our last communications from Europe had enabled me to inform you that
the belligerent nations, whose disregard of neutral rights has been so
destructive to our commerce, had become awakened to the duty and true
policy of revoking their unrighteous edicts. That no means might be
omitted to produce this salutary effect, I lost no time in availing
myself of the act authorizing a suspension, in whole or in part, of the
several embargo laws. Our ministers at London and Paris were instructed
to explain to the respective Governments there our disposition to
exercise the authority in such manner as would withdraw the pretext on
of which the aggressions were originally founded and open the way for
a renewal of that commercial intercourse which it was alleged on all
sides had been reluctantly obstructed. As each of those Governments had
pledged its readiness to concur in renouncing a measure which reached
its adversary through the incontestable rights of neutrals only, and as
the measure had been assumed by each as a retaliation for an asserted
acquiescence in the aggressions of the other, it was reasonably expected
that the occasion would have been seized by both for evincing the
sincerity of their professions, and for restoring to the commerce of the
United States its legitimate freedom. The instructions to our ministers
with respect to the different belligerents were necessarily modified
with a reference to their different circumstances, and to the condition
annexed by law to the Executive power of suspension, requiring a decree
of security to our commerce which would not result from a repeal of the
decrees of France. Instead of a pledge, therefore, of a suspension of
the embargo as to her in case of such a repeal, it was presumed that
a sufficient inducement might be found in other considerations, and
particularly in the change produced by a compliance with our just
demands by one belligerent and a refusal by the other in the relations
between the other and the United States. To Great Britain, whose power
on the ocean is so ascendant, it was deemed not inconsistent with that
condition to state explicitly that on her rescinding her orders in
relation to the United States their trade would be opened with her, and
remain shut to her enemy in case of his failure to rescind his decrees
also. From France no answer has been received, nor any indication that
the requisite change in her decrees is contemplated. The favorable
reception of the proposition to Great Britain was the less to be
doubted, as her orders of council had not only been referred for
their vindication to an acquiescence on the part of the United States
no longer to be pretended, but as the arrangement proposed, whilst
it resisted the illegal decrees of France, involved, moreover,
substantially the precise advantages professedly aimed at by the
British orders. The arrangement has nevertheless been rejected.
This candid and liberal experiment having thus failed, and no other
event having occurred on which a suspension of the embargo by the
Executive was authorized, it necessarily remains in the extent
originally given to it. We have the satisfaction, however, to reflect
that in return for the privations imposed by the measure, and which
our fellow-citizens in general have borne with patriotism, it has had
the important effects of saving our mariners and our vast mercantile
property, as well as of affording time for prosecuting the defensive and
provisional measures called for by the occasion. It has demonstrated to
foreign nations the moderation and firmness which govern our councils,
and to our citizens the necessity of uniting in support of the laws
and the rights of their country, and has thus long frustrated those
usurpations and spoliations which, if resisted, involved war; if
submitted to, sacrificed a vital principle of our national independence.
Under a continuance of the belligerent measures which, in defiance of
laws which consecrate the rights of neutrals, overspread the ocean with
danger, it will rest with the wisdom of Congress to decide on the course
best adapted to such a state of things; and bringing with them, as they
do, from every part of the Union the sentiments of our constituents, my
confidence is strengthened that in forming this decision they will, with
an unerring regard to the essential rights and interests of the nation,
weigh and compare the painful alternatives out of which a choice is to
be made. Nor should I do justice to the virtues which on other occasions
have marked the character of our fellow-citizens if I did not cherish an
equal confidence that the alternative chosen, whatever it may be, will
be maintained with all the fortitude and patriotism which the crisis
ought to inspire.
The documents containing the correspondences on the subject of the
foreign edicts against our commerce, with the instructions given to
our ministers at London and Paris, are now laid before you.
The communications made to Congress at their last session explained the
posture in which the close of the discussions relating to the attack
by a British ship of war on the frigate _Chesapeake_ left a subject on
which the nation had manifested so honorable a sensibility. Every view
of what had passed authorized a belief that immediate steps would be
taken by the British Government for redressing a wrong which the more it
was investigated appeared the more clearly to require what had not been
provided for in the special mission. It is found that no steps have been
taken for the purpose. On the contrary, it will be seen in the documents
laid before you that the inadmissible preliminary which obstructed the
adjustment is still adhered to, and, moreover, that it is now brought
into connection with the distinct and irrelative case of the orders in
council. The instructions which had been given to our minister at London
with a view to facilitate, if necessary, the reparation claimed by the
United States are included in the documents communicated.
Our relations with the other powers of Europe have undergone no material
changes since your last session. The important negotiations with Spain
which had been alternately suspended and resumed necessarily experience
a pause under the extraordinary and interesting crisis which
distinguishes her internal situation.
With the Barbary Powers we continue in harmony, with the exception of an
unjustifiable proceeding of the Dey of Algiers toward our consul to that
Regency. Its character and circumstances are now laid before you, and
will enable you to decide how far it may, either now or hereafter, call
for any measures not within the limits of the Executive authority.
With our Indian neighbors the public peace has been steadily maintained.
Some instances of individual wrong have, as at other times, taken
place, but in no wise implicating the will of the nation. Beyond the
Mississippi the loways, the Sacs, and the Alabamas have delivered up
for trial and punishment individuals from among themselves accused of
murdering citizens of the United States. On this side of the Mississippi
the Creeks are exerting themselves to arrest offenders of the same kind,
and the Choctaws have manifested their readiness and desire for amicable
and just arrangements respecting depredations committed by disorderly
persons of their tribe. And, generally, from a conviction that we
consider them as a part of ourselves, and cherish with sincerity their
rights and interests, the attachment of the Indian tribes is gaining
strength daily--is extending from the nearer to the more remote, and
will amply requite us for the justice and friendship practiced toward
them. Husbandry and household manufacture are advancing among them more
rapidly with the Southern than Northern tribes, from circumstances of
soil and climate, and one of the two great divisions of the Cherokee
Nation have now under consideration to solicit the citizenship of the
United States, and to be identified with us in laws and government in
such progressive manner as we shall think best.
In consequence of the appropriations of the last session of Congress for
the security of our seaport towns and harbors, such works of defense
have been erected as seemed to be called for by the situation of the
several places, their relative importance, and the scale of expense
indicated by the amount of the appropriation. These works will chiefly
be finished in the course of the present season, except at New York and
New Orleans, where most was to be done; and although a great proportion
of the last appropriation has been expended on the former place, yet
some further views will be submitted to Congress for rendering its
security entirely adequate against naval enterprise. A view of what has
been done at the several places, and of what is proposed to be done,
shall be communicated as soon as the several reports are received.
Of the gunboats authorized by the act of December last, it has been
thought necessary to build only 103 in the present year. These, with
those before possessed, are sufficient for the harbors and waters most
exposed, and the residue will require little time for their construction
when it shall be deemed necessary.
Under the act of the last session for raising an additional military
force so many officers were immediately appointed as were necessary for
carrying on the business of recruiting, and in proportion as it advanced
others have been added. We have reason to believe their success has been
satisfactory, although such returns have not yet been received as enable
me to present you a statement of the numbers engaged.
I have not thought it necessary in the course of the last season to call
for any general detachments of militia or of volunteers under the laws
passed for that purpose. For the ensuing season, however, they will be
required to be in readiness should their service be wanted, Some small
and special detachments have been necessary to maintain trie laws of
embargo on that portion of our northern frontier which offered peculiar
facilities for evasion, but these were replaced as soon as it could be
done by bodies of new recruits. By the aid of these and of the armed
vessels called into service in other quarters the spirit of disobedience
and abuse, which manifested itself early and with sensible effect while
we were unprepared to meet it, has been considerably repressed.
Considering the extraordinary character of the times in which we live,
our attention should unremittingly be fixed on the safety of our
country. For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well
organized and armed militia is their best security. It is therefore
incumbent on us at every meeting to revise the condition of the militia,
and to ask ourselves if it is prepared to repel a powerful enemy at
every point of our territories exposed to invasion. Some of the States
have paid a laudable attention to this object, but every degree of
neglect is to be found among others. Congress alone having the power to
produce an uniform state of preparation in this great organ of defense,
the interests which they so deeply feel in their own and their country's
security will present this as among the most important objects of their
deliberation.
Under the acts of March 11 and April 23 respecting arms, the difficulty
of procuring them from abroad during the present situation and
dispositions of Europe induced us to direct our whole efforts to the
means of internal supply. The public factories have therefore been
enlarged, additional machineries erected, and, in proportion as
artificers can be found or formed, their effect, already more than
doubled, may be increased so as to keep pace with the yearly increase
of the militia. The annual sums appropriated by the latter act have
been directed to the encouragement of private factories of arms, and
contracts have been entered into with individual undertakers to nearly
the amount of the first year's appropriation.
The suspension of our foreign commerce, produced by the injustice of
the belligerent powers, and the consequent losses and sacrifices of our
citizens are subjects of just concern. The situation into which we have
thus been forced has impelled us to apply a pbrtion of our industry and
capital to internal manufactures and improvements. The extent of this
conversion is daily increasing, and little doubt remains that the
establishments formed and forming will, under the auspices of cheaper
materials and subsistence, the freedom of labor from taxation with us,
and of protecting duties and prohibitions, become permanent. The
commerce with the Indians, too, within our own boundaries is likely to
receive abundant aliment from the same internal source, and will secure
to them peace and the progress of civilization, undisturbed by practices
hostile to both.
The accounts of the receipts and expenditures during the year ending
the 30th of September last being not yet made up, a correct statement
will hereafter be transmitted from the Treasury. In the meantime it is
ascertained that the receipts have amounted to near $18,000,000, which,
with the eight millions and a half in the Treasury at the beginning
of the year, have enabled us, after meeting the current demands and
interest incurred, to pay $2,300,000 of the principal of our funded
debt, and left us in the Treasury on that day near $14,000,000. Of
these, $5,350,000 will be necessary to pay what will be clue on the 1st
day of January next, which will complete the reimbursement of the 8 per
cent stock. These payments, with those made in the six years and a half
preceding, will have extinguished $33,580,000 of the principal of the
funded debt, being the whole which could be paid or purchased within the
limits of the law and of our contracts, and the amount of principal thus
discharged will have liberated the revenue from about $2,000,000 of
interest and added that sum annually to the disposable surplus. The
probable accumulation of the surpluses of revenue beyond what can be
applied to the payment of the public debt whenever the freedom and
safety of our commerce shall be restored merits the consideration of
Congress. Shall it lie unproductive in the public vaults? Shall the
revenue be reduced? Or shall it not rather be appropriated to the
improvements of roads, canals, rivers, education, and other great
foundations of prosperity and union under the powers which Congress may
already possess or such amendment of the Constitution as may be approved
by the States? While uncertain of the course of things, the time may be
advantageously employed in obtaining the powers necessary for a system
of improvement, should that be thought best.
Availing myself of this the last occasion which will occur of addressing
the two Houses of the Legislature at their meeting, I can not omit the
expression of my sincere gratitude for the repeated proofs of confidence
manifested to me by themselves and their predecessors since my call to
the administration and the many indulgences experienced at their hands.
The same grateful acknowledgments are due to my fellow-citizens
generally, whose support has been my great encouragement under all
embarrassments. In the transaction of their business I can not have
escaped error. It is incident to out imperfect nature. But I may say
with truth my errors have been of the understanding, not of intention,
and that the advancement of their rights and interests has been the
constant motive for every measure. On these considerations I solicit
their indulgence. Looking forward with anxiety to their future destinies,
I trust that in their steady character, unshaken by difficulties, in
their love of liberty, obedience to law, and support of the public
authorities I see a sure guaranty of the permanence of our Republic;
and, retiring from the charge of their affairs, I carry with me the
consolation of a firm persuasion that Heaven has in store for our
beloved country long ages to come of prosperity and happiness.
TH. JEFFERSON.
SPECIAL MESSAGES.
NOVEMBER 8, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
The documents communicated with my public message of this day contain
such portions of the correspondences therein referred to, of the
ministers of the United States at Paris and London, as relate to the
present state of affairs between those Governments and the United
States, and as may be made public. I now communicate, confidentially,
such supplementary portions of the same correspondences as I deem
improper for publication, yet necessary to convey to Congress full
information on a subject of their deliberations so interesting to
our country.
TH. JEFFERSON.
NOVEMBER 11, 1808.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
* * * * *
The governor of the Mississippi Territory having thought it expedient
to dissolve the general assembly of that Territory, according to the
authority vested in him by the ordinance of July 13, 1787, and having
declared it dissolved accordingly, some doubt was suggested whether that
declaration effected the dissolution of the legislative council. On
mature consideration and advice I approved of the proceeding of the
governor. The house of representatives of the Territory, since chosen,
have consequently nominated ten persons out of whom a legislative
council should be appointed. I do accordingly nominate and, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint John Flood McGrew,
Thomas Calvit, James Lea, Alexander Montgomery, and Daniel Burnet, being
five of the said ten persons, to serve as a legislative council for the
said Territory, to continue in office five years, unless sooner removed
according to law.
TH. JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 13, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I now transmit to both Houses of Congress a report of the commissioners
appointed under the act of March 29, 1806, concerning a road from
Cumberland to Ohio, being a statement of the proceedings under the said
act since their last report communicated to Congress, in order that
Congress may be enabled to adopt such further measures as may be proper
under existing circumstances.
TH. JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 23, 1808.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
According to the request of the Senate in their resolution of November
14, that copies should be laid before them of all the orders and decrees
of the belligerent powers of Europe, passed since 1791, affecting the
commercial rights of the United States, I now transmit them a report of
the Secretary of State of such of them as have been attainable in the
Department of State and are supposed to have entered into the views of
the Senate.
TH. JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 27, 1808.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
According to the request expressed by the Senate in their resolution of
November 14, I now transmit a report of the Secretary of the Treasury
and statement showing, as far as returns have been received from the
collectors, the number of vessels which have departed from the United
States with permission, and specifying the other particulars
contemplated by that resolution.
TH. JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 30, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
At the request of the governor, the senate, and house of representatives
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, I communicate certain resolutions
entered into by the said senate and house of representatives, and
approved by the governor, on the 23d instant. It can not but be
encouraging to those whom the nation has placed in the direction of
their affairs to see that their fellow-citizens will press forward
in support of their country in proportion as it is threatened by the
disorganizing conflicts of the other hemisphere.
TH. JEFFERSON.
DECEMBER 30, 1808.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I lay before the Legislature a letter from Governor Claiborne on the
subject of a small tribe of Alabama Indians on the western side of the
Mississippi, consisting of about a dozen families. Like other erratic
tribes in that country, it is understood that they have hitherto
moved from place to place according to their convenience, without
appropriating to themselves exclusively any particular territory; but
having now become habituated to some of the occupations of civilized
life, they wish for a fixed residence. I suppose it will be the interest
of the United States to encourage the wandering tribes of that country
to reduce themselves to fixed habitations whenever they are so disposed.
The establishment of towns and growing attachments to them will furnish
in some degree pledges of their peaceable and friendly conduct. The case
of this particular tribe is now submitted to the consideration of
Congress.
TH. JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 6, 1809.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I now lay before Congress a statement of the works of defense which it
has been thought necessary to provide in the first instance for the
security of our seaport towns and harbors, and of the progress toward
their completion. Their extent has been adapted to the scale of the
appropriation and to the circumstances of the several places.
The works undertaken at New York are calculated to annoy and endanger
any naval force which shall enter the harbor, and, still more, one
which should attempt to lie before the city. To prevent altogether the
entrance of large vessels, a line of blocks across the harbor has been
contemplated, and would, as is believed, with the auxiliary means
already provided, render that city safe against naval enterprise. The
expense as well as the importance of the work renders it a subject
proper for the special consideration of Congress.
At New Orleans two separate systems of defense are necessary--the one
for the river, the other for the lake, which at present can give no aid
to one another. The canal now leading from the lake, if continued into
the river, would enable the armed vessels in both stations to unite, and
to meet in conjunction an attack from either side. Half the aggregate
force would then have the same effect as the whole, or the same force
double the effect of what either can now have. It would also enable the
vessels stationed in the lake when attacked by superior force to retire
to a safer position in the river. The same considerations of expense and
importance render this also a question for the special decision of
Congress.
TH. JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 13, 1809.
_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 1808.
Of the $20,000 appropriated for that purpose, $2,000 were deposited in
the hands of the Attorney-General of the United States to pay expenses
incident to the prosecution of Aaron Burr and his accomplices for
treason and misdemeanors alleged to have been committed by them; $990
were paid to the order of Governor Williams on the same account, and
the balance of $17,010 remains in the Treasury unexpended.
TH. JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 17, 1809.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_:
I communicate to Congress certain letters which passed between the
British secretary of state, Mr. Canning, and Mr. Pinkney, our minister
plenipotentiary at London. When the documents concerning the relations
between the United States and Great Britain were laid before Congress at
the commencement of the session, the answer of Mr. Pinkney to the letter
of Mr. Canning had not been received, and a communication of the latter
alone would have accorded neither with propriety nor with the wishes of
Mr. Pinkney. When that answer afterwards arrived it was considered that,
as what had passed by conversation had been superseded by the written
and formal correspondence on the subject, the variance in the two
statements of what had verbally passed was not of sufficient importance
to be made the matter of a distinct and special communication. The
letter of Mr. Canning, however, having lately appeared in print,
unaccompanied by that of Mr. Pinkney in reply, and having a tendency
to make impressions not warranted by the statements of Mr. Pinkney,
it has become proper that the whole should be brought into public view.
TH. JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 24, 1809.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
According to the resolution of the Senate of the 17th instant, I
now transmit them the information therein requested, respecting the
execution of the act of Congress of February 21, 1806, appropriating
$2,000,000 for defraying any extraordinary expenses attending the
intercourse between the United States and foreign nations.
TH. JEFFERSON.
JANUARY 30, 1809.
_To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States_: