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Upon chests, weighing 110lb. and upwards, 18 per cent.

Upon chests, weighing under 110lb. 25 per cent. With reservation, however, of the same remedy as is prescribed in the sixth article of the law of the 3d of October 1816, in the case of inadequate tares.

We enjoin and command, &c. Passed the Second Chamber of the States-General, on the 16th of December 1817, with a majority of 85 against 7.

SARDINIA.

(From the Piedmontese Gazette.)

The King of Sardinia, by a decree of the 9th of Dec. has abolished

1. The prohibition against the erection of primogenitures and feudal rights, enacted by the 9th section of the edict of the 29th of July 1797, or by any other law; restricting, however, to those primogenitures and majorats only which shall be erected in favour of persons to come in terms of our laws, the capacity of establishing similar limitations, and in favour of their descendants in the male line, leaving in force the laws enacted before the 29th of July 1797, in such matters.

2. When the person who erects such majorats, however, shall leave four children or upwards, he shall not have the power of entailing more than a third part of his patrimony; and where he shall have less than four, he shall not be able to tie up more than the half of it.

3. It shall always be allowed to the person who erects such primogenitures and majorats, to transmit through them the title of no

bility which may be conferred upon them.

4. It reserves to the sovereign the right of enacting, with regard to the Duchy of Genoa, such provisions as he may judge convenient.

This decree is introduced by a preamble, of which the following is the most important passage:

"Desirous to maintain in the class which, by their peculiar institution, stands nearest the throne, and whose especial duty it is to watch over its defence, that lustre and inheritance of glory which forms its noblest prerogative, we have determined to return to the laws that existed with regard to primogeniture before 1797. But for the same end, other and more important provisions still are required, for the abuse of titles must be restrained (which must emanate from us alone); and therefore the rules of their concession, transmission, and extinction, shall be fixed with relation to their dotation and prerogatives."

CONSTANTINOPLE.

(Letter from Constantinople, 20th June. Printed in the Hamburgh Mail.)

The representations of the Russian minister, Count Von Strogonoff, which were founded on the most reasonable and just demands of Russia, seem not to have led to any thing decisive in the Divan. The influence of the Grand Vizier over the Reis-Effendi and the Tefterdar had hindered it. The Sultan, who, on the other hand, earnestly desired a good under.. standing with Russia, addressed on the 3d of March to the Grand Vizier the following energetic and remarkable rescript:

66 HALTI

"" HALTI-SHERIF. "There have been many and long deliberations already held upon the note which the Russian Ambassador has delivered; yet no journal of your sittings has yet been laid before us. It is now above 40 days since this business was laid before you for discussion. Why have you not come to any resolution upon it? From this delay we must believe that you employ yourselves in your sittings only in things of no consequence. Will you then wait till the Russian Ambassador is angry, and proceeds to threats? If you believe that war is unavoidable, think on the means of defence: show us minutely the necessary causes of war, and the extent of the resources which you will employ. But on the other hand, if time and circumstance do not allow us to undertake a war, prevent the discontent of the Russian Ambassador as soon as possible by a suitable answer."

The impression which this rescript made on the Divan was easily to be foreseen. It gave oc

casion to a second, which was in the following terms:

"As my Ministers, after mature consideration of all the circumstances, have considered it necessary to give up all thoughts of war, and to embrace the wise part of reconciliation, it is absolutely necessary that the conferences should be immediately opened, and that the note in question should be delivered without delay by the Reis Effendi to the Russian Ambassador; but the greatest care must be taken that this note be well and clearly drawn up; and not like the first, in which there was no sense at all, in order to give Russia to understand that it is our intention to arrange matters amicably."

The inclination of the Grand Seignor to peace, and this decisive language, were sufficient to cause the fall of the opposite party. The Grand Vizier received a severe reprimand; but his instrument, the Reis Effendi, was disgraced, and his office given to the Djanil Effendi, a man who has already frequently filled that place.

CHAP

CHAPTER XIV.

America, North and South.-Message to the Senate and House of Representatives from President Madison.—Votes taken for President and VicePresident.-Monroe chosen for the former Office, and his Speech.Second Speech, on December the 2d.-State of Spanish Affairs.

N the 3d of February the fol

British ports after the signature

Olowing message was received or that convention, the

by the Senate and House of Re-
presentatives, from the President
of the United States :-
:-

"The Government of Great Britain, induced by the posture of the relations with the United States which succeeded the conclusion of the recent commercial convention, issued an order on the 17th day of August, 1815, discontinuing the discriminating duties payable in British ports on American vesels and their cargoes. It was not until the 22d of December following that a correspondent discontinuance of discriminating duties on British vessels and their cargoes in American ports, took effect, under the authority vested in the executive by the act of March 1816. During the period between these two dates there was consequently a failure of reciprocity or equality in the existing regulations of the two countries. I recommend to the consideration of Congress the expedience of paying to the British Government the amount of the duties remitted, during the period in question, to the citizens of the United States; subject to a deduction of the amount of whatever discriminating duties may have commenced in

lected previous to the 17th of August 1815.

Feb. 3, 1917. JAMES MADISON." This message was referred to the Committee of Ways and Means, and ordered to be printed.

PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT.

On the 4th of February votes were taken for the choice of persons to fill the offices of President and Vice-President; when James Monroe was declared President, and Daniel D. Tomkins, VicePresident, by a large majority.

On the same day the President was solemnly inaugurated, after which he delivered the following speech:

"I should be destitute of feeling if I was not deeply affected by the strong proof which my fellowcitizens have given me of their confidence, in calling me to the high office whose functions I am about to assume. As the expression of their good opinion of my conduct in the public service, I derive from it a gratification, which those who are conscious of having done all they could to merit it, can alone feel. My sensibility is increased by a just estimate of the importance of the trust, and of the nature and extent of its duties:

with the proper discharge of which the highest interests of a great and free people are intimately connected. Conscious of my own deficiency, I cannot enter on their duties without great anxiety for the result. From a just responsibility I will never shrink; calculating with confidence, that in my best efforts to promote the public welfare, my motives will always be duly appreciated, and my conduct be viewed with that candour and indulgence which I have experienced in other stations.

"In commencing the duties of the Chief Executive office, it has been the practice of the distinguished men who have gone before me to explain the principles which would govern them in their respective administrations. In following their venerated example, my attention is naturally drawn to the great causes which have contributed in a principal degree to produce the present happy condition of the United States. They will best explain the nature of our duties, and shed much light on the policy which ought to be pursued in future.

"From the commencement of our revolution to the present day, almost forty years have elapsed; and from the establishment of this constitution, twenty-eight. Through this whole term the Government has been what may emphatically be called self-government; and what has been the effect? To whatever object we turn our attention, whether it relates to our foreign or domestic concerns, we find abundant cause to felicitate ourselves in the excellence of our institutions. During a period fraught with difficulties, and VOL. LIX.

marked by very extraordinary events, the United States have flourished beyond example. Their citizens, individually, have been happy, and the nation prosperous. Under this constitution our commerce has been wisely regulated with foreign nations, and between the States; new States have been admitted into our union; our territory has been enlarged by fair and honourable treaty, and with great advantage to the original States; the States, respectively, protected by the national Government, under a mild parental system, against foreign dangers, and enjoying within their separate spheres, by a wise partition of power, a just proportion of the sovereignty, have improved their police, extended their settlements, and attained a strength and maturity which are the best proofs of wholesome laws well administered. And if we look to the condition of individuals, what a proud spectacle does it exhibit? On whom has oppression fallen in any quarter of our union? Who has been deprived of any right of person or of property? Who restrained from offering his vows, in the mode which he prefers, to the Divine Author of his being? It is well known, that all these blessings have been enjoyed in their fullest extent and I add, with peculiar satisfaction, that there has been no example of a capital punishment being inflicted on any one for the crime of high treason.

"Some who might admit the competency of our Government to these beneficent duties, might doubt it in trials which put to the test its strength and efficiency, as a member of the great community

[L]

of

of nations. Here, too, experience has afforded us the most satisfactory proof in its favour. Just as this constitution was put into action, several of the principal states of Europe had become much agitated, and some of them seriously convulsed. Destructive wars ensued, which have of late only been terminated. In the course of these conflicts, the United States received great injury from several of the parties. It was their interest to stand aloof from the contest, to demand justice from the party committing the injury, and to cultivate, by fair and honourable conduct, the friendship of all. War became at length inevitable, and the result has shown that our Government is equal to that the greatest of trials, under the most unfavourable circumstances. Of the virtue of the people, and of the heroic exploits of the army, the navy, and the militia, I need not speak. Such, then, is the happy Government under which we live a Government adequate to every purpose for which the social compact is formed-a Government elective in all its branches, under which every citizen may, by his merit, obtain the highest trust recognized by the constitution which contains within it no cause of discord, none to put at variance one portion of the community with another-a Government which protects every citizen in the full enjoyment of his rights, and is able to protect the nation against injustice from foreign Powers.

"Other considerations of the highest importance admonish us to cherish our union, and to cling to the Government which supports it.

Fortunate as we are in our

political institutions, we have not been less so in other circumstances, on which our prosperity and happiness essentially depend. Situate within the temperate zone, and extending through many degrees of latitude along the Atlantic, the United States enjoy all the varieties of climate, and every production incident to that portion of the globe. Penetrating internally to the great lakes, and beyond the sources of the great rivers which communicate through our whole interior, no country was ever happier with respect to its domain. Blessed too with a fertile soil, our produce has always been very abundant, leaving even in years the least favourable, a surplus for the wants of our fellow-men in other countries. Such is our peculiar felicity, that there is not a part of our union that is not particularly interested in preserving it. The great agricultural interest of the nation prospers under its protection. Local interests are not less fostered by it. Our fellow-citizens of the North, engaged in navigation, find great encouragement in being made the favoured carriers of the vast productions of the other portions of the United States, while the inhabitants of these are amply recompensed, in their turn, by the nursery for seamen and naval force thus formed and reared up for the support of our common rights. Our manufacturers find a generous encouragement by the policy which patronizes domestic industry; and the surplus of our produce, a steady and profitable market by local wants, in less favoured parts, at home.

"Such, then, being the highly favoured condition of our country,

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