ground, some of them with buildings and other improvements on them,
which it is my duty to present to the attention of the Legislature.
The title to these grounds appears to have been retained in the former
sovereigns of the Province of Louisiana as public fiduciaries and for
the purposes of the Province. Some of them were used for the residence
of the governor, for public offices, hospitals, barracks, magazines,
fortifications, levees, etc., others for the townhouse, schools,
markets, landings, and other purposes of the city of New Orleans; some
were held by religious corporations or persons, others seem to have
been reserved for future disposition. To these must be added a parcel
called the Batture, which requires more particular description. It is
understood to have been a shoal or elevation of the bottom of the river
adjacent to the bank of the suburbs of St. Mary, produced by the
successive depositions of mud during the annual inundations of the
river, and covered with water only during those inundations. At all
other seasons it has been used by the city immemorially to furnish
earth for raising their streets and courtyards, for mortar, and other
necessary purposes, and as a landing or quay for unlading firewood,
lumber, and other articles brought by water. This having been lately
claimed, by a private individual, the city opposed the claim on a
supposed legal title in itself; but it has been adjudged that the legal
title was not in the city. It is, however, alleged that that title,
originally in the former sovereigns, was never parted with by them,
but was retained in them for the uses of the city and Province, and
consequently has now passed over to the United States. Until this
question can be decided under legislative authority, measures have been
taken according to law to prevent any change in the state of things and
to keep the grounds clear of intruders. The settlement of this title,
the appropriation of the grounds and improvements formerly occupied for
provincial purposes to the same or such other objects as may be better
suited to present circumstances, the confirmation of the uses in other
parcels to such bodies, corporate or private, as may of right or on
other reasonable considerations expect them, are matters now submitted
to the determination of the legislature.
The papers and plans now transmitted will give them such information on
the subject as I possess, and being mostly originals, I must request
that they may be communicated from the one to the other House, to answer
the purposes of both.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 10, 1808.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
A purchase having lately been made from the Cherokee Indians of a
tract of land 6 miles square at the mouth of the Chickamogga, on the
Tennessee, I now lay the treaty and papers relating to it before the
Senate, with an explanation of the views which have led to it.
It was represented that there was within that tract a great abundance of
iron ore of excellent quality, with a stream and fall of water suitable
for iron works; that the Cherokees were anxious to have works
established there, in the hope of having a better supply of those
implements of household and agriculture of which they have learned the
use and necessity, but on the condition that they should be under the
authority and control of the United States.
As such an establishment would occasion a considerable and certain
demand for corn and other provisions and necessaries, it seemed
probable that it would immediately draw around it a close settlement
of the Cherokees, would encourage them to enter on a regular life of
agriculture, familiarize them with the practice and value of the arts,
attach them to property, lead them of necessity and without delay to
the establishment of laws and government, and thus make a great and
important advance toward assimilating their condition to ours. At the
same time it offers considerable accommodation to the Government by
enabling it to obtain more conveniently than it now can the necessary
supplies of cast and wrought iron for all the Indians south of the
Tennessee, and for those also to whom St. Louis is a convenient deposit,
and will benefit such of our own citizens likewise as shall be within
its reach. Under these views the purchase has been made, with the
consent and desire of the great body of the nation, although not without
some dissenting members, as must be the case will all collections of
men. But it is represented that the dissentients are few, and under
the influence of one or two interested individuals. It is by no means
proposed that these works should be conducted on account of the United
States. It is understood that there are private individuals ready
to erect them, subject to such reasonable rent as may secure a
reimbursement to the United States, and to such other conditions as
shall secure to the Indians their rights and tranquillity.
The instrument is now submitted to the Senate, with a request of their
advice and consent as to its ratification.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 17, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I have heretofore communicated to Congress the decrees of the Government
of France of November 21, 1806, and of Spain of February 19, 1807, with
the orders of the British Government of January and November, 1807.
I now transmit a decree of the Emperor of France of December 17,1807,
and a similar decree of the 3d of January last by His Catholic Majesty.
Although the decree of France has not been received by official
communication, yet the different channels of promulgation through which
the public are possessed of it, with the formal testimony furnished by
the Government of Spain in their decree, leave us without a doubt that
such a one has been issued. These decrees and orders, taken together,
want little of amounting to a declaration that every neutral vessel
found on the high seas, whatsoever be her cargo and whatsoever foreign
port be that of her departure or destination, shall be deemed lawful
prize; and they prove more and more the expediency of retaining our
vessels, our seamen, and property within our own harbors until the
dangers to which they are exposed can be removed or lessened.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 18, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
The scale on which the Military Academy at West Point was
originally established is become too limited to furnish the number
of well-instructed subjects in the different branches of artillery
and engineering which the public service calls for. The want of such
characters is already sensibly felt, and will be increased with the
enlargement of our plans of military preparation. The chief engineer,
having been instructed to consider the subject and to propose an
augmentation which might render the establishment commensurate with
the present circumstances of our country, has made the report which
I now transmit for the consideration of Congress.
The idea suggested by him of removing the institution to this place is
also worthy of attention. Besides the advantage of placing it under the
immediate eye of the Government, it may render its benefits common to
the Naval Department, and will furnish opportunities of selecting on
better information the characters most qualified to fulfill the duties
which the public service may call for.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 22, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
At the opening of the present session I informed the Legislature that
the measures which had been taken with the Government of Great Britain
for the settlement of our neutral and national rights and of the
conditions of commercial intercourse with that nation had resulted in
articles of a treaty which could not be acceded to on our part; that
instructions had been consequently sent to our ministers there to resume
the negotiations, and to endeavor to obtain certain alterations,
and that this was interrupted by the transaction which took place
betweenthe frigates _Leopard_ and _Chesapeake_. The call on that
Government for reparation of this wrong produced, as Congress has been
already informed, the mission of a special minister to this country,
and the occasion is now arrived when the public interest permits and
requires that the whole of these proceedings should be made known to
you.
I therefore now communicate the instructions given to our minister
resident at London and his communications with that Government on
the subject of the _Chesapeake_, with the correspondence which has
taken place here between the Secretary of State and Mr. Rose, the
special minister charged with the adjustment of that difference; the
instructions to our ministers for the formation of a treaty; their
correspondence with the British commissioners and with their own
Government on that subject; the treaty itself and written declaration of
the British commissioners accompanying it, and the instructions given by
us for resuming the negotiation, with the proceedings and correspondence
subsequent thereto. To these I have added a letter lately addressed to
the Secretary of State from one of our late ministers, which, though
not strictly written in an official character, I think it my duty to
communicate, in order that his views of the proposed treaty and of its
several articles may be fairly presented and understood.
Although I have heretofore and from time to time made such
communications to Congress as to keep them possessed of a general and
just view of the proceedings and dispositions of the Government of
France toward this country, yet in our present critical situation, when
we find that no conduct on our part, however impartial and friendly, has
been sufficient to insure from either belligerent a just respect for our
rights, I am desirous that nothing shall be omitted on my part which may
add to your information on this subject or contribute to the correctness
of the views which should be formed. The papers which for these reasons
I now lay before you embrace all the communications, official or verbal,
from the French Government respecting the general relations between the
two countries which have been transmitted through our minister there,
or through any other accredited channel, since the last session of
Congress, to which time all information of the same kind had from
time to time been given them. Some of these papers have already been
submitted to Congress, but it is thought better to offer them again in
order that the chain of communications of which they make a part may be
presented unbroken.
When, on the 26th of February, I communicated to both Houses the letter
of General Armstrong to M. Champagny, I desired it might not be
published because of the tendency of that practice to restrain
injuriously the freedom of our foreign correspondence. But perceiving
that this caution, proceeding purely from a regard to the public good,
has furnished occasion for disseminating unfounded suspicions and
insinuations, I am induced to believe that the good which will now
result from its publication, by confirming the confidence and union of
our fellow-citizens, will more than countervail the ordinary objection
to such publications. It is my wish, therefore, that it may be now
published.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 22, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
In a separate message of this date I have communicated to Congress
so much as may be made public of papers which give a full view of
the present state of our relations with the two contending powers,
France and England. Everyone must be sensible that in the details of
instructions for negotiating a treaty and in the correspondence and
conferences respecting it matters will occur which interest sometimes
and sometimes respect or other proper motives forbid to be made public.
To reconcile my duty in this particular with my desire of letting
Congress know everything which can give them a full understanding of the
subjects on which they are to act, I have suppressed in the documents
of the other message the parts which ought not to be made public and
have given them in the supplementary and confidential papers herewith
inclosed, with such references as that they may be read in their
original places as if still standing in them; and when these
confidential papers shall have been read to the satisfaction of the
House, I request their return, and that their contents may not be made
public.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 25, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
In proceeding to carry into execution the act for fortifying our forts
and harbors it is found that the sites most advantageous for their
defense, and sometimes the only sites competent to that defense, are in
some cases the property of minors incapable of giving a valid consent to
their alienation; in others belong to persons who may refuse altogether
to alienate, or demand a compensation far beyond the liberal justice
allowable in such cases. From these causes the defense of our seaboard,
so necessary to be pressed during the present season, will in various
parts be defeated unless a remedy can be applied. With a view to this
I submit the case to the consideration of Congress, who, estimating its
importance and reviewing the powers vested in them by the Constitution,
combined with the amendment providing that private property shall not
be taken for public use without just compensation, will decide on the
course most proper to be pursued.
I am aware that as the consent of the legislature of the State to the
purchase of the site may not in some instances have been previously
obtained, exclusive legislation can not be exercised therein by Congress
until that consent is given. But in the meantime it will be held under
the same laws which protect the property of individuals and other
property of the United States in the same State, and the legislatures
at their next meetings will have opportunities of doing what will be
so evidently called for by the particular interest of their own State.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 25, 1808.
_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 the State of Delaware alone no return has been made.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 25, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to both Houses of Congress a report from the surveyor on the
public buildings of the progress made on them during the last session,
of their present state, and of that of the funds appropriated to them.
These have been much exceeded by the cost of the work done, a fact not
known to me till the close of the season. The circumstances from which
it arose are stated in the report of the surveyor.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 29, 1808.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
When the convention of the 7th of January, 1806, was entered into with
the Cherokees for the purchase of certain lands, it was believed
by both parties that the eastern limit, when run in the direction
therein prescribed, would have included all the waters of Elk River.
On proceeding to run that line, however, it was found to omit a
considerable extent of those waters, on which were already settled
about 200 families. The Cherokees readily consented, for a moderate
compensation, that the line should be so run as to include all the
waters of that river. Our commissioners accordingly entered into an
explanatory convention for that purpose, which I now lay before the
Senate for consideration whether they will advise and consent to its
ratification. A letter from one of the commissioners, now also inclosed,
will more fully explain the circumstances which led to it.
Lieutenant Pike on his journey up the Mississippi in 1805-6, being at
the village of the Sioux, between the rivers St. Croix and St. Peters,
conceived that the position was favorable for a military and commercial
post for the United States whenever it should be thought expedient to
advance in that quarter. He therefore proposed to the chiefs a cession
of lands for that purpose. Their desire of entering into connection
with the United States and of getting a trading house established there
induced a ready consent to the proposition, and they made, by articles
of agreement now inclosed, a voluntary donation to the United States of
two portions of land, the one of 9 miles square at the mouth of the St.
Croix, the other from below the mouth of St. Peters up the Mississippi
to St. Anthonys Falls, extending 9 miles in width on each side of the
Mississippi. These portions of land are designated on the map now
inclosed. Lieutenant Pike on his part made presents to the Indians to
some amount. This convention, though dated the 23d of September, 1805,
is but lately received, and although we have no immediate view of
establishing a trading post at that place, I submit it to the Senate for
the sanction of their advice and consent to its ratification, in order
to give to our title a full validity on the part of the United States,
whenever it may be wanting, for the special purpose which constituted
in the mind of the donors the sole consideration and inducement to the
cession.
TH. JEFFERSON.
MARCH 30, 1808,
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
Since my message of the 22d instant letters have been received from our
ministers at Paris and London, extracts from which, with a letter to
General Armstrong from the French minister of foreign relations, and a
letter from the British envoy residing here to the Secretary of State,
I now communicate to Congress. They add to the materials for estimating
the dispositions of those Governments toward this country.
The proceedings of both indicate designs of drawing us, if possible,
into the vortex of their contests; but every new information confirms
the prudence of guarding against these designs as it does of adhering
to the precautionary system hitherto contemplated.
TH. JEFFERSON.
APRIL 2, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
Believing that the confidence and union of our fellow-citizens at the
present crisis will be still further confirmed by the publication of the
letter of Mr. Champagny to General Armstrong and that of Mr. Erskine to
the Secretary of State, communicated with my message of the 30th ultimo,
and therefore that it may be useful to except them from the confidential
character of the other documents accompanying that message, I leave to
the consideration of Congress the expediency of making them public.
TH. JEFFERSON.
APRIL 8, 1808.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
Agreeably to the request of the Senate in their resolution of yesterday,
I have examined my papers and find no letter from Matthew Nimmo of
the date of November 28, 1806, nor any other from him of any date but
that of January 23, 1807, now transmitted, with all the papers in my
possession which accompanied it. Nor do I find any letter from John
Smith, of Ohio, bearing date at any time in the month of January, 1807.
Having delivered to the Attorney-General all the papers respecting the
conspiracy of Aaron Burr which came to my hands during or before his
prosecution, I might suppose the letters above requested had been
delivered to him; but I must add my belief that I never received such
letters, and the ground of it. I am in the habit of noting daily in the
list kept for that purpose the letters I receive daily by the names of
the writers, and dates of time, and place, and this has been done with
such exactness that I do not recollect ever to have detected a single
omission. I have carefully examined that list from the 1st of November,
1806, to the last of June, 1807, and I find no note within that
period of the receipt of any letter from Matthew Nimmo but that now
transmitted, nor of any one of the date of January, 1807, from John
Smith, of Ohio. The letters noted as received from him within that
period are dated at Washington, February 2, 2, 7, and 21, which I have
examined, and find relating to subjects entirely foreign to the objects
of the resolution of the 7th instant; and others, dated at Cincinnati,
March 27, April 6, 13, and 17, which, not being now in my possession,
I presume have related to Burr's conspiracy, and have been delivered to
the Attorney-General. I recollect nothing of their particular contents.
I must repeat, therefore, my firm belief that the letters of Nimmo of
November 28, 1806, and of John Smith of January, 1807, never came to
my hands, and that if such were written (and Nimmo's letter expressly
mentions his of November 28), they have been intercepted or otherwise
miscarried.
TH. JEFFERSON.
APRIL 22, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I transmit to both Houses of Congress a letter from the envoy of His
Britannic Majesty at this place to the Secretary of State on the subject
of certain British claims to lands in the Territory of Mississippi,
relative to which several acts have been heretofore passed by the
Legislature.
TH. JEFFERSON.
PROCLAMATION.
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas information has been received that sundry persons are combined
or combining and confederating together on Lake Champlain and the
country thereto adjacent for the purposes of forming insurrections
against the authority of the laws of the United States, for opposing the
same and obstructing their execution, and that such combinations are too
powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings
or by the powers vested in the marshals by the laws of the United
States:
Now, therefore, to the end that the authority of the laws may be
maintained, and that those concerned, directly or indirectly, in any
insurrection or combination against the same may be duly warned, I have
issued this my proclamation, hereby commanding such insurgents and all
concerned in such combination instantly and without delay to disperse
and retire peaceably to their respective abodes. And I do hereby further
require and command all officers having authority, civil or military,
and all other persons, civil or military, who shall be found within
the vicinage of such insurrections or combinations to be aiding
and assisting by all the means in their power, by force of arms or
otherwise, to quell and subdue such insurrections or combinations,
to seize upon all those therein concerned who shall not instantly and
without delay disperse and retire to their respective abodes, and to
deliver them over to the civil authority of the place, to be proceeded
against according to law.
[SEAL.]
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to
be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand.
Given at the city of Washington, the 19th day of April, 1808, and in
the year of the Sovereignty and Independence of the United States the
thirty-second.
TH. JEFFERSON.
By the President:
JAMES MADISON,
_Secretary of State_.
EIGHTH ANNUAL MESSAGE.
NOVEMBER 8, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: