received the four Arabian horses that were
brought by him to the United States from Turkey. His letter will enable
Congress to decide what ought to be done with them.

ANDREW JACKSON.

_February 22, 1831_.
_To the Senate of the United States_:

I have received your resolution of the 15th instant, requesting me "to
inform the Senate whether the provisions of the act entitled 'An act to
regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes and to preserve
peace on the frontiers,' passed the 30th of March, 1802, have been fully
complied with on the part of the United States Government, and if they
have not that he inform the Senate of the reasons that have induced the
Government to decline the enforcement of said act," and I now reply to
the same.

According to my views of the act referred to, I am not aware of any
omission to carry into effect its provisions in relation to trade and
intercourse with the Indian tribes so far as their execution depended on
the agency confided to the Executive.

The numerous provisions of that act designed to secure to the Indians
the peaceable possession of their lands may be reduced, substantially,
to the following: That citizens of the United States are restrained
under sufficient penalties from entering upon the lands for the purpose
of hunting thereon, or of settling them, or of giving their horses and
cattle the benefit of a range upon them, or of traveling through them
without a written permission; and that the President of the United
States is authorized to employ the military force of the country to
secure the observance of these provisions. The authority to the
President, however, is not imperative. The language is:

It shall be lawful for the President to take such measures and to
employ such military force as he may judge necessary to remove from
lands belonging to or secured by treaty to any Indian tribe any
citizen who shall make a settlement thereon.

By the nineteenth section of this act it is provided that nothing in it
"shall be construed to prevent any trade or intercourse with Indians
living on lands surrounded by settlements of citizens of the United
States and being within the ordinary jurisdiction of any of the
individual States." This provision I have interpreted as being
prospective in its operation and as applicable not only to Indian tribes
which at the date of its passage were subject to the jurisdiction of any
State, but to such also a