MONDAY, December 7, 1795.
The following Senators appeared, and took their seats:
JOHN LANGDON and SAMUEL LIVERMORE, from New Hampshire.
CALEB STRONG and GEORGE CABOT, from Massachusetts.
THEODORE FOSTER, from Rhode Island.
OLIVER ELLSWORTH and JONATHAN TRUMBULL, from Connecticut.
MOSES ROBINSON, from Vermont.
RUFUS KING, from New York.
JAMES ROSS and WILLIAM BINGHAM, from Pennsylvania.
HENRY LATIMER, from Delaware.
HENRY TAZEWELL and STEVENS T. MASON, from Virginia.
ALEXANDER MARTIN and TIMOTHY BLOODWORTH, from North Carolina.
PIERCE BUTLER and JACOB READ, from South Carolina.
The VICE PRESIDENT being absent, the Senate proceeded to the election of
a PRESIDENT _pro tempore_, as the constitution provides, and HENRY
TAZEWELL was duly elected.
_Ordered_, That the Secretary wait on the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES, and acquaint him that a quorum of the Senate is assembled, and
that, in the absence of the VICE PRESIDENT, they have elected HENRY
TAZEWELL President _pro tempore_.
_Ordered_, That the Secretary acquaint the House of Representatives that
a quorum of the Senate is assembled, and ready to proceed to business;
and that, in the absence of the VICE PRESIDENT, they have elected HENRY
TAZEWELL President _pro tempore_.
_Ordered_, That Messrs. READ and CABOT be a joint committee on the part
of the Senate, together with such committee as the House of
Representatives may appoint on their part, to wait on the PRESIDENT OF
THE UNITED STATES, and notify him that a quorum of the two Houses is
assembled, and ready to receive any communications that he may be
pleased to make to them.
A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that a
quorum of the House is assembled; that they have elected JONATHAN DAYTON
their Speaker; and that they have concurred in the appointment of a
joint committee to wait on the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, and
acquaint him that the two Houses of Congress are assembled, and are
ready to receive any communications that he may be pleased to lay before
them.
Mr. READ, from the joint committee appointed for that purpose, reported
that they had waited on the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, and had
notified him that a quorum of the two Houses of Congress were assembled;
and the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES acquainted the committee that he
would meet the two Houses in the Representatives' Chamber at 12 o'clock
to-morrow.
TUESDAY, December 8.
HUMPHREY MARSHALL, from the State of Kentucky, attended.
A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that the
House are now ready to meet the Senate in the Chamber of that House, to
receive such communications as the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES shall
be pleased to make to them.
Whereupon, the Senate repaired to the Chamber of the House of
Representatives for the purpose above expressed.
The Senate then returned to their own Chamber, and a copy of the Speech
of the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES to both Houses of Congress was
read, as follows:
_Fellow-Citizens of the Senate, and of the House of
Representatives:_
I trust I do not deceive myself, while 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 congratulation,
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
north-west of the Ohio, is placed in the option of the
United States, by a treaty which the commander 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.
Contemplating the internal situation, as well as the
external relations, of the United States, we discover equal
cause for contentment and satisfaction. While many of the
nations of Europe, with their American dependencies, have
been involved in a contest unusually bloody, exhausting,
and calamitous; in which the evils of foreign war have been
aggravated by domestic convulsions 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 embittered 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
burdens 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 satisfactory,
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 molestations of our trade (to prevent a
continuance of which, however, very pointed remonstrances
have been made) being overbalanced by the aggregate
benefits which it derives from a neutral position. Our
population advances with a celerity which, exceeding the
most sanguine calculations, proportionally augments our
strength and resources, and guarantees our future security.
Every part of the Union displays indications of rapid and
various improvement; and with burdens 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 equalled?
_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 may be expected still
further to change, the relative situation of our frontiers.
In this review, you will doubtless allow due weight to the
considerations 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 in the existing plan further experience may
have unfolded. The subject is of so much moment, in my
estimation, as to excite a constant solicitude that the
consideration 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 attention of the
public councils.
While we indulge the satisfaction which the actual
condition of our 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 made with a view to
the protection 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 retaliation, 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 solicitude--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 lustre on our national
character, and administer the most grateful consolations
that virtuous minds can know.
_Gentlemen of the House 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 appropriations necessary
to be made for the service of the ensuing year.
Whether measures may not be advisable to re-enforce 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 show 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.
The progress of 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 replenishing our
magazines with military stores; and the steps which have
been taken towards 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.