Your attention has heretofore been frequently called to the affairs of the District of Columbia, and I should not again ask it did not their entire dependence on Congress give them a constant claim upon its notice.  Separated by the Constitution from the rest of the Union, limited in extent, and aided by no legislature of its own, it would seem to be a spot where a wise and uniform system of local government might have been easily adopted.  This District has, however, unfortunately been left to linger behind the rest of the Union.  Its codes, civil and criminal, are not only very defective, but full of obsolete or inconvenient provisions.  Being formed of portions of two States, discrepancies in the laws prevail in different parts of the territory, small as it is; and although it was selected as the seat of the General Government, the site of its public edifices, the depository of its archives, and the residence of officers intrusted with large amounts of public property and the management of public business, yet it has never been subjected to or received that special and comprehensive legislation which these circumstances peculiarly demand.  I am well aware of the various subjects of greater magnitude and immediate interest that press themselves on the consideration of Congress, but I believe there is not one that appeals more directly to its justice than a liberal and even generous attention to the interests of the District of Columbia and a thorough and careful revision of its local government.

M. VAN BUREN

SPECIAL MESSAGES.

WASHINGTON, December 6, 1837.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: 

I transmit herewith a report from the Secretary of the Treasury, exhibiting a transfer of appropriation that has been made in that Department in pursuance of the power vested in the President by the first section of the act of Congress of the 3d of March, 1809, entitled “An act further to amend the several acts for the establishment and regulation of the Treasury, War, and Navy Departments.”

M. VAN BUREN

WASHINGTON, December, 1837.

To the Senate: 

I transmit, for the action of the Senate, treaties negotiated with the following Indian tribes, viz: 

(1) The Chippewas of the Mississippi; (2) the Kioways, Ka-ta-kas, and Ta-wa-ka-ros; (3) the Sioux of the Mississippi; (4) the Sacs and Foxes of the Mississippi; (5) the Sioux of the Missouri; (6) the Sacs and Foxes of the Missouri; (7) the Winnebagoes; (8) the Ioways.

M. VAN BUREN.

WASHINGTON, December 11, 1837.

To the Senate of the United States: 

I herewith transmit to the Senate a report[5] from the Secretary of State, with accompanying documents, in pursuance of their resolution of the 12th of October last.