To the House of Representatives of the United States:
Reading edition
In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 10th instant, requesting information in possession of the Government relating to certain resolves of the Congress of the Confederation of the 21st of October, 1780, and the 21st March, 1783, concerning allowances to the officers of the Revolutionary army, and to the manner of carrying into effect those resolves, and other particulars appertaining thereto, I transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, and of War, with documents, comprising the information desired by the House.
John Quincy Adams.
MARCH 22, 1826.
Washington, March 24, 1826.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 14th ultimo, requesting statements of the amount of compensation allowed to the paymaster and quartermaster of the Marine Corps for the two years preceding the 1st of January, 1826, and of other particulars relating to the same Corps, I communicate a report from the Secretary of the Navy, with documents, containing the information desired by the resolution.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, March 24, 1826.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 16th ultimo, requesting statements of the net amount of revenue derived from imports and tonnage received by the Treasury from the ports within the bay of Delaware, the bay of Chesapeake, the harbor of New York, and at Boston from the 1st of January, 1790, to the last of December, 1825, and of the amount of expenditures paid from the Treasury for forts, light-houses, beacons, and other public works erected to aid commerce or for the purposes of defense within the said bays and harbors during the said time, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with several documents, containing the information desired by the resolution.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, March 29, 1826.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 227th instant, requesting a copy of such parts of the answer of the Secretary of State to Mr. Poinsett's letter to Mr. Clay, dated Mexico, 28th September, 1825, No. 22, as relates to the pledge of the United States therein mentioned; and also requesting me to inform the House whether the United States have in any manner made any pledge to the Governments of Mexico and South America that the United States would not permit the interference of any foreign power with the independence or form of government of these nations, and, if so, when, in what manner, and to what effect; and also to communicate to the House a copy of the communication from our minister at Mexico in which he informed the Government of the United States that the Mexican Government called upon this Government to fulfill the memorable pledge of the President of the United States in his message to Congress of December, 1823, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with the documents containing the information desired by the resolution.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, 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 3d of October, 1824, it was stipulated that the parties engaged mutually not to grant any particular favor to other nations in respect of 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 nation 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 dues should be imposed in the ports of Colombia on British vessels than those payable in the same ports by Colombian vessels, and that the same duties should be paid on the importation into the territories of Colombia of any article the growth, produce, or manufacture of His Britannic Majesty's dominions, whether such importations should be in Colombian or in British vessels, and that the same duties should be paid and the same discount (drawbacks) and bounties allowed on the exportation of any articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of Colombia to His Britannic Majesty's dominions, whether such exportations were in Colombian or in 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 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 for 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 favor-able consideration of the Legislature.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, March 31, 1826.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 21st instant, requesting information whether any, and what, measures have been taken to improve the navigation over the sand bars in the Ohio River according to the provisions of the act of the 24th of May, 1824, to improve the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and also whether the experiments mentioned in the proviso to the first section of the said act have been made, and, if so, what success has attended them, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with documents, containing the information desired by the resolution.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, March 31, 1826.
To the Senate of the United States:
I communicate to the Senate herewith a supplementary article to the treaty with the chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation, in behalf of that nation, which was transmitted to the Senate on the 31st of January last, and which I submit, together with and as a part of that treaty, for the constitutional advice of the Senate with regard to its ratification. A report of the Secretary of War accompanies the article, setting forth the reasons for which it has been concluded.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, April 1, 1826.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 13th ultimo, requesting a statement of all the expenditures incident or relating to internal improvement for the years 1824 and 1825, I transmit reports from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, with documents, containing the statement desired.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, April 1, 1826.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 7th ultimo, requesting information relative to the execution of an act of Congress of the 7th May, 1822, to authorize and empower the corporation of the city of Washington, in the district of Columbia, to drain the low grounds on and hear the public reservations, and to improve and ornament certain parts of such reservations, I transmit herewith a report from the commissioners appointed by the corporation of the city to carry into effect the provisions of the said act, together with sundry documents, exhibiting the information desired by the resolution.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, April 5, 1826.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 30th ultimo, I transmit to the House a report[005] from the Secretary of State, with the documents desired by the resolution; and also a copy of the letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. Poinsett acknowledging the receipt of his dispatch No. 22, accidentally overlooked in the answer to the resolution of the House of the 27th ultimo.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, April 11, 1826.
To the Senate of the United States:
On the 16th of January last I sent to the Senate a nomination of Daniel Bissell to be colonel of the Second Regiment of Artillery, and on the 3d of February I received from the Secretary of the Senate an attested copy of their proceedings in relation to that nomination, laid before me by their order, and closing with a resolution in these words:
Resolved. That in the opinion of the Senate Daniel Bissell is entitled to the place of colonel in the Army of the United States, taking rank as such from the 15th of August, 1812, with the brevet of brigadier-general from the 9th of March, 1814, and that the President of the United States may arrange him accordingly.
In the discharge of my own duties I am under the hecessity of stating respectfully to the Senate-
First. That I can not concur in these opinions.
Secondly. That the resolution of the Senate, having on its face no reference either to the nomination or to the office for which it was made, leaves me doubtful whether it was intended by the Senate as their decision upon the nomination or not. If intended as their decision, it imports that the Senate do not advise and consent to the appointment of Daniel Bissell as colonel in the Second Regiment of Artillery. If intended as a mere expression of their opinions, superseding in their judgment the hecessity of their immediate decision upon the nomination, it leaves the Senate still in possession of the nomination and free to act upon it when informed of my inability to carry those opinions into effect.
In this uncertainty I have thought it most respectful to the Senate to refer the subject again to them for their consideration. The delay in the transmission of this communication is attributable to the earnest desire which I have entertained of acceding to the opinions and complying with the wishes of the Senate, and to the long and repeated reconsideration of my own impressions with the view to make them, if possible, conform to theirs. A still higher duty now constrains me to invite their definitive decision upon the nomination.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, April 15, 1826.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 11th instant, I transmit herewith a report[006] of the Secretary of State, and documents, containing the information desired by the resolution.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, April 25, 1826.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I now transmit to both Houses of Congress copies of a treaty with the Creek Nation of Indians, concluded on the 24th day of January last, with a supplementary article, signed on the 31st of last month, which have been, with the advice and consent of the Senate, duly ratified. I send at the same time copies of the treaty superseded by them, signed at the Indian Springs on the 12th of February, 1825. The treaty and supplementary article now ratified will require the aid of the Legislature for carrying them into effect. And I subjoin a letter from the Secretary of War, proposing an additional appropriation for the purpose of facilitating the removal of that portion of the Creek Nation which may be disposed to remove west of the Mississippi, recommending the whole subject to the favorable consideration of Congress.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, April 25, 1826.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 4th of January last, I now transmit reports from the Secretaries of State, of the Treasury, and of War, and from the Postmaster-General, with the documents containing the list of appointments of members of Congress and other information relating thereto desired by the resolution.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, April 28, 1826.
To the Senate of the United States:
I transmit herewith to the Senate, for their advice concerning its ratification, a general convention of friendship, commerce, and navigation between the United States and His Majesty the King of Denmark, signed by the Secretary of State and the Danish minister on the 26th instant. A copy of the convention and a note from the Secretary of State, together with Mr. Pedersen's answer, respecting the claims of the citizens of the United States upon the Danish Government, are likewise communicated.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, April 29, 1826.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 26th instant, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with a copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General[007] referred to in the resolution.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, May 9, 1826.
To the Senate of the United States: In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 28th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with a copy of the proceedings of the recent court-martial for the trial of Colonel Talbot Chambers, and other documents requested by the resolution or relating to the subject of it.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, May 15, 1826.
To the Senate of the United States: In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 23d of March last, requesting information concerning the official conduct of the collector and other revenue officers of the port of Philadelphia, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired by the resolution.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, May 16, 1826.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th instant, I communicate herewith a report[007a] from the Secretary of the Treasury, with the documents desired by the resolution.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, May 17, 1826.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I communicate to both Houses of Congress copies of treaties with Indian tribes which have been, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, duly ratified during the present session of Congress:
(1) With the Great and Little Osage tribes, concluded June 2, 1825; (2) Kansas, June 3, 1825; (3) Poncar, June 9, 1825; (4) Teton, Yancton, and Yanctonies, June 22, 1825; (5) Sioune and Ogallala, July 5 and 12, 1825; (6) Chayenne, July 6, 1825; (7) Hunkpapas, July 16, 1825; (8) Ricara, July 18, 1825; (9) Mandan, July 30, 1825; (10) Belantse-Etoa, or Minnetaree, July 30, 1825; (11) Crow, August 4, 1825; (12) Great and Little Osage, August 10, 1825; (13) Kansas, August 16, 1825; (14) Sioux, Chippewa, Sac and Fox, Menomenee, Ioway, Sioux, Winnebago, and a portion of the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Pottawatomie tribes, August 19, 1825; (15) Ottoe and Missouri, September 26, 1825; (16) Pawnee, September 30, 1825; (17) Maha, October 6, 1825; (18) Shawnee, November 7, 1825.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, May 19, 1826.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 16th instant, I transmit a report[008] from the Secretary of State, containing the information thereby requested.
John Quincy Adams.
Washington, May 20, 1826.
To the Senate of the United States:
In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 5th of March, 1824, requesting copies of the several instructions to the ministers of the United States to the Government of France and of the correspondence between the said ministers and Government having reference to the spoliations committed by that power on the commerce of the United States anterior to the 30th of September, 1800, or so much thereof as can be communicated without prejudice to the public interest; also how far, if at all, the claim of indemnity from the Government of France for the spoliations aforesaid was affected by the convention entered into between the United States and France on the said 30th of September, 1800, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with the documents desired by the resolution.
John Quincy Adams.