Part 73

WASHINGTON, February 20, 1837.

To the House of Representatives of the United States:

In compliance with the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 9th ultimo, I transmit a report from the Secretary of State and the documents by which it was accompanied.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, February 24, 1837.

To the House of Representatives:

I transmit a letter from the Secretary of War ad interim, accompanied by various documents, in relation to a survey recently made of the mouths of the Mississippi River under a law of the last session of Congress.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, March 3, 1837.

To the Senate of the United States:

In the month of October last, the office of Secretary of War being vacant, I appointed Benjamin F. Butler, of the State of New York, to perform the duties thereof during the pleasure of the President, but with the expectation that the office would be otherwise filled, on the nomination of my successor, immediately on the commencement of his term of service. This expectation I have reason to believe will be fulfilled, but as it is necessary in the present state of the public service that the vacancy should actually occur, and as it is doubtful whether Mr. Butler can act under his present appointment after the expiration of the present session of the Senate, I hereby nominate the said Benjamin F. Butler to be Secretary of War of the United States, to hold the said office during the pleasure of the President until a successor duly appointed shall accept such office and enter on the duties thereof.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, March 3, 1837.

To the Senate of the United States:

In my message to Congress of the 21st of December last I laid before that body, without reserve, my views concerning the recognition of the independence of Texas, with a report of the agent employed by the Executive to obtain information in respect to the condition of that country. Since that time the subject has been repeatedly discussed in both branches of the Legislature. These discussions have resulted in the insertion of a clause in the general appropriation law passed by both Houses providing for the outfit and salary of a diplomatic agent to be sent to the Republic of Texas whenever the President of the United States may receive satisfactory evidence that Texas is an independent power and shall deem it expedient to appoint such minister, and in the adoption of a resolution by the Senate, the constitutional advisers of the Executive on the diplomatic intercourse of the United States with foreign powers, expressing the opinion that "the State of Texas having established and maintained an independent government capable of performing those duties, foreign and domestic, which appertain to independent governments, and it appearing that there is no longer any reasonable prospect of the successful prosecution of the war by Mexico against said State, it is expedient and proper and in conformity with the laws of nations and the practice of this Government in like cases that the independent political existence of said State be acknowledged by the Government of the United States." Regarding these proceedings as a virtual decision of the question submitted by me to Congress, I think it my duty to acquiesce therein, and therefore I nominate Alcee La Branche, of Louisiana, to be chargé d'affaires to the Republic of Texas.

ANDREW JACKSON.

VETO MESSAGE.

MARCH 3, 1837--11.45 p.m.

The bill from the Senate entitled "An act designating and limiting the funds receivable for the revenues of the United States" came to my hands yesterday at 2 o'clock p. m. On perusing it I found its provisions so complex and uncertain that I deemed it necessary to obtain the opinion of the Attorney-General of the United States on several important questions touching its construction and effect before I could decide on the disposition to be made of it. The Attorney-General took up the subject immediately, and his reply was reported to me this day at 5 o'clock p. m., and is hereunto annexed. As this officer, after a careful and laborious examination of the bill and a distinct expression of his opinion on the points proposed to him still came to the conclusion that the construction of the bill, should it become a law, would yet be a subject of much perplexity and doubt (a view of the bill entirely coincident with my own), and as I can not think it proper, in a matter of such vital interest and of such constant application, to approve a bill so liable to diversity of interpretations, and more especially as I have not had time, amid the duties constantly pressing on me, to give the subject that deliberate consideration which its importance demands, I am constrained to retain the bill, without acting definitively thereon; and to the end that my reasons for this step may be fully understood I shall cause this paper, with the opinion of the Attorney-General and the bill in question, to be deposited in the Department of State.

ANDREW JACKSON.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE,

March 3, 1837.

The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

SIR: I have had the honor to receive the several questions proposed to me by you on the bill which has just passed the two Houses of Congress, entitled "An act designating and limiting the funds receivable for the revenues of the United States," and which is now before you for consideration. These questions may be arranged under three general heads, and in that order I shall proceed to reply to them.

I. Will the proposed bill, if approved, repeal or alter the laws now in force designating the currency required to be received in payment of the public dues, for lands or otherwise?

Will it compel the Treasury officers to receive the notes of specie-paying banks having the characteristics described in its first and second sections?

In what respect does it differ from and how far will it change the joint resolution of April 30, 1816?

Answer. In order to a correct reply to this question, and indeed to any other question arising on this obscurely penned bill, we must first obtain a general view of all its provisions.