forth be and the same and every of them are and is hereby declared and enacted to be fully and absolutely vested in His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, for ever.

II. And whereas certain grants of money have been from time to time made to the said Governor and Company of Merchants of England trading to the Levant Seas, by sundry Acts, for the purpose of better enabling them to carry into effect the objects for which they were incorporated: And whereas it is just and expedient that all such property as shall belong to or be at the disposal of the said Governor and Company under or by virtue of the said Letters Patent and Acts, or any of them respectively, at the time of such their dissolution, should, after the payment of all debts and demands to which the said Governor and Company may be liable as such Corporation, be applied to the public Service, in the manner hereinafter directed; Be it therefore enacted, That from and immediately after the inrolment of any such Deed or Instrument as aforesaid, whereby the said Corporation shall be dissolved in manner directed by this Act, all monies in the Public Funds, and all other monies, goods, chattels, property, and other personal estate and effects whatsoever, in the possession or at the disposal of the said Governor and Company as such Corporation as aforesaid, or to which the said Governor and Company as such Corporation are or shall be entitled, or which shall or may be due to the said Governor and Company as such Corporation, shall be and become vested, and are hereby vested in the Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the time being; and that it shall and may be lawful for the said Commissioners of the Treasury now and for the time being, or any Three of the said Commissioners, to accept, receive, and recover, and to sell, transfer, and dispose of all such funds, monies, goods, chattels, property, and other personal estate and effects whatsoever, and to apply the produce thereof in the first place in and for the payment of all just debts and demands to which the said Governor and Company are or shall be liable at the dissolution of such Corporation, on account of any matter or thing relating to such Corporation; and from and after payment of all such debts and demands, it shall be lawful for the said Commissioners of the Treasury for the time being, or any Three or more of them, and they are hereby authorized and required to direct, that all the remainder and surplus of the produce of such public funds, monies, goods, chattels, property, and other personal Estate as aforesaid, shall be paid into the Receipt of His Majesty's Exchequer at Westminster, and shall be placed to the Account of and made part of the Consolidated Fund of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

III. And be it further enacted, That from and immediately after

the inrolment in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery of such Deed or Instrument as aforesaid, the said recited Act of the 26th Year of the Reign of His said late Majesty King George the Second, and also the said recited Act of the 59th Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the Third, and all Powers for the levying of any Duties or Dues heretofore payable to the said Governor and Company, shall be and the same are hereby repealed; and all such Duties and Dues, and all Powers for levying the same, shall cease and determine, except only so far as relates to the payment and recovery of any arrears of Duties and Dues which shall be payable to the said Company at the time of the inrolment of such Deed or Instrument; and also that from and after such Inrolment of such Deed or Instrument, all and every clause, matter, and thing contained in the said several herein-before recited Acts made in the 20th, 43d, 55th and 57th Years of the Reign of His said late Majesty King George the Third, in any way extending or relating to the said Governor and Company, shall be and the same are from thenceforth hereby repealed; any thing in the said recited Acts or any of them, or any other law, usage, or custom to the contrary in anywise notwithstanding, IV. And be it further enacted, That from and immediately after the inrolment of any such Deed or Instrument as aforesaid, all such Rights and Duties of Jurisdiction and Authority over His Majesty's Subjects resorting to the Ports of the Levant for the purposes of Trade or otherwise, as were lawfully exercised and performed, or which the said recited Letters Patent or Acts, or any of them, authorized to be exercised and performed by any Consuls or other Officers appointed by the said Company, or which such Consuls or other Officers lawfully exercised and performed under and by virtue of any Power or Authority whatever, shall, from and after the inrolment of such Deed or Instrument as aforesaid, be and become vested in, and shall be exercised and performed by such Consuls and other Officers respectively as His Majesty may be pleased to appoint, for the protection of the Trade of His Majesty's Subjects in the Ports and Places respectively mentioned in the said Letters Patent and Acts, or any or either of them.

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V. And be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, or any Three or more of them, and they are hereby empowered and authorized to grant reasonable Allowances and Pensions to such of the Officers and Servants in England of the said Company, and to such other Person or Persons as, by reason of the dissolution of the said Company, may Tose and be deprived of their Offices, Employments, and Pensions, and to charge the same upon the Consolidated Fund of The United Kingdom; and all such Allowances and Pensions to be so granted, shall be payable and paid Quarterly at the receipt of the Exchequer

at Westminster, out of the said Consolidated Fund, free and clear of and from all taxes, charges, and deductions whatsoever; and the said Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury shall yearly and every Year before the 25th Day of March in each Year, if Parliament be sitting, and in case Parliament shall not be sitting, then within 20 Days after the Meeting of Parliament then next following such 25th Day of March, cause an Account and Estimate to be laid before Parlia ment of the total Amount of such Allowances and Pensions payable to such Officers and Servants in England of the said Company, and to such other Persons as are herein-before mentioned, for One Year ending on the 5th Day of January preceding every such 25th Day of March respectively.

MESSAGE of the President of The United States of America, on the Opening of Congress, 7th December 1824.

FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE, AND OF THE HOUSE OF REPRE

SENTATIVES:

THE view which I have now to present to you of our Affairs, Foreign and Domestic, realizes the most sanguine anticipations which have been entertained of the public prosperity. If we look to the whole, our growth, as a Nation, continues to be rapid beyond example; if to the States which compose it, the same gratifying spectacle is exhibited. Our expansion over the vast Territory within our limits has been great, without indicating any decline in those Sections from which the emigration has been most conspicuous. We have daily gained strength by a native population in every quarter-a population devoted to our happy system of Government, and cherishing the bond of union with fraternal affection. Experience has already shown, that the difference of climate, and of industry, proceeding from that cause, inseparable from such vast Domains, and which, under other systems, might have a repulsive tendency, cannot fail to produce, with us, under wise regulations, the opposite effect. What one portion wants, the other may supply, and this will be most sensibly felt by the Parts most distant from each other, forming thereby a domestic market, and an active intercourse between the extremes, and throughout every portion of our Union, Thus, by a happy distribution of power between the National and State Governments,-Governments which rest exclusively on the Sovereignty of the People, and are fully adequate to the great purposes for which they were respectively instituted,-causes which might otherwise lead to dismemberment, operate powerfully to draw us closer together. In every other circumstance, a correct view of the actual state of our Union, must be equally gratifying to our constitu

ents.

Our relations with Foreign Powers are of a friendly character, although certain interesting differences remain unsettled with some Our Revenue, under the mild system of impost and tonnage, continues to be adequate to all the purposes of the Government. Our agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and navigation, flourish. Our fortifications are advancing in the degree authorized by existing appropriations, to maturity; and due progress is made in the augmentation of the Navy to the limit prescribed for it by law. For these blessings we owe to Almighty God, from Whom we derive them, and with profound reverence, our most grateful and unceasing acknowledgments.

In adverting to our relations with Foreign Powers, which are always an object of the highest importance, I have to remark, that, of the subjects which have been brought into discussion with them during the present Administration, some have been satisfactorily terminated; others have been suspended, to be resumed hereafter, under circumstances more favourable to success; and others are still in negotiation, with the hope that they may be adjusted, with mutual accommodation to the interests and to the satisfaction of the respective Parties. It has been the invariable object of this Government to cherish the most friendly relations with every Power, and on principles and conditions which might make them permanent. A systematic effort has been made to place our Commerce with each Power on a footing of perfect reciprocity, to settle with each, in a spirit of candour and liberality, all existing differences, and to anticipate and remove, so far as it might be practicable, all causes of future variance.

It having been stipulated by the 7th Article of the Convention of Navigation and Commerce, which was concluded on the 24th June 1822, between The United States and France, that the said Convention should continue in force for 2 years, from the 1st of October of that year, and for an indefinite term afterwards, unless one of the Parties should declare its intention to renounce it, in which event it should cease to operate at the end of six months, from such declaration; and, no such intention having been announced, the Convention having been found advantageous to both Parties, it has since remained, and still remains, in force. At the time when that Convention was concluded, many, interesting subjects were left unsettled, and particularly our claim to indemnity for spoliations which were committed on our Commerce in the late Wars. For these interests and claims, it was in the contemplation of the Parties to make provision at a subsequent day, by a more comprehensive and definitive Treaty. The object has been duly attended to since by the Executive, but, as yet, it has not been accomplished. It is hoped that a favourable opportunity will present itself, for opening a Negociation which may embrace and arrange all existing differences, and every other concern, in which they have a common interest, upon the accession of the present King of France,

an event which has occurred since the close of the last Session of Congress.

With Great Britain our Commercial intercourse rests on the same footing that it did at the last Session. By the Convention of 1815, the Commerce between The United States and the British Dominions in Europe and the East Indies, was arranged on a principle of reciprocity. That Convention was confirmed and continued in force, with slight exceptions, by a subsequent Treaty, for the term of 10 years, from the 20th October 1818, the date of the latter. The trade with the British Colonies in the West Indies, has not, as yet, been arranged by Treaty or otherwise, to our satisfaction. An approach to that result has been made by Legislative Acts, whereby many serious impediments which had been raised by the Parties in defence of their respective claims were removed. An earnest desire exists, and has been manifested on the part of this Government, to place the Commerce with the Colonies likewise on a footing of reciprocal advantage; and it is hoped that the British Government, seeing the justice of the proposal, and its importance to the Colonies, will, ere long, accede to it.

The Commissioners who were appointed for the adjustment of the Boundary, between the Territories of The United States and those of Great Britain, specified in the 5th Article of the Treaty of Ghent, having disagreed in their decision, and both Governments having agreed to establish that Boundary by amicable Negotiation between them, it is hoped that it may be satisfactorily adjusted in that mode, The Boundary specified by the 6th Article has been established by the decision of the Commissioners. From the progress made in that provided for by the 7th, according to a Report recently received, there is good cause to presume that it will be settled in the course of the ensuing year.

It is a cause of serious regret, that no arrangement has yet been finally concluded between the two Governments, to secure, by joint co-operation, the suppression of the Slave Trade. It was the object of the British Government, in the early stages of the Negotiation, to adopt a plan for the suppression, which should include the concession of the mutual Right of Search, by the ships of war of each Party, of the vessels of the other, for suspected Offenders. This was objected to by this Government, on the principle that, as the Right of Search was a right of War of a belligerent towards a neutral Power, it might have an ill effect to extend it, by Treaty, to an offence which had been made comparatively mild, to a time of peace. Anxious, however, for the suppression of this Trade, it was thought adviseable, in compliance with a Resolution of the House of Representatives, founded on an Act of Congress, to propose to the British Government an expedient which zuki to

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