Part 31

In compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 8th instant, relating to the accounts and official conduct of Thomas A. Smith, receiver of public moneys at Franklin, Mo., I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, with documents, containing the information desired by the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.

Washington, May 23, 1828.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of the 30th ultimo, I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of State, with copies of the correspondence with the Brazilian Government, and shewing the measures taken by the Government of the United States in relation to the several topics noticed in the resolution.

John Quincy Adams.

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PROCLAMATION.

By the President of the United States of America.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 7th of January, 1824, entitled "An act concerning discriminating duties of tonnage and impost," it is provided that upon satisfactory evidence being given to the President of the United States by the government of any foreign nation that no discriminating duties of tonnage or impost are imposed or levied within the ports of the said nation upon vessels belonging wholly to citizens of the United States or upon merchandise the produce or manufacture thereof imported in the same, the President is thereby authorized to issue his proclamation declaring that the foreign discriminating duties of tonnage and impost within the United States are and shall be suspended and discontinued so far as respects the vessels of the said nation and the merchandise of its produce or manufacture imported into the United States in the same, the said suspension to take effect from the time of such notification being given to the President of the United States, and to continue so long as the reciprocal exemption of vessels belonging to citizens of the United States and merchandise as aforesaid thereon laden shall be continued, and no longer; and

Whereas satisfactory evidence has been received by me from His Britannic Majesty, as King of Hanover, through the Right Honorable Charles Richard Vaughan, his envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, that vessels wholly belonging to citizens of the United States or merchandise the produce or manufacture thereof imported in such vessels are not nor shall be on their entering any Hanoverian port subject to the payment of higher duties of tonnage or impost than are levied on Hanoverian ships or merchandise the produce or manufacture of the United States imported in such vessels:

Now, therefore, I, John Quincy Adams, President of the United States of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that so much of the several acts imposing duties on the tonnage of ships and vessels and on goods, wares, and merchandise imported into the United States as imposed a discriminating duty of tonnage between the vessels of the Kingdom of Hanover and vessels of the United States and between goods imported into the United States in vessels of the Kingdom of Hanover and vessels of the United States are suspended and discontinued so far as the same respect the produce or manufacture of the said Kingdom of Hanover, the said suspension to take effect this day and to continue henceforward so long as the reciprocal exemption of the vessels of the United States and of the merchandise laden therein as aforesaid shall be continued in the ports of the Kingdom of Hanover.

Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 1st day of July, A. D. 1828, and the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United States.

John Quincy Adams.

By the President:

H. Clay, Secretary of State.

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EXECUTIVE ORDER.

Department of War, February 28, 1828.

The Secretary of War, by direction of the President of the United States, announces to the Army the painful intelligence of the decease (the 24th of February) of Major-General Brown.

To say that he was one of the men who have rendered most important services to his country would fall far short of the tribute due to his character. Uniting with the most unaffected simplicity the highest degree of personal valor and of intellectual energy, he stands preeminent before the world and for after ages in that band of heroic spirits who upon the ocean and the land formed and sustained during the second war with Great Britain the martial reputation of their country. To this high and honorable purpose General Brown may be truly said to have sacrificed his life, for the disease which abridged his days and has terminated his career at a period scarcely beyond the meridian of manhood undoubtedly originated in the hardships of his campaigns on the Canada frontier, and in that glorious wound which, though desperate, could not remove him from the field of battle till it was won.

Quick to perceive, sagacious to anticipate, prompt to decide, and daring in execution, he was born with the qualities which constitute a great commander. His military coup d'oeil his intuitive penetration, his knowledge of men and his capacity to control them were known to all his companions in arms, and commanded their respect; while the gentleness of his disposition, the courtesy of his deportment, his scrupulous regard to their rights, his constant attention to their wants, and his affectionate attachment to their persons universally won their hearts and bound them to him as a father.

Calm and collected in the presence of the enemy, he was withal tender of human life; in the hour of battle more sparing of the blood of the soldier than his own. In the hour of victory the vanquished enemy found in him a humane and compassionate friend. Not one drop of blood shed in wantonness or cruelty sullies the purity of his fame. Defeat he was never called to endure, but in the crisis of difficulty and danger he displayed untiring patience and fortitude not to be overcome.

Such was the great and accomplished captain whose loss the Army has now, in common with their fellow-citizens of all classes, to deplore. While indulging the kindly impulses of nature and yielding the tribute of a tear upon his grave, let it not be permitted to close upon his bright example as it must upon his mortal remains. Let him be more nobly sepulchered in the hearts of his fellow-soldiers, and his imperishable monument be found in their endeavors to emulate his virtues.

The officers of the Army will wear the badge of mourning for six months on the left arm and hilt of the sword. Guns will be fired at each military post at intervals of thirty minutes from the rising to the setting of the sun on the day succeeding the arrival of this order, during which the National flag will be suspended at half-mast.

James Barbour.

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