7C
Afessaq-rs and Papers 0/ the Presides fs
progress has since been made that I think measures may at present be
taken
for conducting and concluding that business in form.
It there
fore becomes necessary that a proper person be appointed and authorized
to treat with these chiefs and to conclude a treaty with them.
For this
purpose I uomiuate to you Henry Knox.
GO WASHINGTON.
United StatEvS, August 6, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate a7id Hotise 0/ Rep?-ese7itatives:
I have directed my secretary to lay before you a copy of an exemplified
copy of a law to ratify on the part of the State of New Jersey certain
amendments to the Constitution of the United States, together with a
copy of a letter, which accompanied said ratification, from Hon. Elisha
Lawrence, esq., vice-president of the State of New Jersey, to the Presi-
dent of the United States,
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, August 7, lygo.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I lay before you a treaty between the United States and the chiefs of
the Creek Nation, now in this city, in behalf of themselves and the whole
Creek Nation, subject to the ratification of the President of the United
States with the advice and consent of the Senate.
While I
flatter myself that this treaty will be productive of present
peace and prosperity to our Southern frontier, it is to be expected that it
will also in its consequences be the means of firmly attaching the Creeks
and the neighboring tribes to the interests of the United States.
At the same time it is to be hoped that
it will afford solid grounds of
satisfaction
to the State of Georgia, as
it contains a regular,
full, and
definitive relinquishment on the part of the Creek Nation of the Oconee
land in the utmost extent in which
it has been claimed by that State,
and thus extinguishes the principal cause of those hostilities from which
it has more than once experienced such severe calamities.
But although the most valuable of the disputed land
is included, yet
there is a certain claim of Georgia, arising out of the treaty made by that
State at Galphinston
in November,
1785, of land to the eastward of a
new temporary line from the forks of the Oconee and Oakmulgee in a
southwest direction
to the
St. Marys
River, which
tract of land the
Creeks in this city absolutely refuse to yield.
This land
is reported to be generally barren, sunken, and
unfit for
cultivation, except
in some instances on
the margin of
the
rivers, on
which by improvement rice might be cultivated, its chief value depend-
ing on the timber
fit for the building of ships, with which
it
is repre-
sented as abounding.
George Washmgton
7^
While
it
is thus circumstanced on the one hand,
it
is stated by the
Creeks on
the other to be of the highest importance to them as consti-
tuting some of
their most valuable winter hunting ground.
I have directed the commissioner to whom the charge of adjusting this
treaty has been committed to lay before you such papers and documents
and to communicate to you such information relatively to it as you may
'^^'^^^^^'
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, August ii, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Although the treaty with the Creeks may be regarded as the main
foundation
of
the
future
peace
and
prosperity
of
the Southwestern
frontier of the United States, yet in order fully to effect so desirable an
object the treaties which have been entered into with the other tribes in
that quartei must be faithfully performed on our parts.
Durmg the last year I laid before the Senate a particular statement of
the case of the Cherokees.
By a reference to that paper
it will appear
that the United States formed a treaty with the Cherokees in November,
1785
;
that the said Cherokees thereby placed themselves under the pro-
tection of the United States and had a boundary assigned them
;
that
the white people settled on the frontiers had openly violated the said
boundary by intruding on the Indian lands
;
that the United States in
Congress assembled did, on the ist day of September,
1788, issue their
proclamation forbidding all such unwarrantable intrusions, and enjoined
all those who had settled upon the hunting grounds of the Cherokees
to depart with their famihes and
effects without loss of time, as they
v;ould answer
their
disobedience
to
the
injunctions and
prohibitions
expressed at their peril.
But information has been received that notwithstanding the said treaty
and proclamation upward of 500 families have settled on the Cherokee
lands exclusively of those settled between the fork of French Broad and
Ilolstein rivers, mentioned in the said treaty.
As
the obstructions to a proper conduct on
this matter have been
removed since
it was mentioned to the Senate on the 22d of August,
] 789, by the accession of North Carolina to the present Union and the
cessions of the land in question, I shall conceive myself bound to exert the
powers intrusted to me by the Constitution in order to carry into faithful
execution the treaty of Hopewell, unless it shall be thought proper to
attempt to arrange a new boundary with the Cherokees, embracing the
settlements, and compensating the Cherokees for the cessions they shall
make on the occasion.
On this point, therefore,
I state the following
questions and request the advice of the Senate thereon
:
First.
Is it the judgment of the Senate that overtures shall be made
to the Cherokees
to arrange
a new boundary so
as
to embrace the
'ji
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
settlements made by the white people since the treaty
of Hopewell, in
November, 1785?
Second.
If
so,
shall compensation
to
the amount of
dollars
annually, or of
dollars
in
gross, be made
to the Cherokees
for
the land they shall relinquish, holding the occupiers of the land account-
able to the United States for its value ?
Third.
Shall the United States
stipulate solemnly to guarantee
the
new boundary which may be arranged?
GO WASHINGTON,
PROCLAMATIONS.
d states (New Ycrk), September 15, i7(
By the President of the United States of America.
A PROCIvAMATION.
Whereas a treaty of peace and friendship between the United States
and the Creek Nation was made and concluded on the 7th day of the
present month of August; and
Whereas I have, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, in
due form ratified the said treaty:
Now, therefore, to the end
that the same may be observed and per-
formed with good faith on the part of the United States,
I have ordered
the said
treaty
to be herewith published; and
I do hereby enjoin and
require all officers of the United States,
civil and mihtary, and all other
citizens and
inhabitants
thereof,
faithfully
to observe and
fulfill
the
same.
Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, in the city of
New York, the
14th day of August, A. D.
1790, and
in. the
[seal,]
fifteenth year
of the Sovereignty and Independence
of
the
United States.
qc) WASHINGTON.
By the President:
Th: Jefferson.
[From Miscellaneous Letters, Department of State, vol. 3.]
By the President of the United States of America,
a proclamation.
Whereas
it hath at this time become peculiarly necessary to warn the
citizens of the United States against a violation of the
treaties made at
Hopewell, on the Keowee, on the 28th day of November,
1785, and on
the 3d and loth days of January,
1786, between the United States and
the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw natiotis of Indians, and to enforce
George Washington
an act entitled "An act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian
tribes,
'
' copies of which
treaties and act are hereunto annexed,
I have
therefore thought
fit to require, and
I do by these presents require,
all
officers of the United States, as well civil as military, and all other citi-
zens and inhabitants thereof, to govern themselves according to the trea-
ties and act aforesaid, as they will answer the contrary at their peril.
Given under my hand and the seal of the United States, in the city of
New York, the 26th day of August, A. D.
1790, and in the
[SEAi,.]
fifteenth
year
of
the
Sovereignty and Independence
of the
United States.
GO WASHINGTON.
By the President:
Th: Jefferson,
SECOND ANNUAL ADDRESS.
United States, December 8, 1790.
Fellow- Citizens of the Seyiate and House of Representatives:
In meeting you again
I feel much satisfaction in being able to repeat
my congratulations on the favorable prospects which continue to distin-
guish our public
affairs.
The abundant
fruits
of another
year have
blessed our country with plenty and with the means
of a flourishing
commerce.
The progress of public credit is witnessed by a considerable
rise
of American stock abroad
as well
as
at home, and the revenues
allotted for this and other national purposes have been productive beyond
the calculations by which they were regulated.
This latter circumstance
is the more pleasing, as
it
is not only a proof of the
fertility
of our
resources, but
as
it assures us
of a
further
increase
of
the
national
respectability and credit, and,
let me add, as it bears an honorable testi-
mony to the patriotism and integrity of the mercantile and marine part
of our
citizens.
The punctuality
of the former
in
discharging
their
engagements has been exemplary.
In conformity to the powers vested in me by acts of the last session,
a loan
of
3,000,000
florins, toward which some provisional
measures
had previously taken place, has been completed in Holland.
As well
the celerity with which
it has been filled
as the nature of
the terms
(considering the more than ordinary demand for borrowing created by
the situation of Europe) give a reasonable hope that the further execu-
tion
of those powers may proceed with advantage and success.
The
Secretary of the Treasury has my directions to communicate such further
particulars as may be requisite for more precise information.
Since your last sessions I have received communications by which
it
appears that the district of Kentucky, at present a part of Virginia, has
Mcssi\q-cs and Papers of the Presidents
concurred
in
certain
propositions contained
in a law of
that
State,
in
consequence of which the district
is to become a distinct member of the
Union, in
case the requisite sanction of Congress be added.
For
this
sanction apphcation is now made.
I shall cause the papers on this very
important transaction to be laid before you.
The liberality and harmony
with which it has been conducted will be found to do great honor to both
the parties, and the .sentiments of warm attachment to the Union and its
present Government expressed by our fellow-citizens of Kentucky can
not fail to add an affectionate concern for their particular welfare to the
great
national
impressions under which you will
decide on
the
case
submitted to you.
It has been heretofore known to Congress that frequent incursions have
been made on our frontier settlements by certain banditti of Indians from
the northwest side of the Ohio.
These, with some of the tribes dwelling
on and near the Wabash, have of
late been particularly active in their
depredations, and being emboldened by the impunity of their crimes and
aided by such parts of the neighboring tribes as could be seduced to join
in their hostilities or afford them a retreat for their prisoners and plunder,
they have, instead of listening to the humane invitations and overtures
made on the part of
the United States, renewed
their violences with
fresh alacrity and greater
effect.
The
lives of
a number of valuable
citizens have thus been sacrificed, and some of them under circumstances
peculiarly shocking, whilst others have been carried into a deplorable
captivity.
These aggravated provocations rendered it essential to the safety of the
Western settlements that the aggressors should be made sensible that the
Government of the Union
is not
less capable of punishing their crimes
than it is disposed to respect their rights and reward their attachments.
As this object could not be effected by defensive measures,
it became
necessary to put in force the act which empowers the President to call
out the militia
for the protection
of the frontiers, and
I have accord-
ingly authorized an expedition in which the regular troops in that quar-
ter are combined with such drafts of
militia as were deemed sufficient.
The event of the measure is yet unknown to me.
The Secretary of War
is directed to lay before you a statement of the information on which it
is founded, as well as an estimate of the expense with which
it will be
attended.
The disturbed situation of Europe, and particularly the critical posture
of
the great
maritime
powers, whilst
it ought
to make
us the more
thankful for the general peace and security enjoyed by the United States,
reminds us at the same time of the circumspection with which it becomes
us to preserve these blessings.
It requires also that we should not over-
look the tendency of a war, and even of preparations for a war, among
the nations most concerned
in active commerce with
this country to
^bridge the means, and thereby at least enhance the price, of transport-
George Washington
Mag its valuable productions to tlieir proper markets
I recommend it to
your serious reflections how far and in what mode it may be expedient
to
guard
against
embarrassments from
these
contingencies by such
encouragements to our own navigation as will render our commerce and
agriculture less dependent on foreign bottoms, which may fail us in the
very moments most interesting to both of these great objects.
Our fish-
eries and the transportation of our own produce offer us abundant means
for guarding ourselves against this evil.
Your attention seems to be not less due to that particular branch of
our trade which belongs to the Mediterranean.
So many circumstances
unite in rendering the present state
of
it
distressful to us that you will
not think any deliberations misemployed which may lead
to
its
relief
and protection.
Xhe laws you have already passed for the establishment of a judiciary
system have opened the doors of justice to all descriptions of persons.
You will consider in your wisdom whether improvements in that system
may yet be made, and particularly whether an uniform process of execu-
tion on sentences issuing from the Federal courts be not desirable through
all the States.
The patronage of our commerce, of our merchants and seamen, has
called for the appointment
of consuls
in foreign countries.
It seems
expedient to regulate by law the exercise of that jurisdiction and those
functions which are permitted them, either by express convention or by
a
friendly indulgence,
in the places
of
their
residence.
The consular
convention,
too, with His Most
Christian
Majesty
has stipulated
in
certain cases the aid of the national authority to his consuls established
here.
Some legislative provision
is requisite to carry these stipulations
into full effect.
The establishment of the militia, of a mint, of standards of weights and
measures, of the post-office and post-roads are subjects which I presume
you will resume of course, and which are abundantly urged by their own
importance.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
The sufficiency of the revenues you have established for the objects to
which they are appropriated leaves no doubt that the residuary provisions
will be commensurate to the other objects for which the public
faith
stands now pledged.
Allow me, moreover,
to hope that
it will be a
favorite policy with you, not merely to secure a payment of the interest
of the debt funded, but as far and as fast as the growing resources of the
country will permit to exonerate
it of the principal itself.
The appro-
priation you have made of the Western land explains your dispositions
on this subject, and I am persuaded that the sooner that valuable fund can
be made to contribute, along with other means, to the actual reduction
of the public debt the more salutary will the measure be to every public
interest,
as well as the more satisfactor}' to our constituents.
Messages and Papers of the- Presidents
Gentlemen of the Senate a7id Hotise of Representatives:
In pursuing the various and weighty business of the present session
I indulge the fullest persuasion that your consultations will be equally
marked with wisdom and animated by the love of
3^our country.
In
whatever belongs to my duty you shall have
all the cooperation which
an undiminished zeal for
its welfare can inspire.
It will be happy for
us both, and our best reward,
if, by a successful administration
of our
respective trusts, we can make the established Government more and
more instrumental in promoting the good of our fellow-citizens, and more
and more the object of
their attachment and confidence.
G9 WASHINGTON.
ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES.
The President of the United States of America:
We receive,
sir, with particular satisfaction the communications con-
tained in 3'our speech, which confirm to us the progressive state of the
public credit and afford at the same time a new proof of the solidity of
the foundation on which it
rests; and we cheerfully join in the acknowl-
edgment which
is due to the probity and patriotism of the mercantile
and marine part of our fellow-citizens, whose enlightened attachment to
the principles of good government is not less conspicuous in this than it
has been in other important respects.
In confidence that every constitutional preliminary has been observed,
we assure you of our disposition to concur in giving the requisite sanc-
tion to the admission of Kentucky as a distinct member of the Union;
in doing which we shall anticipate the happy effects to be expected from
the sentiments of attachment toward the Union and
its present Govern-
ment which have been expressed by the patriotic inhabitants
of that
district.
While we regret that the continuance and increase of the
hostilities
and depredations which have distressed our Northwestern frontiers should
have rendered offensive measures necessary, we feel an entire confidence
in the sufl&ciency of the motives which have produced them and in the
wisdom of the dispositions which have been concerted
in pursuance of
the powers vested in you, and whatever may have been the event, we
shall cheerfully concur in the provisions which the expedition
that has
been undertaken may require on the part of the Legislature, and in any
other which the future peace and safety of our frontier settlements may
call for.
The critical posture of the European powers will engage a due portion
of our attention, and we shall be ready to adopt any measures which a
prudent circumspection may suggest for the preservation of the blessings
George Washington
of peace.
The navigation and the fisheries
of the United
States
are
objects too interesting not to inspire a disposition to promote them by
all the means which
shall appear
to us consistent with
their natural
progress and permanent prosperity.
Impressed with the importance of a free intercourse with the Mediter-
ranean, we
shall not think any deliberations misemployed which may
conduce to the adoption of proper measures for removing the impedi-
ments that obstruct
it.
The improvement of the
judiciar>^ system and the other important
objects to which you have pointed our attention will not fail to engage
the consideration they respectively merit.
In the course of our deliberations upon every subject we shall rely
upon that cooperation which an undiminished zeal and incessant anxiety
for the public welfare on your part so thoroughly insure; and as
it
is
our anxious desire
so
it shall be our constant endeavor to render the
established Government more and more instrumental in promoting the
good of our fellow-citizens, and more and more the object of their attach-
ment and confidence.
December
10,
1790.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Gentlemen: These assurances of favorable attention to the subjects
I have recommended and
of entire
confidence
in my views make the
impression on me which
I ought to feel.
I thank you for them both,
and shall continue to rely much for the success of
all our measures for
the public good on the aid they will receive from the wisdom and integ-
rity of your councils.
GO WASHINGTON.
December
13,
1790.
ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO GEORGE
WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir: The Representatives of the people of the United States have taken
into consideration your address to the two Houses at the opening of the
present session of Congress.
We share in the satisfaction inspired by the prospects which continue
to be so auspicious to our public
affairs.
The blessings resulting from
the smiles of Heaven on our agriculture, the
rise of public credit, with
the further advantages promised by it, and the fertility of resources which
are found so
little burdensome to the community, fully authorize our
mutual congratulations on the present occasion.
Nor can we learn with-
out an additional gratification that the energy of the laws for providing
adequate revenues have been so honorably seconded by those classes of
citizens whose patriotism and probity were more immediately concerned.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
The success of the loan opened in Holland, under the disadvantages of
the present moment,
is the more important,
as
it not only denotes the
confidence already placed
in the United
States, but
as the
effect of a
judicious application of that aid will still further illustrate the solidity of
the foundation on which the public credit rests.
The preparatory steps taken by the State of Virginia, in concert with
the district of Kentucky, toward the erection of the latter into a distinct
member of
the Union exhibit a
liberality mutually honorable
to
the
parties.
"We shall bestow on this important subject the favorable consid-
eration which
it
merits, and, with the national policy which ought
to
govern our decision, shall not fail to mingle the affectionate sentiments
which are awakened by those expressed on behalf of our fellow-citizens
of Kentucky.
Whilst we regret the necessity which has produced offensive hostili-
ties against some of the Indian tribes northwest of the Ohio, we sympa-
thize too much with our Western brethren not to behold with approbation
the watchfulness and vigor which have been exerted by the executive
authority for their protection, and which we trust will make the aggres-
sors sensible that it is their interest to merit by a peaceable behavior the
friendship and humanity which the United States are always ready to
extend to them.
The encouragement of our own navigation has at all times appeared to
us highly important.
The point of view under which you have recom-
mended
it to us
is strongly enforced by the actual
state of things
in
Europe.
It will be incumbent on us to consider in what mode our com-
merce and agriculture can be best relieved from an injurious dependence
on the navigation
of other nations, which the frequency of their wars
renders a too precarious resource for conveying the productions of our
country to market.
The present state of our trade to the Mediterranean seems not
less
to demand, and will accordingly receive, the attention which you have
recommended.
Haxdng already concurred
in
establishing
a
judiciary system which
opens the doors of justice to all, without distinction of persons, it will be
our disposition to incorporate every improvement which experience may
suggest.
And we shall consider in particular how far the uniformity
which
in other cases is found convenient
in the administration
of the
General Government through all the States may be introduced into the
forms and rules of executing sentences issuing from the Federal courts.
The proper regulation of the jurisdiction and functions which may be
exercised by consuls of the United States in foreign countries, with the
provisions stipulated to those of His Most Christian Majesty established
here, are subjects of too much consequence to the public interest and
honor not to partake of our deliberations.
We shall renew oiu: attention to the establishment of the militia and
George Washington
^9
the other subjects unfinished
at the
last
session, and shall proceed
in
them with all the dispatch which the magnitude of
all and the difficulty
of some of them will allow.
Nothing has given us more satisfaction than to find that the revenues
heretofore established have proved adequate
to the purposes to which
they were allotted.
In extending the provision to the residuary objects
it will be equally our care to secure sufficiency and punctuality in the
payments due from the Treasury of the United States.
"We
shall
also
never lose sight of the policy of diminishing the public debt as fast as
the increase
of
the public resources will
permit, and are particularly
sensible of the many considerations which press a resort to the auxiliary
resource furnished by the public lands.
In pursuing every branch of the weighty business of the present ses-
sion it will be our constant study to direct our deliberations to the public
welfare.
Whatever our success may be, we can at least answer for the
fervent love of our cotmtry, which ought to animate our endeavors.
In
your cooperation we are sure of a resource which fortifies our hopes that
the fruits of the established Government will justify the confidence which
has been placed in it, and recommend it more and more to the affection
and attachment of our fellow-citizens.
Dkcejmber
II,
1790.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Gentlemen: The sentiments expressed in your address are entitled
to my particular acknowledgment.
Having no object but the good of our country, this testimony of appro-
bation and confidence from its immediate Representatives must be among
my best rewards, as the support of your enhghtened patriotism has been
among my
greatest encouragements.
Being persuaded that you
will
continue to be actuated by the same auspicious principle,
I look forward
to the happiest consequences from your deliberations during the present
session.
GO WASHINGTON.
December
13,
1790.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
United States, December 23, 1790.
Gentlemen 0/ the Senate and House of Representatives:
It appearing by the report of the secretary of the government north-
west of the Ohio that there are certain cases respecting grants of land
within that territory which require the interference of the Legislature of
8o
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
the United States, I have directed a copy of said report and the papers
therein referred to to
oe
laid before you, together with a copy of the
report of the Secretary of State upon the same subject.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, December jo, 1790.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I lay before you a report of the Secretary of State on the subject of
the citizens of the United States in captivity at Algiers,
that you may
provide on their behalf what to you shall seem most expedient.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, fanuary j, 1791.
Gentleme7i of the Senate and Hoiisc of Representatives:
I lay before you a copy of an exemplified copy of an act passed by the
legislature of the State of New Jersey for vesting in the United States
of America the jurisdiction of a lot of land at Sandy Hook, in the county
of Monmouth, and a copy of a letter which accompanied said
act, from
the governor of the State of New Jersey
to the President of the United
States,
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, fanuary 17, 1791.
Gentlemen of ike Senate .and House of Representatives:
I lay before you an official statement of the appropriation of $10,000,
granted to defray the contingent expenses of Government by an act of
the 26th March,
1790.
A copy of two resolutions of the legislature of Virginia, and a petition
of sundry officers and assignees of
officers and soldiers of the Virginia
line on continental establishment, on the subject of bounty lands allotted
to them on the northwest side of the Ohio; and
A copy
of an
act
of
the
legislature of
Maryland
to empower
the
wardens of the port of Baltimore
to levy and
collect the duty therein
mentioned.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, fanuary 17, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate!
I lay before you a letter from His Most Christian Majesty, addressed
to the
President and Members
of Congress of
the
United
States
of
America.
G9 WASHINGTON.
George Washington
8i
To our very dearfriends and allies^ the President and Members of the General Con-
gress of the United States of North America.
Very Dear Great Friends and Allies
: We have received the letter by which
you inform us of the new mark of confidence that you have shown to Mr. Jefferson,
and which
puts a period to his appointment
of
minister plenipotentiary at
ovir
Court.
The manner in which he conducted during his residence with us has merited our
esteem and entire approbation, and
it
is with pleasure that we now give him this
testimony of
it.
It is with the most sincere pleasure that we embrace this opportunity of renewing
these assurances of regard and friendship which we feel for the United States in
general and for each of them in particular.
Under their influence we pray God that
He
will
keep
you, very dear
friends and
allies, under His holy and beneficent
protection.
Done at Paris this nth September, 1790.
Your good friend and ally,
LOUIS.
MONTMORIN.
[seal.]
The United States of North America.
United States, January ip, 1791.
Genile7ne?i of the Senate:
I lay before you a representation of the charge d'affaires of France,
made by order of his Court, on the acts of Congress of the 20th of July,
1789 and 1790, imposing an extra tonnage on foreign vessels, not except-
ing those of that country, together with the report of the Secretary of
State thereon, and I recommend the same to your consideration, that
I
may be enabled to give to it such answer as may best comport with the
justice and the interests of the United States.
GO WASHINGTON.
documents.
January 18, 1791.
The Secretary of State having received from the chargd
d'affaires of France a
note on the tonnage payable by French vessels in the ports of the United States, has
had the same under his consideration, and thereupon makes the following report to
the President of the United States
:
The charge d'affaires of France, by a note of the 13th of December, represents,
by order of his Court, that they consider so much of the acts of Congress of July
20, 1789 and
1790, as imposes an extraordinary tonnage on foreign vessels without
excepting those of France, to be in contravention of the fifth article of the treaty of
amity and commerce between the two nations
; that this would have authorized on
their part a proportional modification in the favors granted to the American naviga-
tion, but that his Sovereign had thought
it more conformable to his principles of
friendship and attachment to the United States to order him to make representations
thereon, and to ask in favor of French
vessels a modification
of the acts which
impose an extraordinary tonnage on foreign vessels.
The Secretary of State, in giving in
this paper to the President of the United
States, thinks it his duty to accompany it with the following observations
:
The third and fourth articles of the treaty of amity and commerce between France
and the United States subject the vessels of each nation to pay in
the ports
of
the other only such duties as are paid by the most favored nation, and give them
Messages and Papers of tJie Presidents
reciprocally all the privileges and exemptions in navigation and commerce which
are given by either
to
the
most favored
nations.
Had the
contracting
parties
stopped
here, they would have been free to
raise or lower their tonnage as they
should find it expedient, only talcing
care to keep the other on the footing of the
most favored nation.
The question, then, is whether the fifth article cited in the note
is anything more than an application of
the principle comprised in the third and
fourth to a particular object, or whether
it
is an additional stipulation of something
not so comprised.
I. That
it
is merely an application
of
a principle comprised in the preceding
articles is declared by the express words of the article, to wit:
'^ Dans
I'exemption
ci-dessus est nofnmement
cotnpris,"'
etc., "z« the above exemption
is particularly
comprised, the imposition of loo sols per ton established in France on foreign vessels."
Here, then, is at once an express declaration that the exemption from the duty of
loo sols
is comprised in the third and
fourth
articles; that
is
to say,
it was one
of the exemptions enjoyed by the most favored nations, and as such extended to us
by those
articles.
If the exemption
spoken of
in
this
first member of the
fifth
article was cotnprised in the third and fourth articles, as is expressly declared, then
the reservation by France out of that exemption (which makes the second member
of the same article) was also comprised; that
is to say, if the whole was comprised,
the part was comprised.
And
if this reservation of France in the second member
was comprised in the third and fourth articles, then the counter reservation by the
United States (which constitutes the third and last member of the same article) was
also comprised, because it
is but a corresponding portion of a similar whole on our
part, which had been comprised by the same terms with theirs.
In short, the whole article relates to a particular duty of loo sols, laid by some
antecedent law of France on the vessels of foreign nations, relinquished as to the most
favored, and consequently to us.
It
is not a new and additional stipulation, then,
but a declared application of the stipulations comprised in the preceding articles to
a particular case by way of greater caution.
The doctrine laid down generally in the third and fourth articles, and exemplified
specially in the
fifth, amounts to this: "The vessels of the most favored nations
coming from foreign ports
are exempted from the duty of loo sols; therefore you
are exempted from
it by the third and
fourth
articles.
The vessels of
the most
favored nations coming coastwise pay that duty; therefore you are to pay it by the
third and fourth articles.
We shall not think it unfriendly in you to lay a like duty
on coasters, because it will be no more than we have done ourselves.
You are free
also to lay that or any other duty on vessels coming from foreign ports, provided
they apply to all other nations, even the most favored.
We are free to do the same
under the same restriction.
Our exempting you from a duty which the most favored
nations do not pay does not exempt you from one which they do pay.
'
'
In this view,
it is evident that the fifth article neither enlarges nor abridges the
stipulations of the third and fourth.
The
effect of the treaty would have been
precisely the same had
it been omitted altogether
; consequently
it may be truly
said that the reservation by the United States in this article is completely useless.
And
it may be added with equal truth that the equivalent reservation by France
is completely useless, as well as her previous abandonment of the same duty, and, in
short, the whole article.
Each party, then, remains fref" to raise or lower its tonnage,
provided the change operates on all nations, even the most favored.
Without undertaking to affirm, we may obviously ronjecture that this article has
been inserted on the part of the United States from an overcaution to guard, nom-
mkment, by name, against a particular aggrievance, -which they thought they could
never be too well secured
against;
and
that has happened which generally hap-
pens—doubts have been produced by the too great number of words used to pre-
vent doubt.
George Washington
II. The Court of France, however, understands this article as intended to intro-
duce something to which the preceding articles had not reached, and not merely as
an application of them to a particular case.
Their opinion seems to be founded on
the general rule in the construction of instruments, to leave no words merely useless
for wnich any rational meaning can be found.
They say that the reservation by the
United States of a right to lay a duty equivalent to that of the 100 sols, reserved by
France, would have been completely useless if they were left free by the preceding
articles to lay a tonnage to any extent whatever
; consequently, that the reservation
cf a part proves a relinquishment of the residue.
If some meaning, and such a one, is to be given to the last member of the article,
some meaning, and a similar one, must be given to the corresponding member.
If
the reservation by the United States of a right to lay an equivalent duty implies a
relinquishment of their right to lay any other, the reservation by France of a rignt to
continue the specified duty to which it is an equivalent must imply a relinquishment
of the right on her part to lay or continue any other.
Equivalent reservations by
both must imply equivalent restrictions on both.
The exact reciprocity stipulated
in the preceding
articles, and which pervades every part of the treaty,
insiu-es a
counter right to each party for every right ceded to the other.
Let
it be further considered that the duty called tonnage in the United States
is
in lieu of the duties for anchorage, for the support of buoys, beacons, and light-houses,
to guide the mariner into harbor and along the
coast, which are provided and
supported at the expense of the United States, and for fees to measurers, weighers,
gangers,
etc., who are paid by the United States, for which articles, among many
others (light-house money excepted), diities are paid by us in the ports of France
under their specific names.
That Government has hitherto thought these duties
consistent with the treaty, and consequently the same duties under a general instead
of specific names, with us, must be equally consistent with it.
It is not the name,
but the thing, which
is essential.
If we have renounced the right to lay any port
duties, they must be understood to have equally renounced that of either laying new
or continuing the old.
If we ought to refund the port duties received from their
vessels since the date of the act of Congress, they should refund the port duties they
have received from our vessels since the date of the treaty, for nothing short of this
is the reciprocity of the treaty.
If this construction be adopted, then each party has forever renounced the right
of laying any duties on the vessels of the other coming from any foreign port, or
more than 100 sols on those coming coastwise.
Could this relinquishment be confined
to the two contracting parties alone, the United States would be the gainers, for
it
is well*known that a much greater number of American than of French vessels are
employed
in the commerce between the two countries;
but the exemption once
conceded by the one nation to the other becomes immediately the property of all
others who are on the footing of the most favored nations.
It
is true that those
others would be obliged to yield the same compensation, that
is to say, to receive
our vessels duty
free.
"Whether we should gain or lose in the exchange of the
meastu-e with them is not easy to say.
Another consequence of this construction will be that the vessels of the most
favored nations paying no duties will be on a better footing than those of natives
which pay a moderate duty; consequently either the duty on these also must be given
up or they will be supplanted by foreign vessels in our own ports.
The resource, then, of duty on vessels for the purposes either of revenue or regula-
tion will be forever lost to both.
It is hardly conceivable that either party looking
forward to all these consequences would see their interest in them.
III. But if France persists in claiming this exemption, what is to be done?
The
c! lini, indeed,
is couched in mild and friendly terms; but the idea leaks out that a
jcfusal would authorize them to modify proportionally the favors granted by the
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
same article to our navigatioti.
Perhaps they may do what we should feel much
more severely, they may turn their eyes to the favors granted us by their arrets of
December 29, 17S7, and December 7, 1788, which hang on their will alone, unconnected
with the treaty.
Those arrets, among other advantages, admit our whale oils to the
exclusion of that of all other foreigners.
And this monopoly procures a vent for
seven-twelfths of the produce of that fishery, which experience has taug"ht us could
find no other market.
Near two-thirds of the produce of our cod fisheries, too, have
lately found a free vent in the colonies of France.
This, indeed, has been an irreg-
ularity growing out of the anarchy reigning in those colonies.
Yet the demands of
the
colonists, even
of
the Government
party among them
( if an auxiliary
dis-
position can be excited by some marks of friendship and distinction on our part), may
perhaps produce a constitutional concession to them to procure their provisions at
the cheapest market
; that is to say, at ours.
Considering the value of the interests we have at stake and considering the small-
ness of difference between foreign and
native tonnage on French vessels alone, it
might perhaps be thought advisable to make the
sacrifice asked, and especially
if it can be so done as to give no title to other the most favored nations to claim it.
If the act should put French vessels on the footing of those of natives, and declare
it to be in consideration of
the favors granted us by the arrets of December
29,
1787, and December 7, 1788 (and perhaps this would satisfy them), no nation could
then demand the same favor without offering an equivalent compensation.
It might
strengthen, too, the tenure by which those arrets are held, which must be precarious
so long as they are gratuitous.
It is desirable in many instances to exchange mutual advantages by legislative acts
rather than by treaty, because the former, though understood to be in consideration
of each other, and therefore greatly respected, yet when they become too incon-
venient can be dropped at the will of either party; whereas stipulations by treaty
are forever irrevocable but by joint consent,
let a change of circumstances render
them ever so burdensome.
On the whole, if it be the opinion that the first construction is to be insisted on as
ours, in opposition to the second iirged by the Court of France, and that no relaxation
is to be admitted, an answer shall be given to that Court defending that construction,
and explaining in as friendly terms as possible the diflBculties opposed to the exemp-
tion they claim.
2.
If
it be the opinion that
it
is advantageous for us to close with France in her
interpretation of a reciprocal and perpetual exemption from tonnage, a repeal of so
much of the tonnage law will be the answer.
3.
If it be thought better to waive rigorous and nice discussions of right and to
make the modification an act of friendship and of compensation for favors received,
the passage of such a bill will then be the answer.
TH: JEFFERSON.
[Translation.]
L. G. Otto to the Secretary of State.
Philadei,phia, December 13, 1790.
Sir: During the long stay you made in France you had opportunities of being
satisfied of the favorable dispositions of His Majesty to render permanent the ties
that united the two nations and to give stability to the treaties of alliance and of
commerce which form the basis of this union.
These
treaties were so well main-
tained by the Congress formed under the ancient Confederation that they thought it
their duty to interpose their authority whenever any laws made by individual States
appeared to infringe their stipulations, and particulary in 1785, when the States of
New Hampshire and of Massachusetts had imposed an extraordinary tonnage on
George Washingtoii
foreign vessels without exempting those of the French nation.
The reflections that
I have the honor to address to you in the subjoined note being founded on the same
principles,
I flatter myself that they will merit on the part of the Government of the
United States the mo^ serious attention.
I am, with respect, etc,,
L. G. OTTO.
[Translation.]
L. G. Otto to the Secretary of State.
Phii^adelphia, December 13, ijgo.
Note.—The underwritten, charg^ d'affaires of France, has received the express
order of his Court to represent to the United States that the act passed by Congress
the 20th July, 1789, and renewed the 20th July of the present year, which imposes
an extraordinary tonnage on foreign vessels without excepting French vessels, is
directly contrary to the spirit and to the object of the treaty of commerce which
unites the two nations, and of which His Majesty has not only scrupulously observed
the tenor, but of which he has extended the advantages by many regulations very
favorable to the commerce and navigation of the United States.
By the fifth article of this treaty the citizens of these States are declared exempt
from the tonnage duty imposed in France on foreign vessels, and they are not subject
to that duty but in the coasting business.
Congress has reserved the privilege of
establijihing a duty eqtiivalent to this last, a stipulation founded on the state in which
matters were in America at the time of the signat\u-e of the treaty.
There did not
exist at that epoch any duty on tonnage in the United States.
It is evident that it was the nonexistence of this duty and the motive of a perfect
reciprocity stipulated in the preamble of the treaty that had determined the King to
grant the exemption contained in the article fifth; and a proof that Congress had no
intention to contravene this reciprocity is that it only reserves a privilege of estab-
lishing on the coasting business a duty equivalent to that which is levied in France.
This reservation would have been completely useless if by the words of the treaty
Congress thought themselves at liberty to lay any tonnage they should think proper
on French vessels.
The undersigned has the honor to observe that this contravention of the
fifth
article of the treaty of commerce might have authorized His Majesty to modify
proportionately the favors granted by the same article to the American navigation
;
but the King, always faithful to the principles of friendship and attachment to the
United •States, and desirous of strengthening more and more the ties which subsist
so happily between the French nation and these States, thinks it more conformable
to these views to order the undersigned to make representations on this subject, and
to ask in favor of French vessels a modification of the act which imposes an extra-
ordinary tonnage on foreign vessels.
His Majesty does not doubt but that the
United States will acknowledge the justice of this claim, and will be disposed to
restore things to the footing on which they were at the signature of the treaty of
the 6th February, 1778.
L. G. OTTO.
[Translation.)
L. G. Otto to the Secretary of State.
New York, fanuary 8, 179T.
His Excellency M. Jefeerson,
Secretary of State.
Sir:
I have the honor herewith to send you a letter from the King to Congress,
and one which M. de Montmorin has written to yourself.
Vou will find therein the
g6
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
sincere sentiments with which you have inspired our Government, and the regret of
the minister in not having a more near relation of correspondence with you.
In
these every person who has had the advantage of knowing you in France participates.
At the same time, it gives me pain, sir, to be obliged to announce to you that the
complaints of ovu- merchants on the subject of the tonnage duty increase, and that
they have excited not only the
attention of the King but that of several depart-
ments of the Kingdom.
I have received new orders to request of the United States
a decision on this matter and
to solicit
in favor of the aggrieved merchants the
restitution of the duties which have already been paid.
I earnestly beg of you, sir,
not to lose sight of an object which, as
I have already had the honor to tell you
verbally,
is of the greatest importance
for cementing the future commercial con-
nections between the two nations.
In more particularly examining this question you will perhaps find that motives
of convenience are as powerful as those of
justice to engage the United States to
give to His Majesty the satisfaction which he requires.
At least twice as many
American
vessels enter the ports
of France as do those
of France the ports
of
America,
The exemption of the tonnage of duty, then,
is evidently less advanta-
geous for the French than for the navigators of the United States.
Be this as it may,
I can assure you, sir, that the delay of a decision in this respect by augmenting the
just complaints of the French merchants vdll only augment the difficulties.
I therefore beg of you to enable me before the sailing of the packet, which will
take place toward the last of this mouth, to give to my Court a satisfactory answer.
•
I have the honor to be, etc.,
L. G. OTTO.
United States, January 24., 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I lay before you a statement relative to the frontiers of the United
States, which has been submitted to me by the Secretary for the Depart-
ment of War,
I rely upon your wisdom to make such arrangements as may be essen-
tial for the preservation of good order and the effectual protection of the
frontiers.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, January 24., 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
In execution of the powers with which Congress were pleased to invest
me by their act
entitled "An
act
for establishing
the temporary and
permanent
seat of Government of the United
States,
'
' and on mature
consideration of the advantages and disadvantages of the several posi-
tions within the limits prescribed by the said act, I have by a proclama-
tion bearing date this day (a copy of which
is herewith
transmitted)
directed commissioners, appointed in pursuance of the act, to survey and
limit a part of the territory of 10 miles square on both sides of the river
Potomac, so as to comprehend Georgetown, in Maryland, and extend to
the Eastern Branch.
George Washington
I have not by
this
first
act
given
to the
said
territory the whole
extent of which
it
is susceptible in the direction of the river, because I
thought
it important that Congress should have an opportunity of con-
sidering whether by an amendatory law they would authorize the location
of the residue
at the lower end of the present, so as to comprehend the
Eastern Branch
itself and some
of the country on
its
lower side,
in
the State of Maryland, and the town of Alexandria,
in Virginia.
If,
however, they are of opinion that the Federal territory should be bounded
by the water edge of the Eastern Branch, the location of the residue will
be to be made at the upper end of what is now directed.
I have thought best to await a survey of the territory before it is decided
on what particular spot on the northeastern side of the river the public
buildings shall be erected,
G9 WASHINGTON.
UniTBD States, January 26, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I lay before you the copy of a letter from the President of the National
Assembly of France to the President of the United States, and of a decree
of
that Assembly, which was
transmitted with
the
above-mentioned
letter.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, /<a!««ar)/ 57, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
In order that you may be fully informed of the situation of the fron-
tiers and the prospect of hostility in that quarter, I lay before you the
intelHgence of some recent depredations, received since my message to
you upon this subject of the 24th instant.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, February p, lygi.
Gentleme?t of the Senate and House of Representatives:
I have received from the governor of Vermont authentic documents,
expressing the consent of the legislatures of New York and of the Terri-
tory of Vermont that the said Territory shall be admitted to be a distinct
member of our Union;
and a memorial of Nathaniel Chipman and Lewis
R. Morris, commissioners from the said Territory, praying the consent
of Congress to that admission, by the name and style of the State of
Vermont, copies of which
I now lay before Congress, with whom the
Constitution has vested the object of these proceedings.
G9 WASHINGTON.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
United States, February 14., 179T.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives:
Soou
after
I was called to the administration of the Government I
found it important to come to an understanding with the Coiirt of I^ondon
on several points interesting to the United States, and particularly to
know whether they were disposed to enter into arrangements by mutual
consent which might fix the commerce between the two nations on prin-
ciples of reciprocal advantage.
For this purpose I authorized informal
conferences with their ministers, and from these I do not infer any dispo-
sition on their part to enter into any arrangements merely commercial.
I have thought
it proper to give you
this information, as
it might at
some time have influence on matters under your consideration.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, February 14, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Conceiving that in the possible event of a refusal of justice on the part
of Great Britain we should stand less committed should
it be made to
a private rather than to a public
person,
I employed Mr. Gouverneur
Morris, who was on the spot, and without giving him any definite char-
acter, to enter informally into the conferences before mentioned.
For
your more
particular information
I
lay before you
the
instructions
I
gave him and those parts
of
his communications wherein
the
British
ministers appear
either
in conversation
or by
letter.
These
are two
letters from the Duke of Leeds to Mr. Morris, and three letters of Mr.
Morris giving an account of two conferences with the Duke of Leeds
and one with him and Mr. Pitt.
The sum of these is that they declare
without scruple they do not mean to fulfill what remains of the treaty of
peace to be
fulfilled on
their part (by which we are to understand th<«
delivery of the posts and payment for property carried off)
till perform
'
ance on our part, and compensation where the delay has rendered the
performance now impracticable;
that on the subject of a treaty of conrr
merce they avoided direct answers, so as to satisfy Mr. Morris they did
not mean
to enter into one unless
it could be extended to a treaty of
alliance offensive and defensive, or unless in the event of a rupture wilh
Spain.
As to the sending a minister here, they made excuses at the first con-
ference, seemed disposed to it in the second, and in the last express an
intention of so doing.
Their views being thus
sufficiently ascertained, I have directed Mr,
Morris to discontinue his communications with them.
G9 WASHINGTON.
George Washington
^9
United States, February i8, 1791.
Genthmen of the Senate:
The aspect of affairs in Europe during the last summer, and especially
between Spain and England, gave reason to expect a favorable occasion
for pressing to accommodation the unsettled matters between them and
us.
Mr. Carmichael, our charge d'affaires at Madrid, having been long
absent from his country, great changes having taken place in our circum-
stances and sentiments during that inten^al, it was thought expedient
to send some person,
in a private character, fully acquainted with the
present state 01 things here, to be the bearer of written and confidential
instructions to him, and at the same time
to possess him in
full and
frequent conversations of all those details of facts and topics of argument
which could not be conveyed in writing, but which would be necessary
to enable him to meet the reasonings
of that
Court with advantage.
Colonel David Humphreys was therefore sent for these purposes.
An additional motive for this confidential mission arose in the same
quarter.
The Court of Lisbon had on several occasions made the most
amicable advances
for cultivating friendship and intercourse with the
United States.
The exchange of a diplomatic character had been inform-
ally, but repeatedly, suggested on their part.
It was our interest to meet
this nation
in
its friendly dispositions and to concur in the exchange
proposed.
But my wish was at the same time that the character to be
exchanged should be of the lowest and most economical grade.
To this
it was known that certain rules of long standing at that Court would pro-
duce obstacles.
Colonel Humphreys was charged with dispatches to the
prime minister of Portugal and with instructions to endeavor to arrange
this to our views.
It happened, however, tnat previous to his arrival at
Lisbon the Queen had appointed a minister resident to the United States.
This embarrassment seems to have rendered the
difficulty completely
insurmountable.
The minister of that Court in his conferences with
Colonel Humphreys, professing every wish to accommodate, yet expresses
his regrets that circumstances do not permit them to concur in the grade
of charge d'affaires, a grade
of
little privilege or respectability by the
rules of their Court and held in so low estimation with them that no
proper character would accept
it to go abroad.
In a letter to the Sec-
retary of State he expresses the same sentiments, and announces the
appointment on their part of a minister
resident to the United States,
and the pleasure with which the Queen will receive one from us at her
Court. A copy of his letter, and also of Colonel Humphreys's giving the
details of this transaction, will be delivered to you.
On consideration of all circumstances I have determined to accede to the
desire of the Court of Lisbon in the article of grade.
I am aware that
the consequences will not end here, and that this is not the only instance
in which a like change may be pressed.
But should
it be necessary
Messages aiid Papers of the Presidents
I
•
to yield elsewhere
also,
I
shall
think
it
a
less
evil than to
disgust
a
government so friendly and so interesting to us as that of
Portugal.
I do not mean that the change of grade shall render the mission more
expensive.
I have therefore nominated David Humphreys minister resident from
the United States to Her Most Faithful Majesty the Queen of Portugal.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, February 22, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I
will
proceed
to
take measures
for
the ransom of our citizens in
captivity at Algiers, in conformity with your resolution of advice of the
ist
instant, so soon
as the moneys necessary shall be appropriated by
the Legislature and shall be in readiness.
The
recognition
of our
treaty with
the new Emperor
of Morocco
requires also previous appropriation and provision.
The importance of
this last to the liberty and property of our citizens induces me to urge it
on your earliest attention.
G9 ^^^ASHINGTON.
United States, February 23, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Information having been
received
from Thomas Auldjo, who was
appointed vice-consul of the United States at Cowes, in Great
Britain,
that his commission has not been recognized by that Government because
it is a port at which no foreign consul has yet been received, and that it
has been intimated to him that his appointment to the port of Poole and
parts nearer to that than to the residence of any other consul of the United
States would be recognized and his residence at Cowes not noticed, I
have therefore thought
it expedient to nominate Thomas Auldjo to be
vice-consul for the United States at the port of Poole, in Great Britain,
and such parts within the allegiance of His Britannic Majesty as shall
be nearer thereto than to the residence of any other consul or vice-consul
of the United States within the same allegiance.
I
also nominate James Yard, of Pennsylvania, to be consul
for the
United States in the island of Santa Cruz and such other parts within
the allegiance of His Danish Majesty as shall be nearer thereto than to
the residence
of any other consul or vice-consul of the United States
within the same allegiance.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, March
4, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
The act
for the admission of the State of Vermont
into
this Union
having fixed on this as the day of its admission,
it was thought that this
would
also be the
first day on which any ofiicer of the Union might
Geoj'ge Washington
legally perform any act of authority relating to that State.
I therefore
required your attendance
to receive nominations
of the several officers
necessary to put the Federal Government into motion in that State *
For this purpose I nominate Nathaniel Chipman to be judge of the dis-
trict of Vermont; Stephen Jacobs to be attorney for the United States in
the district of Vermont; Lewis R. Morris to be marshal of the
district
of Vermont, and Stephen Keyes to be collector of the port of Allburgh,
in the State of Vermont.
_GO WASHINGTON
United States, March
4., lypi.
Gentlemen of the Senate
:
Pursuant
to the powers vested in me by the
act
entitled
'
' An
act
repealing after the
last day of June next the duties heretofore laid upon
distilled
spirits imported from abroad and laying others in their stead,
and also upon
spirits
d'stilled within the United States, and for appro-
priating the same,"
I have thought fit to divide the United States into
the following districts, namely:
The district of New Hampshire, to consist of the State of New Hamp-
shire; the district of Massachusetts, to consist of the State of Massachu-
setts;
the district of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, to consis^^
of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations;
the district
of
Connecticut, to consist of the State of Connecticut; the district of Ver-
mont, to consist of the State of Vermont;
the
district
of New York, to
consist of the State of New York; the district of New Jersey, to consist
of the State of New Jersey;
the
district
of Pennsylvania, to consist
of
the State of Pennsylvania; the district of Delaware, to consist of the State
of Delaware; the district of Maryland, to consist of the State of Maryland;
the district of Virginia, to consist of the State of Virginia; the district of
North CaroHna, to consist of the State of North
Carolina;
the
district
of South Carolina, to consist of the State of South Carolina; and the dis-
trict of Georgia, to consist of the State of Georgia.
And -I hereby nominate as supervisors of the said districts, respectively,
the following persons, viz:
For the
district of New Hampshire, Joshua Wentworth; for the
dis-
trict of
Massachusetts,
Nathaniel Gorham;
for
the
district
of Rhode
Island and Providence
Plantations, John
S. Dexter;
for the
district of
Connecticut, John
Chester;
for the
district of Vermont, Noah
Smith;
for the district of New York, William S. Smith;
for the district of New
Jersey, Aaron Dunham;
for the district of Pennsylvania, George Clymer;
for the district of Delaware, Henry Latimer; for the district of Maryland,
George Gale;
for the
district
of Virginia, Edward Carrington;
for the
district of North Carolina, William Polk;
for the district of South Caro-
lina, Daniel Stevens;
for the district of Georgia, John Mathews.
G? WASHINGTON.
* For proclamation convening Senate in extraordinary session see p. 571.
Afessaq^es aud Papers of tlie Prcsidcnls
PROCLAMATIONS.
[From
.1 l)roadside in the archives of the Department of State.]
By thk
Pkksident
of thk
United States
of America.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas the general assembly of the State
of Maryland, by an
act
passed on the 23d day of December, A. D. 1788, intituled "An act to cede
to Congress a district of 10 miles square
in this State for the seat of the
Government of the United States,
'
' did enact that the Representatives of
the said State in the House of Representatives of the Congress of the
United
States, appointed to assemble at New York on the first Wednes-
day
of March
then next
ensuing, should
be, and they were
thereby,
authorized and required on the behalf of the said State
to cede to the
Congress of the United States any district in the said State not exceeding
10 miles square which the Congress might
fix upon and accept for the
seat of Government of the United States;
And the general assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, by an
act passed on the 3d day of December,
1789, and
intituled "An act for
the cession of 10 miles square, or any lesser quantity, of territory within
this State to the United States in Congress assembled, for the permanent
seat of the General Government," did enact that a tract of country not
exceeding 10 miles square, or any
lesser quantity, to be located within
the limits of the said State, and in any part thereof, as Congress might by
law direct, should be, and the same was thereby, forever ceded and relin-
quished to the Congress and Government of the United States, in
full
and absolute right and exclusive
jurisdiction, as well of
soil as of per-
sons residing or to reside thereon, pursuant to the tenor and effect of the
eighth section of the
first
article of the Constitution of Government of
the United States;
And the Congress of the United States, by their act passed the 16th
day of July,
1790, and intituled "An act for establishing the temporary
and permanent seat of the Government of the United States,
'
' authorized
the President
of
the United
States to appoint three commissioners to
survey under his direction and by proper metes and bounds to limit a
district of territory, not exceeding 10 miles square, on the river Potomac,
at some place between the mouths of the Eastern Branch and Connogo-
cheque, which district, so to be located and limited, was accepted by the
said
act of Congress as the district
for the permanent seat of the Gov-
ernment of the United States:
Now, therefore, in pursuance of the powers to me confided, and
after
duly examining and weighing the advantages and disadvantages of the
several situations within the limits aforesaid,
I do hereby declare and
make known that the location
of one part of the
said
district of
miles square shall be found by running four lines of experiment in the
George Washington
following manner, that is to say: Running from the court-house of Alex-
andria, in Virginia, due southwest half a mile, and thence a due south-
east course till it shall strike Hunting Creek, to fix the beginning of the
said four lines of experiment.
Then beginning the
first of the said four
lines of experiment at the
point on Hunting Creek where
the said
southeast
course shall
have
struck the same, and runniitg the said
first line due northwest 10 miles;
thence the second line into Maryland due northeast 10 miles; thence the
third line due southeast 10 miles, and thence the fourth
line due south-
west 10 miles to the beginning on Hunting Creek.
And
the said
four
lines of
experiment being so run,
I do
hereby
declare and make known that all that part within the said four lines of
experiment which shall be within the State of Maryland and above the
Eastern Branch, and all that part within the same four lines of experi-
ment which shall be within the Commonwealth of Virginia and above a
line to be run from the point of land forming the upper cape of the
mouth of the Eastern Branch due southwest, and no more,
is now fixed
upon and directed to be surveyed, defined, limited, and located for a part
of the said district accepted by the said act of Congress for the permanent
seat of the Government of the United States (hereby expressly reserv-
ing the direction of the siuvey and location of the remaining part of the
said district to be made hereafter contiguous to such part or parts of the
present location as is or shall be agreeable to law).
And I do accordingly direct the said commissioners, appointed agree-
ably to the tenor of the said act, to proceed forthwith to run the said
Hnes of experiment, and the same being run, to survey and by proper
metes and bounds to define and limit the part within the same which is
hereinbefore directed for immediate location and acceptance, and thereof
to make due report to me under their hands and seals.
In testimony whereof
I have caused the seal of the United States to
.
be affixed to these presents and signed the same with my hand.
r
n
Done at the city of Philadelphia, the 24th day of January,
A. D.
1 79 1, and of the Independence of the United States the
^^^^^^^^-
G9 WASHINGTON.
By the President:
Th; Jefferson.
[From a broadside In the arrhlves of the Department of State.]
By the President of the United States of America.
a proclamation.
Whereas
it hath been represented to me that James O'Fallon is levy-
ing an armed force in that part of the State of Virginia which is called
Kentucky, disturbs the public peace, and sets at defiance the treaties of
the United States with the Indian
tribes, the act of Congress intituled
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
"An act to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes," and
my proclamations
of
the
14th and 26th days of August
last founded
thereon; and
it
is my earnest
desire that those who have incautiously
associated themselves with the said James O' Fallon may be warned
of
their danger,
I have therefore thought
Til to puDiish this proclamation,
hereby declaring that all persons violating the treaties and
act aforesaid
shall be prosecuted with the utmost rigor of the law.
And I do, moreover, require all officers of the United States whom it
may concern
to use theii
best exertions to bring to justice any persons
offending in the premises.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to
be affixed to these presents and signed the same with my hand.
r
Done at the city of
Philadelphia, the
19th day of March,
A. D.
1 79 1, and of the Independence of the United States th^
fifteenth.
Qp WASHINGTON.
By the President:
Th: Jefferson.
[From the Washington Papers (Executive Proceedings), vol. 20, p. 191.
By the President of the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas by a proclamation bearing date the 24th day of Januaiy of
this present year, and in pursuance of certain acts of the States of Mary-
land and Virginia and
of
the Congress of the United
States,
therein
mentioned, certain
lines of experiment were directed
to be run in the
neighborhood of Georgetown, in Maryland, for the purpose of determin-
ing the location of a part of the territory of
10 miles square for the per-
manent seat of the Government of the United States, and a certain part
was directed
to be located within the said
lines of experiment on both
sides of the Potomac and above the limit of the Eastern Branch pre-
scribed by the said act of Congress;
And Congress by an amendatory act passed on the 3d day of
the
present month of March have given further authority to the President
of the United States
'
' to make any part of the territory below the said
limit and above the mouth of Hunting Creek a part of the said
district,
so as to include a convenient part of the Eastern Branch and of the
lands lying on the lower side thereof, and also the town of Alexandria'
'
;
Now, therefore, for the purpose of amending and completing the loca-
tion of the whole of the said territory of
10 miles square in conformity
with the said amendatory act of Congress,
I do hereby declare and make
known that the whole of the said territory shall be located and included
within the four lines following, that is to say:
Beginning at Jones's Point, being the upper cape of Hunting Creek, in
Virginia, and at an angle in the outset of 45 degrees west of the north,
George Washington
and ninning in a direct
line lo miles
for the
first line
; then beginning
again
at
the same Jones's Point and running another direct line at
a
right angle with the
first across the Potomac
lo miles
for the second
line; then from the termination of the said
first and second
lines run-
ning two other direct lines of ic miles each, the one crossing the Eastern
Branch aforesaid and the other the Potomac, and meeting each other in
a point.
And
I do
accordingly
direct
the
commissioners named
under
the
authority of the said first-mentioned act of Congress
to proceed
forth-
with to have the said four lines run, and by proper metes and bounds
defined and
limited, and thereof to make due report under their hands
and seals; and the territory so to be located, defined, and limited shall be
the whole territory ac _epted by the said acts of Congress as the
district
for the permanent seat of the Government of the United States.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to
be affixed to these presents and signed the same with my hand.
P
.
-,
Done
at
Georgetown
aforesaid, the
30th day
of
March,
A. D.
1 79 1, and of the Independence of the United States the
fifteenth.
GO WASHINGTON.
THIRD ANNUAL ADDRESS.
United States,
October 25, 179T.
Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the Ho2ise of Representatives.
I meet you upon the present occasion with
the
feelings which are
naturally inspired by a strong impression of the prosperous situation of
our common country, and by a persuasion equally strong that the labors
of the session which has just commenced will, under the guidance of a
spirit no less prudent than patriotic, issue in measures conducive to the
stability and increase of national prosperity.
Numerous as are the providential blessings which demand our grateful
acknowledgments,
the abundance with which another year has again
rewarded the industry of the husbandman
is too important
to escape
recollection.
Your own observations in your respective situations will have satisfied
you
of
the progressive
state
of
agriculture, manufactures, commerce,
and navigation.
In tracing their causes you
will have remarked with
particular pleasure the happy effects of that revival of confidence, public
as well as
private, to which the Constitution and laws of the United
States have so eminently contributed; and you will have observed with
no less mterest new and decisive proofs of tJie increasing reputation and
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
credit of the nation.
But you nevertheless can not
fail to derive satis-
faction from the confirmation of these circumstances which will be dis-
closed in the several official communications that will be made to you in
the course of your deliberations.
The rapid subscriptions to the Bank of the United States, which com-
pleted the sum allowed to be subscribed in a single day, is among the
striking and pleasing evidences which present
themselves, not only of
confidence in the Government, but of resource in the community.
In the interval of your recess due attention has been paid to the execu-
tion of the different objects which were specially provided for by the laws
and resolutions of the last session.
Among the most important of these is the defense and security of the
Western frontiers.
To accomplish
it on the most humane principles
was a primary wish.
Accordingly, at the same time that treaties have been
provisionally
concluded and other proper means used to attach the wavering and to
confirm in their friendship the well-disposed tribes of Indians, effectual
measures have been adopted to make those of a hostile description sensi-
ble that a pacification was desired upon terms of moderation and justice.
Those measures having proved unsuccessful,
it became necessary to
convince the refractory of the power of the United States to punish their
depredations.
Offensive
operations
have
therefore been
directed,
to
be conducted, however, as consistently as possible with the dictates of
humanity.
Some of these have been crowned with full success and others
are yet depending.
The expeditions which have been completed were
carried on under the authority and at the expense of the United States by
the militia of Kentucky, whose enterprise, intrepidity, and good conduct
are entitled to pecuhar commendation.
Overtures of peace are still continued to the deluded tribes, and con-
siderable numbers of individuals belonging to them have lately renounced
all further opposition, removed from their former situations, and placed
themselves under the immediate protection of the United States.
It
is sincerely to be desired that
all need of coercion in future may
cease
and
that
an
intimate
intercourse may
succeed,
calculated
to
advance the happiness of the Indians and to attach them firmly to the
United States.
In order to this it seems necessary
That they should experience the benefits of an impartial dispensation
of
justice.
That the mode of ahenating their lands, the main source of discontent
and war, should be so defined and regulated
as to obviate imposition
and as far as may be practicable controversy concerning the reality and
extent of the alienations which are made.
That commerce with them
should be promoted under
regulations
tending to secure an equitable deportment toward them, and that such
George Washington
/
rational experiments should be made for imparting to them the blessings
of civilization as may from time to time suit their condition.
That the Executive of the United States should be enabled to employ
the means to which the Indians have been long accustomed for uniting
their immediate interests with the preservation of peace.
'
And that efficacious provision should be made for inflicting adequate
penalties upon all those who, by violating their rights, shall infringe the
treaties and endanger the peace of the Union.
A system corresponding with
the
mild
principles
of
religion and
philanthropy toward an unenlightened race
of men, whose
happiness
materially depends on the conduct of
the United States, would be as
honorable
to the national
character
as conformable
to the
dictates of
sound
policy.
The powers specially vested in me by the act laying certain duties on
distilled
spirits, which respect the subdivisions of the districts into sur-
veys, the appointment of
officers, and the assignment of compensations,
have likewise been carried into effect.
In a matter in which both mate-
rials and experience were wanting to guide the calculation
it will be
readily conceived that there must have been difficulty in such an adjust-
ment
of
the
rates
of
compensation
as would
conciliate
a reasonable
competency with a proper regard to the limits prescribed by the law.
It
is hoped that the circumspection which has been used will be found in
the result to have secured the
last of the two objects; but
it
is proba-
ble that with a view
to the
first
in some
instances a revision of the
provision will be found advisable.
The impressions with which this law has been received by the com-
munity have been upon the whole such as were to be expected among
enlightened and well-disposed citizens from the propriety and necessity
of the measure.
The novelty, however,
of the tax in a considerable
part of the United States and a misconception of some of its provisions
have given occasion in particular places to some degree of discontent;
but
it
is
satisfactory
to know that
this
disposition
yields
to proper
explanations and more just apprehensions of the true nature of the law,
and
I entertain a full confidence that it will in all give way to motives
which
arise out of a
just sense
of duty and a virtuous regard to the
public welfare.
If there are any circumstances in the law which consistently with
its
main design may be so varied as to remove any well-intentioned objec-
tions that may happen to exist,
it will consist with a wise moderation to
make the proper variations.
It
is desirable on
all occasions to unite
with a steady and firm adherence to constitutional and necessary acts of
Government the fullest evidence of a disposition as far as may be practi-
cable to consult the wishes of every part of the community and to lay
the foundations of the public
administration
in the
affections of the
people.
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
Pursuant to the authority contained in the several acts on that subject,
a district of 10 miles square for the permanent seat
of the Government
of the United States has been fixed and announced by proclamation,
which district will comprehend lands on both sides of the river Potomac
and the towns of Alexandria and Georgetown.
A city has also been laid
out agreeably to a plan which will be
placed
before Congress, and as
there
is
a
prospect,
favored
b}' the
rate
of
sales which have already
taken place, of ample funds for carrying on the necessary public build-
ings, there is every expectation of their due progress.
The completion of the census of the inhabitants, for which provision
was made by
law,
has been duly notified (excepting one
instance
in
which the return has been informal, and another in which
it has been
omitted or miscarried), and the returns of the officers who were charged
with this duty, which will be laid before you, will give you the pleasing
assurance that the present population of the United States borders on
, 000 ,000 persons
.
It is proper also
to inform you that a further loan of 2,500,000 florins
has been completed in Holland, the terms of which are similar to those
of the one last announced, except as to a small reduction of charges.
Another, on like terms, for 6,000,000 florins, had been set on foot under
circumstances that assured an immediate completion.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Two treaties which have been provisionally concluded with the Chero-
kees and Six Nations of Indians will be laid before you for your con-
sideration and ratification.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
In entering upon the
discharge
of your
legislative
trust you must
anticipate with pleasure that many of the diSiculties necessarily incident
to the first arrangements of a new goveminent for an extensive country
have been happily surmounted by the zealous and judicious exertions of
your predecessors in cooperation with the other branch of the Legisla-
ture.
The important objects which remain to be accomplished will,
I
am persuaded, be conducted upon principles equally comprehensive and
equally well calculated for the advancement of the general weal.
The time limited
for receiving subscriptions
to the
loans proposed
by the act making provision for the debt of the United States having
expired, statements from the proper department will as soon as possible
apprise you of the exact
result.
Enough, however,
is known already
to afford an assurance that the views of that act have been substantially
fulfilled.
The subscription
in the domestic debt of the United States
has embraced by far the greatest proportion of that debt, affording at
the same time proof of the general satisfaction of the public creditors
George Washington
with the system which has been proposed to their acceptance and of the
spirit
of aco«mmodation
to the convenience
of
the Government with
which they are actuated.
The subscriptions in the debts of the respec-
tive
States
as
far
as
the
provisions of
the law have
permitted may
be said
to be yet more general.
The part of the debt of
the United
States which remains unsubscribed will naturally engage your further
deliberations.
It
is particularly pleasing to me to be able to announce
to you that
the revenues which have been established
promise
to be adequate to
their
objects, and may be permitted,
if no unforeseen exigency occurs,
to supersede for the present the
necessity of any new burthens upon
our constituents.
An object which will claim your early attention
is a provision for the
current
service
of
the ensuing
year,
together with such
ascertained
demands upon
the Treasury as require to be immediately discharged,
and such casualties as may have arisen in the execution of the public
business, for which no specific appropriation may have yet been made;
of all which a proper estimate will be laid before you.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I shall content myself with a general reference to former communica-
tions for several objects upon which the urgency of other
affairs has
hitherto postponed any
definitive
resolution.
Their
importance
will
recall them to your attention, and I trust that the progress already made
in the most arduous arrangements of the Government will afford you
leisure to resume them with advantage.
There are, however, some of them of which I can not forbear a more
particular mention.
These are the militia, the post-office and post-roads,
the mint, weights and measures, a provision for the
sale of the vacant
lands of the United States.
The firs't
is certainly an object of primary importance whether viewed
in reference to the national security to the satisfaction of the community
or to the preservation of order.
In connection with this the establishment
of competent magazines and arsenals and the fortification of such places
as are peculiarly important and vulnerable naturally present themselves
to consideration.
The safety of the United States under divine protec
tion ought
to rest on the basis of systematic and solid arrangements,
exposed as little as possible to the hazards of fortuitous circumstances.
The importance of the post-office and post-roads on a plan sufficiently
liberal and comprehensive,
as they respect
the expedition, safety, and
facility of communication, is increased by their instrumentality in diffus-
ing a knowledge of the laws and proceedings of the Government, which,
while
it contributes to the security of the people, serves also to guard
them against the effects of misrepresentation and misconception.
The
establishment of additional cross posts, especially to some of the important
loo
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
points in the Western and Northern parts of the Union, can not fail
to
be of material utility.
The disorders in the existing currency, and
especiallj' the scarcity of
small change, a scarcity so peculiarly distressing to the poorer classes,
strongly recommend the carrying into immediate
effect the resolution
already entered into concerning the establishment of a mint.
Measures
have been taken pursuant to that resolution for procuring some of the
most necessary artists, together with the requisite apparatus.
An uniformity in the weights and measures of the country is among
the important objects submitted to you by the Constitution, and
if
it
can be derived from a standard at once invariable and universal, must
be no less honorable to the public councils than conducive to the public
convenience.
A provision
for the
sale of the vacant lands of the United States
is
particularly urged, among other reasons, by the important considerations
that they are pledged as a fund for reimbursing the public debt;
that if
timely and judiciously applied they may save the necessity of burthen-
ing our citizens with new taxes for the extinguishment of the principal;
and that being free to discharge the principal but in a hmited proportion,
no opportunity ought tQ be lost for availing the pubhc of its right.
GO WASHINGTON.
ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES.
The President of the United States,
Sir: The Senate of the United States have received with the highest
satisfaction the assurances of public prosperity contained in your speech
to both Houses.
The multiplied blessings of Providence have not escaped
our notice or failed to excite our gratitude.
The
benefits which
flow from the restoration
of public and private
confidence are conspicuous and important, and the pleasure with which
we contemplate them
is heightened by your assurance of those further
communications which
shall confirm their existence and indicate their
source.
While we
rejoice
in the
success
of those mihtary operations which
have been directed against the hostile Indians, we lament with you the
necessity that has produced them, and we participate the hope that the
present prospect of a general peace on terms of moderation and justice
may be wrought into complete and permanent effect, and that the meas-
ures
of Government may equally embrace the
security of our frontiers
and the general interests of humanity, our solicitude to obtain which will
insure our zealous attention to an object so warmly espoused by the prin-
ciples of benevolence and so highly interesting to the honor and welfare
of the nation.
George Washington
loi
The several subjects which you have particularly recommended and
those which remain of former sessions will engage our early considera-
tion. We are encouraged to prosecute them with alacrity and steadiness
by the belief that they will interest no passion but that for the general
welfare, by the assurance of concert, and by a view of those arduous and
important arrangements which have been already accomplished.
We observe,
sir, the constancy and activity of your zeal for the pubhc
good.
The example will animate our efforts to promote the happiness
of our country.
October
28,
7791.
reply of the president.
Gentle;mbn: This manifestation of your zeal for the honor and the
happiness
of our country derives
its
full value from
the share which
your deliberations have already had in promoting both.
I thank you
for the favorable sentiments with which you view the
part
I have borne
in the arduous trust committed to the Government
of the United States, and desire you to be assured that all my zeal will
continue to second those further efforts for the pubhc good which are
insured by the spirit in which you are entering on the present session.
G9 WASHINGTON.
October
31,
1791.
ADDRESS OP THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO GEORGE
WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir: In receiving your address at the opening of the present session
the House of Representatives have taken an ample share in the feelings
inspired by the actual prosperity and flattering prospects of our country,
and whilst with becoming
gratitude to Heaven we
ascribe this happi-
ness to the true source from which it flows, we behold with an animating
pleasure the degree in which the Constitution and laws
of the United
States have been instrumental in dispensing it.
It yields us particular satisfaction to learn the success with which the
different in^portant measures of the Government have proceeded, as well
those
specially provided
for
at the
last
session
as
those
of preceding
date.
The safety of our Western frontier, in which the lives and repose
of so many of our fellow-citizens are involved, being peculiarly interest-
ing, your communications on that subject are proportionally grateful to
us.
The gallantry and good conduct of the militia, whose sendees were
called for,
is an honorable confirmation of the efl&cacy of that precious
resource of a free
state, and we
anxiously wish that the consequences
of their successful enterprises and of the other proceedings
to which
you have referred may leave the United States free to pursue the most
I02
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
benevolent policy toward the unhappy and deluded race of people in our
neighborhood.
The amount of the population of the United States, determined by the
returns of the census, is a source of the most pleasing reflections whether
it be viewed in relation to our national safety and respectability or as
a proof of that felicity in the situation of our country which favors so
unexampled a rapidity in
its growth.
Nor ought any to be insensible
to the additional motive suggested by this important fact to perpetuate
the free Government established, with a wise administration of
it, to a
portion of the earth which promises such an increase
of the number
which is to enjoy those blessings within the limits of the United States.
We shall proceed with all the respect due to your patriotic recommen-
dations and with a deep sense
of
the
trust committed
to us by our
fellow-citizens
to
take
into
consideration
the
various
and
important
matters falling within the present session; and in discussing and decid-
ing each we shall feel every disposition whilst we are pursuing the public
welfare, which must be the supreme object with all our constituents, to
accommodate as far as possible the means of attaining it to the senti-
ments and wishes of every part of them.
Octobe;r
27,
1 79 1.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Gentlemen: The pleasure I derive from an assurance of your attention
to the objects I have recommended to you is doubled by your concurrence
in the testimony I have borne to the prosperous condition of our public
affairs.
Relying on the sanctions of your enlightened judgment and on your
patriotic
aid,
I
shall be the more encouraged in
all my endeavors for
the pubUc weal, and particularly in those which may be required on my
part for executing the salutary measures I anticipate from your present
deliberations.
G9 WASHINGTON.
October
28, 1791.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
United States, October 26, 1791.-
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you copies of the follov/ing acts, which have been trans-
mitted to me during the recess of Congress, viz:
An act passed by the legislature of New Hampshire for ceding to the
United States the fort and light-house belonging to the said State.
An act of the legislature of Pennsylvania ratifying on behalf of said
George Washington
103
State the
first article of amendment
to the Constitution
of the United
States as proposed by Congress; and
An act
of the legislature of North Carolina granting the use of the
jails within that State to the United States.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, October 26, 1791,
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I have directed the Secretary of War to lay before you for your consid-
eration all the papers relative to the late negotiations with the Cherokee
Indians, and the treaty concluded with that tribe on the 2d day of July
last by the superintendent of the southern district, and
I request your
advice whether I shall ratify the same.
I
also
lay before you the
instructions to Colonel Pickering and his
conferences with the Six Nations of Indians.
These conferences were for
the purpose of
conciliation, and at a
critical period, to withdraw those
Indians to a greater distance from the theater of war, in order to prevent
their being involved therein.
It might not have been necessary to have requested your opinion on
this business had not the commissioner, with good intentions, but incau-
tiously, made certain ratifications of lands unauthorized by his instruc-
tions and unsupported by the Constitution.
It therefore became necessary to disavow the transaction explicitly in
a letter written by my orders to the governor of New York on the lytli
of August last.
The speeches to the Complanter and other Seneca chiefs, the instruc-
tions to Colonel Proctor, and his report, and other messages and directions
are laid before you for your information and as evidences that all proper
lenient measures preceded the exercise of coercion.
The letters to the chief of the Creeks are also laid before you, to evince
that the requisite steps have been taken to produce
a
full compliance
with the treaty made with that nation on the 7th of August, 1790.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States,
October 27, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you a copy of a
letter and of sundry documents which I
have
received from
the governor
of
Pennsylvania,
respecting certain
persons who are said to have fled from justice out of the State of Penn-
sylvania into that of Virginia, together with a report of the Attorney-
General of the United States upon the same subject.
I have received from the governor of North Carolina a copy of an act
of the general assembly of that State, authorizing him to convey to the
United States the right and jvurisdiction of the said State over
i
acre of
I04
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
land in Occacock Island and lo acres on the Cape Island, within the said
State, for the purpose of erecting light-houses thereon, together with the
deed of the governor in pursuance thereof and the original conveyances
made to the State by the individual proprietors, which original convey-
ances contain conditions that the light-house on Occacock shall be built
before the ist day of January, 1801, and that on the Cape Island before
the 8th day of October, 1800.
And I have caused these several papers
to be deposited in the office of the Secretary of State.
A statement of the returns of the enumeration of the inhabitants of
the United
States which have been received will
at
this time be laid
before you.
G9 WASHINGTON.
TJNTTEr) States,
October 27, 1791.
Genileme7i of the Senate ajid of the Hoiise of Representatives:
I have directed the Secretary of War to lay before you, for your infor-
mation, the reports of
Brigadier-General Scott and lyieutenant-Colonel
Commandant Wilkinson, the officers who commanded the two expedi-
tions against the Wabash Indians in the months of June and August
last, together with the instructions by virtue of which the said expedi-
tions were undertaken.
When the operations now depending shall be
terminated, the reports relative thereto shall also be laid before you.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, October 31, 1791.
Gentlemc7i of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I send 3'ou herewith the arrangement which has been made by me,
pursuant to the act entitled "An act repealing after the last day of June
next
the
duties
heretofore
laid upon
distilled
spirits imported from
abroad and laying others in their stead, and also upon
spirits distilled
within the United States, and for appropriating the same,
'
'
in respect
to the subdivision of the several
districts created by the said act into
surv-eys of inspection, the appointment of ofl&cers for the same, and the
assignment of compensations.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, November
i,
1791-
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the Hoiise of Rcprese7itatives
:
I received yesterday from the judge of the district of South Carolina a
letter, inclosing the presentments of the grand jury to him, and stating
the causes which have prevented the return of the census from that
district, copies of which are now laid before you.
G9 WASHINGTON.
George Washingtou
105
Uniti;d States, November 10, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Represeniaiives:
The resolution passed at the
last session of Congress, requesting the
President of the United States to cause an estimate to be
laid before
Congress at their next session of the quantity and situation of the lands
not claimed by the Indians nor granted to nor claimed by any of the
citizens of the United States within the territory ceded to the United
States by the State of North Carolina and within the territory of the
United States northwest of
the
river Ohio, has been
referred
to the
Secretary of State, a copy of whose
report on
that subject
I now lay
before you, together with the copy of a letter accompanying it.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, Novejnber 11, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Scjiate and of the Ho2ise of Represe7itatives:
I have received from the governor
of Virginia a resolution
of the
general assembly
of that Commonwealth,
ratifying the
first
article of
the amendments proposed by Congress to the Constitution of the United
States, a copy
of which and of the
letter accompanying
it
I now lay
before you.
Sundry papers relating to the purchase by Judge Symmes of the lands
on the Great Miami having been communicated to me, I have thought it
proper to lay the same before you for your information on that subject.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, December 12, 1791.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
It
is with great concern that
I communicate to you the information
received from
Major-General
St.
Clair of
the
misfortune which
haj
befallen the troops under his command.
Although the national loss
is considerable according to the scale
of
the event, yet it may be repaired without great difficulty, excepting as to
the brave men who have fallen on the occasion, and who are a subject
of public as well as private regret.
A further communication will shortly be made of all such matters as
shall be necessary
to
enable
the
Legislature
to judge
of
the
future
measures which it may be proper to pursue.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, December ij,
1791.
Gentlemen of the Seriate and of the House of Rcprescjitatives:
I place before you the plan of a city that has been laid out within the
district of 10 miles square, which was fixed upon for the permanent seat
of the Government of the United States.
G9 WASHINGTON.
io6
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
United States, December 20, f/gr.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Represe7itativ€s:
I lay before you the copy of a letter which I have received from the
governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and of sundry documents
which accompanied it, relative to a contract for the purchase of a certain
tract of land bounding on Lake
Erie, together with a copy of a report
of the Secretary of State on the same subject.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, Dece^nber jo, lygi.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you a copy of the ratification by the Commonwealth of
Virginia
of
the
articles
of amendment proposed by Congress
to
the
Constitution of the United States, and a copy of a letter which accom-
panied said ratification from the governor of Virginia.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, January ii, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I lay before you the following report, which has been made to me by
the Secretary of State
:
December 22, 1791.
The Secretary of State reports to the President of the United States that one oi
the commissioners of Spain, in the name of both, has lately communicated to him
verbrJly, by order of his Court, that His Catholic Majesty, apprised of our solicitude
to have some arrangements made respecting oixr free navigation of the river Missis-
sippi and the use of a port thereon,
is ready to enter into treaty thereon at Madrid.
The Secretary of State
is of opinion that
this overture should be attended to
without delay, and that the proposal of treating at Madrid, though not what might
have been desired, should yet be accepted, and a commission plenipotentiary made
out for the purpose.
That Mr. Carmichael, the present charg^ d'affaires of the United States at Madrid,
from the local acquaintance which he must have acquired with persons and circum-
stances, would be an useful and proper member of the commission, but that it would
be useful also to join with him some person more particularly acquainted with the
circumstances of the navigation to be treated of.
That the fund appropriated by the act providing the means of intercourse between
the United States and foreign nations will insufficiently furnish the ordinary and
regular demands on it, and is consequently inadequate to the mission of an additional
commissioner express from hence.
That therefore
it will be advisable on
this account, as well as for the sake of
dispatch, to constitute some one of the ministers of the United States in Europe,
jointly with Mr. Carmichael, commissioners plenipotentiary for the special purpose
of negotiating and concluding with any person or persons duly authorized by His
Catholic Majesty a convention or treaty for the free navigation of the river Missis-
sippi by the citizens of the United States imder such accommodations with respect
to a port and other circumstances as may render the said navigation practicable.
George Washington
107
useful, and free from dispute, saving to the President and Senate their respective
rights as to the ratification of the same, and that the said negotiation be at Madrid,
or such other place in Spain as shall be desired by His Catholic Majesty.
TH: JEFFERSON.
In consequence
of
the communication from the Court
of Spain,
as
stated in the preceding report, I nominate WilHam Carmichael, present
charge
d'affaires of the United States at Madrid, and WilHam
Short,
present charge
d'affaires of the United States at
Paris, to be commis-
sioners plenipotentiary for negotiating and concluding with any person
or persons who shall be duly authorized by His Catholic Majesty a con-
vention or treaty concerning the navigation of the river Mississippi by
the citizens of the United
States, saving
to the
President and Senate
their respective rights as to the ratification of the same.
GQ WASHINGTON.
United States, January u, ijgz.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the Hotise of Representatives:
I lay before you, in confidence, two reports, made to me by the Secre-
tary for the Department of War, relatively to the present state of affairs
on the Western frontiers of the United States.
In these reports the causes of the present war with the Indians, the
measures taken by the Executive to terminate it amicably, and the mili-
tary preparations for the late campaign are stated and explained, and also
a plan suggested of such further measures on the occasion as appear just
and expedient.
I am persuaded, gentlemen, that you will take this important subject
into your immediate and serious consideration, and that the result of your
deliberations will be the adoption of such wise and efiScient measures as
will reflect honor on our national councils and promote the welfare of our
country.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, January j8, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the Hotise of Representatives:
I lay before you a copy of an exemplified copy of an act of the legisla-
ture of Vermont, ratifying on behalf of that State the articles of amend-
ment proposed by Congress
to
the Constitution
of
the United States
together with a copy of a letter which accompanied said ratification.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United Sta.T^s, January jS, 1792.
Gentlemeyi of the Setiate:
I lay before you the communications of a deputation from the Chero-
kee Nation of Indians now in this city, and I request your advice whether
io8
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
an additional article shall be made to the Cherokee treaty to the follow-
ing effect, to wit
:
That the sum to be paid annually by the United States
to the Cher-
okee Nation of Indians in consideration of the relinquishment of lands as
stated in the treaty made with them on the 2d day of July,
1791, shall
be $1,500 instead of $1,000 mentioned in the said treaty,
GO WASHINGTON.
United
State;.s, January 2j, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
Having received from the governor of Virginia a
letter, inclosing a
resolution of the general assembly of that State and a report of a com-
mittee of the House of Delegates respecting certain lands located by the
oflQcers and soldiers of the Virginia line under the laws of that State, and
since ceded to the Chickasaw Indians, I lay copies of the same before you,
together with a report of the Secretary of State on this subject.
GO WASHINGTON.
UniTKD States, February 8, 1792.
Ge7itlemen of tlie Senate and of the House of Representatives:
An
article of expense having occurred in the Department of Foreign
Affairs for which no provision has been made by law, I lay before you a
letter from the Secretary of State explaining the same, in order that you
may do thereon what you shall find to be right.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, March j, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you a copy of a return of the number of inhabitants in the
district of South Carolina as made to me by the marshal thereof, and a
copy of a letter which accompanied said return.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, March s, 1792.
Gentleme7i of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
Knowing the friendly interest 3^ou take in whatever may promote the
happiness and prosperity of the French nation, it is with pleasure that I
lay before 5'ou the translation of a letter which I have received from His
Most Christian Majesty, announcing to the United States of America
his acceptance of the constitution presented to him by his nation.
G9 WASHINGTON.
George Washington
log
Very Dear Great Friends and Allies:
We make it our duty to inform you that we have accepted the constitution which
has been presented to us in the name of the nation, and according to which France
will be henceforth governed.
We do not doubt that you take an interest in an event so important to our Kingdom
Hnd to us, and it
is with real pleasure we take this occasion to renew to you assur-
ances of the sincere friendship we bear you.
Whereupon we pray God to have you,
very dear great friends and allies, in His just and holy keeping.
Written at Paris the 19th of September, 1791.
Yomr good friend and ally,
LOUIS.
MONTMORIN.
The United States of North America.
United States, March
6, 1792.
Gentlemen 0/ the Senate:
I lay before you the following report, which has been submitted to me
by the Secretary of State:
January 10, 1792.
The Secretary of State having received information that the merchants and mer-
chandise of the United States are subject in Copenhagen and other ports of Denmark
to considerable extra duties, from which they might probably be relieved by the
presence of a consul there
Reports to the President of the United States that
it would be expedient to name
a consul to be resident in the port of Copenhagen; that he has not been able to find
that there is any citizen of the United States residing there; that there is a certain
Hans Rudolph Saaby, a Danish subject and merchant of that place, of good character,
of wealth and distinction, and well qualified and disposed to act there for the United
States, who would probably accept the commission of consul; but that that of vice-
consul, hitherto given by the President to foreigners in ports where there was no
proper American citizen, would probably not be accepted because in this, as in some
other ports of Europe, usage has established it as a subordinate grade.
And that he is therefore of the opinion that the said Hans Rudolph Saaby should
be nominated consul of the United States of America for the port of Copenhagen
and such other places vdthin the allegiance of His Danish Majesty as shall be nearer
to the "Said port than to the residence of any other consul or vice-consul of the
United States within the same allegiance.
TH: JEFFERSON.
With a view to relieve the merchants and merchandise of the United
States from the extra duties to which they are or may be subjected in
the ports of Denmark, I have thought
it for the interest of the United
States that a consul be appointed to reside at Copenhagen.
I therefore
nominate Hans
Rudolph
Saaby,
a Danish
subject and
merchant
of
Copenhagen, to be consul for the United States of America at the port
of Copenhagen and for such other places within the allegiance of His
Danish Majesty as shall be nearer to the said port than to the residence
of any other consul or vice-consul of the United States within the same
allegiance.
G9 WASHINGTON.
I lo
Messages and Papers of the Pirsidents
United States, March
7, //p^.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I submit
to your consideration the report of the Secretary of State,
which accompanies this, stating the reasons for extending the negotia-
tion proposed
at Madrid
to the subject of commerce, and explaining,
under the form of instructions to the commissioners lately appointed to
that Court, the principles on which commercial arrangements with Spain
might, if desired on her part, be acceded to on ours
; and I have to request
your decision whether you will advise and consent
to the extension of
the powers of the commissioners as proposed, and to the ratification of a
treaty which shall conform to those instructions should they enter into
such a one with that Court.
GO WASHINGTON.
March
7, 1792,
The Secretarjr of State having understood from communications with the commifi"
sioners of His Catholic Majesty, subsequent to that which he reported to the President
on the 22d of December
last, that though they considered the navigation
of the
Mississippi as the
principal object of negotiation between the two countries, yet
it was expected by their Court that the conferences would extend to all the mat-
ters which were under negotiation on the former occasion with Mr. Gardoqui, and
particularly to some arrangements of commerce,
is of
opinion that to renew the
conferences on this subject also, since they desire it, will be but friendly and respect-
ful, and can lead to nothing without our own consent, and that to refuse it might
obstruct the settlement of the questions of navigation and boundary; ind therefore
reports to the President of the United States the following observations and instruc-
tions to the commissioners of the United
States appointed to negotiate with the
Court of Spain a treaty or convention relative to the navigation of the Mississippi,
which observations and instructions he is of opinion should be laid before the Senate
of the United
States, and their decision be desired whether they will advise and
consent that a treaty be entered into by the commissioners of the United States with
Spain conformably thereto.
After stating to our commissioners the foundation of our rights to navigate the
Mississippi and to hold ovu- southern boundary at the thirty-first degree of latitude,
and that each of these is to be a sine qua non,
it is proposed to add as follows:
On the former conferences on the navigation of the Mississippi, Spain chose to
blend with it the subject of commerce, and accordingly specific propositions thereon
passed between the negotiators.
Her object then was to obtain our renunciation of
the navigation and to hold out commercial arrangements perhaps as a lure to
us.
Perhaps, however, she might then, and may now, really set a value on commercial
arrangements with us, and may receive them as a consideration for accommodating
us in the navigation, or may wish for them to have the appearance of receiving a
consideration.
Commercial arrangements,
if acceptable in themselves, will not be
the less so if coupled with those relating to navigation and boundary.
We have only
to take care that they be acceptable in themselves.
There are two principles which may be proposed as the basis of a commercial
treaty:
First, that of exchanging the privileges of native citizens, or, second, those of
the most favored nation.
First. With the nations holding important possessions in America we are ready to
exchange the rights of native citizens, provided they be extended through the whole
possessions of both parties; but the propositions of Spain made on the former occa-
George Washington
i-^J-
sion (a copy of which accompanies this) were that we should give their merchants.
vessels, and productions the privileges of native merchants, vessels, and productions
through the whole of our possessions, and they give the same to ours only m Spam
and the Canaries.
This
is inadmissible, because unequal; and as we beheve that
Spain is not ripe for an equal exchange on this basis, we avoid proposing it.
Second. Though treaties which merely exchange the rights of the most favored
nations are not without all inconvenience, yet they have their conveniences also.
It
is an important one that they leave each party free to make what internal regulations
they please, and to give what preferences they find expedient to native merchants,
vessels and productions; and as we already have treaties on this basis with France,
Holland
Sweden, and Prussia, the two former of which are perpetual,
it will be
but small additional embarrassment to extend it to Spain.
On the contrary, we are
sensible it is right to place that nation on the most favored footing, whether we have a
treaty with them or not, and it can do us no harm to secure by treaty a reciprocation
of the right.
.
•
,
. v
Of the four treaties before mentioned, either the French or the Prussian might be
taken as a model; but it would be useless to propose the Prussian, because we have
already supposed that Spain would never consent to those articles which give to
each party access to
all the dominions of the other; and without this equivalent
we would not agree to tie our own hands so materially in war as would be done by
the twenty-third article, which renounces the right of
fitting out privateers or of
capturing merchant vessels.
The French treaty, therefore, is proposed as the model.
In this, however, the following changes are to be made
:
We should be admitted to all the dominions of Spain to which any otner foreign
nation is or may be admitted.
.,,
,
^
Article 5, being an exemption from a particular duty in France, will of course be
omitted as inapplicable to Spain.
,.
^
.
j iv^i
Article 8 to be omitted as unnecessary with Morocco, and inefficacious and little
honorable with any of the Barbary powers; but
it may furnish occasion to sound
Spain on the project of a convention of the powers at war with the Barbary States
to keep up by rotation a constant cruise of a given force on their coasts
till they
shall be compelled
to renounce forever and
against
all
nations
their predatory
practices
Perhaps the infidelities of the Algerines to their treaty of peace with
Spain, though the latter does not choose to break openly, may induce her to subsidize
us to cruise against them with a given force.
Articles 9 and 10, concerning fisheries, to be omitted as inapplicable.
Article
II. The
first paragraph of this article respecting the droit d'aubame to
be omitted, that law being supposed peculiar to France.
,
r
..,
.t.
Article 17, giving asylum in the ports of either to the armed vessels of the other
with the prizes taken from the enemies of that other, must be qualified as
it is in
the nineteenth article of the Prussian
treaty, as the
stipulation m the latter part
of the article that "no shelter or refuge shall be given in the ports of the one to such
as shall have made prize on the subjects of the other of the parties" would forbid
us
in case of a war between France and Spain, to give shelter in our ports to prizes
made by the latter on the former, while the first part of the article would oblige us
to shelter those made by the former on the latter-a very dangerous covenant, and
which ought never to be repeated in any other instance.
Article 29. Consuls should be received
at
all the ports
at which the vessels of
either party may be received.
•
.
o
•
-u
Article 30, concerning free ports in Europe and America, free ports m the Spanish
possessions in America, and particularly at The Havannah, are more to be desired
tiian expected.
It can therefore only be recommended to the best endeavors of the
.
commissioners to obtain them.
It will be somellung to obtain for our vessels, flonr
etc
admission to those ports during their pleasure.
In like manner, if they could
112
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
be prevailed on to reestablish our right of cutting logwood in the Bay of Campeachy
on the footing on which it stood before the treaty of 1763, it would be desirable and
not endanger to us any contest with the
English, who by the revolution treaty
are restrained to the southeastern parts of Yucatan.
Article 31. The act of ratification on our part may require a twelvemonth from
the date of the treaty, as the Senate meets regularly but once a year; and to return
it to Madrid for exchange may require four months more.
The treaty must not exceed
years' duration, except the clauses relating to
boundary and the navigation of the Mississippi, which must be perpetual and final.
Indeed, these two subjects had better be in a separate instrument.
There might have been mentioned a third species of arrangement—that of making
special agreements on every special subject of commerce, and of settling a tariff of
duty to be paid on each side on every particular article; but this would require in
our commissioners a very minute knowledge of our commerce, as it is impossible to
foresee every proposition of this kind which might be brought into discussion and to
prepare them for it by information and instruction from hence.
Our commerce, too,
is as yet rather in a course of experiment, and the channels in which it will ultimately
flow are not sufficiently known to enable us to provide for
it by special agreement;
nor have the exigencies of our new Government as yet so far developed themselves
as that we can know to what degree we may or must have recourse_to commerce for
the purposes of revenue.
No common consideration, therefore, ought to induce us
as yet to arrangements of this kind.
Perhaps nothing should do
it with any nation
short of the privileges of natives in all their possessions, foreign and domestic.
It were to be wished, indeed, that some positively favorable stipulations respecting
our grain, flour, and fish could be obtained, even on our giving reciprocal advantages
to some of the commodities of Spain, say her wines and brandies
;
but,
First.
If we quit the ground of the most favored nation as to certain articles for
our convenience, Spain may insist on doing the same for other articles for her con-
venience, and thus our commissioners will get themselves on the ground of a treaty
of detail, for which they will not be prepared.
Second.
If we grant favor to the wines and brandies of Spain, then Portugal and
France will demand the same; and in order to create an equivalent Portugal may lay
a duty on our fish and grain, and France a prohibition on our whale oils, the removal
of which will be proposed as an equivalent.
Thus much, however, as to grain and flom- may be attempted.
There has not long
since been a considerable duty laid on them in Spain.
This was while a treaty on
the subject of commerce was pending between us and Spain, as that Court ccnsiders
the matter.
It is not generally thought right to change the state of things pending a
treaty concerning them.
On this consideration and on the motive of cultivating our
friendship, perhaps the commissioners may induce them to restore this commodity to
the footing on which
it was on opening the conferences vnth Mr. Gardoqui, on the
26th day of July,
1 7S5 .
If Spain says,
'
' Do the same by your tonnage on our vessels,
'
'
the answer may be that "Our foreign tonnage affects Spain very
little and other
nations very much; whereas the duty on flour in Spain affects us very much and
other nations very
little;
consequently there would be no equality in reciprocal
relinquishment, as there had been none in the reciprocal innovation; and Spain, by
insisting on this, would in fact only be aiding the interests of her rival nations, to
whom we should be forced to extend the same indulgence.
'
'
At the time of opening
the conferences, too, we had as yet not erected any system, our Government itself
being not yet erected.
Innovation then was unavoidable on our part, if it be inno-
vation to establish a system.
We did
it on
fair and general ground, on ground
favorable to Spain
; but they had a system, and therefore innovation was avoidable
on their part.
TH: JEFFERSON.
George IVashhigton
113
ARTICLES PROPOSED BY DON DIEGO GARDOQUI TO BE INSERTED IN THE TREATY
WITH THE UNITED STATES.
First. That all commercial regulations affecting each other shall be founded in
perfect reciprocity.
Spanish merchants shall enjoy all the commercial privileges of
native merchants in the United States, and American merchants shall enjoy ail the
commercial privileges of native merchants in the Kingdom
of Spain and in the
Canaries and other islands belonging to and adjacent thereto.
The same privileges
shall extend to their respective vessels and merchandise consisting of the manufac-
tures and products of their respective countries.
Second. Each party may establish consuls in the countries of the other (excepting
such provinces in Spain into which none have heretofore been admitted, viz, Bilboa
and Guipusca), with such powers and privileges as shall be ascertained by a par-
ticular convention.
Third. That the bona
fide manufactures and productions
of the United
States
(tobacco only excepted, which shall continue under its present regulation) may be
imported in American or Spanish vessels into any parts of His Majesty's European
dominions and islands aforesaid in like manner as if they were the productions of
Spain, and, on the other hand, that the bona fide manufactures and productions of
His Majesty's dominions may be imported into the United States in Spanish or
American vessels in like manner as
if they were the manufactures and productions
of the said States.
And further, that ail such duties and imposts as may mutually
be thought necessary to lay on them by either party shall be ascertained and regulated
on principles of exact reciprocity by a tariff, to be formed by a convention for that
purpose, to be negotiated and made within one year after the exchange of the rati-
fication of this treaty
; and in the meantime that no other duties or imposts shall be
exacted from each other's merchants and ships than such as may be payable by
natives in li]ce cases.
Fourth. That inasmuch as the United States, from not having mines of gold and
silver, may often want supplies of specie for a circulating medium. His Catholic
Majesty, as a proof of his good ^dll, agrees to order the masts and timber which may
from time to time be wanted for his royal navy to be purchased and paid
for in
specie in the United States, provided the said masts and timber shall be of equal quality
and when brought to Spain shall not cost more than the like may there be had for
from other countries.
Fifth.
It is agreed that the articles commonly inserted in other treaties of com-
merce for mutual and reciprocal convenience shall be inserted in this, and that this
treaty and every article and stipulation therein shall continue in full force for
years, to be computed from the day of the date hereof.
United States, March
p, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I now lay before you a general account rendered by the bankers of the
United States at Amsterdam of the payments they had made between
the
I St of July, 1790 and
1791, from the fund deposited in their hands
for the purposes of the act providing the means of intercourse between
the United States and foreign nations, and of the balance remaining in
their hands, together with a letter from the Secretary of State on the
subject.
09 WASHINGTON.
114
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
United States, March
20, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The several acts which have been passed relatively to the
military
establishment
of the United States and the protection of the frontiers
do not appear to have made provision for more than one brigadier-general.
It
is incumbent upon me
to observe that, with a view merely to the
organization of the troops designated by those acts, a greater number of
officers of that grade would, in my opinion, be conducive to the good of
the public service.
But an increase of the number becomes still more
desirable in reference to a different organization which
is contemplated,
pursuant
to the authority vested in me
for that purpose, and which,
besides other advantages expected from
it, is recommended by considera-
tions of economy.
I therefore request that you will be pleased to take
this subject into your early consideration and to adopt such measures
thereon as you shall judge proper,
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, March 23, 1J92.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
At the conferences which Colonel Pickering had with the Five Nations
at the Painted Post the last year ideas were then held out of introducing
among them some
of the primary principles of
civilization, in conse-
quence of which, as well as more firmly to attach them to the interests
of the United States, they have been invited to the seat of the General
Government.
As the representation now here
is respectable for
its character and
influence, it is of some importance that the chiefs should be well satisfied
of the entire good faith and liberality of the United States.
In managing
the
affairs
of
the Indian
tribes
generally
it
appears
proper
to teach them
to expect annual
presents,
conditioned on
the
evidence of their attachment to the interests of the United States.
The
situation
of the Five Nations and
the present
crisis
of
affairs would
seem to render the extension of this measure to them highly judicious.
I therefore request the advice of the Senate whether an article shall be
stipulated with the Five Nations to the following purport,, to wit:
The United
States, in order
to promote the happiness of the Five Nations of
Indians, will cause to be expended annually the amount of $1,500 in purchasing for
them clothing, domestic animals, and implements of husbandry, and for encouraging
useful artificers to reside iu their villages,
G9 WASHINGTON.
April
13, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives
:
I have thought it proper to lay before you a communication of the i ith
instant from the minister plenipotentiary of Great Britain to the Secre-
George Washington
115
tary of State, relative
to the commerce of the two countries, together
with their explanatorj' correspondence and the Secretary of State's letter
to me on the subject,
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, April 16, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Reprcsaitativcs:
I lay before you a copy of a letter from the judges of the circuit court
of the United States held for the New York district, and of their opinion
and agreement respecting the "Act to provide for the settlement of the
claims of widows and orphans barred by the hmitations heretofore estab-
lished, and to regulate the claims to invalid pensions.
'
'
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, April 21, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Represeyitatives:
I lay before you the copy of a letter which
I have received from the
judges of the circuit court of the United States held for the Pennsylvania
district relatively to the "Act to provide for the settlement of the claims
of widows and orphans barred by the limitations heretofore established,
and to regulate the claims to invahd pensions.
'
'
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, May S, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
If the, President of the United States should conclude a convention or
treaty with the Government of Algiers for the ransom
of the thirteen
Americans
in
captivity
there
for
a sum
not exceeding $40,000,
all
expenses included, will the Senate approve the same?
Or is there any,
and what, greater or
lesser sum which they would
fix on as the limit
beyond which they would not approve the ransom ?
If the President of the United States should conclude a treaty with the
Government of Algiers for the establishment of peace with them, at an
expense not exceeding $25,000, paid at the signature, and a like sum to
be paid annually afterwards during the continuance of the treaty, would
the Senate approve the same?
Or are there any greater or lesser sums
which they would fix on as the limits beyond which' they would not
approve of such treaty?
G9 WASHINGTON.
ii6
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
VETO MESSAGE,
United States, April 5, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Hoiisc of Representatives:
I have maturely considered the act passed by the two Houses entitled
"An
act
for an apportionment
of
Representatives among the several
States according
to the
first enumeration," and
I return
it
to
your
House, wherein it originated, with the following objections:
First. The Constitution has prescribed that Representatives shall be
apportioned among
the
several
States
according
to
their
respective
numbers, and there
is no one proportion or divisor which, applied
to
the respective numbers of the States, will yield the number and allotment
of Representatives proposed by the bill.
Second. The Constitution has also provided that the number of Repre-
sentatives
shall not exceed
i for every 30,000, which
restriction
is by
the context and by fair and obvious construction
to be applied to the
separate and respective numbers of the States; and the bill has allotted to
eight of the States more than
i for every 30,000.
G9 WASHINGTON.
[From Sparks's Washington, Vol. X, p. 53J.]
PROCLAMATION.
Whereas certain violent and
unwarrantable proceedings have lately
taken place tending to obstruct the operation of the laws of the United
States
for
raising
a revenue upon
spirits
distilled
within
the
same,
enacted pursuant to express authority delegated
in the Constitution of
the United States, which proceedings are subversive of good order, con-
trary to the duty that every citizen owes to his country and to the laws,
and of a nature dangerous to the very being of a government; and
Whereas such proceedings are the more unwarrantable by reason of
the moderation which has been heretofore shown on
the part of the
Government and of the disposition which has been manifested by the
Legislature (who alone have authority to suspend the operation of laws)
to obviate causes
of objection and
to render the laws as acceptable as
possible; and
Whereas it is the particular duty of the Executive "to take care that
the laws be faithfully executed," and not only that duty but the per-
manent interests and happiness of the people require that every legal
and necessary step should be pursued as well to prevent such violent and
George Washington
117
unwarrantable proceedings as to bring to justice the
infractors of the
laws and secure obedience thereto:
Now, therefore,
I, George Washington, President of the United States,
do by these presents most earnestly admonish and
exhort
all
persons
whom it may concern
to refrain and
desist from all unlawful combina-
tions and proceedings whatsoever having for object or tending to obstruct
the operation of the laws aforesaid, inasmuch as
all lawful ways and
means will be strictly put in execution for bringing to justice the infract-
ors thereof and securing obedience thereto.
And
I do moreover charge and require
all courts,
magistrates, and
officers whom
it may concern, according to the duties of
their
several
offices, to exert the powers in them respectively vested by law for the
purposes
aforesaid,
hereby
also
enjoining
and
requiring
all
persons
whomsoever, as they tender the welfare of their country, the just and
due authority of Government, and the preservation of the public peace,
to be aiding and assisting therein according to law.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand.
[seal.]
Done this 15th of September, A. D. 1792, and of the Inde-
pendence of the United States the seventeenth.
GO WASHINGTON.
FOURTH ANNUAL ADDRESS.
United States, November 6, i'/p2.
/^ellojv-Citizens of the Senate a7id of the House of Representatives:
It
is some abatement of the
satisfaction with which
I meet you on
the present
occasion
that,
in
felicitating you on a continuance of the
national prosperity generally,
I am not
able
to add
to
it information
that
the Indian
hostilities which
have
for some time
past
distressed
our Northwestern frontier have terminated.
You
will,
I am persuaded,
learn with no
less concern than
I com-
municate
it
that
reiterated
endeavors toward
effecting
a
pacification
have hitherto issued only in new and outrageous proofs of persevering
hostility on the part of the
tribes with whom we are in
contest.
An
earnest desire to procure tranquillity to the frontier, to stop the further
effusion of blood, to arrest the progress of expense, to forward the preva-
lent wish of
the nation for peace has led
to strenuous efforts through
various channels
to
accomplish
these
desirable
purposes;
in making
which
efforts
I consulted
less my own
anticipations of the event,
or
the scruples which some considerations were calculated to inspire, than
ii8
*
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
the wish to find the object attainable, or
if not attainable, to ascertain
unequivocally that such is the case.
A detail of the measures which have been pursued and of their conse-
quences, which will be laid before you, while
it will confirm to you the
want of success thus far, will,
I
trust, evince that means as proper and
as
efl&cacious
as could have been devised have been employed.
The
issue of some of them, indeed,
is
still depending, but a favorable one,
though not
to be despaired
of,
is not promised by anything that has
yet happened.
In the course of the attempts which have been made some valuable
citizens have fallen victims to their zeal for the public service.
A sanc-
tion commonly respected even among savages has been found in
this
instance
insufficient
to protect from massacre the emissaries of peace.
It will, I presume, be duly considered whether the occasion does not call
for an exercise of liberality toward the families of the deceased.
It must add to your concern to be informed that, besides the continua-
tion
of
hostile appearances among the tribes north of
the Ohio, some
threatening symptoms have of
late been revived among some of those
south of
it.
A part of the Cherokees, known by the name of Chickamaugas, inhab-
iting five villages on the Tennessee River, have long been in the practice
of committing depredations on the neighboring settlements.
It was hoped that
the
treaty of
Holston, made with
the Cherokee
Nation in July,
1791, would have prevented a repetition of such depre-
dations; but the event has not answered this hope.
The Chickamaugas,
aided by some banditti of another tribe in their vicinity, have recently
perpetrated wanton and unprovoked
hostilities upon the citizens of the
United States in that quarter.
The information which has been received
on this subject will be laid before you.
Hitherto defensive precautions
only have been strictly enjoined and observed.
It
is not understood that any breach of treaty
or aggression what-
soever on the part of the United States or their citizens is even alleged
as a pretext for the spirit of hostility in this quarter.
I have reason to believe that every practicable exertion has been made
(pursuant to the provision by law for that purpose) to be prepared for the
alternative of a prosecution of the war in the event of a failure of pacific
overtures.
A large proportion of the troops authorized to be raised have
been
recruited, though the number
is
still incomplete, and pains have
been taken to discipline and put them in condition for the particular kind
of service to be performed.
A delay of operations (besides being dictated
by the measures which were pursuing toward a pacific termination of the
war) has been in itself deemed preferable to immature efforts.
A state-
ment from the proper department with regard to the number of troops
raised, and some other points which have been suggested, will afford more
precise information as a guide to the legislative consultations, and among
George Washington
irg
Other
things will
enable Congress
to judge whether some
additional
stimulus to the recruiting service may not be advisable.
In looking forward to the future expense of the operations which may
be found inevitable
I derive consolation from the information I receive
that the product of the revenues for the present year is likely to super-
cede the necessity of additional burthens on the community for the service
of the ensuing year.
This, however, will be better ascertained in the
course of the session, and it is proper to add that the information alluded
to proceeds upon the supposition of no material extension of the spirit of
hostility.
I can not dismiss the subject of Indian affairs without again recom-
mending to your consideration the expediency of more adequate provision
for giving energy to the laws throughout our interior frontier and for
restraining the commission of outrages upon the Indians, without which
all pacific plans must prove nugatory.
To enable, by competent rewards,
the employment
of
qualified and trusty persons to reside among them
as agents would also contribute to the preservation of peace and gqpd
neighborhood.
If in addition to these expedients an eligible plan could
be devised for promoting civilization among the friendly tribes and for
carrying on trade with them upon a scale equal to their wants and under
regulations calculated
to
protect them from
imposition and extortion,
its
influence
in cementing
their
interest with
ours could not but be
considerable.
The prosperous state of our revenue has been intimated.
This would
be still more the case were it not for the impediments which in some places
continue to embarrass
the collection
of
the duties on
spirits
distilled
within the United
States.
These impediments have lessened and are
lessening in local extent, and, as applied to the community at large, the
contentment with the law appears to be progressive.
But- symptoms of increased opposition having latel)^ manifested them-
selves in certain quarters,
I judged a
special interposition on my part
proper and advisable, and under this impression have issued a proclama-
tion warning against all unlawful combinations and proceedings having
for their object or tending to obstruct the operation of the law in ques-
tion, and announcing that all lawful ways and means would be strictly
put in execution for bringing to justice the infractors thereof and securing
obedience thereto.
Measures have also been taken for the prosecution
of offenders, and
Congress may be assured that nothing within constitutional and legal
limits which may depend upon me shall be wanting to assert and main-
tain the just authority of the laws.
In fulfilling this trust
I shall count
entirely upon the full cooperation of the other departments of the Gov-
ernment and upon the zealous support of all good citizens.
I can not forbear to bring again into the view of the Legislature the
subject of a revision of the judiciary system.
A representation from
I20
Messages a7id Papers of the Presidents
the judges of the Supreme Court, which will be laid before you, points
out some of the inconveniences that are experienced.
In the course of
the execution
of the laws considerations
arise out of the structure
of
that system which
in some cases tend to relax their eflficacy.
As con-
nected with this subject, provisions to facilitate the taking of
bail upon
processes out
of the courts of the United
States and a supplementary
definition of offenses against the Constitution and laws of the Union and
of the punishment for such offenses will, it is presumed, be found worthy
of particular attention.
Observations on the value of peace with other nations are unnecessary.
It would be wise, however, by timely provisions to guard against those
acts of our own citizens which might tend to disturb
it, and to put our-
selves in a condition to give that satisfaction to foreign nations which we
may sometimes have occasion to require from them.
I particularly recom-
mend to your consideration the means of preventing those aggressions by
our citizens on the territory of other nations, and other infractions of the
law of nations, which, furnishing just subject of complaint, might endan-
ger our peace with them;
and, in general, the maintenance of a friendly
intercourse with foreign powers will be presented to your attention by
the expiration
of
the law for that purpose, which takes place,
if not
renewed, at the close of the present session.
In execution of the authority given by the Legislature measures have
been taken for engaging some artists from abroad to aid in the establish-
ment of
our mint.
Others have been employed
at home.
Provision
has been made of
the
requisite buildings, and these are now putting
into proper condition for the purposes of
the establishment.
There has
also been a small beginning in the coinage of half dimes, the want of
small coins in circulation calling the first attention to them.
The
regulation
of
foreign coins in correspondency with
the
princi-
ples of our national coinage,
as being essential
to
their due operation
and to order in our money concerns,
will," I doubt not, be resumed and
completed.
It is represented that some provisions in the law which establishes the
post-office operate, in experiment, against the transmission of newspapers
to distant parts of the country.
Should this, upon due inquiry, be found
to be the fact, a full con\dctioii of the importance of facilitating the cir-
culation of political intelligence and information will, I doubt not, lead
to the application of a remedy.
The adoption
of
a constitution
for the State of Kentucky has been
notified
to me.
The Legislature will share with me in the
satisfaction
which arises from an event interesting to the happiness of the part of the
nation to which it relates and conducive to the general order.
It is proper likewise to inform 3^ou that since vny last communication
on the subject, and in further execution of the acts severally making pro-
vision for the public debt and for the reduction thereof, three new loans
George Washington
121
have been
effected, each for 3,000,000 florins—one at Antwerp, at the
annual interest of 4^ per cent, with an allowance of 4 per cent in lieu
of
all charges, and the other two at Amsterdam, at the annual interest
of 4 per cent, with an allowance of 5>^ per cent in one case and of 5 per
cent
in the other in lieu of
all charges.
The rates of these loans and
the circumstances under which they have been made are confirmations
of the high state of our credit abroad.
Among the objects
to which these funds have been
directed
to be
applied, the payment of the debts due to certain foreign officers, accord-
ing to the provision made during the last session, has been embraced.
Gentlemen of the House of Represe7itatives:
I entertain a strong hope that the state of the national finances is now
sufficiently matured to enable you to enter upon a systematic and effectual
arrangement for the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt,
according to the right which has been reserved to the Government.
No
measure can be more desirable, whether viewed with an eye to its intrinsic
importance or to the general sentiment and wish of the nation.
Provision is likewise requisite for the reimbursement of the loan which
has been made of the Bank of the United States, pursuant to the eleventh
section of the act by which
it
is incorporated.
In
fulfilling the public
stipulations
in
this particular
it is expected a valuable saving will be
made.
Appropriations for the current
service of
the ensuing year and for
such extraordinaries as may require provision will demand, and I doubt
not will engage, your early attention.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the Hotise of Represe7itatives:
I
content
myself
with
recalling
your
attention
generally
to such
objects, not particularized in my present, as have been suggested in my
former communications to you.
Various temporary laws will expire during the present session.
Among
these, that which regulates trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes
will merit particular notice.
The results of your common
deliberations hitherto
will,
I
trust, be
productive
of
solid and durable advantages to our constituents, such
as, by conciliating more and more
their ultimate suffrage, will tend to
strengthen and confirm their attachment to that Constitution of Govern-
ment upon
which, under
Divine
Providence,
materially depend
their
union, their safety, and their happiness.
Still further to promote and secure these inestimable ends there
is
nothing which can have a more powerful tendency than the careful culti-
vation of harmony, combined with a due regard to stability, in the public
councils.
G? WASHINGTON.
122
Afcssages and Papers of the Presidents
ADDRESS OP THE SENATE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES.
The President cm' the United States
:
Accept,
sir, our grateful acknowledgments
for
your
address
at
the
opening of the present session.
We participate with you in the satisfac-
tion arising from the continuance of the general prosperity of the nation,
but it is not without the most sincere concern that we are informed that
the
reiterated
efforts which have been tfiade to establish peace with the
hostile Indians have hitherto
failed
to accomplish that desired object.
Hoping that the measures
still depending may prove more
successful
than those which have preceded them, w^e shall nevertheless concur in
every necessary preparation for the
alternative, and should the Indians
on either side of the Ohio persist in their hostilities, fidelity to the Union,
as well as affection for our fellow-citizens on the frontiers, will insure our
decided cooperation in every measure which shall be deemed requisite
for their protection and safety.
At the same time that we avow the obligation of the Government to
afford its protection to every part of the Union, we can not refrain from
expressing our regret that even a small portion of our fellow-citizens in
any quarter of
it should have combined to oppose the operation of the
law
for the collection
of
duties on
spirits
distilled within the United
States, a law repeatedly sanctioned by the authority of the nation, and
at this juncture materially connected with the safety and protection of
those who oppose
it.
Should the means already adopted fail in securing
obedience to this law, such further measures as may be thought necessary
to carry the same into complete operation can not
fail to receive the
approbation of the Legislature and the support of every patriotic citizen.
It yields us particular pleasure to learn that the productiveness of the
revenue of the present year will probably supersede the necessity of any
additional tax for the service of the next.
The organization of the government of the State of Kentucky being
an event peculiarly interesting to a part of our fellow-citizens and con-
ducive to the general order, affords us particular satisfaction.
We are happy to learn that the high state of our credit abroad has
been evinced by the terms on which the new loans have been negotiated.
In the course of the session we shall proceed to take into consideration
the several objects which you have been pleased to recommend to our
attention, and keeping in view the importance of union and stability in
the public councils, we shall labor to render our decisions conducive to
the safety and happiness of our country.
We repeat wdth pleasure our assurances of confidence in your Admin-
istration and our ardent wish that your unabated zeal for the public
good may be rewarded by the durable prosperity of the nation, and every
ingredient of personal happiness.
JOHN LANGDON,
November
9, 1792.
Prcside7it pro tempore.
Geoj'ge Washington
123
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
I derive much pleasure, gentlemen, from your ver}^ satisfactory address.
The renewed assurances of your confidence in ray Administration and the
expression of your wish ror luy personal happiness claim and receive my
particular acknowledgments.
In my
future endeavor
for
the
public
welfare, to which my duty may call me, I shall not cease to count upon
the firm, enlightened, and patriotic support of the Senate.
GO WASHINGTON.
November 9, 1792.
ADDRESS OF THE HODSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO GEORGE
,
WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir: The House of
Representatives, who always feel a satisfaction in
meeting you, are much concerned that the occasion for mutual felicita-
tion afforded by the circumstances favorable to the national prosperity
should be abated by a continuance of the hostile spirit of many of the
Indian
tribes, and particularly that the reiterated
efforts for effecting a
general pacification with them should have issued in new proofs of their
persevering enmity and
the barbarous
sacrifice of citizens who, as the
messengers of peace, were distinguishing themselves by their zeal for the
public service.
In our deliberations on this important department of our
affairs we shall be disposed to pursue every measure that may be dictated
by the sincerest desire, on one hand, of cultivating peace and manifest-
ing by every practicable regulation our benevolent regard for the welfare
of those misguided people, and by the duty we feel, on the other, to pro-
vide effectually for the safety and protection of our fellow-citizens.
While with regret we
lea; n
that symptoms of opposition to the law
imposing duties on
spirits distilled within the United States have mani-
fested themselves, we
reflec-; with consolation that they are confined to
a small portion of our fellow-citizens.
It
is not more essential
to the
preservation
of true
libertv that a government should be always ready
to listen to the representations of
its constituents and to accommodate
its measures to the sentiments and wishes of every part of them, as far as
will consist with the good of the whole, than it is that the just authority
of
the laws should be steadfastly maintained.
Under
this impression
every department of the Government and all good citizens must approve
the measures you have taken and the purpose you have formed to exe-
cute this part of your trust with firmness and energy; and be assured,
sir,
of
every
constitutional
aid
and
cooperation
which may become
requisite on our part.
And we hope
that, while the progress of
con-
tentment under the law in question
is as obvious as
it
is
rational, no
particular part of the community may be permitted to withdraw from the
general burthens of the country b}^ a conduct as irreconcilable to national
justice as
it is inconsistent with public decency.
124
Messages atui Papers of tlie Preside/iLs
The productive state of the pubHc revenue and the confirmation of
the credit of the United States abroad, evinced by the loans at Antwerp
and Amsterdam, are communications the more gratifying as they enforce
the obhgation to enter on systematic and eflectual arrangements for dis-
charging the pubHc debt as fast as the conditions of
it will permit, and
we take pleasure in the opportunity to assure you of our entire concur-
rence
in the opinion
that no measure can be more desirable, whether
viewed with an eye to the urgent wish of the community or the intrinsic
importance of promoting so happy a change in our situation.
The adoption of a constitution for the State of Kentucky
is an event
on which we join in all the satisfaction you have expressed.
It may be
considered as particularly interesting since, besides the immediate bene-
fits resulting from
it, it is another auspicious demonstration of the facility
and success with which an enlightened people
is capable of providing,
by free and
deliberate
plans
of government, for
their own safety and
happiness.
The operation of the law establishing the post-office, as
it
relates to
the transmission
of
newspapers,
will merit our particular inquiry and
attention, the circulation of political intelligence through these vehicles
being justly reckoned among the surest means of preventing the degen-
eracy of a free government, as well as of recommending every salutary
public measure to the confidence and cooperation of all virtuous citizens.
The several other matters which you have communicated and recom-
mended will
in
their order receive the attention due
to them, and our
discussions w'ill
in
all cases, we trust, be guided by a proper respect for
harmony and stability in the public councils and a desire to conciliate
more and more the attachment
of our constituents to the Constitution,
by measures accommodated to the true ends for which it was established.
November io, 1792.
reply of the president.
Gentlemen:
It gives me pleasure to express to 3^ou the satisfaction
which your address affords me.
I feel, as I ought, the approbation you
manifest of the measures I have taken and the purpose
I have formed
to maintain, pursuant to the trust reposed in me by the Constitution, the
respect which
is due to the laws, and the assurance which you at the
same time give me of every constitutional aid and cooperation that may
become requisite on your part.
This is a new proof of that enlightened solicitude for the establishment
and confirmation of public order which, embracing a zealous regard for
the principles of true liberty, has guided the deliberations of the House
of Representatives, a perseverance in which can alone secure, under the
divine blessing, the real and permanent felicity of our common country.
G9 WASHINGTON.
November 12, 1792.
George Washington
125
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
United States, November 7, iyg2.
Gentle7nen 0/ the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
In pursuance of the law, I now lay before you a statement of the admin-
istration of the funds appropriated to certain foreign purposes, together
with a letter from the Secretary of State explaining the same.
I also lay before you a copy of a
letter and representation from the
Chief Justice and associate judges of the Supreme Court of the United
States, stating the difficulties and inconveniences which attend the dis-
charge of their duties according to the present judiciary system.
A copy of a letter from the judges attending the circuit court of the
United States for the North Carolina
district in June
last,
containing
their observations on an act, passed during the last session of Congress,
entitled "An act to provide for the settlement of the claims of widows
and orphans barred by the
limitations heretofore
established, and
to
regulate the claims to invalid pensions; " and
A copy of the constitution formed for the State of Kentucky.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, November p, i/p2.
Gentlemen of the Se7iate and of the House of Representatives:
I now lay before you a letter from the Secretary of State, covering the
copy
of one from
the
governor
of
Virginia, with
the
several
papers
therein referred
to, on the subject of the boundary between that State
and the territory of the United States south of the Ohio.
It will remain
with the Legislature to take such measures as
it
shall think best
for
settling the said boundary with that State, and at the same time,
if
it
thinks proper,
for extending the settlement to the State of Kentucky,
between which
and
the
same
territory the boundary
is as yet unde-
termined.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, November 22, 1792.
Ge7itlemen of the Senate a?td of the House of Representatives:
I send you herewith the
abstract
of
a supplementary arrangement
which has been made by me, pursuant to the acts of the 3d day of March,
1 79 1, and the 8th day of May, 1792, for raising a revenue upon foreign
and domestic distilled
spirits, in respect to the subdivisions and officers
which have appeared to me necessary and
to the allowances for their
respective services to the supervisors,
inspectors, and other officers of
inspection, together with the estimates of the amount of compensations
and charges.
G9 WASHINGTON.
126
Messages and Paper's of the Presiderits
United States, Deceynber
6, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Represeiitatives:
The several measures which have been pursued to induce the hostile
Indian tribes north of the Ohio to enter into a conference or treaty with
the United States at which all causes of difference might be fully under-
stood and justly and amicably arranged have already been submitted to
both Houses of Congress.
The papers herewith sent will inform you of the result.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, December
7, 1792.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Represejitatives:
I lay before you two letters, with their inclosures, from the governor
of the Southwestern
territory, and an
extract of a
letter to him from
the Department of War.
These and a letter of the 9th of October last, which has been already
communicated to 3'ou, from the same Department to the governor, will
shew in what manner the first section of the act of the last session which
provides for calling out the militia for the repelling of Indian invasions
has been executed.
It remains to be considered by Congress whether
in the present situation of the United States
it be advisable or not
to
pursue any further or other measures than those which have been already
adopted.
The nature of the subject does of itself call for your immediate
attention to
it, and
I must add
that upon the result of your
delibera-
tions the future conduct of the Executive will on this occasion materially
depend.
GO WASHINGTON.
United Sta'TVS, fanuary 2j, 1793.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
Since my last communication to you on the subject of the revenue on
distilled spirits it has been found necessary, on experience, to revjse and
amend the arrangements relative thereto
in regard
to certain surveys
and the oflScers thereof in the district of North Carolina, which
I have
done accordingly in the manner following:
First. The several counties of the said district originally and hereto-
fore contained within the
first,
second, and
third surveys have been
allotted into and are now contained in two surveys, one
of which (to
be hereafter denominated the first) comprehends the town of Wilming-
ton and the counties of Onslow, New Hanover, Brunswick, Robertson,
Sampson, Craven, Jones, Lenox, Glascow, Johnston, and Wayne, and the
other of which (to be hereafter denominated the second) comprehends
the counties of Kurrituck, Camden, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Chowan,
Gates, Hartford, Tyrrel,
Bertie, Carteret, Hyde, Beaufort, and Pitt.
George Washington
127
Secondly. The several counties of the said district originally and here-
tofore contained within the fifth survey of the district aforesaid has been
allotted into and is contained in two surveys, one of which (to be here-
after denominated the third) comprehends the counties of Mecklenburg,
Rowan, Iredell, Montgomer}^ Guilford, Rockingham, Stokes, and Surrey,
and the other of which (to be hereafter denominated the fifth) compre-
hends the counties of Lincoln, Rutherford, Burke, Buncombe, and Wilkes.
Thirdly. The duties of the
inspector
of the revenue in and
for the
third survey as constituted above
is to be performed for the present by
the supervisor.
Fourthly. The compensations of the inspector of the revenue for the
first survey as above constituted are to be a salary of $250 per annum
and
commissions
and
other
emoluments
similar
to
those
heretofore
allowed
to
the inspector
of the
late
first survey
as
it was
originally
constituted.
Fifthly. The compensations
of the inspector of the revenue for the
second survey as above constituted are to be a salary of $100 per annum
and the commissions and other emoluments heretofore allowed
to the
inspector of the late third survey as it was originally constituted.
Sixthly. The compensations of the inspector of the revenue for the
fifth survey as above constituted are to be a salary of $120 per annum
and the commissions and other emoluments similar to those heretofore
allowed
to
the
inspector
of the
late
fifth survey as
it was
originally
constituted.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, Jamiary 2^, 1793.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the Hoiise of Representatives:
I lay before you an ofiicial statement of the expenditure to the 3^ear
1792 from the sum of $10,000, granted to defray the contingent expenses
of Government by an act passed on the 26th of March, 1790.
Also an abstract of a supplementary arrangement made in the district
of North Carolina in regard to certain surveys to
facilitate the execu-
tion of the law laying a duty on distilled spirits.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, February ij, 1793.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I lay before you
for your consideration and advice a treaty of peace
and friendship made and concluded on the 27th day of September,
1792,
by
Brigadier- General Rufus Putnam,
in
behalf
of the United
States,
with the Wabash and Illinois tribes of Indians, and also the proceedings
attending the said treaty, the explanation of the fourth article thereof,
and a map explanatory of the reservation to the French inhabitants and
the general claim of the said Indians.
128
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
In connection >vith this subject I
also lay before the Senate the copy
of a paper which has been delivered by a man by the name of John Bap-
tiste Mayee, who has accompanied the Wabash Indians at present in this
city.
It will appear by the certificate of Brigadier-General Putnam that the
Wabash Indians disclaimed the validity of the said paper, excepting a
certain tract upon the Wabash, as mentioned in the proceedings.
The instructions
to Brigadier-General Putnam
of the 22d
of May,
together with a letter to him of the 7th of August, 1792, were laid before
the Senate on the 7th of November, 1792.
After the Senate shall have considered this treaty, I request that they
would give me their advice whether the same shall be ratified and con-
firmed
; and
if
to be
ratified and confirmed, whether
it would
not be
proper, in order to prevent any misconception hereafter of
the fourth
article,
to guard
in
the
ratification
the
exclusive preemption
of
the
United States to the lands of the said Indians.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, February 18, 1793.
Gentlemen of the Se?iate and of the House of Reprcse?itatives:
I now lay before you a report and plat of the territory of the United
States on the Potomac as given in by the commissioners of that territory,
together with a letter from the Secretary of State which accompanied
them.
These papers, being original, are to be again deposited with the
records of the Department of State after ha\dng answered the purpose of
your information.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, February ip, 1793.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
It has been agreed on the part of the United States that a treaty or
conference shall be held at the ensuing season with the hostile Indians
northwest of the Ohio, in order to remove,
if possible, all causes of differ-
ence and to establish a solid peace with them.
As the estimates heretofore presented to the House for the current
year did not contemplate this object,
it will be proper that an express
provision be made by law as well for the general expenses of the treaty
as to establish the compensation to be allowed the commissioners who
shall be appointed for the purpose.
I
shall therefore direct the Secretary of War to lay before you an
estimate of the expenses which may probably attend this measure.
G9 WASHINGTON.
George Washington
129
United States, February ^7, 1793.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you a copy of an exemplificatioii of an act of the legislature
of New York ceding to the United vStates the jurisdiction of certain lands
on Montauk Point for the purpose mentioned in said act, and the copy
of a letter from the governor of New York to the Secretary
of State,
which accompanied said exemplification.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, February 28, 1793.
Qmilemen of the Senate:
I was led by a consideration of the qualifications of William Patterson,
of New Jersey, to nominate him an
associate
justice
of the Supreme
Court of the United States.
It has since occurred that he was a member
of the Senate when the law creating that ofiice was passed, and that the
time for which he was elected
is not yet expired.
I think
it my duty,
therefore, to declare that I deem the nomination to have been null by
the Constitution.
GO WASHINGTON.
PROCLAMATIONS.
[From Freneau's National Gazette of December 15, 1792.]
By the President of the United States.
Whereas
I have received authentic information that certain lawless
and wicked persons of the western
frontier in the State of Georgia did
lately invade, burn, and destroy a town belonging to the Cherokee Nation,
although
in amity with the United
States,
and
put
to death
several
Indians of that nation; and
Whereas such outrageous
conduct
not
only violates
the
rights
of
humanity, but also endangers the public peace, and it highly becomes
the honor and good faith of the United States to pursue all legal means
for the punishment of those atrocious offenders:
I have therefore thought
fit
to
issue
this my proclamation, hereby
exhorting
all the
citizens of the United
vStates and
requiring
all the
ofiicers thereof, according to their respective stations, to use their utmost
endeavors to appreliend and bring those offenders to justice.
And I do
moreover offer a reward of $500 for each and every of the above-named
persons who shall be so apprehended and brought to justice and shall be
proved to have assumed or exercised any command or authority among
the perpetrators of the crimes aforesaid
at the time of committing the
same.
I30
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
In testimony whereof
I have caused the seal of the United
States to
be affixed to these presents, and sij^ned the same with my hand.
r
,
n
Done at the citv of Phihidelijhia, the 12th day of December,
ISEAIv.J
'
A. D. 1792, and of the Independence of the United States the
seventeenth.
G9 WASHINGTON.
By the President:
Th: Jeffhkson.
[From Annals of Confjress, Second Congress, 666.]
March
i,
1793.
The President of the United States to the Presidc7if of the Senate:
Certain matters touching the pubhc good requiring
that
the Senate
shall
be convened on Monday,
the
4th
instant,
I have
desired
their
attendance, as I do yours, by these presents, at the Senate Chamber, in
Philadelphia, on
that day, then and there to receive and deliberate on
such communications as shall be made to you on my part.
GP WASHINGTON.
SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
IN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, PA.
Fellow-Citizens :
I am again called upon by the voice of my country
to execute the functions of
its Chief Magistrate.
When the occasion
proper
for
it shall arrive,
I shall endeavor to express the high sense
I
entertain
of
this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has
been reposed in me by the people of united America.
Previous to the execution of any oflficial act of the President the Con-
stitution requires an oath of oflSce.
This oath I am now about to take, and
in your presence
: That if
it shall be found during my administration of
the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly
the injunctions thereof,
I may (besides incurring constitutional punish-
ment) be subject to the upbraidings of
all who are now witnesses of the
present solemn ceremony.
March 4,
1793.
FIFTH ANNUAL ADDRESS.
Philadelphia, December j, 1793.
Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Represeritatives:
Since the commencement of the term for which
I have been again
called into office no fit occasion has arisen for expressing to my fellow-
citizens at large the deep and respectful sense which I feel of the renewed
George
IJ^ashingtoit
131
testimony of public approbation.
While on the one hand
it awakened
my gratitude for all those instances of affectionate partiality with which
I have been honored by my country, on the other
it could not prevent
an earnest wish for that retirement from which no private consideration
should ever have torn me.
But influenced by the belief that my conduct
would be estimated according to
its real motives, and that the people,
and the authorities derived from them, would support exertions having
nothing personal for their object, I have obeyed the suffrage which com-
manded me to resume the Executive power; and I humbly implore that
Being on whose will the fate of nations depends
to crown with success
our mutual endeavors for the general happiness.
As soon as the war in Europe had embraced those powers with whom
the United States have the most extensive relations there was reason to
apprehend that our intercourse with them might be interrupted and our
disposition
for peace drawn into question by the suspicions too often
entertained by belligerent nations.
It seemed, therefore, to be my duty
to admonish our citizens of the consequences of a contraband trade and
of
hostile acts to any of the
parties, and to obtain by a declaration of
the existing
legal
state
of things an easier admission of our right to
the immunities belonging to our
situation.
Under
these
impressions
the proclamation which will be laid before you was issued.
In this posture of
affairs, both new and delicate,
I resolved to adopt
general rules which should conform to the treaties and assert the privi-
leges of the United States.
These were reduced into a system, which
will be communicated to you.
Although
I have not thought myself at
liberty to forbid the sale of the prizes permitted by our treaty of com-
merce with France to be biought into our ports,
I have not refused to
cause them to be restored when they were taken within the protection
of our territory, or by vessels commissioned or equipped
in a warlike
form within the limits of the United States,
It rests with the wisdom of Congress to correct, improve, or enforce
this plan of procedure; and it will probably be found expedient to extend
the legal code and the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States to
many cases which, though dependent on principles already recognized,
demand some further provisions.
Where individuals shall, within the United States, array themselves in
hostility against any of the powers at war, or enter upon military expedi-
tions or enterprises within the jurisdiction of the United States, or usurp
and exercise judicial authority within the United States, or where the
penalties on violations of the law of nations may have been indistinctly
marked, or are inadequate—these offenses can not receive too early and
close an attention, and require prompt and decisive remedies.
Whatsoever those remedies may be, they will be well administered
by the judiciary^ who possess a long-established course of investigation,
effectual process, and officers in the habit of executing it.
1 3 2
Messages and J *ap< v -v of the Presiden is
In like manner, as several of the courts have doubted, under particular
Lircunistauces,
their power to liberate the vessels of a nation
at peace,
and even of a citizen of the United vStates, although seized under a false
color of being hostile property, and have denied their power
to liberate
certain captures within
the protection
of our
territory,
it would seem
proper to regulate their jurisdiction in these points.
But if the Executive
is to be the resort in either of the two last-mentioned cases,
it
is hoped
that he will be authorized hy law to have facts ascertained by the courts
when for his own information he shall request
it.
I can not recommend to your notice measures for the fulfillment of our
duties
to the
rest of the world without again pressing upon you the
necessity of placing ourselves in a condition of complete defense and of
exacting from them the fulfillment of their duties toward us.
The United
States ought not to indulge a persuasion
that, contrary to the order
of
human events, they will forever keep at a distance those painful appeals
to arms with which the history of every other nation abounds.
There is
a rank due to the United States among nations which will be withheld,
if not absolutely lost, by the reputation
of weakness.
If we
desire to
avoid
insult, we must be able to repel
it
;
if we desire
to secure peace,
one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity,
it must
be known that we are at all times ready for war.
The documents which
will be presented
to you will shew the amount and kinds of arms and
military stores now in our magazines and arsenals
; and yet an addition
even to these supplies can not with prudence be neglected, as
it would
leave nothing
to the uncertainty of procuring of warlike apparatus
in
the moment of public danger.
Nor can such arrangements, with such objects, be exposed to the cen-
sure or jealousy of the warmest friends of republican government.
They
are incapable of abuse in the hands of the militia, who ought to possess
a pride
in being the depository of the
force of the Republic, and may
be trained to a degree of energy equal to every military exigency of the
United
States.
But
it
is an inquiry which can not be
too solemnly
pursued, whether the act "more effectually to provide
for the national
defense by establishing an uniform militia throughout the United States
'
'
has organized them so as to produce their full effect
; whether your own
experience in the several States has not
detected some imperfections
in the scheme, and whether a
material
feature
in an improvement
of
it ought not
to be
to
afford
an opportunity
for
the study
of
those
branches of the military art which can scarcely ever be attained by prac-
tice alone.
The connection of the United States with Europe has become extremely
interesting.
The occurrences which relate to
it and have passed under
the knowledge of the Executive will be exhibited to Congress in a sub-
sequent communication.
When we contemplate the war on our frontiers, it may be truly aflSrmed
George Washington
133
that every reasonable effort has been made to adjust the causes of dissen-
sion with the Indians north of the Ohio.
The instructions given to the
commissioners evince a moderation and equity proceeding from a sincere
love of peace, and a liberality having no restriction but the essential inter-
ests and dignity of the United States.
The attempt, however, of an ami-
cable negotiation having been frustrated, the troops have marched to act
offensively.
Although the proposed treaty did not arrest the progress
of military preparation,
it is doubtful how far the advance of the season,
before good faith justified active movements, may retard them during the
remainder of the year.
From the papers and intelligence which relate
to this important subject you will determine whether the deficiency in
the number of troops granted by law shall be compensated by succors of
militia, or additional encouragements shall be proposed to recruits.
An anxiety has been
also demonstrated by the Executive for peace
with the Creeks and the Cherokees.
The former have been relieved with
corn and with clothing, and offensive measures against them prohibited
during the recess of Congress.
To satisfy the complaints of the latter,
prosecutions have been instituted for the violences committed upon them.
But the papers which will be delivered to you disclose the critical footing
on which we stand in regard to both those tribes, and it is with Congress
to pronounce what shall be done.
After the}' shall have provided for the present emergency, it will merit
their most serious labors to render tranquillity with the savages permanent
by creating ties of interest.
Next to a rigorous execution of justice on
the violators of peace, the establishment of commerce with the Indian
nations in behalf of the United States
is most likely to conciliate their
attachment.
But it ought to be conducted without fraud, without extor-
tion, with constant and plentiful supplies, with a ready market for the
commodities
of the Indians and a stated price for what they give in
payment and receive in exchange.
Individuals
will not
pursue such
a traf&c unless they be allured by the hope
of
profit;
but
it
will be
enough
for the United States to be reimbursed only.
Should this rec-
ommendation accord with the opinion
of
Congress, they
will
recollect
that
it can not be accomplished by any means yet in the hands
of the
Executive.
Ge7itlemen of the House of Representatives:
The commissioners charged with the settlement of a.ccounts between
the United States and individual States concluded their important func-
tions within the time limited by law, and the balances struck in their
report, which will be laid before Congress, have been placed on the books
of the Treasury.
On the ist day of June last an installment of 1,000,000 florins became
payable on the loans of the United States in Holland.
This was adjusted
])y
a prolongation of the
i^eriod of reimbursement
in nature of a new
134
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
loan
at an
interest
of
5 per cent
for the term of ten
years, and the
expenses of this operation were a commission of 3 per cent.
The
first installment of the loan of $2,000,000 from the Bank of the
United States has been paid, as was directed by law.
For the second it
is necessary that provision should be made.
No pecuniary consideration is more urgent than the regular redemption
and discharge of the public debt.
On none can delay be more injurious
or an economy of time more valuable.
The productiveness of the public revenues hitherto has continued to
equal the anticipations which were formed of
it, but
it
is not expected
to prove commensurate with all the objects which have been suggested.
Some auxiliary provisions will therefore,
it
is presumed, be
requisite,
and it is hoped that these may be made consistently with a due regard to
the convenience of our citizens, who can not but be sensible of the true
wisdom of encountering a small present addition to their contributions
to obviate a future accumulation of burthens.
But here
I can not forbear to recommend a repeal
of the tax on the
transportation
of public prints.
There
is no resource so firm
for the
Government of the United States as the afi"ections of the people, guided
by an enlightened policy
; and to this primary good nothing can conduce
more than a faithful representation of public proceedings, diffused without
restraint throughout the United States.
An estimate of the appropriations necessar>' for the current service of
the ensuing year and a statement of a purchase of arms and mihtary
stores made during the recess wnll be presented to Congress.
Gentlemen of the Seyiate and of the House of Representatives:
The several subjects to which I have now referred open a wide range
to your deliberations and involve some of the choicest
interests of our
common country.
Permit me to bring to
3- our remembrance the magni-
tude of your task.
Without an unprejudiced coolness the welfare of the
Government may be hazarded
; without harmony as far as consists with
freedom of sentiment
its dignity may be
lost.
But
as the
legislative
proceedings of the United States will never, I
trust, be reproached for
the want of temper or of candor, so shall not the public happiness languish
from the want of my strenuous and warmest cooperation.
G9 WASHINGTON,
ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES.
The President of the United States:
Accept,
sir, the thanks of the Senate for your speech delivered to both
Houses of Congress at the opening of the session.
Your reelection to the
Chief Magistracy of the United States gives us sincere pleasure. We
George Washington
135
consider
it as an event every way propitious
to the happiness of our
country, and your compliance with the
call as a fresh instance of the
patriotism which has so repeatedly led you to sacrifice private incUnation
to the pubhc good.
In the unanimity which a second time marks this
important national act we trace with particular satisfaction, besides the
distinguished
tribute paid
to the virtues and
abilities which
it recog-
nizes, another proof of that just discernment and constancy of sentiments
and views which have hitherto characterized the citizens of the United
States.
As the European powers with whom the United States have the most
extensive
relations were involved
in war,
in which we had taken no
part,
it seemed necessary that the disposition of the
nation
for peace
should be promulgated to the world, as well for the purpose of admon-
ishing our citizens of the consequences of a contraband trade and of acts
hostile to any of the belligerent parties as to obtain by a declaration of
the existing legal state of things an easier admission of our right to the
immunities of our situation. We therefore contemplate with pleasure the
proclamation by you issued, and give
it our hearty approbation.
We
deem it a measure well timed and wise, manifesting a watchful soUcitude
for the welfare of the nation and calculated to promote it.
The several important matters presented to our consideration will, in
the course of the session, engage
all the attention to which they are
respectively entitled, and as the public happiness will be the sole guide
of our deliberations, we are perfectly assured of receiving your strenuous
and most zealous cooperation.
JOHN ADAMS,
Vice-Presideyit of the United States and President of the Senate.
DSCEMBBR 9,
1793.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Genti^emen: The pleasure expressed by the Senate on my reelection
to the station which
I
fill commands my sincere and warmest acknowl-
edgments.
If this be an event which promises the smallest addition to
the happiness of our country, as
it
is my duty so shall
it be my study
to realize the expectation.
The decided approbation which the proclamation now receives from
your House, by completing the proofs that this measure is considered as
manifesting a vigilant
attention
to the welfare
of the United
States,
brings with it a peculiar gratification to my mind.
The other important subjects which have been communicated to you
will, I am confident, receive a due discussion, and the result will, I trust,
prove fortunate to the United States.
G9 WASHINGTON.
December 10, 1793-
ijO
Mfssagi^s mid Pafyfrs
<>J' iJir J'irsidtiils
ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO GEORGE
WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir: The Representatives of the people of the United States, in meet-
ing you
for the first time since you have been again called by an unani-
mous suffrage to your present station, find an occasion which they embrace
with no less sincerity than promptitude for expressing to you their con-
gratulations on so distingui^;hed a
testimony of public approbation, and
their entire confidence in the purity and patriotism of the motives which
have produced
this obedience
to the voice of your country.
It
is to
\'irtues which have commanded long and universal reverence and
ser^r-
ices from which have flowed great and lasting benefits that the tribute
of praise may be paid without the reproach of flattery, and
it
is from
the same sources that the
fairest anticipations may be derivtd
in favor
of the public happiness.
The United States having taken no part in the war which had em-
braced in Europe the powers with whom they have the most extensive
relations, the maintenance of peace was justly to be regarded as one of the
most important duties of the Magistrate charged with the faithful execu-
tion of the laws.
We accordingly witness with approbation and pleasure
the vigilance with which you have guarded against an interruption of that
blessing by your proclamation admonishing our citizens
of the conse-
quences of
illicit or hostile acts toward the belligerent parties, and pro-
moting by a declaration of the existing
legal
state
of
things an easier
admission of our right to the immunities belonging to our situation.
The connection of the United States with Europe has evidently become
extremely interesting.
The communications which remain to be exhib-
ited to us will no doubt assist in giving us a
fuller view of the subject
and
in guiding our deliberations to such results as may comport with
the rights and true interests of our country.
We learn with deep regret that the measures, dictated by love of peace,
for obtaining an amicable termination of the afflicting war on our frontiers
have been frustrated, and that a resort to offensive measiures should have
again become uecessar>\
As the latter, however, must be rendered more
satisfactory in proportion to the solicitude for peace manifested by the
former,
it is to be hoped they wall be piu-sued under the better auspices
on that account, and be finally crowned wi.th more happy success.
In relation to the particular tribes of Indians against whom offensive
measures have been prohibited, as well as on
all the other important
subjects which you have presented
to om: view, we
shall bestow the
attention which they claim.
We can not, however, refrain at this time
from particularly expressing our concurrence in your anxiety for the
regular discharge of the public debts as fast as circumstances and events
will permit and in the policy of removing any impediments that may
be found in the way of a faithful representation of public proceedings
George Washingtoti
137
throughout the United States, being persuaded with you that on no sub-
ject more than the former can delay be more injurious or an economy of
time more valuable, and that with respect to the
latter no resource is
so firm for the Government of the United States as the affections of the
people, guided by an enlightened policy.
Throughout our deliberations we shall endeavor to cherish every senti-
ment which may contribute to render them conducive
to the dignity as
well as to the welfare
of the United States
; and we
join with
3'ou
in
imploring that Being on whose will the fate of nations depends to crown
with success our mutual endeavors.
December
6, 1793.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Gentlemen:
I
shall not
affect
to conceal
the cordial
satisfaction
which
I
derive from
the
address
of
the House
of
Representatives.
Whatsoever those services may be which you have sanctioned by your
favor, it is a sufficient reward that they have been accepted as they were
meant.
For the fulfillment of your anticipations of the future
I can
give no other assurance than that the motives which you approve shall
continue unchanged.
It
is truly gratifying to me to learn that the proclamation has been
considered as a seasonable guard against the interruption of the pubhc
peace.
Nor can
I doubt that the subjects which I have recommended
to yoiu" attention as depending on legislative provisions will receive a
discussion suited to their importance.
With every reason, then,
it may
be expected that your deliberations, under the divine blessing, will be
matin-ed to the honor and happiness of the United States.
GO WASHINGTON.
December
7,
1793.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
United States, December 5, 17^3.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
As the present situation of the several nations of Europe, and espe-
cially of those with which the United States have important relations,
can not but render the state of things between them and us matter of
interesting inquiry to the Legislature, and may indeed give rise to delib-
erations to which they alone are competent,
I have thought
it my duty
to communicate to them certain correspondences which have taken place.
The representative and executive bodies of France have manifested
generally a friendlj'^ attachment to this country
; have given advantages to
138
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
our commerce and navigation, and have made overtures for placing thes«
advantages on permanent ground.
A decree, however, of the National
Assembly subjecting vessels laden with provisions to be carried into their
ports and making enemy goods lawful prize
in the vessel of a
friend,
contrary
to our
treaty, though revoked
at one time
as
to the United
States, has been since extended to their vessels also, as has been recently
stated to us.
Representations on this subject will be immediately given
in charge to our minister there, and the result shall be communicated to
the Legislature.
It is with extreme concern
I have to inform you that the proceedings
of the person whom they have unfortunately appointed their minister
plenipotentiary here have breathed nothing of the friendly spirit of the
nation which sent him.
Their tendency, on the contrary, has been to
involve us in war abroad and discord and anarchy at home.
So far as
his acts or those of his agents have threatened our immediate commit
ment
in the war, or
flagrant insult
to the authority of the laws, their
effect has been counteracted by the ordinary cognizance of the laws and
by an exertion of the powers confided to me.
Where their danger was
not imminent they have been borne with from sentiments of regard to
his nation, from a sense of their friendship toward us, from a conviction
that they would not suffer us to remain long exposed to the action of a
person who has so
little respected our mutual
dispositions, and,
I will
add, from a reliance on the firmness of my fellow-citizens in their prin-
ciples of peace and order.
In the meantime I have respected and pursued
the stipulations of our
treaties according
to what
I judged
their tine
sense, and have withheld no act of friendship which their affairs have
called for from us, and which justice to others
left us free
to perform.
I have gone farther.
Rather than employ force for the restitution of
certain vessels which
I deemed the United States bound to restore,
I
thought it more advisable to satisfy the parties by avowing
it to be my
opinion that if restitution were not made
it would be incumbent on the
United States to make compensation.
The papers now communicated
will more particularly apprise you of these transactions.
The vexations and spoliation understood to have been committed on
our vessels and commerce by the cruisers and officers of some of the bellig-
erent powers appear to require attention.
The proofs of these, however,
not having been brought forw^ard, the descriptions of citizens supposed
to have suffered were notified that, on furnishing them to the Executive,
due measures would be taken to obtain redress of the past and more effec-
tual proTnsions against the future.
Should such documents be furnished,
proper representations will be made thereon, with a just reliance on a
redress proportioned to the exigency of the case.
The British Government having undertaken, by orders to the com-
manders of their armed vessels, to restrain generally our commerce
in
corn and other provisions to their own ports and those of their friends.
George
U^ashingto7i
139
the instructions now communicated were immediately forwarded to o\\\
minister at that Court.
In the meantime some discussions on the sub-
ject took place between him and them.
These are also laid before you,
and I may expect to learn the result of his special instructions in time to
make it known to the Legislature during their present session.
Very early after the arrival of a British minister here mutual explana
tions on the inexecution of the treaty of peace were entered into with
that minister.
These are now laid before you for your information.
On the subjects of mutual
interest between this country and Spain
negotiations
and
conferences
are now
depending.
The
public good
requiring that the present
state of these should be made known to the
Legislature
in
confidence
07ily, they
shall
be the subject
of a separate
Hud subsequent communication.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, December 16, 1793.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The situation of affairs in Europe in the course of the year 1790 hav-
ing rendered
it possible that a moment might arrive favorable for the
arrangement of our unsettled matters with Spain,
it was thought proper
10 prepare our representative at that Court to avail us of it.
A confiden-
tial person was therefore dispatched to be the bearer of instructions to
him, and to supply, by verbal communications, any additional information
of which he might find himself in need.
The Government of France
was at the same time applied to
for
its aid and influence in
this nego-
tiation.
Events, however, took a turn which did not present the occasion
hoped for.
About the close of the ensuing year I was informed through the rep-
resentatives of Spain here that their Government would be willing to
renew at Madrid the former conferences on these subjects.
Though the
transfer of scene was not what would have been desired, yet I did not
think
it important enough to reject the proposition, and therefore, with
the advice and consent of the Senate,
I appointed commissioners pleni-
potentiary for negotiating and concluding a treaty with that country on
the several subjects of boundary, navigation, and commerce, and gave
them the instructions now communicated.
Before
these
negotiations,
however, could be got into train the new troubles which had arisen in
Europe had produced new combinations among the powers there, the
effects
of which are but too visible in the proceedings now laid
before
you.
In the meantime some other points of discussion had arisen with that
country, to wit, the restitution of property escaping into the territories of
each other, the mutual exchange of fugitives from justice, and, above
all, the mutual interferences with the Indians lying between us.
I had
I40
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
.the best reason to believe that the hostilities threatened and exercised
by the
Southerii
Indians on our border were excited by the agents
of
that Government.
Representations were thereon directed to be made by
our commissioners to the Spanish Government, and a proposal to culti-
vate with good faith the peace of each other with those people.
In the
meantime corresponding suspicions were
entertained, or pretended
to
be
entertained, on
their part
of like hostile excitements by our agents
to disturb
their peace with
the same
nations.
These were brought
forward by the representatives of Spain here in a style which could not
fail to produce attention.
A claim of patronage and protection of those
Indians was asserted; a mediation between them and us by that sovereign
assumed; their boundaries with us made a subject of his interference, and
at
length, at the very moment when
these
sa\^ages were committing
daily inroads upon our frontier, we w^ere informed by them that
'
' the
continuation of the peace, good harmony, and perfect friendship of the
two nations was very problematical
for the
future, unless the United
States should take more convenient measures and
of
greater energy
than those adopted for a long time past."
If
their previous correspondence had worn the appearance of a desire
to urge on a disagreement, this last declaration left no room to evade it,
since
it could not be conceived we would submit to the scalping knife
and tomahawk of the savage without any resistance.
I thought
it time,
therefore, to know
if these were the views of
their sovereign, and
dis-
patched a special messenger with instructions to our commissioners, which
are among the papers now communicated.
Their
last
letter gives us
reason to expect very shortly to know the
result.
I must add that the
Spanish representatives here, perceiving that
their
last communication
had made considerable impression, endeavored to abate this by some sub-
sequent professions, which, being also among the communications to the
Legislature, they will be able to form their own conclusions.
G9 WASHINGTON.
^
United States, December i6, 1793.
Gentlemen of the Seriate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you
a report
of the Secretary' of State on the measures
which have been taken on behalf of the United States for the purpose of
Dbtaining a recognition of our treaty with Morocco and for the ransom
of our citizens and establishment of peace with Algiers.
While
it
is proper our citizens should know that
subjects which so
much concern
their interest and
their feelings have duly engaged the
attention of their Legislature and Executive,
it would still be improper
that some particulars of
this communication should be made known.
The confidential conversation stated in one of the last letters sent here-
with
is one of these.
Both justice and policy require that the source