To ease tensions with Russia strained by the Kosloff affair (see note to James Monroe to TJ, 22 Oct. 1816), Madison and Monroe sent Edward Coles to st petersburg as a special envoy in support of Levett Harris, the United States chargé d’affaires there (Monroe to Madison, 29 June 1816 [DLC: Madison Papers, Rives Collection]; Elihu Benjamin Washburne, Sketch of Edward Coles, second governor of Illinois, and of the Slavery Struggle of 1823–4 [1882], 39–43). In addition to his duties as United States minister plenipotentiary to Russia, William pinkney was given the same posting for Naples after Madison suggested to the Senate the “importance and expediency of a mission to Naples, for the purpose of negotiating indemnities to our citizens for spoliations committed by the Neapolitan government” (JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States description ends , 3:32, 35, 45, 46 [28 Feb., 7 Mar., 20, 23 Apr. 1816]). Madison charged Commodore Isaac Chauncey and United States consul William Shaler with renewing the peace treaty with the dey of algiers. The treaty was signed on 22 and 23 Dec. 1816 but not ratified by the Senate until February 1822 (Miller, Treaties description begins Hunter Miller, ed., Treaties and other International Acts of the United States of America, 1931–48, 8 vols. description ends , 2:617–44).

The compensation law established an annual salary in place of daily pay for senators, representatives, and territorial delegates. It was passed on 19 Mar. 1816 and repealed on 6 Feb. 1817 (U.S. Statutes at Large description begins Richard Peters, ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States … 1789 to March 3, 1845, 1845–67, 8 vols. description ends , 3:257–8, 345). A claims law authorizing payments for various types of property lost in the War of 1812 was approved on 3 Mar. 1817 (U.S. Statutes at Large description begins Richard Peters, ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States … 1789 to March 3, 1845, 1845–67, 8 vols. description ends , 3:397–8). w.i.: West Indies. “An Act concerning the navigation of the United States” passed on 1 Mar. 1817. Its first section restricted imports into the United States from “any foreign port or place, except in vessels of the United States” or in foreign vessels belonging to the citizens or subjects of the country in which the goods originated or were first shipped for transportation. The provision did not, however, “extend to the vessels of any foreign nation which has not adopted, and which shall not adopt, a similar regulation” (U.S. Statutes at Large description begins Richard Peters, ed., The Public Statutes at Large of the United States … 1789 to March 3, 1845, 1845–67, 8 vols. description ends , 3:351–2).

The measure of a very extraordinary character was the so-called Bonus Bill, which authorized payments for internal improvements with the public share of dividends paid by the Second Bank of the United States. The House of Representatives and the Senate approved it on 8 and 28 Feb., respectively, but Madison vetoed it on 3 Mar. 1817 as his presidency ended. He explained that “the permanent success of the Constitution depends on the definite partition of powers between the General and the State Governments, and that no adequate landmarks would be left by the constructive extension of the powers of Congress, as proposed in this bill” (JHR description begins Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States description ends , 10:369; JS description begins Journal of the Senate of the United States description ends , 6:339–41; Annals description begins Annals of the Congress of the United States: The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States … Compiled from Authentic Materials, Washington, D.C., Gales & Seaton, 1834–56, 42 vols. (All editions are undependable and pagination varies from one printing to another. Citations given below are to the edition mounted on the American Memory website of the Library of Congress and give the date of the debate as well as page numbers.) description ends , 14th Cong., 2d sess., 211–2).