UNITED STATES, _April_ 3, 1798.
The galleries being cleared, the Message and documents were read.
_Ordered_, That they lie for consideration.
MONDAY, April 16.
The VICE PRESIDENT communicated a letter from JOHN SLOSS HOBART,
resigning his seat in the Senate, in consequence of his appointment to
be Judge of the New York district; which letter was read.
_Ordered_, That the VICE PRESIDENT be requested to notify the Executive
of the State of New York that JOHN SLOSS HOBART hath accepted the
appointment of Judge of the New York district, and that his seat in the
Senate is of course vacated.
TUESDAY, April 17.
The bill authorizing the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES to raise a
provisional army was read the second time.
WEDNESDAY, May 2.
The Senate resumed the consideration of the report of the committee
authorizing Thomas Pinckney, late Envoy Extraordinary to the King of
Spain, and Minister Plenipotentiary to the King of Great Britain, to
receive the customary presents to foreign Ministers at those courts.
On the question to agree to the first resolution reported, to wit:
"_Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled_,
That Congress doth consent that Thomas Pinckney, Esq., who,
as Envoy Extraordinary of the United States, negotiated the
Treaty of Friendship, Limits, and Navigation between the
United States and the King of Spain, may receive from the
said King such present as it is customary for His Catholic
Majesty to make to such persons as negotiate treaties with
him:"
It passed in the affirmative--yeas 17, nays 5, as follows:
YEAS.--Messrs. Anderson, Bingham, Bloodworth, Clayton,
Foster, Goodhue, Greene, Hillhouse, Howard, Latimer,
Laurance, Livermore, Martin, Read, Sedgwick, Stockton, and
Tracy.
NAYS.--Messrs. Brown, Langdon, Marshall, Mason, and
Tazewell.
And the other resolution reported was agreed to, in the words following:
_And be it further resolved_, That Congress doth consent
that the said Thomas Pinckney, Esq., lately Minister
Plenipotentiary from the United States to the King of Great
Britain, may receive from the said King such present as it
is customary for His Britannic Majesty to make to Ministers
Plenipotentiary on taking leave of him.
THURSDAY, June 21.
_Affairs with France._
The following Message was received from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES:
_Gentlemen of the Senate, and Gentlemen of the House of
Representatives_:
While I congratulate you on the arrival of General
Marshall, one of our late Envoys Extraordinary to the
French Republic, at a place of safety, where he is justly
held in honor, I think it my duty to communicate to you a
letter received by him from Mr. Gerry, the only one of the
three who has not received his _congé_. This letter,
together with another, from the Minister of Foreign
Relations to him, of the third of April, and his answer of
the fourth, will show the situation in which he remains;
his intentions and prospects.
I presume that, before this time, he has received fresh
instructions, (a copy of which accompanies this message,)
to consent to no loans, and therefore the negotiation may
be considered at an end.
I will never send another Minister to France without
assurances that he will be received, respected, and
honored, as the representative of a great, free, powerful,
and independent nation.