Your committee are fully aware of the many and fatal objections to the distribution of the surplus revenue among the States, considered as a part of the ordinary and regular system of this Government. They admit them to be as great as can well be imagined. The proposition itself, that the Government should collect money for the purpose of such distribution, or should distribute a surplus for the purpose of perpetuating taxes, is too absurd to require refutation; and yet what would be when applied, as supposed, so absurd and pernicious, is, in the opinion of your committee, in the present extraordinary and deeply disordered state of our affairs, not only useful and salutary, but indispensable to the restoration of the body politic to a sound condition; just as some potent medicine, which it would be dangerous and absurd to prescribe to the healthy, may, to the diseased, be the only means of arresting the hand of death. Dis. tribution, as proposed, is not for the preposterous and dangerous purpose of raising a revenue for distribution, or of distributing the surplus as a means of perpetuating a system of duties or taxes; but a temporary measure to dispose of an unvoidable surplus while the revenue is in the course of reduction, and which cannot be otherwise disposed of, without greatly aggravating a disease that threatens the most dangerous consequences; and which holds out hope, not only of arresting its further progress, but also of restoring the body politic to a state of health and vigor. The truth of this assertion a few observations will suffice to illustrate. It must be obvious, on a little reflection, that the ef fects of distribution of the surplus would be to place the interests of the States, on all questions of expenditure, in opposition to expenditure, as every reduction of expense would necessarily increase the sum to be distributed among the States. The effect of this would be to convert them, through their interests, into faithful and vigilant sentinels on the side of economy and accountability in the expenditures of this Government, and would thus powerfully tend to restore the Government, in its fiscal action, to the plain and honest simplicity of former days. It may, however, be said that the distribution may create, on the part of the States, an appetite in its favor which may ultimately lead to its adoption as a permanent measure. It may indeed tend to excite such an appe. tite, short as is the period proposed for its operation; but it is obvious that this danger is far more than countervailed by the fact that the proposed amendment to the constitution to authorize the distribution would place the power beyond the reach of legislative construction, and thus effectually prevent the possibility of its adop tion as a permanent measure; as it cannot be conceived that three-fourths of the States will ever assent to an amendment of the constitution to authorize a distribution, except as an extraordinary measure, applicable to some extraordinary condition of the country like the present. Giving, however, to these and other objections which may be urged, all the force that can be claimed for them, it must be remembered the question is not whether the measure proposed is or is not liable to this or that objection, but whether any other less objectionable can be devised; or rather, whether there is any other, which promises the least prospect of relief, that can be applied. Let not the delusion prevail that the disease, after running through its natural course, will terminate of itself, without fatal consequences. Experience is opposed to such anticipations. Many and striking are the examples of free states perishing under that excess of patronage which now afflicts ours. It may, in fact, be said with truth, that all or nearly all diseases which afflict free Governments may be traced directly or indirectly to excess of revenue and expenditure; the effect of which is to rally around the Government a powerful, corrupt, and subservient corps-a corps ever obedient to its will, and ready to sustain it in every measure, whether right or wrong; and which, if the cause of the disease be not eradicated, must ultimately render the Govern ment stronger than the people. What progress this dangerous disease has already made in our country it is not for your committee to say; but when they reflect on the present symptoms; on the almost unbounded extent of executive patronage, wielded by a single will; the surplus revenue, which cannot be reduced within proper limits in less than seven years -a period which covers two presidential elections, on both of which all this mighty power and influence will be brought to bear; and when they consider that, with the vast patronage and influence of this Government, that of all the States acting in concert with it will be combined, there are just grounds to fear that the fate which has befallen so many other free Governments must also befal ours, unless, indeed, some effectual remedy be forthwith applied. It is under this impression that your committee have suggested the one proposal; not as free from all objections, but as the only one of sufficient power to arrest the disease and to restore the body politic to a sound condition; and they have accordingly reported a resolution so to amend the constitution that the money remaining in the treasury at the end of each It may, perhaps, be thought by some that the power which the distribution among the States would bring to bear against the expenditure, and its consequent tendency to retrench the disbursements of the Government, would be so strong, as not only to curtail useless or improper expenditure, but also the useful and necessary. Such, undoubtedly, would be the consequence, if the process were too long continued; but in the present irregular and excessive action of the system, when its centripetal force threatens to concentrate all its powers in a single department, the fear that the action of this Government will be too much reduced by the measure under consideration, in the short period to which it is proposed to limit its operation, is without just foundation. On the contrary, if the proposed measure should be applied in the present diseased state of the Government, its effect would be like that of some powerful alterative medicine, operating just long enough to change the present morbid action, but not sufficiently long to superin-year till the 1st of January, 1843, deducting therefrom duce another of an opposite character. But it may be objected that, though the distribution might reduce all useless expenditure, it would at the same time give additional power to the interest in favor of taxation. It is not denied that such would be its tendency; and, if the danger from increased duties or taxes was at this time as great as that from a surplus revenue, the objection would be fatal; but it is confidently believed that such is not the case. On the contrary, in proposing the measure, it is assumed that the act of March 2, 1833, will remain undisturbed. It is on the strength of this assumption that the measure is proposed, and, as it is believed, safely proposed. the sum of $2,000,000 to meet current and contingent expenses, shall annually be distributed among the States and Territories, including the District of Columbia; and, for that purpose, the sum to be distributed to be divided into as many shares as there are Senators and Repre sentatives in Congress, adding two for each Territory and two for the District of Columbia; and that there shall be allotted to each State a number of shares equal to its representation in both Houses, and to the Territories, including the District of Columbia, two shares each. Supposing the surplus to be distributed should average $9,000,000 annually, as estimated, it would give to each share $30,405; which multiplied by the number of Sen. Executive Patronage. The reason for selecting the ratio of distribution proposed in the amendment is so obvious as to require but little illustration. It is that which indicates the relative political weight assigned by the constitution to the members of the confederacy respectively, and, it is believed, approaches as nearly to equality as any other that can be selected. It may be objected that some States, under the distribution, may receive more and others less than their actual contribution to the treasury under the existing system of revenue. The truth of the objection may be acknowledged, but it must also be acknowledged that the inequality is at least as great under the present system of disbursements, and would be as great under any other disposition of the surplus that can be adopted. But as effectual as the distribution must be, if adopted, to retrench improper expenditure, and reduce correlated to convert the surplus revenue into a most potent spondingly the patronage of the Government, yet other means must be added to bring it within safe limits, and to prevent the recurrence hereafter of the danger which now threatens the institutions and the liberty of the country; and, with this view, your committee have reported a bill to repeal the first and second sections of the act to limit the term of certain officers therein named, passed 13th May, 1820; to make it the duty of the President to lay before Congress, on the 1st of January next, and on the 1st of January every four years thereafter, the names of all defaulting officers and agents charged with the collection and disbursements of the public money, whose commissions shall be vacated from and after the date of such message; and also to make it his duty, in all cases of nomination to fill vacancies occasioned by removal from office, to assign the reason for which said officer may have been removed. The provisions of this bill are the same as those contained in bill number 2, reported to the Senate on the 4th May, 1826, by a select committee appointed to "inquire into the expediency of reducing the patronage of the Government of the United States," and which was accompanied by an explanatory report, to which your committee would refer the Senate; and, in order to facilitate the reference, they have instructed their chairman to move to reprint the report for their use. But the great and alarming strides which patronage has made in the short period that has intervened since the date of the report, has demonstrated the necessity of imposing other limitations on the discretionary powers of the Executive; particularly in reference to the General Post Office and the public funds, on which important subject the Executive has an almost unlimited discretion as things now are. In a Government like ours, liable to dangers so imminent from the excess and abuse of patronage, it would seem extraordinary that a Department of such vast powers, with an annual income and expenditure so great, and with a host of persons in its service, extending and ramifying itself to the remotest point and into every neighborhood of the Union, and having a control over the correspondence and intercourse of the whole community, should be permitted to remain so long without efficient checks or responsibility, under the almost unlimited control of the Executive. Such a power, wielded by a single will, is sufficient of itself, when made an instrument of ambition, to contaminate the community, and to control, to a great extent, public opinion. To guard against this danger, and to impose effectual restrictions on executive patronage, acting through this important Department, your committee are of the opinion that an entire reorganization of the Department is required; but their labor, in reference to this great sub. ject, has been superseded by the Committee on the Post Office, which has bestowed so much attention on it, and But, as extensive and dangerous as is the patronage of the Executive through the Post Office Department, it is not much less so in reference to the public funds, over which, as has been stated, it now has unlimited control, and through them, over the entire banking system of the country. With a banking system, spread from Maine to Louisiana; from the Atlantic to the utmost West; consisting of not less than five or six hundred banks, struggling among themselves for existence and gain; with an immense public fund, under the control of the Executive, to be deposited in whatever banks he may favor, or to be withdrawn at his pleasure; it is impossible for ingenuity to devise any scheme better calcuengine of power and influence; and, it may be added, of peculation, speculation, corruption, and fraud. The first and most decisive step against this danger is that already proposed, of distributing the surplus revenue among the States, which will prevent its growing accumulation in the banks, and, with it, the corresponding increase of per executive power and influence over the banking system. In addition, your committee have reported a bill to charge the deposite banks at the rate of cent. per annum for the use of the public funds, to be calculated on the average monthly deposites; to prohibit transfers, except for the purpose of disbursements; and to prevent a removal of the public funds from the banks in which they are now, or may hereafter be deposited, without the consent of Congress, except as is provided in the bill. The object of the bill is to secure to the Government an equivalent for the use of the public funds; to prevent the abuses and influence. incident to transfer warrants; and to place the deposite banks, as far as it may be practicable, beyond the control of the Executive. In addition to these measures, there are, doubtless, many others connected with the customs, Indian affairs, public lands, army, navy, and other branches of the administration, into which, it is feared, there have crept many abuses, which have unnecessarily increased the expenditures and the number of persons employed, and, with them, the executive patronage; but to reform which would require a more minute investigation into the general state of the administration than your committee can at present bestow. Should the measures which they have recommended receive the sanction of greatly facilitate the work of carrying accountability, reCongress, they feel a strong conviction that they will trenchment, and economy, through every branch of the administration, and thereby reduce the patronage of the Executive to those safe and economical limits which are necessary to a complete restoration of the equilibrium of the system, now so dangerously disturbed. Your committee are deeply impressed with the necessity of commencing early, and of carrying through, to its full and final completion, this great work of reform. The disease is daily becoming more aggravated and dangerous; and, if it be permitted to progress for a few years longer, with the rapidity with which it has of late advanced, it will soon pass beyond the reach of remedy. This is no psrty question. Every lover of his country and of its institutions, be his party what it may, must see and deplore the rapid growth of patronage, with all its attending evils, and the certain catastrophe which awaits its further progress, if not timely arrested. The question now is not how, or where, or with whom, the danger originated, but how it is to be arrested; not the cause, but the remedy; not how our institutions and liberty have been endangered, but how they are to be rescued. Statement of the receipts into the Treasury of the United States, during the year 1833. 23d CONG. 2d SESS.] Statement of the expenditures of the United States, during the year 1833. Executive Patronage. Table showing the persons in the employment and pay of the Executive Departments of the Government of the United States in the years 1825 and 1833, respectively; specifying the number under each Department. year 1833. count of the public debt,) from the year 1823 to the account of pensions, and exclusive of payments on acernment of the United States, (including payments on Statement of the expenditures for the support of the Gov per cent. an ad valorem duty, supposed to be less than twenty honor to submit a list of all the articles which now pay SIR: In reply to yours of the 24th instant, I have the lic lands. duties and the amount of revenue from impost and pubFrom the Secretary of the Treasury, on the subject of the great certainty can be attained, as the specific duty a specific duty; but very few of which, it is believed, if as the invoice price of it, when purchased and imported in sundry cases, on the same article at the same date, would probably be more or less than twenty per cent. ced at less than twenty per cent. But, on this point, no that duty was computed ad valorem, would be introduAnnexed is another list of all articles which now pay TREASURY DEPARTMENT, * Owing the destruction of the Treasury building by fire, in 1833, the number of persons employed in the revenue cutters in the year 1825 cannot be ascertained. The number for this service in 1833 is 453. Correspondence with Spain. from different places, might show a different value, cost, &c., attached to the same description of merchandise. By a correspondence with some of the large ports, however, and a few weeks' delay, a calculation could be made of the rate of per centage on the articles paying specific duties during any particular period, and the result, when ascertained, could be communicated to the committee, provided it would not be too late, and they request it to be done. [23d CONG. 28 SESS. of 1834, as requested in the note added the 24th instant, to your letter of the 10th instant, is ascertained, so far as practicable from the present returns, to have been about $1,944,465; and which, as most of the auction sales are in the last quarter, considerably exceeds the whole sales in both the two previous quarters. LEVI WOODBURY. Secretary of the Treasury. Ch'n of Committee on Executive Patronage. Hon. JOHN C. CALHOUN, CORRESPONDENCE WITH SPAIN. The other inquiry in that postscript, as to the balance in the treasury on the last day of December, 1835, can be answered with considerable accuracy, though the reIn respect to the next inquiry, as to the reduction or turns are not all yet completed. The nominal balance repeal of duty, "having a due regard to the manufac- of money on hand was about $8,695,981, of which the turing interest," which would be made on the articles unavailable funds were about $1,150,000, and the apascertained to pay less than twenty per cent., I would propriations outstanding on the same day, not now subobserve that, in order to answer this with any great de-ject to be carried to the surplus fund, and not yet paid, gree of accuracy, it must first be decided which of the were about $7,128,123, leaving an effective balance of articles now paying specific duties ought to be included $417,858 for any new objects. in those paying less than twenty per cent. But taking Yours, respectfully, it for granted that none of them, of much importance, should be so included, the list of articles already ascer tained to pay less than twenty per cent. consist in part of such that, undoubtedly, the duty on that part might be wholly repealed without affecting materially any do. mestic manufacture in this country. Those articles included in that part consist chiefly of almond paste, amber and composition beads, balsams, cosmetics, Brazil pebbles, Bristol stone, calomel, tartar emetic, gold lace, and various essential oils. But the amount that the revenue would probably be annually diminished by such reduction must be very trifling, not exceeding in all, it is estimated, over sixty thousand dollars. The residue of the articles which are ascertained to pay less than twenty per cent. are such that the reduction or repeal of the duty on them would probably be deemed to affect, more or less, some interest, either agricultural or I transmit to the Senate of the United States a report manufacturing. But without a thorough and somewhat of the Secretary of State, to whom was referred the resextensive inquiry into facts, so as to see whether any olutions of that body, passed on the second and sevenparticular manufacture with which they compete or are teenth days of the present month, together with such connected could be carried on successfully after a total portions of the correspondence and instructions requestrepeal or further reduction of the present duty, any es-ed by the said resolutions as could be transcribed with timate or opinion would be very uncertain and of little in the time that has elapsed since they were received, value. Such an inquiry, however, will be instituted, and as can be communicated without prejudice to the and the results presented at the earliest day practicable, public interest. if the committee desire it. My present impressions are, that, on those articles, with the exception of the different kinds of clothes, linen, woollen, silk, and hair, and, with the exception of the manufacture of lead, the duties on which could not probably be reduced at present with propriety, a reduction could be made in respect to some of them, and in a few cases an entire repeal might take place without material injury. But the whole duties now collected on the others would not be found to be so large as to make a small reduction of them in some cases, and an entire repeal of them in others, very important in their bearing on the whole amount of our annual rev enue. It is believed, from the best data now in possession of the Department, that any judicious reduction on the others would not annually be likely to exceed two hundred thousand dollars. It is an important circumstance, in connexion with this subject, that the whole value of articles paying ad valo. rem duties, whether above or below twenty per cent., has fallen rapidly under the present tariff, as in 1832 it exceeded fifty-two millions, in 1833 was about forty-nine millions, and in 1834 fell to about thirty-four millions. Indeed, although our whole importations during the last three years have so greatly increased, yet those paying duties of any kind, ad valorem or specific, have dimin ished from about sixty-three millions in 1832, to about fifty-five millions in 1833, and, as far as ascertained, to only about forty-seven millions in 1834. The amount of the sales of land in the fourth quarter Message from the President of the United States, with the correspondence between the Government of the United States and Spain, &c., in compliance with resolutions of the Senate. IN SENATE U. S., MARCH 2, 1835. WASHINGTON, Feb. 28, 1835. To the Senate of the United States: ANDREW JACKSON. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, Feb. 27, 1835. The Secretary of State, to whom was referred a resolution of the Senate of the United States of the 2d instant, requesting the President to communicate to that body the correspondence which passed between the Governments of the United States and Spain, through their respective ministers or agents, in the negotiation of the late treaty between the two Governments, together with the instructions given to the minister of the United States, from time to time, in the course of the negotiation, or so much of said correspondence and instructions, or of any other correspondence and instructions during the mission of the present minister to Spain, as may be communicated without prejudice to the public interest; and to whom was likewise referred a subsequent resolution of the same body, passed on the 17th instant, explaining that the resolution passed on the 2d instant requesting the President to communicate to the Senate the correspondence between the Governments of the United States and Spain, in the negotiation of the late treaty between the two Governments, and the instructions connected therewith, was intended to be restricted, and was by the said resolution of the 17th instant restricted to correspondence and instructions during the official term of the present minister of the United States to Spain-has the honor to transmit a copy of all the correspondence that has passed, and all the instructions that have been given during the term alluded to, in relation to the late treaty between the United States and Spain, whether during the negotiation of the said treaty or subsequently, except such parts as it is thought cannot be communicated without prejudice to the public interest; but the Secretary of State has the honor to report to the President, that as the remaining correspondence and instructions requested in the latter part of the resolution first above referred to are of great length, and are pricipally contained in three large volumes, from each of which a transcript can be made by but one person at a time, it is impracticable to have a copy of them prepared before the close of the present session of Congress. In the meantime, the Secretary of State begs leave respectfully to refer, for a part of the correspondence not now communicated, to a report made by him to the President on the 29th day of January last, upon a reference of a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 22d of that month, which report was accompanied by that portion of the correspondence between the Gov. ernments of the United States and Spain which relates to the act of Congress passed on the 30th day of June, 1834, entitled "An act concerning tonnage duty on Spanish vessels," together with extracts from the despatches of the American minister at Madrid, respect. ing the trade of the United States, with the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico. Extracts from the general instructions of M. Van Buren, Secretary of State of the United States, to Cornelius P. Van Ness, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Spain, dated at Washington, October 2, 1829. Our citizens have claims upon the Spanish Government which have for a long time engaged the unceasing attention of our diplomatic representatives at the court of Madrid, still remain unadjusted, and continue to be a cause of deep solicitude on the part of the President. A brief allusion to the origin of these claims, and to the course which has been pursued on both sides in the long negotiation they occasioned, may serve to facilitate to you the means of acquiring, from the papers and records of the legation, that information and right understanding of the whole matter which will be requisite in the farther management, and, as it is hoped, the speedy adjustment of the subject. These claims had their origin in the war which ended in the final overthrow of the Spanish domination on the American continent. In that, as in all other contests between rival nations, the commerce of neutrals was exposed to continued vex. ation, and at times became a prey to the exigenices or rapacious injustice of the preponderating party. The first result of the breaking out of the South American revolutionary war was the abolition, by the new States, of that rigid colonial system of interdiction which for. bade to foreign commerce all access to the Spanish possessions, and to throw open to the free trade of all nations all their ports in the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific ocean. To these foreign commerce was invited by the independents, who, from the earliest stages of the contest, continued to occupy them; and even the Spanish authorities themselves, charged to maintain the last remnants of the power which the mother country still retained in that quarter, so far sanctioned and adopted the principles of public law upon which the former colonial monopoly was abolished in the ports held by the independents, as to declare those which still continued in their possession open to the lawful commerce of neutrals. During the suspension of the war in 1820, a treaty was concluded between Generals Morillo, as the agent of Spain, and Bolivar, as the representative of the Spanish South American States, by which, it was agreed that, in the event of the renewal of the contest, it should be conducted upon the same principles as a war between independent nations, and not on that upon which Spain had placed it in the first instance. In 1821 the contest was renewed in Venezuela, with redoubled vigor and equal |