than could be
received into the service. The excess would have been avoided had the
governor of Tennessee apportioned his requisition to each county or
regiment, so as to make the proper number. This, however, can now only
be regretted. I can not approve the mustering or reception into the
service of the excess further than it may have been done to secure them
hereafter the justice which it will be in the power of Congress to
extend to them. They ought to be paid for their travel and expense to,
at, and from the place of rendezvous, and Congress will doubtless pass
the necessary law. Their promptness in tendering their services and
equipping themselves for the field is a high evidence of patriotism,
and the thanks of their country.

I shall inclose a copy of this letter to General Wool, and write to the
governors of Kentucky, Mississippi, and Louisiana to withhold for the
present the quota called for under General Gaines's requisition, and if
they are concentrated to muster and discharge them and wait for further
orders.

I am, yours, respectfully,

ANDREW JACKSON.

EIGHTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.

WASHINGTON, _December 5, 1836_.

_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives_:

Addressing to you the last annual message I shall ever present to the
Congress of the United States, it is a source of the most heartfelt
satisfaction to be able to congratulate you on the high state of
prosperity which our beloved country has attained. With no causes at
home or abroad to lessen the confidence with which we look to the future
for continuing proofs of the capacity of our free institutions to
produce all the fruits of good government, the general condition of our
affairs may well excite our national pride.

I can not avoid congratulating you, and my country particularly, on the
success of the efforts made during my Administration by the Executive
and Legislature, in conformity with the sincere, constant, and earnest
desire of the people, to maintain peace and establish cordial relations
with all foreign powers. Our gratitude is due to the Supreme Ruler of
the Universe, and I invite you to unite with me in offering to Him
fervent supplications that His providential care may ever be extended to
those who follow us, enabling them to avoid the dangers and the horrors
of war consistently with a just and indispensable regard to the rights
and honor of our country. But although the present state of our foreign
af