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branch of the civil, mllitary, and naval establishments; the public edifices in this city have been rebuilt, with considerable additions; extensive fortifications have been commenced; and are in a train of execution; permanent arsenals and magazines have been erected in various parts of the Union; our navy has been considerably augmented, and the ordnance, munitions of war, and stores of the army and navy, which were much exhausted during the war, have been replenished.

By the discharge of so large a portion of the public debt, and the execution of such extensive and important operations, in so short a time a just estimate may be formed of the great extent of our national resources. The demonstration is the more complete and gratifying, when it is recollected that the direct tax and excise were repealed soon after the termination of the late war, and that the revenue applied to these purposes had been derived almost wholly from other sources.

The receipts into the treasury, from every source, to the 30th of September last, have amounted to sixteen millions seven hundred and ninetyfour thousand one hundred and seven dollars and sixty-six cents; while the public expenditures to the same period amounted to sixteen millions eight hundred and seventy-one thousand five hundred and thirty-four dollars and seventy-two cents; leaving in the treasury, on that day, a sum estimated at one million nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars. For the probable receipts of the following year I refer you to the statement which will be transmitted from the treasury.

The sum of three millions of dollars, authorized to be raised by loan by an act of the last session of Congress, has been obtained upon terms advantageous to the government, indicating not only an increased confidence in the faith of the nation, but the existence of a large amount of capital seeking that mode of investment, at a rate of interest not exceeding five per centum per annum.

It is proper to add, that there is now due to the treasury, for the sale of public lands, twenty-two millions nine hundred and ninety-six thousand five hundred and forty-five dollars. In bringing this subject to view, I consider it my duty to submit to Congress whether it may not be advisable to extend to the purchasers of these lands, in consideration of the unfavorable change which has occurred since the sales, a reasonable indulgence. It is known that the purchases were made when the price of every article had risen to its greatest height, and that the instalments are becoming due at a period of great depression. It is presumed that some plan may be devised by the wisdom of Congress, compatible with the public interest, which would afford great relief to these purchasers.

Considerable progress has been made, during the present season, in examining the coast and its various bays and other inlets; in the collection of materials and in the construction of fortifications for the defence of the Union, at several of the positions at which it has been decided to erect such works. At Mobile point and Dauphin island, and at the Rigolets, leading to Lake Pontchartrain, materials to a considerable amount have been collected, and all the necessary preparations made for the commencement of the works. At Old Point Comfort, at the mouth of James river, and at the Rip-Raps, on the opposite shore in the Chesapeake bay, materials to a vast amount have been collected; and at the Old Point some progress has been made in the construction of the fortification, which is on a very extensive scale. The work at Fort Washington, on this river, will be completed early in next spring, and that on the Peapatch, in the

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Delaware, in the course of the next season. Fort Diamond, at the Narrows, in the harbor of New York, will be finished this year. The works at Boston, New York, Baltimore, Norfolk, Charleston, and Niagara, have been in part repaired; and the coast of North Carolina, extending south to Cape Fear, has been examined, as have likewise other parts of the coast eastward of Boston. Great exertions have been made to push forward these works with the utmost despatch possible; but when their extent is considered, with the important purposes for which they are intended, the defence of the whole coast, and in consequence, of the whole interior, and that they are to last for ages, it will be manifest that a welldigested plan, founded on military principles, connecting the whole together, combining security with economy, could not be prepared without repeated examinations of the most exposed and difficult parts, and that it would also take considerable time to collect the materials at the several points where they would be required. From all the light that has been shed on this subject, I am satisfied that every favorable anticipation which has been formed of this great undertaking will be verified, and that when completed, it will afford very great if not complete protection to our Atlantic frontier in the event of another war; a protection sufficient to counterbalance, in a single campaign, with an enemy powerful at sea, the expense of all these works, without taking into the estimate the saving of the lives of so many of our citizens, the protection of our towns and other property, or the tendency of such works to prevent war.

Our military positions have been maintained at Belle point on the Arkansas, at Council Bluff on the Missouri, at St. Peter's on the Mississippi, and at Green bay on the upper lakes. Commodious barracks have already been erected at most of these posts, with such works as were necessary for their defence. Progress has also been made in opening communications between them, and in raising supplies at each for the support of the troops by their own labor, particularly those most remote.

With the Indians peace has been preserved, and a progress made in carrying into effect the act of Congress making an appropriation for their civilization, with a prospect of favorable results. As connected equally with both these objects, our trade with those tribes is thought to merit the attention of Congress. In their original state, game is their sustenance, and war their occupation; and if they find no employment from civilized powers they destroy each other. Left to themselves, their extirpation is inevitable. By a judicious regulation of our trade with them, we supply their wants, administer to their comforts, and gradually, as the game retires, draw them to us. By maintaining posts far in the interior, we acquire a more thorough and direct control over them, without which it is confidently believed that a complete change in their manners can never be accomplished. By such posts, aided by a proper regulation of our trade with them, and a judicious civil administration over them, to be provided for by law, we shall, it is presumed, be enabled not only to protect our own settlements from their savage incursions, and to preserve peace among the several tribes, but accomplish also the great purpose of their civilization.

Considerable progress has also been made in the construction of shipsof-war, some of which have been launched in the course of the present year.

Our peace with the powers on the coast of Barbary has been preserved, but we owe it altogether to the presence of our squadron in the Mediterra

nean. It has been found equally necessary to employ some of our vessels for the protection of our commerce in the Indian sea, the Pacific, and along the Atlantic coast. The interests which we have depending in those quarters, which have been much improved of late, are of great extent, and of high importance to the nation, as well as to the parties concerned, and would undoubtedly suffer if such protection was not extended to them. In execution of the law of last session, for the suppression of the slave-trade, some of our public ships have also been employed on the coast of Africa, where several captures have already been made of vessels engaged in that disgraceful traffic.

SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

MARCH 4, 1821.

FELLOW-CITIZENS: I shall not attempt to describe the grateful emotions which the new and very distinguished proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, evinced by my re-election to this high trust, has excited in my bosom. The approbation which it announces of my conduct, in the preceding term, affords me a consolation which I shall profoundly feel through life. The general accord with which it has been expressed, adds to the great and never-ceasing obligations which it imposes. To merit the continuance of this good opinion, and to carry it with me into my retirement, as the solace of my advancing years, will be the object of my most zealous and unceasing efforts.

Having no pretensions to the high and commanding claims of my predecessors, whose names are so much more conspicuously identified with our revolution, and who contributed so pre-eminently to promote its success, I consider myself rather as the instrument, than the cause of the union which has prevailed in the late election. In surmounting, in favor of my humble pretensions, the difficulties which so often produce division in like occurrences, it is obvious that other powerful causes, indicating the great strength and stability of our Union, have essentially contributed to draw you together. That these powerful causes exist, and that they are permanent, is my fixed opinion; that they may produce a like accord in all questions, touching, however remotely, the liberty, prosperity, and happiness of our country, will always be the object of my most fervent prayers to the Supreme Author of all good.

In a government which is founded by the people, who possess exclusively the sovereignty, it seems proper that the person who may be placed by their suffrages in this high trust, should declare, on commencing its duties, the principles on which he intends to conduct the administration. If the person, thus elected, has served the preceding term, an opportunity is afforded him to review its principal occurrences, and to give such further explanation respecting them, as in his judgment may be useful to his constituents. The events of one year have influence on those of another; and in like manner, of a preceding on the succeeding administration. movements of a great nation are connected in all their parts. If errors have been committed, they ought to be corrected; if the policy is sound, it ought to be supported. It is by a thorough knowledge of the whole subject that our fellow-citizens are enabled to judge correctly of the past, and to give a proper direction to the future.

The

Just before the commencement of the last term, the United States had concluded a war with a very powerful nation, on conditions equal and honorable to both parties. The events of that war are too recent, and too deeply impressed on the memory of all, to require a development from me. Our commerce had been, in a great measure, driven from the sea; our Atlantic and inland frontiers were invaded in almost every part; the waste of life along our coast, and on some parts of our inland frontiers, to the defence of which our gallant and patriotic citizens were called, was immense; in addition to which, not less than one hundred and twenty millions of dollars were added at its end to the public debt.

As soon as the war had terminated, the nation, admonished by its events, resolved to place itself in a situation which should be better calculated to

prevent the recurrence of a like evil, and in case it should recur, to mitigate its calamities. With this view, after reducing our land force to the basis of a peace establishment, which has been further modified since, provision was made for the construction of fortifications at proper points, through the whole extent of our coast, and such an augmentation of our naval force, as should be well adapted to both purposes. The laws making this provision were passed in 1815 and '16, and it has been, since, the constant effort of the executive to carry them into effect.

The advantage of these fortifications, and of an augmented naval force, in the extent contemplated, in a point of economy, has been fully illustrated by a report of the board of engineers and naval commissioners, lately communicated to Congress, by which it appears that, in an invasion by twenty thousand men, with a correspondent naval force, in a campaign of six months only, the whole expense of the construction of the works would be defrayed by the difference in the sum necessary to maintain the force which would be adequate to our defence with the aid of these works, and that which would be incurred without them. The reason of this difference is obvious. If fortifications are judiciously placed on our great inlets, as distant from our cities as circumstances will permit, they will form the only points of attack, and the enemy will be detained there by a small regular force, a sufficient time to enable our militia to collect, and repair to that on which the attack is made. A force adequate to the enemy, collected at that single point, with suitable preparation for such others as might be menaced, is all that would be requisite. But, if there were no fortifications, then the enemy might go where he pleased, and, changing his position, and sailing from place to place, our force must be called out and spread in vast numbers along the whole coast, and on both sides of every bay and river, as high up in each as it might be navigable for shipsof-war. By these fortifications, supported by our navy, to which they would afford like support, we should present to other powers an armed front from the St. Croix to the Sabine, which would protect, in the event of war, our whole coast and interior from invasion; and even in the wars of other powers, in which we were neutral, they would be found eminently useful, as, by keeping their public ships at a distance from our cities, peace and order in them would be preserved, and the government be protected from insult.

It need scarcely be remarked, that these measures have not been resorted to in a spirit of hostility to other powers. Such a disposition does not exist toward any power. Peace and good will have been, and will hereafter be, cultivated with all, and by the most faithful regard for justice. They have been dictated by a love of peace, of economy, and an earnest desire to save the lives of our fellow-citizens from that destruction, and our country from that devastation, which are inseparable from war, when it finds us unprepared for it. It is believed, and experience has shown, that such a preparation is the best expedient that can be resorted to, to prevent war. I add, with much pleasure, that considerable progress has already been made in these measures of defence, and that they will be completed in a few years, considering the great extent and importance of the object, if the plan be zealously and steadily persevered in.

The conduct of the government, in what relates to foreign powers, is always an object of the highest importance to the nation. Its agriculture, commerce, manufactures, fisheries, revenue, in short, its peace, may all be affected by it. Attention is, therefore, due to this subject.

At the period adverted to, the powers of Europe, after having been en

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