Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

I have the satisfaction on our present meeting of being able to communicate
the successful termination of the war which had been commenced against the
United States by the Regency of Algiers. The squadron in advance on that
service, under Commodore Decatur, lost not a moment after its arrival in
the Mediterranean in seeking the naval force of the enemy then cruising in
that sea, and succeeded in capturing two of his ships, one of them the
principal ship, commanded by the Algerine admiral. The high character of
the American commander was brilliantly sustained on the occasion which
brought his own ship into close action with that of his adversary, as was
the accustomed gallantry of all the officers and men actually engaged.
Having prepared the way by this demonstration of American skill and
prowess, he hastened to the port of Algiers, where peace was promptly
yielded to his victorious force.

In the terms stipulated the rights and honor of the United States were
particularly consulted by a perpetual relinquishment on the part of the Dey
of all pretensions to tribute from them. The impressions which have thus
been made, strengthened as they will have been by subsequent transactions
with the Regencies of Tunis and of Tripoli by the appearance of the larger
force which followed under Commodore Bainbridge, the chief in command of
the expedition, and by the judicious precautionary arrangements left by him
in that quarter, afford a reasonable prospect of future security for the
valuable portion of our commerce which passes within reach of the Barbary
cruisers.

It is another source of satisfaction that the treaty of peace with Great
Britain has been succeeded by a convention on the subject of commerce
concluded by the plenipotentiaries of the two countries. In this result a
disposition is manifested on the part of that nation corresponding with the
disposition of the United States, which it may be hoped will be improved
into liberal arrangements on other subjects on which the parties have
mutual interests, or which might endanger their future harmony. Congress
will decide on the expediency of promoting such a sequel by giving effect
to the measure of confining the American navigation to American sea men--a
measure which, at the same time that it might have that conciliatory
tendency, would have the further advantage of increasing the independence
of our navigation and the resources for our maritime defense.

In conformity with the articles in the treaty of Ghent relating to the
Indians, as well as with a view to the tranquillity of our western and
northwestern frontiers, measures were taken to establish an immediate peace
with the several tribes who had been engaged in hostilities against the
United States. Such of them as were invited to Detroit acceded readily to a
renewal of the former treaties of friendship. Of the other tribes who were
invited to a station on the Mississippi the greater number have also
accepted the peace offered to them. The residue, consisting of the more
distant tribes or parts of tribes, remain to be brought over by further
explanations, or by such other means as may be adapted to the dispositions
they may finally disclose.

The Indian tribes within and bordering on the southern frontier, whom a
cruel war on their part had compelled us to chastise into peace, have
latterly shown a restlessness which has called for preparatory measures for
repressing it, and for protecting the commissioners engaged in carrying the
terms of the peace into execution.

The execution of the act for fixing the military peace establishment has
been attended with difficulties which even now can only be overcome by
legislative aid. The selection of officers, the payment and discharge of
the troops enlisted for the war, the payment of the retained troops and
their reunion from detached and distant stations, the collection and
security of the public property in the Quartermaster, Commissary, and
Ordnance departments, and the constant medical assistance required in
hospitals and garrisons rendered a complete execution of the act
impracticable on the 1st of May, the period more immediately contemplated.
As soon, however, as circumstances would permit, and as far as it has been
practicable consistently with the public interests, the reduction of the
Army has been accomplished; but the appropriations for its pay and for
other branches of the military service having proved inadequate, the
earliest attention to that subject will be necessary; and the expediency of
continuing upon the peace establishment the staff officers who have
hitherto been provisionally retained is also recommended to the
consideration of Congress.

In the performance of the Executive duty upon this occasion there has not
been wanting a just sensibility to the merits of the American Army during
the late war; but the obvious policy and design in fixing an efficient
military peace establishment did not afford an opportunity to distinguish
the aged and infirm on account of their past services nor the wounded and
disabled on account of their present sufferings.

The extent of the reduction, indeed, unavoidably involved the exclusion of
many meritorious officers of every rank from the service of their country;
and so equal as well as so numerous were the claims to attention that a
decision by the standard of comparative merit could seldom be attained.
Judged, however, in candor by a general standard of positive merit, the
Army Register will, it is believed, do honor to the establishment, while
the case of those officers whose names are not included in it devolves with
the strongest interest upon the legislative authority for such provisions
as shall be deemed the best calculated to give support and solace to the
veteran and the invalid, to display the beneficence as well as the justice
of the Government, and to inspire a martial zeal for the public service
upon every future emergency.

Although the embarrassments arising from the want of an uniform national
currency have not been diminished since the adjournment of Congress, great
satisfaction has been derived in contemplating the revival of the public
credit and the efficiency of the public resources. The receipts into the
Treasury from the various branches of revenue during the nine months ending
on the 30th of September last have been estimated at $12.5 millions; the
issues of Treasury notes of every denomination during the same period
amounted to the sum of $14 millions, and there was also obtained upon loan
during the same period a sum of $9 millions, of which the sum of $6
millions was subscribed in cash and the sum of $3 millions in Treasury
notes.

With these means, added to the sum of $1.5 millions, being the balance of
money in the Treasury on the 1st day of January, there has been paid
between the 1st of January and the 1st of October on account of the
appropriations of the preceding and of the present year (exclusively of
the amount of the Treasury notes subscribed to the loan and of the amount
redeemed in the payment of duties and taxes) the aggregate sum of $33.5
millions, leaving a balance then in the Treasury estimated at the sum of
$3 millions. Independent, however of the arrearages due for military
services and supplies, it is presumed that a further sum of $5 millions,
including the interest on the public debt payable on the 1st of January
next, will be demanded at the Treasury to complete the expenditures of
the present year, and for which the existing ways and means will
sufficiently provide.

The national debt, as it was ascertained on the 1st of October last,
amounted in the whole to the sum of $120 millions, consisting of the
unredeemed balance of the debt contracted before the late war ($39
millions), the amount of the funded debt contracted in consequence of the
war ($64 millions), and the amount of the unfunded and floating debt,
including the various issues of Treasury notes, $17 millions, which is in
gradual course of payment.

There will probably be some addition to the public debt upon the
liquidation of various claims which are depending, and a conciliatory
disposition on the part of Congress may lead honorably and advantageously
to an equitable arrangement of the militia expenses incurred by the several
States without the previous sanction or authority of the Government of the
United States; but when it is considered that the new as well as the old
portion of the debt has been contracted in the assertion of the national
rights and independence, and when it is recollected that the public
expenditures, not being exclusively bestowed upon subjects of a transient
nature, will long be visible in the number and equipments of the American
Navy, in the military works for the defense of our harbors and our
frontiers, and in the supplies of our arsenals and magazines the amount
will bear a gratifying comparison with the objects which have been
attained, as well as with the resources of the country.

The arrangements of the finances with a view to the receipts and
expenditures of a permanent peace establishment will necessarily enter into
the deliberations of Congress during the present session. It is true that
the improved condition of the public revenue will not only afford the means
of maintaining the faith of the Government with its creditors inviolate,
and of prosecuting successfully the measures of the most liberal policy,
but will also justify an immediate alleviation of the burdens imposed by
the necessities of the war.

It is, however, essential to every modification of the finances that the
benefits of an uniform national currency should be restored to the
community. The absence of the precious metals will, it is believed, be a
temporary evil, but until they can again be rendered the general medium of
exchange it devolves on the wisdom of Congress to provide a substitute
which shall equally engage the confidence and accommodate the wants of the
citizens throughout the Union. If the operation of the State banks can not
produce this result, the probable operation of a national bank will merit
consideration; and if neither of these expedients be deemed effectual it
may become necessary to ascertain the terms upon which the notes of the
Government (no longer required as an instrument of credit) shall be issued
upon motives of general policy as a common medium of circulation.

Notwithstanding the security for future repose which the United States
ought to find in their love of peace and their constant respect for the
rights of other nations, the character of the times particularly inculcates
the lesson that, whether to prevent or repel danger, we ought not to be
unprepared for it. This consideration will sufficiently recommend to
Congress a liberal provision for the immediate extension and gradual
completion of the works of defense, both fixed and floating, on our
maritime frontier, and an adequate provision for guarding our inland
frontier against dangers to which certain portions of it may continue to be
exposed.

As an improvement in our military establishment, it will deserve the
consideration of Congress whether a corps of invalids might not be so
organized and employed as at once to aid in the support of meritorious
individuals excluded by age or infirmities from the existing establishment,
and to procure to the public the benefit of their stationary services and
of their exemplary discipline.

I recommend also an enlargement of the Military Academy already
established, and the establishment of others in other sections of the
Union; and I can not press too much on the attention of Congress such a
classification and organization of the militia as will most effectually
render it the safeguard of a free state. If experience has shewn in the
recent splendid achievements of militia the value of this resource for the
public defense, it has shewn also the importance of that skill in the use
of arms and that familiarity with the essential rules of discipline which
can not be expected from the regulations now in force.

With this subject is intimately connected the necessity of accommodating
the laws in every respect to the great object of enabling the political
authority of the Union to employ promptly and effectually the physical
power of the Union in the cases designated by the Constitution.

The signal services which have been rendered by our Navy and the capacities
it has developed for successful cooperation in the national defense will
give to that portion of the public force its full value in the eyes of
Congress, at an epoch which calls for the constant vigilance of all
governments. To preserve the ships now in a sound state, to complete those
already contemplated, to provide amply the imperishable materials for
prompt augmentations, and to improve the existing arrangements into more
advantageous establishments for the construction, the repairs, and the
security of vessels of war is dictated by the soundest policy.

In adjusting the duties on imports to the object of revenue the influence
of the tariff on manufactures will necessarily present itself for
consideration. However wise the theory may be which leaves to the sagacity
and interest of individuals the application of their industry and
resources, there are in this as in other cases exceptions to the general
rule. Besides the condition which the theory itself implies of reciprocal
adoption by other nations, experience teaches that so many circumstances
must concur in introducing and maturing manufacturing establishments,
especially of the more complicated kinds, that a country may remain long
without them, although sufficiently advanced and in some respects even
peculiarly fitted for carrying them on with success. Under circumstances
giving a powerful impulse to manufacturing industry it has made among us a
progress and exhibited an efficiency which justify the belief that with a
protection not more than is due to the enterprising citizens whose
interests are now at stake it will become at an early day not only safe
against occasional competitions from abroad, but a source of domestic
wealth and even of external commerce.

In selecting the branches more especially entitled to the public patronage
a preference is obviously claimed by such as will relieve the United States
from a dependence on foreign supplies, ever subject to casual failures, for
articles necessary for the public defense or connected with the primary
wants of individuals. It will be an additional recommendation of particular
manufactures where the materials for them are extensively drawn from our
agriculture, and consequently impart and insure to that great fund of
national prosperity and independence an encouragement which can not fail to
be rewarded.

Among the means of advancing the public interest the occasion is a proper
one for recalling the attention of Congress to the great importance of
establishing throughout our country the roads and canals which can best be
executed under the national authority. No objects within the circle of
political economy so richly repay the expense bestowed on them; there are
none the utility of which is more universally ascertained and acknowledged;
none that do more honor to the governments whose wise and enlarged
patriotism duly appreciates them. Nor is there any country which presents a
field where nature invites more the art of man to complete her own work for
his accommodation and benefit.

These considerations are strengthened, moreover, by the political effect of
these facilities for intercommunication in bringing and binding more
closely together the various parts of our extended confederacy. Whilst the
States individually, with a laudable enterprise and emulation, avail
themselves of their local advantages by new roads, by navigable canals, and
by improving the streams susceptible of navigation, the General Government
is the more urged to similar undertakings, requiring a national
jurisdiction and national means, by the prospect of thus systematically
completing so inestimable a work; and it is a happy reflection that any
defect of constitutional authority which may be encountered can be supplied
in a mode which the Constitution itself has providently pointed out.

The present is a favorable season also for bringing again into view the
establishment of a national seminary of learning within the District of
Columbia, and with means drawn from the property therein, subject to the
authority of the General Government. Such an institution claims the
patronage of Congress as a monument of their solicitude for the advancement
of knowledge, without which the blessings of liberty can not be fully
enjoyed or long preserved; as a model instructive in the formation of other
seminaries; as a nursery of enlightened preceptors, and as a central resort
of youth and genius from every part of their country, diffusing on their
return examples of those national feelings, those liberal sentiments, and
those congenial manners which contribute cement to our Union and strength
to the great political fabric of which that is the foundation.

In closing this communication I ought not to repress a sensibility, in
which you will unite, to the happy lot of our country and to the goodness
of a superintending Providence, to which we are indebted for it. Whilst
other portions of mankind are laboring under the distresses of war or
struggling with adversity in other forms, the United States are in the
tranquil enjoyment of prosperous and honorable peace. In reviewing the
scenes through which it has been attained we can rejoice in the proofs
given that our political institutions, founded in human rights and framed
for their preservation, are equal to the severest trials of war, as well
adapted to the ordinary periods of repose.

As fruits of this experience and of the reputation acquired by the American
arms on the land and on the water, the nation finds itself possessed of a
growing respect abroad and of a just confidence in itself, which are among
the best pledges for its peaceful career. Under other aspects of our
country the strongest features of its flourishing condition are seen in a
population rapidly increasing on a territory as productive as it is
extensive; in a general industry and fertile ingenuity which find their
ample rewards, and in an affluent revenue which admits a reduction of the
public burdens without withdrawing the means of sustaining the public
credit, of gradually discharging the public debt, of providing for the
necessary defensive and precautionary establishments, and of patronizing in
every authorized mode undertakings conducive to the aggregate wealth and
individual comfort of our citizens.

It remains for the guardians of the public welfare to persevere in that
justice and good will toward other nations which invite a return of these
sentiments toward the United States; to cherish institutions which
guarantee their safety and their liberties, civil and religious; and to
combine with a liberal system of foreign commerce an improvement of the
national advantages and a protection and extension of the independent
resources of our highly favored and happy country.

In all measures having such objects my faithful cooperation will be
afforded.