and paid by him. Without
designing any reflection on the judicial tribunal which imposed the
fine, the remission at this day may be regarded as not unjust or
inexpedient. The voice of the civil authority was heard amidst the
glitter of arms and obeyed by those who held the sword, thereby giving
additional luster to a memorable military achievement. If the laws were
offended, their majesty was fully vindicated; and although the penalty
incurred and paid is worthy of little regard in a pecuniary point of
view, it can hardly be doubted that it would be gratifying to the
war-worn veteran, now in retirement and in the winter of his days, to be
relieved from the circumstances in which that judgment placed him. There
are cases in which public functionaries may be called on to weigh the
public interest against their own personal hazards, and if the civil law
be violated from praiseworthy motives or an overruling sense of public
danger and public necessity punishment may well be restrained within
that limit which asserts and maintains the authority of the law and
the subjection of the military to the civil power. The defense of New
Orleans, while it saved a city from the hands of the enemy, placed the
name of General Jackson among those of the greatest captains of the age
and illustrated one of the brightest pages of our history. Now that the
causes of excitement existing at the time have ceased to operate, it is
believed that the remission of this fine and whatever of gratification
that remission might cause the eminent man who incurred and paid it
would be in accordance with the general feeling and wishes of the
American people.

I have thus, fellow-citizens, acquitted myself of my duty under the
Constitution by laying before you as succinctly as I have been able the
state of the Union and by inviting your attention to measures of much
importance to the country. The executive will most zealously unite its
efforts with those of the legislative department in the accomplishment
of all that is required to relieve the wants of a common constituency
or elevate the destinies of a beloved country.

JOHN TYLER.

SPECIAL MESSAGES

WASHINGTON CITY, _December 13, 1842_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I hereby communicate to the Senate a letter from the Secretary of the
Navy, with accompanying documents.[80]

JOHN TYLER.

[Footnote 80: Communication from Commodore Charles W. Morgan, commanding
the United States