the Bermudas were opened to the vessels of the United States, and our ports were thrown open to British vessels coming from those places. The conditions of this treaty and the manner in which it has been permitted to take effect, are said to have given the carrying trade between this country and the West Indies chiefly to British vessels.

In May 1830, a treaty between the United States and Turkey was signed at Constantinople, securing to the former the free navigation of the Black Sea, and the trade of the Turkish empire.

During the session of congress which commenced in the autumn of 1831, a bill was brought forward for granting a new charter to the Bank of the United States, the old charter being about to expire in 1836. After a long and animated debate it was passed by a small majority. On receiving the bill for his approbation the president thought proper to return it to congress, with a communication in which his reasons were assigned for not affixing his signature to the bill. As the constitutional majority for passing the bill into a law without the signature of the president could not be obtained, the bank ceased to be a national institution at the expiration of its first charter.

In the spring of the year 1832, the Winnebagoes and some other neighbouring tribes of Indians commenced a series of hostilities against the inhabitants on the north-western frontier. A body of regular troops under the command of General Scott being sent against the Indians, defeated them, and on the 27th of August captured the famous chief Black Hawk. This terminated the war. Black Hawk and a number of his Indian friends were taken to Washington, and several other cities of the Union, in order to impress upon them such an idea of the strength and resources of the country as to prevent the Indians from engaging in fresh hostilities. The Indians were then permitted to return to their own territories.

Congress was occupied during a great part of the session, which terminated in the summer of 1832, in discussing a new tariff bill, which was finally passed. Although it effected many changes in the protective duties, it was considered highly favourable to the American manufacturer, and gave general satisfaction to the supporters of that policy, which had become so popular in many parts of the Union, as to be called the American system. In several of the southern states, it excited the most determined opposition. The state

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OPPOSITION TO THE TARIFF.

of South Carolina, in convention, proceeded so far as to pass an ordinance, openly resisting the law, and the people actually began to arm themselves for the purpose of carrying the ordinance into effect.

Such was the attitude of affairs when congress assembled in the autumn of 1832, and all parties were anxiously awaiting the result of the threatened collision between the officers of the general government and the people of the opposing state.

In December the president issued a proclamation, in which, after discussing the question of state rights, and asserting the right and power of the general government to regulate commerce and imposts, he exhorted the people of South Carolina to desist from their opposition, and called upon the citizens of the United States to support him in the execution of the laws.

The immediate effect of this proclamation was to unite all the friends of the Union in support of the president. Many of his warmest political opponents declared their determination to give him their aid in preserving the integrity of the Union, and asserting the supremacy of the laws. The government and people of South Carolina, however, were by no means intimidated by this array of power. They still presented a bold front; and Mr. Calhoun, one of their leading statesmen, having resigned the office of vice-president, and been elected to the United States senate, took his seat among the members of that body, to defend the position assumed by his native state.

In this crisis, congress deemed it prudent to blend conciliation with menace, and to alleviate the grievances of which the nullifiers complained. With this view, towards the close of December, 1832, a bill was introduced into the house of representatives, substituting for the obnoxious tariff a new and lower rate of duties, from and after the 3rd of March, 1833. This bill gave satisfaction to neither party; and while it was under discussion, another bill was introduced into the senate for more effectually enforcing the collection of the duties, which effectually armed the executive for the support of the revenue laws. This bill was ultimately passed.

When a considerable portion of the session had elapsed without any satisfactory adjustment of this alarming dispute, Mr. Clay, the same statesman who had effected the reconciliation of northern and southern interests in the Missouri affair, brought forward, in the senate, by way of compromise,

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a new tariff bill, which met with the support of Mr. Calhoun, and of the other senators from the southern section of the Union. It provided for a gradual reduction of the duties, thus enabling the manufacturers to prepare for the change, and assuring their opponents of ultimate redress. This being a money bill, could not originate in the senate; but having been favourably received there as a pledge of peace, was introduced, by way of amendment, into the tariff bill in the other house, and being there agreed to, it was sent back to the senate, and finally passed. The danger of disunion and civil war was thus completely removed.

The session of congress was closed on the 3rd of March, 1833, and on the 4th, General Jackson, who had been a second time elected to the office of president, in the autumn of 1832, delivered his inaugural address in the hall of representatives. It was chiefly occupied in recommending union to the states, and in pointing out the dangers they would incur by separation from, or disagreement with each other. The office of vice-president had been conferred by the people on Martin Van Buren.

The next important measure of General Jackson's administration, was the removal of the government deposits from the bank of the United States, to the local banks. In justification of this measure, the president, on the 18th of September, addressed to the cabinet a long and argumentative paper. His principal charges against the bank were, that its officers had employed means to retard the redemption of part of the public debt, retaining in their own hands the money which should have been applied to that redemption, and that they had exerted their influence, and misapplied their funds in controlling the press of the country.

The commercial embarrassment and distress occasioned by this measure arrayed a strong party in opposition to the president; and the subsequent session of congress was chiefly occupied with discussions connected with the 'Bank question.' The president was sustained in his course by the house of representatives; but the senate were resolute in their opposition. Matters were even carried so far that a vote censuring the conduct of the president and pronouncing it unconstitutional was passed in that body. The alarm occasioned throughout the country by the derangement of the currency, caused a temporary suspension of commercial

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CLAIMS ON FRANCE ADJUSTED.

business in many places, and a great number of petitions from citizens in various parts of the Union were addressed to the president praying for the restoration of the deposits to the bank. But with his usual firmness of purpose, he maintained the position which he had taken; and the deposits were not restored. When the temporary panic had passed away, however, business speedily recovered its usual activity.

In his message to congress at the opening of the session of 1834-5, the president adverted to certain claims on the French government for spoliations on our commerce committed under the Berlin and Milan decrees of Napoleon, which had been adjusted by a treaty fixing the amount at 25,000,000 francs, but had never been paid. A suggestion was thrown out in the message as to the propriety of making reprisals on French property in case of further delay. The French government of course took fire at this intimation, and assumed an attitude which seemed to threaten war. Neither nation, however, was in a situation to render this desirable; and the president having in his message of 1835, without compromising his own dignity, or that of his country, given such explanations of his previous declarations as he thought consistent with truth and propriety, the French ministry gladly availed themselves of the opportunity thus afforded of satisfying the American claims without delay.

In the winter of 1835, the Seminole Indians commenced hostilities in Florida, ravaging the plantations and killing great numbers of the inhabitants. A considerable force of regular troops and volunteers was sent against them without success, until it became necessary to order the greater part of the regular army to the defence of the southern border. The war, however, has not yet been terminated, (October 1836,) but the Creeks and several other tribes having united their arms with those of the Seminoles are still engaged in hostilities with the people of Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Great numbers of them have been destroyed, and others captured and transported to the western territories of the United States; but the nature of the country affords them great facilities for retreat and concealment; and the resolution which they evince, while it renders this the most obstinate of any of the numerous Indian wars in which the United States have been engaged, gives little reason to hope

EXTINCTION OF THE PUBLIC DEBT.

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for its termination without effecting their removal en masse to the regions beyond the Mississippi.

During the present administration, the whole of the public debt of the United States has been extinguished, and in the summer of the present year, (1836,) congress passed a bill for distributing the surplus revenue among the several states of the Union, which received the sanction of the president, and became a law.