George Washington
141
of that information should remain secret.
So a knowledge of the sums
meant to have been given for peace and ransom might have a disadvan-
tageous influence on future proceedings for the same objects.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, December 23, 1793.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
Since the communications which were made
to you on the
affairs of
the United States with Spain and on the truce between Portugal and
Algiers some other papers have been received, which, making a part of
the same subjects, are now communicated for your information.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, December 30, 1793.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the Hoiise of Represeyitatives:
I lay before you, for your consideration, a letter from the Secretary of
State, informing me of certain impediments which
have arisen to the
coinage of the precious metals at the
Mint,
as also a
letter from the
same
oflBcer
relative
to
certain
advances of money
which have been
made on public account.
Should you think proper to sanction what has
been done, or be of opinion that anything more shall be done
in the
same way, you will judge whether there
are not circumstances which
would render secrecy expedient.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, fanuary
7, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
Experience has shewn that
it would be useful to have an officer par-
ticularly charged, under the
direction of the Department of War, with
the duties of receiving, safe-keeping, and distributing the public supplies
in all cases in which the laws and the course
of service do not devolve
them upon
other
officers, and also with
that
of superintending
in
all
cases the issues
in
detail of supplies, with power
for
that purpose to
bring
to account
all persons intrusted
to make such
issues
in
relation
thereto.
An establishment of
this nature, by securing a regular and punctual
accountability for the issues of public supplies, would be a great guard
against abuse, would tend
to insure their due application and
to give
public satisfaction on that point.
I therefore recommend to the consideration of Congress the expediency
of an establishment of this nature, under such regulations as shall appear
to them advisable.
G9 WASHINGTON.
142
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
United
StaTT'ES, Jamiary 20, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate a7td of the House of Representatives:
Having already
laid before you a letter of the
i6tli of August,
1793,
from the Secretary of State to our minister at Paris, stating the conduct
and urging the recall of the minister plenipotentiary of the Republic of
France,
I now communicate to you that
his conduct has been unequivo-
cally disapproved, and
that
the strongest assurances have been given
that his recall should be expedited without dela>-.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, farmary
21, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
It
is with satisfaction
I announce to you that the alterations which
have been made by law in the original plan for raising a duty on spirits
distilled within the United States, and on stills, cooperating with better
information, have had a considerable influence in obviating the difficul-
ties which have embarrassed that branch of the public revenue.
But
the obstacles which have been experienced, though lessened, are not yet
entirely surmounted, and
it would seem that some
further
legislative
provisions may usefully be superadded, which
leads me to
recall the
attention of Congress to the subject.
Among the matters which may
demand regulation is the effect, in point of organization, produced by the
separation of Kentucky from the State of Virginia, and the situation with
regard to the law of the territories northwest and southwest of the Ohio.
The laws respecting light-house establishments require, as a condition
of their permanent maintenance at the expense of the United Staces, a
complete cession of soil and jurisdiction.
The cessions of different States
having been quahfied with a reservation of the right of serving legal
process within the ceded jurisdiction are understood to be inconclusive
as annexing a qualification not consonant with the terms of the law.
I
present this circumstance to the view of Congress, that they may judge
whether any alteration ought to be made.
As it appears to be conformable with the intention of the
'
' ordinance
for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the
river Ohio," although it is not expressly directed that the laws of thai
territory should be laid before Congress,
I now transmit to you a copy
of such as have been passed from July
to December,
1792, inch^.sive,
being the last which have been received by the Secretary of State.
GP WASHINGTON.
United States, fanuary 30,
1794.
Gentlevieji of the Senate ayid of the House of Representatives
:
Communications have been made
to Congress during
the
present,
session with the intention of affording a full view of the posture of affair§
Geoi^ge Washington
i43
on the Southwestern frontiers.
By the information which has lately been
laid before Congress it appeared that the difficulties with the Creeks had
been amicably and happily terminated
;
but
it will be perceived with
regret by the papers herewith transmitted that the tranquillity has, unfor-
tunately, been of short duration, owing to the murder of several friendly
Indians by some lawless white men.
The condition of things in that quarter requires the serious and imme-
diate
consideration
of
Congress,
and
the adoption
of such
wise and
vigorous laws as will be competent to the preservation of the national
character and of the peace made under the authority of the United States
with the several Indian tribes.
Experience demonstrates that the existing
legal provisions are entirely inadequate to those great objects.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, February
7, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate a7id of the House of Representatives:
I transmit to you an act and three ordinances passed by the government
of the territory of the United
States south of the river Ohio on the
13th
and 2ist of March and the 7th of May, 1793, and also certain letters from
the minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the Secretary of
State, inclosing dispatches from the general and extraordinary commission
of Guadaloupe.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, February 19, 1794..
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you the copy of a letter which
I have received from the
Chief Justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United
States, and,
at their
desire, the representation mentioned
in the said
letter, pointing out certain defects in the judiciary system.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, February
24., 1794-
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The extracts which
I now lay before you, from a
letter of our min-
ister at London, are supplementary to some of my past communications,
and will appear to be of a confidential nature.
I also transmit to you copies of a letter from the Secretary of State to
the minister plenipotentiary of His Britannic Majesty, and of the answer
thereto, upon the subject of the treaty between the United States and
Great Britain, together with the copy of a letter from Messrs. Carmichael
and Short, relative to our
affairs with Spain, which letter is connected
with a former confidential message.
G9 WASHINGTON.
144
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
United States, Febniary 26, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I have caused the correspondence which
is the subject of your reso-
lution
of the 24th day of January last to be laid before me.
After an
examination of
it
I directed copies and translations to be made, except
in
those particulars which,
in my judgment,
for public considerations,
ought not to be communicated.
These copies and translations are now transmitted to the Senate; but
the nature of them manifests the propriety of their being received as
conMential.
G«? WASHINGTON.
United States, March j, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I transmit to you an extract from a letter of Mr. Short, relative to our
affairs with Spain, and copies of two letters from our minister at Lisbon,
with their inclosures, containing intelligence from Algiers.
The whole
of these communications are made in confidence, except the passage in
Mr. Short's letter which respects the Spanish convoy.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, March 5, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The
Secretary
of
State
having
reported
to me upon the
several
complaints which have been lodged in his office against the vexations
and spoliations on our commerce since the commencement of the Euro-
pean war,
I transmit to you a copy of
his statement, together with the
documents upon which it is founded.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, March 18, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Seriate and of the House of Represeyitatives:
The minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic having requested
an advance of money, I transmit to Congress certain documents relative
to that subject.
^
GQ WASHINGTON.
United States, March 28, 1794.
GentlejHcn of the Sefiate aiid of the House of Representatives:
£n the execution of the resolution of Congress bearing date the 26th
of March, 1794, and imposing an embargo, I have requested the governors
of the several States to call forth the force of their militia, if it should be
necessary, for the detention of vessels.
This power is conceived to be
incidental to an embargo.
George Washington
i45
It also deserves the attention of Congress how far th£ clearances from
one
district
to another, under the law as
it now stands, may give
rise
to evasions of the embargo.
As one security the collectors have been
instructed to refuse to receive the surrender of coasting licenses for the
purpose
of takhig out
registers, and
to
require bond from registered
vessels bound from one district to another, for the delivery of the cargo
within the United States.
It
is
not
understood that
the
resolution applies
to fishing vessels,
although their occupations lie generally in parts be^^ond the United States.
But without further restrictions there is an opportunity of their privileges
being used as means of eluding the embargo.
All armed
vessels
possessing
public commissions from any
foreign
power
(letters of marque excepted) are considered as not
liable to the
embargo.
These circumstances are transmitted to Congress for their consideration.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, April
4., 1794..
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Represe7itatives:
I lay before you three
letters from our minister in London, advices
concerning the Algerine mission from our minister at Lisbon and others,
and a letter from the minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic to
the Secretary of State, with his answer.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, April is, 1794-
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I
lay
before you a
letter from the minister plenipotentiary
of His
Britannic Majesty to the Secretary of State; a letter from the secretary
of the territory south of the river Ohio, inclosing an ordinance and proc-
lamation of the governor thereof; the translation of so much of a peti-
tion of the inhabitants of Post Vincennes, addressed to the President, as
relates to Congress, and certain dispatches lately received from our com-
missioners at Madrid.
These dispatches from Madrid being a part' of the
business which has been hitherto deemed confidential, they are forwarded
under that view,
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, April 16, 1794..
Gentlemen of the Senate:
The communications which I have made to you during your present
session from the dispatches of our minister in London contain a serious
aspect of our affairs with Great Britain.
But as peace ought to be pur-
sued with unremitted zeal before the last resource, which has so often
146
Messages and Papers of the Presideitts
been the scourge of nations, and can not fail to check the advanced pros-
perity of the United
States,
is contemplated,
I have thought proper to
nominate, and do hereby nominate, John Jay as envoy extraordinary of
the United States to His Britannic Majesty.
My confidence
in our minister plenipotentiary
in London continues
undiminished.
But a mission
like
this, while
it corresponds with the
solemnity of the occasion, will announce to the world a solicitude for ^
friendly adjustment
of
our
complaints and
a reluctance
to
hostility.
Going immediately
from the United
States, such an envoy
will carry
with him a full knowledge of the existing temper and sensibility of our
country, and will thus be taught to vindicate our rights with firmness
and to cultivate peace with sincerity.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, May
12,
1794..
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
As the letter which
I forwarded to Congress on the 15th day of April
last, from the minister plenipotentiary of His Britannic Majesty to the
Secretary of State, in answer
to a memorial of our minister in London,
related to a very interesting subject,
I thought it proper not to delay its
communication.
But
since
that
time
the memorial
itself
has
been
received in a letter from our minister, and a reply has been made to that
answer by the Secretary
of State.
Copies
of them are therefore now
transmitted.
I also send the copy of a letter from the governor of Rhode Island,
inclosing an act of the legislature of that State empowering the United
States to hold lands within the same for the purpose of erecting fortifica-
tions, and certain papers concerning patents for the donation lands to
the ancient settlers of Vincenues upon the Wabash.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, May 20, 1794.
GerJiefnen of the S-^nate and of the House of Representatives:
In the communications which
I have made to Congress during
the
present session relative to foreign nations I have omitted no opportunity
of testifying my anxiety to preserve the United States in peace.
It
is
peculiarly, therefore, my duty at this time to lay before you the present
state
of
certain
hostile
threats
against the
territories of Spain in our
neighborhood.
The documents which accompany this message develop the measures
which
I have taken to suppress them, and the intelligence which has
been lately received.
It will be seen from thence that the subject has not been neglected;
that every power vested in the Executive on such occasions has been
George Washington
exerted, and
that
there was reason
to believe that
the enterprise pro-
jected against the Spanish dominions was rehnquished.
But
it appears to have been revived upon principles which set public
order at defiance and place the peace of the United States in the discre-
tion of unauthoiized
individuals.
The means already deposited
in
the
different departments of Government are shewn by experience not to be
adequate to these high exigencies, although such of them as are lodged
in the hands of the Executive shall continue to be used with promptness,
energy, and decision proportioned to the case.
But I am impelled by the
position of our public
affairs to recommend that provision be made for
a stronger and more vigorous opposition than can be given to such hostile
movements under the laws as they now stand.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, May 21, 1794.
Gcvtlemai of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before you in confidence sundry papers, by which you will per-
ceive the state of affairs between us and the Six Nations, and the proba-
ble cause
to which
it
is owing, and also certain information whereby
it would
appear that some encroachment was about to be made on our
territory by an officer and party of British troops.
Proceeding upon a
supposition of the authenticity of this information, although of a private
nature, I have caused the representation to be made to the British min-
ister a copy of which accompanies this message.
It can not be necessary to comment upon the very serious nature of
such an encroachment, nor to urge that this new state of things suggests
the propriety
of
placing the United
States
in a
posture of
effectual
preparation for an event which, notwithstanding the endeavors making
to avert it, may by circumstances beyond our control be forced upon us.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, May 26, 1794..
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The commissioners of His Catholic Majesty having communicated to
the Secretary of State the form of a certificate without which the vessels
of the United States can not be admitted into the ports of Spain, I think
it proper to lay it before Congress.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, May 27, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate
:
The Executive
Provisory Council
of
the French
Republic having
requested me to recall Oouverneur Morris, our minister plenipotentiary
in I'rance,
I have thought proper, in pursuance of that request, to recall
148
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
him.
I
therefore nominate James Monroe,
of Virginia,
as
ministei
plenipotentiary of the United States to the said Repubhc.
I also nominate William Short, now minister resident for the United
States with Their High Mightinesses the States- General of the United
Netherlands, to be minister resident for the United States to His Catholic
Majesty, in the room of William Carmichael, who is recalled.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, Jtine
2,
1794..
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I send you certain communications, recently received from Georgia,
which materially change the prospect of affairs in that quarter, and seem
to render a war with the Creek Nations more probable than
it has been
at any antecedent
period.
While
the
attention
of Congress
will
be
directed to the consideration of measures suited to the exigency,
it can
not escape their observation that
this intelligence brings a fresh proof
of the
insufficiency of the existing
provisions of the laws toward the
effectual cultivation and preservation of peace with our Indian neighbors.
GO WASHINGTON.
PROCLAMATIONS.
[From a broadside in the archives of the Department of State.]
By the President of the United States of America.
A proclamation.
Whereas
it appears that a state of war exists between Austria, Prus-
sia, Sardinia, Great Britain, and the United Netherlands of the one part
and France on the other, and the duty and interest of the United States
require that they should with sincerity and good faith adopt and pursue
a conduct friendly and impartial toward the belligerent powers:
I have therefore thought
fit by these presents to declare the dispo-
sition of the United States to observe the conduct aforesaid toward those
powers respectively, and
to exhort and warn the citizens of the United
States carefully to avoid all acts and proceedings whatsoever which may
in any manner tend to contravene such disposition.
And
I do hereby also make known
that whosoever of the citizens of
the United States shall render himself
liable to punishment or forfeiture
under the law of nations by committing, aiding, or abetting
hostilities
against any of the said powers, or by carrying to any of them those arti-
cles which are deemed contraband by the modern usage of nations, will
not receive the protection of the United States against such punishment
George Washington
149
or forfeiture; and further, that I have given instructions to those officers
to whom
it belongs to cause prosecutions to be instituted against all per-
sons who shall, within the cognizance of the courts of the United States,
violate the law of nations with respect
to the powers at war, or any of
them.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal
of the United States of
America to be affixed
to these presents, and signed the same
with my hand.
[seal.]
Done at the city of Philadelphia, the 22d day of April, 1793,
and of the Independence of the United States of America the
.seventeenth.
G9 WASHINGTON.
By the President:
Th: Jefferson.
IBy the President op the United States of America,
A PROCLAMATION.
"Whereas I have received information that certain persons, in violation
of the laws, have presumed, under color of a foreign authority, to enlist
citizens of the United States and others within the State of Kentucky,
and have there assembled an armed force
for the purpose of invading
and plundering the territories of a nation at peace with the
.said United
States; and
Whereas such unwarrantable
measures,
being contrary
to the laws
of nations and to the duties incumbent on every citizen of the United
States, tend to disturb the tranquillity of the same, and to involve them
in the calamities of war; and
Whereas it
is the duty of the Executive to take care that such crimi-
nal proceedings should be suppressed, the offenders brought to justice,
and all good citizens cautioned against measures likely to prove so per-
nicious to
their country and themselves, should they be seduced into
similar infractions of the laws:
I have
therefore thought proper to issue
this proclamation, hereby
solemnly warning
every person,
not
authorized
by the
laws,
against
enUsting any citizen or citizens of the United States, or levying troops,
or assembling any persons within the United States
for
the purposes
aforesaid, or proceeding in any manner to the execution thereof, as they
will answer for the same
at
their
peril;
and I do also admonish and
require
all
citizens
to refrain from
enlisting,
enrolling,
or assembling
themselves for such unlawful purposes and from being in anywise con-
cerned,
aiding,
or abetting therein,
as they tender their own welfare,
inasmuch as all lawful means will be strictly put in execution for secur-
ing obedience to the laws and for punishing such dangerous and daring
violations thereof.
1 50
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
And
I do moreover charge and
require
all
courts,
magistrates, and
other officers whom
it may concern, according to their respective duties,
to exert the powers in them severally vested to prevent and suppress all
such unlawful assemblages and
proceedings, and
to bring
to condign
punishment those who may have been guilty thereof, as they regard the
due authority of Government and the peace and welfare of the United
States.
In testimony whereof
I have caused the seal of the United States of
America to be affixed to these
presents, and signed
the same
with my hand.
[seal.]
Done at the city of Philadelphia, the 24th day of March, 1794,
and of the ludependeuce of the United States of America the
eighteenth.
G9 WASHINGTON.
By the President:
Edm: Randolph.
[From Annals of Congress, Fourth Congress, second session, 2796.]
By thk PkEsiDP:NT of the United States of America.
A proclamation.
Whereas combinations
to
defeat
the
execution
of
the laws
laying
duties upon spirits distilled within the United States and upon stills have
frora the time of the commencement of those laws existed in some of the
v\^estern parts of Pennsylvania; and
Whereas the said combinations,
proceeding in a manner
subversive
equally of the just authority of government and of the rights of individ-
uals, have hitherto effected their dangerous and criminal purpose by the
influence of certain irregular meetings whose proceedings have tended to
encourage and uphold the
spirit of opposition, by misrepresentations of
the laws calculated to render them odious; by endeavors to deter those
who might be so disposed from accepting
offices under them through
fear of pubHc resentment and of injury to person and property, and to
compel those who had accepted such
offices by actual violence to sur-
render or forbear the execution of them; by circulating vindictive men^
aces against
all those who should otherwise, directly or indirectly, aid
in the execution of the said laws, or who, yielding to the dictates of con-
science and to a sense of obligation, should themselves comply therewith;
by actually injuring and destroying the property of persons who were
understood to have so complied; by inflicting cruel and humiliating pun-
ishments upon private citizens for no other cause than
that of appear-
ing to be the friends of the laws; by intercepting the public
officers on
the highways, abusing, assaulting, and otherwise ill treating mem,
L_y
going to their houses in the night, gaining admittance by force, taking
away their papers, and committing other outrages, employing for these
George Washington
151
unwarrantable purposes the agency of armed banditti disguised
in such
manner as for the most part to escape discovery; and
Whereas the endeavors of the Legislature to obviate objections to the
said laws by lowering the duties and by other alterations conducive to
the convenience of those whom they immediately
affect (though they
have given
satisfaction in other
quarters), and
the endeavors
of
the
executive
oflScers to conciliate a comphance with the laws by explana-
tions, by forbearance, and even by particular accommodations founded
on the suggestion of local considerations, have been disappointed of their
effect by the machinations of persons whose industry to excite resistance
has increased with every appearance of a disposition among the people
to relax in
their opposition and to acquiesce
in the laws, insomuch that
many persons in the said western parts of Pennsylvania have at length
been hardy enough
to perpetrate acts which
I am advised amount
to
treason, being overt
acts of levying war against the United States, the
said persons having on the
i6th and 17th July last past proceeded
in
arms (on the second day amounting to several hundreds) to the house
of John
Neville, inspector of the revenue
for the fourth survey of the
district of Pennsylvania; having repeatedly attacked the said house with
the persons therein, wounding some of them; having seized David Lenox,
marshal of the district of Pennsylvania, who previous thereto had been
fired upon while in the execution of his duty by a party of armed men,
detaining him for some time prisoner,
till for the preservation of his life
and the obtaining of his liberty he found it necessary to enter into stipula-
tions to forbear the execution of certain ofl&cial duties touching processes
issuing out of a court of the United States; and having
finally obliged
the said inspector of the said revenue and the said marshal from consider-
ations of personal safety to fly from that part of the country, in order,
by a circuitous route, to proceed to the seat of Government, avowing as the
motives of these outrageous proceedings an intention to prevent by force
of arms the execution of the said laws, to oblige the said inspector of the
revenue to renounce his said
office, to withstand by open violence the
lawful authority of the Government of the United States, and to compel
thereby an alteration in the measures of the Legislature and a repeal of
the laws aforesaid; and
Whereas by a law of the United States entitled "An act to provide for
calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insur-
rections, and repel invasions, " it is enacted
'
' that whenever the laws of
the United States shall be opposed or the execution thereof obstructed
in any State by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the orai-
nary course of judicial proceedings or by the powers vested in the marshals
by that act, the same being notified by an associate justice or the district
judge,
it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to call
forth the militia of such State to suppress such combinations and to cause
the laws to be duly executed.
And if the militia of a ^tate where such
152
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
combinations may happen shall refuse or be insufl&cient
to suppress the
same, it shall be lawful for the President, if the Legislature of the United
States shall not be in session, to call forth and employ such numbers of
the militia of any other State or
vStates most convenient thereto as may
be necessary; and the use
of the
militia so
to be called forth may be
continued, if necessary, initil the expiration of thirty days after the com-
mencement of the ensuing session: Provided ahcays, That whenever
it
may be necessary in the judgment of the President
to use the military
force hereby directed to be called forth, the President shall forthwith, and
previous thereto, by proclamation, command such insurgents to disperse
and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within a limited time
;
'
' and
Whereas James Wilson, an associate
justice, on the 4th
instant, by
writing under his hand, did from evidence which had been laid before
him notify to me that
'
' in the counties of Washington and Allegany, in
Pennsylvania, laws of the United States are opposed and the execution
thereof obstructed by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the
ordinary course of judicial proceedings
or by the powers vested
in the
marshal of that district; " and
Whereas
it is in my judgment necessary under the circumstances of
the case to take measures for calling forth the militia in order to suppress
the combinations aforesaid, and to cause the laws to be duly executed;
and
I have accordingly determined so to do, feeling the deepest regret
for the occasion, but withal the most solemn conviction that the essential
interests of the Union demand it, that the very existence of Government
and the fundamental principles of social order are materially involved in
the issue, and that the patriotism and firmness of
all good citizens are
seriously called upon, as occasions may require, to aid in the effectual
suppression of so fatal a spirit:
Wherefore, and in pursuance of the proviso above recited,
I, George
Washington, President of the United States, do hereby command all per-
sons being insurgents as aforesaid, and all others whom it may concern,
on or before the ist day of September next to disperse and retire peace-
ably to their respective abodes.
And
I do moreover warn
all persons
whomsoever against aiding, abetting, or comforting the perpetrators of
the aforesaid treasonable
acts, and do require all officers and other citi-
zens, according to their respective duties and the laws of the land, to
exert their utmost endeavors to prevent and suppress such dangerous
proceedings.
In testimony whereof
I have caused the seal of the United States of
America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same
with my hand.
[SEAI<.]
Done
at the
city of Philadelphia, the 7th day of August,
1794, and of the Independence of the United States of America
the nineteenth.
G^ WASHINGTON.
By the President
:
Edm; Randolph.
George
WasJihigfoit
153
jFrom Annals of Congress, Third Congress, 1413.]
By the President of the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas from a hope that the combinations against the Constitution
and laws of the United States in certain of the western counties of Penn-
sylvania would yield to time and reflection I thought it sufficient in the
first instance rather to take measures
for calling forth the militia than
immediately to embody them, but the moment
is now come when the
overtures of forgiveness, with no other condition than a submission to
law, have been only partially accepted; when every form of conciliation
not inconsistent with the being of Government has been adopted without
effect; when
the
well-disposed
in
those counties
are unable by
their
influence and example
to reclaim the wicked from their
furj^, and are
compelled
to associate
in their own defense; when the proffered lenity
has been perversely misinterpreted into an apprehension that the citizens
will march with
reluctance;
when the opportunity of examining the
serious consequences of a treasonable opposition has been employed in
propagating principles of
anarchy,
endeavoring through
emissaries to
alienate the friends of order from its support, and inviting
its enemies
to perpetrate similar acts of insurrection; when
it is manifest that vio-
lence would continue to be exercised upon every attempt to enforce the
laws; when, therefore, Government is set
at
defiance, the contest being
whether a small
portion of the United States shall dictate to the whole
Union, and, at the expense of those who desire peace, indulge a desperate
ambition:
Now, therefore,
I, George Washington, President of the United States,
in obedience to that high and
irresistible duty consigned to me by the
Constitution
'
' to take care that the laws be faithfully executed,
'
' deplor-
ing that the American name should be sullied by the outrages of citizens
on their own Government, commiserating such as remain obstinate from
delusion, but
resolved, in perfect reliance on that gracious Providence
which so signally displays its goodness towards
this country, to reduce
the
refractory
to a due
subordination
to
the
law, do hereby
declare
and make known
that, with
a
satisfaction which can be equaled only
by the
merits
of
the
militia summoned
into
service from
the
States
of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, I have received
intelligence of
their patriotic alacrity in obeying the call of the present,
though painful, yet commanding necessity; that a force which, according
to every reasonable expectation,
is adequate to the exigency is already
in motion
to the scene of
disaffection;
that those who have confided or
shall confide
in
the
protection
of
Government shall meet full succor
under the standard and from the arms of the United States;
that those
who, having offended against the laws, have since entitled themselves
154
. Afessdi^es aud Papers of the Presidents
to indemnity will
be
treated with the most
liberal good
faith
if they
shall not
have
forfeited
their claim by any subsequent conduct, and
that instructions are given accordingly.
And
I do moreover exhort all individuals, oflScers, and bodies of men
to contemplate with abhorrence the measures leading
directly or
indi-
rectly to those crimes which produce this resort to military coercion;
to
check in their respective spheres the efforts of misguided or designing
men to substitute their misrepresentation in the place of truth and their
discontents in the place of stable government, and
to call
to mind that,
as the people of the United States have been permitted, under the Divine
favor, in perfect freedom, after solemn
deliberation, and
in an enlight-
ened age, to elect their own government, so will
their gratitude for this
inestimable blessing be best distinguished by firm exertions to maintain
the Constitution and the laws.
And, lastly, I again warn all persons whomsoever and wheresoever not
to abet, aid, or comfort the insurgents aforesaid, as they will answer the
contrary at their
peril; and I do also require all
ofl&cers and other
citi-
zens, according to their several duties, as far as may be in their power, to
bring under the cognizance of the laws all offenders in the premises.
In testimony whereof
I have caused the
seal of the United States of
America
to be affixed
to these presents, and signed the same
with my hand.
[seal.]
Done
at the city of Philadelphia, the 25th day of Septem-
ber,
1794, and of the Independence
of the United States of
America the nineteenth.
G9 WASHINGTON.
By the President:
Edm: Randolph.
SIXTH ANNUAL ADDRESS.
United States, November ip, 17^4..
Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
When we call to mind the gracious indulgence of Heaven by which
the American people became a nation; when we survey the general pros-
perity of our country, and look forward to the riches, power, and happi-
ness to which
it seems destined, with the deepest regret do I announce
to you that during your recess some of the citizens of the United States
have been found capable of an insurrection.
It
is due, however, to the
character of our Government and to its stability, which can not be shaken
by the enemies of order, freely to unfold the course of this event.
During the session of the year 1790
it was expedient to exercise the
legislative power granted by the Constitution of the United States "to
George
]\Washington
^K.^
lay and collect excises."
In a majority of the States scarcely ao objec-
tion was heard to this mode of taxation.
In some, indeed, alarms were
at
first conceived, until they were banished by reason and patriotism.
In the four western counties of Pennsylvania a prejudice, fostered aod
imbittered by the artifice of men who labored for an ascendency over tbe
will of others by the guidance of their passions, produced symptoms of
riot and violence.
It
is well known that Congress did not hesitate to
examine the complaints which were presented, and to relieve them as far
as justice dictated or general convenience would permit.
But the impreS"
sion which this moderation made on the discontented did not correspond
with what
it deserved.
The arts of delusion were no longer confined
to the
efforts of designing individuals.
The very forbearance to press
prosecutions was misinterpreted into a fear of urging the execution of
the laws, and associations of men began to denounce threats against the
officers employed.
From a behef that by a more formal concert their
operation might be defeated, certain self-created societies assumed the
tone of condemnation.
Hence, while the greater part of Pennsylvania
itself were conforming themselves to the acts of excise, a few counties
were resolved to frustrate them.
It was now perceived that every expec-
tation from the tenderness which had been hitherto pursued was unavail-
ing, and that further delay could only create an opinion of impotency or
irresolution in the Government.
Legal process was therefore delivered
to the marshal against the rioters and dehnquent distiilers„
No sooner was he understood
to be engaged
in
this duty thass
clia
vengeance of armed men was aimed
at his person and the person and
property of the inspector of the revenue.
They fired upon the marshal,
arrested him, and detained him for some time as a prisoner.
He was
obliged, by the jeopardy of
his
life, to renounce the
service
of other
process on the west side of the Allegheny Mountain, and a deputation
was afterwards sent to him to demand a surrender of that which he had
served.
A numerous body repeatedly attacked the house of the inspector,
seized his papers of office, and finally destroyed by fire his buildings and
whatsoever they contained.
Both of these officers, from a just regard to
their
safety, fled to the seat of Government,
it being avowed that the
motives to such outrages were to compel the resignation of the inspector,
to withstand by force of arms the authority of the United
States, and
thereby to extort a repeal of the laws of excise and an alteratiorr
in the
conduct of Government.
Upon the testimony of these facts an associate justice of the Supreme
Court of the United States notified to me that "in the counties of Wash-
ington and Allegheny, in Pennsylvania, laws of the United States were
opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, by combinations too pow-
erful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings or
by the powers vested in the marshal of that
district."
On
this
call,
momentous
in
the extreme,
I sought and weighed what migiit
best
156
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
subdue the crisis.
On the one hand the judiciary was pronounced to be
stripped of its capacity to enforce the laws; crimes which reached the very
existence of social order were perpetrated without control
;
the friends
of Government were
insulted,
abused, and overawed into silence or an
apparent acquiescence
; and to yield to the treasonable iwxy of so small a
portion of the United States would be to \nolate the fundamental principle
of our Constitution, which
enjoins that the will of the majority shall
prevail.
On the other, to array
citizen against
citizen, to publish the
dishonor of such excesses,
to encounter the expense and other embar-
rassments of so distant an expedition, were steps too delicate, too closely
interwoven with many
affecting considerations, to be
lightly adopted.
I postponed, therefore, the summoning the militia immediately into the
field, but
I
required them to be held in readiness, that
if my anxious
endeavors to reclaim the deluded and to convince the malignant of their
danger should be fruitless, military force might be prepared to act before
the season should be too far advanced.
My proclamation of
the 7th of August
last was accordingly issued,
and
accompanied
by
the
appointment
of
commissioners, who were
charged to repair to the scene of insurrection.
They were authorized
to confer with any bodies of men or individuals.
They were instructed to
be candid and explicit in stating the sensations which had been excited
in the Executive, and his earnest wish to avoid a resort to coercion
;
to
represent,
however,
that,
without
submission,
coercion
must be
the
resort
; but to in\dte them, at the same time, to return to the demeanor
of faithful citizens, by such accommodations as lay within the sphere of
Executive power.
Pardon, too, was tendered to them by the Govern-
ment of
the United States and that of
Pennsylvania, upon no other
condition than a satisfactory assurance of obedience to the laws.
Although the report of
the commissioners marks their firmness and
abilities, and must unite all virtuous men, by shewing that the means of
conciliation have been exhausted,
all of those who had committed or
abetted the tumults did not subscribe the mild form which was proposed
as the atonement, and the indications of a peaceable temper were neither
sufficiently general nor conclusive to recommend or warrant the further
suspension of the march of the militia.
Thus the painful alternative could not be discarded.
I ordered the
militia
to march,
after once more admonishing the insurgents in my
proclamation of the 25th of September last.
1 1 was a task too difficult to ascertain with precision the lowest degree
of force competent to the quelling of the insurrection.
From a respect,
indeed, to econom}^ and the ease of my fellow-citizens belonging to the
militia, it would have gratified me to accomplish such an estimate.
My
very reluctance to ascribe too much importance to the opposition, had
its extent been accurately seen, would have been a decided inducement to
the smallest efficient numbers.
In this uncertainty, therefore, I put into
George
U'aslihigton
157
motion
15,000 men, as being an army which,
according to
all human
calculation, would be prompt and adequate in every view, and might,
perhaps, b}^ rendering resistance desperate, prevent the effusion of blood.
Quotas had been assigned to the States of New Jersey,
Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Virginia, the governor of Pennsylvania having declared
on this occasion an
opinion which
justified a
requisition to the other
States.
As commander in chief of the militia when called into the actual serv-
ice of the United States,
I have visited the places of general rendezvous
to obtain more exact information and to direct a plan for ulterior move-
ments.
Had there been room for a persuasion that the laws were secure
from obstruction;
tliat the civil magistrate was able to bring to justice
such of the most culpable as have not embraced the proffered terms of
amnesty, and may be deemed fit objects of example;
that the friends to
peace and good government were not in need of that aid and countenance
vhich they ought always
to
receive,
and,
I
trust, ever
will
receive,
against the vicious and turbulent,
I should have caught with avidity the
opportunity of restoring the militia to their families and homes.
But
succeeding intelligence has tended to manifest the necessity of what has
been done,
it being now confessed by those who were not inclined to
exaggerate the ill conduct of the insurgents that their malevolence was
not pointed merely to a particular law, but that a spirit inimical
to
all
order has actuated many of the offenders.
If the state of things had
afforded reason for the continuance of my presence with the army,
it
would not have been withholden.
But every appearance assuring such
an issue as will redound to the reputation and strength of the United
States, I have judged it most proper to resume my duties at the seat of
Government, leaving the chief command with the governor of Virginia.
Still, however, as
it
is probable that in a commotion like the present,
whatsoever may be the pretense, the purposes of mischief and revenge
may not be laid aside, the stationing of a small force for a certain period
in the four western counties of Pennsylvania will be indispensable, whether
we contemplate the situation of those who are connected with the execu-
tion of the laws or of others who may have exposed themselves by an
honorable attachment to them.
Thirty days from the commencement of
this session being the legal limitation of the employment of the militia,
Congress can not be too early occupied with this subject.
Among the discussions which may arise from this aspect of our affairs,
and from the documents which will be submitted to Congress, it will not
escape their observation that not only the inspector of the revenue, but
other
officers
of the United
States
in Pennsylvania
have, from
their
fidelity in the discharge of their functions, sustained material injuries to
their property.
The obligation and policy
of idemnifying them
are
strong and obvious.
It may also merit attention whether policy will not
enlarge this provision to the retribution of other citizens who, though not
158
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
under the
ties o^
office, may have suffered damage by
their generous
exertions
for upholding the Constitution and
the laws.
The amount,
even
if all the injured were included, would not be great, and on future
emergencies the Government would be amply repaid by the
influence of
an example that he who incurs a loss in
its defense shall find a recom-
pense in its liberality.
While there is cause to lament that occurrences of this nature should
have disgraced the name or interrupted the tranquillity of any part of
our community, or should have diverted to a new application any portion
of the public resources, there are not wanting real and substantial conso-
lations for the misfortune.
It has demonstrated that our prosperity rests
'in solid foundations, by furnishing an additional proof that my fellow-
citizens understand the true principles of government and
liberty;
that
they feel their inseparable union;
that notwithstanding
all the devices
which have been used to sway them from their interest and duty, they
are now as ready to maintain the authority of the laws against licentious
invasions as they were to defend
their rights against usurpation.
It has
been a spectacle displaying to the highest advantage the value of repub-
lican government to behold the most and the least wealthy of our citizens
standing in the same ranks as private soldiers, preeminently distinguished
by being the army of the Constitution—undeterred by a march of 300
miles over rugged mountains, by the approach of an inclement season,
or by any other discouragement.
Nor ought I to omit to acknowledge
the efficacioi-s and patriotic cooperation which I have experienced from
the chief magistrates of the States to which my requisitions have been
addressed.
To every description of citizens, indeed, let praise be given.
But
let
them persevere in their affectionate vigilance over that precious depository
of American happiness, the Constitution of the United States.
Let them
cherish
it, too, for the sake of those who, from every clime, are daily
seeking a dwelling
in our land.
And when
in the calm moments
of
reflection they shall have retraced the origin and progress of the insur-
rection,
let them determine whether
it has not been fomented by com-
binations of men who,
careless of
consequences and disregarding the
unerring truth that those who rouse can not always appease a civil con-
vulsion, have disseminated, from an ignorance or perversion of
facts,
suspicions, jealousies, and accusations of the whole Government.
Having thus
fulfilled the engagement which I took when I entered
into
office,
'
' to the best of my ability
to preserve, protect, and defend
the
Constitution
of
the United
States," on you, gentlemen, and
the
people by whom you are deputed, I rely for support.
In the arrangements to which the possibility of a similar contingency
will naturally draw your
attention
it ought not
to be
forgotten
that
the militia laws have exhibited such striking defects as could not have
been supplied but by the zeal of our citizens.
Besides the extraordinary
George Washington
^59
expense and wa-«te. which are not the least of the defects, every appeal
to those laws is attended with a doubt on its success.
The devising and establishing of a well-regulated militia would be a
genuine source of legislative honor and a perfect
title to public grati-
tude.
I therefore entertain a hope that the present session will not pass
without carrying to its full energy the power of organizing, arming, and
disciplining the militia, and thus providing, in the language of the Con-
stitution, for calling them forth to execute the laws of the Union, sup-
press insmrrections, and repel invasions.
As auxiliary to the state of our defense, to which Congress can never
too frequently recur, they will not omit to inquire whether the fortifica-
tions which have been already licensed by law be commensurate with
our exigencies.
The intelligence from the army under the command of General Wayne
IS a happy presage to our military operations against the hostile Indians
north of the Ohio.
From the advices which have been forwarded, the
advance which he has made must have damped the ardor of the savages
and weakened their obstinacy in waging war against the United States.
And yet, even at this late hour, when our power to punish them can not
be questioned, we shall not be unwilhng to cement a lasting peace upon
terms of candor, equity, and good neighborhood.
Toward none of the Indian tribes have overtures of friendship been
spared.
The Creeks in particular are covered from encroachment by
the interposition of the General Government and that of Georgia.
From
a desire also to remove the discontents of the Six Nations, a settlement
meditated
at
Presque Isle, on Lake
Erie, has been
suspended, and an
agent
is now endeavoring to rectify any misconception into which they
may have fallen.
But I can not refrain from again pressing upon your
deliberations the plan which
I recommended at the
last session for the
improvement of harmony with
all the Indians within our limits by the
fixing and conducting
of
trading
houses
upon
the
principles then
expressed.
Ge7itlemen of the House of Representatives:
The time which has elapsed since the commencement
of our
fiscal
measures has developed our pecuniary resources so as to open the way
for a definite plan for the redemption of the public debt.
It
is believed
that the result is such as to encourage Congress to consummate this work
without delay.
Nothing can more promote the permanent welfare of the
nation and nothing would be more grateful \o our constituents.
Indeed,
whatsoever is unfinished of our system of public credit can not be bene-
fited by procrastination; and as far as may
be practicable we ought to
place that credit on grounds which can not be disturbed, and to prevent
that progressive accumulation of debt which must ultimately endanger
all governments.
i6o
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
An estimate of the necessary appropriations, including the expenditures
into which we have been driven by the insurrection, will be submitted to
Congress.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives.
The Mint of the United vStates has entered upon the coinage
of the
precious metals, and considerable sums of
defective coins and bullion
have been lodged with the Director by individuals.
There is a pleasing
prospect that the institution will at no remote day realize the expectation
which was originally formed of its utility.
In subsequent communications certain circumstances of our intercourse
with foreign nations will be transmitted to Congress.
However, it may
not be unseasonable to announce that my policy in our foreign
transac-
tions has been to cultivate peace with
all the world
;
to observe
treaties
with pure and
absolute
faith
;
to check every deviation from the
line
of impartiality;
to
explain what may have been misapprehended and
correct what may have been
injurious to any nation, and having thus
acquired the right, to lose no time in acquiring the ability to insist upon
justice being done to ourselves.
Let us unite, therefore, in imploring the Supreme Ruler of Nations to
spread his holy protection over these United States
;
to turn the machina-
tions of the wicked
to the confirming of our Constitution
;
to enable us
at all times to root out internal
sedition and put invasion to flight
;
to
perpetuate to our country that prosperity which His goodness has already
conferred, and
to verify the anticipations of
this Government being a
safeguard to human rights.
G9 WASHINGTON.
ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir: We receive with pleasure your speech to the two Houses of Con-
gress.
In
it we perceive renewed proofs of that vigilant and paternal
concern for the prosperity, honor, and happiness of our country which
has uniformly distinguished your past Administration.
Our anxiety arising from the licentious and open resistance to the laws
in the western counties of Pennsylvania has been increased by the pro-
ceedings of certain self-created societies relative to the laws and adminis-
tration of the Government; proceedings, in our apprehension, founded in
political error, calculated, if not intended, to disorganize our Government,
and which, by inspiring delusive hopes of support, have been influential
in misleading our fellow-citizens in the scene of insurrection.
In a situation so delicate and important the lenient and persuasive
measures which you adopted merit and receive our affectionate approba-
tion.
These failing to procure their jjroper effect, and coercion having
George Washington
i6i
become
inevitable, we have derived the highest
satisfaction from the
enHghtened patriotism and animating
zeal with which the
citizens of
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia have rallied around
the standard of Government in opposition to anarchy and insurrection.
Our warm and
cordial acknowledgments are due to
you.
sir, for the
wisdom and
decision with which you arrayed the militia to execute the
public will, and to them for the disinterestedness and alacrity with which
they obeyed your summons.
The example is precious to the theory of our Government, and confers
the brightest honor upon the patriots who have given
it.
We shall readily concur in such further provisions for the security of
internal peace and a due obedience to the laws as the occasion manifestly
requires.
The effectual organization
of the militia and a prudent attention to
the fortifications of our ports and harbors are subjects of great national
importance, and, together with the other measures you have been pleased
to recommend, will receive our deliberate consideration.
The success of the troops under the command of General Wayne can
not fail to produce essential advantages.
The pleasure with which we
acknowledge the merits of that gallant general and army is enhanced by
the hope that their victories will lay the foundation of a just and durable
peace with the Indian tribes.
At a period- so momentous in the affairs of nations the temperate, just,
and firm policy that you have pursued in respect to foreign powers has
been eminently calculated to promote the great and essential interest of
our country, and has created the fairest title to the public gratitude and
^^^^^^'
JOHN ADAMS,
Vice-President of the United States and President of the Senate.
November
21, 1794.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Gentlemen: Among
the
occasions which have
been
afforded
for
expressing my
sense
of
the
zealous and
steadfast cooperation
of
the
Senate
in the maintenance of Government, none has yet occurred more
forcibly demanding my unqualified acknowledgments than the present.
Next to the consciousness of upright intentions,
it is the highest pleas-
ure
to be approved by the enhghtened representatives of a free nation.
With the satisfaction, therefore, which arises from an unalterable attach-
ment to public order do
I learn that the
Senate discountenance those
proceedings which would arrogate the direction of
our affairs without
any degree of authority derived from the people.
It has been more than once the lot of our Government to be thrown
into new and delicate situations, and of these the insurrection has not
i62
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
been the least important.
Having been compelled at length to lay aside
my repugnance to
resort to arms,
I derive much happiness froai being
confirmed by 3'our judgment
in the necessity of decisive measures, and
from the support of my fellow-citizens of the militia, who were the patri-
otic instruments of that necessity.
With such demonstrations of afTection
for our Constitution; with an
adequate organization of the militia; with the establishment of necessary'
fortifications; with a continuance
of those judicious and
spirited exer-
tions which have brought victor>' to our Western army; with a due atten-
tion to public credit, and an unsullied honor toward all nations, we may
meet, under
every assurance
of success,
our enemies from within and
from without.
GO WASHINGTON.
November 22, 1794.
ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO GEORGE
WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir
: The House
of
Representatives,
calling
to mind
the
blessings
enjoyed by the people of the United States, and especially the happiness
of living under constitutions and laws which rest on their authority alone,
could not learn with other emotions than those you have expressed that
any part of our fellow-citizens should have shewn themselves capable of
an insurrection.
And we learn with the greatest concern that any mis-
representations whatever of the Government and its proceedings, either
b}' individuals or combinations of men, should have been made and so far
credited as to foment the flagrant outrage which has been committed on
the laws.
We feel with 3'ou
the deepest
regret at so painful an occur-
rence in the annals of our country-.
As men regardful of the tender inter-
ests of humanity, we look with grief at scenes which might have stained
our land -udth civil blood
;
as lovers
of public
order, we lament that
it
has suffered so flagrant a violation
;
as zealous friends of republican gov-
ernment, we deplore every occasion which
in
the hands of
its enemies
may be turned into a calumny against it.
This aspect of the crisis, however,
is happily not the only one which
it presents.
There is another, which yields all the consolations which
you have drawn from
it.
It has demonstrated to the candid world, as
well as to the American people themselves, that the great body of them
ever>^where are equally attached to the luminous and
vital
principle of
our
Constitution, which
enjoins
that
the
will
of
the
majority
shall
prevail
; that they understand the indissoluble union between true liberty
and regular government;
that they
feel their duties no less than they
are watchful over their rights
;
that they will be as ready at
all times
to crush licentiousness as they have been to defeat usurpation.
In a
word, that they are capable of carrying into execution that noble plan of
self-government which they have chosen as the guaranty of their own
George Washington
163
happiness and the asylum for that
of
all, from every clime, who may
wish to unite their destiny with ours.
These are the just inferences flowing
f, om the promptitude with which
the summons to the standard of the law? has been obeyed, and from the
sentiments which have been witnessed
in every description of citizens
in every quarter of the Union.
The spectacle, therefore, when viewed
in its true light, may well be afl&rmed to display in equal
luster the vir-
tues of the American character and the value of republican government.
All must particularly acknowledge and applaud the patriotism of that
portion of citizens who have freely sacrificed everything less dear than the
love of their country to the meritorious task of defending its happiness.
In the part which you have yourself borne through this delicate and
distressing period we trace the additional proofs it has afforded of youi
solicitude for the public good.
Your laudable and successful endeavors
to render lenity in executing the laws conducive to their real energy, and
to convert tumult
into order without the effusion of blood, form a par-
ticular title to the confidence and praise of your constituents.
In all that
may be found necessary on our part to complete this benevolent purpose,
and to secure the ministers and friends of the laws against the remains of
danger, our due cooperation will be afforded.
The other subjects which you have recommended or communicated,
and of which several are peculiarly interesting, will all receive the atten-
tion which they demand.
We are deeply impressed with the importance
of an effectual organization of the militia. We rejoice at the intelligence
of the advance and success of the army under the command of General
Wayne, whether we regard it as a proof of the perseverance, prowess, and
superiority of our troops, or as a happy presage to our military operations
against the hostile Indians, and as a probable prelude to the establish-
ment of a lasting peace upon terms of candor, equity, and good neigh-
borhood.
We receive
it with
the greater pleasure as
it increases the
probability of sooner restoring a part of the public resources to the desir-
able object of reducing the public debt.
We shall on
this, as on all occasions, be disposed to adopt any meas-
ures which may advance the safety and prosperity of our country.
In
nothing can we more cordially unite with you than
in
imploring the
Supreme Ruler
of
Nations to multiply
his blessings on these United
States;
to guard our free and happy Constitution against every machina-
tion and danger, and to make it the best source of public happiness, by
verifying its character of being the best safeguard of human rights.
November
28,
1794.
reply of the president.
Gentlemen:
I anticipated with confidence the concurrence of the
House of Representatives in the regret produced by the insurrection.
Every effort ought to be used to discountenance what has contributed to
i64
Afessages cnui /W/><v.v i>f iJic Presidenls
foment
it, and thus discourage a repetition of like attempts; for notwith.
standing the consolations which may be drawn from the issue of this
event,
it
is far better that the artful approaches to such a situation of
things should be checked by the vigilant and duly admonished patri-
otism
of our fellow-citizens than that the
evil should increase until
it
becomes necessary to crush it by the strength of their arm.
I am happy that the part which I have myself borne on this occasior
receives the approbation of your House.
For the discharge of a consti-
tutional duty it is a sufficient reward to me to be assured that you will
unite in consummating what remains to be done.
I feel also great satisfaction in learning that the other subjects which
I have communicated or recommended will meet with due attention
;
that you are deeph' impressed with the importance of an effectual organ-
ization of the
militia, and
that
the advance and success
of the army
under the command of General Wayne is regarded by you, no less than
myself, as a proof of the perseverance, prowess, and superiority of our
troops.
GP WASHINGTON.
November 29,
1794.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
United States, November 21, 1794.
Gentlewen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before Congress copies of a letter from the governor of the State
of New York and of the exemplification of an
act of
the
legislature
thereof ratifying the amendment
of
the
Constitution
of
the
United
States proposed by
the Senate and House of Representatives
at their
last session, respecting the judicial power.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, November 21, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
In the negotiation between the United States and His Catholic Majesty
I have received satisfactory proofs of attention and ability exerted in
behalf
of the United
States to bring
it to a happy and speedy issue.
But
it
is probable that by complying with an intimation made to the
Secretary of State by the commissioners of His CathoHc Majesty much
further
delay
in concluding
it may be prevented.
Notwithstanding,
therefore, I retain full confidence in our minister resident at Madrid, who
is charged with powers as commissioner plenipotentiary,
I nominate
Thomas Pinckney to be envoy extraordinary^ of the United States to
George
ll'askingion
165
Ills Catholic Majesty, for the purpose of negotiating of and concerning
the navigation of the river Mississippi, and such other matters relative to
the confines of
their- territories, and the intercourse to be had thereon,
as the mutual interests and general harmony of neighboring and friendly
nations require should be precisely adjusted and regulated, and of and
concerning
the general commerce between the United States and the
kingdoms and dominions of his said Catholic Majesty.
It is believed that by his temporary absence from London in the dis-
charge of these new functions no injury will arise to the United States.
I also nominate
:
John Miller Russell, of Massachusetts, to be consul of the United States
of America for the port of
St. Petersburg, in Russia, and for such other
places 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
alle-
giance
;
Joseph Pitcairn, of New York, to be vice-consul of the United States of
America at Paris, vice Alexander Duvernet, superseded
; and
Nathaniel Brush, of Vermont, to be supervisor for the United States in
the district of Vermont, vice Noah Smith, who has resigned.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, November 2^,
I794--
Gentlemen of the Senate a7id of the House of Representatives.
I lay before you a statement of the troops in the service of the United
States, which has been submitted to me by the Secretary of War.
It will
rest with Congress to consider and determine whether further induce-
ments shall be held out for entering into the military service of the United
States in order to complete the: establishment authorized by law.
GQ WASHINGTON.
United States, December 77, 1794..
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Represetitatives:
I lay before Congress copies of the journal of the proceedings of the
executive department of the government of the United States south of
the river Ohio to the ist of September, 1794.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, December 30, 1794.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the Hojise of Representatives:
I lay before you a report, made to me by the Secretary of War, respect-
ing the
frontiers
of the United
States.
The
disorders and the great
expenses which incessantly arise upon the frontiers are of a nature and
magnitude to excite the most serious considerations.
1 66
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
I feel a confidence that Congress will devise such constitutional and
eflScient measures as shall be equal to the great objects of preserving our
treaties with the Indian tribes and of affording an adequate protection to
our frontiers,
G9 WASHINGTON
United States, January 2, lygs.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
A
spirit of discontent, from several causes, arose in the early part of
the present year among the Six Nations of Indians, and particularly on
the ground of a projected settlement by Pennsylvania, at Presque Isle,
upon Lake Erie.
The papers upon
this point have already been
laid
before Congress.
It was deemed proper on my part
to endeavor
to
tranquillize the Indians by
pacific measures.
Accordingly a time and
place was appointed at which a free conference should be had upon all
the causes of discontent, and an agent was appointed with the instruc-
tions of which No.
I
, herewith transmitted,
is a copy.
A numerous assembly of Indians was
held
in Canandaigua, in
the
State of New York
the proceedings whereof accompany this message,
marked No.
2.
The two treaties, the one with the Six Nations and the other with the
Oneida, Tuscorora, and Stockbridge Indians dwelling in the country of
the Oneidas, which have resulted from the mission
of the agent, are
herewith laid before the Senate for their consideration and advice.
The original engagement of the United States to the Oneidas
is also
sent herewith,
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, January s, lyps-
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I lay before Congress copies of acts passed by the legislatures of the
States of Vermont, Massachusetts, and New York, ratifying the amend-
ment proposed by the Senate and House of Representatives at their last
session to the Constitution of the United States respecting the judicial
power thereof.
The minister
of the French Republic having communicated
to the
Secretary of State certain proceedings of the committee of public safety
respecting weights and measures,
I lay these also before Congress.
The letter from the governor of the Western territory, copies of which
are now transmitted,
refers to a defect in the judicial system
of that
territory deserving the attention of Congress.
The necessary absence of the judge of the district of Pennsylvania
upon business connected with the late insurrection is stated by him in
George Washington
167
a letter of wliidi
I forward copies
to have produced certain interrup-
tions in the judicial proceedings of that district which can not be removed
without the interposition of Congress.
GQ WASHINGTON.
United States, February ^, 1795-
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the Hozise of Representatives:
I lay before Congress, for their consideration, a letter from the Secre-
tary of State upon the subject of a loan which is extremely interesting
and urgent.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, February 17, 1795.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I transmit
to Congress copies
of a
letter from the governor of
the
State of New Hampshire and of an act of the legislature thereof
'
' rati-
fying the article proposed in amendment to the Constitution of the United
States respecting the judicial power."
I also lay before Congress copies of a letter from the governor of the
State of North Carolina and of an act of the legislature thereof ceding
to the United States certain lands upon the conditions therein mentioned.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, February ly, 1795.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the Hoiise of Representatives:
I have received copies of two acts of the legislature
of Georgia, one
passed on the 28th day of December and the other on the 7th day of
January last, for appropriating and selUng the Indian lands within the
territorial limits claimed by that State.
These copies, though not
oflEi-
cially.certified, have been transmitted to me in such a manner as to leave
no room to doubt their authenticity.
These acts embrace an object of
such magnitude, and in their consequences may so deeply affect the peace
and welfare of the United States, that
I have thought it necessary now
to lay them before Congress.
In confidence, I
also forward copies of several documents and papers
received from the governor of the Southwestern territory.
By these it
seems that hostilities with the Cherokees have ceased, and that there is
a pleasing prospect of a permanent peace with that nation
; but from all
the communications of the governor it appears that the Creeks, in small
parties, continue their depredations, and it is uncertain to what they may
finally lead.
The several papers now communicated deserve the immediate attention
of Congress, who will consider how far the subjects of them may require
their cooperation.
G9 WASHINGTON.
i68
Messages anJ Puprrs of illc r'residents
United States, February 25, 179S.
Gentlemen of the Senate ajid of the House of Representatives:
I communicate to Congress copies of a letter from the governor of the
State of Georgia and
of an act of the legislature thereof
'
' to ratify the
resolution of Congress explanatory of the judicial power of the United
States."
09 WASHINGTON.
United StatEvS, February 28, 1793.
Gentleme7i of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
In my first communication to Congress during their present session I
gave them reason to expect that
'
' certain circumstances of our intercourse
with foreign nations
'
' would be transmitted to them.
There was at that
time every assurance for believing that some of the most important of
our foreign
affairs would have been concluded and others considerably
matured before they should
rise.
But
notwithstanding
I have waited
until this moment,
it has so happened that, either from causes unknown
to me or from events which could not be controlled, I am yet unable to
execute my original intention.
That I may, however, fulfill the expecta-
tion given as far as the actual situation of things will
in my judgment
permit,
I now, in confideiice^ lay before Congress the following general
statement:
Our minister near the French Republic has urged compensation
for
the injuries which our commerce has sustained from captures by French
cruisers, from the nonfulfillment of the contracts of the agents of that
Republic with our citizens, and from the embargo at Bordeaux.
He has
also pressed an allowance for the money voted by Congress for relieving
the inhabitants of
St. Domingo.
It affords me the highest pleasure to
inform Congress that perfect harmony reigns between the two Republics,
and that those claims are in a train of being discussed with candor and
of being amicably adjusted.
So much of our relation to Great Britain may depend upon the result
of our
late negotiations in London that until that result
shall arrive
I
can not undertake to make any communication upon this subject.
After the negotiation with Spain had been long depending unusual
and unexpected embarrassments were raised
to interrupt
its progress.
But the commissioner of His Catholic Majesty near the United States
having declared to the Secretary of State that if a particular accommoda-
tion should be made in the conducting of the business no further delay
would ensue, I thought proper, under
all circumstances, to send to His
Catholic Majesty an envoy extraordinary specially charged to bring to
a conclusion
the
discussions which have been formerly announced
to
Congress.
The friendship of Her ?vIost Faithful Majesty has been often manifested
George Washington
169
in checking the passage of the Algerine corsairs into the Atlantic Ocean.
She has also furnished occasional convoys to the vessels of the United
States, even when bound to other ports than her own.
We may there-
fore promise
ourselves that, as
in the
ordinary course
of things few
causes can exist for dissatisfaction between the United States and Portu-
gal, so the temper with which accidental difficulties will be met on each
side will speedily remove them.
Between the Executive of the United States and the Government of
the United Netherlands but little intercourse has taken place during the
last year.
It may be acceptable to Congress to learn that our credit in
Holland is represented as standing upon the most respectable footing.
Upon the death of the
late Emperor of Morocco an agent was dis-
patched to renew with his successor the treaty which the United State?
had made with him.
The agent, unfortunately, died after he had reached
Europe in the prosecution of his mission.
But until lately it was impossi-
ble to determine with any degree of probability who of the competitors for
that Empire would be ultimately fixed in the supreme power.
Although
the measures which have been since adopted for the renewal of the treaty
have been obstructed by the disturbed situation of Amsterdam, there are
good grounds
for presuming as yet upon the
pacific
disposition of the
Emperor, in fact, toward the United States, and that the past miscarriage
will be shortly remedied.
Congress are already acquainted with the failure of the loan attempted
in Holland for the relief of oiir unhappy fellow-citizens in Algiers,
This
subject, than which none deserves a more affectionate zeal, has constantly
commanded my best exertions.
I am happy, therefore, in being able to
say that from the
last authentic accounts the Dey was disposed to treat
for a peace and ransom, and that both would in all probability have been
accomplished had we
not been
disappointed
in the means.
Nothing
which depends upon the Executive shall be left undone for carrying into
immediate effect the supplementary act of Congress.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, March
2, 1795.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
It appears from the information which
I have lately received that it
may be probably necessary to the more successful conduct of our affairs
on
the
coast
of
Barbary
that one consul
should
reside
in
Morocco,
another in Algiers, and a third in Tunis or Tripoli.
As no appointment
for these offices will be accepted without some emolument annexed, I
submit to the consideration of Congress whether it may not be advisable
to authorize a stipend
to be allowed to two consuls
for that coast in
addition to the one already existing.
G9 WASHINGTON.
170
Afcssa^rs and Papers of the Presidents
United States, March 2, I'^gs.
Ge7itie?ne?i of the Scjiaie a?id 0/ the House of Represcyitativcs:
I transmit to you copies of a letter frcm the gov^ernor of the State of
Delaware and of an act inclosed " declaring the assent of that State to an
amendment thereiu mentioned to the Cons itution of the United States.'
GO WASHJNCJTON.
United States, June
S,
17(^5.^^
Gentlemen of the Senate:
In pursuance of my nomination of John Jay as envoy extraordinary to
His Britannic Majesty on the i6th day of April,
1794, and of the advice
and consent of the Senate thereto on the 19th, a negotiation was opened
in London,
On the 7th of March,
1795, the treaty resulting therefrom
was delivered to the Secretary of State.
1 now transmit to the Senate
that treaty and other documents connected with
it.
They will, iherefore,
in their wisdom decide whether they will advise and consent that the said
treaty be made between the United States and His Britannic Majesty.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, Ju7ie 25, 1795.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
It
has
been
represented
by
our
minister
plenipotentiary
near
the
French Republic that such of our commercial relation.^ with France as
may require the support of the United States in detail can not be well
executed
without
a
consul-general.
Of
this
I am
satisfied when
I
consider the extent of the mercantile claims now depending before the
French Government, the
necessity
of bringing
into the hands of one
agent the various apphcations to the several committees of administration
residing at
Paris, the attention which must be paid to the conduct
of
consuls and vice-consuls, and the nature of the services which are the
peculiar objects of a minister's care, and leave no leisure for his inter-
vention
in
business
to
which
consular
functions
are
competent.
I
therefore nominate Fulwar Skipwith to be consul-general of the United
States in France.
^^, .WASHINGTON.
United States, June 23, 1795.
Ge7itleme7i of the Senate:
Just at the close of the
last session
of Congress
T received from one
of the Senator? and one of the Representatives cf the State of Georgia an
application Cor
a, treaty to be held with the tribes or nations of
3" '--ns
claiming the right of
soil
to certain lands lying beyond the present
temporary boundary line of that State, and which were described in an
act of the legislature of Georgia passed on the 28th of December last,
* For proclamation convening Senate in extraordinary session see p. S7i.
Grorqc
]]\isJiiugton
171
whicTi has already been laid before the Senate.
This application and the
subsequent
correspondence with
the governor of
Georgia are herewith
transmitted.
The subject being very important,
I thought proper
to
postpone a decision upon that application.
The views I have since taken
of the matter, with the information received of a more pacific disposition
on che part of the Creeks, have induced me now to accede to the request,
but with this explicit declaration, that neither my assent nor the treaty
which may be made
shall be considered as afEecting any question which
may arise upon the supplementary act passed by the
legislature of the
State of Georgia on the 7th of January last, upon which inquiries have
been instituted in pursuance of a resolution of the Senate and House of
Representatives, and that any cession or relinquishment
of the Indian
claims shall be made in the general terms of the treaty of New York, which
are contemplated as the form proper to be generally used on such occa-
sions, and on the condition that one-half of the expense of the supplies
of provisions
for the
Indians assembled
at the treaty be borne by the
State of Georgia.
Having concluded to hold the treaty requested by that State, I was
willing to embrace the opportunity it would present of inquiring into the
causes of the dissatisfaction
of the Creeks which has been manifested
since the treaty of New York by their numerous and distressing depre-
dations on our Southwestern frontiers.
Their depredations on the Cum-
berland have been so frequent and so pecuharly destructive as to lead
me to think they must originate in some claim to the lands upon that
river.
But whatever may have been the cause, it is important to trace it
to its source;
for, independent of the destruction of lives and property,
it occasions a very serious annual expense to the United States.
The
commissioners fo." holding the proposed treaty will, therefore, be instructed
to inquire into the causes of the hostilities to which I have referred, and
to enter into such reasonable stipulations as will remove them and give
permanent peace to those parts of the United States.
I now nominate Benjamin Hawkins, cf North Carolina
; George Clymer,
of Pennsylvania, and Andrew Pickens, of South Carolina, to be commis-
sioners to hold a treaty with the Creek Nation of Indians, for the purposes
hereinbefore expressed,
G9 WASHINGTON.
PROCLAMATIONS.
By thk President of the United States of America.
A PROCLAMATION.
When we review the calamities which
afflict so many other nations,
Ihe present condition of the United States affords much matter of conso-
lation and satisfaction.
Our exemption hitherto from foreign war, an
172
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
increasing prospect
of the continuance
of that exemption,
the
great
degree of internal tranquilHty we have enjoyed, the recent confirmation
of that tranquilHty by the suppression of an insurrection which so wan-
tonly threatened it, the happy course of our public affairs in general, the
unexampled prosperity of
all classes of our citizens, are circumstances
which
peculiarly mark
our
situation with
indications
of
the
Divine
beneficence toward us.
In such a
state of things it is
in an especial
manner our duty as
a
people, with devout reverence and affectionate
gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty
God and to implore Him
to continue and confirm
the
blessings we
experience.
Deeply penetrated with this sentiment,
I, George Washington, Presi-
dent of the United States, do recommend to
all religious
societies and
denominations, and to all persons whomsoever, within the United States
to set apart and observe Thursday,
the
19th day of February next,
as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, and on that day to meet
together and render their sincere and hearty thanks to the Great Ruler
of Nations for the manifold and signal mercies which distinguish our lot
as a nation, particularly
for the possession of constitutions of govern-
ment which unite and by their union establish liberty with order;
for
the preservation of our peace, foreign and domestic;
for the seasonable
control which has been given to a spirit of disorder in the suppression of
the
late
insurrection, and
generally, for the prosperous course of our
affairs, public and private; and at the same time humbly and fervently
to beseech the kind Author of these blessings graciously to prolong them
to us;
to imprint on our hearts a deep and solemn sense of our obliga-
tions to Him for them;
to teach us rightly to estimate their immense
value;
to preserve us from the arrogance of prosperity, and from hazard-
ing the advantages we enjoy by delusive pursuits;
to dispose us to merit
the continuance of His favors by not abusing them; by oinr gratitude for
them, and by a correspondent conduct as citizens and men;
to render
this country more and more a safe and propitious asylum for the unfortu-
nate of other countries; to extend among us true and useful knowledge;
to diffuse and establish habits of sobriety, order, morality, and piety, and
finally, to impart
all the blessings we possess, or ask for ourselves, to
the whole family of mankind.
In testimony whereof
I have caused the seal of the United States of
America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same
with my hand.
[sSAiv.]
Done
at the city of Philadelphia, the
ist day of January,
1795, and of the Independence of the United States of America
the nineteenth.
G9 WASHINGTON.
By the President
:
Edm: Randoi^ph.
George Washington
i73
[From Sparks's Washington, Vol. XII, p. 134.]
PROCLAMATION.
Whereas the commissioners appointed by the President of the United
States to confer with the citizens in the western counties of Pennsjdvania
during the
late insurrection which prevailed
therein, by their act and
agreement bearing date the 2d day of September
last, in pursuance of
the powers in them vested, did promise and engage
that,
if assurances
of submission to the laws of the United States should be bona fide given
by the citizens resident
in the fourth survey of
Pennsylvania,
in the
manner and within the time in the said
act and agreement
specified, a
general pardon should be granted on the
loth day of
Jul}^ then next
ensuing of
all treasons and other indictable offenses against the United
States committed within the said survey before the 2 2d day of August
last, excluding therefrom, nevertheless, every person who should refuse
or neglect to subscribe such assurance and engagement in manner afore-
said, or who should after such subscription violate the same, or willfully
obstruct or attempt
to obstruct the execution of the acts for raising a
revenue on
distilled
spirits and
stills, or be aiding or abetting therein;
and
Whereas
I have since thought proper to extend the said pardon to
all persons guilty of the said treasons, misprisions of treasons, or other-
wise concerned in the late
insurrection within the sur\'ey aforesaid who
have not since been indicted or convicted thereof, or of any other offense
against the United States:
Therefore be
it known that
I, George Washington, President of the
said United States, have granted, and by these presents do grant, a full,
free,
and
entire
pardon
to
all
persons
(excepting
as
is
hereinafter
excepted)
of
all treasons, misprisions
of
treason, and other indictable
offenses against the United States committed within
the fourth surve}^
of Pennsylvania before the said 2 2d day of August
last past, excepting
and
excluding
therefrom,
nevertheless,
every
person who refused or
neglected to give and subscribe the said assurances in the manner afore-
said
(or having subscribed hath violated the same) and now standeth
indicted
or
convicted
of
any treason,
misprision
of treason,
or other
offense against the said United States, hereby remitting and releasing
unto all persons, except as before excepted, all penalties incurred, or sup-
posed to be incinrred, for or on account of the premises.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the
seal of the United States to be affixed, this loth day of July,
[seal.]
a. D. 1795, and the twentieth year of the Independence of the
said United States.
G9 WASHINGTON.
174
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
SEVENTH ANNUAL ADDRESS.
United States, Decembers, 1795.
Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I trust
I do not deceive myself when
I indulge the persuasion that
I have never met you at any period when more than at the present the
situation of our public affairs has afforded just cause for mutual congrat-
ulation, and for inviting you to join with me in profound gratitude to
the Author of all Good for the numerous and extraordinary blessings we
enjoy.
The termination of the long, expensive, and distressing war in which
we have been engaged with certain
Indians northwest
of the Ohio
is
placed in the option
of the United States by a treaty which the com-
mander of our army has concluded provisionally with the hostile tribes
in that region.
In the adjustment
of the terms the satisfaction
of the
Indians was
deemed an object worthy no
less of the policy than of the
liberality of
the United
States as the
necessary basis of durable tranquillity.
The
object,
it is believed, has been fully attained.
The articles agreed upon
will immediately be laid before the Senate for their consideration.
The Creek and Cherokee Indians, who alone of the Southern tribes
had annoyed our frontiers, have lately confirmed their preexisting trea-
ties with
us, and were giving evidence of a sincere disposition to carry
them into effect by the surrender of the prisoners and property they had
taken.
But we have to lament that the
fair prospect in
this quarter
has been once more clouded by wanton murders, which some citizens of
Georgia are represented to have recently perpetrated on hunting parties
of the Creeks, which have again subjected that frontier to disquietude
and danger, which will be productive of further expense, and may occa-
sion more effusion of blood.
Measures are pursuing to prevent or miti-
gate the usual consequences of such outrages, and with the hope of their
succeeding at least to avert general hostiUty,
A letter from the Emperor of Morocco announces to me his recognition
of our treaty made with his father, the late Emperor, and consequently
the continuance of peace with that power.
With pecuHar satisfaction I
add that information has been received from an agent deputed on our part
to Algiers importing that the terms of the treaty with the Dey and Regency
of that country had been adjusted
in such a manner as to authorize the
expectation
of
a speedy peace and the restoration
of our unfortunate
fellow-citizens from a grievous captivity.
The latest advices from our envoy at the Court of Madrid give, more-
over, the pleasing information that he had received assurances of a speedy
and satisfactory conclusion of his negotiation.
While the event depend-
George Washington
175
ing- upon unadjusted particulars can not be regarded as ascertained, it is
agreeable to cherish the expectation of an issue which, securing amicably
very essential interests of the United States, will at the same time lay
the foundation of
lasting harmony with a power whose friendship we
have uniformly and sincerely desired to cultivate.
Though not before officially disclosed to the House of Representatives,
you, gentlemen, are all apprised that a treaty of amity, commerce, and
navigation has been negotiated with Great Britain, and that the Senate
have advised and consented to
its ratification upon a condition which
excepts part of one article.
Agreeably thereto, and to the best judgment
I was able to lorm of the public interest
after full and mature delibera-
tion, I have added my sanction.
The result on the part of His Britannic
Majesty is unknown.
When received, the subject will without delay be
placed before Congress.
This interesting summary
of our
affairs with regard
to the foreign
powers between whom and the United
States controversies have sub-
sisted, and with regard also to those of our Indian neighbors with whom
we have been in a state of enmity or misunderstanding, opens a wide
field for consoling and gratifying reflections.
If by prudence and mod-
eration on every side the extinguishment of
all the causes of external
discord which have heretofore menaced our tranquillity, on terms com-
patible with our national rights and honor, shall be the happy
result,
how firm and how precious a foundation will have been laid for acceler-
ating, maturing, and establishing the prosperity of our country.
Contemplating the internal situation as well as the external relations
of the United States, we discover equal cause for contentment and satis-
faction.
While many of
the nations of Europe, with
their American
dependencies, have been involved in a contest unusually bloody, exhaust-
ing, and calamitous, in which the evils of foreign war have been aggra-
vated by domestic convulsion and insurrection;
in which many of the
arts most useful
to society have been exposed to discouragement and
decay;
in which scarcity of subsistence has imbittered other sufferings;
while even the anticipations of a return of the blessings of peace and
repose are alloyed by the sense of heavy and accumulating burthens,
which press upon all the departments of industry and threaten to clog the
future springs of government, our favored country, happy in a striking
contrast, has enjoyed general tranquillity—a tranquillity the more sat-
isfactory because maintained at the expense of no duty.
Faithful
to
ourselves, we have violated no obligation to others.
Our agriculture,
commerce, and manufactures prosper beyond former example, the moles-
tations of our trade (to prevent a continuance of which, however, very
pointed remonstrances have been made) being overbalanced by the aggre-
gate benefits which
it derives from a neutral
position.
Our population
advances with acelerity which, exceedingthe most sanguine calculations,
proportionally augments our strength and resources, and guarantees our
176
Messages and Papers of the Preside)! Is
future security.
Every part of the Union displays indications of rapid
and various improvement
; and with burthens so light as scarcely to be
perceived, with resources fully adequate to our present exigencies, with
governments founded on the genuine principles of rational liberty, and
with mild and wholesome laws,
is
it too much to say that our country
exhibits a spectacle of national happiness never surpassed,
if ever before
equaled ?
Placed in a situation every way so auspicious, motives of commanding
force impel us, with sincere acknowledgment to Heaven and pure love to
our country, to raiite our
efforts to
preserv^e, prolong, and improve our
immense advantages.
To cooperate with you in this desirable work is a
fervent and favorite wish of my heart.
It is a valuable ingredient in the general estimate of our welfare that
the part of our country which was lately the scene of disorder and insur-
rection now enjoys the blessings of quiet and order.
The misled have
abandoned their errors, and pay the respect to our Constitution and laws
which is due from good citizens to the public authorities of the society.
These circumstances have induced me to pardon generally the offenders
here refen-ed to, and to extend forgiveness to those who had been adjudged
to capital punishment.
For though I shall always think it a sacred duty
to exercise \\nth firmness and energy the constitutional powers with which
I am vested, yet
it appears to me no less consistent with the pubhc good
than it is with my personal feelings to mingle
in the operations of Gov-
ernment every degree of moderation and tenderness which the national
justice, dignity, and safety may permit.
Gentlemen: Among the objects which will claim your attention in
the course of the session, a review of our military establishment is not the
least important.
It is called for by the events which have changed, and
maybe expected still further to change, the relative situation of our fron-
tiers.
In this review you will doubtless allow due weight to the consid-
erations that the questions between us and certain foreign powers are not
yet finally adjusted, that the war in Europe is not yet terminated, and that
our Western posts, when recovered, will demand provision for garrisoning
and securing them.
A statement of our present military force will be laid
before you by the Department of War.
With the review of our Army establishment is naturally connected that
of the militia.
It will merit inquiry what imperfections 'n the existing
plan further experience may have unfolded.
The subject is of so much
moment in my estimation as to excite a constant soHcitude that the con-
sideration of
it may be renewed until the greatest attainable perfection
shall be accomplished.
Time
is wearing away some advantages
for
forwarding the object, while none better deserves the persevering atten-
tion of the public councils.
While we indulge the satisfaction which the actual condition of ovu:
George Washington
i77
Western borders so well authorizes, it is necessary that we should not lose
sight of an important truth which continually receives new confirmations,
namely, that the provisions heretofore lu&de with a view to the protec-
tion of the Indians from the violences of the lawless part of our frontier
inhabitants are insufficient.
It is demonstrated that these violences can
now be perpetrated with impunity, and it can need no argument to prove
that unless the murdering of Indians can be restrained by bringing the
murderers to condign punishment,
all the exertions of the Government
to prevent destructive retaliations by the Indians will prove fruitless and
all our present agreeable prospects illusory.
The frequent destruction
of innocent women and children, who are chiefly the victims of retalia-
tion, must continue to shock humanity, and an enormous expense to drain
the Treasury of the Union.
To enforce upon the Indians the observance of justice it is indispensable
that there shall be competent means of rendering justice to them.
If
these means can be devised by the wisdom of Congress, and especially if
there can be added an adequate provision for supplying the necessities
of the Indians on reasonable terms (a measure the mention of which I
the more readily repeat, as in
all the conferences with them they urge
it with
sohcitude),
I should not hesitate
to
entertain a strong hope
of rendering our tranquillity permanent.
I add with pleasure that the
probability even of their civilization is not diminished by the experiments
which have been thus far made under the auspices of Government.
The
accomplishment of this work, if practicable, will reflect undecaying luster
on our national character and administer the most grateful consolations
that virtuous minds can know.
Gentlemen of the Hotise of Representatives:
The state of our revenue, with the sums which have been borrowed
and reimbursed pursuant to different acts of Congress, will be submitted
from the proper Department, together with an estimate of the appropria-
tions necessary to be made for the service of the ensuing year.
Whether measures may not be advisable to reenforce the provision for
the redemption of the public debt will naturally engage your examination.
Congress have demonstrated their sense to be, and
it were superfluous
to repeat mine, that whatsoever will tend to accelerate the honorable
extinction of our public debt accords as much with the true interest of
our country as with the general sense of our constituents.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The statements which will be laid before you relative to the Mint will
shew the situation of that institution and the necessity of some further
legislative provisions for carrying the business of it more completely into
effect, and for checking abuses which appear to be arising in particular
quarters.
^7^
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
The progress
in providing materials
for the frigates and in building
them, the state of the fortifications of our harbors, the measures which
have been pursued for obtaining proper sites for arsenals and
for replen-
ishing our magazines wnth
military
stores, and
the steps which have
been taken toward the execution of the law for opening a trade with the
Indians will
likewise be presented for the information of Congress.
Temperate discussion of the important subjects which may arise in the
course of the session and mutual forbearance where there is a difference
of opinion are too obvious and necessary for the peace, happiness, and
welfare of our country to need any recommendation of mine.
G9 WASHINGTON.
ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES.
Sir:
It
is with peculiar
satisfaction
that we are informed by your
speech to the two Houses of Congress that the long and expensive war
in which we have been engaged with the Indians northwest of the Ohio
is in a situation to be finally terminated; and though we view with con-
cern
the danger of an interruption of the peace so recently confirmed
with the Creeks, we indulge the hope that the measures that you have
adopted to prevent the same,
if followed by those legislative provisions
that
justice and humanity equally demand, will succeed in laying th^
foundation of a lasting peace with the Indian tribes on the Southern as
well as on the Western frontiers.
The confirmation of our treaty with Morocco, and the adjustment of
a treaty of peace with Algiers, in consequence of which our captive fel-
low-citizens shall be delivered from slaverj% are events that will prove no
less interesting to the public humanity than they will be important in
extending and securing the navigation and commerce of our country.
As a just and equitable conclusion of our depending negotiations with
Spain will essentially advance the interest of both nations, and thereby
cherish and confirm the good understanding and friendship which we
have
at
all times desired to maintain, it will afford us real pleasure to
receive an early confirmation of om: expectations on this subject.
The
interesting
prospect
of
our
affairs with regard to the foreign
powers between whom and the United States controversies have sub-
sisted is not more satisfactory than the review of our internal situation.
If from the former we derive an expectation of the extinguishment of
all the causes of external discord that have heretofore endangered our
tranquilHty, and on terms consistent with our national honor and safety,
in
the
latter we
discover
those numerous and widespread
tokens
of
prosperity which in so peculiar a manner distinguish our happy country.
Circumstances thus every way auspicious demand our gratitude and
sincere acknowledgments to Almighty God, and require that we should
George Washington
i79
tmite oiir efforts in imitation of your enlightened, firm, and persevering
example to establish and preserve the peace, freedom, and prosperity of
our country.
The objects which you have recommended to the notice of the Legisla-
ture will in the course of the session receive our careful attention, and
with a true zeal for the public welfare we shall cheerfully cooperate in
every measure that shall appear to us best calculated to promote the same.
JOHN ADAMS,
Vice-President of the United States and President of the Senate.
December ii, 1795.
REPLY OP THE PRESIDENT.
Gentlemen
: With real pleasure I receive your address, recognizing
the prosperous situation of our public
affairs, and giving assurances of
your careful attention
to the objects demanding
legislative considera-
tion, and that with a true zeal for the public welfare you will cheerfully
cooperate in every measure which shall appear to you best calculated
to promote the same.
But I derive peculiar satisfaction from your concurrence with me in the
expressions of gratitude to Almighty God, which a review of the auspi-
cious circumstances that distinguish our happy country have excited, and
I trust the sincerity of our acknowledgments will be evinced by a union
of efforts to establish and preserve its peace, freedom, and prosperity.
G9 WASHINGTON.
December 12, 1795.
ADDRESS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO GEORGE
WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
The President of the United States.
Sir: As the Representatives of the people of the United States, we can
not but participate in the strongest sensibiUty to every blessing which
they enjoy, and cheerfully join with you in profound gratitude to the
Author of all Good for the numerous and extraordinary blessings which
He has conferred on our favored country.
A final and formal termination of the distressing war which has rav-
aged oui
Northwestern frontier will be an event which must afford a
satisfaction proportionate to the anxiety with which it has long been
sought, and in the adjustment of the terms we perceive the true policy
of making them satisfactory to the Indians as well as to the United States
as the best basis of a durable tranquillity.
The disposition of such of the
Southern tribes as had also heretofore annoyed our frontier
is another
prospect in our situation so important to the interest and happiness of
the United States that it is much to be lamented that any clouds should
i8o
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
be thrown over
it, more especially by excesses on the part of our own
citizens.
While our population is advancing with a celerity which exceeds the
most sanguine calculations; while every part of the United States displays
indications of rapid and various improvement; while we are in the enjoy
ment
of protection and security by mild and wholesome laws, admin-
istered by governments founded on
the genuine principles of rational
liberty, a secure foundation will be laid for accelerating, maturing, and
establishing
the
prosperity
of our
countr>^
if, by treaty and amicable
negotiation, all those causes of external discord which heretofore men-
aced our tranquillity shall be extinguished on terms compatible with our
national rights and honor and with our Constitution and great commer-
cial interests.
Among the various circumstances
in our internal situation none can
be viewed with more satisfaction and exultation than that the late scene
of disorder and insurrection has been completely restored to the enjoy-
ment of order and repose.
Such a triumph of reason and of law is worthy
of the free Government under which
it happened, and was justly to be
hoped from
the enlightened and
patriotic
spirit which pervades and
actuates the people of the United States.
In contemplating thai spectacle of national happiness which our country
exhibits, and of which you, sir, have been pleased to make an interesting
summary, permit us to acknowledge and declare the very great share
which your zealous and faithful services have contributed to it, and to
express the affectionate attachment which we feel for your character.
The several interesting subjects which, you recommend to our consid-
eration will receive every degree of attention which is due to them; and
whilst we feel the obligation of temperance and mutual indulgence in all
our discussions, we trust and pray tha+ the result to the happiness and
welfare of our country may correspond with the pure affection we bear
to it.
December
i6,
1795.
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Gentlemen
: Coming as j^ou do from all parts of the United States,
I receive great satisfaction from the concurrence of your testimony in the
justness of the interesting summary of otu: national happiness which, as
the result of my inquiries,
I presented to your view.
The sentiments we
have mutually expressed of profound gratitude to the source of those
numerous blessings, the Author of all Good, are pledges of our obligations
to unite our sincere and zealous endeavors, as the instruments of Divine
Providence, to preserve and perpetuate them.
Accepts, gentlemen, my thanks for your declaration that to my agency
you ascribe the enjoyment of a great share of these benefits.
So far as my
George Washington
'
i8i
services contribute to tlie happiness of my country, the acknowledgment
thereof by my fellow-citizens and their affectionate attachment will ever
prove an abundant reward.
09 WASHINGTON.
DECEMBER
17,
1795-
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
United States, December
p, 1795.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I lay before you, for your consideration, a treaty of peace w^hich has
been negotiated by General Wayne, on behalf of the United States, with
all the late hostile tribes of Indians northwest of the river Ohio, together
with the instructions which were given to General Wayne and the pro-
ceedings at the place of treaty.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, December 21, 1795.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Herewith I transmit, for your information and consideration, the origi-
nal letter from the Emperor of Morocco, recognizing the treaty of peace
and friendship between the United States and his father, the late Emperor,
accompanied with a translation thereof, and various documents relating
to the negotiation by which the recognition was effected.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, January 4, 179^-
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Represeritatives:
A
letter from
the minister plenipotentiary of the French
Republic,
received on the 22d
of the
last month, covered an address, dated the
2 1 St of October, 1794, from the committee of public safety to the Repre-
sentatives of the United States in Congress, and also informed me that
he was instructed by the committee
to
present
to the United States
the colors of France.
I thereupon proposed to receive them last Friday,
the
first day of the new year, a day of general joy and congratulation.
On that day the minister of the French Republic delivered the colors,
with an address, to which I returned an answer.
By the latter Congress
will
see
that
I have informed
the
minister
that
the
colors
will be
deposited with the archives of the United
States.
But
it seemed
to
me proper previously to exhibit to the two Houses of Congress these
i82
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
evidences of the continued friendship of the French Repubhc, together
with the sentiments expressed by me on the occasion
in behalf of the
United States.
They are herewith communicated.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, January 8, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the Hojise of Representatives:
I transmit to you a memorial of the commissioners appointed by virtue
of an act entitled "An act for establishing the temporary and perma-
nent seat of the Government of the United States," on the subject of the
public buildings under their direction.
Since locating a district for the permanent seat of the Government of
the United States, as heretofore announced to both Houses of Congress,
I have accepted the grants of money and of land stated in the memorial
of the commissioners.
I have directed the buildings therein mentioned
to be commenced on plans which I deemed consistent with the liberality
of the grants and proper for the purposes intended.
I have not been inattentive to this important business intrusted by
the Legislature to my care.
I have viewed the resources placed in my
hands, and observed the manner in which they have been applied.
The
progress is pretty fully detailed in the memorial from the commissioners,
and one of them attends to give further information
if required.
In a
case new and arduous, like the present, difficulties might naturally be
expected.
Some have occurred, but
they are in a great degree sur-
mounted, and I have no doubt,
if the remaining resources are properly
cherished, so as to prevent the loss of property by hasty and numerous
sales, that all the buildings required for the accommodation of the Gov-
ernment of the United States may be completed
in season without aid
from the Federal Treasury.
The subject
is therefore recommended to
the consideration of Congress, and the result will determine the measures
which I shall cause to be pursued with respect to the property remaining
unsold,
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, January 29, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I send herewith for the information of Congress:
First. An act of the legislature of the State of Rhode Island, ratifying
an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to prevent suits
in certain cases against a State.
Second. An act of the State of North Carolina making the like rati-
fication.
Third. An act of the State of North Carolina, assenting to the purchase
by the United States of a
sufficient quantity of land on Shell Castle
George Washington
183
Island for the purpose of erecting a beacon thereon, and ceding the juris-
diction thereof to the United States.
Fourth. A copy from the journal of proceedings of the governor in
his executive department of the territory of the United States northwest
of the river Ohio from July
i to December 31, 1794.
Fifth. A copy from the records of the executive proceedings of the
same governor from January
i to June 30, 1795; and
Sixth and seventh. A copy of the journal of the proceedings of the
governor
in
his
executive department
of
the
territory
of
the United
States south of the river Ohio from September
i, 1794, to September i,
1795-
Eighth. The
acts
of
the
first
and
second
sessions
of
the
general
assembly of the same territory.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, January 29, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Represeyitatives.-
lu pursuance of the authority vested in the President of the United
States by an act of Congress passed the 3d of March last, to reduce the
weights of the copper coin
of the United States whenever he should
think it for the benefit of the United States, provided that the reduction
should not exceed 2 pennyweights in each cent, and in the like propor-
tion in a half cent, I have caused the same to be reduced since the 27th
of
last December, to wit,
i pennyweight and 16 grains in each cent, and
in the like proportion in a half cent; and
I have given notice thereof
by proclamation.
By the letter of the judges of the circuit court of the United States,
held at Boston in June last, and the inclosed application
of the under-
keeper.of the jail at that place, of which copies are herewith transmitted,
Congress will perceive the necessity of making a suitable provision for
the maintenance of prisoners committed to the jails of the several States
under the authority of the United States.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, February 2, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I transmit herewith the copy of a letter, dated the 19th of December
last, from Governor Blount to the Secretary of War, stating the avowed
and daring designs of certain persons to take possession
of the lands
belonging to the Cherokees, and which the United States have by treaty
solemnly guaranteed to that nation.
The injustice of such intrusions
and the mischievous consequences which must necessarily result there-
from demand that effectual provision be made to prevent them.
G9 WASHINGTON.
184
Mcssaji^fs and Papers of ilie Presidents
United States, February 75, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Herewith
I transmit, for your consideration and advice, a treaty of
peace and amity, concluded on the 5th day of last September by Joseph
Donaldson, jr., on the part of the United States, with the Dey of Algiers,
for himself, his Divan, and his subjects.
The instructions and other
necessary papers relative to this negotia-
tion are also sent herewith, for the information of the Senate.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, February 26, 1796.
Gentle7tie7i of the Senate:
I send herewith the
treaty concluded on the
27th
of October
last
between the United
States and Spain
. by
their
respective
plenipoten-
tiaries.
The communications to the Senate referred
to
in my message of the
i6th of December,
1793, contain the
instructions to the comnkissioners
of the United States, Messrs. Carmichael and Short, and various details
relative to the negotiations with Spain.
Herewith
I transmit copies of
the documents authorizing Mr. Pinckney, the envoy extraordinary from
the United States to the Court of
Spain, to conclude the negotiation
agreeably to the original instructions above mentioned, and to adjust the
claims of the United States for the spoliations committed by the armed
vessels of His Catholic Majestj^ on the commerce of our citizens.
The numerous papers exhibiting the progress of the negotiation under
the conduct of Mr.
Pinckney, being
in the French and Spanish
lan-
guages, will be communicated to the Senate as soon as the translations
which appear necessary shall be completed.
GO WASHINGTON.
United- States, March
i, 1796.
Gentlemejt of the Senate a^id of the House of Representatives:
The treaty
of amity, commerce, and navigation concluded between
the United States of America and His Britannic Majesty having been
duly
ratified, and the
ratifications having been exchanged at London
on the 28th day of October, 1795, I have directed the same to be pro-
mulgated, and herewith transmit a copy thereof
for the information of
Cotigress.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, March
S, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
'
I send herewith, for the information of Congress, the treaty concluded
between the United States and the Dey and Regency of Algiers.
G9 WASHINGTON.
George Washington
185
United States, March
15, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Seiiate and of the House of Representatives:
By the ninth section of the act entitled "An act to provide a naval
armament"
it
is enacted "that
if a peace shall take place between the
United States and the Regency of Algiers, that no further proceedings
)>e had under this act.
'
'
The peace which is here contemplated having taken place, it is incum-
bent upon the Executive to suspend all orders respecting the building of
the frigates, procuring materials for them, or preparing materials already
obtained, which may be done without intrenching upon contracts or agree-
ments made and entered into before this event.
But inasmuch as the loss which the public would incur might be consid-
erable from dissipation of workmen, from certain works or operations
being suddenly dropped or
left unfinished, and from the derangement
in the whole system consequent upon an immediate suspension of
all
proceedings under
it, I have therefore thought advisable, before taking
such a step, to submit the subject to the Senate and House of Representa-
tives, that such measures may be adopted in the premises as may best
comport with the public interest.
GQ WASHINGTON.
United States, Mxrch
2s, 179^.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
I send herewith, for your information, the translation of a letter from
the minister plenipotentiary
of
the French RepubUc to the Secretary
of State, announcing the peace made by
the Repubhc with the Kings
of Prussia and Spain, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and the Landgrave
of Hesse
Cassel, and that the republican constitution decreed by the
National Convention had been accepted by the people of France and was
in operation.
I also send you a copy of the answer given by my direc-
tion to this communication from the French minister.
My sentiments
therein expressed I am persuaded will harmonize with yours and with
those of all my fellow-citizens.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, March
29, 1796.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives:
I send herewith a copy
of the treaty of friendship, limits, and navi-
gation, concluded on
the
27th
of October
last,
between
the
United
States and His Cathohc Majesty.
This treaty has been ratified by me
agreeably to the Constitution, and the ratification has been dispatched for
Spain, where
it will doubtless be immediately ratified by His Catholic
Majesty.
I S6
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
This early communication of the treaty with Spain has become neces-
sary because
it
is stipulated in the third article that commissioners for
running the boundary line between the territory of the United States and
the Spanish colonies of East and West P'lorida shall meet at the Natchez
before the expiration
of six months from the ratification; and as that
period will undoubtedly arrive before the next meeting of Congress, the
House will see the necessity of making provision in their present session
for the object here mentioned.
It will also be necessary to provide for
the expense to be incurred in executing the twenty-first
article of the
treaty,
to enable our
fellow-citizens
to
obtain with
as
little
delay as
possible compensation for the losses they have sustained by the capture
of their vessels and cargoes by the
subjects
of His Catholic Majesty
during the late war between France and Spain.
Estimates of the moneys necessary to be provided
for the purposes
of
this and several other treaties with foreign nations and the Indian tribes
will be laid before you by the proper Department.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, March
j>o, 1796.
To the House of Representatives of the United States:
With the utmost attention I have considered your resolution of the 24th
instant, requesting me to lay before 3'our House a copy of the instructions
to the minister of the United States who negotiated the treaty with the
King of Great Britain
, together with the correspondence and other docu-
ments
relative
to that treaty, excepting such
of the said papers as any
existing negotiation may render improper to be disclosed.
In deliberating upon this subject it was impossible for me to lose sight
of the
principle which some have avowed in its discussion, or to avoid
extending my
views to the consequences
which
must
flow from the
admission of that principle.
I trust that no part of my conduct has ever indicated a disposition to
vdthhold any information which the Constitution has enjoined upon the
President as a duty to give, or which could be required of him by either
House of Congress as a right; and with truth I aflfirm that
it has been,
as it will continue to be while
I have
the honor to preside in the Gov-
ernment, my constant endeavor to harmonize with the
other branches
thereof so
far as the trust delegated to me by the people of the United
States and my sense of the obligation it imposes to
'
' preserve, protect,
and defend the Constitution
'
' will permit.
The nature of 'foreign negotiations requires caution, and their success
must often depend on
secrecy; and even when brought to a conclusion
a
full disclosure of
all the measures, demands, or eventual concessions
which may have been proposed or contemplated would be extremely
impolitic;
for this might have a pernicious influence on future negoti-^.-
George Washington
187
tions, or produce immediate inconveniences, perhaps danger and mischief,
in relation to other powers.
The necessity of such caution and secrecy
was one cogent reason for vesting the power of making
treaties in the
President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, the principle on
which that body was formed confining it to a small number of members.
To admit, then, a right in the House of Representatives to demand and
to have as a matter of course
all the
papers
respecting a negotiation
with a foreign power would be to establish a dangerous precedent.
It does not occur that the inspection of the papers asked for can be
relative to any purpose under the cognizance of the House of Repre-
sentatives, except that of an impeachment, which the resolution has not
expressed.
I repeat that I have no disposition to withhold any infor-
mation which the duty of my station will permit or the public good
shall require to be
disclosed; and,
in
fact,
all the papers affecting the
negotiation with Great
Britain were
laid before the Senate when the
treaty itself was communicated for their consideration and advice.
The course which the debate has taken on the resolution of the House
leads to some observations on the mode of making treaties under the
Constitution of the United States.
Having been a member of the General Convention, and knowing the
principles on which the Constitution was formed, I have ever entertained
but one opinion on this subject; and from the first establishment of the
Government to this moment my conduct has exemplified that opinion
that the power of making treaties is exclusively vested in the President,
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided two-thirds of
the Senators present concur; and that every treaty so made and promul-
gated thenceforward became the law of the land.
It
is thus that the
treaty-making power has been understood by foreign nations, and in all the
treaties made with them we have declared and they have believed that,
when ratified by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate,
they became obligatory.
In this construction of the Constitution every
House of Representatives has heretofore acquiesced, and until the pres-
ent time not a doubt or suspicion has appeared, to my knowledge, that
this construction was not the true one.
Nay, they have more than acqui-
esced;
for till now, without controverting the obligation of such treaties,
they have made all the requisite provisions for carrying them into effect.
There
is also reason to believe that this construction agrees with the
opinions entertained by the State conventions when they were deliber-
ating on the Constitution, especially by those who objected to it because
there was not required in commercial treaties the consent of two-thirds
of the whole number of the members of the Senate instead of two-thirds
of the Senators
present, and because
in
treaties respecting
territorial
and certain other rights and claims the concurrence of three-fourths of
the whole number of the members of both Houses, respectively, was not
made necessary.
1 88
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
It
is a fact declared by the General Convention and universally under-
stood that the Constitution of the United States was the result of a spirit
of amity and mutual concession; and
it
is well known that under
this
influence the smaller States were admitted to an equal representation in
the Senate with the larger vStates, and that this branch of the Govern-
nient was invested with great powers, for on the equal participation of
those powers the sovereignty and
political safety of the smaller States
were deemed essentially to depend.
If other proofs than
these and
the
plain
letter
of the
Constitution
itself be necessary to ascertain the point under consideration, they may
be
found
in the journals
of
the
General Convention, which
I
have
deposited in the
ofi&ce of the Department of State.
In those journals
it
will appear that a proposition was made
'
' that no treaty should be
binding on the United States which was not
ratified by a law," and
that the proposition was explicitly rejected.
As, therefore, it is perfectly clear to my understanding that the assent
of the House of
Representatives
is not necessary to the validity
of a
treaty;
as the treaty with Great Britain exhibits in itself all the objects
requiring legislative provision, and on these the papers called for can
throw no
light, and
as
it is essential to the due administration
of the
Government that the boundaries fixed by the Constitution between the
different departments should be preserved, a just regard to the Consti-
tution and to the
dut}^ of my office, under all the circumstances of
this
case, forbids a compliance with your request,
GP WASHINGTON.
United States, March j/, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
The treaty
of amity, commerce, and navigation between the United
States and Great Britain requiring that commissioners should be appointed
to fix certain boundaries between the territories of the contracting par-
ties, and to ascertain the
losses and damages represented to have been
sustained by their respective citizens and subjects, as set forth in the
fifth, sixth, and seventh
articles of the
treaty, in order to carry those
articles into execution
I nominate as commissioners on the part of the
United States:
For the purpose mentioned in the fifth article, Henry Knox, of Massa-
chusetts;
For the purpose mentioned in the sixth
article, Thomas Fitzsimons,
of Pennsylvania, and James Innes, of Virginia; and
For the purposes mentioned in the seventh article, Christopher Gore, of
Massachusetts, and William Pinckney, of Maryland.
G9 WASHINGTON.
George Washlngtoyi
i8o
United States, April 8, 1796.
Gentlemcji of the Senate a7id of the House of Rep7'esentatives:
By an act of Congress passed on the 26th of May, 1790, it was declared
that the inhabitants of the territory of the United States south of the
river Ohio should enjoy all the privileges, benefits, and advantages set
forth in the ordinance of Congress for the government of the territory of
the United States northwest of the river Ohio, and that the government
of the said territory south of the Ohio should be similar to that which
was then exercised in the territory northwest of the Ohio, except so far
as was otherwise provided in the conditions expressed in an act of Con-
gress passed the 2d of April, 1790, entitled "An act to accept a cession
of the claims of the
State
of North Carohna
to
a
certain
district
of
western territory."
Among the privileges,
benefits, and advantages thus secured
to the
inhabitants of the territory south of the river Ohio appear to "be the right
of forming a permanent constitution and State government, and of admis-
sion as a State, by its Delegates, into the Congress of the United States,
on an equal footing with the original States in
all
respects whatever,
when it should have therein 60,000 free inhabitants; provided the con-
stitution and government so to be formed should be republican, and in
conformity to the principles contained in the articles of the said ordinance.
As proofs of the several requisites to entitle the territory south of the
river Ohio to be admitted as a State into the Union, Governor Blount
has transmitted a return of the enumeration
of
its inhabitants and a
printed copy of the constitution and form of government on which they
have agreed, which, with his
letters accompanying the same, are here-
with laid before Congress.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, April 28, 1796.
Gentleme7i of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
Herewith
I lay before you a letter from the Attorney-General of the
United States, relative to compensation to the attorneys of the United
States in the several
districts, which
is recommended to your consider-
ation.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, May
2, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Se7iate :
Some time last year Jeremiah Wadsworth was authorized to hold a
treaty with the Cohnawaga Indians, styling themselves the Seven Nations
of Canada, to enable the State of New York to extinguish, by purchase,
a claim which the said Indians had set up to a parcel of land lying within
that State.
The negotiation having issued without effecting its object,
I go
Messages and Papers of the Preside^tts
and the State of New York having requested a renewal of the negotiation,
and the Indians having come forward with an apphcation on the same
subject,
I now nominate Jeremiah Wadsworth
to be a commissioner to
hold a treaty with the Cohnawaga Indians, styling themselves the Seven
Nations of Canada, for the purpose of enabling the State of New York
to extinguish the aforesaid claim.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, May 5, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
I
lay before you, for your consideration and advice, an explanatory
article proposed to be added to the treaty of amity, commerce, and navi-
gation between the United States and Great Britain, together with a copy
of the full power to the Secretary of State to negotiate the same.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, May 25, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
The measures now in operation for taking possession of the posts of
Detroit and MichiHmackinac render
it proper that provision should be
made for extending to these places and any others alike circumstanced
the civil authority of the Northwestern Territory.
To do this will require
an expense to defray which the ordinary salaries of the governor and
secretary of that Territory appear to be incompetent.
The forming of a new county, or new counties, and the appointment of
the various officers, which the just exercise of government must require,
will oblige the governor and secretary to visit those places, and to spend
considerable time in making the arrangements, necessary for introducing
and establishing the Government of the United States,
Congress will
consider what provision will in this case be proper.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, May 28, 1796.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the Ho7ise of Representatives:
The extraordinary expenses to be incurred in the present year in sup-
porting our foreign
intercourse
I
find will require a provision beyond
the ordinary appropriation and the additional $20,000 already granted.
I have directed an estimate to be made, which is sent herewith, and
will exhibit the deficiency for which an appropriation appears to be
necessary.
G9 WASHINGTON.
George
I'l'Washington
19^
EIGHTH ANNUAL ADDRESS.
Unitkd States, December 7, iyg6.
Fellow- Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
In recurring to the internal situation of our country since
I had
last
the pleasure to address you, I find ample reason for a renewed expression
of that gratitude to the Ruler of
the Universe which a continued series
of prosperity has so often and so justly called forth.
The acts of the last session which required special arrangements have
been as far as circumstances would admit carried into operation.
Measures calculated to insure a continuance of the friendship of the
Indians and to preserve peace along the extent of our interior frontier
have been digested and adopted.
In the framing of these care has been
taken to guard on the one hand our advanced settlements from the preda-
tory incursions of those unruly individuals who can not be restrained by
their
tribes, and on the other hand to protect the rights secured
to the
Indians by treaty—to draw them nearer to the civilized state and inspire
them with correct conceptions of
the power as well as
justice of the
Government.
The meeting of the deputies from the Creek Nation at Colerain, in the
State of Georgia, which had for a principal object the purchase of a par-
cel of their land by that State, broke up without its being accompHshed,
the nation having previous to their departure instructed
them
against
making any sale.
The occasion, however, has been improved to confirm
by a new treaty with the Creeks their preexisting engagements with the
United States, and to obtain their consent to the establishment of trading
houses and military posts within their boundary, by means of which their
friendship and the general peace may be more effectually secured.
The period during the
late
session
at which
the appropriation was
passed for carrying into effect the treaty of amity, commerce, and naviga-
tion between the United States and His Britannic Majesty necessarily pro-
crastinated the reception of the posts stipulated to be delivered beyond the
date assigned for that event.
As soon, however, as the Governor- General
of Canada could be addressed with propriety on the subject, arrangements
were cordially and promptly concluded for their evacuation, and the United
States took possession of the principal of them, comprehending Oswego,
Niagara, Detroit, Michilimackinac, and Fort Miami, where such repairs and
additions have been ordered to be made as appeared indispensable.
The commissioners appointed on the part of the United States and of
Great Britain to determine which is the river St. Croix mentioned inthe
treaty of peace of 1783, agreed in the choice of Egbert Benson, esq., of
New York, for the third commissioner.
The whole met at St. Andrew's,
in Passamaquoddy Bay, in the beginning of October, and directed surveys
I () 2
Messages and Papers of the Presiden ts
to be made of the rivers in dispute; but deeming it impracticable to have
these survey's completed before the next year, they adjourned to meet at
Boston in August,
1797, for the final decision of the question.
Other
commissioners
appointed on
the
part
of
the United
States,
agreeably to the seventh article of the treaty with Great Britain, relative
to captures and condemnation of vessels and other property, met the com-
missioners of His Britannic Majesty
in London
in August
last, when
John Trumbull, esq., was chosen by lot
for the
fifth commissioner.
In
October following the board were to proceed to business.
As yet there has
been no conununication of commissioners on the part of Great Britain to
unite with those who have been appointed on the part of the United States
for carrying into effect the sixth article of the treaty.
The treaty with Spain required that the commissioners for running the
boundary line between the territory of the United States and His Cathohc
Majesty's provinces of East and West Florida should meet at the Natchez
before the expiration of six months after the exchange of the
ratifica-
tions, which was effected at Aranjuez on the 25th day of April; and the
troops of His Catholic Majesty occupying any posts within the limits of the
United States were within the same period to be withdrawn.
The com-
missioner of the United States therefore commenced his journey for the
Natchez in September, and troops were ordered to occupy the posts from
which the Spanish
garrisons should be withdrawn.
Information has
been recently received of the appointment of a commissioner on the part
of His Catholic Majesty for running the boundary line, but none of any
appointment for the adjustment of the claims of our citizens whose ves-
sels were captured by the armed vessels of Spain.
In pursuance of the act of Congress passed in the
last session
for the
protection and relief of American seamen, agents were appointed, one to
reside in Great
Britain and the other in the West
Indies.
The effects
of the agency in the West Indies are not yet fully ascertained, but those
which have been communicated afford grounds to believe the measure
will be beneficial.
The agent destined to reside in Great Britain declin-
ing to accept the appointment, the business has consequently devolved
on the minister of the United States in London, and will command his
attention until a new ixgent shall be appointed.
After many delays and disappointments arising out of the European
wrar, the
final arrangements for fulfilHng the engagements made to the
Dey and Regency of Algiers will in
all present appearance be crowned
with success, but under
great, though
inevitable, disadvantages in the
pecuniary transactions occasioned by that war, which will render further
provision necessary.
The actual liberation of
all our citizens who were
prisoners
in Algiers, while
it
gratifies every feeling heart,
is
itself an
earnest of a satisfactory termination of the whole negotiation.
Measures
are in operation for effecting treaties with the Regencies of Tunis and
Tripoli.
To an
active external commerce
uie protection' of a naval
force
is
indispensable.
This
is manifest witb regard to wars in which a State
is
itself a party.
But besides this, it
is in our own experience that the
most sincere neutrality is not a sufficient guard against the depredations
of nations at war.
To secure respect to a neutral
flag requires a naval
force organized and ready to vindicate it from insult or aggression.
This
may even pre\ ent the necessity of going to war by discouraging bellig-
erent powers from committing such violations of the rights of the neutral
party as may, first or last, leave no other option.
From the best
infor-
mation
I have been able
to obtain
it would seem as if our trade to the
Mediterranean without a protecting force will always be insecure and
our citizens exposed to the calamities from which numbers of them have
but just been relieved.
These considerations invite the United States to look to the means,
and to set about the gradual creation of a navy.
The increasing progress
of their navigation promises them at no distant period the requisite sup-
ply of seamen, and their means in other respects favor the undertaking.
It is an encouragement, likewise, that their particular situation will give
weight and influence to a modcrat:; naval force in their hands.
Will it
not, then,
be advisable to begin without delay to provide and lay up the
materials for the br^ilding and equipping of ships of war, and to proceed
in the work by degrees, in proportion as our resources shall render
it
practicable without inconvenience, so that a
future war of Europe may
not
find our commerce
in the same unprotected
state
in which it was
found by the present ?
Congress have repeatedly, and not without success, directed their atten-
tion to the encouragement of manufactures.
The object
is of too much
consequence not to insure a continuance of
their efforts in every way
which shall appear eligible.
As a general rule, manufactures on public ac-
count are inexpedient; but where the state of things in a country leaves
little hope that certain branches of manufacture will for a great length
of time obtain, when these are of a nature essential to the furnishing and
equipping of the public force in time of war, are not establishments for
procuring them on public account to the extent of the ordinary demand
for the public service recommended by strong considerations of national
policy as an exception to the general rule ?
Ought our country to remain
in such cases dependent on foreign supply, precarious because liable to be
interrupted?
If the necessary article should in
this mode cost more in
time of peace, will not the security and independence thence arising form
an ample compensation ?
Establishments of this sort , commensurate only
with the calls of the public service in time of peace, will in time of war
easily be extended in proportion to the exigencies of the Government,
and may even perhaps be made to yield a surplus for the supply of our
citizens at large, so as to mitigate the privations from the interruption of
their trade.
If adopted, the plan ought to exclude
all those branches
194
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
which are already, or likely soon to be, established
in the country,
in
order that there may be no danger
of interference with pursuits of indi-
vidual industry.
It
will
not be doubted
that with
reference either
to
individual or
national welfare agriculture
is
of primary importance.
In proportion
as nations advance
in population and other circumstances
of maturity
this truth becomes more a;-parent, and renders the cultivation of the soil
more and more an object of public patronage.
Institutions for promoting
it grow up, supported by the public purse; and to what object can it be
dedicated with greater propriety ?
Among the means which have been
employed to this end none have been attended with greater success than
the establishment of boards (composed of proper characters) charged with
collecting and diffusing infonnation, and enabled by premiums and small
pecuniary aids to encourage and assist a spirit of discovery and improve-
ment.
This species of establishment contributes doubly to the increase
of improvement by s«:iniulating to enterprise and experiment, and by draw-
ing to a common center the
results everywhere of individual skill and
observation, and spreading them thence over the whole nation.
Expe-
rience accordingly has shewn that they are very cheap instruments of
immense national benefits.
I have heretofore proposed to the consideration of Congress the expe-
diency of establishing a national university and
also a military academy.
The desirableness of both these institutions has so constantly increased
with ever>^ new view I have taken of the subject that I can not omit the
opportunity of once for all recalling your attention to them.
The assembly to which I address myself is too enlightened not to be
fully sensible how much a flourishing state of the arts and sciences con-
tributes to national prosperity and reputation.
True
it
is that our country, much to
its honor, contains many semi-
naries of learning highly respectable and useful; but the funds upon which
they rest are too narrow to command the ablest professors in the different
departments
of
liberal knowledge
for
the
institution
contemplated,
though they would be excellent auxiliaries.
Amongst the motives to such an institution, the assimilation of the
principles, opinions, and manners of our countrymen by the common
education of a portion of our youth from every quarter well deserves
attention.
The more homogeneous our citizens can be made in these
particulars the greater will be our prospect of permanent union
; and a
primary object of such a national institution should be the education of
our youth in the science of govcrrivient.
In a republic what species of
knowledge can be equally important and what duty more pressing on its
legislature than to patronize a plan for communicating it to those who
are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?
The institution of a military academy is also recommended by cogent
reasons.
However pacific the general policy of a nation may be,
it
George Washington
195
ought never to be without an adequate stock
of
militar}'' knowledge
for
emergencies.
The
first would impair the energy of
its character, and
both would hazard its safet}^ or expose it to greater evils when war could
not be avoided
;
besides that, war might often not depend upon its own
:!hoice.-
In proportion as the observance of pacific maxims might exempt
a nation from
the
necessity of practicing the
rules of
the
military
art
ought to be its care in preserving and transmitting, by proper establish-
ments, the knowledge of that art.
Whatever argument may be drawn
from particular examples
superficially viewed, a thorough examination
of
the subject will evince
that the
art of war is at once comprehensive
and complicated, that
it demands much previous
study, and
that
the
possession of it in its most improved and perfect state is always of great
moment to the security of a nation.
This, therefore, ought to be a serious
care of every government, and for this purpose an academy where a regular
course
of instruction
is given
is an obviour expedient which
different
nations have successfully employed.
The
compensations
to
the
officers
of
the United States in various
instances, and in none more than in respect to the most important stations,
appear to call
for legislative revision.
The consequences of a defective
provision are of serious import to the Government.
If private wealth is
to supply the defect
of public
retribution,
it
will greatly contract
the
sphere within which the
selection of character for office
is
to be made,
and will proportionally diminish the probability of a choice of men able
as well as upright.
Besides
that,
it would be repugnant
to the
vital
principles
of our Government virtually
to exclude from
public
trusts
talents and virtue unless accompanied by wealth.
While in our external relations some serious inconveniences and embar-
rassments have been overcome and others lessened, it is with much pain
and deep
regret
I mention
that
circumstances
of
a very unwelcome
nature have
lately occurred.
Our trade has
suffered and
is suffering
extensive injuries in
the West Indies from the cruisers and agents of
the French Republic, and communications have been received from
its
minister here which indicate the danger of a further disturbance of our
commerce by
its authority, and which
are
in other
respects
far from
agreeable.
It has been my constant, sincere, and earnest wish, in conformity with
that of our nation, to maintain cordial harmony and a perfectly friendly
understanding with that Republic.
This wish remains unabated, and
I
shall persevere in the endeavor to fulfill
it to the utmost extent of what
shall be consistent with a just and indispensable regard to the rights and
honor of our country
; nor will 1 easily cease to cherish the expectation
that a spirit of justice, candor, and friendship on the part of the Republic
will eventually insure success,
In pursuing this course, however,
I can not
forget what
is due
to
the character of our Government and nation,
or to a
full and entire
tq6
Afessagrs and Papers of the Presidents
confideuce
in
the good sense, patriotism,
self-respect, and
fortitude of
my countrymen.
I reser^'e
for a special message a more particular communication on
this interesting subject.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives
:
I have directed an estimate of the appropriations necessary for the serv-
ice
of the ensuing year
to be submitted from
the proper Departmeni
,
with a view of
the public
receipts and expenditures to the latest
period
to which an account can be prepared.
It is with satisfaction I am able to inform you that the revenues of the
United States continue in a state of progressive improvement.
A reenforcement of the existing provisions for discharging our public
debt was mentioned
in my address at the opening
of the
last
session.
Some preliminary
steps were taken toward
it, the maturing
of which
will no doubt engage your zealous attention during the present.
I will
only add
that
it will afford me a heartfelt
satisfaction to concur
in such
further measures as will ascertain to our country the prospect of a speedy
extinguishment of the debt.
Posterity may have cause to regret if from
any motive inter\'als of
tranquillity are left unimproved for accelerating
this valuable end.
Gentleme7i of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
My
solicitude
to
see
the
militia
of the United States placed on an
efficient establishment has been so often and so ardently expressed that
I shall but barely recall the subject to your view on the present occasion,
at the same time that I shall submit to your inquiry whether our harbors
are 5^et sufficiently secured.
The situation in which I now stand for the
last time, in the midst of
the representatives of the people of the United States, naturally recalls
the period when the administration of the present form of government
commenced, and I can not omit the occasion to congratulate you and my
country on the success of the experiment, nor to repeat my fervent sup-
plications to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and Sovereign Arbiter of
Nations that His providential care may still be extended to the United
States, that the virtue and happiness of the people may be preserved, and
that the Government which they have instituted for the protection of
their
liberties may be perpetual,
GP WASHINGTON.
ADDRESS OF THE SENATE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES.
We thank you,
sir,
for your
faithful and detailed exposure of the
existing situation of our country, and we sincerely join in sentiments of
gratitude to an overruling Providence
for the distinguished share of
George Washington
I97
public prosperity and private happiness which the people of the United
States so peculiarly enjoy.
We are fully sensible of the advantages that have resulted from the
adoption
of measures (which you have successfully carried into effect)
to preserve peace, cultivate friendship, and promote civihzation amongst
the Indian
tribes on the Western frontiers.
Feelings of humanity and
the most solid political interests equally encourage the continuance of
this system.
We observe with pleasure that the delivery of the military posts lately
occupied by the British forces within the
territory of the United States
was made
with
cordiality and promptitude
as soon
as circumstances
would admit, and
that the other provisions of our treaties with Great
Britain and Spain that were objects of eventual arrangement are about
being carried into effect with entire harmony and good faith.
The
unforlninate but unavoidable
difiSculties
that
opposed
a timely
compliance with the terms of the Algerine treaty are much to be lamented,
as they may occasion a temporary suspension of the advantages to be
derived from a solid peace with that power and a perfect security from
its
predatory
warfare.
At
the same time, the
lively impressions
that
affected the public mind on the redemption of our captive fellow-citizens
afford the most laudable incentive to our exertions to remove the remain-
ing obstacles.
We perfectly coincide with you in opinion that the importance of our
commerce demands a naval force for its protection against foreign insult
and depredation, and our solicitude to attain that object will be always
proportionate to its magnitude.
The
necessity
of
accelerating
the
establishment
of
certain
useful
manufactures by the intervention of legislative aid and protection and
the encouragement due to agriculture by the creation of boards (composed
of
intelligent
individuals) to patronize this primary pursuit of society
are subjects which will readily engage our most serious attention.
A national university may be converted
to the most useful purposes.
The science of
legislation being so essentially dependent on the endow-
ments of the mind, the public interests must receive effectual aid from the
general diffusion of knowledge, and the United States will assume a more
dignified station among the nations of the earth by the successful culti-
vation of the higher branches of literature.
A military academy may be likewise rendered equally important.
To
aid and direct the physical force of the nation by cherishing a militan-
spirit, enforcing a proper sense of discipHne, and inculcating a scientific
system of tactics is consonant to the soundest maxims of public policy.
Connected with and supported by such an establishment a well-regulated
militia, constituting the natural defense of the country, would prove the
most effectual as well as economical preservative of peace.
We can not but consider with serious apprehensions the niadequate
1 98
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
compensations of the public oflScers, especially of those in the more impor-
tant stations.
It
is not only a violation of the spirit of a public contract,
but is an evil so extensive in its operation and so destructive in its conse-
quences that we trust it will receive the most pointed legislative attention.
We sincerely lament that, whilst the conduct of the United States has
been uniformly impressed with the character of equity, moderation, and
love of peace in the maintenance of
all
their foreign
relationships, our
trade should be so harassed by the cruisers and agents of the Republic
of France throughout the extensive departments of the West Indies.
Whilst we are confident that no cause of complaint exists that could
authorize an interruption of our tranquillity or disengage that Repul)lic
from the bonds of amity, cemented
\>y the faith of treaties, we can not
but express our deepest
regrets that official communications have been
made
to you
indicating a more
serious disturbance of our commerce.
Although w^e cherish the expectation that a sense of
just'ice and a con-
sideration
of our mutual interests will moderate
their councils, we are
not unmindful of the situation in which events may place us, nor unpre-
pared to adopt that system of conduct which, compatible with the dignity
of a respectable nation, necessity may compel us to pursue.
We cordially acquiesce in the reflection that the United States, under
the operation of the Federal Government, have experienced a most rapid
aggrandizement and prosperity as well political as commercial.
Whilst contemplating the causes that produce this auspicious result,
we must acknowledge the excellence of the constitutional system and
the wisdom of the
legislative provisions;
but we should be deficient in
gratitude and justice did we not attribute a great portion of these advan-
tages to the virtue, firmness, and
talents of your Administration, which
have been conspicuously displayed
in the most trying time and on the
most
critical occasions.
It
is therefore with the
sincerest regret that
we now receive an official
notification of your intentions to retire from
the public employments of your country.
When we review the various scenes of your public life, so long and so suc-
cessfully devoted to the most arduous services, civil and military, as well
during the struggles of the American Revolution as the convulsive periods
of a recent date, we can not look forward to your retirement without our
warmest
affections and most anxious regards accompanying
you, and
without mingling with our fellow-citizens at large in the sincerest wishes
for your personal happiness that sensibility and attachment can express.
The most effectual consolation that can offer for the
loss we are about
to sustain arises from the animating reflection that the influence of your
example
will extend
to your successors,
and
the United
States thus
continue to enjoy an able, upright, and energetic administration.
JOHN ADAMS,
Vice-Pr€side7it of the Uiiited States and Preside?it of the Senate.
December io, 1796.
George Washington
199
REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
Gentlemen:
It affords me great satisfaction to find in your addreas a
concurrence in sentiment with me on the various topics which I presented
for your information and deHberation, and
that the
latter will
receive
from you an attention proportioned to their respective importance.
For the notice you take of my public services, civil and military, and
your kind wishes
for my personal
happiness,
I beg you
to accept my
cordial thanks.
Those services, and greater had
J possessed
ability to
render them, were due to the unanimous
calls
of my country, and
its
approbation is my abundant reward.
When contemplating the period of my retirement,
I .saw virtuous and
enlightened men among whom I relied on the discernment and ])atriotisin
of my fellow-citizens to make the proper choice of a successor—men who
would require no influential example to insure to the United States
'
' an
able, upright, and
energetic
administration."
To
such men
I
shall
cheerfully yield the palm
of genius and
talents
to
sei"\'e our common
country
;
but at the same time I hope I may be indulged
in expressing
the consoling reflection (which consciousness suggests), and
to
bear
it
with me to my grave, that none can serve it with purer
intentions than
I have done or with a more disinterested zeal.
G9 WASHINGTON.
December 12, 1796.
address of the house of representatives to george
washington, president of the united states.
Sir
: The House of Representatives have attended to your communi-
cation respecting the state of our country with
all the sensibility that
the contemplation of the subject and a sense of duty can inspire.
We are gratified by the information that measures calculated to insure
a continuance
of the
friendship
of the
Indians and
to maintain
the
tranquillity of the Western frontier have been adopted, and we indulge
the hope that these, by impressing the Indian tribes with more correct
conceptions of the justice as well as power of the United States, will be
attended with success.
While we notice with satisfaction the steps that you have taken in
pursuance of the late treaties with several foreign nations, the liberation
of om: citizens who were prisoners
at Algiers
is a subject of peculiar
felicitation.
We shall cheerfully cooperate in any further measures that
shall appear on consideration to be requisite.
We have ever concurred with you in the most sincere and uniform
disposition to preserve our neutral relations inviolate, and
it
is of course
with anxiety and deep regret we hear that any interruption of our har-
mony with the French Republie has occurred, for we feel with you and
200
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
with our constituents the cordial and unabated wish to maintain a per-
fectly friendly imderstanding wuth that nation.
Your endeavors to fulfill
that wish, and by all honorable means to presence peace, and to restore
that harmony and
affection which have heretofore so happily subsisted
between the French Republic and the United States, can not
fail, there-
fore, to interest our
attention.
And while we
participate
in
the
full
reliance you have expressed on the patriotism, self-respect, and fortitude
of our countrymen, we cherish the pleasing hope that a mutual spirit of
justice and moderation will insure the success of your perseverance.
The various subjects of your communication will respectively meet
with the attention that is due to their importance.
When we advert
to the internal situation of the United
States, we
deem
it equally natural and becoming to compare the present period with
that immediately antecedent to the operation of the Government, and to
contrast
it with
the calamities in which the
state
of war still involves
several
of the European nations, as the reflections deduced from both
tend to justify as well as to excite a warmer admiration of our free Con-
stitution, and to exalt our minds to a more fervent and grateful sense of
piety toward Almighty God
for the beneficence of His providence, by
which its administration has been hitherto so remarkably distinguished.
And while we entertain a grateful conviction that your wise, firm, and
patriotic Administration has been signally conducive to the success of the
present form of government, we can not forbear to express the deep sen-
sations
of regret with which we contemplate your intended retirement
from office.
As no other suitable occasion may occur, we can not suffer the present
to pass without attempting to
disclose some of
the emotions which
it
can not fail to awaken.
The gratitude and admiration of your countrymen are
still drawn to
the recollection
of those resplendent virtues and talents which were so
eminently instrumental to the achievement
of
the Revolution, and
of
which that glorious event will ever be the memorial.
Your obedience to
the voice of duty and your country when you quitted reluctantly a second
time the retreat you had chosen and first accepted the Presidency afforded
a new proof of the devotedness of your zeal in its service and an earnest
of the patriotism and success which have characterized your Administra-
tion.
As the grateful confidence of the citizens in the virtues of their
Chief Magistrate has essentially contributed to that success, we persuade
ourselves that the millions whom we represent participate with us in the
anxious solicitude of the present occasion.
Yet we can not be unmindful that your moderation and magnanimity,
twice displayed by retiring from your exalted stations, afford examples no
less rare and instructive to mankind than valuable to a republic.
Although we are sensible that this event of itself completes the luster
of a character already conspicuously unrivaled by the coincidence of
George Washington
201
virtue, taleuts, success, and public estimation, j^et we conceive we owe it
to you,
sir, and
still more emphatically to ourselves and to our nation
(of the language of whose hearts we presume to think ourselves at this
moment the faithful interpreters)
, to express the sentiments with which
it is contemplated.
The spectacle of a free and enlightened nation offering, by its Repre-
sentatives, the tribute of unfeigned approbation to its first citizen, how-
ever novel and interesting it may be, derives all its luster (a luster which
accident or enthusiasm could not bestow, and which adulation would tar-
nish) from the transcendent merit of which it is the voluntary testimony.
May you long enjoy that liberty which is so dear to you, and to which
your name will ever be so dear.
May your own virtues and a nation's
prayers obtain the happiest sunshine
for the decline of your days and
the choicest of future blessings.
For our country's sake, for the sake of
republican
liberty, it is our earnest wish that your example may be the
guide of your successors, and thus, after being the ornament and safeguard
of the present age, become the patrimony of our descendants.
December
15,
1796.
reply of the president.
Gentlemen
: To a citizen whose views were unambitious, who pre-
ferred the shade and tranquillity of private life to the splendor and solici-
tude
of elevated stations, and whom the voice of duty and his country
could alone have drawn from his chosen retreat, no reward for his public
services can be so grateful as public approbation, accompanied by a con-
sciousness that to render those services useful to that country has been his
single aim;
and when
this approbation is expressed by the Representa-
tives of a free and enlightened nation, the reward will admit of no addition.
Receive, gentlemen, my sincere and aflfectionate thanks for this signal testi-
mony that my services have been acceptable and useful to my country
The strong confidence of my fellow-citizens, while
it animated
all my
actions, insured their zealous cooperation, which rendered those services
successful.
The virtue and wisdom of my successors, joined with the patri-
otism and intelligence of the citizens who compose the other branches of
Government,
I firmly trust will
lead them to the adoption of measures
which, by the beneficence of Providence, will give stability to our systen^
of government, add to its success, and secure to ourselves and to posterity
that liberty which is to all of us so dear.
While I acknowledge with pleasure the sincere and uniform disposition
of the House of Representatives to preserve our neutral relations invio-
late, and with them deeply regret any degree of interruption of our good
understanding with the French Republic,
I beg you, gentlemen, to rest
assured that my endeavors will be earnest and unceasing by all honor-
able means to preserve peace and to restore that harmonj' and affection
202
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
which have heretofore so happily subsisted between our two na^^ions;
and with you I cherish the pleasing hope that a mutual spirit of justice
and moderation will crown those endeavors with success.
I
shall cheerfully concur in the beneficial measures which your delib-
erations shall mature on the various subjects demanding your attention;
and while
directing your
labors
to advance
the
real
interests of
oin-
couutry, you receive its blessings.
With perfect sincerity my individual
wishes will be offered for your present and future felicity.
GO WASHINGTON.
December
i6.
1796.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
United States, January
/,
rytpy.
Gentlemen of the Se7iate:
I
lay before you
for your
consideration
a
treaty which
has
been
negotiated and concluded on the 29th day
of
June
last by Benjamin
Hawkins, Andrew Pickens, and George Clymer, commissioners on behalf
of the United States, with the Creek Indians, together with the instruc-
tions which were given to the said commissioners and the proceedings at
the place of treaty.
I submit also the proceedings and result of a treaty, held at the city of
New York, on behalf of the State of New York, with certain nations or
tribes of Indians denominating themselves the Seven Nations of Canada.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, January
p, rypy.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
Herewith I lay before you in confidence reports from the Departments
of State and the Treasury, by which you will see the present situation of
our affairs with the Dey and Regency of Algiers.
G9 WASHINGTON.
United States, fanuary ig, 1797-
Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives:
At the opening of the present session of Congress
I mentioned that
some circumstances of an unwelcome nature had lately occurred in rela-
tion to France;
that our trade had suffered, and was suffering, extensive
injuries in the West Indies from the cruisers and agents of the French
Republic, and that communications had been received from its minister
George Washington
203
here which Indicated danger of a further disturbance of our commerce by
its authority, and
that were
in other respects
far from agreeable, but
that
I reserved
for a special message a more particular communication
on this interesting subject.
This communication I now make.
The complaints of the French minister embraced most of the transac-
tions of our Government
in relation to France from an early period of
the present war, which, therefore,
it was necessary carefully to review.
A
collection
has been formed
of
letters and
papers
relating
to
those
transactions, which I now lay before you, with a letter to Mr. Pinckney,
our minister at
Paris,
containing an examination
of the
notes of the
French minister and such information as
I thought might be useful to
Mr. Pinckney in any further representations he might find necessary to
be made to the French Government.
The immediate object of his mis-
sion was to make to that Government such explanations of the principles
and conduct of our own as, by manifesting our good faith, might remove
all jealousy and discontent and maintain that harmony and good under-
standing with the French Republic which it has been my constant solici-
tude to preserve.
A government which required only a knowledge of
the truth to justify its measures could not but be anxious to have this
fully and frankly displayed.
GO WASHINGTON.
United States, March
2, 1797.
Gentlemen of the Senate:
Application having been made to me to permit a treaty to be held with
the Seneca Nation of Indians to eifect the purchase of a parcel of their
land under a preemption right derived from the State of Massachusetts
and situated within the State of New York, and
it appearing
to me
reasonable that such opportunity should be afforded, provided the nego-
tiation shall be conducted at the expense of the applicant, and
at the
desire and with the consent of the Indians, always considering these as
prerequisites,
I now nominate Isaac Smith to be a commissioner to hold
a treaty with the Seneca Nation for the aforesaid purpose.
G9 WASHINGTON.
VETO MESSAGE.
United States, February 28, ijgy.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives
:
Having maturely considered the bill to alter and amend an act entitled
"An
act to ascertain and fix the military establishment of the United
States, " which was presented to me on the 2 2d day of this month,
I now
204
Messao^es and Papers of the Presidents
return
it
to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, with
my objections
:
First.
If the bill passes into a law, the two companies of light dragoons
will be from that moment legally out of service, though they will
after-
wards continue
actually
in
servdce; and
for
their
services during
this
mterval, namely, from the time of legal to the time of actual discharge,
it will not be lawful to pay them, unless some future provision be made
by law.
Though they may be discharged
at the pleasure
of Congress,
in justice they ought to receive their pay, not only to the time of passing
the law, but at least to the time of their actual discharge.
vSecondly.
It will be inconvenient and injurious to the public to
dis-
miss the light dragoons as soon as notice of the law can
l)e conveyed to
them, one of the companies having been
lately destined to a necessary
and important service.
Thirdly. The companies of
light dragoons consist of 126 noncommis-
sioned officers and privates, who are bound to serve as dismounted dra-
goons when ordered so to do.
They have received in bounties about
55^2,000.
One of them is completely equipped, and above half of the non-
commissioned officers and privates have yet to serve more than one-third
of the time of their enlistment; and besides, there will in the course of the
year be a considerable deficiency in the complement of infantry intended
to be continued.
Under these circumstances, to discharge the dragoons
does not seem to comport with econom^^
Fourthly.
It
is generally agreed that some cavalry, either militia or
regular, will be necessary; and according to the best information I have
been able to obtain, it is my opinion that the latter will be less expensive
and more useful than the former in preserving peace between the frontier
.settlers and the Indians, and therefore a part of the military establish'
ment should consist of cavalry.
G9 WASHINGTON.
PROCLAMATION.
[ From Senate Journal, vol.
2, p. 397.]
March
i,
1797.
To the
Vice-President and Senators of the United States,
respectively.
Sir
:
It appearing to me proper that the Senate of the United States
should be convened on Saturday, the 4th of March instant, you are desired
to attend in the Chamber of the Senate on that day,
at
10 o'clock
in
the forenoon, to receive any communications which the President of the
United States may then lay before you touching their interests.
G9 WASHINGTON.
George Washington
205
FAREWELL ADDRESS.
United States, September ly, 1796.
Friends and Fellow- Citizens:
The period for a new election of a citizen
to administer the Executive
Government
of the United States being not
far
distant, and
the time
actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed
in designating
the person who is to be clothed with that important
trust,
it appears to
me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of
the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have
formed to decline being considered among the number of those out of
whom a choice is to be made.
I beg you
at the same time to do me the justice to be assured that
this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the con-
siderations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful
citizen
to
his country; and that in withdrawing the tender of service, which silence
in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal
for your future
interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for your past
kindness, but am supported by a full conviction that the step is compati-
ble with both.
The
acceptance of and continuance
hitherto
in
the
office
to which
your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform
sacrifice
of
inclination
to the opinion of duty and
to a deference
for what appeared
to be your
desire.
I constantly hoped that
it would have been much
earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty
to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been
reluc-
tantly drawn.
The strength of my inclination to do this previous to the
last election had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it
to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture
of our affairs with foreign nations and the unanimous advice of persons
entitled
to my confidence impelled me
to abandon the
idea.
I
rejoice
that the state of your concerns, external as well
as internal, no longer
renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty
or propriety, and am persuaded, whatever
partiality may be retained for
my services, that in the present circumstances of our country you will not
disapprove my determination to retire.
The impressions with which
I
first undertook the arduous trust were
explained on
the
proper
occasion.
In
the
discharge
of
this
trust
I
will only say that
I have, with good intentions, contributed toward the
organization and administration of the Government the best exertions of
which a very
fallible judgment was capable.
Not unconscious
in the
outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes,
perhaps
still more in the e>es of others, has strengthened the motives
lo diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years
2o6
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
adinotiishes me more and more that the shade of retirement
is as neces-
sary to me as
it will be welcome.
Satisfied
that
if any circumstances
have given peculiar value
to my ser\aces they were
temporary,
I have
the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence
invite me
to
quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid
it.
In looking forward
to the moment which
is intended
to
termitiatc
the career of my political
life my feelings do not permit me to suspend
the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which
I owe to my
beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me;
still more
for the steadfast confidence with which
it has supported me, and for the
opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attach-
ment by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness unequal
to my zeal.
If benefits have resulted to our country from these services,
let
it always be remembered to your praise and as an instructive example
in our annals that under circumstances
in which
the passions, agitated
in every direction, were liable to mislead; amidst appearances sometimes
dubious;
vicissitudes
of
fortune
often
discouraging;
in
situations
in
which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced
the spirit
of
criticism, the
constancy of your support was the essential prop of the
efforts and a guaranty of the plans by which they were effected.
Pro-
foundly penetrated with this idea,
I
shall carry
it with me
to my grave
as a strong incitement
to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue
to
you the choicest tokens of its beneficence;
that your union and brotherly
affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution which
is the work
of your hands may be sacredly maintained;
that
its administration
in
every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue;
that, in fine,
the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty,
maj' be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use
of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending
it to
the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which
is yet a
stranger to
it.
Here, perhaps,
I ought
to
stop.
But
a
solicitude
for your welfare
which can not end but with my
life, and the apprehension of danger
natural to that solicitude, urge me on an occasion
like the present
to
offer to your solemn contemplation and to recommend
to your frequent
review some sentiments which are the result of much
reflection, of no
inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all important to the
permanency of your
felicity as a people.
These
will be offered to you
with the more freedom as you can only
see
in them the disinterested
warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to
bias his counsel.
Nor can I forget as an encouragement to it your indul-
gent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.
Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts,
no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attach-
ment.
George Washington
207
The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now
dear to you.
It is justly so, for it is a main
pillar in the edifice of your
real independence, the support of your tranquillit}'^ at home, your peace
abroad, of your safety, of your prosperity, of that very liberty which you
so highly prize.
But as
it is eas}' to
foresee that from
different causes
and from
different quarters much pains
will be
taken, many
artifices
employed, to weaken
in your minds the conviction of this truth, as this
is the point
in your
political
fortress
against which
the
batteries
of
internal and
external
enemies
will
be
most
constantly and
actively
(though often covertly and insidiously) directed,
it is of infinite moment
that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national
union
to your
collective and
individual
happiness
;
that you
should
cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to
it
; accustoming
yourselves
to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political
safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety;
discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion
that
it can
in
any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first dawn-
ing of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest
or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.
For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest.
Citizens
by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to con-
centrate your affections.
The name of American, which belongs
to you
in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism
more than any
appellation derived from
local
discriminations.
With
slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits,
and
political
principles.
You
have in
a common
cause
fought and
triumphed together.
The independence and
liberty you possess are the
work of
joint councils and
joint
efforts, of common dangers, sufferings,
and successes.
But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves
to your
sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more
immediately to your interest.
Here every portion
of our country finds
the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the
union of the whole.
The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by
the equal laws of a common government, finds in the productions of the
latter great
additional resources of maritime and commercial
enterprise
and precious materials
of manufacturing industry.
The South, in the
same
intercourse, benefiting by the same agency of the North, sees
its
agriculture grow and its commerce expand.
Turning partly into its own
channels
the
seamen
of
the North,
it
finds
its particular navigation
invigorated
; and while
it contributes in
different ways
to
nourish and
increase the general mass of the national navigation,
it looks forward
to
the protection of a maritime strength to which itself is unequally adapted.
The East, in a like intercourse with the
IVist, already finds, and in the
2o8
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
progressive improvement of
interior communications by land and watei
will more and more
find,
a valuable vent for the commodities which
it
brings from abroad or manufactures
at home.
The West derives from
the East supplies
requisite
to
its growth and comfort, and w^hat is per-
haps
of
still greater consequence,
it must
of
necessity owe the
secure
enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight,
influence, and the future maritime strength
of
the Atlantic side of the
Union, directed
b}'^ an
indissoluble community of
interest as one nation.
Any other tenure by which the West can hold
this essential advantage,
whether derived from
its own separate strength or from an apostate and
uuuatural connection with any foreign power, nuist be
intrinsically
prt
-
ciiriotis.
While, then, every part of our country thus
feels an immediate and
particular interest in union,
all the parts combined can not fail to find in
the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource,
proportionably greater
security from external
danger,
a
less frequent
interruption of their peace by foreign nations, and what is of inestimable
value, they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and
wars between themselves which so frequently afflict neighboring countries
not tied together by the same governments, which their own
rivalships
alone would be
sufficient
to produce, but which opposite
foreign
alli-
ances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and imbitter.
Hence,
likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military estab-
lishments which,
under any form
of government,
are
inauspicious
to
liberty, and which are
to be regarded as particularly hostile to repub-
lican liberty.
In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered
as a main prop of your
liberty, and that the love of the one ought to
endear to you the preservation of the other.
These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting
and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the union as a primary
object of patriotic desire.
Is there a doubt whether a common govern-
ment can embrace so large a sphere?
Let experience solve it.
To listen
to mere speculation in such a case were criminal.
We are authorized to
hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency
of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue
to the experiment.
It is well worth a
fair and full experiment.
With
such powerful and
obvious motives to union affecting all parts of our
country, while experience
shall not have demonstrated
its impractica-
bility, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who
in any quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands.
In contemplating the causes which may disturb our union
it occurs
as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished
for characterizing parties hy geographical discriminations
Northern and
Southern, Atlantic and Western—whence designing men may endeavor to
exxrite a belief that there is a real difiference of local interests and views.
George Washington
209
One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular tlis
tricts
is
to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.
You
can not shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburn-
ings which spring from these misrepresentations;
they tend to render
alien to each other those who ought
to be bound together by fraternal
affection.
The inhabitants of our Western country have
lately had a
useful lesson on this head.
They have seen
in the negotiation by the
Executive and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate of the treaty
with Spain, and
in the universal satisfaction
at that event throughout
the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the suspicions
propagated among them of a policy in the General Government and in the
Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests
in regard to the Mississippi.
They have been witnesses
to the formation of two
treaties—that with
Great Britain and
that with Spain—which secure to them everything
they could
desire
in respect to our
foreign relations toward confirming
their prosperity.
Will
it not be their wisdom to rely for the preserva-
tion
of these advantages on the union by which they were procured?
Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who
would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens?
To the efficacy and permanency of your union
a government
for the
whole is indispensable.
No
alliances, however Strict, between the parts
can be an adequate substitute.
They must inevitably experience the
infractions and interruptions which all alliances in all times have experi-
enced.
Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your
first essay by the adoption of a Constitution of Government better calcu-
lated than your former for an intimate union and for the efficacious man-
agement of your common concerns.
This Government,
the offspring
of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full inves-
tigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the
distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing
within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your
confidence and your support.
Respect for its authority, compliance witli
its laws, acquiescence in
its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundn-
mental maxims of true liberty.
The basis of our political systems is the
right of the people to make and to
alter their constitutions of govern-
ment.
But the constitution which at any time exists till changed by an
explicit and
authentic
act
of
the whole
people
is
sacredly obligatory
upon all.
The very idea of the power and the right of the people to estab-
lish government presupposes the duty
of every individual
to obey the
established government.
All obstructions to
the execution
of the laws,
all combinations and
associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to
direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deHberation and action of
the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle
and of
fatal tendency.
They serve
to organize
faction;
to give
it an
210
Messages and Papers of the Presidents
artificial and extraordinar>' force; to put in the place of the delegated will
of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising
minority of the community, and, according to the alternate triumphs of
different
parties,
to make the public administration the mirror of the
ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction rather than the organ
of consistent and wholesome
plans,
digested by common counsels and
modified by mutual interests.
However combinations or associations
of the above description may
now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time
and things to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and
unprincipled men will be enabled
to subvert the power of the people,
and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying after-
wards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.
Toward the preser\^ation of your Government and the permanency of
your present happy state,
it
is requisite not only
that you steadily dis-
countenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also
that }ou
resist with care the
spirit of innovation upon
its principles,
however specious the pretexts.
One method of assault may be to effect
in the forms of the Constitution alterations which will impair the energy
of the system, and thus to undermine what can not be directly over-
thrown.
In
all the changes
to which
you may be invited remember
that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of
governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest
standard by which to
test the real tendency of the existing constitution
of a country;
that facility in changes upon the credit of mere hypothesis
and opinion exposes to perpetual change,
from the endless variety of
hypothesis and opinion; and remember especially that for the
efficient
management of your common interests in a country so extensive as ours
a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security
of liberty is indispensable.
Liberty itself will find in such a government,
with powers properly distributed and adjusted,
its surest guardian.
It
is, indeed,
little
else than a name where the government
is too feeble
to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the
society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain
all
in
the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State,
with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical dis-
criminations.
Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn
you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit
of party generally.
This spirit, unfortunately,
is inseparable from our nature, having
its
root in the strongest passions of the human mind.
It exists under differ-
ent shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed;
but in those of the popular form
it is seen in its greatest rankness and is
truly their worst enemy.
George Washington
211
The alternate domination
of one faction over another, sharpened by
the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension, which
in different ages
and
countries
has
perpetrated
the most
horrid
enormities,
is
itself a
frightful despotism.
But this leads at length to a more formal and per-
manent despotism.
The disorders and miseries which
result gradually
incHne the minds of men to seek
security and repose
in
the absolute
power of an individual, and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing
faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this dis-
position to the purposes of his own elevation on the ruins of public liberty.
Without looking forward
to an extremity of
this kind (which never-
theless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual
mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the
interest and
duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain
it.
It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public
administration.
It
agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies
and
false alarms
;
kindles the animosity
of one part
against another
;
foments occasionally riot and insurrection.
It opens the door to foreign
influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access
to the govern-
ment itself through the channels of party passion.
Thus the policy and
the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.
There
is an opinion that
parties
in
free countries are useful checks
upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the
spirit of liberty.
This within certain limits is probably true; and in gov-
ernments of a monarchical cast patriotism may look with indulgence, if not
with favor, upon the spirit of party.
But in those of the popular char-
acter, in governments purely elective,
it is a spirit not to be encouraged.
From their natural tendency it is certain there will ah\'ays be enough of that
spirit for every salutary purpose; and there being constant danger of excess,
the effort ought to be by force of public opinion to mitigate and assuage it.
A fire not to be quenched,
it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent
its
bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming,
it should consume.
It is important, Hkewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country
should inspire caution in those intrusted with its administration to con-
fine themselves within
their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding
in
the
exercise
of
the powers
of
one department
to encroach
upon
another.
The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of
all the departments
in one, and thus
to create,
whatever the form of
government,
a
real despotism.
A
just estimate
of that love of power
and proneness
to abuse
it which predominates in the human heart
is
sufficient
to satisfy us of
the truth of
this
position.
The necessity of
reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and dis-
tributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian
of the public weal against invasions by the others,
has been evinced
by experiments
ancient and modern,
some
of them
in
our
country
and under our own
eyes.
To
preserve them must
be
as
necessary
212
Messages and Papers of Ilie rirsidrnts
as to
institute them.
If
in the opinion
of the people the distribntion
or modification of the constitutional powers Ix* in any particular w lonj;,
let
it be
corrected by an amendment
in the way which the Constitu-
tion designates.
But
let there be no change by usurpation;
for thougli
this in one instance may be the instrument of good,
it is the customary
weapon by which free governments are destroyed.
The precedent must
always greatly overbalance
in permanent
evil any
partial or
transient
benefit which the use can at any time yield.
Of
all the dispositions and habits which lead
to
political prosperity,
rehgion and morality are indispensable supports.
In vain would
that
man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert
these
great
pillars of human happiness—these firmest props of the duties of
men and
citizens.
The mere
pohtician, equally with the pious man,
ought to respect and to cherish them.
A volume could not trace all their
connections with private and public
felicit}'.
Let
it simply be
asked.
Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life,
if the sense of
religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of inves
ligation
in
courts of
justice?
And
let us with
caution
indulge
tlic
supposition that morality can be maintained without religion.
Whatever
may be conceded
to
the
influence
of
refined
education
on minds
of
peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect
that,
national moraUty can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of
popular government.
The rule indeed extends with more or
less force
to ever>^ species of
free government.
Who that
is a sincere friend to it
can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the
fabric?
Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions
for the general diffusion of knowledge.
In proportion as the structure
of a government gives force to public opinion, it
is essential that public
opinion should be enlightened.
As a very important source
of strength and security, cherish public
credit.
One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible,
avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating
peace, but
remembering
also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent
much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumula-
tion of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous
exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars
have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen
which we ourselves ought
to
bear.
The execution
of
these maxims
belongs to your representatives; but
it
is necessary that public opinion
should cooperate.
To facilitate to them the performance of their duty it
is essential that you should practically bear in mind that toward the pay-
ment of debts there must be revenue;
that to have revenue there must
be taxes;
that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less incon-
venient and unpleasant;
that the
intrinsic embarrassment inseparable