A COMPILATION OF THE MESSAGES AND PAPERS OF THE PRESIDENTS
BY JAMES D. RICHARDSON
A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE
VOLUME X
1902
Prefatory Note
This volume closes the task, entered upon by me in April, 1895, of
compiling all the official papers of the Presidents. Instead of finding
it the labor of a year, as I supposed it would be when I undertook it,
the work has occupied me closely for more than four years. A great
portion of this time has been consumed in the preparation of the Index.
The Index is mainly the work of my son, James D. Richardson, jr., who
prepared it with such assistance as I could give him. He has given
his entire time to it for three years. Every reference in it has been
examined and compared with the text by myself. We have endeavored
to make it full, accurate, and comprehensive, with numerous cross
references. There will be found in this Index a large number of
encyclopedic articles, which are intended, in part at least, to furnish
the reader definitions of politico-historical words and phrases
occurring in the papers of the Chief Magistrates, or to develop more
fully questions or subjects to which only indirect reference is made or
which are but briefly discussed by them. There will also be found short
accounts of several hundred battles in which the armies of the United
States have been engaged; also descriptions of all the States of the
Union and of many foreign countries. We have striven earnestly to make
these encyclopedic articles historically correct, and to this end have
carefully compared them with the most eminent authorities. This feature
was not within the scope of the work as contemplated when the resolution
authorizing the compilation was passed, nor when the act was passed
requiring the preparation of the Index; but with the approval of the
Joint Committee on Printing I have inserted the articles, believing that
they would be of interest. They contain facts and valuable information
not always easily accessible, and it is hoped that they will serve to
familiarize the young men of the country who read them with its history
and its trials and make of them better citizens and more devoted lovers
of our free institutions. There has been no effort or inclination on my
part to give partisan bias or political coloring of any nature to these
articles. On the other hand, I have sought only to furnish reliable
historical data and well-authenticated definitions and to avoid even the
appearance of an expression of my own opinion. It is proper to add that
these articles have all been read and approved by Mr. A.R. Spofford,
Chief Assistant Librarian of Congress, to whom I now make acknowledgment
of my indebtedness.
In pursuance of the plan originally adopted certain papers were
omitted from the earlier volumes of this work. Referring to these
papers, the following statement occurs in the Prefatory Note to Volume
I: "In executing the commission with which I have been charged I have
sought to bring together in the several volumes of the series all
Presidential proclamations, addresses, messages, and communications to
Congress excepting those nominating persons to office and those which
simply transmit treaties, and reports of heads of Departments which
contain no recommendation from the Executive." In the Prefatory Note to
Volume IX the statement was made that this course was a mistake, and
"that the work to be exhaustive should comprise every message of the
Presidents transmitting reports of heads of Departments and other
communications, no matter how brief or unintelligible the papers were in
themselves, and that to make them intelligible I should insert editorial
footnotes explaining them. Having acted upon the other idea in making up
Volume I and a portion of Volume II, quite a number of such brief papers
were intentionally omitted. Being convinced that all the papers of the
Executives should be inserted, the plan was modified accordingly, and
the endeavor was thereafter made to publish all of them. In order,
however, that the compilation maybe 'accurate and exhaustive,' I have
gone back and collected all the papers--those which should have appeared
in Volumes I and II as well as such as were unintentionally omitted from
the succeeding volumes--excepting those simply making nominations, and
shall publish them in an appendix in the last volume." These omitted
papers, with editorial footnotes, have been inserted in the Appendix,
and appear in the Index in alphabetical order, so that no serious
inconvenience will result to the reader.
The compilation properly closed with President Cleveland's second
Administration, March 4, 1897, but as the Spanish-American War excited
great interest I determined, after conferring with the Joint Committee
on Printing, to publish the official papers of President McKinley which
relate exclusively to that war. These will be found in the Appendix.
I have been greatly assisted in the work of compilation by Mr. A.P.
Marston, of the Proof Room of the Government Printing Office. Without
his valuable assistance in searching for and obtaining the various
papers and his painstaking care in the verification of data the work
would not have been so complete. Mr. Charles T. Hendler, of the State
Branch of the Government Printing Office, rendered timely aid in
procuring proclamations from the archives of the State Department.
To these gentlemen I make proper acknowledgments.
The work has met with public favor far beyond all expectations, and
words of praise for it have come from all classes and callings. Those
who possess it may be assured that they have in their libraries all the
official utterances of the Presidents of the United States from 1789 to
1897 that could possibly be found after the most diligent search, and
that these utterances are not to be found complete in any other
publication.
I close by quoting from the Prefatory Note to Volume I: "If my work
shall prove satisfactory to Congress and the country, I will feel
compensated for my time and effort."
JAMES D. RICHARDSON.
JULY 4, 1899.
APPENDIX
Messages, Proclamations, Executive Orders, etc.,
Omitted from Volumes I to IX
SPECIAL MESSAGES, ETC.
SATURDAY, _August 22, 1789_.[1]
[Footnote 1: See message of August 21, 1789, Vol. I, p. 61.]
The President of the United States came into the Senate Chamber,
attended by General Knox, and laid before the Senate the following state
of facts, with the questions thereto annexed, for their advice and
consent:
"To conciliate the powerful tribes of Indians in the southern district,
amounting probably to 14,000 fighting men, and to attach them firmly to
the United States, may be regarded as highly worthy of the serious
attention of Government.
"The measure includes not only peace and security to the whole southern
frontier, but is calculated to form a barrier against the colonies of a
European power which in the mutations of policy may one day become the
enemy of the United States. The fate of the Southern States, therefore,
or the neighboring colonies may principally depend on the present
measures of the Union toward the southern Indians.
"By the papers which have been laid before the Senate it will appear
that in the latter end of the year 1785 and the beginning of 1786
treaties were formed by the United States with the Cherokees, the
Chickesaws, and Choctaws. The report of the commissioners will show the
reasons why a treaty was not formed at the same time with the Creeks.
"It will also appear by the papers that the States of North Carolina and
Georgia protested against said treaties as infringing their legislative
rights and being contrary to the Confederation. It will further appear
by the said papers that the treaty with the Cherokees has been entirely
violated by the disorderly white people on the frontiers of North
Carolina.
"The opinion of the late Congress respecting the said violation will
sufficiently appear by the proclamation which they caused to be issued
on the 1st of September, 1788.
"By the public newspapers it appears that on the 16th of June last a
truce was concluded with the Cherokees by Mr. John Steele on behalf of
the State of North Carolina, in which it was stipulated that a treaty
should be held as soon as possible and that in the meantime all
hostilities should cease on either side.
"As the Cherokees reside principally within the territory claimed by
North Carolina, and as that State is not a member of the present Union,
it may be doubted whether any efficient measures in favor of the
Cherokees could be immediately adopted by the General Government.
"The commissioners for negotiating with the southern Indians may be
instructed to transmit a message to the Cherokees, stating to them as
far as may be proper the difficulties arising from the local claims of
North Carolina, and to assure them that the United States are not
unmindful of the treaty at Hopewell, and as soon as the difficulties
which are at present opposed to the measure shall be removed the
Government will do full justice to the Cherokees.
"The distance of the Choctaws and Chickesaws from the frontier
settlements seems to have prevented those tribes from being involved in
similar difficulties with the Cherokees.
"The commissioners may be instructed to transmit messages to the said
tribes containing assurances of the continuance of the friendship of the
United States and that measures will soon be taken for extending a trade
to them agreeably to the treaties of Hopewell. The commissioners may
also be directed to report a plan for the execution of the said treaties
respecting trade.
"But the case of the Creek Nation is of the highest importance and
requires an immediate decision. The cause of the hostilities between
Georgia and the Creeks is stated to be a difference in judgment
concerning three treaties made between the said parties, to wit, at
Augusta in 1783, at Galphinton in 1785, and at Shoulderbone in 1786.
The State of Georgia asserts and the Creeks deny the validity of the
said treaties.
"Hence arises the indispensable necessity of having all the
circumstances respecting the said treaties critically investigated by
commissioners of the United States, so that the further measures of
Government may be formed on a full knowledge of the case.
"In order that the investigation may be conducted with the highest
impartiality, it will be proper, in addition to the evidence of the
documents in the public possession, that Georgia should be represented
at this part of the proposed treaty with the Creek Nation.
"It is, however, to be observed, in any issue of the inquiry, that it
would be highly embarrassing to Georgia to relinquish that part of the
lands stated to have been ceded by the Creeks lying between the Ogeeche
and Oconee rivers, that State having surveyed and divided the same among
certain descriptions of its citizens, who settled and planted thereon
until dispossessed by the Indians.
"In case, therefore, the issue of the investigation should be
unfavorable to the claims of Georgia, the commissioners should be
instructed to use their best endeavors to negotiate with the Creeks
a solemn conveyance of the said lands to Georgia.
"By the report of the commissioners who were appointed under certain
acts of the late Congress by South Carolina and Georgia it appears that
they have agreed to meet the Creeks on the 15th of September ensuing.
As it is with great difficulty the Indians are collected together at
certain seasons of the year, it is important that the above occasion
should be embraced if possible on the part of the present Government
to form a treaty with the Creeks. As the proposed treaty is of great
importance to the future tranquillity of the State of Georgia as well
as of the United States, it has been thought proper that it should be
conducted on the part of the General Government by Commissioners whose
local situations may free them from the imputation of prejudice on this
subject.
"As it is necessary that certain principles should be fixed previously
to forming instructions for the commissioners, the following questions
arising out of the foregoing communications are stated by the President
of the United States and the advice of the Senate requested thereon:
"First. In the present state of affairs between North Carolina and
the United States will it be proper to take any other measures for
redressing the injuries of the Cherokees than the one herein suggested?
"Second. Shall the commissioners be instructed to pursue any other
measures respecting the Chickesaws and Choctaws than those herein
suggested?
"Third. If the commissioners shall adjudge that the Creek Nation was
fully represented at the three treaties with Georgia, and that the
cessions of land were obtained with the full understanding and free
consent of the acknowledged proprietors, and that the said treaties
ought to be considered as just and equitable, in this case shall
the commissioners be instructed to insist on a formal renewal and
confirmation thereof, and in case of a refusal shall they be instructed
to inform the Creeks that the arms of the Union shall be employed to
compel them to acknowledge the justice of the said cessions?
"Fourth. But if the commissioners shall adjudge that the said treaties
were formed with an inadequate or unauthorized representation of the
Creek Nation, or that the treaties were held under circumstances of
constraint or unfairness of any sort, so that the United States could
not with justice and dignity request or urge a confirmation thereof,
in this case shall the commissioners, considering the importance of the
Oconee lands to Georgia, be instructed to use their highest exertions
to obtain a cession of said lands? If so, shall the commissioners be
instructed, if they can not obtain the said cessions on better terms,
to offer for the same and for the further great object of attaching the
Creeks to the Government of the United States the following conditions:
"First. A compensation, in money or goods, to the amount of $----,
the said amount to be stipulated to be paid by Georgia at the period
which shall be fixed, or in failure thereof by the United States.
"Second. A secure port on the Altamaha or St. Marys rivers, or at any
other place between the same as may be mutually agreed to by the
commissioners and the Creeks.
"Third. Certain pecuniary considerations to some and honorary military
distinctions to other influential chiefs on their taking oaths of
allegiance to the United States.
"Fourth. A solemn guaranty by the United States to the Creeks of their
remaining territory, and to maintain the same, if necessary, by a line
of military posts.
"Fifth. But if all offers should fail to induce the Creeks to make
the desired cessions to Georgia, shall the commissioners make it an
ultimatum?
"Sixth. If the said cessions shall not be made an ultimatum, shall the
commissioners proceed and make a treaty and include the disputed lands
within the limits which shall be assigned to the Creeks? If not, shall a
temporary boundary be marked making the Oconee the line, and the other
parts of the treaty be concluded? In this case shall a secure port be
stipulated and the pecuniary and honorary considerations granted? In
other general objects shall the treaties formed at Hopewell with the
Cherokees, Chickesaws, and Choctaws be the basis of a treaty with the
Creeks?
"Seventh. Shall the sum of $20,000 appropriated to Indian expenses and
treaties be wholly applied, if necessary, to a treaty with the Creeks?
If not, what proportion?"
Whereupon the Senate proceeded to give their advice and consent.
The first question, viz, "In the present state of affairs between North
Carolina and the United States will it be proper to take any other
measures for redressing the injuries of the Cherokees than the one
herein suggested?" was, at the request of the President of the United
States, postponed.
The second question, viz, "Shall the commissioners be instructed to
pursue any other measures respecting the Chickesaws and Choctaws than
those herein suggested?" being put, was answered in the negative.
The consideration of the remaining questions was postponed till Monday
next.
MONDAY, _August 24_.
The President of the United States being present in the Senate Chamber,
attended by General Knox--
The Senate resumed the consideration of the state of facts, and
questions thereto annexed, laid before them by the President of the
United States on Saturday last; and the first question, viz, "In the
present state of affairs between North Carolina and the United States
will it be proper to take any other measures for redressing the injuries
of the Cherokees than the one herein suggested?" being put, was answered
in the negative.
The third question, viz, "If the commissioners shall adjudge that the
Creek Nation was fully represented at the three treaties with Georgia,
and that the cessions of land Were obtained with the full understanding
and free consent of the acknowledged proprietors, and that the said
treaties ought to be considered as just and equitable, in this case
shall the commissioners be instructed to insist on a formal renewal and
confirmation thereof, and in case of a refusal shall they be instructed
to inform the Creeks that the arms of the Union shall be employed to
compel them to acknowledge the justice of the said cessions?" was wholly
answered in the affirmative.
The fourth question and its four subdivisions, "But if the commissioners
shall adjudge that the said treaties were formed with an inadequate or
unauthorized representation of the Creek Nation, or that the treaties
were held under circumstances of constraint or unfairness of any sort,
so that the United States could not with justice and dignity request or
urge a confirmation thereof, in this case shall the commissioners,
considering the importance of the Oconee lands to Georgia, be instructed
to use their highest exertions to obtain a cession of said lands? If so,
shall the commissioners be instructed, if they can not obtain the said
cessions on better terms, to offer for the same and for the further
great object of attaching the Creeks to the Government of the United
States the following conditions: First. A compensation, in money or
goods, to the amount of $----, the said amount to be stipulated to be
paid by Georgia at the period which shall be fixed, or in failure
thereof by the United States. Second. A secure port on the Altamaha or
on St. Marys River, or at any other place between the same as may be
mutually agreed to by the commissioners and the Creeks. Third. Certain
pecuniary considerations to some and honorary military distinctions to
other influential chiefs on their taking oaths of allegiance to the
United States. Fourth. A solemn guaranty by the United States to the
Creeks of their remaining territory, and to maintain the same, if
necessary, by a line of military posts," was wholly answered in the
affirmative. The blank to be filled at the discretion of the President
of the United States.
The fifth question, viz, "But if all offers should fail to induce the
Creeks to make the desired cessions to Georgia, shall the commissioners
make it an ultimatum?" was answered in the negative.
The sixth question being divided, the first part, containing as follows,
viz, "If the said cessions shall not be made an ultimatum, shall the
commissioners proceed and make a treaty and include the disputed lands
within the limits which shall be assigned to the Creeks?" was answered
in the negative.
The remainder, viz: "If not, shall a temporary boundary be marked making
the Oconee the line, and the other parts of the treaty be concluded?"
"In this case shall a secure port be stipulated and the pecuniary and
honorary considerations granted?"
"Is other general objects shall the treaties formed at Hopewell with the
Cherokees, Chickesaws, and Choctaws be the basis of a treaty with the
Creeks?" were all answered in the affirmative.
On the seventh question, viz, "Shall the sum of $20,000 appropriated
to Indian expenses and treaties be wholly applied, if necessary, to
a treaty with the Creeks? If not, what proportion?" it was agreed to
advise and consent to appropriate the whole sum, if necessary, at the
discretion of the President of the United States.
The President of the United States withdrew from the Senate Chamber, and
the Vice-President put the question of adjournment, to which the Senate
agreed.
UNITED STATES, _September 26, 1789_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
Having yesterday received a letter written in this month by the governor
of Rhode Island at the request and in behalf of the general assembly of
that State, addressed to the President, the Senate, and the House of
Representatives of the eleven United States of America in Congress
assembled, I take the earliest opportunity of laying a copy of it before
you.
Go. WASHINGTON.
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS,
_In General Assembly, September Session, 1789_.
_To the President, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the
Eleven United States of America in Congress assembled_:
The critical situation in which the people of this State are placed
engage us to make these assurances on their behalf of their attachment
and friendship to their sister States and of their disposition to
cultivate mutual harmony and friendly intercourse. They know themselves
to be a handful, comparatively viewed; and although they now stand, as
it were, alone, they have not separated themselves or departed from the
principles of that Confederation which was formed by the sister States
in their struggle for freedom and in the hour of danger. They seek by
this memorial to call to your remembrance the hazards which we have run,
the hardships we have endured, the treasure we have spent, and the blood
we have lost together in one common cause, and especially the object
we had in view--the preservation of our liberty; wherein, ability
considered, they may truly say they were equal in exertions with the
foremost, the effects whereof, in great embarrassments and other
distresses consequent thereon, we have since experienced with severity;
which common sufferings and common danger we hope and trust yet form a
bond of union and friendship not easily to be broken.
Our not having acceded to or adopted the new system of government formed
and adopted by most of our sister States we doubt not have given
uneasiness to them. That we have not seen our way clear to do it
consistent with our idea of the principles upon which we all embarked
together has also given pain to us. We have not doubted but we might
thereby avoid present difficulties, but we have apprehended future
mischief. The people of this State from its first settlement have been
accustomed and strongly attached to a democratical form of government.
They have viewed in the Constitution an approach, though perhaps but
small, toward that form of government from which we have lately
dissolved our connection at so much hazard and expense of life and
treasure; they have seen with pleasure the administration thereof from
the most important trust downward committed to men who have highly
merited and in whom the people of the United States place unbounded
confidence. Yet even in this circumstance, in itself so fortunate, they
have apprehended danger by way of precedent. Can it be thought strange,
then, that with these impressions they should wait to see the proposed
system organized and in operation, to see what further checks and
securities would be agreed to and established, by way of amendments,
before they could adopt it as a constitution of government for
themselves and their posterity? These amendments, we believe, have
already afforded some relief and satisfaction to the minds of the people
of this State, and we earnestly look for the time when they may with
clearness and safety be again united with their sister States under a
constitution and form of government so well poised as neither to need
alteration or be liable thereto by a majority only of nine States out of
thirteen--a circumstance which may possibly take place against the sense
of a majority of the people of the United States. We are sensible of the
extremes to which democratical government is sometimes liable, something
of which we have lately experienced; but we esteem them temporary and
partial evils compared with the loss of liberty and the rights of a free
people. Neither do we apprehend they will be marked with severity by our
sister States when it is considered that during the late trouble the
whole United States, notwithstanding their joint wisdom and efforts,
fell into the like misfortune; that from our extraordinary exertions
this State was left in a situation nearly as embarrassing as that
during the war; that in the measures which were adopted government
unfortunately had not that aid and support from the moneyed interest
which our sister States of New York and the Carolinas experienced under
similar circumstances; and especially when it is considered that upon
some abatement of that fermentation in the minds of the people which is
so common in the collision of sentiments and of parties a disposition
appears to provide a remedy for the difficulties we have labored under
on that account. We are induced to hope that we shall not be altogether
considered as foreigners having no particular affinity or connection
with the United States, but that trade and commerce, upon which the
prosperity of this State much depends, will be preserved as free and
open between this and the United States as our different situations at
present can possibly admit; earnestly desiring and proposing to adopt
such commercial regulations on our part as shall not tend to defeat the
collection of the revenue of the United States, but rather to act in
conformity to or cooperate therewith, and desiring also to give the
strongest assurances that we shall during our present situation use our
utmost endeavors to be in preparation from time to time to answer our
proportion of such part of the interest or principal of the foreign and
domestic debt as the United States shall judge expedient to pay and
discharge.
We feel ourselves attached by the strongest ties of friendship, kindred,
and of interest with our sister States, and we can not without the
greatest reluctance look to any other quarter for those advantages of
commercial intercourse which we conceive to be more natural and
reciprocal between them and us.
I am, at the request and in behalf of the general assembly, your most
obedient, humble servant,
JOHN COLLINS, _Governor_.
His Excellency the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
UNITED STATES, _February 9, 1790_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
Among the persons appointed during the last session to offices under the
National Government there were some who declined serving. Their names
and offices are specified in the first column of the foregoing list.[2]
I supplied these vacancies, agreeably to the Constitution, by temporary
appointments, which you will find mentioned in the second column of the
list. These appointments will expire with your present session, and,
indeed, ought not to endure longer than until others can be regularly
made. For that purpose I now nominate to you the persons named in the
third column of the list as being, in my opinion, qualified to fill the
offices opposite to their names in the first.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 2: Omitted.]
UNITED STATES, _December 14, 1790_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
Having informed Congress of the expedition which had been directed
against certain Indians northwest of the Ohio, I embrace the earliest
opportunity of laying before you the official communications which have
been received upon that subject.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[The following was transmitted with the message of January 26, 1791 (see
Vol. I, p. 95).]
[From Annals of Congress, Vol. II, 2116-2118.]
PARIS, _June 20, 1790_.
Mr. PRESIDENT:
The National Assembly has worn during three days mourning for Benjamin
Franklin, your fellow-citizen, your friend, and one of the most useful
of your cooperators in the establishment of American liberty. They
charge me to communicate their resolution to the Congress of the United
States. In consequence I have the honor to address to you, Mr.
President, the extract from the proceedings of their session of the 11th
which contains the deliberations.
The National Assembly have not been stopped in their decree by the
consideration that Franklin was a stranger. Great men are the fathers of
universal humanity; their loss ought to be felt as a common misfortune
by all the tribes of the great human family; and it belongs without
doubt to a nation still affected by all the sentiments which accompany
the achievement of their liberty, and which owes its enfranchisement
essentially to the progress of the public reason, to be the first to
give the example of the filial gratitude of the people toward their true
benefactors. Besides that, these ideas and this example are so proper to
disseminate a happy emulation of patriotism, and thus to extend more and
more the empire of reason and virtue, which could not fail promptly to
determine a body devoted to the most important legislative combinations.
Charged with assuring to the French the rights of men and citizens, it
has believed without doubt that fruitful and great truths were likewise
numbered among the rights of man.
The name of Benjamin Franklin will be immortal in the records of freedom
and philosophy, but it is more particularly dear to a country where,
conducted by the most sublime mission, this venerable man grew very
soon to acquire an infinite number of friends and admirers as well by
the simplicity and sweetness of his manners as by the purity of his
principles, the extent of his knowledge, and the charms of his mind.
It will be remembered that every success which he obtained in his
important negotiation was applauded and celebrated (so to express it)
all over France as so many crowns conferred on genius and virtue.
Even then the sentiment of our rights existed in the bottom of our
souls. It was easily perceived that it feelingly mingled in the interest
which we took in America and in the public vows which we preferred for
your liberty.
At last the hour of the French has arrived. We love to think that the
citizens of the United States have not regarded with indifference our
steps toward liberty. Twenty-six millions of men breaking their chains
and seriously occupied in giving themselves a durable constitution are
not unworthy the esteem of a generous people who have preceded them in
that noble career.
We hope they will learn with interest the funeral homage which we
have rendered the Nestor of America. May this solemn act of fraternal
friendship serve more and more to bind the tie which ought to unite two
free nations. May the common enjoyment of liberty shed itself over the
whole globe and become an indissoluble chain of connection among all
the people of the earth. For ought they not to perceive that they will
march more steadfastly and more certainly to their true happiness in
understanding and loving each other than in being jealous and fighting?
May the Congress of the United States and the National Assembly of
France be the first to furnish this fine spectacle to the world! And
may the individuals of the two nations connect themselves by a mutual
affection worthy of the friendship which unites the two men at this
day most illustrious by their exertions for liberty--Washington and
Lafayette!
Permit me, Mr. President, to offer on this occasion my particular homage
of esteem and admiration.
I have the honor to be, with respectful consideration, Mr. President,
your most humble and most obedient servant,
SIEVÈS, _President_.
DECREE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE 11TH OF JUNE, 1790.
The National Assembly decree that their members shall wear during three
days mourning for Benjamin Franklin, to commence on Monday next; that
the discourse pronounced on this occasion be printed, and that the
president write to the American Congress in the name of the National
Assembly.
Compared with the original by us, president and secretaries of the
National Assembly, at Paris, June 10, 1790.
SIEVÈS, _President_.
GOUDAU,
FÉLIX DE PARDIEU,
DUMOUCHET,
_Secretaries_.
UNITED STATES, _February 18, 1791_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives_:
I have received from the Secretary of State a report on the proceedings
of the governor of the Northwestern Territory at Kaskaskia, Kahokia,
and Prairie under the resolution of Congress of August 29, 1788, which,
containing matter proper for your consideration, I lay the same before
you.[3]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 3: Relating to land claimants in the Northwest Territory.]
UNITED STATES, _February 22, 1791_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
I lay before you a report of the Secretary of War, relative to the
appointment of two brigadier-generals of militia in the territory of
the United States south of the Ohio, and I nominate John Sevier to
be brigadier-general of the militia of Washington district and James
Robertson to be brigadier-general of the militia of Miro district,
both within the said territory.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, _December 28, 1791_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I lay before you, for your consideration, the copy of a letter[4] which
I have received from the Attorney-General of the United States.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 4: Respecting the relation between district attorneys and the
Attorney-General.]
UNITED STATES, _January 2, 1792_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I lay before you an official statement of the expenditures to the end of
the year 1791 from the sum of $10,000 granted to defray the contingent
expenses of Government by an act passed on the 26th of March, 1790.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, _November 7, 1792_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I lay before you copies of certain papers relative to the Spanish
interference in the execution of the treaty entered into in the year
1790 between the United States and the Creek Nation of Indians, together
with a letter from the Secretary of State to the President of the United
States on the same subject.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, _December 30, 1793_.
_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_:
I now transmit you a report by the Secretary of State of such laws,
decrees, and ordinances,[5] or their substance, respecting commerce in the
countries with which the United States have commercial intercourse as
he has received and had not stated in his report of the 16th instant.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 5: Decree of the National Assembly of France of March 26,
1793, "exempting from all duties the subsistence and other objects of
supply in the colonies relatively to the United States," and extract of
an ordinance of Spain of June 9, 1793, "for regulating provisionally
the commerce of Louisiana and the Floridas."]
UNITED STATES, _December 30, 1793_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I communicate to you the translation of a letter[6] received from the
representatives of Spain here in reply to that of the Secretary of State
to them of the 21st instant, which had before been communicated to you.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 6: Relating to affairs with Indians on the southern frontier.]
UNITED STATES, _December 31, 1793_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I now lay before you a letter from the Secretary of State, with
his account of the expenditure of the moneys appropriated for our
intercourse with foreign nations from the 1st of July, 1792, to the 1st
of July, 1793, and other papers relating thereto.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, _January 6, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
I herewith transmit the copy of a letter from the Secretary of War,
stating the circumstances which have hitherto prevented any explanation
of the fourth article of the treaty with the Wabash Indians.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, _January 7, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I lay before you an official statement of the expenditure to the end of
the year 1793 from the sum of $10,000 granted to defray the contingent
expenses of Government by an act passed on the 26th of March, 1790.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, _January 15, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I lay before you, as being connected with the correspondence already in
your possession between the Secretary of State and the minister
plenipotentiary of the French Republic, the copy of a letter from that
minister of the 25th of December, 1793, and a copy of the proceedings of
the legislature of the State of South Carolina.[7]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 7: Relating to enlistments in South Carolina for the service
of the French Republic.]
UNITED STATES, _January 16, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I transmit for your information certain intelligence[8] lately received
from Europe, as it relates to the subject of my past communications.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 8: Respecting relations between the United States and France.]
UNITED STATES, _January 22, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I forward to you extracts from the last advices from our minister in
London[9], as being connected with communications already made.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 9: Relating to commercial restrictions.]
UNITED STATES, _January 30, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_:
I lay before you the copy of a letter from the governor of the State of
North Carolina, together with two petitions,[10] to which it refers, and
which I am requested by the legislature of that State and himself to
transmit to Congress.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 10: Relating to lands ceded to the United States by North
Carolina.]
UNITED STATES, _March 12, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I transmit to you the translation of two letters from the commissioners
of His Catholic Majesty to the Secretary of State, and of their
inclosures.[11]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 11: Relating to the declaration of war of March 23, 1793,
against France by Spain and to expeditions of United States citizens
against East Florida.]
UNITED STATES, _March 25, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
The two letters[12] which I now forward to Congress were written by a
consul of the United States, and contain information which will probably
be thought to require some pecuniary provision.
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 12: Relating to the capture of American vessels by British
ships of war.]
UNITED STATES, _May 23, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I lay before you the copy of a letter from the minister plenipotentiary
of His Britannic Majesty, in answer to a letter from the Secretary of
State communicated to Congress yesterday, and also the copy of a letter
from the Secretary which is referred to in the above-mentioned letter of
the minister.[13]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 13: Relating to a speech of Lord Dorchester, Governor-General
of Canada, tending to an incitement of the Indians to hostilities
against the United States, to complaints against alleged acts of
violence by citizens of Vermont, etc.]
UNITED STATES, _June 4, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I lay before Congress the copy of a letter, with its inclosures, from
the Secretary of State to the minister plenipotentiary of His Britannic
Majesty, it being an answer to a letter from the minister to him bearing
date the 22d ultimo and already communicated.[14]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 14: Relating to a speech of Lord Dorchester, Governor-General
of Canada, tending to an incitement of the Indians to hostilities
against the United States; justifying the measures pursued by the United
States to enforce their neutrality, and rebutting the accusation of
partiality to France.]
UNITED STATES, _December 3, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I transmit to you an official statement of the expenditure to the 30th
of September last from the sums heretofore granted to defray the
contingent expenses of Government by acts passed the 26th day of March,
1790, and the 9th of June, 1794.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, _December 11, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I transmit to you, for consideration, a representation made to me by
the Secretary of the Treasury on the subject of constituting an officer
to be specially charged with the business of procuring certain public
supplies.[15]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 15: For the Army and Navy.]
UNITED STATES, _December 16, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I transmit to Congress the copy of a letter from the Secretary of State,
with his account, as adjusted with the Treasury Department, of the
expenditure of moneys appropriated for our intercourse with foreign
nations up to the 1st of July, 1794.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, _December 30, 1794_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate_:
I lay before you, for your consideration, certain additional articles
of the treaty with the Cherokees, stipulated the 28th of June last,
together with the conferences which occasioned the formation of the
said articles.
Go. WASHINGTON.
UNITED STATES, _January 12, 1795_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives_:
I lay before Congress, for their consideration, the copy of a letter
from the Secretary of War, accompanied by an extract from a memorandum
of James Seagrove, agent of Indian affairs.[16]
Go. WASHINGTON.
[Footnote 16: Relating to the justice of compensating owners of negroes
taken by the Creek Indians from the conclusion of the Revolutionary War
to 1790.]
[The following was transmitted with the message of January 4, 1796 (see
Vol. I, pp. 189-190).]
[From American State Papers, Foreign Relations, Vol. I, pp. 527-528.]
PARIS, _30th Vendémiaire, Third Year of the French Republic, One and
Indivisible (October 21, 1794)_.
_The Representatives of the French People composing the Committee
of Public Safety of the National Convention, charged by the law of
the 7th Fructidor with the direction of foreign relations, to the
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled_.
CITIZENS REPRESENTATIVES: The connections which nature, reciprocal
wants, and a happy concurrence of circumstances have formed between two
free nations can not but be indissoluble. You have strengthened those
sacred ties by the declarations which the minister plenipotentiary of
the United States has made in your name to the National Convention and
to the French people. They have been received with rapture by a nation
who know how to appreciate every testimony which the United States have
given to them of their affection. The colors of both nations, united in
the center of the National Convention, will be an everlasting evidence
of the part which the United States have taken in the success of the
French Republic.
You were the first defenders of the rights of man in another hemisphere.
Strengthened by your example and endowed with an invincible energy,
the French people have vanquished that tyranny which during so many
centuries of ignorance, superstition, and baseness had enchained a
generous nation.
Soon did the people of the United States perceive that every victory of
ours strengthened their independence and happiness. They were deeply
affected at our momentary misfortunes, occasioned by treasons purchased
by English gold. They have celebrated with rapture the successes of our
brave armies.
None of these sympathetic emotions have escaped the sensibility of the
French nation. They have all served to cement the most intimate and
solid union that has ever existed between two nations.
The citizen Adet, who will reside near your Government in quality
of minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic, is especially
instructed to tighten these bands of fraternity and mutual benevolence.
We hope that he may fulfill this principal object of his mission by a
conduct worthy of the confidence of both nations and of the reputation
which his patriotism and virtues have acquired him.
An analogy of political principles; the natural relations of commerce
and industry; the efforts and immense sacrifices of both nations in the
defense of liberty and equality; the blood which they have spilled
together; their avowed hatred for despots; the moderation of their
political views; the disinterestedness of their counsels, and especially
the success of the vows which they have made, in presence of the Supreme
Being, to be free or die, all combine to render indestructible the
connections which they have formed.
Doubt it not, citizens, we shall finally destroy the combination of
tyrants--you by the picture of prosperity which in your vast country has
succeeded to a bloody struggle of eight years; we by that enthusiasm
which glows in the breast of every Frenchman. Astonished nations, too
long the dupes of perfidious kings, nobles, and priests, will eventually
recover their rights, and the human race will owe to the American and
French nations their regeneration and a lasting peace.
The members of the Committee of Public Safety,
J.S.B. DELMAS,
MERLIN (OF DOUAI), ETC., ETC.
_The minister plenipotentiary of the French Republic to the President
of the United States_.
Mr. PRESIDENT: I come to acquit myself of a duty very dear to my heart.
I come to deposit in your hands and in the midst of a people justly
renowned for their courage and their love of liberty the symbol of the
triumphs and of the enfranchisement of my nation.
When she broke her chains; when she proclaimed the imprescriptible
rights of man; when in a terrible war she sealed with her blood the
covenant she had made with liberty, her own happiness was not alone
the object of her glorious efforts; her views extended also to all free
people. She saw their interest blended with her own, and doubly rejoiced
in her victories, which in assuring to her the enjoyment of her rights
became to them new guaranties of their independence.
These sentiments, which animated the French nation from the dawn of
their revolution, have acquired new strength since the foundation
of the Republic. France at that time, by the form of its Government,
assimilated to, or rather identified with, free people, saw in them only
friends and brothers. Long accustomed to regard the American people as
her most faithful allies, she has sought to draw closer the ties already
formed in the fields of America, under the auspices of victory, over the
ruins of tyranny.
The National Convention, the organ of the will of the French nation,
have more than once expressed their sentiments to the American people,
but above all these burst forth on that august day when the minister of
the United States presented to the National Representation the colors of
his country. Desiring never to lose recollections as dear to Frenchmen
as they must be to Americans, the Convention ordered that these colors
should be placed in the hall of their sittings. They had experienced
sensations too agreeable not to cause them to be partaken of by their
allies, and decreed that to them the national colors should be
presented.