he course of events shall have proved beyond cavil or dispute
the ability of the people of that country to maintain their separate
sovereignty and to uphold the Government constituted by them. Neither
of the contending parties can justly complain of this course. By
pursuing it we are but carrying out the long-established policy of
our Government--a policy which has secured to us respect and influence
abroad and inspired confidence at home.

Having thus discharged my duty, by presenting with simplicity and
directness the views which after much reflection I have been led to
take of this important subject, I have only to add the expression of my
confidence that if Congress shall differ with me upon it their judgment
will be the result of dispassionate, prudent, and wise deliberation,
with the assurance that during the short time I shall continue connected
with the Government I shall promptly and cordially unite with you in
such measures as may be deemed best fitted to increase the prosperity
and perpetuate the peace of our favored country.

ANDREW JACKSON.

DECEMBER 26, 1836.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I herewith transmit to the Senate the report of the Secretary of the
Treasury, giving all the information required by their resolution of the
19th instant, calling for a list of the different appropriations which
will leave unexpended balances on the 1st day of January next.

ANDREW JACKSON.

WASHINGTON, _December 26, 1836_.

_To the Senate of the United States_:

I nominate William Gates, late major of the First Regiment of Artillery,
for reappointment in the Army, to be major in the Second Regiment of
Artillery, to take rank from the 30th May, 1832, the date of his former
commission. This officer was stricken from the rolls of the Army by my
order on the 7th of June last, upon a full consideration by me of the
proceedings of a court of inquiry held at his request for the purpose of
investigating his conduct during and subsequent to the attack on Fort
Barnwell, at Volusia, in Florida, in April last, which court, after
mature deliberation on the testimony before them, expressed the opinion
"that the effective force under the command of Major Gates was much
greater than the estimated force of the Indians who attacked him on the
morning of the 14th of April, 1836, and that therefore he was capable of
meeting the enemy in the field if necessary; also, that the bodies of
two volunteers killed were