PHILADELPHIA, _December_ 3, 1793.
The PRESIDENT having retired, the two Houses separated.
On motion, a committee of five was appointed to report the draft of an
Address to the PRESIDENT, in answer to his Speech to both Houses.
Messrs. ELLSWORTH, BUTLER, IZARD, LANGDON, and RUTHERFORD, were named.
THURSDAY, December 5.
The following Message was received from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES:
_Gentlemen of the Senate, and of the House of
Representatives:_
As the present situation of the several nations of Europe,
and especially of those with which the United States have
important relations, cannot but render the state of things
between them and us matter of interesting inquiry to the
Legislature, and may indeed give rise to deliberations to
which they alone are competent, I have thought it my duty
to communicate to them certain correspondences which, have
taken place.
The Representative and Executive bodies of France have
manifested generally a friendly attachment to this country,
have given advantages to our commerce and navigation, and
have made overtures for placing these advantages on
permanent ground. A decree, however, of the National
Assembly, subjecting vessels laden with provisions to be
carried into their ports, and making enemy goods lawful
prize in the vessel of a friend, contrary to our Treaty,
though revoked at one time as to the United States, has
been since extended to their vessels also, as has been
recently stated to us. Representations on this subject will
be immediately given in charge to our Minister there, and
the result shall be communicated to the Legislature.
It is with extreme concern I have to inform you that the
proceedings of the person whom they have unfortunately
appointed their Minister Plenipotentiary here have breathed
nothing of the friendly spirit of the nation which sent
him; their tendency, on the contrary, has been to involve
us in war abroad and discord and anarchy at home. So far as
his acts, or those of his agents, have threatened our
immediate commitment in the war, or flagrant insult to the
authority of the laws, their effect has been counteracted
by the ordinary cognizance of the laws, and by an exertion
of the powers confided to me. Where their danger was not
imminent, they have been borne with, from sentiments of
regard to his nation, from a sense of their friendship
towards us, from a conviction that they would not suffer us
to remain long exposed to the action of a person who has so
little respected our mutual dispositions, and, I will add,
from a reliance on the firmness of my fellow-citizens in
their principles of peace and order. In the mean time, I
have respected and pursued the stipulations of our
treaties, according to what I judged their true sense, and
have withheld no act of friendship which their affairs have
called for from us, and which justice to others left us
free to perform. I have gone further: rather than employ
force for the restitution of certain vessels which I deemed
the United States bound to restore, I thought it more
advisable to satisfy the parties by avowing it to be my
opinion that, if restitution were not made, it would be
incumbent on the United States to make compensation. The
papers now communicated will more particularly apprise you
of these transactions.
The vexations and spoliation understood to have been
committed on our vessels and commerce by the cruisers and
officers of some of the belligerent Powers, appeared to
require attention. The proofs of these, however, not having
been brought forward, the descriptions of citizens supposed
to have suffered were notified that, on furnishing them to
the Executive, due measures would be taken to obtain
redress of the past, and more effectual provisions against
the future. Should such documents be furnished, proper
representations will be made thereon, with a just reliance
on a redress proportioned to the exigency of the case.
The British Government having undertaken, by orders to the
commanders of their armed vessels, to restrain generally
our commerce in corn and other provisions to their own
ports, and those of their friends, the instructions now
communicated were immediately forwarded to our Minister at
that Court. In the mean time, some discussions on the
subject took place between him and them. These are also
laid before you, and I may expect to learn the result of
his special instructions in time to make it known to the
Legislature during their present session.
Very early after the arrival of a British Minister here
mutual explanations on the inexecution of the Treaty of
Peace were entered into with that Minister. These are now
laid before you for your information.
On the subjects of mutual interest between this country and
Spain, negotiations and conferences are now depending. The
public good requiring that the present state of these
should be made known to the Legislature _in confidence
only_, they shall be the subject of a separate and
subsequent communication.