UNITED STATES, _July 3, 1797_.
_Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives_:
The whole of the intelligence which has for some time past been received
from abroad, the correspondences between this Government and the
ministers of the belligerent powers residing here, and the advices
from the officers of the United States, civil and military, upon the
frontiers all conspire to shew in a very strong light the critical
situation of our country. That Congress might be enabled to form a more
perfect judgment of it and of the measures necessary to be taken,
I have directed the proper officers to prepare such collections of
extracts from the public correspondences as might afford the clearest
information. The reports made to me from the Secretary of State and the
Secretary of War, with a collection of documents from each of them, are
now communicated to both Houses of Congress. I have desired that the
message, reports, and documents may be considered as confidential merely
that the members of both Houses of Congress may be apprised of their
contents before they should be made public. As soon as the two Houses
shall have heard them, I shall submit to their discretion the
publication of the whole, or any such parts of them as they shall
judge necessary or expedient for the public good.