ely for that
purpose," directions were given to the minister of the United States at
London on the 1st of January, 1824, to communicate the purport of that
resolution to the Government of Great Britain with a view to their
acceding to the wish of this; and I transmit to the House copies of Mr.
Rush's correspondence upon this subject, communicating the result of
his application to the British Government.

JAMES MONROE.

WASHINGTON, _December 28, 1824_.

_To the House of Representatives of the United States_:

In compliance with a resolution of the House of Representatives of
the 27th instant, requesting information explanatory of the character
and objects of the visit of the naval officer of the United States
commanding in the West Indies to the town of Faxyardo, in the island
of Porto Rico, on the ---- day of November last, I herewith transmit
a report of the Secretary of the Navy, with a letter from Commodore
Porter, which contains all the information in possession of the
Executive on the subject.

Deeming the transactions adverted to of high importance, an order has
been sent to Commodore Porter to repair hither without delay, that all
the circumstances connected therewith may be fully investigated.

JAMES MONROE.

WASHINGTON, _January 5, 1825_.

_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:

As the term of my service in this high trust will expire at the end
of the present session of Congress, I think it proper to invite your
attention to an object very interesting to me, and which in the movement
of our Government is deemed on principle equally interesting to the
public. I have been long in the service of my country and in its most
difficult conjunctures, as well abroad as at home, in the course of
which I have had a control over the public moneys to a vast amount.
If in the course of my service it shall appear on the most severe
scrutiny, which I invite, that the public have sustained any loss by
any act of mine, or of others for which I ought to be held responsible,
I am willing to bear it. If, on the other hand, it shall appear on a
view of the law and of precedents in other cases that justice has been
withheld from me in any instance, as I have believed it to be in many,
and greatly to my injury, it is submitted whether it ought not to be
rendered. It is my wish that all matters of account and claims between
my country and myself be settled with that strict regard to justi