To the House of Representatives: WASHINGTON, April 18, 1822. I communicate to the House of Representatives copies of sundry papers having relation to the transactions in East and West Florida, which have been received at the Department of State since my message to the two Houses of Congress of the 28th of January last, together with copies of two letters from the Secretary of State upon the same subject. [The same message was sent to the Senate.] To the House of Representatives: JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, April 23, 1822. In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 29th January last, requesting the President of the United States to cause to be communicated to that House certain information relative to the claim made by Jonathan Carver to certain lands within the United States near the Falls of St. Anthony, I now transmit a report of the Secretary of the Treasury, which, with the accompanying documents, contains all the information on this subject in the possession of the Executive. To the Senate of the United States: JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, April 26, 1822. I transmit to the Senate, agreeably to their resolution of yesterday, a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of the papers requested by that resolution, in relation to the recognition of the South American Provinces. To the House of Representatives: JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, April 29, 1822. I transmit to the House of Representatives a report from the Secretary of State, in pursuance of their resolution of the 29th instant,* "requesting to be furnished with a copy of the judicial proceedings in the United States court for the district of Louisiana in the case of the French slave ship La Pensee." JAMES MONROE. To the Senate of the United States: WASHINGTON, April 30, 1822. In compliance with a resolution of the Senate, requesting the President of the United States to cause to be laid before the Senate certain information respecting the practical operation of the system of subsisting the ⚫ an error; so in the original message. The date of the resolution is the 18th of April. Army under the provisions of the act passed the 14th of April, 1818, etc., I herewith transmit a report from the Secretary of War, furnishing the information required. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, May 1, 1822. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: In the message to both Houses of Congress at the commencement of their present session it was mentioned that the Government of Norway had issued an ordinance for admitting the vessels of the United States and their cargoes into the ports of that Kingdom upon the payment of no other or higher duties than are paid by Norwegian vessels, of whatever articles the said cargoes may consist and from whatever ports the vessels laden with them may come. In communicating this ordinance to the Government of the United States that of Norway has requested the benefit of a similar and reciprocal provision for the vessels of Norway and their cargoes which may enter the ports of the United States. This provision being within the competency only of the legislative authority of Congress, I communicate to them herewith copies of the communications received from the Norwegian Government in relation to the subject, and recommend the same to their consideration. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, May 1, 1822. To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: I transmit herewith to Congress copies of letters received at the Department of State from the minister of Great Britain on the subject of the duties discriminating between imported rolled and hammered iron. I recommend them particularly to the consideration of Congress, believing that although there may be ground for controversy with regard to the application of the engagements of the treaty to the case, yet a liberal construction of those engagements would be compatible at once with a ccuciliatory and a judicious policy. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, May 4, 1822. To the House of Representatives of the United States: In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 19th of April, requesting the President "to cause to be communicated to the House, if not injurious to the public interest, any letter which may have been received from Jonathan Russell, one of the ministers who concluded the treaty of Ghent, in conformity with the indications contained in his letter of the 25th of December, 1814," I have to state that having BATTLE OF THE THAMES, CANADA. October 5, 1813. This picture illustrates a phase of the War of 1812 which is but little known. Tecumseh, the ambitious chieftain, whose forces had been routed by Harrison at Tippecanoe, made allies of the British. His 1200 warriors retreated with 800 British regulars before the advance of 3000 Americans under William Henry Harrison. Tecumseh induced the British commander to halt and give battle at a point eight miles north of the Thames. They were completely routed, Tecumseh himself being one of the killed. The picture represents him dying by a pistol shot. Six hundred of the British were captured, 18 killed and 26 wounded. The American loss in killed and wounded was about the same. The bodies of 33 Indians were found. the encyclopedic index article entitled "Thames, Canada, Battle of." See referred the resolution to the Secretary of State, and it appearing, by a report from him, that no such document had been deposited among the archives of the Department, I examined and found among my private papers a letter of that description marked "private" by himself. mit a copy of the report of the Secretary of State, by which it appears that Mr. Russell, on being apprised that the document referred to by the resolution had not been deposited in the Department of State, delivered there "a paper purporting to be the duplicate of a letter written by him from Paris on the 11th of February, 1815, to the then Secretary of State, to be communicated to the House as the letter called for by the resolution." On the perusal of the document called for I find that it communicates a difference of opinion between Mr. Russell and a majority of his colleagues in certain transactions which occurred in the negotiations at Ghent, touching interests which have been since satisfactorily adjusted by treaty between the United States and Great Britain. The view which Mr. Russell presents of his own conduct and that of his colleagues in those transactions will, it is presumed, call from the two surviving members of that mission who differed from him a reply containing their view of those transactions and of the conduct of the parties in them, and who, should his letter be communicated to the House of Representatives, will also claim that their reply should be communicated in like manner by the Executive a claim which, on the principle of equal justice, could not be resisted. The Secretary of State, one of the ministers referred to, has already expressed a desire that Mr. Russell's letter should be communicated, and that I would transmit at the same time a communication from him respecting it. On full consideration of the subject I have thought it would be improper for the Executive to communicate the letter called for unless the House, on a knowledge of these circumstances, should desire it, in which case the document called for shall be communicated, accompanied by a report from the Secretary of State, as above suggested. I have directed a copy to be delivered to Mr. Russell, to be disposed of as he may think proper, and have caused the original to be deposited in the Department of State, with instruction to deliver a copy to any person who may be interested. JAMES MONROE. WASHINGTON, May 6, 1822. To the Senate and House of Representatives: I transmit to Congress translations of two letters from Don Joaquin d'Anduaga to the Secretary of State, which have been received at the Department of State since my last message communicating copies of his correspondence with this Government. JAMES MONROE. |