Upon this general view of the subject, it is obvious, that there is only wanting, to the fiscal prosperity of the government, the restoration of an uniform medium of exchange. The resources and the faith of the nation, displayed in the system which Congress has established, ensure respect and confidence both at home and abroad. The local accumulations of the revenue have already enabled the treasury to meet the public engagements in the local currency of most of the States: and it is expected that the same cause will produce the same effect throughout the Union. But, for the interests of the community at large, as well as for the purposes of the treasury, it is essential that the nation should possess a currency of equal value, credit, and use, wherever it may circulate. The Constitution has entrusted Congress, exclusively, with the power of creating and regulating a currency of that description; and the measures which were taken during the last session, in execution of the power, give every promise of success. The Bank of the United States has been organized under auspices the most favourable, and cannot fail to be an important auxiliary to those measures.

For a more enlarged view of the public finances, with a view of the measures pursued by the Treasury Department, previous to the resignation of the late Secretary, I transmit an extract from the ast report on that officer. Congress will perceive in it ample proofs of the solid foundation on which the financial prosperity of the nation rests;

and will do justice to the distinguished ability and successful exertions with which the duties of the department were executed, during a period remarkable for its difficulties and its peculiar perplexities.

The period of my retiring from the public service being at little distance, I shall find no occasion more proper than the present for expressing to my fellow-citizens my deep sense of the continued confidence and kind support which I have received from them. My grateful recollection of these distinguished marks of their favourable regard can never cease; and, with the consciousness, that if I have not served my country with greater ability, I have served it with a sincere devotion, will accompany me as a source of unfailing gratification.

Happily, I shall carry with me from the publie theatre, other sources, which those who love their country most, will best appreciate. I shall behold it blessed with tranquility and prosperity at home. and with peace and respect abroad. I can indulge the proud reflection, that the American people have reached, in safety and success, their fortieth year as an independent nation; that, for nearly an entire generation, they have had experience of their present constitution, the offspring of their undisturbed deliberations and of their free choice; that they have found it to bear the trials of adverse as well as prosperous circumstances; to contain, in its combination of the federate and elective prin

ciples, a reconcilement of public strength with individual liberty, of national power for the defence of national rights, with a security against wars of injustice, of ambition, and of vain glory, in the fundamental provision which subjects all questions of war to the will of the nation itself, which is to pay its costs and feel its calamities. Nor is it less a peculiar felicity of this Constitution, so dear to us all, that it is found to be capable, without losing its vital energies, of expanding itself over a spacious territory, with the increase and expansion of the community for whose benefit it was established.

And may I not be allowed to add to this gratifying spectacle, that I shall read in the character of the American pcople, in their devotion to true liberty, and to the Constitution which is its palladium, sure presages, that the destined career of my country will exhibit a government pursuing the public good as its sole object, and regulating its means by the great principles consecrated in its charter, and by those moral principles to which they are so well allied: A government which watches over the purity of elections, the freedom of speech and of the press, the trial by jury, and the equal interdict against encroachments and compacts between religion and the state; which maintains inviolably the maxims of public faith, the security of persons and property, and encourages, in every authorized mode, that general diffusion of knowledge which guarantees to public liberty its permanency, and to those who possess the

blessing, the true enjoyment of it: A government which avoids intrusions on the internal repose of other nations, and repels them from its own; which does justice to all nations with a readiness equal to the firmness with which it requires justice from them; and which, whilst it refines its domestic code from every ingredient not congenial with the precepts of an enlightened age, and the sentiments of a virtuous people, sceks, by appeals to reason, and by its liberal examples, to infuse, into the law which governs the civilized world, a spirit which may diminish the frequency, or circumscribe the calamities of war, and meliorate the social and beneficent relations of peace: A government, in a word, whose conduct, within and without, may bespeak the most noble of all ambitionsthat of promoting peace on earth, and good will

to man.

These contemplations, sweetening the remnant of my days, will animate my prayers for the happiness of my beloved country, and a perpetuity of the institutions under which it is enjoyed.

December 3d, 1816.

JAMES MADISON.

The Message and accompanying Document were read.

On motion by Mr. Barbour,

Ordered, That two thousand copies of the Message be printed for the use of the Senate.

Mr. Lacock submitted the following motion for consideration; which was read.

Resolved, That Mountjoy Bayly, door-keeper

and sergeant-at-arms to the Senate, be, and he hereby is authorized to employ one assistant and two horses for the purpose of performing such services as are usually required by the door-keeper of the Senate, which expense should be paid out of the contingent fund.

Ordered, That it pass to the second reading.

The Senate resumed the consideration of the motion made yesterday, relative to the repeal of the compensation law.

On motion by Mr. Varnum,

Ordered, That the further consideration thereof be postponed until Monday next.

The resolution for the appointment of Chaplains was read the second time, and considered as in committee of the whole; and no amendment having been proposed, the President reported it to the House.

On the question-" Shall this resolution be engrossed and read a third time ?"

It was determined in the affirmative.

On motion,

The Senate adjourned to 11 o'clock to-morrow morning.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4, 1816.

Mr. Wilson, from the committee, reported the resolution for the appointment of Chaplains correctly engrossed, and it was read a third time and passed as follows: