Occurrences having taken place which shew that the statutory provisions
for the dispensation of criminal justice are deficient in relation both
to places and to persons under the exclusive cognizance of the national
authority, an amendment of the law embracing such cases will merit the
earliest attention of the Legislature. It will be a seasonable occasion
also for inquiring how far legislative interposition maybe further
requisite in providing penalties for offenses designated in the
Constitution or in the statutes, and to which either no penalties are
annexed or none with sufficient certainty. And I submit to the wisdom
of Congress whether a more enlarged revisal of the criminal code be not
expedient for the purpose of mitigating in certain cases penalties which
were adopted into it antecedent to experiment and examples which justify
and recommend a more lenient policy.
The United States, having been the first to abolish within the extent
of their authority the transportation of the natives of Africa into
slavery, by prohibiting the introduction of slaves and by punishing
their citizens participating in the traffic, can not but be gratified
at the progress made by concurrent efforts of other nations toward a
general suppression of so great an evil. They must feel at the same
time the greater solicitude to give the fullest efficacy to their own
regulations.
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