uding the sum of $10,000,000, which is annually appropriated by
the act constituting the sinking fund to the payment of the principal
and interest of the public debt.

The whole amount of the public debt on the 1st of January next may be
estimated at $86,000,000, inclusive of $2,500,000 of the loan authorized
by the act of the 26th of May last. In this estimate is included a stock
of $7,000,000, issued for the purchase of that amount of the capital
stock of the Bank of the United States, and which, as the stock of the
bank still held by the Government will at least be fully equal to its
reimbursement, ought not to be considered as constituting a part of the
public debt. Estimating, then, the whole amount of the public debt at
$79,000,000 and regarding the annual receipts and expenditures of the
Government, a well-founded hope may be entertained that, should no
unexpected event occur, the whole of the public debt may be discharged
in the course of ten years, and the Government be left at liberty
thereafter to apply such portion of the revenue as may not be necessary
for current expenses to such other objects as may be most conducive
to the public security and welfare. That the sums applicable to these
objects will be very considerable may be fairly concluded when it is
recollected that a large amount of the public revenue has been applied
since the late war to the construction of the public buildings in this
city; to the erection of fortifications along the coast and of arsenals
in different parts of the Union; to the augmentation of the Navy; to the
extinguishment of the Indian title to large tracts of fertile territory;
to the acquisition of Florida; to pensions to Revolutionary officers and
soldiers, and to invalids of the late war. On many of these objects the
expense will annually be diminished and cease at no distant period on
most of them. On the 1st of January, 1817, the public debt amounted
to $123,491,965.16, and, notwithstanding the large sums which have
been applied to these objects, it has been reduced since that period
$37,446,961.78. The last portion of the public debt will be redeemable
on the 1st of January, 1835, and while there is the best reason to
believe that the resources of the Government will be continually
adequate to such portions of it as may become due in the interval, it
is recommended to Congress to seize every opportunity which may present
itself to reduce the rate of interest on every part