Orleans and Mississippi, supplementary to those which had been given
onthe 25th of November, to hold the militia of their Territories in
readiness to cooperate for their defense with the regular troops and
armed vessels then under command of General Wilkinson. Great alarm,
indeed, was excited at New Orleans by the exaggerated accounts of Mr.
Burr, disseminated through his emissaries, of the armies and navies
he was to assemble there. General Wilkinson had arrived there himself
on the 24th of November, and had immediately put into activity the
resources of the place for the purpose of its defense, and on the 10th
of December he was joined by his troops from the Sabine. Great zeal was
shewn by the inhabitants generally, the merchants of the place readily
agreeing to the most laudable exertions and sacrifices for manning the
armed vessels with their seamen, and the other citizens manifesting
unequivocal fidelity to the Union and a spirit of determined resistance
to their expected assailants.
Surmises have been hazarded that this enterprise is to receive aid
from certain foreign powers; but these surmises are without proof or
probability. The wisdom of the measures sanctioned by Congress at its
last session has placed us in the paths of peace and justice with the
only powers with whom we had any differences, and nothing has happened
since which makes it either their interest or ours to pursue another
course. No change of measures has taken place on our part; none ought
to take place at this time. With the one, friendly arrangement was then
proposed, and the law deemed necessary on the failure of that was
suspended to give time for a fair trial of the issue. With the same
power friendly arrangement is now proceeding under good expectations,
and the same law deemed necessary on failure of that is still suspended,
to give time for a fair trial of the issue. With the other, negotiation
was in like manner then preferred, and provisional measures only taken
to meet the event of rupture. With the same power negotiation is still
preferred, and provisional measures only are necessary to meet the event
of rupture. While, therefore, we do not deflect in the slightest degree
from the course we then assumed and are still pursuing with mutual
consent to restore a good understanding, we arc not to impute to them
practices as irreconcilable to interest as to good faith, and changing
necessarily the relations of peace and justice between us to those of
war. These surmises are therefore to be imputed to the vauntings of the
author of this enterprise to multiply his partisans by magnifying the
belief of his prospects and support.
By letters from General Wilkinson of the 14th and 18th of December,
which came to hand two days after the date of the resolution of the
House of Representatives--that is to say, on the morning of the 18th
instant--I received the important affidavit a copy of which I now
communicate, with extracts of so much of the letters as comes within the
scope of the resolution. By these it will be seen that of three of the
principal emissaries of Mr. Burr whom the General had caused to be
apprehended, one had been liberated by habeas corpus, and two others,
being those particularly employed in the endeavor to corrupt the general
and army of the United States, have been embarked by him for ports in
the Atlantic States, probably on the consideration that an impartial
trial could not be expected during the present agitations of New
Orleans, and that that city was not as yet a safe place of confinement.
As soon as these persons shall arrive they will be delivered to the
custody of the law and left to such course of trial, both as to place
and process, as its functionaries may direct. The presence of the
highest judicial authorities, to be assembled at this place within a few
days, the means of pursuing a sounder course of proceedings here than
elsewhere, and the aid of the Executive means, should the judges have
occasion to use them, render it equally desirable for the criminals as
for the public that, being already removed from the place where they
were first apprehended, the first regular arrest should take place here,
and the course of proceedings receive here its proper direction.
TH. JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 26, 1807.
_To the Senate, and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I received from General Wilkinson on the 23d instant his affidavit
charging Samuel Swartwout, Peter V. Ogden, and James Alexander with the
crimes described in the affidavit a copy of which is now communicated
to both Houses of Congress.
It was announced to me at the same time that Swartwout and Bollman, two
of the persons apprehended by him, were arrived in this city in custody
each of a military officer. I immediately delivered to the attorney of
the United States in this district the evidence received against them,
with instructions to lay the same before the judges and apply for their
process to bring the accused to justice, and put into his hands orders
to the officers having them in custody to deliver them to the marshal
on his application.
TH. JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 27, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I now render to Congress the account of the fund established for
defraying the contingent expenses of Government for the year 1806.
No occasion having arisen for making use of any part of the balance of
$18,012.50, unexpended on the 31st day of December, 1805, that balance
remains in the Treasury.
TH. JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 28, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
By the letters of Captain Bissel, who commands at Fort Massac, and of
Mr. Murrell, to General Jackson, of Tennessee, copies of which are now
communicated to Congress, it will be seen that Aaron Burr passed Fort
Massac on the 31st December with about ten boats, navigated by about six
hands each, without any military appearance, and that three boats with
ammunition were said to have been arrested by the militia at Louisville.
As the guards of militia posted on various points of the Ohio will be
able to prevent any further aids passing through that channel, should
any be attempted, we may now estimate with tolerable certainty the means
derived from the Ohio and its waters toward the accomplishment of the
purposes of Mr. Burr.
TH. JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 31, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
In execution of the act of the last session of Congress entitled "An
act to regulate the laying out and making a road from Cumberland, in
the State of Maryland, to the State of Ohio," I appointed Thomas Moore,
of Maryland; Joseph Kerr, of Ohio, and Eli Williams, of Maryland,
commissioners to lay out the said road, and to perform the other duties
assigned to them by the act. The progress which they made in the
execution of the work during the last season will appear in their report
now communicated to Congress. On the receipt of it I took measures
to obtain consent for making the road of the States of Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and Virginia, through which the commissioners proposed to
lay it out. I have received acts of the legislatures of Maryland and
Virginia giving the consent desired; that of Pennsylvania has the
subject still under consideration, as is supposed. Until I receive full
consent to a free choice of route through the whole distance I have
thought it safest neither to accept nor reject finally the partial
report of the commissioners. Some matters suggested in the report belong
exclusively to the Legislature.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 6, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I lay before Congress the laws for the government of Louisiana, passed
by the governor and judges of the Indiana Territory at their session at
Vincennes begun on the 1st of October, 1804.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 6, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
The Government of France having examined into the claim of M. de
Beaumarchais against the United States, and considering it as just and
legal, has instructed its minister here to make representations on the
subject to the Government of the United States. I now lay his memoir
thereon before the Legislature, the only authority competent to a final
decision on the same.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 10, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I communicate, for the information of Congress, a letter from Cowles
Mead, secretary of the Mississippi Territory, to the Secretary of War,
by which it will be seen that Mr. Burr had reached that neighborhood
on the 13th of January.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 10, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
In compliance with the request of the House of Representatives expressed
in their resolution of the 5th instant, I proceed to give such
information as is possessed of the effect of gunboats in the protection
and defense of harbors, of the numbers thought necessary, and of the
proposed distribution of them among the ports and harbors of the United
States.
Under present circumstances, and governed by the intentions of the
Legislature as manifested by their annual appropriations of money for
the purposes of defense, it has been concluded to combine, first, land
batteries furnished with heavy cannon and mortars, and established on
all the points around the place favorable for preventing vessels from
lying before it; second, movable artillery, which may be carried, as
occasion may require, to points unprovided with fixed batteries; third,
floating batteries, and fourth, gunboats which may oppose an enemy at
his entrance and cooperate with the batteries for his expulsion.
On this subject professional men were consulted as far as we had
opportunity. General Wilkinson and the late General Gates gave their
opinions in writing in favor of the system, as will be seen by their
letters now communicated. The higher officers of the Navy gave the same
opinions in separate conferences, as their presence at the seat of
Government offered occasions of consulting them, and no difference of
judgment appeared on the subject. Those of Commodore Barren and Captain
Tingey, now here, are recently furnished in writing, and transmitted
herewith to the Legislature.
The efficacy of gunboats for the defense of harbors and of other smooth
and inclosed waters may be estimated in part from that of galleys
formerly much used but less powerful, more costly in their construction
and maintenance, and requiring more men. But the gunboat itself is
believed to be in use with every modern maritime nation for the purposes
of defense. In the Mediterranean, on which are several small powers
whose system, like ours, is peace and defense, few harbors are without
this article of protection. Our own experience there of the effect of
gunboats for harbor service is recent. Algiers is particularly known
to have owed to a great provision of these vessels the safety of its
city since the epoch of their construction, Before that it had been
repeatedly insulted and injured. The effect of gunboats at present in
the neighborhood of Gibraltar is well known, and how much they were used
both in the attack and defense of that place during a former war. The
extensive resort to them by the two greatest naval powers in the world
on an enterprise of invasion not long since in prospect shews their
confidence in their efficacy for the purposes for which they are suited.
By the northern powers of Europe, whose seas are particularly adapted
to them, they are still more used. The remarkable action between the
Russian flotilla of gunboats and galleys and a Turkish fleet of ships
of the line and frigates in the Liman Sea in 1788 will be readily
recollected. The latter, commanded by their most celebrated admiral,
were completely defeated, and several of their ships of the line
destroyed.
From the opinions given as to the number of gunboats necessary for some
of the principal seaports, and from a view of all the towns and ports
from Orleans to Maine, inclusive, entitled to protection in proportion
to their situation and circumstances, it is concluded that to give them
a due measure of protection in times of war about 200 gunboats will be
requisite.
According to first ideas the following would be their general
distribution, liable to be varied on more mature examination and
as circumstances shall vary; that is to say:
To the Mississippi and its neighboring waters, 40 gunboats.
To Savannah and Charleston, and the harbors on each side from St. Marys
to Currituck, 25.
To the Chesapeake and its waters, 20.
To Delaware Bay and River, 15.
To New York, the Sound, and waters as far as Cape Cod, 50.
To Boston and the harbors north of Cape Cod, 50.
The flotillas assigned to these several stations might each be under
the care of a particular commandant, and the vessels composing them
would in ordinary be distributed among the harbors within the station
in proportion to their importance.
Of these boats a proper proportion would be of the larger size, such
as those heretofore built, capable of navigating any seas and of
reenforcing occasionally the strength of even the most distant ports
when menaced with danger. The residue would be confined to their own
or the neighboring harbors, would be smaller, less furnished for
accommodation, and consequently less costly. Of the number supposed
necessary, 73 are built or building, and the 127 still to be provided
would cost from $500,000 to $600,000. Having regard to the convenience
of the Treasury as well as to the resources for building, it has been
thought that the one-half of these might be built in the present year
and the other half the next. With the Legislature, however, it will rest
to stop where we are, or at any further point, when they shall be of
opinion that the number provided shall be sufficient for the object.
At times when Europe as well as the United States shall be at peace
it would not be proposed that more than six or eight of these vessels
should be kept afloat. When Europe is in war, treble that number might
be necessary, to be distributed among those particular harbors which
foreign vessels of war are in the habit of frequenting for the purpose
of preserving order therein. But they would be manned in ordinary, with
only their complement for navigation, relying on the seamen and militia
of the port if called into action on any sudden emergency. It would be
only when the United States should themselves be at war that the whole
number would be brought into active service, and would be ready in the
first moments of the war to cooperate with the other means for covering
at once the line of our seaports. At all times those unemployed would be
withdrawn into places not exposed to sudden enterprise, hauled up under
sheds from the sun and weather, and kept in preservation with little
expense for repairs or maintenance.
It must be superfluous to observe that this species of naval armament
is proposed merely for defensive operation; that it can have but little
effect toward protecting our commerce in the open seas, even on our own
coast; and still less can it become an excitement to engage in offensive
maritime war, toward which it would furnish no means.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 11, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I now lay before Congress a statement of the militia of the United
States according to the latest returns received by the Department
of War. From two of the States no returns have ever been received.
TH. JEFFERSON.
FEBRUARY 19, 1807.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to Congress a letter from our ministers plenipotentiary
at London, informing us that they have agreed with the British
commissioners to conclude a treaty on all the points which had formed
the object of their negotiation, and on terms which they trusted we
would approve.
Also a letter from our minister plenipotentiary at Paris covering one
to him from the minister of marine of that Government assuring him that
the imperial decree lately passed was not to affect our commerce, which
would still be governed by the rules of the treaty established between
the two countries.
Also a letter from Cowles Mead, secretary of the Mississippi Territory,
acting as governor, informing us that Aaron Burr had surrendered himself
to the civil authority of that Territory.
TH. JEFFERSON.
PROCLAMATIONS.
BY THOMAS JEFFERSON, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
During the wars which for some time have unhappily prevailed among the
powers of Europe the United States of America, firm in their principles
of peace, have endeavored, by justice, by a regular discharge of all
their national and social duties, and by every friendly office their
situation has admitted, to maintain with all the belligerents their
accustomed relations of friendship, hospitality, and commercial
intercourse. Taking no part in the questions which animate these powers
against each other, nor permitting themselves to entertain a wish but
for the restoration of general peace, they have observed with good faith
the neutrality they assumed, and they believe that no instance of a
departure from its duties can be justly imputed to them by any nation.
A free use of their harbors and waters, the means of refitting and of
refreshment, of succor to their sick and suffering, have at all times
and on equal principles been extended to all, and this, too, amidst a
constant recurrence of acts of insubordination to the laws, of violence
to the persons, and of trespasses on the property of our citizens
committed by officers of one of the belligerent parties received among
us. In truth, these abuses of the laws of hospitality have, with few
exceptions, become habitual to the commanders of the British armed
vessels hovering on our coasts and frequenting our harbors. They have
been the subject of repeated representations to their Government.
Assurances have been given that proper orders should restrain them
within the limits of the rights and of the respect due to a friendly
nation; but those orders and assurances have been without effect--no
instance of punishment for past wrongs has taken place. At length a deed
transcending all we have hitherto seen or suffered brings the public
sensibility to a serious crisis and our forbearance to a necessary
pause. A frigate of the United States, trusting to a state of peace, and
leaving her harbor on a distant service, has been surprised and attacked
by a British vessel of superior force--one of a squadron then lying in
our waters and covering the transaction--and has been disabled from
service, with the loss of a number of men killed and wounded. This
enormity was not only without provocation or justifiable cause, but was
committed with the avowed purpose of taking by force from a ship of war
of the United States a part of her crew; and that no circumstance might
be wanting to mark its character, it had been previously ascertained
that the seamen demanded were native citizens of the United States.
Having effected her purpose, she returned to anchor with her squadron
within our jurisdiction. Hospitality under such circumstances ceases to
be a duty, and a continuance of it with such uncontrolled abuses would
tend only, by multiplying injuries and irritations, to bring on a
rupture between the two nations. This extreme resort is equally opposed
to the interests of both, as it is to assurances of the most friendly
dispositions on the part of the British Government, in the midst of
which this outrage has been committed. In this light the subject can not
but present itself to that Government and strengthen the motives to
an honorable reparation of the wrong which has been done, and to that
effectual control of its naval commanders which alone can justify the
Government of the United States in the exercise of those hospitalities
it is now constrained to discontinue.
In consideration of these circumstances and of the right of every nation
to regulate its own police, to provide for its peace and for the safety
of its citizens, and consequently to refuse the admission of armed
vessels into its harbors or waters, either in such numbers or of such
descriptions as are inconsistent with these or with the maintenance
of the authority of the laws, I have thought proper, in pursuance of
the authorities specially given by law, to issue this my proclamation,
hereby requiring all armed vessels bearing commissions under the
Government of Great Britain now within the harbors or waters of the
United States immediately and without any delay to depart from the same,
and interdicting the entrance of all the said harbors and waters to the
said armed vessels and to all others bearing commissions under the
authority of the British Government.
And if the said vessels, or any of them, shall fail to depart as
aforesaid, or if they or any others so interdicted shall hereafter
enter the harbors or waters aforesaid, I do in that case forbid all
intercourse with them, or any of them, their officers or crews, and
do prohibit all supplies and aid from being furnished to them, or any
of them.
And I do declare and make known that if any person from or within the
jurisdictional limits of the United States shall afford any aid to any
such vessel contrary to the prohibition contained in this proclamation,
either in repairing any such vessel or in furnishing her, her officers
or crew, with supplies of any kind or in any manner whatsoever; or if
any pilot shall assist in navigating any of the said armed vessels,
unless it be for the purpose of carrying them in the first instance
beyond the limits and jurisdiction of the United States, or unless it
be in the case of a vessel forced by distress or charged with public
dispatches, as hereinafter provided for, such person or persons shall
on conviction suffer all the pains and penalties by the laws provided
for such offenses.
And I do hereby enjoin and require all persons bearing office, civil or
military, within or under the authority of the United States, and all
others citizens or inhabitants thereof, or being within the same, with
vigilance and promptitude to exert their respective authorities and to
be aiding and assisting to the carrying this proclamation and every part
thereof into full effect.
Provided, nevertheless, that if any such vessel shall be forced into the
harbors or waters of the United States by distress, by the dangers of
the sea, or by the pursuit of an enemy, or shall enter them charged
with dispatches or business from their Government, or shall be a public
packet for the conveyance of letters and dispatches, the commanding
officer, immediately reporting his vessel to the collector of the
district, stating the object or causes of entering the said harbors
or waters, and conforming himself to the regulations in that case
prescribed under the authority of the laws, shall be allowed the benefit
of such regulations respecting repairs, supplies, stay, intercourse, and
departure as shall be permitted under the same authority.
[SEAL.]
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
affixed to these presents, and signed the same.
Given at the city of Washington, the 2d day of July, A.D. 1807, and of
the Sovereignty and Independence of the United States the thirty-first.
TH. JEFFERSON.
By the President:
JAMES MADISON,
_Secretary of State_.
[From Annals of Congress, Tenth Congress, first session, vol. i, 9.]
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas great and weighty matters claiming the consideration of the
Congress of the United States form an extraordinary occasion for
convening them, I do by these presents appoint Monday, the 26th day
of October next, for their meeting at the city of Washington, hereby
requiring the respective Senators and Representatives then and there to
assemble in Congress, in order to receive such communications as may
then be made to them, and to consult and determine on such measures as
in their wisdom may be deemed meet for the welfare of the United States.
[SEAL.]
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
hereunto affixed, and signed the same with my hand.