to yourselves and
to the public; but whatever may be their object, we are not at liberty
to regard them as unconnected with the measures which hostile movements
on the part of France may compel us to pursue. They at least deserve to
be met by adequate preparation on our part, and I therefore strongly
urge large and speedy appropriations for the increase of the Navy and
the completion of our coast defenses.

If this array of military force be really designed to affect the action
of the Government and people of the United States on the questions now
pending between the two nations, then indeed would it be dishonorable
to pause a moment on the alternative which such a state of things would
present to us. Come what may, the explanation which France demands can
never be accorded, and no armament, however powerful and imposing, at a
distance or on our coast, will, I trust, deter us from discharging the
high duties which we owe to our constituents, our national character,
and to the world.

The House of Representatives at the close of the last session of
Congress unanimously resolved that the treaty of the 4th of July, 1831,
should be maintained and its execution insisted on by the United States.
It is due to the welfare of the human race not less than to our own
interests and honor that this resolution should at all hazards be
adhered to. If after so signal an example as that given by the American
people during their long-protracted difficulties with France of
forbearance under accumulated wrongs and of generous confidence in
her ultimate return to justice she shall now be permitted to withhold
from us the tardy and imperfect indemnification which after years of
remonstrance and discussion had at length been solemnly agreed on by
the treaty of 1831 and to set at naught the obligations it imposes, the
United States will not be the only sufferers. The efforts of humanity
and religion to substitute the appeals of justice and the arbitrament of
reason for the coercive measures usually resorted to by injured nations
will receive little encouragement from such an issue. By the selection
and enforcement of such lawful and expedient measures as may be
necessary to prevent a result so injurious to ourselves and so fatal to
the hopes of the philanthropist we shall therefore not only preserve the
pecuniary interests of our citizens, the independence of our Government,
and the honor of our country, but do much, it may be hoped, to vind