THOMAS WORTHINGTON, from Ohio.
The Vice President being absent, the Senate proceeded to the election
of a President, _pro tem._, as the constitution provides, and the
ballots being collected and counted, the whole number was found to be
twenty-nine, of which fifteen make a majority. Mr. BROWN had 24, Mr.
BALDWIN 2, Mr. DAYTON 2, and Mr. PICKERING 1.
Consequently, the Honorable JOHN BROWN was elected President of the
Senate, _pro tempore_.
The credentials of the following Senators were severally read, to wit:
Of JOSEPH ANDERSON, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State
of Tennessee; of THEODORUS BAILEY, appointed a Senator by the Legislature
of the State of New York; of JAMES HILLHOUSE, appointed a Senator by the
Legislature of the State of Connecticut; of SAMUEL MACLAY, appointed a
Senator by the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania; of SAMUEL I.
POTTER, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Rhode
Island; of ISRAEL SMITH, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the
State of Vermont; of SAMUEL WHITE, appointed a Senator by the Legislature
of the State of Delaware; for the term of six years from and after the
third day of March last, respectively: also, of THOMAS WORTHINGTON,
appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Ohio; of JOHN
CONDIT, appointed a Senator by the Executive of the State of New Jersey;
of JOHN TAYLOR, appointed a Senator by the Executive of the State of
Virginia, in place of S. T. Mason, deceased; of TIMOTHY PICKERING,
appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the State of Massachusetts, in
the place of Dwight Foster, resigned; and the oath required by law was,
by the PRESIDENT, administered to them respectively.
The oath was also administered to SAMUEL SMITH, appointed a Senator by
the Legislature of the State of Maryland, for the term of six years from
and after the third day of March last.
_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 the Hon. JOHN BROWN
President of the Senate, _pro tempore_.
The Secretary was directed to give a similar notice to the House of
Representatives.
_Resolved_, That JAMES MATHERS, Sergeant-at-Arms and Doorkeeper to
the Senate, be, and he is hereby, authorized to employ one additional
assistant and two horses, for the purpose of performing such services as
are usually required by the Doorkeeper to the Senate; and that the sum of
twenty-eight dollars be allowed him weekly for that purpose during the
session, and for twenty days after.
_Resolved_, That each Senator be supplied during the present session with
three such newspapers, printed in any of the States, as he may choose,
provided that the same be furnished at the usual rate for the annual
charge of such papers.
A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that a
quorum of the House had assembled, and had elected the Hon. NATHANIEL
MACON their Speaker, and is ready to proceed to business.
_Ordered_, That Messrs. CLINTON and BRECKENRIDGE be a 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
the House agree to the resolution of the Senate for the appointment of a
joint committee to wait on the President of the United States, and have
appointed a committee on their part.
On motion, _Resolved_, That two Chaplains, of different denominations,
be appointed to Congress for the present session, one by each House, who
shall interchange weekly.
_Ordered_, That the Secretary desire the concurrence of the House of
Representatives in this resolution.
The Senate proceeded to the choice of a Chaplain on their part, and
the ballots having been collected and counted, the whole number was
twenty-eight; of which fifteen make a majority. Mr. GANTT had 15 votes,
and Mr. M’CORMICK 13.
Consequently, the Rev. Dr. GANTT was elected.
Mr. CLINTON reported, from the joint committee appointed for the purpose,
that they had waited on the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, and that
he had acquainted them that he would make a communication to the two
Houses, by message, immediately.
The following Message was received from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES:
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:
In calling you together, fellow-citizens, at an earlier
day than was contemplated by the act of the last session
of Congress, I have not been insensible to the personal
inconveniences necessarily resulting from an unexpected change
in your arrangements. But matters of great public concernment
have rendered this call necessary, and the interest you feel in
these will supersede, in your minds, all private considerations.
Congress witnessed, at their late session, the extraordinary
agitation produced in the public mind by the suspension of our
right of deposit at the port of New Orleans, no assignment of
another place having been made according to treaty. They were
sensible that the continuance of that privation would be more
injurious to our nation than any consequences which could flow
from any mode of redress; but, reposing just confidence in the
good faith of the Government whose officer had committed the
wrong, friendly and reasonable representations were resorted
to, and the right of deposit was restored.
Previous, however, to this period, we had not been unaware of
the danger to which our peace would be perpetually exposed
whilst so important a key to the commerce of the western
country remained under a foreign power. Difficulties too
were presenting themselves as to the navigation of other
streams, which, arising within our territories, pass through
those adjacent. Propositions had therefore been authorized
for obtaining, on fair conditions, the sovereignty of New
Orleans, and of other possessions in that quarter, interesting
to our quiet, to such extent as was deemed practicable; and
the provisional appropriation of two millions of dollars,
to be applied and accounted for by the President of the
United States, intended as part of the price, was considered
as conveying the sanction of Congress to the acquisition
proposed.[1] The enlightened Government of France saw, with
just discernment, the importance to both nations of such
liberal arrangements as might best and permanently promote the
peace, interests, and friendship of both; and the property and
sovereignty of all Louisiana, which had been restored to them,
has, on certain conditions, been transferred to the United
States, by instruments bearing date the 30th of April last.
When these shall have received the constitutional sanction
of the Senate, they will, without delay, be communicated to
the Representatives for the exercise of their functions, as
to those conditions which are within the powers vested by the
constitution in Congress. Whilst the property and sovereignty
of the Mississippi and its waters secure an independent outlet
for the produce of the Western States, and an uncontrolled
navigation through their whole course, free from collision
with other Powers, and the dangers to our peace from that
source, the fertility of the country, its climate and extent,
promise, in due season, important aids to our Treasury, an
ample provision for our posterity, and a wide spread for the
blessings of freedom and equal laws.
With the wisdom of Congress it will rest to take those ulterior
measures which may be necessary for the immediate occupation
and temporary government of the country; for its incorporation
into our Union; for rendering the change of government a
blessing to our newly adopted brethren; for securing to them
the rights of conscience and property; for confirming to
the Indian inhabitants their occupancy and self-government,
establishing friendly and commercial relations with them,
and for ascertaining the geography of the country acquired.
Such materials for your information relative to its affairs
in general, as the short space of time has permitted me to
collect, will be laid before you when the subject shall be in a
state for your consideration.
The small vessels authorized by Congress, with a view to the
Mediterranean service, have been sent into that sea, and will
be able more effectually to confine the Tripoline cruisers
within their harbors, and supersede the necessity of convoy to
our commerce in that quarter. They will sensibly lessen the
expenses of that service the ensuing year.
A further knowledge of the ground in the north-eastern and
north-western angles of the United States has evinced that
the boundaries established by the treaty of Paris, between
the British territories and ours in those parts, were too
imperfectly described to be susceptible of execution. It has
therefore been thought worthy of attention, for preserving
and cherishing the harmony and useful intercourse subsisting
between the two nations, to remove, by timely arrangements,
what unfavorable incidents might otherwise render a ground
of future misunderstanding. A convention has therefore been
entered into, which provides for a practicable demarcation of
those limits, to the satisfaction of both parties.
An account of the receipts and expenditures of the year ending
30th September last, with the estimates for the service of
the ensuing year, will be laid before you by the Secretary
of the Treasury, so soon as the receipts of the last quarter
shall be returned from the more distant States. It is already
ascertained that the amount paid into the Treasury for that
year has been between eleven and twelve millions of dollars;
and that the revenue accrued, during the same term, exceeds
the sum counted on as sufficient for our current expenses, and
to extinguish the public debt within the period heretofore
proposed.
We have seen with sincere concern the flames of war lighted
up again in Europe, and nations, with which we have the most
friendly and useful relations, engaged in mutual destruction.
While we regret the miseries in which we see others involved,
let us bow with gratitude to that kind Providence, which,
inspiring with wisdom and moderation our late Legislative
Councils, while placed under the urgency of the greatest
wrongs, guarded us from hastily entering into the sanguinary
contest, and left us only to look on and to pity its ravages.
These will be the heaviest on those immediately engaged. Yet
the nations pursuing peace will not be exempt from all evil.
In the course of this conflict let it be our endeavor, as it
is our interest and desire, to cultivate the friendship of the
belligerent nations by every act of justice, and of innocent
kindness; to receive their armed vessels with hospitality from
the distresses of the sea, but to administer the means of
annoyance to none; to establish in our harbors such a police
as may maintain law and order; to restrain our citizens from
embarking individually in a war in which their country takes no
part; to punish severely those persons, citizen or alien, who
shall usurp the cover of our flag for vessels not entitled to
it, infecting thereby with suspicion those of real Americans,
and committing us into controversies for the redress of wrongs
not our own; to exact from every nation the observance, towards
our vessels and citizens, of those principles and practices
which all civilized people acknowledge; to merit the character
of a just nation, and maintain that of an independent one,
preferring every consequence to insult and habitual wrong.
Separated by a wide ocean from the nations of Europe, and from
the political interests which entangle them together, with
productions and wants which render our commerce and friendship
useful to them, and theirs to us, it cannot be the interest of
any to assail us, nor ours to disturb them. We should be most
unwise, indeed, were we to cast away the singular blessings of
the position in which nature has placed us, the opportunity she
has endowed us with, of pursuing, at a distance from foreign
contentions, the paths of industry, peace, and happiness; of
cultivating general friendship, and of bringing collisions of
interest to the umpire of reason rather than of force. How
desirable, then, must it be, in a Government like ours, to see
its citizens adopt, individually, the views, the interests,
and the conduct, which their country should pursue, divesting
themselves of those passions and partialities which tend to
lessen useful friendships, and to embarrass and embroil us, in
the calamitous scenes of Europe! Confident, fellow-citizens,
that you will duly estimate the importance of neutral
dispositions towards the observance of neutral conduct, that
you will be sensible how much it is our duty to look on the
bloody arena spread before us, with commiseration, indeed, but
with no other wish than to see it closed, I am persuaded you
will cordially cherish these dispositions in all discussions
among yourselves, and in all communications with your
constituents; and I anticipate, with satisfaction, the measures
of wisdom which the great interests now committed to you will
give _you_ an opportunity of providing, and _myself_, that of
approving and of carrying into execution with the fidelity I
owe to my country.