SPECIAL MESSAGES. To the Senate of the United States. MARCH 6, 1829. GENTLEMEN: The Executive nominations made during the past session of Congress, and which remain unacted on by the Senate, I hereby withdraw from their consideration. ANDREW JACKSON. Gentlemen of the Senate: MARCH 6, 1829. The treaty of commerce and navigation concluded at Washington on the 1st of May, 1828, between the United States and the King of Prussia, was laid before the Senate, who, by their resolution of the 14th of that month, advised and consented to its ratification by the President. By the sixteenth article of that treaty it was agreed that the exchange of ratifications should be made within nine months from its date. On the 15th day of February last, being fifteen days after the time stipulated for the exchange by the terms of the treaty, the chargé d'affaires of the King of Prussia informed the Secretary of State that he had received the Prussian ratification and was ready to exchange it for that of the United States. In reply he was informed of the intention of the President, my late predecessor, not to proceed to the exchange in consequence of the expiration of the time within which it was to be made. Under these circumstances I have thought it my duty, in order to avoid all future questions, to ask the advice and consent of the Senate to make the proposed exchange. I send you the original of the treaty, together with a printed copy of it. ANDREW JACKSON. MARCH 11, 1829. To the Senate of the United States. GENTLEMEN: Brevet rank for ten years' faithful service has produced much confusion in the Army. For this reason the discretion vested in the President of the United States on this subject would not be exercised by any submission of those cases to the Senate but that it has been heretofore the practice to do so. They are accordingly submitted, with other nominations, to fill the offices respectively annexed to their names in the inclosed lists,* for the consideration of the Senate. ANDREW JACKSON. *Omitted. PROCLAMATIONS. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United States by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels belonging wholly to citizens of the United States, or upon merchandise the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as respects the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States, and merchandise, as aforesaid, therein laden, shall be continued, and no longer; and Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Austria, through the Baron de Lederer, his consul-general in the United States, that vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States are not, nor shall be, on their entering any Austrian port, from and after the Ist day of January last, subject to the payment of higher duties of tonnage than are levied on Austrian ships: Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts imposing duties on the tonnage of ships arriving in the United States as imposed a discriminating duty between the vessels of the Empire of Austria and vessels of the United States are suspended and discontinued, the said suspension to take effect from the day above mentioned and to continue henceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the United States shall be continued in the ports of the imperial dominions of Austria. Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 11th day of May, A. D. 1829, and the fifty-second* of the Independence [SEAL.] of the United States. By the President: M. VAN BUREN, Secretary of State. ANDREW JACKSON. * Should be "third" instead of "second." BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 24th of May, 1828, entitled "An act in addition to an act entitled An act concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost,' and to equalize the duties on Prussian vessels and their cargoes," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United States by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied in the ports of the said nation upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States, or upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in the same from the United States or from any foreign country, the President is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as respects the vessels of the said foreign nation and the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported into the United States in the same from the said foreign nation or from any other foreign country, the said suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given to the President of the United States and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States, and their cargoes, as aforesaid, shall be continued, and no longer; and Whereas satisfactory evidence has lately been received by me from His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Austria, through an official communication of the Baron de Lederer, his consul-general in the United States, under date of the 29th of May, 1829, that no other or higher duties of tonnage and impost are imposed or levied since the 1st day of January last in the ports of Austria upon vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States and upon the produce, manufactures, or merchandise imported in the same from the United States and from any foreign country whatever than are levied on Austrian ships and their cargoes in the same ports under like circumstances: Now, therefore, I, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts imposing discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United States are, and shall be, suspended and discontinued so far as respects the vessels of Austria and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise imported into the United States in the same from the dominions of Austria and from any other foreign country whatever, the said suspension to take effect from the day above mentioned and to continue thenceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the United States and the produce, manufactures, and merchandise imported into the dominions of Austria in the same, as aforesaid, shall be continued on the part of the Government of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Austria. Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 3d day of June, A. D. 1829, and the fifty-third of the Independence of the United States. ANDREW JACKSON. By the President: M. VAN BUREN, Secretary of State. EXECUTIVE ORDER. In all applications by any invalid to obtain a pension in consequence of any disability incurred, no payment therefor shall commence until proof shall be filed in the Department and the decision of the Secretary had thereon; and no pension will be allowed to anyone while acting as an officer of the Army except in cases which have been heretofore adjudged. Approved, 8th April, 1829. ANDREW JACKSON. FIRST ANNUAL MESSAGE. Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives: It affords me pleasure to tender my friendly greetings to you on the occasion of your assembling at the seat of Government to enter upon the important duties to which you have been called by the voice of our countrymen. The task devolves on me, under a provision of the Constitution, to present to you, as the Federal Legislature of twenty-four sovereign States and 12,000,000 happy people, a view of our affairs, and to propose such measures as in the discharge of my official functions have suggested themselves as necessary to promote the objects of our Union. In communicating with you for the first time it is to me a source of unfeigned satisfaction, calling for mutual gratulation and devout thanks to a benign Providence, that we are at peace with all mankind, and that our country exhibits the most cheering evidence of general welfare and progressive improvement. Turning our eyes to other nations, our great desire is to see our brethren of the human race secured in the blessings enjoyed by ourselves, and advancing in knowledge, in freedom, and in social happiness. Our foreign relations, although in their general character pacific and friendly, present subjects of difference between us and other powers of deep interest as well to the country at large as to many of our citizens. To effect an adjustment of these shall continue to be the object of my earnest endeavors, and notwithstanding the difficulties of the task, I do not allow myself to apprehend unfavorable results. Blessed as our country is with everything which constitutes national strength, she is fully adequate to the maintenance of all her interests. In discharging the responsible trust confided to the Executive in this respect it is my settled purpose to ask nothing that is not clearly right and to submit to nothing that is wrong; and I flatter myself that, supported by the other branches of the Government and by the intelligence and patriotism of the people, we shall be able, under the protection of Providence, to cause all our just rights to be respected. Of the unsettled matters between the United States and other powers, the most prominent are those which have for years been the subject of negotiation with England, France, and Spain. The late periods at which our ministers to those Governments left the United States render it impossible at this early day to inform you of what has been done on the subjects with which they have been respectively charged. Relying upon the justice of our views in relation to the points committed to negotiation and the reciprocal good feeling which characterizes our intercourse with those nations, we have the best reason to hope for a satisfactory adjustment of existing differences. With Great Britain, alike distinguished in peace and war, we may look forward to years of peaceful, honorable, and elevated competition. Everything in the condition and history of the two nations is calculated to inspire sentiments of mutual respect and to carry conviction to the minds of both that it is their policy to preserve the most cordial relations. Such are my own views, and it is not to be douted that such are also the prevailing sentiments of our constituents. Although neither time nor opportunity has been afforded for a full development of the policy which the present cabinet of Great Britain designs to pursue toward this country, I indulge the hope that it will be of a just and pacific character; and if this anticipation be realized we may look with confidence to a speedy and acceptable adjustment of our affairs. Under the convention for regulating the reference to arbitration of the disputed points of boundary under the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent, the proceedings have hitherto been conducted in that spirit of candor and liberality which ought ever to characterize the acts of sovereign States seeking to adjust by the most unexceptionable means important and delicate subjects of contention. The first statements of the parties have been exchanged, and the final replication on our part is in a course of preparation. This subject has received the attention demanded by its great and peculiar importance to a patriotic member of this Confederacy. |