The writings of James Madison, comprising his public papers and his private correspondence, including numerous letters and documents now for the first time printed. |
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SPECIAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS. |
 | The writings of James Madison, |  |
SPECIAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:
I lay before Congress copies of the treaty of peace and
amity between the United States and His Britannic Majesty,
which was signed by the commissioners of both parties at
Ghent on the 24th of December, 1814, and the ratifications
of which have been duly exchanged.
While performing this act I congratulate you and our
constituents upon an event which is highly honorable to the
nation, and terminates with peculiar felicity a campaign signalized
by the most brilliant successes.
The late war, although reluctantly declared by Congress,
had become a necessary resort to assert the rights and independence
of the nation. It has been waged with a success
which is the natural result of the wisdom of the legislative
councils, of the patriotism of the people, of the public spirit
of the militia, and of the valor of the military and naval
forces of the country. Peace, at all times a blessing, is
peculiarly welcome, therefore, at a period when the causes
for the war have ceased to operate, when the Government
has demonstrated the efficiency of its powers of defense, and
when the nation can review its conduct without regret and
without reproach.
I recommend to your care and beneficence the gallant
men whose achievements in every department of the military
service, on the land and on the water, have so essentially
contributed to the honor of the American name and to the
restoration of peace. The feelings of conscious patriotism
and worth will animate such men under every change of
fortune and pursuit, but their country performs a duty to
itself when it bestows those testimonials of approbation
and applause which are at once the reward and the incentive
to great actions.
The reduction of the public expenditures to the demands
attention of Congress. There are, however, important considerations
which forbid a sudden and general revocation of
the measures that have been produced by the war. Experience
has taught us that neither the pacific dispositions
of the American people nor the pacific character of their
political institutions can altogether exempt them from that
strife which appears beyond the ordinary lot of nations to be
incident to the actual period of the world, and the same
faithful monitor demonstrates that a certain degree of preparation
for war is not only indispensable to avert disasters in the
onset, but affords also the best security for the continuance
of peace. The wisdom of Congress will therefore, I am confident,
provide for the maintenance of an adequate regular
force; for the gradual advancement of the naval establishment;
for improving all the means of harbor defense; for adding
discipline to the distinguished bravery of the militia, and
for cultivating the military art in its essential branches, under
the liberal patronage of Government.
The resources of our country were at all times competent
to the attainment of every national object, but they will now
be enriched and invigorated by the activity which peace will
introduce into all the scenes of domestic enterprise and labor.
The provision that has been made for the public creditors
during the present session of Congress must have a decisive
effect in the establishment of the public credit both at home
and abroad. The reviving interests of commerce will claim
the legislative attention at the earliest opportunity, and such
regulations will, I trust, be seasonably devised as shall secure
to the United States their just proportion of the navigation
of the world. The most liberal policy toward other nations,
if met by corresponding dispositions, will in this respect be
found the most beneficial policy toward ourselves. But
there is no subject that can enter with greater force and merit
into the deliberations of Congress than a consideration of
the means to preserve and promote the manufactures which
maturity throughout the United States during the period of
the European wars. This source of national independence
and wealth I anxiously recommend, therefore, to the prompt
and constant guardianship of Congress.
The termination of the legislative sessions will soon separate
you, fellow-citizens, from each other, and restore you to your
constituents. I pray you to bear with you the expressions
of my sanguine hope that the peace which has been just
declared, will not only be the foundation of the most friendly
intercourse between the United States and Great Britain,
but that it will also be productive of happiness and harmony
in every section of our beloved country. The influence of
your precepts and example must be every where powerful;
and while we accord in grateful acknowledgments for the
protection which Providence has bestowed upon us, let us
never cease to inculcate obedience to the laws, and fidelity to
the union, as constituting the palladium of the national
independence and prosperity.
| The writings of James Madison, | |