assembly will be in its nature diplomatic, and not legislative; that nothing can be transacted there obligatory upon any one of the states to be represented at the meeting, unless with the express concurrence of its own representatives; nor even then, but subject to the ratification of its constitutional authority at home. The faith of the United States to foreign powers can not otherwise be pledged. I shall, indeed, in the first instance, consider the assembly as merely consultative; and, although the plenipotentiaries of the United States will be empowered to receive and refer to the consideration of their government, any proposition from the other parties to the meeting, they will be authorized to conclude nothing unless subject to the definitive sanction of this government, in all its constitutional forms. It has, therefore, seemed to me unnecessary to insist, that every object to be discussed at the meeting should be specified with the precision of a judicial sentence, or enumerated with the exactness of a mathematical demonstration. The purpose of the meeting itself is to deliberate upon the great and common interests of several new and neighboring nations. If the measure is new and without precedent, so is the situation of the parties to it. That the purposes of the meeting are somewhat indefinite, far from being an objection to it, is among the cogent reasons for its adoption. It is not the establishment of principles of intercourse with one, but with seven or eight nations at once. That, before they have had the means of exchanging ideas, and communicating with one another in common upon these topics, they should have definitively settled and arranged them in concert, is to require that the effect should precede the cause. It is to exact, as a preliminary to the meeting, that for the accomplishment of which the meeting itself is designed.

Among the inquiries which were thought entitled to consideration before the determination was taken to accept the invitation, was that, whether the measure might not have a tendency to change the policy hitherto invariably pursued by the United States, of avoiding all entangling alliances, and all unnecessary foreign connexions.

Mindful of the advice given by the father of our country, in his farewell address, that the great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connexion as possible; and, faithfully adhering to the spirit of that admonition, I can not overlook the reflection, that the counsel of Washington, in that instance, like all the counsels of wisdom, was founded upon the circumstances in which our country and the world around us were situated, at the time when it was given. That the reasons assigned by him for his advice were, that Europe had a set of primary interests, which to us had none, or a very remote relation. That hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which were essentially foreign to our concerns. That our detached and distant situation invited and enabled us to pursue a different course. That by our union and rapid growth, with an efficient government, the period was not far distant, when we might defy material injury from external annoyance; when we might take such an attitude as would cause our neutrality to be respected; and, with reference to belligerent nations, might choose peace or war, as our interests, guided by justice, should counsel.

Compare our situation and the circumstances of that time, with those of the present day, and what, from the very words of Washington, then, would be his counsels to his countrymen now? Europe has still her set of primary interests, with which we have little or no relation. Our dis

tant and detached situation, with reference to Europe, remains the same. But we were then the only independent nation of this hemisphere; and we were surrounded by European colonies, with the greater part of which we had no more intercourse than with the inhabitants of another planet. Those colonies have now been transformed into eight independent nations, extending to our very borders. Seven of them republics like ourselves ; with whom we have an immensely-growing commercial, and must have, and have already, important political connexions; with reference to whom our situation is neither distant nor detached; whose political principles and systems of government, congenial with our own, must and will have an action and counteraction upon us and ours, to which we can not be indifferent if we would.

The rapidity of our growth, and the consequent increase of our strength, have more than realized the anticipations of this admirable political legacy. Thirty years have nearly elapsed since it was written, and in the interval, our population, our wealth, our territorial extension, our power, physical and moral, have nearly trebled. Reasoning upon this state of things from the sound and judicious principles of Washington, and must we not say, that the period which he predicted, as then not far off, has arrived; that America has a set of primary interests, which have none or a remote relation to Europe; that the interference of Europe, therefore, in those concerns, should be spontaneously withheld by her upon the same principles, that we have never interfered with hers; and that if she should interfere, as she may, by measures which may have a great and dangerous recoil upon ourselves, we might be called in defence of our own altars and firesides, to take an attitude which would cause our neutrality to be respected, and choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

The acceptance of this invitation, therefore, far from conflicting with the counsel or the policy of Washington, is directly deducible from and conformable to it. Nor is it less conformable to the views of my immediate predecessor, as declared in his annual message to Congress of the 2d of December, 1823, to which I have already adverted, and to an important passage of which I invite the attention of the house.

"The citizens of the United States," said he, " cherish sentiments the most friendly in favor of the liberty and happiness of their fellow-men on that [the European] side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the European powers, in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken any part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is only when our rights are invaded, or seriously menaced, that we resent injuries, or make preparation for our defence. With the movements in this hemisphere, we are of necessity more immediately connected, and by causes which must be obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The political system of the allied powers is essentially different in this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds from that which exists in their respective governments. And to the defence of our own, which has been achieved by the loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wisdom of their most enlightened citizens, and under which we have enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is devoted. We owe it, therefore, to candor, and to the amicable relations subsisting between the United States and those powers, to declare, that we should consider any attempt, on their part, to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing colonies

or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered, and shall not interfere. But with the governments who have declared their independence and maintained it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration, and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition, for the purposes of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power, in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States. In the war between those new governments and Spain, we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition; and to this we have adhered, and shall continue to adhere, provided no change shall occur, which, in the judgment of the competent authorities of this government, shall make a corresponding change on the part of the United States indispensable to their securities."

To the question which may be asked, whether this meeting, and the principles which may be adjusted and settled by it, as rules of intercourse between American nations, may not give umbrage to the holy league of European powers, or offence to Spain, it is deemed a sufficient answer, that our attendance at Panama can give no just cause of umbrage or offence to either; and that the United States will stipulate nothing there which can give such cause. Here the right of inquiry into our purposes and measures must stop. The holy league of Europe itself was formed, without inquiring of the United States whether it would, or would not, give umbrage to them. The fear of giving umbrage to the holy league of Europe was urged as a motive for denying to the American nations the acknowledgment of their independence. That it would be viewed by Spain as hostility to her, was not only urged, but directly declared by herself. The Congress and administration of that day consulted their rights and duties, and not their fears. Fully determined to give no needless displeasure to any foreign power, the United States can estimate the probability of their giving it, only by the right which any foreign state could have to take it from their measures. Neither the representation of the United States at Panama, nor any measure to which their assent may be yielded there, will give to the holy league, or any of its members, nor to Spain, the right to take offence; for the rest the United States must still, as heretofore, take counsel from their duties, rather than their fears.

Such are the objects in which it is expected that the plenipotentiaries of the United States, when commissioned to attend the meeting at the isthmus, will take part; and such are the motives and purposes with which the invitation of the three republics was accepted. It was, however, as the house will perceive from the correspondence, accepted only upon condition, that the nomination of commissioners for the mission should receive the advice and consent of the senate.

The concurrence of the house to the measure, by the appropriations necessary for carrying it into effect, is alike subject to its free determination, and indispensable to the fulfilment of the intention.

That the congress at Panama will accomplish all, or even any, of the transcendent benefits to the human race which warmed the conceptions of its first proposer, it were, perhaps, indulging too sanguine a forecast of the events to promise. It is, in its nature, a measure speculative and experimental; the blessing of Heaven may turn it to the account of human improvement; accidents unforeseen, and mischances not to be anticipated, may baffle all its high purposes, and disappoint its fairest expectations. But the design is great, is benevolent, is humane. It looks to the meliora

tion of the condition of man. It is congenial with that spirit which prompted the declaration of our independence; which inspired the preamble of our first treaty with France; which dictated our first treaty with Prussia, and the instructions under which it was negotiated; which filled the hearts and fired the souls of the immortal founders of our revolution.

With this unrestricted exposition of the motives by which I have been governed in this transaction, as well as of the objects to be discussed, and of the ends, if possible, to be attained by our representation at the proposed congress, I submit the propriety of an appropriation to the candid consideration and enlightened patriotism of the legislature.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

MARCH 30, 1826.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :— By the second article of the general convention of peace, amity, navigation, and commerce, between the United States and the republic of Colombia, concluded at Bogota on the 3d of October, 1824, it was stipulated that the parties engage mutually not to grant any particular favor to other nations, in respect to commerce and navigation, which should not immediately become common to the other party, who should enjoy the same freely, if the concession was freely made, or on allowing the same compensation, if the concession was conditional. And in the third article of the same convention, it was agreed that the citizens of the United States might frequent all the coasts and countries of the republic of Colombia, and reside and trade there in all sorts of produce, manufactures, and merchandise, and should pay no other or greater duties, charges, or fees whatsoever, than the most favored nations should be obliged to pay; and should enjoy all the rights, privileges, and exemptions, in navigation and commerce, which the most favored nations should enjoy, submitting themselves, nevertheless, to the laws, decrees, and usages, there established, and to which were submitted the subjects and citizens of the most favored nations; with a reciprocal stipulation in favor of the citizens of the republic of Colombia in the United States. Subsequently to the conclusion of this convention, a treaty was negotiated between the republic of Colombia and Great Britain, by which it was stipulated that no other or higher duties, on account of tonnage, light, or harbor duties, should be imposed in ports of Colombia on British vessels, than those payable in the same ports by Colombian vessels; and the same duties should be paid on the importation into the territories of Colombia, of any article the growth, produce, or manufacture, of his majesty's dominions, whether such importation should be in Colombian or British vessels, and that the same duties should be paid, and the same discount (drawbacks) and bounties allowed, on the exportation of any article the growth, produce, or manufacture of Colombia to his Britannic majesty's dominions, whether such exportations were in Colombian or British vessels.

The minister of the United States to the republic of Colombia having claimed, by virtue of the second and third articles of the convention between the two republics, that the benefit of these subsequent stipulations should be alike extended to the citizens of the United States upon the VOL. I.-41

condition of reciprocity provided for by the convention, the application of those engagements was readily acceded to by the Colombian government, and a decree was issued by the executive authority of that republic on the 30th of January last, a copy and translation of which are herewith communicated, securing to the citizens of the United States in the republic of Colombia the same advantages in regard to commerce and navigation which had been conceded to British subjects in the Colombian treaty with Great Britain.

It remains to the government of the United States to secure to the citizens of the republic of Colombia the reciprocal advantages to which they are entitled by the terms of the convention, to commence from the 30th of January last, for the accomplishment of which I invite the favorable consideration of the legislature.

SPECIAL MESSAGE.

FEBRUARY 5, 1827.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States :

I SUBMIT to the consideration of Congress a letter from the agent of the United States with the Creek Indians, who invoke the protection of the government of the United States in defence of the rights and territory secured to that nation by the treaty concluded at Washington, and ratified, on the part of the United States, on the twenty-second of April last.

The complaint set forth in this letter, that surveyors from Georgia have been employed in surveying lands within the Indian territory, as secured by that treaty, is authenticated by information inofficially received from other quarters, and there is reason to believe that one or more of the surveyors have been arrested in their progress by the Indians. Their forbearance, and reliance upon the good faith of the United States, will, it is hoped, avert scenes of violence and blood, which there is otherwise too much cause to apprehend will result from these proceedings.

By the fifth section of the act of Congress, of the 30th March, 1802, to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and to preserve peace on the frontiers, it is provided that, if any citizen of, or other person resident in, the United States, shall make a settlement on any lands belonging, or secured, or granted by treaty with the United States, to any Indian tribe, or shall survey, or attempt to survey, such lands, or designate any of the boundaries, by marking trees or otherwise, such offender shall forfeit a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, and suffer imprisonment not exceeding twelve months. By the sixteenth and seventeenth sections of the same statute, two distinct processes are prescribed, by either or both of which the above enactment may be carried into execution. By the first, it is declared to be lawful for the military force of the United States to apprehend every person found in the Indian country, over and beyond the boundary line between the United States and the Indian tribes, in violation of any of the provisions or regulations of the act; and immediately to convey them, in the nearest convenient and safe route, to the civil authority of the United States, in some one of the three next adjoining states or districts, to be proceeded against in due course of law.

By the second, it is directed that, if any person charged with a violation