that time the public debt of the
Revolution and of the War of 1812 has been extinguished, and at several
periods since the Treasury has been in possession of large surpluses
over the demands upon it. In 1836 the surplus amounted to many millions
of dollars, and, for want of proper objects to which to apply it, it was
directed by Congress to be deposited with the States.

During this extended course of time, embracing periods eminently
favorable for satisfying all just demands upon the Government, the
claims embraced in this bill met with no favor in Congress beyond
reports of committees in one or the other branch. These circumstances
alone are calculated to raise strong doubts in respect to these claims,
more especially as all the information necessary to a correct judgment
concerning them has been long before the public. These doubts are
strengthened in my mind by the examination I have been enabled to give
to the transactions in which they originated.

The bill assumes that the United States have become liable in these
ancient transactions to make reparation to the claimants for injuries
committed by France. Nothing was obtained for the claimants by
negotiation; and the bill assumes that the Government has become
responsible to them for the aggressions of France. I have not been able
to satisfy myself of the correctness of this assumption, or that the
Government has become in any way responsible for these claims. The
limited time allotted me before your adjournment precludes the
possibility of reiterating the facts and arguments by which in preceding
Congresses these claims have been successfully resisted.

The present is a period peculiarly unfavorable for the satisfaction of
claims of so large an amount and, to say the least of them, of so
doubtful a character. There is no surplus in the Treasury. A public debt
of several millions of dollars has been created within the last few
years.

We are engaged in a foreign war, uncertain in its duration and involving
heavy expenditures, to prosecute which Congress has at its present
session authorized a further loan; so that in effect the Government,
should this bill become a law, borrows money and increases the public
debt to pay these claims.

It is true that by the provisions of the bill payment is directed to be
made in land scrip instead of money, but the effect upon the Treasury
will be the same. The public lands constitute one of the sources of
public revenue, an