Documents accompanying the President's Message. REPORT OF THE PAYMASTER GENERAL. PAYMASTER GENERAL'S OFFICE, ? SIR: I have the honor, herewith, to submit a tabular statement of the funds advanced to paymasters, from the 1st day of October, 1829, to the 30th of September, 1830; the balances unexpended, and deducted from the estimates for the fourth quarter of the present year; and the balance yet to be accounted for; also exhibiting the period to which the troops in each district have been paid. [21st CoNG. 2d SESS. partment, during the year ending 30th September, 1830; by which it will be seen that 965 small arms, 16 gun carriages, and about 1,000 setts of accoutrements for small arins, are among the principal articles issued to the army: 937,700 pounds of lead were issued to the Engineer Departinent. made, and of the arms, and artillery carriages and equip. Statement E exhibits an account of the expenditures ments procured, under the act of 1808, for arming and equipping the militia, during the year ending 30th September, 1830; from which it will appear that the arms procured are, 11,240 muskets, 361 repeating and Hall's rifles, 2,101 holsters, and 86 field artillery carriages, with their various equipments; and that the amount expendtioned to each of the several States and Territories, for Statement F exhibits an account of the arms appor the year 1829; and of the artillery, arms, and other military equipments, distributed to the militia, during the year ending September 30, 1830. From this statement it will be seen, that, of the $1,205,100 drawn from the Treasury, therere mains but $13,084 45 to be accounted for; and I have informa-ed was 187,520 39 dollars. tion that the payments for which this last sum was advanced have been made, but the accounts have not yet reached me; they will probably be received before the close of this week, when the whole will be accounted for without the loss of a cent. I have the satisfaction to add, that on no former occa Statement G exhibits the general results of the opera 30th September, 1830; to which is appended a brief statement, showing the quantity of lead made at these mines, in each year, from 1821 to the present time. By sion have the payments, generally, been brought to such tions of the public lead mines, during the year ending late periods, or the accounts so fully rendered. Most respectfully, your obedient servant. N. TOWSON, Paymaster-General. The Hon. J. II. EATON, Secretary of War. these statements it will be seen that the rents which accrued during the year past amount to 563,567 pounds, being 890,564 pounds less than the rents of the previous year. The quantity of lead made at the public mines, REPORT FROM THE ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT. during the last year was 8,332,058 pounds, being less ORDNANCE OFFICE, than the product of the previous year by 6,209,252 pounds. This falling off in the quantity of lead made is to be attributed to the low price which the article has borne in the market for two years past. The same cause has diminished the rents, but these have been further reduced by the lower rates at which rents have been charg SIR: I have the honor to submit herewith a general report of the operations of this office during the year past. Statement marked A exhibits an account of the mo-ed since the 1st of January last. neys drawn from the Treasury, and remitted through this office, during the year 1829, to disbursing officers and contractors; and, also, the amount of accounts rendered, and the balance remaining in the hands of each at the close of the year. By this statement, it appears that the remittances, during the year 1829, amounted to That the accounts rendered and settled, during the same period, amounted to The quantity of lead which has accrued to the United States, for the rent of the mines, during the year past, if sold in the market, would barely suffice for paying the expenses of collection. And that the unexpended balances remaining in the hands of the several disbursing officers at the close of the year, amounted to $991,496 48 $34,401 93 Statement B shows the amount of funds transmitted to the several disbursing officers of this Department, and to contractors, during the three first quarters of the present year; by which it will be seen that the total amount transmitted was $708,087 91 And that the accounts rendered amounted to 620,423 25 . Leaving an unexpended balance in the Statement D exhibits the number and description of arms, artillery, and other ordnance supplies, issued by this Department to the Army, and to the Engineer De It is not probable that any considerable extension of the mining operations will be made for years to come; for it is now satisfactorily ascertained that our mines have yielded, for a few years past, a much larger supply than the consumption of the country requires: and, unless a market for the excess be found in foreign countries, it is not to be expected that even the present rate of production can be sustained. During the past year, a great num. ber of miners have abandoned the business, because the low price of lead did not afford an adequate compensation for the labor of procuring it. It appears, upon a careful examination of the Treasury statements for a number of years past, that the whole quantity of lead, in all its various forms, which was imported during a period of ten years, commencing with 1819, amounted to an average, per annum, of And that, during the same period, the Leaving for domestic consumption an ave- Which consisted of the following kinds, viz : Of white and red lead, and litharge Average quantity derived from importa- 7,835,923 lbs. 1,338,218 6,497,705 2,786,639 2,855,828 855,238 6,497,705 21st CoNG. 2d SESS.] Documents accompanying the President's Message. Prior to the year 1828, the product of the public mines has been liquidated; and there is little doubt, from the had not been so considerable as materially to affect the solidity of the securities in the cases of the $2,808 42 unmarket; but, during that year, the product was sudden- settled, and from the disposition already evinced, that ly increased to more than twelve millions of pounds; and the whole will be promptly paid without resorting to suit. during the same year, the excess of importations was It affords me great gratification to state, that of the 8,603,439 pounds, exceeding the average of previous moneys remitted and charged in the period embraced, years more than two millions. This, with the product of there has not been one cent lost to government; and of the public mines, supplied the market with an unexpect-91 officers disbursing in the commissariat, only three aced excess of fourteen millions pounds, being equal to a counts have not been received; and although these are supply for two years in advance. at the most remote posts, they will in all probability reach During the year 1829, the public mines yielded four- this office during the present month: it is, however, be teen and a half millions pounds, and the importation ceas-lieved, that if received, the result of the statement would ed. There was an excess of exports, in that year, of not be materially affected. nearly one and a half millions. Very respectfully, your most cbt. servant, GEO. GIBSON, C. G. S. Hon. J. H. EATON, Sec'y of War. The average annual product of the public mines, during the three last years, is 12,728,366 pounds, being about double the quantity usually received from foreign countries, prior to the year 1829. The public lead mines in Missouri were offered at public sale in October last, under the act of March 3, 1829. REPORT FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DEPARTMENT OF WAN, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Nov. 26, 1830. partment of the 7th August last, I had the honor, on the SIR: In compliance, in part, with the order of the De22d ultimo, to submit an estimate, in detail, for the cur rent expenses of the Indian Department in the year 1831, amounting to $160,690. The section of country in which the mines on the Upper Mississippi are situated, having been ceded to the United States by the treaty of Prairie du Chien, of August, 1829, and the value of these mines having been fully developed, it is believed that the time has arrived for surveying and selling these lead mine lands. It is supposed that the principal object of reserving these lands from sale was to prevent a monopoly of them, while their extent and value were but little known to the public. They have now been so extensively wrought, and are, at present, so well known, that this object has been accom-honor to submit the statements herewith, marked A and B. In further compliance with said order, I now have the plished; and no reasons can be perceived why a survey Statement A exhibits the amount remitted for disburseand sale of them should be longer deferred. Independent of the mineral riches of these lands, the ment under each head of appropriation, in the Indian Declimate is represented as remarkably salubrious, and the partment, during the three first quarters of the year soil as fruitful, and well adapted to support a dense po-ed under each head, for the same period; and the ba 1830; the amount for which accounts have been renderpulation; and it may be considered of national importances remaining to be accounted for, according to the ance to encourage the settlement of this remote and ex-books of this office. It will be seen that the whole posed frontier. I would, therefore, recommend that measures be taken for causing these lands to be surveyed and sold. I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient, amount remitted for disbursement within the period mentioned is 528,734 18; that the whole amount for which accounts have been rendered, is $401,342 09; and that the amount remaining to be accounted for is $127,392 09. It will be seen, also, that, of the balances remaining to be accounted for, those alone, under the heads of pay of superintendents and agents, sub-agents, interpreters, and blacksmiths, and annuities, when added together, amount REPORT FROM THE COMMISSARY GENERAL OF to the sum of 62,914 dollars, and 31 cents; and which, SUBSISTENCE. OFFICE OF THE COM. GEN. OF SUBSISTENCE, if deducted from the aggregate balance, to wit: $127,392 09, will leave but $64,477 78 to be accounted of the disbursements for annuities, as well as for other for under all the other heads. A considerable portion objects, are made by agents stationed at remote posts, Sin: In compliance with instructions from the Depart- and often, owing to the Indians prolonging their absence ment of War of 7th August ultimo, I have the honor to from their villages on their hunting excursions, at so late submit a statement, in duplicate, of the moneys remitted a period of the year, that sufficient time has not elapsed and charged to contractors, and the disbursing officers of for their returns for the 3d quarter to reach the Depart the commissariat, in the 1st, 2d, and 3d quarters of the ment. When these are received, the balance, if not year, amounting to $233,013 16, and the monies account- wholly accounted for, will be reduced to a very small ed for by them, amounting to $208,716 64, leaving a ba- sum, especially when compared with the whole amount lance outstanding of $24,381 18, from which is to be de- remitted, or with that of the security held by the Goducted $2,808 42, charged to contractors, not as advan-vernment of the officers through whom the disbursements ces, or remittances out of the annual appropriation for 1830, but as the difference between the prices of provisions previously contracted for, and the purchases made by agents of the Department in 1829, to supply deficiencies at several posts, and totally unconnected with the fiscal operations of the present year, leaving $21,572 76 actually in the hands of the assistant and acting assistant commissaries, at the expiration of the 3d, applicable to, and which will be entirely accounted for in, the 4th quar-year, of 242. ter of the year. The amount remitted in the three first quarters of the The sum originally charged to contractors on their fail-present year, from the appropriation for the civilization of ure is, by this statement, 14,502 31, of which $1,010 11 the Indians, for school allowances, is $6,693, as will be are made. Statement B exhibits the number of schools in the Indian country, where established, by whom, the number of teachers, the number of scholars, and the amount now allowed a year to each school from the annual appropria tion of $10,000 for the civilization of the Indians. This statement shows an increase in the number of scholars over that embraced in the report from this office for the last Documents accompanying the President's Message. [21st CoxG. 2d SESS. the case, which is subject to the approval of the Presi dent of the United States. seen by reference to statement A. The amount of these allowances to the several schools, as arranged to take effect from the 1st of July last, and exhibited by statement By the resolution of the Senate, passed at last session B, is $6,650; which, deducted from the annual approof Congress, conditionally ratifying the supplementary priation of 10,000 applicable to this year, will leave a article, concluded the 24th September, 1829, to the balance, (without taking into view any balance that may treaty with the Delaware Indians of the 3d of October, remain of former years,) on the 1st of January next, of 1818, certain lines, specified in said resolution, were re$3,350, to be added to the annual appropriation that will quired to be run and marked. Mr. McCoy, who was then be applicable to 1831, (making, together, $13,350,) employed to make the survey, has been engaged on it, and disposed of, during that year, as the Secretary of but had not, at the date of the last reports from him, War may deem it expedient to direct. completed it. It is believed that the disbursements in the Indian Department for the years 1829 and 1830 have been confined strictly within the appropriations applicable to them, and that no arrearages have or will accrue on account of disbursements made in either of those years. But the arrearages which it was ascertained (and so stated in the report from this office for the last year,) had accrued to a considerable amount in the Indian Department prior to the year 1829; are still pressing on the Department, and it yet remains without any means to meet them. Impressed with the importance of some adequate provision being made for these arrearages, I have made this refer ence to them here, under a hope that the attention of Congress might again be called, at the ensuing session, to the documents submitted to them on the subject at last, and an act be passed making such appropriations as, from the circumstances of the case, may appear to be proper. The lines of the cessions made by the treaties concluded at Prairie du Chien, with the Chippewa, Ottowa, and Pottawatamie, and Winnebago Indians, on the 29th July and 1st August, 1829, and which were ratified during the last session of Congress, have been run by Mr. Lyon, the surveyor employed for that purpose; and his report, with the field notes and map of the survey, are filed in this office. A report has also been received from Messrs. J. S. Simonson and Charles Noble, the agents appointed to value the buildings and other improvements belonging to the Carey missionary establishment on the St. Joseph, in Michigan Territory, under a provision made for this pur pose by the treaty with the Pottawatamie Indians, of 20th September, 1828. It remains for the report of the agents to be submitted to Congress to obtain the necessary ap propriation to pay for the improvements, as stipulated by the 5th article of the treaty just mentioned. A few remarks in reference to the existing laws relating cation of the provisions of the same will close this report. There are some other documents and estimates, which were submitted at the last session of Congress, for ap-to Indian affairs, with a view to some change or modifipropriations to carry into effect sundry treaty-stipulations for annuities and other objects, for the year 1830; but which, as no appropriations were made, it will be neces- The first act providing for Indian annuities, and which sary to submit again at the ensuing session, to obtain ap- is still in force, was passed in 1796. Other acts for propriations both for the year 1830 and 1831. They will, the same object have been since passed, from time to accordingly, be prepared and reported in time to be sub-time, as they were required by new treaties, which are mitted at an early day in the session. Our relations with the Indians continue on a friendly footing. Nothing has happened to interrupt them during the year, except it be the acts of hostility which have occasionally been committed against each other by certain tribes bordering on the Mississippi, and which, it was apprehended at one time, were about to assume a character that would seriously disturb the peace of our citizens along that frontier: but, by the timely interference of the Government, peace has been made between the Indians, and our citizens thereby secured, for the present, at least, from the disturbances with which they were threatened by their wars. The treaties concluded at the conferences ordered to be held by General Clark and Colonel Morgan, with the Indians, for this and other purposes, at Prairie du Chien, have lately been forwarded by General Clark, and are filed in this office. These treaties, with those recently concluded with the Chickasaw and Chocktaw nations, under the directions of the President of the United States, towards the execution of the act passed at the last session of Congress," to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the States or Territories, and for their removal west of the Mississippi," are all the treaties that have been made with the Indians since the last session of Congress. They are ready to be laid before the Department when required. The Commissioners (Gen. E. Root, and James McCall and J. T. Mason, Esquires) appointed in pursuance of a provision contained in the 2d article of the treaty concluded at the Butte des Morts, the 11th of August, 1827, to adjust the difficulty between the Menomonee, and Winnebago, and New York Indians, in relation to the boundaries of their lands in the vicinity of Green bay, have been engaged on that duty, and recently made a report, submitting a proposition for the adjustment of VOL. VII-E. limited or permanent, according to the treaty stipulations for which they are intended to provide. A part of the provisions of some of them, though not directly repealed, has been superseded by treaties or acts of more recent date; hence it is difficult (except for persons who are familiar with these changes) to distinguish the provisions that are still in force from those that are not. There are now twenty-one acts under which Indian annuities are drawn, and they require as many accounts to be opened and kept on the books of the Treasury. If the same system be continued, every new treaty that stipulates for an annuity will necessarily increase the number of acts for that object, and, of course, the number of accounts. I therefore respectfully submit, whether it be not desirable to change the system, and adopt one which is more simple, and will require less time and labor to execute it. This, I humbly apprehend, may be attained by repealing all the existing acts of appropriation for annuities, and embodying the whole in one act, to be passed annually, on a statement to be laid before Congress at the commencement of every session, showing the annuities due, and to be provided for in the ensuing year. This would keep Congress annually informed of the state of the Indian annuities, and the actual amount required from year to year to pay them. The appropriation might be made in one sum, equal to the whole amount of annuities due for the year to be provided for, or for the specific sums due, for such year, to each nation or tribe. In either case, it would never require more than one account to be opened on the books of the Treasury. With these remarks, I respectfully submit the accompanying statement of all the annuities that will be due and payable in the year 1831, (marked C,) that, if the object (which is explained by the foregoing remarks) be approved, the same may be submitted to Congress, to be acted upon as may be esteemed proper. 21st CONG. 2d SESS.] Documents accompanying the President's Message. The act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes, and to preserve peace on the frontiers, passed in 1802, is the principal one that governs all our relations with the Indian tribes. Since this act was passed, many treaties have been concluded, which, with other causes growing out of the increase of our population, and the consequent extension of our settlements, have contributed to produce changes in our Indian relations, which, it would seem, required corresponding changes in the laws governing them. It is believed that the line defined by the act of 1802 as the Indian boundary, and to which its provisions were intended particularly to apply, has long since ceased to be so. It is, therefore, respectfully submitted whether the public interest does not also require such a modification of the act of 1802 as would better adapt its provisions to the present state of our Indian relations. A judicious modification of this act, and others connected with it, (embracing some specific provision for the adjustment of the claims for depredations, &c. which are provided for by the 4th and 14th sections) would, no doubt, greatly facilitate and open the way for other improvements in the administration of the affairs of the Indian Department, of which the claims for depredations just mentioned form no unimportant or inconsiderable part. It may not be improper to add, that should the foregoing propositions in regard to the laws relating to Indian affairs be deemed worthy of consideration, much useful and more detailed information may be obtained from the report which was made on this subject by Governor Cass and General Clark, and laid before Congress the session before last; for which, see State Papers, 2d session 20th Congress, vol. 3, Doc. No. 117. All which is respectfully submitted. SAM'L. S. HAMILTON. To the Hon. JOHN H. EATON, Secretary of War. 14 145 16 983 17 710 62 1,399 21 694 7 157 31 924 70 2,686 1,029 18 371 30 703 ABSTRACT from the several Agents' Returns, showing District of Columbia Report on Internal Improvement. REPORT ON INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, FEB. 1831. Mr. HEMPHILL, from the committee to which was referred that part of the President's Message [of Decenber 7, 1830] relating to Internal Improvements, made the following Report: That they have bestowed upon it that deliberate con sideration to which its high character and importance are justly entitled. The essential benefits to a nation from good roads and canals, and the improvement of water courses, are so universally acknowledged, that the Committee will not investigate the subject by tedious reasoning. A brief notice will be all that is necessary. Their object is rather to bring into review the laudable ambition and ardent desire, so long manifested by the people, for the enjoyment of these real blessings. Mr. Fulton, in his letter of the 7th of December, 1807, to the Secretary of the Treasury, to enable him, in part, to prepare his report of the 4th of April, 1808, remarked that, "it is obvious to every one, who will take the trouble to reflect, that, on a road of the best kind, four horses, and sometimes five, are necessary to transport only three tons, but on a canal, one horse will draw twenty-five tons, and thus perform the work of forty horses; the saving being in the value of the horses, the feeding, wagons, and attendance." Rail roads, where they can be adopted, being now considered of similar value to canals, like results will follow from the use of them. The whole saving, on any given line, must, in a great degree, be conjectural, umless resort is made to a very minute calculation. But any one can perceive, from this simple statement, that a very large proportion of the expenses of transportation would be a certain gain to the consumers, and, indirectly, to the whole community. A barrel of flour can be shipped from Philadelphia to Liverpool, a distance of three thousand miles, for fifty cents, while, on a turnpike road from Pittsburg to Philadelphia, a tenth of the distance, it would cost five dol lars. A few facts will show the enormous expense of transportation in time of war. In the late war, flour, in some instances, cost the Government nearly one hundred dol. lars per barrel, and pieces of artillery each near one thou sand dollars; and owing to the delay, were useless when they arrived. The first of transportation across the peninsula between the Delaware and Chesapeake bays, a distance of only sixteen miles, amounted in one year to a little less than a half a million of dollars. The saving to the Union by good roads and canals, would be immense, and amount to many millions in a year, besides the wealth gained by the additional quantity of articles from the bowels and surface of the earth, raw and manufactured, which the expedition and cheapness of conveyance to market would inevitably bring into existence. The internal trade of a country increases with amaz. ing rapidity, and it is considered by the ablest writers on political economy to be the most profitable trade; customers contract acquaintances, and no sea risk is incurred. We have already seen between two and three thousand sloops, of upwards of fifty tons each, engaged in the North river. In England, there are more than five hundred ships, none under two hundred tons, and many over three, carrying the single article of coal from Newcastle to London. In China, it is said that, in consequence of the cheapness of their conveyances, their home trade is nearly equal to the whole market in Europe. The commerce of the United States with South America should attract our earnest attention. The independ [21st CoNG. 2d SESS. ence of these republics will form an important era in the history of this country. No country can offer to us commercial advantages more rich, or more within our reach, than the Spanish American Republics. Our territories touch. with the same sea. The idea of improving the country with national aid was coeval with the Government. The "Federalist" noticed it among other advantages of the Union. In No. 14, written by Mr. Madison, the objections made against the Constitution from the extent of country were answered; and, with other reasons, it was said : "Let it be remembered, in the third place, that the intercourse throughout the Union will be daily facilitated by new improvements. Roads will be every where shortened, and kept in better order; accommodations for travellers will be multiplied and ameliorated; an interior navigation on our eastern side will be opened throughout, or nearly throughout, the whole extent of the thirteen States. The communications between the western and Atlantic districts, and the different parts of each, will be rendered more and more easy by those numerous canals with which the beneficence of nature has intersected our country, and which art finds it so little difficult to connect and complete." The same distinguished statesman gave a practical con. struction to those views of the effect of ratifying the Federal Constitution, by submitting to the House of Repre sentatives, in 1796, seven years after it went into operation, a resolution to cause a survey to be made of a road from north to south, through all the Atlantic States, with a view to the foundation of a system for their improvement. That the capacities of the country for improve. ment are equal to any on the earth, there is no difference of opinion. Its vast extent, its variety of soil and climate, its mountains and valleys, intersected with streams of every size; its geographical separation into distinct natural parts, each inviting the commercial intercourse of the others, by artificial means-the portion along the shores of the Atlantic, and back to the Alleghany mountains, being one; that on the lakes and St. Lawrence, another; add that watered by the Mississippi and its branches composing the third. As soon as the funded debt of the Revolution was nearly extinguished, and Louisiana acquired, the improvements of the country were commenced. Mr. Jefferson caused a reconnoissance and survey to be made of a road between the City of Washington and New Or leans. In 1806, Congress authorized the construction of the Cumberland Road, thereby assuming the principal pow er for which the real friends of the policy have ever since contended. In 1808, Mr. Gallatin's celebrated report appeared, exhibiting much solid information on the subject; but the attitude of our relations soon after with England and France, and the final declaration of war against England, retarded the execution, while it evinc |