to concur in the ratification of the conven- new and more correct edition; and to adapt it, as far tion for the suppression of the slave trade, as recomas practicable, to the service of militia. It is proposed, mended by the advice and consent of the Senate of the also, to add to it, a system of light infantry and cavalry United States, he has thought it most advisable, with re- drill, and to correct and enlarge the military rules and ference to the success of the object common to both regulations, so as to render them as perfect as is practigovernments, and in which both take the warmest inter-cable with our present experience. est, to refer the whole subject to the deliberate advisement of Congress. In postponing, therefore, a definitive answer to the proposal set forth in your note, I have only to renew the assurance of the unabated earnestness with which the government of the United States looks to the accomplishment of the common purpose; the entire extinction of that odious traffic, and to the concert of effective measures to that end between the United States and Great Britain. I pray you, sir, to accept the assurance of my distinguished consideration. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. The organization of the Indian Department has been much improved in the course of the year; the beneficial effects of which is already apparent in its improved administration. The hostilities of the remote tribes on the Missouri still continue, and has extended in some degree to those tinued hostility among the various tribes themselves in on the upper Missouri and the upper lakes. The conthat quarter, it is believed, his contributed, in no small degree, to the murder of our citizens and depredations on their property, which have occurred; and measures have been taken to effect, if possible, a general pacification among them. The season was too far advanced when the act passed, to carry into effect the intention of Congress in author |