GEORGE CLINTON, Vice President of the United States, and President of the
Senate.
WILLIAM PLUMER and NICHOLAS GILMAN, from New Hampshire.
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS and TIMOTHY PICKERING, from Massachusetts.
URIAH TRACY, from Connecticut.
BENJAMIN HOWLAND, from Rhode Island.
STEPHEN R. BRADLEY and ISRAEL SMITH, from Vermont.
SAMUEL L. MITCHILL, from New York.
JOHN CONDIT and AARON KITCHEL, from New Jersey.
GEORGE LOGAN and SAMUEL MACLAY, from Pennsylvania.
SAMUEL WHITE, from Delaware.
DAVID STONE, from North Carolina.
JOHN GAILLARD, from South Carolina.
ABRAHAM BALDWIN, from Georgia.
THOMAS WORTHINGTON, from Ohio.
WILLIAM B. GILES, appointed a Senator by the Legislature of the
Commonwealth of Virginia, for the term of six years, from and after the
4th day of March last, produced his credentials, which were read; and,
the oath prescribed by law having been administered to him, he took his
seat in the Senate.
A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that a
quorum of the House is assembled, and are ready to proceed to business.
_Ordered_, That the Secretary notify the House of Representatives that a
quorum of the Senate is assembled, and ready to proceed to business.
A message from the House of Representatives informed the Senate that
the House have appointed a joint committee, on their part, with such
committee as the Senate may appoint, 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 communication that he may be pleased
to make to them.
The Senate took into consideration the resolution of the House of
Representatives last mentioned, for the appointment of a joint committee,
and
_Resolved_, That they do concur therein; and
_Ordered_, That Messrs. MITCHILL and STONE be the committee on the part
of the Senate.
Mr. MITCHILL reported, from the joint committee, that they had waited
on the President of the United States, agreeably to the resolution of
this day, and that the President of the United States had informed the
committee that he would make a communication to the two Houses to-morrow,
at twelve o’clock.
TUESDAY, December 2.
SAMUEL SMITH, from the State of Maryland, and BUCKNER THRUSTON, from the
State of Kentucky, attended.
_Resolved_, That JAMES MATHERS, Sergeant-at-Arms and Doorkeeper to
the Senate, be, and he is hereby authorized to employ one 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, to commence
with, and remain during the session, and for twenty days after.
_Annual Message._
The following Message was received from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES:
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States_:
It would have given me, fellow-citizens, great satisfaction to
announce, in the moment of your meeting, that the difficulties
in our foreign relations, existing at the time of your last
separation, had been amicably and justly terminated. I lost no
time in taking those measures which were most likely to bring
them to such a termination, by special missions, charged with
such powers and instructions as, in the event of failure, could
leave no imputation on either our moderation or forbearance.
The delays which have since taken place in our negotiations
with the British Government appear to have proceeded from
causes which do not forbid the expectation that, during the
course of the session, I may be enabled to lay before you
their final issue. What will be that of the negotiations
for settling our differences with Spain, nothing which had
taken place at the date of the last despatches enables us to
pronounce. On the western side of the Mississippi she advanced
in considerable force, and took post at the settlement of Bayou
Pierre, on the Red river. This village was originally settled
by France, was held by her as long as she held Louisiana, and
was delivered to Spain only as a part of Louisiana. Being
small, insulated, and distant, it was not observed, at the
moment of redelivery to France and the United States, that she
continued a guard of half a dozen men, which had been stationed
there. A proposition, however, having been lately made by our
Commander-in-chief, to assume the Sabine river as a temporary
line of separation between the troops of the two nations until
the issue of our negotiations shall be known, this has been
referred by the Spanish commandant to his superior, and in
the mean time he has withdrawn his force to the western side
of the Sabine river. The correspondence on this subject, now
communicated, will exhibit more particularly the present state
of things in that quarter.
Having received information that, in another part of the United
States, a great number of private individuals were combining
together, arming and organizing themselves contrary to law,
to carry on a military expedition against the territories of
Spain, I thought it necessary, by proclamation, as well as by
special orders, to take measures for preventing and suppressing
this enterprise, for seizing the vessels, arms, and other means
provided for it, and for arresting and bringing to justice its
authors and abettors. It was due to that good faith which ought
ever to be the rule of action in public as well as in private
transactions, it was due to good order and regular government
that, while the public force was acting strictly on the
defensive, and merely to protect our citizens from aggression,
the criminal attempts of private individuals to decide, for
their country, the question of peace or war, by commencing
active and unauthorized hostilities, should be promptly and
efficaciously suppressed.
In a country whose constitution is derived from the will
of the people, directly expressed by their free suffrages,
where the principal Executive functionaries, and those of the
Legislature, are renewed by them at short periods; where,
under the character of jurors, they exercise in person the
greatest portion of the judiciary powers; where the laws are
consequently so formed and administered as to bear with equal
weight and favor on all, restraining no man in the pursuits of
honest industry, and securing to every one the property which
that acquires, it would not be supposed that any safeguards
could be needed against insurrection, or enterprise, on the
public peace or authority. The laws, however, aware that these
should not be trusted to moral restraints only, have wisely
provided punishment for these crimes when committed. But
would it not be salutary to give also the means of preventing
their commission? Where an enterprise is meditated by private
individuals against a foreign nation in amity with the United
States, powers of prevention, to a certain extent, are given
by the laws; would they not be as reasonable and useful where
the enterprise preparing is against the United States? While
adverting to this branch of law it is proper to observe, that,
in enterprises meditated against foreign nations, the ordinary
process of binding to the observance of the peace and good
behavior, could it be extended to acts to be done out of the
jurisdiction of the United States, would be effectual in some
cases where the offender is able to keep out of sight every
indication of his purpose which could draw on him the exercise
of the powers now given by law.
The expedition of Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, for exploring the
river Missouri, and the best communication from that to the
Pacific Ocean, has had all the success which could have been
expected. They have traced the Missouri nearly to its source,
descended the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, ascertained with
accuracy the geography of that interesting communication across
our continent, learnt the character of the country, of its
commerce, and inhabitants; and it is but justice to say, that
Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, and their brave companions, have, by
this arduous service, deserved well of their country.
I congratulate you, fellow-citizens, on the approach of
the period at which you may interpose your authority,
constitutionally, to withdraw the citizens of the United States
from all further participation in those violations of human
rights which have been so long continued on the unoffending
inhabitants of Africa, and which the morality, the reputation,
and the best interests of our country, have long been eager to
proscribe. Although no law you may pass can take prohibitory
effect till the day of the year one thousand eight hundred and
eight, yet the intervening period is not too long to prevent,
by timely notice, expeditions which cannot be completed before
that day.
The receipts at the Treasury, during the year ending on the
30th day of September last, have amounted to nearly fifteen
millions of dollars, which have enabled us, after meeting the
current demands, to pay two millions seven hundred thousand
dollars of the American claims, in part of the price of
Louisiana; to pay of the funded debt, upwards of three millions
of principal, and nearly four of interest; and, in addition,
to reimburse, in the course of the present month, nearly two
millions of five and a half per cent. stock. These payments
and reimbursements of the funded debt, with those which had
been made in the four years and a half preceding, will, at
the present year, have extinguished upwards of twenty-three
millions of principal.
The duties composing the Mediterranean fund will cease, by
law, at the end of the present session. Considering, however,
that they are levied chiefly on luxuries, and that we have an
impost on salt, a necessary of life, the free use of which
otherwise is so important, I recommend to your consideration
the suppression of the duties on salt, and the continuation of
the Mediterranean fund instead thereof, for a short time, after
which that also will become unnecessary for any purpose now
within contemplation.
When both of these branches of revenue shall in this way be
relinquished, there will still, ere long, be an accumulation of
moneys in the Treasury beyond the instalments of public debt
which we are permitted by contract to pay. They cannot, then,
without a modification, assented to by the public creditors, be
applied to the extinguishment of this debt, and the complete
liberation of our revenues, the most desirable of all objects;
nor, if our peace continues, will they be wanting for any other
existing purpose. The question, therefore, now comes forward:
To what other objects shall these surpluses be appropriated,
and the whole surplus of impost, after the entire discharge of
the public debt, and during those intervals when the purposes
of war shall not call for them? Shall we suppress the impost,
and give that advantage to foreign over domestic manufactures?
On a few articles, of more general and necessary use, the
suppression, in due season, will doubtless be right, but the
great mass of the articles on which impost is paid are foreign
luxuries, purchased by those only who are rich enough to afford
themselves the use of them. Their patriotism would certainly
prefer its continuance and application to the great purposes
of the public education, roads, rivers, canals,[41] and such
other objects of public improvement as it may be thought
proper to add to the constitutional enumeration of federal
powers. By these operations new channels of communication
will be opened between the States; the lines of separation
will disappear; their interests will be identified and their
Union cemented by new and indissoluble ties. Education is here
placed among the articles of public care, not that it would
be proposed to take its ordinary branches out of the hands
of private enterprise, which manages so much better all the
concerns to which it is equal; but a public institution can
alone supply those sciences which, though rarely called for,
are yet necessary to complete the circle, all the parts of
which contribute to the improvement of the country, and some
of them to its preservation. The subject is now proposed for
the consideration of Congress, because, if approved by the time
the State Legislature shall have deliberated on this extension
of the federal trusts, and the laws shall be passed and other
arrangements made for their execution, the necessary funds will
be on hand, and without employment. I suppose an amendment to
the constitution, by consent of the States, necessary, because
the objects now recommended are not among those enumerated in
the constitution, and to which it permits the public moneys to
be applied.
The present consideration of a national establishment,
for education particularly, is rendered proper by this
circumstance; also that, if Congress, approving the
proposition, shall yet think it more eligible to found it on
a donation of lands, they have it now in their power to endow
it with those which will be among the earliest to produce the
necessary income. This foundation would have the advantage of
being independent on war, which may suspend other improvements,
by requiring for its own purposes the resources destined for
them.