Part 11

By the second article of the general convention of peace, amity, navigation, and commerce between the United States and the Republic of Colombia, concluded at Bogota on 3d of October, 1824, it was stipulated that the parties engaged mutually not to grant any particular favor to other nations in respect of commerce and navigation which should not immediately become common to the other party, who should enjoy the same freely if the concession was freely made, or on allowing the same compensation if the concession was conditional. And in the third article of the same convention it was agreed that the citizens of the United States might frequent all the coasts and countries of the Republic of Colombia, and reside and trade there in all sorts of produce, manufactures, and merchandise, and should pay no other or greater duties, charges, or fees whatsoever than the most favored nation should be obliged to pay, and should enjoy all the rights, privileges, and exemptions in navigation and commerce which the most favored nations should enjoy, submitting themselves, nevertheless, to the laws, decrees, and usages there established, and to which were submitted the subjects and citizens of the most favored nations; with a reciprocal stipulation in favor of the citizens of the Republic of Colombia in the United States. Subsequently to the conclusion of this convention a treaty was negotiated between the Republic of Colombia and Great Britain, by which it was stipulated that no other or higher duties on account of tonnage, light, or harbor dues should be imposed in the ports of Colombia on British vessels than those payable in the same ports by Colombian vessels, and that the same duties should be paid on the importation into the territories of Colombia of any article the growth, produce, or manufacture of His Britannic Majesty's dominions, whether such importations should be in Colombian or in British vessels, and that the same duties should be paid and the same discount (drawbacks) and bounties allowed on the exportation of any articles the growth, produce, or manufacture of Colombia to His Britannic Majesty's dominions, whether such exportations were in Colombian or in British vessels.

The minister of the United States to the Republic of Colombia having claimed, by virtue of the second and third articles of the convention between the two Republics, that the benefit of these subsequent stipulations should be alike extended to the citizens of the United States upon the condition of reciprocity provided for by the convention, the application of those engagements was readily acceded to by the Colombian Government, and a decree was issued by the executive authority of that Republic on the 30th of January last, a copy and translation of which are herewith communicated, securing to the citizens of the United States in the Republic of Colombia the same advantages in regard to commerce and navigation which had been conceded to British subjects in the Colombian treaty with Great Britain.

It remains for the Government of the United States to secure to the citizens of the Republic of Colombia the reciprocal advantages to which they are entitled by the terms of the convention, to commence from the 30th of January last, for the accomplishment of which I invite the favor-able consideration of the Legislature.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, March 31, 1826.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 21st instant, requesting information whether any, and what, measures have been taken to improve the navigation over the sand bars in the Ohio River according to the provisions of the act of the 24th of May, 1824, to improve the navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and also whether the experiments mentioned in the proviso to the first section of the said act have been made, and, if so, what success has attended them, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of War, with documents, containing the information desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, March 31, 1826.

To the Senate of the United States:

I communicate to the Senate herewith a supplementary article to the treaty with the chiefs and headmen of the Creek Nation, in behalf of that nation, which was transmitted to the Senate on the 31st of January last, and which I submit, together with and as a part of that treaty, for the constitutional advice of the Senate with regard to its ratification. A report of the Secretary of War accompanies the article, setting forth the reasons for which it has been concluded.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, April 1, 1826.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of the 13th ultimo, requesting a statement of all the expenditures incident or relating to internal improvement for the years 1824 and 1825, I transmit reports from the Secretaries of the Treasury and of War, with documents, containing the statement desired.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, April 1, 1826.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 7th ultimo, requesting information relative to the execution of an act of Congress of the 7th May, 1822, to authorize and empower the corporation of the city of Washington, in the district of Columbia, to drain the low grounds on and near the public reservations, and to improve and ornament certain parts of such reservations, I transmit herewith a report from the commissioners appointed by the corporation of the city to carry into effect the provisions of the said act, together with sundry documents, exhibiting the information desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, April 5, 1826.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of the 30th ultimo, I transmit to the House a report from the Secretary of State, with the documents desired by the resolution; and also a copy of the letter from the Secretary of State to Mr. Poinsett acknowledging the receipt of his dispatch No. 22, accidentally overlooked in the answer to the resolution of the House of the 27th ultimo.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, April 11, 1826.

To the Senate of the United States:

On the 16th of January last I sent to the Senate a nomination of Daniel Bissell to be colonel of the Second Regiment of Artillery, and on the 3d of February I received from the Secretary of the Senate an attested copy of their proceedings in relation to that nomination, laid before me by their order, and closing with a resolution in these words:

Resolved. That in the opinion of the Senate Daniel Bissell is entitled to the place of colonel in the Army of the United States, taking rank as such from the 15th of August, 1812, with the brevet of brigadier-general from the 9th of March, 1814, and that the President of the United States may arrange him accordingly.